Purple Magazine
— F/W 2008 issue 10

New York Girls

Pink polka dot dress with black belt detailing COMME DES GARCONS

Beige silk dress ZAC POSEN and pink underwear AGENT PROVOCATEUR

Knit multi-color sweater RODARTE, vintage nude bloomers from WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND and Vanessa’s own nude lace bra

White silk pleated dress ZAC POSEN and Nathalie’s own jewelry

Nude lace blouse PRADA

White silk slip dress CHARLES ANATASE

White mesh bra and pink mesh underwear AGENT PROVOCATEUR and white rabbit fur coat AMERICAN RETRO

White silk top ISABEL MARANT and vintage nude silk shorts from WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND

Harley Viera-Newton wears her own clothes

A fascinating NEW GENERATION of downtown chic NEW YORK GIRLS born into the realms of FASHION, ART and SUCCESS

photographed by RICHARD KERN
styled by CHRISTOPHER NIQUET

HARLEY VIERA-NEWTON

What’s your name as you would like it to appear in the magazine? — HARLEY VIERA-NEWTON — How old are you? — 20. — Name a special day for you. — February 17. — a hotel. — The Moorings. — Where and when did your parents first meet? — At an egg-and-spoon race. They tied. — What scares you? — My ex-boyfriend’s haircut. — Where were you born? — London. — What’s your favorite movie without naming it? — You’re a virgin who can’t drive. — What was your first boyfriend like? — Sober. — What would you tell your 12-year-old self? — Save those Spice Girls t-shirts. — Where will you go for your next vacation? — Paris! — What do you think about New York? — It’s home now. — Describe a nightmare that you remember. — Losing a fight with a hammerhead shark. — What is the first thing that you do in the morning? — Feed my goldfish. — What’s your favorite body part? — Back. — What city impressed you, without naming it? — Rio… Oops. — What’s your favorite thing about being a woman? — Lingerie. — What do you do on Sundays? — Evaluate the week. — What are your current frustrations? — The dollar-pound conversion rate. — Describe a traumatic experience. — Totaling my car on the Pacific Coast Highway in a mudslide. — What is your best friend like? — Who? — Open a nearby book and copy the first line that you like. — If you give a moose a muffin… — If you could exchange your life with someone else’s, who would it be? — David Attenborough. — What is the best present you’ve ever received? — My cat, Puma. — What is the worst thing about yourself? — I’m obviously not very good at interviews.

MARY CHARTERIS

What’s your name as you would like it to appear in the magazine? — MARY CHARTERIS — How old are you? — 20. — Where and when did your parents first meet? — My parents, Jamie Neidpath and Catherine Guinness, met at Anne Flemming’s house. My mother was a friend of her son, Casper. My father came over for lunch when my mother was staying there for the weekend. They played Racing Demon and became firm friends. It was in 1968. — Name a special day for you. — June 20, 2008. — a hotel. — The Mercer. — A first time. — I was in my house with a group of friends all night until the sun came up. We were in hysterics. We ended up in the middle of the street, unable to move because we were laughing so much. — What scares you? — Being old and alone. — Where were you born? — London. — What’s your favorite movie without naming it? — It is a documentary film about an English punk band in the ’70s and how they broke all the rules and did not care. — What was your first boyfriend like? — Young , amazing, and French. — Where will you go for your next vacation? — Croatia. — What do you think about New York? — Inspiring and scary. — What is the first thing that you do in the morning? — If I had an interesting dream I try and write it down as quickly as possible before I forget it. Otherwise I brush my teeth. — What’s your favorite body part? — My hair, but if that doesn’t count as a body part, I guess my breasts… — What city impressed you, without naming it? — It is a city that does not allow you to sit on your ass doing nothing. When you are there you have an urge to achieve and compete with everyone around you. It is exhausting but can be very beneficial. It is full of amazing people that you want to be around. There is always something new to do. — What’s your favorite thing about being a woman? — Being able to get jewelry as gifts and being able to sit around talking about mindless but amazing crap with other girls. — What are you current frustrations? — U.S. megalomania, angry cab drivers in New York, and not reading enough. — Open a nearby book and copy the first line that you like. — “She took the resilient and cold papery cup in her hand and gulped down its contents gratefully, her long eyelashes pointing cupward and then with an infantile gesture that carried more charm than any carnal caress, little Lolita wiped her lips across my shoulder.” — Describe a traumatic experience. — Crushing my tibia skiing, which led to me having an operation and having two pins and fake bone put in my knee. Being on crutches for three months. — What is the worst thing about yourself? — Fear of traveling on my own.

