Every week a different FADER staff member will pick a clothing item or accessory that he or she has lately been spending a lot of time with—or would like to—and write a little love letter to it. We would’ve done a column on who we’re dating but that seemed a little bit much. This week Chioma talks about the Ivana Helskini tiger face dress.
When my mum sees this picture of me, there will be one small thing she will take issue with: I'm wearing orange. According to my mother and her color chart philosophy I’m what’s called a “Cool Summer,” and citrus tones will never flatter or energize me. To be honest though, she's been letting me do me—sartorially speaking—since we had a fight over a red and white houndstooth cardigan in the fitting room of Gap Kids. I was about 10 years old and from that day forward I've been stubbornly shopping for my wardobe all by myself.
I think that my friends and family are actually a little scared of buying me clothes. They know how fickle I can be about my closet—one minute I’m scouring every flea market in Brooklyn in search of polka dot dresses and the next I’m burning every dotty item of clothing I own on a huge bonfire. So I was a little shocked when my dear friend and former FADER Style Assistant Claudia bought me this Ivana Helskini dress for my birthday. She hadn’t seen me in a year, and had no idea about what styles I'm currently obsessing about. Somehow she just magically conjured up the dress of the summer, a little something she picked up in Finland she said. I know I would have dreamed about this dress had I known it existed.
My mum and I went shopping recently (for her, not me). For the first time since I can remember she's been getting into animal prints, although she still sticks to her color guidelines for the most part. I think she'll be able to appreciate the awesome electric blue tiger faces on my new dress, and maybe even integrate a little tangerine in to her life sometime soon.