Style as Play: Talking Fashion with Angel Emmanuel
The celebrity stylist on the power of experimentation, the New York designers to watch, and a few key trends for the season.
Angel Emmanuel didn’t always want to be a stylist. Growing up in Florida, Emmanuel enrolled in an art school with the intention of one day performing. But when he found his way to the costume department, Emmanuel transferred his attention from acting to technical design. From production to stage, Emmanuel’s sense of performance was always built into the fabric of where he put his focus as a designer. But it was through costume and fashion that he found his sense of play.
That sense of play is apparent in much of Emmanuel’s work today. From styling Julio Torres for Jimmy Fallon to his work with Boy Harsher, Emmanuel’s work is experimental, colorful and, most importantly, not-too-serious. We sat down with Emmanuel to learn more about his work and dive into his take on the current state of the NYC fashion scene.
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What has styling as a career taught you about fashion as an art form?
I’ve learned that what you see isn’t the end-all be-all because designers may have one vision for their clothes but stylists really transform the pieces once they start using them. It’s about how you dress up certain looks and it doesn’t have to be high-end or low-end—it could be any thrifted label-less design. Anything is possible with styling; you can take something basic and make it the most extravagant thing just with adding tights or gloves or jewelry.
I’ve also learned that fashion is limitless. But I feel like the harsh reality about being in a styling career is how much of a business the art is. It’s very political at the same time too. If you want successful art, it’s got to be a successful business. And there are so many layers to that. That’s something that I don’t think I expected so much at the beginning.
That’s hard for an artistic soul to take in sometimes.
Yeah but I feel like the more you stick to it, the more your passion gets refueled. There are times when I’m working so hard and then I’ll feel diminished, I feel that light fade away, but then I have opportunities where I have fun again.
That’s something I experienced when I started working with Julio Torres. Working with a client like Julio, who likes to do weird things and loves to experiment, he allowed me to have fun again. And he’s not afraid to tell me no when it’s needed but I was able to play more with fashion and styling. And now I feel like that’s lit another fire under me to do more and have more fun and experiment more with the art and stop necessarily trying to please other people aside from the people that matter.
How would you describe your style in just a few words?
Colorful. I love prints. And playful, definitely, is one of those words that can be described to my style and how I like to style anyone else. What I love about fashion is the playfulness. That’s my neon sign if I had to have one: “Playful”.
And I’m inspired, whether it be through my own culture or other cultures that I’ve experienced. I’ve been all over the world and have been able to pick up things from here and there. I think right now I’m in more of a streetwear era. How does Angel do streetwear? Right now, I’ve been wearing a lot of baggy jeans but with colorful tops.
How do you incorporate culture into your styling work?
A couple years ago, I did a full collection of just crocheted pieces that were inspired by being a Latino youth who loved grunge music, who loved punk music, classic rock, and who was angsty. So I crocheted a dress that had the colors of the Ecuadorian flag as well as a dress that was inspired by artwork that my grandparents had up in their home when I was growing up. That collection made me want to focus on my culture more.
Growing up in America with a family who came over from Ecuador, they wanted to make sure that I fit in and so I had to adapt to this culture and not necessarily embrace my own. It wasn’t until the last couple of years that I felt I needed to look in on myself. I have a huge passion to visit Ecuador…. There’s so much history there that I don’t know anything about and I’m sure once I start doing that research, I will find myself in that…. And textiles are such a huge part of Ecuadorian culture. So that’s something that I didn’t think about so much until after the fact. I was studying what my people have done for generations. It’s part of me and it started way back when…. Everything I’m doing, I feel like maybe was already written out for me, and I’m just going through the motions.
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Who are some of your favorite NYC designers?
I love Willy Chavarria. I think he’s doing amazing things right now, not only for menswear, but also for Latinos because he’s very outspoken about his culture and his heritage. And his cast of models are usually almost all Latino men or people of color. Not only that but they’re also different shapes and sizes because he wants to show who we are, what we look like. I think that’s why he’s one of my favorites because there’s not a ton of Latino designers out there, especially doing menswear. Not to discredit anyone that is already—but there’s not enough.
I also love working with Sideara, of course. Her designs are insane. I just recently used her Dandelion Hat for Julio on Jimmy Fallon. I love the outfit altogether but just adding that Dandelion really made that fantasy come to life. Vaquera is also doing some amazing things right now—very downtown. This last collection feels so elevated without losing their playfulness.
Coming up as a stylist, who did you look up to?
A lot of Nicola Formichetti’s work with Lady Gaga in the early days was insane. It’s definitely the reason why I wanted to do what I do and make it into an art form. Also Mel Ottenberg and Johnny Wujek… Wujek’s work with Katy Perry was some of the craziest stuff ever. You’ve got Lady Gaga who’s doing wild dark stuff and then you’ve got Katy Perry over here with a whip cone bra. That’s insane. And not everyone can pull it off, and maybe people think she didn’t pull it off, but it was iconic for its own reasons.
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What are some of your favorite places to shop in the city?
I love going to Tokyo7 in the East Village. I find some of the coolest pieces down there and I feel like they’ve got a great buying team. I’ve got these two pairs of Prada shoes that I got from there that I’m obsessed with. And they’re derbys of the same line but just different colorways.
I grew up thrifting and doing all that. So there’s this one Goodwill out in Queens where they just put everything out in buckets and you just sift through—that’s a good one. I also just love going to the 260 sample sales because I love shopping on a budget.
When you’re looking for fashion inspiration in the city, where do you find it?
Hanging around Dimes Square is such a fun way to put up a magnifying glass to what’s going on in the scene because you’ve got a good mix of Gen Z kids who are trying to be cool so they’re hanging out in the area wanting to be seen. You’ll have a mix of editors for magazines, photographers—it still draws the “It” crowd. So it’s fun to see what’s going on over there. But I feel like just walking around the Lower East Side and Chinatown really lets you know where we’re at with modern trends or whatnot. I myself try not to follow too many trends but If Gen Z is telling you not to wear skinny jeans, I’m not going to wear skinny jeans.
Trendwise, what are you seeing on the streets that you like?
I think I’m really enjoying seeing the callback to the early 2000. For those of us in our 30s, yes, we were born in the ’90s but we were just little kids—babies—back then. The 2000s is the first time that we got to experience a real pop renaissance. And the fact that we’re getting to relive that as adults but not too much older—I feel like we’re in the prime age to appreciate that. I love the whole baggy jeans thing, very JNCO style, I’m not mad at it at all.
What do you feel like we haven’t seen much of yet that we’ll be seeing more of?
I feel like with fashion right now, the biggest thing is “out with the old, in with the old,” because everything that people are doing has already been done before. José Criales-Unzuet, a Vogue editor that I follow and went to school with, is saying that the biggest trend right now is parkas over sparkly dresses. And, yeah, you’re seeing a lot of that but that’s also not the first time that anyone’s done that as a trend. We’re recycling the same ideas over and over. Eventually, I feel like even skinny jeans will make their comeback. Those deep V-necks? They definitely will make a comeback, I’m sure. Maybe not soon but eventually.
With the indie sleaze revival and Sienna Miller walking the Met Gala in a Boho chic gown… Is it 2004 or 2024? I mean, I’ve never stopped appreciating a good Juicy Couture velour tracksuit. But now they’re popping up more and more with designers making their own versions, even with the rhinestone butt. I think it’s funny how that’s coming back up even though, for me, it’s never been out of touch.
WORDS Hillary Sproul
PHOTOGRAPHY @thecobrasnake