Icons & Influencers

Icons & Influencers

INA at 20: A Conversation with Ina –part 2

Dec
07
2012

This is the second part of a 2 part profile of Ina Bernstein, the founder of the INA consignment stores in New York. Here she answers questions and shares her perspective on fashion and style today. To read part one about her beginning in fashion during the ’80s in NYC click here.
Fast fashion has really become a dominant player in the marketplace. What’s your take on those stores?
I think they have a place, they really do. A lot of people shop now and buy something really special at say Jeffrey’s and then they’ll go to H& M and Zara to get some little something and then they’ll come to my store…lots of women use everything for their palette. It’s like a painters palette – the designer’s store, low-end store, sample sales, consignment shops. It’s wonderful. It’s not limiting. There are so many choices. I don’t know where this is going to go but I don’t think the designer’s going away. Fast fashion is just part of a larger picture.

Are there specific designers that you notice people are looking for?
Well we have people who are collectors. People who come only for Commes des Garcons, Yohji, or other specific designers. But I find that our best customers really look and don’t necessarily pick out by designer but by what they see. Often we get things before they’re in the stores because we get them from the fashion people. Or a bag that’s also in Barneys today but we’re selling it for $300 less.

Do you have a personal favorite designer right now?
Well I can’t answer one. I do like some of what Celine is doing. I like Balenciaga, Lanvin,

vintage YSL and I happen to have a weakness for Dries. I couldn’t wear it head-to-toe but I think he’s brilliant with prints and fabrics and I’ve always liked Margiela. And I also like select Rick Owens. I own about 5 black Rick Owens tops and I find them a perfect basic for me.

I also love Alaia. I bought Alaia originally in the ‘80s when he was only sold at Charivari – which doesn’t exist anymore – and Barneys. We don’t keep Alaia in the store for too long. It goes so fast. But anything so great doesn’t stay in the store too long.

Was there a learning curve to opening the men’s store?
Men were much slower than women in coming to consignment stores. But word started to spread in the fashion world and the business grew enough to dedicate a storefront to menswear. One thing I remember very vividly when we just had one store was women would try things on and be “Oh my God, I am so fat! Look at my thighs! And that sort of thing ..and men would try things on and go “Oh it’s not my size.” With men, it was the clothes that were wrong. With women, it was the body – and that continues to this day.

Who do you consider a style icon in New York?
Lynne Yaeger. I’ve known her since she was fashion editor at The Villiage Voice. She has always been an extremely talented and witty writer. Now she writes for Vogue, Fashion of the Times, and is the darling of the international fashion world.

Right
And she has a style that is just so heroic and so unique and it’s the same as it was 20 years ago. She just looks like that. I really respect someone who is so willing to go out on a limb and have herself look so different and feel comfortable.

It’s hard to come up with someone else at the moment. I think it would have been an easier question to answer years ago because nowadays there are so many people with stylists. You see people walking around looking fabulous and they all have stylists. So I don’t think there are style icons the way there used to be. Maybe their stylist should be. I don’t know but to me that’s not iconic.

I agree.
For me a style icon is…Babe Paley, Audrey Hepburn, Katharine Hepburn…

If someone said “I want to go to a consignment store but I’ve never gone and am kind of intimidated” what would you say to them?
First of all we try to select employees that are friendly, make people feel welcome. My staff isn’t in competition with one another. Our staff is there to give advice if you want, if you need a pair of shoes to try on a dress and you’re wearing sneakers they’ll do it.

But for someone who’s never shopped at consignment they need to take a chance and go and experience looking through the racks and see if they find anything they like and trying it on. Once people find something they like they come back again. They realize they don’t have to spend $700 at Barneys, they can spend $350 at INA.

If a woman is on a budget, where should she spend her money?

