Advanced Style Video: Tziporah Salamon

Here is the latest Advanced Style video installment from amazing videographer Lina Plioplyte. Check out her site Teenage Peanut and more videos on her Vimeo page. We have featured Tziporah Salamon several times on Advanced Style, but I always find that its best to give people their own voice.

Vintage on 5th Ave

The Advanced Style set are not only experts at accessorizing, but they have the upper hand when it comes to hairdos as well. I ran into this lady on 5th ave and loved her vintage inspired look and up swept hair.

How To Dress With Charm

[Photos and Text Ari Seth Cohen]

I ran into this charming woman on 5th Ave and realized that I had seen her somewhere before. While going through my archives I found another photo I'd taken of her on Madison Ave over a year ago! She has a wonderful sense of personal style that is both elegant and classic.

Jacquie Tajah Murdock:Dance Your Way Through Life

Maayan and I had the extraordinary opportunity to meet with legendary Apollo Theater Dancer Jacquie Tajah Murdock. Jacquie is turning 80 this year but keeps her spirit young by continuing to dance and dress up.While speaking with her I was reminded of a quote by my friend Mimi Weddell that you must, "Dance your way through life". Look for more about Jacquie's' wonderful history and some high fashion photos on Monday!

A Straw Hat for Summer

[Photos and text: Ari Seth Cohen]

I was walking through Chinatown when I spotted this fellow looking smart in his suit and straw hat. When I asked him where he purchased his hat, he took it off and said with a quick smile"5th avenue."

The "Thrifted & Gifted Contest" Submissions

nail polish from Forever 21[Photos: Ari Seth Cohen]

Debra has been receiving so many great submissions for our "Thrifted &Gifted Contest. Not only is she super excited to read through all of your emails, but is anticipating picking the big winner as well. I took some photos of Debra as she was reading through contest submissions this evening. You should also check out her very own page(which you kind find on the sidebar) for daily updates and words of inspiration.Remember to comment!!! Just a reminder the rules for the contest are as follows:

TO ENTER:

1. Choose your favorite posting on Advanced Style blog and tell us why it inspires you
2. Tell us what you would like to learn about expressing personal style
3. No age limit
4. Send us your name, age, location, and contact info

Make sure to get all your mail in to her by WEDNESDAY, MAY 26: debrathenutritionista@gmail.com

Winner will be announced Wednesday, June 2.

Once a Stylist Always a Stylist: Tracy Kendall

[Photos: Ari Seth Cohen, Text: Maayan Zilberman]

Last week Ari and I met our friend Tracy Kendall close to her home on the Upper East Side. We met up at her favorite French Pastry Shop, Financier, where she swears by the vanilla eclairs.

On this unusually brisk May afternoon, Tracy showed up in a perfect answer to cold temperature on a spring day: ivory coat and pleated skirt, light layers with ivory accents, and thin cotton jersey gloves. We love her choice of hat and “Chanel orchid”, as she calls it, in preparation of the typically New York downpour that later fell upon us.

Tracy Kendall was born and raised in New York, and says she remembers her mother as one of her earliest style icons. “She used to wear a black hat and skirt with a big red fringe… It must have been this graphic element that influenced me.”
Tracy was interested in elegance from a very young age, favoring the look of Great Gatsby and Chanel of the 20’s and 30’s. Though she has honed this look for many decades, she says she’s always been more inspired by menswear than by women’s fashions.

Tracy knows much about both sides of the coin. From 1963-1975 she worked as a fashion stylist, working directly with luxury showrooms and designers to create the looks and advertisements we saw in Time Life, Vogue, etc.
“I had to think on my feet, know what to choose on a moment's notice. But sometimes it would work backward, we’d receive the credits and then have to find the clothes.”

As she became more well acquainted with the fashion business, and models became younger and younger, Tracy became less enchanted with this type of work and decided to break out on her own…with an entirely new objective.

“Fashion can be a disaster…it makes people believe they look good just because they are wearing the right thing.”

She put an ad in the newspaper offering her services as a personal stylist to transvestites. During a time in New York when this was becoming more embraced, she knew that there would be many men who would be able to benefit from her knowledge of how to put together an outfit.
I asked Tracy what her most common request was, and she said it was to look natural and to feel comfortable in feminine clothes.

We can all learn from Tracy's classic and timeless approach to fashion.

The Advanced Style "Thrifted & Gifted" Contest Announced!

