Fashion Heads Up: MSG Does a Body Good

Mami Suzuki is a culturally savvy, sprite little cookie of a clothing designer with a lot of talent up her sleeve. You'll want to know her name, because she's going to be big. Her NoLIta boutique MSG (which opened two weeks ago) is currently carrying her moderately priced, one-of-a-kind pieces which have graced both the shoulders of the Princess of Thailand and, yes, a regal few of us at PAPERMAG.

Originally from Tokyo, Mami is in New York on a mission to bring her Japanese, Southeast Asian, ‘70s disco and function-inspired pieces to the hub of American fashion. With its multiple influences, her style is incredibly unique -- but nothing in the store is beyond wearable. She has artfully structured wool suits and feminine chiffon blouses alongside a sparkling, champagne-hued, three-tiered dress -- a swingy disco confection I didn't want to take off. Then there's also the "Imelda" dress, named for the former Filipino First Lady, Imelda Romualdez Marcos. It's a platinum crepe, knee-length dress with detachable bouffant sleeves. Indeed, there's an intoxicating mix in this dress: it makes me feel equal parts delicate butterfly and powerful dictator. I feel suddenly pretty, yet secretly un-crushable.

Mami prides herself on the way every one of her pieces is bold, versatile, and eclectically drawn. On top of her own line at MSG, she also carries Moroccan and Brazilian handbags, which she not only picks with the help of her Brazilian-born, New York-based, jewelry designer friend Mimi Golzer, but also which come from designer lines available in New York only at MSG. In Japan, Mami says, "I would get tired of having men tell me what women want," explaining her refusal to be scooped up by Japan’s male-driven corporate fashion scene. The clear product of self-direction, her store is all about individual choice and unusual mixes.

Sit on her vintage mustard chair and ask her anything you like. Of networking in general, she says? "It's all bullshit." She looks me in the eye. Of her decision to set up shop on the unassuming Kenmare Street, a kind of unclassifiable purgatory between upscale NoLIta and hectic Little Italy? "It's close to Chinatown, so I can grab some food," she shrugs dismissively. Oh. Does she ever eat at La Esquina and check out what all the hipster kids are wearing there? Nah. She likes Asian food more. And she prefers to hang out in her store, playing Johnny Cash and observing the occasional crazy person.

For instance, while I was with her in the store, a curiously stocky, leather-tan woman, with enough steely hair for three heads, spent 20 minutes furiously combing down her mane. She stared aggressively at her own reflection in the store window. Then she yelled into the window that my dress looked great on me. "The dress looks wonderful!" she screamed, giving an ecstatic thumbs-up and slapping her thigh.

Thanks, crazy woman, you look great too!

MSG is located at 66 Kenmare St. between Mott and Mulberry, (212) 334-4032.

Photos by Erin Morris

Mami, in her own design, chillin' outside her store.

Marya in the inimitable Imelda dress.