Dope Ambition

From across the street, William Yan spots a woman in a houndstooth skirt and fur coat; she wears a wide-brimmed hat and stands no less than 5 feet 10 inches tall in Mary Jane heels. As Yan undecidedly fingers his camera lens, she has already begun to strike a demure pose, tilting her head back in a way best described as calculated, the brim of her hat casting a shadow on her comma of a smile. She knows he wants to snap her. She spotted Yan’s camera from across the street. She is a professional.

William Yan at "the office."

Yan is a New York-based street style photographer who got his start in a Photography 101 class right out of high school. He photographs New Yorkers whose style “has a presence,” and today, I am following him around on his mission to shoot new subjects for his eponymous blog, WilliamYan.com.

As we make our way down the remaining SoHo blocks, passing at least three other street style photographers whose eyes peruse the touristy SoHo crowd for sartorial diamonds in the rough, Yan’s term for this area of Manhattan, “the office,” seems surprisingly accurate.

"Sometimes you have to dress the part and play the role," Yan says of the woman he photographed.

“I have to find different streets to walk on so I don’t run into the same people all the time,” says Yan after he exchanges business cards with the woman, who also happens to be the street style photographer behind NYCStreetfile.com.

“So we just saw her, and now we just passed by a male one,” he says, glancing over his shoulder at a man holding a camera on the corner of Greene and Spring streets. “I’d rather catch someone who’s a little odd, who didn’t dress for the camera.”

Street style photography has become almost unavoidable for those with even a minor interest in fashion: hundreds of blogs dedicate their posts to street style photos, fashion week attendees’ ensembles are documented piece-by-piece by photographers like Tommy Ton (who has an exclusive contract with Condé Nast’s Style.com), and style icons have emerged who capitalize on their internet presence by turning internet fame into personal brands and successful careers (see: Nick Wooster).

Street style photography, however, is not a new concept; if anything, the term alone has become more popular than the form itself. Yan started blogging his photographs in 2008; he could be considered one of the early adopters in today’s crop of street photographers who’ve emerged in recent years, but he readily gives credit to his predecessors. Bill Cunningham, for example, the New York Times street fashion photographer, has shot candids of New York’s quirkiest and most well-heeled men and women for over 50 years. And in a recent documentary about the elusive veteran photographer, Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour famously says “we all get dressed for Bill. And it’s one snap, two snaps or he ignores you, which is death.”

This concept of getting dressed for the photographer, however, does not end with Anna Wintour, or even with fashion insiders draped in designer pieces.

“I’ve heard stories of people recognizing someone while they’re on the street working, and going out of their way to keep crossing their path, hoping to get snapped,” says Jian DeLeon, a staff writer for the Style section at Complex Magazine, a men’s collector’s guide.

Because street style has been editorialized in clothing brands’ lookbooks and fashion magazines, more people recognize its style, an unusual and sometimes confusing mixture of subjects who are both posed and shot candidly; these subjects usually look effortless and comfortable, but the lighting is often just so, and the framing seems meticulously planned. Yan’s photos, however, are slightly different than many other blogs; for one, most of his photos are not posed.

“I think his greatest strength is his eye; he’s not out there shooting what everyone else is,” says Sean Hotchkiss, a contributor to GQ who writes for the magazine’s blog, The GQ Eye.

Most of the photos that appear on Yan’s site achieve that nonchalant look, though he says he poses certain photos, which almost come off as portraits. The men and women on his site usually look as if they’re on their way to meet a friend: they’re never over dressed, have little makeup on, and often aren’t even looking at the camera.

Two subjects on William Yan's blog

Her Hermés Birkin bag caught Yan's eye

Though I only get a short day to witness Yan’s “eye” at work, I notice there are photos in his camera of famous faces he has yet to put on his site. A photo of the eccentric fashion icon Daphne Guinness, for example, stays stored on his memory card, yet to see the light of the blogosphere. Many would use her name to gain site visits and quick hits, but he shot her in passing, he says, and isn’t satisfied with the end result. He’s picky about what he puts online, because for a street style photographer in today’s click-happy culture, his site serves as a sort of a business card/portfolio hybrid.

Supermodel Karlie Kloss, shot backstage at Oscar de la Renta's runway show during New York Fashion Week.

This past year, he earned paid work shooting backstage photos for Oscar de la Renta during New York Fashion Week, but he hopes to expand his success to a global level, a goal other street style photographers share.

“That’s really the whole point of this; you want to explore different cities and find inspiration, all while making a living,” says James Jean, one of the photographers behind popular women’s fashion street style site Citizen Couture. Jean has already shot in Paris, New York and Milan, but wants to explore other fashionable cities like Stockholm.

Like any creative industry with lots of eligible players, the competition is relentless, and success becomes less definable. At some point, these men and women have to pay their bills.

“It’s become so popular that it’s not as fun maybe, as it used to be. But I have to keep shooting, because that’s just what I do,” Yan says, barely finishing his sentence before he halts abruptly, snapping a woman in purple who seems to have popped out of nowhere. He looks at the image on his LCD screen, shrugs, and rests his camera on his hip again. He doesn’t seem bothered by the down time, or the blocks and blocks of walking up and down New York’s uneven downtown streets.

“In a way, it’s like I’m a hunter,” Yan says. “I’m hunting for style.”

William Yan searches Broome Street for subjects.

Nothing in fashion is permanent. In fact, if there is any consistent thread that weaves its way throughout the industry, it would be the fleeting nature with which fashion is presented, worn and discarded, discussed and forgotten, hyped up and dismissed.

As Paris fashion week wrapped up, I noticed the absence of one of my favorite editors. Carine Roitfeld’s 10-year career as editor at Paris Vogue, however, still strikes many (including myself) as too short. I was barely a teenager when she took on the role of editor at the Parisian fashion magazine, but as my interest and curiosity in fashion grew, her monthly surprises and innovation matched it. Her first issue as editor featured a bleach blond, choppy-haired Kate Moss, glancing provocatively over her bare shoulder at the woman or man contemplating a newsstand purchase. The 90th Anniversary issue gave us a gap-toothed Lara Stone, masked and covering her breasts with nothing but gripping leather gloves, cleavage seemingly spilling from the cover. 

And its precisely this sexuality that I crave and want from Wintour’s Vogue. Domestic pages never see a nipple, a taboo broken, rules bent or risks taken. Grace Coddington flexes her creative muscles as much as she’s allowed to before an iron fist plucks the greatness out of many of Vogue‘s editorial pages. I’m not stating that simply the presence of nudity on the pages of an editorial make a magazine better or more appealing, but Roitfeld consistently ventured into risky editorial territory while Vogue under Wintour remains stagnant, relying on green screens with master re-touchers to add flare.

In a recent article in the NYTimes states, Roitfeld admits she could have run her magazine better; she claims she played the role of fashion director and editor, unlike Anna Wintour, who is an editor but never conceptualizes the themes for shoots or creates images for editorials. Roitfeld let the lines between roles blur; her approach to Vogue Paris had much to do with her history styling über-sexualized shoots for Tom Ford’s Gucci ads shot by Testino, with whom she began a creative partnership on other spreads for magazines like French Glamour. She had spent so much of her time styling shoots, getting inside the head of a master fashion photographer, that her approach to an editorial simply couldn’t be objective; she couldn’t be editor-as-outsider, picking and choosing which shots made the cut and which didn’t. She was as embedded in the process as a fashion director would be, and she knew how to push boundaries from a photographer and stylist’s point of view.

But in an interview with Karl Lagerfeld, a close friend, she admits she never actively set out to break rules.

“ I hate the word boundary because I never think about it when taking a picture.” Likewise, her approach to the use of labels and clothing was more of a tool or a prop, and not necessarily the main focus. She had a glossy, erotic take on fashion, which often mixed sensuality with small doses of demure undertones. Lingerie, leather, fetish masks and S&M have all shown up in the pages of her Vogue, and somehow editorials seemed transcend the role of pictoral-as-seasonal-catalog for high fashion. Marketing seemed not to be be the main focus, as it so obviously is at American Vogue. 

During her time as Editor-in-Chief, Roitfeld increased the magazine’s circulation by 45%, and as a result of her creative direction, the magazine was labeled as the “erotic chic” Vogue. But while Roitfeld insists she left the magazine for bigger and better ventures, there are rumors that she was asked to leave after a controversial editorial sexualizing little girls outraged readers.

Though many saw the editorial and immediately blamed Roitfeld for hyper-sexualizing children to the extent that many were calling the photographs  ”kiddie porn”, Jezebel defended the editor by saying that the spread was “misunderstood”: “One of the most uncomfortable truths about the fashion industry is that most models begin working when they are in their early teens or even tweens; they are children,” writes Jenna Sauers. She argues that Roitfeld parodied the industry’s obsession and exploitation of youth for advtertising, and that Roitfeld intentionally meant for readers to be a bit uncomfortable with a practice otherwise utterly normal in fashion, if not given only a few more years. Likewise, she put then-plus sized model Crystal Renn in the pages of Vogue, and not for a “body” issue or to call attention to Renn’s figure. She gave Renn solo editorials before plugging plus-sized models became “the thing to do.” In fact, her “Festin” spread with Crystal Renn, who was surrounded controversy pertaining to her weight fluctuation at the time, showed a beautiful Renn, styled to the heavens and stuffing her face with spaghetti and cheese. Roitfeld gave people what they wanted, or what they thought they wanted, until they confronted their judgment head on and felt uncomfortable.

Either way, Roitfeld praises her former boss Jonathan Newhosue (Chairman of Condé Nast International) for giving her freedom to take creative risks. “I think it was fun to look at French Vogue. Each month was a new happening. But I think now they want to change a bit. Even the French president [Xavier Romatet, of Condé Nast France] now wants something a bit sweeter, I would say, and if I cannot have a lot of fun, then I prefer to do something else.”

Are we too uncomfortable with what we know is true about the fashion industry, or was the editorial tasteless? That’s for you to decide. I, on the other hand, cannot ignore Roitfeld’s reign as queen of Paris fashion, and arguably queen of Vogues. If Anna is dictator, Roitfeld is the rebellious, more flirtatious  sibling, sneaking out at night, dressing provocatively, and influencing everyone around her to emanate a carefree attitude and approach to fashion.

Since leaving, she has taken jobs here and there; she styled Freja Beha Erichsen for the Chanel Fall 2011 campaign, and she is is coming out with a book, Irreverent (Rizzoli, $100, or $63 right now on Amazon) edited by Vogue Hommes creative director Alex Wiederin and Purple‘s Olivier Zahm. She throws parties, her family is the subject of awe and envy, and she insists she’s on the hunt for something new in fashion. While I don’t doubt she will go on do to do great things, I am sad to see her leave the magazine. I don’t know if any other editor could surprise me monthly as she did, and I don’t think Emmanuel Alt, the new EIC, is supposed to.

Below, you’ll find some of my favorite photos/scans from editorials under Carine Roitfeld, although I definitely couldn’t include them all; ten years is a long time. The images aren’t just pretty to look at; at times, they ask questions, they make you uncomfortable, or they turn you on. When was the last time an American Vogue editorial did that?

Her first cover, Kate Moss Feburary 2001

August 2002, by Mario Testino

November 2002, shot by Mario Testino

August 2005, shot by Patrick Demarchelier

October 2004, shot by Mikael Jansson

April 2006, shot by Craig McDean

August 2009, shot by Inez and Vinoodh

November 2009, Kaws editorial shot by Mario Sorrenti

April 2010, shot by Hedi Slimane

September 2010, shot by Mert and Marcus (transsexual model Lia T.)

October 2010, shot by Mario Sorrenti

October 2010, Crystal Renn (then plus-sized)

90th Anniversary Issue shot by Mert and Marcus

quotes taken from Interview magazine//image of small girls via//all vogue images via tfs

The number of pop culture icons who singlehandedly made particular types of shades infamous are many: Jackie O.’s oversized lenses exuded glamor to the burgeoning celebrity-obsessed culture being born around her, and ironically, many celebs still rock them to hide from the diligent paparazzi. James Dean was every inch the rebellious badass in his ominous wayfarers, and John Lennon made “tea shades” famous, those round, wire-framed shades that bring to mind the pot-smoking, acid-dropping hippies and rock stars of the 60s and 70s. Elton John, too,  has been known to don avant-garde lenses for his live performances, and he recently went as far as covering POP Magazine’s latest issue in some of the most decadent, cake-layer worthy shades I’d seen in a long while. And who could forget the tragic trend Kanye sparked with his shutter shades? Knock-offs of the most unfortunate variety were being sold by street corner vendors and bootleg kingpins everywhere and, therefore, were popping up in everyone’s Friday night club pics.

It was only in the late 20th century that plastics, as opposed to metals and nylons, were invented and became widely available. And hence, since we live in  a plastic, throw-away world, colored frames gained popularity because of the relative ease with which plastics could be dyed and molded. Plastics’ easily transformable qualities was appealing at a time when flash-trends and changing fads were becoming more normal. Plastic is also less expensive to manufacture, but high end luxury designers don’t use this as an excuse to mark down their coveted eyewear; Prada and Chanel plastic frames still go for $300 a pop, plastic or otherwise. So just because it’s plastic doesn’t mean it won’t cost a pretty penny.

For spring, it’s best to forget the wear and tear winter caused, ditch the goth oversized shades and instead, debut a new pair of punchy-hued frames that serve as the perfect pop of color to any neutral-heavy spring ensemble. Jil Sander’s haute couture-meets-clean-contemporary collection offered metallic lenses surrounded by bright frames in all your favorite Bic highlighter shades: hot pink, electric green, orange-on-acid. And Miuccia Prada not only debuted arguably one of Spring’s most inventive collections, what with her dancing monkeys and already-copied pop-art bananas, but the accompanying shades to her collection were a show on their own: swirly periwinkle frames and hot-orange details on over-sized bug-eyed lenses.

But while I’m sure there are wait-lists and backorders for these designer frames, there are a variety of affordable shades for us peons who do not yet own a yacht on which to sport our spunky specs. So, without further ado, I introduce to you a mediocre compiled list of cheap yet chic frames to add a little flavor to your wardrobe of neutrals. And if you’re feeling daring, add a hot pink lip to up the ante. Or not, you know…baby steps.

