Baruti Libre – Lynn Hazan

There is nothing I love more than meeting new and inspiring people who have unique style. Baruti is just that, a really good human being with an amazing fashion sense. We connected over social media and set up a time to meet as soon as we both could. We met at Tea NJ for some tea and great conversation.

Baruti is charismatic and passionate about everything he talks about; he is a speaker, he is a leader and I was hanging on to every word coming out of his mouth.

What’s your name? My name is Baruti Libre.

Is that your real name? Baruti is my real name. Libre is my business name, it’s my moniker, it’s my alias as it relates to me doing business and also interacting in the fashion world or in the entertainment world.

What do you do? I am an event impresario, a tour planner, a clothing designer and I am also a speaker. I speak about a plethora of issues…Motivation, different strategies as it relates to marketing and business. I also speak about what I am interested in which is political history, whether we talk about global/political history of the past thousand years. Global history of the 20th century…. so mainly oriented around history but I also speak about business and marketing.

Are you from Jersey City? Yes. Born and raised in Ward A specifically… the Greenville section.

How did you get into fashion and designing? Well, with me I am a voracious reader. I come from an educationally oriented household and I also had an inclination to get into fashion… I was into fashion even going back in the 90s.

In 2012 I decided that it was the time for me to start a clothing line, so I started studying fashion as it relates to the garment industry, marketing and business. What I did was, I amalgamated what I learned as it relates to my reading background or my education background from studying history and culture, and the symbolism of different cultures…Which is the reason why the clothing has a lot of aesthetics and designs of cultures from different civilizations.

Can you tell me more about your fashion influences? Well first and foremost my influence comes from ancient civilizations as it relates to meso america… when we talk about meso america we talk about the Aztecs, we talk about the Mayans, the Zi people…. West Africa as it relates to some of their designs. I am also influenced a lot by the hip hop movement. Hip Hop is an undeniable influence!

Where do you sell your gear? Different stores around the New York/New Jersey area… My apparel was sold in Japan and Australia as well.

You were recently in the source? Congrats! Thank you, thank you.

What kind of hip hop do you listen to? I listen to Neo Soul, some Jazz rap, some motivational new age hip hop.

Do you have a favorite hip hop artist? Phora. A young artist out of California. A lot of his stuff is motivational, positive and introspective. I have a sentimental connection to his music.

Do you have a favorite Jersey City hangout spot? I have to say The Dopeness. Reason why I say this is because they have a lot of Open Mics that go on there and I go there to support them. Much respect to Wolf Juice who holds open mics on Wednesday nights. Charles Bowers has the Gem Show on Saturdays… I am having my event there.

Any future plans for the brand? Do more educationally oriented events and do more community work as it relates to philanthropic work, helping the youth since they are the next generation… in order for us to evolve we need to focus on the next generation, they are indispensable.

A few days after interviewing Baruit, I went to check out his event at the Dopeness, the turnout was awesome! With many different fashion vendors; House of Kaluua (I bought the sickest earrings!) O1 Clothing and more… Not to mention there was an insane amount of stylish peeps in the house!