Who What Wear with Hillary Kerr: Liat Baruch Talks Styling Tips, Working With Sofia Richie, and the Investment Pieces That Are Actually Worth It

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Widely known for her work with the Richie family, Leop was one of the genius minds behind the viral looks for Sophia Richie's recent French wedding that set the Internet ablaze. She's here to talk about creating those next-level looks, plus she's giving us her best advice for honing our own personal style, the pieces worth investing in, and how to shop like a professional. It's all coming up on Who Up Where? All right, girl, you ready? Let's do it. First of all, can I just say that I am so excited to have you here today. Thank you. We've obviously known each other for a long time, but it's been such a pleasure seeing this renaissance and the fact that everyone in The Who Up Where Office is talking about you and your work, everyone on the Internet is talking about you and your work. How does that feel because this is such a massive moment? Well, it feels too full. I've been doing this for so long, and I decided a while ago that I didn't want to do celebrity styling, like, exclusively red carpet, and all, like, press tours premieres. It was very saturated, and I came from a retail background at Curve, so I really enjoyed the intimacy of working with personal clients. On just like, hey, I'm a CEO, I need to dress properly every day, and I don't really want to think about it, or I'm going on vacation. I see when I work like this with these kind of people, they love the clothes, are investing their own money in it, and it's how they're actually portraying themselves on a day-to-day not, on a grand scale, like the Academy Awards or something, so it felt very fulfilling to me. I've been doing it for a very long time, and Sophia is such a beautiful girl, and people have been talking about her for a while. That wasn't the focus of what we were doing, so it was pretty crazy when everybody started actually receiving our work, mine and hers, in the way that we portrayed it. It wasn't manipulated, it wasn't misunderstood. They literally got what we were doing, which you can't control when that actually hits, and it hits the zeitgeist, and that just hit. It was exactly what we were trying to do. We were trying to elevate, but stay young, be feminine, aspirational, but also attainable. A little bit of everything, while staying ageless and classic, and we did that, she did that too. It was a constant dialogue and a true collaboration. It's pretty crazy, because people are like, she looked amazing, and I've never done anything on that scale. That was received that hugely, so that was cool. It's such an interesting thing, too. I'm sure that there's just a lot of strategy that goes into it, but it's a very personal project, and also I would imagine it's much like a process that you go through with other clients just happens that the entire world happened to see and fall in love with that work. You're like, I'm just doing what I do, but now the entire world and all of TikTok is obsessing over my normal work. Yeah, exactly. Strategic, but in a way that feels very organic. It wasn't strategic and calculating, so that we would get this result. It was strategic, so that we made Sophia feel stunning and the looks and the entire aesthetic of both Sophia and Elliot had to match their love and their youth and the landscape where they got married in the most beautiful place in the world. All that needed to tell a cohesive story, and we did do that. There was zero hiccups, and everything was planned and agreed upon, and it was very fun. I had the best time. I love that. By strategic, I actually was meaning, I think, in the way that you understand of, okay, well, if we're doing a heel like this, then we need to change it up for that, and we don't want to repeat this silhouette, and really thinking it through the way that everyone does when they're getting dressed, certainly, for a big moment in their lives, like a wedding, you don't want to hit the same note over and over again, so you have to be thoughtful about, like, how do I pull this all off together, so it feels like me, but I'm not just repeating myself. Exactly. So beautifully and so well. She was very clear on what she wanted, and how she wanted to look, and not too overtly sexy, and not too conservative, and she's very good at that, and she's very focused on how she wants to dress, and in terms of her lifestyle in general, so we were very aligned with all of that, and I can't tell you enough that it was a collaboration. There was no point that I'm here where this dress, and she's like, yes, it was always like, maybe not, or I want this, and I'm like, you're right. I didn't think of that. Like, that's just happening the whole time. Well, I want to talk about your process in general when you're working with clients, but the Virgo and me cannot let this topic go without wondering, so for an event like Sophia's wedding, where it's taking place over multiple days, a big moment because it's a wedding, how long does that process take of thinking through full soup tenets? These are the looks. These are the beats we're going to hit because on one hand, I'm sure, of course, probably slightly last minute things, but on the other hand, especially for weddings, that usually takes quite a bit of time, so I'm curious about the timeline of