(below) Jil Sander SS 2011

(below) Prada SS 2011

1. - Asos frosted keyhole sunglasses

2. - Ten over Six for LA Eyeworks mustard yellow shades

3. – A-morir Schubert heart-shaped frames

4. – Forever 21 burnt orange shades (for $1.50!)

5. – Prada SS 2011

6. – Cheap Monday Scrying sunglasses

7. - 80s Purple wayfarer

8. - Cacharel shades for O.C.

9. - Vintage “Look of Love” heart-shaped shades

I’m working on a little something something with Lego-accessory phenoms turned collabo-extraordinaires Dee and Ricky. As many of you (should) know, the duo has been turning out one dope collabo after another while maintaining their own brand and accessories.

This morning, I woke up all groggy-eyed to a phone call from Ricky telling me to meet him at Nathan Sawaya‘s studio. I rolled out of bed, threw some clothes on, stopped at Starbucks and hailed a cab to his studio, where the view is ill and the art, illogical.

Let’s be serious: we all toyed with Legos when we were wee little kids, pretending we were architects constructing new worlds with those little colored bricks. But Nathan Sawaya’s Lego art is architecturally amazing. He molds life-size sculptures using one of the most non-malleable materials ever made; Legos have four corners and cannot be shaped, construed or folded, and yet he manages to mimic the human form with fluid scaling and an eye for proportion. The shadows cast by the shapes also give his human and face sculptures an extremely life-like appeal…and yet, the irony is that these sculptures are made out of a child’s toy.

Watch out for more from this guy. Soon the world will be pixellated.

And I apologize; these photos were taken on my cell phone since my G12 is in the shop being fixed. Thx for your patience

When I wrote my last feature about the eight kids in Chicago-band Kids These Days, I mentioned that they had a “dangerously potent mixture of raw talent and genuine passion for music.” Sure, my educated guess seemed accurate, but I was assuming from afar; I hadn’t yet met the crop of high school students, let alone shared a bathroom, apartment, van or food with them. But, when March 15th peeked around the corner, I found myself at South by Southwest in a two bedroom apartment with 12 other people, 8 of them being the Kids. While at first my presence in the apartment may have seemed awkward to the perpetually gifted group, by day five, I had (seemingly) been initiated into their close-knit circle.

What I found on the inside of that circle was incredible: therein lies a future bursting at the seams with unfettered talent paired with an unrequited love for music felt by every member. The members of KTD may be barely legal by majority, but their dedication to music is arguably insurmountable by those double and triple their age. Remember that next time you mutter the phrase “Kids these days…” with scorn.

[KTD Behind-the-Scenes]

When bands and artists become successful and famous, this is the part everyone wants to know: what are they really like? You know, in “real life?” Well, while KTD’s success is undoubtedly gaining momentum, they haven’t reached the threshold (yet) of uncharted stardom. In the meantime, however, I can give you one word to sum them up: scary.

Why? Because 2am living room piano recitals are met with impromptu rap freestyles and fists-as-drums door knocking and, thus, unison head bobbing. Because spoken word poetry is a not-so-secret talent of trumpet player (and undercover piano talent) Nico, whose words weave together in ways that are equal parts rap-influenced and wordsmith-driven. Because a thread of one 15-second joke about Juliard turns into a four minute freestyle for rapper Vic Mensa. Because sax player Rajiv breaks out of a certain human shell and transcends any notion of shyness with the touch of fingers on brass keys. Because at least four out of the eight can sing, and I mean really sing. Because Macie’s voice is pre-packaged with a goosebump-inducing range that is simultaneously delicate, sultry and powerful. Because Greg can play drums with pretty much anything, including Pixie Stix, and has an ear for rhythm in any type of song, including piano ballads. Because Liam’s fingers on guitar strings are at once a flashback of a golden era in rock and a glimpse of the future; he gets inside the head of his guitar and explores its capabilities. J.P. feels the music so much when he plays that his body is seduced by the sound: he wiggles and shakes to his own tunes and the collective sound of the band with what I like to call the J.P. dance. And Lane, who is easily hidden in the back during performances, strums his bass guitar with a mellow ease. But during songs like their Common “Be” cover mixed with Dizzy Gillespie, Lane’s bass skills shine amidst a medley of brass and Vic’s colorful lyrics.

They’re a scary bunch because their talent is almost unreal, and none of them have even reached their full potential.

Yes, distractions arrived by the dozen throughout the week. Late night bar hopping and back door entry to 21+ venues were available for the taking…and they took. They stayed out until 3am. They partied. But, Demo Salazar, the band’s manager, knows how to keep their head in the game, so to speak, if he feels distraction manifesting. He knows the value of work, and reminds the band why they’re there. But, despite their young ages, the Kids don’t need much reminding. They seem to vehemently enjoy their craft…a little too much to jeopardize it all for a late night rendezvous. They’re still young, yes, but none of the members seem reckless enough to abandon their first passion.

