-How would you describe your blog in a few words?
Quirky downtown NYC.

-When and how did StyleDefinedNYC begin?
It began almost 3 years ago. I was a big fan of Scott Schulman/the Sartorialist but felt like he wasn’t
seeing “my New York” that is a bit more urban than urbane and has a strong nightlife streak. So I decided
to start my own blog!

-What is your favorite part about StyleDefinedNYC?
Sharing my experience of New York City with everyone else. I grew up at the end of the “club kid”
era and I love giving props to the nightlife peeps and their personal style. At the same time I’m a big fan of
emerging designers so have expanded to include a new section called UP|Coming that profiles them and
that I’m really excited about.

What is the hardest part of StyleDefinedNYC?

Staying true to my vision. I get tons of requests from PR companies to cover their events or products and
I have to be really careful about what I agree to write about. It’s also really important to me to have
all original content –not just grab things from other websites.

Three favorite Fall 2011 must have items in your closet right now?

I’m kind of obsessed with outerwear at the moment, so I’d say a black leather vest with an
asymmetrical hem and big faux fur collar -it’s “instant glam”, a cropped and boxy vintage leopard coat and a
black wool Alexander Wang coat.

-What is the best moment so far that you have experienced as a fashion blogger?

Well the best opportunity that came from blogging happened last summer: J&B Whiskey was having a party in Madrid with a theme of the Manhattan cocktail. They invited me over as an “iconic New Yorker” and had my photos blown up wall sized for the party. I am far from iconic, but it was an amazing experience! That’s one big event. But in smaller ways it’s the daily connecting to different people. I’ve met so many really amazing people simply by taking their photo and I feel I can go pretty much anywhere and see people I know, now.

-Do you have any favorite fashion/ photographer muses at the moment?

My two favorite fashion photographers are Steven Meisel –whose ongoing work with Italian Vogue is off the charts– and David Lachappelle. David doesn’t do fashion so much anymore but he has a great eye for the whole photo and really plays with color in a brilliant way.

- What advice would you give to an aspiring street style blogger?

Decide on a particular “angle” that will make you unique. Advanced Style does this really well! There are so many street style sites and sites that allow people to submit their own images that you have to figure out a point of view. Alternatively maybe you can contact a fashion or style site that doesn’t have streetstyle and offer your services as the street style photographer. That could give you experience and exposure. Finally, you can’t afford to be shy – but if you are just keep doing it and work through it!

-What music are you currently listening to on your iPod?

I have given up the iPod for Pandora and am a total Pandora junkie. Right now I’m switching between
a station I made called “Katya Chills” which is an electric mix of my favorites like Thievery Corporation,
the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and old classic bands like The Talking Heads on it and a Jazz Standards station that
plays Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald.

-As a street style documenter, what part of NYC would you say has the best style?

Well since I kind of focus on nightlife style I’d say currently I love some of the style I’m seeing at ZigZag – thursdays at Le Bain- but this is always changing up!

-How would you describe your personal style?
Constantly evolving! I am a platform heel addict because I need the height and I prefer jeans –either
skinny or super wide– to skirts or dress although there are exceptions. I recently went to the Daphne Guiness’ exhibit at FIT and found it utterly inspiring. I’d love to be able to dress like her, but since that’s not practical it has inspired me to eliminate t-shirts from my wardrobe. They’re sooo boring!

-Where do you see your blog 5 years from now?

Five years?!? I’m not sure! But I’m interested in pushing the photography angle further. I’d love to do shoots
with some of my favorite nightlife people that are a bit more controlled as well as shooting lookbooks for designers and adding video to the repertoire. But above all I’d like it to be a little time capsule of downtown New York fashion and style.

Make sure to follow more inspirations by Katya on Twitter! @Katya_NYC and check out some original first hand glimps at the street style in New York City on StyleDefinedNYC

Well, my path to blog “stardom” was a bit different. I won’t get into specifics but I started off as the vainglorious 20-something with a shopping habit, then pretty much veered off into a coked up romp through Brooklyn with hipsters of indeterminate gender, months of unemployment, hooking on a few corners, dating Charlie Sheen, then finally tricking Fashion Indie into believing that I actually know what I’m talking about.

Though I did join Lookbooks.

LINK LOVE: Refinery29

Visit Style Rookie here!

Let me be the first to admit it, yeah I’m an asshole. I’ve never claimed to be the nicest person in fashion and I’ve never made it seem like I’d ever sugar coat my thoughts or views. I just want to be as honest as possible and give an opinion which is well within my freedom of speech and expression.

So I said some mean things. So I posted unflattering pictures of a rival. Sue me. It isn’t like I said shit that hasn’t been said before, behind peoples backs, without them knowing, said in jest so it’s “okay”. I’m saying the stuff some folks in fashion are afraid to say and now I’m getting flacked for it. Well, fine. I’m okay with being the media’s whipping boy for a few cracks, as long as I get my point across it’s all good.

Now onto part deux of Torture Coutorture in which Julie responds to her company’s idiotic practices, I try to make good with one of the few nice people in fashion, and I apologize (kind-of) for being a royal doucher

The email from Julie came in on Friday, soon after the Coutorture crew realized that the story had gone viral and was on sites like Gawker and Refinery29 (great Civil War pict, seriously).  The email had all the details we were initially looking for as to why we were kicked off their pubescent network.  Basically, Meghan and Sarah had been reading through Fashion Indie, red-flagged a post as offensive (just one?) and made efforts with Julie to kick us off.  When the issue was properly explained, kicking us off the network made perfect sense since they are try to foster a sedated message across their publisher sites. So, playing nice for advertisers (wait, they don’t have any) trumped freedom of speech and we were kicked off. Understandable. We never stated we we’re a PC site. We’ve been pushing envelopes since day one and we get it if certain folks don’t want to associate themselves with us. That’s okay. What’s is not okay is how the issue was originally handled with anonymous comments and criptic emails from the Coutorture crew.

