A Smorgasboard of Video Look Books for Your Mid–Fashion Week SlumpNormally on Wednesdays at Daily Intel, we treat you with a Video Look Book post in which we go on the street to videotape some of the fabulously dressed New Yorkers that surround us every day. It’s an homage to Fashion Editor Amy Larocca’s weekly “Look Book” in the print version of New York. But this week, we don’t have one. That’s because the Video Look Book has found a new home, on nohib.com’s glamorous new fashion blog, The Cut. And it’s been thriving there! Since Fashion Week started, the blog has hosted seven new Video Look Books. If you’re missing your fix of people who dress (or think they dress) better than you do, click below to see the characters we’ve found this week. And while you’re at it, poke around at The Cut and in all the rest of nohib.com’s extensive online fashion coverage, including up-to-date slideshows and model and designer bios!
•Chicago Shopgirl Flies In for Marc by Marc Jacobs
•The Trend Forecaster Sees Bright Colors in the Future
• Plum Sykes Exposes Fashion Week’s Cold Truth
• Recent Fashion Grad Wants Wintour’s Help
• Rugby Ralph Lauren Designer Beats on Her Miu Miu Bag
• Freelance Stylist David C. Melton Will Give You Vertigo
• Cognac Wellerlane Loves Fur, Poodles, and Fake Eyelashes
The Cut [NYM]
video look book
Ann Le Paints, Shops on eBay
Like any good girl who has ever been shopping abroad, Ann Le doesn’t like shopping in New York City. Her skirt was only five euros in Paris (okay, with the exchange rate that’s still under $10!), and she made her own necklace. It’s no wonder she’s the best-dressed freelancer-painter-musician on the block.
Video Look Book [NYM Video]
video look book
Sarah Brady Has Street, Color SenseSarah Brady from Virginia is a mother of three, and when she comes to New York she likes to start by shopping in Soho and then move uptown. While she’s not afraid of “New York black,” she thinks bright colors are essential. Click above to find out why.
Video Look Book [NYM Video]
video look book
High-School Frosh Doesn’t Dress the Part
High-school freshman and musician Evan Gonzalez doesn’t have a job, so he must wear within his means. “I like to work with pants a lot,” he muses. “Bleach on green jeans is always really cool, because it comes out yellow.” He is influenced by prog rock and metal, and his hair is a three-year-old project. Find out what Gonzalez plans next for his locks in this week’s Video Look Book.
Video Look Book: Evan Gonzalez
video look book
Combustion Research Will Buy You a Fly CoatA recent trip to the East Village yielded the Video Look Book’s favorite occupation ever: combustion researcher! Say fuel spills in a subway tunnel. It’s Diem Nguyen’s job to find out how long before we’re all totally effed. When she’s not setting things on fire, Nguyen works with designers to create her own custom clothing. Arson might not pay, but combustion research apparently does. Watch the video for more career guidance.
Video Look Book: Diem Nguyen
video look book
California Visitor Actually a Displaced New Yorker
California legal secretary Colleen Delee took a break from shopping on Rodeo Drive to wear her Fendi fur in New York, where it’s actually cold enough for animal skins. But is that the only difference between New York and Los Angeles? Of course not. Delee shares her insights (and her recommendations on custom shoes) in this week’s Video Look Book.
Video Look Book: Colleen Delee
video look book
Dress Your Dog in an ‘Urban-Hipster Blend’Sylyse Rivera touts his “urban-hipster blend” in this week’s Video Look Book. The pierced hairstylist is now turning his stylish eye to his three-month-old puppy, Asia. “I’m getting her into fashion, too,” Rivera says, though she can’t fit into the Timberlands he loves so much.
Sylese Rivera [Video Look Book]
video look book
Nicole Poree-Zayas Has the Hookup
Fashion-design student Nicole Poree-Zayas gets bored and then dyes her hair. It was blue, but now there’s some purple in it, which matches her striped shirt and skinny jeans. Poree-Zayas is also sporting some Supreme X Nike Blazers, but it’s not like she had to camp out to get them. No she knows some people. See what else she knows by watching this week’s Video Look Book.
Video Look Book: Nicole Poree-Zayas
video look book
New Woman Thrilled With Jacket, Anatomy
Jasmine Catt describes herself as someone who decided that “at 46, he’s going to chuck it all including gender and become happy.” Now, sporting a jacket that was a gift from her ex-wife, Catt is thrilled with her new life. But other ladies may not be so down with her. Watch the video to learn why.
Video Look Book: Jasmine Catt
video look book
Magazine Editor Balances Dignity With Style in New York Winter
With her shoots for Metropolitan Home all finished, editor Susan Victoria can spend the cold season in New York. A frequent Anthropologie shopper, Victoria offsets an old purple parka with buggy glasses. “I try to be unusual and funky,” she says, “and yet respect my position.”
Video Look Book: Susan Victoria
video look book
Barrister Wannabe Loves Spending Our Worthless Dollars
British litigator-in-training Shivi Ramontar loves living in New York these days. “Everything’s kind of half-price!” she exclaims, chagrined only a little by taking advantage of today’s flaccid dollar (she must be paid in pounds). Ramontar shares her purchases and confesses her favorite city to Amy Larocca in this week’s Video Look Book.
Shivi Ramontar [Video Look Book]
video look book
Flavio Romeo, Father, Stylist Extraordinaire
Actor Flavio Romeo has two daughters, which means he knows the right hairdo and hot-pink accessories are crucial, especially when you’re taking a trip to F.A.O Schwarz! In this Video Look Book, Flavio explains the look he created for the girls at “The Daddy Salon.”
Video Look Book: Archives
video look book
Napa Mom Shows New Yorkers How to LiveMaryann Thatcher, a stay-at-home mom and vinter from Napa, visits New York to stock up on hats. She also gets her hair colored the right way, takes long baths, and shops at Bergdorf. This sounds so fun, Thatcher makes us want to take a vacation in New York. To learn more secrets of luxury tourism, watch the video.
Video Look Book: Maryann Thatcher
video look book
Little Marvin Sports ‘Broke Baroque’ in Soho
Little Marvin, son of Big Marvin, recently returned from French Fashion Week. Though he picked up his “broke baroque” style from the streets of New York, he has a soft spot for Parisians. “Everybody is so individual,” he says. “You don’t feel like everybody is wearing what’s hip and what’s cool. People really do their own thing.” So does Little Marvin, so we’re glad he’s one of ours.
Video Look Book: Little Marvin
video look book
Soho Shopgirl Likes Taxidermy, Comfort Zones
When Amy Larocca ran into Theresa Dapra in Soho recently, Dapra was wearing clothes inspired by the movie Party Monster. Shod in Roman shoes and socks from mom, she is also into taxidermy. But mostly, she wants her clothes to suit her: “If I’m not in clothing that fits the mood that I feel inside, then I’m not comfortable going outside my house.” Watch the Video Look Book for more sage fashion advice.
Theresa Dabra [Video Look Book]
video look book
According to This Guy, We Should All Wear Suspenders
Painter and cater-waiter Mark Diruzza entered the Pratt Institute with a nose ring and a mohawk and now wears suspenders to class at the Borough of Manhattan Community College. Can Diruzza persuade you to forgo your belt for braces? He makes a compelling argument to New York’s Amy Larocca in this week’s Video Look Book.
Mark Diruzza [Video Look Book]
video look book
Learning From Our Fashion Elders in Union Square
Sculptor and jewelry designer Gisela von Eicken is a hat person, but what she really loves is a flattering silhouette. New York’s Amy Larocca found Von Eicken near Union Square recently and learned an important truth: “When you’re 74, you can still be stylish.”
Gisela Von Eicken [Video Look Book]
video look book
Colin, Sienna, and Noah Are Lifestyle Anarchist Puppeteers
“I just wanted some red to match my accordion and the blood on my skirt,” Sienna Mayers explains of her costume, which she chose to wear while performing with Noah Mayers and Colin Hagendorf. The troupe’s current show is called Monsters for the Ethical Treatment of People, and it requires very important outfits. Find out why puppets aren’t always sensitive lovers on this week’s Video Look Book.
Sienna, Colin and Noah’s Video Look Book, and Video Look Book archives
video look book
Alex Kress Has a Twin, and a Baby
Alex Kress had a baby not so long ago. But unlike some people, she doesn’t walk around looking like a hot mess. She doesn’t have a whole lot of time for shopping these days, what with the kid and all, but her twin sister keeps her in cute outfits. Find out where that dress is from in this week’s Video Look Book.
