Concept: Knife pleats/Issey Miyake

Once upon a time in late 2006, I really needed a job. I hopped on Craigslist, blindly sent out a couple of resumes, sat back and watched the replies roll in. One such interview opportunity came from Soho’s own Pleats Please by Issey Miyake store. Why would anyone want to wear that many pleats?, I asked myself, unable to shake the image of Alicia Silverstone in Clueless from my head. So I never responded. And now I am regretting it. Not only have I discovered how the high-fashion futuristic feel of tiny knife pleats is about as far as one can get from looking like a “Baby One More Time” video reject; I have also learned that the construction of tightly-pleated fabric allows it to stand up and out in a way that wouldn’t otherwise happen with the same material components! Plus, the brand name is polite! Check out how Miyake’s pieces are made!

I know not everything I write about will be wearable or, mostly, affordable, for most college students, or most people. But, if you’re willing to try, there are probably plenty of look-alikes available at your local thrift shop. I just picked up a metallic blue crumpled/pleated dress at The Vintage Thrift Shop in Flatiron and a to-die-for black pleated scarf from Reminiscence in Chelsea. The aforementioned aren’t even wildly-priced designer vintage spots, but mid-to-low-priced stores, devoid of pretentious waif-like salesgirls to boot. SVA students, I hope you’re listening! Read More »

[Read the second installment HERE]

A few days later, I received a friendly e-mail from Jack. He informed me that I’d be hearing from an internal HR recruiter in the next couple of days. I also noticed that he was now available for chat on my Gmail account.

“No harm in that, right?” I asked Jason.

“Sure. Who cares?” He replied.

So after I heard from the recruiter, Jack and I chatted here and there – nothing special or even personal, just friendly banter about this and that. But things quickly took on a different tone, although subtle, I began to wonder about Jack’s motives. He was ecstatic when he found out that Liz, the HR recruiter, had called me. As soon as I told him over chat, our “chat conversation” proceeded as such:

Jack: digits? your digits?!? also may i suggest that you wear a highly professional business suit for the occasion?
me: why do you want to call? and of course i’ll wear a professional suit, silly!
Jack: what do you mean why??? i wanna talk about this over the phone!
me: ok. . . sorry

Before I had a chance to turn my head away from my computer monitor, my cell phone cried BZZZ! BZZZ! BZZZZ!

“So what’s up?” Read More »

Strong women are hard to find – at least, they are in movies and TV. The roles offered to women in mainstream entertainment tend to fall into an alarmingly narrow range: victim, wet dream, and killer bitch, with a long-suffering wife or girlfriend thrown occasionally into the mix. These parts are not only far from aspirational, they have little or nothing to do with the realities of the women who watch them.

Now, here’s the good news. Though they’re not easy to come by, great female characters do exist: tough, smart, funny, complicated women, who give normal girls something to shoot for, or at least allow us to indulge in some quality couch time without sacrificing our souls to the dark altar of the Chick Flick.

Here, a roundup of recent favorites.

4. Veronica Mars, Veronica Mars

Veronica Mars – the sharp, sarcastic teen detective at the center of the WB’s much-beloved (and cancelled) series by the same name – triumphed over her show’s painfully cute premise to become one of the best female characters in recent years, due in large part to a fantastic performance by Kristin Bell. The writing didn’t hurt, either; Veronica worked several startlingly dark cases, including her own date rape, but she was never portrayed as a victim, and the show’s witty, self-aware dialogue kept it from dissolving into melodrama. Read More »