[KTD Shows]

Throughout the week, I went to every KTD show. And I was fortunate enough to witness punk rock fans and uninterested music heads become head-bobbing fools with one croon from Macie and the lull from the brass. The Kids played a handful of shows over a 5-day period, and with each show, the energy heightened and their confidence soared. Their 3rd show, at Peckerheads, got a room full of skeptics on their feet, with camera phones making their way out of pockets and hippies dancing in unabashed glory. Their last show, in collaboration with Chi-town music site Fakeshore Drive, was on the breezy rooftop of the downtown centrally located Light Bar.  This was arguably their best show.

Despite a few sound check hiccups, the band succeeded in carrying out an act lost to many artists these days: performing. Greg knew how to entertain an audience with a flashy drum sequence while Liam figured out the sound glitch. And before you know it, Greg’s drum taps cued the intro to the next song; a seamless comeback from something that might otherwise be catastrophic for many musicians. When I looked behind me, I saw faces filled with awe, admiration, disbelief, happiness and jealousy.

Upon closing the show, the Kids ended their first SXSW adventure with applause and audience acclaim. And unlike the previous days, where Vic, Nico and Greg ventured out on 6th street to explore, the Kids loaded out and packed up their van. Hard work was calling them back to Chicago, where they plan to continue on their path to success, whether it be indie label-infused or major label-backed.

It’s been a few days since I’ve been back in NY, and I already miss the rowdy kids from Chi-town. But I know I’ll be seeing them soon, whether online, on TV, or with a spur-of-the-moment Chi-town visit. Either way, KTD changed my opinions even since my last feature. I infiltrated their world, and likewise, they pervaded mine.

I have high hopes for KTD, and I have a feeling that one year, five years, ten years from now, I’ll be covering their story come Grammy night.

xx

Brianne

So let’s be real. Sites like Nasty Gal are addictive and offer an undeniable arsenal of dope vintage duds that are hard to pass up. But I also used to go on buying trips with my friend who is a vintage store owner, and I know that even the most covetable of designer vintage gear is way cheaper than it is sold for. Of course, marking up prices is all part of the game and I get that, but asking $125 for a $7 blazer found at the bottom of a dusty bin is just wrong. It’s called robbery.

So I am always on the quest to find other affordable vintage. And since I live in NY, there’s no such thing as walking into a thrift store and finding anything nice for “cheap.” Even my neighborhood Goodwill has gotten fresh and realized a Marc Jacobs shrunken blazer when they have one.

In my search for dope vintage, I came across Wicked Plum Vintage, an ebay store with looks that rival Nasty Gal, but boast prices of a much lower variety. Vintage leopard-print maxi dresses starting at $11? Um…so into it.

So I stalked Angela, the owner of Wicked Plum Vintage, and asked her a few questions. She’s a cool chick and runs quite a sassy operation. Check it out.

Also,Wicked Plum on Facebook and twitter.

1.) Where do you find a lot of your pieces? Do you do a lot of thrift shopping, are they from vintage stores, your mother’s closet, etc?

I source them from a ton of different places, sometimes even going out of town, I can spend 3 or 4 days a week looking at various places, but I have found things at yard sales, estate sales, and junk stores and whatnot, but I have a main source that is local to my area.

2.) How do you think your online store differs from other popular online vintage shops like Nasty Gal? And what kind of girl do your vintage pieces cater to?

My store caters to a much wider clientele base, young and old, classic and trendy, and more size variety (being a little curvy myself I know I hate seeing only small sizes in stores!).

I try to have all eras in my store, though older than 1970s is getting ridiculously hard to find these days. I tend to sell a lot of items from the 1980s and 1990s, with an emphasis on items you can wear to work AND play. I have a hard time finding high end pieces like designer labels, furs, and sequins, but I make up for it by offering lots of easy to wear items.

Most of the girls who we cater to are 18-24 years old, read/follow/write fashion blogs, and the runway shows, but DON’T want to spend a fortune. They are very savvy buyers, with an eye for trends and styles, and want to find good fashion and make it their own.

3.) Where did the name “Wicked Plum” come from, and how did you come up with the idea to start an ebay vintage store as opposed to an etsy shop or blog?

Funny question! The store name Wicked Plum Vintage comes from a throwaway line in an episode of ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer” In Season 2, the character Spike, the sexy vampire bad boy who turns good, calls his maker, the crazy Drusilla, his “ripe, wicked plum” and it always stuck with me! Go figure!

As for how I started, it was a long process, going from being the freaky weird girl in an all redneck high school in the mid 90s, when Sassy magazine was my bible and ‘The Cure’ was playing in the background, who wore a lot of weird things (like Gunne Sax dresses with combat boots, or 1940s tops with miniskirts), to my mid 20s, getting married and having a kid, and not really dressing like that anymore, but still in love with it.
The store evolved from a cheap point and shoot camera with the clothes laid out on the floor, to having a mannequin, to backdrops and models and lights and professional cameras into to what Wicked Plum Vintage is today.

