Trendsetter: Get to Know Local Astrologer Anthony Perrotta

Photograph courtesy of Anthony Perrotta

What’s your astrology background?

I’m self-taught and came into astrology as a skeptic. Instead of writing it off I started to research and realized I resonated with it holistically. Then I educated myself. That was seventeen years ago, and today it’s my full-time job along with interior design and fashion consulting.

Why are vision boards important for fashion?

It gives people senses of inspiration. With mine, I pull on what’s going on astrologically in terms of transits and then the vision boards are tailored to that. People are visual people and giving them and myself reference material through vision boards is helpful.

Favorite places to shop?

I love Nava for jewelry, and I go to The Nest, The Vault and Bangled Tiger for vintage. Whenever buying secondhand, cleanse it before bringing it into your home. You end up carrying people’s energy in with you and you don’t always want that.

How does astrology affect fashion?

Astrology moves through cycles and fashion moves through cycles. If you can figure out what’s going on in certain cycles astrologically and how that relates to trends, then you have an eye into trend forecasting. When it comes to personal style, I think we embody our whole astrological chart completely.

What part of people’s charts should they embody most?

People interested in dressing for their sign should dress for their rising (or Venus) sign. If you’re looking for colors that might inspire you, start with your ascendant (or your rising) sign. People say the rising is how others see you; I don’t think that’s true. I think the rising is how you see yourself, and then the descendant, which is the opposite to your rising, is how people actually see you in one-on-one interactions.

Your social media has a lot of horoscope videos. How do you get prepped and dressed for those?

Getting dressed, I always want to bring beauty to the world because there’s so much destruction and hate going on. To prepare for a video, I dress for the transit in some way. For example, I did a video for the full moon in Cancer, and I wore a seafoam sweater because it was a color related to Cancer. So, I get dressed and wear colors based on whatever the transits happen to be astrologically.

You mention sometimes that fashion is political. Can you elaborate?

Statistically, the hemline index shows that when we’re under a more conservative government, women’s hemlines become longer, but men’s hemlines become shorter. It’s the opposite under a liberal government. It’s that idea that women should cover their bodies, while men get to show more. That’s just one example.

What does March have in store?

Because the last eclipse of the season takes place in March, it’s a time for cleaning closets out and getting organized. Mercury is in retrograde until the middle of March, so use the retrograde to revisit items, examine why you haven’t worn them in a while and ask yourself, does this still resonate with me now?

General style advice?

I tell people all the time to not treat their closet like a museum. It’s not a place to go and admire your clothes — clothes are meant to be worn. If you love the clothing enough to buy it, you should love it enough to wear it. @ap_astrology