Alex Kress’s Video Look Book, and Look Book archives
video look book
The Greats Come Out for the Look Book Book Party
The hair was large and the colors loud at last week’s Look Book book party at Bergdorf Goodman. Catch up with your old friends André J., Monique Garofalo, and more of our street-fashion greats in this week’s edition of our Video Look Book.
video look book
Katy Pyle Has a Little Bleached Rat Tail
Beauty student Katy Pyle has to wear black for her classes at Aveda, which is making her “a little bit crazy.” She’s thinking of bleaching the rest of her hair to give herself more color, and she’s taken to wearing neon glasses to give her “something to be excited about.” Find out how she likes to style others in this week’s Video Look Book.
video look book
Sarah Carlson Doesn’t Think Academics Have Much Style
NYU master’s student Sarah Carlson just finished her thesis on “the generation of buzz toward art openings on the New York gallery scene.” She’s Scandinavian, and she thinks Scandinavians are fashionable, but she’s “a bit schizophrenic” when it comes to style, she says. “Today I was going for a sort of perky look,” she says, “so lots of colors.” Where’d she get her colors? Find out in this week’s Video Look Book.
Sarah Carlson [Video Look Book]
video look book
Marty North Wears Shirts to Forget
Marty North is a potter, born and raised. He’ll make you tile floors or kitchen sinks or anything you want. Most of his clothes seem coordinated around ex-boyfriends — the hat comes from one, the shirt is to make him forget another — and he never removes his necklaces, one of which bears a bell. Why the bell? You’ll have to watch this week’s Video Look Book to find out.
Marty North [Video Look Book]
video look book
Jenna Davis Doesn’t Like Her Feet
Fashion designer Jenna Davis doesn’t really like black shoes — but she’s wearing them. She likes to look polished but with something a little bit off — but today nothing’s really off. What else does this fashionable mass of contradictions have to say for herself? Find out in this week’s Video Look Book.
Jenna Davis [Video Look Book]
video look book
What Kind of Man Wears Short Shorts?
Stylist Charles Manning has recently started wearing short shorts. “It’s too hot to wear anything else,” he explains to New York’s Amy Larocca in this week’s Video Look Book. As it turns out, the short shorts are getting a reaction: Old men tell him they’re great; young men want to exchange high-fives. Maybe you’ll like ‘em, too.
Charles Manning [Video Look Book]
video look book
She Does Her Little Turn on the Catwalk
Amy Larocca met Akia and Sahriya Baily in Soho recently and discovered that pageant queen and makeup artist Akia is now entering her daughter Sahriya in the contests. Sahriya will get only some blush and bronzer. No teeth whiteners! Check out Sahirya’s excellent walk by watching this week’s Video Look Book.
Akia and Sahriya Baily [Video Look Book]
video look book
Andre Harrell Takes Luxury Downtown
During a recent sunny walk downtown, we spotted Uptown Records founder and luxury-lifestyle consultant Andre Harrell. Money does not make luxury, he assured Amy Larocca. “Riding a bike in Nolita during the day is a luxurious feeling,” he said. “Living below 14th not even a luxury, just a must.” Find out where Andre buys his shirts and what graffiti artist designed his sneakers on this week’s Video Look Book.
Andre Harrell [Video Look Book]
video look book
Taming the Leopard Print
Ambling through midtown, Amina Akhtar found this week’s Video Look Book subject, Simone Lazer. Her hairstyle is three years old, but the color changes every few weeks. “You color-coordinate it depending on what you’re wearing,” she says. Her animal prints are practical, not wild: “Zebra and leopard pretty much go with everything.”
Simone Lazer [Video Look Book]
video look book
They Did Say ‘The Music Never Stopped’
Strolling through Union Square recently, Amy Larocca ran into writer and Dead Head Deana Bianco. In lieu of seeing her favorite band play, Bianco listens to them daily. “There’s no more Dead shows, there’s no more Phish shows, but it’s all cool ‘cause it’s in the soul,” she says. Sporting a vintage dress from the seventies, purple tights, and moccasins, Bianco retains her Colorado roots with the help of a tattoo. See what helps “keep the mountains” on her by watching this week’s Video Look Book.
Deana Bianco [Video Look Book]
video look book
It’s Possible to Look Good Roller-Skating
Forget the seriously spandexed in Central Park. Rollerbladers Jerry Davila and Ruben Santana are reclaiming the streets for their sport. Though they dress a little like skateboarders (baggy jeans, layered shirts), they’re trying to bring their scene to the forefront again. “Gotta bring it back to Rollerbladers, like it was back in ‘98,” says Santana. For Davila, who just spent $325 on a pair of skates, “we just care about being extreme. As extreme as we can get.”
Video Look Book [NYM]
video look book
When Hairstyles Are a Joke
The Video Look Book went to Union Square this week and found AV librarian Aliisa Lahti sporting a brand-new T-shirt. Her haircut “kind of just happened,” Lahti says, and then she started to grow the rat tail as a joke. “Lots of times people assume that I’m a lesbian or that I’m some crazy punk kid,” she says. “Neither of those things are true.”