4.) What has been the most special piece you have come across and why?

I think the most special piece I ever had and sold was a 1920s era dress I got from an estate sale along with a bunch of 1900s-1930s stuff, it was chocolate brown with a green plaid bow tie, and huge puffed sleeves with these silver studs, and it was in PERFECT condition!

5.) How would you describe your own style? What is your favorite era for vintage pieces? Do you have any other styling positions/jobs?

If I had the money I would dress like Dita von Teese all the time (if I had the time too!), so I am partial to that 1940s/1950s glamour pinup girl style!

This is pretty much a Full Time job, but I would love to get some work styling or photographing magazine shoots, runway shows, or fashion events!

6.) What is your advice for any girls out there who: a.) don’t know how to incorporate vintage into their wardrobes and/or  b.) want to start their own business or vintage store?

Dedication.

Seriously, if you aren’t really into vintage, or the fashion world, or styling, or any of that, and are just thinking you can walk into a thrift store and grab some items and make $$$… you aren’t going to last. You have to be dedicated, you have to be into this, you have to love it, you have to research and evolve and grow and change and push yourself even when you want to give up.
As for incorporating vintage into your wardrobe, always pair a vintage piece with a modern piece. Don’t be afraid to mix different patterns and colors together. Try to flatter your figure not just your size. But don’t afraid to try something new and daring. And just because it’s looks terrible on the hanger, give it a chance, you never know!

7.) Who are you listening to? Are you attending any of the music festivals coming up, and if so, what will that wardrobe look like?

I STILL listen to ‘The Cure’. Some things never go out of style! If I could attend Coachella (too far, no money), I would wear vintage 1970s LEVIS cutoff shorts, with Jeffrey Campbell wedges, cotton tank top and one of those sheer burnout velvet fringe kimonos with a big BoHo looking floppy hat, and silver & turquoise jewelry (and sunscreen)!

Slam poetry is often dismissed right off the bat in today’s world as a pastime for the beatniks and the unconventional, but that could not be a less accurate description. There are no tabloids or reality shows showcasing famous spoken word poets. Slam poetry has remained a consistent art form since its start, and has been able to maintain its authenticity in a world where nearly everything is over-hyped.

The “Louder Than A Bomb” teen poetry slam is an annual festival that showcases Chicago area high school students going head to head in slam poetry competition. Over 60 high schools compete in the event, and after a month of poetry slam face-offs, the finalists compete at Chicago’s Vic theatre; a venue typically reserved for rock concerts. The festival is the basis for the award winning documentary also titled Louder Than A Bomb, which follows four Chicago high school poetry teams as they compete in the city-wide spoken word poetry competition. The film has been making it’s way around the film festival circuit, and lucky for me, had a weeklong run at the Gene Siskel Film Center in Chicago. I sat down to what I anticipated to be another “Freedom Writers” or “Hoop Dreams,” but was proven incredibly wrong as I engaged in one of the most inspiring and moving films I’d ever seen. My idea of poetry was completely transformed. Today’s spoken word poetry calls upon racial, economic, and gender inequalities for subject matter, and employs stronger metaphors than a Lil Wayne track. The poets posess enough charisma and stage presence to hold the stunned attention of the crowd. To say the least, it is mind-blowing.

Chicago is home to a high concentration of creative, intelligent, and innovative young people, and this film exemplifies that perfectly. In today’s world, an unspoken but apparent stereotype is that young people are lazy, unrefined, and unmotivated. Young people hailing from gang-infested neighborhoods and areas of low-income are stereotyped to another degree, to the point that many people would be surprised to see one of them get up on stage and recite a poem. This film silences those stereotypes and completely alters the audience’s view on the capabilities of the younger generation. It is a slap to the face of any person who walked into the theater thinking, “kids these days are nothing but trouble.”

I was fortunate enough to chat with the film’s director, Greg Jacobs, and he answered some of my questions concerning the film, Chicago, young adults, and future projects:

1) What led you to make a film about the LTAB competition?

We first found out about LTAB completely by accident. On a Saturday night in March of 2005, Greg happened to drive past the Metro and saw that the marquee read something like “Louder Than a Bomb High School Poetry Slam Finals Tonight,” and there was a line of kids of all shapes, colors, and sizes stretching down the block. To see that diverse a crowd of high school students on the north side of Chicago on a Saturday night was interesting enough…but for poetry!? We decided we had to investigate. So we met with Kevin Coval and Young Chicago Authors, the organization that runs LTAB. Kevin introduced us to a number of teams, we went to see practices, got to know some of the coaches and poets, and really started to get a sense of the community LTAB creates. Every step of the way, we were waiting for something to tell us “this just isn’t a good idea.” Instead, every step of the way seemed to confirm that it was a good idea, and pretty soon we were making the movie!

