FASHION

Laporte graduate is modeling at NYC’s Fashion Week

Shannon Geisen — Fri, 31 Jan 2025 11:21:00 GMT

A gift and a bet propelled Sandra Cuadra into modeling and professional bodybuilding careers.

A 2010 Laporte High �� graduate, Cuadra describes herself as “curvy.”

Her look captured the attention of a New York City modeling agency in December 2023 – and next week, she’s headed to her first runway show.

New York Fashion Week is a semi-annual event showcasing international fashion collections.

It's one of the world's four major fashion galas, along with London, Milan and Paris.

“I am considered petite,” said the 5-foot, 6-inch model. “This is going to be very interesting to see how I will do. I’m going to be a midget among giants. I’m going to be one of the few women with curves.”

Self-empowering photography

Cuadra grew up on her parents’ cattle farm in Laporte, participating in 4-H from Cloverbud through age 19. She has five sisters.

She attended Laporte Public �� from kindergarten through high school.

Cuadra never had any intention to become a model.

“I actually was wanting to go into theater,” she said.

In 2016, she booked a “self-empowerment” photo shoot so she could give the album to her significant other.

“Before that, I had no self confidence,” Cuadra recalled. “I gained a newfound confidence through that, and I just started doing photo shoots here and there throughout the years.”

It was a life-changing experience, she said.

Cuadra began hiring a photographer and makeup artist, purchasing outfits and building a portfolio.

In 2022, she lost a bet to one of her co-workers, who was a body builder.

On Jan. 1, 2023, Cuadra hired an online, personal trainer. She prepared for her first bikini, losing 40 pounds prior to the May 2023 competition.

At her second contest in October 2023, called Minnesota Mayham, she acquired her professional U.S. Bodybuilding Federation card by placing first in her division.

From then on, her modeling career took off.

A diverse portfolio

For nearly a decade, Cuadra has done a variety of modeling styles: risque, swimsuit, figure, fashion and art.

“I have a very diverse portfolio,” she said. “I just haven’t done anything under water.”

Her work has appeared in magazines and art galleries.

As her fitness level advanced, Cuadra added aerial work to her modeling credentials.

“I can do photo shoots with wire hoops. I can be suspended by ropes. I look at different materials to put me up in the air,” she explained.

She can perform both full or partial suspension work, adding, “It’s very therapeutic for me.”

Considered dangerous, “if you don’t have the professionals with you on that kind of modeling that I do, serious damage can happen to the body.”

Cuadra said she’s finding success in modeling, in part, because of her open mind.

“I’m not afraid to bring other people’s ideas to life, and I work with a lot of fantastic photographers and makeup artists – all very professional. All very creative.”

She enjoys creating new poses and concepts.

Cuadra picks up freelance modeling gigs, largely in Minnesota, but also in New York, New Jersey and elsewhere.

In December 2023, she went to New York City to complete a series of test photo shoots. At the end of the week, she signed with a modeling agency.

“I work with a solid crew, and the people I work with in modeling are absolutely fantastic and then my athletic family in the bodybuilding community is absolutely astonishing themselves,” she said.

Body positivity

Cuadra currently lives in Grand Rapids. She works full time at Grand Itasca Hospital and Clinic in the administration office.

On weekends, she travels to photo assignments and bodybuilding contests. Sometimes she has up to five photo shoots in a single day. She made her pro bodybuilding debut in 2024, entering three shows.

“I spend a lot of time on the road traveling,” Cuadra admits.

She researches clients before accepting jobs to confirm their ideas mesh with hers and “to make sure I’m not putting myself in a dangerous situation.”

“That’s the biggest thing is my safety because you do put yourself in a very vulnerable position,” she said, pointing out that photographers shoot in studios, under a bridge, in a field or any number of onsite locations.

Cuadra also said she advocates for body positivity.

“I work with people tall, short, skinny, plus-size. I work with them all, and they’re all so wonderful to work with.”

As a self-taught model, Cuadra said she keeps a routine that starts at 4 a.m. every morning.

She works closely with her trainer on her diet.

“It’s a lot of work and a lot of dedication.”

Outside the comfort zone

Strutting down a runway at New York Fashion Week will be a new, yet thrilling experience, she said.

“A lot of people love my work and want to work with me,” Cuadra said. “I think I’m more excited than I am nervous because I love meeting new people and experiencing new things. This will be a totally new ballgame for me.”

When she arrives in the Big Apple on Sunday, Feb. 2, Cuadra said she will go to casting calls and more than 50 designers will choose which models they want for their fashions.

“I know I’m walking for a designer that does custom leather jackets,” she added.

Cuadra encourages everyone to step out of their comfort zone.

“That’s where you start living life, really,” she said. “It’s been an absolute roller coaster. It’s been fun. Sacrifices come with awards.”

She can be followed on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok under miss_boudoir_mn.

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How a historical clue solved a mysterious code found hidden in a vintage dress

Jeremy Fugleberg — Thu, 28 Mar 2024 12:31:00 GMT

BISMARCK — Sara Rivers Cofield loved the dress at first sight.

It was a beautiful brown silk bustle dress with original buttons from the 1880s, on sale at an antique mall in Maine. Rivers Cofield, an archaeologist who also collects antique dresses, bought it for $100, then looked it over.

She noticed the name "Bennett" handwritten on a paper tag sewn inside the dress. And there was a pocket, hidden, hard to get to. And it contained something: a clump of balled-up paper.

What she found would spark a nearly decade-long mystery, confound professional and amateur codebreakers alike, and only be solved with a unique historical clue about North Dakota weather hidden in an old book.

Joined by her mom as she examined the dress, River Cofield opened up the clump of paper.

"It consisted of two translucent sheets, both of which exhibited writing," she told readers of her blog "Committment to Costumes" in a Feb. 14, 2014 post. "There we were thinking we'd stumbled upon some historic letter, and then we were standing there, each with a freshly unballed sheet of paper, and each suffering from complete bafflement."

The handwritten words on the wrinkled paper didn't make sense. The start of the first sheet read:

Smith nostrum linnets gets none event
101pm Antonio rubric lissdt full ink
5
Make Snapls barometer nerite

The second sheet's beginning didn't make any more sense:

1113 PM Bismark Omit leafage buck bank
5
Paul Ramify loamy event false new

What did this all mean, and why had such a nonsensical message been hidden away so carefully?

The hunt for answers

Cofield posted her story and images of the coded papers to her blog, convinced it could be solved by someone. She also sent the code to the National Security Agency's National Cryptologic Museum, and posted it on Reddit and Facebook.

"I'm putting it up here in case there's some decoding prodigy out there looking for a project," she wrote.

Her public posts stirred a lot of interest, and speculation, as the mystery went viral online. Were the codewords dress measurements? Perhaps related to illegal gambling? Love notes of some kind?

Some suggested it was a secret Civil War message, but the dress didn't date back that far, Rivers Cofield knew. Others suggested it was a telegraph code, but that was hard to check without the exact right code book, Rivers Cofield found.

There were some old telegraph code books on Google Books online, but there were many more out there, most in archives — and Rivers Cofield still had an actual job that required her attention. So the mystery remained unsolved, for the time being. Still, what became known as the "Silk Dress cryptogram" continued to make its way around codebreaking circles.

In 2017, German historical encryption expert Klaus Schmeh listed the cryptogram on his blog Cipherbrain as one of the top-50 unsolved encrypted messages, sparking another flurry of speculation and more research among wannabe codebreakers.

The idea of a telegraphic code still held a lot of promise, many speculated. In the 1800s, networks of wired telegraph stations across the U.S. and around the globe were the only way to quickly send messages from place to place.

Sending these messages was expensive, the cost determined by the length of the message. So codes were devised to shorten the messages, not necessarily to obscure their contents, but to save money. But there were many such codes. Unless you had the right one, a telegraph message would seem like a collection of random words — just like the code in the silk dress.

Still, nobody could break this code from more than a century ago.

Breaking the code

In August 2023, the bombshell news: Someone had broken the code.

His name was Wayne Chan, an analyst with the Centre for Earth Observation Science at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Canada. He published his solution to the code in an article published in the journal Cryptologia.

Chan had tried to solve the message in 2018 before initially giving up. But Chan was a code-solving hobyist, and soon he was back to solving a seemingly unsolvable cipher.

Chan considered the telegraph code idea, and began working his way through nearly 170 telegraphic codebooks. Nothing. Then, he read an old book, "Telegraphic Tales and Telegraphic History." The book described a code used by weather field stations across the U.S. and Canada to send reports via telegraph to the Washington, D.C. office of the U.S. Army Signal Service — the precursor of the modern day National Weather Service.

Some of the examples in the book seemed similar to those in the coded message from the dress.

Chan got in touch with the Central Library of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, home to the National Weather Service, who found him a weather code book from 1892.

"I could tell it was clearly the right code — it didn't match exactly but about 90% of it fit," Chan told CBC.

Then the silver bullet: An 1887 version of the weather telegraph codebook. There it all was. Chan had solved the silk dress cryptogram.

“When I first thought I cracked it, I did feel really excited,” Mr. Chan told the New York Times. “It is probably one of the most complex telegraphic codes that I’ve ever seen."

As NOAA later explained in an article about the mystery, such weather messages started with an unencoded station location, followed by code words for various meteorological conditions and sunset observations.

That meant "

Bismark, omit, leafage, buck, bank"

from the code was actually:

Bismarck: Bismarck, Dakota Territory (North Dakota didn't become a state until Nov. 2, 1889) Omit: Air temperature 56 degrees, 30.08 barometric pressure Leafage: Dew point 32 degrees, observation time 10 p.m. Buck: Clear weather, no precipitation, north wind Bank: Wind at 12 mph, clear sunset

Based on archival information from NOAA, that meant the dress message was a weather report from Bismarck on May 27, 1888.

So who owned the dress? That remains an unsolved mystery.

According to NOAA, Chan was able to document that a number of women worked as clerical staff at the Army Signal Service office in Washington, D.C. around the date of the weather report. But it's not clear any were named Bennett, nor did his research explain why someone hid away the coded message.

“Presumably, whoever did that is the last person who owned the dress," Rivers Cofield told the New York Times. "And presumably, the last person who owned the dress put the code in the pocket.”

River Cofield's silk dress still holds a secret.

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The five strange reasons why I love 'Stranger Things'

Tammy Swift — Fri, 29 Jul 2022 16:30:00 GMT

FARGO — Those of you in a certain demographic may remember the old joke: “I read Playboy for the articles.”

I understand this. You see, I watch mega-hit “Stranger Things” not for the reasons that many others do: the elaborate special effects, the incredibly complex plotlines, the gobs of gore or the terrifying monsters.

I watch it for the ’80s eye candy.

So while everyone else is devouring subreddits on whether beloved metalhead Eddie will come back from the dead, I’m busy looking at protagonist Eleven’s floral thermal undershirt and thinking, “I used to have a top like that!”

It’s true. I actually dislike blood, gore and violence, which means I've watched a good share of every episode with my hands over my face. “Enough with Vecna impaling people!” I will shout at the screen. “I want to see Eleven eat Eggos and giggle about boys!”

