Food, fashion, and irony: Interview with @LowCheekBones

Scouring the far reaches of the internet in order to bring you the fantastic and unusual, we came across the Instagram profile of one Caroline Solomon aka. @LowCheekBones who makes amazing videos and pics operating on the fringes of fashion and food culture. A native New Yorker with a degree in Psychology from Harvard University, Caroline has worked within both media and fashion, and her creations touch upon the absurdities that all too often emerge within both. Caroline has since expanded her account into DIY mash-ups of food, pop culture, and fashion, and has worked with brands ranging from Tinder to IKEA to create original branded content. 

We had to get an interview with her to hear more about the thoughts and ideas that fuel her amazing creations.

See our interview with Caroline Solomon aka. @LowCheekBones and her exclusive new creation for nss below:

- In your own words, please tell people what it is you do on your Instagram profile?

I make short snappy mashups of food, pop culture, and fashion trends. Some of my videos riff on those DIY videos you see floating around the internet, and the rest parody fashion/makeup trends. The overarching theme is poking fun at American commercialism, and how we as a culture define ourselves by the ridiculous gadgets and objects we own. 

- One of the first questions the comes to mind when seeing your page, is how did you come up with combining food and fashion in the way you do?

I think that by combining fashion with food, I’m turning something on its head that already looks ridiculous, and further drawing out the absurdity of a trend. Take crocs. Crocs are ridiculous to begin with, and by putting fruit kebabs in the holes, for instance, this drives home their ridiculousness.  

Also, I worked at Glamour magazine as a beauty assistant before I started my Instagram account, so the world of fashion was somewhat familiar. And I’ve always been obsessed with processed American food products (especially candy), so it made sense for me to combine the two.  

- Curious to hear your thoughts on the concept behind, there's clearly a huge element of fun, but perhaps also a deeper commentary on contemporary fashion?

I think our obsession with visual culture and aesthetics has been heightened by Instagram; everyone is clamoring for attention, and the easiest way to stand out in a virtual crowd is by wearing (or designing) some outrageous looking ‘it’ bag or ‘it’ sneaker. Case in point: The Balenciaga platform crocs, which are the ultimate fetishizing of a hallmark American product. I dream of those in cake form.  

- There's a bit of a specific food irony trend for contents on IG at the moment, what are your thoughts on that?

I like this account @boyswhocancook, which posts a lot of food irony-based memes (e.g. an image of hot dogs encased in condoms as a sous vide technique, or Carbonara pasta as spaghetti topped with toy cars and banana slices). But sometimes the images can just veer into pure gross out territory, so I guess there’s kind of a fine line. If it’s clever and silly visually, then I really appreciate it. But if the meme caption is, ‘Made this gourmet meal for my boo’ and it’s a bowl of melted cheese with a whole banana stuck in it, then I’m less impressed.

- It's always cool to hear an insider perspective on certain scenes, whats up in the Brooklyn scene at the moment, likes and dislikes?

I’ve seen a lot of Supreme sweatshirts floating around Brooklyn recently, and that hype beast aesthetic is going strong. All the young girls seem to be wearing those chunky white platform sneakers, which I cannot get behind. I really liked the fanny pack slung across the chest initially, but now everyone and their grandmother is wearing it like that. I don’t mind the wearing Crocs ironically trend. As for food & beverage trends, natural wine is really trendy. Not sure if I’ve made a decision either way about it yet. Stay tuned.

Check out Caroline's latest and exclusive creation 'Penne alla Vodka' for nss below: