Swindle Magazine is, hands-down, one of my favorite magazines. Every issue is packed with culture, lifestyle and visuals that are informative and stimulating.

Issue #17, is no different. Among the many articles in this issue, Swindle brings us East L.A.’s obsession with all things Betty Boop! The cover story by Camille Lowry, Betty Boop Born & Praised in L.A., delves into the Betty Boop phenomenon with the Chicano Youth of East Los Angeles. The article makes some interesting points:

Colin Gunkel of the Chicano Studies Research Center at UCLA points out that Betty “looks a bit like a chola. She resonates with a style that’s perhaps more cha-cha than chola.”

Colin believes that Betty was appealing because she was able to successfully negotiate the good girl being bad. He says, “She’s racy, sexual and flashy without compromising her morals, which are the competing demands of our culture.”

You can read the rest of the article at Swindle.com or pick up issue #17 at your local Borders.

Last Summer, THE most talked about shoe was the Claw Money x Nike Vandal Hi…and rightly so! The legendary graff writer introduced the world not only to a well-designed shoe (the Vandal Hi had been so slept on by modern designers prior to this release!) but also to a design force to be reckoned with!

Claw Money was born in Queens and raised in Long Island. After dropping out of the Fashion Institute of Technology, Claw began bombing with legendary writers and founded graff crew PMS. Claw has worked as a fashion stylist for Korn, Ice-T, Ice Cube, and Guns N’ Roses, and has styled for Nike, adidas, Sector Watches, and Guinness. She launched Claw Money, her signature clothing line, in the spring of 2002. Fashion editor of SWINDLE magazine, Claw is also co-branding with EckoRed International, Kidrobot and Hasbro, and BPMW. Featured in the 2005 documentary Infamy, Claw has also been seen in Autograf: New York City’s Graffiti Writers by Peter Sutherland (powerHouse Books, 2004), Supreme Quality and Enamelized by Roger Gastman (Gingko Press, 2005 and 2004, respectively), and has written her own book, Bombshell: The Life and Crimes of Claw Money (powerHouse Books). She’s been featured in countless magazines around the world. She lives and works in New York City.

More on this history making, lady after the jump!

(more…)