Lori Harvey likes to consult with herself within the third individual. “She is shifting,” she says when operating via her every day schedule, which incorporates enterprise conferences for 2 firms, interviews, performing lessons, and getting ready for style month in London, Paris, and Milan. “She will get scorching,” she says when explaining why she retains a Louis Vuitton fan in her bag always. “She was very hungover,” she says when describing the explanation she wore a last-minute pair of sun shades on a crimson carpet in Cannes.
It is sensible why Harvey, the daughter of comic Steve Harvey and style entrepreneur Melanie Harvey, would consider herself as one other individual. She’s achieved a lot within the 27 years of her life that it’s virtually unfathomable. At 14, she was on the monitor to turn out to be an expert equestrian rider. When a again damage derailed her equestrian profession at 18, she pivoted to modeling and made her official runway debut in 2017 for Dolce & Gabbana. Her profession continued with adverts for manufacturers like Michael Kors, Valentino, and Burberry and spreads for magazines like Vogue, W, and Harper’s Bazaar earlier than the launch of her first firm, SKN by LH, in 2021. Two years later, Harvey began her second enterprise, a swimwear model named Yevrah (her final title spelled backward), impressed by the envious Euro summer time holidays she’s turn out to be synonymous with on her Instagram.
Photograph: Michael Buckner. Design: Sasha Purdy. Full look: Ferragamo. Earrings: Erede. Rings: Jacquie Aiche, Shay, Erede.
Now, at 27, Harvey simply made her first main on-screen debut in Peacock’s new critically acclaimed drama, Battle Evening: The Million Greenback Heist, primarily based on an armed theft of greater than $1 million of stolen valuables at a celebration in Atlanta the night time of Muhammad Ali’s historic comeback struggle in 1970. Regardless of what haters might imagine, Harvey stays booked and busy. “I really feel like the most important false impression about me is that I don’t work,” she says. “However no, she’s a working gal. She works very exhausting.”
I’ve positively gotten a leg up and had doorways been open for me due to my dad, however I needed to put the work in after I obtained there.
This false impression is why it was vital for Harvey to audition like anybody else for her position in Battle Evening. Although Harvey went to theater camp as a child and had a one-line position within the sitcom The Recreation as a teen, it wasn’t till the beginning of 2024, when she made it her New 12 months’s decision to do one thing that pushed her exterior of her consolation zone, that she formally made the soar to pursue performing professionally. “There was one thing holding me again. I’m a perfectionist, so I by no means need to do something until I do know it’s going to be superb out of the gate,” she says. “However going into the brand new yr, I used to be in an area the place I used to be like, ‘ what? I’m gonna do every part that makes me uncomfortable.’ Since you don’t develop if you’re comfy. You develop if you’re uncomfortable.”
Photograph: Michael Buckner. Design: Sasha Purdy. Full look: Ferragamo. Earrings: Erede. Rings: Jacquie Aiche, Shay, Erede.
Photograph: Michael Buckner. Design: Sasha Purdy. Full look: Ferragamo. Earrings: Erede. Rings: Jacquie Aiche, Shay, Erede.
The timing labored out. Round that very same time, her supervisor heard Peacock was casting for Battle Evening, a real crime sequence that includes a who’s who of Hollywood together with Kevin Hart, Taraji P. Henson, Samuel L. Jackson, Don Cheadle, and Terrence Howard. “When you hear that forged, it’s a no brainer,” Harvey says.
Her crew managed to get her an audition however Harvey knew that she couldn’t simply coast on her fame to get her the half—nor did she need to. “I prefer to work for and earn every part I’ve. I don’t prefer to have something handed to me,” she says. Even earlier than Battle Evening got here round, Harvey had already been working with an performing coach for the reason that begin of the yr. When she obtained the audition, she upped her hours together with her coach considerably, perfecting every part from how she talked to how she stood to the way in which her face seemed, earlier than she sat in a room with dozens of different actresses ready to learn for a similar half. Harvey bombed her first audition. “I used to be terrified, and I did completely horrible,” she says.