What the costume and set designers of this show realize is that the 1980s couldn’t be painted with one broad stroke. The style, sensibility and sounds of the early ’80s were significantly different from the latter part of the decade. And they do a great job of capturing these subtleties.

So here’s my scorecard for the five strange reasons why I love “Stranger Things.”

The Easter eggs: 5 out of 5

I love the glimpses of deja vu as series creators Matt and Russ Duffer slide in references and sight gags from a vast swath of ‘80s blockbusters like “E.T.,” “Stand by Me,” “Gremlins,” “Ghostbusters,” “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” “Dawn of the Dead,” “WarGames” and the Indiana Jones franchise. It’s actually one of the most delightful things about the series, especially for those of us who actually did sit in movie theaters or rent VHS tapes (complete with “Be kind, rewind” stickers) of these iconic hits.

The actors: 4 out of 5

Of course, I love that actors from "my generation," like Winona Ryder and Matthew Modine, are prominently featured. (However, I wish they could have recruited Corey Feldman to be the town nogoodnik.) I also love that they picked largely unknown, age-appropriate actors — who look like kids you might actually meet in a small town.

The obvious exceptions are Natalia Dyer's Nancy Wheeler and Joe Keery's Steve Harrington, who are 27 and 30, respectively. While they are fine thespians, their age difference is especially glaring among the actual teens on the cast. Perhaps that’s why they made Steve literally wear a sailor-suit shorts outfit for most of the third season. All he needed was a giant lollipop and one of those propeller beanies to complete the effect.

The music: 4.5 out of 5

The obvious standouts include the synth-heavy, Tangerine Dream-inspired soundtrack (courtesy of Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein) as well as the omnipresent Kate Bush anthem, “Running Up That Hill.”

But there is so much other ‘70s/’80s earworms besides, ranging from Metallica’s “Master of Puppets” and the Talking Heads’ “Psycho Killer” to “You Spin Me Around,” by Dead or Alive.”

I deducted .5 only because I'm really, really sick of Journey.

The clothes: 5 out of 5

Again, the style is perfection. I picked up so many accurate details — from the “cowboy tuxedo” look of denim-on-denim and the puffy “mom” coat worn by Winona to the belted cowl necks, stripey tops and geometric patterns of the fabrics.

While everyone else was obsessing over what had happened to Nancy’s best friend, Barbara, I was more obsessed with Barbara’s pitch-perfect ’80s outfit as a nerdy teen girl. Every detail — from her awkwardly curled hair and her giant eyeglass frames to the neckbow on her preppy, plaid shirt and her pleated, armpit-high mommy jeans — was correct.

Haircuts: 4 out of 5

OK, so there are some awkward wigs here and there. And some have criticized the longish hair and bangs on the boys. To which I say, "Take a look at my high school class composite from 1983, please." You will find no fewer than half the boys in the class sporting these “Haircuts by Mom” hairstyles. While some of the more fashion-forward guys did retrieve their giant combs from their back pockets to give themselves a Chachi center part, many of them opted for bangs as straight as Shawn Cassidy's teeth.

I will admit that Steve Harrington’s elaborate mullet initially bothered me. Surely, I thought, none of us were really prone to such Tom(Cruise)foolery back in the day!

Then I happened to catch footage of Andre Agassi in the '80s. He sported the Grand Slam of all mullets: a glorious ‘do that was cloud-scrapingly high in front, yet made Billy Ray Cyrus’ boot-scootin’ mullet look like a bootcamp buzzcut in the back. Andre’s coif could have single-strandedly kept AquaNet, Dippity-Do and Aussie Hair Spray in business, while also chiseling at least one Texas-sized hole in the ozone layer each year of his career.

In that moment, I realized that Steve was rocking the Andre. No wonder he could even make a sailor suit look cool.

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Minnesota Indigenous fashion designer hits Duluth, NYC runways with collective

Melinda Lavine — Sat, 21 May 2022 17:44:00 GMT

MCGREGOR, Minn. — Amber Buckanaga adjusts square cuts of fabric on her sewing table. Some are plaid green, black on white, or red resting on a cream backdrop. But, what Buckanaga sees is much more.

A thigh-length jacket with wide sleeves that bloom at the wrists, she says, holding one swath. “This one’s going to be a half-zip hoodie with applique and ribbon work,” she adds, thumbing another.

The Ojibwe fashion designer is behind Buckanaga Social Club, a collective of four Indigenous artists whose traditional creations with a modern twist have been featured from the Duluth Art Institute to a New York City runway.

Each member’s talents span multiple mediums: Buckanaga (fashion, beadwork, leather work); Chelsy Wilkie (blankets, bags, jewelry); Sophie Glass (multimedia painting, jewelry); and Buckanaga’s sister, Alyssa (beadwork, leatherwork).

Along with offering classes, the collective hosts events that showcase Indigenous-made work.

“My main motivation was being able to be of assistance to other artists,” Amber Buckanaga said.

Buckanaga left her job in education to focus on fashion full time about five years ago. The collective followed about a year later and, before COVID-19, they participated in 2019’s Rise New York Fashion Week, showings at the MacRostie Art Center, Minnesota Fashion Week and more.

Buckanaga Social Club is hosting a fashion show at Duluth Coffee Co.'s Roastery from 5-7 p.m. July 21, and was accepted for their second showing at Rise New York Fashion Week in September.

“People underestimate what native artists do,” Buckanaga said. “I want to make sure there’s opportunity for people to see us for what we’re worth.”

In Buckanaga’s basement studio, works by other Indigenous artists line the walls around her sewing machine, ironing station and clothing rack. Detailed beaded moths, tobacco leaves and intricate night skies encased in hearts await earring hooks, and a colorful skull lighter and a vivid yellow flower adorn leather pouches.

