Jordan Robin

occupation: student

“Marie Antoinette is just as punk as the hipsters and beats in the 50’s were, who are no less punk than Suicide and Iggy Pop. And isn’t it the most fascinating, worthwhile coincidence that all of these have very distinct attitudes toward style as a means of distinguishing themselves?” Jordan Robin

When I was interviewing Jordan, I was immediately drawn to her captivating, 70’s-esque natural beauty and her obsession with Vivienne Westwood’s radical reinterpretation of sixteenth and seventeenth-century clothing (I am a huge fan as well). Learning that Jordan was put to sleep everynight as a child to Neil Young, it seemed completely in line with her love for the nostalgic and sentimental aspects of life. Born in Honolulu, growing up in LA, and now living in Brooklyn, Jordan attributes much of the laid-back part of herself to a childhood in Hawaii, where they are “five years behind the times.” She says that her world, in a very good way, remains influenced by her roots. Despite living in the frenzy of the Big Apple, she is able to maintain a fairy tale-esque outlook. This can be seen as much in Jordan’s clothes as in her multiple creative endeavors. Jordan’s red cape, cloak-like dress from Opening Ceremony, and mountains of beaten up Victorian-inspired ankle boots all have a romantic quality. Her passion for enchantment and mysticism echo in her own music (she’s in a band called Cheap Champagne), her artwork (featured in her photos), and in her affection for the poet Rimbaud. A good story relating to her style and her “walk between reality and imagination” is how she found the twenty-three antique keys that she wears around her neck and on her wrists sitting on a curb in a wooden box. Had she been in “tunnel mode” and not “getting her money’s worth out of the world,” she would have overlooked them.

Daliah Heeger

occupation: professor of getting to the essence of ideas and voyeur

“You forget sometimes to just do your own thing and not care about what people think of you.” Daliah Heeger

Daliah says that she literally sweats in movies, she gets so lost in them and the imagery. I think what she means though is that she loves the feeling of empowerment that embodying a look or a character, so specifically, brings her. Disguise could be Daliah’s middle name, even though she sees right through the irony of names, words, and pretty much everything else when it comes to what it is that actually defines a person. When my scout for the site was stopped in his tracks upon spotting Daliah, he told her that it was so cool that she was from Vienna, her response was an emphatic “No,” but a very open and warm yes to us shooting her for the site. Getting dressed is Daliah’s “identity envelope – each day you can choose what you want to be.” She loves and hates fashion because she uses her aesthetic to become more of who she is, when “fashion” and it’s blind reverence of homogeneity can make you feel less of who are. At a party, Daliah would rather wear her garish flea market dress and a $3 exaggerated hair piece than fade into the sea of black. She is studying medicine and photography, but doesn’t want to be a doctor, because like everything else, she is most interested in learning. Science, art, philosophy, fashion, it’s all one big experiment in looking for the underlying ideas. If Daliah was just trying to look “pretty,” she feels she would be missing so much, and I couldn’t agree more – sometimes the ugly, weird, and ridiculous can be the pinnacle of great style.

Daliah works as a photographer for Material Girl Magazine and Indie Magazine, a model scout for Tempo Models and co-writes a blog The Pet Fan Club

Becka Diamond

occupation: student, actress, stylist and photographer

Style is the Dress of Thoughts. Lord Chesterfield

I met Becka through her friend Byrdie Bell. Becka lives in an apartment in Brooklyn that from the outside, looks more like a funky beach house in Venice, CA, a town known to be the pinnacle of bohemian chic décor. Murals in the hallway and ivy hanging all over the front porch, her entranceway is the perfect prelude to Becka, who is a whirlwind of diverse and profound interests and thus highly enlightened style. It hasn’t taken her much time in life to figure out what she calls the “core of awesomeness,” like her Rick Owens leather jacket that is sooooo worth every penny because she will wear it everyday and every year from September to June (a girl after my own heart, I do the same with my Rick, over and under everything, everyday.) Furthermore, Becka’s new addition to her impressive nucleus is her beloved Nicholas Kirkwood pump, which reveals her “super girly side, but as long as it is dark.” She’s a voracious consumer of culture and it all informs her style. Becka’s favorite biography is of Edie Sedgwick, she adores her Chloe booties because they remind her of Marianne Faithful, she loves all things French, thus her tattoo “Je t’aime,” and Joan Didion’s “The White Album” is another passion for its descriptive recollections of the notable characters of LA in the late 60’s like Charles Manson and the Black Panthers. Music is a huge influence, especially rock and roll and goth, and she has a collection of vintage T’s to prove it. David Bowie was her first crush and she has inscribed on each wrist “Diamond” and “Doll,” a play on his song “Diamond Dogs.” Becka’s love of culture and its icons has inspired her to become her own defining force of tastemaker, she has a powerful intuitive sense and never regrets a piece.

Lux Leekley

occupation: student

Lux knows what she likes, she never shops retail, except for Wolford tights, and almost always wears vintage Ferragamo shoes. She makes St John look ultra hip and she understands the invaluable distinction of a navy blazer, her little boy’s Pierre Cardin is her favorite. Lux adds rich detail, with an edge, to her vast array of vintage dresses with her french lace tights, that are nude at the top and look like thigh highs and her KiKi de Mont Parnasse gloves to the elbow (that her boyfriend gave her). There is an intense and dark beauty to her that makes her look like she stepped out of one of the many 19th century novels that she reads. Lux’s tattoo says “Non-Serviam”, from James Joyce’s “Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man”, which essentially means not to conform. The protagonist Stephen Daedalus in his decision to follow the life of the artist, telling Cranly, “I will not serve that in which I no longer believe whether it call itself my home, my fatherland or my church.” She is presently in Italy studying and lists her interests as film, photography, writing, literature, art history, anthropology, religion, and the sacred, all of which informs her style. Individualist is Lux’s middle name.

Marley Kate

occupation: fashion photographer

It takes one to know one, and Marley knows the 80’s treasures in her mom’s closet are the kind of items that we style-obsessed pray to come across on our rampages through the thrift stores. Out of her closet came boots and shoes galore of the legendary shoe designers Bennis Edwards, whose artful footwear were made in limited runs, and often one of a kind. In my opinion, Marley’s pair of black Chelsea ankle boot’s are understated, and at the same time, the perfect statement, and suddenly kills any desire of mine for anything of the moment. Then there are the stunning embroidered Norma Kamali leggings, that Marly makes look so modern in suede fringe ankle boots and a white rabbit coat. She is a fashion photographer whose images, like her, are very natural, upbeat and girly, with a coyish mystery. Marley could be in the magazine pages that she shoots for in her silk teddy, pink thigh highs and Doc Martens.
Check out Marley’s Blog and Photography