Q + A with Krystyna Printup

What inspired you to start The Printup list?
It seemed like in college I was the go to person to ask about "whats going on tonight?" Maybe it was because I worked in the club scene since I was 16, or that I was a Native New Yorker, Im not sure, but it was something that drew people to me. I was getting tired of people calling, texting and email me all the time at all hours asking that same old question. I remember I woke up 2 years ago in the middle of the night and was like "I'm going to start a blog and just post that info up there..." and BAM! the next morning I got up and got right into developing The Printup.

How often do you go out?
During what I call Peak seasons ( Sept/ Feb- Fashion Week, Sept-Gallery Season Openings, Dec- Holiday Parties, March- Art/ Armory Week) I go out every day to events for about a couple of weeks straight. The rest of the year I tend to go out at random depending on the night and event. Usually I like the random gallery openings on Thursdays, or a dance party at a weekly event.

Top 3 places to go out in NYC?
To go out..hmmm well depends on what OUT you are talking of. Dancing is always hard to find a good gem and I tend to want to go dancing over drinking. I'm really addicted to dancing at OPEN which is a weekly at Santos Party House on Fridays. Its a reggae / hip hop party where you really get the "I'm in NYC" feel minus the bridge and tunnel. As for drinking I love going to Norwood, where I am a member, and lounging and sipping some well mastered cocktails. For that hip and local feel I've been visiting The Woods in Williamsburg: a bit of dancing, taco eating and cheap beer, you just can't go wrong. But seriously nothing beats a good ol' fashion house party (yet those are the rarest of gems.)


NYC is always shifting in terms of where people go and what’s popular. From hip hop to raves to balls there is always something that seems to grab the popular imagination. What do you think are the scenes and sounds that people are gravitating towards now?
If I was interviewed 2 years back I would of said that whole NueRave or GhettoCrunk fad that hit quick. Sadly I want to say that the hard club sound is coming back, but NYC is in a sound vortex. We have now recycled everything and there's nothing to go back to so we are in this bit of a transition. What ever comes next will be something new and never done before for sure.

Is there a certain trend in music or fashion or art that you wish would go away or think is over-hyped?
LOL! Oh boy I could really write a whole post on this. Trend-wise I am tired of just about anything flannel, the "sneaker head" look for guys... for girls the aviator glasses/ leather jacket/ black knit hat/ studded bike boots"rock-goth" Taylor Momsen look, -and please please please the girls who wear spandex that really are tights and you can see all the bit and pieces of them hanging out..eww not a good look.

Amen sister on that last one!
How would you define your personal style?
My style depends on my mood. Do I feel like a Japanese Gallery owner? or an early 90s black man? Am I a whimsical storyteller? Maybe a club kid from London? Or into Norwegian Death Metal? I have many faces to fit every mood and every event.

How has it evolved over the years?
I use to be a raver in High School and a lot of my flare for big baggy color from those days. In college after the death of a family member I entered what I call "my black period" and erased all color and went from bright and loud to dark and modern. As I grew back into colors I was engulfed into a bike subculture in Brooklyn and began introducing clothing that was designed for a purpose into my style. Currently I am torn between all worlds and really enjoy clothing that is simple and functional and mixed with some highlights of shock and color.

Top 3 favorite places to get cool clothes in NYC?
Seven NY, OAK, Opening Ceremony

What inspires you about NY?
I love the fact that you can walk into almost any country possible and never leave the island of Manhattan.

Best advice ever given or received?
Just buy it......the worlds going to end soon anyway!

Q + A with Christopher Lee Sauve

How did you come up with the concept for the Save Anna t-shirt?
The Save Anna shirt was a response to the blog rumours that Anna Wintour was to be replaced by French Vogue Editor, Carine Roitfeld. I first drew a little Anna character with the words SAVE ANNA (like how the political t-shirts say SAVE THE WHALES). It seemed like a funny thing to be saving while the amidst all the serious news on the TV at the time.

And what about your upcoming t-shirt collection?
The upcoming collection is inspired by religion, politics, pop culture and fashion. I took these subjects threw them in a bag and shook it up.

What do you like most about what you do?
I am happy to be creating art that people can wear. I am not a fashion designer, but a graphic designer. I was tired of creating posters and graphics and just having them on a poster, so for me having the images on t-shirts is sort of like walking canvases.

