It definitely runs in our family and because we were exposed to it from an early age, it is a huge part of our daily lives. But with creativity there is always a struggle, we try never to get too comfortable. We understand that this is a continual process that is ever changing.

We both left for boarding school in the states at age 14. We experienced some culture shock coming from

I came to New York as an explorer. I didn’t know much about the city. I didn’t speak the language, didn’t know the culture or the fashion. I didn’t know about the sunny cold winters or the Indian summers. So I came here a little bit like Columbus.
The only thing I knew about New York was the art. But art is hermetic and elitist - it doesn’t tell you much. It is like reading American Vogue to find out about American fashion. It has nothing to do with how the New Yorkers dress. You have to walk the streets of New York to find out about the fashion. In New York I discovered this incredible freedom, it was so inspiring. It was different in Paris, where I spent about 5 years. I grew up in communist Yugoslavia. In the late sixties, Paris was a police city. I was frequenting the Cafe de Bucy, in St. Germain, and the police would pick us up once in a while, and take us to the police station, and keep us there for hours before letting us go. For no reason at all. I guess the reason was the fashion. We all had

That enough US clients would want to work with an agency that has a very strong, distinctive culture and a highly principled approach to delivering great, effective work for its clients. Fortunately there were.

The unknown lady who came up to me back in 1985 at the end of a talk I gave promoting the Everyman Theatre in Liverpool where I was working at the time and getting distinctly disillusioned with theatre, and said, 'Young woman, you

My dad taught me how to develop and print my own images when I was 12. So that was over 45 years ago. I never thought of it as a career but rather as a quiet way of expressing myself. In college I studied theatre but my darkroom, cameras and photo books were always with me. In 1976 I moved from Boston to NYC with a jazz musician and soon my hobby became my passion, life and career. I began shooting jazz musicians for a new label and one thing led to another, as they say. The jazz trumpeter Chet baker was my first official NYC portrait.

I must have shot no more than 36 images of her that day in about 20 minutes. They are one shot in my mind. They were very similar in tone and when I see them I see both of us at our beginning.

My first memories about make-up were during my high school years, or even earlier really….. I would look at women on the street or at school, notice their make-up and think of how I would do it differently! I even remember my gym teacher wore the most perfect shiny liquid eye liner everyday - it was very '60s. So instead of college, I gave 2 years at beauty school in Bologna a try (to the disbelief of my parents and friends). My teacher was wonderful and taught us the joy of making others feel prettier. During that time, I saw a close up photo of Irving Penn in Italian Vogue. I wrote to the magazine and asked them, which was the best make-up school in Italy? They answered: BCM. I left for Milan, arrived at BCM and within a week I knew I would do this for the rest of

Actually my first job there was assistant editor in 1970, and in 1971 I became the editor of the magazine and I started writing about music regularly, but I didn’t begin the column “Glenn O’Brien’s Beat” until later. In 1978 Andy Warhol suggested I write a column about music. And then it turned into a column about everything. The early days of Interview were a great experience for me. I learned a lot more there than I did in college.

The actresses of the Italian and French films (neo-realism) like Sophia Lauren, Claudia Cardinale, Silvana Mangano, Brigitte Bardot, and Anouk Aimee. They were and still are strong beautiful women that are not afraid of their femininity.

The most exiting project I have worked on was the couture special for Italian Vogue. It was about the Chanel vintage collection in Paris shot in Mademoiselle Chanel’s apartment.

I really love editorial and fashion shows because I can fully express my vision and point of view about fashion.

Yes, I tend to play with dualities - light/ dark, hard/ soft, masculine/ feminine.

The possibilities are endless. You can always create new and exciting things.

We help create and enhance the environment in which the model or talents are in. It can be a set in a studio or on location. Of course I wish I had the final word! But our work is always a collaboration and I would say that in most cases the photographer has the final word. I enjoy presenting a more-or-less refined and finished idea with the sets and art direction. Then I make alterations and changes as directed by the photographer.

We do three to five jobs a week during the busy parts of the year. On Friday we did a cosmetics ad along with another job that was a very elaborate Christmas/Holiday set for a department store. We succeeded in creating a

It was very simple; I just wanted to work with interesting people on cool projects. I went to study in Paris in 1998 because I thought the magazines Self Service and Purple were incredible and because I was fascinated with the American designers Jeremy Scott and Andre Walker- there was all this radical creativity happening there and I wanted to be a part of it.

I really enjoy all aspects of my job- it all keeps me thinking thus going, and I am always trying to do and learn new things, like right now I am studying crystals to start making jewelry

My mother forbid me to use her camera when I was just a child. There's nothing like someone telling you "No." Nothing in the world makes me want something more.

All of the above. Every single aspect must be held in the highest regard. If one thing fails, it can ruin the entire image.

I always say that the day that I met FAB 5 Freddy was the day that the FUN Gallery really started. At the time, downtown East Village was the place to be and Fred saw all of this and came down from the South Bronx one night to check out one of my movies, Underground U.S.A., which was playing at the St. Mark’s Cinema as a midnight cult film. One manic night, at a weird party to celebrate the 100th birthday of the poet Mallarme, FAB walked up to me and said: “Patti Astor, you’re my favorite movie star.” He then asked me if I’d autograph a paper cake plate for him and I said, ‘Sure. You must be my new best friend!” And he was. The queen of ‘downtown’ had met the king of ‘uptown’. A whole new world was opened up to me that night.

In the words of Bob Dylan "Times are a changing", so picking a favorite is far to limiting. We are focusing on internet based publications that offer democracy to those who design fashion and love fashion.

Yes, the clash between avant garde and nostalgia has always been of interest to us. One can not move forward and create without a firm grasp of the classical. Destabilization in a chic

We met while attending the Art Institute of Pittsburgh where we became best friends. Eventually we moved to New York to further our studies at the School of Visual Arts and that is where we officially began working together as "Reed + Rader".

We found out living in Pittsburgh that we also lived in the same building. When we moved to New York we were already together. Creatively we flow and connect almost as if we're 1 person.

Taiana Design was initially thought up when I was taught the ancient techniques of felting from my family in Germany. Years later, when asked by Francisco Costa to create fabric for him to make some custom pieces for the runway in a week, I brought out those skills taught to me and applied at my own level and technique. After seeing the dresses and jackets on the Calvin Klein runway show, I had a business.

My inspiration comes from my imagination. I am not so much inspired by fellow designers but more so from the role a human can play as a canvas outside of the human shape. I feel we limit ourselves by our shape, and within my art, I have