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Archive for December, 2009

Dec16

Leia, 16, NYC

2009 has definitely been one of the best years of my life. Life has changed drastically in so many ways I don’t really even know where to start. First of all, I graduated high school, moved to Brooklyn in my own apartment with my best friend, and started as a photography major at Parsons. To narrow it down to having just one, “best day” is sort of impossible for me. This was such a great year overall.

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In March I went to SXSW with my then boyfriend and two friends. I had a blast, but then again, I always do at SXSW! In June I was part of a photo show during Northside Festival in Brooklyn. I had 7 large prints placed in the Music Hall of Williamsburg along with 7 other BrooklynVegan.com photographers. It was so amazing to see my work blown up like that. A lot of my friends came out and supported me and it was definitely one of the happiest, proudest moments I’ve had. I felt like I really progressed as a photographer this year overall. With the photoshow, being published on NYMAG.com and Vogue.com, I’ve started to feel like I’m actually becoming something.

I had an amazing summer this year. I spent most of it at home in Tuxedo Park and became very close to a group of kids that lived in my town. We had such a nice group. We would go on hikes, have barbeques, have dinner out on the lake, sit out on the boat all night talking and watching stars…exploring parts of our town we never knew existed.

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It was really amazing, I have never appreciated where I’ve grown up before until this summer. I also went up to Maine with my then boyfriend and two friends where another of our friend’s had a house on an island. It was one of the most beautiful places I have ever been and I took some of my best photos to date there (I think so anyway!). That trip my boyfriend and I broke up, and that was fine since it was mutual and we still remain friends.

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I guess the worst day so far has been the days where I’m just feeling down because things aren’t the way they used to be. I’m stressed out a lot due to the amount of work I get (don’t get me wrong, I love it, but it really takes a toll on my body and mind), and nostalgic for the past. A lot of my closest friends went away to college and I’ve felt really socially distant from them all, as well as people at my school. I don’t dorm and I’m so swamped with work that it is hard for me to meet new people. This is just a rut though, so I am sure I will get out of it. I have over a month long break coming up in two weeks and I couldn’t be more excited!

Another amazing day this year was the first time I saw Bruce Springsteen. My room mate is related to him, and her cousin was his tour manager (he has since passed away, and she is still dealing with it. He was such a nice guy and my heart goes out to everyone that he meant something to. He was the first person I ever knew who died, and that was pretty hard to take). She took me to see him play the last Giants Stadium shows in New Jersey before they knocked it down. I got to go backstage, hang out with the crew, see the show from the stage…it was mind-blowing. I have since then been to 7 Bruce shows, each one as amazing as the last. I even met him a few times and he remembers me now! Crazy stuff.

Oh! Also, I got bangs. I look a lot different than I used to and I think they are going to stay.

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2010 should be a good year for me. I am looking forward to my second semester at Parsons, getting an internship, etc. I am excited for the summer and the adventures it will bring. Each year I’m surprised, the future is so funny…I can’t predict at all where I’ll be this time next year. I would never guess in a million years LAST year that where I am currently, is where I would be.

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Dec16

Allan, 17, Beijing

2009 was the year for me to make my miracle from the very beginning to the very end. Life is just like a journey. The best thing of life is not found at the end of the journey, but experienced along the journey.

2009 I have won some inspirational prizes about English studying; the champion of English speech contest sponsored by Beijing foreign language school, the best actor of English drama and the first place of Xuehai English awards competition. I cant deny that I have mad love for study English, I am telling you, speaking English fluently gives me a great sense of satisfaction and achievement and makes me fell super confident about myself. But sometimes, something like complicated grammar, vocabularies with over twenty letters and different tense changes are totally driving me nuts. But I think everything takes time, so does learning English and I hope I will be more patient and tolerant on study. My prizes

Number 1 in English

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Another subject that I have to mention is global warming. I have been obtaining the knowledge and information of climate change in 2009. It is definitely gives me a deep impression and I truly want to let you guys know what is going on around the world.

I saw a PSA on TV on one day in 2009. Two polar bears stand on a thin chunk of floating ice looking at the sky desperately. Their home Arctic is melting because of global warming.

