A couple of things. First of all, congratulations on your whole fashion blogger/teen prodigy thing. I must admit, at first I found the whole idea of you irksome. But in the end I think that probably had more to do with the degree to which the fashion world couldn’t stop peeing in their pants over you than anything you actually did. There doesn’t seem to be any getting around the fact that you are a very talented young lady.
And yet I was disappointed to read your comments in Racked regarding the “Ask an A-Lister“ feature on Seventeen’s website, which you view as appropriation of the “Ask a Grown Man” feature on your website, Rookie, in which celebrities like John Hamm and Judd Apatow answer teenaged girls’ questions via video.
Because: Tavi, may I introduce you to “Dear Boy”? The Sassy column in which such luminaries of the day as Thurston Moore, J. Mascis, Billy Corgan, Mike D, and Beck answered questions from readers (and occasionally editors)? Actually, it looks like you’ve already met. (Scroll down to the very bottom item.)
And here’s the thing, Tavi: that’s not such a big deal! You copy Sassy, and Seventeen copies you copying Sassy, and it has always been thus. It can be annoying, but it just is. So stop with the complaining. There are few things more tedious—or less gracious—than a person who complains about having their ideas ripped off.* Just go think up some new ones and move on.
*Especially when—it bears repeating—perhaps they weren’t this person’s ideas in the first place.
How I loved Sassy. That was a great column. And thank you for setting her straight. Glad to see I’m not the only person annoyed by so many of these 25-and-unders. Sometimes it makes me feel like an old codger from Leave it to Beaver Days. But having just spend two days training an intern, I am appalled by their combination of arrogance and ignorance. Were we that bad? I don’t think so. I remember being willing to do filing and learn. I don’t remember coming in assuming I knew more than my boss.
We weren’t that bad.
At times we were that bad:) We just didn’t know it, like they don’t know it. I understand the frustration, I just don’t think you need to point it out. It sounds petulant and (gasp) kind of like sour grapes.
Sassy was awesome, you know it, we know it, she knows it. This blog is delightful. She’s just a kid putting her mouth in motion before her brain. It’s cringe-worthy, but not atypical of the age, no matter what generation we are speaking of.
I love it when they multi task or text while you are speaking or just explaining tasks. A real treat! I would never dream of doing that as a young start- up.
We were definitely not that bad.
I will always remember your letter to J. Mascis about whether guys like big butts, and his reply about a.) being confused by the question, and b.) big butts being awesome and any guy who didn’t want as much butt as possible being nuts. (I do not recall, though, whether this question was posed before or after Sir Mix-a-Lot’s “Baby Got Back” came out, because that should have answered your question pretty definitively.)
Thanks for saying this. She gets on my nerves, and I agree with you–from the get-go, I thought her whole schtick was a total Sassy rip-off.
love what you just did. should we feel bad? no way…
Preach!
I remember getting all sassy (sorry!) with my mom about various styles that I “invented” and then having her school me with pictures of herself in high school wearing pointy flats, or capris, or cardis or whatever. I think this idea teenagers seem to have that they are so compelling and original has been around forever. It’s just that the interwebs have given them a vehicle to annoy a larger audience with their “look at me!” schtick.
I think perhaps the difference between me and a prodigy (aside from the fact that I’m far too old to be a prodigy anymore) is that I have never once, in my life, assumed that I was the first person to have an idea. You gotta be really sure of yourself to think you got there first.
Speaking of getting there first, I wish I’d come up with that last line myself, Liz. Exceedingly well-put.
Classic teenager stuff. It’s especially funny, given her publicly declared love of Sassy.
I feel the same way you do, Kim–irked but I know she’s a real talent. And I remember being so bugged by adults when I was a teen/college student who I thought undervalued me or came off as being nervous about nurturing some talent, so I try to reserve judgment.
Still, I think this deserves a teen-level eye roll, no?
PS: Not to get fangirl, but I absolutely love your blog. Smart and stylish and interesting. And I love the wealth of experience you bring to it… I’m sick of all the young stuff.
I am 35 and still miss Sassy. Also, a few days ago I used a half-dollar coin at Starbucks, and the barista didn’t know what it was. She tried to give it back to me, saying it wasn’t American currency.
