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Lil Yachty Flexes A Plethora Of Outfits

Lil Yachty has always had a great sense of style.

Lil Yachty is having a huge moment in the music industry right now. Overall, he came through with a truly terrific project back in February. Let's Start Here sees Yachty going into the world of psychedelic rock. This shift in sound came out of nowhere, however, it was truly incredible to listen to. Moreover, he made the transition so seamlessly that it truly showed off how great of an artist he is. Some may have underestimated Yachty, but they definitely can't do that anymore given what he's produced.

Additionally, around the same time, he came out with "Poland." This is yet another track that features some autotuned vocals with a wobbly effect to them. Overall, this track has become a huge hit. In fact, he got to perform the song in "Poland" recently, and he did so six times in a row. It was a huge moment for those fans, and they didn't mind having to perform the song numerous times in a row. At this point, it is clear that Yachty is enjoying some of the most success in his career.

Read More: Lil Yachty Takes The Wock To “Poland” Six Times… In Poland

Lil Yachty On IG

If you are a Lil Yachty fan, you know that he has an incredible fashion sense . His streetwear style has always been beloved by fans. He is an avid sneakerhead, and he is constantly showing off some great outfits. On Sunday, that is exactly what he did as Yachty provided fans with a photo dump that showcased his recent stylings. As usual, he wore some baggy pants, some fire sneakers, and a mixture of tops including windbreakers, leather jackets, and even a baseball jersey for good measure.

Overall, it is probably a great feeling to be Lil Yachty right now. He is making music that he wants to make, and at this point, nothing can stop him. Let us know your thoughts on his transformation, down below. Additionally, keep it locked to HNHH for the latest news from around the music world.

Read More: Lil Yachty Reveals Why He Hates Sean Paul

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Lil Yachty’s Unparalleled Style Inspires 'How to Dress Like Lil Yachty' TikTok Trend

T his year has been an undeniably prolific one for Lil Yachty , who followed his acclaimed Let’s Start Here album in January with a string of lane-shifting singles leading up to the J. Cole-featuring “ The Secret Recipe .” But 2023 hasn’t just been a big year for Yachty in the musical sense, as it’s also proven to be one for the books in terms of his increasingly emulated style .

Yachty’s prowess in this realm has now inspired a TikTok trend focused on showing viewers “how to dress like Lil Yachty.” In @jhalfaday 's original video, seen below, fans are given some lighthearted narration on how to put together their own Yachty-inspired look.

“First things first, find the baggiest pair of pants that you own. Now, get baggier,” we hear in the opening moments. “Next, grab whatever shirt you wanna wear. It doesn’t really matter because you’re gonna cover it up with 100 layers. Great! Now find a hoodie that doesn’t match the pants.”

Other fans have since joined in on the trend, each showing off their own Yachty-inspired outfit with a quick dance at the end of their respective video. See a few noteworthy examples below, including one shared by Yachty himself.

More on this

Lil Yachty Previews Two New Songs at ComplexCon 2023 Mark Elibert · Nov. 19, 2023

Tyler, the Creator Drops le FLEUR* Season 2 Lookbook Visual Featuring Lil Yachty and Anwar Carrots Alex Ocho · Dec. 6, 2023

The Secret Recipe: How Lil Yachty Influenced Drake’s Current Era Mike DeStefano · Oct. 6, 2023

Yachty, clearly, is aware of his influence. In October, he marked his frequent collaborator Drake ’s birthday by sharing a slew of throwback fit pics, joking that the “ Summer Games ” sequel denier only “ got fly ” after becoming friends with him.

More recently, Complex included Yachty in our annual ranking of best dressed rappers for 2023. In fact, Yachty took the top spot this year, and for good reason. See the full list here .

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The Best Dressed Rappers Of 2023, Ranked

Is Lil Uzi Vert flyer than ASAP Rocky? Here, we rank the best dressed rappers of 2023 and determine who was the most stylish one this year.

What a year it has been for hip-hop style. As hip-hop turned 50 this year, our favorite rappers only proved that this genre is still pushing the needle and defining what contemporary fashion is today. Whether it’s through music videos, Instagram fit pics, or paparazzi shots, these rappers are not only shaping the look of this era of hip-hop, but influencing how plenty of people get dressed every day.

There was a lot of music to be excited about this year. Travis Scott finally released Utopia, and Lil Yachty shifted gears with his genre-bending album Let’s Start Here . While we certainly appreciate these great hip-hop albums, that’s for another list. What we’re here to speak about is who was truly the best-dressed rapper this year. 

