While accepting the Ebert Director Award at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival this weekend, the director gave special acknowledgement to late movie critic Roger Ebert and his wife, Chaz, who presented the award with Moonlight filmmaker Barry Jenkins. “Your husband was very crucial [in] my career. He was very crucial, 1989 in Cannes, to Do the Right Thing,” Lee said. “Your husband got behind me because there was motherf*ckers, excuse my language, in the press saying that Do the Right Thing was gonna incite Black people to riot, that this film should not be shown in the United States.”
“I remember, I know it was a long time ago and you should let some grudges go, but David Denby and Joe Klein wrote articles, New York magazine saying, ‘Hope to God that this film does not open in your neighborhood.’ That this film, Do the Right Thing, will incite Black people to tear sh*t up, to take to the streets like Detroit in ’77 or Newark in 1968. So thank you everyone. Thank Roger because he went to bat for me and many years later, we’re on the right side of history/herstory. Thank you very much.”
Entertainment Weekly reached out to Denby, who said that his review was “not a pan,” that it was “generous and alive,” and he only “objected to something at the end, but I didn’t say the movie was going to start riots.”
There should have been riots when Driving Miss Daisy won Best Picture and Do the Right Thing wasn’t even nominated.
Tristan Thompson is returning to where his NBA journey started, as the former No. 4 overall pick of the Cavaliers is finalizing a contract to bring him back to Cleveland, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic.
C/F Tristan Thompson is finalizing a deal with the Cleveland Cavaliers, CEO of Klutch Sports Rich Paul told @TheAthletic@Stadium. Thompson is set to return to Cleveland where he was part of 2016 NBA title, four Finals runs, now gives Cavs leadership and some frontcourt depth. pic.twitter.com/ayKEu3JOj1
Thompson spent the first nine seasons of his career in Cleveland, including playing a big role on the title team from 2016. Since leaving the Cavs in 2020, Thompson made stops in Boston, Sacramento, Chicago, and Indiana before spending most of last season as an analyst for ESPN. However, the big man signed late in the year with the Los Angeles Lakers, reuniting with LeBron James, and appeared in six games, including some surprisingly key minutes against Nikola Jokic and the Nuggets in the Western Conference Finals.
At this point in his career, Thompson is not someone you rely on for consistent production and a real part of the rotation, but he’s capable of spot minutes and, for a Cavs team with a promising young frontcourt, his value will mostly be what he does behind the scenes. Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley had a rough playoff series against the Knicks last year, where Mitchell Robinson and Isaiah Hartenstein dominated the glass to help New York roll through the Cavs in five games. Thompson can bring some firsthand knowledge of what is required come playoff time from big men, particularly in how to impact a game positively when you aren’t necessarily the focal point of the offense playing with high-scoring perimeter players. That is more of what this signing is about than Thompson providing a big lift on the floor, but for this particular Cavs team, a veteran that can instill a bit more toughness and the right mentality in their bigs would be a welcome addition.
We know fall is around the corner when Oktoberfest beers start landing on shelves. When you see the term printed on a beer bottle or can in the US, it’s usually referring to Märzens or Märzen-style lagers and pegged to Germany’s famed Oktoberfest celebrations, which start this week in Munich. This style is often coppery in color and features a nice mix of caramel malts, floral hops, and a dry, crisp finish. A savvy beer lover will also notice “festbiers” on shelves. These golden-hued German lagers are malty, refreshing, and have a nice dry, gently spicy finish of floral, Noble hops.
Both are perfect for this summer-fall transition.
To find the best Oktoberfest brews for 2023, we went to the source. We asked a few well-known craft beer experts and brewers to tell us about their picks for the one Oktoberfest beer they look forward to each year. Keep scrolling to see them all.
