EVERYDAY ESSENTIALS
Susanna Howe is a photographer living in New York City.
In what ways have you become the woman you've always wanted to be? How has your idea of that woman changed over time?
I really never had much of a vision for the kind of woman I wanted to be. I’ve always been really attracted to people who are obsessed with their thing, yet I’ve always instinctively tried to have balance in my life ... that’s my conflict.
If you could pick any mentor any time who would it be?
Cecil Beaton, Fairfield Porter…the Dalai Llama?
What books are on your nightstand?
The stack from the bottom up: Louise Dahl Wolf’s scrapbook, Women in Clothes, The Tools by Phil Stutz, DV, I Don’t Believe in Atheists by Chris Hedges, A Time to Be Born by Dawn Powell, David Bowie in the Seventies, Material Witness, Men and Style by David Coggins, Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay by Elena Ferrante
What have you changed or done in your life that helps you to thrive?
Honestly, I think the worst moments always breed the most thriving, and while they always seem to “happen to me,” it’s true that I probably make them happen without realizing. I could count on one hand the upsets in my life that begot most of the thriving I’ve enjoyed. If life is feeling sucky, I try to lean in to the scary thing to get to the thriving part.
PHOTO BY SUSANNA HOWE
Susanna is wearing the Vistas Lurex Dress that can be found at The Bay.