Sleeveless: Fashion, Image, Media, New York 2011–2019

by Natasha Stagg

Eve Babitz meets Roland Barthes in Sleeveless, Natasha Stagg's follow up to Surveys, her 2016 novel about internet fame. Composed of essays and stories commissioned by fashion, art, and culture magazines, Sleeveless is a scathing and sensitive report from New York in the 2010s. During those years, Stagg worked as an editor for V magazine and as a consultant, creating copy for fashion brands. Through these jobs, she met and interviewed countless industry luminaries, celebrities, and artists, and learned about the quickly evolving strategies of branding. In Sleeveless, she exposes the mechanics of personal identity and its monetization that propelled the narrator of Surveys from a mall job in Tucson to international travel and internet fame.

Genres: Essays, Nonfiction, Fashion, Art, Memoir, New York, Cultural

256 pages, Paperback

First published September 13, 2019

Reviews

[Alex Wexelman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very great when it's good, but not so good when it's not great, which is more often than I had hoped

[cantread26 · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought this hoping it would be something similar to Trick Mirror but with a heavier and more raw focus on fashion/commercial media. But what I love about Jia is that she is able to critique the world around while still acknowledging her own fallacies and complicity in it all, managing to gracefully avoid hypocrisy. Natasha Stagg does this to an extent, but reading it I felt, and she does often nod to this honestly, that she was too wrapped up in her own cynicism to provide as useful a critical perspective on the industry. She paints a picture of New York media culture that conveys glamour and chaos, yet it feels like she is too preoccupied with placing herself at the center to give much more meaningful detail. Sometimes feels more like a diary that she knew was going to be read by the public than a critique. Which is also interesting, but different than what I anticipated.

That all being said, there were many moments that I really loved and appreciated. I do think Stagg offers a unique take on all of this, being so connected in the industry, yet unafraid to reveal its own deep insecurities. Favorite moments include:

How could she think outside of her body, she thought, again: the body, the outside world that defines my body, the body… and: my art is the only part of the outside world I can define (49, Press Release).

I really liked her whole analysis of the red shoe:
Maybe the classic reading of the red shoe, then, is as symbol of perilous independence (83).

The most insecure of any art form, fashion takes into account every judgement being made and makes judgements of its own, recording peaks and valleys of culture production (93).

On the runway scene… We were there to say that we were there (94).

And what defines our time, generally? We are celebrity-obsessed and all celebrity candidates; we are being surveyed and surveilled, our opinions exploited via our own narcissistic tendencies; we are afraid of attacks and paranoid about the ways these attacks are being explained to us; and we are, as always, hoping to appear sexier than we feel (97). !!!!!

More than anything, runways reflect a metaphorical us, just as we are (97).

Our sexual desires, intensified by our insecurities, are easily conflated with shopping urges (98).

If a trend can come and go before a magazine has time to print it, perhaps it was really an event (107).

Trends are trending. Isn’t it boring? (109).

Another article I read awhile ago purported to be an essay about shifts in personal style. It argued, I think, that because it is easier to acquire clothing almost immediately after discovering it, and because clothing production now allows for a wider array of specific trends made for mass consumption at low costs, personal style is becoming more personal. This view seems narrow, seeing as it relies almost completely on cheap labor. Personal style can never, in fact, become more personal. It can only become more widely known as one’s own (109). Hmmmm

Celebrity

Really like the essay The Drop about rave culture where she cites the lyrics of Closer and other EDM songs and comments on the irony of all these people dancing happily to such tragic lyrics.

Essay: The Right Place
Kim is a collage of our old and emergent understandings of celebrity culture (162).

Kim’s specific allure, struggling to understand how we, too, after hours of research, could end up gaining more of an addiction than an answer (163). I love that.

Maybe she’s not a void at all, but a surplus of the behaviours we were once told to suppress, like mixing business with pleasure by creating a personal brand that is inseparable from an interior life (164).

