Meet NYC passerby Elizabeth Novogratz, the co-author of "Just Sit: A Meditation Guidebook for People Who Know They Should But Don't.” While meditation is one of her passions, she advocates for animal rights along with an upcoming project, Species Unite.
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Paris passerby, Clemence Sigu, is a freelance journalist who explores the relationship our world has with the fashion industry.
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Stephanie Danler is a writer and the author of the National Bestseller Sweetbitter, now available in Paperback from Vintage Contemporaries. She holds an MFA from The New School and her work has appeared in The Sewanee Review, Travel + Leisure, Vogue, and The Paris Review.
Read MoreMeet Mari Andrew
The illustrator behind her popular Instagram, Mari Andrew has combined her talent and life's experiences into publishing her first book. While she may have experienced loss and tragedy during her twenties, she picked up her watercolors and got to work by sharing her thoughts through drawings.
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Marjon is a freelance journalist living in Greenpoint. Formerly the Senior Fashion Writer at Vogue.com and the founding Arts and Culture Editor at Saint Heron, her work explores the intersection of style and culture. Marjon’s writing has appeared on The Fader, Jezebel, Elle, Refinery29, and elsewhere.
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Maura Kutner Walters is an award-winning journalist who is currently an editor at New York Magazine's The Cut. Maura has held features editor roles at Town & Country and Harper's Bazaar and was the deputy editor of Bloomberg Pursuits and New York Magazine's special issues.
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Alyssa Coscarelli is a fashion writer, consultant, and influencer based in the East Village, New York City. After working as an editor for Refinery29 for 5 years, Alyssa recently took the leap to give the freelance life a whirl, and in addition to contributing to various digital publications, consulting for up-and-coming New York indie brands, she's working on launching her own online platform in the coming months. She's an impulsive shopper with a love for vintage and indie brands specifically, and can never pass up the perfect pair of Levi's (even though she owns more than any one human should).
Read MoreMeet Sara Radin
Based in Brooklyn, NY, Sara Radin is a writer and curator. Full time, she is the Youth Culture Editor for WGSN, where she consults global brands on consumer trends for Millennials and Generation Z. Outside of work, Sara does memoir writing and curates pop-up art events and workshops. She is the co-founder of It's Not Personal, a collaborative project, growing anthology and collective inspired by the female dating experience. Previously, her personal writing has been published by Bust Magazine, Huffington Post and Thought Catalog. She also teaches the pre-college program at the Fashion Institute of Technology and is currently a mentor for Girls Write Now.
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After studying journalism at Boston University, she started working at fashion magazine and spent her twenties living in Sydney, Australia until she moved back in 2012. Anna now creates content as Senior Fashion Editor for Barneys' The Window.
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Hallie Gould is a NYC-based Senior Editor at Byrdie. Previously, Hallie wrote for Marie Claire, ELLE, Real Beauty, and Time Out New York. She has a penchant for black clothing, lipstick, and maintaining the intricacies of her (slightly bewildering) skin care routine.
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Meet NYC Passerby, Kristi Garced, Fashion Market Editor at WWD
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Born in Israel, Yael moved to Manhattan in 1994 and to Williamsburg in 2011. Her book, Falafel Nation, was published in 2015. She is the founder of the non-profit Umami Food and Art festival and is currently Director of Business Development at Splacer.
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Read MoreMeet J Wortham
on their Morning Routine by season
In summer, I wake up naturally. I love warm weather, and I can’t wait to be outside. In winter, it’s the complete opposite. I lie in bed and negotiate until I’m on my way into the day. No matter the season, I like to alkalize as soon as I wake up, with charcoal filtered water with a squeeze of lemon, lime or blood orange, whatever is in the fridge.
on becoming a writer
I’ve been reading since I was 2, the story goes, so it feels natural that I would work in words. My family is very working class, so it took me awhile to realize I could earn a living by writing, and once that happened, there was no going back.
