Nylon - November 2008 - (Page 34) ste p h a n i e t ro ng NYLON ’s new executive editor, Stephanie Trong, has worked in magazines ever since discovering Sassy as a teenager. In high school, she started her own music zine, Leadership of the Creation, interviewing the likes of Jonathan Fire*Eater and Unwound. While in college, she interned at W and played guitar in a math rock band. And after graduating, joined the editorial team at Jane, where she worked her way up to the top in three years. But Trong has had her eye on NYLON for some time: “It’s more than a magazine,” she says. “It’s always featured fashion designers and musicians before anyone else. And the look of it is just sick!” This month, Trong conceptualized “Country’s Finest” (page 130). “America gets slagged off a lot internationally. I wanted to get the NYLON family together and put out a package of the many cool things happening here.” And Trong’s favorite entry? “The U.S. designers, of course—my credit card bill will testify to that!” kri sti n e d din g t o n “Space, Native Americans, hair, geometry, Egypt, and the circular rainbow tool in Photoshop…” These are just a few things that NYLON ’s new designer, Kristin Eddington, finds inspirational. While she’s always loved drawing and typography, she graduated from New York’s School of Visual Arts this May with a degree in graphic design. With experience at NYLON, Teen Vogue, and fashion label SOPHOMORE under her belt, Eddington wanted to work here “because it allows a bit of creative freedom,” she says. “I am always trying to uncomplicate things and love experimenting with different mediums such as markers, graphite, colored pencils, and paper, then bringing them into the digital realm.” As NYLON undergoes a minor redesign, Eddington’s quirky, whimsical illustrations can be found throughout, such as in Culture Club (page 110) and “XXX” in “Country’s Finest” (page 130). “We are kind of in an experimental phase, which is very exciting to be a part of!” h e n ry h a rg re a ves Cutting class to hang out in his high school’s darkroom was the first sign for photographer Henry Hargreaves. The former model—he’s appeared in editorials for Jil Sander, YSL and Lacoste—was also influenced by Guido Mocafico’s provocative photographs. “I want to be just like him when I grow up!” he says. Hargreaves is well on his way—shooting for NYLON and Anthem, along with “loads of rappers for Babygrande and tattooed chicks for Web sites.” For this issue, he shot a Jeremy Scott fur hat, emblazoned with a giant dollar sign, for Haute Stuff (“Mo’ Money,” page 48) on a poker table covered with playing cards and dice. “In high school, I used to set up my grandmother’s old bridge table in our garage on Sundays and the boys used to come over to gamble, drink bootleg liquor, and smoke…then our parents would pick us up and we would stumble off to church,” says Hargreaves of his inspiration. “Gambling is thrilling and still holds an aura of mystery.” sh ru ti gan g u ly Shruti Ganguly is Indian, grew up in Oman in the Middle East, and went to school in the Himalayas “where I got chased by monkeys (damn them!)” Luckily for us, she made it to Manhattan to be our new NYLON TV producer. While Ganguly’s résumé is impressive—she cut her teeth in Bollywood, has directed music videos, runs advocacy group Buildburma.org, and is on the South Asian International Film Festival’s programming committee—NYLON presented her with a different challenge: New York Fashion Week. Ganguly produced 25 videos in seven days. “We had a great team going night and day…no one really burned out,” she says. “In one of my favorite videos, [our host] Cory Kennedy asks Betsey Johnson for life advice!” For this issue, Ganguly also filmed Keri Hilson (“Front and Center,” page 106), of which she says, “The approach for NYLON TV is organic, spontaneous, and comfortable. We try to make people feel like we’re an artistic extension of themselves…not just another TV crew.” c h ri sti n a h a n “I realized I wanted to be a writer when I made my third grade class cry,” says Christina Han. “We had to write scary stories for Halloween and mine freaked the kids out in a major way. That’s when I discovered the power of words.” Han started out in music journalism, but branched out into writing about pop culture and politics; she has also written a book of short stories called Leprechauns, the Perfect Man and Other Mythical Creatures. For the America issue, Han interviewed young people in politics for our Social Studies page (“Young Guns,” page 64). “This project is extremely important in showing readers that you don’t need a trust fund or celebrity status to make a difference,” she says. “All these people started out as interns and volunteers; through hard work they’ve come to embody notable positions in the political world. Readers might feel a sense of hope, and that’s what this election really represents.” Politics aren’t Han’s only passion: in her free time, she plays cello, practices yoga, belly dances, and is learning how to figure skate. 34 http://www.Buildburma.org
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