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In that PSA, I was impressed a lot more by the voice over from the two little kids. They said, “polar bears live in Arctic on the ice, but the ice is melting because of global warming. Some polar bears had to swim so far that they drowned. Baby bears have died. When I am old, when I am forty-five, they could be gone. Grown-ups should do something.. Please help them!’’ I am telling you, for the very first time in my life, I found out that little kids’ voices could be so powerful. And I think it is time for we human beings to deal with the issues of global warming because we only have one earth. Let’s change from right now, yes we can!

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2010 will be a shining year of my golden age. I am going to be an adult, even if I exactly haven’t got ready yet. The age of eighteen, it was an age for me to become a grown man, which meant I was not a little kid any more.

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It was also an age for me to become more independent, face and deal with everything in my life on my own. On the top of it, eighteen was the age for me to take the college entrance examination and I hope I can successfully got the offer from my dream university. If it going to happen to me some day, that will absolutely a dream come true for me..

Speaking of another unforgettable consideration of mine. I am about to be a distant learner in America, because I incredibly have passion for the multiple culture all around the world and there is no doubt that America is leading and creating the freshest culture, therefore, I decide to study the major of Public Relations in U.S and I am trying to develop the local culture of China. There are a lot of hypers and trendiers keeping underground on their business and their inspiring proposition. My target is to make them become mainstream culture and fundamentally build the roots of the Chinese street fashion.

When it comes to the fashion, I insist that I incredibly adore street fashion based on the hip-hop culture and I am sure it will combine native Chinese culture some day, that is definitely stand for the indelible morale of every stylists, local designers or even ordinary citizens. Another point is that I am fashion conscious, because at the beginning, I get a kick out of adding my own flavor, my own attitude to the clothes I am wearing and recently I was working on my own designing project, designing my ideal patterns and figures. Me and my friend are planning to create our own brand called Aboriginal, it is a convincing proof of my hard works on exploration of culture and fashion, hope it is going to drop bomb after 4 or 5 years.

Me and my friend

And I need you guys support me and show respect to Aboriginal, because our marketing propaganda and strategy is open to International markets. I am looking forward to receiving the hottest news created by international friends. No matter what it is just a dream haven’t come true for me, I will do my best to achieve it. The exploration and persistence are the unshakable philosophy of mine, I promise you guys Aboriginal will be born after 5 years. I appreciate you guys could show your supportive to my hard work.

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Dec16

Caroline Daniels, iris

How do you think your world has changed in 2009? Tell us about the best day of the year for you and maybe a day that wasn’t so great, we’d just like to get an impression of how you’d look back on 2009. How do you think you have changed throughout the year and what’s the most important thing you’ve learnt? We’d love to get at least 5 images to go along with this question.

What are you looking forward to the most in 2010? Do you have a any big plans or anything you’d like to achieve? How do you feel about the upcoming year? How do you think it’ll be different from 2009? We’d just like to know your thoughts and feelings around 2010 and what it holds for you. Please include any pictures, links or videos that help express your point.

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Dec2

Ruby Pseudo

When I was working at Nike as the Consumer Insights and Ideation Manager, I was tracking fashion trends and helping work out what the fashion future might look like 18 months to five years ahead of what was currently happening. Before that, I’d studied fashion at college, working with the British fashion designer of the year Hussein Chalayan for two seasons in a row, whilst spending most of my time wishing my legs were longer. I remember having a pink tulle dress for Erin O’Connor fitted on me, which came down to my ankles. The same dress came above her knees – she was ever so sweet about it.

Taking such a logistical view of trends and fashion at Nike had a big effect on me. Whereas wandering around Dover Street Market should have been some sort of frivolous fairytale fun, it became a nuanced pseudo-scientific mission to read in to all the nuts, bolts, hardware and hidden aspects of fashion to see what little pointers might spell out the next stages and steps of the style story. You didn’t run your hand along a Watanabe coat with designer dreams in your mind anymore; you read in to the stitches, the fabric mix and the length with military precision and a note book scribble scrawl. That wasn’t a Kawakubo classic anymore, it was a sure sign that sportswear was about to get luxe and lovely. Damn it.