a process when it's something huge like that. When it's like that, first of all, she's a client and an ongoing client, and actually her sister is my best friend for 25 years, so Sophia is my sister. So I've been working with her on this level for the past couple of years, so it's a constant thing. I see something I like. I send her. We're always talking. So we've been building a wardrobe and a closet, and so for this, it wasn't like here the ten looks that I'm presenting for you for your ten days, leaning up to the wedding and the five days after it was more like we're going to do general shops up to the wedding, and from there we extract the best pieces, and we accessorize them, and we really like tie a ribbon on them so they look perfectly refined the way we wanted them to. So it wasn't like I had 17 mood boards with every look and all that stuff. It wasn't, it was very organic. That's why it also is funny when people are so blown away by it, because it is what I do. It's what she does, and it just was exposed on such a huge scale. And again, everybody took it the way we presented it, which also never really happens. It's always misinterpreted somehow, but so I was working with her for a while. I mean, obviously the wedding dresses and stuff like that, that's a year before and all those things, and that we pulled archival runways, and we sifted through all the past shows, and she told me what she was drawn to. But the other stuff, it was just, let's kill it on every level for how you should look leading up to this wedding, and we picked the best, best, best, best, best we made an album. We had fitting days, and that's really how it was, but we're constantly working with her. So I know her wardrobe, if I'm shopping at a vintage store and I see something, I'm like, you have to buy this, and I get it, you know, she loves it, and it works. But with other clients, if they tell me, you know, I'm going on vacation for two weeks with my boyfriend, I think he's going to propose, let's say, I first of all meet with all of them. We discuss, I go into their closet, I see what they like, who they like, who they aspire to look like, what pieces they love. And then I spend the time going to all the stores and all the onlineers, and I pull as much as I can. And then when I come home and I have all the product, then I make it a cohesive story. And some things I'll push a little bit, and I'll be like, this is not what you would usually wear. I'm thinking, but for the most part, we work within, you know, the confines of their comfort. Obviously, this is them wearing it. No one looks good if they're not comfortable. That's like obvious. So I love hearing more about the process. So walk me through, like, say you're working with Jane today, and you've never worked together before. She's, you come through a reference. What is step one? What is day one of working with someone look like? And how do you get on the same page or even know that they're the right client for you? Because I can imagine that's like, oh, this is a referral from this person, but they have very different personal style. Is that a problem? Is that great? Like, how does all of that work? How do you vet them? And how do they vet you? Well, I think that it's usually word-of-mouth up until now. It was hard until now because the whole point of me is that I don't exist. That's the point. You're like, I have a board meeting. What am I wearing? You're not going to walk into the board meeting and be like, I'm styled by Leah. It's your style. I just helped you get there. That's what I do. So first I meet them. I have to meet them. We have to have a coffee. We just talk through what they're looking for, what they need. Usually they're like, I need you to help me with my closet. I feel like I'm looking at the same things. I don't have the right leather jacket or the right blazer. And I usually like to start with an event. So if they have like a bar mitzvah to go to for the week, or they're going to Hawaii, or they have an event of some sort, or just day to day looks. They're like, I'm mom and I don't want to look at the same every day. Can you help me just look a little cuter? But also I have three kids and I can't like. So we exchange images. They send me like who they love, what styles they like. When it was the word of mouth clients, it was a personal reference. So she's like, she gave me this. She's done this for me. And they knew that the aesthetics aligned. That's not to say that I can't work with anyone that doesn't share my aesthetic. It just, there's a million people who do certain things really well. Yeah. And I do other things really well. So if somebody like the way Sophia looked at her wedding, now they can see it. And they're like, Oh, we want something similar. I can do that. That's what I do. Like, I'm not going to put you in a sports bra on cargo pants because that looks great. I wear that sometimes, but it's just not what people pay me to do. But if that's what you want, sure, I can get that for you. And that's fine. But if they're paying me for my taste, you know, literally scouring every retail outlet available to us to give you my picks of the best of the best of the best. So it has to align somewhat, but I'm a classic girl. So I feel like it's a little bit like you don't go to your ear nose and throat doctor to get Botox. So like, think about what the person is specializing in. Like, let's