Behind the Jeans with Yoko The Architect
Recently, there has been debate surrounding fashion adjectives: trendy, fashionable, and stylish. Oftentimes these terms are used interchangeably. It’s easy to mistake trendy for fashionable, and fashionable for stylish, but understanding their meanings could result in all the change your wardrobe has been needing.
“Trendy” means exactly what it sounds like. Trigger warning—remember that horrible time in all of our lives when all over printed emoji sweatsuits were a thing? I wish I could forget it. Being fashionable on the other hand, is living a life full of basics. You constantly play it safe and although you can't go wrong with staple pieces, it can get boring at times.
Stylish however is a skill that you either have or don’t have. You’re able to create a look, incorporate accessories, and use pieces to evoke emotion, all while staying true to who you are. Being stylish is a genre, “not everyone fits in the bad bitch genre.”
Thankfully for those who don’t fit in the genre, Bonita Nkemeh, a 24 year old stylist from Chicago, Illinois, is here to save you. I sat down with Bonita, better known as “Yoko the Architect” to get insight on the industry and hear her experience as a new stylist.
Tell me about yourself. Who are you?
YTA: My name is Bonita, I’m from Chicago, IL, and I’m 24 years old…I’m a Taurus. I’m a stylist, as you know, but I’m also a full-time pharmacy school student. So on top of being a stylist, I’m working towards my doctor of pharmacy degree, full-time, right now. I’m on summer vacation so I’m going to use this time to be more of a stylist, but throughout the year, that’s what I do.
How did you get into fashion?
Fashion is something that was always a part of my life. My parents would ask me, “what do you want to be?”...I want to be a designer, I want to be a model. I was just one of those little kids…clothes were always my thing. Pharmacy school is far left from fashion, but I still always dressed myself. I didn’t go to a school that wore a uniform for most of my life, so I’d always wear the cutest fits. I was getting best dressed every time we did a yearbook…people kind of knew me as “Bonita the fashion girl”, “Bonita…that’s what she does.” So when I decided to come out and be a stylist everyone was like “oh okay…finally, you’re doing something with this thing that we all knew that you were in love with.” My mom, she’s a nurse right now, but she was a designer so it’s a similar trend.
How has Chicago influenced your style?
Chicago has influenced every part of my life…heavily. I’m definitely not a city girl, but just the Chicago attitude…it doesn’t matter what you have on, but when you enter a room you command attention with whatever you’re wearing. It doesn’t matter if this isn’t my best fit today, when I walk into a room this is going to be my best fit…I don't care. I’m going to carry myself like this is the best thing ever.
What inspired the name “Yoko The Architect”?
You know what's funny? I was thinking ‘what could my name be?’ because eventually I want to start a clothing line, but I want all of my entities to be separate. I don’t want my line to be associated with the architect at all. Before I started anything I needed a name because it would inspire the direction that I moved in. I wanted to be ‘The Architect’ but that handle was taken, so I’m like I’m going to be Yoko the Architect. It originally stemmed from the idea that I didn’t want to be just a stylist. I’m into clothes, but I’m also into aesthetics. The way that I even post on my page…I didn’t want to just be a page full of collages of clothes. I wanted to curate a page that had the fashion, the clothes, the pieces, everything. Also, when I style clients, building their personal aesthetic was important to me because I don’t want anyone to look the same. I know how important it is to have your own style…it has to be a part of you so when you pick out an outfit it’s you picking how you feel, opposed to just picking something you’ve seen on Instagram. I didn’t want to just be a stylist, I wanted to be an architect. I want to build you from the ground up…even if you need me to help you decide how to post, how to make your feed look, I want to do the whole shabang, not just the styling.
“I don’t want anyone to look the same. I know how important it is to have your own style. It has to be a part of you so when you pick out an outfit it’s you picking how you feel, opposed to just picking something you’ve seen on Instagram. I didn’t want to just be a stylist, I want to be an architect.”
What do you think the most important part of an outfit is?
I think shoes are essential, but what I’m learning now is that accessories are the most important part. I was looking at some of my old pictures like ‘Dang, Bonita. This is a cute fit, but it’s missing something.’ I’m just now getting into jewelry and accessorizing my looks…it's really the *chef’s kiss* sprinkle on top of the fit to give it the razzle dazzle it needs. I’m starting to wear more layers these days because they give the look a certain vibe. I can be a shirt, pants, shoes, bag, type of girl, but when I get on TIk Tok and girls are wearing like six layers of clothes, it’s interesting. But shoes are important, just don’t forget to accessorize.
What are your favorite brands?