2) What did you observe or learn about young adults in Chicago while making this film?

What amazed us about the kids we followed and got to know in Louder Than a Bomb was how incredibly creative they were. They were rapping, writing, painting, making beats, running school newspapers, starting non-profits, and all of this while holding down jobs, dealing with schoolwork, or coping with family problems—sometimes all three at once! And it wasn’t just everything they were doing—it was how much they enjoyed doing it! That combination really served as inspiration for us as we were making the film.

3) What did you observe or learn about young adults in general while making this film?

Inevitably, young people are given a bum rap by their elders—they’re always seen as lazier or softer or less sophisticated than we were back in the day. Yet what struck us again and again was how hard today’s youth have to work just to get to a point that previous generations would’ve considered normal. They have to have incredible strength and resilience to overcome the conditions they’ve been handed, and to have the passion to turn that into something beautiful is even more remarkable. It’s one of the reasons that adults come out of the film so moved and inspired—maybe when they walk into the theater, they don’t think that kind of creativity is there; but by the time they walk out, they’re thinking, “you know…maybe the future is in pretty good hands after all.”

4) In the future, would you be interested in making a film about the 18-and-under music scene in Chicago?

We love music and we love Chicago, so if a great story presented itself, we’d be happy to tell it!

(..Cough cough, KTD, Instrumentality, Rockie Fresh and any other underage rockstars I should know about!)

I highly recommend you see this film, and if you want really want to experience slam poetry, Louder Than a Bomb (the 11th annual Chicago youth poetry festival) is starting next week, and runs until March 12. The schedule can be found here, and audio streams of the poets can be found here.

xx,

Chandler

I have lost hours, days and probably even weeks of my life to weheartit.com, trolling other people’s “hearts” and finding infinate inspiration in everything from other hearters’ nights out to the latest fashion spread from Vogue Paris. I admittedly have also used the site as self-promotion for dopeambition; I “heart” images from my own site in hopes others will follow the digital paper trail and, in turn, become hooked not only on my “heart,” but also on my site.

I became intrigued with weheartit.com before I became addicted to tumblr, ffffound and other image bookmarking sites. For me, WHI is the Pandora of image bookmarking. Once you follow “hearters” who have similar tastes to your own, a new world of images and links to their sources  opens up for the browsing…hence the hours upon hours of scrolling and creeping.

The New York Times tech blog spotlighted WHI back in 2008, when WHI was still under-the-radar. Now, all of my friends and their friends and even my relatives have active accounts. And those in creative industries seem to especially lose themselves in the depths of WHI because of the constant feed of new images throughout the day, all day. One can find everything from beyond-bedazzled nails to hipster images with galaxy imagery. And if you are looking for something specific, the search bar will produce results based on image tags. For example, I often head to WHI to search for specific images. If I search “moon,” night scenes, paintings and even fashion spreads that feature the moon will show up, providing me with a more curated selection than Google images can offer.

I caught up with the site’s founder, Fabio Giolito, via email and he answered some of my questions concerning the site’s startup, fashion and the future for WHI.
1.) How did you come up with the idea for weheartit.com? Was it one of those drunken epiphanies, or was it something more strategically thought out and calculated?

I created weheartit as a tool for myself, It started really simple, it was a quick way to save and tag inspiring images from all the blogs I read. I asked a few friends to help me test it, to make sure the code worked on other blogs, and they started adding their favorite images. So I created profiles, rankings of the most popular images… And soon enough we were thousands.

2.) What separates your site from other image bookmarking sites, or even tumblr?

Weheartit started as a place where you save amazing images you find, but now it’s also a place where amazing images find you. You can spend hours on the site, looking pictures of things you like, searching and saving to your own heart images that other people added. Instead of just seeing what your friends are posting, you can find things that you’re really interested about and new people that likes the same things you do.

3.) Sites like weheartit.com can serve as live indexes displaying what is most popular now, what is going viral, what is next, etc. Do you think your site serves as more than just an “inspiration bookmark,” but maybe as even a calculator of what is inspiring?

Today we focus on bookmaking and discovering new recent content, but we’re always working to improve the site, and soon we’ll be able to see what is trending and most interesting.

4.) How do you think weheartit.com relates to fashion or has a finger on the fashion-world pulse? I know there is more on your site than that, but there are a ton of fashion images that circulate. Was this your intention when creating the site?

If you think about it, fashion is highly visual and generates a lot of content. You have magazines, editorials, runways, concepts, commercials, trends… So it’s a natural fit on weheartit.

5.) What kind of press/publicity/attention have you gotten since weheartit.com started?

We’ve been featured on many independent blogs around the world, but also on the NY Times, MTV Brazil and the Read Write Web.

6.) How does weheartit.com serve as a promotional tool? For example, I “heart” many of the images on my own site in order to draw traffic there. Is this common?

