Not The Clothes with Meg Strachan

Meg Strachan is the founder of Dorsey, a pioneer in the lab-grown diamond industry. A founder with true integrity. Building something she believes in. And one of the chicest women I know.

Reva Luft: When did you first realize your taste and point of view were assets? And where do you think they come from?

Meg Strachan: I think of taste as a lens and a perspective. We all have one. I think it’s the way each of us experiences our own senses in the world. One of the great joys of being human is getting to see through other people’s lenses.

RL: You talk a lot about your grandmother Dorsey and the influence she had on you. What’s something you appreciate about her now, where you are in your life, that you couldn’t have appreciated when you were younger?

MS: The most interesting thing about Dorsey wasn’t the way she got dressed. I don’t think she thought much about what she wore - it was background for her. She created a beautiful life and she really lived it. She adored her home and her grandkids. She used to sit by her pool for hours watching us swim. One summer I lived with her and my grandfather. I drained the pool, borrowed their car, and scraped the side of it pulling out of the garage. She handled all of it with a smile and a laugh. She had this incredible vintage bar, and over the years her grandchildren ruined the stone making root beer floats on the marble in the summer.

She loved beautiful things, but they also weren’t important to her.* When she met my grandfather they had nothing, and they really struggled - five young kids and very limited resources. But together they built a beautiful family and a beautiful life. Family was all she cared about. She was married to my grandfather for 73 years.

I didn’t realize how magical it was to grow up in the world she created. Down to her coffee cups, every detail was intentional. Even her guest bathroom sink is something I think about all the time. She kept these tiny Italian soap dishes by her sink to hold her jewelry, and I’ve always wanted them for my own bathroom. She put her makeup on in a silk robe every morning (so I do too now) and her bathroom had mosaic tiles. She didn’t create her home to take photos or for Instagram - it was just the place she lived her life, and she filled it with beautiful things. Everything she chose was simply a piece she loved.

That shouldn’t be novel. But today it is. I think I feel comfortable with my own lens because she was so comfortable with hers. She didn’t need anyone’s approval.

After she passed away, my aunt told me that a few magazines had wanted to photograph her home, but she wouldn’t allow it. She was extremely private. Dorsey had a beautiful life, but it was filled with grief, too. She lost her mother at five years old in a car accident. Later, she lost her oldest son.

She dressed for the full breadth of life. It was a gift to grow up watching a woman do that. I just didn’t know it until I was older.

She was gracious and elegant, but she knew who she was and she did not stand for anyone lacking integrity. I was really raised with her values, and I’m grateful for the standards she set. That has been especially helpful in building a company and learning to be a public person.

*RL: I think this is the distinction so many people miss. The goal isn’t beautiful things. It’s a beautiful life.

RL: Before you created Dorsey, what felt missing to you?

I spent so many years bringing other people’s visions to life. It wasn’t really about something missing - I just saw something in my head that I had to create. I grew up around entrepreneurs, so I knew it would be incredibly difficult, but I was willing to fail. I still am. I’m incredibly grateful to everyone who has supported us. Every post, every tag, every mention of Dorsey. Every kind word and link. I think it’s easy to forget that companies are run by real humans who go home to their kids and families every night. I’m grateful to be surrounded by an amazing team of people who share their expertise with me every single day. It’s important to keep life in perspective. I couldn’t be more grateful for the opportunity to keep building Dorsey. It’s a decades-long journey to build the kind of company we want to create.

RL: When you start a new collection, do you begin with a specific piece in mind, or something more abstract?

MS: This is such a hard question to answer. I’m not sure where it comes from, but I think in seasons.

RL: You have such a clear point of view, and your campaigns always feel incredibly specific. At what point do you look at an image and think, “Yes, that’s Dorsey”?

MS: Brand really evolves through details - a million little details that are almost impossible to describe. I do have a very clear sense of what I want campaigns to look like, but it comes together when I’m on set. Since the beginning, I’ve styled every Dorsey campaign head to toe, and that gives me a lot of creative flexibility to make changes in real time. I never walk onto a set overly committed to a specific image. It comes together in front of everyone at the same time. It’s a huge amount of effort to deliver on every month, but it really does feed my soul. I’m comfortable on sets. Styling is the least stressful part of my job. I pull together the things and looks I would wear and how I would wear them. I have an endless number of ideas for shoots and it’s been so fun to bring so many of them to life. I have wanted to be on sets since I discovered magazines.

RL: What’s something you come back to when you need to feel like yourself?

MS: I have a little girl who is my everything. My offline life is my real life.

I always have everyone’s kids at my house. Nothing will feed your soul more than four little girls eating pizza and ice cream and watching Taylor Swift on a Friday night in purple sparkly dresses - always trying to convince me that she has a boyfriend who plays baseball (they don’t believe me that it’s football). I love a house full of kids.

A couple of years ago I decided to change most of what I do in my free time. I hired a nutritionist. I took a break from writing my Substack (I’m slowly coming back to it now at a different pace that is developing over time). I stopped going to most evening things so I could cook at home and go to bed early. I have hobbies again.

I love my company and it gets a lot of me, but creativity isn’t an endless well. You have to be with yourself to find it.

My dad was an entrepreneur and he missed a lot of our lives. For the past ten years he’s told his four kids that if he could go back, he would have done it all differently. I made the decision when I started Dorsey to carry the responsibility of it thoughtfully. I report to our customers, our factories, our employees.

