Life

June 20 2017

Skylar’s Yoo Cause: Raising Awareness of Mental Health

One of the motivating factors in wanting to start a new business is that I’ll be able to donate a percentage of all sales to a cause. I decided early on that Skylar Yoo’s cause would be about raising the awareness of mental health. I myself am bipolar and my mother, who is now deceased, was too. She committed suicide when I was just 20-years-old. I’ve never shared this with anyone online and only a handful of people know. I’ve learned a lot of interesting facts about bipolar disorder (40 here) including the fact that 80% of people with it will contemplate suicide at least once in their lives. In the general population, only 1 in 12 people will contemplate a suicide attempt.

One day, I will be brave enough to write about the traumatic experiences I went through when I first went manic. It includes a six week stay at a mental hospital where I was, literally, locked up. My youngest son was only seven-months-old and it was torture not seeing him. What were all the moments I was missing? Though the whole experience was a nightmare, there were some positive things that came out of it. My love and appreciation for my husband, my family and my close friends became unbelievably stronger.

There is this negative stigma surrounding mental disorders like bipolar or depression, but I made a conscious decision to find the positives.

Does it make you more creative? Perhaps. As stated in Psychology Today, “A recent study carried out at Stanford University by Santosa and colleagues found that people with bipolar disorder and creative discipline controls scored significantly more highly than healthy controls on a measure of creativity called the Barron-Welsh Art Scale. In a related study the same authors sought to identify temperamental traits that people with bipolar disorder and creative people have in common. They found that both shared tendencies for mild elation and depression with gradual shifts from one to the other, openness, irritability, and neuroticism (roughly speaking, a combination of anxiety and perfectionism).

“It is interesting to note that, according to this study, one of the temperamental traits that people with bipolar disorder and creative people have in common is a tendency for mild elation and depression with gradual shifts from one to the other. During periods of mild depression people with bipolar disorder and creative people may be able to retreat inside themselves, introspect, put thoughts and feelings into perspective, eliminate irrelevant ideas, and focus on the bare essentials. Then during periods of mild elation they may be able to gather the vision, confidence, and stamina for creative expression and realization.”

It’s great to see that mental health is now being discussed.

This news gave me hope: “The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry are spearheading a new campaign to end stigma around mental health.

The Heads Together campaign is a partnership with experienced and inspiring charities that provide frontline mental health support to people who may need it, whilst raising awareness and tackling stigma. Supported by The Royal Foundation, the Heads Together campaign aims to change the national conversation on mental wellbeing.”

“A spokesman for The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry said:
‘Through their work with young people, emergency response, homeless charities, and with veterans, Their Royal Highnesses have seen time and time again that unresolved mental health problems lie at the heart of some of our greatest social challenges.

‘They are passionate about tackling the stigma surrounding the issue. Too often, they have seen that people feel afraid to admit that they are struggling with their mental health. This fear of prejudice and judgement stops people from getting help and can destroy families and end lives. They want to help change the national conversation.'”

I want to create one of these “like-minded” charities to help those struggling with mental illnesses. Let’s see if I can do this!

Art by raquel-cobi.


Style

June 15 2017

Predicting the Future of Fashion

Staff writer for Fast Company, Liz Segran, met with graduate students at the Fashion Institute of Technology to ask them what they think is going to happen to retail stores. In the beginning, Skylar Yoo will be strictly an online store but I plan on selling the shirts to big department stores as well as (possibly) on Amazon. In the future future, I’d love to have brick-and-morter stores but ones that are totally unconventional. I want people to come to the stores to see incredible, cutting-edge art on the walls, I want one-of-a-kind art installations where people can interact with art, and I want a DJ to be playing some jammin tunes. In this day and age, don’t we or shouldn’t we expect more from a retail store?

Here’s what the graduate students said:
“Department stores must think of themselves as entertainment centers: In Korea, some malls are more like amusement parks, complete with rides and art installations. Some brands should become landlords, leasing out part of their space to smaller startups, which will give customers a reason to stop by the store to see what’s new. For other brands, turning unproductive retail spaces into local distribution centers might be a good idea, since it might allow them to get products to customers within hours at lower shipping costs.”