Aliisa Lahti [Video Look Book]
video look book
Sandy Krasnow’s Beautiful Life
Artist Sandy Krasnow tells the Video Look Book that she has given up buying new clothes and now shops exclusively from her closet. “I have a beautiful collection of clothes,” she says, showing off her “safe-keepers” vest made of fabrics collected from all over the world. When she’s not shopping, Krasnow works hard at manipulating her own environment: “To me, there is no more beautiful work than creating a beautiful life for myself.”
Sandy Krasnow [Video Look Book]
video look book
How to Dress for Your Next Poetry Performance
In this week’s Video Look Book, performance poet Aja-Monet Bacquie likes to make sure she feels good in her own skin. In a long white dress, maroon high-tops, and a beaded necklace she bought in Chinatown, Bacquie leads a group of substance-abuse patients from Odyssey House in Union Square. “It’s one venue at which somebody can articulate their emotions,” she says, “or even how they feel the world has made them a beautiful person.”
Aja-Monet Bacquie [Video Look Book]
video look book
What to Pack for Your Spiritual Journey
Noho Star server and visual artist Richard Bruke just returned from a trip to Thailand, and that’s where he got his shirt and his little bag. The trip was a “spiritual journey, hanging out with Buddhist monks and stuff,” Bruke says, undertaken for “inspiration and to see a bunch of things.” An upstate native whose sentences resolve up, Bruke works in watercolor and photography. Find out what the smell of flowers reminds him of by watching this week’s Video Look Book.
Richard Bruke [Video Look Book]
video look book
We See London, We See France
Keilana Decker is an actress with a hint of a Madonna-esque vocal affectation and a penchant for short skirts. But she’s a “practical undergarments kind of girl,” so when the wind blows, you’ll see she’s wearing spandex men’s bicycle shorts and 50-cent motorcycle boots. She says she buys everything at the thrift store, but we forgot to ask if that includes the undergarments. Find out by watching Decker in the Video Look Book.
Keilana Decker [VLB]
video look book
What the Auteurs Are Wearing These Days
Amy Larocca discovered NYU film student Hunter Shaw sitting on a stoop mulling over his latest screenplay. Though he couldn’t seem to make the script work, he was pleased to share his fashion muse Frank Booth from Blue Velvet and his favorite store with us: “Trash & Vaudeville that’s where I buy all my pants.” Will Shaw find creative relief from a neighbor in pink bottoms? Find out in this week’s Video Look Book.
Hunter Shaw [Video Look Book]
video look book
From the Mall to Midtown
Liam James sells jewelry when he’s not aspiring to be a male model. A native of the small city of Port Angeles, Washington, James was pointed toward modeling by a stranger who suggested it to him in the mall. So now James and his 26-inch waist are strolling through the city, struggling to make clothes fit by stapling H&M shirts. “I’m one of those people who likes to use bronzer to make things look alive,” he says. See what other beauty aids James employs in this week’s Video Look Book.
Liam James [Video Look Book]
video look book
East Villager Yearns for Pre-Giuliani Quality of Life
In this week’s Video Look Book, Crif Dogs manager Peggy Punch recalls the East Village of old, when the Cro-Mags thrashed the Continental and Tompkins Square Park was a thriving tent city. Ah, don’t you just love the smell of someone else’s urine in the morning? “I’m really actually bummed out on the East Village right now. It’s not gritty,” says Punch. “It’s not what New York City used to be for me when I was 15 coming here and being a little bit scared.” Today, Punch slings some of the city’s finest hot dogs and considers single-handedly upping the neighborhood’s grit factor by getting another tattoo. Watch the video.
Archives [Video Look Book]
video look book
Devorah Herberg Goes to Your Heart
“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” singer Devorah Herberg warbles to Amy Larocca in this week’s Video Look Book. Herberg has traveled all over the world to gather items for her “costumes,” including a piece that came from “one of the most intriguing places in Hong Kong.” Her aesthetic is borrowed from Hollywood, she says: “I am a person that will do things that are with the designers but mix it with something else … kinda à la Sharon Stone.”
Watch the video.
video look book
Design Student Plays Up Exotic Foreigner Bit
Design student Catherine Tuck told Amy Larocca that in her native Brazil, everyone wears jeans with tank tops. Americans dress the same too, she says however Vogue tells us to. Our lemminglike fashion sense aside, Tuck prefers the city to home: “I like myself more when I’m here than when I’m in Brazil. In Brazil I’m just one more girl. Here, I’m one more Brazilian girl.”
