THE SPRING ISSUE
XIV Reigns Supreme on LA’s Lengthy List of Newcomers
Michael Mina serves up number 14 on a silver platter Text by Natalie Shirinian & Michelle Peerali Being native Angelenos, we have dined at quite a few restaurants, but few have left us with an experience that could measure up to the one we had at XIV. Not only was the impression memorable, but (more […]
Next Generation Cocktails
Mixology goes global with sake, soju and cachaça Mediterranean Caipirinha ingredients: 2 oz Sagatiba Pura cachaça 3 strawberries 3 grapes 4 fresh basil leaves 1 teaspoon of sugar or the equivalent in sweetener method: Chop the fruit and muddle in a cocktail shaker with sugar and basil until the sugar is dissolved in the juice. […]
Olfactomania Addictive: New perfumes to obsess over
The olfactory experience directly accesses the subconscious, awakening both memory and desire. Hence, it is laden with the potential to reveal our fundamentally compulsive nature. This year’s new perfume offerings cater to an array of obsessions. Text by Karena Akhavein Pharmacomania / For the perfume geek on the lookout for obscure, synthetic ingredients, perfumer Geza Schoen’s Escentric […]
Trouble’s Afoot, Gotta Have It
Our complicated relationship with ultra-fab footwear Rodarte Rad Hourani Phillip Lim Text by Sophia Dearborn It’s hard not to take notice, but the last few seasons the runways have been rife with Escher-esque footwear. A virtual cornucopia of unabashedly unusual stems, all of which seemed to ooze sex appeal, some more literally than others—were those […]
In-Jean-ious Designers Redefine Denim
International fashion innovators bow down to the industrial, the ’70s and urban cowboys Miss Sixty G-Star Ksubi Disel Text by Nicole de Ayora From the gold rush to gold records, denim has long served the purpose of decking out those in the pursuit of something great. Punk rock called for the anarchist’s ear, sporting skin-tight […]
Carnage, Carnage, Carnage!!!
Text by Yonatan Thiang Gavin McInnes is a ruptured abscess that’s never out of puss The ’90s ushered in the widest bifurcation of fashion with the gay community becoming both: more formal and louder. In the flinty end-days of grunge nuanced aloofness, revival fashion became about paying homage rather than posing; Harajuku trends were ordered […]
Street Pulse: Dogs
The last days of pleasant fall weather brought San Franciscians (and their canine best friends) out on the streets to show off their personal styles and pedigrees. SOMA caught up with the dogs in order to find out what they think about their pet-obsessed owners. Photography by Rhiannon Nicole Anderson 1 What fashion accessory does […]
An Inspiring Rock & Roll Renaissance
Vashti Bunyan’s charmed new era Text by Adam Pollock Of all the rare ‘plucked from obscurity’ stories of recent memory, many of which feature a cameo by Devendra Banhart (interestingly), the tale of British pop chanteuse Vashti Bunyan is proving to have one of the happier second acts. Bunyan was the next-at-bat big thing in […]
Kiss of Death
Mistresses of the night shed light on fashion’s latest beauty trend Text by Mengly Taing Something wicked this way comes in lip colors so dark they’re to die for. It used to be that black lipstick could only be found once a year, but now the elusive hue is coming out of the dark and […]
More Than Just a Pretty Name
Pamela Love turns out designs that aren’t all nice Text by Kiira Mancasola At a first glance, 26-year-old jewelry designer, Pamela Love, is a bit of a paradox. You don’t expect a pretty fashion up-and-comer who closes her emails “XO” to play drums in a psychedelic-rock garage band. Similarly, you don’t expect bone-and claw-inspired bangles […]
Last Word: Jeong Mee Yoon
South Korea-born photographer, Jeong Mee Yoon, visually explores critiques on society that are often talked about but rarely viewed in the concentrated way that she presents them. After receiving her bfa in painting from Seoul National University, South Korea in 1992, and her mfa in Photographic Design from South Korea’s Hong-Ik University in 1999, Jeong […]
Constructing to New Heights
Alithia Spuri-Zampetti embraces East and West Text by Rosa Bertoli For her dramatic collection, Alithia Spuri-Zampetti studied the contrasts between Asian and Western composition and applied a strong Japanese influence to classic silhouettes and colorblock tailoring. “The two sides of the world speak the same visual language using an opposite alphabet,” is the charming explanation […]
Modern Romanticism
Robert Geller’s reinterpreted classics Text by Mengly Taing To design for today’s thinking man, Robert Geller looks to the past. Each collection begins with an idea that leads to a time and a place far from the present. “Paris in the 1960s or Berlin in the 1820s,” Geller says. “It gives me a sense of […]
Meet Me in Mumbai
Up-and-coming actress, Freida Pinto, talks about her new movie Slumdog Millionaire and her experience with the slum kids in the ever-crowded streets of Mumbai, India Text by Adam Keleman Freida Pinto, one of the stars of Danny Boyle’s awarding-winning new film, Slumdog Millionaire, is stuck in heavy traffic on a blisteringly hot night in her […]
The Changing Tide of Indie Film Distribution
Is this the end of everything we know? Medicine for Melancholy Text by Andrew Rogers With a global economic meltdown afoot, wars involving American soldiers raging on two continents and a landmark presidential race entering the home stretch, it might seem trivial to spend much time thinking about the state of independent film. But then […]
