Somehow, this downtown treasure managed to escape my attention. At least, until last weekend! As I headed uptown from Canal Street, taking side-streets in an effort to avoid Broadway, I walked right by it. Something was gleaming in my peripheral vision, so I turned, & came face-to-face with an enormous painting of Saturday Night Fever-era John Travolta in the window! I stopped & gawped for a minute, then realized that the painting was surrounded by incredible vintage clothing. As if pulled in by a tractor beam, I walked into the store… & gasped.

Allan & Suzi is a genius mix of truly unusual vintage pieces & new designers. The shop contains a fantastic menagerie of fashion history, & is merchandised in a relaxed, unpretentious manner. It’s sort of like stumbling into your mother’s closet, if your mother had been a regular at Studio 54. Allan & Suzi have dressed Madonna, Naomi Campbell & RuPaul; they have primped & preened the likes of Betsey Johnson, the cast of Sex & The City, & Boy George.

From wicked platform boots to golden Mickey Mouse ear hats, this shop has everything you could possibly want, & then some. I spotted seriously bizarre hats, severely bedazzled sunglasses, & a dress worn by Sarah Jessica Parker in Sex & The City. You can only imagine the kind of woman they dress… or buy from!

Allan & Suzi — both the shop itself & the proprietors — are truly infamous among the vintage crowd in New York City. They’ve been in the business for 24 years, which is long for fashion, but even longer for New York! Their original store was on the Upper West Side, & they moved downtown about a year ago.

I didn’t have the pleasure of meeting Suzi, but Allan is certainly an unusual character. Aged 70, sporting his large, trademark sunglasses, & with his blonde hair sticking up & out, he’s hard to miss. Allan is also a straight-shooter. If he likes you, he’ll chat to you for hours, frequently patting you on the arm & leading you all over his magnificent store. If he doesn’t like you, well, the Yelp reviews speak for themselves. In fact, the title of this post is taken from one of them!

Allan’s grumpiness verges on legendary. A regular customer of his even created a children’s book detailing the A-Z of things that annoy Allan!

He admitted to me, somewhat sheepishly, that their old location, on the Upper West Side, brought out the worst in him. “This is like a breath of fresh air,” he said of the new premises. “The people down here are so different — it’s just what I needed.”

Hopefully, he will continue collecting, consigning, & castigating careless customers for a long time to come!

Words by Gala Darling (@galadarling). Photos by Lydia Hudgens (@lydiahudgens).

In the lobby of West Hollywood’s Andaz Hotel, Allison joked about continuously breaking her Kindle as Catherine told her somber tale of someone beating her to the house she had planned on moving into. The girls explained that listening back to their earlier tunes makes them proud of how far they’ve come and that being role models to artists who haven’t made it yet has it’s pros and cons.

Is it difficult to be in a band with your sister?

Catherine: It can be difficult but I think it’s difficult to be in a band with anyone. And we’ve been doing it for so long and we’re kind of forced to make it work because we’re siblings and we can’t say, “Oh I never want to see you again!”

Allison: Well we could…

Catherine: We could but we figured out a way to kind of work thru our differences and make it work.

Do you live together?

Catherine: We did for the past year in London but usually no.

Allison: We fight much less when we don’t live together. Right?

Catherine: Oh yeah [laughs].

Are you pretty similar or are you opposite of each other?

Allison: People that get to know us say that we’re really different but I think it’s hard for me to tell you how we’re different.

Catherine: But we definitely are different.

Allison: It’s the way we process things.

How old were you when you both started singing?

Catherine: I think 4 and 6.

Were you always singing together or did you ever have your own individual projects?

Allison: For a minute each of us has done something, but mostly together.

Is it true that “Thirteen Tales of Love and Revenge” was going to be your last music effort?

Catherine: That was going to be our last effort together and we decided to split up. Then the bass player from Coldplay called us and wanted to work with us so we got back together.

What was your plan B if that didn’t work out?

Allison: Solo projects.

How did you guys hook up with Guy Berryman from Coldplay?

Catherine: I met him in New York thru an ex-boyfriend years ago and he heard our music and really liked it and we kind of stayed in touch thru that. Whenever he’d pass thru New York, he’d call and see what we were up to. He wanted to hear our new demos and he wanted to start a production company so we ended up making this last record together.

Was your record one of the first that he made with his new company?

Catherine: Yeah we were!

So you grew up in Alabama and moved to New York and now live in London?

