CITYist

With a return to her trademark femininity in her Spring RTW ’13 collection, we couldn’t help but wonder where last season’s badass bombshell aura came from. Turns out, when it comes to dressing the modern woman, Rebecca Taylor has more than visions of sugar plums in her head.

Dressed down in a red tank top, denim vest and jeans, with her long blond hair pulled back, and armed with—of all things—a chainsaw, Cherie Currie screamed nothing short of badass as her bazooka-sized guns ripped into a block of wood at the last SXSW Music Festival in Austin, Texas.

Glass of water, cup of coffee, can of Busch. Jason Goodman offers all three on an afternoon tour of 3rd Ward, his art and design collective located in a converted Bushwick, Brooklyn warehouse. As executive director and cofounder of the D.I.Y. haven, he’s allowed to drink while looking in on jewelry-making classes and speaking over the roar of table saws and patting iMac-glued video editors on their backs as he walks by.

One would assume that the house of one of the creators of Benefit Cosmetics would be a Willy Wonka-esq delight of lipsticks and eye shadow, and that her daughters Maggie and Annie would don false lashes before they spoke their first words. “Contrary to popular belief we didn’t really grow up in a girly house filled with makeup,” said Maggie, “I think I became interested in makeup in middle school, maybe sixth or seventh grade when most other girls do. I remember wanting to wear Lip Smackers from Bonnie Bell because that’s when it was really cool to collect them and they have a lot of flavors.”

You won’t find Mina Stone’s studio in the Garment District, or any of the other usual spots populated by New York City’s young designers. Should you wish to seek her out, you’ll have to travel to The Fulton Mall, a noisy and well-populated stretch of downtown Brooklyn. There, among the crammed jewelry shops, 99 cent stores and Foot Lockers, you’ll find the creator of airy, hand-dyed silk frocks and jumpsuits. The clothes are sophisticated, almost serene, in marked contrast to the hectic surroundings. It’s a contradiction that’s perfectly at home for Stone, who has made her way by trusting her instincts, and often being in two places at once.

Conrad Keely does not travel lightly these days. Meeting him downtown at a Soho lounge on an unseasonably warm afternoon, he enters carrying a large leather case. One would assume the …And You Will Know Us by the Trail Of The Dead singer and guitarist would have one of his instruments in tow, but not this time. Rather, Keely has a large black satchel containing sketches and paintings from the last 20 years— because Keely is now an artist.

A fine piece of jewelry should last a lifetime. It should be so well made that it never loses the original luster. Its design should withstand the trends of fashion over the years. And the wearer should find the same delight in it at age 70 as she did at age 30. Grounded in tradition and inspired by eternity, custom jewelry designer Hirotaka carries these goals even further. He wants his work to last for generations, not simply a lifetime.

In fashion, you are either in or you are out. Or in Heidi Klum’s case, you are rather above it all. No longer a mere mannequin, Klum has become a brand unto herself, producing and hosting the eternally popular Project Runway while also jetting to her native Germany for her own Germany’s Next Top Model. She’s also a working mother of four, which led to her latest projects, the maternity wear line Lavish by Heidi Klum for A Pea in the Pod, and Loved by Heidi Klum for Motherhood Maternity. Since she was a budding designer before she became a model, it’s a creative development that comes quite naturally.

To be totally, brutally honest with you, there really isn’t a great deal of difference between one Liam Gallagher interview and another. Just poke around on Google and YouTube for a few moments to see what I mean. His persona is usually a predictable mix of cocky, belligerent, amusing, honest, sardonic, boastful, defensive and adamant. He’s the fucking man, and everything he does is better than every fucking thing else. Got it?

It’s a Thursday night at Ilori, the fittingly flashy eyewear purveyor in Soho, and fashion’s boy wonder is dressed as such. Sporting a black V-neck sweater with a plaid collar peeking out, distressed jeans and bright white sneakers, Jason Wu looks as if he’s barely old enough to sip the flute of champagne he’s holding. Regardless, he flits expertly throughout the room full of high profile editors and socialites, who are here to celebrate the launch of his first eyewear line. And judging by the awe-like reception, it’s clear that Wu has firmly penetrated the fashion zeitgeist.

‘V’ heads rejoice! After a long, cold, 10-month wait, True Blood returned with its weekly dose of intrigue, horror and, above all, sex. Also returning was actress Mariana Klaveno, better known as Bill Compton’s villainous vampire-maker Lorena, who’s one of the few actors entering their third season on the show, and whose mortality rate hovers somewhere around the national unemployment percentage. With all questions regarding this season of the hit show off the table, Klaveno spoke about her childhood, getting her big break and life in Bon Temps.

If there is any article of clothing that is quintessentially American, it’s a pair of blue jeans. Diana Vreeland said they were “the most beautiful thing since the gondola.” Yves St. Laurent declared, “I wish I had invented blue jeans: the most spectacular, the most practical, the most relaxed and nonchalant.” And we can envision them on every American from Marilyn Monroe to Bob Dylan to Barack Obama. So, if you’re working with denim, how do you bring something new to such a classic yet everyday item?

When you speak to Jessica Andres, you notice quickly that the Minnesota native has an endearing habit of using the phrase “you know?” as punctuation. However, the things that she’s talking about involve training for an M. Night Shyamalan trilogy, watching Adam Sandler improvise his lines on set, learning Tessenjutsu and (she hopes, in the future) going spelunking. So the answer is no: we have no idea what she means, and at only 24 years old, it’s quite the accomplishment that even she does.