November 15, 2023 • 32 mins
Ready for a peek behind the runway? We're thrilled to bring you a colorful journey through creativity and style with Grant Whittaker, a renowned name in the Twin Cities fashion scene.
Grant has become a fashion personality, appearing in major news outlets, magazines, and on the radio.
From his early days in Germany to his evolution in the Twin Cities, Grant opens up about his life, inspirations, and experiences that have shaped his fashion sense, including his days as a dancer.
Grant, with his knack for creating the 'wow' factor, lets us peek into his world where everything is dreamed in color. He shares how he creates community and connection through fashion and so much more.
Join us for this must-listen episode if you are passionate about fashion, creativity, and discovering your unique self.
Connect with him @grantwcreative on Instagram or at Grant Whittaker Creative.
Learn more at https://www.tonkatalk.com where we share more about our Lake Minnetonka community, including upcoming events and our take on local experiences.
Connect with us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/TonkaTalk/
If you have feedback, questions, or suggestions of a future guests creating community and connection, email natalie@tonkatalk.com
We appreciate your support in sharing Tonka Talk Community and Connection with someone you think could benefit from our content.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hello everybody.
Welcome to Tonka Talk.
I'm Natalie.
We talk about all thingscommunity and connection.
Today my guest, his name, issynonymous with Twin Cities
Fashion.
He's a creative behind GrantWhitaker Creative, a fashion
consulting and productioncompany.
Welcome, grant Whitaker.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
I'm so happy to be here.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
I'm really happy to see you.
I met Grant some years ago atMyTalk because you're a regular
on ShopGirls.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
I am and been filling in a little bit for Laura and
Joya, so that's fun.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
And you are involved in so many different things
around the Twin Cities.
If you get a chance you have togo through his website.
Make sure you follow him onsocial.
It's hard to even pare downFashionopolis so many things.
You do a show at the LafayetteCountry Club.
I've looked at all this.
I've seen you work.
(00:54):
I've admired it for years andI've always wondered, because I
knew you were from Germany howdoes that happen?
Speaker 2 (01:01):
You know it's interesting.
I moved from Germany in 2000and I landed in Chicago and I
was working for an agency and Istarted my career, also as a
dancer.
That was part of it, part ofthe creativity.
And the agency called and saidlook, we have a casting that we
would love to see you go to.
It's for something called FashBash, which became Glamorama,
(01:22):
which was the Dayton HudsonMarshall Field show, and I went
to that and did an audition andtwo hours later got a job.
And then you rehearse here inthe Twin Cities for a week and
the show traveled fromMinneapolis to Detroit to
Chicago and after that I metsomeone who was a creative
director of that show and hadbeen and was a massive force in
(01:45):
the Twin Cities and we began alove affair and then that
brought me to the cities andthen there I came with my books
and my portfolios and the workthat I had done and yeah, that's
where it started.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Wow, now, you grew up in Germany.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
I did.
Yeah, I grew up in Heidelberg,germany.
My mom was from a town calledMannheim.
I speak English and German.
Wow, I always speak Germanbecause I don't have an accent.
So I don't have an accent whenI speak either language just
because my father was in theAmerican military.
My mom was German, so we spokeboth languages in the home all
the time, and so English atschool, german, you know,
(02:26):
everywhere else.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
Wow, that's really great.
I took German in high schoolbecause I wanted to Do.
You remember the, the band Nina, I do 99 Red.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
Balloons, y'all remember.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
Yeah, the B side is why I took German in high school
, because it was all in German,right.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Yeah, and there were like the 80s brought a lot of
like it was Nina and Croftwerkand like there were a lot of
like really great kind of Germanbands.
Germany is also the secondbiggest market for music in the
world.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
Wow, I did not know that.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
So all your house music, all those things.
So when I started as a dancer,that's kind of how I got into it
, because house music, clubmusic, all that stuff was coming
out of there.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
Wow, how do you go about doing all of the things
you do?
It's such a creative industry,so much of what you do.
That's why I keep saying, ifyou, if you're not familiar with
Grant Whitaker, you need todive into his work.
You need to do a deep dive.
There's so much creativitythere.
It's you take something thatjust on its own would be like
(03:27):
well, that would be great, butyou elevate it in a way that
just gives it that complete wowfactor.
That takes a lot of energy andyou've done it for such a long
time.
What really drives you?
What gives you the passion towant to continue to do this type
of work?
Speaker 2 (03:45):
You know it's creative.
People are like all around, Imean, and creativity kind of
flows through all differenttypes of people.
I started my work as an artistand as a dancer and really was
so interested in like how doesone do that and how do you put
it together and what's theproduction aspect?
And you know who are the peoplebehind the scenes.
(04:06):
And so I was always a quickstudy and I had the opportunity
at 19,.
You know Goldwell Hair Company.
There was a really, reallyfamous hairdresser and I got to
do a show for them.
And I always say this like Iremember being behind the scenes
, going I've got this greatconcept and we're ready to go,
and we were rehearsing, butthere were certain elements that
I couldn't figure out and I hadto take 10 minutes and figure
(04:30):
it out.
And in that moment I think yourealize that you were creative.
But I was super organized, likeI knew how to organize things
and that's my strength.
It's going into something andgoing here's the creativity,
here's the organization.
Let's put together the team.
You know, I think at a certainpoint we either know if we're
leaders or not.
I consider myself a good leaderbecause I care about projects, I
(04:52):
care about people, I care aboutwhat we're going to do and
ultimately and I mean it's mybusiness slogan, but it's true
and it's authentic it's we dreamin color.
So I think, if you're notlacking in color and you're
really thinking about what arethe aspects of color and how can
I teach somebody to love color,how can I give them a concept
or multiple concepts that gohere's what we can do?
(05:13):
And you know, that's the nicething, I think, when you do
understand color is and youdrive with that is you get an
opportunity to work with peopleand they pick and choose what
they like from it.
You're not dictating to them,you're going here's imagination
and here's the world.
And I was always a kid who hada lot of imagination.
(05:33):
I lost a sister when I was 10years old.
She died of meningitis, andwhen that happens in a family
environment, sometimes yourimagination is the only thing
you kind of have.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
Truthfully, that is so so, so true.
When, when you're doing thistype of work, especially coming
from somewhere else, moving herefrom Chicago, and then even
when you moved from Germany, hasthis been a way for you to kind
of create community?
We talk a lot on Tonka, talkabout community and connection,
(06:04):
and was this a?
Is this a way you found to kindof create a community, find a
community?
Speaker 2 (06:11):
You know Minneapolis is a cosmopolitan city and there
were so many things here.
I was also really drawn toMinneapolis because you know
Minneapolis, st Paul, twinCities you know all of us phrase
it in different ways, but youknow that first entrance for me
was really rooted in Minneapolis, like Stonearch Bridge.
There I was and I grew up in acity where there was this
beautiful old bridge.
(06:32):
Hattleburg is a very touristytown and all of a sudden there
was this bridge and I thought,god, this feels like somewhere I
could belong.
And when I got here as acreative and I went to the
agencies or I called certainpeople or did certain things, it
was really interesting becauseeverybody kept saying, oh, you
should move to New York or LA.
The stuff that you do they dothere, we kind of don't do that
(06:54):
here.
