dani, sunday

most would define work-life balance as the ability to unplug at the dinner table, leave the office by seven p.m. or read something other than their email when they wake up in the morning. but dani's got a whole other way of looking at it. let's call it a work binge-life binge philosophy. she works on her accessory line, clyde, for months on end—either at her lower east side studio or at her apartment on a saturday afternoon, while hanging with friends—and once she finishes a collection she escapes the city, sometimes for a month on end, to travel. dreamy, huh?

wfs: what are you wearing right now?

dani: this [shirt] is david michael and these [pants] are vintage. i think they're ann taylor. 

wfs: oh! what are your vintage resources?

dani: horizons on metropolitan i love. they have really nice eighties, nineties styles maybe some seventies but not your typical seventies…not like the frills. she's very utilitarian.

wfs: what about jewelry? what have you got on?

dani: this is my friend monica's collection and it's called open house. this ring is from a japanese designer called rue. and this [bracelet] is from africa—i've had for five years—you'll see it in every one of my photoshoots. i like things that i can wear every day. i generally don't wear necklaces. i have some nice ones that i appreciate as objects and i like to hang them. 

wfs: have you always been interested in fashion?

dani: i've always been aware of the fashion world. my mom would sew us clothes—she's really graceful and she knows what she likes. my dad is a musician and he always had his own authentic personal style. my parents were both influential in teaching me about why, say, david bowie is cool.  

wfs: i imagine the fact that your dad was a musician influenced your affinity for hats.

dani: for sure. hats are super iconic. there are so many people that have been defined by the hats that they wear. you can tell when someone has chosen a hat for themselves and when someone is really confident in a hat. whenever people ask me which hat they should buy i like to stay out of it because it's so personal. because i can say this suits you for this reason and this reason—but i think whoever wears it really puts their own fantasy into it. 

wfs: is there a style that feels like it really aligns with your personal style?

dani: it's always evolving. this whole winter i've been wearing a wool beret. i still have the original hat that made me want to make hats in the first place and when i got it, it did not look like this. it was reshaped for me. it was like some crazy lampshade shape originally—super weird. i've been wearing it for four years non-stop. i put this pin on it which i found in vancouver. it's an old expo pin. it's a whole different hat from how it was before. it's super hobo-y now. i tell people when they buy a hat that it'll shape to your head and lifestyle. the hat will respond to the wearer. that's the nice thing about felt. it's so durable but very malleable. 

wfs: do you have a signature shape in your collection?

dani: the pinch hat and dome hat are my signature shapes. they're all done by hand. i shape them all myself. i touch them all, make sure they look right. 

wfs: switching gears, what's a typical weekend for you? walk us through.

dani: i have a very nonlinear lifestyle. i'm not a nine to five type of person. i'll wake up around ten a.m. and leave the house by noon to get coffee at otha's or if i go get food, i'll go to marlow and sons. and then [after that] i'll hang out here, and probably listen to records with friends. i'll often be on the couch crocheting some samples, working on work things and meanwhile i'll have friends over, making tea and scheming as to what we might get up to that night. maybe we'll go see a band perform. most of my friends are musicians so there are always things to do. if it's a sunny day we'll drive to the beach or go upstate. oftentimes on a saturday i'll just go upstate—i have several friends up there so i'll go to a swimming hole and then have a fire and cook a big meal. i like to keep a strong community of friends around at all times.

wfs: are you a night owl?

dani: i'd probably stay up until four if i could. sometimes five. we used to have a lot of music gear in here and we'd stay up late playing. but when i'm working on a project, especially a new collection, i like to focus and put all my energy into it, and then once i'm done i like to leave town for a month. when i come to new york i use it for what it's good for: work like crazy. anyone who's like, "how did you do it? how did you pull it off?" i used to get crazy stressed out [when i worked for other people] but [working for yourself] just comes from a different place—that energy—you could do it all night long. 

