Author | Christiane Nickel | Fashion Editor
From Coachella to the Met Ball, these early spring months are versatile and vibrant in the laundry list of fashion events to attend. Saint Harridan’s pop up shop tour at the Brooklyn Community Pride Center was definitely not to be missed. Saint Harridan is a company that creates suits “designed to fit your body and your gender.” I had the exciting opportunity to speak with founder Mary Going as well as Dom Brassey and Lea DeLaria about this event.
Dialogue with Mary Going
C: How does Saint Harridan differ from Tomboy Tailors, Kippers Clothiers, Bindle & Keep and other companies tailored to design suits for female-bodied persons?
M: The most important is access and visibility. We do not make anything custom, rather we have our collection and base off of that – we just need your measurements to customize. Our price point is around $750 which is a great deal considering you could be paying to $2,000.
C: Where are your suits produced?
M: They are American-made in Averil Massachusetts.
C: How would you describe the general aesthetic?
M: Well, we want to keep the price down but still guarantee quality while breaking from the rules of gender, so we have our personally style assortment of classic prints and patterns which include: charcoal, black and pinpoint sand.
C: Where else are your pop up shops?
M: Oakland, D.C. Baltimore, Seattle, Atlanta and Brooklyn. We will also be heading to Philadelphia, San Francisco, Boston and Los Angeles this coming year, to name a few.
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Dialogue with Dom Brassey, Director of Operations
C: How did you first get involved with Saint Harridan?
I was selling sports bras for Titel 9 but I never had the opportunity to meet and work with customers which I enjoy so much. I loved the fact that the product came directly from the community.
C: Are you a designer yourself?
D: I have always been an artist and anarchist.
C: Why do you personally like Saint Harridan?
D: We are always developing new patterns and looks, and the fact that we are tailoring for bodies that are not traditionally expected to fill masculine clothes, this is what makes us uniquely different. We don’t look at gender we just focus on the fit.
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Dialogue with Lea DeLaria of Orange Is the New Black
C: How did you get involved?
L: There was an article in the New York Times Style Section which really impressed me so I contacted Saint Harridan and found out that this was the perfect fit for me. I loved their look so I met with the head tailor and started planning looks and suits.
C: How has Saint Harridan affected your personal style?
I don’t believe at all that my style has changed. I know how hard it is to find a perfectly cut suit with bigger hips and other physiological differences which make masculine cut-suites more difficult to work with, but when you try on a Saint Harridan suit, it’s always seamlessly tailored. This is one of the many reasons I am proud to support and represent them. I’ve seen women and individuals cry when trying on a Saint Harridan suit…
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Other notable attendees included photographer Miki Vargas who I got to talk to about their photographic project titled “For the Love of Bois” which is a celebration of masculine-of-center persons.
C: What was your initiative for this?
M: I felt there was a lack of positive (if any imagery) of masculine-of-center people. Given the lack of representation I began shooting people that looked like me. I fell in love with this idea and wanted to exhaust people with images of masculine-of-center persons to the point where it becomes normal.
C: What are your upcoming projects?
M: I will be working with Meg Allen, the creator of the photographic project called Butch for a series during Pride in June.
