The Reason I Don't Like Taylor Swift

(...obviously I'm just jealous, right?)

It’s shocking, I know. How could I not adore the beloved T Swift, who has won the hearts of pretty much every demographic in America with her insanely “sick beats,” super real personality, stylish new look, assertive attitude, and tear-jerking acts of kindness? By not liking her, or, put more precisely, by resisting the 2015 T Swift Call to Worship and instead only offering her a passive nod for some admittedly catchy hooks and our mutual love of cats, I am essentially entering the dark side á la Selena Gomez in the “Bad Blood” video. Here I stand, solo, give or take some explosions/flames/leather bodysuits, facing Princess Swift and an army of celeb-support that seems to multiply by the second – like the Whitewalkers, but hotter.

Hotness is Coming: the Models of House Swift defend her honor against any naysayer.

As if this weren’t daunting enough, my choice to “oppose” Taylor may be even more confusing once I add that I consider myself a feminist. Taylor, also a self-proclaimed feminist, is perhaps the most popular and powerful musician in the world today, and her rise to fame might seem like a victory to us gals. Instead of the usual all-girl crowd that female pop vocalists attract, we’ve got dads, young male professionals, college bros, pubescent teen boys, hell, even congressmen openly accepting Taylor's estrogen-powered lyrics into their hearts and memories and celebrating a female pop star's work. Finally! 

But this fact is actually the crux of my issue with the T Swift Movement. Please note my use of “Princess Swift” above– this is not just an expression of sass but also an intentional comparison to the Honorable Queen Bey aka Beyoncé Knowles. Yes, T Swift may have recently dethroned Beyoncé as the female counterpart to the world’s highest-paid celebrity couple, sold more albums in 2015, and won the VMA that Kanye wanted Beyoncé to win, but I can’t help but cringe at the comparative parody feminism from which she’s built her success. As a female in the limelight, role model, and representative of women around the world, Taylor portrays an image of female values that are far less developed, contemporary, and respectable than those represented by Beyoncé, to such an extent that I find her massive celebrity in today’s age unsettling.

"Imma let you finish, but I'm cringing inside."

Take the aforementioned “Bad Blood” music video as an example. Taylor wrote "Bad Blood" about her fierce rivalry with Katy Perry. This conflict sparked when Katy hired some of Taylor’s backup dancers during her tour. Apparently this decision was a super bitchy personal attack on Taylor that certainly had nothing to do with logistics or other business matters. Coincidentally, Katy dated one of Taylor’s ‘ex-lovers’, John Mayer, prior to this intentional act of “sabotage.” Taylor’s reaction for such horrific betrayal is to imply the following: 

1. Katy is going to “live with ghosts” for what she’s done (spooky!)

2. Katy is going to face the wrath of Taylor’s hot squad of Whitewalkers (perhaps a metaphoric reference to the ghosts--I see you, Tay) because Taylor is a better person and fully capable of maintaining strong, genuine friendships with all 100 of them

3. Taylor really would like to bitchslap her

4. Taylor will always be cooler than Katy because she’s won Grammys and Katy has not, so she should just take a good, hard look at the one next to the "Bad Blood" lyrics and cry herself a river:

Just a grammy and a tea kettle. In a casual polaroid. Cuz you might as well be hipster when you deliver the BURN. (Perhaps the tea kettle is a metaphor for the hot air + boiling blood)

Cool. Now we’ve got the most popular woman in the world bolstering the already-prevalent idea that women are petty, insecure beings who constantly feel the need to upstage one another. And if John Mayer had anything to do with it all, she’s also a walking indicator that women allow men to dictate our emotions and drive us to tear our fellow females down. Couple these ideas with the sing-song vocals of about 15 high school cheerleaders yelling the chorus (“TAKE A LOOK WHAT YOU’VE DOOOOONE”) and tell me seriously that this isn’t a spy-themed spinoff of Mean Girls.

