Lately, I feel that all I ever see online is the romanticization of breakneck-speed city life. It feels like if you’re not living in downtown Manhattan, you’re doing it wrong.

Ex-New Yorker and influencer Paige Lorenze offers followers a refreshing take. Her lifestyle brand, Dairy Boy, or DB, provides a much-needed reminder to her supporters — it’s okay to slow down and live a slower, more intentional existence outside the bustling Big Apple. 

From Fast Lane to Farm

Lorenze is a 25-year-old beauty, lifestyle and fashion media creator hailing from Vermont. In her youth, she occupied herself with professional ski racing, horseback riding and all things mountains. Initially rising to fame as a model, Lorenze moved to the city to pursue a design degree from The New School and to further her career in social media. With over 1 million followers across platforms, Lorenze is most known for her aesthetic Instagram posts, TikTok videos and captivating YouTube vlogs. 

Lorenze was tethered to her home in New England, but felt like she was “playing dress up all the time,” according to her interview with OK! Magazine. 

So she packed up her bags and headed to Connecticut. 

“I’m so glad I did my time in New York,” Lorenze insists, “It really was valuable to me in my life, and it’s all a part of the story that got me here.”

How Dairy Boy is Born 

Two summers ago, when the ‘hot girl summer’ phenomenon was in full effect, Lorenze jokingly posted on her socials that she was sick of the milk alternatives craze. She proclaimed it was ‘Dairy Girl summer,’ taking a comical stance to the oats and almonds that took influencer culture by storm. Lorenze followed advice from friends and followers alike to slap the witty phrase on a trucker hat — and the rest is history. 

“Dairy Boy represents a slower life and not following massive trends,” Lorenze said, “It’s evolved into a whole lifestyle brand.”

The brand extends far beyond milk humor. It celebrates Lorenze’s deep-rooted attachment to her suburban roots, a fondness for farm life, family heritage, sustainability and an overall adoration for life’s simplest pleasures. 

With that, the DB brand offers aesthetics totally reflective of Lorenze — from outdoorsy Western to cottagecore to coastal cowgirl, the brand feels cohesive and offers a niche for everyone. 

Dairy Boy designs and sells trucker hats, bedsheets, candles, makeup bags, sweatsuit sets, matches, tote bags and even tennis balls — a nod to Lorenze’s boyfriend, Tommy Paul. A true encompassing of all things lifestyle, the brand is venturing into making pots, oven mitts and cookbooks. 

With small-batch launches being few and far between, mark your calendars if you plan on securing newly dropped items — every DB debut thus far has sold out entirely. 

The Future of DB

As Dairy Boy is exiting its nascent stages and growing as a highly sought-after lifestyle brand, Lorenze has ambitions of releasing denim. 

“I really want to be a big denim brand, and I want to create a big range of denim for females. Some of the styles are actually unisex — that’s been our biggest project and something that I’m really, really passionate about. I love how denim is pretty all-encompassing,” Lorenze said. “Jeans are a universal American thing. It aligns really well with my personal style and my brand. Launching Dairy Boy Denim is my biggest goal.”

Lorenze has also recently struck an agreement with enormous retail brand Urban Outfitters. 

The bucolic essence of Lorenze’s brand, Dairy Boy, feels like a fresh and much-needed return to simplicity. I adore seeing her and her brainchild grow, and I cannot wait to see where Dairy Boy goes. 

Reach Jilly at [email protected]