One of Us: Dom Streater, Fashion Designer

My name is … Dom Streater. It’s short for Dominique. Growing up, I had myriad nicknames: Domo, Domino, Domino Brown Sugar, Dom. And Dom was the one that stuck.

I am a … fashion and textile designer.

My childhood home was at … 58th and Chestnut in West Philadelphia.

These days, I live in … Francisville. At least, I think that’s what it’s called. There are new names for these neighborhoods every day. But I’m near 15th and Poplar.

My most closely guarded beauty secret is … coconut oil. I use it all over. It’s like nature’s miracle.

I count among my heroes … my parents and Johnny Cash.

For breakfast, I usually have … orange juice, a cup of coffee and Cream of Wheat.

I drive a … Lexus IS Sport. It’s my baby: black on the outside and red on the inside. I won it on Project Runway.

One thing about Philadelphia that really pisses me off … is subway etiquette. People tend to be ruder on the subway than they are on the street, for some reason.

I graduated from … Moore College of Art & Design in 2010, and I went to Bodine High School for International Affairs in Northern Liberties, back in the days before it was called NoLibs.

My mother is always telling me … everything. What isn’t she always telling me? But she’s always telling me to call her. She wants to be in constant contact.

If I were mayor of Philadelphia, I would … fix the homeless problem. There is this idea that they don’t want to come out of homelessness, but a lot of times that’s not true.

The most beautiful spot in the city is … Penn’s Landing. I always go there to think. What a great open-air space.

One talent I wish I had is … singing. We go to Happy Rooster karaoke a lot.

On Saturday nights, you’ll find me … either at the movies — usually the Ritz East or the Bourse — or dancing at Silk City or the 700.

For those who wonder whether I’m single … I am most definitely not. I am very much engaged to a Ukrainian man. We haven’t picked a date, because I have a lot of culture, language and tradition that I need to get up to speed on.

I decided to stay in Philadelphia because … there’s no other place like it.

My fashion designs are best described as … never seen before.

My own fashion sensibility tends to be more … bohemian, Lenny Kravitz-ish. I buy most of my clothes at American Apparel or Free People.

If I’m going to have one drink, make it a … Moscow Mule.

My least favorite job was … working at the Philadelphia Zoo in the children’s petting zoo. There’s a lot of goat poop there.

The biggest fashion mistake most women make … is not being adventurous enough, but the biggest mistake most men make is being scared that they don’t look manly enough.

My three favorite musicians are … Jimi Hendrix, Radiohead and Björk. My last concert was Gogol Bordello and Man Man at the Electric Factory on New Year’s Eve. It was insane.

If I could change one thing about myself … I wouldn’t. I wouldn’t change anything.

Originally published as “One of Us: Dom Streater” in the April 2015 issue of Philadelphia magazine.