I’m a festbier lover, as the lighter of the Oktoberfest styles is simply more appealing. And since Rothaus is the producer of the most impressive pilsner in all of the world, it makes sense that their Eis Zapfle is just as glorious. Clearly labeled a marzen on the package, that is simply not true, as it’s a light golden yellow color with brilliant, sparkling clarity with a playful, bone white head.
Tasting Notes:
This beer is extremely drinkable with inviting notes of soft biscuits, bread dough, and a touch of herbal hops. The alcohol is slightly elevated from a typical Helles, the bitterness is only enough to keep the beer from expressing sweetness, especially in the finish. You’ll want to do yourself a favor and find this beer.
Sierra Nevada Oktoberfest Festbier. Recently, Sierra Nevada has been pairing with a classic German Brewery each year to bring us a new Oktoberfest collaboration. Unlike a lot of the American Oktoberfest beers which tend to be overly sweet, the Sierra Nevada collaborations are very true to the German originals.
Tasting Notes:
It’s known for its nice malt sweetness but has a nutty backbone and a very fresh, crisp finish. It reminds me of Oktoberfest in Munich.
von Trapp Brewing’s Oktoberfest. This annual fall favorite comes from the Vermont-based brewery founded by members of the actual von Trapp family, the inspiration for ‘The Sound of Music’.
Tasting Notes:
It has nice bread, caramel, and toffee flavors with a smooth body. All in all, it’s a classic fall beer.
Spaten Oktoberfest is widely considered the OG and readily available in the States. It’s one of the five breweries that are included in the actual Oktoberfest in Munich.
Tasting Notes:
It has those toasty and biscuity malt notes you want coupled with a nice citrus undertone from the hops, it is exactly what you want from the style.
In Germany, Oktoberfestbier can be produced by five brewers. And I like to drink classic. While other classic brewers have dumbed down their products producing ‘modern golden Festbier,’ the Oktoberfest Märzen beer brewed by Hacker-Pschorr Bräu GmbH in Munich, Bavaria has continued to produce theirs in the more traditional amber Oktoberfest Marzen style.
Tasting Notes:
It’s just a wonderful beer to drink. Malty with a toasty biscuit-y quality that’s never cloying or overly sweet joined by a kiss of noble German hops.
Not a style I typically seek out, I do have a soft spot for Gordon Biersch Marzen. I went to college and came of age in the South Bay Area, so Gordon Biersch was readily available everywhere.
Tasting Notes:
It was one of my first forays into craft beer and I will never forget that slightly amber, slightly malty, slightly hoppy beer.
My favorite Marzen comes from the legendary Aecht Schlenkerla brewery in Bamberg Germany. It is not a beer for everyone’s taste buds, but for those who get this beer – it is an experience that will forever change their drinking universe. There is not another ‘Oktoberfest’ beer like this one out there. Brewed with beech wood smoked malt it is reputed to be the original Rauchbier (smoked beer).
Tasting Notes:
It has a dark amber color and has the flavor of rich dark bread and roasting meat over a summer campfire. The bottom fermented yeast leaves only a slight impression which allows the clean sharp bitterness to back up the rich smoky flavor and aroma. One’s first sip may overpower them, but the second sip invites yet another and by the bottom of the first half liter you will be excited for the next one, because you know it is going to taste even better than your first glass.
I often prefer pale festbier to marzen, but I do enjoy both. That said, Ayinger’s Marzen is something special.
Tasting Notes:
The nose smells like a wonderful mash kettle and just invites you into the malty goodness flavor of that beer. It separates itself from the other solid imported Marzen.
New Glarus Staghorn
New Glarus
Garth Beyer, certified Cicerone and owner of Garth’s Brew Bar in Madison, Wisconsin
I’m showing my Wisconsin-pride with this pick. While I enjoy trying a variety of Oktoberfest-style beers each year, my fridge almost always has a six-pack of New Glarus’s Staghorn.
Tasting Notes:
It’s clean and crisp with a smooth amber, sweet biscuit flavor. The finishing flavor is all-spice, but it’s so obviously clean that you’re tasting pure hop and malt notes rather than adjuncts. These taste traditional. And I’ll tell you, the six-pack doesn’t last long.
