Los Angeles aka LA aka Lost Angels aka The City of Angels aka Hollywoodland

I am currently residing in Los Angeles aka LA aka Lost Angels aka The City of Angels aka Hollywoodland. Here is a town that thrives on youth and beauty, on class and the kind of car you drive and where you live, what 3 films u've seen in the past 2 weeks, and whether u drink coffee, tea, booze, wine or none or all of the above.
When I first arrived here from NYC I had a fashion nervous breakdown which subsequently had me seeking professional help for the lack (or supposed lack thereof) of high style and fabulocity. I didn't own more than 1 pair of jeans, which, 4 me, were utilitarian, and hated driving anywhere. Now, I own more than 98 pairs of jeans and only wear 5 of them in cycles and I still hate driving anywhere. Everything is so spread out and vast and my fear of getting lost in the fray has relatively subsided. The thrill of a vibrant, living, thriving city is sporadically quenched here in LA. Yet my thrill-seeking in the environs of LA style has become my first and foremost goal and since I have opened my eyes 2 it, I see it more and more and I see it everywhere.

LA style is iconic in the sense that it happens on the individual level. This individual level though also exists in the pop context. If your neighbor is wearing it, the chances of you wearing it are more than likely. Who hasn’t seen a soccer mom decked out in a Juicy Couture track suit? Who hasn’t seen the latest Playmate wearing the same track suit? The chances are the soccer mom saw the Playmate wearing that track suit on some reality show or at the local Bel Air Market in said track suit and thought “I can wear that too because it must be in!”. This is the pop context at work.
LA style and its context get transmuted and presented to the rest of us and the world via Hollywood and television. These two mediums are the lifeblood of this town-this big company town. We are the Entertainment Factory and what we see on the streets style-wise gets tricked out 4 the masses and presented. Some bumpkin will see Jamie Pressly wearing Seven jeans in her trailer park garb on “My Life Is Earl” and run out and buy it. Consumerism and pop context evolves and expands and Jamie’s outfit on last week’s episode will find its way to the local Louisville department store.
Where in this style-copping has individual style gone? Where has the individual expression gone?

Well, fair reader, this is where I come in.

I never studied fashion in the upper echelons of education, instead carving my own fashion education by watching and copying my fashionista mother( whose fashion height was the 1980’s and yes, that was a fabulous time 4 fashion!), my 4th grade teacher (Beverly Johnston who could wear the heck out of a jumper dress and a three piece box-cut jacket ad high waisted men’s trousers!), my grandmother( who was so sweet 2 pass down 2 me a Max Mara fur collared camelhair trench coat), Ian Grove (who still is my fashion sistah-iconic in Chanel *anything* and 4 a gay boy from San Diego, quite avant-garde), club kids, the 1970’s(polyester and high-waisted pants-nuff said!), Vogue and Bazaar Magazine, Madonna (a LEGEND) and Prince (androgyny par excellence).
I have had the esteemed pleasure 2 start my professional career not in the arts, as my education would have liked 2 have dictated, but in fashion, becoming a PR Rep 4 the likes of Ally Cappellino in London and then moving to NYC, where I worked 4 everyone from Calvin Klein and Ralph Lauren, to Showroom Seven, to Alvin Valley, and others in between and on the side.
I came 2 LA 2 go back 2 school, and again, despite my educational leanings, I could not escape the lurid call of the fashion animal. Now I never thought I’d be the kind of anthropologist who worked in the trenches and the dirt but I always knew I’d at least be an anthropologist who wore trenches.
I started fashion styling as a fun gig and came about it through some of my new creative LA friends. I had no idea that here in LaLa Land, everyone is a stylist(or claims 2 be). I knew I had 2 carve out my own niche and ride that wave until it hit the shore. Luckily, I have a great sense of personal style and am fearless in how I approach it and aim 2 do the same thing 4 my clients: carve out their own individual niche and still be in the mode of fashion.

And my time spent here in LA has been fun and interesting. I’ve dressed everyone: Paris, Nicole, Tia, Mary, Jessica, Michelle, Beyonce, Jennifer, Raven, Diana. I’ve dressed models, publicists, hairdressers, B actresses, footballers wives, Laker girls.
And it’s only just begun…

Fashion is the whole pie, style is the filling that makes you want 2 take a bite!
-feelgoodguru