The Item: 321g Beige Suede shoe by Gram

I think this 321g shoe is perfect for spring and summer time wear (I'm thinking pleated shorts + t-shirt with the sleeves slightly rolled up). I've been consistently impressed with Gram and they hit the mark once again.

321g Beige Suede shoe by Gram

The Zombies- Summertime

SXSW 2009 Recap

En route to Rusty Spurs to see The Twelves: I didn't catch this band's name, but they are from Oklahoma, the lead singer's voice is so sweet, and I felt kind of dirty watching them perform. I expect nothing less from SXSW.

SXSW made me feel guilty and gluttonous this year. Usually I'd welcome those feelings on a weekend , but South by South West is ridiculous in that it's an endurance test and I'm positive I was having more fun than most of my friends. I volunteered during the Interactive and Film portion of SXSW, but my 10 day routine was the same, but not. I'd wake up at 10am and put my self together, making sure I looked the part to last me from the afternoon to the late evening. After my shift was over, I'd head out to the streets with crew I volunteered with, hopping from party to party. Considering I planned out every day of SXSW and had my iPhone to navigate, I was indispensable. I volunteered from Thursday, March 12th to Tuesday, March 17th and I was 3 hours away (70 hours needed) from earning a platinum badge. Regardless, the music badge was my ticket to free food + booze and helped me jump the line in front of wristband holders throughout the music part of SXSW. I must give thanks to Zone Perfect for handing out all of those free energy bars, a literal life saver from complete inebriation.

The first band I managed to see was Those Darlins on Tuesday. I finally had my music badge on me and after my shift, I ended up at the BMI BBQ Party at Stubb's. The RSVP was strict for that party, but lucky I was able to get in with the group I was with during the day. Chowing down on some BBQ with a beer in hand, I was ecstatic when the announcer introduced Those Darlins. It was an unexpected happening, which marked the start of a hardcore week.

Those Darlins (picture taken at The Tap Room)

I forget exactly when, but some time during SXSW I was able to check out the Flea Market Sale that American Apparel was throwing. I only went once considering it was a pain to carry around my purchases all day. I bought just a few things (a Legalize Gay t-shirt in raspberry, matte faux leather hoody, and a black elastic headband I'm using to wrap around my arm because I like to look like a heroin addict).

American Apparel Flea Market

From Wednesday to Sunday was the music festival, but I skipped out the last day. It really didn't matter because on Sunday only a handful of bands played in the morning. I managed to see my top 5 on my music list: Ladyhawke, The Golden Filter, Littleboots, Casiokids, and N.A.S.A. So SXSW ended with me as a happy little music enthusiast.

Ladyhawke


The Golden Filter lead singer.


Little Boots

N.A.S.A. The last song of the set, N.A.S.A. asked for the audience to come on stage and it was insane to dance with N.A.S.A.

There were some bands that I was so-so on, but when performance time came, I was blown away. A couple bands of note:

Natalie Portman's Shaved Head lead singer, Shaun

Janelle Monae


Ocelot

God-Des

The Perez Hilton Party was ridiculous. The line-up was amazing and the open bar was the best from all the parties I attended. The staff at the front who were checking credentials and handing out wristbands, were nice enough to let us in. I managed to snap some pictures from the party in between the dancing. At one point I spotted "the bird" from The Bird and The Bee, which was great considering I've been listening to that band non-stop. The best part of the evening was Kanye West coming on stage. I was about 2 meters from the stage and yeah... damn amazing.

Perez Hilton


Little Boots and Kid Cudi

Kanye West

Yelle

I've been relaxing since SXSW, giving my liver a break, and I really can't wait till next year.

On Repeat: The Golden Filter

I survived the interactive and film portion of SXSW and now I'm enjoying to music festival. I just finished listening to The Golden Filter. I'm for sure going to catch them again.

Levi's + FADER Fort: RSVP

The Levi's®/FADER FORT
March 18-21, 1-9pm, Location to be announced. Admission based on capacity and must be 21+
Text FORT to FADER (32337) to get Levi's®/FADER Fort updates on your mobile device

RSVP HERE

Do512 and Sweet Leaf Tea Present: The Big One 2009

Friends at Do512 + Sweet Leaf Tea are putting a day party that last through the early evening. Free w/ RSVP for 21+ only and no wristband is needed.

LINEUP:
2:30-3:00 DJ Thibault (also spinning between sets)
3:00-3:40 Alberta Cross (rock)
4-4:40 Asteroids Galaxy Tour (rock)
5-5:40 Red Cortez (rock)
6-6:40 Afternoons (rock)
7-7:40 Dead Confederate (rock)
8-8:40 BM LINX (rock)
9-9:20 Common Market (hip hop)
9:20-9:45 Blue Scholars (hip hop)
10-10:30 Mike Relm (hip hop)

Thanks goes to Kristin Owen for the info.

