Ziva Naumann

occupation: retired executive director of a nonprofit law firm that she co-founded

“I’ve moved from one country to another, leaving everything behind me. Taking just what fit into a suitcase. I took the pieces that are not replaceable.” Ziva Naumann

Ziva was born in Palestine and was in the Israeli underground, transferring illegal arms, food, and documents. Her great-grandfather and grandfather were from Poland and had a textile plant that supplied fabric to Saville Row and the Russian Army. I can see her heritage coming through in the “guerilla tactics” with which she monomaniacally pursues authentic clothing that does not have a stitch of machinery in it. She has the instincts of a bloodhound when it comes to the handmade details of anything from the Sinai or that is native in origin, whether it be Bedouin, Yemenite, Indian, or Mexican. She rarely frequents a conventional shop. Accumulating happens in the most unconventional of ways, and Ziva is her own designer. When she saw a village of people wrapped in a fabric she loved, she stayed an extra night to have it made into a dress, or she buys a bag made by a woman on the street that is being sewn from discarded leather strips. While in Jericho, she convinced the owner of a restaurant to sell her an embroidered jacket off of his wall. As deeply as she is into every thread, Ziva is equally dedicated to assisting the working poor of Los Angeles and family law, which she has been doing since 1981. Soulful and stylish, Ziva is our own modern day tribal warrior for the cause of being memorable and mattering.

If you like Ziva, you might also enjoy Ellen Fisher, Luxor Tavella, or Donna Harrison.

Stacey Clark & Harold Kuhn

occupation: designers of the fashion label Odilon

“[We are inspired by] the occult, the apocalypse, industrialism, architecture, textiles, Klaus Nomi, the Holy Mountain, travel, Odilon Redon, and rock and roll. We also really inspire each other when designing, dressing, and living.”

Harold and Stacey share a best friendship, a house, their personal style, and a line of clothes. They are a team with everything, Harold takes women’s blazers and adds shoulder pads to make them more masculine, which has in turn, influenced Stacey to want to add more structure to the next Odilon collection. I love that he is from West Virginia, with a father that was a logger, which has inspired Harold to take his dad’s suede fringe bags and add studds to the straps. And that Stacey, from her travels to Germany, has caused her to mature in her style and now likes to “weigh down” her looks, either with her heavy on the buckles Alexander Wang boots or draw on her eyebrows to make them super black. Made to be pieces that interchange like a uniform, Odilon’s silk chiffon army jacket works on both of them, each in their own way. He, elegant meets lumberjack, she, natural meets progressive. Together, creating a singularly stellar collection.

Check out Odilon’s website and blog.

To learn more about Stacey and Harold, click on the detailed captions page.

If you like Stacey and Harold, you might also enjoy Geoffrey Young, Ty McBride, Leo Cerezo, or Cindy Huang.

Sielian Lie

occupation: owner of Sielian’s Vintage Apparel

On her favorite thing about fashion: “The profound beauty it brings to a woman. I love wearing beautiful and unique vintage clothes. I love seeing how beautiful clothing can transform a woman’s look.” Sielian Lie

Thank god for the humble, tasteful, and unique who provide us with places to shop that are humble, tasteful, and unique and provide refuge from the present day’s chronic mediocrity and homogeneity. I discovered Sielian at my favorite of all favorites, the Manhattan Vintage Clothing Show (another gem of an experience and coming up this week!), where there is so much inspiration and style that the roof could blow off. And even there, she stood out. It’s totally internal and innate for her, everything is a pivotal piece, untrendy, and 100% quality. In her birthplace of Jakarta, Indonesia, everyone is dressed to go anywhere (no jeans or sweats, except to the gym). Sielian lounges at home in sarongs – it always matters to her. As a result, she is finished down to the exemplary vintage belts, consummate Gianni Versace bag, and refreshingly rare 1980’s Todd Oldham stacked heel buckled perfectly around the bottom of her Norma Kamali harem pants. Sielian says that certain looks make her feel more in control, like her 1980’s Plein Sud blazer worn with a one-shoulder cashmere Margiela mini-dress, vintage Alaia skirt, vintage belt from Paris, Givenchy lace-up boots and Wolford tights. But for me, she never misses a note, and Sielian’s ability to pull the best from all genres and wear them with such elegance makes her and her boutique treasured diamonds in the rough.

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.

Dechel McKillian

Versatility and selectivity is key when traveling the world like Dechel does as the stylist for the band and dancers on Lil Wayne’s and the Black Eyed Peas‘ recent tours. Her staple black rubber leggings tucked into knee-high boots have a different effect when worn with the one-of-a-kind cropped patent jacket (found in Australia) and socks pulled over-the-knee (her new thing), from the way they look with the extra long ’70s cardigan (found in Toronto), that she was going to shorten and decided not to (good decision!) and under her caged skirt. Unfussy and always crisp, Dechel’s ultra clean in the white chef’s shirt with the high-waisted jeans and she’s razor sharp John Fluevog gold wedge boots.

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

If you like Dechel, you might also enjoy Legacy Russell, Andrea Campbell, or Margo Simms (from her first or second shoot).

Ritchie Chan

occupation: student, founder of Triple Major, and curator of Project White T-Shirt

“I think the most inspirational place is the shower. It’s the most inspiring location I can go to if I lack ideas. I just take a shower, and when I come out, [my mind is exploding] with ideas. The entire idea of the Project White T-Shirt and my company was thought out in the shower.” Ritchie Chan

Ritchie came to the US from his native Hong Kong for college, to expose himself to a less restrictive way of thinking. While in LA attending USC, he majored in business, pop culture, and international relations, and he has evolved into an explosively industrious and out-of-the-box thinker. Ritchie is taking a shot at redefining popular culture and fashion by organizing thought-provoking events through his studio Triple Major (named after his three college majors). One of his current projects is to explore what would happen if designers were not restricted by the commercial pressures of the seasons and the cycles of buying and selling. His idea: to give designers all over the world the opportunity to transform the identity and utility of the white t-shirt into whatever they wanted it to be. The results speak for themselves, like the white t-shirt as a “cultural connector,” where the bottom attaches two T’s together into one. In his travels to Scandanavia as a finance intern and fashion columnist (since sixteen-years-old for M.Style magazine), Ritchie felt encouraged to get away from the the “intense focus on labels [that he grew up with] and has been more into experimenting with texture, structure and how you wear things as a way of shaping your personality.” His quirky, humorous twist on the classics are the result, with lots of details making the difference like the touch of a unique sock and notable for me, the mix of pale pink desert boots with a vintage orange messenger bag and APC’s capelet over a Mundi Breton-striped shirt. A subtle but “noteworthy” testament to his burgeoning status as Renaissance man is the Ann D. mini notebook worn around his neck with handwritten notes in multiple languages from his travels around the world.

To learn more about Ritchie, go to the detailed captions page.

If you like Ritchie, you might also enjoy Shane Tison, Shaun Stewart, or Milton Puzy.