In celebration of Mother’s Day, Althea chats with mother-daughter duo Ginny Bazis and Sasha Patil. Ginny and Sasha share memories, favorite style moments, and laugh together about their only fashion-related fight. Find out which Grammar piece Sasha wanted to “steal” from her mom and other fun stories in the following interview:

Althea:What do you admire about your mother’s or daughter's style?

Sasha:Wow, these questions are going to be good. I bet I’ll cry at some point during this. My mom has a really great eye for art because that was her background, so she likes some of these “witchy” things that are unique. I'll see something in a store and think “Oh my mom would wear that.” Her style is “witchy” and kind of "Stevie Nicks," which I really like. There's also a lot of super nice artsy qualities to her style, too.

Ginny:Wow, Sasha’s style. She’s always put together and is certain about what she likes. She’ll look at something and be like, “That's what I want.” She’s very clear about it, even for a variety of styles. She's gotten a lot more casual since quarantine.

Althea:Haven’t we all. [laughs]

Ginny:Yeah, I know, but she still pulls it together and looks put together. She’s a little bit anti-athleisure—she’s not an athleisure kind of person. She’s just always put together and sleek.

Althea:Can you think of an outfit from your past that you loved, or that you really enjoyed wearing?

Ginny:You know, I got really thin at one point and it was glorious. This was long before Sasha was ever thought of [laughs], and I remember I had this really dark green clingy top and this pair of black jeans that were perfect. I just felt so good in that outfit. I remember that it was very plain and very sleek. Sasha would have worn that kind of thing. That was a very short period of my life, but I remember feeling wonderful.

Sasha:I have to say my iconic red coat is my favorite piece. The thing I like most about it is that my mom was with me when I saw it. We walked into, I think it was Alice and Olivia, and I was like, “If I put that on, it's going to have to be mine. I know it.”

Ginny:See! She always knows.

Sasha:And I knew within two seconds. I put it on and thought “Oh boy this needs to happen.” So we got it. It's lightweight and I can only wear it one to two weeks out of the year when it's 60 to 65 degrees. I like to wear it with a t-shirt and jeans to elevate a simple outfit with this huge statement piece. I can pair it with any neutrals and it makes it look like I'm a fashion forward person that's going to Fashion Week even though I'm literally just wearing a t-shirt, jeans, and sneakers.

Althea:I like that both of your stories were about pieces that just make you feel really good. I think that's so important.

Ginny:Absolutely.

Sasha:It's the most important thing. I mean, isn't that the whole point of fashion—to put something on that makes you feel good and then you go out and live your life? A good outfit makes you feel better—you're just confident and loving everything.

Ginny:I feel that with my Grammar shirt and my dress, too. What’s the name of the dress? I forgot.

Althea:The Complement.

Ginny:Complement—yes, and I did get a lot of compliments last time I wore it. [laughs]

Sasha:I remember seeing it and saying, “My mom needs that.” I knew she would wear it all the time.

Ginny:I like that you can dress it up and dress it down. It's one of those things you can throw on with a pair of heels and a nice necklace and it becomes a nice “dress-up” dress.

Althea:Yeah, totally. I agree.

Ginny:Of course you agree! [laughs] I’m wearing my shirt! Sasha always steals it—it looks like a dress on her.

Sasha:I love it! I want to buy myself one.

AltheaYeah, it's so cute on you as a dress. How did you come to steal it from your mom?

Ginny:She’s not allowed to take it out of the house. [laughs]

Sasha:It’s not allowed to leave my mom's house, but when I was home for quarantine I had to do my thesis presentation over Zoom, and when I packed to go home I only brought workout clothes and my Maid of Honor dress, so I needed something professional. I ended up stealing my mom's Adjective Tunic and now it's my favorite.

Althea:Finish this sentence: “My favorite outfit makes me feel...”

Ginny:It's a feeling—I can't even express it. A good outfit makes me feel more confident, more in control of my life. You can walk into a room and not have to worry about the clothes. The clothes are irrelevant—you're just walking in as you. That's what it feels like.

Sasha:Yeah, I'd say confident. I'd say a good outfit makes you feel like yourself. I like to feel like I can walk into a room with a killer outfit and know I'm just going to conquer the room. With certain outfits, you can just walk in and conquer the room.

Ginny:Sasha likes to conquer rooms. [laughs]

Sasha:That's not inaccurate. It depends on the occasion and it depends on the outfit but a good outfit gives me confidence and makes me feel like myself.

Althea:Yeah, you've got some badassery in you. [laughs]

Sasha:Thanks!

Althea:Ginny, I really agree with what you said about what a good outfit feels like. That's what I'm going for with everything that I make, so I really love what you said.

Ginny:Thank you.

Althea:Thank you! Alright, it's time for the tears. What about your relationship are you grateful for?

Sasha:Why did you do this to me? You're going to expose me like this? Mom, do you want to go first or should I go first?

Ginny:You know, I was really really lucky to have Sasha as a kid, because she's got the best of me and the best of her dad. Throw in some badassery...

Sasha:And mix it around with some spices...[laughs]

Ginny:...and there's so much of her that is just so unique. She’s always been a pretty self contained, self sufficient kind of person, but also a very loving and really great human being.