Buckanaga often gets inspiration from American traditional tattooing, noting that its colors are similar to those of woodland beading.

Asked about the plants in her bead and leatherwork, Buckanaga said, sometimes she doesn’t know right away. Cultural teachings are lost due to negative histories with non-Native people, separation from families and boarding schools, she said, so many Indigenous artists unable to identify plant life reimagine it instead.

“Taking florals they’ve seen and saying, ‘This looks like this to me,’ or seeing a flower and using other colors inside it that are really not there,” she said.

Above her sewing machine, the lineup to the social club’s last show lists various looks and the corresponding model: "butterfly shirt, Byron. Strawberry shirt, Jaeden. Maroon T + corset, Trey."

Buckanaga uses thrifted items and gifted fabrics before purchasing brand-new as a way to stay low-waste. “Cotton’s cotton, it doesn’t matter where you get it,” she said.

For her applique pieces, Buckanaga hand-draws designs on the back of heat and bond material, cuts it, applies it, then finishes it with her sewing machine.

She makes ribbon skirts from scratch, and during a News Tribune visit, she meticulously pinned black ribbon on what would become a jacket with a used burlap coffee sack on the back.

“It’s traditional with a twist of modern,” Buckanaga’s sister, Alyssa, told the Grand Rapids Herald-Review. “New York opened up her mind to the way she designs clothing, and she’s grown from using neutral colors to very bright colors in a modern way.”

For now, Amber Buckanaga’s creating a collection based on her taste alone: shirt and short sets, a mix of solids and patterns, and a color palette of burgundy, browns, dark greens and deep yellow.

It’s a break from what she’s been making, but she prefers oversized jackets to fitted outfits, and gender neutral and comfort over dresses.

Asked about Indigenous representation in the fashion industry, Buckanaga noted Jamie Okuma and B Yellowtail — national brands with high-priced items that sell out fast.

“While I think it’s great they’re that successful, that’s not what I want,” she said, “because then my own people, who are poverty-stricken … what, they can’t afford Indian art now? I want to be successful, but I also want to remain affordable.”

For Chelsy Wilkie, sewing blankets with Buckanaga was the start of expressing herself culturally, an act she wasn’t able to do growing up.

“In our community we use these blankets for ceremony. It made me feel good knowing I was helping make things that were going to be a part of something special,” Wilkie said.

Being a part of the collective has helped Sophie Glass give herself a little grace when she’s not actively painting and posting.

“With the team, if we’re able to create, we will create. It reminds me to be gentle,” she said. “Now, I just let it flow … I’ve seen my work blossom, even though I’m not posting it online as much — that’s what we’re really looking for when we’re creating.”

The Minneapolis painter grew up with the members of the collective, and while they operate the social club together, they’re friends first.

Glass makes items and models in the collective fashion shows, and joining Buckanaga Social Club gave her a unit of support.

“I needed to find my self-worth outside of being a parent. Exploring art on my own and teaching myself have been extremely empowering and also helped my mental health,” she said.

Having a group of women she trusts, who support each other physically, mentally, emotionally, is priceless. “It’s so much easier with a team," she said. "I love my girls.”

If you go

What: Buckanaga Social Club fashion show

When: 5-7 p.m. July 21

Where: Duluth Coffee Co. Roastery, 105 E. Superior St.

Follow the collective online:

instagram.com/buckanaga_social_club

facebook.com/buckanagasocialclub1

Chelsy Wilkie

@bebaamaazhidikwe

Sophie Glass

@sophiepaintz

Alyssa Buckanaga

@memetoldyou

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Border Town Betties bring pin-up culture to the Twin Ports

Shelley Nelson — Thu, 12 May 2022 21:09:47 GMT

SUPERIOR, Wis. — What started as a passion for vintage clothing evolved into a pin-up social club focused on women’s empowerment and fundraising for causes that make the Twin Ports a better place.

The Border Town Betties formed in 2019 as a social club for people who appreciate vintage fashion and brought the pin-up community to the Twin Ports.

“Ever since I was a kid, I was just super-enamored with vintage fashion and fashion from the 1940s and ’50s,” said Becky Scherf, president and co-founder of the Border Town Betties. “So I started dressing that way, and by dressing that way, I found out about the pin-up culture.”

However, that group of like-minded individuals didn’t exist in the Twin Ports.

“I have been involved … since I was 18 years old,” said Scherf, who goes by the name Brody Bombshell in the pin-up world. “And I was always having to travel to do events all over the country. There was never anything local.”

Then Scherf learned about a pin-up contest at the Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center during Motorhead Madness. She met Molly Stonesifer, who was running the event, and the two decided to start a group in the Twin Ports for women with an appreciation of vintage fashion.

The Border Town Betties were born, and the Miss Motorhead Pinup Contest became their inaugural event.

“I met Becky through buying vintage dresses and vintage clothes,” said Megan Hendricks, vice president. “I’ve always had a love of ’40s, ’50s, ’60s fashion, but I never really thought of myself as doing pin-up stuff, but I love wearing the clothes, makeup and hair.”

Hendricks goes by the name Poppy Paramour.

Community focus

The social club holds a different event every month.

“We do different charity events, and also non-charity events that focus on women empowerment,” Scherf said.

In April, members donned fashions that spanned seven decades for a Fashion through the Ages show at the Douglas County Historical Society. Lady Outlaw Vintage provided the fashions. The show honored Doug Moen, who was an icon for Scherf in vintage fashion. She said proceeds benefited the historical society because she felt he would have wanted that.