STELLA MADRID SCHNABEL

What’s your name as you would like it to appear in the magazine? — STELLA MADRID SCHNABEL — How old are you? — 25. — What’s your motto? — Two girls, one cup. — a hotel. — One of those hotels on Block Island. — What do you think about New York? — It’s home. — Describe a first time. — last night — Where and when did your parents first meet? — Leo castelli gallery, 420 West Broadway. 1979. — What’s your favorite movie without naming it? — A movie about a homosexual writer with Javier Bardem. — What was your first boyfriend like? — 5 years old. — What’s your favorite body part? — My boyfriend’s penis. — What city impressed you, without naming it? — I love the canals. — What do you do on Sundays? — Throw-up after church. — What is your best friend like? — Much older than me. — What is the best present you’ve ever received? — A painting. — A natural gift? — I’d like to be a good surfer. —What do you think about the United States?— Vote for Obama. — Open a nearby book and copy the first line that you like. — Most paintings the instant you see them they become familiar, and then its too late. The Recognitions, by William Gaddis.

THEODORA DUPREE

What’s your name as you would like it to appear in the magazine? — THEODORA DUPREE — What’s your motto? — All in moderation — a hotel. — All hotels are a luxury. — What scares you? — Ella Rose, my niece, ’cause when she’ll be 16, I’ll be 27. — Where were you born? — New York City — What was your first boyfriend like? — A guido who drove a periwinkle Celica. — What would you tell your 12-year-old self? — Good posture, eat all your veggies, wash a lot, and never share your ice cream with your parents. — Where will you go for your next vacation? — Goodwood Festival of Speed. — What do you think about New York? — Good for now, not for later. — Describe a nightmare that you remember. — A big black cat eating human skin burgers and putting a baby in a jar and she grew into fireworks and then flew into the night. — What’s the first thing that you do in the morning? — Open my eyes. — How tall are you? — Tall enough and small enough in all the right places. — What do you think about the United States? — Bigger is better. — Where do you live now? — In a suitcase. — Open a nearby book and copy the first line that you like. — “These plump sap suckers multiply at an obscene rate.” From Pocket Bonsai, by David Prescott. — What’s the best present you’ve ever received? — My sister, and my niece and nephew. — What’s the worst thing about yourself? — Thinking too much. — What natural gift would you most like to possess? — To have a green thumb.

