October 28th, 2006 §
Adweena, age 20.
After a few days, taking my camera and notebook with me every time I went outside, not finding anyone really worthwhile to take a photo of, I was feeling fairly curious. Every time I leave without it, someone amazing walks by…and you know how it goes – always when you’re not trying. Adweena came walking down the street while I was on my break from work. I got excited when she was still down at the corner, and I waited until she got to me to ask her to wait while I grabbed my camera.
“What’s your current obsession?”
“Shopping.”
“Really??”
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October 24th, 2006 §
Pysche.
This is Philippe, age 27.
Philippe has the Frenchest French name you’ll hear in Philly. Ask him if you see him, but be cool about it. It’s cause he was born in Montreal and spoke French until he was six and moved to the US dirrty South. Dope, right?
“What’s your current obsession, homie?”
“Adolescent boys. In casts. (laughs) Um, twenty year old art school, fashion design students. Bad dance beats… and sweet reggae.”
“Is that all?”
“Yeah. Oh – neon marine mammals. I do love dolphins.” (laughs again)
“Amazing. You know, I’m going to write down that you were giggling the whole time I was asking you questions…”
(giggles again)
“All right… What about what you’d like to see more of?”
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October 22nd, 2006 §
Shannon, age 17.
Shannon was another person I let walk by at least 30 feet before I decided I wanted her picture. She had a handmade bag with a pink cupcake on it and the yellow plaid jacket on, but really, it was the HUGE (glow in the dark?) earrings that made me jump up and run after her. Her friend looked cool too, but not as wild as this.
I stopped her saying this was for a Philly fashion blog. She told me she was from New York. What the hell! Regardless, she was waiting for the subway, and I figured that was okay.
“What’s your current obsession?”
“Oooh, that’s a good one… Um. I’m really obsessed with My Chemical Romance now, as lame as it sounds. I really don’t know why.”
October 19th, 2006 §
For the internet denizens that come to B&M for the (thus far few) street art posts, here’s a good link to PingMag about the Los Angeles graffiti scene. I’m posting this particular link because there’s a focus on lettering and calligraphy styles, which I think is cool, being someone that is turned on by a good font.
In the meantime, I have about FIVE posts to get up, but I haven’t had the time to stop and get the pictures off my damn camera! I guess this is to be expected during midterms. So if you’re getting bored waiting for me, check out the street fashion blogs in my links section (above). I am a huge fan of Hel Looks and The Sartorialist!
October 13th, 2006 §
So, it feels like every time I’m walking out of or into the student center on campus, there is this group of really fly black girls outside that I shamelessly gawk at. On any given day, the whole group of them is in some mind-boggling, next-level tightness, which is to say, I want to take their pictures badly. It figures that the day I am determined to get their photos, though, they decide to fall back slightly on a more subtle tip. Luckily, this beautiful maiden was a few paces away, talking with a friend, (probably part of their crew) to repair my disappointment.
Verlyncia, age 18.
“My current obsession is beans, cold straight from a can.”
“Wow, you know…that sounds about right. What kind of beans?”
“Campbells baked beans.”
“Yeah. That’s some good stuff.”
October 9th, 2006 §
Aminah, age 23.
“My current obsession is bags… Designer bags and purses, as far as fashion goes. My non-fashion obsession would be dance. I’m an African dancer and I’m all about that. I’m a dancer with OAS [Organization of African Students], Temple’s dance troupe. I also do some African dance outside of school.”
I really liked Aminah’s look. The wide belt with a button-up shirt and skinny jeans is something of a trend, I’d say, but she definitely made it her own. For me, the combo of the chains, white glasses, and billowy scarf around the neck is what kilt (read: killed) it for me. Also, the girl is beautiful.
October 5th, 2006 §
Skinny pants, friends. That’s what I’m talkin about. Man, back in the day when I was like thirteen, I’d always wonder how those punks got their pants so tight and skinny! Where’d they get em? I mean, I could get my hands on some tapered Levis or some really slim bootcuts, but nothing so skintight as those punks… A couple years later it dawned on me – they sewed those jawns! You had to DIY it!
Nowadays you can just buy skinny jeans in stores for fifty bucks and be all set. (And of course Japan was already into skinny pants as a trend like two years back). You can get them in really nice washes, or with zippers at the ankle, with lots of stretch or little stretch… the main point here is that you can straight up buy them at the Gap now. I’m not saying it’s a bad thing, it’s just a funny thing, like how gelling up your hair into spikes got to be cool with suburban football player types several years back, and now it ain’t a thing to be a dude in Abercrombie & Fitch with a mohawk (or really, fauxhawk).
The kids in this post are people who I’d say were wearing skinny jeans long before it was so readily, commercially available. I’d even go so far to say that they might’ve been ridiculed for wearing such goddamn tight pants – but hey, now it’s cool yippeeeeeee! (Ok, enough of my cynicism.) I thought I’d ask them why they wore tight pants. I had the intention of later getting together a group of fashionable girls and asking them the same thing, just for kicks, but I never got around to it (still might, though).
Me: “What’s your name?”
MJ: “Melanie Jade.”
Me: “And why are you wearing tight black pants?”
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October 4th, 2006 §
Rini, age classified.
So, it’s been a while since I’ve taken a new picture since my computer died. The pics in the last post were probably taken a good month ago. Now that I’m going to school, I’m spying all sorts of fun people, but either I don’t have the time to stop or they don’t. Thankfully, I’ve figured out a way to get pictures and still talk to them for a hot second. Current obsessions, folks.
“My current obsession?? Um. Finland. And Norway. Cause it’s full of lakes and also my other current obsession is Peter Watkins. He’s British and he made this film about Edward Munch, this painter from Norway – he did the Scream.”
“Oh, word!”
“Yeah.”
(Then I tried to get a pic of her bag, but my camera’s battery died.)
“Oh, my bag is from Australia. It’s used by the local school children for their books.”
A very lovely person. I saw her riding home later that day on a shiny cruiser bike.