Archives [Video Look Book]
video look book
They’re No Hansel and Zoolander
At Grand Central this week, New York’s Amy Larocca caught up with childhood friends John Jones and Khale Unger, who grew up to be male models. The pair can break into song upon request, and they plan to be successful as models–slash–rock stars, although it is unclear if they mean literal or figurative rock stars. Dolce & Gabbana is a staple of their wardrobes, but Jones says that, to be successful, “You can’t overdo it. You have to look good in whatever.” Check them out in this week’s Video Look Book.
John Jones and Khale Unger [Video Look Book]
video look book
Some People Just Aren’t Into BlackErin O’Conner is a graduate student of ancient history and an intern at the United Nations. Raised in Eugene, Oregon, O’Conner grew up muttering about Mesopotamians and Babylonians as her father slept in a tepee in the backyard. She shops at H&M but claims the pants and boots Amy Larocca saw her in are “the only black I own.”
Video Look Book
video look book
Judy Farbman: Whimsical Office Manager
Judy Farbman is a suburban office manager who likes to “have fun and play” when she visits the city. The fur coat (“I have other ones,” she said) always draws comments about Farbman’s whimsical style, which is inspired by a variety of magazines. She shops at the big guys — Saks, Barneys, and Bergdorf — but also pokes into smaller shops: “Sometimes the boutiques have the best things. It depends on how you hit it.”
Video Look Book
video look book
Oh, Come On, You’ve Seen Irma Sandrey
Irma Sandrey is an actress, a dancer, and an acting instructor. She’s a member of the Actors Studio and a teacher at the Lee Strasberg School. So what’s her fashion Method? On the day New York’s Amy Larocca caught up with her, it was fur, lots of fur. “I do feel sorry for the little animals,” Sandrey says between giggles, “but … ” But, indeed. It’s cold in New York these days!
Irma Sandrey [Video Look Book]
video look book
Tess Lindgren Bought Her Jacket in Northern Minnesota
Tess Lindgren is a Parsons student who lives on Union Square, listens to “strange avant-garde music,” and makes most of her own clothes. “Someone told me,” she says, “that how I look every day, I looked like I was attacked by my wardrobe.” She’s this week’s Video Look Book.
Tess Lindgren [Video Look Book]
video look book
Morag Wemyss-Dunn Really Likes Her Shoes
Morag Wemyss-Dunn lives in both New York and London, she’s got a son and a dog, and, as she says, “You can tell I like designers.” Indeed: When Amy Larocca bumped into her on the streets of Manhattan, Morag was wearing Tod’s, Fendi, and Prada. “Handbags and shoes are very, very important” to her, and she’s apparently never got a hair out of place. Hear what else she has to say in this week’s Video Look Book.
Morag Wemyss-Dunn [Video Look Book]
video look book
Todd Hutcheson Has a Lot of Shoes
So what does one wear when one is an art consultant wandering the East Side? For Todd Hutcheson — who proudly mentions that he had an Yves St. Laurent jacket when he was in the fourth grade — the answer is easy: Prada, Paul Stewart, and Dior. “My style is — I don’t even know what to call it,” he explains. “British meets Victorian pop.” Check it out in this week’s Video Look Book.
Todd Hutcheson [Video Look Book]
video look book
Kristy Don Likes Her Clothes Clean
When we were interns, as we recall, our wardrobe ran mostly to Gap khakis and J. Crew button-downs. But for Kristy Don, who’s interning as a financial analyst for Johnson & Johnson, it’s another story. Her flats are Gucci, her jeans are Dolce, and her bag is Marc Jacobs. She’s “totally doing the New York” style, she explains, and there’s particularly good news for you gentleman readers: She’s newly single. Want to learn more? Check out Amy Larocca’s latest Video Look Book.
Kristy Don [Video Look Book]
video look book
Seven Aurelius Eliminates the NegativeIt’s a question that has long plagued us: If you’re a recording artist, record producer, and student of Kabbalah, what do you wear to work every day? For Seven Aurelius, the answer is simple: “Whatever feels good, and whatever’s giving me good energy.” In the latest installment of Amy Larocca’s Video Look Book, Seven takes us through his ensemble, explaining which jewelry brings him intuition and which removes negativity, and telling us where he got those amazing, winged shades. Check it out. You’ll thank us.
Seven Aurelius [Video Look Book]