(Additional food for thought regarding the Bad Blood video: Coincidence that the prerequisite for joining the T Swift BFF4EVR club seems to be a pair of ovaries and a net worth+Instagram following of at least 5 mil? Be it fate that Taylor, who produced the video, seems to have purposely downstyled the ‘enemy’ in a lopsided wig and unflattering pleather when juxtaposed with her own sexy lewk? Cuz that would be petty, and Taylor would never be petty, right?) 

VS.  

But really though, I think they had the budget to get Selena a properly-fitted wig.

Taylor dons a sexy trompe l'oeil nude bustier while Selena models the Fall ‘15 Trashbag Chic collection.

True, though Taylor is an esteemed songwriter, some of her songs should be taken at face value. It’s pop music, right? Right. But even the video to “Shake It Off,” her song with arguably the broadest appeal, features some naïve assumptions that are too blatant to ignore. In this song, the 25-year-old talks about REAL STRUGGLES – haters who hate (the horror!), and ex-boyfriends getting new girlfriends (god forbid!)–and inspires us all to find the strength to overcome these troubling moments in life through dance. As Taylor’s attempts to be endearingly “goofy” throughout the video, she compartmentalizes demographics into highschool-esque stereotypes. Luckily for Taylor, she is just so “fun” and “relatable” in the video that few seem to notice the flock of uniformly Caucasian ballerinas or consistently black twerkers, or the fact that her various outfit changes reek of whitewashing and cultural appropriation. If we’re singing about acceptance and diversity, why does everything in this video seem to be dumbed down to a flavor of sticky-sweet vanilla? 

Taylor shares an eye-opening cultural experience with “The Twerkers.” She is seen wearing official Twerker garb to better assimilate with the unfamiliar people.

OMG Taylor u r CRAZZZZYY jumping over the boombox like that!!!! LOL!

I’m sure that Taylor’s ultimate intention is to empower others and encourage self-acceptance, but the short-sightedness in her execution reduces this message into a lame joke. Take another example, when Taylor hospitably brought 4 of her BFF4EVRZ, Lena Dunham and three scantily-clad supermodels, onstage with her during her 1989 Tour. The end result of this girlish gesture of kindness was Lena laughing about how body-conscious and ‘chubby’ she felt. C’mon, Tay, I feel like it’s pretty obvious that when you place a bunch of 5’11 girls who are world-famous for looking good in underwear with one isolated female who simply isn’t under a spotlight, shit’s gonna get awkward. 

I can just envision the five of them hanging out on a Friday night, sharing life advice and style tips. Side note: Am I the only one sees something weird, maybe even a little unprofessional, about how Taylor constantly showcases her friends in the middle of performances? The fans paid to see YOU, Tay. Just sayin, you didn’t see Obama bring his golfing buddies behind the podium to add their two cents to the State of the Union.

Moving on to the best part--love songs. Taylor loves her some love songs, particularly those of passionate and hopeless variety (re: “He’s so bad but he does it so well … Heaven can’t help me now” –Wildest Dreams). And I’m cool with that, love is cool. But while Queen Bey helps bring the romance game up to speed, singing of feeling empowered by her sexuality and the mutual love she shares with her man (see “Superpower,” “Rocket,” "Flawless," “Drunk in Love,” “Partition,” and “Blow”), Princess Taylor depicts a more 1940’s-esque picture romance, consistently subordinating herself to an array of suitors. Join me in my analysis. 

“Love Story” is an obvious one–she’s a princess waiting for her prince to literally save her. “Romeo save me, I’ve been feeling so alone / I keep waiting for you but you never come,” she begs. Thank heavens she gets her happy ending here (Romeo kneels on the ground and proposes, urges her to pick out a white dress) because I was starting to worry about the girl’s mental health as she spent her days wishing and waiting out on that balcony. I’ll give Taylor a pass, though, because she was like, 13 and still singing country music when she wrote that. 

Fast forward to the “I Knew You Were Trouble” video, where she’s taking on a more adult persona. She’s standing in what looks like an abandoned war zone, droning off in a monologue about how she’s literally lost herself because of some bad boy. She describes herself as “lying on the cold hard ground” amidst exasperated wails. Verse where she realizes how uncomfortable that is and picks her ass up TBA.

VS.

