Agosto Cuellar is a veteran visionary in this town. Couturier, entrepreneur and social activist, he’s got deep roots and wide wings, having owned and operated legendary Southtown resale shop Jive Refried, created collections of irreverent, often-recycled garments that have landed him in serious Project Runway consideration, and DJed at big events and unexpected venues citywide.…
Style
Getting Buzzed at Vee’s Chop Shop
Vee Hernandez’s studio space in the Salons by JC is decorated with San Antonio Spurs and New England Patriots collectibles. A mini fridge in the corner is stocked with cold water and soda. In many ways, Vee’s Chop Shop is a typical stylist’s station, but to watch the petite, curly-haired Vee cut hair is to…
The Rhodes Twins Carve Out a Niche in the Trans Apparel Market
It started with a T-shirt the Rhodes twins — San Antonio natives Chris and Courtney — made to commemorate Pride. “We made shirts for Austin Pride,” Chris says. “I [wore] a shirt that said ‘Pretty Boy’ on it and had at least 100 people ask me where I got my shirt.” The positive feedback inspired…
The World According to Karlos
Karlos Anzoategui’s Closet Is Wide Open When you pass the whitewashed stucco walls, go through the gate on Queen Anne Court, and head into Villa Sol, Karlos Anzoategui’s work-and- life HQ, you leave earthly concerns behind. Like Gloria Swanson’s Sunset Boulevard manse, or, say, the Vatican, you’ve entered a self-contained world where, if the walls…
Deep in Vogue: House of Kenzo’s Multidisciplinary Movement
I meet House of Kenzo (HOK) on the University of the Incarnate Word Sky Bridge, a phobia-tweaking pedestrian catwalk over the zooming traffic on Highway 281. It’s a sunny afternoon, and House of Kenzo are mid-photo shoot. They are beautiful, self-assured, gender-flouting, working their rainbow fashion gear into wind-whipped battle flags visible for a half-mile.…
Drinking and Dining in the Storied St. Anthony Hotel
Even without the excuse of an event or a staycation, a visit to the new-and-improved St. Anthony Hotel Is a must. (It should be noted that Travis Park, the hotel’s front yard, has also been spiffied up.) Okay, there’s a tad too much mausoleum marble for my taste — so cool, so slick — and…
Hot ‘Hood: Lavaca
I hate to be the one to break this to you, but it’s too late for Lavaca. I don’t mean this with doomsday references to a global-warming, tipping-point kind of scenario but rather in the you-shoulda-acted-sooner sense. Like Suzanne Martinez and Michael Berrier did nearly 30 years ago when they were still in student/student-teacher mode.…
Hot ’hood: Westfort Alliance
Considering all the current focus on the Pearl and the excitement generated by the recently opened children’s DoSeum on that same thoroughfare, it would be easy to overlook the Westfort neighborhood. It’s the classic blink-and-you’ve-missed-it situation. But sandwiched between the two more glamorous poles—and despite a name that seems oddly generic, this small residential enclave…
Flea-market babies
We don’t just put out old furniture and wait till somebody comes by and buys it.” Anthony and Uriel Diaz, known as “the boys” to their loyal patrons, manage Karolina’s Antiques on Blanco Road. Still in their 20s, the brothers are younger, browner, and gayer than the average antique shop’s management. But while they may…
Pocket science: get smart, without a tie
Do you really need a pocket square? Wrong Side, a very specific business honcho’d by two Austin brothers thinks so. Let’s examine the premise. True, we’ve headed into fall, but this is Texas. (Read: still hot.) And as a pocket square requires a pocket, and not just one that was gratuitously tacked onto your Henley,…