The rappers on this list have all found ways to separate themselves from the pack. They’re not just blindly following trends or showing up in whatever the hottest brands of the moment are. To be clear, there are many stylish rappers who aren’t highlighted here. That doesn’t necessarily mean we don’t think they’re stylish. These individuals just did it a bit better.

Here’s our ranking of the best-dressed rappers of 2023.

10. Travis Scott

Travis Scott perfectly blends high fashion with casual streetwear styling. And with the release of his long-anticipated album Utopia this year, he maintained his own unique style while leaning into gothic designers for subdued-yet-classy fits. This year, La Flame seemingly only wore Rick Owens cargo pants alongside pieces by Balenciaga, Greg Ross, or Courtney MC. Scott hasn’t leaned into these dystopic labels to the point of becoming a designer vampire like Playboi Carti—note, just because Carti isn’t on this list doesn’t mean we don’t love King Vamp. Instead, Scott has stuck to a wardrobe that’s still casual enough that the masses can continue following his stylistic choices while also sourcing clothes that fit Utopia ’s brooding atmosphere. What that makes is two Scotts. One’s still dressing calm enough to continue being America’s most approachable hip-hop pitchman—pedaling everything from Nike Mac Attacks to Audemars Piguet–embellished streetwear. The other Scott is found onstage, wearing custom Inuit shades in Mad Max -esque fits that look like they were pulled off raiders in Fallout video games. If Travis leaned more into these distinctive tour looks, perhaps he would be bumped higher on this list. Yet his style is still setting trends, and he hasn’t lost his Midas touch with selling nearly anything he cosigns. That alone continues to make him one of the best-dressed rappers today. — Lei Takanashi

Dressing like Michael Jackson without looking like you’re wearing a costume is no easy feat, but Offset pulls it off. Throughout 2023, he’s taken inspiration from the King of Pop, wearing close copies of his uniform: gloves, slim trousers or jeans, structured military jackets, socks , and loafers. Somehow, Offset makes the looks feel current and new. That’s probably because he’s established his own sense of style that aligns with the MJ outfits. Offset understands silhouettes well. He can pull off more slim-fitting outfits, like a black moto jacket , jeans, and moto boots. He has no problem wearing baggier looks, like a T-shirt with Chrome Hearts jeans . He’s also good with color, like mixing different shades of green , or rocking this full hot pink look . And we have to mention his Denim Tears collaboration (Offset Tears), which became a strong uniform during the press run for his solo album Set It Off . Offset also got more adventurous with his hair in 2023 by playing with different clips, barrettes, and accessories . He understands what looks good on him and puts together outfits that feel cool and fresh, but are still classic.— Aria Hughes 

Smino has fun with his looks. He understands color, shape, and pairing pieces together in an unconventional way without looking clownish, which is a skill. That came through during his Paris tour stop , when he wore a colorblocked satin jacket, polka dot scarf tied around his head, and baggy cargo jeans. Or how about when he donned a multicolored striped sweater with a pair of jeans covered in colorful patches? But even when he’s not playing with color and going for something more subdued, the looks still hit. Like when he wore a striped T-shirt, leather jacket, and baggy jeans with a studded belt and green scrunchie as a bracelet, or when he put on a basic black shirt and olive green shorts but amped it up with a furry newsboy cap .There is something very Midwestern about his sensibilities (he hails from St. Louis) that feels reminiscent of St. Lunatics' style from the 2000s . But Smino makes every look his own, not relying on luxury designers to make a statement. We’d be remiss to not mention his best accessory—his hair. He styles it in a variety of ways (twistouts, Afro, braids) and usually accentuates it with barettes and accessories. Some even say he influenced Drake and Rocky, who have both leaned into hair accessories more in 2023. Smino’s name might not be as widely recognized as others on this list, but he deserves a spot for his dedication to interesting looks that feel distinctly him. — Aria Hughes

Aminé isn’t just one of the most underrated rappers in the game. He’s also a bit slept on when it comes to his personal style. What makes the Portland native’s style so great is how true it feels to him. Some artists, as good as the results may be, feel like they’re just wearing what their stylist put on a rack for them. Aminé is wearing what he genuinely likes. Sometimes that’s a clean Arc’teryx jacket to fend off the rainy conditions (anyone from the Pacific Northwest knows you need to keep a rain jacket in the rotation). Sometimes he’s repping under the radar brands like Clints . The biggest flex of all—sometimes it’s his own brand, Club Banana. Aminé isn’t just dressing well. He’s designing pieces so that all of his fans can too. And don’t forget about the two amazing New Balance projects that he got to release in 2023. With the backing of a big brand like that (and designers like Jacquemus making sure he’s front row for every show), Aminé’s profile in the style world will only continue to rise. And he deserves the praise. — Mike DeStefano

