Hoot Magazine: Fall 2010

Fall 2010

Tinsley Mortimerour back-to-school issue with

Letter from Jane Keltner de ValleFashion News Director of Teen Vogue

Dear Hoot reader,

Full disclosure: When I was asked to write this letter, although very flattered, I was a little stumped. I didn’t have the “typical” college experience. Never been to a frat party or a football game. My extracurricular of choice was WWD (fashion industry bible) not DDD (popular Greek house of worship).

Part of the reason I chose to attend Barnard is because I’m a strong believer that education extends far beyond just the campus gates. As a native New Yorker, I grew up with the Metropolitan Museum in my backyard. I never learned how to drive because I never wanted to have to forfeit all the merits of a pedestrian culture (street-as-runway being a central one). After touring various schools across America, I came to the conclusion that going to a first-rate college in a second-rate city seemed counterproductive. Within Columbia’s gates on 116th Street is a historic academic enclave that appears totally cut-off from the city around it. You can barely even see the high-rises that lie just beyond. But as soon as you exit onto Broad-way, all of New York City is at your feet.

I attended my first fashion show spring semester of freshman year. A friend at Parsons had a ticket to Daryl K, and she was too sick to attend so she passed it along to me. (Brief fashion history lesson: in the late ‘90s, Daryl K was pretty much what Alexander Wang is today—the coolest young designer in New York.) The fashion show was held in a huge industrial warehouse on the West Side Highway with rough wood planks for a runway. I can’t remember if my friend’s ticket was seated or standing, but it didn’t matter. As soon as I walked in, I positioned myself right next to the photographers’ pit, and proceeded to photograph each and every look that came down the runway. I still have a photo album with all the images (this was back in the old days when pictures were taken with film, and developed not downloaded).

I started interning at W and Women’s Wear Daily at the end of my freshman year. The subway commute from Columbia to the offices on 34th Street was only twenty minutes, but when I exited I was in a totally different universe. Whenever I wasn’t in class, I was there. Other interns would arrive in June and leave in August, but because I was there year-round I became a part of the staff. Sophomore year, I remember receiving a call in my apartment on 110th Street asking if I had a passport. They needed someone to deliver a dress to a photo shoot in Poland that night. I wrote my first byline article about a year and a half into the intern-ship. Meanwhile, at Barnard and Columbia, I sought out fashion- and journalism-specific classes to balance out my Victorian literature and art history classes. I took an incredible class on the history of fashion with Valerie Steele, the director of the museum at FIT. And I remember writ-ing a comical piece about a Fendi sample sale for one of my journalism classes.

My college experience wasn’t typical, but I wouldn’t trade it for any-

thing in the world. I also don’t think I could have gotten it anywhere but Columbia University. I’ve been the fashion news director at Teen Vogue for a little over six years now, and it’s no coincidence that two of my best interns were Barnard students. One is now the online editor of Teen Vogue, and the other graduates this May. I have no idea what she’ll do next, but I would be lying if I said I wasn’t keeping my eyes on her!

Jane Keltner de Valle Fashion News Director of Teen Vogue

In This Issue5 Letter from the Editor

FEATURES6 Contributor Biographies7 Back-to-School Shopping: Maya de la Rosa-Cohen 10 FacultyProfile:Professor Caroline Weber12 5 Seniors to Know on Campus14 Interview with Sam Horine15 NeighborhoodProfile:SoHo16 Fashion Week Backstage: Vivienne Tam18 BloggerProfile:WendyBrandes20 Cover Story: Tinsley Mortimer

HEALTH & BEAUTY32 BPA on Campus33 Fall Beauty Products to Try34 Halloween Make-Up

FASHION24 Utilitarian Fall Accessories26 Autumn’s Muted Tones30 Global Fashion40 Anywhere But Here 42 Fall Trends for Less

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT38 Building Fashion Exhibition41 MoMA’s Ongoing Action! Design Over Time Exhibition

Cover Shoot

Dress by Cynthia Steffe, shoes by Brian Atwood, ring by Mary Esses

HOOT 3www.hootmag.org

Editor in Chief: Noel Duan (CC ’13)

DESIGNDesign Director: Sharon Wu (CC ’13)

Design Editors:Ginny Bao (CC ’13)Cathi Choi (CC ’13)

Nicole Chiang (BC ’14)Rashmi Borah (BC ’14)Hannah Keiler (CC ’14)

Zi Lin (BC ’13)Design Assistants:

Fran Bullard (BC ’14)Yishu Huang (CC ’11)

Katie Lee (BC ’14)Victoria Musselman (BC ’14)

Allie Yee (BC ’11)

FASHIONStyle Director: Michele Levbarg-Klein (CC ‘12)

Accessories Director: Anna Cooperberg (CC ‘12)Creative Director: Vivian Luo (CC ‘12)

Menswear Director: Martin Hamery (CC ‘13)Assistant Market Editor: Alexandra Gaspard (CC ’14)

Associate Stylist: Lydia Ding (CC ’13)Fashion Writer: Gayoung Kim (CC ‘14)

Menswear Writer: Jeanne Ma (SEAS ‘14)Menswear Writer: Augusto Corvalan (CC ‘13)

BEAUTY + HEALTH

Beauty + Health Director: Jina Lim (CC ‘13)Beauty Editor: Sharon Shum (CC ’13)

Beauty Visuals Associate: Edson Bobadilla (CC ‘13)Beauty Associate: Emma Stein (CC ‘14)

FEATURESFeatures Director: Carla Vass (BC ‘11)

Features Editor: Constance Boozer (CC ’13)Interviews Assistant: Jennifer Ong (CC ’12)

Features Writer: Paul Hsiao (CC ’12)Features Writer: Allison Malecha (CC ’13)

Copy Editor: Katie Lee (BC ’14)Copy Editor: Alexandra Lotero (CC ’12)Copy Editor: Hannah C. Tippett (BC ’14)

ARTS + ENTERTAINMENT

Arts + Entertainment Director: Nicole Estevez (CC ‘13)

PHOTOPhoto Director: Damian Tran (GS ‘14)

PUBLIC RELATIONSPublic Relations Director: Donia Abdelaziz (CC ‘12)

Public Relations Assistants: Allie Davitt (CC ’12)

Rakhi Agrawal (BC ‘14)Nina Ahuja (BC ‘14)

Shelby Maniccia (BC ‘14)Kavisha Khanuja (BC ‘14)

Kathy Sun (CC ‘14Kinnari Norojono (CC ’14)Alexandra Shapiro (BC ’14)

Ayelet Pearl (BC ’14)

ADVERTISING + SALESPublisher: Kavitha Surana (CC ‘11)

Associate Publisher: Tina Tsuchiyama (BC ’13)

Meet the Staff

Letter Editor

Editor’s Letter

Some people look upon Hoot as a novelty. Something superfluous for Columbia stu-dents to “waste” time on. Something frivolous for an Ivy League school. “Do you feel bad that you go to Columbia and you’re not trying to save the world?” someone re-

cently asked me.Additionally, on the blog, IvyGate (ivygateblog.com), Daniel D’Addario (CC ’10) wrote,

“We support student enterprise broadly, but, um… why do we need another fashion maga-zine, least of all one produced by students as poor as we are?”

D’Addario didn’t exactly make clear whom he was asking (presumably the readers of IvyGate), but I would like to try my hand at answering his question.

Columbia is not a fashion-oriented school. We do not pretend to compete with Parsons or FIT or Pratt or any of our other notably stylish brethren in New York. Yet, we have a small but passionate group of students, faculty members, and alumni who are contributing great things to the fashion industry.

We spoke with Professor Caroline Weber of Barnard College, who not only teaches French, but also writes for Vogue and authors extensively researched books about costume history. Our very own accessories director, Anna Cooperberg (CC ’12), can be found in the pages of Seventeen, where she serves as a member of the Style Council. Jane Keltner de Valle, Teen Vogue fashion news director, shares her memories as a fashion-savvy Barnard student on the first page of this issue. And of course, our cover star, Tinsley Mortimer (CC ’99), is not only a socialite, but also a handbag designer. These four individuals are just a small fraction of Columbia’s fashion community—which in itself is a small fraction of Columbia’s community—but they are changing and contributing to a multi-billion-dollar industry.

And then there are the new staff members of Hoot this year. The first-years who wanted to get involved even before they ar-rived on campus. The sophomores, juniors, and seniors who have started to contribute to Hoot even though it is a fairly new pub-lication. The staff members from last year, who decided to take a chance on a student fashion magazine in spite of the words of skeptics like D’Addario.

