What were you thinking: The real estate broker, a lifelong New Yorker
Meet Elias Marte
This is a public post from What were you thinking, an interview series about the mechanics of getting dressed. To read the last of its kind, click here.
Also, my next Bright session is tonight! We’re talking about how to style holiday outfits without buying anything new. It’s a smaller group this go around, and there are some tickets left. Come if you want! Come if you can!
“My name is Elias Marte. I’m a lifetime New Yorker, background Dominican. I grew up in Greenpoint in Brooklyn and still live here -- I’m a Brooklynite, so.
And I’d never leave New York. My family is here too -- mostly in Greenpoint, but some have gone to Ridgewood in Queens.
I dress with a lot of imagination. My vest is vintage, from a place in Williamsburg -- I’m really big into collecting vintage, and I like to do it in person. I was going to do eBay, but then I thought, That's not a good idea, because vests -- they ran differently when they were made when they’re vintage. So I think this was large, and I'm a size small. Imagine I was to find this on eBay and got a small. So, yeah, with some vintage, it’s better in person.
The clothes
The sweater is from this brand called Woolovers. I found them on Google, searching for wool turtlenecks. I think they target older people or something. I reached out about working together and they told me like, “We don’t work with young people, we only target old people,” so I was like, Okay.
I love turtlenecks, so that's usually in my uniform. When I start my day, I don’t need to iron a shirt. Like, it’s a turtleneck -- it’ll last you a few days. You just fold it. And it’s easy to layer my necklaces over it.
This one is also lambswool. So, lambswool is a hard texture. Not everybody likes it because it's itchy. It doesn't bother me. I like texture. Mixing textures adds character, so I like to play around with the textures, I like to have a lot of textures going on.
The brand is great (even though they don’t like young people). They have so many flavors — I talk with slang, so flavors means colors. So, they have purple, they got bright greens, turquoise. Because most places, they got like navy, burgundy, off white, and cream.
But I want turquoise, some emerald green. I need a pink turtleneck. They don't have that so I want to find that.
And then, the corduroys are from Berg Berg. They're off the rack and fit me perfectly, which I love. So they're wide wale, which is a thicker cord. It's appropriate for fall.
And then I decided to go with over the calf socks and these horse bits [loafers] from Horatio. I love wearing horse bits. These are a little bit fun because it's like, you know, they’re a power shoe.
The accessories
Now for jewelry -- okay, are you ready? There is a science.
For necklaces, I try to keep it on kind of a religious scale. So two of them [represent] the Virgin Mary. One is Lazarus. And then here on my wrist, one bracelet is for the Virgin Mary. It’s from Popular Jewelry.
And then [around my neck], Im wearing a tiger link chain from New Top Jewelry with an apple pendant [strung through] because I'm a lifelong New Yorker. The pendant is from Yeah Its Jewelry.
I like to support small businesses and vintage resellers, so a lot here is either from an old downtown New York staple or resellers on Instagram.
And guess what time period this watch is from? It’s from 1945. It’s a driver’s watch, the lugs [on the side] get really comfortable. The bracelet reminds me of my mom — it’s from Oro Latino.
And then for rings: [this one on my pinky is an] opal. This [next to it] is a tricolor ring with emerald, sapphire, and ruby. It was exactly what I was looking for, and it is channel set, which is perfect because the stones are well protected against accidental hits.
And then Lapis -- I love Lapis. When I was younger, I was really into Egyptian history and they loved Lapis over there. It was worshipped in their culture. And then my left-hand ring finger ring -- I’ve had it since I was eight years old. My mom gave it to me because I kept losing my own jewelry -- that happens when you’re a kid. And I was crying about it, for real, so she took off one of her rings and gave it to me. This one means a lot to me — my mom bought it for herself when she came to New York, it was a gift to herself for working hard.
The middle finger has an emerald in a flush set, which I got at Popular Jewelry. The idea was mine.
Then this is a pearl ring with two princess cut rubies — it tracks back to Victorian times. I'd been wanting a pearl ring for a while; I found it on Etsy.
I’m really into pearls right now -- I've been wanting a necklace, but I didn't want a regular pearl necklace. I wanted to add a bit of my touch. So it has malachite. It has amethyst. It’s got little breaks. I worked on it with my jeweler at Greenwich Street Jewelers.
A lot of my stuff is from Popular Jewelry. The bracelet, this necklace, and my ring with the side stone. Popular Jewelry is a lifelong staple -- she’s a New York jeweler on Canal Street. They've done a lot of jewelry for A$AP Rocky. They've done jewelry for Wu-Tang back in the 90s.
Oh -- my envelope. I carry documents, keys, checks, random shit in here. So I was on Etsy, and found somebody who could hand-make a leather envelope. She happened to be very local and that made me really happy.
I'm also really big into eyewear. These are heart-shaped glasses. All my glasses are prescription, so I have to have all my lenses cut.
Learn the rules to break them
I’ve always been into style -- my mom was a really good dresser, so she used to always ask me what she should wear, and I would always give my opinion. And I think it just helped me learn the rules of style. And once you learn the rules, you get to break them.
But you also have to be realistic about yourself -- turtlenecks are good for me because I have a long neck. Or, I love pleats, but usually, I do single pleats because I'm tall and lanky. If I were a little heavier or bigger, I'd do double pleats because the pleats slim you out.
The band of your watch should match the brand of your belt.
Your socks and your pants should match -- I don’t always follow this one. Once you understand how the rules work you play around with them.
My mom used to dress very boyishly. She used to wear wide-fit pants, with Converse. I wear Converse because of that. She liked accessorizing handkerchiefs, scarfs. But when there was a place to go, she would dress up, velour dresses, sunglasses, everything.
She was known in the area for having great style, and she had a nice body as well, but she toned it down because she didn't want to get a bunch of attention. But when we were going out -- whoa. You know. Decked out. She was a vision. I’d feel really proud when I dressed her.
My rules of style
I always wear a watch. That got embedded when I was a kid. My mom brought me a watch and said, "You should have a watch, keep it on your left hand."
You know? It's just something men do.
Then the other thing is, I try to push myself. Before last year, I hadn’t worn jeans in 6 years. I wanted to get comfortable in other pants, to wear them and push myself.
I love denim, it’s easy. You just get a pair of 501 Levis, throw them on with slippers or Birkenstocks. You meet a person. It’s simple. But not having jeans, you got to get creative. Corduroys, flannels, or something else in the summer. Different types of fabric. I wanted to play with different fabrics. So I just did that for a long time. And then I just got back into jeans and the first time I wore jeans in 6 years, I went viral.
Then the third rule, know how to break the rules. Learn the rules, so you can break them.
I think I got good with clothes from people watching. I like to people watch -- taking the train to see other people in their outfits, you figure out what works and what doesn’t. They show you how to stunt then you learn how to stunt them back.
This guy is confident. That’s what I want people think when they see me. That's it. He knows what he is doing. He's confident. Doesn't care.
My ego's out there. I'm serious. Nothing to hide.” As told to LMC