Rock N' Roll Style Guide: Stone Temple Pilots

Images courtesy of belowempty.com's incredible STP picture archive.

Stone Temple Pilots, (Scott Weiland, Dean Deleo, Robert Deleo, and Eric Kretz) have evolved together musically and visually. I've been blasting my Twitter this month with the BIG news (at least for a hardcore fan like me) that Stone Temple Pilots are releasing their first single in 9 years on March 31st. You can stream the new single "Between The Lines" here. I'll have to listen to it about 100 times before I can form a solid opinion, but STP can really do no wrong by me.

The images above are from a spring concert during the The Shangri-la-dee-da tour in 2001, courtesy of belowempty.com.

At a concert, I find what the band is wearing to be as important as what they're playing. Concerts become memories, so it's great when musicians take pride in their appearance and mix it up for the audience. I find nothing more boring than seeing shots of a band from a four month tour with the same jeans and t-shirt ensemble repeated over and over. It's also refreshing to see a rock n' roll band age gracefully. The greasy long hair, heavy eye makeup, leather-busting-at-the-seams look doesn't work for anyone especially in your mid 40s.

Style breakdown: Elements from the best decades of rock, streamlined and aged to perfection.

The Essentials

• Subtle accessories: A little "heavy metal" as in delicate and eclectic chains, rings and earrings toughen up skinny pants, and floral tops. Accessories on the hand draw your eyes to the guitar work.
  

• Unexpected Prints: It's rare to see a man in a floral print unless it's an Hawaiian shirt paired with a beer belly. You have to have a little swagger to make it work. Floral works great on men as an accent element as long as the print is simple and the colors are muted. Dean's is dusty blue with a simple stencil flower print.
  

• Skin: It's all about keeping things in proportion. I was never a fan of the baggy shorts/shirtless look a la Chris Cornell circa 1992. Scott Weiland is the king of shirtless-ness. He pairs high-waisted tuxedo pants with a bare chest, but his lean frame and tattoos keep him from looking like a Chippendale dancer. Dean Deleo and Eric Kretz have mastered the buttoned down-button down. Tank tops are cool on younger rockers, but button-downs look sophisticated on STP. Notice it's not a standard dress shirt. Theirs are of the thinner, sheer variety which let's your skin breath as you play. Striking colors work well on stage. You'll never see STP in "corporate blue".
  

• Sweat: When you're rocking out, sweat is inevitable, but there is an art to making it look good. Notice, no stringy wet hair or pit stained tees.

Rock N' Roll Style Guide: PJ Harvey

The so-called "effortless" look was all the rage this year. It was about trying to look as though you rolled out of bed without actually having rolled out of bed. The look was cool in that it was inspired by 90s grunge, but it quickly became tired and contrived when attempted by socialite party-people. Calculated looks can be as cool as effortless ones depending on how you carry them. The quintessential example of effortless, raw, low maintenance style is PJ Harvey. Her outfits look like she literally grabbed some random items from a pile lying next to her bed with her eyes closed. She gets away with it because she is PJ Harvey, one of the rawest singer songwriters of our time. Her look is believable because she wrote "Big Exit", and "Rid of Me". Everything she wears looks naturally faded and worn, not cut up or DIYed. The only rationalization I have for people purchasing pre-faded t-shirts or "destroyed" denim is that they are trying to buy style. In high school, I used to tote around in a pair of jeans, which were so badly tattered that at the end of their run there were more patches than original jean material. They became like a second skin, so it was hard to stop wearing them. The people who gave me strange looks and comments were the same people buying up pre-distressed denim the next year. It's easy to get swept into the desire for something new, especially when you immerse yourself in fashion blogs, but if you truly have a style of your own, then none of your old clothes will look stale. PJ's look makes me appreciate the raggedy things in my closet that may not look glamorous, but definitely have stories to tell.

Style Breakdown: Haphazard combos of undersized hammy-downs paired with remnants from a stripper's closet.

The Essentials:

• T-shirt from your 10 year old sibling's closet paired with a sequin or latex mini skirt
  
• Thrift store stripper boots
• A patchwork dress made of a cheesy pop culture icon like the "Spice Girls"
• A zip-up top zipped down to your belly button
• A choker necklace
• Lingerie worn as outerwear
  
• A cotton tube top paired with sleeves cut off from a long sleeve shirt
• Choppy short hair and bangs that look like you lopped it off yourself
• Loads of black eyeliner and lipstick
  

Flash Flame

80s vintage leather jacket, tit tees blue flame tee, alexander wang skirt, no-name striped stockings, sam edleman zoe boots (pic coming later)

The other night was my first recent opportunity to unleash my inner glam girl. The past couple of weeks have been spent in sweats and t-shirts in front of my computer screen working on a project. I'm learning more about photography and lighting with my partner in crime, so we converted my apartment into a photo studio and whipped up these photos. I'm wearing the blue flame tee...my favorite flame of the moment.