In the past year alone, Nelson has been to Chile, Thailand, Laos, Burma, Belgium, London, Italy, Paris, and Holland. While most men his age are crossing college campuses in uniformed packs, he is climbing the pyramids of Mexico. Nelson is one-of-a-kind in a black “ninja” outfit, experiencing up close and in depth how political systems really affect their people; like the way a person can be shot in the street because of their political affiliation and how to leverage money and finance property in foreign countries. By nurturing his relationships with the many people he meets along the way, Nelson is now involved in a clothing line and is building a resort in Thailand. Fully recovered from transcendental world-hopping on drugs and alcohol, Nelson believes in manifesting, in positivity, and in living in the new. “Instead of saying, ‘I need more,’ I say ‘I need to change this. I need to be this.’”

If you love Nelson, you may also like Gerald DeCock, Geoffrey Young and Dustin Hollywood.

Not afraid to admit that she has a fear of flying, Jenne is steadfast in taking risks despite any anxiety and is confident that they have led her to greater successes. The mother of three under the age of five whose names – Roxy, Valentino and Bowie – are tattooed in beautiful script on her arm, has her own rapidly growing business where she consults with companies on trends and pop culture. Knowing what is next is her basic instinct and it has only failed her when she has listened to anyone but herself. She feels that Rick Pipino, the father of her children and a legendary hair dresser, truly loves women and has taught her to celebrate a lot of her individuality. “He’s not the kind of guy who wants you to have long hair.”

Hanging at home, where she loves to cook and nurture, Jenne makes the moment her own in a fake DIY Gucci sweatshirt, a fake dollar bill “Biggie Small” necklace and slouching vintage long johns with visible plaid boxers unapologetically sticking way out. Her kids are her priority, but what I love is how she doesn’t lose herself in the process. Her signature touches of punk, with safety pins in one ear, hip hop, with one large diamond stud on the other, gothic, with a cross tattooed on the back of her neck make a demure high waisted skirt, YSL stacked pumps, an Isabel Marant net top, thigh high stockings, studded cuffs and belt, a melange so eclectic that it crosses all classifications. Her signature touches of punk with safety pins in one ear, hip hop with one large diamond stud on the other, and gothic with a cross tattooed on the back of her neck make a demure high-waisted skirt, stacked YSL pumps, an Isabel Marant net top, thigh high stockings, studded cuffs and belt, an eclectic melange that defies all classifications, somewhere between Body Heat meets the Upper East Side. A double layer of tattered Victorian skirts with a leather jacket, her favorite vintage black fedora and distressed army boots are unmistakably personal to her and make Jenne as tough as she is feminine.

The teenager obsessed with Led Zeppelin and Cream who wanted to be Lady Miss Kier from Deee-lite when she came to NYC says that her life is driven by goals, but the ultimate one is to be a grandmother. No doubt Jenne will be looking like the baddest matriarch in the unusual combination of her vintage leather jacket with an English punk band’s name across the back and the chunkiest ikat print Julian Louis for Aldo wedges, when in actuality she is the most embracing.

If you love Jenne, you may also like Shae Detar, Rebecca Weinberg and Stephanie Niedospial.

Today, Bridget wears only one pair of the iconic designer’s classically edgy glasses in deference to her belief that holding onto a lot of stuff is tantamount to carrying your baggage with you in life. All about spending more and having it forever as opposed to fast fashion, Bridget says she has a fixation with the “fabulously monotonous and anything that is at least twenty years old.” Most of her lasting collectibles are from Hermes, which she is obsessed with for the brand’s dedication to designing in accordance with the function of something as it was intended to be without compromising high style – for example, Bridget’s indestructible five-piece suit that is comprised of a coaching coat, pant, skirt, vest and jacket that can be worn separately for the city or together and layered endlessly for life in the harsh weather of the rural bush. And that’s not to mention her jodhpurs, which are bulletproof, the jeans that are lined in silk and the layers of chunky, silver sport bracelets. She straddles her country to urban life sartorially with the confidence of someone who knows who she is. From the car to the saddle to the office and then back to the field, Bridget simply unbuckles or buckles her chaps or spats as needed.

Bridget’s MO is, “Everything we invest in is part of our style.” It has become important to her to start focusing on “an enviornmental expression… how everything is connected… rather than this principal transportable mobile version of me.” The Victorian gentleman in Bridget remains, with her infinite pairs of riding boots and worn Hermes scarves that have turned into the lining of her fencing vests, but Bridget’s career has gone from seminology (the study of signs and symbols) in advertising and a mastery over the outer appearance of things to what is on the inside. With the fervor of everything that Bridget does, she is now making animal food that is all about the care and sustenance of animals. Her new company, PoochClub, is in reverence to the animals she has loved and lost. Loss has taught Bridget that life is about “what’s inside, not what’s outside and that death is such an important last moment.” Being comfortable in your clothes, she says, is about being comfortable in your skin. Bridget knows that “fashion should not be a weapon of security or a bullet for insecurity.”

If you love Bridget, you may also like Elizabeth Burns, Erika von Petrin and Freddie Leiba.

If you love Brooke, you may also like Liz Doupnik, Natia Dune, Lauren Rassel and Carolyne Cass.