Hoot brought us all together. We just want to celebrate fash-ion at Columbia University and in Morningside Heights, simple as that. Hoot is necessary because of the void we fulfill. Just as I’m writing this letter, a couple students from Yale University emailed me about starting a fashion magazine at their school, modeled after Hoot. Turns out, we’re not the only Ivy League school with a love for fashion.

Of course, Hoot could not have been made possible without your contributions. We would especially like to thank Kirby Bul-lard, Nicole Chiang, Jeff Chou, Charles Cooperberg, Maricela Cooperberg, Jinfan Duan, Antonia Gonzalez, Sergio Gonzalez, Justin Iso, Bianca Jolly, John Kim, Martin I. Klein, Livia Lee, Ron Lee, Katie Lee, Yun Lim, Dale Mercer, Huoy Ung, Jamie Wong, and Jinying Zhang for their generous donations to our Kickstarter (kickstarter.com) campaign. Also, we offer our deepest apprecia-tion to CUarts once again for the support and contributions.

With much gratitude,

Noel Duan Editor in Chief


Getting a few precious moments with fashion de-signer Vivienne Tam while backstage at her show in Lincoln Center!

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Hometown: Libertyville, IL/Toronto, ON1. My go-to Little Black Dress. Cliché, yes, but for the sake of practicality, it looks good with just about any-thing and is super comfy since it’s made from organic bamboofibers.2. A closet full of Manolos. Sorry Karl, I’m with Carrie Bradshaw. 3. An oversized fur vest (I’m going for faux) to keep me warm and, to carry on the super-wedge trend from summer, a pair of platform-wedge ankle booties (think Jeffrey Campbell and Topshop).

Hometown: San Jose, CA1. My BCBG Mendel Booties – I bought them during finals week while procrastinating! I called 15 storesaround Manhattan and throughout the country be-forefinallyfindingthem!2. Spend an afternoon with Kaiser Karl and wear Nich-olas Kirkwoods instead.3. A black maxi skirt. I have too many mini skirts.

Hometown: Sunnyvale, CA1. My wedges! They go with anything and just add that extra touch of edgy-cool and chic all at once. Plus, they’re ridiculously comfortable.2. Spend an afternoon with Lagerfeld - Chanel is po-tentially one of the greatest couture fashion houses remaining. It just oozes glamour. 3. Capes are everywhere this season. They’re incred-ibly warm, comfortable, and you can wear them with anything. I’m looking for a hooded one.

Hometown: Dallas, TX1. I hate being cold so I would save my Zara coat with a humongous hood. I can completely cover my face with it in the winter if I want, and it’s 80% wool. Other-wise, I might save my Banana Republic red strapless dress because it’s timelessly classy yet has a standout color,andflattersalltherightcurves!2. I’d rather have a closet of Manolos for sure. 3. A colorful scarf to keep me warm and keep some color near my face. Fall colors can be so drab!

If you could only save one thing from your closet, what would it be?Would you rather have a closet full of Manolos or spend an afternoon with Karl Lagerfeld?What’s your fall must have?

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Back-to-School Shopping: Maya de la Rosa-Cohen

by kavitha surana


Features

Back-to-school shopping isn’t just about buying overpriced books at the Columbia Univer-

sity bookstore. Maya de la Rosa-Cohen (CC ’11), a native of San Francisco and street photographer for Swagger New York (swaggernewyork.com), took Hoot on a tour of her favorite vintage-inspired haunts around Houston Street.

4:15 p.m.Rosa-Cohen’s first stop is Zachary’s

Smile (317 Lafayette St.), a boutique filled with re-worked dresses and authentic vintage goodies. “I mainly come here for accessories,” she said, pointing toward a selection of cute belts and a rack of hats. “Pill box hats could be very in this fall,” she said, grinning as she tried on a green version.

5:00 p.m.Outside, the traffic crushed us on

Broadway. When asked about her favorite shop on Broadway in SoHo, she quickly replied, “Topshop (478 Broadway) for sure, I became obsessed with them while studying abroad in Spain.” She stopped by Uniqlo (546 Broadway) and Madewell (486 Broadway). The cashmere sweaters are “pretty hard to say no to” at Uniqlo, though she thinks Madewell is overpriced. “I just get frustrated when I see a flimsy t-shirt and a nice dress that both cost $50. It doesn’t make sense!” she ranted.

5:10 p.m.Flying A (169 Spring St.) is another

vintage-inspired store Rosa-Cohen fre-quently visits, although she doesn’t nor-mally buy anything other than sunglasses and shoes from there. “It’s expensive,” she said, “but I come because you never know what deals you’ll find, and the selection is great.” She tried on an exquisite pair of boots from Brazil and searched for a brown leather backpack, another one of her back-to-school necessities.

5:15 p.m.The boots were a bit too tight to war-

rant spending $180 on them. Is it safe to assume that she is a practical shopper?

She shrugged her shoulders and smiled nonchalantly, “Sometimes, and some-times not. The second time I went to the Barneys Warehouse Sale I’d been work-ing all summer to save money to go to Europe. Then, I found these gold Balen-ciaga shoes with five-inch marble art deco heels—completely impractical but they go with everything! I hid them within the sale racks and told myself that if they were still there by the end of the sale I’d have to buy them. Six days later, there they were!” She splurged—but still ended up getting to Eu-rope.

5:30 p.m.She pointed out the restaurants, SoHo

Park (62 Prince St.) and Hampton Chut-ney (68. Prince St.), as we passed by (“great french fries and dosas, respectively”) and lead us into Amarcord Vintage (252 Lafay-ette St.) “just to browse.” She checked the price tag of a vintage Italian purse. “1,200 dollars,” she squeaked, horrified. There is definitely a gorgeous array of designer-brand vintage items here. Rosa-Cohen suggests going there just to get inspired. Before leaving, she eyed a pair of red suede boots and tried on an outlandish feathered hat.

5:50 p.m.Across the street, Rosa-Cohen decided

to try a new store. In God We Trust (265 Lafayette St.) enchanted her with its heart charms and silk flowered shorts. When asked what this season’s must-haves are, the Swagger New York intern replied, “I’ve heard crushed purple velvet and clogs. I can see the velvet being potentially fierce, but no way am I putting on clogs!” She ended up purchasing a funky pair of $15 coral sunglasses that will pump up her fa-vorite faux-leather grey jacket from Spain.

6:20 p.m.We headed to one of her top picks,

Café Habana (17 Prince St.) where the Cu-ban coffee hits the spot and the $2 corn on the cob is a perfect treat. As she dug into a fish taco, she joked, “I hope it doesn’t get crowded down here, now that everyone’s going to know my secrets!”

vintage haunts for fashion dilettantes

Getting giddy trying on a part of beautiful Brazilian leather vintage boots at Flying A.

Rosa-Cohen is an expert at using unique belts to spice up her wardrobe.

Rosa-Cohen trying on a vintage-inspired combina-tion at Zachary’s Smile.

Rosa-Cohen shopping in SoHo.

Shopping in the Digital Ageguide to discount fashion in the cybersphere

by tina tsuchiyama The recent economic downturn has been detrimental for many luThe recent economic melt-

down has proved to be detrimental to many luxury retailers. As consum-ers continue to tighten their wallets, clothes go unsold in stores and de-signers are faced with a dilemma.

The silver lining for cash-strapped college students? In order to get rid of luxury surplus fashion pieces, de-signers are turning to discount sites. These sites not only serve the needs of bargain-hunting consumers, but also manage to stay true to the prestige embedded in the tradition of luxury brands.

Why should a student use these

sites? First of all, they are afford-able. Although one might think the only available items on these sites are $2,000 Valentino gowns, this is (fortu-nately) a misconception. Many items are suitable for a student’s budget. Secondly, diehard designer fiends no longer have to wait in line for hours for just one sample sale. Instead, they can simply remain in their pajamas while they browse; in fact, there are more sales offered online than in most stores.

Here is a list of websites for stu-dents in need of a new outfit without venturing downtown—or just another way to procrastinate.


Features

Motto: “Fashion should be fun, so don’t stress when shopping and enjoy the pieces in your closet! Don’t let them sit there and collect dust waiting for a per-fect occasion, use them!”

Launched on Nov. 13, 2007, Gilt Groupe’s claim to fame is being the first flash sale to launch operations. The com-pany holds over 70 sales a week. It also shares a partnership with the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA), along with direct partnerships with over 650 designers. Accordingly, shoppers know that authenticity is guaranteed for every product. Gilt Groupe is noted to sell the crème de la crème, so some of the pieces may be pricey even after heavy discounts. However, the site also has featured sales such as “Gilt-Free Shop-ping” and even “Back to School Sales,” so it’s worth checking out every week—devoted procrastinators students may just score that coveted Missoni dress for a steal.

