still tay
D.I.Y, "Instant Vintage," and honoring a Taurean music legend
on this fine Friday, i offer a bit of a 2-in-1 post. recently, i’ve been led to be more creative and work with my hands, which has manifested most prominently in D.I.Y and deconstructing my clothes the same way i used to in my adolescence.
one D.I.Y fashion resource i’ve always admired is the book Generation T: 108 ways to transform a T-shirt by Megan Nicolay. i just officially added it to my collection this year, but when i was younger, i definitely borrowed it from the library a few times and looked at numerous scans online. my favorite adaptations from the book typically are no-sew and include safety pins. recently, i was inspired to combine two different tutorials in order to bring new life to two of my vintage tees.
i cut both tees (a late 20th century New Mexico pottery tee and a Sourpuss “Zombie’s Ruin” shirt) in half, then safety pinned the front and back halves of each shirt together. in the front, i chose to alternate silver and gold safety pins to complement the turquoise and black, respectively. i also kept the unused halves and i’m deciding if i want to sew them or use safety pins, but either way, i will have two “new” one-of-a-kind shirts.
i wore the look out last week and since then, i’m even more inspired to keep creating!
i dedicate the second part of this newsletter to the one and only Raphael Saadiq —singer, producer, multi-instrumentalist, legend. along this journey, there’s three things you must know about me (and probably already do):
i love Tony! Toni! Tone!
i revere D’Angelo
and i adore Solange (because who doesn’t?)
Saadiq is the common thread amongst these three entities as he was a founding member of Tony! Toni! Tone! and has produced songs for D’Angelo and Solange. Saadiq was also a member of the supergroup Lucy Pearl — forgot to mention on Monday that ATCQ’s Ali Shaheed Muhammad was in this trio too. in addition to having a standout solo career (starting with his 2002 debut Instant Vintage), Saadiq has also been at the helm of numerous film and television scores.
in my collection, i have D’Angelo’s Brown Sugar and Voodoo (of which Saadiq produced “Lady” and the seminal track “Untitled (How Does It Feel)” respectively.) in regards to Tony! Toni! Tone!, i recently acquired their 1993 CD Sons of Soul, which features gems like “(Lay Your Head on My) Pillow” and “Anniversary.”
i was also gifted Solange’s critically acclaimed 2016 record A Seat at the Table —Saadiq accompanied Solo in executive producing the album. i love the episode of Song Exploder where the Houston singer explains how Saadiq helped her bring forward the ideation of “Cranes in the Sky” after the song sat dormant for years. please get into it if you haven’t before!
p.s. i just gotta say: Taurus season is pretty unmatched in terms of overflowing talent and icon behavior. Raphael Saadiq’s birthday is today, Stevie Wonder’s was yesterday. i’ll wrap this up by letting Stevie usher us into the weekend — and yes this single is somewhere in my physical collection :)