Kate Ross
“I’m learning to live my life in love. It helps me remain in a state of peace. If I can love people who can’t love themselves, that’s one of the greatest joys. If someone just comes out and yells at me, I think, ‘this person needs to be loved.’”
occupation: accessories designer
Walking the walk and talking the talk is a gigantic understatement when it comes to Kate. If her cravats could speak, they would tell a story of profound faith conquering adversity. Kate went from pre-law to working as a legal advocate for the city of New York, which was “very empowering, a lot of the people who had no hope, found hope.” Currently she is a designer of “distinguished cravats” and both her company and her designs are literally a brand that is meant to build self-esteem and dreams, “there’s something about people being able to…
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Piera Gelardi
“What inspired me about Amy Arbus’s No Place Like Home was the fact that, like StyleLikeU, there are so many different people in the world who express themselves in completely different ways, in the way that they dress and the kinds of homes that they have.” Piera Gelardi
occupation: creative director for Refinery29
Piera is attracted to talismen, or powerful objects that embody good energy, like her early twentieth-century vintage purse that she says is her metal kidney, and her Giles tassel necklace. But to me, they are emblems of the powerhouse that Piera is. I now know what it takes to launch one’s own business, and I am in awe of Piera’s entrepreneurial spirit and foresight in starting Refinery29 at a time “when very little else on the internet occupied that type of space.” She “dared to jump,”…
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Rachel Lena Esterline
“Only put out what you want more of in life. The number one thing that I’ve learned recently from one of my dear friends is that we’re all mirrors. If you want negativity, ask for it. If you want rad things to come to your life, invite it.” Rachel L. Esterline
occupation: wardrobe stylist and costume designer for television and film, part of the design team at Harputs OWN, entrepreneur and partner at American Apocalypse
“I would rather dress in a costume,” says Rachel, and I find her wide-open enthusiasm for self-expression intoxicating. She is a stream of innate creative consciousness and is refreshingly unattached to any of the typical trappings associated with fashion, like keeping up with or even knowing who’s who, or buying into the credo that you need years of school (or any classroom experience) to train your eye. Rather, Rachel…
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Naomi Melati Bishop
“With fashion, there is constant rediscovery and ability to evolve. You can take style through stages of your life, minimizing, expanding as you see fit. Some pieces become personified and imbued with meaning as they are worn and develop a narrative that ties to your personality; other pieces are fun, but fleeting. My most precious items are as much a part of me as my fingers and toes. They’re stuck to me, because they have so many memories attached to them, a certain kind of utility and magic.”
Naomi Bishop
occupation: blogger, writer, student, and entrepreneur
I love how Naomi points out that we are all multifaceted prisms, and that we can choose to see the different sides of a person or reveal the different sides of ourselves – “more power to you” if you can show it all at once. To…
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Celia Ingesson
“I wear my own age. I don’t [want to look] like a teenager. I am a grown woman and I want to dress like one.” Celia Ingesson
occupation: co-founder of the Scandinavian Press Room
There is something mesmerizing about Celia’s confidence with her haunting Northern European classic good looks, Liv Ulman in an Ingmar Bergman movie kind of way. Like the monumental Swedish actress, who was muse to the equally beyond legendary Swedish director, Celia is introverted, intense, and always thinking. It’s hard not to see her power when in her harem pant tucked into her over the knee boots, tunic dress, menswear, blazer and signature leather opera gloves that she designs. This is someone whom you would want behind you as a new designer. As the co-founder of the Scandanavian Pressroom with Olof Erlandsson, Celia has…
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