Exclusive for Hoot readers: Join Gilt Groupe at gilt.com/hootmag.

Rue La La(ruelala.com)Motto: “The discovery of something un-expected, something that imbues the day-to-day with a little magic—these are the “ooh la la moments” we long for. And you’ll find them here.”

Offering a wide array of products, Rue La La carries everything from Michael Kors to Tumi suitcases. The prices are the best part, as most items are cheaper than those found at Gilt Groupe. Always thinking of college students, they even offer a “Dorm Sale” during the summer. Most of their sales start at eleven in the morning, so students need to work around their class schedules to get the best deals.

Motto: “We care about College Students. Don’t forget about our Runway Rep Campus Ambassador Program!”

Rent the Runway is great way to achieve high-end looks at only 10% of retail prices for that special night. For a very low price, students can borrow design-er pieces—as long as they are returned promptly. Shoppers first select an item, then sit back and wait while it’s sent to them. With categories ranging from “Date Night” to “Sorority Events,” there is never a dearth of student-friendly op-tions here. The company recently hosted a philanthropic fashion show on campus with sorority Delta Gamma.

Exclusive for Hoot readers: Join Rent the Runway at renttherunway.com/Colum-bia and get $10 off orders of $50 or more with promo code HOOT10. Valid until 11/30/10.

Rent the Runway(renttherunway.com)

Motto: “Introducing Apart: Not just a clothing brand, but a style-conscious state-of-mind.”

Although relatively new to the United States, this German brand has been on the ra-dar in Europe since 1975. From light cashmere-blend sweaters to flirty dresses, Apart can take students from the classroom to downtown in one outfit change. Even though this is not a flash fashion site, all the pieces are definitely affordable for students.

Exclusive for Hoot readers: Get 30% off with promo code HOOTMag. Valid until 11/30/10.

Motto: “With its boundless en-thusiasm for trends, ASOS.com is contagious.”

The British response to the spe-cialty website craze, ASOS offers over 35,000 products that ship over the pond and straight to Lerner mailboxes. The site also features clothing lines created by exclusive collaborations with European designers. A great way to add some international flair at discounted prices!

ASOS(asos.com)

Apart(apartstyle.com)

We at Hoot pickedourtopfivee-storeswith great clothes and

accessories, and got our readers exclusive deals!

Five Faves

Gilt Groupe (gilt.com)

Fashiondemia

caroline weber integrates la mode and serious historical pursuits

by allison malecha

Quite often people do ask me why a “real” academic like me would devote her time and attention to a “shallow” subject like fashion.

Associate French Professor and author of the celebrated “Queen of Fashion: What

Marie Antoinette Wore to the French Revolution,” Caroline Weber, is lead-ing the world of academia to recon-sider the significance of fashion. Be-tween dashing to class and whipping up fashion features for Vogue, W, and T: The New York Times Style Maga-zine, Professor Weber sat down with Hoot for a little chat about history and haute couture.

Hoot: Your specialty is 18th century French culture, specifically the French Revolution. How did this transcend into an interest in fashion? Weber: The French Revolution was a period when the smallest, most seem-ingly in-c i d e n t a l details of dress were i n v e s t e d with tre-mendous p o l i t i c a l s i g n i f i -cance. The c h o i c e between breeches—coded “aristo-cratic”—and trousers—coded “repub-lican”; the type of jewelry a woman wore—the most avid revolutionary women wore pieces of the Bastille as lockets, brooches and pendants—quite literally functioned to broadcast a Frenchman’s or Frenchwoman’s political loyalties and convictions. I realized that fashion could, like other

forms of cultural expression from that period, tell us a lot about how people thought and what they believed.

Hoot: What do you think fashion’s place is in academia? Weber: Like politics and like litera-ture, fashion gives voice to the aspira-tions, anxieties, prejudices, ideological convictions of a particular people, or

person, at a particular time and place. As such, it is an exceedingly rich area for scholarly research.

Hoot: What would you reply to some-one who sees fashion as a purely su-perficial pursuit?Weber: Quite often people do ask me why a “real” academic like me would devote her time and attention to a “shallow” subject like fashion.

But as I’ve already told you, I don’t find it a shallow field of inquiry in the least—no more than fiction or poetry or painting or political rhetoric. Paint-ing is actually a good analogy here. By definition, painting deals with surfac-es, with the manipulation of form and texture and color to achieve a specific set of visual effects. Fashion works the same way: Like a Rembrandt or a

Picasso or a M a l e v i c h , an aca-d e m i c a l l y interesting article of clothing or a particu-lar sartorial a e s t h e t i c

can tell us something about the values of the context in which it was created, and praised or blamed.

Hoot: How do you balance historical accuracy and popular appeal in your work [i.e. in “Queen of Fashion”]?Weber: The thing that audiences seemed to like best [about “Queen of Fashion”] was the fact that I had un-earthed so many real, true stories about


FacultyProfile

w h a t Marie-Antoi-

nette wore, and about how the French public re-

sponded to the queen’s fashion state-ments. As long as one writes in a live-ly, energetic, and lucid style, people will not, in my experience, be turned off by historical accuracy or precision. On the contrary, they appreciate it. The best details of Marie-Antoinette’s adventures in fashion, for example, are things that nobody would have dared to dream up: three-foot-high hairdos with toy farms and babbling brooks and windmills nestled in them.

Hoot: You were working on a proj-ect on Coco Chanel’s involvement in World War II. What did you originally have in mind for this project?Weber: I had wanted to write a bi-ography of Chanel that would have covered her life during the Occupa-tion—and her subsequent exile from France—alone. These are chapters of her life about which next to nothing is known. Yet Chanel was, by World War II, one of France’s greatest ce-lebrities and moguls and national icons, and the fact that she spent the war years with a lover who was a spy for the German military, holed up in the Hotel Ritz where many of the other top-ranking Nazis were living, seemed—and still seems—to me like a story worth telling.

Hoot: What obstacles led you to ult-mately have to cancel the project?Weber: I spent a good year and a half really trying to make the project work, but I eventually came up against two, unfortunately insurmountable ob-stacles. The first is the dearth of ma-terial. Chanel supposedly paid many of the people she’d known during that time not to write about her in their memoirs. By this time, it was of course deeply shameful to have been in bed—literally, in Chanel’s case—with the Nazis, so Chanel didn’t want her legend blackened with references to her German sympathies. The other obstacle is the House of Chanel itself. On the day [my Parisian Chanel con-nection and I] were supposed to go over to the company [in Paris], she met me and told me that she had just heard from Chanel PR that no one at

the company was even [allowed] to talk to me. In retrospect, it makes clear sense: Why would a multibillion-dol-lar company want its name tarnished with unpleasant Nazi associations?

Hoot: As an active research historian, is it hard to move on from a “failed” project?Weber: I had no problem moving on from “Coco at the Ritz,” as that project was tentatively called, once I realized that the relative dearth of historical evidence would make the book more like a novelized history than an actual history. Because I’m trying to pioneer a field—the academic study of fashion and costume history—which is still

new and is still too often dismissed as unserious, I need to work ten times harder to make sure that every claim I put down on paper is bulletproof.

Hoot: Any ideas of what you’ll work on next?Weber: I’m in the very early stages of a new book project that also has to do with an iconic female figure in French history and culture, but it’s too soon yet for me to talk about it.

Hoot will anxiously be awaiting more details—and brushing up on French in the meantime!

LAURE MICHELONSEAS CIVIL ENGINEERINGFavorite place to shop in nYc: TheBrooklynfleamarkets.Can’t live without: My jean shorts collection—I own like 12 pairs. That or my holster purse from Australia.Fall must-have: Combat boots and a warm beanie.Styleisinfluencedby:Surfcultureandpunkrock.I’mobsessedwithErinWassonand Jessica Hart.Best place to studY: The architecture lab at Barnard. Great creative energy.Best place to go out in morningside heights: Ding Dong Lounge because the DJs are rad and you can actually play pool unlike at 1020. It’s not crowded, and just grungy enough.Biggest accomplishment at columBia: Getting to go abroad to Australia as an engineer—I argued a lot!

Underclassmen: listen up and take a cue from their examples! These members of the class of 2011 have

proved their style cred over the past 3 years.

by kavitha surana, jennifer ong, paul hsiao

KAMSEN LAUCC ART HISTORY & ARCHEOLOGY selF-descriBed stYle: Basic, simple and easy. When I buy a jacket I want it to count—I look for quality over quantity. stYle is inFluenced BY: Boarding school. There was a dress code of collared shirts in New England and I admit to sticking to the prep school tradition of colorful polos, brown slacks andflip-flopsatalltimes(eveninthewinter).Will Your stYle change as You get older? I always tell myself that I won’t change in personality or in style, but time and time again, I prove myself wrong. However, I do believe that a man’s style is more consistent than that of a woman’s; a nice suit will always be a nice suit no matter where you are in your career.advice For Freshmen: Study what you’re interested in and not what you think is practical. Experi-ment and take risks. Learn for the sake of learn-ing because you only get one chance to do it.

