How Are You Doing in 2021? Pt. 1

The series, which spotlights 13 artists, has been divided into two parts.

Check the first one out below.

Colin LoCascio, Fashion Designer

Tell us a little about yourself and what you do?

I grew up in Queens, NY and a lot of my taste/aesthetic was born there as well. I studied at RISD and upon graduation, I worked for several designers/brands, and in 2020 launched my namesake label.

How would you describe your collection?

The collection is very print/color/texture heavy. I like to define it as outer-borough chic- it's slightly disoriented/misguided glamor. She's the lady in red when everyone else is wearing tan- yes that is a Fran Drescher reference!

Did you stay in NYC during the lockdown?

I stayed in NYC for first few months, and then I moved to Rhode Island, where I currently am.

What would you say was the hardest struggle for you during this pandemic?

So much of my inspiration comes from my friends, or women I see on the street, so obviously during lockdown I wasn't finding inspiration the same way. I think the pandemic has been and will continue to be, incredibly hard. I think for me, I've learned as humans, we have innate qualities to preserve and overcome and that has been inspiring.

What can we expect from you next for the next upcoming season and any plans of doing a show?

I'm working on it now, it's going to be building out a lot of the narrative I built in my AW21 collection. I'm super interested right now in working in the medium of video, I think I'm able to tell the story of the season more than a presentation/runway show, and I think I will continue to do so until it's fully safe to stage a runway show.

LustSickPuppy, Musician/Visual Artist

Tell us a little about yourself and what you do?

My name is Tommy, I’m from Brooklyn, and I’m known in these streets as LustSickPuppy. I am a musician on top of other things but that’s the main thing atm. I'm a visual artist and have love for sfx makeup and I do my best to blend that into my music so that I’m creating a whole world with weird little creatures who like to dance until they die.

How has covid affected the way you work? Are you staying creative and how?

I spend most of my time in the dark, cramped up at my computer working on music for hours. That’s kind of how it's always been but before the panny hit, everything I was making was getting spit out with the intention to perform. This, in my opinion, resulted in a lot of half-assed things that could have used more time and love. When we were first put in quarantine there was a double-edged sword of feeling like I had to stay productive but also had a massive amount of free time to let things develop as they may. I actually really enjoy that I don’t have to perform right now because I’ve spent all of last year up until now working on my next project that probably wouldn’t have had so much care and effort put into it otherwise.

Will there be a follow up to your EP this year?

Absolutely. I’m really proud of everything I’ve been working on. It’s the most honest thing I’ve made so far. This project has been my healing for me to deal with all of the bullshit and fuckery of 2020, the loneliness, the heartbreak, the intrusive thoughts, the self love and reaffirmation. It’s me and everything I’ve felt for the past year. It’s not really for anyone else but if people like it, cool.

Did you ever host any of those themed zoom parties?

I did when the pandemonium first started, but that started to feel like a chore, or an episode of Dora. It does not breed the same level of connection and interaction as a live show does where I can see and touch people, physically, emotionally. Live shows are a “performance” but these internet shows are performative, there’s a difference. I’m more honest when I’m on a stage reliving the feelings of whatever I’ve written verses playing it from my bedroom, to then close my computer and be trapped with the same dread that sludges with the days as this pandora lingers. However, I will do it for money, I GUESS.

What would you say was the hardest struggle for you during this pandemic?

Not dying and I mean that in every definition. Not letting the fear and anxiety of a deadly virus consume my every thought and action. Not letting the absolute heartbreak of the death of black people turn me completely nihilistic. Not going insane from being stuck in my room all day every day, without seeing my friends, or hug my mom. Not letting the things I cannot control kill my drive, my energy, my love for myself and others.
I will say tho, I got the opportunity to really sit with myself and with my thoughts and re-analyze a lot of my life and what’s important to me. Relationships I was fucking up, how hard I am on myself, how I could improve my well-being. I’ve definitely grown a lot over the past year that I feel like “normal” life would've distracted me from. I healed myself over and over during the past year and I’m kinda grateful for that.