She shows her viewers the process of constructing and then selling herself, step-by-step (166).

Where on the matrix of Art, Artist, Art Critic, and Muse, does Kim fall? (166).

Beauty by definition has always had connotations of natural splendor. Faking beauty meant keeping the falsification a secret. If the secret was let out, one’s intentions showed. Desperation to look beautiful was not beautiful, and therefore the filmed procedure failed at its task.

Her very image is, she would like to have you believe, crowd sourced (173).

A typical influencer today is basic--the opposite of avant-garde. She’s the affluent, pretty person you’d rather not admit you pay attention to, because she is, by default, a sellout (182).

Engagement… The essay Out of State is so good.

The way the political situation is infiltrating my social life is alarming, because it isn’t (218). !!!!

“Women are so trendy right now,” one said, describing a pink covered collection of essays written by women, to which she’d contributed (245). Been THINKING ABOUT THIS A LOT.

And then all of my friends asked me if I listened to one or the other, and their reactions seemed so uncomplicated: it’s so bad, or it’s so good (246).

Everything I watch and listen is coming from a person using a platform to sell a product. They sell art, tote bags, and T-shirts that come in vinyl bags. But more than that they’re all selling themselves, and I am too, and I hate myself for it, but even more I hate that I believe I’ll disappoint people if I quit (248).

[Cassie (book__gal) · Rating 5 out of 5]

"And what defines our time, generally? We are celebrity-obsessed and all celebrity candidates; we are being surveyed and surveilled, our opinions exploited via our own narcissistic tendencies; we are afraid of attacks and paranoid about the ways these attacks are being explained to us; and we are, as always, hoping to appear sexier than we feel."⁣
⁣
Stagg’s essays sharply verbalize what can only be described as the present cultural proclivity to ~always-be-branding~. She has her finger on the pulse of how fashion houses and brands operate in our hyper-disillusioned, hyper-sexed, hyper-capitalist society. As someone who personally works often in the intersection of fashion and marketing for my livelihood, I’m slightly obsessed with how we’ve come to monetize human beings, how we can be both an observer and a participant in the nexus of culture and consumerism. This is what Stagg examines throughout Sleeveless. She is able to connect the dots from the obsession with Russian collusion to the tall red boots that strut down the Vetements runway. It’s my ideal topic of conversation - likely not for everyone, but for the fashion and media obsessives like myself, it’s fodder for meditation. Stagg is an essential contributor to the discourse on such subjects in the 21st century; a contemporary writer who understands everything matters and nothing matters.⁣
⁣
I also appreciated Stagg’s acknowledging of her complicated feelings on sex and power in the post #MeToo era. I’ve said it before: writing in a nuanced way about sex and power dynamics is important. Internal examination of one’s motivations shouldn’t be obsolete or awkward. None of the writing is overtly political, but the general political disquiet that hangs heavy in the air these days is evident in Sleeveless - I find it honest and reflective of the current state of affairs. You’d be smart to keep your eye on Stagg’s writing, and pick up her first book, the novel Surveys, while you’re at it.

[Megan O'Hara · Rating 3 out of 5]

probably more good parts than bad it just wouldn't cohere and get into my brain so I don't know. would consider revisiting in the future despite the NeW yOrK CiTy (🥴) of it all.

[Delia Rainey · Rating 5 out of 5]

at times, this book is abt the most snooty shit (NYC media parties, influencers, doing coke in bathrooms, fancy work trips, new york fashion week) but somehow, natasha stagg is not snooty at all. i love to read a book that keeps me up late at night, rolling around my bed like i'm reading something revealing it all. i can appreciate the more cultural criticism pieces, but i rlly loved the blending of fiction, and the obvious nod to new narrative (hanging out with chris kraus, c'mon). there are essays in here about abrecrombie & fitch, or EDM festivals, that end up actually being more about some innate human loneliness. stagg worries in here that she is self-involved, but self-involved essays are my favorite. it's one thing to write an essay about when the me-too movement broke out, and it's another thing to write it about that + the fragile feelings after a breakup. stagg's writing is observational, yet always critical of her own first reactions, giving others the benefit of the doubt. she captures a specific contemporary claustrophobia of social media, "it-girls", and going out to bars in the city, trying to encounter something to connect to::: "I was struck by how strange it is we have to try this hard to escape our own routines in the first place, and how it is even stranger that the escape becomes another type of routine."