Allison: We’re done with London.

Catherine: I think I’m gonna move to LA. I was just looking at houses yesterday and I got rejected for the house I wanted.

Allison: Did he say why?

Catherine: He said somebody had checked it out first or something. Oh my God the house was amazing and I loved it. I’m so so sad. I just found out.

Are you both going to move to LA?

Allison: I’m not sure yet. I kind of want to move to Nashville. I’m trying to decide if I want to split my time between the two.

What was the biggest thing you had to get used to with living in London?

Catherine: The fact that you can’t get great food whenever you want it. In New York, you can get whatever you want to eat at any hour or delivered to your home. In London you really have to search out good food.

Allison: But after 10pm, that’s it.

Catherine: Some of the food is so bad. It’s like they don’t have any passion for food.

Allison: It’s getting better. There is amazing food there but you have to find it. The fish and chips are good but not something like a sandwich.

Catherine: You go somewhere and order a sandwich and it’s like 2 dry pieces of bread with butter and a thick layer of cheese. And it’s cold.

Allison: Stay away from Ranch dressing there too!

Catherine: They have this thing called salad cream.

Allison: It’s like miracle whip but sweeter and like a dressing.

Catherine: Oh it’s so disgusting. You’ll order a salad and it’s covered in it.

Do you get compared to a lot of other sisterly duos like The Veronicas?

Catherine: Not really The Veronicas. We get compared to anything that just has 2 women in it – Heart, Fleetwood Mac, Mamas & Papas, The Bangles…

Allison: Bananarama.

When you listen back to your earlier albums? What goes thru your head? Do you feel like you’ve come a long way?

Allison: Yes, especially live – I feel like I’m most proud of how far we’ve come. I have a fondness for the early records…

Catherine: I don’t!

Allison: But you wish you could go back and know what you know now.

Catherine: I think we were just young and kind of naive and we would play out in coffee shops with a guitar and suddenly the concept of having other instruments on a record was foreign to us. Anything kind of blew our mind like, “ooh there’s a drumbeat on there.” We just didn’t know what we wanted and now we’re more specific and more aware of what we want.

Do you ever play any of those old songs live or are they locked in the vault?

Allison: We play some songs from the last record. The other songs are locked in the vault.

Catherine: I was thinking the other day about if we’d ever bring those out… probably not!

Allison: The only way is if for some reason they started selling again and people became familiar with them but not right now. It would probably be fun to revisit them and make them new.

Catherine: Especially the production.

Do you see yourselves as role models to other artists that have been at it for a long time and are ready to throw in the towel?

Allison: Yeah. I guess when you put it that way. There aren’t that many people that have been doing it as long as us without major success so yeah.

Catherine: But I do think we might give false hope to a lot of people too who might be like, “Oh look at them. They made it after 10 years!”

Allison: I remember seeing Behind The Music with No Doubt and they were doing it for 10 or 11 years before they had that first record hit. I was so inspired by that and that gave me a lot of hope. I think Lucinda Williams also did it for a really long time before anyone knew who she was. Justin Bieber – it took him so long to make it where he is now.

Catherine: Never Say Never! He seems like such a sweet kid.

Allison: And then that whole scandal came out about him possibly impregnating that girl and I was like, “I am going to be upset if this is true.”

I remember when Jessica Simpson had that promise ring and “wasn’t having sex…”

Allison: And Britney.

Catherine: We have promise rings too.

Allison: We promise we’re having sex.

Do you guys ever feel pressure from your managers to say that you don’t have boyfriends because it makes the fans like you less?

Catherine: Every once in a while someone will say, “Oh don’t say you’re in a relationship.” I’m like, “We’re adults.” It’s not like we’re teen heartthrobs where we need to keep the fantasies alive. Adults know that even if you’re in a relationship that it might not last so if they really want a shot with you to just wait it out.

Is there anything else that we should know about you guys?

Allison: We’ve given you all the information that you can handle right now so…

Catherine: We’re highly intelligent. We have great taste.

You break a lot of Kindles…

Allison: Well mine broke and then my mom stepped on the one that they replaced so then she gave me a new one for Christmas and I need a new case for it.

Catherine: Well the case obviously helped a lot!

Allison: I’m so upset. I live off this thing.

What book are you reading on there right now?

Allison: Oh like a million! But I think at the moment I was reading “The Heart of Tantric Sex.” If you must know…

Words by Nicole Pajer (@NicolePajer). Photos by Catie Laffoon (@CatieLaffoon)

You seem very influenced by scenes like roller derby, burlesque, and rockabilly. How does subculture influence your art?

