Johnny Petrozzino is one handsome 57-year-old. The hairdresser, vintage dealer, and sometime model is arresting with a thick coif of ’50s-era slicked-back hair and strong cheekbones; he also speaks with a slight Tony Soprano twang. Petrozzino gained some notoriety this past year when he starred in the Exactitudes-shot Helmut Lang project alongside Kanye West. His face has been immortalized, too, after it was emblazoned on a shirt for LRS’s Fall 2018 collection. (He credits his discovery to vintage archivist Dominik Halás and Midland Agency photographer Bill Taylor, as Petrozzino cuts Taylor’s hair.) As for his personal style, Petrozzino’s swagger comes down to dressed-up looks—think sleek dandy with a punch of punk, without the buttoned-up fuss. And while he could pass as a well-dressed showgoer plucked from the streets of Pitti Uomo, Petrozzino is a local New Jersey guy. (He’ll let you know that too). He was born and raised in Bloomfield and has since lived in several New Jersey towns, including Montclair, where he owned two vintage stores as well as a barber shop.
Petrozzino possesses an acute, whimsical regard for his wardrobe. “One day, I’ll have a ’60s look, then the next day with I’ll have a ’30s look, like a double-breasted suit, tank top, and suspenders. Then a punk look from the ’70s,” he says. “It depends on my mood for the day.” His favorite pieces are often military-inspired, such as a red wool paramedics jacket from the ’60s that sat in his vintage shop for three years before he picked it up himself. “No one looked at it. Those are the kind of pieces that I wind up with and that look good on me,” he says. “It might not appeal to most people.” Other standouts include a World War II–era army trench coat, army jumper boots, a ’60s-era police shirt with epaulets, and a pair of police motorcycle pants that he bought from an ex-cop at an estate sale in Montclair.
As for his philosophy of getting dressed, Petrozzino often looks to the past and tries to evoke pleasant memories with what he wears. “I want to remember good times,” he says. But most of all, he cites his personality. “It is the way you wear clothes and the way that you present them. It is your personality, too, which really makes it and brings it together,” he says. “You can put the most expensive designer pieces on people and they are going to look decent, but if they don’t have that style from within or that attitude, it is still not going to come across.” What might help? A favorite accessory—like Petrozzino’s ’68 Thunderbird. But of course.