Before Fashion Week, I was still working in the basement of my parents’ dry-cleaning store in Saddle Brook, New Jersey. My new studio is on 38th Street—the garment district is such a wonderful mix of taste and vulgarity. It’s completely raw except for some sewing machines, and I want to make it homey. There’s an industrial chandelier at Moss called 85 Lamps Hanging Light ($2,090) that I’d love for above the cutting table. Our bathroom is storage at this point, but I’d cover it with sea-blue Ann Sacks glass tiles ($2,605) . And I’d frame some vintage metal ribbon that looks like lace ($50 a yard at Tinsel Trading). I’d never put that on a garment—it’s way too expensive.
My boyfriend is an artist. He designed my look book and my Website, and he does my shipping. We live in a tiny one-bedroom with no furniture. It’s our dream to have a custom-made jellyfish tank ($8,000 at City Aquarium). It’s so gorgeous—the tank is dark, and the jellyfish are like see-through balls of light. So calming. I’d get six ($300).
I love to cook, so I’d buy a brushed stainless-steel All-Clad seven-piece set from Williams-Sonoma ($672), then go to Han Ah Reum in Koreatown to buy $50 worth of groceries: red-pepper paste, kimchi, sesame seeds, and sesame oil. I’d get skirt steak at Esposito’s on Ninth Avenue ($10) and oysters and shrimp at Sea Breeze Market on Ninth and 40th ($6 for a dozen oysters; $12 for a pound of shrimp). Billy’s Bakery on Ninth has the best Key-lime pie ($25).
I’d love to learn how to play an acoustic guitar ($96 for eight lessons at World of Music), mostly because I’ve been listening to Jack Johnson lately. I got into knitting for a while, so I’d buy a ball of charcoal-gray cashmere yarn ($54 at Purl). But I’m not a very good knitter. I’ve never finished anything.
Normally, I don’t like to wear much jewelry, apart from a gold band, a luck ring, that’s very thin. But I’d splurge on a crocheted chain necklace with gold discs from Ninh Wysocan ($995 at Barneys New York). She’s so talented. And I’d buy Jean-Michel Cazabat suede boots ($495 at Barneys) and Christian Louboutin round-toe pumps in nude ($540). Or black. I only wear black, white, and beige. And jeans. I live vicariously through the people who wear my clothes.
Reality Check
What She Really Spent Today
Coffee at Guy and Gallard … $1.75
Cuban sandwich at Café Habana … $7.05
Theme magazine … $5.95
Dinner for two at Cho Dang Gol … $80
Groceries from FreshDirect … $60.48
Total $155.23