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“Eighty-five percent of my wardrobe is local,” Rakia Reynolds said last week, while donning a shirt from Decades Vintage, 615 Bainbridge St., and a hat from Astro Vintage, 720 S. Fifth St. The fashionista and founder of Skai Blue Media, 803 S. Fourth St., is in the business of supporting and promoting Philadelphia’s fashion presence.
“When you live in a city and immerse yourself in your brand, which is your city, it’s important to shop in the farmers market. You see people talking about being so green and shopping in the masses. You can’t be green unless you really, whole-heartedly support the community,” the 32-year-old South of South resident said.
Reynolds extends the concept of shopping local from the food she eats, to the clothes she wears and everything in between. As Philly 360’s fashion ambassador, the stylish Reynolds spends time promoting Philadelphia’s boutiques and purporting the city’s retail image.
“I think people don’t know as much about [Philadelphia’s fashion] as they should,” Reynolds said. “I get calls a lot just to be a reference for things. People from InStyle, ShopSmart call me asking me what the latest trends are.
“I start talking about boutiques in Philadelphia and they are like, ‘Wow, I didn’t know about that.’ These writers are for national publications or New York-based and they all have some connection to Philadelphia, but they didn’t even know what the city has to offer.”
While she spends the majority of her days working public relations for clients — such as Bridget Foy’s, 200 South St., and Jim’s Steaks, 400 South St. — she makes time to help grow Philadelphia’s fashion profile. As one such endeavor, she is working with the City to promote a fall fashion event at her client’s Second-and-South-Street spot.
“We have 15 different clients and one of our biggest is South Street Headhouse District. I am planning some fashion events with them on behalf of the Philadelphia Collection,” Reynolds said, adding that the collection is an initiative by the Office of the City Representative to highlight Philadelphia as a retail hot spot on the national stage.
“People have really cool events, trunk shows and really cool one-off events that you probably wouldn’t normally have at one time,” she said of the event running Sept. 14 to 24. “It’s the city’s fashion showcase to put us more on the map when it comes to fashion.”
A New Jersey native, Reynolds moved to Philadelphia in 1996 to study international business and marketing, but her fashion sense had been molded years earlier on the funky blocks of South Street.
“I have always been connected to Philadelphia. We’d come here for class trips. I got to experience everything the city has to offer at such a young age,” Reynolds said. “I bought my first pair of T.U.K creepers — those big-soled shoes — bought them from a store on South Street and my first pair of Dr. Martens on South in high school.”
A young Reynolds was always into looking her best and while other children got dolls or toys, Reynolds stocked up on sewing machines and needles.
“My mother always says I was like such a creative individual. If they wouldn’t buy me the things I wanted to wear, I ended up making them,” she said. “At 17, I made my first outfit, a knit top and skirt.”
Things picked up for Reynolds when she made the move to North Broad Street to attend Temple University and though she was in her late teens, she said, “I’ve been here forever. I got married here. I had my kids here. My life started in Philadelphia.”
After graduating, Reynolds worked for many years in television, producing programs for TLC and Discovery Health. While working on a miniseries, “What Goes On,” the trend-savvy entrepreneur got her first professional taste of styling.
“The wardrobe and styling was going to be really important and they put me in charge of the wardrobe. It was this really big thing,” the mother of three said. “I worked in TV before I got into public relations, but I was working in every aspect of fashion when I was in TV. I’d be the one with the wardrobe stylist saying ‘yea’ or ‘nay’ to what they should be wearing.”
Reynolds went on to cofound a short-lived public relations firm on 13th and Dickinson streets that only represented artists, but eventually set up Skai Blue — named after her now-8-year-old daughter — in 2007. And while she works from her Fabric Row office to raise awareness for her client list, she boasts about her favorite city to all who are listening.
“The influx of creative talent coming out of the colleges and universities in the past decade is really amazing. There is a constant influx of the kinds of businesses,” Reynolds said. “Across the world, people know what Philadelphia has to offer. As a retail market, people don’t know. If people came more as a destination for shopping, Philadelphia would get more of the bragging rights it deserves.” SPR
Contact the South Philly Review at editor@southphillyreview.com.
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