6. Kendrick Lamar

Ever since Kendrick Lamar crowned himself “best dressed” on “The Hillbillies,” he’s been doing his best to live up to the title. A lot of the time, that means he’s draped in the latest wares from Martine Rose and Wales Bonner. Kendrick was basically an unofficial model for the former designer throughout 2023. Who could forget the custom look from Rose’s Fall 2023 collection that he wore to the Grammys? The partnership’s most recent wrinkle was an official merch collab that debuted at Camp Flog Gnaw. And when he isn’t rocking Martine Rose from head to toe, he’s even making fake Air Jordan 12s look good or hitting the streets of Paris in elegant Chanel looks. While we don’t necessarily agree with K-Dot’s “best dressed” proclamation, there’s no denying that he’s leveled up his style and deserves his flowers. But when he’s channeling a style icon like Taz Arnold , I guess we shouldn’t have expected anything less. – Mike DeStefano

5. Pharrell

Pharrell’s style has probably influenced everyone on this list, and while he could easily rest on his laurels—at 50 years old his title as a style icon is more than solidified—but he continues to express himself through fashion and wear clothes really well. The year started with his surprising appointment as the creative director at Louis Vuitton Men’s. From there, he wore touches of Louis Vuitton like an LV logo newsboy hat designed by Nigo, a monogram motorcycle jacket, and slightly flared jeans that perfectly hugged his bulky LV Trainer Snow Boots. Pharrell understands what works for him, but still tries out new things. For his Something In The Water music festival in Virginia Beach, he gave more hints at his Louis Vuitton era like a bold multicolored moto jacket covered in crystallized logos. And the bandage he was rocking on his chin for a few weeks best represented Pharrell’s way with garments and accessories. On someone else, you would have guessed they had a scar that needed covering up. But on Pharrell, it looked like a fashion statement, even if it wasn’t. After debuting his first collection for Louis Vuitton in June, he spent the remainder of men’s Fashion Week in Paris attending other shows and acting as a walking billboard for his designs, whether he was toting the collapsible yellow Speedy bag or sipping from an LV coffee cup. We appreciate that Pharrell still maintains a touch of novelty with his looks. And we can always sense his true love for clothes. Right now, he’s really into a pair of black aviators with an orange lens. Some might argue he should be number one on this list based on his impact and years in the game, but his predecessors like Rocky, Yachty, and Tyler have more influence on the younger generation right now. — Aria Hughes

4. Lil Uzi Vert

There’s a fearlessness to Lil Uzi Vert’s style that is unmatched in comparison to their contemporaries. Uzi still upholds the tenets of hip-hop flyness by wearing designer clothes from head to toe with a ridiculous amount of jewelry —of course they hit Eliantte to ice out their flash drive . But their personal style truly flourishes when they lean into their outlandish personality. That Balenciaga look they wore in the Gibson Hazard–directed trailer for the release of Pink Tape this year could have slid into any rapper’s wardrobe. But how Uzi wears it with a mullet while sparring with ancient samurais gives the look a sense of identity that’s more aligned with anime or Japanese RPGs than hip-hop music videos. It’s these quirky choices that makes Uzi a style icon. That Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards red carpet fit? A master class in tastefully riffing off the nerd and punk archetypes one would find in those same Nicktoons. And on the red carpet of the MTV VMAs this year, Uzi showed they might be the only rapper who could cheekily make Balenciaga look like an elevated pajama set they rolled off a tour bus with. 

Uzi’s natural ability to make any look pop is likely why Pharrell sent him a full fit from Louis Vuitton’s Spring/Summer 2024 collection— 22 hours after it hit the runway —so that Uzi could wear it to the BET Awards. At times, it does feel like Uzi really just puts on the most expensive luxury garments money could buy without really thinking about the overall look. But it’s clear that when Uzi taps into his weirdness, his style is untouchable. — Lei Takanashi

3. Tyler The Creator

A pastel-colored knit sweater or cardigan. A perfectly pressed pair of chinos that sits just above the ankle. A crispy white pair of socks. Some tasseled loafers. A New Era fitted. This is Tyler, the Creator’s uniform. And the 32-year-old has perfected it, so much so that he’s designing it himself now. Remember those amazing looks we saw in the videos for “Wharf Talk” and “Heaven to Me” ? His wardrobe is rooted in classic preppy style, but he makes it his own through his expert use of color. It’s something he’s been good at since the early days of his career when he was exclusively wearing vibrant striped T-shirts and ripped jean shorts. Now he’s just recontextualized it for a new aesthetic. As traditional as his wardrobe is, Tyler still makes sure to flex a statement piece every now and then. He was the first person we saw toting the red Speedy bag from Pharrell’s debut collection with Louis Vuitton. And his work with Alex Moss, like a pearl belt buckle and bell hop chain , is some of the best custom jewelry we’ve seen since Pharrell and Jacob the Jeweler’s linkups in the 2000s. 

