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Margaret Mead in Manolo's: A Chat with Libby Callaway

“I always wanted to be in New York my whole life,” Libby smiled and sat back in her seat as she steeped her tea from the new coffee shop, Crema, in Nashville. “My interests have always been where fashion and music intersect.” Libby Callaway is a self-proclaimed “Margaret Mead in Manolo Blahniks,” and it’s a well-deserved title at that. She has literally done it all. I sat down with Libby to pick her brain about the current state of the Nashville fashion culture, where it’s been, and where it’s going. Nervous, as this was my first real interview with anyone, ever, Libby put me at ease with her warm and laid-back personality. So we dove right in.

“I can write, that’s my thing.” These are the words Libby proclaimed as she dove into the story of her in a nutshell. As a journalism major (who received her Masters from NYU) Libby started her career as a fashion reporter for the NY Post in the late 90’s and with this was able to cover fashion weeks around the globe doing “all of the things that fashion people do.” What she loved about her job as a journalist is that she got to talk to people about the things that she loved—and this was her living. This career bliss, though it takes hard work to get where she did, resonated in the smile in her voice. Fast forward a few years and she found herself yearning to go to Nashville. She grew tired of newspapers and went freelance (a column in Glamour, working as a stylist, and selling vintage clothes)—I told you she’s done it all.

I proceeded to ask Libby about the history of Nashville’s fashion culture. It is true that before you truly understand something, you must learn all about its roots, its past, and its origins. She admitted to me that before Matt and Carrie arrived (the owners of Imogene and Willie) “we weren’t really on the map” in the fashion industry. Nashville was known for the fashion of its country music stars—the Carrie Underwood’s and Keith Urban’s—dressed in a style that was heavily influenced by designer Manuel. A designer of the “old regime” in Nashville’s young, but quickly growing fashion industry, Manuel is known for his glitzy rhinestone designs. It’s amazing what two people setting up shop in a new neighborhood can do to a town—and I’ve seen this change in the four years that I’ve put down roots in Nashville. Just as Libby described, Matt and Carrie Eddmenson came onto the scene, at the right time and the right place it seemed, as Nashville quickly underwent a renaissance of sorts. Suddenly, artisan stores and designers with their own unique visions began popping up and creating a new aesthetic for Nashville. “Do a collaboration with Matt and Carrie,” Libby once said to a designer friend, “that’s what they do. They are tastemakers.” Tastemakers—that stuck with me. The idea that these artists are more than just that—they are the creators that are reinventing Nashville’s fashion aesthetic. Matt and Carrie started this “Nashville Look.” The look is modern and accessible. It’s the basics—the blue jeans, v-neck tees, and the simple items in a wardrobe that are far from flashy, but put together create a look completely unique from the LA or New York looks. “People get it. People want Nashville to dress like Matt and Carrie.” That kind of influence is a powerful thing.

That’s when I understood why it was so crucial that I talk to Libby first before featuring anyone else on here. As I said before, the roots of a story are what bring understanding, and it was as if all of a sudden, halfway through our interview, that things just clicked.

This brings us to the now. Libby gave me insight on how Nashville is making a name for itself among LA and New York, and where Nashville should be headed in the next couple of years. Libby currently works for Emil Irwin, Billie Reid, who is based out of Florence, Alabama, and is working on a number of other projects and collaborations. She compared Nashville to LA and New York with one simple word—economics. It’s simply more accessible here and it’s easier for a young designer to set up shop than it would be in New York. This, in part, is what has led to these storefronts that are like unique experiences or trips into the world of these creators. It would have been hard for some of them to have started if they tried to begin in New York, the space simply would not be the same. This is what she hopes to see come about in the future—infrastructure change that will make it easier for new designers to hone in on their craft. Nashville lacks the production materials and utilities that other larger cities have, and to have that here would truly revolutionize the scene.

Fashion is a way of bringing communities together and each person involved, especially in a smaller fashion community like Nashville, brings a special and unique detail. Libby gave me a list of her favorites—Phillip Nappi of Peter Nappi, Poni Silver of Black by Maria Silver, and Susan Sherrick of S.E. Sherrick Leatherworks, to name a few. It is important now more than ever that we pay attention to these up-and-coming designers and their unique artisan crafts. I hope to feature each and every one of these designers and their craft on here in hopes of grasping at the details of their stories and sharing their insights with you, just like I did with Libby’s.

“Continue talking to people. This will help to refine your vision of what you want to do. It’s almost as important to figure out what you don’t want to do. Do this and you can make yourself truly valuable in the industry.”

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