I love having a job that allows me to investigate the human condition, and think about life, and explore alternate ways of being and doing things.
on what they’re working on now
My goal for the rest of the year is to expand my idea of myself as a creator. I am working on an art book with a friend, and teaching myself more about film and moving images. I love working with video. In five years, I hope to be as excited and invigorated as I am today to write and connect with new people.
On their personal style
I mostly shop online. Trying on clothes gives me body anxiety and so many places have free online returns, so. In general, I aim for maximum comfort and bright colors, which I get from all over. I am experimenting with more masculine styles right now because that's what is in my heart. I love ASOS and I have a few friends who sell vintage and they occasionally set pieces aside for me, which is dope.
on the perfect skin mask & their skincare routine
Raw honey is a perfect skin mask. I just buy a jar of something raw and organic and spread it on my face a few minutes and then rinse it off. I do it a few times a month, in the morning or before bed . Honey is a natural antibiotic and moisturizer. It keeps my skin clear and looking dewy and moist. It’s THE BEST!
My skin is so temperamental and hyper-reactive, so I can’t use too many things at once or too much makeup, or my face has a meltdown. I just try keep it clean and moisturized to prevent break-outs. I love Orgaid sheet masks because they have probiotics and witch hazel in them, which is incredible. I’ve been using a vitamin C serum too, which is working wonders for my summer complexion.
J's Favorite Books
The Black Book by Middleton A. Harris, Ernest Smith, Morris Levitt, Roger Furman, & Toni Morrison
This Bridge Called My Back by Cherríe Moraga and Gloria Anzaldúa
J's Favorite Places
Best Coffee: SuperCrown
Best Paletas: Tulcingo Deli
Best Juices at AP Cafe
Best Place for Cool Shows: Trans-Pecos
Best Discowoman Sets: TheLotRadio and Market Hotel
Best Acupuncture: TigerLily
Best Spot For A Date & Sushi: Momos
Best Place for a Movie: Syndicated
Meet Lauren Nostro
♫ LISTEN TO Lauren'S PLAYLIST | ⌨ LAST GOOGLE SEARCH
STREETSTYLE DETAILS: Jersey, joefreshgoods
Photography by Xenia Alexandra
RECOMMENDATIONS
✓ I love this old school Italian spot in Carroll Gardens called Red Rose —go on Thursdays for the stuffed artichokes.
✓ Soft Spot for drinks.
✓ Three Kings for tattoos.
FAVORITE MOVIES
Meet Emma Orlow
on her morning routine
My morning routine is usually making awkward eye contact with my neighbors across the way who have seen me eat snacks in my underwear, have sex, and cry way too many times because for no reason I refuse to get blinds. After that’s over, I usually put on music and try to remind myself to hydrate.
on her interest in confessional art
Confessional art as a genre intends to reveal a truth that is inherently shameful. I guess I like that because I don’t go to therapy and am an only child, so it’s the way that I deal with things on my own. Plus I like turning gross, rotten memories into the silliest, most colorful looking objects to cherish. Although I suppose you can argue that all art intends to reveal something autobiographical, even a paired down abstract painting. I like making work that most people probably think is embarrassing, like anything about the time my laundry bag opened in the elevator and this guy handed me back my period stained underwear seems like relevant fodder, even though period art for the most part is pretty done at this point.
on the beginning of her art series
My best friend in high school and I started [The Do Not Enter Diaries]. Part of it came from the fact that we were obsessed with the art direction that went into the bedrooms in some of our favorite films and how it was, in a lot of cases, the crux of the characters’ development. We knew how much we had worked to make our own bedrooms these special havens and how much we hoped it said about us and our friends. We wanted to showcase how something as simple as the way you decorate is a form of storytelling. The other part was we felt like we didn’t have the outlet for all of our weird ideas in our claustrophobic high school atmosphere and wanted a space of our own to work on. It was very low-tech—we only had a crappy camera and didn’t know much about web development but it was such a fun and important learning experience. It was incredible that we got the kind of press we did. The fact that MTV and Amazon’s E-book office invited us to their office at one point was insane. But I am honestly glad none of that came into fruition at that point in my life.
