Privacy Policy

Last Updated: 26-SEP-2025

LARA Media Group Ltd, operating as The VOU (“we”, “us”, “our”), is committed to protecting and respecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, store, and protect your personal data in compliance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

1. Who We Are (Data Controller)

The data controller responsible for your personal data is LARA Media Group Ltd (Company Number: 13952247), with its registered office at 4 Maddox St, International House, Floor 6, London W1S 1QP, United Kingdom.

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or our data protection practices, please get in touch with us at: contact@thevou.com.

2. The Personal Data We Collect

We collect and process various types of personal data to provide and improve our services. The data we collect can be categorised as follows:

2.1. Data You Provide Directly to Us

  • Identity and Contact Data: This includes your full name, email address, telephone number, and shipping/billing addresses.
  • Financial Data: Includes payment card details. Please note, we do not store this information ourselves; it is collected and processed securely by our third-party payment processors (e.g., Stripe, PayPal).
  • Profile and Service Data: This includes the information you provide when purchasing our services, such as your style preferences, career details, lifestyle information, personal goals, and any feedback you may offer.
  • Special Category Personal Data: To provide our core Digital Styling Services, we must process data that is considered sensitive under UK GDPR. This includes photographs of you, your body measurements, and information about your physique. This data may be used to infer information about your health or racial/ethnic origin. We will only process this data with your explicit consent, which we obtain prior to you submitting this information.

2.2. Data We Collect Automatically

  • Technical and Usage Data: When you interact with our Website, we may automatically collect technical data about your equipment and browsing actions. This includes your Internet Protocol (IP) address, browser type and version, device information, and information about your visit, such as the pages you viewed. We collect this data using cookies and similar technologies.

3. How and Why We Use Your Personal Data (Lawful Basis)

Under the UK GDPR, we are required to have a valid and lawful basis for processing your data. We process your personal data for the following purposes:

  • To Provide Our Services: We process your Identity, Contact, Financial, Profile, and Special Category Data (with your explicit consent) to fulfil our contractual obligations to you.
    Lawful Basis: Performance of a Contract; Explicit Consent for Special Category Data.
  • To Process Payments: We process your Identity, Contact, and Financial Data to handle payments and prevent fraud.
    Lawful Basis: Performance of a Contract; Legitimate Interest.
  • To Manage Our Relationship With You: We use your Identity and Contact Data to respond to your enquiries and provide customer support.
    Lawful Basis: Legitimate Interest.
  • For Marketing Communications: With your permission, we use your Identity and Contact Data to send you marketing news and offers. You can withdraw this consent at any time.
    Lawful Basis: Consent.
  • To Improve Our Website: We analyse Technical and Usage Data to understand user behaviour and enhance our services and website functionality.
    Lawful Basis: Legitimate Interest; Consent (for non-essential cookies).
  • To Comply with Legal Obligations: We process data as required to meet our legal duties, such as for tax and accounting purposes.
    Lawful Basis: Legal Obligation.

4. Data Sharing and Disclosure

We do not sell your personal data. We may share your data with the following categories of trusted third parties to provide our services:

  • Independent Styling Partners: Where necessary to arrange and deliver an In-Person Service you have booked.
  • Third-Party Service Providers: Companies that support our business operations, such as payment processors (Stripe, PayPal), website hosting, and IT support. We require all third parties to respect the security of your data and treat it in accordance with the law.
  • Professional Advisers: Including lawyers, bankers, auditors, and insurers who provide professional services to us.
  • Regulatory Bodies: HM Revenue & Customs and other authorities who require reporting of processing activities in certain circumstances.

5. International Data Transfers

Some of our external third-party service providers are based outside the UK, which may involve transferring your data internationally. When we transfer your personal data out of the UK, we ensure a similar degree of protection is afforded to it by using safeguards such as Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) approved by the UK’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

6. Data Security

We have implemented appropriate technical and organisational security measures to prevent your personal data from being accidentally lost, used, or accessed in an unauthorised way. These measures include data encryption, access controls, and regular security reviews.

7. Data Retention

We will only retain your personal data for as long as is reasonably necessary to fulfil the purposes for which it was collected, including satisfying any legal, regulatory, or reporting requirements.

  • Client Service Records: For clients who purchase our services, we retain your personal data for the duration of the service plus a period of 12 months thereafter to handle follow-up queries. After this period, your personal data is securely deleted.
  • Financial and Transaction Data: We are required by UK law to keep basic customer information for seven years after they cease being customers for tax purposes.
  • Marketing Data: We retain your contact details for marketing until you opt out.

8. Your Legal Rights

Under UK data protection law, you have several rights in relation to your personal data:

  • Right of Access: The right to obtain a copy of your personal data.
  • Right to Rectification: The right to have inaccurate personal data corrected.
  • Right to Erasure: The right to request the deletion of your personal data.
  • Right to Restrict Processing: The right to ‘block’ or suppress the processing of your data.
  • Right to Data Portability: The right to obtain and reuse your data for your own purposes.
  • Right to Object: The right to object to processing, such as for direct marketing.

To exercise any of these rights, please get in touch with us at contact@thevou.com. You will not have to pay a fee, and we will respond within one month. You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK’s data protection supervisory authority (www.ico.org.uk).

9. Cookie Policy

9.1. What Are Cookies?

Cookies are small text files that are placed on your device (computer, smartphone, or tablet) when you visit a website. They are widely used to make websites function more efficiently and to provide information to the site’s owners. Cookies help us distinguish you from other users of our Website, providing you with a better browsing experience.

9.2. How We Use Cookies

We use the following types of cookies:

  • Strictly Necessary Cookies: These are essential for the operation of our Website. They include, for example, cookies that enable you to log into secure areas of our website, use a shopping cart, or utilise e-billing services. These cookies do not require your consent.
  • Analytical/Performance Cookies: These allow us to recognise and count the number of visitors and to see how visitors move around our Website when they are using it. This helps us improve the way our Website works, for example, by ensuring that users find what they are looking for easily. We will only use these cookies with your consent.
  • Functionality Cookies: These are used to recognise you when you return to our Website. This enables us to personalise our content for you and remember your preferences (for example, your choice of language or region). We will only use these cookies with your consent.
  • Targeting Cookies: These cookies record your visit to our Website, the pages you have visited, and the links you have followed. We may use this information to make our Website and the advertising displayed on it more relevant to your interests. We may also share this information with third parties for this purpose. We will only use these cookies with your consent.

9.3. Managing Your Cookie Preferences

When you first visit our Website, you will be shown a cookie banner asking for your consent to place non-essential cookies on your device. You can accept or reject these cookies. You can also change your cookie preferences at any time.

Furthermore, you can block cookies by activating the setting on your browser that allows you to refuse the setting of all or some cookies. Most web browsers provide controls to manage cookie settings. However, if you use your browser settings to block all cookies (including essential cookies), you may not be able to access all or parts of our Website.

To find out more about cookies, including how to see what cookies have been set, visit www.aboutcookies.org or www.allaboutcookies.org.