Eviama Life Spa Moves Locations and Becomes More Beautiful: A Q&A with Founder Penny Ordway
Photos c/o PW’s J.R. Blackwell.
Sometimes it’s initimdating for dudes to get something waxed. For ladies, too, I’m sure. And while males may not be brave enough to get anything waxed downtown (ya know, beneath the waist), let me assure you, gentlemen, there is no shame spending a little money to keep your body hair game tight. Back hair is rarely sexy; that’s a pretty confident statement. Now, hold up: There is nothing particularly wrong with a back sweater, and hopefully there are plenty of loving men and women out there who love running their hands through your back pelt, but maybe you want to win them over first before you let your winter coat grow out? Just an idea.
Eviama’s got to be one of the most pleasant, peaceful and easy spaces in Center City to get your body and body hair taken care of properly. With a move to a stunning second floor space at 109 S. 13th Street (between Sansom and Chestnut), they just stepped up their game and poised themselves to be the go-to for all kinds of females and males.
We caught up with Penny Ordway, its founder-owner and the wise and green proprietor of a jaw-dropping new space in Midtown Village via email:
PW: Congrats on the new space! Are you excited about it?
Ordway: Yes! I love the natural light and the garden and love the fact that I could create a healing space as I envisioned; it gives my staff and my clients new inspiration. I’m really excited!
How long were you at the old space (on 16th between Spruce and Locust), and how would you say the business has grown since it began? Do you see the business staying on 13th Street indefinitely?
We first opened 11 years ago. The menu has expanded and so has our pool of talent. More and more people discover us everyday, and now nearly everyone knows what we’re about when we say we’re a green, holistic, sustainable business. How wonderful that these ideas are more mainstream now! Frankly, I made a big financial commitment, so we want to be here a long time to benefit from the investment. So far, clients are telling us the move to this very happening neighborhood has added value. The contrast from bustling street to serene urban oasis is so inviting.
Can you tell us a little more about yourself? How long has Philadelphia been your home, and when did your first impulse for holistic well-being and green consciousness hit you?
Well, I haven’t eaten meat in 39 years or dairy in 19. I love jumping into a river, a pond or an ocean whenever I can. I’m grateful that everyday I, we, get to do transformative work and make people happy. I’ve been in Philadelphia for decades! I received a scholarship to Temple University, and the bribe stuck. As long as I can remember, nature has been a supportive force in my life, part of who I am. The wisdom so abundant in nature is part of us—a good thing to preserve and cultivate.
Has there been one service or specialty that Eviama’s seen as a staple?
Just one? Dr. Hauschka Skincare facials are a must. And too many massage services get top billing: Ashiatsu Oriental Bar Therapy (your backs and legs will thank you), Mothers-In-Waiting Prenatal Massage Best of Philly), Houdini JINI (neck jaw shoulders unchained) and the Arvigo Techniques of Maya Abdominal Therapy (will balance the gut and improve fertility). We have always had a rockin’ biodynamic and organic offering. But there are new menu items being introduced in June, and they will meet our green standards. Stay tuned!
Can you say a few words about your staff? How do you find them and keep them?
Often a staff member will recommend someone they have trained with—this is a great big win-win. You know we all work on each other, and we want the best for ourselves, and we want all the clients to have a wonderful experience. To keep our ace crew, we’ve really made our schedule to fit the therapists’ life. I love my staff!
Indochino, the Custom Menswear Traveling Tailor Pop-Up, Visits Walnut Street Until May 27th
Hurry up! You have until May 27th to go get yourself measured and consulted by in-person stylists at Indochino’s pop-up traveling tailors at 1518 Walnut Street, and it’s a rare opportunity go get onto the bandwagon of an exploding company. Hot on the heels of SuitSupply’s opening at 16th and Locust, apparently May is Suit Month in Philadelphia. And slim, tailored, well-fitting suits, too. With suits that start at $379, Indochino may actually be a more affordable option than the high-end European brand’s fifth domestic permanent retail space.