Yes, this is common. Many people using weheartit also have blogs, so they ‘heart’ the content they add to their blogs.

7.) Where do you see your site in 5 years? How do you see it expanding?

Weheartit is growing so fast that it’s hard to predict what will happen in 5 years. I think more and more people will use it to express themselves visually and connect with people from around the world.

Around this time last year, New Yorkers with a sweet tooth could indulge their cravings with Dorie Greenspan’s Cookie Bar pop-up shop at the Mizu Salon on Park Ave. Luckily for us, she and her business partner, her son Josh, decided to double dip with this delicious venture, and are hosting a  a second go around this year with one small twist: legendary graffiti artist Crash is in on the mix.

The man who once decorated New York City trains in the 70s teamed up with the Greenspans to paint the front window of this year’s pop-up shop, lending his signature style of lettering to pop-up shop’s name.

Cookies are sold individually, and range from $1.75 to $2.50 a munch. Some of the cookie recipe names from last year included the Molasses-Spice Cookie, the Peanut Butter Crisscrosses with brown sugar and the Espresso-Chocolate Shortbreads, and from what I’ve heard, every single cookie concoction was equally as tasty as the next.

You can stop by starting this Monday at 10am at Mizu on Park Avenue (between 59th and 60th Streets). I am planning on stopping by to get a taste, myself.

Cookie Bar NYC on twitter- @CookieBarNYC

Josh Greenspan on Twitter – @JoshGreenspan

Believe it or not, I actually do miss bumping elbows and knocking knees with sweaty club kids with tri-colored hair and soaked-through white Ts. I actually do miss the energy generated from being around people who feel the music so much that they can’t help but mosh and mingle perspiration droplets and, at times, saliva.

I just miss having a life; something that graduate school (and my internship and this beloved site) have stolen from me. But for those of you who do have lives and enough hours in your evening to make it out the door, put on your party hats, pants, socks, shades…whatever you slip on to get in the mood. DAT Politics has the soundtrack to your night out and thereafter.

To call this electro-pop laptop duo “upbeat” is like calling a hyperactive child energetic: the tempo of every song will induce frenzied dancing and a disregard of all things serious upon eardrum penetration. And with songs like “Turn My Brain Off” and Dizzy Zip” (off of Wow Twist, their most popular album to date), any ideas of austerity fly out the window.

DAT Politics has been tempting seizures and titillating partygoers now for over a decade. The group was started in 1999 in a small French town by the name of Champagne, and when members got bored with the music around them at the time, they did what any inventor does: they concocted a sound using experimental instruments, noises and everyday objects for inspiration.

By 2002, the explosive sound they created was recognized by the likes of Chicks on Speed, and soon after their career skyrocketed.

Their sound is infectious, catchy and emphatically seductive. If you plan on listening, be prepared to not only stand up, but to either get naked, sweat your makeup off, mosh with whomever is in the room, or get ready to go out. Standing in place simply will not suffice when you listen in.

DAT Politics on Soundcloud

DAT Politics on Facebook

The Afterlife Walking Dead DAT politics Remix by DAT POLITICS

And to get a little taste of what one of their live shows is like…

Tell us a little bit about DAT Politics.
Claude: We met in high school. We were into underground art and noisy music, so we were feeling like freaks in our small town of Champagne. We quickly start to jam abstracts noises in Gaetan’s garage, using any kind of sources; radio/videogames samples, distortion, drones, brutal rhythms, and feedback. We moved to Lille to study Art and Cinema at the University and we created our first musical project Tone Rec and DAT politics few years later.

What is the craziest show you ever played?
Claude: We had many great shows all over the world, but last year we had our first tour in South America. We didn’t know really what to expect, but Buenos Aires turned out to be one of our best shows; it was a packed club with a singing along crowd. They were doing all the work and I was barely hearing my voice! That was awesome, we can’t wait to go back.

Your favorite song of your own?
Claude: I have several ones like “Own thing Part I” and “Freak Me Out“,  but if I have to choose one my favorite song would be “Bad Dream Machine”  from our Mad Kit album. I think that we succeed in this track to inject what makes our sound something to last for a decade… a kind of twisted Synth-Pop.

Who are you guys inspired by/who are you listening to right now?
Gaetan: When I was a kid, my big brothers’ vinyls, like Kraftwerk, Jarre, Klaus Schulze or Motörhead… But since my childhood, I have also been really into soundtracks like Carpenter or Goblin.

Claude: As a teen, I was into 80′s Synth-Pop like The Buggles, Jacno… But we met in the 90′s during the Shoegaze big wave…

Gaetan: Right now I’m really into old Synth-Pop classics like Omd, Ruth, Chris Carter, Yazoo, and some new stuff too like Salem, Siriusmo, and Oneohtrix.

Where in the world or what festival would be you most like to play that you haven’t played yet?
Claude: Fuji Rock…I love Japan. The crowd is always very great there!