And so it took a while for meto really figure that out and I
started a store window business.
It was called Taste Agency.
I worked with clients like KimSamella and Balapak and you know
Greg Walsh, who now owns MartinPatrick III, had inside design.
You know I was working behindthe scenes as a freelancer doing
things in the Dayton, likeDayton Hudson, like furniture
(07:16):
area, like working withfurniture and home interiors.
That was always a really greatinterest of mine, and so it was
an opportunity to build anotheroutlook of what I really enjoyed
and what I enjoyed doing.
And so when you're doing thosethings, you understand not only
the color, you understand themerchandising aspect, and how
does one build what sells, whatdoesn't sell?
(07:37):
I was seeing, like, luckily,things that I was putting in
windows and building kind oflike these little imaginary sets
and people going I want that, Iwant that, I want that, and so
that was really kind of a funway.
But you know, when you talkabout community I think it's
hard.
You know, I am creative, I'mgay, I am fashionable, you know
(08:04):
all of those different things,and so you kind of stand out in
your own community, meaning likein your gay community a little
bit, because you're sometimes alittle bit of an anomaly, and
then you have a creativebackground.
So for me my community startedI was also a company member of a
company called Ballet of theDolls, and so I was dancing
(08:25):
there, meeting people, buildinga business.
So I had all these differentoutlets where I was starting to
get to know people and thenultimately and talking about me
and like what I do and all thosethings.
It was my voice that brought mefurther.
Someone said hey, do you want tocome on TV and talk?
You're like, you've got likethis great skill for explaining
(08:48):
things and talking about thingsand I knew I loved that and I
had done a little bit of that.
Um, at one point I thought Iwas going to be a video VJ and
Germany.
Uh, but that kind of justchanged.
Um, I mean, ultimately I had toleave Germany just because I
wasn't in America.
I was an American citizen and Iwas born during a time period
(09:09):
where you didn't have dualcitizenship and, unfortunately,
I just didn't want to go on theGerman military.
I didn't have a greatexperience when I met with those
people.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
Um, so you considered that at one point.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
I did.
I considered that and then Iwalked into a situation where,
as a gay guy uh you know I wastold I could do some of the
things for someone and like asexual manner to get myself out
of it, and it really justfreaked me out and so to get out
of going into the military, wasit mandatory?
(09:42):
It is, you have to do some kindof civil service and be
mandatory and and like I wastrying to find ways of getting
out of it like saying I didn'tspeak German and things like
that, and so ultimately theyrealized that, and so someone
basically said you want to havea good time with me, I can get
you out of this, wow.
And so you know, things likethat happen and I think we have
to talk about those things too,because it's just, I'm an adult,
(10:04):
you know, and like there arekids and there are things, and
so it freaked me out and I justI left my home, I left my work,
I left my creativity, everythingbehind that I knew, yeah, and
so it was also an opportunity towant to leave and start
something.
But it doesn't mean it's easy.
Creating community is not hard,but then I think, ultimately
(10:25):
you do, because either you'regood at what you do, not get
what you do, what you do, butthen there's also that side of
that's just the work side ofthings, you know, it's also like
the personal side of things,and so I don't know.
I like people and so and I lovewhat I do and that's my
favorite thing, and what I do islike working with people and
(10:47):
seeing the outcome and that makewonder outcome.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
Yeah, I could totally see that there being a lot of
magic.
When you're working withsomebody as a stylist, in
whatever capacity in fashion,how do you help them find their,
their style or their personalstyle?
It's not one look that you doand create.
When I've seen your work, howdo you connect with that person?
(11:11):
And when they don't know, likeI've often thought my, my
sister's, much more into intoclothing and what they wear, and
I'm into it because it'srequired.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
Right.
Yes, we do have to get dressed.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
We have to get dressed, but it's not something
that I have a lot of affinityabout.
If there was a world in ascenario where I could just walk
around every day in pajamas ina heartbeat in a heartbeat.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
I think I would go to more.
You probably could.
Yeah, you have to have dead.
You know what You're right.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
Yeah, you're right.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
I think we're honest with you and maybe we need, like
an empowered woman, to do thesame thing, exactly, exactly.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
And I'm sure there's probably more clothing or types
of clothing that kind of couldgive me that feel of comfort and
flow that I like about mypajamas.
The second I get home, thosepajamas go on.
I would literally walk aroundlike that with.
But how do you help somebodyfigure that out, what their
style is?
Cause it doesn't seem like yougo in and go okay, here's the
trends.
You should wear this.
You're cultivating it in adifferent way.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
Yeah, like I think even to your point in saying,
like, look, I like the touch andfeel of this kind of fabric or
this kind of thing when I gethome, that's my comfort level.
You know the thing is you, youcould play that into every day.
You really could.
You know it really comes downto, you know the comfort level.
Is it a certain designer thatcarries that kind of look?
You know, is there a certainfabric, a certain aesthetic?
(12:34):
And then it comes down to alsowhat's going to work on you and
your body.
And so, like, in working withpeople, whether it's personal
styling, building a show, any ofthe things that I have to do
because I am lucky, becausethere are not a lot of people
like me that get the opportunityto style the looks, produce the
(12:54):
show, create the video, do thebackdrops, do it all yeah, and
the styling part is the biggestpart, because that's ultimately
what you're selling it is, andso in working on that, you don't
want to guide, like anyone in adirection.
You want them to come to youand say what's out there that
appeals to you, and then, as atool in my, in my work, in my
(13:19):
business, I go okay, let's thinkabout that, I have a worksheet
that and by worksheet I meanit's a one pager, you know who
are your style kind of iconsLike.
What colors do you like, whatcolors do you not like?
Let's talk about your body whatdo you like, what do you don't
like?
Because it is those things thatyou have to start with their
basics, because if I throw,something at you.
You're going to be like, oh I'mgoing to throw, and you don't
tell me what you like aboutyourself.
(13:40):
Not like about yourself, colorsyou like.
You're not involved in theprocess.
You need to be involved.
It's you, it's not me, and Isaid that to people all the time
.
I dress a certain way thatmeets me.
Some of it involves the fact ofbeing authentic.
I got to build my self-esteemin my process.
What's my process?
To get out the door so that Iknow that I can talk about what
(14:00):
I do and I can present myself asa stylist.
So the other component of thatis is when you make it personal
for someone and someone knowsthat you're talking to them,
about them.
It's a really great way tostart the process.
And then everything comes anddevelops.
(14:21):
Basic aesthetics that I alwaysfocus on is let's maybe show
your waist a little bit.
Let's maybe highlight thethings that are good for you.
Let's curate your shape, and bycurate I mean really curate it
for you.
What colors, what basics, whatfabrics, what's comfortable, you
know, what's going to be withinyour budget, what's going to
(14:41):
last.
That's the personal side and afashion show side.
It's all about the look, theoutfit, the aesthetic, because
everyone's going to pick andchoose what they like and nobody
really knows sometimes whatthey like.
And then if you put the looktogether, somebody goes, oh I
really like the look, or no, Ijust like the coat, oh, I love
(15:01):
the shoes.
It's all the things that youhave to make like more of an
inspiration.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
Your work is very.
It's much more intimate.