[maggie · Rating 5 out of 5]

delicious and nutritious

[Pria · Rating 2 out of 5]

natasha seems very cool, and interesting and clearly has a whole lot of new york sensibility but god what does she do with it? there was less insight and cohesion in these 200 pages of essays than there was in like, one shitty podcast i listened with her as a guest last week lol. i don't hate her i wish she'd just tried a little bit harder and put a little more work into this book fr.

her essays generally are best when focused squarely of art and cultural criticism - but all her stuff about herself and her lived experience reads as half-cathartic half-embarrassed. she seems so terrified of caring about anything and it's like? then why are you a writer?? if anything this book told me that i too can become a writer if I hang out with enough scene people and disconnect myself from the noise enough.

lastly, i read this book because i saw it in a meme on caroline calloway's twitter and i think that should have been a red flag.

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

The essays "Consulting", "Internet as Horror", "Bellwether Boots", "Good-looking People", "The Micro-trend" and "Thonging" are excellent. This book is front-loaded in that most of the good essays are in the first two sections of the book (Public Relations and Fashion), which makes sense given Stagg's field of expertise. When the book drifts into interviews and bios on influencers and internet celebrities, it loses me - they're well written, but I found the treatment of the subjects tired and relatively predictable. I guess they're necessary given the 2011-2019 timeframe of the book. Wasn't a fan of the fiction but I liked "Out of State". Recommended for the entire city of New York, and people who listen to podcasts or like Joan Didion, Chris Kraus, and Eileen Myles.

[Madeleine]

kind of tire of the hot girl partying in a city = eve babitz comparisons, but this is enjoyable and surprisingly expansive in its own right

[Kit · Rating 3 out of 5]

The middle two sections were far and away better than the rest, though I did appreciate reading about someone I personally know in the penultimate essay.

[Marisa Romano · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad but not extraordinary. Some interesting takes on pop culture but generally I am over people from NYC

[Rosa · Rating 3 out of 5]

She’s not always right… but when she is… she’s right…

[Hailey Skinner · Rating 3 out of 5]

More "eh" than "ah" but rlly nice in the "ah" parts.

Often just felt pretentious (Disclaimer: I would be pretentious too if I ran in the circles Natasha Stagg does).

Surprisingly, the celebrity section felt the least pretentious & most interesting.

I chuckled at & enjoyed reading essays that were so internet-age aware.

"Most of us are familiar now, with the intense emotional spasm that comes after sending a direct message. Waiting for a reply must be just as lonely as waiting for a lover's telegram."

P.S. Kim Gordon & Chloe Sevigny name drops are SO okay with me & will always have their desired effect.

[Allison · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to like this but it truly just didn’t hold my attention

[Amberly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some essays so interesting and making me want to underline too many sentences but others were a snooze fest I wanted to skip

[Lisa Reich · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a bop

[Simone Rembert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Made me feel like a very Cool Girl. Some sections are bad; the first essay, "Cafeteria," is great

[Elisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

“Sometimes I felt guilty about loving the recklessness that came with being a woman”. Fuck this.

[Isabella · Rating 2 out of 5]

The type of book Serena van der Woodsen would read on the Met Steps.

I liked how Stagg focused on things that might seem superficial (Kim Kardashian, reality television, microtrends) but are actually very revealing about society. However, I didn't enjoy reading this - something to do with the nihilistic narrative style, I think. Very draining to peruse.