I recently tweeted that reading William Gibson’s book ‘Pattern Recognition’ years ago was the reason I still dress all in black. That’s probably a lie; I’ve been dressing in black for ages, but his protagonist Cayce’s ‘allergy’ to brands resonated with me, and to read that someone else [albeit a far more fabulous, fictional female] was also dressing in ‘units’ [jeans bought in duplicates, shoes bought in duplicates, tops bought in fives] was some kind of comforting. Laureline and Leia’s equal eschewing of following fashion is fascinating; just as they both found ways to stand out and stick two fashion fingers up, I too turned to make-up and my hair to create a determined diversion; Adam Ant-esque make-up [pre-McQueen I’ll have you know], changing hair colours [even blue, like Laureline] and funny little feathers all helped calm and cure my modern malaise. Cayce might have filed the logos off her clothes, but I just didn’t have the time.

There used to be a huge difference between style and fashion; one you were innately born with, the other [fashion] found you. More and more, that divide is diminishing, Topshop has a lot to answer for [listen to my lyrics for Carbon Cats that languid legend Willy Borrell turned in to some monotone madness here] and with fashion appropriating style and the street more than ever before [and harder, better, faster, stronger I might add] - it’s never been more difficult to be different. Yet what our bloggers show, however, is the teenage tenacity to reconcile this style sum. The role London has played in this articulated algorithm is fascinating too; four years ago we’d lost our clothing crown to the likes of Stockholm [cited as “the Tokyo of Europe’] but London kids have never been so damned cool. Tokyo might have their great and gorgeous hipsters [seriously, everyone looks amazing out there at the moment, I’ve just come back], but their hipsters are homogenous; the prevalence of pretty doesn’t beat the mismatched mayhem of our streets at the moment. We don’t have one style, we have myriad; rakish rogues, vintage vultures and dapper dandies are only some of the looks you’ll see sweeping across the cement of the city. Yea Topshop are selling 55,000 units plus a week, but it’s what the kids are doing with these units that count.

The part the Internet plays here is paramount; kids can research Rockabilly, surf The Sartorialist and meet their mode makers more than ever before. This is not a generation of kids whose influence and inspiration is limited to local any more; it’s a generation with a global, grand gaze.

Embracing the remix culture is imperative; lending yourself to legends and allowing kids to know about your brand history, style stories and designers are all part of the new conversation currency. The more you can help your mass market of consumers be individuals, the brilliantly better. They’re not 55,000 units, they’re 55,000 individuals. Now that’s a lot of talking to talk. Get chatting.

Ruby Pseudo. In black, not blue. Always.

Tags: Add new tag, Fashion
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Dec2

Leia, 16, NYC

The way I dress & my look is becoming more and more important in helping me express my individuality. Way back I used to not give a shit (excuse my French, but it’s so true!) about how I looked or how I dressed. When I went through my “anti-everything” phase in middle school I only wore black sweatshirts and red pants with sneakers…I was all about “not being a billboard” for Abercrombie or Hollister. Eventually I grew out of that phase and started to dress in whatever I liked instead of trying to make a statement. I got into the having a “uniform” thing and only wore my dad’s oversized t-shirts and leggings with converse for a while too. My best friend/roommate Caitlin, who has the best fashion sense of anyone I know, made me stop that and has been continuing to help my style grow. She is slowly but surely teaching me the ways of the fashion world. I still wear over-sized t-shirts and sweaters (those are my favorite) and I now live in black skinny jeans or tights.

My style

Now though, it’s honestly whatever I find that I can afford or like enough to drop a lot of money on. I still wear my band t-shirts as well. My favorite sweatshirt is this Bruce Springsteen sweatshirt I bought on eBay for $20. Cheap canvas sneakers from Urban Outfitters on sale also make up a lot of my wardrobe.

Favorite t-shirt

My hair has been the same for almost 5 years now, with the recent addition of front bangs. I have never dyed my hair and I plan to keep it that way. I think I would look kind of silly with a different hair color. Also my friends and parents would probably kill me since people “wish for my hair color every day.” My hair is pretty long, past my shoulders. It has been this way for as long as I can remember as well. Recently I’ve had the urge to just chop off all my hair but that’s sort of unrealistic and I don’t think I would actually look that good and I don’t have the nerve to do it either. Oh well!

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People always comment on my eye make up when they first meet me. I’ve been doing it this way for as long as I can remember. I use liquid eyeliner and do a tamed Amy Winehouse thing (mine looks better, always has always will). I am a perfectionist when it comes to my liquid eyeliner design because it’s pretty much the only make up I wear except for lipstick.