What is the most challenging aspect?
The most challenging aspect would be production, having the colors set correctly, image size, also coming up with ideas sometimes, I have to be inspired.

Do you see any trends that will really emerge in 2010 in fashion/art/culture?
For 2010, I see the theme of love and community coming into play, not in the way it did during the 1960s but in a futuristic, survival way. The way we live, interact and shop has changed drastically the past couple of years and our view on money as well. This has brought us to create new appreciation for things that really matter.

Top 3 favorite places to go out in NYC
Top 3 places that I enjoy are the Maritime Hotel balcony (La Bottega), Sugarland in Williamsburg and Vandam at Greenhouse on Sunday evenings.

What inspires you most about NYC?
I would say the crazy people and the energy, the feeling you can do whatever you want and on your own terms without being judged. NYC is a very freeing city I think.

Best advice ever given or received
Best advice would be
"All that we are is the result of what we have thought" - Buddha

See more t-shirts and other stuff by CLS
here and here.

A little Q + A with Kink Ador

Katya - You guys are based in Nashville.

Sharon - The move to Nashville happened because I knew I wanted to make music and Nashville is a place I could afford to do it. And there’s a lot of rock bands doing really well being based out of Nashville.
Brad - And everyone who goes there is…they’re dreaming so hard and so there’s this dome of hope over the city because we’re all working so hard to make something happen so it’s just an awesomely inspiring city.
Sharon - And if you go by city mottos – they call it music city!

Katya - Who are some of your inspirations – musically or otherwise?

Sharon - Well you mentioned one before we began the interview which is Prince. Not so much stylistically but as an amazing performer who puts on a killer show every single night no matter what and that’s something we love to do and are inspired by. And The Red Hot Chili Peppers…The Yeah, Yeah Yeahs…
Brad - I think the spoken word: writers, poets and those who just want to do there thing and give it back.
Katya - What about writing the songs? How does that work?

Sharon – I come up with the structure, the lyrics, the melody and then I bring it to the guys. I have to have it as a complete thought or idea that I can defend and then let them hack away at it and then we polish it and it becomes a song. It really is collaborative but I start by steering it in a certain direction.
Brad - and then we steer her in another direction!

Katya - Are your songs based on your own life?

Sharon - We base them on a lot of things
Andrew - Class struggles of the Russian Oligarchy!
Sharon - Our song Animal is inspired by Toni Morrison’s book Beloved. The idea of freedom and finding your own path.

Katya - So you’re currently touring. How do you like it?

Andrew - We love it. We’ve all had day jobs and this is the best one so far.
Brad - When you go to a show and you feel that and are gone from your reality…and you leave and feel better…that positive energy that comes from being a part of that –that performance- that is what it’s about.
Katya - Do you feel like people in different areas have distinct energies or are the audiences kind of the same everywhere?

Andrew - I think everywhere we’ve played people have slightly different expectations. We’re sometimes playing with what seems like very random acts so you don’t know what the audience is expecting. But we’ve found that the more we play the more we realize that whether or not people have an idea about us by the end of the set we’ve won them over. Like we were in Chicago a few weeks ago and there was this man…this giant tree of a man that could break you in half and we thought whoa this is gonna be a tough crowd but by halfway in the set he was dancing his ass off. And that’s just an example…it’s not anything we know how to do, it’s just there’s this connection between the 3 of us that people are drawn to –they see how much fun we have and they can’t help but smile.

Katya - It’s infectious!

Andrew - Yeah, like swine flu! (laughter)
Brad - It’s fun! Somebody said to me you know I don’t know what it is about it – I don’t know what I’m gonna hear but I know I’m gonna have fun.

Katya - So you have an album out called Animal. How would you describe it?

Sharon - The EP "I Am Animal" is a collection of songs that really define the Kink Ador sound. Especially the song ' Animal.' The grit of the guitar sounds, the primal rawness of the bass and drums, and the journey that is happening in the lyrics create a unique tension that defines the sound of the band. We tried to go for fresh sounding rock and roll on the record, and i think we have achieved that.

Katya - And where can people get it?

Sharon - Get it off of iTunes or directly from us on the Kink Ador website.

Katya - Okay, that's it. Thanks guys!