Sasha:Thanks mom.

Ginny:She’s always had really good style, too. When she was three, she would pick out her clothes and do a better job than I had. She had some black boots with stack heels—you couldn't get her out of those things. She also had this little plaid skirt and this pink shirt—that’s kind of how her style got started.

Sasha:Oh my gosh. [laughs]

Althea:If you have a picture of that, I would really, really like to see it.

Sasha:Oh my gosh. [laughs]

Althea:Sasha, what about your relationship with your mom are you grateful for?

Sasha:I'm about to start crying. I don't like to talk about it because I get very emotional, but my mom is my best friend. I call my mom for everything. There's certain times when I'll call her a couple times a day and she doesn't want to talk to me but it's okay. [laughs] I also got very lucky that my mom is a therapist—being raised by a therapist is great because you know she'll listen and not put any judgments on me. She's never forced me to be in a mold; I could always just be whoever I wanted to be and she was very content with it and never super restrictive. We have a very close relationship. We talk about everything and we watch movies and hang out and do all kinds of things together. I'm so glad and grateful that we have a very tight knit relationship.

Althea:Ginny, as Sasha was growing up, how did you support her style discovery?

Ginny:We only ever really had one fight about clothes.

Sasha:Oh yeah, I remember. She was right.

Ginny:I was? Wow.

Sasha:Yeah, you were right.

Ginny:If it had been a different color it would have worked, but Sasha was wearing this bralette and sweater that was kind of falling off. The bralette was a light gray thing so it looked like underwear under a sweater that was falling off. If it had been, you know, hot pink or turquoise it might have worked, but no. I made her go home and change. Other than that she’s never looked inappropriate. I remember—was it the seventh grade or eighth grade dance?—all of the girls wanted to wear what you’d expect. They're just getting to that age when they wanted to wear revealing spaghetti straps and short-slitted whatever, but Sasha looked better than all of them. She had this sleeveless, leather dress...

Sasha:Oh yeah. That was a good dress.

Ginny:...and these black tights, and these high—what were they?

Sasha:They were platforms.

Ginny:eah, and she looked really edgy and badass, but very modest. It was an amazing look that she came up with. That one fight about the bralette was the only fight we ever had I think.

Sasha:Yeah, that I can remember. But, you were right about it. That top was not cute.[laughs]

Althea:So Ginny, basically you supported Sasha’s style by letting her do whatever she wanted?

Ginny:Yea, pretty much.

Althea:Well it sounds like Sasha had a good sense of style from the beginning, so you didn't have to really worry about it.

Ginny:No, I never had to worry. In fact, we used to travel a lot and she packed for herself from age six or seven. I didn't have to worry about it at all.

Sasha:Well that was only because there was one trip where my mom packed for me, and she forgot my underwear. [laughs] So, after that I never let anyone pack for me again.

Ginny:That's true. I did. No, actually I didn't. We found it at the end of the trip. [laughs]

Sasha:Yeah it was tucked away in a little pocket or something. [laughs]

Althea:Sasha, what is some advice that your mom gave you that you still remember or find helpful, be that style advice or otherwise?

Sasha:That's hard because she gives me advice daily.

Ginny:[laughs] Don’t wear a gray bralette under a sweater that is falling off.

Sasha:Yeah, wear a neon pink bralette. [laughs] That's a really tough question because I call my mom all the time for advice about everything. Style wise, she's encouraged me to accept that if you see it and you love it and you know you're going to have it forever, just get it because you're going to regret it if you don’t. That's something that my mom realized before I did with my own style. She never really gave me advice about it because I think she just kind of let me run free and explore the “be creative” aspect of fashion. As far as life advice goes, I think she tells me not to worry so much about things.

Ginny:Yeah, just chill out! [laughs]

Sasha:She’ll say “You're working too hard and you're really stressed. You're stressing yourself out for no reason. It's not your responsibility to fix the whole world.” That's something I try to remember often. Sometimes I'll get on the phone and I'll sound less stressed and she’ll say “Oh you sound less stressed, are you not worrying so much?” So yeah, that happens a lot.

AltheaThat's awesome. I love that advice. I need that advice. I definitely needed it when I was younger. You do have to pick your battles—what you really care about.

Ginny:Yes, just trusting yourself. I guess that was one of the things with Sasha and her style: when I saw from a very young age that she knew what she wanted, and what she wanted was appropriate to her age and situation, I thought “why argue?” So much about life and style is about trusting yourself on what's right for you. Okay, that was my “therapist voice.” [laughs]

Althea:That’s perfect. I love it. How will you be celebrating Mother’s Day?

Sasha:I already have everything planned.

Ginny:Sasha is great at making plans. She's got reservations.

Sasha:Jen, who's basically like my sister, is getting married soon and I’m her Maid of Honor. We’re having a bachelorette party on Saturday and mom is coming, so we'll have a girls night. Jen usually spends Mother's Day with us, so the next morning we're all going to mom’s favorite restaurant for brunch.

Althea:That sounds lovely! I hope you have a wonderful Mother’s Day together. Thank you both so much for sharing your stories with me.