I also felt that there were a lot of empty statements. Saying things for the sake of saying them. "You're talking a lot but you're not saying anything. When I have nothing to say, my lips are sealed. Say something once, why say it again?" Many obvious insights, and I feel like the perception of Gen Z is off. Something to be observed about the fleeting relevance of a media career.

Fans of My Year of Rest and Relaxation would enjoy this book.

[Bridget Bonaparte · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book though it has its ups and downs. I feel like stagg has written for magazines for so long that she never really had to figure out how to write good transitions. The writing can seem disjointed at times, and not in the good controlled way. Still, it’s a fun book to read. In part because, she talks a lot about how she’s worked in fashion for so long, but doesn’t really say anything about fashion besides a couple of insights in “bellweather boots” and “good looking people” (about Abercrombie which was a great piece). She’s cynical about “cool girls” and relentlessly writes about her own coolness—probably the most New York affect possible.

[eb · Rating 3 out of 5]

a talented writer with some interesting takes, some essays i LOVED and others were lack lustre… such is the nature of essay collections

[Neil · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sometimes I wish I lived in LA, so I could drink cold pressed juice, let my body atrophy and be some sort of bohemian layabout. Instead I am in New York, so I read Natasha Stagg for her searing and detached commentary, ready to be dispensed as novel and interesting insights at parties. I take the train, walk fast places and no longer come off like an airhead!

[Lene Kretschz · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF at 42% There is just too little here that's interesting or meaningful to continue. Stagg appears to have nothing new to say about celebrity, fashion, art, or media and she just goes on and on and on pointlessly and with no flair. A waste of time.

[ivan · Rating 5 out of 5]

have read several of these essays many times and am glad that ill be able to return to them over and over now

[Kit F · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kept going back-and-forth on my feelings about this collection. She's a bit too enamored by celebrity and image-curation to be a reliable narrator of the scene, and too determined to paint herself as outside certain key faults of NYC, even while making vague acknowledgments that she's self-centered (she doesn't give any details, thus being self-critical on the surface without any real confession or vulnerability).

A few ideas stuck with me: best essay was on The Eighties: "It isn't shame that the decade removed, but pretense. No one became their truer self by getting naked: they confronted a need for sexiness, competition, gender. People adhered to a characterization of themselves that was so distant from something within or about them, it was more icon than identity. Like an eighties arcade video game. What character would you have been?" (Published in Spike Art Quarterly.) Other good idea was in Right Time: "We are all of us obligatorily familiar with and somewhat accepting of a double self-image: the contrast between a life and the image of that life as projected online." Later, in the same essay, on Lil Miquela: "That she wasn't a person didn't really matter because at some point, every person becomes an avatar in the mind once our main interactions with them are via social media feeds." (Essay original to the book.)

But when the takes weren't just a bit meh and celebrity-obsessed, they occasionally seemed so dead wrong I was surprised an editor never challenged her. Like when she said that millennials don't aspire to be famous. Excuse me? I get the point about the privacy influencers seek, but, um, millennials are an incredibly image-obsessed generation. They/we grew up on social media, curating an "audience" (re: her own point about double self-image). So many people I know with 5k+ followers have inflated egos. So many artists I know create terrible art with the goal of being an it girl. (Which is also definitely not a dated term, as she says? Maybe it was in the mid-2010s?) So many people see fame as a way to "be their own boss."

She also makes several points to talk about how everyone in NYC media has so much money, except her, which seems awfully convenient. There are a lot of writers I've met in NYC with boatloads of family money, but a good number come from almost nothing. For her to say she's the only exception is self-serving—trying to posit herself as the only "genuine" writer— and untrue. And her evidence that everyone has cash being that they told her to write things off as tax-deductions and open a business . . . girl that advice is not exclusive to rich people, it's just the game of the freelancer. All of the financial advice I've gotten from writers has come from people who have to figure out how to make it work in the city, not ones with family money.