I hope the only time anyone lies on the cold hard ground, it’s because they a) had a really, really great night or b) are looking flossy in an Calvin Klein campaign.

Her constant subordination of every storyline’s female character becomes even more notable with her imagery of virgin/whore dichotomies: Along with the famous “She wears short skirts, I wear t-shirts” line in “You Belong With Me”, Taylor consistently depicts herself, the desirable woman, as innocent and delicate in a “white dress” (“Love Story”) or “in a nice dress, staring at the sunset” (“Wildest Dreams”) with “good girl faith” (“Style”). She even references Hawthorne’s “The Scarlet Letter” twice, (“you were Romeo, I was a scarlet letter” in “Love Story” and “We show off our different scarlet letters / Trust me mine is better” in “New Romantics"). For reference, the scarlet letter is originally a symbol that appears in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s 'The Scarlet Letter.' The protagonist, Hester Prynn, must wear a scarlet letter ‘A’ across her chest as punishment for committing adultery so she may be publicly shamed. Though Hester decides to DGAF, wear her letter with pride, and overcome this societal slut-shaming, Taylor’s interpretation of the symbol seems misconstrued and does little more than bring the oppressive dichotomy to mind, *IMO*).

photo cred: Riese, www.autostraddle.com, http://riese-bernard.squarespace.com

Now apparently I’m not supposed to bash the “Blank Space” video, because supposedly this is an ironic/artistic 'fuck you' to anyone who’s pigeonholed females into the ‘crazy girl’ stereotype. I’m into this idea, but I’m still confused how scenes of Taylor angrily destroying inanimate objects–the dude’s convertible, his clothing, his phone, a painting, a cake–does anything to mitigate the stereotype. In fact, “Blank Space” might just provide an easier means through which female pigeonholing can be served: From personal experience, a young man who had pissed me off told me that I reminded him of T Swift in said video due to my angry reaction. LAWL, but where was I supposed to go from there?

Don’t worry guys, if I’m upset, it’s not your fault. I’m just crazy lol!

Taylor Swift is pictured here making ‘crazy eyes.’ Swift provides a perfect example of how females often display ‘crazy eyes’ in tandem with other reactions such as ‘crying’ or ‘screaming.’ The trigger for such reactions is unclear; male research shows that they are completely random, unpredictable, and meaningless side effects resulting from internal instability. Therefore, they should be treated as such and left to resolve on their own.

So now that I’ve fully picked apart the offensive nuances of Taylor Swift’s music, I must admit she possesses many admirable qualities. She’s not afraid to stand up and voice her opinions, which she’s done through pulling her music from Spotify and writing an open letter to Apple on behalf of musicians around the world. She promotes kindness to others through her music and through the thoughtful things she’s done for her fans, as seen in her “Taylor Swift Gift Giving of 2015” video (as much as my cynical self believed this to be a contrived PR stunt, I’ll admit it was a tear-jerker). Finally, she has a much better voice than I’ll ever have and a knack for writing tunes that get stuck in my head nonstop--whether I’d like them to or not. My issue is simply this: of all the strong, talented, sexually empowered, and fabulous women we have in the world to be considered ‘idols,’ why have we chosen the one who consistently bastardizes the concepts of feminism in her music?

At age 25, Beyoncé was showing us what real bossladies were, singing, "The house I live in, I bought it / The car I'm drivin', I bought it / All the women who are independent / Throw your hands up at me!" and has modernized, even glamorized the idea of feminism today. Ariana Grande, Iggy Azalea, Katy Perry, and Nicki Minaj are just some of the many other examples of talented female pop artists who have emerged without suggesting a hint of submission to the other sex in their lyrics. Meanwhile, after what is widely regarded as a massive influx of feminism, Taylor is still stressing about boys, catfights, and looking good with her hot friends.