3 Floyds Munsterfest
3 Floyds
Frederic Yarm, USB bartender at Josephine in Somerville, Massachusetts
3 Floyds Brewing’s Munsterfest is one of my favorite American-made Märzen-style Festbiers. 3 Floyds makes the effort to source the malted barley from Germany, noble hops from Bavaria, and a lager yeast appropriate to the style, yet they put their own unique spin on it.
Tasting Notes:
There’s a depth of flavor in this malty beer with brown bread, toffee, and brown sugar notes.
The so-called “Drake Curse” may have a less consistent hit-to-miss ratio than its namesake, but when it does hit, it hits HARD. This is especially when the target is Drake’s pocketbook, which is a half-million bucks lighter thanks to the big bet he placed on Israel Adesanya’s UFC 293 match against Sean Strickland. Drake shared his bet — courtesy, as always, of Stak, with which the rapper signed a $100 million/year endorsement deal in 2022 — on Instagram, boasting the potential $920k payout it would have netted with a win.
Unfortunately for both Drake and Adesanya, the Kiwi kickboxer was upset by Strickland on a 49-46 judges’ decision. Adesanya’s MMA record now stands at 24-3, delivering just his second loss by judges’ decision. He also lost the UFC Middleweight Championship belt.
Meanwhile, the Drake Curse has a more inconsistent record; in June, Drake won over $2 million backing the Denver Nuggets in the NBA Finals after losing around $350,000 betting on the University of Connecticut in the NCAA National Tournament. Meanwhile, his bet on Argentina in the 2022 FIFA World Cup paid out $2,750,000 on a million-dollar bet. You know what they say: You win some, you lose some. Drake’s seen things play out both ways in his betting career, but this writer would be willing to bet that things turn around for both him and Adesanya before too long.
Even if you didn’t watch a single episode of Stranger Things, everyone remembers that episode from season four that inspired at least 76 TikTok trends, spawned several dozen memes, and introduced “Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)” to Gen Z. “Dear Billy” was the fourth episode (can it really be called an “episode” at 78 minutes?) in the already jam-packed season of the show which sparked all of the praise for Sadie Sink, and even managed to earn some Emmy noms. And it was directed by none other than Shawn Levy, so it would make sense that the man comes back for the fifth and final season, right?
Levy told Collider that he expects to be back to direct at least one episode in the upcoming season, as he has done with every season before. He explained, “I believe for that show, I’ve been alongside Matt and Ross Duffer for all these years. I direct episodes every year. It’s a part of our brotherhood,” he said. Levy has directed eight episodes of the series so far.
The director added that he will do what it takes in order to destroy Vecna and direct another episode.”It’s a part of my commitment and my love of the show, connecting with it as a director, as well as an executive producer, so I will go through hoops to figure out calendars to direct at least one episode,” he explained.
While no updates have been given regarding the fifth season of Stranger Things, the Duffer bros announced that shooting would be postponed due to the ongoing strikes, so it might be a while before Levy gets to dust off his director’s chair.
Rudy Giuliani was namedTime magazine’s Person of the Year in 2001 for being a “Tower of Strength” following the attacks on September 11th. He was America’s Mayor, someone who gave us permission to laugh again on Saturday Night Live. But 22 years later, he’s a sweaty mess with a depressed mugshot on the brink of financial ruin, and the only news network that’s willing to talk to him on 9/11 is Newsmax.
This morning, Giuliani retraced his steps on September 11, 2001, during a segment with the conservative-friendly network. “Obviously we’re walking faster than this trying to get there,” he said. “Up to this point, it was still an emergency. It hadn’t become an out of body experience.” If this segment had taken place 20, 15, even 10 years ago, Giuliani would have been surrounded by New Yorkers thanking him on the streets. But now, crickets.
