Katie interviews the fashion designer about turning a social media account into a mini-museum of celebrity.
It’s no secret that I’m obsessed with Instagram (the first step is admitting you have a problem, lol). I’ve met so many amazing and talented people through IG, and I wanted to share some of my favorite accounts with you all! I hope you enjoy these incredible individuals as much as I do, and as always, share with me what your favorite Instagram accounts are by dropping me a line at info@katiecouric.com.
I am by no means a fashion expert, which makes me all the more appreciative of those who are. I love following Liz Lange, the woman we can all thank for revamping maternity wear. In fact, in 2001, she became the first designer to host a maternity wear runway show at New York Fashion Week. She’s launched athleticwear for pregnant women with Nike, created a maternity line for Target, and is now running Figue, a luxury resortwear brand.
But if you follow Liz, you won’t initially see much of that. Instead, her feed is filled with incredible photos of icons past and present like Princess Diana, Bianca Jagger, Al Pacino, Madonna, Diana Ross, Iman, and Jackie O. I always learn something new from her posts, so I asked her a few questions about how she brings these snapshots to life!
Your Instagram account is a cultural archive of sorts. You’ve got photos of Meryl Streep in a leopard jumpsuit from 1982; 1970s-era Cher in a cowboy hat and hip-hugging lace-up pants; Tyra Banks, Naomi Campbell, and Beverly Peele laughing in string bikinis on a yacht in 1992. Why did you decide to dedicate your account to retro glamour?
I knew I didn’t want to post photos of myself and my family. I realize many do and I think that’s great, but I’m from a generation in which that much sharing was just never done, so it didn’t feel right for me. I’m very comfortable sharing stories about my life and I have extensive Pinterest boards of images I find glamorous, chic, and cool — pinning is my secret addiction. So I decided to combine the two, and something just clicked. The images are of other people, but the stories are all mine.
Each post feels like you’ve been transported back to a specific era. How do you decide what you’re going to share and when?
It’s very organic. I try to plan an entire week at once, doing one post daily, and it’s whatever I’m feeling or thinking about at the moment.
Meanwhile, you had a very unique upbringing. Tell us a little bit about your family, which you chronicle on your podcast.
I did indeed. I shared it all on my autobiographical podcast, The Just Enough Family: The gist is that I grew up in NYC on the Upper East Side in the ’70s and ’80s, and my family was very well-known at the time for being very rich. My uncle was an extraordinarily brilliant and successful financier who made the whole family rich beyond their wildest imagination. I’m not bragging, though: We ultimately lost the money. But that came much later when I was around 30 years old. So, for most of my life, I had a front-row seat to the places and activities many of the people I post about were also visiting and doing.
I love how you infuse your life experiences and expertise into the captions, most recently with your post for Ivana Trump. How do you remember all these things?
I have a weirdly good memory. Like many, I couldn’t tell you what I ate for dinner last night, but ask me about my Christmas vacation with my parents in 1978, and I can give you every detail.
Now you’re running Figue, a clothing and home line “infused with bohemian gorgeousness.” Tell us about that!
I sold Liz Lange Maternity back in 2007 and then did a women’s ready-to-wear line for HSN and Shopping Channel Canada. At the same time, I was investing in new brands and advising their founders. But I wanted more. When I heard that Figue, a brand I loved, wore, and greatly admired, was up for sale, I jumped at the opportunity to acquire it. This was during the height of the pandemic in December 2020.
Since then, the team and I have been hard at work relaunching and growing Figue. We have a brand new website, and a much more varied breadth and depth of clothing and accessories. Not only is our ready-to-wear line expanding to include many more styles and silhouettes, but we’re also bringing back Figue’s famous bags and sandals. We just introduced homewares and our latest collaboration with the hat brand Tuluminati for Figue x Tuluminati hats. But you said it best: Anything and everything we introduce has our unique mix of free-spirit-meets-sophisticate, our soulful spirit, and our global sensibility.
