Nasty Gal Brings Coachella to Hollywood's Roosevelt Hotel

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Last night, Nasty Gal founder and CEO Sophia Amoruso invited all the cool kids in town to the Roosevelt Hotel's Tropicana Bar to toast her wildly popular e-boutique's site facelift and snazzy new blog. In honor of Coachella, the poolside event was chock-full of choice tunes, thanks to DJ sets by Sky Ferreira and Breakbot from Ed Banger Records.

After weaving through the jam-packed crowd of bloggers, models, fans and one Jenna Jameson (really), we managed to track down Amoruso to ask her about Nasty Gal's cult-like following, spot-on styling, covetable inventory and the one celebrity she'd love to have as a customer.

The redesign looks great. Are you satisfied with the new look?
"Thanks! I really love how it turned out. We have an amazing creative director and creative team that made it happen. Nasty Gal before this was just bits and pieces of what I threw together a long time ago. Although our customers were still responding to it, some of the identity didn't match across the board. Now I feel like we're saying the exact same thing everywhere you look, so it's a cohesive experience."

Who is the Nasty Gal girl?
"She's cool, self-confident and sexy, but not sexy for a guy. She gets dressed up because it's fun, not because she wants to flaunt her shit. I think our girl likes to look a little offbeat and disheveled, too."

What are your thoughts on Nasty Gal's rapid growth?
"It's amazing. I started the company in San Francisco in 2006 and I'm pleased that we've grown super organically. We really don't spend that much on advertising and, honestly, we don't really do a ton of blogger outreach. I mean we work with them to an extent, but it would be a lot of work to focus on each and every one of them. I just think that what we're doing appeals to our Nasty Gal girl and she's naturally picked up on it. I'm not comfortable in a super stuffy environment myself, so I want to make sure that our brand is cool yet approachable. Our customers have really picked up on that."

Your styling has a lot to do with the appeal, too.
"Definitely. My friend Stacey is the stylist and I still advise on styling. We actually just hired LA blogger Ashley Glorioso of Purse 'n Boots to help style, too, which we're really excited about."

What attracted you to Ashley versus other bloggers?
"I think that there are a lot of bloggers out there that make blogging their careers, but she's someone that's actually styling professionally. She's represented by NEXT and has a great portfolio. I like that she not only shows that she could dress herself, but she could dress herself and other people in a way that's commercial to an extent that works for our brand."

How do you decide what brands to include on the site? Is it a personal style choice?
"When I first started Nasty Gal, I was that messy, vintage-wearing girl. My style has evolved since then because I've really been influenced by the customer who's responding to what we put out there. It's an ongoing dialogue: rather than say, 'Wear this!' we put pieces out and see who responds. It's always been like, 'Okay, they don't like that? Let's tweak it.' It's never about selling only what we like or only certain designers. It's been very iterative and organic. It's a symbiosis between the brand, the customer, bloggers, and us."

We're sure you have tons of brands asking you to carry them.
"Yes, there are a lot of small brands that reach out and some of them are really great. As we've grown, the brands that we carry have grown with us, such as Jeffrey Campbell and UNIF. We've created this great platform for smaller brands that allows them to design really edgy stuff because we have that unique customer that's willing to take those risks in style."

Are there any celebrities that you would die to see buy from Nasty Gal?
"Not really. Maybe Kate Moss? Celebrities are awesome, but we're not really a celebrity-focused brand. With that said, if we were ever to work with a celebrity, it would only be because they have really cool style."

What's next for Nasty Gal?
"We'll keep doing what we do best because that's what sprung the business. Our customers understand our focus, so we try not to deviate too much. We're just going to keep putting out awesome shit."
·Nasty Gal [Official Site]
· New Look for Nasty Gal; Brochu Walker Pops Up at Arcade [Racked]
· TenOverSix's New Paint Job; Nasty Gal Parties at the Roosevelt [Racked]