I had not been to the Big Apple in about 8 years, so I was pretty excited to ride the Path over from Hoboken into Manhattan. Still smells the same!

The first stop for my fiancé and I was the Gothic: Dark Glamour exhibit at the FIT Museum, which Auxiliary Magazine had an article on in the first issue. The mood and tone of the exhibit was perfect. I saw everything from true Victorian mourning garb to modern designers Kambriel and Lip Service displayed next to each other.  (Check out Auxiliary Magazine’s Invitation Only editorial featuring these designers.)  It gave a great correlation between the influences that dress the modern goth girl. I also enjoyed the displays because it was just plain eye candy for the shopaholic! The main room of the exhibit featured the “batcave” which featured current and past fashion labels that haunt my personal closet. It featured; Dane, Lip Service, London Underground, Siren clothing, Demonia, and various anonymous pieces (each dated, for example “early 90s”) that may have been DIY pieces or thrift store finds. The largest part of the exhibit was the various high fashion couture designers that may or may not have been influenced by goth style. I found the designs interesting, there were some that were blatant references and some garment choices that were just questionable. The more questionable designs, upon contemplation and reading the description, made it more clear why these garments fit into the exhibit. Yet over all, I found it to be a great testament to goth style and I found myself wanting a lot of the pieces for my closet collection!

Next we stopped off at a store called Gothic Renaissance, which a few of my friends deemed as “stupid” (due to the fact it’s next to a Halloween store) and we were both pleasantly surprised! The store was packed full of the usual club labels (Shrine, Serious, Demonia, etc.) but had some unusual J-Rock designers who’s labels I could not decipher. It was nice to hold up the clothing and see some of the designs up close to inspect the detailing. I enjoyed the massive costume jewelry that adorned the cases, as I am a sucker for anything with spiders or bats! Good store to check out, but the prices are a little on the expensive side for NYC boutiques.

Now it would not be a trip to NYC without stopping at Trash and Vaudeville!  (Check out Auxiliary Magazine’s Men with Style editorial featuring clothing purchased at Trash and Vaudeville.)  Jimmy greeted us and upon introduction of my sweetie as “fiancé” I received a giant hug from Jimmy, awww! NYC love! Trash has mostly Tripp NYC grab in the front of the store, but the back half had a large collection of Stop Staring! dresses as well as some Shrine clothing. I purchased some black Tripp NYC skinny jeans and followed Jimmy’s advise, “Make sure those are the right size, you can’t spare an inch since they stretch out while wearing them!” Oh! I know, I know the powers of the stretch.

When on St. Mark’s you must visit The Sock Man. If you love socks like I do, then you will appreciate the treasures inside! The store contains wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling, hosiery mania! Drool. I think we spent over $50 on socks (okay we really didn’t need them) and my favorites were the orange sushi pair and the green pink flamingo pair I purchased. Yes, I am the sock dorkiest.

I stumbled upon a store on Second Ave called Enz’s that carried all major rockabilly/vintage repo clothing: Stop Staring!, Paper Doll, Bettie Page, and Sour Puss.  (Check out a little article on Enz’s by our friends at EveryGirlsSecret.com)  Pretty neat to see dresses up close and personal as I have chosen a Stop Staring! dress for my wedding day (awesome quality). The store was very cute and neatly presented. All the garments and handbags were easily accessible to handle and inspect. The only negative was that I had already seen everything in that store, there was no new clothing labels/designers to discover. BUT, prices are great and the staff friendly and helpful!

We ended the shopping tour with a few other choice places, met up with a friend for dinner, and then headed to Trailer Park for a drink. I absolutely LOVED this place! Pink Flamingo mirrors in the bathroom, need I go on!? I fell in love with the décor, the staff, and the deep-fried tater tots! White trash kitsch at it’s finest!

This gal is exhausted!

<3 Meagan Kyla

R.I.P. Bettie Page, who died at the age of 85 on December 11, 2008.

I would be lying if I said, in high school when I first cut my own bangs, that Bettie wasn’t part of the inspiration. I still think her style and cheesecake poses are timeless. Not only has she inspired me in my hairstyle, but forged my interests in both pin-up photography and love of animal prints! Bettie was a true one-of-kind fashion icon that will never die in my heart.

Rest in peace Bettie. You will be missed, but not forgotten.

- Meagan Kyla

Two major films are being released this year from genre giants that have the animation world buzzing.

Tim Burton (Sweeny Todd) and Timur Bekmambetov (Nightwatch) will be producing Shane Acker’s “9″, a feature length version of Acker’s Oscar nominated short film of the same name. The trailer was released recently and needs to be seen to be believed. Voice talent attached to the film includes Elijah Wood and Crispin Glover.

Slated for a February 2009 release is “Coraline” a collaboration between Henry Selick (The Nightmare Before Christmas) and writer Neil Gaiman. Based on Gaiman’s novella of the same name, it tells the tale of a girl who is trapped in a idealistic world parallel to her real one, which quickly turns sinister and dangerous.

- Luke Copping

Cleveland Rocks…  well Nine Inch Nails does

Ugh…  the week between X-mass and New Years is always a delightful week where the office is a quarter crew and the drive to actually be at work is at an all year low…  but thankfully I am busy with things to do.  To concentrate today I put in my headphones and selected three Nine Inch Nail’s albums; Year Zero, Ghosts I-IV, and The Slip…  It has been a nice relaxing workday.

