It’s been just over two weeks since Charleston-based style blogger Julia Engel (aka Gal Meets Glam) debuted her inaugural dress collection, and to say that her line has been doing well across the 40 Nordstrom stores that picked it up is a bit of an understatement.
“We’ve sold out of mostly everything. We’re sort of running on limited inventory in different sizes so right now were just getting ready to launch our May collection,” Engel says. “The reaction was just incredible.”
The well known blogger focused her efforts on bringing chic, feminine dresses to anyone searching for something high quality without breaking the bank. Sizes in her collection range from 0 to 20, and all dresses are priced under $200.
“As a shopper and a customer, I felt like I could never really find what I was looking for, especially at an attainable price point,” says Engel. “You know you can find a beautiful dress, but I always felt like I was having to spend $400 or more to get something of really amazing quality,” says Engel.
The style star spent about four years developing the perfect product for her followers. During that time, it then became even clearer to Engel how powerful a timeless dress can truly be. They’d become a staple for blog and Instagram content — a sort of representation of the Gal Meets Glam brand.
“If I didn’t wear a dress, our readers would always point it out,” Engel says.
Her foray into designing isn’t totally out of the blue. “I’ve loved fashion my whole life,” says Engel. “My great grandmother had a shop in Missouri. She loved dresses, so she passed down that love of feminine style to me.”
Now, she’s traveling across the nation to get closer to her customers as the Charleston native began hosting meet and greets at different Nordstrom locations, stopping in Dallas’ NorthPark Center Nordstrom earlier last week for a private customer Q&A. “It’s definitely surreal,” Engel says “We don’t have a Nordstrom in Charleston so last week was the first time that I saw the collection — it was really emotional.”
