Emily Graham and Taylor Paysse aren’t just fans of fashion for the fancy looks and big names – for them, it’s all about the feeling of fashion.
“I got into fashion mostly by the way it made me feel. Wearing fun, colorful clothes and feeling put together in an outfit makes you feel confident and like you can do anything,” Graham said.
Graham and Paysse opened their clothing store AnnLian in May of 2021. The name AnnLian comes from both owners’ middle names. Paysse’s middle name is Ann and Graham’s middle name is Lian.
“We chose this name because it’s something personal to us in every aspect, so it seemed fitting,” said Graham.
Clothing for college students can be hard when your options are expensive boutiques. Paysse said that’s what drew her to want to open a store. She said that it’s difficult to find good, quality clothes at affordable prices, and she wanted to fill that consumer gap.
Both owners said they got into fashion because of the way it’s seen as art. It helps people have an artistic outlet, according to Graham.
“I never understood why people would say fashion is art until I watched Jacquemus’ first runway show, and I was able to feel the emotions and expressions the designer was trying to portray,” Paysse said.
The decision to open up AnnLian wasn’t made on a whim. Both Paysse and Graham’s studies have taught them the business side of opening a store. Then, with a common interest in fashion, the idea came to life.
Social media platforms were the owners’ best friends. They learned a lot from YouTube as well as Pinterest and podcasts to help them gain more knowledge about owning a business and the style they wanted to sell. Paysse said that it took them all of summer 2020 to truly get everything together. They meticulously planned, and Graham said after six or seven months, they were finally able to launch AnnLian.
Opening a business is hard and comes with challenges. Both Paysse and Graham said that multiple problems arose during the first few months of opening AnnaLian. One challenge was drop-shipping, according to Paysse. During COVID, shipping was a nightmare, and it could take over three weeks for customers to get their clothes.
Another challenge they faced was the plateau of sales. Graham said initially after launching, friends of theirs bought up a lot of items, but then, once that ended, they found it harder to get new customers.
“Getting new followers to our Instagram where we did most of our advertising and content was hard as well,” Graham said. “How can we put our brand in Instagram users’ faces to increase leads to our website?”
But along with the bad, there are also many high points in starting a new business. Paysse said one high point was when she and Graham saw people at LSU tailgates wearing their clothes. Girls would come up to the owners and tell them how much they loved their clothes, Paysse said.
Graham said that a high point for her was when they did a fashion show at Fred’s in Tigerland in spring 2022. Fred’s did a spring fashion show for local boutiques, and they were able to style and hire models to wear their clothes.
“This was the most fun event we have been a part of,” Graham said. “Our friends came to support us, and we got to see other businesses’ clothing as well.”
Both owners contribute to the clothing of their brand. Paysse and Graham choose clothes based on their personal style. They also run Instagram polls so customers can be a part of the choosing process.
“This helped us have a final decision on certain items we were debating so that we knew the likelihood of it selling was high,” said Graham.
AnnLian utilizes social media in every aspect of its business. When posting on social media, they both shoulder the responsibility. Paysse said she mostly runs the TikTok, but both owners run the Instagram.
When choosing models for their social media posts, they use friends and Instagram users. They have also reached out to LSU’s Department of Textiles, Apparel Design and Merchandising to find models.
“We try to switch up our content and post different items throughout the week to showcase everything we have in stock currently,” Graham said.
Both owners are passionate about and love their store, and they want to continue focusing on growing their customer base and social media presence.
While their online store is booming and popular with women all around LSU’s campus and the Baton Rouge community, both owners said that opening an in-person store right now isn’t their main priority.
However, AnnLian has held pop-up location events for sororities. At first, it was just stand-alone pop-up events for each sororities’ members, but then they connected with sisterhood coordinators to host even more.
Before each event, they load up all their clothes, racks, mannequins and more. The process of pop-ups isn’t easy, but it’s rewarding to meet the customers who show up, Graham said.
“Hosting pop-ups is one of our favorite things to do because we get to meet so many amazing girls and help girls find clothes that make them feel confident,” Paysse said.