If someone’s on a budget I’d say a great bag, great shoes and a great coat or jacket. Because if you have that on you look great. And then underneath it depends on what the work is. If you work in the corporate world a couple of great pencil skirts, and maybe a couple of silk shirts, cashmere sweaters. Investment pieces. The rest of it doesn’t matter. The casual clothes you can make do with very little. The accessories are really important. Women look at women. Men like sexy. Period. But women look at women and everyone looks at bags and shoes. I think for someone who doesn’t have a lot of money it’s important to get certain pieces. Buy things that are somewhat classic that you can accessorize with great pieces.

A trench, a pair of leather pants…these are things that would be good right now. I don’t think people wear that many dresses all the time. You can buy one great black dress and do a lot with it. Unless you have the lifestyle of a socialite…then forget it. One great black dress. …and that’s what we do have.

What’s your favorite place in NYC for inspiration?
Hanging out in the INA stores is incredibly inspiring. I love seeing the creative way many of our customers style themselves. No matter their age, lifestyle and pocket book, I’m always amazed with the creativity people who love to shop with us have in putting themselves together. I especially keep an eye on the younger customers who often forecast what’s coming next. They are fearless dressers who mix designer, vintage and look fresh and new.

Is there another city that you like their fashion as much as New York? – what city and why?
I love to walk around Paris and see the elegant way the traditional French woman puts herself together. It’s not something I emulate, but I marvel at how natural it is for them. I also enjoy Italy. Again, elegant women but much sexier than in Paris, and – do they love jewelry!

I know you’ve started taking photographs in the past few years. How has your life in fashion informed your photography – or has it?
I think all my years in fashion have trained my eye in a way that’s very subtle, that is, I’m not consciously aware of it. I seem to naturally take well-framed and fairly graphic photos. I shoot black-and-white film with a Nikon I bought in the 80′s on automatic, so most of my photos are not posed or planned but found as I wander. I recently did my first “fashion shoot” with an acrobatic troupe modeling furs in Iceland. My teacher is Mary Ellen Mark and she continues to inspire me.
What do you like most about having the shops?
I’m a people person, I love to chat and meet people. And I’ve made so many friendships because of the store. It’s very nice. I learn a lot from our customers. I’ve had customers for so long I’ve seen them go from shopping with their father’s credit card to their first job on a budget to getting married or getting a bigger job. So I know their life very well and they get to know mine.

I love to see them come in looking one way and they put themselves together another way. I really like the idea of the transformation. It’s really interesting to see people try on a new persona through clothes. That’s what fashion is about – an opportunity to explore different personas.

Posted in Icons & Influencers | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

INA at 20: A Conversation with Ina –part 1

Dec
06
2012

INA consignment stores are one of the “not-so-secret” secrets of New York fashion lovers. They’re one of the best places to find really great pieces by major designers for less than you pay in rent. (no small feat!) The first INA opened 20 years ago in Soho and the most recent one this past year in Chelsea. I recently had the opportunity to sit down with Ina Bernstein and learn about her start in fashion in New York in the ’80s and how she opened the first INA store. Like many of my friends in fashion she didn’t get a fancy degree or start with a big trust fund: she followed her passion and through collaborations with friends made things happen. I found her inspiring and I think you will too!

How did you begin?

There was a paper called The Soho Weekly News in the early 70s – the editor was a woman named Annie Flanders and she put together a fashion event at the Mudd Club. This was when Soho was still empty lofts, factories, and all these people came out of the woodwork – probably with an art background – they were making t-shirts, making hats, making dresses – to be part of her event. And I was there and thought “Why not do something with all of these talented people?” so I put together a group called the Soho Designers. It was initially a Co-Op and we decided to put on our own fashion show. We promoted it and sent out invites to the major buyers and department stores in the country and all of the better specialty stores. We held it during fashion week. Thousands of people came. It was this hot ticket. We were turning people away at the door.

Well after the fashion show I thought – there’s a business here. The buyers wanted to place orders but we didn’t have a showroom. So we rented a space on Broadway above Houston and this was our office and showroom. Buyers came and we started taking orders – we didn’t know anything: how to ship, how to price, etc. but we all just kind of learned together.

