Style Counsel: Vincent Sansalone

I love teaching first-years because they come in with preconceived ideas about what architecture and design are and they ask questions and are willing to go for a ride. But do I get style inspiration from them? Men with baseball caps? No.

I love clothes, I love art, I love design. Looking at fashion is like looking at art. I follow fashion, but I don’t subscribe to it. I’m not a big buyer and I keep my clothes for a long time.

Khakis should be outlawed. Pleats should be outlawed. I’d rather see someone in hole-y jeans than khakis because, generally speaking, the fabric is terrible, they’re not shaped, and they’re worn too long.

I don’t make a habit of wearing women’s clothes, but Comme des Garçons is a very unisex line and I wear the women’s equivalent of a size 10 or 12 in pants. If I find a pair of pants on sale, I buy them. They’re not particularly feminine looking and I get a steal.  

I’m a big believer in uniform. For teaching, it’s a button-front shirt and flat-front trousers. When I’m in my painting studio, it’s Levi’s and work shirts. My studio is basically a 12-foot by 24-foot metal box that I built behind my house in Clifton with the help of graduate students. It’s all salvaged from junkyards.

I love North Avondale and DeSales Corner; the intersection of Madison and Woodburn is the best in town. There is so much potential there.