on moving on to other projects
[We didn't continue The Do Not Enter Series because] we were at first limited to our friends and friends of friends and those who emailed us, which didn’t make the project nearly as diverse as we wanted it to be. If we had a bigger network it would’ve been different. But eventually we started getting correspondents from as far as Slovakia and Shanghai, which was great. I think it had a lot of potential, but there are still so many other issues I would’ve loved to touch upon and it was hard to keep the film style consistent when the correspondents were sending us the footage. We realized that having your own bedroom itself was such a privileged concept and we wanted to explore more subjects who were engaging with the teenage bedroom in nonconventional ways. Had we had better resources—funding, even just a better camera-- I would’ve loved to delve in even deeper. But in the end, we both went off to college and got involved in other projects and being obsessed with archiving the teenage bedroom sadly seemed less pertinent all of a sudden.
on her beauty routine
I don’t wear much makeup, but when I do it's usually a little bit of the Bare Essentials bronzer, Glossier Boy Brow, and maybe some sort of black eyeliner or red lipstick, depending on the occasion. I also recommend Glossier Priming Moisturizer, St. John's Shield Light Regenerative Bath & Body Oils, DKNY Be Delicious Eau de Parfum Spray, and C.O.Bigelow Rose Salve.
My dad is a dermatologist so I think I’ve grown up being really skeptical of most beauty products that say they can rock my world. I am still totally attracted to makeup with really groovy packaging or anything that smells like a Jamba Juice smoothie. I still think simple stuff like Dove soap really gets the job done best. I am wary of complicated ingredients.
on her shopping habits and style
Most of my wardrobe is vintage, junky thrift-shops, and random online places I follow on Instagram. I love 10 Ft. Single Stella Dallas, Amarcord Vintage, 9th Street Haberdashery, Coming Soon, and Georgia Vintage. I just want my wardrobe to look like a lava lamp sort of spilled all over an episode of Lizzie McGuire.
emma's favorite books
How Should A Person Be by Sheila Heti, Chelsea Girls by Eileen Myles, The Diary of Frida Kahlo by Carlos Fuentes, A Coney Island of the Mind by Lawrence Ferlinghetti, I Want to Scratch 'n Sniff You by Emma Orlow
emma's favorite movies
The Doom Generation, Coffee and Cigarettes, Reality Bites, Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion
emma's favorite places in nyc
Lowkey brunch spot: B&H Deli
Favorite sandwich: Cheeky Sandwiches
Best bookstore: Mast Books
Photography by Audrey Cotton
Meet Lisa Przystup
on her morning routine
I wake up and resent the alarm with every bone in my body, shuffle out to the kitchen to a cup of coffee because my husband is awake before I am 99.9% of the time, procrastinate getting ready and out the door until I have no choice but to madly rush through my “beauty” routine: wash my face with a Clarisonic I got last Christmas (can’t tell if it’s really made a difference but now I’m too paranoid to stop using it), then some sort of eye treatment from my multitude of Kiehl’s Eye Treatment samples, smear overpriced but damn good Yves Saint Laurent Touche Eclat under my eyes, Diorshow Black Out Mascara, Hourglass Brow stuff for my anemic asian eyebrows, MAC matte bronzer and then this Bobbi Brown stuff in a pot that makes it look like my cheeks are living in a perpetual summer. Then out the door with toast in hand.
how she started out
I moved to NYC because I had my tunnel vision focused on making it as a fashion writer (or really any sort of writer for that matter). What no one really tells you is how difficult/impossible that is. I pursued it pretty tirelessly, checking everything off the list—Master’s degree in journalism, internships, networking, establishing hard-fought relationships editors only to have them leave the publication, following up (always following up) etc. and just really hit a wall after many, many years with little to no results/income/progress and needed to step away from it all for a moment, which is when I started doing flowers. Copywriting was always in the back of my mind as an option that I really didn’t want to embrace but I’ve learned that 1. you can actually make a living doing it and 2. you can actually get pretty creative and still have a voice and still be challenged coming up with smart ways to reach people.