Everyone ought to really feel like they’re that woman
However hope wasn’t misplaced. The casting administrators have been impressed sufficient by Harvey’s efficiency that they known as her in for one more position: Lola Folana, an actual singer and Broadway actress who was dubbed one in every of Black Hollywood’s it ladies within the ‘70s. To organize, Harvey watched limitless movies, interviews and flicks Folana had been in to check her eccentricities earlier than she stepped again into the audition room for a second shot. This time, she nailed it. “I used to be strolling round my kitchen when my supervisor known as me and was like, ‘Guess what? You bought it,’” Harvey recollects. “It took a second for it to register as a result of I used to be like, ‘Wait, is that this actually taking place? Is that this actual?’”
Photograph: Michael Buckner. Design: Sasha Purdy. Scarf: Hermes. Swimsuit: Yevrah Swim. Coat: Kate Hundley. Earrings: Lag World. Necklace: Jacquie Aiche. Waist chains: Jacquie Aiche, Yevrah Swim. Rings: Shay, Jacquie Aiche, Erede. Bangles: Alexis Bittar. Footwear: Rene Caovilla.
Whereas Harvey by no means met the actual Folana, who’s now 82 and has largely stayed out of the highlight since her retirement, she acknowledges the affect Folana had on future generations of actors like her. “I beloved how assured she was. She was actually a badass and was simply that woman throughout that period. I hope I did her justice,” Harvey says. Folana’s confidence can also be what Harvey noticed essentially the most about her in herself. “As I’m getting older and extra assured in who I’m, I positively relate to her on that degree,” she says. “I believe I’m that woman. I believe all people ought to really feel like they’re that woman.”
Together with being her first position, Battle Evening additionally holds a particular place in Harvey’s coronary heart for one more purpose. The sequence is about in Atlanta and tells the story of how the town, as soon as a railroad city, turned the “Black mecca” of the US. Harvey was born in Memphis however grew up in Atlanta, the place she spent most of her childhood because the youngest of seven youngsters. Her mother and father nonetheless dwell there, so when she confirmed up at her household’s home days earlier than manufacturing began on Battle Evening, her dad, Steve Harvey, was stunned to be taught she had begun performing—not to mention booked her first TV present.
Photograph: Michael Buckner. Design: Sasha Purdy. Scarf: Hermes. Swimsuit: Yevrah Swim. Coat: Kate Hundley. Earrings: Lag World. Necklace: Jacquie Aiche. Waist chains: Jacquie Aiche, Yevrah Swim. Rings: Shay, Jacquie Aiche, Erede. Bangles: Alexis Bittar. Footwear: Rene Caovilla.
Photograph: Michael Buckner. Design: Sasha Purdy. Scarf: Hermes. Swimsuit: Yevrah Swim. Coat: Kate Hundley. Earrings: Lag World. Necklace: Jacquie Aiche. Waist chains: Jacquie Aiche, Yevrah Swim. Rings: Shay, Jacquie Aiche, Erede. Bangles: Alexis Bittar. Footwear: Rene Caovilla.
“It actually wasn’t even intentional not telling him. We’re simply so busy. We’re at all times in numerous time zones. I don’t even suppose I do know the place he’s proper now. He may very well be in Africa,” Harvey jokes. “After I obtained house, he was like, ‘What are you right here for?’ I used to be like, ‘Oh, I’m filming.’ He’s like, ‘Filming what?’ It didn’t register to him, at the same time as I used to be saying it. After all, as soon as I informed him the forged, he was like, ‘It is a large deal. You bought to focus. You bought to lock in. I’m so pleased with you, but it surely’s work time now.’ I used to be like, ‘Oh, I do know I’ve been working. Don’t fear.’”