On Saturday, May 14, they’ll be hosting Surf’s Up, a 1960s surf rock party to benefit St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. The Fractals will headline the event, which also includes a performance by the Duluth Dolls. It will run from 6-10 p.m. at the Douglas County Historical Society.

“Around Christmas time, we did a Sponsor-a-Family event,” Scherf said. “We raised about $4,000 to take four different families shopping in the area. It was a little bit different than the traditional toy drive: We raised the money, then we brought the families to the store to pick out the gifts for their kids.”

She said the goal was to add a level of dignity by allowing parents to pick out gifts their children would open on the holiday.

“It was our first year, and it was a big success,” Hendricks said.

“We’ll definitely be doing that again,” Scherf said.

In addition, the Border Town Betties provide volunteers to support Bluebird Foundation events in Duluth and will provide volunteers to help the Richard I. Bong Veterans Historical Center with their Memorial Day picnic.

Pin-up contests

But it’s the pin-up contests the group is best known for. The Twin Ports Lady Liberty pin-up contest has become a July 4 tradition held in conjunction with the Dennis Van Alstine Memorial Car and Motorcycle Show.

“Those are just a really good way to get women in the community to feel good about themselves, to feel empowered, to get on stage and show off themselves,” Scherf said. “It’s just a really great bonding event and a way to get to know each other, locally and non-locally. People travel from all over the place.”

Scherf said there are 28 members of the organization with varying levels of participation, but she’s hoping the social club, which is seeking nonprofit tax status, continues to grow and take on larger projects.

“We’re always recruiting, and we do have an application process that we do have to do now because we’re in the process of getting our 501(c)3,” Scherf said. “We’re just waiting for that to be approved by the (Internal Revenue Service).”

For more information or to sign up for the Twin Ports Lady Liberty pin-up contest, visit www.twinportsladyliberty.com. For information about the Border Town Betties, visit www.bordertownbetties.com or message bordertownbetties on Facebook or Instragram.

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When your hob, hobgoblin, keeps a slob, slob, slobbin’ along

Tammy Swift — Fri, 01 Apr 2022 14:00:00 GMT

I was goblin, when goblin wasn’t cool.

More recently, I’ve embraced the part of me that wears bleach-splotched sweatpants, sometimes forgets to shower and absent-mindedly eats handfuls of stale chocolate chips over the garbage can.

In the past, I would chastise myself for these lapses in basic self-maintenance. Today, I can proudly fling my unwashed hair, ink in those bleach spots with magic marker and proclaim, “Leave me alone. I’m just in goblin mode.”

The term “goblin mode,” has been around for a while, but has returned with a feverish, impish, green-skinned frenzy during the pandemic.

Especially so in the last couple of months, after a Twitter user tweeted out a doctored screenshot on a celebrity news site titled, “Julia Fox opened up about her ‘difficult’ relationship with Kanye West. ‘He didn’t like when I went goblin mode.’”

Turns out the "goblin" part was completely fake.

Even so, Fox seemed to celebrate her inner goblin even further by attending a post-Oscar party in a black, leather dress embellished with a claw-like hand grasping her neck and a purse she claimed was made of human hair.

https://twitter.com/PageSix/status/1508486504993153025

While this is certainly a darker shade of goblin than most of us are ready to embrace, the tumultuous world events of the last couple of years has made “goblin mode” — the phenomenon of embracing and owning your inner binge-watching, pajama pants-wearing, junk food-eating, perfectly imperfect sloth — look more attractive than usual.

Nowadays, who wants to maintain the irritating perfectionism of the “that girl” movement, in which TikTok influencers show off highly curated videos of elaborate skincare rituals, making organic breakfasts or filling their Sub-Zero refrigerators with color-coded, artisinally crafted fruit waters?

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by LIFESTYLE I ENERGY I FRESHNESS (@bettergy__drink)

Why not admit we once found a potato chip of indeterminate age under the car seat — and ate it? Or that we once forgot to do laundry and wound up digging through the hamper for a sweater we spritzed with room freshener? Are these really such atrocities at a time in which we are living from paycheck-to-paycheck and worrying about World War III?

Isn’t it time to admit that the last few years have been incredibly hard, that Instagram is basically dedicated to maintaining fraudulent perfection and we need to give ourselves a break?

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Westside Counseling Center (@westsidecounseling)

Now, if you’re still confused about goblin mode, I’ve included the following helpful quiz to guide you. The higher your score, the better you are at getting your goblin on.

If you have sat on the couch, eating Cheerios while in your bathrobe: 1 point.
If you have sat on the couch, picking fossilized Cheerios from last week off your robe — and eating them: 3 points.
If you forgot to buy Cheerios so are eating raw pasta for breakfast and think a bathrobe sounds like some fancy luxury that only the Queen of England would wear: 5 points.

2. If you shower every day but only shampoo your hair twice a week: 1 point.

If you think of it as “my weekly work shower” and wash your hair with shower soap because you ran out of shampoo three weeks ago: 3 points.

If you can’t use your shower because it's filled with stockpiled cases of tomato soup and toilet paper, so have resorted to spraying yourself with Febreze: 5 points.

3. If you have worn sweatpants whenever remote-working for your job: 1 point.

If you have worn yoga pants, cunningly designed to look like “hard pants,” to a semi-fancy networking event: 3 points.

If you have worn sweatpants, which look exactly like sweatpants, to a job interview that’s not at a health club: 5 points.

4. If you have Grubhubbed/DoorDashed or used some other food-delivery service twice in a week: 1 point.

If the frequency of your DoorDashes has forced your condo association to call a special meeting about “certain tenants” who monopolize the 15-minute parking spot: 3 points.

If you have been invited to be an honored guest at your DoorDasher’s wedding: 5 points.