At some point the problem of being able to allocate money without a vote really started to get to me. As a Co-Op we had to take a vote as to whether or not to buy a stapler! Also some people weren’t shipping on time, some people were much more talented than others and their product was much more finished. So I decided to go private. I rented space on Greene Street with about 10 designers along with a partner and called it Soho Showroom. We were the first tenants in the building and it was so big we had to rollerskate from the office to the elevator to meet buyers! It went fairly well for 3 years. But there really was no downtown fashion industry. The garment district then was really a garment district – that was the fashion center – and the buyers would come into town and they only wanted to come in on Saturdays instead of during the week so we found ourselves having to meet the buyers on Saturday. Sometimes they didn’t have a lot of time and we’d be showing clothes on the hood of a car, on the street…it became apparent to really make it a viable business we had to move uptown.

So I rented space in the garment center and made it much bigger and also had an accessory showroom. One of the designers I repped was Anna Sui, and also Todd Oldham when he got out of high school. But it was never about contemporary – always designer – higher end designer because I related to designer clothes. At some point I went to Paris and I tried to get Margiela but he was difficult to get! I also went to Japan because I had the idea of getting some Japanese designers. We had a little division called the Tokyo showroom and that business grew and grew. We helped merchandise collections, booked all the buyers, did all the promotions for the magazine editors – I did this for almost 20 years and loved it. Unfortunately I moved the showroom to another location on 7th Ave – and there was a fire in the building and we lost our space. After that I thought maybe it was time to do something else. I finished up the season, closed the business and took some time off.

The Beginning of INA
During this “time off” I was walking down Thompson street one day and there was a store for rent so I called the owner. The store was $2250 / month at the time. My kids were in college and I didn’t have a lot of money but I was very fortunate: I called a bunch of friends who collectively loaned me $10,000 and I rented the store.

Ina in front of first store on Thompson Street

Friends came in and we painted it, bought rolling racks and put up a wall for a communal dressing room. My sister bought my first shopping bags and hangers and my daughter did our graphic design. I looked in my closets, and I had all these clothes from all these years – sample sales in the garment district and stuff from Europe and Japan. (When I went to Europe the exchange rate was so great you could buy an Armani jacket – when he was hot – or an Alaia dress in Paris for much less than it was here.)

Then I called about 10 people in the fashion industry and said give me all your clothes and hats that you don’t want and that’s how I started the store. I had never been in a consignment shop. I knew nothing about consignment so I just made it up. But right away I got really lucky. I knew a freelance writer who worked for The New York Times. I called her, and she came to the store and wrote a fabulous article that got a half-page in the Sunday Styles with photos of merchandise and the store. When I arrived at the store that same Sunday that the article came out, it was raining and there were about 40 people standing outside with umbrellas waiting to get in. So I called 3 of my friends and said – “come on and help!” – and the next day hired my first employee. And that put me on the map. I was very lucky; I did the right thing at the right place at the right time.

It took time but it caught on and the people who came in began consigning. After about a year or so I had too many clothes and Milo (my son) and Khadijah said they thought I should open a second store in Nolita. At the time the neighborhood didn’t even have a name but we saw that it was going to be big. I went the next day and rented a space and we opened the store the next month The business kept growing until we are where we are now: with five stores altogether, and one of them exclusively for menswear which is really unique.

We want people to come to us because we’re a fashion store and we want to give them fashion. We want to give them what we think – and they think – of as fashion. I had this woman who bought a designer dress and went to dinner at the Odeon. The girl at the next table said “Oh I used to have this dress but I sold it at this consignment store” and it turns out it was her dress!

Click here for Part 2 – Ina answers my questions about fast fashion, her icons & influences and more!