Paige: Growing up in the suburbs of Maryland in that dark time before the internet, I desperately wanted to be cool. I’ve always skipped around subcultures dipping my toe in various scenes all through adolescence in an attempt to find myself. But I’ve always been first and foremost a big ol’ nerd with a wicked case of OCD when it comes to my obsessions, so I always treated each different subculture that I monkey-barred to and from as almost like a costume of different characters I was trying to be.

Paige: I’d also explore different subcultures in my art and creative endeavors as well, especially when I played tabletop RPG’s in high school like Vampire: The Masquerade and Shadowrun. As the Dungeon Master/Game Master/HBIC/whatever they call it I would have to create several characters for my player characters to interact with and any subculture at the time I had a slight interest in I’d have a character be a part of, who would require an illustration to show what they looked like to the players and mostly just served as an excuse to draw a cool outfit. I’ve also always had a love of crazy clothes and good music, which really is the basis for so many subcultures floating around. The best way I can express my love of them is through my artwork.

You frequently appear at conventions, dressed almost like one of your characters. How do you find this sort of socializing and interaction with fans?

Paige: I’ve been going to conventions for over 12 years, starting in 1998 at Otakon, an anime convention in my hometown of Baltimore. I’ve always been one for dressing up, from Halloween to Rocky Horror to goth clubs and getting into cosplay was yet another outlet for me. Plus at conventions people actually KNEW and appreciated who I was dressed up as, unlike at Halloween. Plus the pictures and attention especially as a nerdy, awkward late bloomer just coming in to her own sexuality was intoxicating. The first guy I ever had sex with I met dressed as a Pikachu. I had my John Hughes-esque prom queen moment of the slow descent down a staircase with all eyes on me dressed as the Baroness from G.I. Joe in a hotel lobby during Katsucon. So I cosplayed for a good 6-7 years before I realized I should probably start getting serious about attending conventions as a professional, since editors don’t tend to take you seriously at portfolio reviews when you’re drunk and high in a Sailor Moon costume. I had my first Artist Alley table at Baltimore Comic Con 07 and as the years have progressed my outfits have gotten crazier and crazier. I’m basically my own booth babe. Sometimes I do get the semi-patronizing “you did these all by yourself?” from random passerby, but also I kinda take that as an off-handed compliment at the same time. I’m like one of those deep sea fish with the dangly light-I lure folks over to the table, then chomp on them with my art. I’m kind of starting to see myself as almost like the Christina Hendricks of the comic book industry. Which I’m totally fine with.

Is there a “type” of Paigey girl you draw?

Paige: The Paigey girl, like myself, has evolved over time. A lot of people say that I look like my artwork, or that my artwork looks like me, I’m not entirely sure where one begins and ends sometimes. I think it’s always been that I draw the kind of girl I’d want to live vicariously through. Now it’s these perpetually giddy girls with hips and thighs and tummies and smiles that are dancing and eating bon bons and having a great old time. The stuff I do now seems to make people happy. When I see people flip through my art book or portfolio they’re always smiling, and I like seeing that.

You’ve branched out into jewelry, figurines, even lipstick cases. Tell us about making objects with your art.

Paige: Originally when I started selling my artwork I was sticking primarily to prints. But then I encountered a problem at conventions with buying stuff myself where I had bought so many prints from artists I like that I ran out of wall space. I can only assume my customers would encounter the same problem. I want to get my artwork into the hands of as many people as possible, so I try to put it on items that you would use everyday. I have several friends who are big into crafting and are generous enough to share their ideas and suppliers with me and we’ve formed a bit of a network. And especially at comic conventions, which are so male dominated, my Artist Alley tables have become known as the ‘Girlfriend Table,’ which is a slot I don’t mind filling especially at the more mainstream comic shows. I’m also collaborating with my best friend Fenny’s DIY company Little Asian Sweatshop on specially designed hairflowers, bags, wallets and eventually my own line of dresses featuring my Paigey pinups.

What’s next for you?

Paige: Next year will be a very exciting time as it will be the beginning of my first calendar year spent as a full-time freelance artist. I’m planning on expanding my fanbase as I vend more events than ever, branching out to include concerts, hot rod shows, festivals and roller derby bouts, and as always continue working my beloved comic conventions. I also plan on releasing my second artbook which will collect my artwork from 2008 until now and I also want to help a few of my other very talented artist friends get their own artbooks together as well. There also will be plenty more handcrafted products bearing Paigey artwork in the future. And as always creating newer, awesomer artwork.

