Virginia McBroom (BSIE, 2017), owner of an online and touring boutique, founded her business with the idea that all women of all ages can wear her blouses, skirts, tops, and sweaters.
Louise Lane sells a variety of women’s clothes, from LSU-themed dresses, sweatshirts and tees for gameday to women’s bottoms like skirts, shorts, pants and jeans. They also offer various shoes and accessories from heels, sneakers, and boots for the former and earrings, necklaces and bracelets for the latter. All clothes on the site were made by McBroom herself.
“What’s even better is that now I have a daughter, and her middle name is also Louise,” McBroom said.
While her business is a relatively recent development, McBroom said she has always had a knack for fashion, even at a young age.
“I remember at four or five years old, I was making my own clothes,” McBroom said. “My mom has pictures of me making outfits out of newspaper.”
When it came for McBroom to choose a college, she immediately thought of LSU. From Sunset, La., around 65 miles as the crow flies from Baton Rouge, she has been attending LSU football games since she was a little girl.
However, while McBroom has always had a knack for fashion, even at a young age, she decided to pursue an industrial engineering degree at LSU. But this didn't stop her from going all out on her clothes during football games, a trend that has since been popularized by students and young adults alike in the past decade.
“I remember having a specific outfit for every football game,” McBroom said. “Every outfit was totally different. You can never repeat an outfit, and I always brought sparkly outfits to every football game. I always took it as a fashion moment, and still do to this day.”
She remembers people commenting on her outfits all the time, with her responding that she’s wearing “what I love.” McBroom even had extra outfits in her closet before a football game, and she let her friends peruse and borrow, essentially running her own boutique in college.
A public speaking class was part of a general education requirement for her degree. McBroom hated public speaking, but this class broke her out of her shell, not only improving her public speaking ability, but giving her more confidence and sociability.
McBroom continues to use those skills. From talking to customers at the Louise Lane booth at traveling holiday shows to Facebook livestreams, she said the public speaking course was monumental to her development as both a student and as a person.
While some may see this as a failure, it was actually the start of something even more successful. McBroom remembers being told by her father-in-law to take this time as a gift to figure out what she truly wants to do. And after taking some time off, along with some assistance from her business-minded father, she started her boutique in collaboration with her mom.