MENSWEAR FLASH SALE — Up to 40% Off! Last-minute gifts for him (or yourself). SHOP NOW
Emma Orlow is a writer from New York, where she works as a staff reporter for go-to restaurant website Eater. She’s also written for The New York Times, New York Magazine, Bon Appétit, and Vogue, covering subjects like the apple expert who turned New York City into his personal orchard, the “kooky” scratchmade cakes born of the pandemic, and the irresistible charm of tiny dollhouse food.
She also has great style. We caught up with Emma to find out how bright colors and fun patterns help keep life in New York upbeat, plus her approach to toting tote bags and which prized possessions she keeps on rotation. Want to know more? Check out Emma’s Instagram to follow her writing and whereabouts.
EW: You like to wear a lot of bright shades. How does color factor into your style?
EO: Especially in the winter, it's so easy to feel depressed that the only thing keeping me going is wearing anything that's super bright. For some reason, I've always been drawn to dressing like I’m in a Nickelodeon Slime Time Live show. Slime green and bright orange [are big for me] and then I’ll mix in neutrals like brown. Basically, I go for a mix of ’90s brights over a ’70s sunken living room that you would find in a coffee-table book.
EW: It’s funny because you’re a New Yorker, and New Yorkers are often known for dressing in all black. Do you feel like that’s something you’ve chosen to reject?
EO: That is more true of New York than it is of LA, but I don't really think of myself as a chic person. And there's something about wearing all black that's cooler than I feel. I just feel like everyone tries really hard to be cool in NYC, and not that that isn’t seductive sometimes — but ultimately from a young age, wearing color, was a way to carve out a space for myself to feel silly and do my own thing when I didn’t always have the words to.
EW: How do you approach dressing for the day vs. night?
EO: That's something in my adulthood that I'm really trying to work on. I don't feel like I really have a “going out” style. When I was in middle school, there was such a culture of going to a party and having to really dress up for it, and then you get to college and no one really does that—you don’t wear heels to a college party. I think these days I'm pretty much wearing the same thing, I’ll wear clogs to a party and the same checkerboard pants that I wore during the day. But I'd like to develop a more glamorous going-out look.
EW: It's so true, I remember buying miniskirts for middle school dances.
EO: I'm really glad that we're out of the American Apparel bodycon days because that's ultimately more stressful. It's nice that we're currently in a culture of style that’s more comfort-oriented.
EW: Say you're just leaving the house to grab a coffee, what would you throw on?
EO: Definitely a pair of high-waisted workwear pants. I have six pairs of Big Bud Press pants. They’re my favorite pants. They’re kind of Dickies adjacent but they’re so much more comfortable, the cotton is really soft. And they're all about inclusive sizing. I would wear those and then probably a crop top and some sort of button-down, likely this cow print pajama top that I wear as a chore jacket and that's definitely a going-to-get-a-coffee or going-to-the-supermarket kind of thing.
EW: Do you wear the same tote bag every day? Or do you switch it up?
EO: I always have one tote bag that I'll wear until it dies. When it gets too dirty or falls apart, then I'll get rid of it. Right now, I’m carrying one that I really love that my boyfriend got me from Sweet Pickle Books which has a little pickle on it. My only “going out” bag is bright orange and it's made of beads.
EW: What other patterns besides cow print are you drawn towards?
EO: I love like a ’70s stripe. Checkerboard, but it's hard because right now we're in such an oversaturation of checkerboard on Instagram. Although I really like it, I feel like I can only wear it kind of sparingly. And then I have like seven tie-dyed t-shirts.
EW: Besides high-waisted pants, are there other types of garments that you like to wear?
EO: I have a pair of slime green corduroy overalls I love. I have a yellow miniskirt that has a totally useless pocket [shaped like] a giant circle. It’s at an angle so you can't put anything in it or it would fall out. Mostly, I’m wearing pants. I don't really wear jeans ever, although when I was in LA last I got the only pair of jeans that I now own from a vintage shop.
EW: Do you have any prized possessions that you might cry over if you lost them?
EO: I have this orange, purple, and red striped sweater that means a lot to me. It's just a knit sweater that’s one of the only things I wear in the winter that's genuinely super warm and colorful. I got it in London in a random vintage store. Probably also some of the stuff my friend Tyler McGillivary made. I have a lot of clothes from her from when she first launched her line that she will never make again, and it feels more personal because she's one of my best friends. I have a set that kind of looks like a clown suit. It’s a half yellow, half orange squiggly button-down coat with matching pants.
EW: Do you wear jewelry?
EO: Every single day I wear fake gold hoops I got at Target and I have a necklace that used to be my grandmother's that’s a heart that says grandma #1. I guess that pendant would probably be my thing that I wouldn't want to lose. But other than that, no. I don’t even own any makeup, but I want to change that. I do wear red lipstick, I have a shade that I really like, but I got it years ago and once it runs out I don't know what I'm going to do.
EW: Do you have a favorite season to dress for?
EO: Definitely spring. I love getting to wear a mini-dress with a light jacket. It’s also my birthday season, and I feel like there’s something to that.