Tyler, the Creator has made it known that he’s meticulous when it comes to his creative process. He’s waxed poetic about being nerdy about the things you truly love. With a mindset like that, his excellent personal style and the attention to detail he exhibits really shouldn’t be so surprising. — Mike DeStefano

2. ASAP Rocky

ASAP Rocky’s style has always felt intentional, yet effortless. He’s a rapper who’s fly enough to continue being an ambassador for a luxury house like Gucci or release an F1-inspired collaboration with Puma. Yet he’s still able to build outfits that aren’t crutched by luxury logos. While Rocky is committed to certain looks or brands like his contemporaries, it never feels like he’s trying too hard to wear anything he puts on (no wonder his kids are so fly). Whether it’s Boro pieces from the emerging Japanese label Proleta Re Art or his many Bottega Veneta fits this year, Rocky just naturally knows how to put an outfit together without prescribing to a uniform. Although it was recently revealed that Rocky was wearing a lot of Bottega this year so that paparazzi could capture him in the label’s Pre-Spring 2024 collection for an official campaign , it never looked like Rocky was forced to wear the label’s clothes for an ad. Instead, he turned the luxury label’s apparel into statement pieces, effortlessly stepping out with Bottega’s boxy suits and leather Intrecciato bags with a swagger that only he has. This is likely the reason Bottega opted to use paparazzi shots of Rocky instead of a traditional stylized campaign. 

Truthfully, a lot of garments look good on Pretty Flacko because he lives up to his nickname. But what’s distinguishable about Rocky’s style is that it still feels true to his own tastes, even when his outfits are referential. For example, his looks in the “Riot (Rowdy Pipe’n)” music video paid homage to the kilt-clad WWE wrestler “Rowdy” Roddy Piper. But Rocky didn’t cosplay him. Instead, he used Piper’s style as the foundation, wearing a plaid kilt with archival Issey Miyake bomber jackets and grenade-shaped chains by Alex Moss. What’s also admirable about Rocky’s style is that he has a clear reverence for hip-hop fashion of the past, but brings it back in a tasteful way. In “Riot” he channels Juelz Santana’s American flag “Dipset Anthem” outfit through an air-brushed leather piece by the British designer Gerrit Jacob—and don’t forget that beautiful Pelle Pelle he pulled out earlier this year. Granted that a Puma collaboration isn’t as hot as Nike, there’s a reason why Rocky was picked to bridge F1 with fashion. It’s because he’s a rapper whose personal style is formulated to make you pay attention. — Lei Takanashi

1. Lil Yachty

Has any rapper had as great of a 2023 as Lil Yachty has? Not only did he step out of his comfort zone to drop the experimental album Let’s Start Here and rack up production credits with Drake on For All the Dogs , he also cemented himself as the best-dressed rapper in the game right now. Just look at the “Tesla” video if you need further proof. What makes Yachty’s style so great isn’t just his versatility, it’s that it’s not hard to replicate. If one of his outfits inspired you enough to recreate it, you certainly can. Some people on TikTok have already tried.  

In 2023, Yachty’s go-to was vintage sports gear (if you follow him, you know he always asks his followers the best vintage spots to check out whenever he pulls up to a new city) from retro hockey jerseys to rare Starter jackets. He also mixed in his fair share of designer pieces like Bode crochet shirts or Balenciaga coats covered in paint splatters . More notable than all of the designer pieces are all of the items from up-and-coming brands that we see him pull out. He’s clearly staying on the pulse of what’s new and exciting in fashion, and isn’t afraid to give it a platform. Aris Tatalovich and The Filthy Project are just a few of the many young brands he’s championed in the last calendar year. As easy as most of Yachty’s outfits are to riff on, he makes sure to add that extra detail to set them apart, like $1 million diamond teeth or a pair of Cactus Plant Flea Market’s Nike Air Flea 2s before they’ve even been released to the public. But most importantly, no matter what he puts on, he wears it well. That’s not something everyone can say. Considering the various aesthetics that Yachty’s outfits pull from, his ability to pull off whatever he throws on is that much more impressive. – Mike DeStefano

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Coachella 2024: Best Celebrity Looks & Outfits from Weekend 1 — See Photos

By Teen Vogue Style Team

The time has come: Coachella 2024 has officially kicked off, which can only mean one thing: Great celebrity outfits. And, yes, okay…the live music isn't bad either. Since the festival returned from its COVID-19-induced hiatus, we have seen celebrities go all out with their outfits both in 2022 and 2023 , so, of course, 2024 wouldn't be an exception.

