Insider: Crystal Streets Sets Trends
Posted on July 1, 2009
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Everyone had a fitted cap, a throwback jersey and a white t-shirt. Therefore, everyone followed stylist Crystal Streets. An urban culture was based off a Crystal’s imaging work with Jay-Z. “I think that period of time was so surreal. I didn’t realize the impact I had on setting trends at that time. I was so passionate, young and hungry. I didn’t realize at the time how much influence we had over our audience. It was definitely a great time in my life! It molded who I am as a stylist today“
Creating a culture with her style as a nucleus, Crystal began to expand her style, giving credit to Vivienne Westwood’s designs as her main muse. “I’m a huge fan of the designer- the femininity, the structure, the fabrics… love it!” She also finds inspiration through her world travels with various artists. “Europe is so much more fashion forward than the US and has so much fashion history. The richness of their culture definitely translates through their style and fashion.”
Tokyo is one of her favorite places to find inspiration. She notes a tiny district called Shibuya where the women are undeniably styled with a mix of so many different elements (socks, jewelry, different patterns). Her high-street style is created through a mix of elements from Century 21, Dolce and Gabanna, Vivienne Westwood, Martin Margiela, Pucci and Valentina. Currently, Cyrstal is working on her own jewelry line- LyraLoveStar, a very celestial and inspirational line designed for young women to follow their dreams. Having people follow her vision seems like no huge task.
Get in line…
- Courtesy of Syreeta Lockett
Color Me Bliss
Posted on June 29, 2009
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Color is the vibration of people. It evokes moods, thoughts, and emotions, and acts as bookmarks in our memoirs. Raging red, envious green, mellow yellow, or true blue. Without it, the world would be an uninteresting place. Color distinguishes us from one another (cliques and sets), but it is also brings us together (culture and nations). Subliminally, it identifies where each of us stand; a visual statement that compliments our philosophies on life. Bliss is a prototype of this vibration. Her music and style is a colorful energy that relates and connects to everyone. Granted she is a bit more than distinct; from her curly hair to her tribal tattoos all the way down to her skittle toes. Yet inside her individuality, the world still gravitates towards her. Psychedelic, she is the center of all shades; her color is Bliss.Toni Burke: Tell the people what it is you do.Bliss:I am a singer, songwriter, aspiring actress, dreamer, lover and believer =) TB: Your style is very diverse, far out, and culturally aware. What are your thoughts on today’s concept of American fashion? B: Fashion is creativity; style is what we make it. I dig that people are [now] wearing whatever the hell they want. The best place to see different styles is in the streets of NYC every block is a new runway. It’s collaboration of various generations; from the 50’s to the 90’s. Personally, I don’t follow trends. I just wear what I like. Even if it is the same shit I wore three days in a row, or it is out-dated. Who cares? Rebel, rebel, anarchy. Do what you want! Read more
Event Coverage: Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival
Posted on June 26, 2009
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Over the weekend, members of the TRACE Blog Staff were invited to “The Annual Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival.” Check out some of the images they brought back!For more images, click HERE
- Courtesy of TECH28
Estilo Hip Hop.
Posted on June 26, 2009
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Hip Hop music has the ability to give a voice to the disenfranchised in any country, and as music with a message it is a form available to all societies worldwide. Directed by New York based filmmakers, Loira Limbal and Virgilio Bravo, ESTILO HIP HOP chronicles the lives of Eli Efi, Guerrillero, and Magia, three hip hop artists from Brazil, Chile and Cuba who firmly believe that hip hop can change the world. These three inspirational leaders mobilize young people to become politically active. However as the stakes assume greater risks, the leaders are faced with challenges and have to make
life-altering decisions that ultimately impact the course of their lives and of the hip hop movement.
ESTILO HIP HOP will air nationally on Global Voices on PBS WORLD on Sunday, June 28 at 10 PM. For more information and to check your local listings, please visit
- Courtesy of Sigourney Salley + Keith Selby
Insider: Jackie Sanchez Knows Her Colors
Posted on June 26, 2009
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Jackie Sanchez’s range of make-up looks can be credited to her multiple muses. Finding inspiration in music, photography, and fashion (to name a few) Jackie finds contrasts and nuances to expand her talent as a celebrity make up artist. Listening to Amy Winehouse’s CD Frank inspired her to think of a black and white photo of a beautiful girl with a coiffed hairdo and strong red lip, the vegetable isle at a grocery store makes her think of a new color combination and fashion designers like McQueen make her think of new make up looks.
Read more
MJ
Posted on June 26, 2009
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TRACE pays tribute to the greatest pop legend of our time. Rest in Peace.
Protea
Posted on June 24, 2009
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This Friday, June 26th, Congolese model Noella Coursaris, founder of the Georges Malaika Foundation, along with L’Altruist and TRACE magazine, invite you to a very special benefit event at Citrine NYC. The event will benefit the Georges Malaika Foundation, Noella’s own non-profit organization dedicated to unlocking the potential of young African girls in the Democratic Republic of Congo through education. GMF firmly believes that education is a basic and fundamental right for children and adults everywhere, and the foundation seeks to provide young girls in the DRC with school tuition, school supplies, and regular meals. GMF also works to build properly equipped schools and provide college scholarships. Hosted by L’Altruist, a group of five professionals dedicated to organizing “fun-raisers” for NYC-based non-profits, this event cannot be missed - and 100% of the ticket proceeds will go directly to the Georges Malaika Foundation.
For more information on GMF, or how to get involved or make a donation, please visit Georges Malaika Foundation .
To learn more about L’Altruist, check out their interview on Guest of a Guest .
WomanHood Passage Fundraiser
Posted on June 24, 2009
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Voices of New York Speak!
Posted on June 24, 2009
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Be sure to check this out! Some of TRACE’s favorites Nikki Ntu and Melo X will be day panelists and ensure that this event is not one to be missed!!
For more info on the event and the organization check :
http://www.vonyspeak-
- Courtesy of Sigourney Salley
Rebirth of a Nation
Posted on June 22, 2009
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Tonight, TRACE will celebrate the launch of our annual best-selling issue, Black Girls Rule!, featuring Dominican model Arlenis Sosa on the cover. Along with TRACE, DJ Spooky, aka Paul Miller, will be screening his remix of D.W. Griffith’s 1915 blockbuster, The Birth of a Nation. TRACE sat down with DJ Spooky to gain some insight into cinematic remixing, and why he chose to tackle such a controversial film.
TRACE: What was your reaction when you first saw the original film “Birth of a Nation”? What inspired you to remix it?
DJ Spooky:The last 8 years were such a weird blip in history - false elections, false wars, media blackout on any relationship to reality (remember those “weapons of mass destruction” - why are we fighting two trillion dollar wars? Anyway, Birth of a Nation has a resonance with so much of what’s going on - we have a black president, we have occupied nations, we have crazy Republicans… the loops are pretty intense, and they’re utterly intertwined with our contemporary situation. I didn’t remix the film to make it nice and new - the idea was to dig into the DNA of film history and connect some of the dots. The myth of America, the myth of war, slavery, occupation, and how people define identity - dj culture has absorbed so much of what it means to relate to the rhythms that define modern life. I just wanted to flip the two together, and see what came out of the mix.
TRACE: How does remixing a film like “Birth of a Nation” allow you to expose the historical biases and racial propaganda of the 20th century? How do you relate this to present day American culture? (Political/racial/psychological/etc)
DJ Spooky: Looking back at the 20th century and the beginning of Pop culture, the main theme was the “minstrel show” - look at the biggest films of the era “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” “Birth of a Nation” and “Gone With The Wind” - they all were obsessed with race, class, and the changing operating system of what America represented: to itself. People loooked at Birth of a Nation like a mirror held up to reality. The film was viewed as a historical reality. Nothing could have been farther from the truth. America today still has so many issues to confront, but things evolve and change. Try telling that to Rush Limbaugh…
TRACE: Describe the technical process of remixing film and how it differs or is similar to the process of remixing music. Do you find one medium more powerful than the other?
DJ Spooky:When the film was presented at Paula Cooper Gallery, it was done as a kind of art installation. I wanted to figure out how to make it a living breathing document that reflected some of the major themes of contemporary art today - appropriation, collage, documenting everyday life and above all - plaigiarism. You can look at video artists like Doug Aitken, or African American video artists like Arthur Jafa, you can see the same dynamic. Even digital media artists like Cory Doctorow. Anyway, I want to push the collage aesthetic as much as possible. Alot of my influences come from early cinema like Dziga Vertov’s collage documents, cinema verite (keeping it real, hah!), or early African American film makers like Oscar Michaux. The vibe for the whole project is “director as Dj” and yeah, film and music as a medium, are more emotionally direct than alot of contemporary art, but there’s still an elusive quality that makes this project stick together. It’s hard to say which is stronger. It’s all technical…
TRACE: How does that technology fuel a new wave of control over how history is written/rewritten, altered, or represented?
DJ Spooky:Technology is the basic medium of everything in the 21st century, and basically we just need to accept that. Looking back at the 20th century the main thing that kept humanity from losing out completely to the forces that we unleashed on our selves (fascism, socialism, communism, racism etc) was the ability to channel how technology and expression. Can you imagine what the world would be like if we hadn’t broadcast Martin Luther King’s “I have a Dream” speech, or if people hadn’t been able to check out Mahatma Gandhi’s “Salt Satyagraha” marches, or the way Nelson Mandela and the ANC communicated a will towards a new South Africa? You have to always expect that people will take the tools provided and change them. That’s what this film project is about. I guess you could call it comparative myths of the near future, through the prism of the past.
For more information, check out Rebirth of a Nation
Photos courtesy of djspooky.com
Interview courtesy of Mikaela Gauer