Hearing you describe it as Iwould have thought, and I can
really see that, and talking toit makes sense to me now, more
to how you're able to.
If you couldn't connect topeople in a really authentic and
true way, you wouldn't have thereputation, the work, the jobs,
the things that you are doing.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
Thank you, I appreciate that.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
And when it comes to fashion and style, and we all
walk around and we presentourselves a certain way, that is
such an intimate process and Ilove to being yourself.
You know, like you were saying,when you dress yourself to be
able to present yourself assomebody who styles, who does
fashion, who produces, shows ithow fun is that?
(15:53):
Is it do you find being able toplay around with these
different looks andexperimenting with wardrobe or
with shows?
Is there an element of?
Is it more for you at thispoint?
Is it just it's work and, ofcourse, it's creative?
Is it something that's stillkind of fun?
Do you ever get nervous?
Speaker 2 (16:11):
There's never a moment where it can't be fun.
I mean, I think if I wasn'thaving fun, I shouldn't do what
I was doing.
And the truth is, I'm trying toinspire other people to have
fun and be themselves and not beafraid to be themselves or not
be afraid to be authentic orspeak up or certain things you
know, like when you I have greatmentors that I work for, people
(16:33):
who really owned their craftand people that I learned a lot
from, and you know, at certainpoints, when you stand behind
the scenes, I consider myself tobe pretty friendly.
I'm you know, I am German, sosometimes you are a little
direct, you just go hey, this isthe way I want.
It Doesn't mean I don't likesomeone, it just means we have
to work in a certain lineBecause the thing is, I'm trying
(16:56):
to tell a story it's typicallyan editorial story, whether it's
fashion and event, experiential, any of those things.
You're telling a story and soyou know, in doing that, the fun
elements, of course, are alwaysthere.
I think there are a lot of.
I love to say this to peoplebecause fashion is really hard
(17:16):
work.
Events, color trend, thosethings.
It's really hard work becauseyou have to sell a story, you
have to be able to tell thestory.
You also have to be able tocreatively put it together, know
when to edit, when not to edit,and be able to co collaborate.
(17:37):
I mean, you really do, andsometimes, when you get to a
certain age and you're creative,you go hmm, I really want this
idea.
How am I going to get us there?
Because I know this is rightand typically now in these days,
it just comes authenticallybecause you're not trying to,
you're not trying to be forcefuland you're not trying to force
(17:57):
anything on someone, You're justtrying to create a great end
product.
And the myth, I think, aroundfashion is that it just kind of
happens.
It's a lot of work.
I mean, there are days I do amultitude of things.
Sometimes I'm just a stagemanager, Sometimes it's my
project, Sometimes I'm justbehind the scenes educating
(18:17):
people.
I do a lot of education becauseyou can't just go to college to
do what I do.
You can't, and so thosecreative outlets don't exist.
I mean, I've been an executiveat an ad agency.
I've done a multitude of things, but it's an interesting facet
to kind of look back and go okay, here's where we are.
I want to teach people, toinspire and like.
(18:39):
I want them to come and becolorful and understand these
things.
But yes, it is a lot of fun,but no one should be not aware
that it's really hard work.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
Definitely.
I can definitely see that.
You can see that even in theshows and the events that you do
.
If someone wanted to, if theywere thinking about you, know
what I would love to be infashion, one of the things that
I'm sure comes up in a lot of.
In anything you do creatively,in creative ways or when you're
putting yourself out there,there's a level of criticism
(19:10):
that's going to come with thatand you withstood, because I'm
making an assumption that you'vehad some criticism.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
I'm not aware of any.
Speaker 1 (19:17):
Yeah, that is.
That can be intimidating,especially to somebody who's
kind of up and coming andthey're interested in doing this
and they have a lot of thatdrive and creativity.
What advice would you give themwhen it comes to putting
yourself out to that level andbeing able to deal with, at
times, criticism?
Speaker 2 (19:36):
Well, I think creativity is one of the things
that you just you have to justput out there.
You just have to put it outthere and like some people are
going to like it, some peopleare not going to like it.
Some people are going to likesome style elements.
They're not going to like themall.
Some people might be weirdedout and I think the one thing
that I would say to anyone youngis do the following Granted, we
(20:01):
can go online and we can lookat anything and everything in
front of us, but sometimes weforget that we can also go to a
bookstore and we can just openthe pages and turn to a page and
it just is a different flow ofthings.
It like it just resonates,sometimes clear and the colors,
you're even elevating thebookstore experience.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
I'm like I want to go to a bookstore and turn pages,
but like I used to love going.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
You know, like when you grew up in a military
environment you would go.
We had the bookstore was calledthe Stars and Stripes, that was
the newspaper, and you would goand there would just be all the
magazines and all the books andyou would walk around and you
just open them and open them andlook.
Or I would go to Barnes andNoble and open the most amazing,
like not affordable coffeetable books.
You know, you realize it's all.
(20:49):
You can look at it.
No one's gonna say you can'tlook at it.
And those are the things that Iwould say to anyone that's
interested in know the players,know the people, do your
research.
Think about this person's doingthat.
I'm doing that.
Look at the people who compete.
Just because we know a brand,it doesn't mean that Donatella
(21:10):
wasn't competing with KarlLagerfeld.
Or, you know, terri Mugle wasnot competing with Azadine Alli.
I mean, all of these people hadtheir own sense of things.
And then it also comes down towhat's marketable.
And I say this all the time too,because fashion is what
inspires what I do.
I mean, I do a bevy of things Ihave to do.
(21:31):
I do events and we do lightingand I do all of those things.
Everything is pretty muchproduction based, but fashion is
just such a thing that we pickour art forms.
That was my art form that likeinspired me and it made me aware
and it was like an innovator.
So I think the thing thatpeople kind of also need to
(21:52):
remember about that is withfashion in particular.
You know, if it was like such amoneymaker I always say, like
Chanel would not have a perfume.
You know, it's like everybodyjust thinks that fashion just
pays and pays and pays and itdoesn't.
There's so much that goes intoit.
Speaker 1 (22:11):
So what do you see yourself doing in the next five,
10 years?
Have you thought?
Speaker 2 (22:19):
about it.
I have I'm thinking about it alot.
I have knocked down, you know,not to like be like Debbie
Downer, but like I recently lostmy mom and so my mom was like
kind of like this very hardGerman gal, you know, but like
her style and her aesthetics andher wardrobe and like I always
(22:42):
say to people, like she was ahousewife.
So I mean girlfriend would getup in the morning and she would
clean the house and I mean itwould be like her aerobics
routine.
And then all of a sudden, likeat like 11 or noon, she would go
and take a shower and by thetime she came out of the
bathroom you were like, oh myGod, she looks like a supermodel
.
Speaker 1 (22:59):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
And it was such an amazing thing to kind of watch
and as a kid and like just thatprocess, and I've kind of
adapted to that too.
So when my mom passed, I hadtried to get into a very
particular agency for a longtime and then all of a sudden I
got a call and it happenedthrough me speaking to somebody
and doing somebody a favor andthe world is so small that's why
(23:22):
it's good to be nice to peopleand then all of a sudden I had a
very brilliant conversation andso I know that's going to lead
to some headway.
