-Ex Boyfriends are good for business. Skyfish owners, Angel C. Garofalo and Lauren C. Pratt, are changing the world one break up at a time."It's all about empowering women.You can sit in your room and cry over a break up or you can do something about. We chose to do something about it.... make money off it!!!!!"
Skyfish, and the boyfriend bathing suits, is a brand specializing in the design, manufacture & retail of high-end luxury women’s swimwear and accessories. Each one of the bathing suit designs is named after a type of fish that can also be used to describe a type of guy. For example there is the “ KILLER SHARK” this is the guy that eats you alive (literally?). Another one is the “MEGAMOUTH” - this is the guy that just won’t shut up. He is my worst nightmare.
Lauren and Angel are two girls that you can’t help but love. They look alike, they sound alike, and they are as ambitious as the come. They work day jobs (when one is working the day job, the other is working the store) and then every other waking hour is dedicated to Skyfish. When you visit their store, Angel will proudly tell you that she laid every single tile on the floor. Late at night, the girls would get a bottle of wine and paint the walls, set up the dressing room, paint the signage, and everything else under the sun that is needed to get the store running.
“The thing that keeps us going is we have this fierce feeling for success.” –Lauren
“We’ve worked really hard and we want it to pay off.” –Angel
Why the name Skyfish? “I lost my father and was having a really hard time dealing with it. Shortly after my family went on a trip to Aruba where my parents had retired. I was snorkeling and floating in the water. The sun was above me and the water beneath…it made me feel like a Skyfish…. floating and flying simultaneously. It was the most relaxing and tranquil feeling I felt since his death. I remember wanting to come back to this place. That’s the goal in life. That feeling.” – Angel
Angel is not the only one that has had to deal with the trauma of death. The day before my meeting with them, Lauren was on the subway back from the airport and a 17 year old girl gets up, runs crying, opens up the subway door and tries killing herself by jumping on the tracks. Lauren jumped up, grabbed her arms, and pulled her as hard as she could until someone else could assist. Pratt said, “What upset me the most was how jaded people in NYC are. Everyone just sat there and looked.”
Skyfish Girls save lives.
Wardrobe Wire: What advice can you give to emerging designers?
Skyfish Girls: Don’t give up, when you’re really feeling energized make sure you put the energy in the right thing. Keep your energy focused. Also, have another job that will somehow benefit your baby. Be out in the industry at night and network.
Wardrobe Wire: What type of person do you picture wearing your bathing suit?
Skyfish Girls: Sophisticated, creative, artistic, and appreciative of fashion.
Wardrobe Wire: Any last comments?
Skyfish Girls: Eating fish will make you live longer, but wearing Skyfish will make you look younger.
I wasn’t feeling well and my chi was low the day I met with these two young ladies. When I got in their store and sat with them their energy sunk into me and I felt alive again. You can’t help but get a high from their excitement. Life is about winning and losing. Whether it is as extreme as the loss of a father or as frustrating as the loss of a boyfriend… just think of that “Skyfish” feeling that Angel felt in Aruba. On a wall outside my hotel room someone spray-painted, “ you’ll lose and you’ll lose and then you’ll win”. Wardrobe Wire likes to see ambitious and kind people like Lauren and Angel WIN.
Moral of the story: What’s the best gift for the friend that just got dumped? A boyfriend swimsuit by Skyfish! Turn heartache into EAT YOUR HEART OUT, Sucka.
- Paige Rolfe
P.S. My favorite one is the Sergeant Major (see gallery) you can wear it about six different ways. I can so see myself wearing it on a yacht somewhere fancy, with a hat, a hot man, a glass of champagne, and a boyfriend bag nearby in case the hot man gets annoying and I need to smack him with it and then dump him.
Visit their store: 176 Rivington St. New York, NY. 10002.
