Image Makers

Construction signs are everywhere in Los Angeles. Not just the “WE BUY HOUSES CASH” cardboard blight posted on telephone poles by the teens working for the local slumlord or the oversize stickers on the side of your Mid-City neighbor’s porta-potty letting you know about the ADU being built out back. Construction doesn’t always look like the aesthetic of afterthought. In fact, more often than not in L.A., it presents itself in the form of premeditation.

Angelenos build images every day with pride. Then they wear what they’ve assembled, quite literally, on their chests, on their sleeves, on their legs and their faces, in their hair. The visual artist gets cute for their day at the studio. The office worker reties his crewneck around his waist before stepping into the lavanderia to change the dub. The auntie untangles her bracelets from her sleeves, so the afternoon light hits the carrots just right, as she sits down to dine al fresco. The hypebeast standing in line on Fairfax tucks his jogger cuff under the sock for the seamless transition from one material to the next.

Style oozes from L.A.’s pores. We can’t help ourselves: We live for texture; we season to taste; we know what we need. Style is one of the ways in which we show love.

The outside world seems to have finally come around to the idea of L.A. as a style mecca. The enduring dominance of streetwear, the spirit of collabs, the high-end merch, the sheer physical presence of brands in the city, the prevalence of back alleys and overabundance of parking lots for shoots — it all makes sense. But L.A. fashion matters first and foremost in the context of L.A. The fashion scene runs on the energy of the homies, our families, our communities.

It is in this spirit that we make our offering from within. Issue 4 is called “Image Makers”; this installment of the magazine is a paean to the city’s luminaries of style. In these pages, we pay tribute to the people and brands pushing fashion culture in L.A. forward. Daniel Buezo and Weleh Dennis of Kids of Immigrants deliver their vision of positivity and inclusion. Beth Birkett gives us a peek inside the world of Bephies Beauty Supply. The Paisaboys let us in on the long-running inside joke behind the gear. Brian Lee tells us how his father, Young Geun Lee, created the T-shirt that became the soundtrack to the city: the Pro Club.

It’s not enough to slap together an outfit in L.A. for fashion’s sake. You need to put something on it. As Buezo tells Julissa James, “Love is a huge luxury. We’re trying to put a face to love.”

Let us put love on your mind.

Ian F. Blair
Editor in chief