Find out more about Paige Pumphrey here:

theartofPaigey.com

twitter.com/PaigeyPumphrey

facebook.com/ArtofPaigey

PaigeyPumphrey.etsy.com

Interview by Molly Crabapple (@mollycrabapple). Below showgirl pic by Aniline Black.

What inspired you to start Dances of Vice?

I wanted to create a venue where lovers of anachronism, surrealism and aestheticism could meet other like minds in an environment that celebrates creative expression, rebellion, beauty, and communitas. But the main impetus, really, was that I had just moved to New York from Montreal and wanted an excuse to meet and work with some cool people! Dances of Vice was named after Taenze des Lasters, a German expressionist film by Rosa von Praunheim about Anita Berber, the famous nude dancer of Weimar Berlin. The film thematizes the triumph of madness and creative expression over societal conventions, and DOV was inspired by the same philosophy.

What role does costume have in your life?

I’m a romantic, and costume adds a great deal to the romance in everyday life. Having good style inspires others and attracts the admiration of your peers, elevating one’s self-respect, in a way, as well. Costuming is also a way of transcending one’s material limitations/boundaries. I remember the days of being a poor student by day, but mingling with other beautiful creatures, dressed like a silent film star by night – and these experiences can be very fun and liberating.

You’re also a singer. Tell us about your musical work.

I sing Chinese jazz from the 1930-50s, the golden age of Chinese popular song, with my band, Shanghai Foxtrot. Each song is thoughtfully transcribed by the band’s leader, Matt Musselman, and delivered in a manner that is faithful to the era from which it originated. Not many people are familiar with early Chinese jazz, so I started performing with the goal of spreading appreciation for these beautiful forgotten classics.

How have Dances of Vice Events grown and changed over the years?

Dances of Vice began as a 1920-30s themed event, but given my love for the culture of different time periods from 18th Century French Baroque to 1950s rockabilly, our themes became varied and diverse over the years, attracting beauty-seekers from different scenes. It’s fantastic to see people from different groups come together in shared enthusiasm for fantasy and anachronism. Our following has grown a lot over the years, so with the support of our fans, we’re also able to put on much larger productions than we did before, at more exclusive locations.

How do you choose themes for DoV?

I have an entire notebook filled with event concepts! Most of them start with the basic idea, “I wish I could go to an event where X, Y, Z happened,” and I build a theme around that. I draw inspiration from my favorite books, movies, music.. I’ve built events that were inspired by a single song, events that celebrate a particular art culture, and so on. A lot of the time, I’m inspired by particular artists or bands I discover, because many of them have a fantasy built around them and their work that is so appealing. I simply expound that fantasy by creating an event around it and drawing other people into that world for one evening. In the end, I started doing events because I wanted to create parties I’d like to go to, and the audience and performers are all a part of that fantasy.. so, thank you all for indulging me all these years.

What’s next for you and DoV?

We have an amazing fall program lined up, starting with a Twin Peaks themed dance party on September 30th, followed by a “Tokyo Blade Runner” themed NY Comic Con afterparty on October 16th at Le Poisson Rouge, and FOUR events back to back on Halloween weekend. On 10/28 we have a vintage cartoon themed show at the Philadelphia Museum of Art for their Evening Hours program, on 10/29 we are having a large scale Victorian Murder Mystery party called “Beyond the Veil” at the gorgeous Morningside Castle, and on 10/30, we have our annual Edward Gorey themed brunch show, “PhantasmaGOREY,” at The Highline Ballroom. Last but not least, on Halloween night, plans are in the works for a glam rock musical tribute to the movie Cabaret with my partners in the group “Oh! You Pretty Things.”

Since Dances of Vice started receiving more and more attention, I’ve received requests to produce custom events for special occasions, so started my own boutique event agency, Shien Lee Creative Group (shienlee.com), where I draw on my experience in nightlife, PR and entertainment to produce themed events for other people. One of my current projects is an art fundraiser for Tibet with the Intl Network of Engaged Buddhists, to take place on November 19th at Tibet House. On the other end of things, I also have a new monthly dance party called Disko Nouveaux on the 2nd Saturdays of each month at LPR. That’s just a good old fashioned dance party to appease my appetite for the dark New Romantic. I’m involved with many different projects, and always looking forward to the next big event!

