dress by Nathalie Kraynina photo by Jena Cumbo
WILLIAMSBURG FASHION WEEKEND MAGAZINE
february 2103
Editor In Chief Gina Tron
Founder
Arthur Arbit
Contributing Writers Rachel Cappucci Hannah Palmer Egan Briana Ryan Peter Tiso Gina Tron
Photography Jena Cumbo
Contributing Designers Uta Brauser Andrea Diodati King Gurvy Nathalie Kraynina Mark Tauriello
Design & Layout Ron Kretsch
suit by king gurvy photo by Jena Cumbo
A LETTER FROM OUR FOUNDER T
he twelfth season of Williamsburg Fashion Weekend is here. WFW, from its inception has championed designers who elevate fashion aesthetically and morally to the highest-level that independence af fords. Par ticipating designers, some of which are just out of school and some who have been around the block, are as dif ferent as snowflakes in their creations. What ties them together, though, is their commitment to making the world better through their work. Consumers are the other half in the dynamic of art creation. It is a powerful and extremely important position to be in. By voting with your dollar you are perpetuating an agenda of the company you support. Clothing manufacturing has become has become a monster eating itself. It will take time and effort designers and consumers to outgrow the propensity to look only at the price of the garment, disregarding the fact that someone on the other side of the globe is paying for it with their blood. The underlying power of the designers who show at WFW, is their love for what they do. Where there is love there is integrity, and integrity is what we believe is sorely lacking in our field of endeavor. It has been said that leading by example is the most effective method of leadership. Thus, by example we will show the fashion world that transparent business practices, undiluted personal vision, and innovation with a moral code is the way toward a sustainable industry for generations to come. WFW envisions a marketplace where the consumer and designers are par tners in this essential endeavor. We are giving an oppor tunity for the industr y and for the general audience to get face to face with what we call conscientious fashion.
Welcome to the future of fashion. — Arthur Arbit
dress by Mark Tauriello foxtailed piece and leg warmers by Uta Bruaser photo by Jena Cumbo
FORM, FUNCTION + FORTITUDE THE POWER OF CLOTHES BY BR IANA RYAN
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find my personal apparel choices empowering – borrowing the fact that I’ve kept on top of my laundry and actually have items from which to choose. I believe that putting on clothes can be a wildly electric experience. Our choices have the ability to offer a portrait of the person behind them. We are in effect telling the universe who we are and perhaps what we’re feeling. These states-of-mind can shift from day to night, season to season, and decade to decade, affording us as many fashion incarnations as we’d care to experience. This infinite potential energy that cycles through our closets should inspire us to commit to feeling powerful and secure in our personal style, and this may be understated or emotionally charged. We ought to be comfortable taking ownership of our identity through our clothing when, where and how we see fit. Fortunately for the conscious people there are independent designers working tirelessly to bring our desires to life. “I always try to picture my clothing being functional,” says designer Nathalie Kraynina of her collections. “My clothes are inspired by women. I want them to feel confident and powerful, with a timeless elegance.“ Purchasing locally made clothing can guarantee an exclusive individual statement while supporting the infrastructure of homegrown business – an encouraging notion in a culture of mass production. “I want the people who wear my pieces to feel special and unique,” says Marcus Hicks of his New York-based label, SDN. “I do a lot of one-offs and usually small runs, with a few exceptions, so I think my customer feels like they have something very few people have.” And they do have something special. There are secret powers locked inside a limited edition.
And today, more and more people are seeing our outfits. With the ever-increasing amount of smartphones and the prevalence of social media entities, we are under watch now more than ever, and that includes what we are (or aren’t!) wearing. We’re followed, poked, pinned, tagged – with all eyes on our outward appearance. Our wardrobe choices are now be broadcast to the world and will probably live on in digital history. For better or worse, this point of consideration is, hopefully, shifting our global perception of conscientious fashion in the twenty-first century. Out with the chemicalladen corporate leviathan and thank you for not liking their pages on Facebook. Many designers who participate in Williamsburg Fashion Weekend employ up-cycling, recycling, and artisan techniques, as well as transparent business practices in addition to their contributions to local economies. These innovators of industry are here to help us all make more impactful wardrobe statements. Clothing is a very powerful force of nature, and when coupled with proper awareness, a testament to personal fortitude.