I am going home, meaning backto Germany, and I will spend
some time in Amsterdam and it'san opportunity now for me to go
back and say to the people thatI grew up with who are doing
(23:42):
their own things, some of themrunning great agencies.
I left to get away to do this.
Now look what I've done.
So now it's an opportunity togo hey, let's play.
And you know, owning your ownbusiness you know I own it's it
was Grant Whitaker style, nowit's Grant Whitaker creative,
you know, and it's a businessbut it's really a based on
(24:03):
hiring the experts, like expertlighting designers, expert sound
people.
You know I have a crew of peoplethat work with me on shows,
that are producers, people allof those things.
You know I'm in a positionright now where I pick and
choose who I would like to workwith as a team.
There's some of those people.
(24:24):
I have a very great model thatworks with me all the time.
I like to shout out her name isHannah.
I love her, but I've also saidto her when you get to be my age
, you need to be me, you need tobe me.
This is why we're doing thisand I pay her well and I honor
her.
But you know, it's all thosethings that you think about and
I'm in a position right nowwhere I want to be more of a
(24:47):
team player.
I don't want to be like humanresources and development and
all of those things all the time.
You know, because you build aname sometimes and it's like a
name is just a name.
It's like what you do with thatis is really up to you and your
reputation is up to you, and sothe only reason people know me
is because I work hard and I'mreally truthful about that.
(25:09):
I work my butt off.
Speaker 1 (25:10):
Yeah, absolutely it.
Really someone who's watchingthis who would want to get into
fashion.
It's such a great way toexpress yourself and to not even
have to be a certain way all ofthe time.
It can be changed.
That's something that I had tokind of wrap my head around too.
Is you don't?
Because you have one look whenyou're 20, that doesn't need to
(25:32):
be your look at 25 or 30, andvice versa.
It just it can be all over theplace.
When you're working with people.
I would imagine it's it has tobe very gratifying to help them
put things together whether it'sfor a show or it's one-on-one
styling and help them get to thepoint with their wardrobe where
(25:52):
they feel really good about itand confident, and it puts them
in a mindset to be able to goout and just conquer.
What is that like to be able todo that for so many people.
Speaker 2 (26:04):
You know, you talk all things community and it's
like giving someone a sense ofcreative community and giving
someone a sense of, in somecases, profound confidence or
just a little self-esteem,because I think if we can hone
our self-esteem, our confidence,all those things it does make
(26:26):
us better people.
I know I've had to do the workand when you, I think also what
makes me so good at my work isand I'll just be really honest I
was a really fat kid, I had a,then danced and thought my body
was the bomb, and then I wentthe other direction and was an
anorexic.
And now I'm in a place where,like I just focus on the health
(26:49):
of everything and so, like therejust are no errors in that
sense because, like you, justyou see it all.
Like now you see people and yousee what they're going through
and you can see, you can justknow it because you've dealt
with it and so it's such a greatplace to go.
Okay, yeah, I see you, I getthat, let's do this, let's see
(27:10):
this, that's great.
And then when you see somebodycome out and they because
clothing can be almost like yourlittle superhero, you know and
when you see someone elevated orlooking at something or
somebody goes, oh I loved whatyou showed, I bought this, I
bought this, I bought that.
And in terms of there is thatpersonal style, community and
(27:31):
that feel good factor that youknow that you can home with
people.
But then the other part of thatis you know that that existence
then is going to lead topositivity.
The better quality, just interms of community, is also
knowing that you're honoringyour vendors and the people you
work with.
It's my favorite thing when Iwalk into us, like after a show
that's mine, or you've started anew project, or it's
(27:53):
philanthropy driven that one,either the money's made, but
then you go back to the storesand they go, yep, you showed
that, sold that, did that, didthis.
It's my favorite thing becauseit means that ultimately,
without sometimes even knowing,you're supporting people.
Speaker 1 (28:07):
I love that.
There's just so much there.
I told him earlier, before westarted, I said I think I have
to.
I could talk to you for hours.
There's just you have such agreat perspective about it and I
hope that one day whether it'sthrough some type of a show or
your own podcast, a book I justfeel like there's so much more
(28:28):
to this story.
There's stories within stories,and I hope that you continue to
share that You're able to seesomething that's.
It's almost like I, when Ithink about it.
I think about it like this,like you can see layers, almost
a different dimension that otherpeople can't see, and you pull
that out with the work that youdo and then people can see it.
Speaker 2 (28:51):
Yeah, and I think a lot of that relates to theme.
I just I think about a themewhen I think about a person,
when I think about an event,when I think about anything that
I do, even when you're workingwith like a startup brand, for
example.
You know, I've curated a lot oflike startup brands and tried
to find style and dimension.
I've worked with music artistsand said, okay, let's figure out
(29:12):
what that style is, because youdon't want a gimmick.
A gimmick only goes so far, itjust really does, and so, and
you can't afford, I think aspeople we can't afford to be
gimmicky.
Like you know, my favorite thingis when people stop me and go
oh, I love what you're wearing.
I love that.
I mean, I was like literallywalking across the street of
like the Twin Cities the otherday, coming across from the the
(29:33):
Haring Hotel, and it was allblack and white.
I knew the outfit was the bomband it was kind of like fly
white, pimp daddy, like reallygood, and literally people
rolling down the windows.
You better work that outfit.
I love that and that's alwayslike the best thing anyways, and
I always have.
Like you know, I listened, Iwas a dancer at a background
(29:55):
dancer too.
Like I knew how to drop it.
Like it was hot, you know.
I was always like the white boythat could dance.
So I'm still.
There's always a little soul.
I think that comes in and it'sjust funny because you, your
style, trends, all of thosethings.
It really needs to embody whatfeels timeless for you, you know
(30:19):
, and it needs to be likebecause I preach color.
Color can come in a lot ofdifferent things.
You can think about aura.
Sometimes you can think aboutyou and how you resonate, like
like meaning, from skin tone,all of those things in a color.
You can think about the colorsand things that you like.
You can think about like how isthat going to play, maybe in
(30:43):
terms of destination or whereI'm going, or what my work is,
all of those things.
Because the truth is, none of usreally know what we like.
We just see all these differentthings and like I always tell
people like I was reallyinspired by pop culture.
You know, I was like when I wasreally young, like I mean
literally like first grade andthere's MTV popping on the
(31:04):
screen and I was glued, I mean Ijust didn't move, and so
there's a certain genre I thinkthat I always apply to my
wardrobe that feels a littlelike MTV culture, like, oh, this
look and that look and thislook, but not everybody is that,
and so my tip to people is findthe thing that feels good for
(31:27):
you.
And if you don't know what thatis, because a lot of people
don't I always say to people youcan go in any store and try on
the most expensive thing.
It doesn't mean you have to buyit.
No one's going to stop you fromtrying it on.
Put it on, see how it feelsyour body is going to do.
This mind memory thing, you know, and I'm a cope person Doesn't
(31:50):
mean I haven't gone into any andevery boutique and tried on
this code and that code.
It doesn't mean I can afford itall.
I find it.
I find it because I know whatit feels like and what it looks
like.
And that is the tip of is.
Don't forget, when we're youngwe're taught about like, touch
and feel and smell and all thosethings, and that's what really
(32:14):
should resonate with you interms of your personal style.
