The Fashion Issue 2013
Employees of the Month
Above all else, James Pogue is looking for a free place to stay, if you know anyone with an apartment he can housesit for the next few years. His essays and journalism have appeared in 'n+1,' the 'Oxford American,' and the 'New Yorker.'
Chop, Drop, and Roll
Photographer Awol Erizku and writer Wilbert L. Cooper explore the American tradition that is the black barbershop.
Laugh Pig Laugh
Two hours later: Regret. So much regret. There’s blood all over me. Not my blood. Chicken blood, or so they say. I don’t know where anyone gets all this chicken blood from, and the whole enterprise is definitely far from kosher.
Bulletproof Kids
In December, the massacre at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, threw the country into a deep depression, followed by a fiery debate about guns. Companies hawking children’s clothes saw sales skyrocket. One of these vendors, Amendment II...
Is Facebook Getting Away with Selling Counterfeit Crap?
The ads on Facebook’s sidebar make it easier than ever before to buy clothes, handbags, and jewelry. Unfortunately, some say they also make it easier to sell knockoffs of name-brand products, even though Facebook officially bans ads for phony...
Flying American Slobs
I was hanging out in a business-class lounge at JFK airport, waiting for my flight, when I saw two women enter, one American, one Italian. Try to tell me which is which. The first looked relaxed, classy, and very rich. The second woman was wearing Uggs...
Why Not Rent Your Head to Advertisers?
We’re not sure if Andrew Lardinois was inspired by his mallrat days or came up with the idea of making extra cash by shaving the logos of local businesses into his hair all by himself. So far, he’s served as a walking commercial for a liquor store, a...
Do People Really Dress Like Shit in Buffalo?
As if Buffalo, New York, didn’t have enough to worry about with its struggling economy and tons of fat people and brutal winters, last year a website called Bundle.com named the city of 260,000 the “least fashionable city in America.”
Raggare Love Hot Rods and Rock 'n' Roll
Raggare are modern-day greasers who are as important to Sweden’s national identity as meatballs, ABBA, and blue-eyed blonds. This is despite the fact that the raggare subculture is all about the appropriation of American cars, rock ’n’ roll, and tough...
Anarchy in Hip-Hop
Hip-hop and punk were born at about the same time, in the same place, with the same rebellious and aggressive spirit; however, their fashion aesthetics have always clashed. But somewhere along the line that changed, because today’s MCs look like first...