Lydia works at a restaurant and small market, which is appropriate because she enjoys cooking. Her dream job is to recreate an Anthony Bourdain-type situation — traveling around, talking to people, and writing about food and travel.
She tries to find her clothes secondhand. Her sweater is from an exboyfriend, who got it secondhand as well. It looks delightfully warm and cozy, especially on a frigid day like this.
She’s been in Philly for about three and half years, and her favorite part of the city is the people she’s met here: “I’ve met some really amazing people in Philadelphia.”
Alexi lives in Camden. She’s a first-year law student at Rutgers. “I think that my entire outfit probably is like, 16 dollars!” She got her dress second hand, her shoes from Old Navy, and her jacket from Wilson’s Leather on clearance. Her Ray-Bans do throw off that estimate, though. If she could wear just one thing for a week, it would be a giant onesie with footies. A wise girl. Comfort over style, people.
Either there aren’t a lot of men in Philly dressed to catch my eye, I just don’t have an appreciation of men’s street style, or I am too scared to approach them, but as you may have noticed, there is a great shortage of men in this project so far. So I’m really excited to introduce Dion. He looked so put together that I was nervous to stop him, too, but something made me speak up anyway. Which is good, because he was a total sweetheart about it and we had a really great conversation.
When I asked him how he spends his time, the first thing he told me was that he’s a Christian. I really admire how forthcoming he was about his faith when talking to a stranger on the street. He enjoys going to basketball games and sits courtside at the Sixers games. Dion works at Boyd’s, and he’s in the process of starting an online Christian young adult lifestyle magazine, called Different by Choice. He will be looking for web designers, writers, and photographers for this upcoming venture!
Dion graduated from Overbrook High School, and he’s now attending LaSalle University. He was born and raised in West Philly, but he just bought a house in the suburbs. He loves Philadelphia and sees a lot of opportunity here, but there’s a lot to be done here as well: “…but you gotta be the change you want to see… so I’m not going anywhere. There’s a lot of change that needs to happen.”
Dion loves Greek mythology and art and would rather go to a play than a movie. He enjoys reading. He also mentioned that he’s old-fashioned and looking forward to getting married and settling down someday soon!
In terms of style, for Dion it’s all about fit, detail, and how clothes complement the individual. He enjoys J. Crew, J Brand Jeans, and Jack Wills.
His jeans are J Brand, his blazer is from H&M, his shirt and scarf are both from Urban, and his glasses are Ray-Ban.
Celine’s a fairly recent transplant to Philly, having moved here in August, but she has her sights set on Minneapolis. She tends to wear a lot of black, because it makes her feel comfortable. She also told me that she enjoys wearing dark lipstick with no eye makeup.
She spends most of her time working at a pizza place, listening to music, hanging out with her roommates, and dancing. She also shared that she’s done some graphic design work.
I love her fringy scarf with the fur of her hood and earmuffs.
Dominique is originally from Maryland and moved to Philly to attend the Art Institute. She spends her days working a 9-to-5 in insurance and the rest of her time working on freelance photography, styling, and blogging. She loves finding her clothes in consignment and vintage shops. Her belt is vintage Coach, and she thinks that this skirt is vintage Ralph Lauren. Most of this ensemble came from Buffalo Exchange, including her great statement necklace. Her boots were a recent purchase from Steve Madden.
I love her long wool skirt. Maxi skirts were such a big thing this year, but I haven’t seen as many long wool skirts this winter. I have a few vintage ones in my closet that I don’t wear that often, but Dominique inspired me to pull them out and see what I can do with them!