Speaker 1 (32:17):
I absolutely love that.
Cannot thank you enough forcoming and sharing.
Definitely find Grant.
Where are the best places forpeople to connect with you.
Speaker 2 (32:25):
You know it's easy.
I am Grant W Creative onInstagram and you know great way
to be authentic and color.
But you know I'm like just likeanyone you put in Grant W
Creative.
There's a lot of good stuffthat comes up.
Speaker 1 (32:39):
Yeah, fantastic.
Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (32:42):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (32:45):
And I will talk to you later.
Hello everybody.
Welcome to Tonka Talk.
I'm Natalie.
We talk about all thingscommunity and connection.
Today my guest, his name, issynonymous with Twin Cities
Fashion.
He's a creative behind GrantWhitaker Creative, a fashion
consulting and productioncompany.
Welcome, grant Whitaker.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
I'm so happy to be here.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
I'm really happy to see you.
I met Grant some years ago atMyTalk because you're a regular
on ShopGirls.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
I am and been filling in a little bit for Laura and
Joya, so that's fun.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
And you are involved in so many different things
around the Twin Cities.
If you get a chance you have togo through his website.
Make sure you follow him onsocial.
It's hard to even pare downFashionopolis so many things.
You do a show at the LafayetteCountry Club.
I've looked at all this.
I've seen you work.
(00:54):
I've admired it for years andI've always wondered, because I
knew you were from Germany howdoes that happen?
Speaker 2 (01:01):
You know it's interesting.
I moved from Germany in 2000and I landed in Chicago and I
was working for an agency and Istarted my career, also as a
dancer.
That was part of it, part ofthe creativity.
And the agency called and saidlook, we have a casting that we
would love to see you go to.
It's for something called FashBash, which became Glamorama,
(01:22):
which was the Dayton HudsonMarshall Field show, and I went
to that and did an audition andtwo hours later got a job.
And then you rehearse here inthe Twin Cities for a week and
the show traveled fromMinneapolis to Detroit to
Chicago and after that I metsomeone who was a creative
director of that show and hadbeen and was a massive force in
(01:45):
the Twin Cities and we began alove affair and then that
brought me to the cities andthen there I came with my books
and my portfolios and the workthat I had done and yeah, that's
where it started.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
Wow, now, you grew up in Germany.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
I did.
Yeah, I grew up in Heidelberg,germany.
My mom was from a town calledMannheim.
I speak English and German.
Wow, I always speak Germanbecause I don't have an accent.
So I don't have an accent whenI speak either language just
because my father was in theAmerican military.
My mom was German, so we spokeboth languages in the home all
the time, and so English atschool, german, you know,
(02:26):
everywhere else.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
Wow, that's really great.
I took German in high schoolbecause I wanted to Do.
You remember the, the band Nina, I do 99 Red.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
Balloons, y'all remember.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
Yeah, the B side is why I took German in high school
, because it was all in German,right.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
Yeah, and there were like the 80s brought a lot of
like it was Nina and Croftwerkand like there were a lot of
like really great kind of Germanbands.
Germany is also the secondbiggest market for music in the
world.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
Wow, I did not know that.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
So all your house music, all those things.
So when I started as a dancer,that's kind of how I got into it
, because house music, clubmusic, all that stuff was coming
out of there.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
Wow, how do you go about doing all of the things
you do?
It's such a creative industry,so much of what you do.
That's why I keep saying, ifyou, if you're not familiar with
Grant Whitaker, you need todive into his work.
You need to do a deep dive.
There's so much creativitythere.
It's you take something thatjust on its own would be like
(03:27):
well, that would be great, butyou elevate it in a way that
just gives it that complete wowfactor.
That takes a lot of energy andyou've done it for such a long
time.
What really drives you?
What gives you the passion towant to continue to do this type
of work?
Speaker 2 (03:45):
You know it's creative.
People are like all around, Imean, and creativity kind of
flows through all differenttypes of people.
I started my work as an artistand as a dancer and really was
so interested in like how doesone do that and how do you put
it together and what's theproduction aspect?
And you know who are the peoplebehind the scenes.
(04:06):
And so I was always a quickstudy and I had the opportunity
at 19,.
You know Goldwell Hair Company.
There was a really, reallyfamous hairdresser and I got to
do a show for them.
And I always say this like Iremember being behind the scenes
, going I've got this greatconcept and we're ready to go,
and we were rehearsing, butthere were certain elements that
I couldn't figure out and I hadto take 10 minutes and figure
(04:30):
it out.
And in that moment I think yourealize that you were creative.
But I was super organized, likeI knew how to organize things
and that's my strength.
It's going into something andgoing here's the creativity,
here's the organization.
Let's put together the team.
You know, I think at a certainpoint we either know if we're
leaders or not.
I consider myself a good leaderbecause I care about projects, I
(04:52):
care about people, I care aboutwhat we're going to do and
ultimately and I mean it's mybusiness slogan, but it's true
and it's authentic it's we dreamin color.
So I think, if you're notlacking in color and you're
really thinking about what arethe aspects of color and how can
I teach somebody to love color,how can I give them a concept
or multiple concepts that gohere's what we can do?
(05:13):
And you know, that's the nicething, I think, when you do
understand color is and youdrive with that is you get an
opportunity to work with peopleand they pick and choose what
they like from it.
You're not dictating to them,you're going here's imagination
and here's the world.
And I was always a kid who hada lot of imagination.
(05:33):
I lost a sister when I was 10years old.
She died of meningitis, andwhen that happens in a family
environment, sometimes yourimagination is the only thing
you kind of have.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
Truthfully, that is so so, so true.
When, when you're doing thistype of work, especially coming
from somewhere else, moving herefrom Chicago, and then even
when you moved from Germany, hasthis been a way for you to kind
of create community?
We talk a lot on Tonka, talkabout community and connection,
(06:04):
and was this a?
Is this a way you found to kindof create a community, find a
community?
Speaker 2 (06:11):
You know Minneapolis is a cosmopolitan city and there
were so many things here.
I was also really drawn toMinneapolis because you know
Minneapolis, st Paul, twinCities you know all of us phrase
it in different ways, but youknow that first entrance for me
was really rooted in Minneapolis, like Stonearch Bridge.
There I was and I grew up in acity where there was this
beautiful old bridge.
(06:32):
Hattleburg is a very touristytown and all of a sudden there
was this bridge and I thought,god, this feels like somewhere I
could belong.
And when I got here as acreative and I went to the
agencies or I called certainpeople or did certain things, it
was really interesting becauseeverybody kept saying, oh, you
should move to New York or LA.
The stuff that you do they dothere, we kind of don't do that
(06:54):
here.
And so it took a while for meto really figure that out and I
started a store window business.
It was called Taste Agency.
I worked with clients like KimSamella and Balapak and you know
Greg Walsh, who now owns MartinPatrick III, had inside design.
You know I was working behindthe scenes as a freelancer doing
things in the Dayton, likeDayton Hudson, like furniture
(07:16):
area, like working withfurniture and home interiors.
That was always a really greatinterest of mine, and so it was
an opportunity to build anotheroutlook of what I really enjoyed
and what I enjoyed doing.
