Fashion Inspiration: The DAAP “Reject” All-Stars

As it turns out all of the artists have something in common besides being young and living in Cincinnati: They were all rejected from DAAP. For those of you who are not aware, DAAP is a serious program and can be both competitive and difficult to get into. Ambitious as they all are, they were not going to let this minor setback affect them. Instead, they were going to do something positive about it. They decided to come together in a collaborative effort that allowed to them to showcase their individual talents in photography, fashion and cosmetology. This effort is entitled “The Living Room Project."

“The initial intent behind the Living Room project was to work collectively with other talented people that were also rejected from the “high status” DAAP program," says Johnson. "I’m a genuine believer that you don’t need a degree to make things happen. College is great (maybe not that great), but without a drive to accomplish a mission it’s ineffective. I was originally inspired by Terry Richardson’s New York Dolls photos he did for Vogue Nippon’s magazine a couple months back. From there I assembled a team to bring this inspiration into fruition. Kelsey and Yoho are two powerful and driven individuals who couldn’t know more about fashion and styling. Kayla is a genius with makeup so it was only right to bring everyone together and make something happen. They did all the work I just took snaps and drank cheap wine. We shot these photos inside of Red Polly which has an insane assortment of vintage furniture. We were going for the Edie Sedgwick meets modern look so this place was perfect.”

Even outside of DAAP, Cincinnati has talent all around. See for yourself: