Clothes are so much about whom is wearing them. Mari J has backpacked the world, inhales ideas, and it shows. She derives cultural references for her style from Tokyo to Bob Marley to Disneyland. I admire her freedom with creative impulses, like cutting her hair on the spot or throwing her three-year-old’s “happy birthday skirt” with pompoms in the hem under a dress to give it the right volume. Everyday is Halloween for Mari J, in the sense that she is unafraid to fully express herself and she doesn’t feel she needs a reason to, whether it’s picking herself up and traveling to India and Indonesia, hitchhiking through Japan, or recycling African fabric into art. Mari J redefines the rules in the most creatively exciting way, mixing Scottish plaid with camouflage and Chanel or Mickey Mouse ears as accents to a Hirajuku hoodie in a suits-of-cards print. She says that she will be traveling soon with her daughter Lino (whom is nicknamed Hemp), “to Mars possibly.” If having a sense of humor with fashion leads to this kind of joy with clothes, it might be worth having a private moment with our inner-child every so often to remember the abandon.

If you like Mari, you might also enjoy Rinat Welsing and Shayne Oliver.