Posted in Icons & Influencers | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Elasticbrand does Audiowear

Aug
10
2012
photo by Louise te Poele

We perhaps all have friends at this point who have used Kickstarter if not used it ourselves. My friends and fellow Cranbrook Academy of Art alumns, Christie and Arjen of Elasticbrand, created a Kickstarter project last year to fund a project that combines art and fashion in a completely new way: ceramic musical jewelry. WTF  And just in case you wanted to dismiss this as artsy-fartsy wackness they offered their jewelry to hip-hop artists to create original pieces using them. Insane brilliance or brilliant insanity? I don’t know which, but I needed to learn more about it.

AUDIOWEAR PHASES OVERVIEW:
1. Concept, design drawings and 3D modeling of the objects while still in Brooklyn, NY
2. Move to the European Ceramic Work Center where we took up residence for 3 months, 3D printed the models and engineered the moulds and contra-moulds, and ultimately casted lustered and fired the collection
3. Organized photoshoot in Arnhem Art Academy with fashion and fine art photographer Louise te Poele.
4. Worked with 22 hip hop and other musicians who used sounds from the pieces in original songs to form a full length album
5. Organized a concert at the Museum of Arts & Design in NYC who also purchased the entire Audiowear line for their permanent collection.
6. Production of a series of music videos for the songs on the LP make the project endure into its second year.

Arjen gave me the “Christie-approved” answers to my questions!

What inspired you to make ceramic musical jewelry?
Did you create different prototypes before settling on certain sounds?
We decided we wanted a series of 6 pieces and sketched different ideas until we settled on those six, then we had them rendered in 3D and once we printed out the 3D models we spent most of the time on engineering the moulds, that is far more complex than you might think due to shrinkage, claywall thicknesses and more, that’s really where all the experimentation time we had was allotted to.

 Are there issues with breaking and if so how do you handle that?
Sure, porcelain can break, however they are actually very strong. Unless you hit a piece against something hard it won’t break, so wearing it on the body is surprisingly safe. They are intended more as collectable art objects than as day to day wearables. We had rappers perform wearing the whistle necklace and break dancers wearing various pieces, nothing broke, until one dancer happened to wear two pieces at once and hit them against each other. The pieces are not meant to go clubbing with but they are stronger than you think!


Artist: Rising Sun Quest, Produced by Dirt E. Dutch
Song: I’ll Rhyme Now
Album: “Audiowear” by Elasticbrand
Directed by: Arjen Noordeman, Elasticbrand
DP: Steve Dassas
Mastered by Eric Bassriel of Little Ax Media
Dancers: DaRebels, The Netherlands
Model: Kimberly Brown

Was the idea of working with hip-hop musicians in your mind when you began and if so, did this play into the designs of the pieces at all. (i.e. bling?)
Not really, other than the fact that hip hop aesthetics are something that is always on my  mind of course. The whistle necklace is the piece I really fought for because I loved the reference to both the gold chain and the toughness that represents while making it lighthearted by also including the nod to the referee whistle. The diamond bracelet also goes well with the hip-hop context however this piece came more out of Christie’s love for chunky and iconic jewelry.

We first worked with Skooby Laposky who is a DJ who mostly makes atmospheric electronic music. After that we proceeded to create a full length album and mostly worked with hip hop artists for two reasons: 1) it made sense to work with sample based musicians since the instruments can’t be tuned and this way I could send them a collection of sounds that they could manipulate more easily to create a composition out of them, and 2) that’s where we had the most connections. Michael Hearst of Brooklyn band One Ring Zero who did the last track on the record is the one notable exception to this because he is was the only musician who played all the pieces himself.

How did you find the other musicians that you worked with?
I had been creating some music videos for various hip hop artists from New York and Connecticut in my spare time, in the 2-3 years leading up to this, so it made sense to approach them to see if they were interested in participating in the Audiowear project. The exceptions were: Kalae All Day who I saw on StyleDefinedNYC years ago, I dug her style and then looked up her music which is also amazing, then was able to invite her through her management. La Melodia from Amsterdam is a duo we saw on local TV here and we were very happy to be able to include them, and lastly Tribeca is a well respected MC from the Bronx, whom I had heard doing some features, I connected with him on Facebook and then invited him to do a verse for The Box. We were really excited to have him on board.