But the thing about Indochino is that it’s not a brick-and-mortar kind of business. In fact, you don’t even really need to visit the pop-up tailor space to get on the slim suiting train, but you do need to create a profile and have a skilled friend versed in taking suit and shirt measurements (if you can’t do it yourself). Once you get yourself a profile set up, then you can start playing and ordering. The customizing options are endless. And with the purchase of a suit, you get a free button-down. You can start high and get a sickening suit with a customized button-down for under $600. You choose the collar, the trim, the button placard, the buttons at the wrist, and you can even opt to embroider some initials on the pocket or cuff.
The Vancouver-born company’s exploded in recent years and gotten some prime press. They’ve figured out a good model, especially with repeat customers, who, once they’ve already ordered and been happy with suiting purchases, keep coming back for more. Bonus: They guarantee the fit in a pretty cool way. Don’t like how the suit feels after it’s shipped? They’ll give you $75 to take to a local tailor of your choosing. And they’ve got way more than suits: solid outerwear, ties and bowties, belts, pocket squares, vests, chinos and, of course, just cool blazers. Even these price points are hella low: Ties hover around $50, chinos under a $100, belts for $80, a trench for $300.
So the pop-up on Walnut isn’t exactly a retail experience in a traditional sense. It’s mostly a way for you to get a profile set up with tailor professionals who’ll help you define the style you’re looking for, and then put your hands on fabrics, check out shirt patterns, eye up ties, collar styles, and peep the way mannequins are styled.
A suit and shirt for $379 is a steal, especially one that’s custom-tailored and comes with a fitted shirt. Why would anyone bother with a boxy, “classic” suit from Macy’s, Jos. A Bank or Men’s Wearhouse that’s probably even pricier, when you can get hooked into a system that’ll clearly be the future? This is a company that figured out how to store every customer’s exact dimensions and manufacture exact fits, all online—and at a reasonable cost. Pretty sweet.
HOURS: Monday through Friday, 8am to 8pm; Saturday, 9am to 7pm; Sunday, 11am to 7pm. RSVP at indochino.com/Philadelphia or just walk in.
Suit Supply Has Arrived In Rittenhouse, Philly Dandies Have A New Headquarters
Suit Supply just landed in Philadelphia on the corner of Locust and 16th, and dandies with a healthy income should be totally pumped. The Amsterdam-born brand is now 13 years old with 44 locations internationally, but only five in the U. S. of A: Atlanta, Chicago, D.C., SoHo and now Philly. At the grand opening, dandies were everywhere. SuitSupply (they like to play with capitalization and title spacing) definitely skews preppy and/or Ivy League. They encourage suiting mixed with casual wear and sell everything from wingtips and desert boots to tuxedoes and weekend bags. They definitely want dudes to walk in and be able to walk out with an entire outfit (not sure about underwear, though) and at a modest to high-end pricing scale. The store manager I spoke to explained that his whole outfit costs about $700. And the handsome staff should hopefully style and size you right.
Adding significantly to the menswear shopping situation in Center City, SuitSupply will provide a lot of style to our city’s fairly grim (for dudes, at least) fashion sense. With the departure of Club Monaco’s men’s section, we don’t have a lot of places to pick up some high-end product that can be worn for years and in a ton of different situations. We’ve got Barney’s, naturally, and that’s great and all, but you’re probably looking at a much steeper price tag on a designer suit. And while we’d love to be able to afford a Philip Lim or Theory suit, it’ll probably be a little bit of a moment in time; a suit you’ll take out in 10 years and think I can’t wear this anymore. While we’ve got a nice handful of boutiques and shops that nail casual and stylish staples (like Ps & Qs and Sugarcube), SuitSupply’s a great international brand for a little more luxe. And until we get a rumored Uniglo, the more international fashion we can get in Center City, the better.