See more of Shien’s work at http://www.shienlee.com and http://www.dancesofvice.com

The Children’s Museum of Manhattan (212 W. 83rd Street)

The Children’s Museum of Manhattan, or CMOM, has been around for over 30 years, and it continues to be an amazing place for families to learn together. Their fixed exhibits, such as City Splash, where kids can learn all about the power and properties of water while having an awesome time splashing around, cater to all ages from 6 months on up! And they’re all hands-on, some messier than others, so make sure your child is in comfy clothes that you don’t mind getting dirty! Kids can not only learn about typically geeky things like math and science, but there are also hands-on art exhibits, as well as exhibits about world cultures and city living designed to help make children better citizens of the world! Each floor is specially designed for a different age level, so you can coordinate your visit by making sure you spend time on the floors that would appeal the most to your child. The staff is really helpful, the playspaces are clean and comfy, and at $11 a person, the price is very reasonable. $11 a person not in your budget? Stop by on the First Friday of the month, and you can get in free between 5pm and 8pm as part of Free First Fridays sponsored by Target. Strollers have to be checked, so it might be best to leave it back at your hotel. And the museum is wheelchair accessible everywhere except the City Splash exhibit. November brings a new exhibit called EatSleepPlay, where kids and their parents can learn how to live a healthier lifestyle together, by jumping and playing, and walking through a giant digestive system!

The New York Hall of Science (47-01 111th Street, Queens, NY)

This place holds a spot close to my heart, because it’s where I first nurtured my geeky tendencies as a kid growing up in Queens in the 80s. Since then, the New York Hall of Science has continued to flourish, and there are now over 450 permanent hands-on exhibits teaching everything from math, to biology, to physics. As New York City’s only hands-on science and technology center, it also occupies the pavilion from the 1964 World’s Fair in Flushing Meadows Corona Park. So you can get your history geek on as well as your science geek! It caters to children from pre-school on up, and while CMOM is a more appropriate place for families with babies, if your children are 3 and up, the Hall of Science has loads for them to enjoy. In addition to their exhibits, they also have daily demonstrations of everything from how air can crush a water bottle, to how flight defies the laws of gravity. I don’t know what it says about me, but when I was a kid, their Cow Eye Dissection demonstrations were always my favorite! Admissions are a bit easier at $11 for adults but only $8 for children 17 and under. It is entirely wheelchair accessible, and easily accessible from Manhattan on the 7 Train from Times Square. So, bring the kids to NYC’s most diverse borough and treat them, and yourselves, to one of the best and most kid-friendly science experiences in the city!

New York City Zoos (located in four of the five boroughs!)

Does your child love animals? Really, what kid doesn’t? The Wildlife Conservation Society, one of the first conservation organizations in the U.S., supports 5 animal parks: Bronx Zoo, New York Aquarium, Central Park Zoo, Prospect Park Zoo, and the Queens Zoo. The Bronx Zoo is definitely the biggest and the most comprehensive. It has Tiger Mountain, where the tigers can walk right up to you separated only by a glass wall! It also has all of the large animals – like giraffes and zebras, and lions – that they don’t have the space for at the other zoos. While the Bronx Zoo deserves its own special trip, the other parks can easily be paired with one of the other attractions listed above! If you’re going to the Hall of Science, the Queens Zoo is also located in Flushing Meadows Park just a hop skip and a jump away. Going to Coney Island? The NY Aquarium is right there, and a perfect place to go before or after a ride on the Wonder Wheel! The Central Park Zoo, or the “Madagascar zoo”, is a great place to spend the afternoon after a morning trip to CMOM, but don’t expect to see any lions or giraffes or hippos like in the movie. The penguins, however, are there, and they are a sight to see swimming all over their enormous tank! The Prospect Park Zoo in Brooklyn, like the Central Park Zoo, is a smallish one, but they’ve got a surprisingly wide variety of animals as well as a “Touch Pool” where kids can get their hands on horseshoe crabs, starfish, snails, etc. But make sure to pack a lunch, as this is the only zoo that doesn’t have a cafe, and they only serve the scantest of vending machine snacks in their refreshments area. Make sure to save 20% on your tickets by buying them in advance online!

Geek moms and dads, whether you’re coming to town for New York Comic Con, or simply to satisfy your personal geeky needs, New York is a very kid-friendly place!