Also one thing I wear every day is my silver ring with turquoise triangles on it. I found it under my couch one day a year ago or so and haven’t taken it off since. I feel naked or like something is missing without it. I have sort of chubby fingers so it’s hard for me to find rings that fit, but this one fits perfectly and is real silver so it doesn’t leave that gross greenish mark on my finger if I never take it off. I believe it was my grandmother’s (so says my dad). While on the topic of fingers, let me move to the bigger picture: my hands. I almost always have some sort of marking on the back of my hand from going to shows. It usually signifies that I have paid and/or I am under 21. Right now I have two blue stamps on the backs of my hands from a show I went to last night. Wristbands from shows also tend to stay on my wrist for a while as well – I’m still wearing an orange wristband that states “Admit One” on it from a show I went to in October. This will probably stay on my wrist until it either: starts to smell weird (gross, I know), loses its color, or someone mentions that it’s from a month ago and I should probably take it off.

My hands!

Bands

…And of course: I always have a camera on me.

As far as style inspiration goes…I would say that I usually get the best ideas from my friends, specifically Caitlin and Katie, who have the best style out of any of my friends as far as I’m concerned. Musicians I like usually inspire me in some way, and I always wish I could dress like the people The Sartorialist finds. One blog that I love is nerdboyfriend.com <http://nerdboyfriend.com> . I love menswear so much more than clothing for women. I tend to find myself buying my favorite items in the men’s section of clothing stores.

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If I could invent a beauty product I would make liquid eyeliner that does not wear away or smudge. Like I said before, I am a total perfectionist when it comes to my eye makeup and at the end of the day when I look in the mirror and see that one of my eyes isn’t like the other, it really bothers me.

London has a huge roll in the fashion/beauty scene! I mean, seriously…that IS where punk started, isn’t it? Some of the most fashionable people I know are from London. Most of my favorite musicians from London have an impeccable sense of style. As far as my knowledge of fashion goes, so many trends start in London!

Tags: Happiness
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Dec2

Allan, 16, Beijing

People often say that fashion shows one’s taste and reveals one’s inner world and I totally believe this. This is why I’m passionate about dressing up. There is no doubt that I adore fashion, especially street fashion. I think the inspiration is in my DNA; when I was only about 5 or 6 years old, I usually asked my mom to match the color of my sneakers and T-shirts – a sign that I going to be a fashion freak in the future!

From my perspective, fashion is not only just dressing up, or changing your hairstyle and appearance. It also represents your own identity, as well as your personal style philosophy. It can also reveal your attitude to life & how confident you feel.

Recently I’ve noticed that a big part of fashion is collaboration & cross over between different brands, designers and celebrities. This can be seen in lots of areas, for example many fashion brands are collaborating with well-known artists, such as Louis Vuitton and Kanye or Hermes and Pharrel Williams. I think there will be more & more, cross over & collaboration in the future – with street style informing designers & fashion brands. Fortunately, it’s happening in our generation…

My personal style draws on West coast hip-hop culture and street wear culture. I’m representative of a lot of kids in China who gets a kick out of this kind of clothing, we’re all chasing the unshakable philosophy of freedom, hardcore and respect.

West Coast style

When it comes to the most inspiring brand, the first thing that comes to mind is the street wear brand called Crooks Castle, here is the introduction of the C&C’s history;

Crooks and Castles started in 2002 out of Los Angeles, CA and was created to make a brand that was a direct reflection of the LA street lifestyle. Commercially designed, Crooks and Castles hold tight with the “guns and wealth” aesthetic, which we all love. Founded by Dennis Calvero and Robert Panlilio, Crooks was crafted to express their culture, their experience and their passion.
Examples of my freshest clothing swagger is on these websites:

http://www.honeyee.com/

http://www.karmaloop.com/

The inspiration of my art creation is from:

http://www.artst.com/ and a magazine called Bak art.

Crooks & Castles

I love looking at different inspirational & glamorous cities; they all have their own style icons. London ranks near the top in the trend stakes and seem to lead the hi-end clothing culture. I’d love to experience all this fashion between the historical sites, particularly as the home of Vivienne Westwood.