5. If your thrice-daily dog walks, started with great resolve in March 2020, have dwindled to thrice-weekly: 1 point.

If your dog’s only exercise involves running to the door to greet the DoorDasher: 3 points.

If your dog’s only exercise involves grabbing the Frito stuck between your chins after you’ve fallen asleep on the couch while binge-watching “Bad Vegan”: 5 points.

That last maneuver is actually better known as "Gobblin' Mode."

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Fashion photographer's rural Minnesota images on exhibit in Park Rapids

John Lamb — Tue, 28 Sep 2021 13:30:00 GMT

PARK RAPIDS, Minn. — Since the Nemeth Art Center rebranded itself as a contemporary art space a decade ago, guests have seen different explorations of color, texture and space in the Park Rapids, Minnesota, gallery.

What they hadn’t really seen, until now, is reflections of themselves.

That changed in late July with the opening of " Alec Soth: Paris / Minnesota."

The show is a collection of images taken in rural northern Minnesota by the internationally known photographer, intended to fill his ideal fashion magazine.

“It’s been really exciting to see these people have these personal reactions to it,” says Tessa Beck, director of the Nemeth.

"F.L., 2007," by Alec Soth. Photo courtesy of Nemeth Art Center / Special to The Forum

This is the first time the body of work, many of which are printed large at 40-by-50 inches, has been shown in one space, she says, though many images have become calling cards for the Twin Cities-based photographer.

Soth was nervous about exhibiting the work in areas where it was shot, not knowing how locals would react, Beck says. He didn’t need to be.

“People have been excited,” she says. “I’ve heard some amazing stories.”

At the exhibition opening in late August, a man who once owned a gas station that Soth had photographed showed up with a copy of W magazine that featured the image. The picture, simply called, “Akeley, Minnesota, 2007,” shows the fake fronts of a small pioneer town the owner had erected on the property as a tourist attraction — a selfie site in the time before Instagram.

There are wagon wheels against the wood front shops, a hotel, a church and a mortuary with a coffin propped up in front, all popping against the snow on the ground and illuminated birch trees against the night sky. It’s colorful, yet stark, inviting and eerie all at once.

The former owner of the site, which has since been removed, and his family enjoyed talking to the artist, Beck says.

While the Minnesota part may be on display, the Paris part of the project is only seen in a gallery copy of the W magazine and referred to in Soth’s statement.

He recalls, at the suggestion of his art director, his attempt to shoot a Dior runway show.

“I’d never been to a fashion show before and didn’t understand the backstage politics. Within an hour I was thrown out by security,” he writes. “The more I worked in Paris, the more aware I was of my identity as a lifelong Minnesotan. Rather than being ashamed of this, I wanted to make it part of the project. Fashion is simply the way we present ourselves to the world. For me, the fashion choices of someone in Duluth are as worthy of investigation as those of someone in Paris. I’d go further and say I feel this way about culture generally.”

Soth was traveling in Europe when this story was written and unavailable for comment.

"Kristin, St. Paul, Minnesota, 2007," by Alec Soth. Photo courtesy of Nemeth Art Center / Special to The Forum

One of the images, “F.L., 2007,” a portrait of a young woman with one of her red braids emerging from a pink Burton stocking cap and flowing over the collar of a pink winter jacket, has become one of his signature shots. As has “Kristin, St. Paul, Minnesota, 2007,” showing a young figure skater standing in her skates in a slushy parking lot against a snowy backdrop.

Many of the photos were taken in winter or early spring, including “Eelpout Festival, 2007,” depicting a man and a woman in insulated Carhartt overalls ice fishing in front of a camper festooned with pictures of naked women.

Soth set his large format camera up far enough back to get a wider shot, focusing as much on the scene and its surroundings as the individuals.

“Alec isn’t pitying or glamorizing the people or the landscape,” Beck says.

His detachment is a signature of his work as he has said his own awkwardness helps melt barriers between him and his subject.

That distance also leaves questions for viewers who may want to know more about the subjects, like the young woman in “Marie, Park Rapids, Minnesota, 2007.” She stands on a checkered floor, barefoot, in a green dress and a plastic lei around her neck, with what looks to be cake smeared across part of her face. She looks awkwardly off camera as if waiting for someone to join her. Is it a school dance? Is it her birthday? Is it a wedding?

Beck has asked locals if they recognize her and she’s actively trying to piece together her story.

Another subject’s story was revealed through happenstance. A retired teacher from Nevis visiting the area stopped in to check out the Nemeth and was surprised to see some of her former students, including a young man, Stephen.

The picture, “Stephen, 2007,” shows him in a dark suit, hands on his knees, seated in a banquet chair against a pine paneled wall.

“That is one of my favorite examples of portraiture,” Beck says. “That image, there’s such a sensitivity in the way Stephen is depicted. He’s delicate, almost birdlike, and that’s contrasted by the high fashion of a Ralph Lauren suit.”

“She was so excited and didn’t even know these photos existed,” Beck says of the teacher’s reaction. “She said Alec captured him perfectly.”

If you go What: "Alec Soth: Paris / Minnesota" When: On display through Saturday, Oct. 2 Where: Nemeth Art Center, Park Rapids, Minnesota. Info: This show is free and open to the public. Visit www.nemethartcenter.org for more information.]]>

Bored during the pandemic, Rochester man hasn't worn the same outfit since November

Teresa Nowakowski — Mon, 28 Jun 2021 18:00:00 GMT

ROCHESTER, Minn. — When Andy Stehr decided he wouldn’t rewear the same clothes for as long as possible last November, he thought he’d make it three or four months, even with his large closet.