True, not every pop artist is going to sing about topics that I find interesting. However, by failing to touch on any topics that go beyond being rescued by boys, status, and appearance in her music, Taylor is pumping through the media that this is all that we, as women, care about. And of the positive topics she does cover in her music, she insists on delivering them in a bland, dumbed-down, cautious manner that contradicts the entire idea of self-acceptance and empowerment. This is simply not the kind of woman I want to idolize. When I hear groups of guys chanting “Oh my god, who is she? I get drunk, off jealousy!” in unison at parties, claiming that they love Taylor Swift, I know the reason isn’t because they’re feel undue respect for her, but rather because her lyrics are comical to sing or “because she’s gotten hot.” The woman I want to celebrate as as a symbol of “Girl Power” is far deeper, far more unique, far more self-assured, and far more complex than that.

So there. That is why I will not be joining the T Swift Call to Worship anytime soon. Let’s hope she doesn't write an open letter to me now.

Zeitgeist of the Future: MYKITA Eyewear

Unlikely Inspiration

Origami – we’ve heard of this as a source of inspiration for dress designs, but never for sunglasses.

But this is the key idea behind MYKITA, a Berlin-based eyewear company that breaks the mold in the eyewear market, literally and figuratively.  The company is the brainchild of four German friends, Moritz Krueger, Philipp Haffmans, Daniel Haffmans, and Harald Gottschling, who joined together to create a well-known product in innovative ways by finding new materials and technical solutions.

“We tried to create a concept, which works like the Japanese principle of Origami, so just with folding and bending you’re creating the concept for the eyewear and that was the starting point of our first collection,” says Phillip.

Constant Discovery

MYKITA was founded in 2003 and was named after the kindergarten in which their first office space was formed—the word ‘Kita’ is the abbreviation of the German word Kindergärten, and the MY- added to the beginning of the name makes it mean ‘my kindergarten.’

According to MYKITA’s mission statement, the company seeks to bring forth a new, modern product that is perceived as something completely different form the products that precede it—instead of replicating eyewear through tried-and-true methods, they seek to constantly experiment with new materials and construction methods.

MYKITA’s unique designs first caught my eye when I stumbled upon a cobalt blue pair in a small boutique while walking the streets of Paris.  The frames felt light as a feather and as if they were all part of one seamless piece. In fact, as I picked up the lenses in awe, I worried how breakable the lenses would be given how delicate they felt in my hand.

A pair of MYKITA sunglasses similar to the ones I saw in Paris. Pick up a pair of these and you'll be surprised to see they weigh next to nothing!

As it turns out, MYKITA’s frames are made of titanium and feature a hingeless design that trumps the need for screws and welded joints, making them virtually unbreakable. The leader of this innovative approach was likely to Philipp Haffmans, who began his career by studying industrial design in 1992.

He explains, “during my studies we started to deal with optical, and experimenting with frames, and this is how the flattening concept arrived.” By doing so, he claims, “we are bringing to eyewear … a perception of modern product, not a replica of something that has already existed.”

Printable Eyewear

So, if the founders of MYKITA never want to replicate the old, what’s next for the company? Well, MYKITA recently released its newest line, MYKITA MYLON, which is a line of eyewear designed specifically to converge athletics and fashion in a revolutionary way.

The material of the glasses claims to boast “individual adjustability, low weight and extreme durability” with its unique production through Selective Laser Sintering. The method involves layering a superfine powder and transforming it into a three-dimensional object through carbon dioxide laser sintering. So, in short, these sunglasses are made of powder! [see video below for more].

In fact, this method is actually a form of 3D printing, so their claims for ‘individual adjustability’ mean that the buyer can buy their own 3D printed pair of glasses, custom-fit to their face. The idea is so revolutionary that it has earned the company an iF material award and a Red Dot design award for product design.

Presentation is Key

Finally, MYKITA’s founders don’t stop with their product design to make their company one of the most innovative accessories brands yet—they even design their shops with a unique architectural sense to specifically complement the design of their frames.

Aimed to achieve an art-installation feel, these shops feature contrasting materials like perforated steel, all-white walls, and neon storefronts. Currently, the ever-growing MYKITA has shops in Berlin, Paris, Monterrey, Cartagena, Zurich, Vienna, Tokyo, and, as of late July, New York—their first entrance into U.S. territory. After gaining exposure to the U.S. market, this European gem is sure to be big.

Mykita's Tokyo store interior is almost as beautiful as the products themselves.

