Write of Passage

Since Banksy launched his month long residency on the streets of New York, his much lauded and sought after stenciled work has everyone talking about graffiti, from Mayor Bloomberg, who deems it a sign of decay and loss of control, to art students defending its legitimacy, and landlords cashing in on their Banksy enhanced properties. But according to graffiti historian Sacha Jenkins, all the buzz about the world’s most prominent graffiti artist is riddled with misconceptions.

Life, Faith, & Jewelry: Meet Vita Fede Designer Cynthia Sakai

It’s the day before the Billboard Music Awards, and Cynthia Sakai has been hard at work pulling pieces from her wildly popular jewelry line, Vita Fede (life & faith in Italian), to adorn the likes of Selena Gomez, Alicia Keys, Avril Lavigne, Ke$ha, and Jessica Alba for the big event. “They are such a diverse group of women, but the beauty of Vita Fede is anyone can take our pieces and mix them into their own style,” says Sakai over the phone from her L.A.

The Sartorialist’s Scott Schuman Opens Up About His New Book

“I don’t need a big important coffee table book right now,” says Scott Schuman, the leading street-style photographer better known as The Sartorialist about his new book of photographs, Closer. Since launching his popular blog in 2006, Schuman has inspired a bevy of professional and novice photographers around the world to pick up a camera and hit the streets in search of stylish pedestrians.

Ari Seth Cohen’s ‘Advance Style’ Jumps From the Internet to Bookshelves

Photographer Ari Seth Cohen may only be 30 years old, but he has single handedly overturned the hierarchies of street style with his fresh approach and unlikely subjects. You won’t find Cohen chasing after the latest IT blogger or fashion editor—he’d rather document the style adventures of an overlooked segment of our population: the 60 and over crowd.

The High Price of Haute Couture

Public interest in the campaign against sweatshops hit an all time high in the ‘90s following the news that high-profile brands like Nike and Gap were using sweatshop factories that paid women and children mere pennies to produce their merchandise. The anti-sweatshop movement, along with widespread public pressure, would ultimately force these companies to reevaluate the working conditions in some of their facilities.

Brooklyn-Based Pop-Up Shop Brings High Fashion to the Orthodox Community

The world of fashion can be a daunting landscape to navigate, especially for women who don’t necessarily fit into the industry’s rigid standards of beauty and style. For Orthodox Jewish sisters Chaya Chanin and Simi Polonsky (née Gestetner), finding runway looks that adhere to the important Jewish laws of modesty has never been an easy feat, especially since the laws (or tznius) vary from one community to the next.

Meet Christie Z. Pabon, the Hardest-Working Woman in Hip-hop

When hip-hop publicist, event promoter, and DMC USA CEO Christie Z-Pabon moved to New York in 1996 from in Perryopolis, Pa, she had one goal: attend as many hip-hop shows as she could. Growing up in the ‘80s, Pabon’s access to hip-hop culture was limited to buying whatever 12-inches were available at National Record Mart, and staying up late on Sundays listening to Sly Jock on WAMO, the only station that played hip-hop.

Dawn of The Dandy: The New Black Gentlemen

Known to his fans as dapperlou.com, 24-year-old Haitian-American style blogger Ludget Delcy relishes the idea of throwing people off with his personal style. It started back when he was a high school sophomore in Brooklyn, New York. Amidst a sea of velour sweat suits and Air force Ones, there was Delcy (pictured here), wearing crisp white pants, a blue shirt, white tie, and a black blazer.