Where would be your dream gig post Covid?

Probably in Japan so I can experience other cultures that aren’t American. I haven’t really thought about it because I’ve just been focusing on making it to tomorrow. Dreaming of a covid-free life will create a false sense of hope in my brain that will lead me to delusion. This is the reality at the moment and I'm taking it one day at a time. That’s what held me down from 2020 to now.

Claud, Musician

Did you stay in NYC during the lockdown? 

For the first couple months I was in Illinois at my dads house, then drove back to New York mid summer.

How would you describe your music? 

Pop songs to enjoy with a late night snack.

What can we expect to see from you next? 

A live show... soon.

What would you say was the hardest struggle for you during this pandemic? 

Learning how to be alone.  

 Where would be your dream gig after covid and why? 

Lincoln Hall in Chicago because I grew up going there.

Primo, Photographer

Tell us a little about yourself and what you do?

My name is Primo Bolo III and I’m a fashion photographer. I’m 29 years old and I’ve been living in NYC since 2010 but I’m originally from Lānaʻi, Hawai’i.

Would you say covid has deeply impacted you even more than others because you are AAPI?

More recently, we’ve been seeing the effects of 45’s racist rhetoric escalating to violent attacks on the AAPI community across the country. Lānaʻi is almost entirely AAPI and this kind of racism that we’re seeing today didn’t feel present growing up on my island like it is for a lot of AAPI individuals in other states. After this year, I’m now realizing how white supremacy has always existed systemically in Hawai’i since the moment of colonization and how it’s really affected the perception and values of all the POC locals, including myself for a long time. Now that my awareness of racial and social injustice has heightened, it’s been incredibly difficult to process all of this information and ignore it because it really is at the root of the social and financial disparities in Hawai’i.

A lot of locals back home are really living in a world of scarcity and they’re spending every single day just trying to survive. It’s the biggest misconception people in the states have of Hawai'i residents. On set, people always ask me “Why did you leave Hawai'i? It’s so nice there!” and although it is, I always have to stress the reality of what it’s like for us locals. The truth is, there isn’t a lot of money or opportunity in Hawai’i. The hospitality industry that drives our economy is centered on putting their guests first before residents. As a result, investmenting in much needed resources for our local community just doesn’t happen in the way we need it too and this leaves a lot of the residents disengaged when progress doesn’t happen. This really echoes all of the issues that have come to light since covid. I’ve been really doing my best to spread awareness and engage in meaningful conversations with other AAPI locals so that we can figure out the best way for our community back home to get engaged and activated so we can move forward towards empowerment and inact meaningful change like we have in the past.

75 years ago during “The Great Hawai’i Sugar Strike of 1946” it was the first time the multi-ethnic workforce organized and challenged the sugar plantations that controlled Hawai'i. They addressed the social and political problems at the time by crossing cultural lines and coming together to unionize against an industry that enacted racial division amongst its workers to maintain power. To me, this is the same energy we need now: Unity and Activism.

How did this sourdough bread making come about? I know it was a trending hobby in the beginning of the lockdown, but you seem to be one of the very few that's still sticking to it!?

Sourdough has always been something that piqued my interest but I was very intimidated by it at first and just didn’t know where to start. A month before the lockdown, I met another baker on set who was kind enough to share some starter with me. She walked me through each step of the dough making process and shared her recipe. On my first attempt, we made our dough simultaneously and we sent each other photos and videos during each step so that I could visually see how to handle the dough as it changed over time. Her patience really enabled me to get comfortable with the process and doing it together really eliminated all of the doubt. I’m so grateful and from that point on it became an obsession.