Next Julie explained why they didn’t do the right thing from the beginning…

We are concerned with the culture of fear in blogging and indeed we had been concerned to address these issues with you and the Fashion Indie team for sometime precisely because we were afraid of your reaction given your preferred methods of engagement. Sadly we let that fear color our short email towards you ending our relationship because we did not wish to go into detail lest it be used against us. For this we apologize sincerely.

Hold up. Numero uno, I’m not a scary dude. Ask anyone who knows me or has met me in person and they’ll tell you that I’m a pretty easy going, rational individual.  I’ve never engaged in such “methods of engagement” before so it made no sense for Coutorture to assume (make an ass out of you and me) that this is they way we would respond if they had initially treated us with some respect and explained themselves properly.

Two, Julie, Sarah and Meghan all know me personally. I’ve known Julie for nearly three years and while she has remained the same cold fish she’s always been, I’ve been nothing but personable and friendly with the girl.  Personally, I think she’s suffering from an Anna Wintour complex, but that’s just from observing her sitting at runway shows, with her sunglasses on, not speaking to anyone, not even me when I go up to her and say hello.  Sorry, I just believe that people like that don’t belong in fashion.  Sarah is also another Coutorture chick I’ve known for sometime. Our editor IM’s her on the daily and we’ve maintained a friendly relationship. We’re always ready to blast anything she requested out to our email list and we’ve been more than kind to her. So her responding this way was also idiotic and childish.

And three, GROW SOME FUCKING COJONES. YOU’RE IN BUSINESS JULIE AND YOUR NETWORK MAKES MAJOR CLAIMS. YOU ARE GOING TO HAVE TO LEARN CONFLICT RESOLUTION AT SOME POINT OR AT LEAST LEARN TO CRAFT A PROPER EMAIL.

So basically, Julie admitted to not handling the situation well, apologized and all is once again good in the world of online fashion blogging. Congrats on being the bigger person, it’s not always the easy thing to do.

Next Up, I apolize to Fat Folks.

I know it’s not easy being fat. I tipped the scale at 270 when I was 17 and that was the worst time in my life. I’m still not the thinnest dude on the block (there hasnt been a pair of skinny jeans that have met the crease of my crack) but honestly folks, is it so wrong to call someone fat? They make it seem like I’m a monster for stating something that everyone else is aware of. You’re fat, it’s okay, it’s not the best thing in the world to be, and you’ll probably die earlier than those of a moderate weight, but it’s okay cause that extra slice of cheesecake is so worth it, right?!?  No one is forcing you to be overweight. No one is telling you to overeat. And in a society of liposuction, gastric bypass, and Alli, there is no reason why you can’t drop a few pounds, unless of course you like being fat, in which you shouldn’t be offended if I say you are.  Yeah, I would love it if this wasn’t the case, if we could all sing around the campfire and gouge our eyes out so we can’t see each others imperfections, but that’s not the way life works and if you’re are in an industry that stresses the need for lack of flaws, it’s a little difficult to get by with such a big one.

I’m all for big is beautiful and I’ve had my share of thick loves in my life, but enough is enough.  It’s okay if you want to be fat, just be ready for the occasional stare, chuckle or thoughtless comment.

I’m sorry for offending anyone with my fat jokes or commentary.  Just don’t be too hard on yourself, it’s not easy being a big girl in a size zero world.

Sarah, I am honestly sorry if any of my comments hurt your feelings. That was never my intent.

Now on to Terrorist.

Terrorists,

I’m sorry for associating Turbans to your practices of mass terror and destruction. You see, over here in America we have magazines like The New Yorker and a station called Fox News which is run by super racist-bigot billionaire Rupert Murdock.  On it, all the men who attack and attempt to destroy our country wear turbans, have beards, and weird names I don’t understand like Akemed Ikahina bin Laden.

Really? Who decided this was a good idea?

These images of turban wearing terrorist fester in my weak mind and I begin to associate all terrorist as turban wearing middle easterners.  I realize that not all terrorist wear turbans, so it was wrong to associate all of you together and adhere to such a stereotype. I now understand that some of you may enjoy wearing fitted New Era caps or knit hats, some of you out there may wear Sunday Derby sunhats or may choose to rock a nice suede kippot when you’re feeling fiesty.  It was wrong to think all of you wear turbans and I’m sorry if I offended you with my comments.

Hugs and Disses,

Daniel Saynt

To other Turban wearers.

I’m not an idiot. I know you’re not all terrorists. Homeland Security doesn’t, but I do.  It was a joke. Hell, you can’t really consider it a religion if you don’t suffer a little persecution, right?

So that’s about it indies. I know it’s been a harrowing ordeal for some of you, but the whole thing was pretty easy for us. This week we plan to launch an initiative to prevent such things from happening to bloggers in networks and to provide a means to identify sites that aren’t censored by their networks. We’ll be wearing our badge proud and will continue to give you the type of stories and posts you’ve come to expect from the sons of bitches at FashionIndie.com.

P.S. In one day Fashion Indie was compared to Fox News and the Bush Administration for stating the facts and reporting on our experience.  Damn, there must be something really wrong in the world when battling a larger power, defending your freedom of speech, and speaking up against censorship is considered Republican.