The Mannequins Around You

Are you a conscience shopper? How often do you walk into your favorite store and buy the exact same outfit as the mannequin? Or are you a picky shopper, you go the store to pick up that one item you've had your eye on all week. 

I'm an extremely picky shopper, I don't think I'm ever persuaded by the mannequins in the store. Honestly I don't think I ever payed much attention to merchandising until I became a merchandiser, now I analyze everything!

After work I decided to kill some time in Times Square and watch the snow fall until, I spotted the H&M sign! I haven't really enjoyed shopping at H&M much since moving to NYC, it's always over crowded with merchandise thrown all around. Just think of your local H&M but 10x worse. The Times Square H&M is a fairly new store and is also New York City's flagship store, so my expectations were pretty high. 

They had to have at least 50 mannequins or more placed throughout the entire store, maybe about 5 or 6 per section. I wasn't concerned about there outfits either. I payed very close attention to their style, as if they were alive and filled with swagg. I observed everything from the Rapunzel  black and white Cruella de Vil wigs to the razor sharp Asian bob mannequins outfitted in business attire. How about those grey and purple wig mannequins draped in soft denim and lavender. I was in total awe and my insides were filled with inspiration. I was inspired by the overall appearance of the store it was very inviting and also very empty. I'm sure this had a lot to do with the snow storm that had been taking place.  

Granting all of this, I work at American Apparel so I have an abnormal eye for creativity, check out this link to see exactly what I mean here.  

Below is a short video clip from my flagship experience.

Okay I know, my videography skills aren't that great, but hey cut me some slack this my first video. I created this video on iMovie. I'm unsure why it's so blurry but it didn't look this way on the program. Do you guys have any suggestions for other video programs? 

Rap School

It's so crazy how the world works. I'm a firm believer that with trust and faith the universe will always lead us in the right direction….

Last night I got to experience something oh so cool, "Rap School".  From the name of the event you probably could guess it's description. Rap School, consisted of live music, awesome people, and great vibes in a somewhat chill and collective atmosphere. The energy in the room was totally awesome. 

Picture this, loud speakers, original instrumental beats, vocalist, rappers and musicians all in the same room. As the beat would play an artist, any artist would instantly rap their thoughts out loud feeding of one another rhythms. I was astonished by the talent and creativity in the room, I even imagined that I was in some kind of rap hip hop opera! 

I was able to exchange a few words with the owner of the house and the mastermind behind the movement. Sellers aka chief aka he goes by so many other names and a native Washingtonian like myself claims to have been hosting events like this for a very long time. Sellers isn't your traditional NYC musician, he's creative, innovative and the complete "jack of all trades". His creative thinking is what interests fashionistas like myself. 

He decided to give me a quick tour of his place while I bombarded him with questions. I'll try to be as descriptive as possible because I hardly took any photos. Inside the air was fabricated with herbal fragrances and vodka. The rooms were filled with characters holding plastic cups and spitting dope ryhmes. There was a pool table in the middle of the living room where most of the crowed hovered around. Planted on the walls were Sellers paintings. I remember his bedroom door vividly, he seemed really enthused about it. It was a collage of nick nacks, stickers and words screaming "Free Crack". I also got to scrimmage through a collection of his cassate tapes. 

Rap School was a complete success and I'm really looking forward to attending it again next Sunday!