Madewell's Gigi Guerra's Enviably Original Personal Style

By Chris Frey
October 20, 2010

With the enthusiastic endorsement of fashion editors and celebrities, a gorgeous online fashion store and boutiques opening consistently nationwide, Madewell has become a trendy girl’s fashion go-to resource. It's only fitting, then, that Gigi Guerra is one of the creative forces behind the clothing line's rapid success.

Raised in Texas but living in New York for the past 20 years Gigi Guerra, joined Madewell in 2008 on the heels of her seven years as Editor at Large for Lucky magazine, where she traveled endlessly at home and abroad to compose Lucky's extensive shopping guides. Her experience at Lucky, not to mention a shopping gene that drives her enviably original personal style, means that Guerra has literally set foot in just about every style boutique on the planet worth visiting, making her an authority on shopping and fashion trends.

(Photo provided by Guerra)

Today, Guerra is Marketing Director at Madewell, an offshoot of sister brand J. Crew. The vintage-inspired brand is full of jeans, boots and other pieces you'll never need to "break in:" jeans with lived-in washes and coveted cuts, prints that feel one-of-a-kind, knits and leathers that are luxurious (but won't break the bank) and a wide range of fashion accessories that quietly approach the style trends while retaining classic status.

Madewell clothing made fashion headlines with its recent collaboration with of-the-moment It-Girl Alexa Chung, who Guerra says perfectly embodies the Madewell vibe: “Alexa's personal style just seemed so thoroughly "Madewell" and it turned out she was a Madewell fan, so it was honestly the perfect match. Plus, we loved her mix-and-match approach to dressing... She was so involved in every step of the design process, from showing up with a sketchbook and her favorite vintage pieces to kick off the process, to writing out the little embroidered ribbon bracelets that were given out with every purchase. They all had her favorite phrases on them and my personal favorite was: "better than a poke in the eye."

(Video provided by Madewell)

As for what's next on the horizon at Madewell, Gigi Guerra is eagerly anticipating an upcoming partnership with knitting collective Wool + The Gang, who will hold in-store knitting events throughout the holiday season, as well as the opening of Madewell boutiques in Columbus, OH and Washington, DC in the next few weeks. Madewell Jeans

Guerra honed her spirited style well before landing at Madewell. In 1995, upon graduating from Parsons with a BFA in Fashion Design, she worked as Fashion Assistant to then Market Editor Rachel Zoe at the beloved, but now defunct YM magazine. In the '90s, Gigi Guerra was a pivotal part of the creatively booming Lower East Side neighborhood in Manhattan. Embracing the DIY street culture that energized the neighborhood at that time, Guerra created her own fashion line of mod vinyl dresses, which were sold at the still-thriving TG-170 on Ludlow Street, owned by Terri Gills. Guerra credits Gills with making a significant impact on what she is doing today saying, "Terri's store was at the nexus of the burgeoning skate/art/style scene on the LES back in the early/mid-'90s. She was super inspiring and really ahead of her time. Her clientele was local artists and creative types from the neighborhood."

Madewell

I asked Guerra, who in those days wore her signature dresses with her hair in rows of long, tight braids what has changed about her personal style since then: "My style is still pretty chaotic and unpredictable," she responded. "It's honestly whatever I'm feeling when I get up in the morning, but there are some common threads and pieces that I've hung on to over the years. Just recently, I dug up a mushroom-print crushed velvet tunic that I made in high school and it looks good to me again. I've always found inspiration in vintage. Whenever I travel, I have to hit up at least one vintage shop or thrift store. I've almost missed flights because of it!”

Guerra's downtown apartment in New York, recently profiled on refinery29.com, mimics her fashion sense: "Sort of spastic, colorful and often a mash-up of influences,” Guerra says. Among her treasures: old band posters and t-shirts, vintage fabric, Stephen Sprouse clothing and inaugural issues of seminal but shuttered magazines (Nest, Wet, Frank, The Face).

Madewell

Madewell Fall 2010 (Photos provided by Madewell)

Unfortunately, you can't shop for some of Guerra's most significant sources of fashion inspiration: the Lightening Field in New Mexico, Flemish old masters displayed at the Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten in Antwerp, the aquarium in Monte Carlo, the Museo Nacional de Anthropologia in Mexico City and the Tree House hotel in Sweden, to name a few.

But you can shop for Guerra's Top 5 fall fashions, along with a mere fraction of her insatiable eBay wish list.

Gigi Guerra's Top 5 for Fall

1. Concho belts: "Anything western-wear reminds of Texas, where I grew up."

2. Mismatched patterns: "Hashing in spring's striped tops with fall floral skirts."

3. Oxidized chainmail pouch necklace: “It's a little Rennaisance Faire-ish.”

4. Anything vintage Norma Kamali

5. The Madewell High Riser high-waist skinny jeans coming out next month