Lizzie Azran · NYU Local

This Season’s Top Style Books Make Reading Sexy

December 19th, 2012 by Lizzie Azran

Since your brain may still be cooling down from the finals heat, light reading for winter break is the perfect way to ease into more intense books that genuinely interest you.

And unless your major involves fashion or style in Gallatin, then fashion and art memoirs and coffee table books are the least expected educational-yet-enjoyable indulgences this holiday season.

If your brain still needs more time to process more reading, however, these style books are also fantastic gifts for close friends and family – especially since you can borrow the books for yourself!

Best of Netflix Instant Watch: Neurotic-During-Finals Edition

December 13th, 2012 by Lizzie Azran

It’s okay to lock yourself inside of Bobst until you finish studying. Whether you are naturally a perfectionist, or caffeine and Adderall boosts your will power to study all night, obsessing over work has its benefits.

Perhaps finals week is mere practice for successfully completing 12-hour workdays in a stressful newsroom, or is a test of diligence for photographing New York style in the bitter winter for the New York Times.

Maybe your neuroses will expand minor concerns into conspiracy theories that you plan to prove once and for all. Or, your indecision about Facebook crushes will consume you into testing each one’s compatibility.

Although finals week may induce a temporary state of neurotic panic endorphins, these film and TV protagonists on Netflix have long-term obsessions with their work and finding happiness.

Turntables, Terrariums and Ties: The City’s Most Whimsical Holiday Pop-Up Shops

December 11th, 2012 by Lizzie Azran

As finals week peaks, ‘tis the season to shop. In fact, retail therapy may mend your suffering morale, especially since you’d get some gift-buying chores out of the way.

So before heading home for the winter, make sure you venture out to these quirky holiday pop-up shops instead of snagging a last-minute gift at your local shopping mall. After all, your friends and family (hopefully) deserve receiving a pair of GPS shoes or limited edition Beatles print, instead of a last-minute scarf.

Violet Is The New Black: Louis Shannon Doesn’t Need Charms With Luck You Collective

December 7th, 2012 by Lizzie Azran

Violet is the New Black is a series that explores the various artists at NYU who focus on fashion design. Many have already started budding companies, and we want to talk with these talents before GQ does.

Gallatin student Louis Shannon does not consider himself an artist, yet he is a member of Luck You – an eight-person, New York City-based arts collective.

“I’m just more into electronics and music and stuff,” he said.

Since 2008, the collective of creative minds and artists has been coordinating and curating two-day pop-up art shows, zines, art work-shops and a clothing line. Shannon, however, enjoys silk-screening t-shirts, hacking abandoned electronics found in Chinatown and playing music. His silk-screening skills will be put to good use in the upcoming months, as Luck You prepares for a new clothing line, but Shannon also spoke to Local about the collective’s mission and imminent growth.

Dream Apartments Available, With The Help Of Your Worst Nightmare

December 5th, 2012 by Lizzie Azran

Manhattan is the most densely-populated city in the country, which can mean two things when searching for the perfect apartment. Either an apartment broker will quickly find you a dream nook, or he will take you on various trips of despair until you settle with a decent place before your broker goes insane.

So whether you’re searching for a new apartment in Manhattan for next semester after studying abroad, or you insist on moving out of your dorm room prematurely, prepare to possibly encounter some bizarre brokers like the ones below.

Read more…

onthefloor the dance cartel

The Dance Cartel Wants You To Get Off Your Phones And Get “OnTheFloor”

November 30th, 2012 by Lizzie Azran

The Dance Cartel’s OnTheFloor event is reminiscent of the once-great GH20GOTH1k. This dance troupe – which includes NYU students who are often decked out in face paint, neon spandex and bunny ears – performs choreographed routines to afro-Brazilian music and old school hip-hop, while favoring the Ace Hotel over various Brooklyn warehouses.

“It’s like during freshman year how you always wanted to go to a club, and it’s never as satisfying as you want it to be,” said production manager and Tisch junior Arielle Gonzalez. “But [OnTheFloor] is the satisfying version of that.”

Tuesday Track: “Lovers in the Parking Lot” By Solange

November 27th, 2012 by Lizzie Azran

Although her hair resembles Foxy Cleopatra’s, Solange Knowles sounds nothing like her older sister Beyoncé. Yet, Solange’s latest track “Lovers in the Parking Lot” affirms her own identity as a shining talent.

and all that jazz NYC jazz NYU jazz

And All That Jazz: NYU Students Run Online Jazz Publications

November 15th, 2012 by Lizzie Azran

Although the golden age of jazz music is long gone, New York is still arguably the center of the jazz universe. While musicians jump-start their careers performing in the grungy, historic downtown jazz clubs, we reap the benefits of seeing future famed musicians at local clubs for the price of a drink or two.

Since many current and former NYU students remain at the helm of the New York jazz scene, some have begun to expose their knowledge and passion online. NYU senior Eric Sandler and NYU alumnus Adam Schatz run their own respective online jazz publications (not “music blogs”), which have become burgeoning influences towards shaping the current local jazz scene.

Read more…

cody alan Local Sound Local Sounds 2k12

Local Sounds 2k12: Cody Alan

November 12th, 2012 by Lizzie Azran

Clive Davis sophomore Cody Alan Williams uses Ableton and different analog synthesizers to make music, but you won’t see him performing at Electric Daisy Carnival or touring Ibiza anytime soon. And since he combines electronic beats with psychedelic and hip-hop samples, Alan has zero intentions for his music to fit into any specific genre.

“I can’t see myself trying to write a hit song. I can’t really see myself doing anything other than trying to do my own thing,” he said. Read more…

benjamin fainlight les plus dores team margiela

Violet Is The New Black: NYU Senior Benjamin Fainlight Hits Homme-Run with T-Shirt Series

November 8th, 2012 by Lizzie Azran

Violet Is The New Black is a new series that highlights the creative energies of fashion-focused students studying at NYU. We started by profiling street wear designer, Colm Dillane, but will continue today with an introduction to the envy-inducing Benjamin Fainlight. NYU has so much budding talent in the fashion, and we want to give these students attention before Kanye West does. If you know any students who are making moves in the fashion world, please email nyulocaleditor@gmail.com

Fantasy sports teams are no longer limited to athlete lineups. Through his own clothing line, Gallatin senior Benjamin Fainlight has recruited fashion designers to make his own “Dream Team.”

His clothing line, Les Plus Dorés, emblazons the names and birth years of fashion’s heavy hitters (Tisci, Kawakubo, Margiela, Slimane, Philo) on the back of jersey-style t-shirts. Fainlight, the twenty-one-year-old founder and creative director, runs the company with his two partners, CAS senior Nicole Pinhas and Bowdoin College senior Stephen Roth. Les Plus Dorés, which means “The Most Golden” in French, aims to build a worldwide community of people with similar interests towards wearing high fashion and street style.