Will the industry adapt and change? All I know for sure is that we’re living in a fascinating time for fashion.


Art & Design

June 14 2017

We’ve Signed on Luke Lucas!

I’ve admired the work of Luke Lucas for almost eight years now. The Sydney-based artist is skilled at typography, graphic design, and illustration. Call him a jack of all trades. He’s a self-made artist whose work now spans two decades. He’s worked with the best including The Washington Post, Los Angeles Magazine, Oprah Magazine, The Hollywood Reporter, Diet Coke, Variety, Esquire, and Nike. We recently agreed to a two year licensing deal. I couldn’t be more stoked! Here’s a sample of his work. Ridiculous, right?

You can see what we’re brewing up together, here.


Life

June 13 2017

Why Smart Habits Beat Ambitious Goals Hands Down

This morning, I read this really great blog post about how making good habits are more important than creating ambitious goals. Here it is in its entirety.

“We all have goals, right? That’s what going further means, although it’s not always the right way to think about becoming your best you.

Last year, we discussed the dark side of goal setting. Research shows that pursuing clearly defined goals sometimes motivates people to lie, cheat, and otherwise engage in short-term thinking to overcome obstacles.

That’s the problem of focusing on results over process. In other words, allowing your ego to strive for becoming instead of doing.

For example, in the arena of fitness, we say we want to lose 20 pounds instead of focusing on the day-to-day mechanisms of eating well and exercising regularly. That’s the difference between an outcome goal and a behavioral goal.

And what is a behavioral goal anyway? It’s the desire to develop a beneficial habit that sticks. Developing the habit is what’s key, because it’s beneficial whether you achieve the exact outcome or not, and means you’ll maintain the outcome you do achieve.

Last week, Shane Parrish pointed out that the distinction between habits and goals is not semantic, because each requires different forms of action.

His examples:

We want to learn a new language. We could decide we want to be fluent in 6 months (goal), or we could commit to 30-minutes of practice each day (habit).
We want to read more books. We could set the goal to read 50 books by the end of the year, or we could decide to always carry one (habit).
We want to spend more time with family. We could plan to spend 7 hours a week with family (goal), or we could choose to eat dinner with them each night (habit).
There’s a reason why the heading of the Further About page is happiness is a way of travel, not a destination. Living your best life is all about what you do on your journey, not where you ultimately arrive.

Keep going-

Brian Clark
Further”

Love this!


Art & Design

June 13 2017

Explaining the Beauty of Hand Drawn Letters

In order to show you just how incredible and involved the art of hand lettering is, I want you to see it at different stages and I want to explain it to you in words. One of the top hand lettering artists I’m working with, Tobias Saul, created this masterpiece.

Here he is explaining his creative process:
“Everything starts with rough sketches. It doesn’t have to be perfect at this stage. It is more about finding a good composition and a general look and feel. Once I decided on one sketch, I create a bigger, more detailed pencil drawing. It is very helpful to create grid lines to make sure your letters have the same high and angle. In the next step I use a light table to make a cleaner black and white drawing of it. That will be the base for everything further. After scanning the drawing I start to go into details – cleaning up the lines and correcting mistakes. So now as the drawing looks good to me, I start playing around with color, shadows and effects to bring the whole thing to life.”

Now if that’s not amazing, I don’t know what is.


Style

June 12 2017

New Clothing Brand: Skylar Yoo is Secretly Coming Alive

Though I’m still a few months out from fully launching, I wanted to give you a sneak peek of what’s to come with my new clothing company Skylar Yoo. Currently, I’m working with around 20 different hand lettering artists and have about 50 completely original and exclusive designs. Though most won’t make it to the site (I’ll only launch 10-20 shirts and hoodies and I’m being highly selective), it’s still a thrill to see the designs start coming alive. I’m working with Big Fan Agency on the brand identity and website. I think they deserve a shout-out. I’ve worked with them before and they’re just an unbelievably creative, efficient and reliable team. I also have to thank Christopher Jobson of Colossal and Jeff Sheldon of Ugmonk for giving me priceless advice on how to run a successful online shop.