There’s so many raw brands. You see brands you’ve never seen before making couture pieces with 200 followers and it’s like…who are you? But I really love JPG. They do no wrong, every JPG piece I’ve ever seen is just amazing to me. The prints…it’s really cool to have a cool cut, cool design, but to also have prints…you’ve thought of everything down to the fabric, it’s all a part of the brand. Now if you see a mesh shirt with prints on it you’ll question if it’s JPG because you know who started it. Mugler is another one, I admire their ingenuity. Everything that he makes looks couture, it’s like walking art. I have a lot of appreciation for his work, everything looks intricate and thought out. Oftentimes in the Shein era of fashion, nothing seems thought out. Third, I’m going to say Vivienne Westwood because I recently watched a YouTube video talking about her come up. I already liked the edgy, school-girl, preppy type vibe that she gave, but learning about different designers backstories and the impact they had is mind-blowing. Like I knew your clothes were raw, but I didn’t know they were raw on this level. She pushed the boundaries with her clothes especially for the era that she lived in and her location…and dove deep into the punk rock scene. I don’t think people know that I’m a punk rock girl at heart.
How was working with Dess Dior? How did it come about?
I started styling in the fall of last year. I wasn’t really posting any fashion stuff, just fits. People started following, but I was just building a brand at that point, I had no expectation. One day I was on Instagram and I got a notification from @dessdior, but you know how people make fan pages? I had to check because I didn’t know if it was the Dess Dior or a Dess Dior. I see it’s her and she’s liking my pictures so I went to dm her like “you see me, I see you…let’s cook” but she had already dm’d me. She was sending me a bunch of my work to the point where she was ready to work. This was my fourth client ever. I wasn’t expecting to be styling anyone other than girls doing birthday shoots, dinners, or super small scale stuff. I didn’t have contracts, I didn’t have anything professional going on…I’m just a girl with an Instagram. I was trying to figure everything out at the last minute because I wanted to give the impression that I do this even though it was my first time being on this playing field. She’s super nice and I had a three month contract with her. There are still looks she hasn’t gotten around to yet, but it’s getting warm so hopefully we’ll see more of the Dess x Architect collabs.
It was a learning experience; it was what I needed to figure out where I wanted to go with this. She was very patient with me because she works with real deal stylists and I’m just a girl from Chicago with an Instagram. Since I’m more of a digital stylist because I’m not in Atlanta and I’m in school I feel like it’s different than working as an in-person stylist. There were days where she would hit me up like,“I’m flying out in the morning, I need something now”...so I’m calling places like ‘do you have this in a size this?’ and everyone’s like “no.” Meanwhile, I’m in class and the professor is talking. I can’t wait to see where this takes me next and who I get to work with. There’s still a lot to learn, but I feel like I’m slowly making my way to where I need to be.
What’s your opinion on fast fashion?
I would love to say ‘oh, fast fashion…hate it,’ but as someone who wasn’t born into money, loves fashion, and having enough pieces to work with, I know what it’s like to not have it. So never knock Shein or Pretty Little Thing for what they do except for when they copy brands, that’s not cool. But I understand, there are some fashionistas who need a five dollar top because they can’t spend $X on designer pieces yet. I respect an aspect of what they do because it’s accessible clothing, but at the same time not only is it not good for the environment, it’s really not good for fashion. I’d be scared to put out designs before I have everything ready to ship out because I’d hate to wake up one morning to see Shein got my whole collection before I got to release it. What am I going to do if PLT drops my collection before me?
Where do you see the industry heading in five years?
I was just watching A$AP Rocky’s interview on how he’s been ghost designing for brands for years. I feel like fashion will shift with entertainment, what the rappers are wearing, what the Kardashians are wearing. Influencers are making their mark, but at the end of the day people who aren’t real fashion people are wearing what they see the girls wearing on Instagram, “I like this brand because Dess likes this brand or Jayda wore this brand,” not because they know what’s going on. At the same time there’s an emergence of more creatives in general because of the pandemic. I think we’ll see a lot more designers that came from nothing. From what I’ve seen so far, I’m really impressed by the fabrics and cuts. I think at some point we’re going to see some really crazy stuff and some of these up and coming designers will beat out the Balenciagas.
What advice would you give to people styling themselves?
My best advice would be to learn yourself. All the girls that you can name that dress the best like the Teyana Taylors and Rihannas, you can tell it’s their expression and it’s them. I can see a fit and be like, ‘that’s a Teyana Taylor fit’ regardless of who’s wearing it because it’s so unique to her. It's an extension of you and you’re letting people know who you are by what you’re wearing.
You have to know what looks good on you! It’s something that I struggle with clients about. Yes, I ask for your inspo, but I’ll never put together an outfit that looks exactly like that. So when people are like “Oh, I like this Jayda fit. I want a fit like this,” you have the template [for an identical outfit]. Why are you hiring me to make you look like Jayda?
