apparel-ish?
I started an apparel brand called Blood is the new Black when I was 23 (in 2004, i’m 42 now) the brand acted as an arts collective, i’d select several artists every season to add to the brand and would curate their submitted works into collections. distro ranged from beams (jp) colette (fr) selfridges (uk) all the way to pac sun, urban outfitters, zumiez in the states. during the 9 years I had the brand I also published zines, produced artist directed films, curated gallery shows etc. it was part of the indie sleaze era and you’d see folks like tegan and sara, michael pitt, britney spears, allison mosshart wearing the brand.
somehow I pivoted to country music along the way and started a brand called midnight rider in 2013. i made licensed repop and vintage feeling tees for musicians and folks like willie nelson, townes van zandt, nudies rodeo tailors, john wayne, the judds, waylon jennings, zz top and so many others. I sold that brand last year!
now I do licensing and merchandise for waylon jennings (so if you see waylon merch or collabs i’m the one behind it). I also spend my free time taking photos and i’m currently working on a book about grand national owners.
id love to mentor folks who have or are starting their own businesses because i’ve learned a lot in the process both good and bad.
Related Recs
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Lately I have been into Doen, Ozma, and Buck Mason - they are all CA based and do work to be “ethical” to some extent.
But I feel like we need to know more about you to really help. Who are your style icons?
Mar 17, 2024
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Fashion Moves Forward is a lifestyle/fashion blog with tons of cool insights into brands, fit inspo, and more — but there's one thing missing: some juicy FMF jawnz™️. Midnight Rodeo is just that - and with a collection teased to be coming up this month. From what's been shown so far — MR's first collection is looking to be a mixture of Vegas nightlife and "Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood".
Dec 10, 2020
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Lately I've only been wearing designs my friends made. Like Go Home Eli, Duality Junkie, FFF, David Enth and some one off pieces and of course thrifted pieces. There are some designer pieces in my closet but even those brands I’ve developed close relationships with. I just figure if you're gonna go out and buy some shit it might as well be from the homies and keep the money in the same network.
Dec 21, 2022
Top Recs from @mitra
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want to learn a new thing for $150? community college
need access to a ceramics studio or darkroom? community college
want to sound mysterious/intellectual and say things like “i’m back in school” as a grown adult? community college
don’t want 200k worth of liberal arts college debt? community college
want to be in a rag tag group of misfits of all ages and form an unlikely friendship and still have a group chat going after the semester ends? community college
looking for a socioeconomically diverse group of cohorts? community college
i’m about to start my third semester of photography classes and im so obsessed, its been the most wonderful experience
Jan 29, 2024
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Cocteau Twins in 1993 or 1994 (with Luna opening) - I was in the 8th grade and my sister who was 14 years older than me took me. We saw Mazzy Star/JaMC and Depeche Mode the next year.
Feb 16, 2024
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I emailed him on his birthday and wished him a happy b day and he wrote me back asking for a b**w j*b. so for a few months i used to pick him up in beverly hills and hang out with him in my car parked on the side of the road and fool around. then I started a blog where women would fill out surveys about their sexual encounters with him.
this was like in 2005-2006 I think?
Feb 3, 2024