June Ambrose

Ideas of Order

June Ambrose, a legendary stylist, costume designer, creative director, CEO, and mother, shares her journey of creativity, identity, and cul

Key takeaways

• Creativity is born from scarcity and imagination, not material wealth.
• True creative power lies in storytelling, collaboration, and maintaining mutual respect with artists.

Main topics

• The evolution of June Ambrose from stylist to CEO and cultural architect
• Immigrant identity and its impact on creativity and home

Notable quotes

Only thing you're thinking about is the creativity. You're not thinking about, it's never about me.

Having less is probably the best gift you can give a child.

Conclusion

June Ambrose embodies a lifelong commitment to creativity as both personal

Transcript preview

Speaker 1 (0:00) Only thing you're thinking about is the creativity. You're not thinking about, it's never about me. I remove myself from it and I go into this zone of being disruptive and just being naughty. Speaker 2 (0:12) Welcome to Ideas of Order, a California Closets podcast about the true meaning of home. It's not just the spaces we live in, but the rituals, the memories, and even the quiet moments that really speak to who we are and how we move through the world. I'm Jeremiah Brent, and today I'm sitting down with someone whose work has shaped music, fashion, and culture for decades. The one and only Jude Ambrose. June is a stylist, a costume designer, creative director, CEO, author, and mother. But more than that, she's helped define how an entire generation shows up and expresses itself. From the early days of hip-hop to leading creative direction at global brands, her work has always been about transformation, identity, and the power of style to tell a story before we even say a word. June, I am so happy you're here. Thank you for doing this. Speaker 3 (1:08) How are you, love? I miss Speaker 2 (1:10) you. I'm good. Speaker 1 (1:11) I'm Speaker 2 (1:11) surviving. Speaker 1 (1:12) I'm hustling. You know the grind. Speaker 2 (1:14) You never stop. You know you're my Zodiac match. Are you Libra? No, but I heard that Saj was, you're my love match. Speaker 1 (1:22) Oh, yeah. Yep, yep, yep, yep, yep, yep. Yeah, Speaker 2 (1:24) because I can handle you're kind of crazy. Speaker 1 (1:26) Leave your husband. Come, just let's meet again. Speaker 2 (1:27) Listen, I'm open. You know, I'm ready. This Speaker 1 (1:30) is good podcasting. Speaker 2 (1:31) Yeah, exactly. This is our coming out. Speaker 1 (1:33) This is the clip that goes viral. What neighborhood are Speaker 2 (1:36) you in right now? Speaker 1 (1:37) I'm in Midtown. And you've Speaker 2 (1:38) been there for a while, right? Speaker 1 (1:40) Oh my God, 26 years, 27 years. Speaker 2 (1:43) Do you feel like it's changed a lot? I feel like I've changed a lot. We're going to get into that. Speaker 1 (1:47) Yeah, but not significant enough to where you're like, I need to go. I Speaker 2 (1:53) feel like you have really evolved so much from stylist to creative director to something I think even bigger than that. And I guess my first question for you would be, do you feel like... people have caught up to your evolution? Or are you still being kind of introduced through like an earlier version of yourself? Speaker 1 (2:12) You know, that is such a provocative question. And I cannot wait to answer because people who aren't caught up would be like, oh my God, June's like the biggest celebrity stylist. And I feel like such an imposter because I don't have that resume right now, the big celebrity stylist. I'm like, I'm not, I haven't worked in that capacity. consistently enough to claim that fame right now. And that's also like... Speaker 2 (2:35) Interesting. Speaker 1 (2:36) It's basically how I built my career, right? As a celebrity stylist, a costume designer. And people completely, I think, overlooked the costume design aspect of it. Speaker 3 (2:45) I Speaker 1 (2:45) think they were so caught up. I think that the worst stylist became so celebrated and so famous of a title that costume designers only did film. But whereas I looked at our music videos... through a costume designer's lens. I came from theater. I studied theater. That was the way I entered the business. That was my point of view. I was like, I'm not in work retail. I came from my corporate. So I always looked at it from a very brand building business perspective. And I think because I started my company in 1994, Creative Service Agency, and I represented like every style, like every assistant. came through me. They moved up in that corporate ladder from interning to an assistant to a stylist, and then we rep them as an agency. So I've always looked at myself as a CEO. I've always looked... The title was never just stylist because Speaker 3 (3:41) of the way Speaker 1 (3:41) I entered. And what I was responsible for was never just about putting clothes together. And I mean, like you, you have so many layers. You're not... can't just define you as, you know, a designer, an interior designer. Like that would be a disservice to your contribution. Thank Speaker 2 (4:00) you. In Speaker 1 (4:01) my opinion. So I always just say, you know, it just, let me introduce myself. That's so fascinating Speaker 2 (4:07) because I definitely, you know, you're so multifaceted and so layered with your creativity. And I always wonder like what part of your creativity feels the most unseen. And it sounds like that CEO. is the part that feels probably the most unseen, which is so annoying. Speaker 1 (4:25) You know, I recognize that you are in charge of your own narrative. And I only get frustrated when I allow people to not see me the way I see myself. Speaker 3 (4:38) And Speaker 1 (4:38) the only way I can course correct that is either not showing up to things that don't represent me in the way, you know, or... Immediately saying something without being rude, it's navigating, helping them to have the same level of respect they would have for someone who is running a fortune, you know, 500 or 100 company. Like the way I built my career was through that lens. And I have always demanded that respect, even collaborating with musicians and working in Black music. It was like I always came in like big hat, big glasses, boss lady. And as a creative, I've always said, let's collaborate. Always made, you know, made my subject, even when I had to drive the car fully, I always made them not feel like a passenger, but feel like they were also, you know, in a place of control. And I think that is the magic, right? I think that is the longevity, the sustainability of why I can still have relationships and still work with artists like a Jay-Z and like a Missy Elliott because there's this mutual understanding and respect for my contribution. Speaker 2 (5:47) That's a superpower, June. You know that better than anybody, but like being able to align with personalities like that and make them feel safe, but open to your creativity and your voice, like it's a real superpower. Speaker 1 (5:59) I think you can relate to that more than anyone because you're going into someone's home, right? Speaker 2 (6:02) And I think Speaker 1 (6:03) about someone's home is their safe place. When I think about an artist and that journey that they're going through, you know, before they put themselves out, you know, to the world, the consumer, to consume their creativity, to consume something they find to be so personal. I'm going inside of their home, Speaker 2 (6:19) their Speaker 1 (6:20) soul, their person. There's nothing more intimate than that. You know, it's like the womb was our children's first home as mothers, you know, you know, no matter how they come to be. And the thing is also like, I recognize that my children, I don't own them. I just delivered them. You know, wild. Speaker 2 (6:40) And Speaker 1 (6:41) that's a whole other conversation. But it reminds me of like, well, the whole idea of like birth and giving creativity. You birth new ideas every day. You birth and create. things every day. You understand what it's like to carry something and then having to turn it over to someone else and to create something and share it. That's what like motherhood is. Speaker 2 (7:03) I have to ask you though, you know, this person you are, this being of like born in creativity, I want to go back a little bit to kind of the beginning. I knew you, I know you grew up. in the Bronx. Yes. And a home that from what I understand required a lot of imagination. So when you think about that time now, what did creativity look like to you then growing up? Speaker 1 (7:29) You know, having less is probably the best gift you can give a child. Speaker 2 (7:34) I agree. As I grew up with literally nothing. So Speaker 1 (7:38) it's how you quantify wealth, right? It's what you find, what I find to be a value is not in something that's tangible, but there's something that's like, so it's like wifi is like godly. You can't see it, but you can feel it. Speaker 2 (7:54) And Speaker 1 (7:54) that's how I protect my creativity. That's how I felt safe in, in the home was because. my mother's single parent home. It was a one bedroom apartment. It was the three of us, my sister, my mother, and myself. But we were, my mom was the Statue of Liberty. As we, you know, I'm an immigrant. So I came to this country at a very early age, three years old. But my mom, when she came here, it was like we were basically starting over. So our family, you know, I said this on another podcast. I was like, people think like, you know, immigrants come here. They always talk about they come for a better life. But for some immigrants, they're leaving a home that they didn't necessarily want to leave. There are a lot of layers to the immigrant story. Speaker 3 (8:34) But Speaker 1 (8:34) mine was like every immigrant family member that came to America, they stayed with us in our one bedroom apartment. We came over one by one. Speaker 3 (8:41) And Speaker 1 (8:42) we carved out space for them. And I think a lot of who I am in terms of carving out space and making space and allowing people to feel safe while they find their ground. And as they came from like the example of my mother, you know, being so selfless. And understanding that you don't need a lot to give someone. Information, shared experiences, you know, an opportunity or a crack in the door for them to walk through. All of those things is how I was raised. And I think those things, those things are what I want to give my children. Yeah. Speaker 2