Genia Gould

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I didn’t get a chance to attend JoAnn Berman’s fashion show at the Castle Braid on Saturday, but she sent me photos of the pieces that she presented on the runway. Her store on Metropolitan Ave didn’t last long, but it seems to have given her back the time to be creative and inventive. You can see that in her no-holds-barred riffing and sampling of pan-Asian elements. The photos speak for themselves.

I also wanted to ask Berman to talk more on the subject of the local hipster fashion scene. She said something in her conversation with our fashion blogger Anne Szustek, last week, that I thought was provocative, and needed more clarification in her own words. She said, “I think Brooklyn needs to go crazy and take it beyond tattoos and nose rings. They need to [return] to dressing to promote a feeling.”

a2b_white_heroreflection Electric bikes are subject to flats too I learned this past Sunday, Father’s Day. The unusual bike I’m riding these days, the electric A2B produced by Ultra Motor, allows me a swift ride from Bed-Stuy to the Upper West Side through Williamsburg, (and gets me to dinner with my dad, on time).

After a pleasant meal, riding home using the path alongside the West Side Highway, it starts to rain … but that wasn’t too bad because the air is warm and the ride still enjoyable, almost like sailing. Until … the bike begins halting.

On the Williamsburg Bridge now in the dark and pouring rain, the front wheel is difficult to turn from side to side, and I think it must have something to do with the electric wiring. I realize on the other side of the bridge, when the impact of riding off the curb onto the street comes with a thump, that I have a flat. Simple, but it also leaves me stranded on Broadway and Bedford in the pouring rain. I will have to push the bike somewhere, and everywhere I think of is too far away.

“Hipsters are Afraid of Color,” Claims Designer JoAnn Berman

Random Act of Kindness on Bedford Avenue