Artist: Kalae All Day, Produced by Turnstylz Crew
Song: Bag of Keys
Album: “Audiowear” by Elasticbrand
Directed by: Arjen Noordeman, Elasticbrand
DP: Steve Dassas
Mastered by Eric Bassriel of Little Ax Media
Dancers: DaRebels, The Netherlands

Talking about the whole project, what aspect was the most:
Challenging
Without a doubt the most challenging was engineering the moulds from the 3D models.

Unexpected
Doing the concert at the Museum of Arts & Design, so much love in that room that night, it was really incredible. Also, the fact that MAD acquired the entire line for their permanent jewelry collection is something we will never forget.

Rewarding
The amazing collaborations with the European Ceramic Work Centre in Den Bosch, The 20+ musicians that created original songs for the record, and the fact that most of them performed their song at the concert at MAD.

And kind of in the middle of it all you moved from Brooklyn to the Netherlands! What do you love most about the Netherlands relative to NY?
I suppose the fact that there is a bit more breathing room, time to think instead of always running around to the next thing like in NYC. We also were able to rent a whole house with garden very nearby the center of Amsterdam, and that is great for our sanity.

What do you miss most about NY?
It is easier to do business in New York –people are all in the same boat in one way or another it seems and tend to help each other advance more. It feels like there is much more going on at all times, and therefore more to be inspired by, more business to do and so on. In summary, we relish being less of a workaholic in Holland while at the same time missing the enormous creative stimulation that NYC has to offer.

Why make an album in the era of digital music?
The main reason is that we wanted to create an artifact, and art piece to commemorate this amazingly special project. Something that you keep and think about once in a while. Digital music is so fleeting, most people including myself don’t even archive it anymore. It sits on your ipod for a while and then disappears. Initially we thought we would make a clay record, and we did tests cutting grooves into clay, it is possible in theory but the grain of the clay is too coarse and overwhelms the music by a lot, so we gave up on that experiment and pressed the vinyl records. In addition, vinyl is making a comeback in the clubs and many hip hop producers still swear by using vinyl for scratches and cuts on their records. A vinyl record is an ode to hip-hop culture itself.

What’s next for Elasticbrand?
Too soon to say at this point in time. We have just begun tossing some possible ideas around and making some sketches, but whatever we will do next will include the following components: Collaboration, Products, Graphics, and video.

Get the album here!

Posted in Icons & Influencers | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Colleen Nika talks fashion + music and who to hear in 2012

Jan
18
2012

Colleen Nika photographed by RANKIN

I want to introduce you to Colleen Nika. Colleen and I were first “facebook friends” before meeting in real life at the after party for Beady Eye at Norwood. I immediately fell in love with her Frank Tell dress and shortly after that with her acerbic wit and sly observations. She is a woman who loves fashion but has a passion for music. As the fashion editor at Rolling Stone she’s created the must-read  daily column, Thread Count, in which she explores the relationship of style and music. Not only that, the girl DJs, makes her own music and runs Nightvision, a platform she launched to introduce nonconformist international sounds to new audiences. Here she answers my questions about fashion + music and who we should be paying attention to in 2012!

What inspired Thread Count?
It was born out of a need to prove that the interplay between fashion and music is more relevant than ever and that there should be an editorial platform dedicated entirely to exploring and chronicling that relationship. And I pilot that ship.