Fast forward a year and I’ve really found so much of my joy in sourdough. There’s a lot of beauty in it and the timing aspect really forces me to take things slow which was such a contrast to my life before lockdown--especially in our industry. It’s been very therapeutic for me and for a lot of people watching my bread stories on instagram. This past January, I finally decided to create an instagram account dedicated to my bread and it has been such a fun avenue for creation. It really highlights my scoring abilities and bread designs which are inspired by my experiences growing up in Hawai'i. Home has been such a bountiful and authentic source of inspiration for me and it’s really allowed me to reconnect with my roots though my bread. It’s elevated the beauty and process of my sourdough for me and it feels like it’s become a love letter to Lānaʻi. I’m really proud of it and I really love sharing it with everyone.

What would you say was the hardest struggle for you during this pandemic?

I think my mental headspace has really been challenged throughout the pandemic. Previously, my disposition was very much coming from a glass half full perspective but since last summer I’ve been put in a position where I was forced to confront a lot of feelings and emotions I never noticed before. Like I mentioned before, the pandemic has brought about a new level of awareness and consciousness surrounding systemic racism, social injustice and inequality, and even privilege that I can’t unsee. I spent a lot of time looking inward and I’ve dedicated a lot of energy into understanding my emotions more.

I’m also noticing and protecting my joy and that has really helped me recenter during all of this uncertainty and craziness.

How has working on-set in the fashion industry changed for you?

The racial disparities and the need for accountability within our industry are very much at the forefront of everyone's mind. In the past, I always felt like we never had the space to explore these topics in conversation on such a larger scale but now it’s almost impossible to not discuss what’s going on in an honest way. I’ve had the opportunity to really engage in these conversations with models, stylists and other colleagues on set more recently. I think these conversations lend to unity, growth, and connection. It’s so easy to feel like a machine doing what we do because there's such a push for the bottom line. But I think taking the time to speak on these issues and share how our own experiences really introduces a bit of humanity into our space. For me, it acts as a moral compass for how we choose to treat others while we navigate our careers and boundaries going forward.

Post Covid, where would be your dream place to travel to?

Although it would be amazing to travel anywhere in the world, I have been dreaming a lot about being back in Hawai’i. It’s been such a long time since I’ve been home and I really want to take a moment to reconnect with the mountains, the ocean and all the locals on a personal level again. During the lockdown, all the locals got to experience home in such a special way. For the first time, there were no tourists and everyone felt like the environment had a moment to reset. I really wish I had the opportunity to experience home in that way.

DJ FREEDEM, DJ

Tell us a little about yourself and what you do?

I'm a creative and effective individual. Djing is my specialty, but as a creative, I can do a lot of what is asked of me.

Besides producing music, we see you have a huge passion for plants..how did that come about?

It came from a place of wanting to learn and tackle something new. It also came from a place of hurt; I was in the process of healing from a dark moment, but aren't we always in the process of healing from something?

Would you say you have changed a lot as a person since covid hit?

I have had a lot of time to sit, think, meditate, heal, relax, lower my blood pressure and get better in tune with my goals, dreams and hopes and skills. So yes, I would say that I've changed a lot.

What would you say was the hardest struggle for you during this pandemic?

The hardest struggle for me during this pandemic was trying not to feel like I had to keep up with my peers who were still making a lot of big moves and having major moments. I learned that it's okay to go at your own pace and take the scenic route, which I came to realize I was already doing.

 Whats next on the music agenda?

There was a time where I was putting out mixtapes like crazy, back to back to back like most Djs do when they're first getting started. I want to get back into the habit and rhythm of putting out more mixtapes regularly like (my) old days.
 

Post Covid...What’s a dream place you have always wanted to visit and why?

I would really like to go to London. I've done a few projects and collaborations with brands and entities in London. So it make sense for me to go out there to network and expand further.

Mecca Allah, Model/Movement Artist

Tell us a little about yourself and what you do?

I am an AfroLatino Model, Movement Artist and Creative based in Brooklyn New York.

Are you from NY?

No but it feels like home. I’ve been here for 6 years and would always come in the summers as a kid for dance programs. I’m from Philadelphia so very close.

A lot of people left the city last year, what made you stay?

