In Conversation with Mirjana Perkovic, Founder and CEO of LookStyler
The definition of luxury travel has constantly evolved over the years. Once upon a time, luxury travel meant just flying business or first class to a new country, skipping the crowds while going to the city’s major sightseeing spots, a sleek car rental and staying in a stylish hotel. However, luxury travel in this day and age has seen quite the seismic shift and now entails booking personalised travel experiences and splurging on memories that count.
“LookStyler is just that: a customised fashion tourism experience,” says Founder and CEO of LookStyler, Mirjana Perkovic.
A fashion entrepreneur, travel blogger, a one-to-watch digital award winner who capitalised on her love for fashion and travel in order to conceptualise LookStyler; Mirjana Perkovic is a name to remember!
What Is LookStyler?
LookStyler is a marketplace for Fashion Tourism which connects international luxury shoppers to local fashion business professionals and travel partners to curate shopping and styling tours for individuals, groups or corporates.
Much like a city tour, a LookStyler ‘shopping tour’ entails screening the customer/s and matching them to a local stylist who acts as a travel guide and organises a curated shopping tour for them.
In addition to the shopping tour, the customer/s can also avail value-added services like spa and beauty treatments, sightseeing, dining or accommodation to name a few in order to bundle up and make an all-round memorable personalised shopping experience.
In the emerging field of Fashion Psychology, it is understood that psychological sciences can be integrated and utilised in the fashion industry to effectively produce tools to achieve desirable results in an individual’s perception of self, their behaviour, mood and desired objectives. A centuries-old outdated notion is that women have to deny their feminine identity to shine in a male-dominated business world, however, this isn’t necessarily the case. Authenticity and originality undoubtedly shine through. Mirjana, using the LookStyler banner, works closely with a fashion psychologist to help women dress to boost their confidence and put them onto a path of success.
The LookStyler Journey
The LookStyler journey went from Mirjana working independently in assisting clients with styling in Belgium to her current growing team in New York along with a worldwide network of stylists. The shift has not just been trans-Atlantic; it has been transcendental for her. She accounts a lot of LookStyler’s success in joining an accelerator and shifting to one of the most iconic global fashion capitals of the world. New York City has been the ideal hub for LookStyler’s growth beyond its existing European market. It allowed LookStyler as a brand to get connected to several strategic partners, expand their network and eventually, their global footprint. LookStyler has also been featured on Forbes, which applauded its original concept of ‘shopper tourism’ and Mirjana considers this to be one of the biggest achievements for the brand.
Mirjana says that the main differentiator that sets LookStyler apart from its competition is that while it is a fashion company, the primary focus is on travel.
In addition to that, the network of top fashion professionals that work with LookStyler is highly exclusive- many of these professional celebrity stylists are not available for bookings made by individuals by themselves! The stylist network operates in the highly developed fashion hubs as well as in a few growing cities. The focus is on unique and unforgettable customer experiences and this happens by working with the best fashion and travel partners.
In a way, LookStyler has also turned hope into a strategy for local retailers across the world who face the brunt of online shopping. On visiting a new country, the LookStyler stylists introduce you to the local fashion scene with visits to authentic local vendors and offer immaculate and memorable shopping and styling assistance.
With the onset of online shopping, is LookStyler still relevant? Studies have shown that consumers nowadays prefer indulging in an omnichannel shopping experience, as most fashion brands are doing nowadays. LookStyler boasts an omnichannel experience as well- stylists are available for online consultations prior to travel; following this they accompany and assist you on your personalised shopping and styling journey.
Curated experiences where consumers choose memorabilia of value work in line with environmental sustainability as they do not contribute to the waste produced by fast fashion. Shoppers and their stylists put in thought towards their purchases and buy what they deem most necessary. So, in the age of fast fashion, LookStyler is a breath of fresh air.
Mirjana Perkovic: The ‘Real Millennial’ Girl Boss
Mirjana has described herself in a previous interview as a ‘Real Millennial’ and her travel style is a reflection of this generational identity. She doesn’t look to acquire many material goods but opts to invest in experiences. Millennial travellers splurge on luxury experiences and being an avid fashion and travel lover, LookStyler was quite the natural progression for the entrepreneur in Mirjana. Her fashion background, owning a brand which made custom clothing for men and women, led her to the realisation that most of her customers needed styling assistance. This insight into the styling market potential, coupled with her in-depth knowledge of the travel sector along with her executive diploma in Digital Leadership was all that went into her foraging into the widely unexplored yet greatly titillating field of fashion tourism.
LookStyler is the spectacular brainchild of Mirjana’s love for travel, fashion and the digital world.
Her fashion inspiration can be traced far back to her childhood with visits to the nearby quaint shopping towns in Italy to her eventually returning back to do a styling course in Milan. As far as travel is concerned, LookStyler drives inspiration from her travels to over 104 countries across 6 continents. It was during these trips that Mirjana sensed a gap and recognised a market potential when it came to bridging both fashion and travel, especially for those coming from the emerging fashion capitals. Her intention, through LookStyler, is to make sure that the fashion world is more connected. Girl Boss goals, indeed!
The main challenge that Mirjana says she faced over the course of setting up her business was mostly related to carefully treading a male-dominated business world. The challenge at the beginning for Mirjana was to overcome the plaguing feeling that this was her weakness; now, she considers this to be her strength.
Mirjana Perkovic trod the unconventional path and chose to do what she loved. She travelled extensively, dressed impeccably and never dulled out her digital presence.
She dared to breathe life into her dreams by bringing LookStyler to the world.