Fashion meets fabulous in the East Village

Samantha Shorey / Columnist / The USD Vista

Anyone who believes the saying “slow and steady wins the race” has never met Miranda Snyder. She is the 29 year old owner of Un|steady, a street-wear oriented boutique in the East Village. And she just might be the coolest girl in San Diego.

Now, I realize that phrase is rather trite and over-gendered but after some personal meetings with her, a half blonde, half brunette entrepreneur, I realized that it’s the only phrase that fits her properly. She is a self-described “emotionally unavailable mean girl,” but puts any Lindsay Lohan plastic in a whole separate category.

Snyder, who has been sewing since she was eight has no formal fashion training outside of a few classes at Mesa Community College. She is a self-made owner, cashier, designer; a one woman show. A former accountant, she left fiscal figures for the fashion business.

She bought Un|steady from a friend three months ago and is the store’s only employee. But I assure you, Un|steady is never a lonely place. The boutique sees a steady stream of loyal customers that know her by first name. It also carries many hard to find small brands that are popular in Japan and New York such as Mishka, 10deep and denim-cult; as well as big names such as CheapMonday and Nudies. It’s a favorite of hipsters, skaters, sneaker-heads, bike riders, fans of flannel and the generally fabulous and funky.

During my short interview, I watched her give fashion advice, work on her website, chat with me and manage a parade of customers. All of whom, by the way, were men. Un|steady carries men’s and women’s clothes, and the crowd is motivation alone to make me want to quit my day job. Snyder says her demographic consists of about 80 percent 25 to 35-year-old men, many of them asian and all of them with disposable income. The place is crawling with guys who wear my size pants, listen to good music and like to party. Cha-ching!

At Un|steady, the line between friend and customer is as shaky as the store name and that’s a good thing. Snyder’s hands on attitude with the customers sets Un|steady apart in the boutique business. She offers on-site alterations and she performs them herself. Just one more aspect of her daily owner routine that makes Un|steady a Mecca for the style-savy people with swagger.

Although that swagger may be partly due to a limp. In my 40 minute interview, I watched two of Snyder’s customer-friends hobble on in. The first had been hit by a car while riding his bike, making the fact that I chose that as my Halloween costume seem wildly inappropriate. The second individual, a guy named Cesar, had been dropped so hard in a fight that he ended up with his foot by his ear and that’s not an exaggeration. They even pulled up the video on YouTube and showed me. The interview just kept getting better.

Somewhere amidst the footage deserving of MTV’s “Scarred” and stock-checks, Snyder explains the roll of denim on her counter, attributing it to her latest project: making her own jeans. Being unique is Snyder’s raison d’etre.

“People are so busy following each other. But I think, ‘what can I do that hasn’t been done?’”

Snyder has an eye for what’s next and what’s fresh. Un|steady has been called a “brand incubator” for small companies that go big. Her merchandise selection is well-researched and fairly price pointed. She has an eye that results from a combination of natural style, will and hard work. “Do you think it’s easy to fight our way through a war of battling bedazzled trucker hats? Trucker hats that glow in the dark and say things such as ‘yo mama’” Snyder writes in the blog on Un|Steady’s website.

“We did it all for YOU. I know I’m a total romance. You wanna hook up or somethin’? Sorry. I’m taken. Taken by the streets of East Village.”

But that doesn’t mean we can’t be friends or customers; which are usually the same thing at Un|steady, and that makes all the difference.