I initially went to Philly when Covid first started for a couple months but then I came back. I love the City, it keeps me going and It’s the only place I see myself within the U.S.

What was something new that you learned about yourself during this Covid period?

I learned that I definitely was overworking myself prior. I have reintroduced taking time for self, but also expressing gratitude. When Covid first started it was right around when Ramadan started which for those that don’t know Ramdan is a very sacred month- practicing compassion, patience, self improvement, and ofcourse getting closer to a higher power so it all aligned and slowed me down in a good way.

What would you say was the hardest struggle for you during this pandemic?

The hardest struggle for sure is being away from family. Half of my family is in Philly and the other half Senegal and I miss them all!  

How would you describe your dancing/movements?

Playful, curious, experimental and just open to what comes to my body and mind in the moment. 

Would you say your dance moves have changed since Covid happened?

Yes, I’ve definitely explored my body more outside of just structured movements.   

Post-Covid where would you go on a dream holiday destination?

Probably Thailand- They have some beautiful beaches and bodies of water that I would love to swim in and I’d also love to visit the Elephant Sanctuary.

Clothing for subjects provided by: WAH WAH, Nanushka, Social Work, Reike Nen, Chloe, Collina Strada, Wandler, NOTTE Jewelry, YANYAN, Victor Li, Bottega Veneta, Bode, Dries Van Noten, JW PEI

Culture

Alain Levitt’s Time Capsule of Early Aughts NYC (2000-2005)

Amanda Lepore, Alain Levitt

Beyond the exhibition, Alain’s book of the same name, available May 1st, acts as a time capsule, a snapshot of what he and his friends were getting into back then — figuring their lives out, meeting people, making memories and now, reminiscing on what was. Today, walking through Dimes Square where his and his wife’s restaurant, Bacaro, has become a premiere meeting hub for the neighborhood's youth, Alain recognizes that while “it’s such a different world,” youth is still the same.

“Young people are young people, man. It’s different being older and not really understanding what’s going on. I don’t fully feel like I’m part of it in the same way… but I love it and it seems the same, but one thing I see is it’s more colorful, it’s animated, and everything seems kind of to an extreme that I really love.”

When Bacaro first opened in 2007, there was no Dimes Square. He likens the emergence of the neighborhood to “the beginning of Williamsburg when that kind of popped off and all of a sudden, if you went down Bedford, it was just young people everywhere and everybody was dressing outrageous.” Back then, congregating in Bedford symbolized a communal rejection of Manhattan. What Levitt witnesses in Dimes, a neighborhood that’s become a bit polarizing amongst New Yorkers, is “more or less the same thing” — though the object of its rejection seems yet to be defined.

Perhaps it’s more of an acceptance — of indulgence, of being part of something, of embracing the past, keeping alive this idealized perception of NYC.

left to right - Ryan McGinley, Dan Colen, Kenji Ukigaya, Dash Snow

When Alain moved out here in the ‘90s, his older sister Danielle gave him a camera. At that time, he didn’t consider himself a photographer. He was just a younger brother emulating his older sister, who was shooting street photography and fashion parties for the Post. Alain recalls “showing up to Max Fish and being gently made fun of for his oversized paparazzi rig.” For his second job, Alain was working as a bar-back at The Cock and The Fat Cock (now known as The Hole), giving him “a front row seat to a wild NY that was quickly being choked out by Mayor Giuliani.”

On one of his first nights, he was assigned to the back room at The Cock, where patrons would do whatever drunk people do in the dark. As a kid “brand new to New York” flashing a light on people, he realized that suddenly, his life was completely different. And it was exciting. “I made more money than I could have ever imagined. I was working minimum wage jobs coming from LA, at movie theaters and all this other shit. In NY, I was able to live off two days a week which gave me room to do everything.”