The two-floor story also prominently features an on-site tailor. There’s a fee associated with each specific service, but, depending on volume and timing, they want you to get your suit tailored while you shop. That being said, the silhouette of the SuitSupply man is slim. The fit of these clothes is a modern, fairly skinny cut — not so sure how the big boys’ll do in this store. The suit room, downstairs, is wild, and blazers line the wall, with sizing from 30s to 50s. But beyond Macy’s and heading out to King of Prussia, men have a great new option for event suiting. Meaning, you need an interview suit? A wedding or graduation suit? You can start your search with $500 in Center City and probably find a great, quality, well-constructed suit that’ll cover you—maybe for the rest of your life.
Shop to Support The Friends of 4th Street This Wednesday
As you probably recall, back on April 6, a devastating fire broke out at 4th and Fitzwater streets along Fabric Row, destroying two businesses, leaving 17 people homeless and killing Fire Captain Michael Goodwin.
Almost immediately, the community rallied together to create the Friends of 4th Street Fire Relief Fund, which has already raised nearly $7,000 to benefit those directly affected by the blaze.
To edge them closer to their $15,000 goal, this Wednesday, over 60 sponsoring businesses throughout the South Street/Headhouse and Queen Village neighborhoods, along with a few in Old City and NoLibs, will be taking part in a special, daylong benefit event, donating 10-20 percent of their sales to the fund as well as proceeds from raffles and cover charges.
The long list of participating merchants include American Mortals Hair Salon, Philly AIDS Thrift, Sweet Box, Urban Princess Boutique, Paper Moon, Old City Tattoo, Pet Snobs Boutique, Royal Tavern, P.O.P.E, and BUS STOP Boutique.
After you shop, eat, get your hair did and/or get a new tatty, you can also enjoy some live entertainment for a good cause:
South Street Magic – Super awesome magic show starring Dan Hauss and Captain Swirly. (7pm, $10. 519 S. Fourth St.)
Tattooed Mom’s – DJ Foxx Boogie, $3 dollar burgers and veggie burgers, $2 dollar Narragansett tall boys, half priced drafts from 10-11pm, and tons of raffle prizes, including art donated by Qcknd, Harlequinade, Kid Hazo, Linx, and Joe Boruchow. (8-11pm, Free. 530 South St.)
DOBBS – Raffle prizes all night long and live music from Slo N’ Shakey, The Sideshow Prophets and Atomic Sky. (8pm-1am, $5. 304 South St.)
If you can’t make it out on Wednesday, be sure to make your way over to Fourth Street for their Fourth Friday events.
2nd Annual East Coast Beard & Mustache Competition Returns This Saturday
Photo: Brad Kingett
Walking into an Urban Outfitters, it’s easy to forget that burly beards and quirky staches weren’t always hipster status symbols. Rather, they were just things men grew on their faces for extra warmth in the winter months and to impress potential mates as well as their lesser testosterone-producing friends.
Regardless of a man’s reason for growing them, it’s more important that we not forget the artistry that goes into maintaining luxuriant, attractive or simply humorous facial hair.
Photo: Brad Kingett
Hosted by The Philadelphia Beard & Mustache Club, this annual event will once again draw competitors from national and international competitive bearding circuits, showcasing some of the most creative crumb catchers and lady ticklers around. A panel of judges will be awarding contestants in nearly 20 different categories including, styled and natural mustaches, goatees, chops and various full beards.
New this year is the “WTF Beard” category, awarding dudes who have tried to hop on the bearding bandwagon, but failed miserably and “Kids Fake Beard,” which is totally self-explanatory and sure to be totally adorable.
Even ladies have a chance to join in on all the fun, competing for the most creative and realistic fake beards and staches. Meanwhile, guests will enjoy the live “yawlternitive” tunes of three-piece band, Mr. Fuzzy and the Barbarian.
On Friday, competitors and non-competitors alike are welcome to join PBMC as they acclimate out-of-towners to the “City of Bearderly Love” with a Cheesesteak Crawl, immediately followed by a pre-party at their official/unofficial headquarters, Tattooed Mom on South Street.