get the specialties aligned. So this is the vibe, go to the person who works on the vibe. So that makes sense to me. And again, like, it's not only what I wear, what I would wear, but I can understand if somebody wants a full sparkly outfit head to toe. I don't necessarily wear that, but if you're going to Ibiza, then like, let's do it. Let's go for it. Yeah. And I'll do that. It's fun. But for the most part, it's always aligned with the clients that come to me because it's been such a personal word of mouth reference kind of thing. So got it. So what is your favorite part of all of it? Like, is it the actual styling? Once you get the pieces in, are you actually just really loving the hunt? I love it when an outfit lands on a woman or a client. And you see that they feel good and everyone's like, oh, my God, yes, this is amazing. You look amazing. They feel it right away. Everyone feels it. And it just hits like the shirt hit with the pant with the shoe and you see their face. That's when it's the best. And that happens all the time. So that's fun. And just honestly, I work with people who love clothes. So I like bring over a dress and we're like, oh, my God, that's insane. You know, like, that's what I like. And they're investing their money in it. It's a serious investment. A lot of the stuff is not cheap. I'd like to mix high and low. That's a different conversation. But they give a shit. And I do too. So it makes it more fun that way. I mean, in the grand scheme of things we're putting clothes on. It's not like we're curing cancer. But in this world, it's just fun. We all really appreciate it. And I appreciate the perspective on it. It's true. No one's life is being saved. But at the same time, if you are making someone feel like their most authentic self, their most confident self, and they're carrying that into a boardroom or into a major life event. Like, that actually does really affect how the rest of their life goes. And I sometimes worry that, and I do this myself too, but like that we as women tend to downplay the power of this because it's not brain surgery. But just because it's not, doesn't mean it's not hugely important and really impactful. Very. I'm trying to own that more. So when you're working with clients, obviously you love fashion people and people who love fashion. But if someone comes to you and they're like, I don't know exactly what my personal style is anymore. Or I've maybe ever did. I feel like there are a lot of us, even in the fashion world, my friend Yvich and I were talking about this recently. In this like, we're both post kids, post pandemic. And now all of a sudden, you have this moment where it's like five years later, you wake up and you don't know who you are anymore or what you want to wear. Even though we both work in this world. So I'm wondering how you help people really hone in on their personal style. I have a lot of clients like that. So let's say you, you're like, I had two kids. I'm now coming out a little bit more. I'm not home every day. You know, we're in a different age group right now. We're not like wearing, you know, what we did when we were 20 and I'm there too. So we would talk it through a little bit and say like, do you like how, let's say Rosie hunting to Whitley dresses? Or do you like how Sophia Copa addresses that can be like the North star and we can just move towards that. So you like a white button down with a brown pants and a loafer and I'll say that to the client. The client will be like, oh, no, that's two men's wear for me. Right. So okay. So then we go to a different kind of gene. I mean, I have a knack for it. And if you don't know, then we try a few things. I'll get a cute stod dress or a dough and dress or a Kate sandal or something feminine and we can also throw a bag in. Then sometimes there has a tent. There is hesitation because it's just new. So you work with them, nothing skin tight, nothing to oversized. Like classic cuts that are just a little bit modern and updated. So let's say they have it bought jeans in a while and they're so skinny. I'm like, okay, we're moving away from that. Just so we're going to open it up just the little. We're not reinventing the wheel. So we're just modernizing what we wear anyway. And most women and men are very open to that. The whole reason why they're calling me is to open it up a little bit. They want advice. Yeah. When I say that I align with their aesthetic, it's a true collaboration. I'm just bringing to you a version that you can't wrap your head around like an interior designer for my house. This does not translate for me. I can't do it. Like I don't know where to put what. One of my friends is an interior designer and they help me with a lot of things. I can't think about it. So it's like that. And I like that it's incremental too. It's saying like, okay, I need a new jean. This is the one that I liked. Maybe that is an old skinny. And you're like, okay, we're going to take you to a straight leg before we're going to take you to a full wide leg. Because if I try and go from one to the other, sometimes that's too much. Maybe you will get there in a month or two months, but we just need to go at a little bit of a pace. And I think that that's very reasonable and like a very gentle way of looking at it. And that must feel really great because then they feel comfortable and trust you even more because you're not shocking their