And so when you're doing thosethings, you understand not only
the color, you understand themerchandising aspect, and how
does one build what sells, whatdoesn't sell?
(07:37):
I was seeing, like, luckily,things that I was putting in
windows and building kind oflike these little imaginary sets
and people going I want that, Iwant that, I want that, and so
that was really kind of a funway.
But you know, when you talkabout community I think it's
hard.
You know, I am creative, I'mgay, I am fashionable, you know
(08:04):
all of those different things,and so you kind of stand out in
your own community, meaning likein your gay community a little
bit, because you're sometimes alittle bit of an anomaly, and
then you have a creativebackground.
So for me my community startedI was also a company member of a
company called Ballet of theDolls, and so I was dancing
(08:25):
there, meeting people, buildinga business.
So I had all these differentoutlets where I was starting to
get to know people and thenultimately and talking about me
and like what I do and all thosethings.
It was my voice that brought mefurther.
Someone said hey, do you want tocome on TV and talk?
You're like, you've got likethis great skill for explaining
(08:48):
things and talking about thingsand I knew I loved that and I
had done a little bit of that.
Um, at one point I thought Iwas going to be a video VJ and
Germany.
Uh, but that kind of justchanged.
Um, I mean, ultimately I had toleave Germany just because I
wasn't in America.
I was an American citizen and Iwas born during a time period
(09:09):
where you didn't have dualcitizenship and, unfortunately,
I just didn't want to go on theGerman military.
I didn't have a greatexperience when I met with those
people.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
Um, so you considered that at one point.
Speaker 2 (09:20):
I did.
I considered that and then Iwalked into a situation where,
as a gay guy uh you know I wastold I could do some of the
things for someone and like asexual manner to get myself out
of it, and it really justfreaked me out and so to get out
of going into the military, wasit mandatory?
(09:42):
It is, you have to do some kindof civil service and be
mandatory and and like I wastrying to find ways of getting
out of it like saying I didn'tspeak German and things like
that, and so ultimately theyrealized that, and so someone
basically said you want to havea good time with me, I can get
you out of this, wow.
And so you know, things likethat happen and I think we have
to talk about those things too,because it's just, I'm an adult,
(10:04):
you know, and like there arekids and there are things, and
so it freaked me out and I justI left my home, I left my work,
I left my creativity, everythingbehind that I knew, yeah, and
so it was also an opportunity towant to leave and start
something.
But it doesn't mean it's easy.
Creating community is not hard,but then I think, ultimately
(10:25):
you do, because either you'regood at what you do, not get
what you do, what you do, butthen there's also that side of
that's just the work side ofthings, you know, it's also like
the personal side of things,and so I don't know.
I like people and so and I lovewhat I do and that's my
favorite thing, and what I do islike working with people and
(10:47):
seeing the outcome and that makewonder outcome.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
Yeah, I could totally see that there being a lot of
magic.
When you're working withsomebody as a stylist, in
whatever capacity in fashion,how do you help them find their,
their style or their personalstyle?
It's not one look that you doand create.
When I've seen your work, howdo you connect with that person?
(11:11):
And when they don't know, likeI've often thought my, my
sister's, much more into intoclothing and what they wear, and
I'm into it because it'srequired.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
Right.
Yes, we do have to get dressed.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
We have to get dressed, but it's not something
that I have a lot of affinityabout.
If there was a world in ascenario where I could just walk
around every day in pajamas ina heartbeat in a heartbeat.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
I think I would go to more.
You probably could.
Yeah, you have to have dead.
You know what You're right.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
Yeah, you're right.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
I think we're honest with you and maybe we need, like
an empowered woman, to do thesame thing, exactly, exactly.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
And I'm sure there's probably more clothing or types
of clothing that kind of couldgive me that feel of comfort and
flow that I like about mypajamas.
The second I get home, thosepajamas go on.
I would literally walk aroundlike that with.
But how do you help somebodyfigure that out, what their
style is?
Cause it doesn't seem like yougo in and go okay, here's the
trends.
You should wear this.
You're cultivating it in adifferent way.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
Yeah, like I think even to your point in saying,
like, look, I like the touch andfeel of this kind of fabric or
this kind of thing when I gethome, that's my comfort level.
You know the thing is you, youcould play that into every day.
You really could.
You know it really comes downto, you know the comfort level.
Is it a certain designer thatcarries that kind of look?
You know, is there a certainfabric, a certain aesthetic?
(12:34):
And then it comes down to alsowhat's going to work on you and
your body.
And so, like, in working withpeople, whether it's personal
styling, building a show, any ofthe things that I have to do
because I am lucky, becausethere are not a lot of people
like me that get the opportunityto style the looks, produce the
(12:54):
show, create the video, do thebackdrops, do it all yeah, and
the styling part is the biggestpart, because that's ultimately
what you're selling it is, andso in working on that, you don't
want to guide, like anyone in adirection.
You want them to come to youand say what's out there that
appeals to you, and then, as atool in my, in my work, in my
(13:19):
business, I go okay, let's thinkabout that, I have a worksheet
that and by worksheet I meanit's a one pager, you know who
are your style kind of iconsLike.
What colors do you like, whatcolors do you not like?
Let's talk about your body whatdo you like, what do you don't
like?
Because it is those things thatyou have to start with their
basics, because if I throw,something at you.
You're going to be like, oh I'mgoing to throw, and you don't
tell me what you like aboutyourself.
(13:40):
Not like about yourself, colorsyou like.
You're not involved in theprocess.
You need to be involved.
It's you, it's not me, and Isaid that to people all the time
.
I dress a certain way thatmeets me.
Some of it involves the fact ofbeing authentic.
I got to build my self-esteemin my process.
What's my process?
To get out the door so that Iknow that I can talk about what
(14:00):
I do and I can present myself asa stylist.
So the other component of thatis is when you make it personal
for someone and someone knowsthat you're talking to them,
about them.
It's a really great way tostart the process.
And then everything comes anddevelops.
(14:21):
Basic aesthetics that I alwaysfocus on is let's maybe show
your waist a little bit.
Let's maybe highlight thethings that are good for you.
Let's curate your shape, and bycurate I mean really curate it
for you.
What colors, what basics, whatfabrics, what's comfortable, you
know, what's going to be withinyour budget, what's going to
(14:41):
last.
That's the personal side and afashion show side.
It's all about the look, theoutfit, the aesthetic, because
everyone's going to pick andchoose what they like and nobody
really knows sometimes whatthey like.
And then if you put the looktogether, somebody goes, oh I
really like the look, or no, Ijust like the coat, oh, I love
(15:01):
the shoes.
It's all the things that youhave to make like more of an
inspiration.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
Your work is very.
It's much more intimate.
Hearing you describe it as Iwould have thought, and I can
really see that, and talking toit makes sense to me now, more
to how you're able to.
If you couldn't connect topeople in a really authentic and
true way, you wouldn't have thereputation, the work, the jobs,
the things that you are doing.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
Thank you, I appreciate that.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
And when it comes to fashion and style, and we all
walk around and we presentourselves a certain way, that is
such an intimate process and Ilove to being yourself.
You know, like you were saying,when you dress yourself to be
able to present yourself assomebody who styles, who does
fashion, who produces, shows ithow fun is that?
