A wedding is an event that often highlights and strengthens the intimate bond between a mother and daughter. In the case of Rebecca Hessel Cohen, it also created the feminine, frilly, ethereal dresses that came to be the signature of her brand, LoveShackFancy.
Hessel Cohen has fashioned a kind of dynasty of romance — not only with dresses but also fragrance, beauty products, apparel, jewelry, and home decor. And now, she is moving into floral and other gifts that bear her aesthetic with her collaboration with our brand, 1-800-Flowers.com.
Her creativity borrows inspiration from her mother and now her own daughters too; her real estate developer husband, Todd (“Mister LoveShackFancy,” as she calls him), supports the retail expansion and beauty business. The brand is truly a family affair.
Birth of a fashion empire
Hessel Cohen, a native New Yorker, grew up in the aura of her creative director mom, Nancy, playing in the fashion and beauty closets of Seventeen magazine, often babysat by editors and assistants. Hessel Cohen also had a career in magazines, interning at Vogue, Elle, Teen Vogue, and Self, and ultimately becoming the senior fashion and beauty director at Cosmopolitan, where she styled photo fashion and beauty shoots.
When Rebecca was planning her wedding, the visual storyteller in her took over. Hessel Cohen wore a Monique Lhuillier dress (that she still owns and admires) but couldn’t find anything she loved for her bridesmaids. “So, my mom and I decided to create my own dresses. We worked with a seamstress in the garment district in New York City and made these beautiful, very ethereal feminine but still sexy bridesmaid dresses, in all different silk colors,” she says.
After the wedding, she took that dress (which she later named The Love Dress) on tour to trunk shows in the Hamptons. “I would make, like, 50 of them, and they would sell out.” It was her passion project for two years, “until I officially launched a business,” she says. LoveShackFancy was born.
Mother/daughter/daughter relationships
Her vision has roots in her mother’s creativity, her own nostalgia, and her daughters’ influence. “My mom collected Victorian wedding dresses and beautiful floral prints for as long as I can remember,” Hessel Cohen says. “So, it's really a part of what I grew up with and my DNA. And then when I had my own daughters, it became this kind of nostalgic storytelling. I relive my childhood again with these pieces.”
Her daughters Scarlett and Stella, now 9 and 11, respectively, helped bring the frill back. “Believe it or not, I always wore black before having my girls! In my twenties, my uniform was mini-skirts, black blazers, towering heels, and boots,” Hessel Cohen says. “But after becoming a mom, I embraced the magic of fairy tales, pink tulle, dressing up, and princess dreams. I fell in love with all of it and really leaned into the essence of childhood. Through my girls, I began to see the world with rose-colored glasses.”
Her young girls are her inspiration. “I learn from them, which is really amazing and interesting. They are so on the pulse of everything that's going on,” she says. “They love fashion. They love beauty. They love trends and culture and traveling. I pick their brains about what prints they like.”
And they love to hang with their mom. “We do everything together. We love dressing up, doing our makeup, having dance parties in the living room, shopping, traveling, and hosting our friends.”
Family time is prime time
How does this family affair include family time? “To me, it's all work-life integration,” Hessel Cohen says. “That's the name of the game.” Mister LoveShackFancy helps with the finances (they try to talk business in private) and her daughters are involved in product development, of sorts. “My older daughter is in sixth grade. She and her friends, the girls, the guys, they're seeing the perfume collections. The boys love the perfume just as much as the girls. They all like vanilla now.”
A recent trip to Disney World illustrated the sense of harmony Hessel Cohen seeks in her life. While there, she hosted a trunk show at the Four Seasons Resort in Orlando and spent the day and night with her daughter and her best friend. “It's about balancing things, where we do a little work, a lot of play, a little bit more work.”
Entrepreneur mom
As a successful entrepreneur who has brought her daughters along every step of her journey, Hessel Cohen has some advice for her girls. “Find something that inspires you and put all your energy toward it,” she says. “Follow your instincts, your intuition, and your gut.”
And to her own self as a young woman? “I'd remind her that LoveShackFancy was my side hustle! Go for it...even if that means working two jobs until you can focus on your dream full time,” she says. “I would encourage myself to keep going, dream big, stay true to myself, never give up, and, above all else, follow my heart!”
Good advice from an Amazing Mom.
AUTHOR
Martha McCully is a writer and brand consultant who’s into wellness, design, health, wine, and science. She was formerly Executive Editor of In Style, founding Beauty Director of Allure, and judge on HGTV Design Star.