CALL ME COPYCAT
THE HIGH-LOW GAME OF DESIGNER IMPOSTERS BY HANNAH PALMER EGAN
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ew moments in fashion are more devastating than walking into a ball and seeing someone in your dress. Worse, if she’s more (or less) important than you are, or any combination of younger, sexier, smarter, more successful, or if her escort is richer than yours (God forbid you’ve decided to fly solo to the party—Oh, the shame!). This famously happened to former first lady Laura Bush in 2009, when three mor tified mavens showed up at the Kennedy Center Honors Gala in the same (kinda meh) Oscar de la Renta frock. Lovely Laura, that portrait of social grace and goodwill did the right thing and changed, salvaging some dignity for the three imposters.
But, riddle me this: you’ve been coveting a chic tailored LBD from last season’s runway and now it’s on the rack at Barney’s. Your recentlysingle, guy-friend-in-film just invited you the MoMA Film Benefit (OMG, OMG). You head to Barney’s to try on that LBD…It fits beautifully, obvi, but reality check! You don’t have $4k to throw in your closet right now. You dejectedly head to Forever 21 and Oh. My. God, the mannequin is wearing a near-exact replica of your objet du désir. You think maybe you’re in the wrong store until the thrilled fuzz in your ears subsides and the latest Destiny’s Child remix coaxes you to reality. It fits. It’s $29.80. You rush home to get ready; you break out that pair of Louboutins you spent your entire tax return on when you were 23, put on your grandma’s diamond necklace, amp up the smoky eye and set out to take the town. At the par ty, you feel so confident, you linger at the step-and-repeat. Although you’re a nobody, the paparazzi still gives you a good many flashes for your red carpet moment. You’re not blinded like Jennifer Lawrence was, but hey, small victories. You enter the cocktail hour—holyshit—there’s Miranda Kerr—and Hamish Bowles— and Miranda’s wearing your dress. Except since she’s a supermodel it’s the real one and she probably didn’t have to pay for it anyway. OK, yeah, she looks taller and skinnier and altogether more glamorous (OK well she is, duh) in it than you do in your knockof f… But it’s still strangely satisfying, right? You, in your comparatively ghetto glor y are rocking BASICALLY the same garment… Pretty slick, right? Well, maybe it is, after pounding about four vodka-tonics, which you would have done anyway, let’s be honest. After that, you’re as bright a star as she is. Miranda-who? Yeah, thought so.Small victor y #2—YES Forever 21!!
OK but w hat if Forever 21 lost t he ability to knoc k of f designer rags? Oh Gah, the horror! There are folks advocating this, like your buddy Chuck Schumer (NY Senator, remember him from the gala?), who sponsored the Innovative Design Protection Act of 2012, which, if it hadn’t died in Januar y’s congressional circus, would have fur ther limited what can be copied. Under the law, designers could copyright new types of sleeves, vents, skir ts, heels, pockets, etc. Existing law only protects surface designs—prints, patterns, etc. What would that mean for hot trends like last season’s shir t-tail hems? Ever ybody’s doing it, but what if ONE designer had gotten there first? Would that designer be entitled to exclusive use of the hemline? FIT professor Guillermo Jimenez, who co-authored Fashion Law: A Guide for Designers, Fashion Executives, and Attorneys, thinks expanding copyright protections for fashion would be par ticularly helpful to emerging designers: “[The ability to copyright designs] would give them a tool for protecting new ideas in the cut and construction of garments and footwear… Currently, your new idea can be knocked of f by a company like Forever 21 and their product can be in the market even faster than yours,” he said in a recent email. Critics of fashion copyright legislation say copycatting actually breeds innovation and variation, pushing designers to stay ahead of the copycats, while enabling trends to take hold. If copycatting were outlawed, naysayers argue, fashion would stop moving for ward. Jimenez disagrees, pointing to European legislation, which protects fashion as intellectual property: “The situation is dif ferent in Europe, where it is possible [for designers] to obtain [copyright] protection…Why hasn’t fashion died in Europe?” he asked. Jimenez seems to take a big-picture view: “It is true that American law allows copycats like Forever 21, ABS and Promgirl to sur vive and prosper, but I do not think such companies are essential to the industry, and I think that in any event they could still sur vive by licensing any new designs they wanted to use.” And so for th, copyrighting could be another feather in the cap of the American fashion avant-garde.
