Photo: Maurices
Lauren Alaina has had a longtime goal to empower other women, and when she got an opportunity to do it in a new way, she knew it was the perfect fit.
Alaina gushed that the “sweetest part of my job” is seeing how young women look up to her, and knowing that her role as a country singer-songwriter has inspired them the way other powerhouse artists — Carrie Underwood, Reba McEntire, Dolly Parton, Trisha Yearwood and more — have been heroes (or “she-roes”) to her. This past year, Alaina has witnessed another fun element of live performances as she looks into the crowd: many of them are wearing her clothes.
The “Road Less Traveled” star teamed up with Maurices. Headquartered in Minnesota, the women’s clothing chain is one that Alaina remembers shopping at in her own hometown, and Alaina said she loves that “they’re all about female empowerment and making women feel their best and look their best.” Before singing on American Idol when she was 15 years old, Alaina grew up in a small town in Georgia, outside of Chattanooga, Tennessee. The newly-engaged artist recalled being raised on Jesus and cornbread (and was “only kinda kidding,” she said with a laugh), and knows that her faith, her family, her music and female empowerment are “what I stand for.” Alaina has shopped at Maurices in her Georgia hometown — including recent shopping trips with her mom, and with her aunt and cousin — and now, she’s designing some of the clothes that shoppers can find in their local stores. The decision to do it was a “no-brainer,” she said.
Alaina, who has worked with the clothing brand all year, recently debuted her new holiday collection with Maurices, including festive t-shirts with puns written across the front (which Alaina couldn’t say without giggling to herself when she spoke with iHeartRadio). Alaina co-designed the Maurices collection, which includes t-shirt designs reading “Oh Christmas Tee, Oh Christmas Tee” and “Sleigh Girl, Sleigh.” Alaina is “obsessed with them. Obsessed. My whole family will be matching for Christmas. I can promise you that,” she said. Designing her looks has been an outlet to “express my brand in a whole new way, with clothing. It’s been so much fun. I’m really proud of it.”
Alaina recently shared a few of her favorite festive looks — from cozy to glamorous — and hundreds of Instagram users dropped comments gushing over the holiday-inspired fashion. Designing clothes with Maurices has offered Alaina, who will also virtually hang out with one lucky fan, a new way to connect with other women and inspire them.
“That’s the best part of what I do, honestly,” Alaina said. “I remember being a fan of country music, and being a fan of different artists and wanting to dress like them, and wanting to do these dances in the mirror and just looking up to these women, and to see that and experience that from the other side from young women…
“I am the same as those women. I am a fan of Carrie and Reba and Dolly and obsessed with these women who paved the way for me,” she said. “And just to see from the other side, to see girls show up dressed like me and to see them in my t-shirts, to see them singing every word to every song, it’s just the best part of what I do, I absolutely love it. …It really is (a full circle moment). It’s hard to explain how that makes me feel, when there are young women that come and they look up to me. It’s like me looking at Trisha Yearwood, who is like my ‘she-ro.’ I’m almost unable to comprehend that I could be that to someone, you know what I mean? I’m just me. But to them, I’m like her! It is hands-down the sweetest part of my job.”