ARCHIE ARCHIBONGSEAS COMPUTER SCIENCEselF-descriBed stYle: Incorporating simple col-ors like black and grey with great design. I like mixing and matching with LA, NYC, and Tokyo style.can’t live Without: My G-Star Raw 3301 clas-sic-cut black raw denim—I’ve had them for years and they go with everything.What do You do in Fashion? I have interned and worked fashion week with G-Star. I met lots of cool people and really learned about the ins and outs of the fashion industry.Best place to go out in morningside heights: Prob-ably the little food cart that’s right outside of Duane Reade… that guy makes some damn good chicken and rice.Favorite memory of college: My first timeDJing at the Pike house “Cave Rave” party. Crazy night.advice For Freshmen: Party hard, work harder.

BETH MALINCC SOCIOLOGYselF-descriBed stYle: Classic and sophisticat-ed yet girly. I like to mix solid pieces with trendy and eccentric accessories, but I still listen to the little girl in me who can’t livewithoutbowsandruffles!Fall must-have: My brown Frye boots and navy Nanette Lepore lightweight jacket.can’t live Without: My J Brand jeans—the cigarettelegslimfitstylegoeswithevery-thing. Also, I rarely go anywhere without my pearl earrings and necklace!stYle is inFluenced BY: The places I’ve trav-eled to. It’s always exciting to mix Ameri-can trends with those from abroad. Biggest accomplishment on campus: Being se-lected as the recipient of the National Sigma Delta Tau Ruth Metzger Katz Out-standing Junior award and serving as President of the Columbia Women’s Busi-ness Society. advice For Freshmen: Find activities or com-munities on campus you are passionate about and don’t forget to go explore the city!

VERONICA KRANTZBC PSYCHOLOGY selF-descriBed stYle: Eclectic. I am willing to try anything and don’t keep up with trends. I was once told that I dress like a sexy babydoll, but sometimes I love nothing more than rocking one of my best guy friends’ t-shirts from the night before. Favorite place to shop: My mom’s closet, I love her old vintage haute couture. can’t live Without: My DVF full-length black, cream and red houndstooth swing coat that I wore to my Barnard interview. Dean Denberg loved it so much that I still give it credit for getting me in and giving me the best four years of my life. craziest outFit: Any one of my Halloween costumes. I have also been known to rock a couple of exposed lacy bras—that always calls for attention. advice For Freshmen:AtColumbiayoucanfindthemostintelligent,sophisticatedandeccentricpeople, so put yourself out there and make new friends. But remember to be yourself at all times. Experience new things in Manhattan. Don’t spend too much money; it goes like water on food and cabs. HOOT 13www.hootmag.org

Features

through his lens and words: sam horine by martin hamery

Brooklyn-based freelance pho-tographer Sam Horine docu-mented some of the best looks

at Fashion Week for New York Maga-zine. Hoot caught up with Horine for his thoughts on photography and men’s fashion.

Hoot: How did you get interested in photography?Horine: My grandfather was always taking photographs, and when I was in high school, a bunch of my friends had access to the school darkroom, so it’s probably rooted somewhere in those two factors. There was some-thing amazing and magical about shooting, developing and printing film. After col-lege, even though I was pretty broke most of the time, I still made it a priority to shoot the occasional pack of Polaroid. Then as higher-end digital slow-ly came down in price, I start-ed shooting a lot of bands and shows. From there I transitioned into more commercial work and a job at NYU. Hoot: What are some of your big-gest challenges as a photographer?Horine: It’s hard to make time to work on personal projects and to give yourself permission to be self-ish from time to time. I enjoy work-ing for all of my clients, but as a crea-tive professional, I’ve learned that it’s critical to spend time on personal work where I can stretch myself and really focus on my art for its own sake.

Where street style is concerned, I have to decide immediately if people have a singular look about them. Then I have another instant to convince them that they should let me take their photograph. Usually, people are flat-tered, but there are occasions when you’ve found the perfect look but the person doesn’t want to be photo-graphed.Hoot: What menswear trends did you see at Fashion Week?

Horine: I saw a lot of boat shoes, a lot of rolled cuffs and more men trend-ing towards a more tailored-looking fit. I also saw men experimenting with mixing patterns and textures, which adds richness to a look and is hard to do when the weather is still hot.Hoot: On the flip side, what was the craziest outfit you saw?Horine: I saw a guy with a hat made from spikes, a nose piecing in the shape of a mus- tache, a guy

who dressed up everyday

in differ-ent colored 70s pimp suits. The list could go on and on.Hoot: What makes a man have good style?Horine: I think that the most impor-tant thing for men is fit, proportion, and paying attention to the details. A lot of men wear their clothes too big.Hoot: What accessory or clothing item works on every male?Horine: You can never go wrong with the classics—a great pair of jeans, good sunglasses, a good looking boot or shoe and a perfectly fitting suit will work for almost any occasion.Hoot: What do you see as a difference

Interview with a Menswear Photographer

between menswear and womens-wear?Horine: I think that women are a bit more adventurous in their willingness to experiment with color, pattern and fabric. Men tend to pick a look that works for them and stick with it.Hoot: Do the clothes make the man or vice versa?Horine: It’s a bit of both; confidence always looks good, as does a well-ex-ecuted outfit. Just because someone is wearing a fancy label, I’m not more in-clined to take his or her picture. My fa-

vorite looks are a mix of high and low pieces with personality, put to-gether by someone who knows what looks right on them.Hoot: Do you have a fashion “rule”?Horine: Try aiming for real quality in your choices; the timeless pieces are hard to go wrong with and you’ll go back to them time and time again. My wife talks about clothing pur-chases in terms of cost per wear. Spend your money where it will have the most impact.Hoot: Do you have any advice for aspiring pho-tographers?Horine: Know your cam-

era like the back of your hand; you should be able to change the settings and lenses on the fly while communi-cating ideas and concepts to subjects.

Have fun, keep trying new things, break old habits, network with as many people as you can. Keep mov-ing forward and occasionally take on a low-budget project that you’re pas-sionate about, as it’s good to be re-minded of why you got into this busi-ness in the first place.

by martin hamery

by kavitha surana

Any Columbia student inter-ested in fashion has surely heard of SoHo in some context.

Known as the epicenter of developed Manhattan, SoHo rivals almost any other place in the city in terms of tour-ists per square foot, not to mention the price one would pay per square foot of apartment space. Though at first glance, SoHo appears to embody the Lego Land metropolis that New York has become, the area thankfully still possesses a few hidden treasures.

Architecture and history are the keys to this neighborhood’s identity. Before the early ‘60s, the area was pure-ly industrial, filled with sweatshops and factories. When manufacturing eventually moved to other parts of the city, the large loft spaces left behind were favored by artists who prized their cheap rents, natural lighting, and the majestic cast iron facades. Follow-ing a typical path of gentrification, SoHo became a destination spot for the rich. Eventually, the wide storefront windows became perfect showcases for high-end shops to display their wares.

If one is in need of typical shops usually found in malls, such as H&M, Zara, Banana Republic, and Steve Mad-den, the best bet is to wander down Broadway, which is crammed with familiar stores. A great alternative to the usual fare in the same price range is Uniqlo (546 Broadway), a Japanese-based brand that specializes in flatter-ing basic pieces like cashmere blend

Neighborhood Profile: SoHo

sweaters and work-appropriate skirts. Another fun—though pricier—option on Broadway is Topshop (478 Broad-way), a London-based chain store fa-mous for sky-high heels and up-to-the-minute fashion pieces.

Tucked on the western side of Broadway, one can find all the designer goodies, such as Chanel, Nicole Miller, and Louis Vuitton, as well as high-end department stores like Barneys and Bloomingdales. Even merely window-shopping the design concepts on dis-play can be a treat. One unique store that should not be missed is Kisan Con-cept Store (125 Greene St.). This bou-tique is owned by a French-Icelandic couple and sells a pleasing mish-mash of products from all around the world. At the front there is a great selection of unique notebooks, foreign films, and dorm-worthy knickknacks.

For students who wish to ex-plore their youthful side, Kid Robot (118 Prince St.) is the perfect place to pick up wacky t-shirts or surprise boxes filled with silly statuettes like “Smorkin Labbit,” a cheeky figurine of a rabbit smoking a cigarette. Those looking for jewelry will also have a field day in SoHo. Vendors with origi-nal designs always hawk their goods along the sidewalks, such as the mar-ket at the corner of Wooster and Spring streets.