Words by Teresa Jusino. Photos courtesy of the Children’s Museum of Manhattan, the NY Hall of Science, and the Wildlife Conservation Society.

New arrivals to the Zoo were treated to a variety of talent which spanned several genres over the course of three days. Co-founder of the New York based Fools Gold record label, Nick Catchdubs, broke the seal on the Red Bull Riverside stage, where a highly innovative stage design was ready to be shown off. The Red Bull Riverside stage, which was now a repeat visitor to the Zoo, played host to many artists whom have worked alongside the Red Bull Music Academy in the past, including Kid Sister, Egyptrixx and SBTRKT to name just a few. The French model of a current renaissance man, Busy P, was set to lead into one of the most anticipated sets of the weekend, the US debut of Ed Banger label-mate Sebastian’s LIVE set. Adding his own live instrumentation and visuals to the already impressive stage set, Sebastian’s LIVE set was greeted with a packed and anxious tent.

The cream of the dance music crop made appearances over the weekend. With the recent bleeding over of dance producers to the pop music arena, acts such as Benny Benassi, David Guetta, Afrojack, and even Diplo were able to play their recent popular productions, that when combined, include contributing vocals from Chris Brown, Beyonce, Akon and even fellow Electric Zoo performer, Snoop Dogg.

If a 12 hour party was not enough to satisfy your musical palate, official after parties were scheduled for each of the three days at the premier New York hotspot, Pacha. When Fatboy Slim, the UK electronic legend which Q Magazine listed as being one of their “50 Bands To See Before You Die”, is booked as an after-party headliner, all conflicting time and/or sleep constraints seem to disappear. A rarity in the US, Fatboy Slim played to a Pacha full of those who found themselves wide awake and ready to keep the party going until the sun forced them out for day two of Electric Zoo.

Skrillex, the poster-child of a growing demand for Americanized dubstep, joined fellow producer 12th Planet on stage during his packed Red Bull Riverside performance Saturday. Bringing an aspect to his live show that was inevitably made popular by rock music fans, 12th Planet surprised the first few rows with an intimate crowd surfing session. Add in fellow dubstep producers Excision & Datsik and your bass music fix for the weekend was met.

Stylish electro rockers Chromeo made their mark on the Sunday main stage. Sporting attire from a recent trip to Paris, P-Thugg and Dave 1 changed the gears of the main stage with their unique blend of funk and disco infused music. When asked about their upcoming tour and production agenda, Dave 1 revealed that they would be touring nonstop until entering the studio sometime in January to begin writing their follow-up to the 2010 album, Business Casual.

Closing out the Hilltop Arena on the final day of the Zoo, a back-to-back helping of Diplo and Boys Noize left a lasting impression on those who would set off back to reality once the day was over. Diplo, the DJ and producer who has produced acts ranging in sound from metal to k-pop, played a set heavy on familiar classics and introduced several exclusive tracks to which we can only hope they see the light of day. Boys Noize was up next and he proved once again as to why festivals all over the world have him close out their stages. His extensive catalogue of original productions and remixes allow for a new and exciting set every time he steps behind the CDJ’s. Towering above the crowd on a gigantic LED wall, Boys Noize seemed to be hypnotizing the dancing crowd into a nonstop mass of flesh and neon colors.

Words by Alexander Rose. Photos by Sam Allen

Pose will be giving away a $500 shopping spree to the Pose from the Independent Fashion Bloggers Conference tagged #IFB that gets the most “loves.” if you haven’t yet heard of Pose, it is a fantastic new app used to showcase your latest style finds, follow friends & trendsetters as they shop in real-time, & track the latest releases from top brands & retailers.

The IFB conference will debut the Pose for Android App and a blogger widget that allows bloggers to showcase their poses in real-time on their blog via a custom Pose widget. This follows the Facebook tab that users are applying to their fan page at no cost.

Pose is also teaming up with DKNY as their official FNO mobile partner. They will be debuting Poses from DKNY’s various worldwide stores (specifically, all poses tagged #DKNYFNO) on a custom Facebook Pose tab and will also be showcasing images captured by DKNY photographers at FNO in NYC at their Madison Avenue store in the windows of the storefront in real-time.

Also for FNO, Pose is partnering with Fashionista.com to give away $250 to the best Pose from the night. All users have to do to enter is tag their favorite FNO styles with #FNO in the message and share to Twitter or Facebook. Fashionista.com will showcase the best of the bunch on their website on Sept. 9th.