Trump co-defendant Rudy Giuliani has fallen so far that Newsmax is the only network that will talk to the man who was New York City’s mayor on 9/11. pic.twitter.com/04s3w5qvvo
Giuliani also joined Sebastian Gorka on something called the Salem News Channel (I wouldn’t recommend checking out the website, unless you’re looking to get a computer virus).
Rudy is no longer America’s favorite mayor — but he is America’s most arrested MyPillow promo code provider. “Great products, including slippers, towels and sheets. Use Code Rudy for additional savings,” Giuliani recently tweeted, along with a fall-themed image for Mike Lindell’s crumbling pillow empire. You can pay for Rudy’s legal fees with all the money you’re saving!
After Drew Barrymore kicked off a firestorm with the Writers Guild of America by announcing that her talk show would resume taping on Monday, the situation got even worse as pleas to honor the writers’ strike were ignored.
As The Drew Barrymore Show started taping new episodes for a September 18 premiere, WGA East members picketed outside CBS studios. While Barrymore is not violating SAG-AFTRA rules, the work on the show does “violate WGA strike rules,” according to a statement from the guild. The situation devolved when the talk show not only ignored the warning, but actively removed two members from the audience who were wearing WGA pins.
“Went to @DrewBarrymoreTV after winning tickets, unaware of the #WGA strike,” Dominic Turiczek tweeted. “We took pins & went in, got kicked out, & verbally assaulted by @DrewBarrymore’s crew. It’s clear they don’t support #WGAStrong, writers or fans! #DrewTheRightThing So we took shirts and joined. F*ck that.”
Turiczek later clarified, “We knew about the #WGA strike, just not that they were picketing at Drew’s show. We were unaware until inside, that her show had WGA writers, thus crossing picket lines by starting again. We won the tickets last minute and didn’t do enough research, clearly.”
The news of The Drew Barrymore Show booting audience members for wearing WGA pins quickly spread, and a spokesperson has since released a statement to Variety regretting the incident.
“It is our policy to welcome everyone to our show tapings,” the statement said. “Due to heightened security concerns today, we regret that two audience members were not permitted to attend or were not allowed access. Drew was completely unaware of the incident and we are in the process of reaching out to the affected audience members to offer them new tickets.”
Over the weekend, it was reported that Grimes and Elon Musk had another child together that they had not told the world about. That begs the question: How many children to Musk and Grimes have with each other?
Grimes addressed Techno in a X (formerly Twitter) post yesterday (September 10), writing, “I wish I could show u how cute little Techno is [alien emoji] but my priority rn is keeping my babies out of the public eye, Plz respect that at this time [folded hands emoji].”
In the same tweet, Grimes wrote about supposed beef with Neuralink executive Shivon Zilis, with whom Musk recently had a set of twins. Grimes wrote, “I spoke with Shivon at length finally, which was long overdue. This wasn’t her fault, plz don’t be angry at her! We respect each other a lot and we’re excited to become friends and have the kids grow up together. […] Women are so often pitted against each other. Speaking with Shivon, it’s very evident she’s an amazing human and we both just want what’s best for our kids.”
(Obviously, spoilers about Daryl Dixon will be found below.)
The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon (which is truly a “big ass kicker”) had a special treat for fans of the most chronically unwashed character of the bunch. Daryl also happens to be one of the show’s most crushed-on characters, which sounds like a paradox, but hey, consider that there should be priorities during an apocalypse, and not everyone would look as sweat-free as Rosita and Maggie and, well, almost everyone else on the show. As Dustin Rowles once summed up, “Daryl is the only character on this show that actually LOOKS like he lives in the zombie apocalypse.” Dustin also hypothesized that “maybe his hair grease is how he’s fueling his motorcycle these days.”