Though SoHo is most famous as a shopping district, it could be a destina-tion spot for its culinary delights alone. The best part is that the neighborhood

is full of little places where students can sample a small treat that won’t break the bank.

At first glance, the stuffed mini-cupcakes of the Baked by Melissa stand (529 Broadway) seem too tiny to be satisfying, but they are nice alterna-tives to stuffing one’s face with a giant Crumbs cupcake when in the mood for something sweet. Vosges Choco-lates (132 Spring St.) or Mariebelle Fine Treats (484 Broome St.) are two choco-late shops that will also please a sweet tooth with their exotic selections, such as bacon and chocolate bars, and wat-tleseed ice cream at Vosges, or lem-oncello truffles with fancy designs at Mariebelle.

European-inspired cafes such as Boom or Le Petit Café on Spring Street can transport the hungry diner to an-other country for lunch—students shouldn’t be surprised if they hear a bit of French or Italian while enjoying their pasta! There aren’t too many bars in the area, but a restaurant like Sanctu-ary T (377B W. Broadway) will do the trick with tea-inspired cocktails, such as rose flower sangria. Alternatively, the bar Toad Hall (57 Grand St.) is a friendly neighborhood joint—perhaps the only neighborhood joint, in fact.

Whether shopping for back-to-school necessities on Broadway, stroll-ing past exquisitely decorated display windows to admire new designs, kick-ing back for luxury chocolate or a spe-cialty cocktail, students can find sur-prisingly affordable venues in SoHo.

more affordable than you may think

Features


Fashion WeekBackstage Passbehind the scenes at vivienne tam

by damian tran

JULIA HAFSTROMopeningthe show

Features


Above: ISA MELO writing in her journal after hair and makeup (Isa was writing in her journal already done with hair and makeup. She just was sitting on the ground next to the clothes she would be wearing on the runway in a couple of minutes. There was chaos everywhere, but peace was found where Isa was…)

Right: ANNA and LAURA getting stick-on toe nail pol-ish for the spring footwear;

Adjacent page: BONNIE CHEN hair and make-up ready

Counterclockwise: from left: KATYA KULYZ-KHA after make-up and on to hair; SHENA MOULTON with Maybelline make-up artist; SHENA MOULTON with Maybelline make-up artist;

Adjacent page: RAMONA CHURMA fixingmake-up

Wendy Brandesdon’t forget that hustle

by constance boozer

Meet Wendy Brandes (CC ’89) and her signature red lips. Divvying her time between being a jewelry designer,

blogger (wendybrandes.com/blog), Chairman of the Board of Trustees for the Columbia Daily Spectator, wife to former Wall Street Journal editor Peter Seiger, and self-proclaimed luckiest person in the world, Brandes has taken New York by storm.

Dreams can come true: Brandes grew up in Mahwah, New Jersey, always dreaming that she would one day move to New York and become a journalist. When Brandes transferred to Co-lumbia in 1986 from Northwestern, her dreams finally started to materialize. A self-confessed shy student, Brandes nevertheless became heav-ily involved with the Spectator. “I never made a morning class. Technology has not changed any-thing—it’s the same for students today!”

New Yorker for life: Brandes has not moved away from the city since coming to Columbia. She comments, “[I love] any person you see on the street. It is someone who I could see in my hometown, but has an extra edge to the look. I hate snooty New Yorkers. I like even unfashion-able people—they are part of New York too.”

Inspiration for the ages: Brandes’ inspiration is fascinating women, and notes that the qualifi-cations that make a woman fascinating can vary. “They would have to have an interesting story; something that forces people to gawk and say ‘What?’ If she is crazy, weird or shocking, she is even more fascinating.”

Secondly, a woman’s fashion sense can make her fascinating. “If a woman’s wardrobe forces me to rubberneck, then it is a sure deal.”

Thirdly, a fascinating woman does not have to be virtuous. “Some of my favorite jewelry is named after Empress Wu.” Empress Wu, who ruled China in the Tang Dynasty, referred to her-

I like even unfashionable people-they are a part of New York too.


Features

self as “emperor” during her reign. “I think that was very commanding for a woman to demand to be referred to in the same language as a man.” Joking-ly, Brandes adds, “Empress Wu killed half her family. I think that was com-pletely powerful; I mean, everyone was doing it at the time.” Although, Brandes was quick to note that she does not encourage such behavior to-day.

Why jewelry? Brandes chooses to design jew-elry because she enjoys the longev-ity in the product. “I love fashion, but it is too shor t - te rm for me.” Jew-elry, instead, is an antiquity. As a true Columbia alumna, her desires mirror those of Homer’s characters: “I hope my jewelry will last at last 500 years—maybe throughout the span of his-tory.” More practically, Brandes also credits the bad economy as to why she enjoys designing jewelry. “When someone splurges while shopping, you should buy something that lasts forever.”

Rings are her favorite pieces of jewelry to design. “What is the point of buying jewelry if you forget about it? Although you can feel earrings, you don’t get see them all day. Rings, on the other hand, are right and center.” Many of her rings are lockets that do not hold anything; jewelry does not have to be practical, after all—just fun. Her favorite new piece is a dragon ring

still in the mold right now. “The ring is very fierce, large and noticeable.” Laughing, Brandes recalls, “I had a conversation with my jeweler asking if my dragon looked realistic. I guess the people at Pixar have the same question about cars and dragons.”

Any advice for Hoot readers? With a sly smile, Brandes says, “I’ll give you some advice from Miss Mazeppa from ‘Gypsy:’ ‘You’ll pardon me, but to have no talent is not enough. What you need is an idea that makes your strip special.’” Does Brandes mean that we should be strippers, particu-larly in this economy?

Hardly. “I admire Miss Mazeppa for being an elegant yet saucy wom-an. At Columbia, I thought talent and merit counted for everything. How-

ever, this is not the case in the workplace. To succeed, not only do you need talent and substance, but you also need a gimmick and a lot of hustle.”

As she was telling her friend at a fashion show, “If you hold back, you are going to lose customers to those who are willing to make noise. In business, you have to demand things in order to make money.” Here’s to the hustle.

the former columbia student opens up about fashion, reality tv, and how college shaped her

by anna cooperberg

One may know of Tinsley Mor-timer (CC ’99) from her CW show High Society—or per-

haps one has seen her photo in the society pages of W or The New York Times. Yes, Mortimer is a socialite, but she is more than the regular clothes-horse who flits from party to party. The former Columbia student and member of the literary society Saint Anthony Hall has done a lot since her college days.

Mortimer grew up in Virginia but always wanted to end up in New York. “New York,” she says, “was just a dream. I love the city and the fash-ion, and of course I always wanted to go to a really good school. It was almost too good to be true that there was an amazing Ivy League school in the city.” After applying and getting accepted to Columbia, she ultimately decided to attend the University of North Carolina at her parents’ insis-tence. After a few days at the school, she called Columbia and asked if she

could still attend, but it couldn’t be done. Her paperwork had already been processed. She promptly decid-ed to work with a non-profit for the remainder of her time, reapplied to Columbia as soon as she could, and was accepted for the second time.

Like many current students, the infamous Core Curriculum helped her find a major; she did not know she wanted to study art history until she took Art Humanities—which, speak-ing like a true Columbian, she refers to as “Art Hum.” “I’m so grateful for the Core Curriculum because when you’re younger and you don’t really know what you want to do, being forced in a way to take these classes creates such an obviously well round-ed education. I love that because we need a little kick in the butt when we’re younger.”

In spite of her praise of the Core, she acknowledges that Columbia wasn’t all fun and games. In fact, the

TINSLEYMORTIMER

From Southern Deb utante ... to New York Socialite

Coat by Bensoni, ring by Kara Ross


Cover Story

TINSLEYMORTIMER

From Southern Deb utante ... to New York Socialite

*All items featured are Tinsley Mortimer’s personal wardrobe and accessories

Producer: Michele Levbarg-KleinPhotographer: Damian Tran

Set Assistant: Alexandra GaspardStylist: PJ Pascual

Hair: Casey O’BrienMakeup: Victor Henao

I’m so grateful for the Core Curriculum ... when you’re younger you don’t really know what you want to do.

Vest jacket, stripe sweater, skirt all by Nanette Lepore. Shoes by Giuseppe Zanotti. Bangles, ring, and hoops by Kenneth Jay Lane.

Jacket by Cynthia Steffe; dress by Nanette Lepore; shoes by Giuseppe Zanotti; bracelet by Kenneth Jay Lane.

only “fluff” class she took was at Barnard, a science class called Surfac-es and Knots.

