Lauren Santo Domingo on wrestling, hustling and maintaining good karma

As Moda Operandi opens a London hub, its founder Lauren Santo Domingo tells Ellie Pithers about her summer job (it involves wrestling), her Vogue mishaps, and her company's new app - which is like Tinder for clothes

Lauren Santo Domingo in a dress by Thom Browne. Like every fashion intern she had her hapless moments, once throwing a couture gown in the bin Photo: DAYMION MARDEL

Lauren Santo Domingo isn't the sort of woman you would associate with the World Wrestling Federation. Indeed, if you found the two acronyms LSD, the handy moniker that serves as her byline in American Vogue , and WWF in the same sentence, you might assume she was all about the pandas.

But it turns out that WWF was where LSD was schooled in the art of customer service. "I answered the fan mail one year as a summer job. And basically" - she lowers her voice conspiratorially - "people are really, really crazy." A natural raconteur, she gathers breath. "Sometimes it was, like, a boy on a Polynesian island who had saved up to buy an action figure and sent it to be signed." She pauses for effect.
"And then there were so many crazy women writing in saying, 'I met you in Grand Rapids in Michigan, we had such a wonderful night, the number you gave me's not working, you told me you'd rescue me from my drunk and abusive husband…' ." By the end of that summer, Santo Domingo had created a fan database and developed a filing system. "It was categorised into 'urgent', 'crazy people' and 'let's get lawyers involved'," she says, smiling.
These days her job could be categorised into the following: party-throwing; committee-chairing; and running Moda Operandi, the luxury fashion website she launched in 2011.



Lauren Santo Domingo at a Chanel dinner in New York in October 2014; at MoMA's 6th Annual Film Benefit in New York in November 2013. Photo: Getty/REX


Based on a "trunk show" model, Moda (as it's known) offers designer clothes straight from the catwalk, so instead of having to endure six long months before being able to buy a designer's runway offering, you can purchase it online within minutes. Admittedly, Moda caters to a rarefied sphere of customer - fashion-crazed women with cash to burn and endless parties to attend - but one whose average spend is £1,000 per transaction.
In September Moda opened a London showroom in a former stable block in Knightsbridge, a European addition to its New York hub. Here, in a marshmallow-pink bubble of retail bliss, they will host trunk shows with designers such as Emilia Wickstead, Jonathan Saunders and Osman. There will be lots of champagne.
"I don't look at shopping as a chore," LSD explains, resplendent in a silver Rochas skirt and a "really old" Lanvin cashmere sweater. "It's not about getting something delivered to your door by drone. It's about trying it on and feeling good and knowing it's right for you."

LSD's new season picks: Tu Es Mon Tresor jeans, $590 (£367), Nina Ricci bag, $1,790 (£1,116), No.21 embellished coat, $2,150 (£1,340), Rochas patent sandals, $745 (£464), all at modaoperandi.com
She credits her mother with instilling in her this leisurely approach. "I've always had a healthy respect for clothing, for purchases. If I liked something, my mother would always ask, 'What would you wear it with?' and I would have to justify the purchase. I want that experience to translate. I consider it an investment, and I take very seriously [customers'] purchases and what they hope to be and to wear."
The transformative power of clothes was drilled into LSD in the tough parade ring of American Vogue . She began her career in the fashion cupboard at the age of 23, after graduating from the University of Southern California with a degree in history. Like every assistant, she had her hapless moments, most memorably when she threw a couture Versace gown in the bin (it was so gossamer-light, she thought the box was empty).
"To this day, if I find a phone in a taxi or something, I make sure I find its rightful owner, because I think the only reason I got that dress back was down to good karma."




After a spell doing PR at J Mendel and Carolina Herrera, LSD decided she missed the "multi-brand experience". The catalyst for her own business came in the form of a drop-waist, paisley Prada dress that she had seen at a Resort presentation.
"I called the PR, I called the stores, I called all these people and I couldn't get it. It turns out it was never produced. And I was like, 'I actually know people in fashion and if I can't get this damn dress, then how could anyone?' " She lowers her voice. "Eventually I bought the sample but that's a whole 'nother story."

LSD outside Moda Operandi's new London headquarters in Knightsbridge
In December 2013, after raising $36 million (£22 million) from investors, Moda added a "boutique" offering of current-season wares, although LSD claims this accounts for only 30 per cent of the business. The rest still comes from those trunk show orders, which limits risk for investors because customers pay a 50 per cent deposit when placing their order and the balance on receipt. Customers regularly put $10,000 on a ball gown they see on a catwalk and have yet to try on; the most anyone has ever spent in one go is $448,656 (£280,000). In that sense, Moda arguably merits its oft-quoted boast of having "changed the face of shopping".
But if LSD has mastered the digital sell - the new Moda app, which is "like Tinder for clothes", had fashion editors swiping through looks throughout the recent bout of catwalk shows - she has one flaw still to address.
"I have an iPhone but it's always broken and out of battery," she says, when I inquire about her technology habits. "I freak out if someone calls me. I panic. When do you hang up? Who says 'bye first?" She leans back in mock exasperation. "Bring back the flip-phone."
Questions & Answers
What look did you go for as a teenager?
I went to boarding school in Connecticut and there was a sort of hippy vibe. We'd wear Birkenstocks and Patagonia fleeces, tie-dye shirts and bell bottoms, and listen to the Grateful Dead. We call it a New England "crunchy" vibe. There are a group of us working in fashion in New York who used to dress like this but I'm not going to out them.
How to make an old dress look new?
I take great pride in wearing things over and over. I get quite pleased with myself because it's a sign that I made a good purchase. I love jewelled evening bags. If you switch up the bag and the jewellery you can make the same old dress feel new and exciting.
What pieces do you keep coming back to?
I'm always in search of the perfect tailored trouser. I have a pair from Céline that I've had for about four years, then Saint Laurent did a perfect pair so I got them in black and checks. They'll last me two or three years at least. I also love Tu Es Mon Tresor embellished jeans. I'd wear them with a cashmere sweater. And the unconventional contrasts from No. 21 always catch my eye: these peppered gold accents revamp a classic silhouette.