Stephen S. Mills (he/they) is the author of the Lambda Award-winning book He Do the Gay Man in Different Voices (2012) as well as A History of the Unmarried (2014) and Not Everything Thrown Starts a Revolution (2018) all from Sibling Rivalry Press. His work has appeared in The American Poetry Review, Columbia Poetry Review, Fourteen Poems, The New York Quarterly, The Los Angeles Review, The Rumpus, and others. Two of his books were placed on the Over the Rainbow List compiled yearly by the American Library Association. He is also the author of the plays Waiting for Manilow and Is That All There Is? His fourth book Final Slash Boy is forthcoming from Broken Sleep Books. He lives in New York City. Website: http://www.stephensmills.com/
1. What three words would you use to describe your personal style?
Vivid. Queer. Fluid.
2. Who/what/where/when is/are your style inspiration(s)?
I have a deep love of midcentury modern style both in fashion and in design, so that is one influence, but I like to queer it and blend it with more modern and genderfluid concepts. We are living in an innovative time for fashion and seeing more and more people break boundaries with the clothes they choose to wear, which I really love seeing. Celebrities like Timothée Chalamet, Colman Domingo, Jonathan Bailey, Pedro Pascal, and Jeremy Pope all have given me inspiration and encouragement to dress the way I want and to think outside the box of “men’s fashion.” Fashion has no gender.
3. What colors or prints do you consider an essential part of your signature looks?
I do love color. Particularly a bright vivid pant. One of my favorite pairs from Mr. Turk is a beautiful hot pink color. I also appreciate a great midcentury modern print and sometimes love to mix prints. On the flip side, you can never go wrong with black so I do actually own quite a bit of black and love doing an all (or mostly) black look. What I’m saying is variety is essential to my looks.
4. What’s your favorite season of the year to dress for?
Fall. I love the fall, especially in New York. You can have days where it is perfect for a long-sleeved look with no coat and then you have other days where you get to slip on a coat for the first time in months, which gives you another opportunity to add flair and style. I have a long green dress coat that is one of my favorite pieces and works really well in the fall.
And layers! Fall is great for layers, which connects to my love of trying pieces in a variety of different ways.
5. What’s a favorite piece in your wardrobe, and how did you get it?
This is a hard question because I have so many pieces I love, but a few years ago I bought a very unique outfit in Tokyo, which really helped shift my overall fashion. I love to travel and for me a fun thing to bring home from a trip is a new piece of clothing. These then become useful “souvenirs.” On this trip, I went into a small boutique and found these really great wide-legged black pants with a detachable half-wrap skirt and this asymmetrical black button-up. The pieces are great together but are also fun to play with and add to other looks and pieces, which I’ve done over the years. It was a great experience and the staff were all very nice. It was a little nerve-racking at first because the clothes in the store only come in one size as most are a bit adjustable. They were very hands on and helped me get dressed when I was trying it on, so I was just hoping it was all going to fit. Thankfully it did.
6. What’s your favorite bit of style advice you’d like to share with others?
Best advice is to wear what makes you happy. I dress for myself. I like sharing my looks with others and, of course, most of us like to get a compliment from time to time, but you should always dress for you first. Not for trends. Not for your partner. Not for your friends or family. Dress for you. We only get one go at this life and you might as well be wearing something you love while facing the challenges of this world.
Thank you, Stephen, for sharing your insight with the Writer’s Style Guide! Stay tuned for the next installment.
Beautiful and poetic sense of good taste.