After Columbia, Mortimer elected to stay in the city, eventually design-ing a handbag and clothing line for Samantha Thavasa, which is sold pri-marily in Japan, though it can also be found at the store on Madison Av-enue. More recently, she launched her own clothing line, Riccimie by Tinsley Mortimer, which is sold exclusively in Japan at stores like Isetan.

According to Mortimer, her in-terest in fashion began as a child. She fondly recalls a story of her childhood, involving—what else?—her first shoe obsession. “My first memory of getting a shoe that I had to have were these little red patent Mary Jane shoes that I got in Palm Beach. I remember specifi-cally begging my mom [for them] and she wouldn’t get them, so my godfa-ther bought them for me. I wore those shoes until there were holes in the [soles]. I’ve always said, I feel like my obsession with little ankle straps and Mary Jane shoes began there because it was the shoe that I had to have.” She shared her love of fashion with her mother, and her obsession influenced her studies in art history at Columbia, where she focused on “fashion and the depiction of silks and clothing over the centuries.”

Besides working in apparel de-sign, Mortimer had a brief stint as a reality television star on The CW’s “High Society,” which first aired in March 2010. The show, which docu-mented the lives of a few socialites, including Mortimer’s, “changed a lit-tle bit during filming.” It came under fire for controversial words spoken by socialite Jules Kirby—among other things.

Despite the cancellation of the show after only eight episodes, Mor-timer is grateful for the experience in more ways than one. Besides getting exposure for her name and having more opportunities come along, she notes, “It’s almost like therapy when you’re filming a show like that, espe-cially going through a divorce. [There are] cameras all around and you really

start to think about yourself and how other people perceive you. You ques-tion yourself a lot. I came out of it so much stronger and more confident. “

With television and design expe-rience under her belt, Mortimer plans to tackle a new project soon: a book to be published by Simon & Schus-ter. The novel, “Southern Charm,” is about a fictional character from the South moving to New York. Put more bluntly, she remarks, “It’s me, but fic-tional.”

While she is still working with

both clothing lines, Mortimer has a lot on her plate at the moment. She com-ments, “I’m talking to different peo-ple in the fragrance world and in the clothing world about licensing deals.” Undoubtedly, she is working hard to keep her name splashed across Page Six. Perhaps it’s another show, anoth-er book, or another line, but no matter what, this former Columbian is stay-ing in the spotlight.


Cover Story

Dress by Cynthia Steffe; shoes by

Brian Atwood; bangles by

Kenneth Jay Lane; ring by Ginger

Ignacio

RUGGED

ACAD

EMIC

&

FUN FALL ACCESSORIES

Left: Bag and skirt, model’s own. Shoes, Botkier, $395. Bow bracelets, Rachel Leigh, $72 each. Fin bracelet, Disney Couture, at Karmaloop.com. Gumball ring, Rachel Leigh, $96. Knot rings, Erica Weiner, at Karmaloop.com.

This fall, incorporate rugged and academic accessories into your wardrobe for a chic twist on looks that are normally completely preppy and outdoorsy. Pair buckled peep-toes booties with a worn cross-body bag and add femininity with colored enamel bracelets. Or wear lace-up boots with hiking socks and a tough, stitched-together bag. Choose fun, metallic notebooks or clutchestolivenupyouroutfit.Finally,make sure to have a pop of color with pastel nails and multicolored bracelets. For a girlish and fun touch, layer your glam gold bracelets with Silly Bandz – even academic-inspired accessories need to lighten up a bit.

by anna cooperbergphotographed by samuel draxlermodel sharon wu


Accessories

FUN FALL ACCESSORIES

Right: Skirt, shoes, rings, stylist’s own. Bag, Botkier, $295. Rubber bracelets, Silly Bandz. Gunmetal link bracelet, Rachel Leigh, $164.Multicolor bracelet, Dis-ney Couture, $48 at Karmaloop.com. Headphones bracelet, Monserat de Lucca, $82.99 at Modcloth.com. Nail polish, Essie.

Center: Skirt and notebooks, Stylist’s own. Shoes, Pink Studio, $94.99 at Mod-cloth.com. Rubber bracelets, Silly Bandz. Jaw bracelet, Disney Couture, $50 at Karmaloop.com. Jeweled bracelets, Rachel Leigh, $144 each. Ring set, $14.99 at Modcloth.com.

POLISHED MILITARYShirt, Blu Sand ItalyPants & Shoes, model’s ownBelt, stylist’s own

autumn’sMutedtones

Photographed by Dave Lieberman, makeup by Sharon Shum, styled by Donia Abdelaziz, Anna Cooperberg, Martin Hamery. Models: Caroline Gagne and Malik Winslow.

This fall, pair separates in fatigue green, charcoal grey, rich brown and khaki. Add leather accents and layered jewelry to complete the look.


MIXED BAGMix textures like

leather and quilted jersey. Skirt, $90 Zara

shirt and jacket, stylist’s own.

tones

COVER UPA rich tartan cape goes nicely with suede booties and a slinky dress. Skirt, dress, $46 American Apparel Cape, $129 Zara


COZY COOLTransition into winter with simple dark-wash jeans and soft sweaters. Jeans and sweater, model’s own.

Although those in the fashion industry hail from a multitude of locations, the cities of New York, Milan, London and Paris host the most publicized and prestigious fashion weeks. However, up-and-coming fashion weeks

in Seoul, Istanbul and Tbilisi will soon be added to the list of major players.

three cities to look out for in the future

by anna cooperberg and gayoung kim

Global Fashion

Illustrated by Shelly Xu


Fashion

SEOUL, KOREA

ISTANBUL, TURKEY

TBILISI, GEORGIA

The city of the moment is Istanbul, Turkey, which held its fashion week in Au-gust. Three years ago, a group of Turkish designers co-founded the Fashion Designers Association. They soon joined forces with the giants of the coun-

try’s textile industry to launch Istanbul’s first-ever fashion week. This year, more members of the international press attended the event, which was co-sponsored by ELLE Turkey. The clothing exhibited the decorative qualities of the national textiles with extensive patterns and designs. British/Turkish-Cypriote designer, Hussein Chalayan, showcased a retrospective presentation in the Istanbul Modern Muse-um, where the week’s shows were held. Despite its short history, Istanbul Fashion Week is poised to grow in the coming years, as there are already whispers that it will be a must-see on the fashion circuit in the future.

Seoul is a hotbed for fashion; the city boasts great shopping, complete with local clothing and accessories brands. Style plays a major part in the lives of Korean women; they are impeccably and femininely dressed at all times, and

heels are a must. Korean designers know what their customers want, such as flow-ing silks and intricate lace. Unfortunately, Seoul’s decade-old fashion week is not without its fair share of problems. For example, the government plays a large role in the event’s organization. Many attendees complain that this results in a boring week, particularly as the established designers favored by the government tend to be more conservative. Nevertheless, Seoul Fashion Week has improved and be-come more organized in the past 10 years.

I t’s under a year old, but Georgia Fashion Week in Tbilisi already has people buzzing. Recent appearances include the likes of Roberto Cavalli, and haute couture favorite, Irakli Nasidze, who is of Georgian origin, opened the week

with his show. Georgia has wanted to hold a fashion week in Tbilisi for some time, but was stopped by the violent events of South Ossetia’s war in 2008. With the inaugural Georgia Fashion Week in May 2010, Tbilisi hoped to attract interna-tional attention and tourism for the country. In addition to the runway shows by both national and international designers, like Spain’s Agatha Ruiz de la Prada, there was an accessories exhibition that garnered much attention by showcasing traditional Georgian handmade jewelry, handbags and crafts. Even though Tbilisi is new to high fashion, street-style photos prove that the city has already mastered the art of urban chic styling: high-waist skinny jeans, menswear trousers, state-ment necklaces and blazers galore.

BPA on Campusin honor of breast cancer awareness month

by jina lim

It is no news that tobacco smoke, excessive alcohol, UV rays and asbestos are carcinogens that can

cause cancers by inducing irrevers-ible mutations in DNA. However, re-cent studies suggest that Bisphenol-A (BPA) in receipts and airline tickets is associated with cancers as well. This lesser-known chemical is capturing the attention of many scientists for its potentially harmful effects, and many labs around the globe are currently conducting research to verify BPA’s effect on humans. This common com-pound can be found everywhere—including dorm rooms and kitchens. This month, students can support the cause of Breast Cancer Awareness Month with Hoot and educate them-selves on ways to avoid BPA, which has high correlations with breast can-cer among many other health risks.