Eventually, Alain started shooting for Nylon, PAPER, V Magazine, and other publications on his days off. Though they didn’t fully feel like a part of that world, he and his friends (skaters, graffiti artists, ravers, the trifecta of '90s subcultures) disrupted the fabric of the fashion scene. Reminiscing on some of those moments, he tells us, “Our group would show up at the fashion parties and make our presence known, even though they probably didn’t think we belonged there, that maybe we hadn’t earned it yet.”

left to right - Ryan McGinley, Chloë Sevigny

Then, Alain found his community on the Lower East Side, “Alife by day, Max Fish at night,” and “after starting a bi-weekly party, with Spencer Sweeny, at The Hole, planted his seed in the downtown scene.” The world that Levitt found himself navigating in his early years in New York City wasn’t new, it was itself a continuation of the pseudo-renaissance that emerged downtown in the ‘60s and again in the '70s and again in the subsequent decades. “It’s almost like a 10-year cycle and one good thing about New York is that it lets you be young a little longer. We were coming out here thinking about the CBGB’s era.”

And when looking through Alain’s photos, while humming with an inherent sense of nostalgia, it feels as if these images could’ve been taken yesterday. Skateboarding, bands playing one-off shows in dingy music venues, gallery openings that pour out onto the block, it’s all still here, just slightly different. While the internet has made us more connected, and distractions more frequent, much of what was, still is. And for Alain, there’s an innate resilience to this culture of “youth”, a culture somehow driven by a shared dysfunction. “Living in New York is so hard, rents are high, the weather is hard. It can be amazing but you have to put up with all this other bullshit to get the best out of it. You have to be willing to suffer. The people that I knew and the people that I connected to and was around — there was always a certain amount of fucked-up-ness we all shared.”

The people that I knew and the people that I connected to and was around — there was always a certain amount of fucked-up-ness we all shared.

left to right, Dash Snow, Kunle Martins (Earsnot)

Whether seeking self-discovery in New York City, escaping a toxic family, or generally curious to explore the city’s burgeoning underbelly, people here find their own, often forming surrogate families along the way. Levitt’s book, and the photographs on display at WHAAM! exemplify that family isn’t always clean-cut and you might bond with a person you’d least expect to: on the train, at a bar, laying on the grass at Seward Park, skating at Tompkins, or having a plate of squid ink pasta at Bacaro before heading to Le Dive for some overpriced house wine.

In the most ordinary moments, the greatest ideas and connections can spring to life and this was true even then. “I imagine creativity drives a lot of this,” Levitt says. “There’s a thread that we saw and maybe even idealized New York City to be.” It’s a thread that this generation hasn’t seemed to let go of: “I feel like my book shows our moment of coming into ourselves and now the kids today are doing it themselves. In 20 years, there’ll be a record of their time that the next group of kids will be looking at. It might not be the same, but the roots are.”

From Tim Barber, a former photo editor at Vice who edited the book, to Jesse Pearson, former EIC at Vice, Su Barber (Tim’s sister), Mike Piscitelli from Fucking Awesome and skateboarder Jason Dill, everyone involved in the book “from the editors down to the publisher was there in our circle, and pretty much all in the book too.” To Alain, everyone in the book was of equal significance, whether celebrity Chloe Sevigny or Marc Razo of Max Fish, who Alain recognizes as “a loving, wonderful person who’s been in the downtown scene forever.”

“Some of those people have definitely become legendary, which is awesome,” says Levitt. “But with them, it’s like me, I felt special to be there. I wanted to be with these people and we all had all of these lofty ideas of ourselves that were shattered over time. I think it’s good to break through those delusions of grandeur and get a real sense of what the world is. But at that moment, it was pure. We all thought we were special.” And maybe we still do.

NYC 2000-2005 is on view April 18 - May 25, 2024 at WHAAM! at 15 Elizabeth St # 113, New York, NY 10013.

Culture

At Planned Parenthood's Annual Gala, Megan Thee Stallion Shines Bright

April 18, 2024

Under one of the first truly warm evenings of New York’s spring season, guests, organizational supporters, and a grab-bag of celebrities (who saw Molly Ringwald?) gathered at Cipriani’s South Street outpost to ring in another year of action and advocacy.

