BARE launch party photos

Check out the photos from the lovely, low-key BARE launch partay held at Jupiters in Berkeley...
Marcus Leung, BARE's layout lead and contributing writer, posing with the magazine, above

Elane, one of BARE's models from issue 2, poses with the mag

Production lead Melissa Myo, above

Michael (right) and Nathan (left) hanging out at Jupiter, above

From left to right, Nathan, Rachel, and Gary hanging out at Jupiter... waiting (for what seemed like forever!) for some pizza

Production lead Rosie Wang

BARE staffer Andrea Kern

Layout co-Lead Connie, above

Editor Kevin Chen, above

Mark and Cheney (left) hanging out at Jupiter with the new mags

Photos from the BARE launch partay!

I just got back from a trip from London, and everyone on staff was uber busy with finishing up finals and getting ready for summer, but posting will start up tomorrow! In the meantime, here's a picture of the cake from the celebration last week.

Launch partay tomorrow!

All BARE blog readers are of course invited to attend the BARE issue 2 launch party tomorrow! Meet at the back entrance of Jupiter's, at 2115 Allston, at 1 p.m. for perusing the magazine, and catching up with all your BARE friends!!

Photos from the TRUNK show

Last night was Cal's Onyx Express magazine's TRUNK show. Rachel (BARE's creative director, left below) and I (photo below, right) attended the fabulous event, and I thought I'd share some of the pix with you all.

The event was at the gorgeous Lipman Room at the top of Barrows Hall -- gorgeous simply because of the incredible 360 views of Berkeley and the Bay.

Show started off with spoken word performances by a few Cal students, and particularly impressive was getting to see the Cal Poetry Slam team perform and show off their incredibly powerful compositions. Then the fashion show was set to begin.

There were some eco-friendly fashions shown (see right), but I loved most a new designer that was showcased called, MackBee. It's a Vallejo-based tee-shirt brand run by RJ Williams (pictured in the front row above, with the hat, before the show began). Not only did the models walk to a song actually specially written for the brand, but the t-shirts are really nice quality, the logo is so fun, cool and catchy, and the brand has a nice message to "Expand Your Mind and Mackbeelieve." We'll definitely be seeing more of MackBee in the future, I have a good feeling about their brand and their company, and am very excited about probably seeing these shirts around campus sometime soon.

After the show we caught up with our friends Arielle Scott (right), not only a former BARE model but also the founder of the youth-based start-up marketing firm LECCG that did a lot of the promotions and production of last night's event, and Danielle Leslie, Editor-in-Chief of the Onyx Express. As always, it's amazing to be able to see the creativity of fellow Cal students at work. It was a great night, and I can only hope they put this on again next year, with an even bigger turnout (we'll be sure to tell you about it BEFORE the date so you can be sure to get tickets) -- it fulfilled its goal of bringing together artists, designers, performers, trendsetters, and others in hope of reviving artistic spirit at Cal.

Studying Student Style Abroad

Argentina

One of the topics covered in study abroad orientations at Cal is the familiarization of the Cal student with the “local customs and attitudes” of the country she or he will be visiting, which includes habits of dress. Though undoubtedly meant to primarily address standards of modesty and the like, it’s certainly interesting to consider how personal interpretations of style in other countries vary or are similar. Of course, there are stereotypes are associated with certain nations–Brits being trend obsessed compared to their effortlessly chic and classic French counterparts, for example. I harbor a special love for international street style blogs that allow us a peek at what foreign fellow students wear to class, to shop, and to party.

United Kingdom




France

It’s interesting to wonder how differently college students in other countries dress and how much of this difference may be attributed to personal style and how much to national culture. Certainly, it would be dangerous to think that the tendencies of those select students photographed in large cities are representative of the people or norms of an entire country. I am, however, very tempted to conclude that Scandinavian collegians are awesome in their predilection for nonchalantly wearing tights and dresses in climes that make many a native Californian huddle in Northface jackets and Uggs.

Norway

Finland

Denmark

Perhaps, the mystique of the styles of far off cities also lies in comparing how people interpret clothes as American college students versus in as students in a country that only recently established its own fashion week versus students in a country with laws about what qualifies as haute couture.

Germany

China

The Netherlands




Russia

Retailers tend to think that Americans are not sartorial risk takers - though we have Forever 21, Target collaborations, and Old Navy as parallels for imported giants such as H&M, Zara, and Topshop, American exports become edgier and more fashion forward for the continental crowd. (Euro-Gap is more luxurious than it's stateside sister and the superior Euro-Urban Outfitters carries See by Chloe, Hussein Chalayan, and Vanessa Bruno). Berkeley life, however, has a charming quality in which no matter how fancifully you're dressed, there's bound to be someone else in equally or even more outlandish duds than you. It’s hardly a stretch then to imagine these college students from distant shores waiting for coffee at FSM, sunning on Memorial Glade, or reading on the benches outside of Dwinelle.

Sources: Hel-Looks, Stil in Berlin, Garance Dore, Oslostil, Stylites in Beijing, Style Clicker, Glam Canyon, Face Hunter, Just Glitter Lust, Copenhagen Street Style, Look At Me, On The Corner, Dam Style