Now for the fun stuff: We’ve chosen the colors of the brand – it will be a combination of millennial pink and red. Together, they look bold and beautiful. The tagline of the company is simply “Be Bold.”

Yesterday, I put up an Instagram account (@skylar.yoo) so that you can start seeing some initial designs. Also, because of my love for art, design, photography and powerful quotes, I’ll be including those in the feed. Follow it if you want to see a start-up fashion line become a worldwide brand. (Yes, I’m ambitious and proud of it!)

Which hand lettering artists am I working with? I know it may seem like I’m giving away all of my secrets, but I believe in transparency and openness. Everyone can have an idea, ultimately doesn’t it always come down to execution? Fortunately, my experience in working with artists and my love for art has now found a new home. I want you to feel like you’re a part of this exciting journey. Plus, while working at My Modern Met for seven years, I gained the utmost respect for the creatives in the world. As French artist Henri Matisse once said, “Creativity takes courage.” That’s why I’ll be crediting every artist I’ll be working with both on the website and through all social media channels. The talented artist who hand lettered “Girls to the Front” is Maddy Nye. Tobias Saul is another talented artist who I’m working with for three designs. He just completed two for me and, let me tell you, I was speechless when I saw them. I am working on signing on Luke Lucas and Jessica Hische, who are both rockstars in the art world. It would be a total dream to even be associated with them.

Let me quickly explain why I decided that, in this first collection, I’m only working with hand lettering artists. I bought several books on the art form. It’s like marrying the old with the new. The artists start with a sketch, which could be in pencil, pen, marker, or paint and then they scan their work onto a computer. From there, they use software like Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop or After Effects to make a refined, and oftentimes colorful work of art. The artist must be adept at both drawing words and using software. Watch this awesome video, by Noah Camp, to see a piece go from a simple marker drawing to a spinning, rainbow colored 3D model. Isn’t it fascinating? If you want to learn more about the art of hand lettering, read In Progress by the queen Jessica Hische.

Why the name Skylar Yoo, you might be asking. Skylar is the name I would have given my daughter if my second child was a girl. The first time I heard that name I instantly loved it. I would have nicknamed her “Sky”. It reminds me of the saying, “Reach for the sky.” To me, it means set very high goals, aspire to be the best.

As I’ve mentioned previously, Skylar Yoo will be a clothing brand dedicated to bold women and girls. The feminists. The ones who stand up and take action. The creative entrepreneurs who pursue their dreams. The women managers and CEOs of this world that work their a**** off to get to where they are. My current rockstars? Tina Roth Eisenberg of SwissMiss, Joy Cho of Oh Joy!, Bri Emery of DesignLoveFest, Jaime Derringer of Design Milk, Chriselle Lim, Aimee Song of @songofstyle,
Gabrielle Stanley Blair of Design Mom and Alt Summit and, of course, Jessica Alba of The Honest Company.

It also includes women that have inspired me throughout my life like my wedding photographer Jessica Claire, my wedding planner Jeannie Savage of Details Details, and my event planner Sunny Ravanbach of White Lilac. These are creative, powerful women who’ve built their businesses from the ground up.

Have you heard about the movie Dream, Girl? I’ve only seen the trailer but it gave me goosebumps. Women are starting 1,200 businesses a day! That’s incredible and inspiring.

Now about Skylar Yoo…there’s more to come! Keep up with “her” on Instagram.

I’ll leave you with this: I just read the book We Should All Be Feminists (yes, there was a TED talk and a book before there was a ridiculously priced Christian Dior shirt) and it explained that a feminist simply means this: Advocating social, political, legal, and economic rights for women equal to those of men. In this day and age, is that too much to ask?


Life

June 8 2017

Kindness is Free…

Today, I came across this print. It has a sweet message, doesn’t it? You can buy it over on Etsy. (It’s made with real copper foil.)


