"I shot a cast of all queer androgynous people on an alpaca farm in upstate Michigan."
As soon as we saw Donna Terek’s piece on Randal Jacobs and his store, Savvy Gent we knew he was someone we needed to pin down. We talk about his short, red, school-girl skirt, how Jayden Smith has Sylvester to thank and how antiquated the fashion world has become.
What is your earliest memory of fashion?
I had to be around four. It was Christmas Eve and my mother was walking around the house in this red chiffon duster with a matching red night-gown underneath. Life changing!!
Did you have a strong sense of style as a kid?
My parents are from that era where you don’t step outside the house if you are not ready for prime time tele. And I am also from the South so my sense of style stems from them and back in those days they would dress me like a grown kid with cardigans and slacks and such. I didn’t own a pair of real jeans until I was in university. So I did have strong sense of dressing as a child.
Do you believe in fashion mis-steps?
I believe that most fashion is misguided and mis-stepped. Fashion is such a system of oppression that I cannot relate to it anymore. I did when I was younger in uni but now being overly conscious of who I am in the world, I can’t even think about that antiquated system. I am from the school of style and as long as it is original, honest and authentic, there are no wrongs.
What were you doing before Savvy Gents?
I moved to Detroit from NYC two years ago where I worked for Ralph Lauren in advertising and eventually working on their style team for their website. Before NYC I lived in Milan working as a fashion journalist.
How did the store start?
Very organically. I moved to Detroit to freelance at the Detroit Institute of Art as an event planner. I was burnt out from the fashion industry in NYC and wanted to change my life and be somewhere to create. I met an amazing shop owner named Karen Brown who owns Savvy Chic. She has been in business for 17 years in the meat packing district of Detroit called Eastern Market. She is a phenomenal business woman and a pillar of the community. Karen and I had a very similar style and I always enjoyed shopping in her store. She told me that her son had an idea for a men’s shop and introduced us. The rest is pretty much history. The store is almost two years old now.
I’m in love with your red plaid skirt. What mood do you need to be in to rock it?
Hmmmm. I love my plaids. And I am finally getting back into them. I had to stop wearing them for a while because Marc Jacobs started to wear them about 6 years ago and I have been rocking them since the early 2000’s on a daily basis. I have developed in my plaid skirt and kilt intrigue. When I wear my short plaid ones, I am in the mood of being a true slut. I visited Japan two years ago for a month and I finally understood the power of the short school-girl skirt. All of the students’ uniforms were immaculate. It wasn’t about the overt sexuality of the skirt and I am not suggesting pedaphilia but it is something about the possibility of what’s underneath especially when a Brown thick hairy-legged girl like myself puts one on.
‘You have to look at me like you’re looking at a piece of art.’ Do you think everyone deserves the same regard?
Absolutely Not!! Not everyone deserves to even be looked at because people are so basic and don’t take pride in getting dressed. Getting dressed is rooted in the African American Southern tradition of pride. No matter if you were a janitor or a doctor, you got dressed well in our culture. These kids today think wearing and affording labels are impressive, but truly not. I do hold very nostalgic imagery from early Hollywood so my sense of dressing is intricate and evolved. When I talk about walking pieces of art I speak of Isabella Blow, Daphne Guinness, Eunice Johnson, Maxine Powell and those other girls who are beyond the tactile clothes but who evoke a dialogue when they enter a room. That is one extreme but I am also into people who completely curate a uniform like Gabrielle Chanel, Martin Luther King, Jr, Malcolm X, Huey P Newton. There is high art in making a strong statement in voice and imagery.
How much flesh do you feel comfortable showing?
In my formative years I was always covered up because I was ashamed of being larger than average. In gay world, especially where I grew up in Atlanta, there is all types of fat and femme shaming amongst the community. Most of it wasn’t verbal but through imagery and online/organic dating, it was evident. And it still persists today. In lieu of all of that, I am open to showing any and everything. Last year I went to a nude dinner party and realized that I am so comfortable with being completely naked. It was my first one and so now I am hooked. I am way more free into showing my tummy, thick legs, bum and even penis if the look calls for it.
Do you get many straight men coming in, who err on the side of caution, but with your help step outside the box?
It’s funny the more I live in this form, the more I don’t think that the straight/gay binary is relevant. Living in Detroit I am around the biggest group of queer men who date women and wear dresses better than I do. These social constructs like race in America are all made up by man. To answer your question when I get customers who identify as cis-gender men who date and or have sex with the opposite sex, they come alive. It often starts off as a little awkward but they are so curious that they keep coming back and trying things on and buying. It’s my presence that allows them to be free. They feel comfortable with me because I am true to who I am and they want a piece of that for their own lives.
Who is your favourite type of customer?
Ones who spend time with me and sift through every rack. They know what they are looking for and they know that they can only find that salvation piece in my store.
Who are your favourite designers?
Comme Des Garçon, Omar Campbell, Junya Wantanabe, Victor & Rolf, Tiff Massey and myself.
What do you make of Jayden Smith and the LV campaign?
Here in America, Jayden is such a to do!! I think it is quite genius the way in which his parents have allowed their children to be more free. It’s a thing here about masculinity and this generation is getting it right. They are not concerned with checking boxes or being a clone of each other. Of course some of them are but it excites me when a little Black boy can make major money for simply being who he is naturally. We need to see more of that in the world but especially in the fashion industry. He stands upon so many shoulders of queer black men who live it daily, I.e Andre J, Gunner Doyle, David Melton, Shaun J . Wright, Omar Campbell, Malik Sterling, etc… And we all stand upon Sylvester’s wide shoulders!! I can go on and on about this because the world can’t change without us being in our place… Major Kudos to Jayden!!
The men you work with are often very ‘manly’ with strong looks. What do you make of the more androgynous/femme boys? Do you work with them as well?
It is funny that my store is labeled as a men’s store. Really it’s just a store with fab things for anyone who dares. That manly strong lumber sexual ‘jack look was possibly created in the hills of the Midwest. I have noticed that I have become a product of my environment and I lean towards that look sexually as well as in the models for my store. I do live for the androgynous ones. I still moonlight as a stylist and creative director and I just did a beautiful shoot for The 10thZine where I shot a cast of all queer androgynous people on an alpaca farm in upstate Michigan.
Lastly what is your favourite Mariah Carey song?
Sadly I don’t listen to popular music but if she re-did any Nina Simone, I know I would love it.
