The NY Times went to Bedford Ave to talk to people on the street about their fashion choices and L train inspirations. The participants answers sound a bit forced, as if someone had just put the camera on them and said “NOW MAKE SURE YOU INCLUDE THE L TRAIN IN YOUR ANSWER.” Watch (more…)

The Wall Street Journal’s Bryan Quinn visited Williamsburg Fashion Weekend and spoke to the participants. As you will see WFW is a lot different than Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week. Founder Arthur Arbit says “there’s a whole food industry that’s local, we want a fashion industry that’s local.” Oh also it’s (more…)

From the Styleblaster website:

Since the early 2000s, Williamsburg has been a neighborhood popular with a new cultural elite, the heirs of the artists and hipsters who in years past were attracted by its location, one subway stop from Manhattan.

Now in 2012, the neighborhood is poised on the cusp of a new change as the repercussions of recent zoning changes, combined with inland condo construction, have literally paved the way for a new breed of stylish and sassy individuals. A place for the fashionable to be seen, Williamsburg’s stretch of Bedford Avenue is often described as a modern Haight-Ashbury, a cultural mecca for the Millenial generation.

To answer the changing times, we introduce Styleblaster, a realtime account of what people in Williamsburg are wearing. Unlike a typical streetstyle blog, Styleblaster documents all — the visiting fashion plates, the hipsters and have-nots, the native Polish and Italian proud who have for years called this neighborhood home. And above all — the dapper salarymen and businesswomen who stand to inherit the area.

Situated a block from the hellmouth of the Bedford “L” subway train, our camera aims down the street, capturing Williamsburg on the hoof. Moments after a person enters into the frame, the camera snaps, sending its image onto our blog. For the online fashion browser, a boon: the blog updates in realtime, showcasing each new image as quick as it can be appraised. Online viewers can watch a live feed, peruse a recent history of images, or compare shots over the days and weeks as FW-2012 blossoms into SS-2013.

We’re not sure what’s going on here.

ATTENTION FASHIONISTAS: FREE GIVEAWAY!!

Fadmashion, the New York style collective and boutique celebrating the diverse styles of NYC neighborhoods, is offering an EXCLUSIVE giveaway to YOU, lovely FREEwilliamsburgers! (OK, so this giveaway may be a bit biased…they are a Williamsburg-based start-up so they’ve got a ‘lotta love for us in their heart.)

The coveted giveaway is the (super cute) Fadmashion Nyla Noor El Borne Hipster Clutch (value $300!):

To enter to win this fab clutch:

1. Sign up to Fadmashion between Sept 20 and Nov 1, 2012
2. LIKE the Fadmashion Homepage

The winner will be awarded November 10, 2012. This fetch clutch can be yours for FREE – but only if you enter to win! So enter away, fashionistas, and good luck!

For more stylish pieces and to see what Fadmashion is all about, check out their site. There are 24/7 sales and new arrivals all the time, plus $10 instant credits, and up to $50 credits when your friends join! Happy shopping!

Back in October, I met one of the most iconic indie rockers during CMJ. This would be the handsome man behind Mister Heavenly and Islands, Nick Thorburn. My meeting with him was strictly business and before gazing deep into his eyes, I was captivated by this little piece of plastic around his finger. Then as he motioned his hand, I noticed it was a white LEGO ring.

That was my first stumble upon this toy/accessory and on my second, I decided to personally own one. Still unsure if it’s the reason that Nick Thornburn has the same designer copy of the ring or how my childhood memories evolved around building LEGO forts, either way, I have fallen for this trend. Mine was $5 at the Brooklyn Flea which probably added to the desire of purchasing it. You can find high quality editions online or go cheap, and head to your nearest hipster flea market. These kind of creative crafts are always a hit in the DIY community but what are your thoughts, the trend of Lego Rings, Yay or Nay?

Click here for the Etsy links to these rings.

