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Keisha Davis

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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.


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Wilson Standish

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occupation: music and fashion blogger and freelance writer for UR Chicago and Time Out Chicago

“[I am inspired by] historical strong men – not brute strength, rather mental vigor and confidence. Lincoln and James Dean come to mind, and 1950’s architects that all seemed to wear bow ties. My grandfather is a big inspiration. I got most of my classic suits, shoes, and ties from him, and I know if I’m wearing something he would be proud of, I’m doing something right. Art Deco is a big part of it and the ’60s modernist movement. Also classic American, from the Western Front to the beaches of East Hampton.” Wilson Standish

You would expect someone with the name Wilson Standish to be the governor of Plymouth Rock circa the late 18th century, looking very noble in a waist coat, breeches, cloak, and cravat. So it’s fitting that Wilson Standish, Chicago 2010, from a lineage of “WASPs”, is sporting Brooks Brothers indie style, in his bow ties with jeans, custom made three-piece suits with ’50s vintage neckwear and seersucker. It’s ironic that his mom, an art dealer, who’s very fashion-forward, embarrassed him as a kid. Because despite the fact that he rebelled against her by going towards his grandfather’s understated and classic genre, he maintained her penchant for standing alone, which today can simply mean attention to detail and taste. Wilson is serious about being singular in his wardrobe – he had his boat shoes made in Asia (the color schemes on the shoes are purposely mismatched) and he wears suits with one button open on the sleeve. “Old man style” is the new hip, in the world according to Wilson, where on his blog Boy Kings, he is making his mark in the Windy City in fashion and music.

To learn more about Wilson, go to the detailed captions page.

If you like Wilson, you might also enjoy Raymond Chu, Dylan Trevelen, or Michael Arenella.


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Linsey Ballas

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occupation: student

“I draw inspiration not from direct sources such as “style icons” but from different eras, mentalities, and ways of life. Such as F. Scott Fitzgerald, Paris’ 1920’s expatriate community, the witty tunes of Cole Porter, the chess playing scene between Faye Dunaway and Steve McQueen in the original “Thomas Crown Affair” (subtle sensuality expressed through intellectual games), romanticized views of the world, color palettes, ironic takes on tradition, Amory Blaine (‘The Young Egotist’) from Fitzgerald’s novel This Side of Paradise, Jean Honore Fragonard’s painting called The Swing.” Linsey Ballas

Style for Linsey is like living in her own book. It seems as though anything and everything, consciously and unconsciously, becomes a new sentence or paragraph in her wardrobe and then like a chameleon, her experiences continuously manifest into something unique. “A childhood heirloom on my wrist, one of my grandmother’s scarves, a shirt that I have stolen from my father’s closet….I layer the pieces of different generations.” Linsey doesn’t miss a reference if it’s worth it from her love of blazers found at boarding school, to her Jan Brady dress and of course, hard-to-find Lolita sunglasses. She creates a “dialogue” between the pieces which is not meant to be ironic, but playful. Killer for me is her classic menswear oversized blazer with the most provocative of YSL pumps and the legs that go on forever.

To learn more about Linsey, go to the captions on the detailed page.

If you like Linsey, you might also enjoy CC McGurr, Amanda Doman, or Sophie Conti.


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