However simply because Harvey grew up round Hollywood doesn’t imply she didn’t have anxiousness the primary time she stepped onto the set of Battle Evening. In spite of everything, one in every of her first scenes was with the Samuel L. Jackson, a household buddy who she affectionately knew as Uncle Sam, however wanted to view because the “Black Godfather” of New York’s legal underworld. “Being with him in a piece setting was very nerve-wracking, clearly, as a result of he’s a legend. I simply wished to do job and impress him,” Harvey says. “He could be tremendous encouraging. He could be like, ‘That was it! That was the one! Now you’re getting comfy. You’re feeling it now.’ That helped me chill out.”
With the household she grew up in, Harvey is conscious of the impact her final title had on the place she is in her profession. However that doesn’t negate the work that she put in to remain there. “There are positively benefits to it. Anyone who says there aren’t is both delusional or very tone deaf. I’ve positively had benefits. I’m not blind to that,” she says. “I’m extraordinarily grateful and appreciative for all the benefits I’ve had. However simply because you have got it simpler to get within the door, doesn’t imply that it is possible for you to to remain within the door simply due to who your mother and father are. It’s a must to truly put the time and put the work in and be good at no matter it’s you’re doing. I’ve positively gotten a leg up and had doorways been open for me due to my dad, however I needed to put the work in after I obtained there.”
Photograph: Michael Buckner. Design: Sasha Purdy. Bra, gown & underwear: Dolce & Gabbana. Coat: Michael Kors. Tights: Calzedonia. Footwear: Andrea Wazen. Earrings: Okay Salamoon. Bracelet: Jacquie Aiche. Rings: Mondo Mondo, Jacquie Aiche, Shay.
Photograph: Michael Buckner. Design: Sasha Purdy. Bra, gown & underwear: Dolce & Gabbana. Coat: Michael Kors. Tights: Calzedonia. Footwear: Andrea Wazen. Earrings: Okay Salamoon. Bracelet: Jacquie Aiche. Rings: Mondo Mondo, Jacquie Aiche, Shay.
Harvey can also be pleased with her father. She by no means thought of dropping his final title to distance herself from him in Hollywood, and she or he even named Yevrah, her swimwear model, after their shared final title backward. Her older brother, Jason Harvey, used the title first for a now-defunct footwear firm earlier than she requested for his permission to maintain the legacy going with Yevrah.
Harvey launched Yevrah with Revolve in 2023. The model was one in every of Revolve’s most talked-about swimwear partnerships of the yr and has been worn by celebrities like Normani, Winnie Harlow, and Justine Skye. Two years later, over Labor Day weekend 2024, Harvey dropped her second line for Yevrah. This time round, although, Harvey absolutely operated the model on her personal by way of Yevrah’s new website, yevrahswim.com.
You’re anticipated to be very, very tall and really, very skinny. I positively was self aware about it after I first began, as a result of I’m not a standard mannequin.
“After we initially launched, I wished to launch it with Revolve. They’ve such an unimaginable infrastructure that they’ve constructed,” she says. “I wished Yevrah to be part of their model as to assist advertise, get eyes on it, and be of their orbit of their clientele house. As soon as we did that, and it was very, very profitable, I knew I wished to launch my very own website. It was actually all about timing.”
Although Yevrah has a brand new house and contemporary designs, it’s nonetheless dedicated to the identical values Harvey had when she first got here up with the thought for the corporate years in the past. A kind of values was dimension inclusivity—Yevrah’s sizes vary from XS to XXL—one thing vital to Harvey after spending years as a mannequin and struggling to suit into pattern sizes. “I completely felt strain to be a sure dimension, particularly after I first began,” she says. “If you’re backstage and so they’re becoming you, every part is pattern dimension. You’re anticipated to be very, very tall and really, very skinny. I’ll be sincere, I positively was self-conscious about it after I first began, as a result of I’m not a standard mannequin. When it got here to growing my manufacturers, I used to be like, ‘OK, inclusivity is primary on my listing.’”
