Bailee Dukes, Tech Events Manager & Stylist

You’re wearing a beautiful purple dress, and purple can be a color that’s very difficult to style. What inspired you to wear this today? 

That’s a really great question. I think for me, it came down to simplicity. I didn’t really feel like selecting a top and a bottom. So this dress—I’ve had it for a couple of years—I find myself picking up quite a lot. It’s funny because, as you mentioned, purple is difficult to style. But I’ve incorporated this dress into my basics because I can style it in so many different ways. I have it with ballet flats today. I’ve also worn it with a leather pair of flip flops. I haven’t tried it with sneakers yet, but I feel like I could. I like to think that I have a diverse point of view and a diverse perspective. So color and purple is something that I try to coordinate into my wardrobe. 

Do you think you dress by mood?

Definitely. By mood, but also by convenience and utility. I don’t know if a dress is so convenient, but I was just getting dressed. I had to be out of the door. I was like, it’s still nice out, let me put on a dress so that I don’t have to worry about a top and pants or a top and a skirt. 

You have to tell us about the styling situation. How did you get into that?

It’s pretty new for me. I see a really nice woman on the Upper East Side for facials. Her name is Yara. She’s incredible. She had another client who was looking for someone to help her with her full time styling business and asked if I would be interested. I like fashion a lot, and I used to work in fashion for many years. We were connected that way and ever since then, it’s just taken on its own thing. I help her with her clients and what they need. I’ve recently started doing it on my own as well. 

How do you feel fashion, art, or tech combine with one another? 

Oh my gosh. It’s one of those things where, at first, you wouldn’t think it connects, but it all kind of connects because art imitates life and life imitates art. There’s so many shared connections. It’s all about admiring beauty, being a part of beauty, incorporating beauty into the everyday. I think fashion and art do that well because fashion, it’s with what you’re wearing or other people are wearing. And then with art, it’s where you’re living, where you’re working, or the spaces that you’re in.

Could you tell us a bit about your experience at the show so far? How are you finding things?

It’s beautiful. I’ve never been to the Armory Show, but I’m an admirer of art and there’s just so many different styles of art here from sculptures and paintings to jewelry. It’s really beautiful to witness the craftsmanship and the inspiration that goes behind so many different pieces here. There’s a lot of pieces that you look at and you feel very happy; there’s some pieces that you look at and you feel more somber. It’s beautiful to see the expression of emotion within art and the expression of different colors and patterns and different ethnic and multicultural backgrounds. There’s galleries here, obviously from New York, but I’ve seen a couple from Madrid. There’s also one from Cape Town. 

Where are you from? Did you grow up in the city?

I grew up in the Virgin Islands on an island called Saint Thomas. I have been in the city for six years. I went to college in Washington, D.C., then moved here right after. I think art is one of the coolest parts of the city. One of my favorite pastimes is being in Tribeca or Chelsea or even the Lower East Side just popping in and out of the galleries. I’m not a big collector yet, but I hope to be someday. My grandmother was actually an artist. She’s deceased now, but she did a lot of sculpting and painting, and being from the Caribbean, she did a lot of scenes of the harbor and waterfront and beaches. I think coming to see art really fulfills that creative need.

(IG: baidukes)