Andrew, Brad and Sharon rocking out!

L'Armoire du Styliste

When I met Beagy Zielinski recently at the Paper Magazine/Adidas party and she told me about L'Armoire du Styliste, I was utterly intrigued and wanted to learn more about this haute couture rental studio and the woman behind
it.
KATYA Did you start out as a stylist?
BEAGY I started out as a stylist and I’m still styling. First I was in design and merchandising and then a bunch of friends and I started a magazine called SLY and just out of…lack of funding in the beginning – we just had to do it ourselves and so I began doing all the shoots and found that I really enjoyed it. And it grew from there and other people started asking me to style for them and I was doing this for free as a hobby and then realized I could be charging for it!
KATYA So what is L’Armoire du Styliste?
BEAGY This is a clothing rental showroom. I rent clothing, shoes, and accessories to other stylists for photoshoots, celebrity appearances, concert tours etc.

KATYA Is this a common thing?
BEAGY There actually are a few of them in the industry. None of us alike, and what I specialize in there is none other in the United States. I specialize in couture and new designers. Most of the new designers that I carry do not have any other representation in the U.S. so I’m the only place you can get these samples.

KATYA Wow! How do you find them?
BEAGY It’s kind of a hobby of mine! A lot of them come from the Royal College (in Belgium), a lot of these are graduate collections, believe it or not! I feel like the collections abroad are pushed more to make art in school, while here we’re pushed more to make wearable garments. And that’s the difference. I don’t steer away from US designers, if there’s a designer who can, you know, hang with these designers I absolutely will represent them and I do have a few designers from the US. It just so happens that the designers abroad just have this wild imagination to them and, I don’t know I find them everywhere – I have friends acting as lookouts all over the world. I used to live in Europe so my friends from there will send me photos of collections or blogger friends will send me information and if I like it I’ll get the designer’s contact information immediately.

KATYA That sounds like fun, actually.
BEAGY It is! It’s like a scavenger hunt around the world for the best, coolest design!(going over to the clothing)This is one of my current favorite designers. Her name is Eva Nyíri and she’s from Hungary and I don’t even begin to know how her brain works. She’s a young designer. This is her first collection. She’s not represented or sold anywhere else…and there are a few other pieces mixed in here...

KATYA So how did you find Eva?
BEAGY Eva, I found on Facebook!

KATYA Shut up.
BEAGY I find these people on Facebook. I have a ton of Facebook friends and this is partially why. I like to scavenge through my Facebook friends and Eva came to me by sending me a message “I heard about your showroom and think it’s really cool” and I looked at her photos and said “I think you’re really cool and I’d love to carry your stuff. And this just came in yesterday.

KATYA How does your showroom work?
BEAGY Well usually a stylist will call me up and tell me what they’re looking for and even send photos of inspiration. For example a stylist came in yesterday and said “I’m going for a futuristic look” and while I was unpacking Eva’s clothes I was thinking “You can’t get more futuristic than this!” The stylist thought it was perfect, asked me for the prices on each piece, I told her and she’s good to go. Because I’m rental it’s really really simple.

KATYA And the designer gets the publicity.
BEAGY Correct. I get the rental, the stylist and photographer get great pictures and the designer gets the publicity which means more money for them in the end. I see no reason for this not to benefit everyone in the process.

KATYA And you've been doing this for how long?
BEAGY I just opened in March, this year!
KATYA How has that worked out during a recession?
BEAGY Well, we’re affected like everyone else in the industry. No one gets their regular day rates but I do believe it’s kind of a good time to test out a new business…I can test different ways to do things in a way I couldn’t if it was too busy.

KATYA From your work are you seeing any big trends coming up?
BEAGY I don’t think these are designers that follow trends. These are really seasonless designers. The one big thing right now –which has been around for awhile now- is shoulder pads. Shoulder pads are really in demand. I even have extras lying around for girl’s to rent. But these designers don’t stay on trend because they are couture. They go with their vision. And of course, I don’t only carry new designers, I have well established high end designers as well such Givenchy or Ann Demuelemeester...but I really like to bring out the new designers so they get to shine…because that’s what’s fun!

the twentyten - designers to know

Jeff Dodd, Nina Zilka and David J. Krause who comprise the twentyten met each other at the Pratt Institute and began designing together. According to their site, the twentyten creates architectural shapes that flatter the wearer’s body. their aesthetic has a sculptural focus, yet a wearable ease. their mission as designers is to create interesting, architectural garments that still maintain an ease and comfortability. the twentyten's designs are for the woman and man who always like to look sophisticated, but never look like they tried too hard to get there.

