StyleLikeU » Los Angeles

Tallulah Willis

Ramona_Canino — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 19:25:38 +0000

Having gotten to know Tallulah’s older sister, Scout, I was not surprised to be infected with another Willis’ soak-up-life-like-a-sponge, warm and enveloping free spirit. I love Tallulah’s rings on her thumbs and how each and every piece of silver is distinct, but even more alluring about Tallulah is her wide open bluntness about life. “I really admire someone’s courage because I lack courage in the sense that I don’t stand up for my self a lot,” she states. Tallulah not only landed a striped 50′s cardigan from her mom that she wears with a black lace top and cut offs, but she also acquired from her mom an encouragement to love her body. Dripping in native American gems, many of which she got from Idaho where she grew up running in the woods, Tallulah has the wisdom at a young age to question why hating one’s self is the norm among many of her peers. And despite that she is the youngest of many strong people in her life, she is clearly her own person, which is obvious in everything from the finesse with which she throws a cozy sweater over a sheer slip to the honesty with which she feels she won’t cave to being insecure just to fit in. Ecstatic about her ’70′s knee high Frye boots, John Lennon shades, mini vintage velvet dress and writing poetry, Tallulah says that her dad always told her, “do what ever you want to do and we will love and support it,” and it shows.

If you love Tallulah, you may also like Tavi Gevinson, Scout Willis and Andrea Linett.

Cassandra Kellogg

Ramona_Canino — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 20:06:23 +0000

As at ease in her body as she is in her surroundings, Cassandra’s enveloping points of earthy references are made visible in her drapey antique whites, folded down Frye boots, vignettes of white skulls and handmade blankets found throughout her apartment. You can see how Cassandra has been influenced by vintage playboys and her childhood in the woods of Oregon, through both the swimwear that she designs and wears, as well as the jars of sand and arrangements of drift wood that surround her in her LA loft. Cassandra is most at peace among nature– coral, shells and starfish are art on her shelves, while surfing provides her with the life lessons and relaxation needed by someone who goes wholeheartedly for what she wants in life.

The Virgo in Cassandra has to order the world by hues. Her clothing is separated by palettes of beiges, creams, whites and blacks. I love how clean and strong she appears in a monochromtatic black ensemble of a cut out one piece, high waisted linen shorts, a blazer and wedges. The beauty of the female body can be the perfect backdrop to simple, unaffected good style like Cassandra, in worn denim and a crafty woven dress, much like her icon Bridgette Bardot, who could wear a towel and have style. One day Cassandra wants to live by the beach, wake up and surf, design in her studio, have a farm, grow her own vegetables and have her own animals, which, for me, is the height of fashionable.

If you love Cassandra, you may also like Sophie Assa, Shae Detar and Preston Davis.

Holly Marilyn

Ramona_Canino — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 21:43:03 +0000

Holly had me at hello with her white hair, white “Bianca Jagger” pant suit and white satin slip dress, given to her by her legendary DJ aunt, Tawn Mastrey, whose picture with Patti Smith hangs on Holly’s wall. Often in the shadow of her acclaimed musician father, people used to refer to Holly as “Phil’s Daughter,” but today, their roles have switched, and now Phil is Known as “Holly’s dad.” Her rock band, “The Child,” represents Holly’s perennial status as the youngest in every situation, ever since she began modeling at the age 5. “The Child” has recently released their first album on Manimal Records, an accomplishment that marks a huge comeback for Holly after a solo deal on Interscope Records that fell apart when she was twenty one.

A “tough”exterior uniform of black jeans, tees, and boots are not meant to be a cover up for how devastating it was for Holly to deal with the challenges of losing what seemed to be a once in a lifetime opportunity. She’s honest about the hard lesson of being too cocky and unready for fame, and today she is ecstatic to be on a label that backs her creatively 100%. Holly’s boyish touches, like Costume Nationale’s army green twill blazer on top of something feminine, and the strong impression of her serious wedges , are a testament to her uncompromising attitude concerning one’s ability to overcome adversity with perseverance. Holly’s eighty-four year old grandmother, who has purple hair and a nose ring, rediscovered her inner lesbian when she left Holly’s grandfather, after having five daughters together, for a woman. Clearly role models are important in having the chops to follow your dreams.

