Model and blogger Jenny Lopez takes inspiration from Navajo, Hindu, and Colombian indigenous cultures.
It almost became a game for stylists and photographers working for the clothing brand
Free People:
What would their model Jenny Lopez show up looking like and wearing
next? The Miami-based Colombian stunner somehow managed to out-bohemian
even this eclectic, bohemian fashion line.
“Every week, I was coming with something new,” Lopez recalls, “or some
trick about beauty, or natural ways to get something fixed.” That might
mean a discovery about organic food or an accessory from a far-flung
street market in India. Magazines such as
Cosmopolitan and
Marie Claire
were showcasing and documenting her face and style; friends at Free
People suggested she start a blog to document what she was feeling. So
she did.
Thus the bilingual
lopezjennylopez.com
was born. It quickly blossomed into something richer than the usual
what-I-wore-today rundown. As the face of campaigns for brands from
Garnier to
Talbots, Lopez ran through passport pages like tissues. The blog became part
travelogue, part diary, and part
lookbook, with Lopez’s chic yet easygoing, globally influenced style brimming from its entries and colorful photos.
While most fashion blogs religiously chase micro-trends, Lopez’s
derives organically from her life and influences, as well as the
gorgeous places she visits—the most recent being Colombia and Italy.
Pieces by designers such as
Isabel Marant and
Alexander Wang wind up alongside handbags from London’s
Portobello Market or accessories by artisans from her native
Medellin.
She often tops it all off with a healthy dose of vintage. A hit on her
blog or a “like” by one of her 26,000 followers on Facebook is about as
authentic as it gets.
“I always mix and match, and I like to do high and low,” she says. “I
find it special to go shopping at vintage places because I know nobody
else will have what I find.”
This same multicultural,
upcycling spirit informs her latest venture, a jewelry line collaboration with her sister, Irma, called
Momposina Rocks.
The idea first came eight years ago when Lopez, while planning her
wedding, couldn’t find earrings to match her vision. She drew up a
sketch to be made into full-blown pieces by a Colombian artist, and when
compliments rolled in, she and her sister decided to take the idea
further.
Now they’ve created their first, full-scale collection, available this
month through their website momposinarocks.com, as well as at select
retail outlets such as
Oxygene at the
Bal Harbour
Shops. Dubbed Gypsy Dreams, it’s a limited-edition run of 40 pieces,
all bearing origins as peripatetic and bold as the collection’s
namesake.
The unexpected juxtaposition of colors and connotations comes from
“memories of summer trips and the influence of cultures like Navajo,
Hindu, and the Colombian indigenous communities,” Lopez explains. In her
personal favorite piece, the Oracle bracelet, Bali glass beads rub up
against matte rhinestones and a neon-yellow flower charm.
“You know how some days you don’t really feel like picking what to
wear?” she asks. “When I go out like that, I think to myself, Wow, if I
dressed like this every day, I’d be depressed!” Here’s to Lopez’s style
as an antidepressant.