Courtney Love

Is there a decade or period that you think was particularly amazing in terms of the intersection of music and fashion?
Yes, the ’90s, and it was so unscripted and untainted by forced collaborations and celebrity-helmed lines. I’m a big subscriber to the heroin chic aesthetic, which I know isn’t PC, but elegant decay fascinates me. My musical tastes are built on that dichotomy, too, so it fits. The ’90s seemed more or less built on the juxtapositions of glamour and destruction, and the styles of Shirley Manson, Kim Gordon, PJ Harvey and Courtney Love became fuel to fashion’s fire.
Kate Moss and her fragile model ilk were the runway versions of that ideal, that high glamour, low life tension. That was the birth of luxe grunge. I also adore the technophilic rave styles from the era; there’s obviously a huge resurgence of that now and I’m trying to pinpoint why that is. It’s more than nostalgia; it’s trying to rebuild the idea of a future, so tech fabrics and electric hues convey that well.

HURTS

What was your favorite fashion/music moment of 2011?
Seeing HURTS, the most attractive, dramatic, and well-dressed band in music, play at Mulberry’s party in London. It was a moment of aesthetic bliss. They looked and sounded so good, and for a sublime hour, that’s all that mattered.

Grimes

Grimes

What current artists do you think have the most interesting fashion sense?
Nic Endo,  Fever Ray, Phlo Finister, Shirley Manson, Bjork, Nicola Roberts, Grimes and HURTS.

Musically who do you listen to at the moment?
I’m always working on mixes, so that. Aside from that, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo score (as a combined visual and sound, the most grotesquely stylish aesthetic experience of the year–right up my alley). Trent Reznor is a core influence for me and the perfect synthesis of pop and uncomfortable extremes. I also love the Baader Meinhof Komplex score and other works by Vangelis, Jarre, Clint Mantsell, and Cliff Martinez. Artists on heavy recent rotation: Biosphere, Prurient, Araabmuzik, Zomby, Jon Brooks, November Novelet, Drexciya, Tropic of Cancer, and Regis.

What inspires you about NYC?
I honestly consider myself internationally-oriented but I love being able to walk everywhere here and always find something new while being around the corner from familiar comfort. And there’s still some oddities to be enjoyed amidst the over-commodification. I’m here to help accentuate those aspects.

Be sure to check out Thread Count and follow Colleen on twitter!

Posted in Icons & Influencers | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Malcolm Harris

Jul
27
2011

Is it possible to be known for both your substance and your style?

I’m not talking about the “classics” like Audrey Hepburn, an actress who then went on to devote much of her time to UNICEF or Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis or Princess Diana –two women who used their extraordinary positions in life to do good. I’m wondering about contemporary style icons. In an article I read recently both Victoria Beckham and Carrie Bradshaw were cited as style icons: a former Spice Girl turned designer and a fictional character that seems to be more Cinderella than sex –in the city.

Malcolm Harris
is a New York based fashion designer, creative activist, humanitarian and Huffington Post Columnist. Not only does he share my admiration of those who have both substance and style but he’s emblematic of this himself. Though he thrives on being a jack-of-all-trades, Malcolm’s primary purpose is to live his life as a vehicle for social change. Malcolm’s creative passions for fashion, art, music and film, along with his extensive and diverse global social network are all means to support one simple aspiration – “to make the world a much better and more beautiful place for all of her inhabitants.” And he does this with impeccable style. So I am thrilled that he is our first profile in this new section, Icons & Influencers.

SDNYC You are such an international person – your concerns are global…so what is it about NYC that makes you want to call it home?

Malcolm Harris I truly believe New York City is the equivalent to ancient Rome… All roads lead to New York City… In all honesty my love affair with New York City is the equivalent of being with an abusive lover. It beats you up really bad, then comes home occasionally bearing gifts and begging for your forgiveness… LOL…

SDNYC What’s a perfect New York City day for you?

MH A morning walk through Central Park, a quick pit stop at the Metropolitan Museum, lunch at La Goulue on Madison Avenue, the Fifth Avenue bus downtown, a matinee at the Angelika Film Forum and dinner at Indochine… That would be a blissful day… I love moving through this magical city and creating little magical vignettes and experiences as the day goes on… And I’m very lucky that my career allows for inspirational days just like this…

SDNYC I read your article on the Sheikha Mozah on the Huffington Post and I love that you are pointing out this combination of substance and style! I don’t think there is enough emphasis on this in our culture. We still have these ideas that if someone has style -especially extreme style- they must be an airhead or a narcissist. And conversely if someone has substance they don’t care about things as superficial as appearances -which are both ridiculous concepts. How do we encourage more appreciation of substance in this never-ending quest for style?

