Artist Caitlin Shearer, the 18-year-old Sydney, Australia native behind the Etsy sensation Pepperminte (and the subsequent "Bleeding Knees Club"), discusses her love of fashion, aversion towards pants, the nightmare that was high school, and the creative process behind her girls... and effeminate boys!

Julia Frakes: How would you describe your artwork?
Caitlin Shearer: Imaginary girls caught in houses of paper who have the biggest eyebrows in the world and whose knees are always bleeding.

JF: Who or what are your main influences?
CS: Everything I see goes in behind my eyes, then mingles and sleeps there in my brain for a while. The whole world is influencing me all the time. I catch a lot of public transport, and it's good for people-watching. I'll accidentally stare at people for too long, or listen to their private conversations: It's good material. I guess the culmination of me thinking about things too hard are my girls (and effeminate boys)!

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Simona McIntyre -- the articulate 18-year-old Canadian model captivating designers and photographers alike with her fairy tale good looks and delightful charm -- chats with us about her environmental beliefs and incredibly mature, levelheaded outlook on life. A very sincere thank you to the alluring Ms. McIntyre for graciously taking valuable time out of her teeming (and fascinating) schedule!

Julia Frakes: Are there any historic figures that you profoundly identify with?
Simona McIntyre: Actually, I think so. Since I was about seven years old I began to idolize Pocahontas. I have plenty of memories (and family home videos) of me in her Disney apparel, day in and out, barefoot and singing "Colors of the Wind." I recall channeling her, reminding those I saw to respect nature and of universal love. Whether or not the romanticized version of Pocahontas that I envisioned based on the Disney idol is the real Powhatan doesn't matter. To me she always represented my love and respect for every life form in the physical macrocosm.

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From the moment I laid my eyes on Skye Parrott's recent Jalouse editorial featuring the magical Paris-based writer, director and artist Lisa Rovner (pictured above), I've been dying to find a pair of vintage octagonal glasses. Malheureusement every pair that I've come across has been either dreadfully rusty, cracked beyond repair, or in one memorable case, affected with a peculiar and unequivocal fishy stench. Have no fear... Nader Zadi is here! Zadi creates made-to-order eyewear from antique components and frames. Glasses case closed!

My friend Angela, who is one-third of the super talented Threeasfour team, stopped by the office yesterday afternoon with a girl named Fred in tow. Turns out Fred Butler is from London, was one of Threeasfour's very first interns and is now making her very first line of amazing, super-colorful, imaginative accessories. Pictured above is Angela (right) and Fred (left) looking quite cute (no?) especially for 2 p.m. on a Monday afternoon. Fred's necklaces and sequinned jewels (see photos) are not yet available in NYC but after more people get a look at it you can bet it won't be long!

With the upcoming Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy exhibition opening at the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum on May 7, countless hero-worshipping articles are scrawling the pages of nearly every fashion (and some non) publication as of late. I've been majorly bummed however that not one has featured the buoyant Serge Gainsbourg and Brigitte Bardot 1968 duet "Comic Strip"! This is especially surprising since Nathan Crowley's Met exhibit design creates the illusion of actually being trapped inside a comic strip -- with its dropped grid ceiling, ultra glossy white floors, exceptionally angular vignettes, backdrops abounding with superhero symbols, panoramic Gotham skylines and mammoth mirrors painstakingly positioned at angles which let attendees see the beginning and end of the show from any position.

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I met the cutest new fashion-loving friend on Facebook this year. Her name is Julia Frakes and here she is! At just 18 years old living at home in Scranton, PA, she is so cute, so obsessed, so knowledgable and so enthusiastic about fashion that I couldn't resist inviting her to contribute to my blog for the next few months. (Something I have never done before). I thought it would be fun to have her super fun and young perspective (a good contrast to my old hag fashion perspective) and obsessed fashion energy on Fashion Schmashion. I decided to do a little "get to know you" first, so I asked her a few questions.

Kim Hastreiter: I met you on Facebook... and we have now invited you to do the PAPER facebook page. Have you met a lot of fun people on Facebook?
Julia Frakes:I have indeed! It's been quite the unexpected flossy flossy socialista whirlwind!

