For more than two decades, Dylan Lauren has reigned as the candy queen of New York City thanks to her boutique candy store chain, Dylan’s Candy Bar.
Founded in 2001, Ms. Lauren’s confectionery and lifestyle brand was born from her lifelong sweet tooth and affinity for creative packaging. “I wanted to create Willy Wonka reimagined, merging my love of candy and art and fashion and pop culture, and no one else had done it,” she said.
She has since opened three stores and eight airport outposts across the United States that offer thousands of different types of candies.
Ms. Lauren, 49, is trying to find the next spot for a flagship store in New York City after deciding not to renew the lease at Dylan’s Candy Bar’s Upper East Side location as the company tries to balance brick-and-mortar with online demand. She describes herself as very “hands-on” and has been focused on developing parties, personal shopping catalogs and new products — high-end favors for birthdays, weddings and corporate events that have a “fun, colorful Dylan’s Candy Bar charm.”
Ms. Lauren remains driven by how candy turns everyone — including herself — into “a kid again.”
“It just brings out, like, smiles in anyone of any age,” she said.
Ms. Lauren, who is the daughter of the fashion designer Ralph Lauren, lives on the Upper East Side and in Bedford, N.Y., with her husband of nearly 13 years, Paul Arrouet, 53, who is a managing partner at a private equity firm, and their 9-year-old fraternal twins Cooper Blue and Kingsley Rainbow.
BREATHING DEEP I wake up usually around 8 a.m., a little later than the typical weekday rush. Sometimes on the weekends, I’ll put in an extra 20 minutes after my wake-up time just to breathe deep and do this transcendental meditation. I took a course on it with my husband, and that really helps set me in a calm and focused state.
COFFEE WITH A SIDE OF INSPIRATION I’m not a big eater in the morning. Coffee’s always my first stop. We started at Shakespeare & Co. — a neighborhood bookstore that also sells a chagaccino, which has a lot of adaptogens and phytonutrients. It’s something good to kick the day off. In a bustling city, it’s nice to go into a wooden, old bookstore that has classic New York books. I find it very calming: It’s an old-school, library-like bookstore that’s extremely well curated. They have really paid a lot of attention to the artistry of the book covers. I do a lot of the graphics on the packaging of Dylan’s Candy Bar products, and I’m always looking for graphic design inspiration.
PARTY FAVORS I had done a cover of a magazine, and the editor was telling me about her favorite candies. I was trying to find all her favorite candies and make sure it was personalized to what she liked. We went to my store in Hudson Yards. A friend was also having a 40th birthday dinner, and I wanted to set the table with our candy and favors, so I was looking for various candies and chocolates.
POP ART Many pop artists that I love, their work is very inspired by Hunt Slonem. Hunt, in particular, has a big focus on rabbits, and I also draw bunnies because it’s my favorite animal. We went to Hunt Slonem Studio gallery. Hunt Slonem has all these rabbit — whether it’s paintings, books or porcelain ashtrays — that people have been giving me because they know I collect rabbits. Hunt is also a fan of Dylan’s Candy Bar, so maybe we’ll collaborate on something.
RABBIT ADOPTION EVENT Dylan’s Candy BarN, our foundation, partners with different animal organizations — whether it’s dogs, cats, bunnies, horses — animals that need homes. Our focus was All About Rabbits Rescue, so I went to the event to support and raise awareness for it. They have them often in a dance studio. There were over 30 rabbits there. Because I used to have Chocolate and Vanilla, my pet bunnies growing up, I know they make great pets. I want other people to experience that.
SHOPPING AT E.A.T. GIFTS It’s one of my favorite stores in the city. My mom would take me there, and I still go there. They have so many fun tchotchkes, from stationery to candy, that I look at for inspiration. It’s very eclectic and was an inspiration to me when I opened Dylan’s Candy Bar because we wanted to sell lifestyle gifts for adults, not just kids, and they still do a great job of that. I went to buy props for our e-commerce photo shoot — cool bowls and plates that were color-coordinated. I wanted to make sure they were incorporated into these personal shopping catalogs.
CHERRY BLOSSOMS AND BURN I have my dad’s show coming up, so I like to be extra cut. I’m really into arm definition and full-body strength because I’m very athletic. I coordinated meeting with my trainer Gillian Johnson in Central Park, and we met under the best patch of cherry blossoms I have ever seen in New York. It’s just like pink cotton candy to me.
TREAT YOURSELF I splurged on cookies and candy with my family. I eat extremely healthy, but then when I have a big press event, I treat myself after. We have this really good ice cream at Dylan’s Candy Bar, Marshmallow Cloud, so I indulged a little in that and so did my kids. That’s kind of a way to wind down for me.
‘BACHELOR’ BACKTRACKING Because I am in the city and the country, I did go up to Bedford, N.Y. I was trying to take in both. Sunday night is usually like my early night. At 9:30 p.m., I like to know I can get in bed. I really like “The Bachelor,” so I’ll watch whatever I missed the previous seasons. I know this season’s over, but I was trying to understand why “The Golden Bachelor” didn’t quite make it.