Wow, Ashley. This comment made me snort. Unbelievable.
This is all so entertaining. I thoroughly hope Tavi reads this and learns her lesson.
Everyone under 30 seems to think that they not only know it all, they’ve invented it all.
Yes, I am ancient – 50. And no, we weren’t this bad when we were kids.
But, how many blogs have you seen where they just rip off other people’s work? I can name at least 2 dozen very busy “design” blogs where all they do is post photos from someone else’s blog or book.
Amen Kim.
I have taught these kids in art school, have them as interns in my real job, and have my own mercurial 17-year-old at home. They do carry around a sense of entitlement for sure. They feel they are the only ones with original ideas and are often terribly cynical, jaded and dare I say lazy. I sound so damned old!
I cannot agree more with Katie D -your blog is a breath of fresh air. I too am sick of the young stuff and enjoy your perspective on topics and all the articulate, bright women/men who are engaged here.
This reminds me of the day my son introduced me to this awesome new band he’d discovered – Led Zeppelin.
At least you can comfort yourself in the knowledge that you’ve raised a son with good musical taste.
“There are few things more tedious—or less gracious—than a person who complains about having their ideas ripped off.”
But I guess it’s totally cool for you to do the same?
Were I you, I’d be pleased that my work had had such an influence and remains relevant to teenagers, rather than tearing down a 16-year-old whose web site promotes more than just “buy this $300 ‘ethnic’ top.” Isn’t Tavi’s ambition, intelligence, feminist ideals and creativity the very kind of thing that Sassy sought to encourage in young girls?
I don’t usually comment on blogs but this really rubbed me the wrong way. Definitely not very “Sassy” of you. Also — I’m 37 years old, had a subscription to Sassy from 1989 up until it became “zombie Sassy” (1994? 95?) and still have nearly every issue. Still read them sometimes. And I also enjoy Rookie (though I’m way, waaaayyyy out of their demographic!), and am really happy that girls today have access to a smart, feminist publication that could have the same influence on them that Sassy had on me.
“Dear Boy” wasn’t my idea.
I think you just missed her point, Kim.
So, I get the feeling the 3 of you know each other in real life and don’t like each other, which is none of my business and I don’t much care.
But, I have to say, I don’t think this website is “about” shopping, any more than Lucky used to be. It’s about taste. I feel absolutely *no* pressure to buy anything I see here! I just like to see what Kim is up to. And I liked Lucky because it was fun watching people try to make harem pants look good. They got as close as anyone ever will! It was really more about creativity than just buying whatever cr*p someone was trying to sell that day. That’s what people like. It’s a conversation about beauty and style, with a bit of fashionable tweaking here and there, imho.
If you don’t like it, why are you here?
No, I don’t know Kim or Tavi aside from their writing. I’m here because I’ve enjoyed Kim’s writing in the past and I like looking at pretty things. I never said there was anything wrong with that. What I don’t like is seeing an adult trash a kid who, from all appearances, busts her ass to put out something positive into the world and who has some valid criticism of a giant, corporate glossy mag like Seventeen (she has a lot more to say about Seventeen than just “they stole my ideas!”). It’s especially irksome coming from someone whom I’ve admired as a writer and businessperson since I was a teenager myself.
I like Tavi a mess. BUT…. ( there is always a but) Rookie is too cool for school. If my 16 year old self had met the Rookie girls they would be mean to me and make fun of the fact at 16 I had no Miu Miu shoes. The Ask A Grown Man thingy is creepy, because why not just ask your dad or uncle? Who cares what grown men think? Rookie seems like it’s not for actual teenagers, it’s for old broads like us. I like John Hamm. At 16 I would gave thought he is a creepy old guy.
I don’t know anything about Rookie or Tavi. But I have to say, for me, wearing really expensive things is the opposite of cool, and always will be. Real style comes from the street, end of story.
I like Rookie a ton and hope it’s around when my daughter is older, but yeah, $400 shoes on a blog aimed at teens disturbs me. Man when I was a teen we bought real combat boots and ratty furs at the salvation army! I’m all ” you kids get the hell off my lawn!!!” up in herrrrrre.