eye in a way. Totally. It's not a sales oriented job, which is good too because I'm not pushing product. I'm paid for my time, you know, so for the most part, they don't feel like I'm selling them on something. And I would never sell them on something that doesn't look good. And I know what looks good. And what usually looks good, they know what looks good too when it goes on. And they're like, I don't know about that. I'm like, yeah, I liked it, but like, no, it's not working. You know, like I try to make them as comfortable as they can to feel as good as they can. And to be honest, if this is too crazy, like, let's just hone it back. I have five other options that fit like what we're trying to do got it. So one of the things that we talk about a lot at who I wear is really being thoughtful with how you spend your money so that you're making smart investments and the dreaded buyers remorse does not hit you obviously know all of the luxury brands out there. You know, all of the investment were the pieces. What are some of the pieces that you personally think are really worth it? Things that you could wear for two decades, pass down to your kids, whatever it may be, things that really feel like they have longevity. Right. That are investments. I would say a row blazer. It's not cheap at all. A lace up sandal, I think is always good. Product made a great T-strap sandal that I've seen more in for 20 years at this point. And it's just classic. It's a patent sandal. I would do one good bag like a Chanel bag or the Celine box bag. That's an older bag, but I just think it's a classic. A nice scarf, I think you can have one nice black scarf. And then you can always, you know, if you take care of it, you don't need any others. And then my latest splurge is I got Celine jeans that are not cheap, but I love them. They're just fit well. I think I'm going to wear them for a while. So you have like two good pairs of jeans T-shirts, I would get like a few good ones too, but then like button-downs totem makes amazing button-downs. Also, there are sales happening. So you can be smart about it. And the second hand market in America is amazing. So you can get a U Chanel bag that you can give to your daughter. You can wear it every day for two years. It doesn't look bad. That's a great investment too. So talk to me about some of your favorite styling hacks, tips, tricks where you're like, every time I get X, I always do Y to it. Or I make sure that it fits. Oh, everything I take in and custom. Okay. So I'm shorter. So for me, it's always worth it that I go and I get it hemmed a little bit the way it needs to hit my ankle bone the way it's supposed to, like I'm getting the jean. Or if the shoulder is too dropped, I usually take most things in because it's one tweak to like just kill it. So why not? For certain stuff, certain things fit perfectly and look great. So that is, I guess that's a trick. That's something I do. And then I just mix high and low. So I get something really nice and I can put together like a vintage pair of jeans that are a hundred bucks. But again, I do it with a rosewater and a Chanel Valarina. And then that's a great outfit that you can wear as a 20 year old and as my age and as like a 60 year old. Like Sophia and I have a huge age gap and we wear the same things. I love that. It's just the way you wear it, what you wear it with the hair, the makeup, all that stuff. But for the most part, we can wear the same thing. You know, her little Chanel sling bags. There's like old ladies on upper east side wearing them and then we're wearing them and she's wearing them. That's an investment. That's a lot of years. Yeah. So let's talk about some of your favorite brands. Who's on your it list for fashion houses, for independent designers, for up and coming brands? Like, who is on your must have list? Well, I love Chanel, obviously. I love Kate. I think she has great dresses. They're feminine. Her shoes are amazing. The bags are fun. We've been wearing a lot of desk tree, you know, that line desk tree. That's like a new one who she's has like a few silhouettes, but they really are so pretty. I wore a pair of pants with a t-shirt in New York and it looked so pretty. I love Roger Vivier shoes. I'm really into YSL shoes, the row, I love very much. But also there's a brand called Posse POSSE that they make really cool linen summer things that are really well priced. Provenza's dresses are really great this season. And Stod, I really love Stod. Her dresses are really great. Dries is always colorful and fun. There's a brand called Double J, which is like a fun color fully brand. That's great and very fun for summer. Yeah. Mara Hoffman's great too. Her swim. Yeah. I recently got like her very classic bikini, bra top and high-waisted bottoms. Yes. I've worn since before having kids. I love it. Very flattering. So and it's like it's this weird line between you want something that has a level of I don't want to say compression, but like I want to feel secure, but I also don't want to feel squished. And I feel like that's a hard line, especially in swimwear and she just doesn't perfectly. It's true. And the silhouettes are very feminine. Also the Australian brands serve the label and Matt too. Those are great. And Doan, I love Doan. It's funny because I wear it a lot in my own way and then I see people wear it in their way. And people really interpret it the way they