My Palace in Dallas – Angelee and Eddie Fortuna (HIS+HER)

“Solitude requires you to move past reacting to information created by other people and focus instead on your own thoughts and experiences – wherever you happened to be”

— Cal Newport, Digital Minimalism

Hello readers, I hope you all had a great 2023, things have been happening and my brain is super wrinkly! I’m happy to see how the habits we’ve nurtured during the pandemic are now integrated into our lives, we love staying in now and HOME has become a much more important concept for everyone who is finding peace in being alone and enjoying their space.

I started My Palace in Dallas during the height of the pandemic, and it was born from pure curiosity: I want to know, I want to see, and, most importantly, I want to document what the people around me have become after these unprecedented years. They can be artists, comedians, or they can also be the people you meet on the street—which is quite hard cause supposedly people in Dallas don’t walk at all. So, what is it that they do? This project delves into their stories and, as the name suggests, explores their Palace in Dallas.

Without further ado, allow me to introduce you to Angelee and Eddie Fortuna. A local staple, power couple with impeccable taste as individuals and as units. I have long admired their authentic approach to sharing their view with the world and the representation they bring to this industry that we so much need. It’s safe to assume their taste would flow into their house as home is often an extension of one’s mind, and they are generous enough to welcome me into their home for a sit-down chat on this fine afternoon! We talked about their journey, inspiration, and what it means to build a home they love in Dallas Texas.

Hello Angelee and Eddie, thank you so much for opening up your space and having me here in your gorgeous space. It has been a long time coming so congratulations on finishing the renovation! Before I bomb you with questions, would you like to tell people a bit about yourself? Who are you and what is it that you do?

**E (Eddie)**: I’m Eddie Fortuna, half of His+Her. I’m a full-time architectural designer, a photographer, and I run a lifestyle blog with my wife.
**A (Angelee)**: I am Angelee, the other half of His+Her. I come from a small town with a background in retail and now have shifted to marketing. I love connecting with people, building relationships, and helping connect others.

Since your first date in 2004, the two of you shared the same love for fashion, started HIS+HER during wedding planning, and are now the biggest ALD rockers I know. As a cool pair having such a presence in the local community, you’ve done so much with so many here, could you tell me what was that journey like for you guys and how y’all got to where you are now?

E: It’s really interesting as we’ve had so many different milestones in our lives together for so long; We’ve been together since college, got married, built a relationship, and are now honing a presence in Dallas. I think it’s all about growing together across different facets of life, personally, emotionally, and mentally. Even in aspects such as personal style, design, and curation, we’ve grown so much together as a couple and individuals throughout all these years.

A: To reiterate Eddie’s point of growing up together, we met each other when we were 18,19 years old. I’ve been grateful to have each other throughout our lives. It was really important for us to be friends, and talk to each other to grow as individuals and then as a couple. I’ve always been big on communication and I felt even though we do have our particular styles, through making decisions together in our lives there’s this beautiful give-and-take where either we agree on things or we compromise for what makes the most sense for both of us.

Originally His+Her was your wedding planning initiative many years ago. What was the process of transitioning into the lifestyle curation platform it is now after the wedding?

A: So originally when His+Her formed, I was trying to get into the career path of on-set styling and production. However, with my background in retail, the industry I was aiming for was hard to break into without any experience. So we started creating photoshoots and I styled them to build my portfolio. As time constraints came into play, I couldn’t find momentum in scheduling as many shoots as I needed to. So we transitioned into capturing each other. We would get dressed, and take photos around our downtown Dallas neighborhood. In the beginning stages of His+Her, it was more fashion-forward, documenting what we were wearing and living in. Slowly, we transitioned into lifestyle, traveling, and home curation to mix in with fashion.

E: Tagging on to the very beginning stage of His+Her from the wedding aspect. It was 2012 and we were all about curating the graphics and everything related to our wedding. We then decided to brand it as His+Her during the hay day of Tumblr. I couldn’t remember though which one came first Tumblr or the wedding?

A: Tumblr came first, I think.

E: It was our mood board as the name His+Her stated: things that inspired both of us, then it led to us thinking, “maybe we could carry this brand name into the wedding.” As Angelee said, it became a way for her to build her portfolio in styling and break into the industry, and later evolved into what it is now.

After all these years of working on His+Her as a collective, it is interesting for me from an outsider's POV, that people might know more about Eddie and Angelee as individuals now both of you are more active with your own identity. Where do you think His+Her is or stands for in your lives now?

E: Early days the bulk of His+Her was traditional blogging. It was us going out shooting street style and sharing our tastes. We later on incorporated more lifestyle and travel aspects into the mix, it has become less about individual looks and more about our lives in general.
We aren’t posting on His+Her as frequently as we used to, but when we do, it’s often about bigger events like the trip we took or collaborations we did. Less of the day-to-day contents so to speak. The website will always be there and we will continue to update them even if it’s not too often. Instagram can be gone in a moment but the blog, the His+Her website is ours and will always be there

Like how you’d be curious about their letterbox account when you meet a film fanatic, can you tell me what consists of your media outlet and where do y’all usually get your inspiration from?