The hair-grease detail remains a strong theory, even as Daryl emerged from the ocean in France without immediately realizing how he got there and looking as grubby as ever. In the debut episode of his solo spinoff, he was trolled as a “noob” for not knowing the language, and he retains his mostly stoic Daryl Dixon persona (while remaining an occasionally big softie underneath it all). Once he found himself at a convent, and the nuns (who were not sadistic after all) cured his burner-bite, the unwashed boo did something that we’ve never seen him do before now: Take A Bath.
There’s been quite the debate on Reddit at how often Daryl really showered on all eleven seasons of The Walking Dead, or if anyone truly noticed or cared when there were rotting, foul Walkers all over the place. I think it’s generally assumed that Daryl at least washed his bod during Season 1 at the CDC, but they never showed it happening, so you never know.
Regardless of whether this was only Daryl’s first or second bath since the apocalypse began, people were here for it. They enjoyed the heck out of this “character development” and then some.
Jared Muros’ Instagram bio simply reads “I do everything,” and, when it comes to what’s cool in culture, that checks out. The 20-something makes music, has worked as a casting director for Tyler The Creator, Adidas, and Nike, worked on projects with The Weeknd and Jennifer Lopez, modeled for brands, hosted free clothing giveaways to kids looking for drip they can’t afford, and built a following off his impeccable taste and love for conversing with people around the country (and soon the world) about fashion.
He’s quite literally living the style influencer’s dream. Or even multiple dreams, all at once. But how?
Is Muros some sort of rich kid nepo baby riding a wave of connections and access? Nope. He’s a suburban LA kid who grew up bouncing between Boyle Heights (the start of East LA) and Whittier (the final stop between LA County and “the OC” and, coincidentally, my hometown) who finessed his passion for style into a booming career. His success is a testament to hard work, good taste, and the fact that style seems to have overtaken music as the thing people are the most eager to talk about.
Jared Muros
“I was a skater kid,” Muros says of his early interest in style. “Supreme was just the go-to. Everybody was into it. It started small with that, with Supreme and BAPE and just the stuff that everybody likes… the stuff people buy at Zumiez.”
When Muros hit high school, his tastes started to elevate from streetwear to higher-end pieces.
“I started getting into more designer clothes and just elevating from high-end streetwear Supreme stuff to like, Acne Studios or Alexander McQueen. I’m selling chips at school just so I can save up to buy a pair of Margielas. Some people will save up to get their hair done, to get their nails done. I would just save up to buy fashion pieces.”
While Muros’ love for fashion was evolving, he was also building up a talent for interviewing people. After consuming a steady diet of Vine and YouTube clips and savvying what travels on social media, Muros began positioning himself as a modern internet personality — vlogging his high school experience and documenting his day to day.
“I was in school always interviewing people,” he says. “I was doing daily vlogs, I’d be at football games, I’d be interviewing kids in the stands or I’d be at lunch, just talking to kids, doing little interviews here and there for the people within my city to watch. Over the years, it started growing into me hitting the streets. I’ve been at it for years — it was more so just a hobby and it ended up just working out for me in the best way… Just within the past couple of months, I actually started really making money and just having this be my full-time job. It’s a blessing for sure. ”
We linked up with Muros over Zoom to talk about his rise from suburban skater kid who would take the bus to window shop at Fairfax to a growing internet fashion personality who hits up New York and Paris fashion week.
I saw on your Instagram you casted something for GOLF le FLEUR — how did that come about?
Yeah! It’s funny, back in, I want to say 2021, I picked up a job as a casting director. I do a lot of modeling jobs, a lot of gigs here and there, do a lot of music video appearances. I’ve worked with The Weeknd, Tyler, the Creator, Jennifer Lopez, and some big names on sets. And just being around in that industry, I fell in and got a job as a casting director for a minute.
And a lot of jobs I cast — almost all of Tyler’s Call Me if You Get Lost — almost all those videos, I help put a hand in there to help cast those.
I wanted to get some insight into your process. How do you go about casting? What are you looking for? Obviously, I feel like casting maybe 20 years ago, it was very specific, Eurocentric beauty leaning. Just want to know what you’re looking for when you’re casting.
