Chriselle Lim Talks Fashion, Motherhood, and PHLUR

She’s made a name for herself in fashion and now, she’s on her way to dominating the beauty world as well; one thing’s for sure – Chriselle Lim’s knack for all things creative is here to stay. Starting out her decade-long career as a wardrobe stylist, the mother of two has since worked with Mattel, many editorial publications, and even created her own fragrance line – PHLUR and educational childcare – Bümo to add to the already-impressive list of projects under her belt.

Below, we talk to the multi-hyphenate about her history with fashion, and delve into her sense of style, motherhood, and the origins of PHLUR.

You’re known by many as a fashion icon. Can you share with us your first memory of fashion?

I went to school at the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising in Los Angeles and there I studied Fashion Merchandising as I had initially thought I wanted to become a buyer. However, upon graduating, I got an internship at fashion PR agency Karla Otto which was just opening up its offices in LA. 

Through this internship, I got my first experience dealing with stylists that would come to the showroom to pull clothes for their celebrity stylists. Through Karla Otto, I met celebrity fashion stylist Tanya Gill and became her assistant. This experience as a stylist earlier in my career was so formative in many ways and was the best training to becoming an entrepreneur later in my career as being a stylist teaches you the importance of hard work, accepting rejection and learning resilience and of course, networking. 

In 2008, I began blogging and in 2011, I launched my YouTube channel. It's funny when I look back at the evolution of my career and see how so many things fell into place to get me to where I am now.

How has your sense of style changed over the years? Do you find yourself gravitating more towards trends or do you have a specific style you tend to favour?

My fashion sense changes from season to season, year to year, day to day. I have always loved fashion as it is constantly evolving – just as I am. In fashion, nothing stays the same which allows it to stay fresh and even when designers play on nostalgia with their collections, there is a sense of newness. 

Currently, I am embracing sexiness and the “celebration of flesh” that feels wildly free. I am in a chapter in my life right now where there is a sense of “Screw it, I’m wearing this.” For so long, the fashion industry has been stuck in its own stereotype of what is elegant, sophisticated and cool but especially after the last few years of Covid, people want fashion to feel fun again and it’s been great seeing the recent collections reflect that.

Has motherhood changed the way you perceive fashion?

I would say that when my girls were young (infant and toddler age), my sense of style did change a bit to adapt to my new life as a new mom. One of the biggest changes I had was that I would prioritize easy-care fabrics whenever buying a new piece of clothing. When you are a new mom, you will be spit on, peed on, pooped on, and thrown up on. You are basically used as a human tissue. That said, I was never precious about my clothing when it came to dry-cleaning it regularly or handwashing delicate pieces as I just didn’t have the time. 

Another big adjustment that I had to make was that my statement jewellery pieces went into hibernation as anything dangly or sparkly would get grabbed and ripped off in five seconds. I am a huge jewellery girl so this was definitely hard for me. 

One other thing that changed when I became a new mom was that I had to say bye-bye to my cute, mini bags (which I love) and instead, opt for larger totes and bucket bags to fit the seemingly endless amount of “accessories” new moms need like portable breast pumps, snacks for kids, toys for kids, etcetera. All that said, my girls are a little older now so I don’t have as many constraints as I did when my girls were younger which is nice!

As far as my perception of fashion, truthfully, I don’t think much has changed. I go against the idea that a woman should be forced to abandon and forge anew her sartorial identity just because she is now a mom. I don’t conform to the idea that once you become a mom, you have to dress differently; for example, more conservative with button-down shirts and wrap dresses and more comfortable with yoga pants.

You recently launched your own fragrance brand PHLUR. What prompted you to enter the beauty world with your own product?

As for PHLUR, in a lot of ways, I feel that it was the planets aligning at the perfect time for me. I was going through a separation and was struggling to find myself and my voice again. I didn't recognize it at the time but fragrance therapy and aromatherapy were a big part of my healing journey through the act of burning candles and incense and wearing fragrance while reading, meditating, or simply doing my skincare routine in the morning. 

Around that time, I was approached by my now-business partner Ben Bennett to help relaunch clean fragrance brand PHLUR. It was a transitional project for me and one that I truly poured my heart into. Our first scent was Missing Person, which was inspired by the idea of missing and longing for somebody. If nude was a scent, it would be Missing Person. The perfumer that we collaborated with calls it warm skin coming out of a bath. It's like a second skin; the longer you wear it, you don't even notice that it's there. 

Do you have any other projects in line for the future?

As of right now, I am really focusing on tending for, caring for, and growing Bümo and PHLUR but I have always been someone that has been driven and guided by my gut and intuition. I'm sure there will be more for me in the future!