Humberto Leon and Carol Lin: Rebels with a Cause

 

Humberto Leon and Carol Lin, co-founders of Opening Ceremony and directors of fashion awesomeness

Wintour Optional

If The Devil Wears Prada taught us anything, it’s this: Working in the world of fashion is fiercely cutthroat. Climbing the ladder rungs to the top of luxury fashion houses like Louis Vuitton and Valentino and working for large corporations like Vogue is a tedious and often discouraging process. Finding a position that offers any true influence over the fashion industry can take years of “dirty work” jobs and massive amounts of luck. But for people who are willing to take the risk, power and autonomy can come at a much lower cost.

In fact, for innovators like Carol Lim and Humberto Leon, a little risk-taking and creativity has given them the ability to do much more than giant fashion houses do. As the co-founders of Opening Ceremony, they run a worldwide fashion company that not only holds a huge stake in deciding which designs are “hot” among fashionistas, but also cultivates new designers from around the world.

Their work bringing Opening Ceremony into being has led them to chief creative director positions for the much-loved fashion label Kenzo. By establishing themselves and gaining respect for being free-spirited risk-takers in the fashion world, they now can quite literally do anything they want and know it will be respected.

A D.I.Y. Business

Eleven years ago, Leon and Lin began as college classmates bored with their jobs in corporate fashion. After quitting their jobs and pooling their small savings accounts together, Leon and Lin brought their vision to life. After having an SUNY draft them a business plan for free, the two opened a boutique in downtown New York.

But the two knew they wanted to integrate their love for travel as well as art into their work, which led Opening Ceremony to becoming much more than another store in New York City. The duo had always known they wanted to integrate their love for travel and art into whatever they did, and after being inspired by a past trip to Hong Kong, they curated the boutique’s offerings with their favorite designers discovered on the trip as well as homemade items made by their mothers. The idea behind the product offering, Leon claims, is that "we'd stock [the stores] with things we would have brought back anyway as gifts"--souveniring to the max, if you will. 

The business soon became a platform for showcasing international designers by featuring a new country every year. Not only did they discover a new way to bring undiscovered international designers into the limelight, but they also enabled their fashionista following to start seeing fashion on a global scale.

Prada, Nada

The pair continued to push limits in more ways than one—though their business is undoubtedly upscale, they weren’t afraid to follow their whims and integrate affordable products into their offering. Believe it or not, the founders of Opening Ceremony are also responsible for the wide popularity of the Havaianas flip-flop.

Leon explains, “when we were in Brazil, we stumbled across a supermarket that sold these plastic flip-flops … Carol and I were obsessed.” They filled their grocery carts full of the sandals and began researching how they could import the brand into the U.S. At the time, Havaianas didn’t have the infrastructure to create and sell large amount of their shoes to other countries, but thanks to Opening Ceremony, they are now sold across the globe. Is that something Prada could get away with? I think not.

Colorful Prospects 

Though they’ve now reached the same status as many luxury brands in the industry, two still haven’t ceased to show their wild sides: as creative directors of Kenzo, they collaborated with the trendy Parisian juice bar, Bob’s Juice Bar, to create “fruit carpet” made out entirely out of bananas, lemons, strawberries, and more for their Spring/Summer 2014 Menswear show. Guests were invited to sample fruit directly from the carpet, and the rest was donated to the Red Cross after the show.

Kenzo's fruit carpet made an impact at the Spring/Summer '14 menswear show in more ways than one. 

Next, at New York Fashion Week, Leon and Lin set up their own pop-up market called Opening Ceremony BTW (by the water) at Pier 57 to supplement their first show for Opening Ceremony’s new in-house line. The market featured fashion and food vendors hand-picked by the two themselves. Clearly, Lin and Leon have ‘tailored’ their work in the fashion industry to be exactly what they want it to be—who knows what kind of fun they’ll come up with next.

Renzo Rosso: Beyond the Big League

The Agent 

Athletes, actors, models, musicians—they all rely on other businessmen, their agents, to put them on the map. But one thing we forget to consider is how our favorite fashion designers become so popular in their industry. Just like the other guys, fashion designers have businessmen working behind them as agents too.