Earlier this week they had a showing of their most recent collection at the Envoy Gallery on Christie Street. The models lined all four walls of the back room as living sculptures with highly stylized hair and makeup. The clothes were primarily black and white with occasional hot pink or slate blue accents. There was an interesting juxtaposition of delicacy seen in transparent and draping fabric contrasted with garments like a skirt literally edged with nails. It felt like clothes for this moment that also succeed in riding above any trends thus remaining timeless.

Nina kindly answered a few questions for Style Defined:
I know you met at Pratt but how did you end up working together?

David and I became friends really early on because we both shared an appreciation for more avant-garde fashion, although David was more into vintage at the time, and I think my work skewed a bit girlier. And we both admired one of Jeff's final pieces for our end of year review, and when we asked him about it he had some weirdo answer about being inspired by Dildos. So I think we all knew we'd be friends. And then one of my best friends Mariel invited me to do some pieces for a project she was working on in Mexico City, and asked if my two close friends (the boys) would want to be involved. We started designing pieces together for that show, which didn't end up happening, but morphed into something a lot more exciting, when we realized that we love working together, and with three of us designing a piece with all of our input, the work was even better than any of us alone.

And now we all live together, which makes it really easy to wake up and start designing.

Is there a particular process to your collaboration?

Yes, everyone’s favorite question. We usually start with a really large piece of paper, and sit around it. David usually is holding the pencil and doing most of the drawing, because he’s hands down the best illustrator of any of us (he did the illustration on our invitation). We start talking about what we’re really feeling at that moment, or things we’ve been excited about lately. This collection all started with the desire to make garments where we could pull the hems up and unto the shoulder. And we really wanted to have these straps everywhere, which disappeared for a bit, and then came back in the men’s jacket with the blackstrap and our nail harness. We’ll say, ok, we have three shirts drawn. We need a skirt and at least one pant now. And then usually we create our really wearable pieces first, and then leave a full day each for some of our weirder pieces which we build organically.

What thoughts/ideas/concepts inspired your current collection?

Again, the desire to make these pieces where the hem turned into a strap that could be worn on the shoulder, or around the neck, like our shoulder dress, the drape gowns, and the men’s knit drape tank (which makes an awesome minidress, by the way). Also, this idea of industrial wreckage. We found all these old nails, which were free, and used them in our nail harness and the make out guard…thriftiness often drives our creative process. And as always, we love the juxtaposition of drape and structure, as in our snail dresses, and the coral skirt. We’re always inspired by that.
How does being in NYC influence you? (Or your creative process)

New York is a very expensive city. We spend most of our day figuring out a way to spend the least amount of money, which New York City makes hard. But it has pushed us to do things that have ended up being very cool, like our tights over shoe look we’ve done the past two seasons. No one knows how cheap those shoes were; now they just look cool. Well, now people will know. Also, we can’t really afford a hair person, so we’ve made hats/head covering the last two seasons and sewn in fake hair to keep our cost down. But the effect is pretty nice.

Anything else you want to add?

Thanks for coming to our show!

VISIT THEIR WEBSITE

Chris Habana - Designer to Know

Jewelry designer Chris Habana had a party for his new collection, Legends of Pop at a.ok in the basement of Oak on Bond Street last Thursday night. Here are some photos from the party and a brief Q+A with the man of the hour.

Katya: How did you get into doing this collaboration with A.OK?

Chris: Well I was represented by OAK for a while and when they started there A.ok venture we started talking about working together for a.ok too. And I always thought that if I started a secondary line it would be a little on the cheaper side instead of going high end so it was a good fit. My pieces as it is are not so expensive but I wanted the challenge of going even a little more affordable.

Katya: So what’s the price range for this collection?

Chris: Between $36 and $54.

Katya: That is really reasonable. I always love it when designers that I think have really fresh sensibilities are sensitive to their markets – which with this line I’m thinking younger kids, fresh out of school -maybe who are just starting out. They want to have something really fun and unique to wear that isn’t cheap but also want to pay their bills.

