LLOYD DEGRANE FOR CHICAGO READER
T h e t a i l o r
Julia Needlman
the
PEOPLE issue
46 CHICAGO READER - NOVEMBER 10, 2022
Interview by KATIE PROUT Photos by Lloyd DeGrane
J ulia Needlman does nothing without intention. The dressmaker lives and works in the Polish Triangle two-flat she shares with cats Okuma and Diana (“the goddess, not the princess”), her kilt-wearing husband Hal (“my Viking”), who carved the wooden chair I sit in, and her nonagenarian Jewish parents (“My joke about God is I never wanted kids and he sent me two elderly teenagers”), who live in the apartment upstairs. And then, there are the brides: brides on their first marriage, brides on their third, queer brides, fat brides, brides who just discovered they are pregnant, brides who are in mourning for a loved one who won’t live to see their wedding, brides who never really thought of themselves as brides at all. Before I ever met Julia, I’d heard about her. One friend who took her wedding dress to her for alterations called Julia a fairy godmother. Another described her as a practical oracle. “You need to talk to her,” they told me, “trust us,” so I do. They all come to Julia’s front door buffeted
by profound upheaval. At first, I thought of her place as a port in that storm, but sitting at her table in a witchy black dress she made herself, Okuma happily crunching treats from a china bowl on top of it, Julia explained to me why her home and studio is not a refuge, but a terminus, a powerful portal for change. There’s an old tradition of door magic which lots of people don’t follow anymore. Doors and windows are magical in-between places. When you come in, you don’t have to go out the same way. It’s that simple. You can go out changed.
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hen people come in here, I want them to feel the possibility of new openings before they leave. They should feel secure about who they are as human beings, and more comfortable about all those choices that they’re making, because bridal is all about making choices and seeing yourself.
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