[Click Above To Enlarge]

You heard it right! We're offering all of you an opportunity to thrift shop with one of the best! Our very own Debra Rapoport is offering her genius to one lucky winner in New York City...

Our dream is to one day fly anyone to New York from San Francisco to Timbuktu, but for now our contest is offering Debra's expertise (worth a million, as far as we are concerned) and a modest sum of cash to spend at Debra's favorite thrift shop Housingworks.

We named this offer our "Thrifted & Gifted" Contest after Debra's mantra to only wear items that are are acquired as such. She believes that the more you play with clothes and the more you dress up, the better you will feel... no matter what age.
The idea that clothing should be FUN and not precious is something we can all get behind!

Debra can't wait to receive all your submissions... she's the one and only judge of this contest, so she'll be picking the winner!

TO ENTER:

1. Choose your favorite posting on Advanced Style blog and tell us why it inspires you
2. Tell us what you would like to learn about expressing personal style
3. No age limit
4. Send us your name, age, location, and contact info

Make sure to get all your mail in to her by WEDNESDAY, MAY 26: debrathenutritionista@gmail.com

Winner will be announced Wednesday, June 2.

Good Luck!

A Shaded View On Advanced Style

[Photos and Text by Ari Seth Cohen]

When I'm photographing people they often ask if I'd prefer to see them with or without their sunglasses. With summer approaching, one of my favorite hobbies is to to check out the eyewear on the Advanced Stylistas because with years of collecting, naturally they have the upper hand. They wear everything from vintage Gucci to five-dollar pairs picked up on St.Mark's. It is the confidence and personal style that they bring to each pair that truly makes them look chic--and as hip as any twenty-year-old fashionista.

Which do you prefer, with or without shades?

Introducing Tracy Kendall

[Photo: Ari Seth Cohen, Text: Maayan Zilberman]

A couple of weeks ago you were all taken aback by the beauty of this woman, whom we dubbed "After Chanel". Ari and I got to know this stunner, Tracy Kendall, over tea and eclairs this week on the Upper East Side. In my next weekly post "Mondays with Maayan", I'll be sharing some more of her background in fashion but in the meantime enjoy some of her style tips.

Tips from Tracy on how to get (or think with) her sense of style:

The biggest rule is to be yourself and to never follow anybody else’s fashion.

Wearing vintage: “It’s sweet, as long as it’s not a costume. Make sure not to mix and match too much. Keep it simple to look more SANE than INSANE.”

Don’t go for bargains unless you know you have a good eye.

Buy basic items that are good quality, they will last forever.

Women should not wear slacks. Maybe for Katherine Hepburn or Marlene Dietrich, but that’s it.
Exception: Grace Kelly or Audrey Hepburn, wearing capris, because they had long legs and long feet.

Don’t wear an outfit that is longer than your coat, then there is too much emphasis on the shoes.

Your outfit should always be cylindrical. *a particularly difficult mission, I may add.

Buttons: never use fake or cheap brass buttons. Remove and replace with good quality and make it neutral.

Don’t buy things that are knock-offs.

For makeup: "know about the products you are using. (ie. I love Borghese and I know all the ingredients.)"

To stay young: Have a good attitude, be a citizen, don't be vulgar.

“It is never too late to be stylish!”

A Visit From Marilyn Sokol

[Photos and Text Ari Seth Cohen]

Marilyn Sokol, looking fabulous as ever, stopped by The New Museum today for a quick chat. We went for a little walk by Freeman's Alley where I decided to snap some photos of her. I asked her what influences her colorful style and she told me, " When you are an actress everyday you express a different part of yourself. When I really started wearing color is when I let my hair go gray." She also told me that she is always looking, whether it be in shop windows on Madison Ave or at street fashion trends, she always has her eye out.

Advanced Style Profile: Jenny Hirschowitz Inspired by Vintage Dior

[Photos and Text Ari Seth Cohen]

The first day I met Jenny at The New Museum she made a great impression on me. She is one of the most beautiful women I have ever met and has a grace about her that seems to be carried over from a more romantic era. A mix of vulnerability, strength, mystery, and charm, she is always a joy to be around.

Jenny, like many of the people featured on Advanced Style, takes style cues from the past but personalizes them with current trends by mixing high and low, vintage and new, and always staying true to "Jenny." Her reference points are 1950s Dior , Madame Butterfly, her mother(a ballerina), and Tippi Hedren dressed by Edith Head--"The Ultimate" in style. Check out some of the photos I have taken of Jenny over the past few months mixed with some Vintage Dior and Hitchcock stills!