Chris: I really love the idea of something more accessible. And I thought what’s more accessible to everyone than the whole pop/pop music thing? And I thought of all the artists I loved from the 80s and 90s and really wanted to pay tribute to them with jewelry. So I am coming up with a Madonna cone bra, Boy George fedora/pork pie hat, a Michael Jackson glove, a Janet Jackson one earring, and a New Kids on the Block hang tough –one earring as well.

Katya: The 80s is really huge in fashion right now. Do you think there’s a reason for this? Is it fashion recycles every 20 years or…?

Chris: I don’t really think about what’s in or out in fashion – especially with what I do. I’ve just learned to do things more inherent to what I’d do or what I’m into at the moment. And the 80s and 90s are where it’s at.

Katya: I know this just came out so this might be a crazy question but is there anything up and coming in addition to this collection?

Chris: I’m coming up with my spring/summer 2010 collection for women. There’s another collaboration coming up but it’s top secret at the moment!

Katya: No worries, we’ll let you keep it a secret! Well I personally love this collection: it’s fun and affordable and it really celebrates pop culture. I also look forward to seeing your spring/summer 2010 collection. Thanks!

Chris: Thank you!

Check out the chrishabana & a.ok collaboration here!

PHOTOS OF JEWELRY COURTESY OF OAK
More party photos:) -ps some will go up on the main page as the look of the day in the coming weeks!

Interview with Designer Raquel Allegra

L.A. based designer Raquel Allegra was in NYC last spring and presented her F/W 09 collection at Ludlow on the Lower East Side. Her unique one-of-a-kind pieces are delicate and edgy at the same time. I interviewed her at the time but decided to wait until now to post it...when you'll all want to go and get your own Raquel Allegra original. You can find her clothes at Assembly or Curve downtown or online at shopflick. And of course, check out her own site.

KATYA: So when I look at your work you seem more art based than fashion based. Do you agree with that? Or maybe you don’t even like thinking in those terms?
RAQUEL: I don’t mind you saying that actually. I feel as though I almost put myself in the “anti-fashion” category…I’m a bit anti-fashion because I feel that it loses site of things that are special and so I think I just create things I love to create. I don’t do it for fashions sake, I do it for the sake of creating…and people love to wear them. So it’s a perfect little marriage!

KATYA: So do you think you’ll stay in this same sort of vein, of deconstructing and see how far you can take that?
RAQUEL: Well it keeps changing for me. The more I do it, the more I understand it. And the more I play with it the more it changes. So I see that it has a future, that there are a lot of things I can do with it. But I see expanding it to different mediums. Doing it with cashmere…

KATYA: Cashmere would be amazing!
RAQUEL: Right, and different jerseys. And a ready to wear line that is cut and sewn is coming. It’s right around the corner. This, what you’ve seen is a capsule collection because it is recycled, it comes from a very specific place, and we’re running out. So we’re going to channel the concept into a cut and sew. We’ll add to it, we’ll keep doing the deconstruction but probably in a few different ways…who knows? I’m open to anything!

KATYA: What inspires you?
RAQUEL: Honestly, because each t-shirt that I work with is so different I get inspiration from the t-shirts themselves. But this gets to my process. My process is playing. I feel like the heart of what I do comes from a very playful spirit and so I play: I play dress up, I experiment…I love removing and putting back…I think it’s authentically playing by myself which takes me into being creative.

KATYA: So it’s like you’re a little girl in your bedroom but you get to do it for your job!
RAQUEL: Totally! About a year ago I woke up really early, I wanted to enter this design competition, and I was in my bed and I was designing the last piece I wanted to make in my bed. And I got up and I cut my pattern out and I had my Beatles record on and I went to my sewing machine and I was shivering because I was in my nightie and I was cold but I didn’t want to stop being creative and it shot me into this moment remembering when I was seven; I used to wake up, and I’d be cold, and I’d be alone because my parents would still be sleeping and I would put my Beatles record on (it was always the Beatles) and in this very authentic way I found myself back to where I began. So I’m never not having fun. Even as hard as we work it’s still fun for me it’s still play and I get to meet incredible people and they inspire me and it’s like a give and take. Constantly.
So that’s the creative process. It’s very organic, what I do.