NiteTalk: Fashion Kult Queen Pamela Wasabi

If you hit the hotspots on just about any given night of the week, you've undoubtedly caught sight of Pamela Wasabi. With her shock of orange (or violet or raspberry or black cherry) hair, her day-glo animal prints, her bangles and baubles and sass, it's impossible to miss the lass. Sometimes Wasabi's got a camera slung 'round her neck and she's shooting some of her equally colorful counterparts. Other times she's basking in the glow of some kaleidoscopic environment. And when you don't see Wasabi she's probably holed up in her Fashion Kult HQ updating the latest craziness. Whatever it is though, you can be sure she's up to something worth noticing.

Okay, for those few folks who don't know: What is Wasabi Fashion Kult? Wasabi Fashion Kult is a fashion movement that invites people to express themselves through fashion, music and art. Wasabi operates as an online magazine documenting the nightlife culture, fashion scene and the lifestyle of the indie crowd.

Besides your online magazine, you also blog for some really crazy sites. Can you tell us which ones and what you do for them? I used to contribute for other underground type magazines like So Tacky and work for international trend services like MPDclick.com, where I provided trend consultancy and reported on street fashion. But I stopped working for other names, and now I do the same thing but just for Wasabi. I want to focus on expanding Wasabi's brand, concept and business.

You're also shooting everything from rock shows to portraits. Is photography an important component to what you do?
It is one of my biggest passions. It relates fully to my colors and my visual imagination; I started photography by taking random shots of small details I noticed in the street or in bars while I was on vacation in Barcelona five years ago, after that I just never left my house with out a camera.

My photography evolved into fashion street photography. As my field became clearer, I stopped people in the streets and nightclubs and photographed them because of the amazing and creative way they look, I wanted to document how we (the underground kids) look nowadays. And then, finding myself so nested in the nightlife scene and frequenting bars and live music gigs so often, it just felt organically to start shooting them. I merge with the band in the energy they release while performing. I feel I can capture it with my camera. It is actually one of my favorite things to do. 

You're teaming up with Miss Sixty for some kinda festivities. Can you please tell us what we can expect?
I am producing a fashion show for Miss Sixty, an Italian lifestyle brand who I can very easily relate too. They are all about color and fun and expression. You can expect a lot of glam, lipstick and rock and roll.

Can you name a few others you have recently joined forces with and what you did with them? I work with fashion brands all around the States. Providing trend tips, helping them represent their line and creating brand awareness contest or producing events for them. Some of my favorites are New Breed Girl from L.A., Public Zoo, Iron Fist, We Love Colors from Miami and House of Jackie Brown from NY. They all share that attitude of girl power and self-expression. They also integrate fashion with music. Clothes stop being an item of necessity and become a tool of your choice to communicate your personality.

Color seems to play an important part in everything you do -- what does color do for you?
I guess that is how my mind works. I translate everything I hear, every thought that crosses my mind into an image of color. I always visualize anything that I am thinking of, and so I have developed a secret color language with myself where it can warn me on how to feel about things. Colors are like feelings and moods for me. And bright, neon tones make me very, very happy. But I like black, too. And white, I just have respect for that hue.

What designers do you find most inspiring? I work on fashion from a different perspective. Fashion comes from the streets, from people's present state of mind, from music or even on how politics affects the world. Grand fashion designers I consider more of visual artists like Martin Margiela or Gareth Pugh. I'm also inspired, fascinated and in love with is Harajuku Fashion, the street underground culture of Tokyo.

Besides designers, where do you find inspiration?
I relate what I do to the work of an entertainer whose main role is to be inspiring. It is to wake people up, to make them blush or even to make them angry, to make them do anything! My inspiration comes from those people than can slap me in the face with their drive of making things happen. Those who take their happiness as their own responsibility.

When you hit the town where do you most like to go? That would be home: The Vagabond

What's next for Pamela Wasabi?
More colors in my hair? The Kult: a showroom/production space and concept fashion store. Think H&M (London) meets Kiliwatch (Paris) ... so Wasabi!

Miss Sixty's Heart of Gold Fashion Show takes place Saturday March 6 @ Mansion

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