Natasha Stagg (early 30s, F)
Got her break with
Surveys, a debut novel about influencer culture online which was discovered by Chris Kraus and put out on Semiotext(e) in 2016.
The coming of age novel follows 23-year old Colleen, a mall employee in Tucson, Arizona, who rises to internet fame by blogging about her semi-famous boyfriend and recent move to sunny Los Angeles, CA. The protagonist's obsession for a never-ending stream of external validation from online followers as well as the constant grooming of her public relationship with her boyfriend has led many critics to describe the novel as a prescient first-hand account of the rise of the phenomena of social media influencers on Instagram and Twitter.[4]
Most recently, she put out
Sleeveless, which chronicles the NYC fashion and art worlds, the way the two overlap. I didn't think it was very good, a couple interesting paragraphs in a hundred-some pages, pretty disappointing ratio. Nonetheless, people lover her and her Spike "
Out of State" series, where she liveblogs her summers.
With Velasco and Phillips:
From an Artforum piece on NYFW that I think is pretty funny:
At my table alone were fashion icons Debbie Harry, Cindy Sherman, and Molly Ringwald; The Cut editor in chief Stella Bugbee; and the designer Todd Thomas. Even with all the attempts to connect fashion to politics, the night couldn’t help but feel lighthearted, buoyed by Justin Vivian Bond and Nath Ann Carrera’s acoustic covers (“I’m starting out with a very obvious choice,” Bond said, before a rendition of Carly Simon’s “You’re So Vain”) and impromptu celebrity speeches (“This is all Rachel, actually, that I bought myself,” Ringwald said into an open mic).
Over dinner, conversation turned from the ketamine revival to raising teen twins. Alex Auder—who, despite describing herself as “some yoga instructor who lives in Philadelphia,” was the social glue binding together many of the guests—mentioned being asked to do a guided relaxation that evening, but only if “it felt right.” As dessert arrived, she took the microphone and began with a steadied, lowered voice: “I invite you to take part in this neoliberal meditation manifestation. Allow yourself to let go, into the clingy hand of the free market. Do you feel it?”
“No,” answered Debbie Harry.
“I feel it,” said Cindy Sherman, arms raised.
“You are now dissolving into little bits of human capital,” continued Auder. “Visualize green, from your consciousness—that is, in your head—trickling down into your pelvic bowl. Watch out! You might become incontinent. Don’t worry. It’s all an illusion. It actually trickles back up, ha, ha, ha. And that is how the state works.”
With Audrey Wollen, inventor of Sad Girl Theory (entry upcoming):