Hello everyone! I am kicking off my first interview of 2022 with fellow co-worker and instagrammer @loxystyles!

1. Tell me about yourself:

“My name is Roxy Young. I enjoy carbs, drinking coffee and sweat pants. I also wear my hair in a big giant messy bun while listening to the Queen B (Beyoncé). I do what I do best: being a creative diva! I am an international published creative director better known under the social media handle as @loxystyles. I wear many hats in the fashion industry from film to aesthetic set designs. Being a creative is what I’m best at and most known for.

I am originally from a small town in the Appalachian hills of WV called Lost Creek. I came from a very humble blue collar family . My father passed away in 2011 from cancer. He was an extremely hardworking, smart , & humorous guy.

My work ethic and all my good poop jokes I got from my dad. My mom and sister are both artistic people. My mother made ceramics as I was growing up and my sister became a journalist before returning to West Virginia to help take care of my mother and father. She is one of the strongest people I know amongst being such an amazing writer. I did not inherit the good genetics of spelling in my family.

In 2013 while living in West Virginia I was in a terrible car accident that completely changed my life. The car flipped over a guardrail and went down a 50 foot decline before hitting a tree that would eventually stop the car from rolling. I was in the passenger side with no seat belt on. I broke my neck (c2 vertabre), had a bruised spinal cord , 5 broken ribs, a stage 4 lacerated kidney, a collapsed lung, and a torn pcl (knee). It’s a miracle I am able to walk let alone I that I am alive. God spared my life that day and it’s something I’m extremely grateful for & blessed.

After 3 months of bed rest from the accident I started to gain an interest in photography. I started a small business and became part of an organization called RAW. It’s an organization that helps struggling artists. My sister would drive me from WV to Pittsburgh for RAW shows to showcase my photography. I started to realize between photography concepts & Modeling that I had a nitch for creativity. This is where the idea for LoxyStyles began.

In October of 2017 I made the bold decision to leave everything I had ever known to pursue a better life. I packed my car and with $70 in my bank account , not really knowing what the hell I was doing , I moved to Virginia taking a job as a nanny for 2 of the coolest kiddos I could have ever been blessed with to watch over.

Fun fact: coco Chanel was also a Nanny.

In 2019 while still working as a nanny & building LoxyStyles I took on a part time job at Neiman Marcus while doing fashion school through a program from Parsons The New School & Teen Vogue. The hustle and work ethic was at an all time high but I loved every minute of it.

In January of 2021 I embarked on the journey of a film school program through NYU. It’s been a year long program and in a few days I will finally have a film school program under my belt. I plan on creating films to submit into film festivals in the very near future. I feel like creating in film is where I want to be and it’s what I’m good at. We don’t have enough female directors in the film industry and I’m totally up for the challenge.”

2. What is loxystyles?

“LoxyStyles is known for creativity and aesthetic. It’s not so much about just the style and design. It’s a way that story telling is conveyed through fashion while also being able to promote and market brands. That’s what LoxyStyles is. It’s associated marketing while creativity associating marketing & an outlet for creativity. I created on my own along working with different models & photographers to help them creatively promote different products for brands, designers, and social media content. I build sets , design aesthetics and create shoot boards. Currently, my favorite thing is being able to do those things through film.

In 2017, LoxyStyles had originally started out to be a fashion blog & t-shirt company. I had a friend who was an amazing artist who recently passed in 2020. His name was Luke Steffan. The L was taken out of his name and the R was removed from Roxy and there the name Loxy was born. He would design the shirts and I would find a creative way to market them. The t- shirt business didn’t work out the way I had hoped and by the end of that year we both had went our separate ways and I was left with the name for a brand that I had no idea what I was gonna do with. I’m not the type of person who just gives up on things easily so I kept the name and decided I would make it into something on my own. The name Loxy holds sentimental value to me especially after Luke’s passing. I went back to the drawing board in 2018 with the thought of keeping Loxy as a fashion blog but I was not a very consistent writer.”

3. If you had to invite 3 pop culture figures to a dinner who would you invite and why?

“That’s a super great & hard question because I would want to invite everyone like Beyoncé, Muhamed Ali ,Yves St Laurent, Grace Coddington , Robert Dinero, Nipsey Hustle Sophia Loren, Sinatra , etc…. I could go on and on. I have a huge list for that dinner party!!

I hope Beyoncé forgives me for this , but I think My top 3 guests for this dinner would be Jayz , Franca Sozzani & Mother Teresa. One guest to keep me gangsta , one guest to keep me creative , and guest to keep me holy.