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It's amazing for me to think that Keith Haring would have turned 50 this week. And there are lots of celebrations in his memory. I knew Keith in the olden days and watched him go from a crazy art student to a world renowned artist who eventually died of AIDS. Yup, it was the moment when Keith was coming up. (Check the essay I wrote about those years for the KH retrospective in Milan a few years ago.) To celebrate this amazing guy, some of his longtime friends have organized everything from a recreation of his famous annual dance "Party of Life" (yes kids, Keith's friend Junior Vasquez and Louis Vega are DJing!) this May 4th from 9 p.m.-4 a.m. at at Pacha (618 W. 46th St.) to the recreation of one of his early murals on Houston and Bowery that goes up for a month that same afternoon thanks to Jeffrey Deitch. You can also still get tickets to see the documentary The Universe of Keith Haring, screening at the Tribeca Film Festival this week. (And hey, I'm in it! Here is the trailer.)

For more info on Party of Life tickets benefiting the AIDS WALK go here .

I love the fact that Karl Lagerfeld is a DJ character in the new Grand Theft Auto IV released last week. DJ Karl mixes electro from his own playlist all through the Rockstar Games' new video release. Cute, no?

I just spoke to my friend Marsea Goldberg from New Image Art, my favorite gallery in LA, who is getting ready to open a really good show tomorrow night by superhero-loving Aussie artist Anthony Lister. I met Lister (as they call him) thru my nephew George who often performs at Lister's shows, playing a demented, maniac, Batman-type character who is chained up during the show. Anyway he is super-talented and blowing up fast. I really love his work and wish I were in LA to go to the opening, but thought I'd throw it up here for all you Los Angelinos who are reading PAPERMAG. Go see the show. My super favorite piece is the green girl with buck teeth drinking champagne (see below). But I love lots more, especially his masks and the green-haired joker. Check out a sneak peek photo (pictured above) of the installation someone sent me today! New Image Art, 7908 Santa Monica Blvd. (near Fairfax)

Photos by Curtis Kulig

Here is Erin Fetherston's newest fashion film directed by Ellen Von Unwerth starring her friend Zooey Deschanel. It's all very ragamuffin looking, but cute.

Art connoisseurs in the UK are eagerly awaiting the spring opening of Damien Hirst's first "art store" in Marylebone, England. Hirst signed a ten year lease and is hoping to open a whole "chain" of art stores where he will sell art books, artist's editions, prints, clothing and more. The shop will be called Other Criteria, and for those who just can't wait to snatch up one of Hirst's amazing gold charm bracelets featuring a dangling assortment of gold pills (for just under 50 grand ) you can buy one from OC online here.. Don't worry if you can't afford the drug bracelet, you can still get a cool Damien Hirst T-shirt for a mere 85 bucks. Or his gorgeous set of a dozen porcelain dishes for $19,000.

My friends Threeasfour's cute white shirt and dress are finally on the racks at the GAP -- so snatch these collectors items up fast. Check out their photo in the windows!

So tonight is the big Murakami gala opening at the Brooklyn Museum of Art. The show has come here from MOCA. and as in L.A., Louis Vuitton is sponsoring the gala and a "shop." But the most amazing Louis Vuitton idea that Murakami had I read about in WWD this morning. It seems as though the artist is collaborating with LV on an art+commerce piece that is a commentary on FAKES, which as we know, is a huge issue for luxe brands like Vuitton. As part of the exhibit, Murakami and LV will be placing eight "pocketbook" street vendors on the street in front of the museum selling REAL Vuitton bags that were specially designed by Murakami and LV for this particular piece. Of course I am gagging about this and am plotting to go there and get one of these. Isnt that the coolest? Plus HOW AMAZING AND ENLIGHTENED is it that the Vuitton execs agreed to go along with Murakami's preposterous idea of doing this? Ya gotta hand it to them.

PAPER threw its 11th annual Beautiful People Party last night at Hiro and it was really fun. All the cute kids from the issue were in attendence and the adorable Joanna Newsom (our cover girl) hung out with us for a while before she performed. The glamourous Threeasfour's Adi, Angela and Gabi sat with me and their old friend Bjork joined us. (turns out she's friends and fan of Newsom also...) I love Bjork. She came with her sig other Matthew Barney who looked completely uncomfortable and disappeared soon after arriving.

