#sparkchamber 061322 — JP Michaels
We always say be who you are and trust how you got there, and #sparkchamber welcomes the personification of that sentiment today, Toronto-based conceptual stylist, JP Michaels.
A former Franciscan monk, middle-school French/vocal music teacher — with Drake as his first student! — and professional opera singer — an original cast member of the Canadian production of Phantom of the Opera in 1989 — JP turned fashion stylist, sharing his bold style and philosophical insights through his website, the Academy of Enlightenment. The Academy of Enlightenment is “an online community where the Faithfully Fashionable come to learn that without faith in yourself, you don’t have a chance to heaven, and without style you don’t have a chance in hell.”
“Reinvention of Self is a labor of love,” he says, and through his writing, teaching, and learning, JP has created an amazing world of conversation, heart, and enlightenment. He explores the transformative powers of dressing with intention, many recounted in published excerpts from his Memoirs, Died and Gone to Fashion: Surviving a period of unwellness one outfit at a time.
JP champions that “styling is all about reaching inwardly to express outwardly.” He offers his expertise to clients of all kinds: celebrity [when you are who you are], executive [when you command the room], personal [when you want to reflect how you feel], for travel [when you’ve got to go!] and for production [when the show must go on!], as well as being a style guide [when you need style], showing how to apply style to your life … and vice versa.
This handy compendium of links to videos and written works makes it easy to learn more.
1.] Where do ideas come from?
My brand recognizes styling as being a reaching inwardly to express outwardly. Cannabis is my tool of preferred choice to access the dynamic between those two concepts of expression “inwardly and outwardly.” Cannabis gives permission to my brain to access my heart. Weed is quite simply an extension of my creativity and self-expression. Through a heightened state of self-possession and awareness delivered to me always of the Indica kind, my mind creates without malice or judgement of my own thoughts.
2.] What is the itch you are scratching?
The dialogue between my brain and my heart is discernment in action. When my brain knows what my heart feels is the moment for action. This is Enlightenment. In a very real and practical way, I have styled a lifestyle that intentionally includes cannabis as an extension of my brand of Conceptual Styling. Pot is a life hack for me when I am called upon to be authentically candid and insightful about my life and my observations of the lives of others. My heightened sense of instinctive candor serves the authenticity of the client unquestionably.
3.] Early bird or night owl? Tortoise or hare?
I am both early bird and night owl in that my mornings are spent writing and responding to social media platforms. My afternoons are spent walking about the city creating content, and evenings are spent either quietly at home or attending events now that the world is opening up. I retire around 11pm and sleep till about 4am for European market, work from about 4 to 6 and fall back to sleep until about 9:30 or 10:00 to begin the process over again.
4.] How do you know when you are done?
The answer to that question is, I am never done because the creative process is never done.