Highbrow Hippie Blog

Since we landed on stress as our conscious living theme for March, there has been a lot of talk about what it is and how to identify it. A google search yields many different results, but for our purposes we are defining stress as a physical or mental response to an external cause. To put it simply, it’s a reaction. Our bodies are designed to handle and process stress in small doses, but when it becomes chronic it can have serious effects on all systems of the body including the musculoskeletal, respiratory, cardiovascular, endocrine, gastrointestinal, nervous, and reproductive systems. Think about how you feel when you are stressed - your body feels tense, your breathing is shallow, your heart races, your stomach might hurt or you may feel nauseous.

When we opened the doors to the atelier, our dream was to create a space - our version of a salon -  where clients could find respite and escape from the world.  Where, when they sit in the chair, they can slow down, get still, and feel the ease and tension of modern living dissipate.  Since opening, we’ve continued to be intentional in offering solutions that aim to destress modern living. That being said, this month we’re focusing the conversation around stress. Too much stress comes with an array of negative side effects - both in the short and long term - and it’s a topic, especially in the last few years, that lands in our chair more often than not.  

About last night!…Our beautiful and talented client- director, writer and producer Idil Ibrahim, attends the NAACP as part of the Queen Collective filmmakers for her film, ‘In Her Element’.The Queen Collective is P&G’s signature talent development initiative, created in partnership with Queen Latifah, Flavor Unit Entertainment, and Tribeca Studios, aimed at accelerating gender and racial equality behind the camera. Now in its fourth year, this wonderful sisterhood is enabling even more black female and non-binary directors to produce original documentaries and for the first time a scripted short, sharing their perspective through film.

Highbrow Hippie began over 12 years ago as a blog. It was an outlet and a way for us to express all parts of ourselves - the multifaceted, multidimensional layers that sometimes take a back seat to our professional lives and selves.While Highbrow Hippie as a business and brand has evolved, the blog has remained a place where we go to sort through our thoughts, to reassess, and to share. If you’ve read any of our blog posts, you know we cover it all - politics, hair and beauty, fashion, motherhood, loss, friendship, entrepreneurship, living consciously…the list goes on.

André Leon Talley knew his place in fashion’s cannon. He knew his history, his references were minute, and he was an enthusiastic student until the end. What elegance he possessed to stake his claim so firmly. What strength. The wit. The delivery!And what a storyteller he was. How beautiful, how fitting, that the story to be told with his Christie’s auction today will benefit the places where he always had an open door, Abyssinian Baptist Church, where his homegoing was held in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City, and the Mount Sinai Missionary Baptist Church in Durham, both Black-majority churches. Talley, who frequently extolled the community-minded virtues of Black churches, attended both throughout his life.