dress by King Gurvy jacket and hat By Uta Brauser photo by Jena Cumbo
FUTURE OF FASHION BY GINA TRON
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hen I think about the future of fashion, I think about robots in hologram suits and clothing that puts itself on. Maybe some lasers. Unfor tunately, by the time that happens, I’ll be long dead. What kind of trends will occur in fashion while I’m still breathing? Too soon to tell, but I spoke to some of Williamsburg Fashion Weekend’s most futuristic designers to ask their hopes and predictions for the years to come. “I think future of the fashion is very artistic,” Uta Bekaia told me. “I think it will be more concentrated on individuality and personality of the client. It looks like fashion is becoming art wear in the future... In today’s world society needs to highlight individuality in order to fulfill. and I hope that what [the] future of the fashion holds.” Uta Brauser also believes that individuality will continue to be a main focus, in addition to our surroundings. “I believe there will be a lot more environmental aspects to fashion. reflecting attitudes about developments in politics.” She hinted to me that politics will be playing a big role in her upcoming line as well. Designer Mark Tauriello, whose last collection was inspired by the art of H.R.Giger (art director responsible for the futuristic look of the Aliens saga), told me that futurism is a trend of the present. “I notice right now the trend is kind of futuristic.” He cited rubberized materials and leather panels in addition to boxy silhouettes as examples. “I think its going to get edgier.” Mark and I have recently become enraged with the prevalence of spikes in mainstream fashion. It was weird when we stole it from subcultures far more extreme than our own, and then we got mad when it was “taken” from us. Seems every Jersey housewife wears fucking spiked shoes now and nobody even takes a double take. “You and I used to wear that shit, get ridiculed for it, and now if you open up Vogue you see Creepers,” Mark exclaimed. The revolving fashionable doors that Mark is referencing will probably continue to exist as long as our heads are attached to our bodies. Just replace spikes and Creepers with any other fashion element that is still in its “shocking” stage. Everything new eventually becomes dull with exposure, though I hope the future holds some truly shocking elements and a few items that are so grand that no amount of time or exposure can dull them down. Mark also observed feels that most new subcultures have a pretty short lifespan right now. “I don’t see any new genres developing and when they do I don’t think they’re taken as seriously.” He cited steampunk explaining that it “peaked on the radar, and then sunk. Then it developed this Hot Topic sort of vibe.” When something enters the Hot Topic zone, its a fate worse than death. Thus, Mark feels that in order for fashion to evolve, “new genres need to evolve and be taken seriously.”
dress by Uta Brauser photo by Jena Cumbo
S. EXE BY PETER TISO
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he - it? - starts the music with a wave of a pale hand, complex algorithms digging through music collections and settling on demographically-appropriate choices that I hadn’t played yet myself. That’s their trick: these things manage to feed you something new every time and make you feel like you came up with it yourself. Flopping down casually on the bed, it turns up to me and offers very intentional glances of a body culled from a search history embarrassingly common in its profanity. These models are incredible improvements over the first-gens, plastic things that made you feel like a mechanical bull fell over on you that no one could turn of f. I guess they weren’t bad for a first shot; with only the crap we’ve been firing of f into space on all channels to guide their engineers, no wonder they came in looking like Megan Fox, acting like Michael Bay was directing, and incapable of getting anything more satisfying than an explosion out of you. Still, we paid for them, at first with money while that was wor th anything. That ran out right about when the second-gens hit the vending booths, this time built on the reams of field-verified data gathered from the pressure sensors built into ever y inch of the first ones. It nods at the flimsy table beside the bed, made of the same particle board as the walls. I reach into my bag and pull out what it wants- a stack of silicon boards and discarded circuitry. At first, it was unnerving watching them suck the metals out of these digital spintria. Not only did it seem a bit close to cannibalism, it made me realize I was about to ride a walking foundry. Now it’s almost like knocking her up, watching that metal heading to the factories they bought from the Chinese to kick out more bots and more of the flimsy houses that border the fields. Extraction complete, I grab a fistful of the length-adjusted spun-protein hair and pull the unit backwards to the bed. It writhes and complains as I pin down its wrists above its head, flirting with that now-meaningless line that stands before actual protest. After a few satisfying minutes of weakness, the hand reaches up and grabs my throat with calibrated strength. I shove it off and drive the heel of my palm into its face. A satisfying red rises up where the hit landed, satisfying since I know it’s programmed to fade when my erection does. On the second attempt its grab takes hold and flips me to my back, pinning my fragile calcium bones. A slight pneumatic hiss precedes the actual penetration, organic lubricant coating an anatomy as uncannily accurate as it is implausible. I strike out again and again as this simultaneously plunges into and engulfs me, shuddering as each blow I land grows less heartfelt. Timing sensors align its rolling vibrations to my own, servos and pistons churning unseen to contract as my sperm advance to their useless task. It holds on as long as the data suggests I’d like it to, releasing me to watch as the blood-like ferromagnetic fluid drains from cheek-plates that repair themselves as my ability to feel guilt returns. It’s easy to take over a planet covered in angry flesh without firing a shot; you just fuck each of them the way they think they deserve often enough that they can’t think of doing anything else.
