Natasha Stagg’s Fashionworld Phantasmagoria

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Kate Wolf talks with “It Girl” Natasha Stagg about her new essay collection from Semiotexte: Sleeveless: Fashion, Image, Media 2011-19. Natasha explains overcoming her reluctance to move to NYC, how she landed in the fashion world – simultaneously at its center and on the periphery – and what she discovered there. This most-priveleged sphere in the capital of the world is just part of the scenery: where the old is new again until the moment of re-interpretation passes; the thrill of creativity is tangible, yet nothing to get excited about; and it’s most definitely post-Post-Modern yet pastiche, nostalgia, and appropriation remain the order of day. Telling tales of Late Capitalism in its interminable phase. The conversation also inspires Medaya Ocher, LARB’s Managing Editor, to reveal details of her previous life as a Parisian fashion photographer.

Also, Ariana Reines, author of the A Sand Book, returns to recommend two exceptional works of poetry, one old, one new: James Merrill’s National Book Award winning epic from the late 70s, The Changing Light at Sandover; and Edgar Garcia’s Skins of Columbus: A Dream Ethnography.