She's a decent writer, better than most of the wannabe it girls, but damn some of these takes felt so unconsidered and self-serving. She also seems to genuinely not like NYC, which is kind of sad, considering how much time she spent documenting and living in it.

[Hannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

very mixed feelings on this collection of essays. my favorite section was by far 'celebrity,' pgs 127-175.

some of stagg's observations/reflections are genuinely interesting and do provide a very 'real' feeling look into the fashion/media industries. her essays on the kardashians, microinfluencers, and the sections which were like portraits of the 'quirky' people she's met, stood out to me particularly. and many of her feelings about these people -- about coolness, authenticity, image, jealousy, rivalries -- are the kinds of things that i think about (and hate that i think about). for me, seeing these resonant sentiments in print coupled validation (this nyc cool girl notices these things...) and disillusionment (even the cool girls are not that cool... or they try too hard to be cool... but what's so bad about trying hard or selling out... i don't even know).

this book is weirdly atmospheric. reading it feels like being in what-people-think-nyc-is-like. it's like an invitation to judge and a satisfying confirmation of suspected 'out-of-touchness': an ultimately offputting (yet crave-able) combination of rawness, shallowness, cynicism, self-deprecation, and self-assuredness. i have no idea if that makes sense, but then again, i have no idea if this book made sense either.

[Adrian Martin]

Utterly insufferable! I came to this through some list of the ‘top’ New York downtown groovers/expert witnesses/players, and Natasha Stagg was on it. Bad move! A poorly written, sloppily edited book – what’s happened to Semiotext(e) in its post-Lotringer era? – that supposedly tells how ‘how the culture has changed in the 2010s’ (social media, branding, algorithms, etc), but comes on like a lame mix of Cultural Studies 101 (a stunted rehash of Barthes’ Mythologies – from 70 years ago!!), punctuated by statements of either ‘it’s always been like this since the dawn of time’ or ‘who cares, anyway?’ posturing. In the mix are auto-fiction (blah) pieces with the same indifferent slather of bad sex, druggy parties, glassy alienation, precarious employment and fashion notes – stuff you’ve read a million times since the 1980s, and will read a million more times in the current hyperactive NY downtown trend (Mike Crumplar, Christian Lorentzen, ‘Red Scare’ podcast, etc.). Give Sleeveless a miss.

[Eliza Lewis · Rating 3 out of 5]

more like 3.5 for me, some bits were very good and others i got lost in - would love to be her friend though

“Independence Day makes me lonely, even though there are fireworks going off around me and it isn’t even starting yet. I went out with friends last night and the night before, but it still seems like the city’s been deserted. I assume some people are on Fire Island, a place i’ve never been. It looks nice, but expensive. I love expensive things but I hate being around the people who can afford them.”

Not the most relevant quote to the rest of the book but EXACTLY how I feel every 4th of July and always impressive when a writer can capture such an ephemeral and personal (maybe not?) feeling!

[benin · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite essay collections and books in general. Stagg's prose is so gorgeous and colorful. She holds herself responsible for the events in her own life as she details them the same way she holds herself responsible to her subjects. I won't call it brave exactly though I don't think it's not. She just puts it all down. She implicate's herself into the cultural subjects she interrogates, and interrogates her own experiences as cultural subjects, but not narcissistically, not with the goal of her being the thing to be looked at, only when it offers a real substantial angle to consider.

[Ronnie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Writers from New York who write about New York who write about their ex-boyfriends accusing them of becoming writers from New York who write about New York. This collects some really insightful essays and profiles about celebrities, and fiction/real portraits of the NYC fashion/writing scene. Appropriately cynical about fashion and beauty marketing/production, NYC, having to listen to your friends' podcasts. "I'm not so much interested in the character of a Manhattan neighborhood as I'm interested in the people who seem to know all about it. Usually they're awful to talk to and great to eavesdrop on."