Image by Olly Moss

Anyone who has a heart loves Tavi Gevinson. Actually, even robots probably heart Tavi because she’s old-soul smart, brave and honest (which isn’t easy to pull off when you’re 15, 27, 46 or 105). So when she announced she was starting an online magazine for wallpapery teens, I got super psyched. Even though I was planning a teen magazine of my own, I submitted my ideas to her and my teenage hero Jane Pratt, thinking “hey, if they dig ‘em, I’ll just work with them and get paid too!”

I was stricken with submitter’s remorse as soon as I hit the send button; because deep down, I knew I should be executing these ideas myself. (I mean, I’ve only been wanting to launch a teen mag since I was, well, Tavi’s age.)  Luckily, Tavi and Jane rejected my shiz and I continued on building my site and stockpiling it with content for release later this year.

I’ve been pretty happy about the work I’ve been doing on my soon-to-be site until now that Tavi has released RookieMag into the world. Suddenly, I’m panic stricken. What if Tavi has similar features on her site or tweaks of my submitted concepts, making mine not-so unique?  I know this is silly, since I trust her integrity and that she wouldn’t use my work without using me too. And thankfully, her vision is different enough than mine.

There’s plenty of room on the web and in the world for RookieMag, my site, Hello Giggles, Heart of Gold Girls and lots of other teen-friendly sites that are popping up. I’m excited to add RookieMag to my daily reading diet and already love Tavi’s post on Getting Over Girl Hate. (PSA: Read it now if you haven’t already!)

What’s more, my little freakout serves as another lesson in trusting my gut. Whether it’s knowing the value in our IP, knowing when to get away from a downer of a person, or simply knowing when were full, we’ve got to trust what our minds and bodies are telling us; they’re always right. How’s that for some old-soul smarts?

Today I posted an article for style.MTV, which features five back-to-school hair and makeup looks and stunning my-summer-was-better-than-yours lies to go with. Fun!! Read it Here.

Barry McGee, Houston Street and the Bowery, New York, 2010, photo by Farzad Owrang.

After the LA MOCA opened its Art in the Streets exhibit in April, an LAPD sergeant in charge the department’s anti-tagging effort told the LA Times that tagging around the museum had risen, thanks, in part to the museum’s exhibition du jour.

“The exhibit kind of glorifies graffiti; It puts taggers on front street,” the sergeant said.

During the exhibit’s run, LAPD cracked down on area taggers, while inside the museum, more than 200,000  visited to see, well,  street art.

And companies are wasting no time capitalizing on its popularity. Graffiti-inspired designs have popped up on everything from tweezers, to flat irons to cocktail shakers to Hello Kitty makeup palettes. Meanwhile, artists practicing their work in the streets face misdemeanors and in some cases, felonies if caught doing their art.

The message is: it’s OK to admire the street art aesthetic, as long as it’s something you pay for.

The clear problem? This art form’s heart and soul is in the streets; graffiti, wheat pasting and stenciling  are ways for artists to beautify, engage in commentary and start dialogue within their communities (for free no less). The commercialization of an art form while upholding its criminalization feels very un-American.

As street art gains more acceptance in the art world and the real world, maybe its time we–the community members–change the rules of vandalism and make exceptions for artists who are gifting their communities with pro-bono artwork.

What would these new rules look like? How would we determine “art” from blight?

How can we preserve the guts and soul of the art form so artists like Banksy, Barry McGee and others don’t abandon the streets for galleries and auction houses, where a lover of their work has to pay millions for the privilege of seeing their art?

background artwork: marco mazzoni featured in Hi-Fructose Magazine

I’ve heard about the  wonders of Fresh’s Sugar Lip Treatment for years; Must-Have Makeup Basic! Beauty Editor favorite! Celebrity Staple! As an avid magazine reader and beauty product freak, all of those things *should* have seduced me to buy.  Sure, I’ve gotten nanoseconds away from point of purchase with a box of Lip Treatment in my hand, but the punishing price tag always won in the end. How many times have I ceremoniously dump it, with the other expensive, homeless glosses,  back into the impulse buy bins that surround Sephora’s registers? Dozens?  ”There should be no justifiable reason for which a person of modest means should pay that much for lip tint,” I could hear my mother saying  in my head. And she would be right–there are concert tickets, parties, life-changing experiences to be had at that price.

But this year, something changed.  See, all those last minute grabs from Sephora’s impulse buy bins hadn’t gotten the actual product in my hands–I was only carrying the box it was packaged in. Once I discovered what exactly was inside, the lip treatment categorically shifted from splurge to essential investment within seconds.  Yes, the product is as good as they say–it nourishes chapped, cracked and dry lips while livening up the pucker with a hint of color. And, yum, it smells faintly of  sugar-spiked lemonade made by go-getter kids in American suburbs. But past the nostalgia and functionality, what sold me on the gloss is the so-sensible-it’s-genius packaging.

First, the stuff isn’t packaged in a pot (which requires clean fingers for dipping–something impossible to maintain when on the go). Instead, it’s housed in a  substantial but pretty tube that’s been dipped in washed-out metallic shades.  The tip of the tint is round and flat, not angled like a lipstick, which is perfect, because we’re our bombing the lips with the stuff, not precisely applying it like with a rich, matte color. But the pièce de résistance is its screw-top lid (shown in the pic above). Once that sucker is secure, there is absolutely zero chance that the honey, plum, or rose’ tint will end up on the bottom of my supple Italian leather bag.  Suddenly the price tag seemed perfectly practical–I’m not just buying a lip product here, I’m paying for thoughtful design. And in a culture riddled with half-assed production (Horrible Bosses, phones that block signals when you hold them, anal-leakage causing reduced fat potato chips), good design is a pleasure to pay for.

Karl Lagerfeld previewed his collection for Macy’s Impulse Wednesday, showing lots of black, white and tops emblazoned with the designer’s own image (would we expect anything else?). The capsule collection will go on sale Aug. 31 at 235 select Macy’s stores.

Lagerfeld has been busy designing everything from Chanel’s pricey threads to Diet Coke bottles. Though he seems to have his fingers in just about everything, we still find it a bit odd that the very man who told Anna Wintour and her daughter that those who shop the sales racks should be segregated from full-price paying customers when in a store is now designing ANOTHER wallet-friendly collection. But hey, fashion is fickle, no?

As for us, we’ll be passing on the tanks that depict Lagerfeld’s own image (even when they hit the sale rack), because like Mr. T says, “Express yourself! Do Bill Blass, Calvin Klein or Gloria Vanderbilt wear clothes with your name on it? NO! Of course Not! …Wear your own name.”

(Source: Lagerfeld Pics, WWD)

Tyler Posey! Miranda Cosgrove! Chloe Moretz! Alia Shawkat! Donald Glover! Good, right?

Here’s Drew and stylist Alicia Lombardini talking about the wardrobe for the vid:

Behind-the-scenes deets:

Lauren Conrad will debut her Paper Crown line at Fred Segal, Nordies and other boutiques across the country on Saturday. Prices range from $40 to $460 and are aimed at the girl who, “a collection for those who like to play dress up in a grown up world,” according to WWD.com.

The looks certainly seem like a big old upgrade from her colab with Kohls. What do you think? Are you amped to cop a piece of Lauren’s style.

photo: wwd.com

A new shopping site launches today that will make it easier to bite celebrity looks. Ave23.com allows users to drag and drop pictures of people in a covetable outfit. The site then finds similar pieces that comprise the look and shows the user where to get  them for less. No digging around to find an obscure brand of  jeans a star was wearing at last night’s premiere or fruitless Google searches to find out who makes fuchsia fringe earrings for less than $400.

So if Hailee Steinfeld steps out in a Miu Miu ensemble at a Hollywood event, users could drop the image at Ave23.com and let it find similar and cheaper alternatives to her dress, shoes and bangles for the shopper.

What do you think of the site? Fashion lifesaver or style-saving cheat sheet for peeps who can’t dress?

Nicki Minaj and Ricky Martin will replace Gaga  and Cyndi Lauper as the new faces of MAC’s Viva Glam Lipstick.

Past spokespeople include:

Dita Von Teese & Eve:

RuPaul and K.D. Lang:

Elton John, Shirley Manson:

Mary J. Blige and Minaj hater Lil’ Kim:

David LaChapelle will shoot the famously edgy campaign.

Do you think Minaj is Viva Glam worthy?

Hard living and Racy Headlines? I’ll remember Ms. Winehouse for her one-of-a-kind sense of style. Throwback sailor tattoos and ballet slippers. A hardnosed librarian’s beehive from the 60s teased to preposterous proportions. Multi-colored bra straps proudly peeking though wispy shirts. Amy’s style was a breath of fresh air when she made her worldwide debut with her sophomore album, and it’s what I’ll remember her for today.

In the next few days, I’ll be mining media archives to present an Amy Winehouse Look Book to remind us of her pretty/tough style. Stay Tuned.