Fashion inspiration from New York City streets to California shores….Côte à Côte! Started by one of my besties, Eleanor, and her good friend, Ferebee, they created an online presence putting together outfits and ensembles with key pieces. Hands down, it is the best website / instagram / fashion inspiration you will ever find. So, go on instagram, follow them, and see their fashionable tastes.
Eleanor lives in California and Ferebee lives in NYC — they are both beautiful, smart, and incredibly fashionable.
And yes, it is not fair at all. Both Ferebee and Eleanor happen to be not only the most stylish people you’ll ever meet (hence their company) but also the most beautiful people. So in awe of them — and so proud to know them. I was fortunate to talk (let’s be honest, this was all communicated over email) to them and ask them questions about their business. So fascinating and a must read (and then, a must follow on social)
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The two of you worked together over a decade ago with FEYT, so you knew you had similar fashion choices and worked well together. How did you come up with Côte à Côte?
FEYT was one of the first algorithm-based computer learning styling sites, a precursor to AI personal styling that aimed to streamline the process for women like us, who love the creativity and self expression fashion offers, but lack the time and energy for the ongoing pursuit. Since the start of our friendship over 20 years ago, when we met working in the fashion industry in New York City (Ferebee at Calvin Klein in the celebrity styling department, and Eleanor working in fashion editing at Harper’s Bazaar and Lucky magazine and then co-founding the premium denim brand, Earnest Sewn) we not only have had a similar aesthetic and sensibility, but also share an obsession with discovery and the cultivation of personalized style. Côte á Côte is an extension of this passion in a more focussed format of curated recommendations.
Ferebee!
Describe what Côte à Côte is exactly.
For years, when we were working together, a running theme (or joke!) would be that we would often show up places wearing the exact same thing unintentionally. Now, with 7 kids between us and lives that have taken the rollercoaster ride of the past decade, we find ourselves on opposite coasts; Ferebee in New York City, and Eleanor in Montecito, California. Yet, we continue to be drawn to the same pieces season after season. The idea of Côte á Côte is to share the common thread of our discoveries. These versatile pieces will become the connective tissue of numerous outfits. A keystone item styled for Ferebee’s East Coast City life, and Eleanor’s West Coast, Southern California “vibe” (as they say ;)). Just as we both hop back and forth from city to country style, we want our followers to have easily shoppable options for wherever life takes them. Currently, we showcase these items and looks on Instagram (@coteacote_official) with shoppable links, and in our ShopMy store (http://shopmy.us/shop/coteacote) where you can shop all our looks, favorite items, and shared obsessions.
Eleanor!
Who is your follower?
Our target demographic is busy women like ourselves, of a similar age, who enjoy fashion, want to stay current, but also desire a streamlined system of exposure and discovery from industry veterans who understand styling and what works for our current lifestyles.
Lay out how to see their items and how to purchase them.
Living across the country from one another, how are you working together and coming up with ideas on what to post? Do you both own the exact same things, or do you buy them at the same time?
More often than not, we buy the same things. We surprise each other constantly when we share our recent purchases, only to discover that the other one has just bought the exact same thing. We also implicitly trust each other’s style, so if one of us discovers something and recommends it to the other, we know it will be a hit. This is the experience we want to share with our followers—trusted recommendations from two people who have a passion to do the discovery work for them.
Mood board! (or their insta)
Where do you get your style inspiration?
From each other, from combing our favorite e-commerce stores, from influencers, from you!, from stylish friends, many of whom are also fashion industry veterans, and then from our daily lives, travel, and experiences.
Truly the most fashionable people you will ever meet.
What are your favorite shops (online and in person)
The best is to discover something unique and one of a kind in a little shop when traveling or in a local small town; however, that is as rare as the items are unique in today’s day and age of global internet shopping. A few of our current shared favorite labels are Attersee, Khaite, High Sport, B Sides, and Rachel Comey. And some of our go-to ecommerce stores are Moda Operandi and Zara.
So far, what have you found is your biggest reward from creating this profile and business?
Having a creative outlet again. We both love curating our ShopMy shop with items we love, spending hours combing through sites to make our edits, and we love creating the collages that we post from time to time.
Biggest challenge so far?
Definitely taking the pictures of ourselves! We have found that our followers really want to see the product and the way we wear the clothes, but we are both extremely uncomfortable taking and posting pictures of ourselves. It was a barrier to getting started for a long time, and it’s still a struggle, as we are both private people. However, we understand that to have a personalized experience, people are interested in our lifestyles and how we live, as reflected in the clothing we recommend.
They both make taking pictures of themselves look so easy (but truth is — if we all looked so good, we would be spamming the internet with ourselves).
Will you two open up a brick and mortar retail store with all your favorite looks?
Unlike with FEYT, where we raised capital and built our business with investors, we have made the conscious choice of building Côte á Côte from the ground up. Because we don’t have any real overhead, we are able to have the freedom to see what our followers gravitate to and take it from there. Whether that is the curated shop in brick and mortar form or e-commerce form, or styling services, or digitizing closets, or even curating AI styling solutions, time will tell, and we are open to all possibilities.
In 3 words, how would you describe each of your styles?
Ferebee is effortlessly classic, bohemian, and current, sometimes all at once
Eleanor is timeless while still of the moment, sophisticated, with a bohemian thread. See! We came up with words for each other and yet they mirror one another.
Would you say that you have similar style / taste, or is there something that makes it different?
We have very similar style and taste, but have adapted that style to our current two very different lifestyles.
And looking ahead, top 3 fall must haves?
We both ordered Attersee button-downs, Maria McManus Trousers, and Aime London corduroys for fall. These items are versatile staples for so many of our fall looks.