(15:53):
Is it do you find being able toplay around with these
different looks andexperimenting with wardrobe or
with shows?
Is there an element of?
Is it more for you at thispoint?
Is it just it's work and, ofcourse, it's creative?
Is it something that's stillkind of fun?
Do you ever get nervous?
Speaker 2 (16:11):
There's never a moment where it can't be fun.
I mean, I think if I wasn'thaving fun, I shouldn't do what
I was doing.
And the truth is, I'm trying toinspire other people to have
fun and be themselves and not beafraid to be themselves or not
be afraid to be authentic orspeak up or certain things you
know, like when you I have greatmentors that I work for, people
(16:33):
who really owned their craftand people that I learned a lot
from, and you know, at certainpoints, when you stand behind
the scenes, I consider myself tobe pretty friendly.
I'm you know, I am German, sosometimes you are a little
direct, you just go hey, this isthe way I want.
It Doesn't mean I don't likesomeone, it just means we have
to work in a certain lineBecause the thing is, I'm trying
(16:56):
to tell a story it's typicallyan editorial story, whether it's
fashion and event, experiential, any of those things.
You're telling a story and soyou know, in doing that, the fun
elements, of course, are alwaysthere.
I think there are a lot of.
I love to say this to peoplebecause fashion is really hard
(17:16):
work.
Events, color trend, thosethings.
It's really hard work becauseyou have to sell a story, you
have to be able to tell thestory.
You also have to be able tocreatively put it together, know
when to edit, when not to edit,and be able to co collaborate.
(17:37):
I mean, you really do, andsometimes, when you get to a
certain age and you're creative,you go hmm, I really want this
idea.
How am I going to get us there?
Because I know this is rightand typically now in these days,
it just comes authenticallybecause you're not trying to,
you're not trying to be forcefuland you're not trying to force
(17:57):
anything on someone, You're justtrying to create a great end
product.
And the myth, I think, aroundfashion is that it just kind of
happens.
It's a lot of work.
I mean, there are days I do amultitude of things.
Sometimes I'm just a stagemanager, Sometimes it's my
project, Sometimes I'm justbehind the scenes educating
(18:17):
people.
I do a lot of education becauseyou can't just go to college to
do what I do.
You can't, and so thosecreative outlets don't exist.
I mean, I've been an executiveat an ad agency.
I've done a multitude of things, but it's an interesting facet
to kind of look back and go okay, here's where we are.
I want to teach people, toinspire and like.
(18:39):
I want them to come and becolorful and understand these
things.
But yes, it is a lot of fun,but no one should be not aware
that it's really hard work.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
Definitely.
I can definitely see that.
You can see that even in theshows and the events that you do
.
If someone wanted to, if theywere thinking about you, know
what I would love to be infashion, one of the things that
I'm sure comes up in a lot of.
In anything you do creatively,in creative ways or when you're
putting yourself out there,there's a level of criticism
(19:10):
that's going to come with thatand you withstood, because I'm
making an assumption that you'vehad some criticism.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
I'm not aware of any.
Speaker 1 (19:17):
Yeah, that is.
That can be intimidating,especially to somebody who's
kind of up and coming andthey're interested in doing this
and they have a lot of thatdrive and creativity.
What advice would you give themwhen it comes to putting
yourself out to that level andbeing able to deal with, at
times, criticism?
Speaker 2 (19:36):
Well, I think creativity is one of the things
that you just you have to justput out there.
You just have to put it outthere and like some people are
going to like it, some peopleare not going to like it.
Some people are going to likesome style elements.
They're not going to like themall.
Some people might be weirdedout and I think the one thing
that I would say to anyone youngis do the following Granted, we
(20:01):
can go online and we can lookat anything and everything in
front of us, but sometimes weforget that we can also go to a
bookstore and we can just openthe pages and turn to a page and
it just is a different flow ofthings.
It like it just resonates,sometimes clear and the colors,
you're even elevating thebookstore experience.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
I'm like I want to go to a bookstore and turn pages,
but like I used to love going.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
You know, like when you grew up in a military
environment you would go.
We had the bookstore was calledthe Stars and Stripes, that was
the newspaper, and you would goand there would just be all the
magazines and all the books andyou would walk around and you
just open them and open them andlook.
Or I would go to Barnes andNoble and open the most amazing,
like not affordable coffeetable books.
You know, you realize it's all.
(20:49):
You can look at it.
No one's gonna say you can'tlook at it.
And those are the things that Iwould say to anyone that's
interested in know the players,know the people, do your
research.
Think about this person's doingthat.
I'm doing that.
Look at the people who compete.
Just because we know a brand,it doesn't mean that Donatella
(21:10):
wasn't competing with KarlLagerfeld.
Or, you know, terri Mugle wasnot competing with Azadine Alli.
I mean, all of these people hadtheir own sense of things.
And then it also comes down towhat's marketable.
And I say this all the time too,because fashion is what
inspires what I do.
I mean, I do a bevy of things Ihave to do.
(21:31):
I do events and we do lightingand I do all of those things.
Everything is pretty muchproduction based, but fashion is
just such a thing that we pickour art forms.
That was my art form that likeinspired me and it made me aware
and it was like an innovator.
So I think the thing thatpeople kind of also need to
(21:52):
remember about that is withfashion in particular.
You know, if it was like such amoneymaker I always say, like
Chanel would not have a perfume.
You know, it's like everybodyjust thinks that fashion just
pays and pays and pays and itdoesn't.
There's so much that goes intoit.
Speaker 1 (22:11):
So what do you see yourself doing in the next five,
10 years?
Have you thought?
Speaker 2 (22:19):
about it.
I have I'm thinking about it alot.
I have knocked down, you know,not to like be like Debbie
Downer, but like I recently lostmy mom and so my mom was like
kind of like this very hardGerman gal, you know, but like
her style and her aesthetics andher wardrobe and like I always
(22:42):
say to people, like she was ahousewife.
So I mean girlfriend would getup in the morning and she would
clean the house and I mean itwould be like her aerobics
routine.
And then all of a sudden, likeat like 11 or noon, she would go
and take a shower and by thetime she came out of the
bathroom you were like, oh myGod, she looks like a supermodel
.
Speaker 1 (22:59):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
And it was such an amazing thing to kind of watch
and as a kid and like just thatprocess, and I've kind of
adapted to that too.
So when my mom passed, I hadtried to get into a very
particular agency for a longtime and then all of a sudden I
got a call and it happenedthrough me speaking to somebody
and doing somebody a favor andthe world is so small that's why
(23:22):
it's good to be nice to peopleand then all of a sudden I had a
very brilliant conversation andso I know that's going to lead
to some headway.
I am going home, meaning backto Germany, and I will spend
some time in Amsterdam and it'san opportunity now for me to go
back and say to the people thatI grew up with who are doing
(23:42):
their own things, some of themrunning great agencies.
I left to get away to do this.
Now look what I've done.
So now it's an opportunity togo hey, let's play.
And you know, owning your ownbusiness you know I own it's it
was Grant Whitaker style, nowit's Grant Whitaker creative,
you know, and it's a businessbut it's really a based on
(24:03):
hiring the experts, like expertlighting designers, expert sound
people.
