I’ve never really been one for obsessing over models. I think it’s kind of creepy to be overly interested in a stranger’s looks but there is one glaringly obvious exception to my stance and that’s Chrystelle Saint-Louis Augustin.* Growing up in the 90s, I thought she was epic. I still do. Whenever I’m feeling stressed about my hair – my real hair (not to be confused with my dress up wig), I look to photos of Chrystelle to feel inspired again. I suppose it’s less rare these days to find a black model with natural hair but Chrystelle was definitely a ground breaker in that sense. She was incredibly visible during her modeling career – leading major campaigns, covering major magazines, donning couture for YSL … She’s definitely one of my top 5 Style Crushes of all time. Anyone else have a model that speaks to them? If you’d say Kate Moss, I’m truly truly interested in having that explained to me. Truly.
Friendship, artistry, love, and respect covers thousands of miles in this post.
Earlier in this new year, my dear friend, Intisar Abioto started a new project — Flier Arts. As I’ve mentioned in the past, Intisar and the other Abioto sisters have been working on The People Could Fly Project for several years now and the results have been truly amazing. They’ve traveled the globe, met incredible people, and all the while engaged in the multimedia act of storytelling. So when Intisar called me last year to tell me about a new project that she was working on, I knew instantly that she had a winning idea. Ever the traveler-adventurer, Intisar describes Flier Arts as “a web atlas and magazine”. She and Flier Arts are all about engaging creators (what a perfect word choice) from all over the world in conversation, particularly through interviews. Personally, I love that Intisar includes audio and written transcriptions of these dialogues.
Which brings me to some exciting news… for the second edition of Flier Arts, Intisar has posted an interview with Isa Nakazawa, the blogging beauty w/brains behind Buggin’ Out . Isa is 1 in a million; I don’t think I know anyone who can switch between debating high cultural theory, singing a classic r&b slow jam, and hitting you with some on point sarcasm with as much ease. Truly interdisciplinary in her approach to…most things… Isa is a talented spoken word artist, teacher, mentor, friend, and cultural analyst. I can always count on her to make me stop – think- and laugh.
Intisar and Isa are two incredible ladies that are steady on the grind. Take some time and check out the interview on Flier Arts to learn more about Isa and her work .
Screen capture of Flier Arts – Photo by Intisar Abioto.
I can’t say enough great things about Linde (About to Combust). Aside from being an extraordinary friend, with a ridiculous amount of patience and love in her heart and a super smart brain in her head, she’s just about the coolest kid that I know.
I can safely say that any musical obsession that I’ve had in the last few years has somehow been connected to Linde. I specifically remember a few years back when she tried to get me to listen to Hot Chip and I was like “nah, why would anyone like this… it’s so borrring!”. Linde could have quit on me then but she didn’t! She kept sending me great music and let me tell you, Hot Chip gets me through some things – like riding the L train every morning. So I’m really thrilled to announce that Linde has agreed to do a monthly mix for Trendology!
The first one, is entitled “Not Fade Away” and it’s full of goodness, including some of my current favorites like Miike Snow – “Animal”, some Devendra Banhart – “I feel just like a child”, and an American legend –Loretta Lynn’s “Have Mercy”.
Sunday morning, I briefly blogged about the film Singlesand what felt like my sudden nostalgia for the early 90s. Or at least I felt as nostalgic as one can be for a time when they were under the age of 7. The rest of the week, however, has been spent researching underground/d.i.y artists from the late 80s/90s and finally getting around to watchingSLC Punk. Then this afternoon, I went through yet another time warp and now all I wanna do is listen to Rockabilly music, severely arch my eyebrows, and drool over Johnny Depp in Cry-Baby(one of my favorite silly movies).
While I was watching this clip, my roomie came into my room and told me that she had just watched this movie earlier this week! Time warp!
This morning, I woke up and couldn’t get out of bed. It’s Sunday and it’s gray and miserable looking outside. So it made perfect sense to me that I should watch Singles – a film about grungy Seattle in the early 90s. Two good things came out of this life choice.
1. I’ve decided that Matt Dillon and James Franco need to be in a film together.
2. I’ve decided that I want to recreate Bridget Fonda’s final outfit (above).
Trendology is the case study of a fashion obsessed Gemini living on a fixed income in NYC. To contact, please e-mailJillian [trendology.blog (at) gmail.com].
I’ve never really been one for obsessing over models. I think it’s kind of creepy to be overly interested in a stranger’s looks but there is one glaringly obvious exception to my stance and that’s Chrystelle Saint-Louis Augustin.* Growing up in the 90s, I thought she was epic. I still do. Whenever I’m feeling stressed about my hair – my real hair (not to be confused with my dress up wig), I look to photos of Chrystelle to feel inspired again. I suppose it’s less rare these days to find a black model with natural hair but Chrystelle was definitely a ground breaker in that sense. She was incredibly visible during her modeling career – leading major campaigns, covering major magazines, donning couture for YSL … She’s definitely one of my top 5 Style Crushes of all time. Anyone else have a model that speaks to them? If you’d say Kate Moss, I’m truly truly interested in having that explained to me. Truly.