I would invite Jayz because I feel I can relate to his life. That man goes hard at everything. I didn’t grow up in the projects , but I did grow up in one of the poorest states in the U.S. Poverty is a very real thing as well as the drug epidemic in West Virginia. What I admire about Jayz is the fact the people always doubted his ability to make it. He came from a place where not many people make it out of . As well as being crazy intelligent and doesn’t let people tell him what he can or can not do. He beat the odds that were against him. He knows his capabilities as a person and an artist. It resonates with me a lot. He has also stayed himself through out his whole career. That’s real and that respectable. He gives back to his community which is something I also admire and plan on being able to do.

Secondly, I would invite Franca Sozzani. When Franca was alive she was the editor and chief of Vogue Italia. She challenged the industry and that’s why I love her and her work. The fashion industry is very cut throat especially for women. She was controversial and not afraid to be controversial within her work. She didn’t really give a shit who liked her work or not by her statements and concepts about what was going on in the world.

Two of my favorite editorial shoots she did was on women having plastic surgery and the other on domestic violence. The photos and her work speak for itself. I love how she took the concepts of real things going on in the world and made them important in a industry where image is considered everything. It challenged the perception of the industry and society. She was an amazing creator to whom I have much respect and admiration for. I’m not in my industry to be liked but I know that with my artistic creativity I’m in this industry to make a difference and at some point in my career I think my work and path in this industry will be much like that of Francas.

And last but certainly not least I would invite Mother Teresa. I think it’s important for people to be kind & to give back. She did a lot for people and helped many. As well as aided people that others deemed as unwanted and uncared for. She knew that there was more to life. She knew that people matter, along with their struggles. She dedicated her life to making life better spreading love. That makes her a true humanitarian.”

4. What was the most memorable project you worked on and why was it so memorable?

“Hands down the short fashion film projects for my new business ilox are the most memorable projects thus far. I’ve gotten to work with a lot of really phenomenal people in this industry but I think by far my favorite person to work & collaborate with is 1000% Tommy Maksanty. We first started working together about a year ago on a collaboration at the Watergate. Tommy is an extremely talented individual & person. I don’t think he truly realizes his talents and gifts yet but he is a lot more than just a good looking male model. I’m so excited to see the things he accomplishes in the future within his career. We work pretty well together and both have fun creating film work. He works really well in front of the camera along with taking direction and his Instinct to know how to improvise while thinking on his feet are pretty on point.

We were putting together a short film for Halloween at an old retro motel in Fairfax Virginia called the Breezeway Motel. The management on the property of the location was not happy with us filming outside. We were told we could not film anywhere on the grounds of the hotel except for the room we had booked to get ready in. The film being produced was mainly mapped out for filming outside of the hotel. It put everybody working on the production in a not so great spot of

….what do we do now? We couldn’t shoot outside the motel so we had to stay in the room and think how we would be able to film. Tommy was going to be wearing wardrobe from a suit shop located in Springfield Virginia called Lawrence Clothier. The wardrobe was specifically picked to fit the design and aesthetic of the outsiders the motel. The hair and make up was set to go with the wardrobe & aesthetic of what was already planned to film for the outside scenes.

Since we were restricted to the room, Tommy & I had to be resourceful in order to figure out how we would re style the wardrobe, looks, and also how the new room location would effect the story line of the film. Tommy put his best actors hat on and we were able to get creative with under the circumstances. We had to make what we were filming fit with everything that had previously been filmed for the story line. He did an amazing job and went all out on his acting abilities. We were able to make the setting we had flow with the film. I ended up naming the film “Room 212“.
I thought it was fitting Title seeing how crazy of a day that had been with the property owners. I think my favorite part of that day was ordering delivery food and the delivery guy showing up to the motel door with two crazy looking people that had giant teased hair that were wearing creepy white contacts. We didn’t get kicked out of the motel but we did create a pretty badass fashion film for Halloween.”

5.  Do you have any upcoming events or news you would like to share?

“I’ve opened up a creative one of a kind film business under Loxystyles and its called ilox. It’s for creating creative films and content for contracted clients. We help our clients plan a creative approach to what they are wanting to showcase. We welcome all but mostly our aim to work with fashion, arts, & entertainment. We give our clients the option of creating 1 minute video clips or 30 second video clips for their social media’s to help promote their selves, their brands or whatever they love and love to do. It’s similar to creative directing & associated marketing I do with Loxystyles. However this is only with film & video work.

Through ilox, I will also be working on creating short fashion films to send into film festivals this year, one of which will be Fashion Film Festival Milano. I’m excited to see what will happen with that as it will be my first submission to a film festival. Clients looking to book with ilox can book through DM @loxystyles or @ilox.”