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Michele Savoia of House of Savoia

'Funminitemi Oluwadare — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 17:20:38 +0000

Savoia grew up with a grandfather and father who were “sharp dressers,” he adoringly recalls, much in the vein of the glamorous movie stars whose black and white films play on repeat in his office 24/7. In the ’60s as a kid, Savoia remembers his maternal grandfather, who was a master tailor, wearing a three-piece suit even if it was a hundred degrees outside and watching his father from beginning to end while getting dressed for his job as a night club manager. Among the indelible impressions left upon him were the pressed shirts, pinky ring, and gesture of his dad greasing his hair back in the mirror into a dip before watching him walk down the front steps to his car through the window of their six-family house (the kind that literally housed the entire extended clan). So impassioned by the sartorial high standards of the male role models in his life, Savoia never went to school in sneakers and won the best dressed award every year at school. Today, to say he is a tailor is an understatement. Savoia eats, sleeps, lives and breathes his work of making and designing clothes for everyone from CEOs and fashionistas to Broadway costumes, with an intensity and perfectionism that speaks volumes to the value of a strong heritage.

It is mostly the romantic, seductive and streamlined beauty of the late ’30s and the Art Deco aesthetic that Savoia considers to be the epitome of a time when the world was at a creative and design peak, ranging from fashion and architecture to automobiles. In an effort to live in his visual fantasies, his clothing shop on the LES is like stepping into an inviting time warp, from vintage cuff links to his ’58 custom Harley Davidson Bobber parked outside that he rides everyday. A meticulous perfectionist when it comes to the eye, you won’t find Savoia in just any high-waisted trousers, rather the ones that really sit on your waist. The details of a cuff, if not French, are a Stove Pipe, laden with a richness of contrast stitching and contrast buttons that are only a small part of the love that goes into any one piece. He is part Errol Flynn in the distressed vintage leather trench coat that I wanted to take home and a more fit, slightly rock and roll Al Capone in a velvet vest with satin piping, pinstripe pants, earrings and tattoos. And don’t let his tough exterior of a scarf tied under the traditional apple jack hat in buttery classic black leathers and dark shades fool you. Savoia is as endearing as they come, with tattoos for his mom and daughter among the the many sentimentalities on his arms. He is obsessed with setting the stage, playing the part and “dreaming in an awakened state.”

If you love Michele Savoia, you may also like Robert James, Mitch Alfus and Craig Robinson.

Stephanie Niedospial

'Funminitemi Oluwadare — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 15:11:22 +0000

Stephanie has a boyish, edgy, “girl next door” way about her. She’s a head turner, without trying to hard. Despite her long all American locks and business background, there is something reminiscent of Sabina, the carefree artist in Milan Kundera’s Unbearable Lightness of Being, with her closet of fedoras and bowlers (Lena Olin’s style in this movie is unbearably perfect). Don’t let the “little girl” Mary Janes fool you – roll up one sleeve of her t-shirt and you discover a tattoo of a giant tree with roots, a reminder of the committment to herself to never going back to a corporate job. The “take home” for me is the leather flight cap. It has an Amelia Earhart “air” about it, especially with her predispostion for menswear. Not to mention the cricket hat, with the prototypical boy next door’s flannel shirt – let’s face it, we all need to have one.

If you like Stephanie, you might also enjoy Julia Gartland or Sabrina Diaz.

Natasha Ghosn

'Funminitemi Oluwadare — Mon, 03 May 2010 18:57:44 +0000

Natasha’s passion for authenticity is so charming in her Gena Rowlands-inspired pink pants suit that she bought on a whim in Palm Springs and rarely wears out, but loves because she can see herself hosting a talk show in it, but only one that is on par with her favorite emcee Dick Cavett. A lover of unique and authentic personalities (from Bette Davis to Graham Parsons), Natasha yearns to bring back a TV show like the aforementioned one, because the legend himself took the time to delve into each person he interviewed to the point where he might actually sing a song with them, “not like today, in and out in ten minutes.” Natasha says that she always has an icon in mind when dressing (“there are no secrets anymore”), which ultimately synthesizes into something that is soley her. This is probably best epitomized by the mix of her children’s Oilily multicolored furry jacket that she calls her “Seditionary sweater on acid,” her grandmother’s Victorian mourning ring, her favorite coconut bag and her uncommon use of white accents, as in the Casio watch that she likes to wear because she doesn’t look at her Blackberry as much (she doesn’t like to be one of those people that always has their nose in the phone) and her Pierre Hardy wedges for Gap. Whether she is “Courtney Love as a fairy” in her chiffon dress and star print tights or finding virtue in a plastic Bank of America-giveaway flower power necklace, style is emotional to the point of intellectual for Natasha. On the legend Peggy Moffitt, who is still has the same Vidal Sassoon haircut and is in Rudi Gernreich everyday, Natasha says, “she doesn’t look like a child or a teenager. She doesn’t say, ‘this worked for me back then.’ She just looks like an icon.”

If you like Natasha Ghson, you might also enjoy Rachel Trachtenburg and Santiago Costillo.

Keisha Davis

'Funminitemi Oluwadare — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 19:00:32 +0000

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.

Amber Doyle

'Funminitemi Oluwadare — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 17:55:30 +0000

Amber loves her vintage monkey furs, but what makes them and everything she wears poignant for her are its details, origins, and loss of breath when she sees it. Her excitement is palpable when she explains how she found the original owner’s picture in the pocket of one of the furs, with the date of the photo of New Year’s 1949. The photo now sits in a frame on Amber’s mantle, as if the woman in it is a relative, making explicit the chilling and considerable emotional connection that antique clothing and its context has for her. She attributes her obsession with the beauty of detail to her Native American roots and the beadwork she would do as a child in Chicago. The appreciation for authenticity can be seen in everything Amber either owns or makes, from the original edition Vivienne Westwood pirate squiggle-print boots (that are signed by the designer) to her exquisite hand-made silk dupione blouses with the perfectly oversized french cuffs. She has both a strong passion for the feminine “lush” of the ’20s and ’30s, like her peach chiffon sheer dress – I love how she wears it with black thick tights and her go-to floppy hat. And then Eduardian-inspired, tailored men’s suiting, like her own designed three-piece suit, made to be serious with lots of buttons and unique lining and fun by pairing it with shorts. Amber’s infatuation with drama and tradition has led her to open a shop on the Lower East Side of bespoke clothing, where she can fully explore and bring to life her crush on the meaning behind the inception of the most time-honored prototypes.

If you like Amber, you might also enjoy Lux Leekley, Miranda Levitt, or Malin Landaeus.

Wilson Standish

'Funminitemi Oluwadare — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 13:23:57 +0000

You would expect someone with the name Wilson Standish to be the governor of Plymouth Rock circa late eighteenth century, looking very noble in a waistcoat, breeches, cloak, and cravat. So it’s fitting that Wilson Standish, Chicago 2010, from a lineage of “WASPs”, is sporting Brooks Brothers indie style, wearing 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. 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.

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

Linsey Ballas

'Funminitemi Oluwadare — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 13:44:10 +0000

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.