occupation: client coordinator at Bumble and Bumble New York

“My mom always told me, ‘You need to always look your best when you go out of your house, no matter what it’s for, because you never know who you are going to meet or who you are going to run into.’ I always think about that. I’ll get dressed and [say to myself], ‘Oh, no! What if I get locked out and I have to go into the city looking like an urchin?’” Hunter Thompson

Hunter is a ladies’ man when it comes to his mom, a Southern gentleman when it comes to class, a touch of Brooklyn when it comes to his love of black, and a movie star when it comes to distinguished good looks, in the vein of Donald Sutherland. There isn’t anything in his wardrobe that doesn’t look expensive, yet nothing is. A standout for me are the women’s plus-size thrift store pants with the two panels that he imagines were from part of an “extremely tacky evening outfit, ill-fitting and just ugly.” If he had told me they were Yohji, I wouldn’t have batted an eye – they are as chic as any of the edgiest designers or as my own (sigh) Margiela pants with the built in skirt. A lot of the time, I feel sure that spending more is worth it, especially on certain investment-type pieces, but Hunter has an extraordinary eye for proving me wrong. When he told me that his black leather jacket was $20, I cringed at how much I spent on mine. Of course, how Hunter puts it all together puts it over-the-top, like mixing his biker jacket with a “Woolrich-esque” red and black checked blanket as-a-scarf when running to the local bodega. It’s all in the details, and any scarf less chunky and original wouldn’t have the same effect. Above it all though, and symptomatic of a true artist, is his profound sensitivity. You can see it all over his room – an impeccable taste for history, science, fashion, and art, and in his answer to our question as to who his favorite person on the site is. His answer: “Terry T. His passion for the feelings of others wowed me more so than any outfit he could of put on. With how genuine he was, he honestly could have been in sweat pants, and I would have been sold.”

If you like Hunter, you might also enjoy Sonny Groo, Alex Chapman, or James Gillespie.

occuption: Brand Specialist for Jeffrey Campbell NYC

“I am not the girl who walks away or puts things on hold. I don’t come back. I have a look and I know what I want.” Ty McBride

Ty is inspired by people who understand the difference between style and fashion, and is obsessed with things that are high quality, essential, and long lasting, like cowboy boots and Hendrick’s gin, his nod to keeping it light and not taking himself too seriously (he has an action figure that “wears denim in an urban prison sexed up way”). Ty is archetypal in his Pacific Northwest classicism meets Marais bohemian style. Pendleton is the rage of the moment, but the brand runs in his blood – Ty is the son of a cattle rancher from a town of 1,000 on the border of Idaho and Oregon, where his father has a charge account at the local Pendelton store. Ikat prints and Navajo everything, “grandfather” shawl collar cardigans, and the sublime vintage Frye boot are second nature to him, but when layered with his touches of “power lesbian” glasses, Oscar Wilde-esque neckwear, and prototypical handbags, his worldliness is apparent. He says that he is infatuated with “pre, pre-preppy” and “hyper-novelty” but with a bit of irony, like his torn Wrangler jean jacket from teenage years. Not short on a passion for the timeless must haves, he describes his basic tee’s as his “crack cocaine” and his local army navy surplus store as his “secret weapon”. Ty’s roots are so deep in Americana that it’s as though the branding on his arm with the insignia of his family’s cattle farm has marked him the crusader of time honored chic. Any coincidence here that he is the “brand” specialist for the a company that produces the killer modern take on the Hurache, Frye Boot and Minnetonka mocassin?

Ty writes the blog for Jeffrey Campbell online.

occupation: being the beloved Barbara Louis, and entrepreneur

We only live once, but once is enough if we do it right. Live your life with class, dignity, and style so that an exclamation point, rather than a question mark signifies it. Gary Ryan Blair

