The Grey Streak

Words by Klaudia Zychowska
Visuals by Felton Kizer

Brandon Frein has seven Rachel Comey jumpsuits in her closet, a grey streak in her hair, and a “F*** Trump” sticker on her phone. Spirited, lively, and with a personality big enough to fill up a room, she’s likely to make a lasting impression on everyone she meets. With a love for fashion as deep enough as her love for people, she thrives both as a wardrobe consultant and professor, and despite being in her 50’s, her dreams for the future keep getting bigger .

For Frein, the world is a stage. She began dancing at ten years old and immediately fell in love with performing. Itching to get out of a small town and live in a big city, she left her hometown of Charlotte, North Carolina to study in Boston. She then lived in Colorado until she began her MFA at DePaul and settled into Chicago, where she has been living for the last twenty-five years. With a one-of-a-kind worldliness around her, she fuelled all of her energy into acting, then into production and post-production, and one day ended up with a sales position at Louis Vuitton. That was the start of her career in fashion, which has proven itself to be the perfect outlet for her individuality and never-ending energy.  

Frein went from Louis Vuitton on Michigan Avenue to other boutiques, to then starting her own online clothing store with business partner Arlene Matthews in 2008 launching a styling agency Kit This with the same business partner in 2013 and becoming a professor at Columbia a year later. These ventures alone might seem like a long career in fashion, but those are only a few of the projects Frein has taken part in. A self-proclaimed fashion huster, she has a million things going on at once, and she loves it. Even as we were speaking, she received an email and her face lit up. “I got a client!” she exclaimed 

With a style that’s as loud and bubbly as her personality, it’s clear that she is passionate about fashion and its periphery. She describes her personal style as “unique, trendless, avant-garde.” A huge fan of color, pattern, and large, baggy silhouettes, her style might be seen as eccentric for some people, but she wears everything she owns with absolute confidence. It’s impossible to miss the moment she enters a room because of the energy that flows out of her. Amidst a crowd of Lululemon-wearers, she stands out.  If her friends mention the bagginess of her pants, she tells them, “I accentuate my best asset, which is my personality.” Although she has always been into color and pattern, a new confidence has come with age. When she shops for herself, she enters stores with an open mind and no practicality. She sees something she loves and she buys it. “I rarely wear the same outfit twice,” she says with a glow on her face. “Even with a Rachel Comey jumpsuit, I’ll wear different shoes.”  

Frein also graces eager young minds with her wisdom and enthusiasm, teaching courses on Fashion Styling at Columbia each semester. She until a friend who taught at Columbia invited her to guest lecture she accepted, and as soon as her lecture was over, she was immediately offered a permanent position. She describes being a professor as challenging and fulfilling. “It keeps my creative juices flowing,” she says.  “I’m always thinking about new projects I can do for them, new ways to present a topic.” Her students continue to inspire her and she sees the potential of expanding Chicago’s fashion industry through them. Her personality allows her to easily connect with them and form relationships which she continues to nurture after they graduate. 

Frein hopes to teach her students the importance of networking. She believes relationships are key in fashion consulting and has stories to prove it. “I ran into a designer that I knew from a boutique I worked outside her show in New York and she and I started talking and just me being in front of her and just talking to her, she’s like ‘Hey would you like to be my feet on the ground in Chicago?’”she recalls. She immediately agreed even though she wasn’t sure what the position entailed. She is a hustler. She is a force and demands space to create without compromise. 

This summer, she started what she calls a “granny modeling career.” A week before I met with her, she had her first campaign -- she shot for Eyebobs, an eyeglass store. “I’m gonna be huge!” she laughs. Her agent has convinced her to start her own YouTube channel, which will be called GreyStreak and will launch sometime soon. Frein hopes to be an inspiration for women over 40, a demographic which does not receive much attention from the fashion world. Her dreams for the future? walking in a Rachel Comey show and, of course,  to keep on styling.

“I accentuate my best asset, which is my personality.”