Chris Lavish is covered head-to-toe in tattoos when he rolls up to MatchaBar a few blocks from our respective homes. His bleached hair is tightly braided in two neat rows, revealing skull and neck ink. A Getty Image search of his name brings up 470 photos, and his memorable interview with The Cut earlier this year went insanely viral. (Choice quote: "It’s very invasive for somebody to look at you straight in the eye. Like, who let you into my eyes? Who let you in there?") His entire outfit is sponsored, from socks to shoes to pants to jacket. Even his acupuncture and matcha come at no cost.
"Hold on a sec, I gotta send this girl a photo for a flyer and it's gotta go up [on Instagram] ASAP," Lavish says, scrolling frantically through this Photos app on his iPhone.
Born and raised in Queens, New York, the 25-year-old media maverick has been collaborating with fashion brands for the better part of two years through his social media platforms and his website, Fashion Week Online. A typical day for @nyclavish starts at the gym to get his mind right ("The gym is for my mind, not for my body, by the way," he says, matter-of-factly), and then moves to MatchaBar, followed by meetings and photo shoots.
"I have enough photo content to last until 2021," Lavish boasts. And there is always some conference calls with photographers to plan next week's shoots. His phone is loaded with 140 contacts that include the "photographer." "I'm on Snapchat, Instagram, LinkedIn and I'm gonna have my assistant start rebranding my Pinterest."
This year, Lavish had style in spades. And next year will be no different. Forever the pusher of fashion's envelope, we picked this pioneer's brain for the hottest (and craziest) trends that 2019 has up its sleeve. "2019's first quarter will be way different than the second quarter," Lavish puzzles as we start to talk about next year's trends. "But I have a few ideas. The only thing about going mainstream is that you can go full gutter real quick."