Features

How #NewLookers are Expressing Themselves This Pride

by Emma Menteath

In celebration of Pride, we wanted to represent our very own #NewLookers, so we spent the day with them in Soho shooting our Pride collection - capturing their unique style and character with photographer Carly Scott.

We are also proud to be donating 100% of our Pride collection profits to LGBT Foundation. This partnership will be funding the LGBT Foundation Volunteering Programme in 2021, helping people to harness their lived experience, build new skills and amplify impact across all of LQBTQIA+ services which exists to help ensure a safe, healthy and equal future for all LQBTQIA+ people. With everything from positive prints to statement accessories, our Pride collection won't disappoint.

Keep scrolling to hear from our #NewLookers on what Pride means to them, how they express themselves and to see our exciting Pride collection.

1. Cassie Strauss-Jones, New Look Store Supervisor at St Albans

"My style has always been very important to me. From trying to fit certain trends and genres to outright breaking them and experimenting, I think it’s the perfect tool for expressing my Pride, and Pride month is the best opportunity to do so. From rainbow shoelaces and jewellery to whole outfits and bright makeup, I strive not only to represent the LGBTQ+ community but to encourage others to as well. Fashion has no rules. It’s art, it’s a statement, it’s whatever you want it to be. It’s as much a part of me as my queerness. Pride for me is year round. I am loud, bold and proud. Of my identity and my self-expression. Of my community and my future. And I want to shout it from the rooftops. #LoveWins" - Cassie Strauss-Jones

2. Chris Allen, Paid & Social Display Executive

"I want to use this month to find more LGBTQ+ accounts to follow on my socials to further broaden my knowledge about the whole community – I also can’t wait to get back to my favourite LGBTQ+ bars to celebrate with the amazing and vibrant London gay community!" - Chris Allen

3. Tautvydas Zeromskis, VM Sales Manager at White Ciy & Alex James Maurice, Store Supervisor at Grace Church Street

"Pride means that everyone is worthy of respect, that no one should be afraid of being who they really are. It's a celebration about acceptance and unity. During Pride month, I'll try to attend as many events as possible all dressed up in LGBTQ+ community supporting clothing! Spreading awareness and showing support is all that matters!" - Tautvydas Zeromskis

"This year I plan on celebrating Pride by spending time with my family and by getting together with my queer chosen family. So often people within the LGBTQ+ community have to build their own support network, which is why I’m so passionate about expressing myself in all aspects of my life. Being a queer POC in a big company like New Look I have found such joy in being myself and being accepted. So this year I will be carrying on the conversation of inclusivity within our stores to further grow the community within New Look. And outside of work I will be continuing to create unapologetic queer fashion content for my blog." - Alex James Maurice

4. Talullah Gunputh, Assistant Merchandiser on Dresses & Labels

"As a Bisexual women in a hetero relationship, it’s easy to erase my own identity and feel disconnected from the community especially where lockdown has meant I haven’t been able to be as involved in queer spaces. This Pride month feels special as I can claim back my identity again through participation and expressing myself (finally out of the dressing gown!) I also think it's really good for brands to promote exposure and diversity all year round to ensure all members of the community, in both their staff and customer base, feel supported and seen." - Talullah Gunputh

5. Reece Lomax & Thomas Ayling, Store Manager at Wood Green

"Pride month is so important for the queer community as it's an opportunity for us to reflect and voice our own identity and how we interact with the world around us. It's an opportunity for us to decide how we’re going to grow over the next year to come, which companies we want to align ourselves with and which companies we see ourselves in. With more and more of the queer community becoming visible and using their voices now more than ever it is important to speak up and join conversations about our community, our rights and our place in this world. As queer people it’s important we understand how we can help and support not only gay men and lesbian women but how we can support the trans-community, how we can support non-binary people, how we can support bisexual people, how we can support queer POC, and many more minority communities. I am proud to be gay, and I am proud of the growth the community continues to make, and I am proud to help support and continue that growth by using my voice via social media, in store with my team and peers, at home with my family and during this pride month." - Thomas Ayling

6. Brendan Storer, Programme Manager, Central Operations

"I plan on celebrating the progress we've made and the freedoms we have, while reflecting on the pain and suffering of LGBTQ+ people in the past and present. You can make impact by simply having open conversations with the people around you about what Pride is and why it's important, so that's my mission this Pride Month!" - Brendan Storer

7. Alessandro Pesce, Sales Manager at Westfield Stratford

"Being proud to me is looking at the person I’ve become today and accept my self worth. Even if I might not be the perfect version of myself, I am proud to see how far I’ve come and how much I have grown. This month is a celebration of how far the LGBTQ+ community has come but is also a reminder of how much the community has been put through and still can achieve. This month is about teaching tolerance and how we can move forward as a society with equal rights." - Alessandro Pesce