Hey, I Like Your Style! Inside the wardrobe of New Zealand fashion content creator, Lauren Brodie

“My style is deeply reflective of my personality: eclectic, colourful and a little bit silly.”

We know personal style is a journey (I’m looking at you, Tumblr years) and our series Hey, I Like Your Style! dives into the fashion psyche of our favourite creatives. We’re talking the good, the bad and the 2007.

While the internet has made our fashion icons feel closer than ever before, even the most effortless of outfits came from a closet with some (well-dressed) skeletons. Clickable product tags, photo archives and lives chronicled in 30-second clips just don’t tell the full story.

For more fashion news, shoots, articles and features, head to our Fashion section.

These are the stories behind the wardrobes, exploring how we develop our personal style. There’s a brilliance behind the way we choose to express ourselves, and at FJ, we know every outfit has a story. For this instalment of Hey, I Like Your Style!, we enter the wardrobe of Lauren Brodie, also known as Elbee.

I first came across Elbee via her TikTok, @frivolousfashion. Her video, titled ‘Style lessons I learnt going from a size six to size 12’ completely cut through the noise in my For You feed and felt different from anything else I was seeing on the app. I immediately hit follow and have used Elbee as a source of inspiration ever since.

Few people fit the brief of ‘dopamine dressing‘ quite like Elbee. Her outfits are an instant mood booster, characterised by bright colours, mixed patterns and her iconic scrunchies. But she hasn’t always dressed this way. Elbee says she discovered her personal style when she started to gain weight, as it gave her a new perspective. Now, she leans into styles she used to be fearful of: “Fashion can be a great healer,” she tells me.

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Hey Elbee! Tell me about yourself and what you like to wear.

Kia ora! I’m Elbee, a fashion content creator and working māmā based in Pōneke (Wellington) in Aotearoa. My style is deeply reflective of my personality: eclectic, colourful and a little bit silly.

What has your style evolution looked like? Do you feel like you’ve gained confidence in the way you dress? 

My style used to be very neutral and minimalist, largely because it was intrinsically tied to a desire to fit in and make myself smaller – both literally and figuratively. I would only wear silhouettes and colours that emphasised my thinness, which in turn meant my outfits were, well… rather boring.

 

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Gaining perspective, weight, and a newfound confidence in myself after a whirlwind past few years of amazing highs and incredibly challenging lows has shifted the dial for me on how I view myself and what is important in life.

I adore clothing that emphasises all of the things I used to be fearful of – volume, pattern, colour, and texture – and have come to the realisation through my own journey and the many other connections I have made along the way, that fashion can be a great healer.

 

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Have you ever felt like you needed to fit into a particular fashion box? 

Fashion is so deeply intertwined with personal identity and I think the times when my style has been the weakest were times when I struggled in some way with this. I think the times when my style has been the weakest have been when I’ve been struggling in some way with this. In my late teens and early twenties, I was dressing for the male gaze to try and appeal to the dating pool (a disaster). Later on, I was dressing in bland corporate attire in order to be ‘taken seriously’ in the workplace as a young woman in business (also a disaster).

I’ve since learnt that being true to yourself and being able to express this through fashion is a bit of a superpower and people are drawn to that authenticity.

 

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Take us back to those awkward teenage years. Do you have any fashion regrets?

I was quite the chameleon in my youth! I explored different aesthetics with the reckless abandon of a teen with no concept of just how bad constant bleach and pink hair dye can be. My only regret is not going a little easier on the fake tan.

What are the most expensive and least expensive items in your wardrobe?

My husband has expensive taste on my behalf, so has bought me some very beautiful handbags from Polène and Deadly Ponies. On the other side of the coin, I am a regular at my local thrift and love a cheeky $3 vintage clip-on earring find.

 

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What is the most meaningful fashion piece you own? 

My late stepdad left me his incredible vintage Yamaha racing jacket from the ’90s. It’s brightly coloured and pure fun – just like he was! It makes me smile every time I wear it.

Who or what influences your style?

I’m chronically online, so I love being inspired by what others are wearing on Instagram, Pinterest and TikTok, particularly smaller creators who have so much passion and creativity to share with the world. I’m also an avid reader of online fashion publications and blogs and will forever adore print magazines (as a child that is what I would save up and spend my pocket money on).

 

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What fashion piece are you saving for right now? 

So many – too many – goodies on the wishlist! I’ve coveted the Sissel Edelbo Adriane jacket in Green Garden forever. It’s the perfect piece for spring. The Nicole Soldoño fabiana eyelet shoes in dark brown napa are unreal and I would be the luckiest girl in the world if I owned them.

Paloceras have just released the most fun and unique glasses I’ve seen in a long time (impossible to choose a favourite colour). Lastly, I will try to snap up the Em on Holiday thin stripe kokomo pants the minute they come back into stock!

 

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What are the wardrobe items you wear on repeat? 

I’m a massive outfit repeater so I make a concerted effort to re-wear everything I own again and again. With that being said, the cost per wear on my Salomon XT-6s, Ganni knit vest, and all of my Damson Madder dresses has got to be down to a couple of dollars/cents each at this point.

Who are your favourite local designers? 

I lived in Melbourne until a couple of years ago, so I’ve got to shout out designers from both sides of the Tasman! Kowtow, Caitlin Crisp, Harris Tapper, I Love Ugly, Aprés Studio, Yu Mei, Katharina Lou, Bronwyn, Em on Holiday, Thing Thing, Saben, Ruby, Twenty Seven Names, Variety Hour, Maggie Marilyn, Deadly Ponies, Anna Quan, Mode Mischief Studios to name a few. Hand me a Negroni and some chips and guac and I could go on forever!

Keep up with Elbee here.