The Retrospective

Photo Credit: Alicia Adams

There must be something beautiful and dangerous happening inside the mind of Francis Farewell Starlite. Having experienced his live shows only through a few video clips here and there, I was ecstatic to hear that he would be gracing the stage at San Francisco’s Red Devil Lounge. Although I had no idea, YouTube was about to get blown out of the water: writing this piece was maybe almost as difficult as it must be for Francis and the Lights to duplicate through any form of digital media what I saw live at 2009’s close.

Countinue Reading…

Tags: Event · Music · San Francisco1 Comment

Photo Credit - Alessandro Simonetti

To call Jules Kim and her brand Bijules “edgy” would be doing her a disservice—and it might insult her, too. A difficult-to-pinpoint mixture of unsettling, unexpected, and all-out modern swank, Jules’ unique jewelry pieces are as resistant to pigeonholing as the woman who dreams them up. Perhaps partly due to this mystique, everyone from our friend Kareem Black to the fashion world’s editorial elite has been singing her praises, and while she was on a recent stop in San Francisco, I had a chance to catch up with her. We chatted about her hustle past and present and the brand philosophy that’s poised to change the status quo of the luxury jewelry market.

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Tags: Fashion · New York · RetroTalk3 Comments

It’s been a jet set weekend for The Retrospective’s staff. While our Editor in Chief headed back to Spain, I spent the past 48 hours hopping from coast to coast. During my time in New York City, I caught up with Heron Preston, Larry Ossei-Mensah of My Global Hustle, Jesse Poe of DMDxd, Johanna Beyanbach of Undercurrent, blogger Matt Cohen and Yuji Fukushima of Blue in Green. In addition to getting a moment to reconnect with our East Coast team, I saw the lovely Mimi Tamaoki and had some facetime with The Brooklyn Circus. While at the Nike Sportswear release of the new DJ AM shoe, I also got some facetime with Hollywood Holt, whose new album will be dropping this spring. Last time we ran into Holt he was destroying San Francisco’s Vessel Lounge while on tour with Kid Cudi and Million Dollar Mano where the above photo was taken.

Countinue Reading…

Tags: The Retrospective · site news4 Comments

Photo Credit: Matt Carr/Getty Images

What happens when you and your college roommates start a comedy troupe and bring it to the interwebs? You then go on to script, direct and produce some of the most popular and hilarious shorts to hit YouTube. To top it all off, you are so popular that YouTube pays you for your shorts! This was the reality for talented comedy team DERRICKcomedy.

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Tags: Films · TV · Video1 Comment

Photo Credit: Whitney Summer

A few years back my brother Yanick introduced me to a film that gave me a glimpse into a movement of which, up until that point, I didn’t even know I was a part. The film was Afro-Punk, directed by James Spooner, and it touches on not only the musicality of black fronted punk and hardcore bands like Bad Brains and many others, but also the very real racial aspect of being black in the punk rock scene. While no one can really dictate what is or is not black (I’ve actually had other black people tell me I wasn’t black enough, go figure. I was born and raised in Africa, folks!), the film was nevertheless profound.

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Tags: Event · Films · Interview · Music · San Francisco2 Comments

Two of our favorite SF boutiques, HUF and The Brooklyn Circus SF, are having Black Friday sales it’d be criminal to miss. Both shops have been hard at work crafting new looks for 2010, and it shows in their respective lines. Go check out the fine new threads for yourself, and while you’re there, score discounts on equally fabulous attire from last season. We all know shopping on that most insane of days can get crazy, so stay safe and from all of us here at The Retrospective, have a great holiday.

Tags: Fashion · San FranciscoNo Comments.

Vashtie Kola. Not ringing a bell? Well it’s time to get familiar. New York’s “Downtown Sweetheart” has been hustling the mean streets of NYC for some time now. She’s been seen directing music videos for Kid Cudi (”Heaven at Nite“), creating her own fashion line, Violette, and organizing the wildly successful “1992” and “Open” parties. Vashtie has a gift for bridging the gap between underground trend movements and mass appeal, a talent that has garnered her no little amount of praise and a highly enviable client list. Earlier this year we sat down for a Q+A with this multi-talented maven. We discussed her life in the city, creativity, and being in the public eye, and we learned that she’s far more than just New York’s “it girl”.

Countinue Reading…

Tags: New York · RetroTalk5 Comments

There’s no denying that times are tough, kids.  Lucky for you,  The Retrospective is here to help you look like your wallet’s not all skinny and cringing in some lightless corner! Our good friends over at JackThreads have given us some invite codes you can use toward scoring some amazing fashions on their site. If you’re not familiar with JackThreads, they are an exclusive, invite-only shopping community that offers INSANE discounts on apparel from brands like CLAE, 3sixteen, Crooks & Castles, and much more. All you have to do is follow this link and sign up. Go on already! Don’t say we never gave you nothin’

Tags: Fashion · street wearNo Comments.

If you have visited or stopped by in the last couple of months you’ve certainly noticed that we have been very mute. We’ve used the last few months to evaluate how we do what we do and even if we were the right people to do it. Hell, our absence even prompted bids to buy the property from us, which was flattering but a real wake up call.

We’d like to formally announce that the wheels are turning again and we are working to get back to our “A” game. We’d very much like to apologize to persons we were supposed to cover for the blog but haven’t, and the creatives who were in line to be featured in our “we are each other” series but put on hold. We have some great new ideas and exciting developments underway. We really want to say thank you to our fabulous contributors(past and present), you the readers, and everyone we’ve worked with over the years.

Thank You: Jeff Staple (stpl design), Rickey Kim (Evil Monito/Epiphany Media), Mimi Tamaoki (Swagger), The Brooklyn Circus, Chris Piascik, Kid Cudi, Vashtie Kola (Violette), Larry Ossei-Mensah (My Global Hustle), Mega (HUF/Blackscale), Chion Wolf, Nike/Spark PR, Vaughn Fender, Duncan Jones (Moon), Cut Off Your Hands, John Maeda (RISD), Paul Octavious, Kareem Black, Jon Phenom (Hay Fam), Johanna Beyenbach (undercurrent) Christopher Dang (Love Brigade), Heron Preston, Chiara Bautista, Theophilus London & The Lovers, The Galaxy Riders, Hollywood Holt, Million Dollar Mano, Mo Billionaire (We Do Not Follow), Thursday, DJ Skeet Skeet (Eat Skeet), Magdi Fernandes (We Are HQ), Chris Devlin (spankrock / BBC), Francis Farewell Starlight (Francis and the Lights), 160over90, V V Brown, LEGO, Leo Kesting Gallery, Mother NY, Melody Ehsani, 3sixteen. Alan the Gallant, The Fizix, Dee & Ricky, Dolan Group, Eugene Whang (Public Release), Glam Media, Daniel Beckerman (Retrosuperfuture), Bianca Benitez (Dear Creatures), Fred Flare.
If we’ve missed anyone please know we are blessed and thankful for your support

That being said we’re back, but please don’t call it a comeback.

- Sincerely Yours The Retrospective.

Tags: The Retrospective · site news1 Comment

Our good friend Chris Piascik who was kind enough to participate in our We Are Each Other series, has a solo show coming up that we think you should go check out.

Tags: UncategorizedNo Comments.