Sat/30. 8pm. $16. TLA, 334 South St. 215.922.1011.
Go See Martha Graham Cracker on Thursday Night At L’Etage
At this point, Martha needs very little introduction. She’s one of the most talented and entertaining humans in Philadelphia. When not busy with making Pig Iron Theatre one of the most dynamic and successful theatre companies in the city, Dito van Reigersberg is getting his groove on in pumps and typically a dress or something that bears his hairy chest. With near clownish makeup and minimal wig game, Dito becomes Martha but in his performance of Martha Graham Cracker, it’s way, way beyond tits and ass. Martha’s a lady who likes to sing and vamp. Simple as that. And frankly, Martha can sing like Steven Tyler mixed with Robert Plant plus, ya know, Cher or Carly Simon or Karen Carpenter.
Martha is a presence. She towers over most men but with a wistful, innocence that says ‘I’m just here to sing a few songs and entertain’ and then just as quickly, ‘Will you buy me a drink?’ She’ll bat her long, fake lashes and then rip into a jazzy, lounge version of a pop standard from ANY era. That’s one of the best things about her; she knows good tunes. Ms. Cracker isn’t pop-obsessed and isn’t a drag queen (well, kind of). You won’t hear much Britney or Azealia at her shows, but you’ll almost certainly hear some Liza, Judy or a show tune. Whereas most drag queens vogue and pose and lip-sync, Dito flirts, enchants, makes you laugh your ass off and then belts out a montage of perfectly-worked over lounge-friendly classics.
With a band behind her at the upstairs lounge of L’Etage, she’s been bewitching straight and gay and bi and every shade of skin color forever now and it’s no secret. Better get there right when the doors open and save a good seat.
Rye Rye Is Coming To The Gayborhood
When Emily and Javas said they had a big secret star lined up for their big Sunday Teamwerq on St. Patrick’s Day, I didn’t think it was going to be this awesome. Sundays, here and there, Emily Doofnoggle and Javas Ganguly (also of Cuntafit Currency fame) have been throwing a party upstairs at Woody’s. Javas goes by DJ J++ and has been picking up steam lately with a regular git at Josh Schonewolf’s regular Wednesday night at Tabu called Ratchet. He spins a pretty regularly excellent collection of jams from the late ’90s and early 2000s that’re exclusively R&B and hip-hop flavored. New music’s great and we love that at the club every once in a while, but now that it’s 2013 and ‘Throwback’ means 10-15 years ago, these throwback moments are worth living for. Aaliyah’s Javas’ Queen and she informs all; her sultry playfulness, evidenced by the dichotomy between a track like “Rock the Boat” versus a slower, sexier number like “4 Page Letter” or “If Your Girl Only Knew,” is at the essence of J++’s set. Their party’s one of my favorites at the moment and it’s mostly because of the music that gets spun. There’s nothing more fun to dance to than old-school hip-hop and R&B.
So St. Patrick’s Day just happens to fall on a Teamwerq night and Em and Javas are going buck in the big room upstairs and throwing a cover-admission event. But you’ll happily dish out $7 because tonight you get to see Rye Rye in the FLESH. YES! The Baltimore lil’ rapper and dancefloor monster’s agreed to visit our gayborhood. I cannot wait to see her shake that shit to the ground (and bring it back up). Her big official major label debut, Go! Pop! Bang! was one of the best of its kind in 2012. The M.I.A.-mentored and sponsored B girl has quick and fast flow and her famous friend got her teamed up with all the right producers for bangin’ tracks like “Sunshine,” “Boom Boom” and “DNA.”
Double Duchess was one of the last amazing performances that I captured upstairs and by surprise. But I don’t even know what to think about how Rye Rye’ll turn it out. What will she wear? What songs will she do? How she gonna dance!? It’s too much! See you there.