GUARDIAN ALIEN BY RACHEL CAPPUCCI
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hen your audience varies from a bunch of kids going crazy one night, to quiet moms and dads the next, it becomes dif ficult to define your music. “Our music is ver y open- it’s not alienating. No pun intended.” Guardian Alien’s Greg Fox says of the band’s unique sound that sets them apar t from any specific genre. Others have described their music as ‘psychedelic rock’, but they prefer “psychedelic world” over anything else. Their shows feed of f the energy of the crowd where if the vibe is relaxed they go with that, and if the audience has a lot of energy, they will give that right back to them. Ultimately, they want their music to move people. Guardian Alien is composed of Greg Fox (drums, writer/arranger, electronics, vocals), Alex Drewchin (vocals, synth, guitar) Eli Winograd (bass), Turner Williams (Shahi baaja), and Bernard Gann (guitar). Fox, a New York City native, says that being exposed to so much different music growing up has had a huge impact on the kind of music he has ended up making. Mediation has proved to be quite impactful on their music as well. The title of their sophomore album, See the World Given to a One Love Entity, a for ty minute trance inducing track that shifts from heavy to soft featuring real nature sounds came from a vision Fox had while meditating. “While in meditation I was approached by a ver y stereotypical alien looking thing wearing a Rasta cap. He had dreadlocks, and he was wearing a yellow Adidas jump suit. He showed me the record, he handed it to me facing up and it said the album title.” Fox reveals. Their music is truly an experience hoarding so many dif ferent feelings and hear t that it becomes easy to lose yourself within its psychedelic drones. Whether you prefer to simply sit and listen or throw your arms around dancing to their music, there is something here for ever yone. The band’s fashion philosophy is to always be comfor table, and say their favorite designers are Mackswell Sherman and Sarah Jones of RHLS. “They’re on top to me. They’re the best” Drewchin says. Guardian Alien is playing The Knitting Factory on February 19th, and touring in March as they make their way to SXSW in Austin. They are currently working on their new album.
PRINCE RAMA BY RACHEL CAPPUCCI
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ometimes it’s a lot of glit ter. The next time they’re channeling their inner warrior. “You should pay at tention to what you wear; it’s what people see first. It’s put ting out the energy that you want to at trac t”. Taraka Larson of Prince Rama says. Their energy is exciting, relaxing, it’s crawling on the floor and breathing heavily, it’s an organized chaos that makes you wonder “how did they do that?” Taraka and Nimai Larson have tried on dif ferent music genres over the years, riding the trends from skate punk to acoustic and finally finding their place in the sound of psychedelic, ‘now age’, rock that is Prince Rama. Their original philosophy was to make music where they never had to plug anything in, but that didn’t last long. Star ting in Florida, they moved to Boston for school, and after a long tour that ended in NYC, they searched for an apar tment in Brooklyn. “In Boston ever y show is kind of the same, here, its full spectrum. You move two inches to the right and it’s a dif ferent thing” Taraka says. In 2010 their distinctive sound caught the attention of Animal Collective’s David Por ter after a SXSW show, where he of fered to put their music out with his label, Paw Tracks. “It was his first time ever hearing of us; It was totally random,” Taraka says. This past fall, they opened for Animal Collective on their European tour. They’ve seen a lot of change, specifically within their members, but have finally smoothed out their edges and now claim that their music is more honest than ever. Prince Rama is sisters Taraka (vocals/synthe/guitar) and Nimai Larson (drums/ vocals), returning member Michael Collins (synthe), and Christopher Burke (bass). Live per formances, DJ sets, and their most recent album released in late 2012, Top Ten Hits for the End of the World, a sor t-of play on a “NOW: that’s What I Call music” style album for last year’s apocalypse that never happened, proves we never know what we’re gonna get from them. Prince Rama is currently working on a movie featuring tracks from their last album, and are playing a show at Le Poisson Rouge on March 28th.