MH Somewhere along the line I believe it just became easier in our society to make the two – style and substance – mutually exclusive. But I think the more we present the case of people like Sheikha Mozah, Daphne Guinness, Rushka Bergman or Bernard Henri Levy, etc. people will begin to see that personal style is simply an extension of substance, intelligence and purpose.

SDNYC I’ve recently been to the McQueen exhibit and was struck by his historical knowledge and how it played into his collection. What are your thoughts on this? “knowing your history” and it’s relation to the creative process?

MH I’ve actually gone back to see the McQueen exhibition on three separate occasions and not once have I left without being a complete emotional wreck – in a good way. Alexander McQueen gave his everything to the creative process and it is perhaps the reason he left this earth too early. His collections were simply the manifestation of his beautiful yet haunting personal demons. I believe it’s the reason that creatives must always find a mission or calling outside of our self-contained process that balances and anchors our creativity.

SDNYC I feel like living in NYC especially you have the opportunity to open yourself up to new experiences and people. Can you share three encounters/people in your life that changed it or made you think differently?

MH
The first time I met Andy Warhol as a youngster and he said to me, “Never leave NYC – they won’t understand you anywhere else.”

The first time I stalked Linda Evangelista for 15 minutes in Soho during the early ’90s and realized she was just a normal person – doing normal things.

The first time I met Madonna, and she asked me a very pregnant question, “Are you just going to stand there staring or are you going to do something?” At the time I simply laughed and began the fitting that would change my life. To this very day, it is the question that I ask myself before I take on any new project, cause or endeavor.

SDNYC Speaking of projects, what inspired the ONE Dress project?

MH The One Dress Project was born out of the demand of women over the years whom had been approaching and requesting my assistance with their various charities and causes. Therefore, I decided to create ONE product that could unite and support many women and many causes. The One Dress Project’s mission and vision truly become the calling that wakes me up in the morning to live my life with purpose and passion.

SDNYC Do you consider yourself a feminist or do you think that term is outdated?

MH I do realize that I may have become an accidental feminist, and feel that the struggle for women’s rights globally is still too relevant to retire the word. As a male in the movement, I compare it to all the non-African Americans that supported the civil rights movement in the ’60s. But I came to this global mission after I began to seriously travel the world and see how women are truly treated, or moreover, mis-treated. Therefore I knew exactly where my voice and energies were much needed and appreciated.

SDNYC StyleDefined started out as a street style blog because I wanted to show what I saw on the streets of NYC. Some of which is a little different than you’ll find on The Sartorialist and others who are more high fashion oriented. One thing I’ve noticed is that I see more males with interesting street style than females. And more blacks than whites…maybe blacks and Asians. Which is markedly different than what you see in mainstream media or many popular sites. I could probably fill a blog strictly with African American men with great style. Any thoughts on the “why” of this?

MH As an African-American man I know exactly why most of us are usually so well dressed… In a country where oftentimes minorities can feel absolutely invisible to the majority, our outward appearance often becomes our own personal calling card that simply says, “I AM HERE!”

SDNYC You’re an unmissable figure on the streets of the city. What are you trying to present? If how you dress is a way of speaking, what are you saying?

MH I really don’t think about dressing or fashion in those terms… I am really on a much more personal journey and voyage of self-discovery and expression. I look at every day as a new adventure, and therefore I prepare and adorn myself for the ride.

Malcolm “Mister GoLightly” Harris

Below are photos I’ve taken of Malcolm for StyleDefined NYC.

 

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...
Posted in Icons & Influencers | Leave a comment