Z BERG

What’s your name as you would like it to appear in the magazine? — Z BERG — How old are you? — 22. —What are your parents’ names? — Tony and Cary Berg. — Who are you? — Singer of the band The Like. I’m a legend and a wretch. — What’s your motto? — Under the paving stones, the beach. — Name a special day for you. — May 13 — a hotel. — K West — Where and when did your parents first meet? — 30 years ago, my dad was giving my mother’s sister guitar lessons. He asked for my mother’s number. My aunt said no chance, you dog. But I guess he got her number… — What scares you? — Insects of all kinds, eels, change, turning into someone I hate. — Where were you born? — Los Angeles. — What’s your favorite movie without naming it? — Gary Cooper, Barbara Stanwyck, fast talking, comedic explosions involving old men writing an encyclopedia. Give me good, fast dialogue and I’m hooked. — What was your first boyfriend like? — The dean’s son at my high school. I was 14, he was 18, and blonde, and funny, and more clean cut than the boyfriends that followed him. — What would you tell your 12-year-old self? — Stop dressing like a whore, you whore! — Where will you go for your next vacation? — To bed. Work is a holiday. Touring is constant movement, so a holiday for me takes place in my bed. I don’t mean that in a dirty way. — What do you think about New York? — A Dionysiac, schizophrenic, claustrophobic, ball of fire that feels more like a dream than life. It’s condensed, compressed life, and scary for a person like me who doesn’t know where she is if she can’t see the horizon, and who can’t say no to the chance of excitement. — Describe a nightmare that you remember. — Every night as a child I would wake up screaming from the dream of the Swampman and his two six-foot-tall lizard sidekicks, in Armani suits, with machine guns, busting into my bedroom, firing wildly. — What’s the first thing that you do in the morning? — Look in the mirror. Make sure I’m still here. — What’s your favorite body part? — Boobs, feet, eyes. — What city impressed you, without naming it? — I love any place with an utterly palpable history. Besides seeing it, the ruins all around you, it’s in the people, in the remnants of a socialist youth movement and the brutality of fascism, the guilt, the denial, the excitement. Any city where you can drive around with a beautiful girl as she points out the bridge that was her father’s favorite as a child and then says with a guttural accent and a single tear running down her cheek, “but he could not go there any more after the war.” — How tall are you? — Five feet, four inches. A pygmy. — What’s your favorite thing about being a woman? — Everything. Most people don’t get to be attracted to themselves. I win.— What do you do on Sundays? — Every day is the same for me. —Where do you live now? — Los Feliz, in a glass treehouse. — Open a nearby book and copy the first line that you like. — “Je ne connais dans la vie que deux biens réels : le remords et la maladie. Il n’est de bien que l’absence de ces maux.” — Describe a traumatic experience. — The last two years? — What’s your best friend like? — Funnier than I’ll ever be. — What’s the best present you’ve ever received? —A ’65 Rickenbacker 12-string electric guitar. A guilt gift. — What’s the worst thing about yourself? — I’m intolerant, self-obsessed, occasionally amoral.

JULIANA McCARTHY

What’s your name as you would like it to appear in the magazine? — JULIANA McCARTHY — How old are you? — 26. — What are your parents’ names? — Josie and Roblee McCarthy. — Who are you? — a sad and tender warrior and a virgo with an aquarius moon. — What’s your motto? — Simplicity. — Name a special date for you. — July 2, 1776. — a hotel. —The Bel Air. — Describe a first time.— Tulsa, Oklahoma, football stadium, fireworks. — Where and when did your parents first meet? — Summer camp, Colorado, 1959. — What scares you? — Beginnings and ends. — Where were you born? — Dallas, Texas, on a red-and-white striped couch in my parents’ house. — What’s your favorite movie without naming it? — Naked women, Thailand. — What was your first boyfriend like? — A dirty, 16-year-old skateboarder. — What would you tell your 12-year-old self? — Being unpopular is a good thing. — Where will you go for your next vacation? — Joshua Tree — What do you think about New York? — I used to wake up there feeling inspired. Now it’s like Euro-Disney. But I still like the history and the architecture, and I’m a huge fan of Rem Koolhaas’s Delirious New York. I like thinking about Manhattan as a giant human experiment, with everyone crammed onto a tiny island built upward instead of outward. Also, you learn a lot about people living in New York, and I appreciate the straightforwardness and honesty of New Yorkers. I’ve always felt like I belong there. — Describe a nightmare that you remember. — A father figure goes through town finding all the nine-year-old virgins. He has sex with them and parades them through the street, painting it red with their blood. — What’s the first thing that you do in the morning? — Qigong — What’s your favorite body part? — On a woman, her stomach; on a man, his arms. — Describe a lost, unrequited, or short-lived love. —I’ve had many. I fall in love fast and hard but always with an illusion. They usually leave me for younger, easier girls. — What do you do on Sundays? — Write. — What do you think about the United States? —I am a proud Texan and a proud American. I support Barack Obama even though I think he’s a vain egomaniac like the rest of them. — Where do you live now? — Venice, California. — What are your current frustrations? — I’m trying not to fall in love. — Open a nearby book and copy the first line that you like. — “They were women frenzied with wine. They rushed through woods and over mountians uttering sharp cries, waving pine-cone-tipped wands, swept away in a fierce ecstasy. Nothing could stop them. They would tear to pieces the wild creatures they met and devour the bloody shreds of flesh.” — Describe a traumatic experience. — When I was 18, my boyfriend had two girlfriends, including me, and all three of us had to take an airplane together from Paris to New York. I had a series of panic attacks for eight hours. — What’s your best friend like? — I have two. One is a beautiful Pocahontas-like mermaid who lives in the cliffs of Malibu. The other is a very practical social worker who works with children in Austin, Texas. — What’s the worst thing about yourself? — My romanticism.

