Serena Morris has one of the sauciest curatorial eyes in the industry. The consultant once manned the account @bestoftrr—a trove of some of the best finds of the resale site The RealReal—and later launched @shes__underrated, a celebration of unsung Black and women-of-color heroines in fashion. On the second account, Morris, who is based in Los Angeles, creates hyper-specific mood boards of yacht babes or vacation girls and writes mini odes about the likes of Kimora Lee Simmons and Kidada Jones’s era at Tommy Hilfiger. Most recently, Morris has launched a personal-shopping arm of @shes__underrated, offering up her discerning sense of style to clients searching for frisky vintage pieces.
Morris—who announced this service with a sultry 1-900 spoof video by George Bangs—never set out to be a personal shopper. Instead, clients came to her. After receiving DMs on and off from followers asking for shopping advice, she blatantly asked followers on Instagram what their burning questions were. From there, she realized she could turn this into a business. “Shopping vintage is intimidating,” says Morris. “When I put it out there that I’m down to help people, give tips and tricks, it became a thing and people started to ask me to help them shop.”
Personal shopping is certainly not a new profession, but Morris has created a niche in the industry, finding aspirational yet affordable pieces through her love of shopping and finding deals (which traces back to her initial account, @bestoftrr). Through her past mood boards, the consultant has made aspirational outfits for any scenario—no matter how simple. In one instance, she dreamed up an outfit for a shopping trip to the mall: a fabulous aughts-style Donna Karan dress and René Caovilla heels, complete with a Bergdorf shopping bag and an AmEx. In another instance, Morris styled a series of megawatt going-out looks inspired by aughts perfumes like J.Lo’s Glow. Here, Morris transforms personal shopping into an art and finds the pieces to complete her vision for the client.