Now, he's reached over 200 days of his "No Outfit Twice" project. The Rochester Public Library Circulation Services manager, who also helped at the City’s Day Center and Emergency Operations Center during the pandemic, has used the project and his outfits as a way to bring positivity, and even aid others, during a tumultuous time.

We caught up with him on day 218, outfit 220 (a Captain America T-shirt and red plaid shorts).

This conversation has been edited and condensed

Q: Tell me about No Outfit Twice.

I've always had a lot of clothes. My friends in college used to make fun of me, because I would take up tons of washers and dryers whenever I did my laundry. And my wife has kind of been teasing me because I'm always buying new clothes. She said, "Why don't you wear everything you own before you buy anything new?" So I decided to do that. COVID has been a creative drought for me. I just don't have much creative energy right now. This was a nice creative outlet that met me where I was at.

Photos by Joe Ahlquist / jahlquist@postbulletin.com

Q: You’ve also incorporated a charitable cause into this, trying to get a van for Corey Jacob.

Corey Jacob is a gentleman experiencing homelessness. I set up a GoFundMe a while ago, and I'm just trying to get some more eyes on it so we can make that happen for Corey. If we get some money together, maybe he'd be interested in talking about other options, but for now, we're trying to get him a new van that he can customize so he can create a more livable situation for himself.

Q: As of today, you’ve reached 220 outfits. That takes a lot of clothes. How did you amass this collection? Are you a thrifter? A retail therapy person?

I'm a retail therapy person, first and foremost. I'm also a pretty big thrifter. That jolt of endorphins when you get something new and you can't wait to try it on, that's what I'm all about. A family of four could live in our house pretty comfortably, but it's just me and my wife, and practically all the clothes are mine.

RELATED: Your Style: Andrew Stehr

Q: How do you plan your outfit each day?

I've worn all my pants, so right now, I’m down to really just T-shirts. I only have 14 left as of today, so I just rummage around in the drawer, try not to look, and just randomly select a T-shirt. Then I try to create something that will work with it.

Q: What’s next after outfit 234?

My next project after I finish this is to try to get down to 100 outfits that I really like. Then I'm going to see if I can get down even further to 50 or 60 outfits that I really, really enjoy wearing.

Once I’m done, I'll put more energy into selling and donating, but there's some things that I'll just have to toss out. I have one shirt I can see straight through, so nobody’s going to want that. That's the other thing — I don't throw anything away, really, and I don't give stuff away as much as I should, so my collection has been amassing over years and years.

At least half [the money from selling] will go to the GoFundMe for Corey. I also need a new dishwasher. But at least half will go to Corey, and if I get a new dishwasher before then, I might just donate all of it to Corey’s GoFundMe.

Q: Do you have a favorite outfit?

I'm saving one of my favorites for the last day. I have this shirt with cats all over it, really brightly colored neon cats. So the last outfit on the last day will be that shirt, and I have a pair of velvet tuxedo pants. I'm hoping it's not like 90 degrees on the day I wear the velvet pants, because I think I’ll melt.

Q: You have a unique way of dressing — lots of graphic tees and bright colors, even some bow ties. Do you feel like you contrast a lot of the downtown workers?

It's really nice when I'm walking to get coffee in the morning or something, and I'll see a very dressed-up person who probably works at Mayo, and they can't help but to smile at what I'm wearing; they're trying to present that professional attitude, but they just can't help it. That's my favorite.

Get involved You can see all of Andy’s outfits at https://nooutfittwice.tumblr.com. You can help Corey Jacob at https://gofund.me/da2bfcf5.

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Moorhead native turns quest for perfect headband into $2 million business

Tammy Swift — Mon, 19 Apr 2021 17:00:00 GMT

MOORHEAD, Minn. — Leah Kay Krabbenhoft never really envisioned herself as an entrepreneur, the head of a trend-forward fashion business or a mentor to aspiring entrepreneurs.

But somehow, at not quite 30, she's become all three.

Krabbenhoft, a 2009 Moorhead High graduate, actually started out on a completely different path: She was studying to become a food scientist and professor at North Dakota State University.

But she had a small problem: She couldn't find a comfortable, good-looking headband to keep her hair out of her eyes while she pursued a demanding course of classes, labs and studying.

Finally, she decided to make her own headband, so she lugged mom Yvonne's old Kenmore sewing machine out of storage and made a trip to a local fabric store.

After some experimentation, Krabbenhoft stitched up a headband that checked all the boxes. It was comfortable, it stayed put and it was fashion-forward with a jaunty knot on top.

Friends and acquaintances so liked Krabbenhoft's headbands that they asked if she could make some for them. She gave the first ones away, but as the requests increased, she realized she could parlay her hobby into a side hustle.

That was five years ago. Today, Krabbenhoft's Soulvation Society brand has blossomed into a 100% self-funded, woman-owned brand with over $2 million in sales and zero debt.

And Krabbenhoft may be one of the few fashion mavens out there who could also give a dissertation on carbohydrate chemistry.

"Food science was a great field to be in," she says. "I had a great professor, it was a great program and I loved it. But I just had an itch just to make a brand, or just to make something for myself."

She certainly succeeded. Articles on Soulvation's story and products have been featured in Forbes, Cosmopolitan, NBC, CBS, t he Chicago Weekly and Oxygen magazine. Her product is sold through retail sites like FreePeople, which reflects her boho-chic vibe.

And her product has received thousands of glowing Instagram mentions ranging from millennial social-media influencers to nurses who rave about the headbands ultra-soft feel.

In fact, Soulvation Society's website champions itself as the "Home of the butter-soft headbands.”

