Audio By Carbonatix
This summer continues to sizzle with style. We spotted Maia Parish, certified sommelier and owner of The Wine Suite, a wine event and education company, in Cherry Creek North this month. Parish promotes a complete wine lifestyle, including tastings, classes, educational support, product reviews and wine-related events. “I do trade work and event work. This is my second year doing the Cherry Creek Wine and Dine event. I’m one of the chaperones, but I’m trying to have a good time as well,” says Parish. We stopped to chat with the self-proclaimed “Wine Mistress” about her fashion influences and inspirations.
A Colorado native, Parish recently moved back after a stint in Maryland. Her head-to-toe look mixes solids and patterns, augmented by chunky jewelry. “I have a lot of different styles,” she says. “My style mantra is to be different. We are chameleons. Some days I’m super-boho and sometimes I’m super-casual or super-chic. I like this active-chic style that is going on right now in the fashion world.
“I love Diana Ross,” she continues. “I look up to some of the people who are doing costume design for TV shows, like Rita McGhee, who does the costume design on Empire. I also like the woman who does the styling for Suits, Jolie Andreatta, I loved Patricia Field’s work on Sex and the City, and Eric Daman’s work on Gossip Girl. I also love Amanda LePore.”
Where does she shop? “I shop online,” she explains. “My go-to website is Zonda’s Closet. She has a great fashion sense. She mixes low-end fashion with upscale fashion, and I’m trying to do that as well.”
Here Parish matches her hair color with her eye-shadow: violet. “I’m just starting to experiment with color in my hair,” she admits. “This is a weave-in braid that I purchased.” The purple tone contrasts nicely with her silver door-knocker earrings.
A jewel-encrusted dragonfly watch, silver cuff and statement blue ring establish Parish’s arm candy. Besides her new love of colored hair, jewelry is her favorite accessory.
This green clutch adds a pop of color to the ensemble, and also happens to be Parish’s favorite color. “I got this clutch on sale at Banana Republic for ten bucks,” she says. “I am a super-bargain shopper. Because I worked in retail for many years, I won’t pay full price for anything. I will wait for it to go on sale.
“I just love fashion,” she adds. “I love reading fashion magazines and blogs. I appreciate being able to go on YouTube and seeing another black woman like myself showing how to use makeup or where to find products.”
These chunky, wooden heels by Gianni Bini round out Parish’s look. “I like to look at the trends, but I try to dress appropriately for my age. If I can’t pull off a trend, I’ll wear a classic piece that I know will last for years instead,” Parish concludes.
Don’t be afraid to take inspiration from many places for your personal street style, Denver.