In a regressive landscape that has recently seen the rollback of the right to protest in three states, as well as the upholding of arcane abortion legislation in Arizona, Planned Parenthood’s call to action is eerily more apt than ever.

At an interactive exhibit during the cocktail hour, Judy Chicago’s interactive work, produced in partnership with DMINTI, invited guests to share their voices during an urgent time in the fight for free bodies. Participants in the videos will become a permanent piece of the historic artwork as it travels worldwide on tour.

By Sam Falb
Photography by Nikki Burnett

After guests settled into their seats, the night’s honorees Patricia Arquette and Megan Thee Stallion lauded the organization’s work and the manifold ways it has affected their lives for the better. Overcome with emotion, Megan accepted the Catalyst for Change Award, in recognition of her choice to advocate for bodily freedom and sexual liberation through her platform, and inimitable tracks like Plan B.

“Planned Parenthood has been a leader while abortion rights are under attack. Y’all are the true heroes,” Megan shared in her acceptance speech. “I’ve always known that I have a bigger purpose than just being a musician, and to speak up when people need our help.”

The second of its kind, the gala celebrates the work of the organization while honoring particularly devoted advocates, hosting an auction to raise funds for annual operating costs, and rounding out with an afterparty featuring host Patia of Patia’s Fantasy World, and DJs including Boston Chery and river moon.

“They’ve been there for me and a lot of my friends, especially when I first came to this country and needed healthcare,” Moon said. When the lights went down and guests trickled out onto the street, the event’s urgent appeal was in clear and energizing focus, primed for a productive year ahead.

Culture

“This is the most cracked-out shit I’ve ever been to”: Inside Harmony Korine's EDGLRD Party at Elsewhere

April 17, 2024

When do Travis Scott fanboys hang out with BDSM gear-wearing leather heads? At Harmony Korine’s Tuesday night party at Elsewhere, where EDGLRD, Korine’s multimedia design collective, screened their latest film, AGGRO DR1FT. It’s an acid-bath wet dream of luxury cars, gore, and strippers in chain mail — a Miami take on the classic Korine narrative. The film says it best: “There is magic in this brutality. I am mesmerized by it. Right in front of my eyes, we are turning into animals.” With the film’s minute-long beheading scene and a confused Travis Scott asking, “Julius Caesar wrote the Bible?” we were primed to party with that same “magic brutality.”

Between the bored strippers, fashion fanatics, and the guy in the booth with AraabMuzik conspicuously rubbing his nose, not an ass was left unshaken. Everyone wanted to be “the belle of the EDGLRD ball” — evident through the girls trying to be the next Korine muse, fancying him a sort of new-age Warhol. Amidst airborne dollar bills and monster masks, all were pleasantly surprised when Korine’s DJ set had that same animalistic feel as AGGRO DR1FT. A guest's sprained ankle serves as a testament to the fact that Korine’s DJing goes as hard as his filmmaking.

By Izzy Capulong
Photography by Liv Solomon

We got some input from partygoers — some anonymous, some less so.

Anonymous — The film was like a three-hour-long trailer for GTA 6.

Anonymous 2 — We’ll call tonight, “Harmony Korine’s goon cave.”

Aidan — I came here kind of old-new to New York, and I haven’t lived here in eight years, but I’m here again and this is the most cracked-out shit I’ve ever been to.

office — In a good way or a bad way?

Aidan — Always good.

Claire — It’s a rare evening that you find yourself the perfect amount of drunk to be in the space that you’re in, but I happened to experience that tonight, so for me, it’s pure Nirvana. But they stopped playing All Star mid-song. That was upsetting. But at one point in the evening, a rogue, brave woman got herself on stage and took her titties out.

Girl with her tits out — This is the future of cinema.

Tyler — The last time I partied at Elsewhere was 2018. Harmony Korine brought New York back.