Olivia Weeden

occupation: student

“I’ll be getting dressed to go out somewhere and I’ll get dressed three times. Then finally, I’ll just take everything off, make a big slit up the back, turn it upside down, safety pin it, and walk out the door feeling perfect.” Olivia Weeden

I love how Olivia’s entire wardrobe changed when she bought a motorcycle to travel on in the City. She went from floral dresses to layers of drapery, hooded sweaters, and leather. Her ingenuity takes her as far as to take a blanket that she found from Eastern Europe and turn it into a strapless dress to stay warm, and to turn an antique scissor into a necklace, in case of emergency. In fact, her accessories seem to be both time-honored and utilitarian, like the camera bag she uses as a purse. However, practicality doesn’t always rule. Despite Olivia’s recent obsession with shades of gray and degrees of warmth, she is suddenly in the mood for neon pink nail polish, orange lipstick, and denim jackets over peach chiffon.

If you like Olivia, you might also enjoy  Tay Trong, Zana Bayne, or Angela Nam.

Miranda Levitt

occupation: student, actress, musician, and manager of the clothing line Veda

“People should never underestimate the power of being reckless, spontaneous, and carefree. I think we lose that as we get older and become more aware of how precious life is. But I hope to look back on my life and never say ‘I wish I had done that.’” Miranda Levitt

I couldn’t be more with Miranda that long and flowy is the new jean. She literally takes my breath away for the way she captures hippie meets Victorian in the most cosmopolitan sense, with her floor-length floral French chiffon skirt from the ’20s, Kiki De Montparnasse bloomers (hidden, but so there), thick black tights, navy Shetland Miu Miu sweater, waist-length black hair, and pale skin. At times, she imagines herself with a long train held by the perfect antique “ringed” hand (much like her own, with her heirloom family ring worn everyday) and possibly a Gothic mourning necklace with a lock of hair that is a hundred-years-old. Miranda is from a family of performers, actors, and singers, both of which she is, though she is currently focusing on acting. Life is her stage, and right now she is passionate about the electricity of NYC (despite her love of nature). Although Miranda’s Manhattan is of many eras – there’s the 2010 “very Miranda” leather jacket with fur trim, and then the Pre-Raphaelite Miranda, in hooded velvet cape that makes her feel as if she is part of a secret old world society, where “women never lift a finger” and are always in heels.

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

If you like Miranda, you might also enjoy Jordan Robin, Alessandra Calabi, or Carly Mark.

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.

Kristine Barilli

occupation: DJ, student, and musician

“I am obsessed with anything from London in the late ’70s, Seditionaries, Anton LaVey, black metal, Clockwork Orange, anything black, anything dead, the New Atlantis by Francis Bacon, Bas Jan Ader, anyone crazed and creative.” Kristine Barilli

I always leave a SLU shoot inspired by a tip or idea. In Kristine’s case, it was many things, but the one I followed through on was the Rick Owens onesie (birthday present to myself). She fully convinced me of its worthiness for every day and every occasion (you could sleep in it or wear it for black tie), which is pretty much how Kristine always dresses. She despises Halloween, because for her, every day is an organic expression of “dressing up” as she feels. It’s all about her uniform of all black (never jeans) and an architectureal silhouette. You might see Kristine walking to the corner bodega in her only vintage piece, an ostrich feathered bolero, inspired by her ultimate style hero Brian Eno, or in one of her cutting-edge pair of boots to the gym. She actually works out in her favorite band T shirt that she wears all the time, Suicidal Tendencies, and reluctantly caved into purchasing sneakers, but the closest ones to her armory of wedges. Admittedly hardcore about her passion for music (she is habitually either djing or home researching bands and songs), she is equally driven to perfection with her impeccable futuristic goth wardrobe.

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

If you like Kristine, you might also enjoy Antino Crowley, James Gillespie, or Becka Diamond.

Linsey Ballas

occupation: student

“I draw inspiration not from direct sources such as “style icons” but from different eras, mentalities, and ways of life. Such as F. Scott Fitzgerald, Paris’ 1920’s expatriate community, the witty tunes of Cole Porter, the chess playing scene between Faye Dunaway and Steve McQueen in the original “Thomas Crown Affair” (subtle sensuality expressed through intellectual games), romanticized views of the world, color palettes, ironic takes on tradition, Amory Blaine (‘The Young Egotist’) from Fitzgerald’s novel This Side of Paradise, Jean Honore Fragonard’s painting called The Swing.” Linsey Ballas

Style for Linsey is like living in her own book. It seems as though anything and everything, consciously and unconsciously, becomes a new sentence or paragraph in her wardrobe and then like a chameleon, her experiences continuously manifest into something unique. “A childhood heirloom on my wrist, one of my grandmother’s scarves, a shirt that I have stolen from my father’s closet….I layer the pieces of different generations.” Linsey doesn’t miss a reference if it’s worth it from her love of blazers found at boarding school, to her Jan Brady dress and of course, hard-to-find Lolita sunglasses. She creates a “dialogue” between the pieces which is not meant to be ironic, but playful. Killer for me is her classic menswear oversized blazer with the most provocative of YSL pumps and the legs that go on forever.

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

If you like Linsey, you might also enjoy CC McGurr, Amanda Doman, or Sophie Conti.