wfs: are there things that you do for yourself that feel very indulgent?

dani: i really romanticize going to get my coffee in the morning. 

wfs: what's your coffee drink of choice?

dani: it changes. sometimes americanos, sometimes cappuccinos, sometimes iced coffee.

wfs: so you're a coffee drinker? no tea?

dani: no! i love tea. tea is my [first thing in the] morning thing, coffee comes later. first thing when i wake up is drink tea. i love genmatcha. i love hawthorn farms upstate. that place is amazing. i will stock up on teas, i got this amazing sage tea. hawthorn farms is like zion…

wfs: do you cook?

dani: i like cooking but i never used to. it wasn't until i moved into this apartment and i felt like i was making a home, a place where people would come and feel really comfortable. 

wfs: what kind of food do you cook?

dani: really nice, big salads, a big, big miso soup with mushrooms and bok choy and wakame. i like japanese style cooking: good food in good sauces. [or] i eat peasant style. i can eat half an avocado with soy sauce in the middle of my kitchen. 

wfs: what are your favorite spots locally to eat?

dani: the coffee shop otha's has great food. and marlow and sons is fail safe. i always get the poached eggs there. and i love bozu. bozu is amazing. and what else? bakeri is really good. the backyard in the summer is great to go with a book or a notebook. 5 leaves, too. supercore is super good. it looks like a nineties relic. like a cool guy nineties cafe. but it's open until twelve or one every night. i like to go for dinner, and they have a beautiful backyard. there aren't a lot of places in williamsburg that you can sit and do an activity by yourself, like knit or crochet. people even bring their laptops [to supercore] and it's hard to find a place where you can bring your laptop around here without ending up in the middle of a laptop village which is super creepy.

wfs: do you have any tips for buying vintage?

dani: i have found my best pieces off-season. i wear my clothes really strategically so i don't get sick of them. and i save the fun ones for the most depressing months. 

wfs: so that's your february or march coat? [pointing to big white furry coat hanging on the wall]

dani: [laughs] yes because it's the month you start getting stir crazy and that's when you go out more so a jacket like that is perfect. 

wfs: where do you go to see live music?

dani: there are a few different places. there are the classic ones like music hall of williamsburg or bowery ballroom or mercury lounge or baby's all right—where i swear every single show is happening right now. one month i went there ten times. it's not a grody DIY place. coming home after a place like that [the "grody DIY" kind] wreaking like cigarettes and beer, when i was a teenager it was cool but now…now i know what it means when you end up at place like that. it means a weird hangover and having to air my clothes out. i understand now what my mom meant when she said she didn't like seeing my dad perform because her clothes would wreak. 

wfs: what's your favorite style of music? 

dani: it's really all over the map but i've always been into jamaican music like reggae and dub.  i like post punk a lot. i like dance music, i like african music, nigerian music, jazz, hip hop. 

wfs: so in another life you would be…

dani: probably playing music. i wouldn't write that out [yet]. that could very well happen. i dj'd for three years before i moved to new york. i had a full blown dj career before i moved to new york and i was so over it when i got here. i was like, i only want to see live music! and it was so awesome when i got here. in canada you can start going out at eighteen but here, i was twenty-one and became the kid on the scene. 

wfs: you said you take a month off once a year. where do you like to go?

dani: i'll go back to vancouver or go upstate, just jump in a car and drive. or l.a. last time i was in l.a., i drove south and went across the states and went to the carlsbad caves. you go like one hundred and forty feet underground and see crazy stalagtites. they had a broadway theater person light the place, so simply and tastefully, and it's so beautiful. i went to new orleans which i want to spend more time in. i think it's the berlin of america. being from canada i had no idea what it would be like. people genuinely want you to have a good time. everyone calls you baby, there. like "oh yeah baby, how you doing?" "what can i get you, baby?" 

wfs: appreciated like a true musician.

[check out part two of our conversation with dani here.]