on her interest in flowers
After hitting a wall with writing I needed to just step away from things for a moment and separate myself from the tireless pursuit of it all. I had recently done a story on Brooklyn florists for New York Magazine’s The Cut and thought I’d trying playing around with flowers. I have such a Type-A, perfectionist personality that it felt really good to try something that didn’t have all my hopes and dreams wrapped up in it. My husband and I head upstate quite frequently so I sort of used that as a testing ground and practiced form and all those good things with the wildflowers and blooms that are rampant (and free) up there. Then I started reaching out to contacts I had from pitching fashion stories to pitch flowers instead.
on selecting an arrangement
The actual process is sort of different every time. Sometimes I’ll see an arrangement that really inspires me and will work off that, other times I have a specific color scheme I’m dreaming of working with or that a client specifically wants, and other times I go the less thinking route and just go for it. My favorite part is making the arrangements. I’m pretty not great at everything else, which is a bit of a problem since it turns out that arranging feels like it’s actually just 10-15% of the package. You have to be business savvy and be willing to take a pretty big financial risk—getting a studio and a team—in order to grow and I’ve just never been ready for that, which means my business has always had a pretty low overhead. It works for me but it is tough when you see other people pulling off larger, more glamorous installs and projects but then I have to remind myself and my ego that I chose this level of engagement and that it’s what works best for me for now.
on her beauty routine
I’ve been using Bumble and Bumble Thickening Shampoo and Conditioner for as long as I can remember and I just recently discovered Oribe products—all amazing—but the Surfcomber Mousse is exceptionally so. I just put it my hair after I take a shower at night, go to sleep with my hair wet and in the morning my hair has just the right amount of gritty texture and wave (although my real dream is to get a perm, this’ll do for now). Love the idea of body oil as a moisturizer and I have this great one that smells like roses and earth and makes me feel like I should be at the beach but I like the ease of lotion and I’ve been feeling Kiehl's Creme de Corps for a couple of years now. I also recommend Kiehl's Rare Earth Deep Pore Cleansing Masque.
on her shopping habits
Lately I’ve been doing a lot of online shopping, mostly stalking Etsy for vintage goods. Stella Dallas in Williamsburg is great too but it can be a real undertaking since there’s so much stuff in there. I usually go with a specific mission in mind. I also feel pretty lucky to know a handful of friends who are amazingly talented designers: Ilana Kohn, Aurora James of Brother Vellies, Marissa Maximo of Anaak…I love wearing their pieces. Rounding all that out, there are the usual big chain suspects: Zara, Madewell, J.Crew. And then there are the designers I covet but can never pull the financial trigger on: Rachel Comey, Apiece Apart, Maryam Nassir Zadeh, Caron Callahan etc. I’ve also been working my way up to a pair of Jesse Kamm pants—resolving to do that here really really soon. Oh! And Ace and Jig for textile amazingness.
on her favorite records
That Bon Iver album makes time stop. AA Bondy (paired with Timber Timber) is great for driving around Joshua Tree at night as the full moon rises over the mountains. Melaena Cadiz has a voice like a train. The Iron and Wine album is perfect for playing Gin Rummy in bed with a mezcal gimlet in hand—actually, it’s the perfect soundtrack for peaceful contentment.
lisa's recommended books
The Lover by Marguerite Duras, Blue Nights by Joan Didion, Sweetbitter by Stephanie Danler, You'll Grow Out of It by Jessi Klein, East of Eden by John Steinbeck
lisa's favorite movies
Cinema Paradiso, Finding Nemo, Amelie, Ain't Them Bodies Saints
lisa's favorite records
American Hearts by A. A. Bondy, Around the Well by Iron and Wine, Deep Below Heaven by Melaena Cadiz, For Emma, Forever Ago by Bon Iver
lisa's favorite places in nyc
Achilles Heel for stupidly good small plates and cocktails (and the occasional chicken/lamb/goat roast)
Alameda for the best unpretentious burger
Troost for the best backyard hang—go on a Monday for their bratwurst and sauerkraut night
Acapulco diner for huevos rancheros
Porter James = furniture eye candy