Public eye

Division Street and Damen Avenue

Please tell me you dress in matching animal prints all the time.
It’s the first time. This is my five-week-old niece, Zoe, and this is her first visit to Chicago from Madison, Wisconsin. When she got here, she was wearing this adorable little leopard-print outfit, so I said, “Oh, I’m going to put my leopard jacket on, so I can coordinate with her.”

And it was obviously a success.
We’ve already talked about doing it again. We have black velvet outfits that we can coordinate, some red velvet for Christmas. Grandma is going to get into it, too—my mother. We told her about it and she’s like, “I’m going to wear my leopard vest next time we get together.” It’ll be a family affair.

Are you a leopard-print fanatic?
I always have been. I can’t get over it. I have a whole room full of vintage clothes, and probably one of every item of clothing I have is leopard print.

Even socks?
Even socks.

Any funny Halloween memories?
One year, my friend dressed up as a fat ballerina. She wore hosiery stuffed with tons and tons of skin-colored foam. Then she blacked out her teeth and ratted her hair. It looked really real. I went as a dead goth girl. I ratted my hair—used a comb to make it stick straight up—so much that it took me days to get it out. It almost destroyed my entire head of hair. We didn’t meet too many guys that year.