If you haven't check out Do512 before, it is a great place also to check out to plan your SXSW happenings. Some features include:

• Biggest list of free parties on the web, including exclusive RSVP-only events.
• Pick your official showcases, screenings, and panels listed by hour, so you don't miss a thing.
• Browse through the most comprehensive list of Official and Unofficial SXSW events on the web. Over 4500 showcases, films, panels, and parties, all ranked by popularity.
• Discover new bands. Browse recommendations from other media and bloggers, or by type of music. Check out audio, video, and reviews for over 2500 bands.
• Build a personal schedule by simply clicking on the artists you like or navigating events by hour.
• Share your schedule with friends by embedding your schedule widget on your blog or Myspace/Facebook page.
• Access your schedule anywhere--on your mobile phone or with our print-friendly version (coming soon)
• Who's hot this year? Check out recommendations and reviews from over 30 top bloggers and music media.
• Register to receive Do512's Top 10 Parties of the Day emails during SXSW week.
• Follow Do512 on Twitter (Twitter.com/Do512) for up-to-the-minute festival updates.

Check out my Do512 profile + schedule.

Etsy Finds: Black Book Bag and Red Plaid Shirt

In my quest to find that plaid blue shirt, I stumbled across some happy finds on Etsy. I found a black vinyl book bag, but I'm not sure of the label and if it's vintage. I do however have another one like it, but in brown with a change pocket in front. I bought that one in Stockholm and have loved it ever since. Speaking of Stockholm shopping, Hornsgatan is a great place for vintage browsing. Walking down that street I must have hit 5 vintages stores with one specializing in men's attire. I miss Scandinavia ;(

Another find on Etsy was this red plaid button down. I think it'll do well, might have to get it altered, but that's okay. I usually don't wear bold colors, but I thought it would be nice to start pairing a stand out piece with my dark neutrals.

Costalots: Fall 2009

I bought a pair of 83s Grey Costalots through Oak a while ago and I still love them. Costa is coming out with three new pairs sometime in the fall. It's a hard decision between the three. If I had to pick, I'd probably go for the translucent grey frames with the green mirrored lenses. Online shopping is available through the Costalots website.

Wikipedia is all knowing: Hipster

Does my vest and iPhone sticking out make me look like a hipster?
At the Beauty Bar with my BFF on the left with her gorgeous smile.
Fratelli Peluso brown shoes, Nudie Thin Finn grey coated jeans, Modern Amusement shirt, and vintage vest

I looked up "hipster" on Wikipedia and laughed, a lot.

Hipster
Hipster is a slang term which appeared in the late 1990s and 2000's to describe young, urban middle class and upper class adults and older teenagers with interests in non-mainstream fashion and culture, particularly alternative music, independent rock, independent film, magazines like Vice, Clash and Adbusters, and websites like Pitchfork Media.[1] In some contexts, hipsters are also referred to as scenesters.[2] The term is sometimes used in a derogatory manner, referring to someone who moves from trend to trend while claiming to be outside of mainstream culture.

History 1940s-1950s See also: Hipster (1940s subculture) and hip (slang)
"Hipster" derives from the slang "hip" or "hep," which are derived from the earlier slang "hop" for opium. The first dictionary to list the word is the short glossary "For Characters Who Don't Dig Jive Talk," which was included with Harry Gibson's 1944 album, Boogie Woogie In Blue. The entry for "hipsters" defined it as "characters who like hot jazz."[3] The 1959 book Jazz Scene by Eric Hobsbawm (using the pen name Francis Newton) describes hipsters using their own language, "jive-talk or hipster-talk," he writes "is an argot or cant designed to set the group apart from outsiders." Hipster was also used in a different context at about the same time by Jack Kerouac in describing his vision of the Beat Generation. Along with Allen Ginsberg, Kerouac described 1940s hipsters "rising and roaming America,... bumming and hitchhiking everywhere... [as] characters of a special spirituality."[4]

1990s and 2000s
In the late 1990s, the term became a blanket description for middle class young people associated with alternative culture, particularly alternative music, independent rock, independent film and a lifestyle revolving around thrift store shopping, eating organic, locally grown, vegetarian, and/or vegan food, drinking local beer (or even brewing their own), listening to public radio, riding fixed-gear bicycles, and reading magazines like Vice and Clash and websites like Pitchfork vogue .[1] Robert Lanham's satirical The Hipster Handbook described hipsters as young people with "... mop-top haircuts, swinging retro pocketbooks, talking on cell phones, smoking European cigarettes,... strutting in platform shoes with a biography of Che Guevara sticking out of their bags."[5] Hipsters are considered apathetic, pretentious, and self-entitled by other, often marginalized sectors of society they live amongst, including previous generations of bohemian and/or "counter-culture" artists and thinkers as well as poor neighborhoods of color.[1]

