This past Monday, nearing the end of New York’s most trail-blazing and creative week, Stacey Bendet’s alice + olivia presented its Fall/Winter 2020 collection at Highline Stages in Chelsea.
Griff performed an intimate, polished 10 song set at Popshop at Baby’s All Right in Brooklyn this past Monday. A soon-to-be star in the UK, the songwriter, musician, vocalist, producer, clothing stylist, and visual artist has what it takes to make her mark in pop, or wherever she chooses.
You wouldn’t necessarily know that from chatting with her casually. She’s pleasant, not overly bubbly, and just a little bit sardonic. And she prefers doing over talking.
The burgeoning 19-year-old pop artist only started releasing music after she completed her schooling, largely keeping that part of her life hidden from schoolmates. Sarah Griffiths at school, Griff in the studio.
“I wanted to keep it separate because you just you don’t know when things happen. Things take time and it just never felt right to be like ‘I sing!’ to loads of people. I didn’t know if my singing was ever going to take off.”
She spent most of her non-school time honing her musical abilities, picking up all the skills she needed to write music and produce her own songs. Griff instinctually understands the great gulf that exists between talking a big game and bringing it.
“I just think a lot of people don’t get it until you show them what you’re doing, do you know what I mean? Just talking about it, people don’t get it. So I never liked talking about it.”
Griff doesn’t spend a lot of time talking during her set either. She beamed at the audience and thought out loud about how she never expected to make it from her bedroom in Kings Langley to a stage in NYC. Cool and aloof as she seems in promo photos, Griff is warm as a performer.
She moved naturally onstage in a high-necked bridal-style dress and combat boots, her signature bubble ponytail trailing behind her. We heard the entirety of her Mirror Talk EP plus a couple others including an affectionate cover of Taylor Swift’s “Love Story” and a heartfelt unreleased track we can’t wait to hear recorded.
Griff has a rich smooth voice that shines through her performances, and a strong rapport with her audience, even singing happy birthday to one lucky fan in the front. These are table stakes for a pop artist, but Griff’s songwriting and multi-disciplinary talents set her a cut above. Her songs are simply produced and sparse, leaving space for nuanced lyrics and melodies. They also leave space for her sound to develop in any number of exciting directions.
Despite her early success, Griff sets high expectations for herself and looks forward to topping her personal bests in the years to come.
“I’m looking forward to writing better music. It sounds probably kind of weird, but I want this time next year to feel like I wrote the best songs I ever wrote.”
You can check out her music here.
On Wednesday, streetwear brand Seven Crash presented their “EVOLUTION” Autumn/Winter 2020 collection during NYFW at Spring Studios. Presented by CEO Jason Yao, the New York-based fashion house founded in 2013 is widely known for its experimental designs that fuse together eco-friendly textiles, unconventional patterns and hints of Chinese culture to create one-of-a-kind looks.
This season’s theme, according to Yao, is heavily inspired by technology and the worlds current social and environmental climate. Seven Crash is all for promoting innovation. The fashion house heavily relies on keeping up with the times and the rapid progression of all things relevant in our society today, such as technological advancement and environmental sustainability, and how they will essentially shape our future.
Seven Crash made its NYFW debut in 2019 and it continues to exceed expectations and “Crash The Rules”. The Autumn/Winter collection introduces three different series’: Prosperous, Decay and Nirvana. Each series explores elements of technology from a different angle while skillfully channeling futuristic and cutting edge art.
The line features an array of apparel ranging from oversized, thick woven fabrics with a pop of color, to sleek metallic outerwear to rustic, multi-patterned bomber jackets. There’s definitely something for everyone.
Check out some of our favorite looks from the show below:
(Photo by Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images)
(Photo by Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images)
(Photo by Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images)
(Photo by Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images)
(Photo by Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images)
(Photo by Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images)
(Photo by Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images)
(Photo by Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images)
(Photo by Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images)
(Photo by Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images)
(Photo by Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images)
Vampires, ’90s, Gigi Hadid….oh my!
This past year has proven the importance of fresh voices in the film industry, and producer Natalia Rivas perfectly embodies where cinema should be going next.
On February 11th, HBO screened “WE ARE THE DREAM: THE KIDS OF THE OAKLAND MLK ORATORICAL FEST” under the historical roof of the Fox Theater in Oakland.
The romantic drama, The Photograph, written and directed by Stella Meghie, is set to release in theaters this Valentine’s Day.
Issa Rae stars in The Photograph as Mae Morton, an assistant curator at a New York museum, who has just received a series of letters from her late mother, Christina Eames (Chanté Adams). She also comes across an old photograph of her mother, perhaps the only one that exists, and begins to unpack all the secrets she left behind.
Universal Pictures
Opposite Issa is Lakeith Stanfield as Michael Block, a notable journalist who digs deep into the Christina Eames story, leading him to meeting and pursuing Mae Morton shortly after a tumultuous breakup of his own.
As anticipated, Issa and Lakeith have great chemistry on screen, and each represent characters with a complicated past but a new future ahead. They fail in making progress, at first refusing to confront the true issue/s, but through a single photo, and a journey intended upon discovering Eames, all those connected to the frame discover themselves. As a result of not letting a single screenshot be the parameters of their full picture, they learn to take the limits off of love and beyond.
Universal Pictures
Lakeith and Issa are able to smooth over the rough edges of the quick-moving timeline. There’s a questionable amount of back story missing from Michael Block’s perspective, with a narrative that heavily focused on Mae’s motives and fears and not much placement to Michael’s. But it is a love story after all, and though the timeline feels unrealistic, it’s not disruptive.
Universal Pictures
All the love stories are intertwined. The double narrative—starting with the Eames story—helps us to understand how one could forfeit true love in the first place, and it feeds that curiosity behind the hunger for a better life at any cost.
Universal Pictures
There were moments when I was more invested in Christina’s drive and her ability to command her first interview than I was watching Mae and Michael settle into their new and unexpected love. However, one plot drives the other and we wouldn’t fully understand Mae’s motives without the mother’s story at the sublayer. And while every action in the film is linked to a single photograph — the film is beautiful in that way — moving through flashbacks and present-day so poetically, the movie could easily be split into two separate parts.
Universal Pictures
The minor characters are some Hollywood veterans and rising stars: Courtney B. Vance, Kelvin Harrison Jr., Teyonah Parris, Rob Morgan, Jasmine Cephas, Lil Rel, and Chelsea Pareto.
Universal Pictures
The culture of the film and the music reminds you of Love Jones, and settles you like the ending scenes of Love and Basketball. It’s a unique black love story that should not be missed in theaters on February 14, 2020.
Even those hesitant on wearing their hearts on their sleeve couldn’t help but feel the love in the air Tuesday night at the SVA Theater in Chelsea, New York for the red carpet premiere of ‘The Photograph‘.
German artist, painter, and producer returns with the second single off his forthcoming album, Lys.
New Era Cap Co., Inc., the official on pitch cap of MLS, celebrates the beginning of the Major League Soccer season with the launch of the New Era 2020 Official MLS On Pitch Collection. Perfect for any soccer fan, the collection features a wide range of silhouettes proudly displaying club logos on the front and a woven MLS label on the rear.