Advancing Style: Tziporah Salamon

Tziporah as a Berkeley, 1979, when she moved back to NYC to pursue fashion

At 34, 1984, when she was approached by Wendy Goodman for a shoot for New York Magazine(photo: Cheryl Koralick)

Hamptons, 1986, (photo: Zachy Sherif)

In Egypt, 1992, 42-years-old (photo Youssef Nabil)

Egypt, 1993 (photo Zachy Sherif)

Tziporah at 53 in NYC (photo: Julie McCarthy)

At 59-years-old

I'm starting a new series entitled "Advancing Style" where I will be asking some of our favorite ladies to share some vintage photos documenting the development of their personal style. Our first feature is on the marvelous Tziporah Salamon who describes her personal style as, "artistic, bold, dramatic, and hopefully, elegant."

Tziporah, now 64, has seen a lifetime of style. Her parents were Holocaust survivors who moved their family to Israel and later New York. Her father worked as expert tailor in the garment district and her mother a dressmaker. As a little girl she would wake up to brand new outfits waiting at the edge of her bed each morning. She always felt like, "the best dressed girl in town" getting glamorous gifts from her uncle, who was the vice president of Neiman Marcus.

After graduating from Berkeley, Tziporah moved back to New York to pursue a career in fashion. She loved the work of Japanese designers like Commes des Garcons and Issey Miyake, but after realizing that a single piece of clothing cost upwards of $800, she decided to go underground for inspiration. Tziporah says," I had just moved back to New York and quickly realized that I needed to go underground for fashion. There was this great vintage store called Alice Underground where I bought my first 1940s jacket for $100. I remember seeing the quality of the garment and thinking that it was as good as what my father used to make. I still have the jacket today."

Tziporah struck vintage gold when she befriended collector Renee Lewis in New York City. Lewis had been collecting vintage clothing since she was four years old and according to Tziporah it is still the best collection she has ever seen. Renee could no longer wear the pieces from her archive so she decided to give her entire collection to Tziporah.This ignited a love of vintage collecting that has lasted for over thirty years.

The first time I saw a photograph of Tziporah I just knew I had to meet her. At the time she was 59 and too young for Advanced Style, so I waited a year until we finally got together. Tziporah was destined to become a style icon from day one. For more information on her wonderful one woman show CLICK HERE.