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You know Frank—he's been writing about menswear, sales, television, new shops, the recession, Lisa Loeb, the Golden Girls and getting blasted for Racked and Racked New York for over a year. Well, we think it's time you got to know him and his quirky-irreverent views on life and fashion (which—as far as he's concerned—are essentially the same thing) even better with his brand new column: Love, Frank. Taking the form of an open letter and always signed with love, Frank will rant about whatever style-related conundrum he encounters in a given week. So buckle your two-toned leather Moschino belts, folks, it's going to be ? Something.
Dear Cult of Sassy,
Well, well, well: Tavi Gevinson—the gray-haired, tulle-wrapped, Comme des Garçons-clad micro-blogger who misses middle school to sit front row at the couture shows—is apparently teaming up with editorial legend Jane Pratt in launching a 2010 version of seminal '90s magazine Sassy.
So. Okay. We're conflicted. We loved Sassy. We still love Sassy. Hell, we still love Jane—Pratt's less-great Sassy follow-up.
Sassy was Kurt and Courtney, My Co-Called Life and Manic Panic, Dr. Martens and Kate Moss, Mary Lou Lord and Evan Dando (omigod—Cute Band Alert!) It was music and fashion and real, actual issues teens dealt with every day. It was pop culture and sub-culture and feminist culture.
It wasn't condescending; it wasn't cheeseball; and it would never try and dress a tween up in anything like Louis Vuitton. It managed to transcend age and gender. It was fun and collectible and chatty and funny and irreverent.
Frankly, it was probably our favorite magazine ever—teen or not. There, we said it.
The quirky-conversational writing didn't seem office-manufactured or overly-professional. It read more like the letters your fictional older sister might send you from wherever she was taking art history and gender studies classes—Oberlin or somewhere (that's where Liz Phair went!)
Or, more specifically: Remember the cool-crazy-idolized older sister in Juliana Hatfield's "My Sister?" That chick was cool enough to write for Sassy.
The magazine was inclusive and conversational and seemingly unhindered by the boundaries many magazines seemed (and seem to be) trapped behind. Sassy—dare we say it—is a lot like your favorite fashion blog is today.
Maybe your favorite fashion blog should be enough. Maybe Pratt should know better than to risk sullying the reputation of something pretty perfect. Maybe we're being a little insane and Sassy wasn't that big a deal and why shouldn't Pratt relaunch it. And, hey, maybe your favorite fashion blog is Tavi's wood nymphy-couture Style Rookie, so you're all pumped—in which case, great!
Maybe we're just bitter olds. Maybe we wanted to be the chosen fashion person who randomly ran into Pratt at, like, Peter Jensen's fashion show. Maybe we hoped we'd have the chance to profess our love to Her before instantly and inevitably becoming best friends forever and then, one night months and months later, buzzy from a six pack of Red Stripe and black nail polish fumes and her collection of rare Riot Grrrl seven inches we were simultaneously like, "omigod, let's relaunch Sassy together."
But, that didn't happen and we're fine and we absolutely give Sassy 2.0—and Tavi and Jane, besties—our collective blessing. Just don't screw it up. And keep your eyes peeled for our résumés.
· Love, Frank [RNA]
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