Can you tell us a bit about your background and how it's influenced your journey to opening Soochie?
I was born in a Hindu Ashram in Saint Helena, California. When I was very young my mother packed it all up and moved us to Northern Italy, on Lake Como. We moved into a former 14th century Franciscan monastery that was only accessible by trail. My bedroom was the bread baking kitchen in the monastery so I had a decommissioned brick wood burning stove in the middle of one wall and a huge granite boulder coming out of another. We had an original fresco of the Virgin Mary and child in our living room. It was very unconventional to say the least.
My parents were your stereotypical hippies from the 70's. Completely disinterested in material possessions, modern conveniences and any form of processed food. So naturally, I was super into fashion, candy, junk food and city life. I used to buy Italian Vogue with change I would "fish" out of the Virgin Mary shrines on my walk home. As I got older I became incredibly interested in graffiti and the hip hop movement in the early 90's. In Italy this was very much a counterculture and my friends and I would spend our evenings breaking into train yards, skateboarding (for me it was a spectator sport), painting trains of FNM line and obsessing over who made better music, the WuTang or NWA (I was an East Coast gal). I was fiercely independent and determined to live a very different life than my parents, who chose to be very reclusive.
When I was 17 I moved to California on my own where I put myself through fashion school and started working as a wardrobe stylist. For over 15 years I worked for big retail brands like the Gap, Old Navy, Levis and on advertising campaigns for a range of companies. Eventually I started feeling a shift and began experiencing cognitive dissonance. What I was doing for work and what I believed fashion should be were no longer matching up. I think the pandemic played a part in it. I was forced to sit back and reevaluate my values, my ethos and ultimately I realized that I was on the wrong side of the problem and if I wanted to stay in fashion and not compromise myself and my beliefs I needed to change what I did day to day. I took a massive leap and decided to open Soochie. The idea came while on a walk in the forest in August of 2023 and in March of 2024 I opened my doors.
How would you describe the concept of Soochie?
I would say that working for fast fashion brand brought me to create a place where slow fashion and independent emerging designers take center stage. I spent 15 years of my career styling products that I cannot stand behind today. So I wanted to create a space that I was proud of, where conversations about the materials and how they were sourced and made are just as important as how good a style looks. I believe we have become too distant from the things we consume (food, clothes, furniture). Soochie is a place where we can rekindle that connection and slow down for a minute. Soochie is very much my personal living room and I decorated it to feel like that. Everything has a story; the main table is made from reclaimed wood from a 18th century pole barn, the art is sourced from vintage shops all over California, I built all the fixtures myself (with the help of my very handy husband). The space it is warm, welcoming, homey and non pretentious and people respond to it. It was not designed to feel like a modern shoe box. It was designed to feel like you were entering someones home....someone with really good taste :). Most customers come in and end up spending quite a bit of time in the store. They try on clothes, sit down, and have conversations before you know it, they have been there for two hours. Relationships are forged in this space. I know most people by their first name now and it feels like a little community is forming around my little shop. I just love that unexpected aspect of it.
Did growing up in Italy shape your sense of style and approach to fashion?
Sometimes I think that my interest in fashion was an act of rebellion. I am certain that growing up around so much beautiful architecture, art and history has had a profound effect on me. Above all, my insatiable appetite for visual imagery is what inclined my taste and perspective. I have a slightly obscene collection of fashion, design, and textile books and I am a strong believer that exposure gives you a more refined and elevated aesthetic point of view. Generally speaking exposing one self to different music, art, culture, ideas, food, makes us better humans with a broader sense of adaptability, acceptance and perhaps compassion.
What are some of the brands currently in store and what pieces are you most excited about this Fall?
I focus on brands where the human touch is visible. I love textiles, texture, color and craftsmanship so I always look for that when I shop for the store. Some of my favorite brands this season are Bunon (they made a killer coat with shell buttons and I cannot stop thinking about), Runaway Bicycle (floor length silk dress, perfect for layering under a cozy sweater), Elsa Esturgie (cotton flannel wide leg pants), Bare Knitwear (The baby alpaca beanies are the best beanies out there!!!), Nikki Chasin (Silk Pouf Skirt with a crinoline layer for that extra fun vibe), Unisecon (unreal jackets), Sayaka Davis (she cuts the perfect pant) and Nathalie Mathouline (ribbon pebble pendants).
As a creative, what keeps you inspired in your everyday life and work?
I get inspired by disconnecting. Curating a collection is very much a creative process and I don't think any artist can be in the flow 100% of the time. I need to tuck it all away and disconnect as often as permissible....which is not that often. My favorite activity to reconnect with myself is mushroom foraging. I got really into it a few years ago after purchasing a small cabin in the Redwoods in Mendocino. It is magical to walk through the forest and pull up prized edibles or medicinal mushrooms and be able to tell them apart from specimens that would have you quarantined in the bathroom for a long night of discomfort. Foraging for mushrooms is incredibly meditative. You are scanning the forest floor, looking up to the trees to make sure you are in the right habitat and your brain sort of goes blank, it is just focused on the present moment and that does wonders for a busy racing mind like mine. The smell and the sounds of the forest are so healing and while you do not always come out of it with a loot, you are always a better person after a day among the trees.
What does this season of life look like for you? Describe a typical day.
I would love to tell you that I have a slow and regimented routine with limited screen time and lots of acts of self care but that would be a fat lie. I am six months into the opening of my boutique so I am very much in a go go go, work work work phase. My mornings start with my nose in my phone and most nights also end the same way. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night so that I can chat with my vendors across the the globe and then go back to bed...I might have a tad of a work/life balance problem but I cant imagine doing it any differently at the moment. My business is my baby and I take so much pride in what I have created. Being a one woman show means I have wear all the hats and I have to always be available. My non negotiable is, I try to find a little bit of time in the morning for a long walk. I can process a lot of stagnant thoughts and feelings when I get my blood moving and find a lot of solutions on my little neighborhood strolls.
As we transition into a cooler season, can you share some of your tips for curating a fall wardrobe?
Layers, layers, layers and a good coat! For fall I would recommend looking for quality knitwear that can be layered under and over other pieces. I love a thin turtleneck under shirting or under a dress. A cozy oversized cardigan is always in style and the easiest piece to style over basically anything. Quality wool socks are also a must for boot weather. My favorite thing in the world is outerwear. I cannot ever get enough of it. If you have a good coat, something classic and menswear inspired, as far as I am concerned you will always look chic. You can throw a good coat on over sweats and look cute.
What’s something you’ve been learning lately?
To trust myself, my instincts, my vision, my taste, my value. I didn’t grow up in the most encouraging and confidence building household so I doubted myself a lot through my life and career. I have found that the more I trust my vision and stick to my authentic self the more people respond to it. Wether it is the way in which I decorate the store, buy for a season or engage with customers, when I do it in a way that feels truly my own, it resonates with people. There is only of one of me after all....everyone else is taken!
Explore Bare at Soochie and get styled by Suchandra or sign up to be notified when the online shop opens this Fall.
In Person: 792 Sutter Street, San Francisco, CA, 94109
Online: shop-soochie.com
Social: @shop.soochie
Imagery:
Katie Lovecraft Photography