
photo : Zach Rose
interview : Zach Rose
Auxiliary Magazine’s regular contributor, the infamous Vanity Kills, is one that matches sharp wit and insight with a varied background in fashion, cosmetics, and music to bring readers content that is not only informative, but also highly entertaining. Vanity Kills has plenty of experience writing on topics she enjoys and embodies, currently she has an online column on Lip Service’s webzine entitled, Lethal Style. Contributing beauty articles and a multitude of in depth interviews with designers from around the world to each issue, she brings a unique and fun persona to Auxiliary Magazine.
What do you do at Auxiliary Magazine?
Instruct and inform the masses in all manners related to the fine art of warpaint application, interview people that don’t suck, and formerly provided comic relief with some 100% fictional ridiculous goth drama. Also I allegedly partied with the copy editor in at least five different states.
As an independent writer working with multiple companies including Lip Service and Auxiliary, what is it about writing that is most appealing to you? How did you get started?
As frustrating as it is at times, it’s the air I breathe. As much as writing the perfect paragraph which conveys my thoughts on Hello Kitty corsets in the exact matter I want it to keeps me up at night, I cannot picture ever NOT doing it. Being physically rewarded for my efforts with money and merchandise is nice, since I put a lot of effort into the written word, but it’s never been my motivation. The greatest reward is the immense sense of accomplishment derived from bringing to completion a finished piece that I would have loved to stumble upon, in either a book or a blog, and find myself. When I feel like I’ve written something equally informative and pleasurable to read.
I’ve always loved fashion magazines. As long as I can remember, I’ve read every woman’s magazine I could get my hands on and mentally devoured all the vignettes that accompanied the fashion spreads. My brain absorbed them like a sponge. It didn’t matter if the outfits themselves were hideous or exquisite. You can’t mount a painting on the wall without a frame. Words are that frame. In time, I found myself ‘styling’ things in my head. Constantly thinking of what shoes would go with what skirt and what earrings would complement the ensemble as a whole. Fleshing out these thoughts into full fledged fashion and beauty articles was just a natural extension of all that internal style obsessed dialogue.
(more…)