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Vice Blog

FASHION ISSUE EXTRA - STAY TROPICAL MEGA-MIX

Back in December photographer

Ben Ritter

and I

headed down to Miami for Art Basel

. Our vibes were higher than we thought possible as we drove around the city, blaring Cuban salsa and dub, downing Sunkist and vodka, swimming every day, eating plantains and drinking Materva…the kind of shit that now makes me mad to think about in that "Why the fuck would anyone ever live in NYC and why am I still here?" kind of way. My friend Manny got us saying "TROPICAL" but like, "Soy Tropicaaaalllllllle" with an accent and with thumb and forefinger touching. The entire notion of "tropical" began to seep into our brains and, once we returned to home, into our everyday lives. NYC winter is shit (and so far pretty much spring is too) and that's why we decided to shoot

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STAY TROPICAL

for the fashion issue. We saw the shoot as inspiration for others to cost-effectively transform bathrooms into small tropical huts but it was really more for us to just not get down on bad winter vibes. We drank mojitos and chopped up pineapples and danced and took photographs of beautiful girls. STAYING TROPICAL isn't easy through blizzards and bad vibes but we've made the most of it. Every spring, in anticipation of summer, I make a new beach mix and reread

The Rum Diary

. I've made a tropical mix for you. It's kind of varied, maybe you'll love it maybe you'll hate it. I say just smoke a ton of weed and let it play out. It's getting warm out there soon!

STAY TROPICAL JOHN MCSWAIN