I am here with fashion stylist Elisha Daniels. She has a boutique at the Mandarin Oriental here in Boston. She’s very well known in the fashion industry. I, of course, am getting to know her because I am not a total fashionista.
🔉 Listen to Audio Excerpt:
Why don’t we start with how you fell in love with fashion and what inspired you to become a stylist?
I would say I loved fashion for as long as I can remember. As a little girl, I had a very, very, very fashionable mother who had a lot of style, just innate style by no training, but just had a lot of style in the way she put herself together in her love for textiles and fabrics and trims and handmade beautiful clothes. And I think that it was just in me. I’ve always loved fashion, I love prints and patterns and color, and I don’t remember a time when I wasn’t that way.
Can you walk us through your journey from your early career to opening your style studio and boutique at the Mandarin Oriental in Boston?
Well, I’m old, so it’s a long journey so far. But an abbreviated version is, I went to school here in Boston. I went to Northeastern (University), I grew up in Milton (MA), and as a little girl or as a young girl in high school, I worked part-time at Ann Taylor at the South Shore Plaza in Braintree. And it was a time when Ann Taylor was a very beautiful store, beautifully curated with lots of wonderful designs. And then I went to Northeastern and I stayed in Boston, lived in Boston, and I was a journalist in the journalism school, so that all through school I also worked at Ann Taylor on Newbury Street. So I have stayed in fashion my whole career. I ended up, I never really worked as a journalist until later in my life, but I got married out of college to a guy from Cleveland, Ohio, and we moved back to Cleveland. And while I was there, I opened a little boutique in the Ritz Carlton Hotel in downtown Cleveland. So it sort of mimicked my shop now at the Mandarin, sort of mimicked that original taste of being an entrepreneur in the fashion world.
Your boutique at the Mandarin is known for unique items, “one of a kind’s”, how do you source these? One-of-a-kind pieces?
“I feel like retail in general in our world today really is very unexciting. It’s all mass-produced brands, same brands in every mall or every high street that you walk down in any city in the country.”
Yeah, so when I opened shop at the Mandarin, one of my main mottoes was that it had to be, it’s a tiny space, so it has to be very tightly curated. And I only wanted it to, I represent unique and chic independent designers from around the world. I feel like retail in general in our world today really is very unexciting. It’s all mass-produced brands, same brands in every mall or every high street that you walk down in any city in the country. And I didn’t want that for my shop. I wanted people who come to the hotel and my regular clients every day to see something that’s unique and special that they won’t see anywhere else.
I feel that I always know personally that anywhere I ever went in the world, I always went into a luxury hotel boutique because you are sure to find unique and special things, great gift items to take back home, something wonderful to buy, that you’ll have an incredible memory of your trip. And that’s what I wanted my shop to be all about. So I really hunt high and low to get unique and special things into the shop.
I do fashion week in Paris and in London and New York. And then I do some smaller shows like Dallas and Miami, constantly trying to find unique people, young independent designers that are just starting out that have incredible talent.
Who is your typical Elisha Daniels client and how has the clientele evolved over the years?
So, my typical client is a woman who has a lot of personality, is very secure in her style. She’s not afraid to wear a sweater with a big, huge bow or a hot pink fur coat faux fur, of course. So, my client has evolved in terms of, I think that I give her confidence to wear these things in terms of, she comes to me because she just doesn’t know exactly can I wear this silk taffeta jacket with a pair of jeans and cowboy boots. So, I like to say I help my clients become the best versions of themselves.
I am certainly not pushing my style or my fashion sense onto somebody else, but I am definitely giving them the courage to do something a little braver than what they do on their own. And I also think I always try to sell my customers something they don’t already own and couldn’t possibly already own in their closet. Most people buy what they already own. I’m trying to steer them away from that.
You’ve been named one of the 25 most stylish Bostonians. What’s your secret to maintaining personal style while helping others find theirs?
That’s a good question. My style has pretty much stayed true over the years. Maybe I’ve evolved a little bit. My style is, believe it or not, very classic, but I always have a twist. I’m not frightened to mix prints. I mean, hello. And I feel like I just, my own style is just a little something extra, and I don’t expect most people are too frightened to do that, or they’ll get so overwhelmed by it that they’ll do nothing and just put on jeans and a T-shirt. So I never really project my own personal style onto my client, but like I said, I give, I like to give them options.
Going in a little bit of a different direction. In 2006, you were diagnosed with breast cancer. You serve on the national advisor, excuse me. You serve on the National Advisory Board of the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, and you’ve co-chaired the foundation’s annual hot pink party in Boston, which raises funds to support breast cancer research. In 2009, you co-authored a book on surviving breast cancer with style called You Can Do This. How has this experience shaped your approach to fashion in life in general?
That’s a loaded question. It completely changed my life. When I was on my 40th birthday, I was diagnosed with stage three breast cancer, and at the time I was given a very good chance of living three to five years. That was 18 years ago. But it completely changed my life in terms of the way I think about things and the way I look at things and that I really do not sweat the small stuff. It was an incredibly difficult journey, but an incredible journey that I got to learn so much at 40 years old that some people don’t learn in a lifetime. And it taught me really to appreciate so much in my life and to this very day, I still feel that way. And the other main thing, it took away all my fear. Nothing frightens me. I’m not afraid to try something. I’m not afraid to go somewhere. I’m not afraid to do anything because once you’ve faced your own mortality in your life, nothing could ever does frighten you again.
