Peligro

Waking up bruised and sore without any recollection of its cause is nothing new. I woke up and felt like I'd been hit by a train: both ankles in pain, swollen elbow, cut up knee, and a sore and dirty hip bone. At first awakening when I was still drunk I had no idea what had happened the night prior but as sobriety caught up with my consciousness so did fuzzy segments of my memory. I remember an extended fall, some yelling, and me climbing up the lip of the train platform then waking up late for work. The moral of this excerpt is not to stay in control of your substance intake but rather to not take the trains home at night, you may fall into the tracks and get hurt. Be safe out there kids.

Beyond a lunch stipend

In an effort to test the waters and dip my fingers in multiple "pussys waiting to be fucked" as my good friend Tony Montana puts it, the work I do at my internship for the showroom is a bit of a gamble. I work 3-8 hour shifts a week in exchange for lunch on the days I work and while I've acquired a perspective of how showrooms work and grasped further the significance of the role they play in the fashion world, I question what tangible benefit I will receive upon completion of my term as an intern.

The biggest reason I enjoy working in fashion is that sometimes I am able to spend time with the independent designers who work passionately for their brands. Designers are portals to diverse creativity and I love when I'm able to pick their minds, question inspirations, and listen to their histories and future ambitions. Marc Stone is one of the designers I've most recently met and is one of the menswear lines we house at the showroom.

Hailing from Zurich, this artist has been operating his line for a few years now with a tight team assisting him along the way. Unique cuts and materials add to this designers ingenious collections which are suitable for those who want to blend in or stand out from the crowd. His upcoming Spring/Summer line was inspired by images of an almost alien landscape after volcanic eruptions corrupted the calm landscapes which caress the northern lying country which is Iceland. Between the fine Italian fabrics and unique inspirations for prints, the clothes Mark Stone puts out are surely to be on the fashion radars of menswear enthusiasts for years beyond now. I'm so thankful to have had the few days to chat it up with him and be exposed to a great new foreign perspective.

INTERNSHIP

In a pursuit for work that is more rewarding than the thankless bitch work that is catering I've opted to take a side step in the fashion world and have acquired an internship at a fashion showroom. Naturally an internship consists of excessive bitch work but I feel that unlike catering, at least I'm being a slave in an industry I enjoy and wish to continue to thrive in. Most of what I've been doing is hanging clothes, making inventory/shipping lists, and acting as per diem showroom model. The people I am working with are cool and I'm glad that I randomly joined their team.

Moving to Harlem

"Hello, my name is Randall and I am a Manhattan based..." Is what email recipients of my solicitation for work will read from now on. I have switched back from being a "Brooklynite" to being able to say that I live on one of the greatest islands in the world. When I first moved to NY I was living in the lower east side of Manhattan in a classy shit hole of a space that I absolutely adored, "The Chelsea East Hostel". Unfortunately the city did not approve of the arrangement the hostel had with the building and all of the residents and temporary boarders were cast out to the street. Since then I've been residing, causing mayhem, and exploring in many regions of the city. If I hadn't moved to NY I question where/who I would be now. I was many things in Springfield, Massachusetts; hand cuff repair man, avid gym goer, traveler, entrepreneur, gay bar doorman, cyclist, loner. Now in NY I may still be lost but despite what some say about locations being temporary geographical fixes, I feel that merely residing in New York City for near 3 years is a feat which trumps all that I've accomplished in Western Massachusetts. I had myself some stellar times and connected with truly unforgettable people while living in my ghetto palace in Massachusetts, I would never give that up but change is inevitable in life and I think being in Manhattan adds an energy that everyone should encounter at least once in their lives.