"New Yorkers try to do 9,000 things in a day," says Beverly Nguyen. She should know: As a New Yorker herself, Nguyen has spent much of her busy career as a team member of It Girl stylist Kate Young, styling A-list celebrities like Margot Robbie and Michelle Williams, and big campaigns like Puma. She has spent most of her busy career styling A-list celebrities like Margot Robbie and Michelle Williams, and big campaigns like Puma.

But 2020, of course, forced a slowdown. Nguyen, the daughter of Vietnamese refugees, left her bustling life on the East Coast and moved closer to her parents in Southern California when the lockdown began. When the red carpet and photo shoots came to an abrupt halt, so did her styling work. So she took a job as a sort of project manager at her family's textile manufacturing plant, producing N95 masks for hospitals.

"The dramatic change in my routine made me reevaluate the creative things around me," Nguyen says. 'What do I need to live and be happy? It turned out to be a mix of things, not just fashion," she explains. Nguyen, who loves to bring people together and entertain, was eager to create a space that would bring together the people she loves while enhancing the existing BIPOC community.

Once the restrictions were lifted, she returned to New York and began talking to friends who were creatives in a variety of fields. Nguyen, a master at building fantastical worlds (the result of years spent piecing together styling mood boards for photo shoots), blueprinted a one-stop store where one could get both everyday necessities and little luxuries, from drivers to hospitality gifts. He drew up the blueprint. Inventory will be carefully selected by Nguyen and sourced from local wholesalers, including struggling businesses in New York's Chinatown.

In April 2021, Nguyen's vision was realized with the opening of her first eponymous pop-up store, Beverly's, on Ludlow Street in Manhattan. Designed as a transient store, the first store (which closed this month) was the physical embodiment of Nguyen's Vietnamese heritage (selling her parents' handmade linens), her love of homeware, and a gathering place for friends old and new. Her second store opened in June, the first established by an Asian American woman in Rockefeller Center. Nguyen half-jokingly admits that she dreams of building a Beverly's on Beverly Drive in Los Angeles.

A fashion veteran and still styling regularly, she is quickly carving out a second career. We spoke with her at length about her first impressions of fashion, how she builds her work wardrobe, and how clothes keep her from stressing out.

It's so crazy these days. I wake up and have seven cups of espresso and then I read the paper to distract myself from all my responsibilities. All joking aside, every morning is different. I try to get some fresh air before I deal with the mail. I drive down the Westside Highway and then meditate. Then I check out the store. Having a store is really interesting. It's like having a child; first you take care of the child. Then you think about your styling responsibilities and check that the team is OK. Every day the tackle list is a little bit different.

When I was a little girl, my parents taught me the importance of presenting myself in the most correct way. That has always stuck with me. My mother worked nine hours a day in front of her sewing machine, wearing heels and DKNY bodycon dresses. So when I first opened my pop-up, I wore extreme gala looks every weekend. I wore heels, diamonds, pearls, lipstick, big earrings, all kinds of embellishments, and I even went on a 12-day shoot.

I had nine white shirts and a blue striped button-down that I wore almost every day.

Style is a very gentle and vulnerable expression of who I am. I dress to feel protected. I often wear things that require zippers, buttons, hooks and eyes. I think it is very important to feel protected. The more stressed I am, the more fashionable I become.

My parents work in a textile manufacturing plant in California where they sew the linens and tea towels we sell in the store. They are very important to me. I buy the fabric in Midtown, send it to them in California, and they send the finished product back to me.

The olive oil we sell at Beverly's (opens in new tab) is produced by a couple in Northern California. They harvest a small amount each year and certify and grade their organic olive oil throughout the United States. I read the 100 page PDF a little each night. It explains the process of pressing, the temperature, the fat in the olives, the science behind the machine that pulls the seeds apart. I just thought it was fun stuff and never thought I would become an olive oil connoisseur. With each new batch, I have collaborated with various artists, graphic designers, and friends to create custom labels. It's not just olive oil, it's more like a collector's item.