CECILE WINCKLER

What’s your name as you would like it to appear in the magazine? — CECILE WINCKLER — How old are you? — 22. — What’s your motto? — If the fool persists in his folly he will become wise. — a hotel. — L’Hôtel des Bains, Lido, Venice. — Describe a first time.— Last year when I ate ants’ eggs. — Where and when did your parents first meet? — I have no idea. — What scares you? — Someone or something that is in pain and about to die. — Where were you born? — Paris — What’s your favorite movie without naming it? — First they meet. Then they meet and they fight. And at the end they fuck. It’s unbelievable! — What was your first boyfriend like? — Stupid and tanned. — What would you tell your 12-year-old self? — 1, 2, 3 et paf pasteque! — Where will you go for your next vacation? — Chile. — What do you think about New York? — I love New York. — Describe a nightmare that you remember. — It’s in a dark huge ballroom. I can only see a piano in the left corner. Someone is playing Bach, and I am slowly sucked under the piano. — What’s your favorite body part? — My feet. — What city impressed you, without naming it? — Best bellinis, fun boat rides, cute guys, and amazing parties. — Describe a lost, unrequited, or short-lived love. — Tall, skinny, dark hair. — What’s your favorite thing about being a woman? — Wearing heels. — What’s the best present you’ve ever received? — Albert, my dog. — What’s the worst thing about yourself? — My moods.

VANESSA TRAINA

What’s your name as you would like it to appear in the magazine? — VANESSA TRAINA — How old are you? — 23. — What’s your motto? — Pourquoi pas? — Name a special day for you. — September 10. — A hotel. — The Mauna Kea. — Where did your parents first meet? — At a costume party. — What scares you? — Growing up. — Where were you born? — San Francisco. — What was your first boyfriend like? — Short. — Where will you go for your next vacation? — Sardinia. — What do you think about New York? — Every day is an adventure. — What’s the first thing that you do in the morning? — Smoke a cigarette. — What’s your favorite body part? — My breasts. — What’s your favorite thing about being a woman? — The clothes. — What do you do on Sundays? — Brunch. — Where do you live now? — Paris, at the moment. — What are your current frustrations? — Lack of taxis in Paris. — Open a nearby book and copy the first line that you like. — “They can see the glow a hundred miles away it’s night and they’re on an empty desert highway.”

NATHALIE LOVE

What’s your name as you would like it to appear in the magazine? — NATHALIE LOVE — How old are you? — Old enough. — What are your parents’ names? — Lisa and Nicholas Love. — Who are you? — an actress. — Name a special date for you. — April 9, ’06. — a hotel. — Hope Springs, California. — Describe a first time.— American Psycho. — Where did your parents first meet? — Jamaica Plains. 1977. — What scares you? — Perverts. — Where were you born? — Los Angeles. — What’s your favorite movie without naming it? — Binoculars and a murder. — What was your first boyfriend like? — Fourteen and blond. — What would you tell your 12-year-old self? — It gets better. — Where will you go for your next vacation? — Maine. — What do you think about New York? — Love it. — Describe a nightmare that you remember. — Not having a voice. — What’s the first thing that you do in the morning? — “Where’s my phone?” — What’s your favorite body part? — On me? Or him? — What is your favorite thing about being a woman? — Jewelry. Please send jewelry to: P.O. Box 102. Islesboro, M.E. 04848. — How tall are you? — Tall enough. — What do you do on Sundays? — Nothing, if I can help it. — What do you think about the United States? — Love it. — What’s your shoe size? — 36 1/2. Please send shoes to: P.O. Box 102. Islesboro, M.E. 04848. — Where do you live now? — New York City. — Open a nearby book and copy the first line that you like. — “In a world of disorder and disaster and fraud, sometimes only beauty can be trusted.” — Describe a traumatic experience. — A drowning. — What is your best friend like? — I have three. — If you could exchange your life with someone else’s, with whom would you switch? — Nobody. — What is the best present you’ve ever received? — My mother’s thumb print. — What is the worst thing about yourself? — Not being able to say no. — What natural gift would you most like to possess? — Flexibility.