VFILES is proud to present LisaTV -- a new street style series focused on high fashion and edge-case scenarios. Coming out of L.A. and starring Lisa Katnic as the perfect hybrid of alterna-weirdo and sunny California girl, LisaTV takes you to a monster truck rally, a LGBT Renaissance Faire, Goth Day at Disneyland and more. Get to know the people who occupy the most remote reaches of the fashion landscape. Check out the first episode above, and an exclusive interview below!
VFILES: What is LisaTV? And, more importantly, who is Lisa?Lisa Katnic: LisaTV is a web series where I go on adventures and interview people about fashion and style. I like to learn about alternative styles that may be missed by the typical fashion radar, and that I think are cool and inspiring. Who is Lisa? I'm a designer, artist, stylist, blah blah blah... I don't know. I'm just a friendly girl who likes to get dressed up and talk to strangers!
VF: Where are you taking your viewers this season?LK: This season, we are going to a monster truck rally, a hipster pool party, a Renaissance Faire, a musician's convention, and a day at Disneyland full of goths and steam punks.
VF: How do the people you interview react to your style? Are you a chameleon or do you stand out?LK: I usually do kind of an interpretation of whatever the "look" is, but it's usually pretty inaccurate, so maybe I stick out a little. It helps me get into the interviewing mood, and it's also a good ice-breaker. The people I've met are all really into self-expression, so they are super nice about my funky look. This was especially the case at Ren Faire. I had this slutty-Joan-of-Arc-from-the-future look, and the people at Ren Faire are total hedonists, so they ate it up.
VF: Has doing LisaTV influenced how you style yourself?LK: Yeah! Every time I go through the footage I'm like, "Dang, that's a good look, I'm gonna steal that." If you think my look is different, you should know that at least 50 percent is borrowed from somewhere.
VF: You're constantly reinventing yourself on LisaTV, and more so on your Instagram! How do you do it? How did you get so versatile?LK: I've never felt obligated to commit to a look. It's all about trying stuff out and seeing how it makes you feel. There is access to so many things because of the Internet, it would be a crying shame to let all those resources go to waste. Of course, trying so many looks requires more clothes, so as a result I live in a one-bedroom apartment that I pretend is a studio with a huge walk-in closet. Girls will be girls!
VF: What's your favorite filter and hashtag? What's you're favorite VFILES search term?LK: My favorite Vfiles search right now is "style: Deconstruction," but that will change in a week. Actually, right now my fave search is "style: Monster Truck." Try it! VFILES is the perfect resource for someone who has Style A.D.D. like me. On insta, it's no filter and #nofilter. Just kidding about that hashtag. #Catcity is my favorite, because I have five cats. Want one?
VF: What's your dream event to cover? The Academy Awards? AVN awards? BET awards? That "twin" convention?LK: Definitely not the Academy Awards... maybe the Razzies? I think the looks would be more fun there. But in all seriousness, yes, I'm dreaming of going to the Twin Convention, I can only imagine...
VF: Your show draws on a lot of references from some of our favorite TV shows growing up... any particularly influential ones you look to for direction?LK: Cindy Crawford's House of Style and Wild on E! are the biggest influences for the LisaTV formula, but Clarissa Explains it All and Julie Brown (the redheaded one) are my spirit animals.
VF: What's the importance of concentrating on overlooked niches of fashion? In what ways do these subsections of society influence popular culture?LK: I don't think that these subcultures are necessarily overlooked, they're just often misinterpreted. I think it's really easy for people to miss the beauty in these subcultures because they can't be bothered to learn about them, the history, the current trends, etc... because it's not directly in their faces. I'm hoping to give observers easy insight into something they wouldn't necessarily investigate for themselves and show them that there are cool and creative people all over the place and you can learn from them! The cool thing about being open-minded to these subcultures is that even if you don't feel like taking anything from them right now, six months down the road you may find something has become very relevant to your own style that you didn't see before. And now you've got a great reference to go back to!
VF: What can we adopt from monster truck style?LK: Right now there is this trend of extreme branding has made its way into street wear with designers like Peggy Noland, Hood by Air and Meat, which comes from the sport world, with athletes wearing their sponsors. It's especially common in motor sports like monster trucks and motocross. I don't know if that's specifically what these designers had in mind, but there is a connection. And then there are the classic themes that play out, like Prada's flames, Louis Vuitton's checkerboard and the timeless camo-print all over Gerlan jeans. Also, bad computer graphics are trending in both pop culture and monster truck design.