11 01 2014 Academy of Art University Newspaper Volume 1

san francisco | academy of art university |

November 2014 volume 1 | page 21

Style LORDE. Courtesy of The Windish Agency.

INSIDE

LORDE: The 17-year-old Grammy winner captivates the crowds with her signature style, combining dark lipstick with conservative ensembles. Page 22.

Sophia Amoruso: “#GIRLBOSS� writer and Nasty Gal founder takes center stage at Vanity Fair Summit.

Page 23.

Tiila Abbitt: The fashion design and knitwear design graduate speaks about her job at Sephora.

Page 24.

page 22 | November 2014 volume 1 | academy of art university | san francisco

STYLE LORDE

Music and Fashion: LORDE

By Sasha Leon

Although pop sensation Lorde talks frequently about how she’s not into fashion, she has managed to carve out a signature style almost as easily recognizable as her unique voice.

From dark lipstick to conservative ensembles that don’t rely on skin for shock value, Lorde’s style influence can be seen on the likes of music aficionados as well as fashionistas. I recently had the pleasure of going to two Lorde concerts and was wowed by both her music and style.

Lorde’s first show in Berkeley was on an Indian summer night. She entered the stage wearing a royal blue two-piece suit over a black crop top, but halfway into her first song she shed the blazer.

She was obviously warm under the stage lights and the warm late summer air, and I wondered if hair as full as hers is ever comfortable under all those bright, hot lights.

The classical architecture of the open-air Greek Theatre, where both of Lorde’s concerts took place, lent a magical feeling to the shows.

The openness of the sky juxtaposed beautifully with the packed venue.

“You guys are so close.

You feel like a wall of people,” Lorde exclaimed joyfully.

As one might expect, the audience was full of millennial kids, swaying rhythmically to the music as their middle-aged parents looked on from a safe distance. Though they’re young, the crowd obviously has great taste in music. A Lorde song is a poem: a magical beat, uplifted by resounding words that get stuck in your head (but in a good way).

Teenage pop singers tend to settle for meaningless lyrics about love or drugs,

Above and below: LORDE live at the Greek Theatre at UC Berkeley. Photo by Aldo Carerra. not thinking about the art of music or even the fan base.

Lorde’s music is composed of exciting, unconventional associations of the everyday mundane; and by mundane, I mean high school and suburbia. It’s a personal narrative including abstract and concrete nouns.

Her lyrics are made up of real life events juxtaposed with poetry elements, which had everyone doubting her age.

On the verge of turning 18, Lorde has won a Grammy and toured the world. That’s enough for doubters, but there is a resonance in my teenage years and hers. The songs she composes speak to my 17-year-old self, and for that, there is no doubt about her age. She talks it raw and live. The beauty of her language is not only understood

by teenagers, but also praised by big stars, like David Bowie.

Every song was a differ-

LORDE live at the Greek Theatre at UC Berkeley. Photo by Aldo Carerra.

ent world. She communicated her rebellious attitude with her crimson lips and her perpetually whirling hair.

From the melancholic “Still Sane” to the mockery in “Royals” (she wore a tacky red ensemble and her set had a circus-like feel), Lorde kept the crowd captivated.

Then came the rock-indulged “Biting Down,” which, as recounted by Lorde herself, is about “moments of intensity that make you understand something greater, whether that be intensive pain or shock.” The tune had the audience swaying their heads to the beat of the drums.

For us post-teens, her concert was a melancholy wave, taking us back to our young hearts. For the hundreds of 13 year olds dancing to her inspiring beats, it was more like an epiphany.

Finally there is a song on the radio talking about what they

want to hear. Not love, not break-ups and definitely not a drug anthem. “I’ll tell you guys a little secret,” Lorde said. “I’ve never performed this song live before. Let’s see how you guys like it.”

It took those two sentences from her plum-tinted lips for the audience to go wild, and her voice followed.

She started singing “Yellow Flicker Beat” from the new “Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1” movie soundtrack, for the first time, in “beautiful Berkeley” as she called it.

