This week's subject is one of my near and dear buddy-pals, Ramona Petrini. We met in ninth grade, but became infinitely better friends when she switched schools this year. She's the
Kerouac to my
Ginsberg, my literary-and-music-and-film-and-bebopping-around partner in crime, and one of the best writers I've ever met. In addition to all of these wonderful attributes, she's got pretty bangin' personal style. The way she described it in her interview is quite on point, but even from the first day that I saw her in my freshman art class when she was the only soul brave enough to answer the questions our teacher posed about a twig, I thought to myself that she seemed like a really, really cool chick. I also admired her courageousness to wear a sheer black shirt (something I still can't do to this day, even though I've got one hanging pathetically in my closet), and I was immediately intrigued by her very distinctive drawing style, and the way she so expertly employed a fountain pen. All in all, she's a fantastic gal, and I've been meaning to feature her on my blog since the first day we met.
Odelia: How would you describe your
style?
Ramona: It would
be like a conjoined twin, or triplet, a conjoined twiplet—triplet
[laughs] between my mom in the late eighties, early nineties,
Françoise Hardy, and what I imagine the
women in F. Scott Fitzgerald novels to dress like, except a little bit, I guess—I don't wanna
use the word sluttier, but...
risqué.
[Laughs] Okay there, that's my answer.
Odelia: Who are
your fashion icons and who do admire aesthetically?
Ramona: Again, my mom, late eighties, early nineties.
Lee Radziwill, she was a Bouvier sister, she was
Jackie O's sister, and her mom was always like, “Oh, you're not beautiful,
you're too fat,” when in fact she was really not fat at all. They
said, “You're not as pretty as your sister,” and everyone was
like, “Jackie O's so beautiful!” But Lee Radziwill, she knew how
to dress. I saw all these
pictures of her apartment, and she's just
an effortlessly glamourous and aesthetically wonderful person. And
then also my dad.
Odelia: Where
are your favorite places to shop?
Ramona: The first one is my favorite because I don't have to pay
money for it, and it is my brother's closet where my mom keeps her
old clothes from the late eighties and early nineties! [Laughs] And
Beacon's Closet and
Salvation Army, and occasionally if you go to
Urban Outfitters you can find some pretty weird and cool stuff piled
in a pile, in their marked down section.
Odelia: If you
could own one or more items right now that you don't have, what would
it or they be?
Ramona:
I suppose this is kind of corny, but I would very much like to own
and never will own,
the dress from
Breakfast at Tiffany's,
the Givenchy one with the long—and how it just sorta bunches at the
hips and the waist cinches and it's a really beautiful, well-designed
piece of clothing. The other garment would be this pair of socks I
saw in a movie. They were just this sheer beautiful black fabric with
a little lacy thing at the top and a lavender bow so you can tie it
at the calf. It was like, bein'-sexy-around-the-house socks, which
are the kind of socks I feel like I really wanna have. Or at least
have the kind of lifestyle that would require such socks.
Odelia: Do you
remember the movie?
Ramona: No. I don't think it was very good, but the socks were a
highlight.
Odelia: Would
you say that fashion is a big focus in your life?
Ramona:
Well, I'd say that style
is. And aesthetic. And colors and textures and everything like that,
on people especially. I don't know—if “fashion” as a concept of
perpetual visual fixation of humans, and people dressing well, and
people carrying themselves well, and everything, you know? If that
were how fashion were defined, then yes.
Odelia: How
would you describe personal style as a concept?
Ramona: I'd say, first off, that I think it's very important. Not so
much that we should put a lot of stock in the way we look, but
personal style reflects people. It's corny, but it's true: it's not
you wear, but how you wear it. So I'd say that personal style should
just be a way of being. So I guess I'd describe it as very...human.
And in some instances, very nice.
Odelia: How do
you feel that, if at all, high school has influenced your sartorial
choices?
Ramona:
Whoa. A lot
of sartorial choices have been influenced by high school [laughs].
Not totally good influences across the board, I guess at least before
I switched high schools. There's this kid at my school, and when I go
to school every day, he says, “Hey sexy mama, you look great
today.” I think that's been like...well, I wake up every day and
I'm like, “If I were that kid, would I call myself a sexy mama and
tell myself I look great today?” So I guess that's the most
positive and productive sartorial influence that that's had on me
[laughs]!
[Photos by me.]
So smiley and adorable!
She wasn't sure what to do pose-wise, so I told her she could do anything she wanted. So she began an interpretive dance of sorts.
Gotta love that sweater.
More dancing. It went on for quite some time.
She's big on satchels and briefcases. At heart, she's a classy business man from the 1950s.
Hey, notice how she's wearing
plaid. Coincidence?
I think not.
I mean, also look at her conch necklace.
Just in case the above information didn't capture the essence of Ramona, here is a short video taken while at her house after we finished up the interview and I accidentally turned the camera back on.
Okay, I'm being very serious now, Ramona, I really would like your closet and would greatly appreciate if you would relinquish it without much of a fight. Please and thank you.