BPA (BISPHENOL-A)

Where is it?BPA is used in manufacturing

polycarbonate plastics (hard, clear, and hard-to-break plastics) such as food and beverage containers, reus-able water bottles, reusable food con-tainers, polycarbonate hardware, and nail polish. Many resins that line cans of food also contain this chemical, which can be absorbed by food prod-ucts. A recent Health Canada study found that most canned soft drinks contain BPA, likely absorbed from the internal coating of the cans.

More shockingly, the carbon-less copy paper that students use for lab reports contains high concentra-tions of BPA, which can be absorbed through the skin or ingested when the residue is left on their hands. Also,

most receipts use a technology called thermal imaging, applying heat to powder BPA to produce color. These powder BPA molecules are loose and may be more ready for uptake than the BPA in food packaging.

What can BPA do? BPA may increase the risk of can-

cer by mimicking the body’s own hormones, thereby disrupting the endocrine system. Animal studies have found that BPA mimics the bio-logical function of estrogen; increased exposure to estrogen can potentially increase the risk of breast cancer. Moreover, many studies show that BPA exposure may increase the risk of

obesity. As shown in a 2008 study by the Yale School of Medicine, BPA also affects the neurons associated with memory, learning and mood.

How do I minimize the intake BPA?Since BPA can be leached into

food or drinks, avoid heating plas-tic containers at high temperatures, washing them with harsh detergents, or rinsing them with acidic liquids. The National Toxicology Panel recom-mends avoiding microwaving food in plastic containers or putting plastics in the dishwasher. If possible, avoid polycarbonate plastic containers and opt for glass or stainless steel bottles for carrying water. Use glass, porce-lain or stainless steel hardware, espe-cially for hot food and liquids. Avoid canned foods and remember to wash hands after contact with receipts and carbonless copy paper.

How do I identify polycarbonate plastics?

All polycarbonate plastics have the “7 in a triangle” stamp, sometimes with the letters “PC”. However, make sure the plastic is not pliable because the resin identification code 7 is shared with many other plastics. If a bottle is missing a stamp but is clear, hard and shatterproof, it is probably a polycar-bonate plastic. These polycarbonates are likely to contain BPA, unless the packaging indicates they are BPA free.

Some food containers may be marked with this “BPA Free” sign. Other containers may use the term “Microwave Safe”. These signs im-ply that the products were designed to withstand heat and microwave without the risk of BPA leaching.

Editor’s Favorites for Fall & Winter

Lipsticks are perfect for varying looks during the fall and winter when the face is one of the few parts of the body not covered up. The ever-so-slight orange hue makes the amazing nude lip color, perfect when paired with smokey eyes.

Revlon Super Lustrous Lipstick in Apricot Fantasy; revlon.com

Lipsticks are perfect for varying looks dur-ing the fall and win-ter when the face is one of the few parts of the body not cov-ered up. Try this pop of pink for a fresh, in-nocent look.

Revlon ColorBurst Lipstick in Baby Pink; revlon.com

O-Gloss slowly changes color from clear to pink-red when ap-plied. How fun!

Smashbox O-Gloss Intuitive Lip Gloss; smashbox.comThis high definition foundation is

affordable and effective. Don’t fret close-up pictures anymore!

Revlon Photo Ready Makeup; revlon.com

This handy product will absorb oil and prime your skin, making it look more smooth and regular. Use with or without makeup for flawlesscomplexion.

Urban Decay De-Slick in a Tube; urbandecay.com

Tired of the same bright red? Try a darker, more so-phisticated wine color for a high-drama effect and more personality!

Revlon ColorBurst Lipstick in Rasp-berry; revlon.com

Here’saquickfixofSPFandmois-ture for the conscious, but busy; just spray on before/after applying foundation, or even without foun-dation.

Urban Decay Guardian Angel Spray Moisturizer; urbandecay.com

Beauty

Armed with SPF 20, this alterna-tive to liquid foundations turns into a matte liquid as the applicator meets the liquefying screen. Bonus points for the mirror and applicator inside!

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Building Fashion at HL23

Building Fashion is a fascinating concept from architect Spilios Gianakopoulos and local non-

profit arts and culture organization BOFFO. The project paired fashion de-signers with architects to produce five different installations. It is located at 504 W. 24th Street in Chelsea directly underneath the High Line amid the construction of the widely anticipated steel residential building, HL23, de-signed by architect Neil Denari.

The designer-architect collabora-tions are held in a temporary struc-ture, sandwiched between 23rd and 24th Streets. The converted trailer, known as the Tin at HL23, was do-nated to the project for the duration of the installations by HL23. Hoot was fortunate enough to talk with Gregory Sparks, Co-Director of BOFFO, an or-ganization which seeks to temporarily transform locations and, as they say, to “provide exposure for artists and designers through exhibitions and

events [with] unique, location-spe-cific, characteristics.” When Hoot met Gregory he was in the process of reap-plying a new stock of cotton to a wall sectioning off the Tin and an expanse on the other side with countless cotton bales intended to be used for seating.

Hoot: Can you tell me a little bit about this outdoor space and the presence of the cotton bales? Sparks: Supima, a cotton manufactur-ing company, is one of our co-spon-

sors and it was interesting to also use them as a resource to help furnish this outdoor space behind the installation structure. They held a competition and the winning design, called “Flat Field” by local firm Konyk, is what you see here. The plants over on this one side are actual cotton plants, some of which are beginning to bloom; it’s interesting because we were putting these in just as the plants on the High Line were being placed directly above us.

Hoot: What about the design on the floor and this other wall separating this area from HL23? Will it remain here once construction is completed?Sparks: The floor is made of wooden board painted gray with the silhou-ettes of cotton plants made using a router. The concrete cement brick wall closest to HL23 was intended for use in the original winning design. The plan was to have mirrors placed at the base of the wall enabling visitors to admire the dynamic façade of HL23 with a

flipped perspective, but construction and the elements have affected this as-pect of the final layout and we weren’t able to keep the mirrors up. This is still, however, a great juxtaposition of high design with the HL23, the raw, organic elements of this cotton gar-den, and the varying installations a few feet away. This is all temporary, no more than three months. What we really wanted to do was show the po-tential of the space, which is open to the public and which has been used

fashion meets architecture

by nicole estevez

We’re constantly influenced by the parameters that a site provides; because we’re constantly moving around, we’re

always presented with different limits and resources.


Arts & Entertainment

for events since it opened, and hope-fully move on to another location soon.

In addition, Hoot was able to discuss the work of Heather Huey with the designer herself on the last day of her Building Fashion installation (the second one in the series of five) with New York City-based firm Urban A&O, an urban design firm known for their use of parametric modeling. The undu-lating black walls lining the interior of the installation space are a product of the parametric technology the firm is exploring, complementing the forms of Heather Huey’s sculptural and organi-cally shaped pieces very well. Huey is a milliner and accessory designer who had a collection of hats as well as two bodies of work on display, “The Cocoon Project” and “The Asylum Project”, the latter being the sequel to her black “Cages” project.

Most recently her work has been featured on the cover of the September issue of Korean Vogue, in the spread Beautiful Stran-ger in the September issue of ELLE, and in “With Night Comes the Darkness” styled by Nicola Formichetti in the popular A/W 2010 issue of Japan’s Vogue Hommes with a masculine Lady Gaga gracing the cover.

Hoot: What are your pieces made out of and how long did both projects take to construct?Huey: The pieces in “The Cocoon Pro-ject” are made out of excess felt from the hats I’ve made. This provided me with the challenge to not be completely structured and to introduce color in my work since I love the color black. These pieces took about a year to make. Mean-while, the pieces in “The Asylum Pro-ject” are made out of white boning and took about six weeks total.Hoot: Your white cages are all shaped in interesting ways; did you use models for the outlines?Huey: I actually used myself; I felt that dress forms were inaccurate. Hoot: When did you find out about Building Fashion? How long will it take to deconstruct your installation now

that it is the final day? Also are all of the designers spending time here at the installations with their work?Huey: I found out about Building Fashion in June and met the architects in July. It should take a few hours to take down then House of Waris, the jewelry collection designed by Waris Ahluwalia, will come in with archi-tect Christian Wassmann with their installation running from the 7th to the 17th. Richard Chai will show his in three weeks followed by Siki Im. Every designer is different but they might pop in a few times during their scheduled displays.Hoot: What are your plans after this? Huey: I plan on taking a break for the

rest of October and will debut more pieces early next year.

The following day Hoot was able to meet with the Co-Founders/Co-Directors of Building Fashion, Faris Al-Shathir (also Co-Director of BOFFO with Gregory Sparks) and Spilios Gianakopoulos.

