Jessica De Lotz
“Sometimes, every different item on my body is a different pattern.” Jessica de Lotz
occupation: jewelry designer
We were all acknowledging in this office the other day, how there was a time we wouldn’t miss a Barney’s co-op sale, in the hopes of finding that one rare piece, but how slowly and completely it’s fallen off of our desire radar, in exchange for the places that we really can find something truly unique and original. Jessica is a very dedicated “vintage” shopper (with “sources” and all), but as much for the experiences and stories behind her purchases as for the purchases themselves. When Jessica bought a ’50′s bag that was filled with a lifetime’s identity of the previous owner, she became inspired to research and bring in the narratives and identities of the old pieces she buys for her own jewelry designs. She herself is a tribute to…
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Pamela Love
“[As a child], I collected stamps, I collected coins, I collected crystals, I collected fossils. It came to a point where I became a collector of collections. Collecting objects and making a collection – there is a similar mental process.”
occupation: jewelry designer
When I first saw Pamela at a fashion show with her stop-dead-in-my tracks tousled, earthy mane of hair, Peruvian-inspired poncho, mixed with some rock and roll black leather pants, I knew that I had to get up the nerve to do my SLU schpiel and get her for this site (and this was before I became aware of her looks-like-you-got-it-on-an-archeological-dig-in-Mexico jewelry – I wanted it all!). True to what I expected, when I came to do this interview, Pamela fueled my love for her kind of ’70s, natural, indigenous and eclectic style. Her clothes are unaffected perfection, whether in her vintage, floor-length Diane Freis…
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Joanne Petit-Frere
“I love playing around with the idea that jewelry doesn’t have to be, or necklaces don’t have to be, thin and delicate. And that beauty can be massive.” Joanne Petit-Frere
occupation: designer of Comotroovaysa jewelry
Often the conflict of being caught between cultures like Joanne was growing up (her Haitian roots juxtaposed to Flatbush) produces originality and thus, the most interesting and dynamic type of person. Forced to wear braids, hair ribbons, and lots of frills amongst a sea of sweatpants and t-shirts in grade school, Joanne was quick to become unhinged from all norms to find her own. Today, she is a regal beauty, with hair that embodies her range of self-expression and that left an indelible mark in my brain when I first saw her. By half-shaving it into a circle (channeling both Native American and punk) and taking the Geisha art of hair-rolling…
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Jules Kim
“I’m not soft. [Guys] are not going to be able to approach me in [an easy] way. I distance myself with the way I dress and the way I am. It’s only a certain personality that would ever have the balls to approach me.” Jules Kim
occupation: designer and creator of Bijules jewelry
Jules has daggers tattooed on both arms from her wrist to her elbow, in honor of her Korean origin and of her “duplicitous” status as a twin, where the ancient royal women hid swords in their cloak sleeves in case of emergency. She is a force to be reckoned with (weapons aside), with her jewelry line that she spends every waking and sleeping moment either working on or thinking about – she “can’t get the ideas out fast enough.” Jules grew up in Virginia, where she first pursued classical music as a…
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Sara Cavalletto
occupation: jewelry designer
“[My clothes] are my babies. They are to me what the little blanket is to Linus.” Sara Cavelletto
Clothes are such a significant part of Sara’s life that her car is filled with a menage of shoes, tights, and garments, all potential outfits, in case the moment arises when she needs to throw on something amazing at a moment’s notice. Her style is a storybook of her life, literally. Sara is so attached to the motorcycle boots that she has had since she was sixteen, that it took twenty heel and fifteen sole replacements to finally put them to rest, though she still walks the dog in them for old times sake. And I must say, I felt her sadness when she shows the new ones, not quite the same, after all that life was molded into the orignals. One of her “winner”…
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