One such businessman is Renzo Rosso, founder of Diesel and owner of his holding group OTB (short for Only The Brave). Responsible for the popularity of Maison Martin Margiela, Marni, and Viktor & Rolf, along with his own $3 billion fortune built from inventing the ‘distressed’ Diesel jean, Rosso spends his time scouting for new talent in the fashion world.

Always on the lookout, Rosso seeks designers with promise by analyzing their work for signs of megabrand potential. And Rosso knows how to take these brands to the top—now famously donned by Kanye West and Jay-Z, the fashion brand Margiela went from stagnant and struggling to expand in 2001 to a $100 million powerhouse today, all thanks to Rosso.  

While Rosso’s vested-in “babies” craft high fashion clothing and accessories, Rosso has crafted his business in an equally creative manner. He has sought out and worked with labels from every end of the spectrum, from the pop-inspired costume and denimwear designer DSquared to the wild and unusual gown designer Vivienne Westwood.

An Innovative Touch

In fact, it was his own calculated efforts that brought Vivienne Westwood designs into what they are today—Rosso explains, “One day we bought a company called Staff International with this incredible know-how in tailoring. We thought that with that knowledge and with the sort of product Diesel already made we could be unique. So we began manufacturing the Vivienne Westwood line.” Now you know whom to thank for the structured blazers and draping mesh layers you saw in Westwood’s ready-to-wear show in Paris last week.

Rosso’s strategy begins with this: “I never select a designer who will be similar to someone who already exists.” Instead of setting his sights on known designers that offer high income and stability, Rosso seeks to develop new talent, and develop new talent he does. Rosso works as consultant to his brands as well as a ‘talent scout’ and investor, most recently for the rising star Maison Martin Margiela. Rosso began by restructuring the label, vertically integrating Staff International to enable in-house design, production, and sales. Rosso then suggested adding a collection of publically consumable items like sneakers, belts, and bags to Margiela’s glamour-injected product offering to help identify the brand’s clean, logo-free, streetstyle-meets-high-style aesthetic. From what we’ve heard from Kanye on the radio, [“What’s that jacket, Margiela?”] Rosso’s vision earned the brand entry into the celebrity world.

Kanye West took a liking to Margiela's bedazzled masks, using the same one seen in the Fall '12 Haute Couture show to make a statement in his 2013 tour performances.

New Competition

Rosso’s clearly paved the runway for several designers in the fashion industry, but he’s not the only one on the hunt for fresh fashion talent—he competes against many of his kind to find new investment projects in the industry, and the competition’s becoming stiff. Giant conglomerates like LVMH, Gucci Group, and Kering are all megabrands that seek to buy out luxury fashion brands, and given their enormous presence in the industry, many say that these three groups run the world of fashion.

What has set Rosso apart from the megabrands in the past comes from the fact that he started his company single-handedly and from the bottom up (growing up on an Italian farm, Rosso made his own fortune when he founded the Diesel brand with Adriano Goldschmied at the age of 23), and his business remains family-owned and private today. While large public groups like LVMH, worth nearly $65 billion, have tended to make profit-driven decisions to buy up familiar, established brands, Rosso has enjoyed the flexibility to venture into the unknown and develop new talent without worrying about the pleasing shareholders.

However, Rosso’s competition seems to be onto him. Recently, economic conditions have stagnated growth with bigger brands that Rosso’s competition was once more interested in. Suddenly, the moguls are racing to get their hands on the same type of up-and-coming talent Rosso has always focused on.

This year, Rosso admitted that LVMH beat him to the punch when they bought out new British labels J.W. Anderson and Nicholas Kirkwood, which he had been eyeing for quite some time: “We also considered investing in them but we never expected LVMH to move so quickly,” he explained to Reuters. As these giant holding companies, which undoubtedly have different priorities and visions for their brands, begin encroaching upon the same young talent Rosso seeks, things could get ugly—“What groups like LVMH are doing, is preventing designers like Anderson from working for somebody else,” he claims. Surely, he means somebody else who can perhaps offer more creative insight—somebody like himself.