Opportunities to make fun of hipsters never cease, but this video may be overkill. Posing as representatives from Brooklyn Vegan (the site denied their involvement in the making of the video), a group called Million Dollar Extreme took to the streets of Williamsburg to check out the local fashion.

The crew interviewed numerous guys with ray-bans (hipster stereotype #1) and ironic facial hair (hipster stereotype #2) and girls who listen to Holy Ghost and Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. (hipster stereotype #you get it), really running their point into the ground.

We get it, Williamsburg has hipsters.

Though apparently this is news to the interviewer, who describes the area as a, “funky, underground neighborhood.” Not to sound pretentious, but really, where have you been?

“People are more violently opposed to fur than leather because it’s safer to harass rich women than motorcycle gangs.” –Unknown

Sunday night, at the House of Yes, here in Williamsburg, a new line of fur heavy fashion will debut in a show called Nutria Palooza.  It’s billed as a cruelty-free alternative to traditional fur fashions.  Why, you ask? Because this fur comes from animals already killed as part of a Louisiana state initiative to control the animal’s population.  That’s right, Lousiana, and the animal, the nutria, or coypu is more commonly known as a swamp rat.  With help from a  grant from the Barataria-Terrebonne Estuary Foundation, Cree McCree founded a line of products to utilize the leftover corpses of these state-deemed varmints, called Righteous Fur.  Louisiana started paying trappers by the pelt when the nutria, originally brought to the swamplands from South America for fur-farming, grew in numbers so great their population threatened the local eco-system.  In addition to the fleece, Righteous Fur uses the nutria’s distinctive bright yellow teeth in jewelry as well.  Their hide is being used to sole shoes. “If they’re being killed anyway..then why not make something beautiful out of them?” McCree told the Times.  As previously mentioned, nutria fur is nothing new, with fashionable Hollywood icons like Greata Garbo wearing it back in her day.  History seems to be repeating itself, with modern designers taking nutria notice. From the Times:

Designers like Billy Reid (who recently won a major fashion award…), Michael Kors and Oscar de la Renta have incorporated nutria lining or trim in recent collections, and the fur has shown up on Etsy, the online store that specializes in handmade and vintage crafts, in the form of merkins — triangular patches sewn onto flesh-colored panties.”

Righteous Fur first debuted at a release in New Orleans, but Sunday, the show comes to the big city “guilt-free.” If only we could invent guilt-free alternatives to everything that weighs morally on our consciences. It evidently doesn’t even have to be very different than the guilt-filled alternative.  If you wanna check it out, you can get tickets here.

Today and tomorrow at Glasslands Gallery, located at 289 Kent Ave. Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Doors open at 8pm. Entry is $8. Open vodka bar from 8-9pm.

FreeWilli coverage to follow next week!
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Fashion Night Out’s is Vogue Editor in Chief Anna Wintour’s scheme to make “shopping fun again.” So, to do this, a ton of stores stay open late and get prospective shoppers boozy on free cocktails while hoping they make some rash purchase choices.

Even Gawker is in on it. Our neck of the woods has also hopped on the bandwagon and are throwing down.

Williamsburg didn’t get their act together to make a nice little flyer like Franklin St. but you can find all the events at the FNO site and plan according now that shopping is fun again.

Dearest Wall Street Journal,

Tell us: What’s up with hats?

The trend may be old hat to hipsters in areas like Williamsburg, Brooklyn, who started wearing fedoras, rounded derby hats and, in warmer weather, straw hats, more than two years ago. But now hats are starting to catch on among some men in suburbs, the Midwest and beyooooooooond. Gap and J. Crew say they have witnessed strong hat sales this spring and summer while department stores like Barneys New York have been expanding their assortments after years of general indifference to hats. Sales of designer-brand “blocked” hats such as fedoras and straw hats in particular “are definitely robust,” says Jay Bell, a vice president at Barneys.

Tune in next week for an explanation of Cigars: For Smoking.

[WSJ, emphasis mine.]