In 2005, Slate writer Brandon Stosuy noted that "Heavy metal has recently conquered a new frontier, making an unexpected crossover into the realm of hipsterdom." He argues that the "current revival seems to be a natural mutation from the hipster fascination with post-punk, noise, and no wave," which allowed even the "nerdiest indie kids to dip their toes into jagged, autistic sounds." He argues that a "byproduct" of this development was an "... investigation of a musical culture that many had previously feared or fetishized from afar.”[6]

In 2008, Utne Reader magazine writer Jake Mohan described "hipster rap," "as loosely defined by the Chicago Reader, consists of the most recent crop of MCs and DJs who flout conventional hip-hop fashions, eschewing baggy clothes and gold chains for tight jeans, big sunglasses, the occasional keffiyeh, and other trappings of the hipster lifestyle." He notes that the "old-school hip-hop website Unkut, and Jersey City rapper Mazzi" have criticized mainstream rappers who they deem to be poseurs or "... fags for copping the metrosexual appearances of hipster fashion."[7] Prefix Mag writer Ethan Stanislawski argues that there are racial elements to the rise of hipster rap. He claims that there "...have been a slew of angry retorts to the rise of hipster rap," which he says can be summed up as "white kids want the funky otherness of hip-hop... without all the scary black people."[8]

Criticism
Elise Thompson, an editor for the LA blog LAist argues that "people who came of age in the 70s and 80s punk rock movement seem to universally hate 'hipsters'", which she defines as people wearing "expensive 'alternative' fashion[s]", going to the "latest, coolest, hippest bar...[and] listen[ing] to the latest, coolest, hippest band." Thompson argues that hipsters "... don’t seem to subscribe to any particular philosophy... [or] ...particular genre of music." Instead, she argues that they are "soldiers of fortune of style" who take up whatever is popular and in style, "appropriat[ing] the style[s]" of past countercultural movements such as punk, while "discard[ing] everything that the style stood for."[9]

Christian Lorentzen of Time Out New York claims that metrosexuality is the hipster appropriation of gay culture. He writes that "these aesthetics are assimilated — cannibalized — into a repertoire of meaninglessness, from which the hipster can construct an identity in the manner of a collage, or a shuffled playlist on an iPod."[10] Lorentzen argues that “hipsterism fetishizes the authentic” elements of all of the “fringe movements of the postwar era—Beat, hippie, punk, even grunge,” and draws on the “cultural stores of every unmelted ethnicity” and “gay style”, and then “regurgitates it with a winking inauthenticity” and a sense of irony. He claims that this group of “18-to-34-year-olds”, who are mostly white, “have defanged, skinned and consumed” all of these influences “into a repertoire of meaninglessness”.[11]

(via Wikipedia)

You know who you are, hipsters.

Nudie Jeans at SXSW?

The Austinist has a great page set up displaying all the party posters and RSVP links for SXSW happenings. So, I'm going through the party posters and this one jumps out at me. Not particularly because of some crazy display, but because Nudie Jeans is sponsoring the Little Radio event. I'll admit that my eyes light up and I get all gitty (the free Bloody Mary's might have something to do with that as well, but free alcohol is expected at SXSW parties). Levi's jeans usually has a trunk show happening, Diesel pairs up with Nylon to throw a ridiculous party, Ray-Ban had a Wayfarer cluster fuck last year, and American Apparel is being rather generous with this year's SXSW. I wonder if Nudie will do anything more than just sponsor a party. One thing is for sure; my Nudie's will definitely be on.

PS Nudie, I'll take your Thin Finn Organic Dry Ecru Embo Jeans in a 30 x 32. Well, I'll take anything in a 30 x 32 you'll throw at me.

The Turn: Finding a Pseudo-Unis Blue Shirt

I talked earlier about how a Unis blue shirt from a season ago has been haunting me. Well I think I found an equivalent on Ebay. The shirt was made by Rough Stock Panhandle Slim, which I never heard of before buying the shirt. The pattern is definitely similar, as for the colors I think the camera settings are off and I'm hoping that the blues are bright and prominent. The price was great considering the Unis shirt was going for about $180 and I bought the auctioned shirt for $4.74. We'll see though... I'll add an update once I receive the shirt. I might have to do some alterations. Worst comes to worst and the shirt is just not working, I'll walk over to Buffalo Exchange (literally a 5 minute walk from my apartment) and resell it. Umm, I'll take a visit over there regardless. I have some True Religion Jeans that I NEED to get rid of quick. I should have sold them to a vintage/resell store during my time in Denmark; in Copenhagen they're selling for about 30% more than in the states.

Unis blue shirt on the left and the Ebay purchased shirt on the right

Little Boots- New In Town (Fred Falke Remix)

SXSW Schedule

I've added a widgit from Sched*SXSW that basically lays out my SXSW schedule. Music, parties, and other happenings are included. You can also view my plans by checking out: http://sxsw2009.sched.org/Sartorial.Architect. Look for me around Austin.

Update: I've also added a SXSW playlist of the bands I plan to see.