You know I have a crew of peoplethat work with me on shows,
that are producers, people allof those things.
You know I'm in a positionright now where I pick and
choose who I would like to workwith as a team.
There's some of those people.
(24:24):
I have a very great model thatworks with me all the time.
I like to shout out her name isHannah.
I love her, but I've also saidto her when you get to be my age
, you need to be me, you need tobe me.
This is why we're doing thisand I pay her well and I honor
her.
But you know, it's all thosethings that you think about and
I'm in a position right nowwhere I want to be more of a
(24:47):
team player.
I don't want to be like humanresources and development and
all of those things all the time.
You know, because you build aname sometimes and it's like a
name is just a name.
It's like what you do with thatis is really up to you and your
reputation is up to you, and sothe only reason people know me
is because I work hard and I'mreally truthful about that.
(25:09):
I work my butt off.
Speaker 1 (25:10):
Yeah, absolutely it.
Really someone who's watchingthis who would want to get into
fashion.
It's such a great way toexpress yourself and to not even
have to be a certain way all ofthe time.
It can be changed.
That's something that I had tokind of wrap my head around too.
Is you don't?
Because you have one look whenyou're 20, that doesn't need to
(25:32):
be your look at 25 or 30, andvice versa.
It just it can be all over theplace.
When you're working with people.
I would imagine it's it has tobe very gratifying to help them
put things together whether it'sfor a show or it's one-on-one
styling and help them get to thepoint with their wardrobe where
(25:52):
they feel really good about itand confident, and it puts them
in a mindset to be able to goout and just conquer.
What is that like to be able todo that for so many people.
Speaker 2 (26:04):
You know, you talk all things community and it's
like giving someone a sense ofcreative community and giving
someone a sense of, in somecases, profound confidence or
just a little self-esteem,because I think if we can hone
our self-esteem, our confidence,all those things it does make
(26:26):
us better people.
I know I've had to do the workand when you, I think also what
makes me so good at my work isand I'll just be really honest I
was a really fat kid, I had a,then danced and thought my body
was the bomb, and then I wentthe other direction and was an
anorexic.
And now I'm in a place where,like I just focus on the health
(26:49):
of everything and so, like therejust are no errors in that
sense because, like you, justyou see it all.
Like now you see people and yousee what they're going through
and you can see, you can justknow it because you've dealt
with it and so it's such a greatplace to go.
Okay, yeah, I see you, I getthat, let's do this, let's see
(27:10):
this, that's great.
And then when you see somebodycome out and they because
clothing can be almost like yourlittle superhero, you know and
when you see someone elevated orlooking at something or
somebody goes, oh I loved whatyou showed, I bought this, I
bought this, I bought that.
And in terms of there is thatpersonal style, community and
(27:31):
that feel good factor that youknow that you can home with
people.
But then the other part of thatis you know that that existence
then is going to lead topositivity.
The better quality, just interms of community, is also
knowing that you're honoringyour vendors and the people you
work with.
It's my favorite thing when Iwalk into us, like after a show
that's mine, or you've started anew project, or it's
(27:53):
philanthropy driven that one,either the money's made, but
then you go back to the storesand they go, yep, you showed
that, sold that, did that, didthis.
It's my favorite thing becauseit means that ultimately,
without sometimes even knowing,you're supporting people.
Speaker 1 (28:07):
I love that.
There's just so much there.
I told him earlier, before westarted, I said I think I have
to.
I could talk to you for hours.
There's just you have such agreat perspective about it and I
hope that one day whether it'sthrough some type of a show or
your own podcast, a book I justfeel like there's so much more
(28:28):
to this story.
There's stories within stories,and I hope that you continue to
share that You're able to seesomething that's.
It's almost like I, when Ithink about it.
I think about it like this,like you can see layers, almost
a different dimension that otherpeople can't see, and you pull
that out with the work that youdo and then people can see it.
Speaker 2 (28:51):
Yeah, and I think a lot of that relates to theme.
I just I think about a themewhen I think about a person,
when I think about an event,when I think about anything that
I do, even when you're workingwith like a startup brand, for
example.
You know, I've curated a lot oflike startup brands and tried
to find style and dimension.
I've worked with music artistsand said, okay, let's figure out
(29:12):
what that style is, because youdon't want a gimmick.
A gimmick only goes so far, itjust really does, and so, and
you can't afford, I think aspeople we can't afford to be
gimmicky.
Like you know, my favorite thingis when people stop me and go
oh, I love what you're wearing.
I love that.
I mean, I was like literallywalking across the street of
like the Twin Cities the otherday, coming across from the the
(29:33):
Haring Hotel, and it was allblack and white.
I knew the outfit was the bomband it was kind of like fly
white, pimp daddy, like reallygood, and literally people
rolling down the windows.
You better work that outfit.
I love that and that's alwayslike the best thing anyways, and
I always have.
Like you know, I listened, Iwas a dancer at a background
(29:55):
dancer too.
Like I knew how to drop it.
Like it was hot, you know.
I was always like the white boythat could dance.
So I'm still.
There's always a little soul.
I think that comes in and it'sjust funny because you, your
style, trends, all of thosethings.
It really needs to embody whatfeels timeless for you, you know
(30:19):
, and it needs to be likebecause I preach color.
Color can come in a lot ofdifferent things.
You can think about aura.
Sometimes you can think aboutyou and how you resonate, like
like meaning, from skin tone,all of those things in a color.
You can think about the colorsand things that you like.
You can think about like how isthat going to play, maybe in
(30:43):
terms of destination or whereI'm going, or what my work is,
all of those things.
Because the truth is, none of usreally know what we like.
We just see all these differentthings and like I always tell
people like I was reallyinspired by pop culture.
You know, I was like when I wasreally young, like I mean
literally like first grade andthere's MTV popping on the
(31:04):
screen and I was glued, I mean Ijust didn't move, and so
there's a certain genre I thinkthat I always apply to my
wardrobe that feels a littlelike MTV culture, like, oh, this
look and that look and thislook, but not everybody is that,
and so my tip to people is findthe thing that feels good for
(31:27):
you.
And if you don't know what thatis, because a lot of people
don't I always say to people youcan go in any store and try on
the most expensive thing.
It doesn't mean you have to buyit.
No one's going to stop you fromtrying it on.
Put it on, see how it feelsyour body is going to do.
This mind memory thing, you know, and I'm a cope person Doesn't
(31:50):
mean I haven't gone into any andevery boutique and tried on
this code and that code.
It doesn't mean I can afford itall.
I find it.
I find it because I know whatit feels like and what it looks
like.
And that is the tip of is.
Don't forget, when we're youngwe're taught about like, touch
and feel and smell and all thosethings, and that's what really
(32:14):
should resonate with you interms of your personal style.
Speaker 1 (32:17):
I absolutely love that.
Cannot thank you enough forcoming and sharing.
Definitely find Grant.
Where are the best places forpeople to connect with you.
Speaker 2 (32:25):
You know it's easy.
I am Grant W Creative onInstagram and you know great way
to be authentic and color.
But you know I'm like just likeanyone you put in Grant W
Creative.
There's a lot of good stuffthat comes up.
Speaker 1 (32:39):
Yeah, fantastic.
Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (32:42):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (32:45):
And I will talk to you later.
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