Zachary David Palmer

Three Questions for Stylish New Yorkers

1. Is the hipster dead?
2. Where’s the best place in New York to spot real trend-setters?
3. What’s the most fabulous fashion item you’ve ever worn or owned?

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MICHAEL T.
Terrifically fond of cowboy boots, Michael T. is a legendary promoter-DJ whose more infamous current projects include: Rated X: The Panty Party (on hiatus until September) and Motherfucker.
1. Yes, the hipster is dead, the few that remain are “undead” like zombies. Although instead of eating your flesh they eat up your drink tickets and guest list... vile creatures.
2. In a photo, from 1979 and before. Clearly there is no “trend setting” in New York these days. Have you seen the “fashion of the youth”? Headbands and hanging belts... pathetic!
3. Well, I own several fabulous items, my dear. However, if I don’t own it, trust me, it’s not that fabulous.

SOPHIA LAMAR
Transsexual nightlife, fashion, music and film-theater diva, prolific beyond belief, Lamar is a Renaissance man-turned-woman.
1. No. What is dead is the term “hipster.” People think that emos, bike messengers, postpunks, rockers, nerds and everybody they do not look like is a hipster.
2. At the Misshapes party — that’s where fashion editors go for inspiration.
3. That is hard for me to answer. I have a lot of “fabulous” items, but sometimes I feel fabulous with just a piece of fabric around me. Fabulous is a state of mind.

MISS GUY
DJ and lead singer of the Toilet Boys, see Miss Guy at The Factory (Tuesdays at Lotus).
1. Let’s hope so.
2. On the street. ALWAYS!
3. Sprouse or Westwood. The two greatest designers ever!

SEAN FIGHTCATS!
Along with S.Valentine, Sean Fightcats! is one third of the Ruff Kids, while, in his own right, he is pushing the t-shirt toward couture-notability.
1. No, I saw him in front of Cake Shop, thinking it was Williamsburg.
2. Suite Orchard, at Orchard and Rivington.
3. A t-shirt.

BRION ISAACS
Drummer for 33hz and co-founder/producer of Shindig!, Brion has a motorcycle in his apartment, so we hear.
1. The hipster is a general word I never liked. There is the lame thirty-something hipster, the indie-rock hipster, the Misshapes hipster, etc. Every single person fits into some label one way or another and there is no way of escaping it. To ask if the “hipster” is dead is like asking if the frat boy is dead — and we both know that he will be with us till the last kegstand.
2. Shindig or a 33hz show.
3. Frank Sinatra’s fedora, though I don’t actually wear it, it just sits on my dresser.

ANDY SHAW
Promoter extraordinaire, he is the man behind Shaw Promotion; it is he (and his street team) who hands you event fliers every night of the week.
1. Nothing ever really dies in New York. Things just evolve and morph into something else. The term “hipster” has been so overused and abused that it has pretty much lost its original meaning and been replaced with a general broad description of a certain demographic. But it’s like a joke now — no hipsters will admit that they are hipsters. Cuz after all, who likes to be categorized… and I don’t believe most of the people even know what a real “hipster” is anymore. Is the hipster dead? No. It’s greater than ever but in different forms and definitions and most people are one. Everyone likes to be hip on some level or another.
2. I sometimes have a hard time telling the difference between trend setters, posers and cheese balls. In terms of fashion, I guess all the usual places, downtown and Williamsburg. But in terms of the real deal, it’s the people who spent enough quality time on their own, discovering, creating and inventing things. Some of the greatest minds I have met weren’t anyone popular, or even cared to be. But NYC is the place.
3. I’m a practical guy. I don’t know or care to wear the most fabulous fashion items, but I do carry more shit than most on my belt: an Elvis Presley pocketknife, a camera, and, the most useful thing I have ever carried, a flashlight — all on my belt. I use all three all the time. Another “fabulous fashion item” I own, I guess, is my Triumph motorcycle. But again, it’s practical. It’s my ride and I get everywhere in ten minutes. Subway’s for suckers.

CHRIS ROVZAR
Onetime Daily News gossip guru, now Online Editor of NYMag.com
1. My boyfriend lives on Ludlow and Rivington, and the kids there seems to be sort of overdone — as though someone had a big Halloween street party and told everyone to dress as a hipster. I guess that’s one sign of the demise of the  genre, but Nantucket has been around for years and preppy somehow isn’t dead. So who knows?  Also — I think the Misshapes Retrospective book that’s coming out pretty much says the party’s over.
2. I think the real place to see trendsetters is in Nolita, where people dress up to go shopping. It’s always a mix of high and low fashion. Anything more gritty makes me want to shower.
3. I have this amazing black-and-red checkered barncoat from LL Bean circa 1978. I’m pretty sure not one single person in the city has one like it. Suffice to say, I never wear it.

REBECCA TURBOW
Owner of the clothing line Safe by Rebecca Turbow
1. I don’t think so. Not yet anyway.
2. I guess that would still be Williamsburg and the Lower East Side.
3. I can’t think of just one thing. My white knee high Sigerson Morrison boots are pretty fabulous. It’s hard to find a good pair of white boots.

ELISE CHANG
Currently employed by the illustrious Andy Warhol Foundation
1. Like the living dead!
2. Quiet streets on bright days.
3. Red, white and blue Nike Airs.

RACHEL FELDER
Fashion and beauty writer extraordinaire
1. Hipsters are alive and well. After a summer of European festival hopping and relaxing in Cornwall and Majorca, they’ll be back soon.
2. Inside their rent stabilized sublets, or on their occasional trips out to the Red Hook Ball Fields, Jeffrey New York, art galleries in Chelsea, Salvor Kiosk, or to JFK to wait for a flight to Marfa, Mexico City, or Mumbai.
3. The most fabulous fashion item: My mother’s Emilio Pucci cotton shift, purchased at Saks Fifth Avenue circa 1966: it still looks great and is worth every high-end dry cleaning bill it takes to keep it that way.

S. VALENTINE
T-shirt designer and, along with Sean Fightcats!, one-third of the Ruff Kids, S.Valentine drinks straight from the bottle.
1. I’m hungry, I just ate too much Chinese food. I’m so high. Jesus. POT COOOKIES! Hipsters dead? Huh?? I want fooood, not dead hipsters.
2. Ask me where I’ll be later on.
3. She was blond.

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