Every so often, a star rises out of nowhere based on merit alone. In this case, it is Jane Aldridge. Her appreciation for beauty and how it speaks without words shines like a meteor on her blog, Sea of Shoes. This is especially true in a world hooked on shopping malls and the Kardashians, where intellect and fashion do not often mix. When you meet Jane’s mother, Judy, it is no surprise that her daughter has a superstar’s eye for taste and quality. Jane has inherited Judy’s passion for the art of dressing and the immense joy of hunting for that singular vintage find. For example, Judy’s studded Givenchy minidress from the ’60s that she wears over jeans and Jane’s Yves Saint Laurent belted ’70s one with balloon sleeves are among some of their favorite prizes. However, Jane has fallen head over heels for Judy’s motto, “Shoes are the only thing that you can’t compromise on.” Jane has fond memories of her toddler years, walking around in her mom’s ’90s Fendi slides and houndstooth pony hair Pradas. According to Jane, this was “around the time that 102 Dalmatians came out and I wanted to be Cruella de Vil.” Jane can also make any flea market find look like the newest Miu Miu, like the red bandana top she found recently in Tulsa and wears with the perfect chunky Chanel pump. There is the one exception to Jane’s uncompromising shoe rule in the form of her used, platform “hooker” cowboy boots, which to me are a sign of her aesthetic genius. These shoes would turn her idols, Janet Jackson and Prince, right on their heads. Walking into Judy’s closet is like entering a retrospective on the most memorable shoes that have walked the runway in the past twenty years. They even stand on shelves like the objets d’art that they are. My eyes gazed past many that I regret not jumping on when I first saw them, like her Ann Demeulemeester, ultra-medieval lace-ups. Once you are exposed to a mother like Judy and her strong sense of self expression and visual thought, it would be hard to be ordinary or fit in with the crowd as an adolescent. I love how Judy encouraged Jane to find her distinct voice, consistently allowing her to go to school in shoes that would land her in the principal’s office and then would selflessly “make the trek” to bail Jane out with an “acceptable pair.” Today, Jane’s impulses, originality and raw and honest feelings towards personal style have found a home on the internet and though barely out of high school, she has gained a foothold against the dominance of the marketing machine, magazines and their detached, advertising-driven messages. Despite Jane’s affection for the girlyness of crinolines, volume and a defined waist, underneath she is a force of nature. In an ocean of mediocrity, she and Sea of Shoes are making a heartfelt, giant, yet humble step towards, “standing alone,” but only in the perfect new platform, pony hair Alaias of course.

If you like Jane and Judy, you may also enjoy Sarah Hamilton, Laura Helms and Sidney Geubelle.

If you like Piera, you might also enjoy Darcy Miro, Kim Johnson, or Marka Kiley.

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 me, one’s willingness to expose their fragility is a sign of ultra-strength and depth, and Naomi wears her heart on her sleeve, or more literally, on her hand. Every finger has a ring with a story, and she never takes them off. Two are from her dad (a silver one from Ibiza that covers her nail and another that she has worn every day since she was eight, and has calloused her finger from doing so), one with purple crystals from her boyfriend, one that is a claw (representing the year of the tiger honoring her birth), a gold and turquoise YSL one, a Tibetian prayer ring, a silver bark one from her best friend, one from a trip to Santorini, one on each thumb, a gold and turquoise YSL one, and her most “precious” one of all, which is her mother’s, that she hides underneath another ring to shelter it.
Naomi’s mother was from Indonesia, a princess and a dancer, and her father, a transplanted New Yorker, whom after first seeing Naomi’s mother on the streets of Jacarta, waited for 31 days on top of a castle until he found her again. (He had always dreamt of marrying someone who looked like they were from a Gauguin painting.) Naomi, who similarly resembles a muse in one of the same post-impressionist paintings, admires much of what she refers to as the magic in the Muslim culture that was native to her maternal side of the family, like women dressing up in florals and wearing blossoms in their hair. And then, she clearly has the free spirit, very 1970s flair of her dad, with his ease of wearing women’s hats and blue eyeshadow if he felt in the mood. Naomi carries a leather fringe bag that he gave her around her neck, and wears his same eye makeup.
However, Naomi sees her love of beauty most embodied in her coveted Pamela Love dagger and petal earrings that she says encapsulate her – “the whole idea of dark and the mysterious and the terrifying, sometimes the macabre, and then the romantic, and the deep love of life and all of its experiences. I think that’s the two sides of all of us, or life in general.” (and knowing Pamela, I can attest that this is how she would hope whomever was wearing them would feel).

If you like Naomi, you might also enjoy Ziva Naumann and Tziporah Salamon.

Olof Erlandsson for Stylelikeu.com from StyleLikeU on Vimeo.

Olof’s ability to synchronize different eras of classicism while maintaining a masculinity and femininity at the same time in his dress is exemplary. He is at once Medieval viking, with his Nordic bone structure, dramatic long hair, and hooded shrouds, an early nineteenth-century European gentleman with his high- waisted trousers, buttoned knit henleys, and blazers, and 2010, in his almost perfect blend of fragility and strength. So agile in his ability to transcend the gender stereotypes, he is often mistaken for being a girl and for being the heroic warrior, Legolas in Lord of the Rings. And so adept in avoiding fads but staying current, Olof does not buy anything too recognizable from a designer (such an important and hard lesson to learn if you want to avoid sinking into ordinary-ville). Instead, he opts for the always eternal riding boot (that he wears with his pants tucked in) and important antique gem stoned rings (that he wears on his index fingers and are what send me over the moon). In fact, Olof has such a strong comfort in his identity in dressing like the cultivated transatlantic-man that he is, that he spends forty-five minutes every morning eating the breakfast of champions (green tea, yogurt and granola, two Swedish sandwiches, and grapefruit juice) and five minutes on getting dressed. There is a great lesson here in not getting too caught up in trends and then ending up with an identity crisis.

If you like Olof, you might also like Shayne Oliver and Geoffrey Young.

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

If you like Kwasi, you might also enjoy Milton Puzy, Mack Dugan, or Ian Bradley.

To learn more about Sielian, click on the detailed credits page.

If you like Sielian, you might also enjoy Frederique van der Wal, Susan Cianciolo, or Christine de Lassus.