Kelley Hoffman

Check out my guide to San Francisco on Sous Style!

Come to my going away party tomorrow night!

ELLE: In your dream, aesthetic virtual world, what would you wear?

 
James Ferraro: Like what would my avatar on Second Life look like? Decked out in Versace, completely. The record is deeply influenced by fashion. I was just on Fifth Avenue the other day and went into the Versace store and was just blown away. But there are so many things I’m into. I would be in thigh highs and some pretty cool high heels probably a leather jacket, and definitely a Versace phone.

Read my interview with James Ferraro on ELLE

ELLE: If you could invite anyone, living or dead, what would your dream sleep over be like?

Stefanie Franciotti: Like a literal sleep over? I’d invite Seth, which is, I don’t know if you’ve heard of Jane Roberts?  She’s an author and a medium and she communicates with this spirit called Seth that disseminates the way that the universe works.  Basically, he’s an entity that tells it like it is. So I’d want to invite Jane Roberts and Seth by proxy. And then I’d want to invite Carl Jung, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Maybe the girls from Strawberry Switchblade. We would eat a lot of junk food, try to contact spirits and jam, and smoke weed.

Read my interview with Sleep∞Over on ELLE

“I’m much more driven by imagery verses text, and I think a lot of people are the same, so for the guys at Instagram to develop a platform that would connect friends through a literal lens was pretty smart,” says Leandra Medine, also known as the popular fashion blogger Man Repeller. ”The filters are rad, everyone feels like a photographer, and the organic connection it’s made to fashion is great. Ultimately though, life just looks better in X-Pro.”

Read my piece on Instagram + the fashion industry for the Atlantic

The Spirit of Blank City

Read on W

Karlheinz Weinberger’s Flash of Angst

Read on W

INTERVIEW: Recently, The Atlantic’s blog commented on a controversial piece you submitted to Gawker about being arrested for trespassing at NYU’s bookstore. The writer, Hua Hsu said you reveal a lot about yourself but nothing at all, “Like a marvelous joke with no punch line.” Do you agree with that statement?

TAO LIN: I agree with him that you don’t know anything about me. But I think it’s because there just really isn’t anything to know. Unless you view concrete things that happen to me as knowing things about me. I actually don’t have…opinions. I’m not being secretive about anything. I just actually don’t have opinions about society. I can discern that certain things have an effect on certain other things but I don’t view those effects as good or bad. If a context and a goal is defined I could say if it’s good or bad. But overall I don’t view things as good or bad. So I’m like a robot or computer in that sense. So maybe that’s why people don’t think they know me when they read my writing.

Read my interview with Tao Lin on Interview

Everyone Wants to be Marina Abramovic

Read my piece connecting fashion and female performance artists on Interview

What pieces or labels do you wear most?
I don’t buy a lot of new designer clothes. I have some designer staples that get recycled quite a bit — a Rick Owens jacket, cashmere from RRL, Acne leather leggings I bought in Stockholm, and way too many shoes. I also should tell you that I have an old striped jumpsuit that I wear three to five times per week. Most of my friends think it should be illegal.

Is there an item you are currently saving up to buy?
A new pair of Belgian loafers (they don’t last long in the city). They are basically like wearing orthopedic shoes — I never want to wear anything else ever again.

Read my interview with Rachel Chandler on New York Magazine

Band of Outsiders Brings Out the Beach and Stars for Spring

“Malibu, late ’70s, outside, joyful, happy,” is how Scott Sternberg described his spring/summer Band of Outsiders and Boy presentation. He certainly brought some L.A. to Milk Studios: Kirsten Dunst, Jonathan Schwartzman, and Rachel McAdams all swung by to show their support, as well as a fantastic set design with models stationed on a sandy mock beach with vintage luggage and perfect tans…and really, what beach scene isn’t complete without a metal detector!

Chambray, school-boy blazers, boat shoes, and the hottest Manolo Blahnik for Band of Outsiders bandage-strappy heels abounded, while our favorite pieces included the blue dip-dyed cotton oxford shirt for the guys (modern Beach Boys!) and the twisted suspender skirt for the ladies. After hearing stylist Jessica de Ruiter telling Sternberg the collection was “A-mazing!” and Rachel McAdams going on about how her favorite skirt was “so comfy,” seems everyone is up for Sternberg’s latest beachy brand of vacation, including us.

Read on Refinery29

Leaving the Dark Side

Iekeliene Stange arrived at New York Fashion Week with a shocking, super bleached mop—and we love her fair maiden look, which just adds to her eclectic personal style. Martin Cohn, the androgynous-boy-about-town, street style star, also unexpectedly traded in a dark brown ‘do for all-out blonde, looking just as extreme, but just on the other end of the light spectrum. And recently Daul Kim pulled a surprise peroxide as well, with steps of the process on her blog and reassuring info that her scalp’s still in good shape due to weekly head spa treatments. Do you think they can pull off this look? Would you give platinum blonde a shot?

Read on Refinery29

What trends do you like right now?
Neu Rave and Post–Neu Rave.

What trends do you wish would just go away?
None; I am very trendy.

Are there any trends you wish would come back?
Yes. Mismatched neon socks. Fluorescent shorts. Big hair. Greased-back hair. Basically anything to do with A.C. Slater.

Read my interview with The Selby on New York Magazine

Color by Hand

Back in August, we predicted that makeup would be stepping up it’s statement game, as people started to stow their credit cards far, far away, and rely on less expensive means to up their fashion ante. Now, it seems, the fun, loud looks aren’t only for the face—they’re heading straight for your hands as well. Instead of buying the latest shade of polish, consider combining those half-empty bottles from the ghosts of seasons past, for a fresh, candy-coated combination. LA’s Tallulah Morton and New York’s Tess Brokaw were both recently snapped thanks to their nails, which featured not one hot color, but five.

Read on Refinery29

Top Knot

On first noticing a high-knotted hairstyle on a Stockholm street style site, it read initially as more of a Michelle Tanner throwback than a must-do. But while the toddler Olsens or Pebbles Flinstone may have trademarked the cutesy upsweep, these days it’s looking great on grown-up girls as well. The style has majorly caught on, seen photographed on fashion folks in and out of Scandinavia, and now even into Williamsburg: Several of the employees of the Swedish-owned Malin Landaeus vintage boutique have been known to sport the look, too.

With no blow-dryers, straighteners, or curling irons needed, the sheer ease of the hairstyle is hard to ignore. In the heat, it’s an ideal way to get the hair off your neck without opting for that tough-to-pull-off YSL bowl cut. It works with bangs, no bangs, and face framing strands, and the knot can be styled in the center or favoring one side.

Read on Refinery29

My Style: Harley Viera Newton

“If you’re not comfortable and you’re aware of wearing an outfit, everyone else is going to be aware that you’re wearing an ‘outfit.’ That’s not style, that’s trying to be stylish.”

Read my interview with Harley Viera Newton on Refinery29