see themselves as the woman they see themselves and it works. It just works. I have to say there's one dress a little bit in particular that I just returned to. And I think one of the things that's so nice is that they make some of those silhouettes over and over again so that if you find the thing, then you're like, oh, here it is in a new color way or a new whatever. Totally. Some of the hardest working dresses that I have because you can wear them over tights and with boots. Exactly. You can put it on with a sandal in the summer and it's lightweight enough and it always feels easy. Yeah. And no matter why I was like, oh, you look so pretty like it's pretty. Yeah. So talk to me about shoes. Do you have any favorites for summer, anything that you're thinking about ahead of time for fall where you're like, that is going to be my investment shoe. My next boot will be X. Summer, I love a flat lace up sandal. I think it's so pretty. I mean, and it's been around forever. But when done right and a lot of people do it really right, I just actually found a pair on guilt from Attico, their brown suede and they're great. I love a lace up. I think under a jean, under a linen pant, like even with jean shorts or like a tailored black short or a short dress, they're so pretty. A flat, like a ballerina flat, not particularly Chanel, but just a feminine flat is great. For the fall, actually, I haven't really thought about any of it. But the row just made a leather moccasin that's so cute. And again, you don't have to get them from the row, but like a little moccasin is cute for summer too. For fall, a boot, Kate makes great boots. So maybe I'll get another one of hers, like a knee high one this time. They really are amazing. I love the shape of them. And also that brand, IED, AYED, I think it's called, they make great boots too. Are there any trends that you are ready to say goodbye to? If I don't think of you and your personal style or your taste or your clients as being trendy in any way, but you also see everything that's going on in the industry. So just from that perspective, I don't like a low rise anything. I did it. I wore all the Frankie V's. I just don't think it's flattering on anyone's body. I just don't. Also, the really, really wide leg vibe, I don't really get into the oversized stuff is not something I'm into at all. 90s rave her for you. Yeah, exactly, exactly. I'm like, I've lived it. And no. Also anything overtly, overtly, overtly anything, if it's overtly sexy, it's overtly oversized, overtly menswear, if it's a little bit too one way, I think it doesn't really land. I hear you on that. Like an oversized button down that's hanging off you with wide leg pants and like a big sneaker. I'm just like, where are you? I get it. I just, it's not my vibe, but I get it. I always think of that as being like very Gen Z TikTok vibes, too, which is like interesting in its own way, but agreed with you that proportion is important. And if it's all one note, that's not the most interesting. Yeah. And I guess it is trendy. We're not in our trend driven part of our lives right now. So like, maybe if I was 28, be a different story, because I definitely did wear things that were trendy as we all do. So I feel like summer is such a funny time to dress because product and store can be all over the place. I don't usually want to invest too much time or energy into it, mostly because I'm like really living life in the summer. So those are not treasured pieces that I want to cherish for eternity necessarily, but you still want to look great. So I'm wondering if you have a handful of outfit, combinations or ideas that you feel like really work for summer always. Yes. I think all the poplin, white poplin, a white linen pant, a white denim pant, a lace up sandal, you can always throw like a button down with a pant and roll up the sleeve and then put a sandal with it. You can also do like a cute dough and t-shirt with a white gene and then that same sandal. And I like tone on tone too, so you can do, you know, all in all white outfit with a black sandal, just for like a pop or like a pop color bag or fun earrings or something. But I would say like a looser fit gene that's white for sure or cream, some button down that are poplin, some poplin dresses and a good t-shirt or t-shirt, a feminine one though, like a dough and one. Separates are also what I'm very into in the summer. So like a linen vest with a linen skirt or a linen tunic with pants underneath and stuff like that. Do you have a summer bag that is sort of like the thing that you reached for or conversely I know you like a flat lace up sandals or anything else and that accessories is there like a sunglasses that you always really like or a hat? Yeah, the summer bag that I use is either the Raffia ones that everyone's wearing or the road does like a sack bag that I've had for a while that I use and it's cream. So it works with a lot of things and then anything that you can cross body for me is just easy for summer because I'm out all day or if I go traveling up at the beach or whatever I don't I can't like be precious with it exactly. And sunglasses I just for what I wear year-round the Kate ones are super cute I have a few pair of Dior ones that are close to why I saw made a good little like square cat eye they call it. And then I tend to like do a fun earring more in the summer like just have a little more fun with