Join Pose here

Check out our recent interview with the band below:

I have to point out a line in your bio: “We are Semi Precious Weapons from New York Mother-Fucking City, and we hope you ALL GET LAID!” Is this your official advice to fans?

Justin: Oh yes. That’s great advice. I think as long as you don’t hate yourself, getting laid always ends well. If you hate yourself, getting laid can end horribly.

Just no regrets the next morning, right?

Justin: Exactly.

Justin, tell me about these gravity-defying kicks that you are known to do on stage in your custom made Stuart Weitzman heels.

Justin: They just happen. I wish I had a better story for it but it just kind of occurs.

Do you always wear the heels?

Justin: Everyday.

Same ones?

Justin: Oh no I have a couple but they are the same make. I have ones that are now covered in weave. Those look pretty natural.

 You guys are very musically trained…

Dan: I have a degree in classical composition.

Justin: I’m trained in songwriting.

Let’s talk about inspiration for your songs. I love the one line, “I can’t pay my rent but I’m fucking gorgeous.” Was that literally about just being up and coming and not able to pay your bills?

Justin: Exactly! Well we still are very up and coming and broke but we obviously spent the last year and a half touring with the biggest star in the world so that was a much different experience than normal. It was a very expensive experience and we spent all the money we got on that. The album that is out is mainly inspired by living in New York and being really broke and being fantastic and trying to have the best time possible. Really really attractive women that are extremely self destructive are also inspiring. Goats – we have a pet goat and he’s very inspiring.

You have a goat?

Justin: Yes we do. He lives in Beverly Hills. We are living in our manager’s pool house at the moment.

Cole: His name is goat. You can follow him on Twitter @SPWGoat.

Justin: He has 160 followers! The goat is going to be so much more famous than we are!

Is it true that you can domesticate a goat and even litter box train them?

Justin: You can! It just takes a lot of time because they are an angry creature. He hates our band.

Do you ever play in front of him?

Justin: All the time.

Dan: He comes on stage with us sometimes.

Does he have earplugs?

Justin: He does.

Tell me about touring with Lady Gaga. Was that absolutely surreal?

Justin: It was great. She joined us on stage at Lollapalooza. She was headlining that night and she came to our show, which was really awesome. She’s been a fan of ours since she was like a 19-year old brunette girl living in New York City; that’s how we met her, because she was a fan, and then we heard that she was also a performer so we had her open for us a couple of times in 2007 and then she became the biggest star in the world.

So you can kind of say that you helped break Lady Gaga.

Justin: Well she has said it for us so we don’t even need to quote ourselves, you can quote her! No she broke herself. She’s the hardest-working woman in the world!

Your first album was funded by sales from Justin’s jewelry line? Tell us more about the jewelry. Are you still making it?

Justin: Music is what I really care about but in terms of selling merch – obviously we sell t-shirts and stuff but we can also sell jewelry, which we have a real history with. I think our fans respond to it because it’s honest. It’s something that all of us made – over 300,000 pieces of jewelry when we lived in New York to pay our rent and to make and album and to fly to LA a bunch of times to play. We flew 6 people to London on the jewelry sales to play like 6 shows in 7 days. I think that the fact that we can also sell these necklaces now and the fans know the history and the drama and literally the blood and sweat that went into it, makes the fans feel that much closer.

And the line is also in Barneys?

Justin: Yes. It’s called Fetty. It means fucked up and pretty. It’s all sterling silver. At Urban Outfitters it’s all base metal – brass and it was at Hot Topic for a while. It’s been an amazing ride.

In 2008 in the UK, you were playing at the Death Disco Club and Kate Moss came out and danced with you. Is that what helped bring the band into the mainstream market?

Justin: That was definitely a good moment …

Dan: For a couple of people in the band!

Justin: But I think we have had an amazing really weird up and down journey to where we are right now which has involved lots of unbelievable and inspiring female musicians and celebrities and models and we are very fortunate to have all of these women think that we are awesome. Kate Moss was kind of the one to really set it all off. She kind of is the coolest woman in the world so it makes sense that Kate Moss was the one to make it happen.

Words and interview by Nicole Pajer. Photos by Dustin Downing.