Meanwhile, the event this year was sponsored by H&M and we heard from all the H&M kids who were at the party that they'd be announcing a new guest designer and that they were not allowed to tell us who it was!!! Of course we tried to drag it out of them with booze, cajoling and flirting but they wouldn't give and said that they were announcing their new designer today so we'd have to wait. We then all spent the evening putting bets on who it would be. We guessed Burberry, Paul Smith (I think this would be amazing) and Yohji Yamamoto and I SWEAR I thought to myself Rei Kawakubo, but dismissed the idea as being too outrageous. Well I woke up to an email press release confirming my greatest hope: YES! Rei Kawakubo will collaborate on a line of clothes this fall with the Swedish Giant. And I cant wait to see what she does and buy every piece. I wonder how looks like these will translate into 39 dollar pieces. CANT WAIT!

Someone just came in to meet with me and turned me on to this most amazing artist, Alison Jackson. She photographs famous lookalikes (dead and alive) in completely twisted compromising positions. I died when i saw these. You can see more of her work at her Los Angeles gallery, M+B's site. Carlo McCormick here at PAPER told me that Jackson is fairly famous in the UK but has not yet become so well known here in US. Here are a few images. Go look at this stuff. Pictured above is Bill Gates listening to his iPod and below, check out Bush doing a Rubik's Cube and the Queen on the throne. She also has a book out by Taschen called Confidential. I immediately bought one here.

Both Pepsi and Coke seem like they are currently trying their best to tap into a new younger scene. Both Cola giants have launched hip campaigns and invited artists to decorate their cans (Pepsi) and new aluminum bottles (Coke).

Check it out.

Wanna have a good laugh??? Well I sure had one this weekend when David Hershkovits sent me this YouTube he found of me talking to Brandywine and Jayne County from the PAPERMAG launch on the "world wide web" 14 years ago at Irving Plaza. Oh my God, what a time warp. Back then only geeks went on the internet and none of the downtown dragoons or fashion kids knew how to go online. Remember, this was a time when only the super geeks had modems ( and dial ups to boot)! Netscape was just launched and PAPERMAG was born. It was quite a party. Check out my sick Banshee earrings. I forgot I had these and dug them out of my drawer after seeing myself in them. They are fierce, as they say.

I was walking my dog Thursday night when I ran into my friend and neighbor Mario Batali on Eighth Street who was just coming from dinner with his son Leo. He told me that he'd just had a fantastic meal in our neighborhood at a new restaurant on Eighth Street called Elettaria (right near MacDougal). In case you were wondering, Elettaria is a type of cardamom seed, which makes sense, as the chef Akhtar Nawab serves up the most amazing Indian inspired fusion cuisine. (like the most aromatic foie gras Ive ever had and a divine cumin scented bavette) And how excited we should be to have such a great addition to our nabe. I trust Mario implicitly (he's my favorite chef in the world!) and so I called immediately, reserved a table for dinner and he was right. This place is really, really great with a kind of cozy atmosphere and cute, nice staff. It's hip (but not trendy), and you can watch Akhtar cooking super, amazingly delicious food in his open kitchen while his partner Noel runs around trying to keep the packed spot on track. It only opened two weeks ago but word is travelling fast and now it's kind of hard to get a table unless it's at 11 at night. But trust me (and Mario) -- this place is really, really good.

Photo from Eater

So my friends Pink Martini came to town Sunday to play at Avery Fisher Hall and they invited me to play the triangle with them once again! (I played the triangle with them at the Hollywood Bowl in front of 18,000 people this past September and I had a ball.) Well again, I had the BEST time playing the triangle last night with all my wonderful friends from Portland (Pink Martini's hometown!) I played three songs and even had a few solo dings. Plus I had a peanut gallery in the audience rooting for me (and laughing really, really hard cause it was so absurd). Check out the photo Patrick McMullen just sent me of Thomas Lauderdale (in blonde hair) introducing me. So much fun!

This kind of shocked me when I saw it.