it. Okay, so my last question is about jewelry. I feel like the older I get the more interested I am in building that part of my wardrobe in no small part because I'm thinking through of like price per wear and things that you will hand down some day and pieces that I can wear every day if possible. Are there any pieces that you really stand by again when thinking towards that like longevity wardrobe building pieces that will be the equivalent of that Chanel sling back where you're like you can wear it when you're 19 or 39. Diamond studs I think are something that if you're gutting into the jewelry game that should be something you should just have always and you can wear it always. And depending on your budget you can play with the size but that's great always. And then rings you know in addition to your wedding ring I guess like an eternity band or something I think I'm more of a sentimental person when it comes to jewelry that's also very expensive so I don't play around with it as much as other things. But I would just say I mean diamonds always. And a nice watch like an elegant watch can also that's jewelry to me too like a tank or I was looking at the Cartier that you know that gold one just like looks like a bracelet like a gold bracelet. The panther the one that's like a little woven looking yeah that's like I'm going to treat myself one day for that one. I love it. Well it's a classic too I mean every woman with great style has worn it over the years I mean it's one of those things that like you can't go wrong. Yeah and then your daughter or your son's girlfriend or whoever later is going to wear it too and it's like that's my mom's and it's still my friend wears her mom's actually and it's like she's dressed up even in the t-shirt and jeans. Love it. I love how practical and like you're the perfect blend of like aspirational and cool but also like very down to earth so folks are going to love this I love this. Thank you so much. A huge thank you to stylist and personal shopper Leop Baruch. Make sure to subscribe to our show wherever you listen to podcasts so you don't miss an episode and while you're there I'd also be so grateful if you would rate and review us. If you have any guest suggestions or any other feedback drop us a line at podcast at Huatware.com or you can find us on social at Huatware. See you next Wednesday on Huatware with Hillary Kerr. This episode was produced by Hillary Kerr and Olivia Capilletti. Editing is by Natalie Thurman. Our audio engineers are at Treehouse Recording in Los Angeles, California and our music is by Jonathan Leahy. Hi podcast listeners. I'm Cat Collings, the editor-in-chief here at Huatware. I loved listening to today's episode featuring Leop Baruch and how she approaches styling Sophia Richie. It inspired me to prove some of Richie's latest outfits. I'm talking besides the South of France wedding looks because you know myself and the rest of the world devoured those the second they were released. And I was struck by how versatile Sophia's look is. This woman can pull off heels just as well as a pair of sneakers. One street style look that stood out was a more casual ensemble with a gray hoodie, navy trousers, and a pair of the iconic Tiffany and company Nike Air Force One sneakers. The black sneakers with that perfect Tiffany blue swoosh sold out the same day they launched. And now they go for three times the price. They're highly sought after, but I knew eBay would have some options. And with their authenticity guarantee service, where experts meticulously vet each eligible item, I always know I'm looking at the real thing. Sophia Shoes got me started on a designer sneaker kick. And I found two more fashion person approved collaboration sneakers I think you should know about. First is the Wales Bonner for Adidas sneakers. Anything Wales Bonner immediately has my heart. The designer Grace Wales Bonner has won just about every design award. She calls her brand a mix of European heritage with an afro Atlantic spirit. So when you combine her design perspective with a shoe as iconic and relevant as the Adidas Samba sneaker, you've got some collab magic. There are lots of options that are verified with the authenticity guarantee on eBay, but my absolute favorite are the cream and brown pair that have a woven effect, sort of a nod to the clothing, and a whip stitch detail on the heel. Next, I have my eye on the Ame Leandre for new balance sneakers. They've been working together for years now, but I swear each new sneaker they launch goes bananas on social and sells out quickly. The founder, Teddy Santis, will often release a new sneaker really casually thrown in the middle of an Instagram stories dump, so it's easy to miss. It's a, if you know, you know kind of thing. The latest sneaker to cause a stir is the 860 V2, which has a more athletic vibe with prominent mesh compared to more of the dad sneaker energy of the 550 collab. This sneaker won awards when it was originally released over 10 years ago, so you can bet Ame Leandre's version is kind of a big deal. These collabs drum up so much press and attention, and then naturally come the dupes. So it is really smart to make sure you're getting the real thing, especially in my role as a fashion editor, I get hit up a lot to give shopping recommendations, and I've come to rely on eBay authenticity guarantee to make sure my suggestions are always on point.