In an instant, thousands of smartphones were lifted, hovering all around us, capturing the fleeting moment.

Sasha Leon is a fashion student at Academy of Art University.

san francisco | academy of art university |

November 2014 volume 1 | page 23

STYLE #GIRLBOSS

#GIRLBOSS Sophia Amoruso: featured speaker at Vanity Fair Summit

By Tess Collins

On Thursday, Oct. 9, Sophia Amoruso, founder and CEO of Nasty Gal, returned to where it all began. She was just a couple of blocks away from 180 New Montgomery Street, where she used to check IDs at the front door at Academy of Art University. She took center stage at the Vanity Fair Summit to discuss her success and how it all got started.

Amoruso was one of many featured speakers at Vanity Fair’s New Establishment Summit that was held at Yerba Buena Center For The Arts on October 8-9. The Summit celebrated new ideas, innovations and up and coming talent in pop culture, politics, technology, media and business. Amoruso joined AirBnb founder Brian Chesky and Pinterest CEO Ben Silbermann to discuss their unique ideas and how they became successful at such a young ages.

Amoruso, who is only 30 years old, has come a long way in just a few years. At

22, she was hosting at the Academy and had never held a job for more than a couple of months. Now she manages over 300 employees, has been named to Forbes’ “30 under 30” list and is the CEO of a company that nets over $100 million annually. She has a book “#GirlBoss” and people are stopping to listen to what she has to say. Amoruso has created an empire, and she did it all by following her own rules and doing what she loved to do.

What all three speakers, Silbermann, Chesky and Amoruso, had in common is that they never set out to make millions or thought that their ideas would take off like they have.

Amoruso began her company while she had downtime at the Academy and noticed a demand for her vintage clothing online. She began snapping pictures and selling clothes and accessories on eBay and built up a loyal customer base. She then ventured off of eBay so her customers could come directly to her. She worked out of her garage and paid

attention to what her customers wanted. These are the humble beginnings of one of today’s most powerful forces in fashion and business.

In eight years, Amoruso has moved from the garage to the boardroom and has stayed true to her customers and to herself. Her brand has stayed the same throughout this entire journey and that’s because she is still the same hands-on girl that she was when she was Nasty Gal’s only employee.

She listens to the customer, what they like and what they don’t like. When talking about her success, Amoruso, who could take all the credit in the world, gives much of it back to the customer.

“Social media and word of mouth built Nasty Gal— and I’m really proud of that,” Amoruso said.

The other two successful moguls onstage with her agreed. They both are extremely successful, driven people but they could not be where they are today without the social media and technology that has allowed their businesses to grow to their

(L–R) Airbnb Co-Founder and CEO Brian Chesky, Nasty Gal Founder Sophia Amoruso, Pinterest Founder and CEO Ben Silbermann and Bloomberg TV Anchor and Moderator Emily Chang onstage at the Vanity Fair New Establishment Summit. Photo by Michael Kovac/ Getty Images North America.

Nasty Girl founder Sophia Amoruso onstage at the Vanity Fair New Establishment Summit. Photo by Kimberly White/Getty Images North America.

high levels. Business today is so different than where it was even five years ago, there are so many more opportunities than their once were which was a common theme around all of the conversations at the Vanity Fair Summit.

Amoruso didn’t take the obvious road to success, she never got her degree, she never worked for a large company and she never set out to be super successful, but here she is. There are always alternate roads to success; people just have to find the path that works best for them.

Amoruso’s company has a cult following and has cast her in the part of a powerful female businesswoman. Even with her book, “#GirlBoss,” she never set out to become an icon.

“Sometimes women say, ‘What you’re doing is really great for women.’ I didn’t set out to do that,” Amoruso said.

“I didn’t set out to be this outlier. It’s a sad fact that I am.”

Amoruso is a perfect role model for young talent looking to make it big in the world of fashion for both men and women. She took something that she was passionate about and she worked for it.

She used available resources, such as social media and word of mouth to spread the word of her company. She didn’t settle for something just because it was “the right way to do things.” She made up her own rules and it paid off.

