Meet Pam: Next Season FW25 Feat. Creative
On how she turned pizza stains into something beautiful, sharing clothes with her husband, what she did with her skinny pants after having Nico, and rewearing her wedding pieces
For the second of a three-part series introducing the women in Next Season’s FW25 lookbook, we’re chatting with Pam, an embroiderer, florist, and marketing & advertising executive.
Pam and I met 15 years ago(!!) in Buenos Aires. She’s always had cool style. I remember watching her peruse the vendors at a market in Recoleta and just being in awe of what she found. Pieces that I wouldn’t think twice about, she plucked from obscurity, anointing them special. “My family was a yard sale family,” she told me. “I grew up with that excitement, the whole ‘let’s go hunting.’”
Last month, I stopped by Pam’s apartment in Brooklyn, where she lives with her husband Will, daughter Nico, and beloved bulldog Esteban, to style her in some looks with Next Season’s upcycled knits and the clothes in her closet. Photographer Keya Goldfein then captured Pam at some of her local haunts, like the bodega where she gets her flowers, and inside her home, where Next Season founder Anne Warren chatted with Pam about her custom embroidery and floral arrangements.
Later, Pam and I spoke about her style influences, starting with a rejection of frilly socks, what she appreciates about a southern grandma, making her dad’s love of a tchotchke her own, and the pizza stains that lead to her custom embroidery.
Behind the paywall, we get into how she shares clothes with her husband, what she did with her skinny pants and wardrobe after having Nico, her thoughts on sequins and tulle, her approach to dressing, and how she swapped that infamous wedding shoe for one that she rewears to this day.
Read the interview below, accompanied by Keya’s beautiful photography featuring Pam styled in Next Season and the clothes from her closet.
On how her upbringing influenced her style
My mother’s Dominican and was always like, “you have to dress well.” It’s the only chance you have to make a first impression. When I was little, she would dress me in these super frilly socks. So the moment I was able to dress myself, or we would go back-to-school shopping, I was a basics queen. I only wanted button-ups. I only wanted sweaters or sweater vest, nice fitting denim. I hated the frill of the way that she forced me to dress.
Growing up my dad was a soil scientist. We grew up on a farm. The amount of times I got home and my dad would be like, “oh, your horse is out.” So I would run straight from the bus, go get a horse. I didn’t wear fussy clothing because I would work at some point.
I also was raised Mormon. That’s why I love a turtleneck, or like a high collar (laughs). My friends to this day are like “you’re so modest.” When I’m like, “oh, isn’t this slutty?” they’re like, “literally not at all.” Well I’m showing a lot of clavicle (laughs)!
That’s a whole conversation about what makes a woman sexy, but I never thought it was showing a lot of skin, or showing expected skin. I love a backless turtleneck, those kind of looks.
As far as inspiration, I love a southern grandmother. She’s always in a fur, she’s always in a lot of jewelry. She’s got some fabulous shift dress on, and a handbag. Church hats. The being put together is a southern aspect of it.
On swapping travel souvenirs for something she’ll actually use
I traveled so much with my dad growing up. He was the king of a tchotchke, and I have a lot of those tchotchkes, but I started to be like, “why am I buying this other than to prove that I came to this place?” I thought, “why not buy something that brings joy?” Every time I reach for a jacket or something I say, “oh, I got that when I was with these friends.” I use those things. To just buy more shit, I can’t.
As someone who likes to decorate my house “lived in,” if you will—I don’t know if you know the southern term—like you display all of your pretty things, but those things don’t have to be useless. Some of the things can be your beautiful bag or your jacket.
I also like how it starts the conversation versus, “oh, I have no idea where I got this.” I like to know the history behind the things that I own. It’s definitely become a thing because my friends are always like, “where did you go shopping when you went xyz?” I really only go to eat, shop, and look at stuff.
During COVID I became such an online addict to shopping. A lot it was not intentionally bought. I probably didn’t think about it twice. Now that I’ve stopped online scrolling, I feel so much more excited about things that I source or find, and I have way less shit in my house, which is honestly the real goal.
On turning pizza stains into something beautiful
Will would stain a lot of his clothes, nice clothes. I remember we were making pizza one night, and he got stuff all over his pants and shirt. He sadly attempted to get the stain out, but basically wasn’t gonna wear some of these clothes, and I was like, “well, that’s crazy.”
I was one: really good at getting stains out. But also like, “what if I just cover it up?” I started with either patches or visible mending, something like that, and then I was like, “I could do cuter designs.” Or if they were smaller I was like, “you don’t need a patch for this speck of pasta sauce.”
It was a good outlet as well because I’m a workaholic. It was nice; I have to use both of my hands. I’m either listening to a podcast or watching a program. I couldn’t really be on my phone. So it started as, “okay, this your thirty minutes a night, one hour a night, that you’re not gonna do anything but this.”
My friends got wind of it, and I just started seeing more things I could fix. Will had a few pants that had holes in the knees or in the pockets, so I would start mending them, and then other people would be like, “oh, like can you do that for me? And I was like, “why am I not doing this for myself?” It was at some point when I finally asked the question (laughs).
On sharing clothes with her husband