E: Just like anyone else we consume social media a little bit more than we’d like to admit, so we’d be lying if we say it wasn’t mostly social media. Outside of that, we try to do a good job of collecting books and getting inspiration from them. You can see we have many books on display in various rooms of our house, we try to be intentional about picking them up from time to time and be inspired by them instead of hopping on social media every chance we get.

Traveling has been a great source of inspiration for us. Seeing and capturing what we see on trips, and internalizing them helps us keep the inspiration flowing.

A: Social media plays a huge part in our process for sure. It works just by visually exposing ourselves to how people create and curate things. I also agree with the point of romanticizing the idea of something tangible to look at, GQs, AD, Elle..etc. The books on the shelves, I love buying books and I’m hoping one day I can have him buy into the idea of completing the shelves filled with books.

Eddie likes to say “Hey if you’re going to do that don’t just buy the book. We need to open it up and look at it.” because they are meant to be read and not just for display. I’ve always been interested in collecting different topics on architecture, music, style, fashion, and finding inspiration through reading them.

E: We love buying books and it keeps our bookshelves nice and full, but we want to hold ourselves accountable for actually finishing reading them when we can.

A: On the topic of books, I wanted to become a better writer. Whether it is writing captions for Instagram or writing a piece for our blogs, Eddie gave me a piece of great advice on writing which encouraged me to read more: “Just read”. Find those writers that you like and read their works, pick up on how they structure their sentences, that advice never left me.

I would also add a movie component to this. Revisiting movies that I’ve seen before and looking into how they style the characters in a visual-centric format is what I turn to for inspiration often.

E: you were really good about doing that.

A: Also music videos! I would go back to old music videos not just to enjoy the music but to see what they were wearing and how they were styled back then. I find inspiration through that often.

E: YouTube is a great media outlet for us too. Whether it’s street style in New York, or Architectural Digest video series to look into other people’s homes.

It’s been three years since the pandemic hit and I am always in awe at how many people including the both of us rose up and did many incredible things during and after. What did you do to stay centered and sane? Did any of those new habits carry over now that things are back to normal?

E: We did technically bought this house in 2020 but to us, our true pandemic experience happened when we were living in downtown Dallas. We were in there when it started and throughout almost all of 2020. I thought about this often too, what it would've been like if we were in this house during that time, I mean we were here for a part of it at Christmas and New Year's just hanging out in this dining room cause we were still worried about going outside. Going back to being downtown during the heart of the pandemic, walking helped center us a lot.

Walking around the city has always been a huge part of our lives living there. We would go on walks and I would photograph the scenery. Every Tuesday and Thursday would be our running day just to clear our heads too.

Transitioning to this house in late 2020, the renovation kept us busy, and staying busy became a consistent aspect for me to keep myself sane.

A: Going back to living in a loft Downtown during the pandemic and how we spend our time. There was a lot of time spent outside feeling ground, moments of solitude, leaning into doing nothing. Eddie likes to keep himself busy and stay productive, I try to remind him that there is productivity in doing nothing, allowing yourself to just BE in a space.

We spent a lot of time playing games together. It almost felt like all we did was play games, cook, and watch movies, very reminiscent of growing up in the pre-social media days.

E: There was for sure an adolescent feeling to it. What you used to do as a kid, making cookies, having sleepovers at someone’s house, playing games, all that. Obviously, there were a lot of negative impacts and many lost their lives during the pandemic. Fortunately for us, we had each other, our health, and a roof over our heads. We often look back at those beautiful memories fondly.

A: During the pandemic, even though we live in a rental unit we were lucky enough to have the flexibility to personalize it, we get to paint walls and add tiles or handles. Even before the pandemic, one day Eddie said he was sick of the door handle and decided to change it. “We’re here, I want to be in a space and be able to enjoy it so why not ?”. From that point on, we’ve been changing handles and painting cabinets, and my favorite one is changing the tile of the bathroom.

E: I think it was because they trusted us and knew whatever we did to the unit would be an upgrade. Apparently, someone saw what we’d done after we left and led that unit immediately. You can look at things like upgrading your rental as something futile but if it could bring joy to your daily life, it’s worth it regardless of how long you’ll be staying there.

A: I think our routines have also changed a bit now that we’ve changed spots. Eddie wakes up way earlier than I do, he would make his coffee and have a moment of leisure in the nook by the kitchen. I think that aspect of remembering to slow down is one thing we carried over.

E: Coffee was a big component of our pandemic. We always go out to get our fix but when things shut down we started making our own and that became a new daily routine. We enjoy the process and it helps us romanticize mundane things in life. Our milkshake nook has become a crucial part of our life, we’d sit there and talk about our plans, thoughts, or aspirations during the weekends. It was centering and it all stemmed from us making our coffee back during the height of the pandemic.

