Tuesday, July 15, 2014 Right Now: A Different Kind of Instagram
In the digital world, it’s hard to see beyond strategic selfies and personal promo. But Marissa and I believe that Instagram and Twitter and all of those things can be pretty useful. A few years ago, the two of us created personal Instagram accounts, where we posted pictures of our crazy outfits and cool friends or, in my case, my really good-looking golden retriever. Instagram was fun, but not exactly professional. Then, Marissa had a genius idea and within a couple days she had Cur8ed, an Instagram profile where she posted her favorite editorials and reinvented them on her own body. It was genius and I was jealous. So, on a car ride with her, Marissa encouraged me to start something too. Fast forward a few months and I was the proud owner of Copy Lab, something I’ve deemed “a social experiment on taste and perception” but is, in all reality, Photoshopping designer goods onto famous paintings. Instafame still hasn’t hit either of us, but we’re having fun doing it, and it’s a lot more fun to create original content than it is to take millions of selfies (eventhough, yeah, we still do that on occasion). Marissa and I had a conversation about all things Insta a few days ago and thought we would share! –Chris Rellas
Tuesday, July 15, 2014 Trends: An Ode to the Crop Top
It started with the Spice Girls. Like most brown-haired British girls growing up in the late ‘90s, my childhood was spent arguing with my schoolmates about whether I was more of a Sporty or a Posh. Posh had her charms, certainly – the LBDs, the pout – but Sporty could backflip. Sporty had a gold tooth. Sporty wore track pants and crop tops. In my nine year old mind, something about this aesthetic registered, and it resonated. Still too young to buy my own clothes – especially ones that revealed acres of flesh – I banked this look somewhere deep in my internal #inspo folder (those primitive days before Tumblr!), to be referenced at a later date.
When that day finally rolled around, the crop top was thankfully still in vogue – albeit in a new form. By this point, All Saints were the trend-setting Brit girl band of the day, and I quickly set about copycatting their look: Baggy, low-slung combat pants, Adidas shell toe sneakers, and a cotton tank top, cropped several inches above the (exposed) hipbone. This lower abdominal exposure was less forgiving/tasteful than the upper ab region we’ve taken to showcasing now, but I committed to the look regardless. For much of my adolescence I was happily walking around with my kidneys (and often, underwear) exposed, until one day my style-conscious Dad took me aside and pointed out that “sometimes it’s more flattering to cover up.” Ouch. OK. Point taken.
Tuesday, July 15, 2014 Nasty Guys: Remembering The Ramones
photo by Brad Elterman
On Friday, July 11th, Tommy Ramone died, and just like that, 1,2,3,4, all the original members of the Ramones were gone. I cried when I heard the news. Okay, so maybe I cry a lot, at vacuum cleaner commercials and concerts and movies and previews for movies, but when I heard about Tommy’s death, I cried because the Ramones were important to me in a way that not many other bands were. The Ramones were my Beatles. Not only were they my Beatles, they were punk rock’s Beatles: they created a sound that would spawn in some way or another a million and a half bands, from The Clash to The Misfits to The Strokes. There would be no Nirvana without the Ramones. There would be no Black Flag, there would be no Beastie Boys. Don’t even get me started on Green Day or Blink-182 (or the throngs of present-day eye-liner-loving Warped Tour bands I can’t actually identify). The Ramones, with their hook-ridden, blistering-beat two-and-a-half minute tunes, are responsible for easily 97% of my favorite bands, who in turn took turns rescuing me at various angst-ridden, alienated junctures of my youth. By that logic, the Ramones saved my life, and for that I am eternally grateful.
Vinyl Destination:
Unif Twerk Boyfriend Jeans
Converse All Star High-Top Sneaker in Black Leather
Nasty Gal Play Ball Tee
Cross The Line Crop Tee
Just Female Dagman Leather Jacket
Unif Outsider Denim Jacket in Black
Ramones Emblem Tee
Michelle Shades
Monday, July 14, 2014 Right Now: Grin and Bare It
It’s Monday and we’re in the mood to be nude. Why, you ask? Because it’s National Nude Day. While our 7th favorite holiday encourages individuals around the globe to disrobe, there are unfortunately some legal consequences for doing so. So, in an effort to partake in the scantily-clad celebration without getting arrested (because frankly that is just not the way we’ve imagined being naked in handcuffs), we’ve rounded up our favorite stuff to celebrate being in the buff. After all, nude fashion can be more liberating than the actual thing. Imagine all those double takes you’ll get.
Monday, July 14, 2014 Just Sayin’: This Week’s Mantra
This week’s words of wisdom come courtesy of model Bip Ling’s apt Instagram. Follow her at @bipling for more wise musings.