My dad has given me the gift of hindsight. Do great work and don’t miss your life.*

Some of the most grounded people I know live very quiet and intentional lives. I’m doing the same, in hopes that I get to build Dorsey for many years to come. It’s the only way of doing this that feels sustainable to me. Especially as a parent, a sister, a daughter, a friend.

*RL: I love this quote so much I used it on my brother the other day.

RL: Where are some of your favorite places to source wardrobe for your campaigns?

MS: I really look at everything when it comes to sourcing wardrobe, and I’m always caught off guard by where I find things. I never look for any specific brand - I focus on fit. How a dress drapes on a model. The way a collar sits next to an earring. It’s so much more nuanced than it looks. I think more about the mood than the pieces.

RL: Her answer is exactly the difference between collecting clothes and having a point of view.

RL: What’s your favorite magazine or publication?

MS: At any given time I have a stack of magazines with me from all over the world. I will willingly carry 20 lbs of them on vacation. I wish I had a favorite - it would make things much simpler! I read every publication, especially the international editions. It’s fascinating to see what women are wearing on the other side of the world.

RL: What’s something you’re unusually particular about (besides jewelry!)?

MS: At work, I’m particular about everything. The details really matter to me.

RL: If we looked through your screenshots or reference folder, whose style would show up most often?

MS: Old photos from the ‘90s. People really lived in their clothes. It’s inspiring to see the intersection of movement and personal style. I think we all look to the ‘90s for that.

RL: Nothing looks “lived in” until you’ve actually lived in it. That’s the whole trick. They bought less and wore it more.

RL: What’s the last thing you acquired for yourself?

MS: I just bought myself beautiful stationery from Memoire. I’m behind on thank you notes.

RL: What’s something in your closet you love and never get tired of that you think a lot of women forget about?

MS: Everyone looks great barefoot in their favorite white tee, some old denim, and the jewelry they love. If you don’t love jewelry - and some people don’t - skip it altogether.

RL: You just landed after a 12-hour travel day and have an hour to freshen up at the hotel before lunch. What are you putting on?

MS: Easy. A Dorsey cocktail ring, jeans, a white tee*, a great oversized coat, and a clutch.

*RL: See, it’s never the clothes.

RL: What’s your most worn Dorsey piece? And which piece would you say is the most underrated?

MS: The Dorsey DMJ ring is the reason I started my company. My grandmother wore it as her wedding ring, and my grandfather designed it. She helped me make it but passed away before it was released. The last day I spent with her, we worked on the ring together. She told me she couldn’t tell which was the original and which was mine. When I think of her, she’s wearing this ring - and when I look down at the replica on my hand, it makes me smile. I’m passing it down to my daughter. The original was given to Dorsey’s daughter, my aunt.

RL: What’s a piece of advice you’ve ignored that you’re glad you ignored?

MS: I’ll share the best advice I was ever given, which has felt especially important in recent years. When I was younger, my dad told me I needed to be comfortable with people thinking things about me that weren’t true. He said I wouldn’t get very far in life if I couldn’t get past other people’s false ideas of who I am. It’s the piece of advice I’m passing down to my own daughter.

RL: What have you become more certain about with age?

MS: A friend who is very special to me told me recently that she’s spent her life chasing joy and beauty. Life has so many layers of heartache and grief. In between, may we all relentlessly chase our own versions of joy and beauty - in every way, shape, and form.

That’s how Dorsey lived, too…

A PS from Meg: I finished the answers for this interview a week before losing my grandfather, Howard. Even in hospice he had his nurses put his cologne on for him. The things we wear and love are part of what make us who we are. Even in the last moments of our lives.

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Ed. note from Reva: I bought my first Dorsey necklace (the Kate collar) four years ago, when my second child was six months old. Before that, I never imagined myself wearing a tennis necklace. It always felt out of reach.

Meg really did change that. She made something traditionally exclusive feel accessible. But more importantly, she made it desirable. It didn’t feel like a compromise or a substitute. It felt like something I genuinely wanted because of the story, the styling, and the point of view behind it.

One of my current favorites is a pear huggie that lives in my left ear on a cartilage piercing. I wear it on its own and never take it off. If you check any photo of me in the last 6 months since I got it, you will see it on me.

Image 1. Stationary, MEMOIRE.
Image 2. The chicest wired headphones, LE POM POM x DOEN. (If sold out, Le Pom Pom has similar pairs on their site here)
Image 3. Meg’s Clutch, THE ROW. Meg’s rings, Rhen and Petite Rhen by DORSEY. (RL: I love how she stacked two different sizes of the same style)
Image 4. Black leather bag, PHOEBE PHILO. Red cosmetic pouch, VIOLET GREY. Raffia hat, JANESSA LEONE.

Image 1. Where Meg enjoys to spend time at home. (RL: I love how Meg put her vase on a pedestal for height. Small detail, but it’s how you make something your own.)
Image 2. Dress, NILI LOTAN. (RL: Meg loves Nili dresses and I spent some time looking at them online and in store and they really are gorgeous. Now I get why Meg loves them so much)
Image 3. A silk robe for mornings, terry for after the shower. Meg says you need both. This is a silk one she recommends.
Image 4. Vase, NICKY KEHOE