If you love Holly, you may also like Liza Thorn, Dana Suchow and Annakim Violette.

Wandie Kabule

Ramona_Canino — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 22:30:33 +0000

I’m a secret admirer of the classics, and wish I could look as striking as Wandie does in Marc Jacobs’s understated take on a sweatshirt-as-sweater, vintage Sonia Rykiel trousers and Bally loafers. It would take her extraordinary and exotic good looks to make “clean” so memorable– but how Wandie embodies her frocks and her life has as much to do with being an outsider early on (and learning, quickly, how to be her own person) as it does her bone structure. Born in Zambia only to find herself in Orange County at six years old was a huge culture shock, starting with packaged Lunchables and leading up to finding herself two years ahead of her peers in education – and, thus, two years behind the rest of the kids in her class in age. “Elementary school taught me how to deal with people and how to be my own person. It was hard being teased for being who you are, and for where you are from.”

Comfortable in herself — tailored but not uptight — in an American Apparel tanktop and Opening Ceremony trousers, Wandie finds being alone, even while traveling, a luxury. Autonomy is a constant theme in her life. She produced an independent feature film in the past year that was inspired by the work of British director Mike Leigh and his method of creating characters and a story from the ground up. Wandie’s mom, a great source of strength for her, brought individual fruit cups made up of watermelon, kiwi, and pomegranate to everyone on the set on the first day of filming. Behind her oversized Karen Walker sunglasses and glamorous, very “LA” vintage sundress, Wandie feels that breaking down every day helps her when she’s under extreme stress. Either that, or a trip to Laguna Beach and one of her favorite shops– The African Hut.

If you love Wandie, you may also like Nadia, Sophie Assa and Wamuhu Waweru.

Lucia Ribisi

Ramona_Canino — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 18:41:35 +0000

“I don’t have friends in school, basically,” Lucia says. It’s not a big surprise when you see how unusually unique, authentic, and true to herself she is at 14. In a wraparound skirt with an Indian print, a vintage lace burgundy blouse, a bandana wrapped around her head and ankle socks with heels she is as completely original in her style as she is in her perceptions of life. Lucia right now is in the 8th grade — and says that one of her main goals in life is to not do well in high school, but to gain something from the experience deeper than grades. She is someone who cannot help but to stand apart from the crowd, whether through her fuchsia hair and Doc Martens or classic ballet slippers worn with a skirt from Macedonia that her nanny gave her, the Velvet Underground and the Misfits on vinyl, the courage of The Runaways’ Cherie Currie, and her obsession with the Riot Grrrl revolution of the’90s.

“Dirty hippy” or “Lesbian” — you name it, she gets it in the fearful taunts of her peer group, but Lucia is unfazed and tosses off those who ascribe to the dummied down culture of her generation in favor of an insatiable hunger for consuming and creating art and liberating the world from the very prejudices she is the object of. She is a member of the Riot Grrl Scouts, “we have sleepovers once a month and talk about feminist issues, body image, pro-choice… we organize events and activities,” she states. Her fortitude and passion are not surprising given the tight nuclear family of artists, musicians, actors, and painters that surround her. Lucia appeared in a Beck video when she was 8 rapping and dancing (he is her uncle) and sang with Kimiya Dawson after the singer saw Lucia on Facebook working on a cover of one of her songs. She is committed to her art, with pencil being her strong suit. Lucia loves drawing the human form and accentuating a subject’s most unique features.

Attending school in make-up inspired by Ziggy Stardust, electric yellow leggings she got from Sia after performing together and her mom’s jean jacket — “From a long time ago,” she says — it’s clear that the apple didn’t fall far from the tree when it comes from a lineage of independent minded people. Her 97-year-old grandfather still drives himself around and takes care of himself; her great grandmother designed and built dollhouses, and her grandfather has spent his entire life in bands and owns a Thai restaurant full of murals he painted himself. Her grandmother made ceramics, her father is an actor and her Mom is an interior decorator. Beyond her years, or just how you might be if educated about life with an open mind, Lucia says, “If you don’t find the naked body beautiful, then you suck.” I second that.

If you love Lucia, you may also like Annakim Violette, Kay Kasparhauser Goldberg and Sarah Temple-Raston.