The Denver-based company has expanded its product line to scrunchies, bandanas, turbands (a turban-headband hybrid) and their bestselling hair-ties, which double as boho-style bracelets (that's another Krabbenhoft innovation.)

The last year's success hit so suddenly that Krabbenhoft admits it hasn't fully registered yet. "It doesn't feel like it, even to this day," she says. "It still feels like I'm at home, sewing headbands, trying to make it work."

Krabbenhoft settled in the Mile-High City because her best friend from high school, Ashley Stalboerger, had already moved there, it had a centralized location and she loved the area's beauty and four-season weather.

Not that she had a lot of time to enjoy it. She worked out of her own apartment, diligently sewing headbands, mailing out orders, and reinvesting profits into the business to help it grow.

And then .... COVID. Krabbenhoft was in the midst of looking for new manufacturers and a better fabric when the world seemed to screech to a halt. The supply chain dried up, as did her inventory. "We were actually out of inventory four months because of the pandemic," she says. "We had hardly any sales."

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A post shared by Soulvation Headbands (@soulvationsociety)

Amid all this, Krabbenhoft found the fabric that changed everything: a kitten-soft bamboo-spandex. When these "butter-soft" pieces hit the website, customers clamored for them. People eagerly snatched up the headbands, retailing at $15.20 per headband or $54.20 for a five-pack. Sales skyrocketed from $120,000 in 2019 to last year's $2 million mark.

Even at this point, Krabbenhoft remained a one-person operation.

"I was hand-sewing everything," she says. "My entire room was all fabric and a sewing machine and my bed. That was it."

Krabbenhoft quickly realized she needed help — even if it meant giving up some control. "I was such a perfectionist," she says. "The sewing had to be perfect, the shipping had to be perfect. So slowly transitioning and hiring help was scary because it was my brand. I wanted to do it how I wanted it. But then I was like, 'If I want to grow this, I need help.'"

Today, Krabbenhoft's Soulvation Society employs eight people, has moved manufacturing to China and includes a 3,000-square-foot warehouse for inventory.

One gets the feeling that Krabbenhoft is just getting started. Bolstered by her recent success and the energy of youth, she is also designing a line of boutique clothing, patterned after her trademark boho aesthetic. In fact, she wears one item from the clothing line during her interview: a relaxed, button-down, white-and-black windowpane-plaid shirt in a soft, cozy fabric.

"Still to this day, I hate wearing high heels," she says. "If it's uncomfortable, I don't want to wear it. The clothing line is very similar: very comfortable, but you still look very cute."

She's also ready to contribute to her community, and plans to donate headbands to the nurses at Sanford Health.

Krabbenhoft's generosity extends to a willingness to share what she's learned. She is developing an e-commerce course, which will demonstrate how to build a successful start-up, including insight on how to "snowball" growth to minimize debt.

"In a very weird way, I guess I still did become a professor," she says, smiling.

Find Krabbenhoft's products at www.soulvationsociety.com.

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Grand Forks graduate sews success in Minneapolis men's fashion industry

Ann Bailey — Sun, 28 Mar 2021 19:00:00 GMT

GRAND FORKS — When Beck Thompson graduated from Grand Forks Central High �� in 2016, producing a line of men’s clothing wasn't necessarily his career plan.

But five years later, Thompson is delighted that his inaugural collection will debut at a Minneapolis boutique.

A dozen of Thompson's custom-made pieces of upper-body clothing — including jackets, shirts and a vest — are featured at MartinPatrick3, a men’s clothing and interior design store in the North Loop of Minneapolis.

Thompson didn’t take any art classes in high school, instead using writing and his own fashion choices as ways to express his creativity. However, in 2017, a year after Thompson graduated, he started a small-scale clothing brand called Talklisten, which featured silk-screened T-shirts. He donated 20% of the profits to a mental health research program.

He produced the T-shirts at Ink Inc., a Grand Forks screen printing business owned by his father, Kelly Thompson, a visual artist.

“That’s where I figured out I like to design clothes,” Beck Thompson said. After tiring of having his designs limited to T-shirts, Thompson moved to Minneapolis in 2019 and started making other men’s upper-body clothing.

He didn’t have any sewing mentors in his family, so he learned the trade by watching YouTube videos. Meanwhile, he honed his design skills by taking classes at Minneapolis Community and Technical College.

“I learned how to make patterns, and I started entering fashion shows,” Thompson said. “At first I really had no idea what I was doing. The more I did it, the more I would understand how things came together.

”I learned how to make patterns, and I started entering fashion shows,” he said. “I make stuff that didn’t exist, but I wanted it to. I sew everything myself and I make all of the patterns myself.”

Thompson sews his clothes on the 30-year-old Bernina machine of his late grandmother, Pearl Altenburg. The sewing machine isn’t anything fancy, but it's dependable.

“It gets the job done,” he said.

At one of the fashion shows in Minneapolis, Thompson’s clothing caught the eye of an employee of MartinPatrick3, where he got a job as a sales associate and an opportunity to sell his line of men’s apparel.

“Ever since I’ve been on this journey of apparel design, they’ve been trying to get my clothes in there," Thompson said. “There are 12 pieces ... a few jackets, a hoodie, a vest, a couple of button shirts — mostly stuff you would throw on over a T-shirt.”

The boutique venue will be the first place Thompson has marketed his clothing line, and he hopes it will attract interest from customers.

“There are a lot of well-known people who come into that store all of the time. It’s going to be nice to have that exposure for the first time,” he said.

Thompson hopes to continue to advance his career in clothing design by moving to New York, where he has applied to the Fashion Institute of Technology. Eventually, he would like to design for a clothing company.

“I like it because it allows me, obviously, to express myself. I like working with my hands. I like creating stuff.”

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