Daughter, sister, penpal and lover of the simple thrills in life.
Born and bred in Vancouver, Liz is a multi-hyphenate creative who was raised to lean into life as a full package deal, embracing strangeness as “the spice of life after all.” Following an arts degree and experimentation with her own joie de vivre, Liz now finds herself at Boboli: a luxury clothing boutique established in 1985 by her mom, Margie Murphy.
In partnership with her mother, sister, father, and beloved members of staff (with frequent appearances made by Babe, the family dog), Boboli is “very much a family biz.” And while Liz is involved in multiple roles across the brand, she sees her main job as translating Boboli’s IRL “heart and soul” to the virtual world. Through social media and customer care channels, Liz and her sister Claire maintain a warm and welcoming store ethos that honours customer relationship and experience above all.
Boboli is what it is, was, and will be, thanks to the relationships we share with our clients— so many of whom have turned into friends… Getting to make connections with people we've never even met IRL has been so much fun. I really do love that part of my job.
What's The First Memory You Have Of Being In Nature?
Being on my Dad’s shoulders walking through the forest in my favourite place in the world. I remember the light through the trees and the smell. It was magic. It still feels magic walking through there.
Who Are The Matriarchs In Your Life?
We’ll start with the obvious— my mother. I really can’t understate the impact that woman has had on me. I remember being a little kid and watching her walk through the door after a workday. She had on a camel cocoon coat, a silk scarf, cool old jeans and heels and just looked... perfect. I remember thinking “wow, that’s my mum” and being so proud. She’s just so bloody cool and always has been. She is every bit as tough as she is soft and every bit as silly as she is glamorous. She lives a life filled with flowers, cloth napkins, and lit candles every night because she believes in nice things for nice things’ sake, even, and maybe even especially, when no one’s watching.
My grandmothers were/are both incredibly strong women with incredible taste. They lived very different lives but shared a reverence for style and ceremony. I have learned so much from them both in those departments. My mum’s mum had an amazing talent for making a home anywhere. Whether they were living in Zambia, Winnipeg or Rio de Janeiro, there would be something beautiful on the table and on everyone’s backs— and she would have made it all herself— all while looking like a million bucks. My Dad’s mum has an incredible natural eye, and is famous for her openness, warmth, and cheekiness. She has always been an unwavering source of positivity, a champion of the five-second rule, a lover of art and the architect of many an excellent tablescape. They used to sail in a little boat on the weekends, and no matter where they were, my grandma would row to shore to snip off something green, light some candles and lay a beautiful table.
That “nice things for nice thing’s sake” is a reoccurring theme amongst my matriarchs and is something that has become very important in my life. Treating those little ceremonies with reverence, keeping them consistent, and not waiting for a special occasion to break out the good plates or light candles, makes the ordinary a little more extraordinary. It’s those little things that fill our lives with so much more colour.
Where do you find inspiration for your style and in life?
See: my matriarchs!! They are my life inspo. Looking back at the lives they’ve made, the way they make people feel, how they’d make an occasion out of a Tuesday and get dressed up for nobody but themselves, informs how I live and how I dress!
Outside of that, my life inspiration is centred around simple thrills— You know that brain buzz you get when you hear a song for the first time and you love it so much? I feel that way about a good meal, movie, scent, font, colour combo, outfit, everything. Chasing that jolt and thinking about how many more I have yet to enjoy (if I’m lucky... don’t want to jinx anything here) makes me excited to wake up. So cheeseball I know, but so true.
A common thread in women who inspire me purely from a clothing standpoint isn’t so much what they’re wearing, but how they wear it. Whether it’s Gwyneth Paltrow in sliding doors, Lee Radziwill in a ballgown, or Zoe Kravitz on a dog walk, they all look comfortable, and that, to me, is the coolest thing you can be. If you’re comfortable in your clothes, you feel like yourself — there can be a million different versions of you that are equally you in the clothing department, but I always aim to make comfort the common denominator.
Liz wears the Cosmic Blvd Cardi and Palazzo Pant
If you could give a piece of advice to your younger self...
Don’t sweat it, baby. If it doesn’t matter in five years it doesn’t matter (stole that one from Cher... I love a reminder to take a step back and look at the big picture)
Oh, and, stop fighting your natural hair texture. Surrender to the curly journey.
What's one thing you're bringing into 2022?
More colour more joy more saying YES.
....and ughhhh FINE drink more water.