CHERRY CREEK FASHION — Rachel Lefort Is Empowering Quiet Confidence Through Her New Suiting Brand, Midnight Oil

PHOTOGRAPHED BY CAROLINE MILLER

WRITTEN BY ANNIE BLOJ / CLOTHING BY MIDNIGHT OIL

Rachel Lefort is well known in Northern Colorado for her incredible styling career, using her experience as a fashion designer in New York and Paris to help create multitasking wardrobes for her dedicated clientele. Through this combined experience, Rachel noticed a white space in the market for elevated, personalized wardrobe essentials for the professional woman. Rachel launched her years-in-the-making suiting collection, Midnight Oil, this August and we couldn’t be more excited to feature the collection in our September Issue.

Annie Bloj: Rachel, it's been a few years since we checked in with you! Can you share with us what prompted you to create your new suiting collection, Midnight Oil?

Rachel Lefort: Thank you so much for featuring what I’ve been working on for the past few years! Midnight Oil is a culmination of the various facets of my work experience; womenswear design, womenswear styling, menswear styling, and public speaking. Through all this work, I have noticed challenges in women’s lives regarding dressing well, quickly, with style and confidence. The brand is called Midnight Oil in recognition of the women who are working hard (burning the so-called midnight oil) and created with the purpose of helping these women by providing ease in getting dressed.

I’ve leveraged my career in fashion design and styling to offer the most incredible quality to my clients and I've been lucky to experience the joy of seeing production at my world-class atelier in Portugal. The core collection of suiting is made from high-quality fabric in a neutral palette, primarily made of wool. Why can’t women wear drapey, luxurious wool and have the same personalized experience as their male counterparts?

AB: What sets the Midnight Oil experience apart from other suiting collections?

RL: A strategy that I’m bringing from my styling experience to Midnight Oil is the formula of

dressing either monochromatically or within an edited color palette. For example, a navy wool blazer pairs beautifully with a navy silk blouse and matching suit pant, a pant in a second color, or denim. This is very helpful to a professional woman who is balancing a hectic life and wants to minimize her wardrobe and still have flexibility. I’ve sourced my suiting fabrics from historic European mills, which have been manufacturing these fabrics for centuries. The wool I’ve chosen has stretch for comfort and wrinkle resistance, and a refined quality for an elevated look. The blazers are fitted and designed with the intention of highlighting a woman’s shape, even while worn open. I’ve incorporated style lines in flattering angles and plenty of functional details such as extra pockets, sweat guards, and more, all to support a woman who is on her way.

Additionally, the suiting pieces of the Midnight Oil collection are made to order, thereby allowing customers to engage in choosing personalization options if they like; including both the functional and aesthetic options. An important differentiator is that women can choose from an expanded selection of sizes, including even or odd sizes. This is helpful for women who are in between sizes. My clientele can also choose their sleeve length and jacket length when ordering a blazer, as well as choose the desired pant length. Regarding the fun options, women can choose the blazer’s buttons, colorful linings, contrast threads, and more. All of these concepts were born out of my experience in Men’s styling. This is readily available to them and I wanted to offer the same experience to women.

Finally, if you don’t want to order straight off of our website, the Midnight Oil brand has a select group of experienced personal stylists. They offer a personal customer experience by helping women to choose their sizes and all the personalization details, all free of charge!

AB: Translating your concept into reality required a keen eye and attention to detail. What have you learned about yourself as a founder while producing your collection and building a brand?

RL: I’ve learned that challenges, roadblocks, and disappointments are very often opportunities in disguise. I’ve also learned that I need to be patient and believe in myself and in what I’m building. Based on my experience, I strongly believe that women desire the type of clothing that I am offering. I have often needed to pivot when faced with challenges, while always staying positive, to persevere.

For example, I wanted to be confident that the pieces fit well and made women feel confident when wearing them. So, I asked a group of women to serve as beta clients, with whom I could work out the ordering process and design details. Well, I’m glad that I did, because one of the styles of pants didn’t fit as well as I had hoped! Therefore I had to work with the manufacturer to make the necessary corrections. This obviously delayed the launch of the collection, but it was well worth it. The feedback that I’ve received from customers who have since ordered these pants has been better than I could have imagined.

AB: How do you see Midnight Oil complimenting and offering ease to busy women’s lives?

RL: There are several ways in which the Midnight Oil brand is set up to help. It is a resource for women looking for quality, neutral staples that are essential for quickly creating professional outfits. There are several personalization options for having a better fit from the

start, for example, ordering the desired sleeve length or pant length. The design of the Midnight Oil collection includes an inherent, minimalist strategy and formula for helping women to more easily look polished. And, personal stylists are available to offer a helpful customer experience—at no additional cost to the customer.

AB: What are your plans for the future of Midnight Oil? How do you see the brand growing and continuing to evolve in the next couple of years?

RL: I have so many ideas! I’ve started small with my first capsule collection, but I certainly have plans to grow. The idea is for the Midnight Oil brand to expand its color palette as well as the product design categories, and to become the go-to resource for elevated professional staples in all neutral tones.

AB: Rachel, we do not doubt that there are so many CCF readers that are looking for exactly what Midnight Oil is offering. As we all navigate through this ever-changing work landscape, our wardrobes continue to be even more confusing. By having these already edited wardrobe staples in our closet, making those daily decisions comes with ease and joy in the details you have so carefully provided your clientele.