5 Style Lessons Courtesy of Jessyca Butler

29 Oct 5 Style Lessons Courtesy of Jessyca Butler

New York is full of those girls. You know the ones—on the train, ahead of you in the line for coffee, on the ‘Gram with an aspirational feed you can’t help but fall face-first into—that leave you wondering why didn’t I think to wear that? These are their closets. Welcome to 5 Style Lessons.

I’m always curious about how women who work in fashion manage to constantly reinvent themselves without being a slave to to trends. “Edit, edit, edit!” That’s Jessyca Butler’s thought process when it comes to her sense of style. We were in her Harlem apartment and I was gawking at her closet. It was overflowing with DVF (her first fashion job in New York), Zara, ASOS and Gucci, where she works now as Merchandising Inventory Planner.

I can’t imagine that she would ever want to edit down any of her pieces but considering that she describes her style volatile — “I can be completely downtown one day and totally uptown the next”— coupled with the fact that she’s got a brand new fancy job title, I can see how her wardrobe would be forever changing, thus limiting space in her closet.

“I think that my style has definitely changed since DVF for sure. I feel like working in fashion definitely makes you biased or jaded to a certain extent. I think it was when I started at Saks [as a Merchandise Assistant], that I kind-of, really, dove into luxury. I was introduced to a lot of designers that I didn’t know about and Saks was definitely the place where, everyday, everybody dressed up. It puts pressure on you to have a certain level of style and professionalism.”

“It was there I absorbed a lot of what I saw around me. My boss specifically, she pretty much only wore Dior and Alaïa. It was amazing. I worshipped the ground that she walked on. I would go with her sometimes to her appointments with her stylists at Saks who would pull things for her because they know her style. She got everything tailored, everything altered. I learned a lot from her about style.”

And I guarantee that you’re about to hear a lot from Ms. Jessyca about style. Ready? Five style lessons starts now.

1. Only Buy What You Love

“I try to be practical in my approach for buying something because if you don’t see yourself wearing something six months to a year from now, don’t buy it. If you don’t love it, don’t buy it. When you’re in the fitting room, you should be dancing, twirling around, already imagining all of the places that you’ll go when you wear it.”

2. Be Experimental

“Living in New York and just, like, the hustle and bustle of it, 24/7, wearing heels everywhere you go is just not realistic. So, I’ve come to embrace sneakers and sneaker culture. I think they’re also become more important over the years in mainstream fashion. With style it’s okay to be experimental. Your style isn’t necessarily always going to be the same. It’s okay to experiment and refine. That’s how you learn what works for you.”

3. Invest in Statement Pieces

“I get a few things from Gucci that are like dirt cheap, but honestly, my closet is mostly Zara, H&M, ASOS, and elevate my look with statement pieces. Don’t feel like you have to buy designer or luxury items to be chic or stylish. I actually find it fun to make a more affordable look of something that I see on the runway. And more often that not, it’s the things that aren’t designer that garner more attention on the street than something that’s like designer.”

4. Less Is More— Until It Isn’t 

“If you’re still trying to figure out what your stye is, less is more. There are certainly things that you just can’t go wrong with and always look put together in a minimalistic way. If you’re wearing distressed blue denim you can put on pumps or sneakers and do something cool with your makeup. Things like that you can always go back to and look really cool, and stylish but in a minimal way. But on the other side of that, fashion is also about more is more. There are no limits. I recently read an article by Leandra Medine, the Man Repeller, and her thing is if you feel like you look silly then go for it. You’re probably doing something that’s cool and unique. And I get that, too. That’s fashion, you can do whatever you want.”

5. Edit, Edit, Edit!

“As your wardrobe and style evolve, it’s very important to edit the things that you don’t reach for anymore. The same way you would update your wardrobe with new pieces, you have to do the same thing with editing. And in New York you have limited closet space, so it’s like something has to go. It’s very important to edit your wardrobe on a seasonal basis and be real with yourself. Get rid of the things that don’t fit or flatter you to make space for the new fresh pieces that you’re buying.”

“That fact that my new role is so important to the company and my new manager is a black woman. It felt very surreal. I was very grateful to be in the space,” she said of her training in Florence, Italy, that felt like a ‘Mama, I made it’ moment.  Notwithstanding, Jessyca has her eyes focused on the front row. “In ten years, I hope to be front row at Fashion Week, every season, covering the shows in whatever capacity,” she told me. “After attending the Givenchy show, just seeing your name on the invitation was like, whoa. That’s crazy.”

There’s nothing crazy about that at all, Jessyca. We’ll be seeing you perched there in no time. I’m sure. For now, follow her journey to the front row on Twitter and Instagram. I’ve been after her to start blogging again, hopefully she’ll take us up on that.

What do you think of Jessyca’s style? Doesn’t she have the most gorgeous pieces in her wardrobe?