Style Profile: Not Blue
- — August 1, 2010
As the can-do publisher for the alt-country online magazine No Depression (an offshoot of the late, long-running print publication of the same name), Kyla Fairchild is a little bit country and a lot retro sweetness. And while her heart belongs to music, Fairchild’s enviable collection of vintage pieces – and the joy she clearly takes in wearing them – show that she’s also got style in her soul.
On a sweltering afternoon, Kyla Fairchild enjoys a cool respite at Hattie’s Hat in Ballard, of which she is co-owner. Photograph by Andrew Waits for City Arts.
Do you have any style pet peeves? When magazines and retailers use teenage-looking models to market clothes for mature women (Nordstrom, I’m looking at you). There are so many attractive thirty-five- to sixty-five-year-old women – and instead we see what looks like high school girls playing dress-up in their mothers’ closets.
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Which style rules do you love to break? It’s not about rules. What style values were instilled in you as a kid? Being thrifty, for sure. I had to buy all my own clothes from the time I was about thirteen, so I learned how to stretch a dollar. That and my mom sewed all my clothes prior to that. I remember going to the fabric store to choose fabric and buttons for each outfit. I believe those early days ingrained a love of flash and color in me. If you could blow all your cash on one item, what would you buy? The sheer thought of blowing all my cash on one item makes me uncomfortable! What fashion item did you desperately want as a child, but never get? My parents wouldn’t let me wear pants to school when I was in grade school. I wanted those cool Britannia jeans with a comb in the back pocket. By the time I got to junior high and they finally let me wear jeans, they were passé. How does your creative discipline intersect with fashion? I don’t sing, dance, write, play an instrument, paint or draw. Fashion is my art. What inspires you? My two sons. They’re curious, smart and kind, and both have their own individual fashion sense. Which item do you value most in your wardrobe? I’m fickle when it comes to my clothes. I only wear things a few times and then I’m on to the next thing. • |
ABOUT KYLA Age: 46 Gig: Publisher, No Depression Neighborhood: Phinney Ridge Would love to be portrayed in a film by: Mary Louise Parker Frequents: Wish, the Frock Shop, Red Light, Pretty Parlor What she’s wearing: Vintage tunic (thrift store), dyed slip (Pretty Parlor), Rocket Dog shoes (Urban Outfitters) |