Nelson Campbell

Ramona_Canino — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 18:33:43 +0000

Not only is it OK for men to be pretty, Nelson feels– it’s also OK for them to give full-on hugs like he does, with a leg wrapped around and all. He is committed to challenging social contracts and the “operating systems” that restrict us, especially males. In his draped layers of knits and linens, Nelson wears clothes that make him feel free to do whatever he wants to, like educating himself outside of a college classroom traveling all corners of the world for his multiple businesses. To the army in standard khakis and t-shirts, overt emotion and silhouettes that defy convention for men might seem “quirky and eclectic,” but Nelson has found that many of the norms we live by here are nowhere to be found elsewhere. In otherwords, a drop-crotch pant or a flowing Damir Doma coat does not determine your masculinity. In Thailand, for example, he explains, there is no facade. If you make eye contact with someone, it is enough reason to sit down with them, Nelson states, quartz necklaces aside. He has gained the invaluable perspective that the world is made of many different notes that flow together into one verse, as in “uni-verse,” or one verse. A strong sense of personal style is one way to question the status quo and is a form of creation that speaks to people, Nelson believes.

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.

Angel Clouthier

Ramona_Canino — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 17:22:48 +0000

With an afro she has had since she is three that dwarfs most hairstyles in its majestic prominence, Angel claims that she never fit in as a kid and was always looking for someone to identify with. Her mom is a thoroughbred Brit, a model who was “posh, stuck-up, and beautiful.” Her Dad is African-American, a biker in overalls, tons of rings, and, now and then, purple hair. Angel is very honest about not being “exactly the type that comes from Yorkshire– in America they see you as black, and in Africa they see you as white.” In a jacket made out of electric purple feathers, her Dad’s love of George Clinton and the Parliament-Funkadelic is clear; in her ’80s-era gold lame trousers and affinity for satin bodysuits she recalls a Mom who raised her on disco album covers. But it is Angel’s ability to throw away all things material in order to keep moving and traveling that most defines her worldly presence.

Angel has lived in Maui, New York, Mexico City, Berlin, Paris, Uganda, and Toronto– just to name a few. “I keep going,” she says. Working at a refugee camp near the Sudan, Angel helped build a school and found her inner zen in nature walks, passion fruits, a pet deer, and total freedom from Facebook and text messages. I love that she sat on her roof for a month, hiding from Western civilization after returning to America. Abandoning consumer culture was Angel’s M.O. back in the States. Now living in Los Angeles, she is not in a “fashionable phase” – just lots of ’80s and ’90s swimwear, she says. But Angel never needs much to be distinct; in her mother’s watercolor wrap dress and vintage ’70s wedges, with or without the drama of her blue lamé dress she is extraordinary.

If you love Angel, you may also like Lizzie Brandt, Zandile Blay and Ashley Shaw.

Cameron Silver

'Funminitemi Oluwadare — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 20:58:07 +0000

Despite sitting in his backyard in a silver Costume National tuxedo with embellished lapels, an innovative black leather t-shirt, and a dramatic alligator-skin superhero mask along with his impeccably curated jewelry, Cameron’s intentions, ironically, were never to work in fashion. He is the MC behind LA’s high-end vintage couture boutique Decades, but also a trained actor and classically trained singer, who toured the country perfoming and is a connoisseur of the greats of American theater, like Porter and Blitzstein. At work, he curates the clothing of the 20th and 21st centuries as collectibles, and says that he is still performing– his store is the performance space, now. When a woman from Texas recently left his store high from how she felt in a ’64 Dior gown, it mirrors, for him, the unmatched adrenaline rush of being on stage.

In a Madman-like emerald green straw hat, cordovan Brooks Brother’s loafers (he calls them “the French black”), an Acne shorts-suit, an Hermes ring – and his signature epic watch, in this case a Cartier, Cameron says that he always asks himself: “Would Cary Grant wear this?” History figures are Cameron’s biggest influences, like Dirk Bogarde, the Baron de Rede and Napolean, but he always throws the most seminal and dramatically contemporary into the mix, like a studded Katharine Hamnett leather jacket that she made for George Michael, his collection of Louboutin studded shoes and a McQueen Botticelli-printed shirt and blazer. Once, Ali McGraw said to him, “It’s all drag– what’s yours today?” Cameron’s only rule is that fashion should be fun. “Anyone who comes into the store must leave us happier than when they arrived, whether they purchased anything or not. Being nice is paramount.” Just like you should feel when you leave the theater.

