Letters from Lulu

Love, Lulu Mae channels the inner vixen with a wink from the past

By Amy Oprean
Published: November 3rd, 2008 | 4:05pm

Agnes Miles wasn’t thinking about landing a business partner when she met Jessica McCloud in the theater building of Columbia College in Chicago, she was just trying to catch an elevator to class. She was in luck. McCloud, who was nursing a broken foot from “getting thrown around a little too much” in swing dancing, had the courtesy to balance on her good leg and hold the elevator door for Miles with her cane. After the rush of “thank you’s” and laughter, the next few moments were all it took for a connection to be made.

“I was really happy after meeting Agnes,” McCloud says. “She has this very feminine, happy, all-encompassing energy that’s really airy and light. I, on the other hand, was about to break up with my boyfriend, not to mentionhobbling on a cane, so I was really very dark and morose.”

That energy has stayed with the pair through their years in college — McCloud was a theater major, and Miles majored in musical theater — and in their reconnecting and joining forces as business partners for Love, Lulu Mae. A collection of environmentally friendly, burlesque-meets–rocknroll hairpieces, hats, and headbands, Lulu Mae items are eye-catching, feminine, and full of distinctive character. These include “Josette,” a fanciful vintage hat with autumn-colored feathers, glass beads, and velvet flowers, “Lady Jane,” a romantic purple headpiece topped with a peacock feather and antique brooch, and the bright and bold “Viva La Frida,” a headband with a crown of yellow, orange, and purple flowers.

Less than a year after the birth of their company, Miles (the designer) and McCloud (the business guru and model “face” of LuLu Mae), shared their vision for their brand of wearable art, and why their partnership is so fulfilling.

What’s the story behind the name Love, Lulu Mae?

AM: I remember seeing a photo of my grandmother laying down in the grass in her yard, writing and smiling at the camera. For some reason, it captured me. It made me think of her writing love letters to all her boyfriends or her “Johns” in World War II, trying to be romantic, but maybe also being a little bit of a vixen and having a couple of boys over there. So the “Love” comes from signing a letter. The Lulu part just kind of appeared — it felt old and vintage, like I could connect with it. And the Mae part is from my grandmother, too — my mom used to call her Mae Mae. So it all kind of stemmed from that picture.

What is it about vintage things that appeal to you?

AM: I like being able to tap into that past history and that past energy, and that energy comes through in certain pieces. We don’t just go randomly picking out a whole bunch of brooches — we really hand-select things that speak to us. You can imagine them being worn in the ‘20s, you can imagine the type of girl that used to wear it.

We mix vintage with modern because we’d like to have the every day girl be able to go to the grocery store and put on a feather headband, and have a little bit of glitz to her so she feels that yeah, she’s important and beautiful, but she can still feel grounded in herself.

Why do you think you work so successfully together?

JM: I think we’re able to focus on the business side and creative side of Lulu Mae because we have a really strong respect for each other. I mean, we were both theater majors for a reason. We’re both emotional women, and we know how to express it; we paid money to learn how to express it, so I think we both know how to understand each other.

AM: And that right there makes the best business: being able to actually connect and work with each other, and not get sick of each other, or angry or jealous. There’s none of that. It’s great for me creatively too, because Jess really evokes what I envisioned Lulu Mae to be. Ever since I asked her to start modeling for me, there’s something about her that captures me the way my grandma used to capture me — that old time, sensual, romantic-but-edgy feel. There’s mystery behind her.

JM: I’m hot.

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View more online at lovelulumae.bigcartel.com.