posted by Faran

Jun 21, 2007 11:15AM

I think they give a lot of other kids the courage to go with their own style, and that's really important - even if it does take a more mainstream venue to do it.

posted by i

Jun 21, 2007 11:22AM

that's sad. those windows should be going to designers who even though they wish they could dance and party all night are busy sketching, sewing, and doing what they love to make an impact. sad sad sad. silly america. silly bendel's.

posted by Laia

Jun 21, 2007 11:25AM

desperate attempt frpm henri bendel to become really cool with the kids of today? it's an awful idea, but oh well, i never shopped there and i certainly wont start now.

posted by Lauren

Jun 21, 2007 11:30AM

as the misshapes are already considered passe now (in some circles at least), will there be a backlash in late august when their window appears? but then again, those who hate the misshapes are probably unlikely to shop at bendel's?

posted by qtpie

Jun 21, 2007 11:30AM

i disagree with you faran- i feel like the misshapes and their followers are rather homogeneous to some extent. it's hard to put my finger on it exactly, but i feel like i have to dress a certain way if i go to misshapes, so i don't go anymore.

then again, i enjoy their particular brand of fashion more than i would enjoy, say...an army of lily pulitzer wearing youth. so i guess i'm undecided.

posted by Faran

Jun 21, 2007 11:37AM

QT -

Great point, but I think it may be homogeneous NOW, because they've helped make a movement, or at least promote it.

I'm not sure that particular style existed, especially in the way it mixes high-low and street-runway style, five or six years ago.

posted by Ilene

Jun 21, 2007 11:46AM

i don't know about five or six years ago because i didn't live in new york back then, but everyone who goes to misshapes just looks like they're trying so hard to be different so they can fit into that scene and so they can get their photo up on the internet.

posted by patentleather

Jun 21, 2007 12:29PM

so- called hipsters have been rocking hi/lo fashion and making waves at least since the 50's/ 60's generation. a lot of the real trendsetters (not followers) start a trend before it really hits the runway. this doesn't apply to neon obviously, which has been recycling itself since the early eighties, especially in the club scene.

unfortunately, this williamsburg-centric new york scene is tottally regurgitated "we love the idea of the factory and want our fifteen minutes," bullshit combined with this kind of post-apocalyptic, laissez-faire, nothing is new again, post-post modernism. just art school without the school. i have to say, i love the vanity/ fear of mortality that comes with documenting every piece of every night out.

there are some real stand-outs: exceptionally creative, artists, designers, and musicians in this scene, but i don't feel like the misshapes are among them.

but, really, what does it matter?

posted by guest

Jun 21, 2007 12:30PM

i think that particular style has always exsisted...mixing high and low the way they do

posted by flaco

Jun 21, 2007 12:55PM

though i've never been to the box or a misshapes party, from all the photos i've seen of their group and their groupies, they are nothing so very new or unique. in this pic above, they look for one, utterly bored which in turns makes them look pretty lame- (i dont personally know them, so who knows maybe they are suuuper sweet and cheery outside of 'their nightlife personas?) anyways they are so very posed and too thought out and pretentious (in the pics of them). and their pretty un-unique style seems to be heavily influenced from the 60's beat new wave movement, with a tad bit of emo and goth thrown in for good measure, and everything is always black-what' so new and cool about that?

...and mixing high-low, runway, highend, street, vintage what have you...is something i have always done- and my friends....and many others cute people all over the place for a long time runnign now, so its nothing new at all, its only new to the idea of commercializing and cashing in on it, marketing it- but mixing it up has always been what makes fashion exciting, for me at any rate- take mom's old 70s Gucci bag, with a vintage bottom and a newly purchased chanel something wear it all with hot sneaks and voila, sexy!-- this was going on in my high school in the late 80's- not to mention when i moved to nyc for art school soon after, to find many others doing similar things with what they wore- and completely out of necessity cause college kids are usually always broke but still want to look cute, no? so the only thing 'new' about all this is that its being marketed now as an actual 'style'. so much today is about marketing it seems, everyone desperately marketing! - which in itself is lame. especially when there is no substance to back it up. don't mean to sound so negative, but its annoying! all these marketers-- style now seems so irrelevant. since its near impossible to find something individual-- and copies are everywhere-- ie: that bitten line by SJP post you ran today, so lame of them, AND its great you call them on it- love reading those- ok nuf ranting....

ps. bendels should give the windows to young up and coming designers, not DJs....

pss. lov this site. so much fun. keep it up faran!!

pss. just saw while i was writing a few fols said basically the same thing....regarding the 60's etc...so there you have it.

