Keisha Davis

occupation: actor, nanny, and shop girl

“No one is going to be a better me than I can be, so I have to do it right.” Keisha Davis

Keisha feels that being bigger challenges her to have to be more creative with her clothes. She likes the opportunity to be inventive, and she is. I love the way she made the one-shoulder metallic dress for her “diva” look, how she mixes her boyfriend blazer with a tie-dye head scarf, and most of all, how sharp she is in her Gwen Stefani-inspired sleeveless fur coat/vest with her grandmother’s ’70s glasses, belted biker shorts, tank, and pumps. Keisha is refreshingly open and unaffected by what people think of her. She feels that people give her funny looks when she is walking down the street because they don’t feel that someone her size should be expressing themselves in their style. I have found in doing SLU that all people who go beyond what’s common, no matter their particulars, are judged publicly. What makes Keisha so special and a leader is that other people’s judgments only fuel her fire. And the freedom within herself to “put the wrong things together at the wrong time and make it right” is the definition of style.

If you like Keisha, you might also enjoy Akeem Bazaar, Daliah Heeger, or Amee Carter.

Natia Dune

occupation: dancer, actress, and PR and events coordinator for Ion Studio NYC

“All of the characters in [Anton] Chekhov’s ‘The Three Sisters‘ are extremely tragic, but Elena is my favorite. She has lot of hope. She wants to go to Moscow. The idea of going far away where life seems better – I connect to her.” Natia Dune

If there were ever a case for learning outside of the traditional classroom, it’s Natia, a dark beauty whose life reads like one of the many classic pieces of literature that she is an expert in. While I am trying to figure out how to keep this to one paragraph, I have windows open to all of her routine references, Proust, Dostoyevsky, Chekhov, Baudelaire and her favorite of all, The Master and Margarita (for its dream-like kindness and devils) by Bulgakov, someone I have never heard of but is now on top of my huge stack on my bedside table. I also made an immediate dash to the All Saints site once she extolled their aesthetic virtues, Natia’s obsessed with every leather piece. She studied ballet beginning at eight-years-old, far from her home of the Republic of Georgia, as in succeeded from Russia in 2003, where she lived through the revolution and remembers being cold in a big house with memories of her family huddled around the one oil heater and where “there was no food at all.” Her dance teacher had escaped the Ramonovs and was given her school by

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Miranda Levitt

occupation: student, actress, musician, and manager of the clothing line Veda

“People should never underestimate the power of being reckless, spontaneous, and carefree. I think we lose that as we get older and become more aware of how precious life is. But I hope to look back on my life and never say ‘I wish I had done that.’” Miranda Levitt

I couldn’t be more with Miranda that long and flowy is the new jean. She literally takes my breath away for the way she captures hippie meets Victorian in the most cosmopolitan sense, with her floor-length floral French chiffon skirt from the ’20s, Kiki De Montparnasse bloomers (hidden, but so there), thick black tights, navy Shetland Miu Miu sweater, waist-length black hair, and pale skin. At times, she imagines herself with a long train held by the perfect antique “ringed” hand (much like her own, with her heirloom family ring worn everyday) and possibly a Gothic mourning necklace with a lock of hair that is a hundred-years-old. Miranda is from a family of performers, actors, and singers, both of which she is, though she is currently focusing on acting. Life is her stage, and right now she is passionate about the electricity of NYC (despite her love of nature). Although Miranda’s Manhattan is of many eras – there’s the 2010 “very Miranda” leather jacket with fur trim, and then the Pre-Raphaelite Miranda, in hooded velvet cape that makes her feel as if she is part of a secret old world society, where “women never lift a finger” and are always in heels.

To learn more about Miranda, click on the detailed captions page.

If you like Miranda, you might also enjoy Jordan Robin, Alessandra Calabi, or Carly Mark.

Lauren Buxton

“I grew up learning about the relations Thomas Jefferson had with the Indians. The way he described them at one point, which I find to be very true to this day, is: ‘The Indian people of North America are a noble race who were the innocent victims of history.’ The purity of the way they lived life is one I wish to follow as much as possible in the time we live in.” Lauren Buxton

occupation: aspiring actress

It strikes me how completely opposite Lauren is from Sammy (our previous post) in style, but so similar in their ability to be completely natural and emphatic in their own expression (although they both love fairies, Sammy has a tattoo of one and she wears floral headbands). Lauren grew up in Virgina, where the richness Early American culture had a big affect on her. There were American Indian artifacts in abundance under her grandmother’s tomato garden and on top of mountains she would hike to. She has loads of authentic arrowheads and she is so taken with them that they are tattooed on her arm, symbolizing some of their prized tribal mythology. Having been surrounded by Jeffersonian history, Lauren has a “past life” affinity with the Colonial and Civil War time periods. I can picture her in a log cabin on an album cover, very ’70s, one of her other favorite time periods for its purity and soulfulness, in her oversized Native American cardigans, Victorian cotton dresses, khaki suspenders with jeans, loads of worn in men’s boots, and turquiose. Rumour has it that she is starting a folk music band, however, until her first “hit” single, her photo shoot is more likely to be an ad for her first feature film or mocumentary. Lauren lives in an an East Village walk-up and is forging her way towards establishing herself in the movie industry as an actor and writer. True to her down-to-earth wardrobe, she is determined to gain success from the pure love of the craft and not for the purpose of gaining fame.

If you like Lauren, you might also enjoy Maggie Godwin, Philippa Price, or Ruby and Summer.

This summer, Lauren worked on a short film. You can watch the trailer here.

Alessandra Calabi

occupation: student and actress