Something I like about nowadays is that anybody can model. You don’t have to be six foot two, blonde, blue eyes, to be a model. I’m not six foot. I’m not the perfect beauty standard. And still, I’ve done modeling gigs for Balenciaga and Apple.
It’s just about knowing the brand you’re working with; knowing the artists you’re working with. Let’s say it would be Tyler, we would want more eccentric looks — more colors popping on their photos, versus if it was a video for The Weeknd, he would be going for a dark nightclub, Hollywood theme. It’s really case to case, but just having an eye for really what the artist is looking for.
How did you get into that? How do you go from Whittier kid interviewing footballers to casting music videos?
This was nearing when COVID was ending. Something I’ve always wanted to do was get into modeling. But I would always tell myself, “Oh no, it’s not for me. I can’t do it.” And then one day I was like, “You know what? Fuck it. I’m just going to try.”
So I would watch YouTube videos every day. “How to become a model, how to be in a music video, how to do this, how to do that.” Until I started getting some of the sauce from watching videos, TikToks, reading articles. I ended up just following literally a thousand different casting pages, a bunch of casting directors, a bunch of producers. My Instagram following was probably crazy at the time. A couple thousand people who were just all in the industry that had no idea who I was.
At the time, I was always super specific with my Instagram. I had to make sure the colors were good, my aesthetic was popping. I had the perfect outfits on there so I could get cast. And then one day, this casting page that I followed posted, “Hey, we’re hiring. No experience necessary. Swipe up and we’ll send you the resume.”
I DMed them and to my surprise, I got a response. I got the application, and then they just ended up choosing me out of hundreds, thousands of people. And I was like, “Yo, why me?” And they’re like, “Oh, you have cool Instagram.”
Even when I was casting, a big thing would be looking at people’s Instagram profiles. Do they know how to dress? Just small things like that that we would look for.
You have a very curated sense of style. What’s your personal style philosophy?
Don’t try to fit into what everybody else is doing. There’s trends that come and go, and if you just keep chasing the trends, I feel like you’ll never be able to find your own style.
The way I found what I like is just going out thrifting. Let’s say I would go find a pair of baggy jeans and I’m like, “Oh, I like these.” Now I know, okay, I like baggy jeans. And then I go out, I find out what kind of jackets I like from thrifting. And then I can move that over into wanting to buy a designer piece. I know what fits me.
Just don’t chase the styles, because you got to learn how to be yourself, learn what you like. Nowadays, all the kids are wearing Rick Owens Ramones. They’re wearing Margiela all black. But doing stuff like that, you won’t really find what you like. You’re just wearing what you see people wear on TikTok; you’re copying people on Instagram. And there’s nothing wrong with that, but at some point, you want to find out how can you be yourself.
Who are some of your style icons?
I don’t want to say it’s necessarily people that I look up to, but it’s more eras and movements. Recently, I’ve been really into the 2008-2010 style. When people would wear a bunch of animal prints and it would be super loud.
That’s just something I’ve really been into. Very Y2K, stuff like that. That’s what I grew up on, and I couldn’t wear clothes like that when I was growing up. My mom would dress me when I was in elementary school. So now that I can wear what I want, I’m going back and looking at the styles and like, “Oh, I really like this. Let me see how I can incorporate that to now in 2023.”
Do you feel more yourself or more comfortable in your own skin when you’re highly stylized the way you are? Do you feel like you’re expressing your personality through what you’re wearing?
Yeah, for sure. A hundred percent. Even nowadays, when I’m making videos trying to get out to as many people as possible, I think can someone resonate with you within the first couple seconds? That’s just what it is nowadays, being on TikTok in a fast-paced moving world.
People will know if they like me or not within the first two seconds because, let’s say, the jacket I’m wearing. Because of the outfits or the colors that I have on. So it’s pretty simple, I just want people to be able to look at me and be like, “Oh yeah, for sure. He has his own style.”
