Dropping today on https://desertdyes.com/ is an exclusive collab with Venus Rising Blog and Desert Dyes. This limited collection includes a sweatshirt, sweatpants, shorts and a t-shirt in the signature VRB colours and that of the famous 'Birth Of Venus' painting. Desert Dyes chose colours from this painting to create a one-of-a-kind dye for these two sets, making the limited, few piece edition something you have to jump on quick. Below you will find an exclusive interview with Lo of Desert Dyes and photos I took of the VRB sweat suit and shorts outfit.
What inspires you?
I find most of my inspiration from nature + the past. The desert is my favorite place, and is where I go to find peace, colors of the desert . I have always greatly loved + appreciated the outdoors as well which is why I work so hard to keep Desert Dyes an eco-friendly business. I also find a lot of inspiration from my ancestors and history. My grandfather was an artist and I grew up in a home full of his abstract works. He passed when I was young so I feel a deep connection to him via his artwork. I love that I find myself creating similar abstract artworks like him, just with a different medium. Whenever I feel a creative block I go outside or think of his artwork and 9 times out of 10 a great idea hits me!
What’s your sign and how do you think that plays a part in your life?
I am a Gemini sun, Libra moon. It honestly freaks me out how true my sun sign is for me. If it tells you anything, my hair is currently pink on one side and blue on the other which I have been LOVING! I feel it totally embodies my personality of hot/cold or girly/punk, I could never pick a side. As a Gemini, I love to go with the flow and am super creative, but also need to work on managing emotions (so many highs and lows lol) as well as being more decisive and staying on task.
What is the main purpose of your account/brand?
The main purpose of Desert Dyes is to celebrate being unique! We are all so unique, it really is a beautiful thing. I wish society would promote this rather than promoting this "idea image" where we end up scrubbing out some of the things that make us so amazing. Especially as women we are force fed this idea that being/looking different is bad, which is just not the case. Fast fashion brands mass produce millions of pieces that are all exactly the same which solidifies this idea. With my tie dyes, each is a unique work of art, taking on its own special design which I believe is perfect for the person receiving the item. Each piece I produce is truly one of a kind, just like us! By creating these unique outfits, I hope I can inspire others to celebrate and outwardly express their differences and the differences of people around them. I also feel my brand embodies healthy healing and finding the joy in life after a difficult incident or time. I love the symbolism around a rainbow, of color blooming from a crazy storm. This is so true to life and being able to enrich people's closets and bring them some extra color and good vibes is everything to me. Overall, if there is any message you take away from Desert Dyes it is that you are a unique beautiful human who deserves to live a wonderful fun loving life.
What is something you love deeply about yourself?
I love my emotions. I have not always loved them though. I am a wildly emotional person and feel very strongly. I also love how strong and brave I am. I know I can get myself through anything. I was not always like this, but the bad times in my life have shown me I can do anything I set my mind to. I love to be adventurous and get out in the outdoors to do crazy fun things. I am always down to put in the work for a great trip and these are where my best memories come from, so it's always worth it!
What’s some advice you have for other people revolving around confidence?
Confidence has been a life-long challenge for me. It is something I have worked on since the 5th grade and something I will probably work on until I am old and wrinkly. I have pretty severe diagnosed anxiety so this thought has caused me a lot of distress over the years. I thought there was a problem I needed to fix, and that would be fixed, but that is not the case. There is no finish line for personal growth! Once I accepted this fact that there was no endpoint to being more confident I actually found myself being a lot more confident. Dropping the idea that something was wrong with me and that I had so fix something allowed me to relax around the subject and actually grown from experiences.
What makes you feel confident?
Good rest, protein/water and yoga/breathing. I know it sounds crazy but I swear a glass of water and some deep breaths can do wonders for feeling good about yourself. I think a lot of my confidence issues stem from my anxiety, which is why these things work so well for me. Overall, a consistent yoga practice really helps me feel overall confident day to day. I feel good about my body/soul and learning to open my body (especially my shoulders) to a more accepting posture has really helped me feel confident especially with human interaction.
What have you had to overcome that’s made you who you are?
Just a little trigger warning here that I'm going to talk about something more sensitive. I only bring these things up because so many people have experienced similar things and are still suffering deeply. I just want to show how you truly can heal and create a wonderful life after surviving things like this. In college I survived two sexual assults and a suicide attempt. The SA's had consumed me. One day I started to realize that my head was filled with so many bad thoughts all the time that there wasn't any room to heal. I decided the first thing I had to do was to get thinking and obsessing about something else that was more positive. This is the first step I took in healing and from there I started to get back into art rather than parties. I started brainstorming Desert Dyes and the other thoughts that were consuming me began to fade. My depression started to fade into something positive, and granted I was also doing a ton of therapy at the time but I started to heal. Desert Dyes was truly born from the greatest storm of my life thus far and I am just so thankful for art and creation and that I was able to survive and get help. If you are struggling with something like this please know you are not alone and there is someone out there who truly cares about you and your struggle (even if I don't personally know you, I really care). If you ever need to chat with another human feel free to reach out to me on Instagram @desert.dyes. There are also amazing free resources out there to truly help you heal and get help. These hotlines are available 24/7 and I know in the past I was scared to call and didn't know if my feelings were "serious enough" but was so glad once I did, they are all so nice, understanding and most importantly helpful.
Suicide Hotline: 800-273-8255 Sexual Assualut Hotline: 800-656-4673
Who are your biggest inspirations?
Honestly my family inspires me the most. Artistically I find myself relying on my grandfather a lot, he passed when I was little but his pieces have always hung in my home, growing up and on my own. His work just inspires me to create and be a good empathetic human. In terms of just a life inspiration I usually think about my great great (great?) grandmother. She was a Dutch pioneer who traveled with the Mormons from the east coast to Utah. At the time she had 5 small children including a 6 month old. There are family stories of her carrying him in her teeth in a blanket because she needed both hands to get over parts of the Rocky Mountains. Super bad bitch and if I ever am thinking I can't do something or get something done I think of her and get that shit done!
What’s your beauty/fashion go to?
I don't really have a beauty/fashion go to. I have a super natural look and only wear a bb cream and mascara. I used to wear a lot of makeup in highschool but phased it out my senior year and came to love my face more with a natural look. Now I feel weird in a full face of glam. Fashion wise I mostly look to the past hence my love for tie dye and thrift shopping. I rarely buy new clothing and if I do buy a piece it is usually a thrift find.
What would you say is the best thing about you?
My personality! I love to be a goofball and make other people laugh. I love to rally my friend group to get outside and do adventurous things like float the rivers. I am also pretty funny according to my boyfriend haha
What does equality mean to you?
To me equality means that everyone has the chance to live up to their full potential. As humans the odds are initially stacked against us just as we are to achieve this. Then with aspects of society that create inequality achieving this becomes impossible for some. This is also why equality is so important. Realizing our potential, reaching it and creating something amazing from it is what the human experience is all about, and how humanity grows as a whole.
Enjoy this bonus photo and don't forget to shop the collection when it comes out tonight over at https://desertdyes.com/
Comments