Once a Stylist Always a Stylist: Tracy Kendall

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[Photos: Ari Seth Cohen, Text: Maayan Zilberman]

Last week Ari and I met our friend Tracy Kendall close to her home on the Upper East Side. We met up at her favorite French Pastry Shop, Financier, where she swears by the vanilla eclairs.

On this unusually brisk May afternoon, Tracy showed up in a perfect answer to cold temperature on a spring day: ivory coat and pleated skirt, light layers with ivory accents, and thin cotton jersey gloves. We love her choice of hat and “Chanel orchid”, as she calls it, in preparation of the typically New York downpour that later fell upon us.

Tracy Kendall was born and raised in New York, and says she remembers her mother as one of her earliest style icons. “She used to wear a black hat and skirt with a big red fringe… It must have been this graphic element that influenced me.”
Tracy was interested in elegance from a very young age, favoring the look of Great Gatsby and Chanel of the 20’s and 30’s. Though she has honed this look for many decades, she says she’s always been more inspired by menswear than by women’s fashions.

Tracy knows much about both sides of the coin. From 1963-1975 she worked as a fashion stylist, working directly with luxury showrooms and designers to create the looks and advertisements we saw in Time Life, Vogue, etc.
“I had to think on my feet, know what to choose on a moment’s notice. But sometimes it would work backward, we’d receive the credits and then have to find the clothes.”

As she became more well acquainted with the fashion business, and models became younger and younger, Tracy became less enchanted with this type of work and decided to break out on her own…with an entirely new objective.

“Fashion can be a disaster…it makes people believe they look good just because they are wearing the right thing.”

She put an ad in the newspaper offering her services as a personal stylist to transvestites. During a time in New York when this was becoming more embraced, she knew that there would be many men who would be able to benefit from her knowledge of how to put together an outfit.
I asked Tracy what her most common request was, and she said it was to look natural and to feel comfortable in feminine clothes.

We can all learn from Tracy’s classic and timeless approach to fashion.

The Advanced Style “Thrifted & Gifted” Contest Announced!

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You heard it right! We’re offering all of you an opportunity to thrift shop with one of the best! Our very own Debra Rapoport is offering her genius to one lucky winner in New York City…

Our dream is to one day fly anyone to New York from San Francisco to Timbuktu, but for now our contest is offering Debra’s expertise (worth a million, as far as we are concerned) and a modest sum of cash to spend at Debra’s favorite thrift shop Housingworks.

We named this offer our “Thrifted & Gifted” Contest after Debra’s mantra to only wear items that are are acquired as such. She believes that the more you play with clothes and the more you dress up, the better you will feel… no matter what age.
The idea that clothing should be FUN and not precious is something we can all get behind!

Debra can’t wait to receive all your submissions… she’s the one and only judge of this contest, so she’ll be picking the winner!

TO ENTER:

1. Choose your favorite posting on Advanced Style blog and tell us why it inspires you
2. Tell us what you would like to learn about expressing personal style
3. No age limit
4. Send us your name, age, location, and contact info

Make sure to get all your mail in to her by WEDNESDAY, MAY 26: debrathenutritionista@gmail.com

Winner will be announced Wednesday, June 2.

Good Luck!

A Shaded View On Advanced Style

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[Photos and Text by Ari Seth Cohen]

When I’m photographing people they often ask if I’d prefer to see them with or without their sunglasses. With summer approaching, one of my favorite hobbies is to to check out the eyewear on the Advanced Stylistas because with years of collecting, naturally they have the upper hand. They wear everything from vintage Gucci to five-dollar pairs picked up on St.Mark’s. It is the confidence and personal style that they bring to each pair that truly makes them look chic–and as hip as any twenty-year-old fashionista.

Which do you prefer, with or without shades?

Introducing Tracy Kendall

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[Photo: Ari Seth Cohen, Text: Maayan Zilberman]

A couple of weeks ago you were all taken aback by the beauty of this woman, whom we dubbed “After Chanel”. Ari and I got to know this stunner, Tracy Kendall, over tea and eclairs this week on the Upper East Side. In my next weekly post “Mondays with Maayan”, I’ll be sharing some more of her background in fashion but in the meantime enjoy some of her style tips.

Tips from Tracy on how to get (or think with) her sense of style:

The biggest rule is to be yourself and to never follow anybody else’s fashion.

Wearing vintage: “It’s sweet, as long as it’s not a costume. Make sure not to mix and match too much. Keep it simple to look more SANE than INSANE.”

Don’t go for bargains unless you know you have a good eye.

Buy basic items that are good quality, they will last forever.

Women should not wear slacks. Maybe for Katherine Hepburn or Marlene Dietrich, but that’s it.
Exception: Grace Kelly or Audrey Hepburn, wearing capris, because they had long legs and long feet.

Don’t wear an outfit that is longer than your coat, then there is too much emphasis on the shoes.

Your outfit should always be cylindrical. *a particularly difficult mission, I may add.

Buttons: never use fake or cheap brass buttons. Remove and replace with good quality and make it neutral.

Don’t buy things that are knock-offs.

For makeup: “know about the products you are using. (ie. I love Borghese and I know all the ingredients.)”

To stay young: Have a good attitude, be a citizen, don’t be vulgar.

“It is never too late to be stylish!”

A Visit From Marilyn Sokol

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[Photos and Text Ari Seth Cohen]

Marilyn Sokol, looking fabulous as ever, stopped by The New Museum today for a quick chat. We went for a little walk by Freeman’s Alley where I decided to snap some photos of her. I asked her what influences her colorful style and she told me, ” When you are an actress everyday you express a different part of yourself. When I really started wearing color is when I let my hair go gray.” She also told me that she is always looking, whether it be in shop windows on Madison Ave or at street fashion trends, she always has her eye out.