If you love Cameron, you may also like Marcelo Burlon, Maurice Harris and Jarka Cole.

Coury Combs

Ramona_Canino — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 22:14:53 +0000

If Polyanna grew up and Barbie was chic, it would be Coury. With platinum locks and pink lips, Bobby Darren and Sandra Dee films from a ’60s utopia in the background and Gene Kelly in Singin’ In the Rain on infinite replay, Coury blogs about style in head-to-toe classic confections that sometimes inspire baked goods, like her oversized, rainbow-colored ring that prompted a batch of multicolor-dyed coconut cookies. Red loafers and a giant deer’s-head cocktail ring are the perfect “off” balance for a vintage champagne-colored chiffon dress, as are a pair of crimson Hasbeens booties and a powder-blue hat to a beige floral frock. “It’s important to have fun and enjoy everything you do, even if you’re just going to the dog park or the post office,” Coury feels. And buying milk is more uplifting in a ruffled trench of short-sleeved 1940s coat like Coury’s, you, too, might dance instead of walk.

If you love Coury, you may also like Ashley Shaw, Lizzie Brandt and Marina Munoz.

Fatima Robinson

Ramona_Canino — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 23:23:32 +0000

Fatima’s story is the stuff that dreams are made of. The certainty that there was a bigger world for her outside of her suburban hood was the first sign that there was a warrior goddess in Fatima, not unlike the Ethiopian queen tattooed on her arm and a penchant for exotic headresses. Fatima’s absolute lack of need for a steady man in her life – aside from her eleven year old son – is another. Her mother was a very religious person, a “hardcore evangelist,” she says, and the one thing that Fatima took away from her compulsory trips to church was, “If you want something in life, you speak it into existence.” For Fatima, the “closest to God” she has felt was when she was dancing in clubs as a teenager. She trusted that instinct and by the time she was 21 it found her choreographing (a word she says she had never even heard before) Michael Jackson’s “Remember The Time” video. The rest is music history. Fatima helped give birth to hip-hop as a true art form of dance, and not by coincidence; here is someone who, for her 40th, dressed herself in a feathered hair piece – with a tribal straw backpack, while otherwise “butt naked” to this year’s Burning Man.

It took an individual like MJ to spot one like Fatima. The two not only share a birthday but are both fueled by sheer emotion, a relentless quest for truth, and the perfect accessories. With the King of Pop, it was never about the “counts” that measure the beat of a song, Fatima recalls, only the sound of the music. Moving to her own rhythm and beat comes naturally, enviably, to Fatima, whether riding her bike through Paris in the most colorful ensembles, like Cavalli leopard platforms, jodhpurs, a vintage Alaia jacket, and her signature armful of bangles. Her comfort with the “scary and the challenging” make her grow as a person. “The great part of what I do is ‘not knowing.’ I have to approach every kind of job in a different way. I may be on a music video this week, I may be doing a scene in a TV show, staging a show for eighty thousand people at a stadium… I like that journey, the figuring it out.”

“The studio is my canvas and the dancers are my paint,” Fatima says. She often avoids hearing a song until the day she begins the dance routine. Just as she freely imagines a pair of over-the-knee rubber army boots with a grader and mixes Fendi high-waisted trousers and stacked pumps with a lace bustier and layers of vintage and Hermes bracelets. Appreciating the “valleys” while soaring to the peaks keeps it real, and keeps Fatima close to her art. She chose to work on a play with George C. Wolfe, where she could learn something new, for a tenth of the money she would have made on a giant concert tour. So, too, does traveling in the summers to recharge, visiting friends in Barcelona, Prague, Cannes, and that place that she dreams of where she can let it all go, start over, and find the love and passion again: Paris. Spoken by one who knows exactly when to add balance to a sartorial moment with giant Monie’s cocktail rings or turn a simple turban in an Audrey Hepburn look with a gilded Calypso top, skirt, and flats: “When you do things in their proper time, everything flourishes.”

If you love Fatima, you may also like Virginie Sommet, Jenne Lombardo and Rashida Robinson.