On The Air The Culture Crush

Music journalist Sowmya Krishnamurthy stops by the Culture Crush studio to talk about her new book, Fashion Killa: How Hip Hop Revolutionized High Fashion. In conversation with CC founder and French and Italian Vogue veteran Debra Scherer, the discussion traces Sowmya's trip through the music blogging era and the never-ending cycle of gatekeeping, the powers that be, and those in the culture whose passion and innate style broke down those doors and claimed both the front row and eventually the backstage so completely, fashion will never be the same again.

Culture Crush founder Debra Scherer and photojournalist Sofie Vasquez in the studio with New York City beauty retail impresario Ricky Kenig discussing the cultural landscape of downtown NYC in the '80's and the curiosity that guided him throughout his inventive career. 

We're back in the Culture Crush studio after a long hiatus with photographer Sofie Vasquez. Talking about new projects and Sofie's work overall with subcultures and the characters she documents for us in our latest beauty zine—exploring the indie wrestling scene, Mexican superstar Cassandro, breaking kayfabe, Lin Manuel Miranda, Cameron Crowe, and her dream of photographing the cast of Cats.

As New York Fashion Week began, publicist, author, and CEO of People’s Revolution, Kelly Cutrone joined Debra in the Culture Crush studio to discuss all things fashion and culture. Their conversation begins with Debra telling the origin story of The Culture Crush, and the role that her experiences at Italian Vogue played in its development. Then they discuss their history in the fashion industry and how the landscape has changed over the past few decades. Finally, Kelly explains her views on the role that shopping plays in women’s lives, propaganda, Voodoo, and how social media is changing, or ruining, the fashion industry.

A quick stop down in Jacksonville Florida to talk southern street photography with Malcolm Jackson, while he was preparing to work on a project for the tenth issue of the Culture Crush print edition. We discussed the peculiar cultural history and the beauty of documenting life in the largest city in the United States.

As the influence of the aesthetics of ‘90’s Paris seems to grow and grow, it’s interesting to get a feel for some of the pieces of the puzzle that made up that particular ecosystem. Then, stylists, photographers, creative directors, press agents and designers were working in a freer, closed world, interacting with each other and allowing for chance work and experimentation that is now difficult to imagine. 
But photographer Matthias Vriens-McGrath remembers it well. He discusses the creative mindset that led him to picking up a camera in the first place, as well as the aesthetic spontaneity that reflected a time that was both the end of an era and the very beginning of a now unstoppable regurgitation of imagery fueled by the high stakes multi-billion dollar machine that the fashion industry has become today.