Hoot: When did the link with fashion come about? How active were you in the selection process for both the de-signers and the architects?Al-Shathir: Both Spilios and I are in-terested in fashion and we wanted to work on this series bringing fashion and architecture together on a sort of retail environment scale. We came up with a proposal for the developer this past spring and they loved the idea. We personally pulled in all of the fashion designers and we really want-

ed diversity among them—we didn’t want just menswear or just womens-wear designers or just clothing—and were also interested in keeping the ca-liber very high. We didn’t have many architects in mind at first but Architiz-er, a social networking site linking the architectural community, hosted our design competition and we reviewed the submissions. Hoot: Essentially midway through the schedule of installations, where do you see Building Fashion going? Would you or are you considering resurrecting it here in New York City next year, in other major US cities, or abroad?Gianakopoulos: We’re already talk-

ing about possibly bring-ing Building Fashion to Europe before bringing it back to New York. We defi-nitely want Building Fash-ion to become a recurring series. There were many constraints with this space because we could only have one installation at a time, so we would like to explore having simultane-ous ones and maybe hav-ing a larger space. Al-Shathir: We’re con-stantly influenced by the parameters that a site pro-vides; because we’re con-stantly moving around,

we’re always presented with different limits and resources. Building Fashion as a concept involves pairing fash-ion designers with architects, but be-sides that it can evolve into a number of things. We definitely want it to be an annual thing in New York—may-be every fall, whether it’s five stores back-to-back or all at once.

Building Fashion’s Remaining Installations

Installation 4: Richard Chai and Snarki-tecture (October 21-31)Installation 5: Siki Im and Leong Leong (November 5-15)

Visit Building Fashion at 504 West 24th Street, and the following websites:

http://www.buildingfashion.org/http://www.heatherhuey.com/http://www.hl23.com/

Anywhere But Herefuturistic intonation in antonio azzuolo’s fall/winter 2010 collection

by augusto corvalan

New York City: the setting of a thousand movies. Even when walking through the streets

with no cameras rolling, the city can make the average pedestrian feel like a movie star. Lately, however, the movie feels like a period piece. Vests and bowties dot the crowds. Natural fabrics and penny loafers are worn without a second thought. Every once in a while, a single-breasted suit or plaid blazer can be spotted. Even the most trivial meeting is seen as a for-mal event. Without a doubt, American Trad is back.

Sometimes dubbed as “prep-py” or “country club wear,” the style was originally known as the Ivy League style. It was the go-to style for young Ivy Leaguers during the 1950s and was revived during the 1970s—this time dubbed as Ameri-can Trad. While American Trad is an old-fashioned style, it has been fully embraced by new media. Blogs like Ivy Style (ivy-style.com) furiously de-tail its evolution, and their growing number of readers debate endlessly on forums. Esquire’s Big Black Book 2010 was nothing but a celebration of American Trad, showcasing boat shoes and sweater vests. Meanwhile, shows such as “Mad Men” and “Gos-sip Girl” equate the style with a luxu-rious and grand lifestyle. However, while American Trad has an enormous influence on the fashion world today, the style is seldom written about and fashionistas looking to break into the style will have a hard time finding a concrete guide. The definitive volume on American Trad remains Take Ivy, a book published in 1965 that routinely

overtly futuristic lines.

For now, American Trad and futurism are widely separated; one dominates the street while the other populates the runways. As the futur-istic trends adopted by risk-taking designers trickle down to everyday fashion, the Golden Age and the silver future of America will mix to create some very enticing fall fashions.

sells for upwards of $2,000 on eBay to-day. Interestingly, the book was pub-lished in Japan, where American Trad is also a huge trend.

Since walking through cam-pus can often make one feel as if they have been transported to Princeton during the ‘50s, surveying the latest fashion lines can be something of an extreme contrast. While American Trad, as showcased by fashion labels like Brooks Brothers and Polo Ralph Lauren, fully embraces the past, fash-ion houses like Gucci and Prada are looking towards the future. Their re-cent lines reveal sleek fabrics and cuts that seem straight out of a science-fiction movie. For his RAD collec-tion, designer Rad Hourani goes for a bleak, black-and-white look that’s full of sharp, straight cuts and shiny fabrics. Hourani’s models all sport an androgynous look and covered eyes, giving the line a bleak atmosphere reminiscent of George Orwell’s 1984. Perhaps the most striking example of the futuristic trend is Balenciaga’s Nicolas Ghesquiere, whose menswear line of simple colors and Marty McFly-style jackets appear to have been sto-len from Disneyland’s Tomorrowland exhibit. Even his models, all of them sporting goggles and the same bland expression and haircut, seem taken out of a dystopian future. Futurism is showing up in subtler ways in plenty of other places. By using bright colors and asymmetric cuts, Thom Browne invoked much of what makes the other two lines seem so futuristic, and applied it in a much more toned down way. Browne’s models even sport the unisex, clone look seen in the more


Arts & Entertainment

action! design over timeby alexandra lotero

objects: They paired each object with a video showing its creation or func-tion. Reading that “The Honeycomb Vase ‘Made by Bees’” was created by placing a vase-shaped scaffold in the middle of a bee colony is interesting, but seeing the process of its creation, with the bees swarming around build-ing their beehive, is stunning, espe-cially when the final result sits in front of the viewer. Similarly, seeing some-one scribble analgesic gel on their arm with the “Therapeutic Felt-tip Pen” creates a more resonant experience for museum-goers than simply reading that medical technologies are evolv-ing to enable the patient to become more active in the healing process. The exhibition’s method is at its best when the creation of the piece is just as fascinat-ing as the end product. De-signer Joris Laarman cre-ated computer software that mimics the growth of bones to determine the final design of “The Bone Chair.” Bones de-velop the most mass at the areas exposed to the most stress, so following this biological process allows the creation of an aluminum chair without any excess mate-rial. An accompanying visual allows visitors to follow the paring process of the chair from a rectangular block to a sleek, almost vein-like design. When perusing the gallery, a kind of tension between works whose de-signs were computer-based and those designed in a more traditional manner comes to light. Ammar Eloueini mod-erates this tension with his digitally designed “CoReFab#116_25”. The de-sign of each “CoReFab” chair is based on a pause in an ever-changing digital animation. This process ensures that each chair in the series is completely unique. Photographs of different paus-es in the chair animation allow visitors

A ction! De-sign Over Time,” Mo-

MA’s ongoing instal-lation from the con-temporary design collection, takes a novel approach to the presenta-tion of the cre-ation and uses of a variety of everyday ob-jects. The ex-hibition oc-cupies only one-quar-ter of the d e s i g n galleries

on the third floor, but is packed with in-novative presenta-tions of furniture, software, medical supplies and dish-ware. Visitors used to passively ad-miring MoMA’s paintings and sculptures at a distance will be excited by

the opportu-nity to witness exactly

how a contemporary chair is de-signed, try out innovative software or view the creation of a vase. “GROW,” a solar and wind en-ergy capture system that mimics the form of ivy, shares wall space with “I Want You to Want Me,” a program for discovering online dating profiles. The curious congregate before a 54-inch screen to sort through a multitude of balloons, each of which represents a potential date. Aside from the interactive instal-lations of the exhibition, there are plenty of products displayed as per usual for MoMA. However, the cu-rators have adopted an elegant solu-tion to the problem of showing static

Bringing Design to Life

to see designs that slightly vary from the actual chair on view. The most intriguing works in the exhibition are those that are not static in any way, but actually play with the central theme of the exhibit, which is time. “Cinema Redux: Vertigo,” for example, presents the entire film Ver-tigo in one image comprised of many small stills. The viewer can literally see the entire film at once. The whole product creates an abstract pattern, but it is still possible to follow the details of the plot from still to still. Meanwhile, Neri Oxman’s “Carte-

sian Wax,” from the “Materia-lecology” series of computer-designed materials produced at

MIT, is a prototype wax that can be used as a building material. This ever-changing wax would

be able to adapt to struc-tural needs, as well as

lighting and weather conditions, by alter-ing its thickness, strength, and trans-

parency. Highlighting the

often-overlooked as-pects of creation and

function makes “Action! Design Over Time” a distinctively engaging

exhibition. Design is not depicted simply through

the display of final products but through the exploration of the object’s creation and the relationship with its intended users. Imagine yourself ap-plying medicine with a pen, wearing a necklace designed using computa-tional algorithms, walking into a cam-pus building covered in solar panels masked as ivy, or putting flowers into a vase constructed by bees. “Action! Design Over Time” brings contempo-rary design to life.

MoMA’s “Action! Design Over Time” runs through January 31, 2011. Admission is free with CUID.

by lydia ding

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Hoot Magazine: Fall 2010

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