For the last year or so, my style—like so many other people’s—has been extremely casual, and my beauty look has been super clean. It seems like everyone has become so much more accustomed to being very casual, and the idea of completely switching back overnight is not a concept that everybody’s ready for, but I actually like it. This is the time to be inventive and have a refresh: Maybe by experimenting with makeup—like a bold red lip—or maybe in bigger ways, too.
The pandemic has been a major refresh for me—style-wise, sure, but also personally. Right before lockdown, I was just coming off of Fashion Month and was exhausted. I was like, ‘I need a moment to just not travel…’ and then COVID hit and I definitely got my wish. At first I thought I’d just chill and take a breather, but then I realized I could really utilize the opportunity to focus on my vintage clothing business, Sami Miro Vintage, which I’d never been able to spend all of my time on. And so for the first time ever, I was able to do that and not travel and just stay in the world of SMV all the time. And that was really amazing to me.
These days, Monday through Friday is for work, and my style is dictated by what I’m doing. With things opening up again, I’m having more meetings where I have to look more polished, and I accept that role. I love to express myself with my makeup, especially on my lips; the color I choose depends on my mood that day and what I’m wearing. Do I want a more neutral color or a bright red? The reds in the Giorgio Armani Lip Maestro collection are so gorgeous—the colors are so vibrant and they have so much pigment; they really stand out on my skin. They’re not shiny; it’s more of a matte velvet texture. It’s so fun to have a cool pop of color on the lips—especially with an all-back outfit—and it is nice to be able to show off your smile now that we’re not wearing masks all the time.
But if I’m going to a vintage warehouse where I know I’ll be digging through bins, then I dress much more casually. It’s kind of funny because before COVID, you had to wear masks and gloves in the vintage warehouses anyway to protect the clothing, so I was already used to that. I’d just wear a great mascara like Lancôme Lash Idôle—if anything at all. I’m either ‘zero mascara’ or ‘everyone-needs-to-know-I’m-wearing-mascara’ with multiple layers, super voluminous and lengthy. I love Twiggy eyelashes, and Lash Idôle doesn’t flake or smudge even if you put it on super thick. Plus, I never curl my lashes, so I especially like the curved wand. I feel like it gets every little lash.
During lockdown, I don’t think I wore anything but sweatpants for months. It was just pure coziness, 24/7. I never got sick of it. It was really nice to not have to think about the way I looked—it was great to just be cozy and comfortable for a while. My beauty look was practically non-existent—just cleanser, moisturizer and a ton of eye cream, like Kiehl’s Creamy Eye Treatment. And I still put that on morning and night; it makes my eyes look more awake and definitely less puffy, even after working all day. Maybe, for fun, I’ll wear perfume, like YSL Black Opium, which has a warm and spicy scent that smells super sexy, or Maison Margiela Beach Walk, which is more fresh and coconut-y. Scents can make you feel so much better, even when you’re not feeling like dressing up.
The weekends are very important to me—that’s when I really experiment with my makeup and try new looks. I’ve really been into a dark eye lately, sort of a cat-eye rocker vibe with a ton of mascara. It’s a different kind of sexiness than I’m used to, but it’s such a confidence booster. I use an eyeliner like Urban Decay 24/7 on the waterline and I add a little wing. I learned a trick a couple years ago where, when you draw the wing, you start at the top instead of the bottom and work your way outward. The triangle shape turns out so much better and I’ve been perfecting it with the 24/7 liner ever since; the gel formula goes on really smooth and leaves a sharp, clean line that looks super saturated. But it’s easier to work with than a liquid liner.
When I really need to go for it—like when I have a photo shoot—I do the whole thing: foundation, eyeliner, everything. I have a great collection saved on my Instagram of all my favorite beauty looks so that I’m always prepared with something fun. Because I’m more into a natural look day-to-day, when I do have a shoot I want to go all out—we’re not doing anything boring. I like to do something wild and fun.
I fell in love with vintage when I was 14-years-old. At the time, it was a means to wear cool, trendy brands at a much more affordable price point. Of course, I would end up wearing really raggedy stuff with holes and sun discoloration, but it helped me feel like I was part of the fashion crowd because I had the ‘right’ logos on. Even though the clothing wasn’t new, wearing it transformed my thinking—it made me appreciate the garment more because I knew I was the only person in the world who had that certain shirt or jacket. I really saw the beauty in a garment through the wear and tear.
But even though I loved fashion, I didn’t work in fashion until much later in life, after leaving the corporate tech world. I always felt like there was something creative in me that I wanted to explore, so I took a year off and just did a bunch of creative stuff for the first time; started being in front of the camera. And now I’m busier with my fashion career than I could have imagined.
Being a small business entrepreneur can be quite difficult because you have to be able to find the balance between living in the creativity and being the business person behind it all. The back and forth is difficult—there’s no time for writer’s block. You just have to immediately ‘get there’ and be ready to wear all hats. When I get inspired at a random point during the day, I always write it down immediately. Those three seconds might be the only time I have to create something. There’s no time to slack off or just chill.
But in some ways I’ve been lucky, because I have a business background—I kind of understand that side of things. Before I started my business, I had never had to focus on my creativity professionally. But I was always creative in my own way, especially with my own style. My creativity would come in little spurts. It was like, ‘Okay, I have 20 minutes to get dressed, what am I going to wear?’ That’s how I expressed myself.
Now I want to reach a balance. At the start of the pandemic, we went from a chaotic world and chaotic lifestyles and being around a million people to suddenly just focusing on ourselves. Moving forward and going back into the world, we’re so much more aware of what we want to give our energy to. I think of this whole moment of reentry as a time of mental preparation—our last bit of private time in our little bubbles before getting back out there. I was definitely pushing the envelope style-wise before lockdown, and though it was nice to have a break, I’m excited to push the limits again. I’m looking forward to wearing all the weird, funky vintage things that I’ve repurposed—fun ’80s dresses and stuff like that which I had no reason to wear during quarantine. Because at the end of the day, everyone should dress how they want and express themselves as they wish.