It just wouldn’t make me comfortable if I was out on the street and someone had the exact same shirt as me. Copy and paste. I just want to be able to be different, but still be myself at the same time. It’s just what makes me comfortable.
Do you think that is an added pressure on this generation because people need to be able to resonate with others in two-second intervals? I’m not saying everybody wants to be social media or TikTok famous, but is that something that people are thinking about on a subconscious level? Because no matter who you are, you’re using social media, so you’re going to be expressing yourself visually.
It definitely does something to you for sure. You could see 10 videos within the span of 15 seconds until you find something that you like. But I feel like it definitely does make people want to be a little more different or a little more “out there.” But if you don’t do it with your outfits, you’re going to do it with your voice or you’re going to do it with your personality.
I think it has its good and its bad aspects — people are definitely trying to be themselves or be more into their skin because everything is so fast-paced. I do it with my outfits. Someone else might do it a different way. But at the end of the day, that is what makes you unique.
What advice or strategies do you have for someone who’s looking to carve out a style identity?
What I would like to do is just go window-shop. When I was a kid, I would take the bus and just head out to, say, Rodeo Drive, let’s say Melrose, and walk into all the stores. I would just look. Like, “Oh, wow, this is so cool. Oh, this is dope.” I’d just be walking through the clothes, stuff I couldn’t even buy. I can’t buy no Balenciaga hoodie, but I would like, “Yo, this is the style that I really like.” And just learn your own wiring, learn your mind. Learn “what does my body like?”
And even going thrifting, that’s where you can actually buy pieces that you can afford and see what kind of styles you like. That’s a good way to learn. And then start going to stores, and then once you have more money, you’re able to buy stuff that you know you like. Because I feel like when you have a lot of money and you don’t have a style, you end up wasting money. You’ll just buy things that you think people think should be cool, but they’re not.
So go based on intuition? Just whatever draws your eye, whatever speaks to you?
Yeah, for sure. I don’t buy a pair of pants because I’m like, “Oh, this would look good with this.” I just buy stuff that I think is cool, put it all together, and then just have little runways in my own closet. And be like, “Oh, this looks good. This looks good. This doesn’t.”
Just play with the clothes you have now. See what fits well together, and just have outfits in the back of your mental, ready to go.
What brands do you think are killing it right now?
Personally, I really like Acne Studios. I love that they have some of the best plain clothes. Plain hoodies, plain pants, some of the best pants I’ve ever had. Whenever I need a plain piece, I’ll throw on maybe an Acne Studio jean with a louder, more colorful hoodie.
I really love what Heaven by Mark Jacobs is doing. Bringing back the aesthetic of the early 2000s — that’s what’s in right now but they’re at the forefront of it. They’re making it pop. I really liked what Balenciaga was doing with their pieces.
Of course, Rick Owens, he’s doing his thing for sure. I feel like that’s a good brand to get people into fashion. Kids that are first dipping their toes, they’re going to hit Rick Owens because that’s what everybody’s wearing nowadays. But then it just spirals and then they’ll learn about, let’s say, Margiela. They might learn about McQueen, and they’ll just go deeper into the hole.
Do you think that the younger generation is more into style than music these days? If so, why? And what does it say about music right now?
I feel like it goes hand in hand, definitely. I feel like people really fall into some artists musically because of their style, because of their aesthetic. A lot of times, from what I’ve seen, even behind the scenes and personally, I know that the style has more to do with an artist blowing up than the music itself. If you’re able to market yourself and people are able to stick with you, and they love your outfits, they love your Instagram feed, they love your music videos, they love your visuals, they want to go see you on tour because of this and that, then that holds more weight than the music itself.
Anyone can be musically talented if you put the time in. It’s just about the marketing really. I feel like that’s what people are sticking to more nowadays than ever before. At the end of the day, the music still matters, but I think definitely style does have more to do with it. Unfortunately, that’s just how it is these days.
