Clark reminisced about landing her Sassy gig via a New York Times job posting in 1987 after she was reprimanded for wearing vintage clothes by her boss at the decidedly less hip Seventeen. Vitkus, for her part, recounted the time Sassy's in-house band Chia Pet played at CBGBs. She then joined indie teen-pop act Supercute onstage for a spirited cover of Chia Pet's "Magic 8 Ball." Fashion blogger Elizabeth Spiridakis looked back at some of the trends regularly championed by the magazine (think clogs and maxidresses), and celebrated its DIY sartorial stance. "Talent Show" co-host Elna Baker wore a pillow-case dress straight out of the pages of the mag's "I Made It Myself" section (she also sported an American flag headwrap a la November '92 cover girl Mayim Bialik).
Glass asked Tavi about her well-chronicled fascination with the magazine, whose heyday was before she was born. The 15-year-old said she admired "the honesty and the transparency and not pretending it came from a secret castle or factory."
They also discussed the launch of her forthcoming online magazine. "I have particular taste, but we have to reach everybody," she noted. "We thought about 'Is this for the cool alternative girl?' but I think those labels are just stupid ... we don't want to just preach to the choir." Tavi was mum about the project's finer details, but said to look out for a piece by queen of quirk Miranda July.
Though Tavi said her upcoming site's fashion coverage probably won't mimic some of Sassy's more dated looks, like stirrup pants over boots, she hopes it will have a similar spirit. "They were honest about celebrities and didn't pretend everyone was happy all the time ... and really praised people not because they were famous but because they were cool and creative. That goes for a lot of the people we'll be featuring."
"I think that we want to avoid focusing on the more interchangeable superficialities, like bands or kinds of clothes," she continued. "Because ultimately it will be subversive just in its honesty and tone."