As lately, I went to the Nine Inch Nails wiki page and read a little about the band, their albums, their tours, and just general stuff about the them…  and I came to find out that Trent Reznor (NIN founder) has hinted that the 2009 tour could be, “the last shows for the foreseeable future.”

Well I guess I will never see them…  I passed on three shows in my lifetime. The first one I think I was too young to go to, some were in cities I would have to drive to, and I am sure that one or two happened when I wasn’t into NIN at the time (I didn’t follow them between ’99 and ’04).

I remember when I first started to listen to NIN, oh how I loved them. Then they slowly started to become a household name and I started to become so angry when I would walk around school and the prep kids and jocks were wearing the t-shirts and talking about a new video or something.  They thought they were so cool because of it.  GRR!!  I hate them damn kids!

But I really dig the last 2 albums…  It will be a sad day when NIN is no more (it is bound to happen in my lifetime).

Mike

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- Jennifer

As reported on nme.com, The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) will stop filing lawsuits against people who illegally download.  Instead they are going after the internet service providers and having them deal with the matter.  (read the article for more information)

So what does the mean to me? Well I think that if the RIAA really wanted to stop illegal downloading of music, the scare tactics of lawsuits was not the way to go…  sure it stopped some, but the amount of people sharing and downloading was just too high.  They would have had to have a team of a billion lawyers just to handle all the cases.  So realistically it was never going to happen.  Now they’ve passed some responsibility onto the ISPs (internet service providers).  Multiple ISPs will be able to contact their subscribers that are participating in the illegal act and drop them if necessary.  This tactic will target home more quickly then selective lawsuits.  Once word starts spreading that company “x” is dropping customers and people are having to find a new ISPs to use I believe that sharing will slowly die away…  Although this is really only for America but if it is successful the major labels will start pressing other countries to participate.

- Mike

You can now order print copies of issue 1 : december 08!

Print copies of Auxiliary Magazine are available through MagCloud.

Click here for more information on ordering a copy.

- Jennifer

Sitting at work today a fellow employee mentioned that he might not come in tomorrow because of a big storm that is going to hit the region dumping up to 10” of snow and winds of up to 50 mph…  basically creating a big mess. Hearing this news I got II Ice Age (2008 edit) by Vicious Alliance in my head and had to listen to it. Then I started to think of other songs that have to do with winter. Not being into Christmas music I was lead to think of Killing Joke and their song Whiteout (off their 1994 release Pandemonium). Now I know this has nothing to do with snow or blizzards or anything.. but living in Buffalo when ever I hear the words whiteout I don’t think of the act of whiting out with correction fluid or perhaps whatever Killing Joke meant it to mean (if I remember it was related to death). Like most people (I assume) when I get something in my head I crave to know more and this usually leads me to Wikipedia. I found the section on the Post-Punk / Industrial Metal / New Wave group Killing Joke and it was a good read and to top it off I found out that they are planning a new release in the spring of 09… YAY!

Anyways…  if you have some free time today go check the Wiki band highlight  of the day Killing Joke, it’s a good read.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_joke

I just found out that KMFDM records will be coming out with an album Skold Vs. KMFDM.  It is 22 tracks and 10+ min. long by Tim Skold and Sascha Konietzko!  I am SOOO excited because when Tim Skold was in KMFDM I really loved them. YAY!!  Now lets hope he goes on tour with them again!  Skold was around for Symbols, Adios (my favorite), MDFMK (by MDFMK), and Attack.

Mike

I do love the cold, because most of my favorite clothing for everyday and going out are long-sleeved and sweater-like items. Yet!  I get stuck in a rut for the sake of being warm and to not freeze my lil’ buns off!  Wearing the same black long-sleeved/tee/jeans/hoodie combo… meh.  B-O-R-I-N-G!  When the snow is falling I’m generally not looking to be fashionable (BUT I will never leave the house in sweat pants) so I grab the “winter uniform” and head out into the snowy Buffalo streets.

In my winter wardrobe dilemma I have done the unthinkable, worn skirts!  Gasp! Well, it helps when you are wearing sweaters on your legs.  Okay, not sweaters for real, but really thick wool leggings.  These leggings are often warmer than my jeans or pants and a lot more comfortable.  I have purchased a few pairs all over the place in order to compare the warmth and comfort, but my favorites came from Hot Topic and Target (go figure!)  Jenny (from Auxiliary Magazine) has purchased a few styles from Express and really loves them, so that will be my next leggings purchase.  I definitely am willing to spend a few extra bucks on a quality pair to keep my stems toasty and allow me to chase away the winter doldrums.

Now, if winter depresses you (like it does for me), don’t fret!  Just get creative and dip into your summer wardrobe; a dark colored summer dress (usually a heavier cotton is better, due to it’s cold!) over the thick leggings with a blazer or sweater makes for an excellent outfit.  Don’t just limit yourself because it’s a “summer” or “winter” piece because pretty much anything goes!  I would recommend just being smart about what patterns and fabrics you carry over from your other seasonal wardrobe. You really don’t look want to look like you should be sunning yourself on the beach in the middle of a snow storm (then again if you really want to, go for it!)

I am determined to not fall into my mindless winter blahs and am working hard to spice up my clothing even when I’m wishing to be closer to the equator.  Keeping warm thoughts really doesn’t help, but snuggling up to my fiancé does!!!

<3 Meagan Kyla