The Official Fancy Blog

Interview: Tyler Florence

Tyler: My name is Tyler Florence. I'm a cook by trade, but I'm also a dreamer. I create places where people intersect with things that are delicious. I live in a cabin built in 1926 in the costal Red Wood forest of Marin County California with my wife, three children and two dogs.

What influences your collection on Fancy?

Tyler: Fancy is a global show and tell for mercenaries of cool. My collection is influenced by the well worn, slightly unshaven, unapologetic male imagination. My favorite thing about Fancy is what people contribute. It's about ideas. It's not overly noisy like social hubs, you can edit your own story. You can both influence and be influenced. The most obscure inspiration can domino into a very creative, beautiful concept. I reference fancy every day to my team.

What are some of your favorite finds on Fancy?

Tyler: My Ruby Belvedere helmet keeps me safe on my triumph and the Gregory Peck Sunnies from Oliver People are easily my favorite sunglasses...

If you don't know who Nick Wooster is, you should... check out this Visions Paradox poster! As for motorcycles, Deus Motorcycles is dripping with cool—no one can touch them. And a personal favorite has to be Wayfare Tavern in San Francisco—I know, shameless self promotion!

Follow Tyler on Fancy, and don't miss his Food list.

Interview: Raphael Mazzucco

Raphael is the world-renowned photographer, who is responsible for the critically acclaimed work CULO

Tell us about your new book, CULO. Why this book and why now?

Raphael: CULO by Mazzucco is a progressive photo art coffee table book that combines art, fashion, music and pop culture. We traveled all over the world, searching for and capturing both well-recognized and beautiful women that truly embody the word 'culo.' It is a new way to look at beauty.

This book is a conversation starter. You will see the cover and cannot help but pick it up. When you dive into the pages, you will find that it is beautifully bound and well put together. It is the beginning of the culo movement.

Tell us a little about your life and how you got to this point putting out a book with Jim and Diddy.

Raphael: I am a fashion, art and music photographer with a passion to define the look of popular culture through my lens. I have shot for publications such as French & Italian Vogue, Marie Claire, L'Officiel, Vanity Fair, etc. My photographs were included in the Victoria's Secret commissioned book entitled "SEXY", to celebrate their 10th anniversary. My first solo book, "Raphael Mazzucco Collected Art" had a forward by Carine Roitfeld of Paris Vogue.

Tell us about some of the places your work has taken you and the amazing women you have worked with.

Raphael: This book was a fantastic experience. It has taken me to places outside the US such as Kenya, Vietnam, Italy and the Galapagos Islands in Ecuador. I was able to meet a rare and energetic group, from locals to the models in the book, that made me excited to get out of bed each day. Every woman selected for CULO, whether Diddy, Jimmy or I chose them, has a passion and it brought me inspiration.

What was your experience like traveling around the world for this book?

Raphael: Every shoot was a new lesson in uncovering the secrets to photographing a woman. I work on instinct. From the moment a woman with the spirit of culo walks into the room, my heart pounds from sheer adrenaline. I let that play out in my work.

Fancy the world's tallest skyscraper

The Burj Khalifa in Dubai is the world's tallest skyscraper, and it's been on Fancy a few times, like here, here and here.

Last week, Fancy member iamDim next-leveled the game with a real-life Fancy at the top of the Burj by flashing the popsicle logo and tagging it at 452 meters in the sky. Talk about one-upping previous posts!.

iamDim says while in Dubai he's going to check out Ferrari World (plus the world's fastest roller coaster) and hit the Shake Shack in the Mall of the Emirates.

Thanks for representing Fancy at 1500 feet!

Interview: D.A. Wallach

Don't miss D.A.'s new song Who Do You Know?

Tell us a little about yourself. Who are you? Where are you from?

DA:I am D.A. and I live in Los Angeles and Milwaukee. My favorite things in the World are truth and beauty. I am also interested in Justice, though I'm not sure that it is ultimately much different from truth and beauty. I spend my time writing or singing songs, working with technology, and reading. I also love talking to people and so do that most of most days.

Tell us about your Fancy experience. What influences your collection? What is your favorite feature on Fancy?

DA: I try to make my collection a representation of my material tastes. Since I find so many things to fancy on the site itself, my collection sometimes tend to overrepresent popular items on the site, like watches and cars. It is in this sense that my collection doesn't represent me, since I have neither an awesome car nor any watch at all. I just try to assemble beautiful things in one place, and doing so helps me keep track of visual imagery or physical objects that I think are inspiring.

My favorite feature has to be following other users...I love the ability to follow the streams of other folks whose tastes I admire. I'm hopeful that more stylish and thoughtful people will continue to join the site.

What are your favorite finds on Fancy?

Fancy for Google Chrome

If you use Chrome as your web browser you've probably enjoyed a few handy extensions. Here's another we'd like you to try and send us feedback about: Fancy for Chrome (preview edition).

It adds a popsicle icon to your browser's toolbar, which you can click when you find something you love on the web and instantly add it to your Fancy page. Even cooler, it can show you desktop notifications when there's new activity on Fancy, like someone following you or when someone you follow fancies something new.

Give it a try, and send feedback via email to chrome at thefancy dot com.

Enjoy!