Touching more on the space and transitioning from downtown to Dallas. We love our loft but we’ve evolved to a stage where we needed rooms, spaces with their own dedicated purposes. Bringing a part of loft living with us, we tried to incorporate something that matters the most: a sense of openness and kept the spaces flowing when we moved here too.

As an incredible creative you guys are working on things that transcend geographical boundaries yet are so close to our daily lives, I’m sure you have your fair share of traveling experience and exposure to different art/fashion scenes across different cities. What do you think sets Dallas apart from all the other huge hubs like NY, LA, or Mexico?

A: I grew up in a small town and to preface the cities that you’re comparing, early on in life Eddie and I wanted to live in New York for the longest time. That never really happened and Dallas became home after we decided to stay here. To answer your questions, what sets Dallas apart for me, is the community.

The longer you stay here, the more relationships and connections you build, the more you’ll realize how everything is connected. As you start to meet more and more people in that world, it will become smaller and smaller over time. That’s what I love about it, I’ve met people in multiple seasons of life and there’s always some form of connection in play. It really is the community here for me that made this city stand out.

E: To go along with that, community is such a big part of Dallas. It feels like everything is connected and everyone knows one another in the creative scene. Dallas is a city that has this little brother mentality like he’s always trying to prove himself. Sometimes it can be a little goofy but I think that’s also what fuels the city and the people. There is a confidence about Dallas or people from Dallas that not a lot of cities have.

Dallas will never be New York or LA but it’s uniquely Dallas for that exact reason.

A: Dallas can be a really good growing ground for creatives because of the size and how vast it is. You see it happen in real-time too, people like Roger or Ruben who have been creating here for so long and moved to New York or LA pursuing more of what they want after reaching a certain stage here.

Are you two Dallas natives? As a pair of creatives with such different backgrounds and living in this city, having spent quite some time finding your creative identity, and building up a place you call home, what do you think of this city?

E: Dallas is a great city, not without its faults but it’s a great place to live in, to grow, to settle down. It is a big city but with everyone connected, the circle almost felt like an intimate small town.

A: I grew up in West Texas, pretty much a small country town. I’ve always wanted to live in the city and to me growing up, Irving was that city. It felt like an escape every time we went and visited our family as a kid. To find myself living in Dallas now, I wouldn’t say I called it but I knew I would end up in a big city here and grow a lot as an individual. Which I did!

To Eddie’s point, it’s a city not without its faults, but as we grow and build connections within the community we hope to help the city grow. We aim to diversify the scenes of Dallas through a growing community and us as well.

One thing I’m curious about is that there seems to be a decision-making point between buying this house and moving out of Downtown Dallas. With both of you having a longing for New York, what made you decide to stay in Dallas after all?

E: I think we concluded, well before the pandemic, that Dallas is home. Shortly after finishing grad school, we thought about moving to New York but the economy and job market then wasn’t what it needed to be for us to make that move. From then on, we started building our relationships with people and building our community here. We fell in love with the city, people, and decided that Dallas would be our home for the foreseeable future.
Obviously never say never, we do have a short list (very short) of cities we could see ourselves moving to, but the relationships and community we have in this city keep us here for now.

As I look around, I can see a lot of your taste in a tangible form! I can’t even begin picking out a favorite one so now the hard part is, what would you say is your most prized possession?

E: Mine would be this watch I’m wearing right now, even though it’s technically not a home item. My father gave it to me shortly after I graduated from college. It’s a special watch, and sure, there is some monetary value to it, but that’s not the reason why I love it. It’s just a beautiful piece and it kind of represents a passing of the torch between him and me.

It’s not even a family heirloom of his, but he’s always had this appreciation for automatic watches, so it meant a lot that he passed this down to me. I’ve been cherishing and caring for it for many years now. Obviously, there are clothes and things I love, but if I had to run back into the house to grab just one thing, it would be this watch.

A: Mine is this bracelet that belonged to my mother. I wear it every day. Growing up, my dad worked in sales in the oil industry so he traveled a lot to the Middle East. Sometimes, he would come back with gold and jewelry for my mother. When my mom passed away, I inherited this bracelet that was originally part of a set. I’d have to do some research to see how many were in this bangle set because it was a really specific number meant for good luck.

This bracelet in particular was given to me by my sister while I was in high school. It’s sentimental and meant a lot to me and I wear it every day.

Eddie and I both agree that with any pieces this important to us, we don’t want to let them sit and collect dust. We want to honor them by having them be part of our everyday life.

To wrap this interview up. For those who are interested in getting into this business or starting something of their own like you guys did. What suggestions or advice you would like to give them or is there anything you wish you’d known sooner?

Honestly, whatever it is, just make sure it’s something you genuinely love. Because no matter how fun or exciting a new venture may seem, it will inevitably become work. And it’s much easier to push through the tough days when you know you’re doing something you’re passionate about.