Photograph: Michael Buckner. Design: Sasha Purdy. Bra, gown & underwear: Dolce & Gabbana. Coat: Michael Kors. Tights: Calzedonia. Footwear: Andrea Wazen. Earrings: Okay Salamoon. Bracelet: Jacquie Aiche. Rings: Mondo Mondo, Jacquie Aiche, Shay.
A swimwear model can also be a far cry from what Harvey thought she could be doing as a child. A self-described tomboy, her outfits rotated between two seems to be: a saggy polo with saggy shorts or a saggy T-shirt with saggy pants. It wasn’t till her mother introduced her to her first style week present at 12 years outdated that she was formally bit by the style bug that led to her profession now. “I beloved the power and the artistry behind it,” she says. “Then it was, ‘I would like the clothes. I would like the little heels. I would like the little purses. I would like every part.’”
Because the proprietor of two manufacturers—her skincare model, SKN by LH, bought out inside 48 hours of its launch—Harvey additionally dispels the stereotype that she was simply one other celeb who slapped her title on an organization. “I’m actually the model. Every little thing runs and flows via me,” she says. “I deal with all of the inventive, product improvement, design—you title it, every part from curating the Instagram right down to the content material of the shoots. Let’s clear that false impression up. She is closely concerned. She is the model.”
Even with two thriving firms and a burgeoning performing profession, Harvey nonetheless has a protracted listing of objectives she desires to attain. For starters, she’d prefer to launch her personal perfume and clothes line. She’d additionally prefer to star in a comedy. In spite of everything, humor does run in her household. “I believe I’m fairly hilarious, so I’d like to showcase that,” she says. What’s off the desk is stand-up. She additionally doesn’t see herself performing alongside her father. “I don’t suppose he’s performing anymore. I believe he’s accomplished with that,” she says. “I’d be shocked if he did one other performing position as a result of he’s beginning to wind down. My dad is older. I informed him, ‘I offer you two extra years tops, and I believe you’re gonna retire.’ I believe I missed that window.”
Photograph: Michael Buckner. Design: Sasha Purdy. Full look: Versace. Earrings: Lag World.
Photograph: Michael Buckner. Design: Sasha Purdy. Full look: Versace. Earrings: Lag World.
Whereas Harvey teases that she has one other thrilling performing venture within the works, she assures it’s not a task in her dad’s upcoming biopic, which she joked with E! Information on the Battle Evening’s crimson carpet in September that she wished to play herself in. “I used to be joking. When the biopic is about, I don’t suppose I used to be born but. I believe it’s simply him when he was youthful. If I learn it accurately, I don’t suppose any of us will probably be in it. I believe it’ll simply be primarily based on him,” she says.
The week after her cowl shoot with StyleCaster, Harvey flew to New York Metropolis for the premiere of Battle Evening and an look on the TODAY present. She was solely there for a scorching second earlier than returning to her house in Los Angeles for a fast break earlier than jetting off once more to Milan, London, and Paris for a month of style weeks. In between then, she has conferences for her two firms and remains to be in common performing classes to excellent her craft.
Together with her schedule continuously on the go, Harvey understands how her life can come throughout on the skin. However she assures you, she’s clocked in. “Folks suppose my life is only one lengthy trip,” she says. “I attempt to take it as a praise, as a result of I’m like, ‘OK, I assume meaning I make it look straightforward.’” When requested if that preconceived notion ever bothers her, she pauses earlier than casting the thought away. “For a second, however then I obtained over it as a result of I used to be like, ‘Lady, you’re employed your butt off,’” she says. “Let the work converse for itself.”
Photographer: Michael BucknerArt Director: Sasha PurdyProduction Supervisor: Roya BacklundStylist: Jill JacobsMakeup: Leah Darcy with Infinity Artistic AgencyHair: Ray Christopher with The Wall GroupPhotography Assistant: River CallawayStyling Assistants: Kassidy Taylor, Jazzy Carrillo