I think people don’t want to admit it, but I think it’s always been like this. If you think about The Beatles, that early look was a choice.
Yeah, for sure. And then that’s another reason how they were able to touch so many people. Because people were like, “Yo, why do they look like that? Who are these guys?”
In your opinion, based on your travels across the country, what city do you think has the best street style?
I want to say New York and even San Francisco. I was just there, and they have crazy street style. But I do feel like a lot of that is due to the weather… It’s so different because in LA when I try to dress up, I do my best every day. I love layering up. I love wearing jeans, I love all of it. But outside it’s 95 degrees, so that [outfit] can only last so long. I might wear it to an event and then that’s it.
But when you’re out in, say New York, or the Bay, you can be layered up from 8:00 AM to 10:00 PM and nothing will change. The sun’s not going to get high. You might need to even buy some gloves while you’re out. But in LA, if the weather was better, I know we would be killing it for sure. But every city has their thing. LA has nice beaches. We have hot weather. New York may be colder, but you can dress up. So for fashion, definitely New York.
How do you buy designer clothes when you’re broke?
I feel like you just really have to want it. Me, I would always really, really want a pair of Jeremy Scott shoes, so I would find a way to do it. I’d be in school, I would sell candies. I would sell chips, make my $100, use that $100 to go thrifting for a bunch of Polo Ralph Lauren pieces.
I would get three hoodies for $100 bucks at a thrift store and then I would sell those hoodies for $80 bucks each on Depop or Grailed. Boom, I made a profit. I would use that to go on StockX, go on Grailed, and just lowball everybody until somebody finally accepted my offer.
I would just keep doing that. I was the kid in school that I would make sure I would make my own merch before I even was popping. I would sell Jared Muros shirts, I would sell candies. That would literally just be the way that I would feed my fashion addiction.
I think that’s that East LA mentality too.
Yeah, little hustler! A hundred percent. Yeah and in LA, I feel like you see it everywhere. People sell flowers, people selling elotes, ice cream. They’re just around the hustle.
Just in your opinion, what artists right now have the best style?
An artist’s aesthetic that I really like is Jean Dawson. He has a really dark, but still colorful and bright aesthetic that I’ve really been into. I’ve really been into the old-school stuff like No Doubt. Gwen Stefani is someone that I’ve really been looking towards for a lot of my outfits recently. Just watching old interviews, old music videos. I’m like, “Wow!” I love the way that the colors pop. I love how they didn’t give a fuck. Eyebrows would be pink.
Artists nowadays… Uzi, always. I feel like he’s someone who’s been at the forefront when it came to fashion in the early SoundCloud rapper era.
I’ve really been looking more towards the rock scene — Haley Williams, Avril Lavigne — looking at what they would wear to the VMAs were some of my favorite outfits. It was just such a different time and just so different than what people do nowadays. I feel like nowadays a lot of it is boring, or a lot of celebrities who are males, just go shirt, tie, suit. It’s like. “Nah, come on, give me more!”
What’s next? What do you have planned? I know you’re hitting up some Fashion Week stuff.
Yeah, so headed to Fashion Week. Definitely excited for that. I love doing events. I’m going to have a little event and get a bunch of local New York brands in together. Just give away clothes to the kids in the city for some back-to-school stuff.
Then excited to head to Paris and just dip my toes into overseas and see what the fashion is like over there because I’ve heard that it’s way crazier.
I just like to go with the flow every single day. I don’t like to stress myself out too much because then I end up overextending myself when I’m like, “Okay, I got to have this many videos done today, and then I got to drop clothes here, and then I’m going to drop a song here.” It gets to be too much.
I always have a list of big things to do. Hit New York. Hit Paris. 200,000 followers. And then just slowly but surely reach the goals and then make some new ones.
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Knde
(@_joosrr_) 