Style

June 8 2017

New Bathing Suit in My Favorite Colors

Have you heard of the company Summersalt? They create affordable (under $100) bathing suits that are made from recycled materials. This design, called The Sidestroke, caught my eye. I love the look of the one shoulder and it’s in my favorite color combination. Pink and red.

Our family trip to Hawaii is now less than a month away so it’s time to buy a bathing suit. I like this one and Mara Hoffman’s one piece. (See how this one looks on a model. So elegant!)


Life

May 26 2017

Starting a New Company: The Excitement and the Scary Stuff

Sorry about my inconsistency in posting. I’ve been working on this new fashion line I’m going to launch in a few months. Though I’m super excited about it, it’s also giving me a good amount of stress. My dream has always been to be a successful entrepreneur, running a company, inspiring a team. Can I make it happen? Do dreams really come true?

I’ve been reading about companies like S’well, Stella & Dot, and Outdoor Voices who are all created by female entrepreneurs. For some reason, I’m drawn to their stories. These brave women followed their dream, they were relentless, and they pursued their passion.

I look back at the success of the art blog I founded, My Modern Met, and I realize that sometimes you have to look back to feel confident about your future. My Modern Met gets an astounding 37 million visitors a year (or around 3 million a month). We helped launch the careers of countless artists, designers and photographers by making their work go viral. (How cool was that job?) In my seven years of working there, as the editor-in-chief, I wrote over 7,000 blog posts about today’s creative art. (Here’s one of my all time favorite posts. It went super viral.) Though at first, when I started the blog, I was nervous about my writing and my taste (or curation), after a while everything became second nature.

Though I can’t tell you what kind of products I’m going to launch first, under the brand name Skylar Yoo, I can tell you that I’m back working with artists. I have so much respect for creatives, I truly think they’re going to be the leaders of tomorrow.

This blog has changed from being a personal one to a photography based one to a fashion one. Now, I think I’m going to go back to making it personal, sort of like a diary. I hope you don’t mind the change. I’ll post about how Skylar Yoo is coming along, I’ll tell you about my family and I’ll share with you what’s inspiring me these days. Fun Links of the Week (on Fridays) will no longer exist but I’ll post in real time what I think is really cool.

I’ve been juggling between five books these days. One of them that I’m really enjoying right now is called Making Ideas Happen. It’s by Scott Belsky, founder of the art site Behance. (In 2012, he sold the company to Adobe for an estimated $150 million.) On a side note, when I was back at the Met, we actually emailed back and forth a few times. I felt like I was this teeny bopper fan of this big celebrity.

Belsky spent six years studying the habits of hundreds of successful creative people and he developed some really interesting insights. One of them was that everyone should organize their life as a series of projects and that we should manage those projects with a bias towards action. We have to always be moving forward in order to execute on an idea. Another takeaway from the book is this: Making Ideas Happen = (Ideas) + Organization & Execution + Communal Forces + Leadership Capability. A key to getting sh*t done is being organized! After reading that I got my Excel and Word sheets going. I need to organize my thoughts! Instead of having all of my ideas and goals swirling around in my head, I type them into neat spreadsheets. It has helped tremendously!

On another note, there’s this cool Kickstarter that’s going on now that’s about a desk organizer. You’re like, really Alice, a desk organizer?! Before you click away, watch the frickin’ video! His goal was $18,000 and he’s now almost at $213,000! I supported it on the spot. Christopher Jobson, the head of the art blog Colossal, tipped me off to the creator’s t-shirts and I ended up buying a few. I think I like the men’s t-shirts more than the women’s. The designer’s name is Jeff Sheldon and his company is called Ugmonk. The clothes are suppose to be super soft. (I got this red ampersand sweatshirt. Can’t wait to live in it.)

One last thing. Here are the four things I bought on the Colossal Shop this week. I’d been eyeing them for quite some time. Love my miniature spring forest, galaxy lollipops, color wheel pendant, and Colossal mugs (these are nice and big, perfect for your morning coffee). The mugs are half price right now.

Ok, that’s all for now. Be back again soon! Have a super duper awesome weekend.

Art by Christopher David Ryan.

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