She’s currently gearing up for ‘Molly Crabapple’s Week in Hell.’ During this week she will cover a hotel room in paper from floor to ceiling, essentially lock herself in the room and see what she can come up with. A few friends are allowed to visit, she plans to eat regular meals, but she will be deprived of most comforts and distractions. Many artists have gone insane gradually and on accident but during this project Molly will make a deliberate push to lose her mind. The idea is to force herself beyond her normal limits, to “draw so much that you’ve gone beyond what naturally comes to your mind, the cliches and the obvious,” she said. This girl has got some gumption and I can’t wait to see what she produces when she’s left with no inhibitions.

This list of projects that are in progress/just finished is lengthy: She just started ‘Saints and Sinners’ where she draws historical figures like Alister Crowley and Alcebiades. She just finished ‘Sixty Six Project’ where she drew 66 of her friends because she “wanted to look at my friends faces.” There is a documentary on erotic comics in the works where she is the “Elvira of the project,” (not a lot of imagination needed there) and wears a dress and points at comics. A tiny paper puppet stop motion animation (say that five times fast) called ‘I Have Your Heart,’ illustrated with Kim Boekbinder and Jim Batt is in production stages. She’s illustrating ‘Straw House,’ a graphic novel with John Leavitt where a carnival made up of infamous humans from different times in history stops in an Appalachian town and all hell breaks loose as immortality collides with folk traditions. A book about Dr. Sketchy’s Anti-Art School, the founding of which first garnered Molly so much attention (“I think artists are lonely dorks,” she said to explain the project’s success), is also in the works.

So at this point in the story most struggling artists eyes are turning as green as the Empire State Building on some holiday where they make that thing glow green. My interview takes a dramatic turn from like, “Sooo what are you doing these days?” to “Okay back up. Explain to me how you got here,” and I admit to Molly that I’m asking because I’m jealous.

She dropped out of art school at FIT, says it was a total joke, but started making a decent living as an artist by 23. She admits that between 18 and now she’s has some seriously odd jobs including many a model sittings but that the weirdest was when she was hired by a conceptual artist to whisper slowly and creepily, “This is the life,” in peoples ears as they looked at the art at PS1. So lets just say the woman has paid her dues. It’s obvious, when peering about her big, perfectly cluttered Financial District loft, that she deserves all the recognition she’s getting. She’s got finished pieces and in-progress pieces all over the place and readily admits she has no life outside of work. Plus, she gets a ton of her funding from Kickstarter, which I think is pretty rad. She raised $25,000 for the ‘Week in Hell’ project! There is a new wave of working artists out there who’ve paved a new route to success and Crabapple is leading the group. But I’d be surprised to her hear boast. “Being able to make a living in your own style is a real privilege,” she said with a calm smile. At the same time, I noticed a flash of nerve and initiative behind those big, humble eyes that let me know we ain’t seen nothin’ yet from the fabulous Miss Molly Crabapple.

Click here for more on Molly Crabapple.

Words and images by Courtney Dudley

New Year. New Music. New Favorites. ChinaShop handpicks the Women to Watch in 2011. Don’t sleep…

NAME: Sharon Van Etten
LOCATION: Brooklyn
RECORD LABEL: Ba Da Bing! Records / Jagjaguwar
WEAPON OF CHOICE: Gibson ES-135 (Her name is “Ruby”)

Simple. Sublime. Clear. Passionate. When you hear Sharon Van Etten’s voice, these are the adjectives that come to mind. Her last album, epic, was easily my Favorite Album of 2010 That I Discovered in 2011, and she’s got the ear of some of indie’s biggest darlings, including The Antlers, Bon Iver and Black Mountain. Van Etten will be playing a handful of dates in September—including a night at the Hollywood Bowl on 9/11 opening for The National and Neko Case—and her as-yet-untitled third album is set to be released by JagJaguwar in early 2012. Says Van Etten, “This recording process has been more of an exercise at letting my demos become something else, instead of ‘cleaner, bigger’ versions of my demos. More about collaborating and taking chances.” Oh, and she’s dabbling in DJing on Turntable.fm as DJ Whatever. Check ‘er out.

WHAT’S NOW: Stream the amazingly awesome “Don’t Do It” off 2010′s epic below, download it here, then try not to play it over and over again.

WHAT’S NEXT: Her third album, due in early 2012, will be produced by The National’s Aaron Dessner.

IN HER OWN WORDS
“I write and fail constantly. I try to play and write every day. You don’t have to play for something. You don’t have to write for it to be anything. Expression and having an outlet is so vital to being a communicative, open, peaceful person. It keeps me level, although I’m still learning how to be level.”

Words by Rich Thomas. Photo by Dusdin Condren.