Contributions
Left Hand LA's Julie Kucharski on sustainable thrift-inspired design
Founded in 2012, Left Hand LA has been making thrift-inspired fashion for close to a decade now. Or, at least, that’s how it looks on paper. In reality, though, Left Hand LA goes back a lot further—to a passion for clothes and design that started with founder Julie Kucharski’s small-town Southern upbringing. Learning to thrift […]
blackbear on the path that led from his emo roots to a new sonic lane
Born and raised in Florida, Matthew Tyler Musto—these days better known as blackbear—has been making music, and making music his life, since at least 2006. With five studio albums and seven EPs under his belt (or should that be pelt?), releasing his latest extended play, misery lake, Aug. 13, this year finds blackbear riding high […]
Pleasures founder Alex James shares brand mission & musical influences
Formed in 2015 by Alex James and Vlad Elkin, Los Angeles-based streetwear brand Pleasures makes clothes and accessories heavily influenced by its creators’ deep love and respect for the music they grew up listening to. And, as an extension of that, the artists, scenes and styles which that music revolved around. Their work is consistently […]
VFILES celebrates inclusivity with NOT THE MET GALA and you're invited
Those familiar with Vogue’s annual Met Gala—and, let’s face it, at this point, it’s almost impossible not to be—will likely know it as “fashion’s biggest night out.” An evening where a list of carefully selected celebrity attendees announce their presence on the steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in full costume regalia and then […]
Shamir shares how their mental health journey coincides with creativity
Counterintuitive as it may sound at first, to really earn a mononym, you have to be a polymath. If you want to be known by just one name, then you have to be known for more than just one thing. As a writer, artist, musician and designer, Shamir—at this point, it’s fair to say, less […]
This is why alternative fashion is transforming the mainstream
For a while now, what used to once fall under the term “alternative” has been pushing its way into the mainstream. Once fringe areas of creativity and artistry now sit comfortably alongside their more traditionally popular forms. And this holds particularly true when it comes to music and fashion, each feeding off the other in […]
Reese LAFLARE combines skate and grunge culture in Diva collections
Usually, when someone is described—or, even more often, is caught red-handed in the act of self-describing—as a “multi-hyphenate” or “polymath,” you can pretty much guarantee that neither their time nor their talent is spread equally. Rather, more often than not, what you’re looking at is someone with a side hustle; someone who’s good enough at […]
Poppy and Koi Footwear team up for dreamy alternative shoe collab
In her relatively short but nonetheless impressive career thus far, Moriah Rose Pereira—better known by her artist mononym, Poppy—has spent the last few years releasing music that not only appeals to her ever-expanding fanbase but which also does the distinctly more difficult work of establishing her name in the canon of contemporary alternative music. This, […]
Calvin Klein's Heron Preston brings new sincerity with alternative icons
Early in April 2021, Calvin Klein—American fashion house, universal byword for understated cool and, also, underwear with the name of a bisexual icon printed onto the waistband—announced the appointment of Heron Preston as the brand’s new creative consultant. One of those amorphous roles that doesn’t necessarily mean anything at all but which, in the right […]