I am very honored and very grateful that for the last 16 years I have been on the advisory board, BCRF. I feel very strongly to this day that research is the reason that most cancer patients get to live. Research is one of the, there’s a lot of incredible organizations that do a lot for cancer patients and their family for sure, but research is really the only thing that matters in the end. And the Breast Cancer Research Foundation does that incredibly, we fund over 271 investigators, researchers around the world. Of those 271 researchers, approximately 28 of them are in the New England area. So when we do our fundraising in Boston, what we raise in Boston stays in Boston, and that’s very important to me.
Herceptin, which is an incredibly successful drug, was created, was founded from a researcher on a grant from BCRF. So BCRF is really Evelyn Lauder who started the Breast Cancer Research Foundation in 1992. She had such a forward way of thinking. She was such a pioneer and what she did and what she created with BCRF and all the doctors and researchers that helped her along the way just has really changed the scope of how cancer is treated in the world. Evelyn always, you would say, she said, I can’t wait till the day that I’m put out of business because that means cancer is no longer killing people. It’s more of a chronic illness, which thank God is how it was for me. I can’t say enough about BCRF.
Clearly.
I’m sorry.
Alright. Getting back to your business, your boutique offers comprehensive luxury fashion styling services. What sets you apart from others in Boston who do the same?
Well, I think probably what sets me apart is I had a very different, before I opened my boutique, I was just doing personal styling and my business model was very different than most. I didn’t charge my clients by the hour. I had contracts with designers in stores, so they paid me. So it was really not a burden to my clients. So it was a very interesting business model. So they were really just getting the most in depth service that they could possibly get from a stylist, because I could take them anywhere, I guess is my point. I wasn’t just taking them to one store and they had to get buy everything from J Crew or from Sachs or wherever, that it was all about their needs. So I don’t do that as much as I used to do that because I just don’t have the time with my shop. I’m in my shop six days a week, but for my own clients who come to see me at the boutique, I do still do styling services. If I can’t get it for them from my shop, I’ll help them get it somewhere else.
I wouldn’t think of Boston as being a fashion central city compared to Paris or New York. I could be wrong. That’s just my perspective. What’s the most challenging aspect of being a fashion entrepreneur in Boston?
Well, I agree with you. You’re right, of course, Boston, but Boston has changed an awful lot also in the last 10 years, just in the terms of resources that we have in Boston. We have so many incredible international designers in Boston now, but I think that for young people who are fashion designers and stylists, I think that they really do have to branch out and go to New York if they to at least to start out. Although we have a lot of wonderful fashion schools in Boston with a lot of incredible instructors.
When someone walks into your shop into the boutique, what’s your process for helping a new client discover their personal style?
Really just talking to them, getting to know them a little bit, and everybody who walks into my shop learns. Everybody I carry, and I can very quickly read somebody of what if this particular dress is something that they would be open to trying or if they don’t like color or if they don’t like black. I very quickly read by talking to people, and I always try to put somebody into something that they don’t, just to challenge their comfort zone a little bit.
Looking ahead, excuse me. What are your goals for your businesses and personal brand in the next few years? If you can talk about it?
My shop is, my goal is just keeping it fresh and exciting and with the best product I can possibly give to my show, to my customers. I don’t know. I struggle a little bit with, is this it for me? Is this all I just am happy with this shop or do I want to expand? And I’ve been offered to expand into other states even, and we’ll see how that goes. Sometimes I feel like one great shop is better than a couple of okay shops, and I’m in a great spot, so yeah, I know I’m sticking with my boutique. I’m not going anywhere, but we’ll see if we expand a little bit in the next couple of years.
If you could dress someone past or present, who would it be and why?
Oh my gosh. If I could dress somebody past or present, I think past, if I could dress somebody, it would’ve been Princess Diana. I think she had such a incredible style of her own, but she was such a perfect body model to be able that no matter what she put on, even if it would be dowdy and dumpy on somebody else, it looked polished and beautiful on her. She would definitely be one, and we lost her at such a young age that she’s kind of frozen in time in that beautiful style.
What advice would you give to aspiring fashion stylists or boutique owners?
My advice to boutique owners is I’m still learning, I feel every day myself in my shop, but I think my best advice is to keep it your product. It’s all about your product, product, product, product, and as unique and special as you can possibly find, and you have to be true to yourself. I think sometimes people, they just mix up the product too much. You can’t be hippie dippy over on this side and completely sophisticated and clean and plain on this side. I just think your customer is confused. And then for stylists, I think it’s to listen to your client. You cannot portray your own thoughts and beliefs on fashion and style to your client. It has to be about their lifestyle, their needs, and what they’re comfortable with.
Someone wants to get ahold of you or visit the boutique. Where do they go?
The boutique is located in the Mandarin Oriental in Boston at 776 Newbury St.; Not Newbury Street. Boylston Street. 776 Boylston Street. And you can always find me on my website, elishadaniels.com or email me at elisha@elishadaniels.com.
Awesome.
Thank you!
Thank you very much for coming in!
My pleasure. It was fun. It was great fun. Thank you, Charlie.
The Elisha Daniels Boutique is located in the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Boston at 776 Boylston St. Their hours are Monday – Saturday 10am – 5pm
or by appointment. She can be found on Instagram @ElishaDaniels.