No matter how far off success might seem, just think of Sophia Amoruso.

You could just be one idea away from becoming more than you ever dreamed.

Tess Collins is an M.F.A. Fashion Journalism student.

A R C T U T O R IN G

Fall back on ARC Tutoring Don’t forget to turn back your clocks at 2:00 a.m. on Sunday, November 2. If you don’t, you’ll be one hour early for your ARC Tutoring appointment on Monday! (You do have an appointment, don’t you?)

If you don’t have an appointment, log in to TutorTrac at https://tutortrac.academyart.edu/ and make one now. Spring forward into your classes—whenever you fall back on ARC Tutoring for support.

page 24 | November 2014 volume 1 | academy of art university | san francisco

STYLE TIILA ABBITT

Playing with makeup

By Tess Collins

Tiila Abbitt, a 2007 M.F.A. double major in fashion design and knitwear design, is turning the fantasy of little girls everywhere into reality. She gets to play with makeup all day—for her job! More specifically, this Academy of Art University alum is currently the director of product development at Sephora. Abbitt spoke with the School of Fashion about trolling on Instagram, drawing inspiration, the fact that she sometimes forgets what year it is and the piece of advice that led her to working at Sephora, her favorite job yet.

Q: Could you tell us a bit about your current job and company?

A: I currently work at Sephora as the director of product development. I work on their private label brand, Sephora Collection. I am responsible for designing and developing the accessories business: makeup brushes, brush sets, cosmetic bags, eyelash curlers, hair tools, false lashes, sharpeners—all the tools of the trade that you need for flawless application. It’s my job to take these seemingly day-today beauty products and give them all an innovative twist or unique design.

I also work on special collaborations including Pantone’s Color of the Year

collections, where I also develop makeup formulations as well as the new Alexis Bittar collaboration, which is coming out to stores in November.

Q: What is an average day like for you at work?

A: Product development keeps me on my toes. There is always something to do and always something to create.

Every day you have to think about what the next big thing will be in beauty. An average day for me right now has me working on finalizing Spring 2015 products, in the middle of Summer 2015 products and starting to work on Fall 2015.

Plus, I am already thinking of what we should be doing for Holiday 2015 and into 2016! Sometimes I forget the year it is since I am working in future development. I have to say, I am truly never bored.

erywhere. I travel a lot. I like to explore other places and other cultures for inspiration.

I work with beauty forecasters, whose job it is to forecast future micro and macro trends in beauty, but that’s just one part of it.

I’m always trolling Instagram. I read a million beauty blogs. I study fashion runway trends, attend art exhibits, take photographs … to try and see things in a different light. I look at a lot of beauty makeup products and innovations and think about how I can make a brush or accessory to go along with it.

You know, leopard is

coming back as a trend, and we’re launching a leopard printed eyeliner curler! Who doesn’t want to carry that in their makeup case? I recently went on a trip to Asia where I went to Japan, Korea and Vietnam for a trade show and to visit with vendors. It was a truly inspirational trip! There is so much innovation coming out of Asia that we decided we must go to the source.

Q: What advice would you give to students?

A: To be open and let fate take a hand. Meet lots of people and try different things to see what you actually enjoy doing.

Q: What do you love about your job?

A: I love working for Sephora.

It truly appreciates the creatives. I work for the largest brand for the company, but it still has the start-up atmosphere. There isn’t a lot of red tape, which definitely lets our team think big. We explore as many ideas and opportunities that we think is right for the brand.

Q: Where have you found inspiration lately?

A: Inspiration comes from ev-

Tiila Abbitt. Courtesy of Tiila Abbitt.

I never thought I would ever work in beauty. I barely wore foundation before I started working at Sephora.

The best piece of advice my mentor told me before I took the job was you never know if you are good at it, unless you try it. What’s the worst that can happen? You don’t like it? Then quit. But you will never know unless you try. It was the best piece of advice I ever got and it led me to my favorite job.

Tess Collins is an M.F.A. Fashion Journalism student.