I've always aligned myself with a more modern, European fit. I maintain that fit is the thing that makes or breaks an outfit. Good tailoring trumps designer and price any day.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
Coming from Haiti and growing up in Brooklyn, there's a lot of European influence when I get dressed up. I wear a lot of fitted suits, elegant cuts; I think it's cool to mash up a lot of different looks.
I think I get almost every piece of clothing that I buy altered and taken in just to fit me exactly the way it should.
Growing up in Europe, tight clothing is pretty standard. When I got to college, clothes were loose, so I was going toward more loose stuff. As soon as I got back to New York, I started wearing suits 25% of the year. Then, I realized how important it is for the suit to really fit you and be tight.
For someone who comes from my business background, getting fashion people aligned around certain things can be a challenge. In a way, the industry is so forward-looking. And yet, sometimes people in fashion are not open to change.
I've got quite a curvy shape so I try to wear stuff that's tailored.
Costume designers don't care about trends. They appreciate, above so many other qualities, that tailoring is everything, which is a mantra for the way I dress. Ladies: The most important thing in clothing is to find a good, inexpensive tailor, because clothes at the stores are made for bodies that are anomalies.
North Americans as a whole need to embrace having clothes altered to their body. I hear it all the time: why do the Europeans always look so good? They have a relationship with their tailor and spend the time and money to make their clothes look their best.
If you're wearing suits and you want to create your own sense of style, get to the tailor.
Fittings are boring, but it's fun when you get to wear something new and go to a new event. I have a massive say in what I wear - I work really closely with my stylist.
The clothes I like are not necessarily tailored.