posted by rachel

Jun 21, 2007 1:36PM

I don't think that their style is in any way original. Look at them when they first started....They were very bland until they started to pay more attention to fashion, dressing in clothes by obesity and speed, cloak and dior homme that exhisted way sooner than they did. leigh is a pretty girl with a severe haircut, but to call them any sort of style icons who warrant a bendels window is depressing. the kids who go to missbehave mostly all look like eachother, so i disagree about how they "give kids the courage to go with their own style" as they mostly all rock the skinny jeans, surface to air jewelry, american apparel and long bangs. the one true origianl out of all of the people is anna rexia. she is the only one who impresses me. she is the only true original. i think the misshapes were lucky enough to be at the right place at the right time.

posted by rachel

Jun 21, 2007 1:37PM

way earlier i mean.........

posted by melissa

Jun 21, 2007 1:37PM

it's odd, but i think i might actually enjoy seeing an army of lily pulitzer wearing youth.
like really clean and colorful and marching in time to some melody only they can hear.

hipsters always look so dirty - and yes, i do mean with actual dirt.

posted by Laia

Jun 21, 2007 1:59PM

random thought: the williamsburg hipster and the misshape youth aren't the same. they may all live in brooklyn but their aesthetics are very different.

posted by Kathryn

Jun 21, 2007 2:08PM

Have they really "helped make a movement?" Or have they simply taken stuff from others (Factory, Studio 54, etc) and packaged it in a way that is palatable to a generation entrenched in their own irony? This post is NOT fashion blogging...this is a PR service.

posted by sfl

Jun 21, 2007 2:09PM

greg k or as faran calls him "the other guy" is amazing. he will be influential for years to come.

posted by rachel

Jun 21, 2007 2:26PM

well said, kathryn! faran, you go to their parties and are friends with them, so this definately helps their pr, right?
(don't get me wrong though, i think your writing is brilliant.)

i don't think that trying to be the new edie will make you one. nor will painting your apartment silver.........

posted by astrid

Jun 21, 2007 2:53PM

they look like the locust (or any other hardcore band) circa 1999, many others before and many (more embarrassing) since. in my opinion, the three of them could pass for karen o at different phases of her career thus far.

however, i'm sort of happy for them. they're living the fifth grade dream of all your friends in matching outfits, having dance parties. replace soda with booze, lisa frank with dior homme.

posted by qtpie

Jun 21, 2007 3:44PM

painting your walls silver is something i can get behind

posted by rachel

Jun 21, 2007 3:49PM

asfour (now three as four) painted their walls silver many years ago, and they are their own unique creation, so in that instance it doesn't make me want to roll my eyes.

posted by j

Jun 21, 2007 4:49PM

"i don't know about five or six years ago because i didn't live in new york back then, but everyone who goes to misshapes just looks like they're trying so hard to be different so they can fit into that scene and so they can get their photo up on the internet. "

mid 04 was when their parties really kicked in. greg would come out to the line outside luke and leroys and pick out the best looking people and bring them inside. as far as the photos are concerned, they used to be just pictures taken randomly as people were dancing, plus majority of them are friends or affiliates of the photographer/misshapes. i think people nowadays do dress a certain way to be photographed. i have no idea how it works now, seeing as i moved out of the city...

posted by dan

Jun 21, 2007 5:02PM

geordon is a nice person and helped me out with a final for school. he supports the art and did it for free. i think some serious credit should be given to him and his crew for starting something that is known worldwide (literally, even south africa!!) and for having the power to make it last MORE than '15 minutes.'

posted by rachel

Jun 21, 2007 8:04PM

dan, that is nice and all, but i can't take anyone seriously who hides his eyes behind his hair. i think they take themselves wAAAy too seriously.

posted by Anna

Jun 21, 2007 8:53PM

I lived in the Midwest up until 2 years ago, and had about zero interest in what the hipster kids were up to, seeing as how I was firmly entrenched among scores of frat rats and sorostitutes in the middle of the cornfields. So I'm a bit late to this Misshapes party. But word to pretty much everything that rachel and Ilene have said. (And Leigh doesn't even have that edgy of a haircut. Especially now that her hair has grown out. It's called a CHI flatiron and black hair dye.)

I'm sure they're probably really fun, possibly very nice people; I don't know what they're like personality-wise because I don't know them! But I don't get the Misshapes hype. I feel like Leigh Lezark wouldn't get half the attention she does if she weren't so strikingly pretty. I dunno, I've never been to a Misshapes party, so maybe they play really good music.

However, I'm probably a big ol hypocrite, bc I hit up NoLibs and Fishtown (Philly's answer to Williamsburg) every weekend, and just wore an American Apparel tee and skinny jeans out last night, so who the hell am I to say anything...

posted by rachel

Jun 21, 2007 10:31PM

anna-nothing wrong with wearing american apparel, and rocking skinny jeans. but to single them out as being original-i think not. they are products of admiring people of the past, w/o breaking now ground. i love the joanna newsomes of the world. bjork for God's sake.....these people are more admirable.