When it comes to style, nothing stands in Barbara’s way. With legs to kill, taste to spare, and an unabounding zest for life (she is a Leo – “we love life and people”), Barbara rules any age group when it comes to expressing herself with clothing. She wears anything and everything from her bottomless closet of YSL (given to her by the designer) to H&M and Zara if it suits her fancy, and still has clothes from high school and the body to wear it. On any given day, you could find Barbara exploring Topshop or leading a group through The Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where she is a docent and has worked for thirteen years. She says that she loves everything in fashion. Barbara was featured in Harper’s Bazaar in her teens and worked with Yves Saint Laurent on his knitwear collection from 1970 to 1981 – for her, his taste level was “beyond wonderful,” and one never gets tired of his designs. She claims that she lost her hearing in the front rows of all of the fashion shows in Paris she attended in her youth, which were held then mostly in the designers’ ateliers and mansions. She was personally friendly with Coco herself, who Barbara says was “tough,” Kenzo, who “wasn’t much of a swinger,” Sonia Rykiel, Adele Simpson, Maurice Rentner, Bill Blass (who worked for Maurice Rentner), and Norman Norell.
Some of her tips: Barbara only wears black jeans, only packs black and white for vacations, wears Charles Jourdan shoes for looks and comfort (although she still covets the current runway shoes), and when thinking about what she is going to wear each day, considers whether she feels frivolous or serious. Barbara does not have to shop for much – her closet is like a small car in the circus when hoards of people keep coming out of them, only instead of clowns it’s archival-level, beyond any vintage store’s dream of wearable art. The best part though is going through it all with her – I have never laughed so hard. She is a masterpiece of wisdom and humility to behold.

occupation: artist, freelance stylist and works in luxury retail

“Know, first, who you are, and then adorn yourself accordingly.” Epictetus

Antino says that he has spent alot of his life having mulitple identity crises that would manifest in his style as changing constantly from preppie to skater, hard as that is to imagine when you see him today, literally a thoroughbred of sober chic and a model of non-chameleon self-confidence. He is from a conservative southern baptist family and says that he was the “black sheep”, leading to a long struggle and many obstacles in order to find comfort in the creative and open soul that he is. Antino’s path is largely documented by his state of the art tattoos, which serve both as a means to tell his story and as an accessory to his impeccably refined wardrobe of designers like Rick Owens and Ann Demeulemeester, the giants of originality and philosophical ideas in their designs. He himself is a deep thinker extraordinaire and so refreshingly open about his own struggle with the complexity of human nature and the juxtaposition of good and evil that exists everywhere. His left hand says sinner, his right hand, saint, and the nude woman is a she-devil with a halo. Antino loves and embraces comfortably the exploration of the dark side of everything because he is filled with so much light.
Photo Shoot of Antino
and Antino will be performing in his own Burlesque show….stay tuned

occupations: victoria- artist and founder mackenzie-childs and emprise and shaun- director of print and digital media production, PR, and web design for Victoria & Richard Emprise and shaun’s link

There has been a lot of connectivity as the community of people on this site increases, but this story is worth telling. I met Victoria in the Mac store in the Meat Packing District, immediately drawn to her rainbow hair, who wouldn’t be? Shaun, was referred to me by my new web designer, for tech support for Stylelikeu. He broke my stereo type of techies, by the daily eye candy of a guy who dons clothes in a very unique combination of ways, and has an almost singular fetish for the genius of Prada. Victoria, open and warm as could be when I approached her at Mac, told me that she lived on a boat on the Hudson. Shaun, not too far into our many days together working, started to tell me about how he lived with this astounding woman, on a boat on the Hudson. It turns out, they live on the same boat, Shaun rents a room from Victoria and her husband, Richard (who is himself, so stylish, including his full scottish regalia). Not only are Shaun and Victoria individuals in very different ways style-wise, but I have never been in a living environment as aesthetically enchanting and while floating on the water. Shaun is all about the high quality pieces, each thing he owns is critical and indispensible. He hunts down what most men don’t end up buying from Prada because of what a “stretch” it is in the realm of what’s “acceptable” for them, like the button down shirt backwards or the Thom Browne shirt/jacket that Shaun refers to as the “anti-suit”. Victoria on the other hand, couldn’t name a designer. She is about as unlabel conscious as a person in this culture could be. Victoria makes all of her own clothes from fabric swatches laying around or anything that she has that is not being used. Her designs garner her a lot of attention, on the rare occasion that she wanders into a store like Bergdorfs, the sales people chase her asking her “who” she is wearing. The fact is she is wearing all “Victoria”. Her clothes are literally pinned together or hand sewn, usually done in the middle of the night or while on the road with her very successful china company. Victoria is so filled with a purity of life force and positive energy, that she can find herself in the most dangerous places and her freshness will quell anything negative, she claims to have resolved many a dangerous situation with her presence. It’s as if her colorful curls and clothes are the mere surface reflection of how completely unpolluted and unfiltered she is. I was expecting something wonderful, out of this world when I went to film them, but it was more like out of this universe.