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BW: If you could name one per-
son that inspired your style, who
would it be and why?
FS: Madonna. Oh my god I love
Madonna. When I found out that
was her real name I thought that
was the cutest thing ever. I told my
husband, whose name is Jerome,
“if we have a daughter we’re nam-
ing her Rome Madonna, you know
‘what happens in Rome’ I love it.
I just love Madonna’s style, she
dresses how she feels and I love that
because when you look good you
feel good. I also love Kelis. From
milkshake to bossy. She’s a chef
now, but still so fashionable. I love
everything about Kelis. Those are
my biggest fashion inspos beside
myself. Sometimes I don’t even
know what I’m gonna do. Most
mornings I grab any top and bot-
tom from my closet and I make it
work. I surprise myself sometimes
and it just always works.
I remember my freshman yesr
in college, I met one of my best
friends by admiring her pants. I'll
never forget that she had on Guess
jeans with graffitti written all over
them. I didn't know if she wrote
on them herself or if she bought
them like that, i didn't care. All
I knew is that I had to know this
girl because she was super dope to
me. I asked her for her name, she
replied, PEPSI and I was like , Ok!
Her weave was long doen her back
and she had on ankle boots and it
wasn't even cold. I loved it. Because
I always break rules in fashion. She
told me that she was from Miami
and she complimented my Guess
jeans that I had on too. We been
close friends ever since. I had the
seasoning but she had the sauce. I
never seen so many clothes in a clo
November 2019
set like that in my life. She was so
generous and gave me so many
pieces. We wore teh same size, well
she was few pounds bigger but we
both wore smalls. She taught me all
about labels and brands. We used to
get dressed up and go everywhere.
People would stop and stare at us
all the time and we loved it. She
taught me the fashion game and the
rest was history.
BW: What inspired your brand
name?
FS: It started as Josephine Pearls,
inspired by my grandmothers on
both sides of my family because
they both inspired me in their own
ways. Especially my grandmother
Josephine Barbarin-Nelson. She
passed away when I was 8yrs old,
but when I look at her old pictures,
I say to myself, “I’m just like her,
from her body frame to her great
fashion sense” although she was
thicker, and I’m smaller our shape
is the same. she was just so fly, I
love her swag. My paternal grand-
mother is Pearl and she is still fly at
103 years old, she still wears heels!
But, Josephine Pearl didn’t really get
peoples attention the way I wanted.
I later transitioned to ‘Fashion Slut’,
it started with a T-shirt I made just
for the fun of it and they did really
well and got so much support and
love that I went on to change my
brand name to Fashion Slut. I’m
known for my fedoras, but that
name leveled my business up really
quick. I started to get so many
hits, from prospects, that I made a
website, its doing really well actu-
ally. Then I decided to define my
brand name and I realized when
you search the word ‘slut’ it means
a woman who has many casual
sexual partners. That lead me to de-
fine ‘Fashion Slut’ as a woman with
many hangers in her closet. When
creating the name "Fashion Slut" I
was being extremely clever about it.
I needed something that was atten-
tion grabbing and I didn't want to
use a word that was too derogatory.
It was Fashion slave at first, but that
word has a lot of pain behind it.
Then I remembered that my men-
tor Lilly, Owner of Lilliy's Kloset
instagram name use to be Fashion
Whore for the longest. So that
made me use Fashion Slut. It's like
if you're a slut for fashion, nothing
more, nothing less.
BW: Would you consider becom-
ing a stylist? For women, men or
both?
FS: Most definitely. I recently
turned my passion into revenue by
styling a few people for a fee. I love
it. I love shopping for other peo-
ple and making their looks come
together. I always wanted to be a
stylist and I was so happy to be able
to turn what I love into a hustle.
I've had the pleasure of styling DJ
Ally Bea, Patcasso, Sold by Sageand
a few more! Styling can get tricky
because poeple will call you and
ask you questions about assistance
with their outfits and/or send a pic-
ture of their look and ask me what
do I think about it. I really feel that
people should consider that as a
part of styling, which is consulta-
tion and I charge a $25 fee for that.
Most importantly, I love creating
looks for myself and others and i
love inspiring others as well.
BW: How many people have you
styled?
FS: I styled plenty of people from
friends to my husband, all the way
down to my children. My daugh-
ters are kind of oversaturated with
me and my styling tips, they would