Festival dressing has us all in a chokehold, and that includes celebs. Last year, BLACKPINK, Rosalía, Zendaya, and more made their way to Indio, California, for two weekends full of music. With headliners like Lana del Rey, Tyler, the Creator, and Doja Cat, as well as performers ranging from ATEEZ and LE SSERAFIM to Reneé Rapp and Sabrina Carpenter, fashion is not going to take a backseat this year.

Whether you are tuning in from the comfort of your home or making your way to California to enjoy the show live, chances are you'll miss an outfit or two in the sea of Coachella content dominating out FYPs for the next two weekends — so this is where we come.

Below, we are going to be rounding up the Coachella 2024 celebrity looks you can't miss, starting with weekend one. Ready, set, scroll, to enjoy some of the many Coachella 2024 celebrity outfits.

Sabrina Carpenter

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Charli D'Amelio

Amelia Gray and Delilah Belle

Natalia Bryant

Teyana Taylor

Lilas Ikuta of YOASOBI

Lil Uzi Vert

Flore Benguigui of L'Impératrice

Ryan Destiny

Karrueche Tran

Keith Powers

Peyton List

Denzel Dion

Taylor Hill

Atarashii Gakko!

Justine Skye

Lauryn Hill

Kim Woosung of The Rose

Tiger JK and Yoon Mi-rae

Jon Batiste

Billie Eilish

wearing Steve Madden boots.

LE SSERAFIM

Tyler, the Creator

Paris Hilton

Gwen Stefani of No Doubt and Olivia Rodrigo

wearing wearing custom I.AM.GIA.

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Halle Bailey

wearing an Ayure belt.

Landon Barker

Barry Keoghan

Chlöe Bailey

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wearing 8 Other Reasons.

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What Is a Magazine Now?

Highsnobiety is a store, a website, a production agency and a clothing line. Oh, and Pamela Anderson is on the latest cover.

Willa Bennett, the editor of Highsnobiety, at the Bowling Green subway station near its offices in New York. Credit... Lanna Apisukh for The New York Times

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By Jessica Testa

• April 18, 2024

“To be perfectly honest with you, I needed a few Americans to tell me what it means to win this award,” said David Fischer, the founder of the company Highsnobiety.

Mr. Fischer was sitting in an airport in Spain, wearing a denim jacket and a designer baseball cap. About 10 days earlier, in New York City, Highsnobiety won a National Magazine Award for general excellence — its first nomination and win at the Oscars of the magazine world.

“I’m not a journalist by background, nor would I consider myself a great writer,” Mr. Fischer, 41, who lives in Berlin, said.

He started Highsnobiety as a sneaker blog in 2005. Today it is a website that covers fashion and youth culture broadly. It is also a clothing store and clothing line and, more lucratively, a creative consultancy and production agency. In other words, Highsnobiety writes about and recommends T-shirts, but it also makes its own T-shirts, sells and advertises other labels’ T-shirts, advises brands on how to market their T-shirts and throws big parties in honor of T-shirts.

But is Highsnobiety a media company? “It’s certainly not a clear yes,” Mr. Fischer said. “I was mostly interested in finding exciting new things and putting those things in front of the audience. And I suppose I was always excited about building a brand, more than anything.”

The magazine is printed twice a year. Its stories and images are frenetic, meant to speak to readers who are either young and cool or interested in being young and cool. The editor in chief is Willa Bennett, who ran social media at GQ magazine until 2022.

On the April night she accepted Highsnobiety’s National Magazine Award, her former boss, the GQ editor Will Welch, was “hooting and hollering” (his words) for the 30-year-old woman. She wore a gray Thom Browne suit with a matching skirt layered over the pants, and black Tabi cleft-toe shoes. She spoke into a microphone about how magazines are important and how print media matters.

Neither is a given in the current media landscape. About six months ago, Condé Nast announced it would cut five percent of its work force, following some years of turmoil and nine-figure annual losses . Hearst Magazines announced layoffs in 2023. So did, for that matter , Highsnobiety.

And yet people are still making magazines. Nylon returned to print this month; last month, the new owners of Complex magazine and Life magazine announced print resuscitations. In New York, new indie titles like Family Style and Byline have emerged.

Ms. Bennett is idealistic about this future. She is generally cheerful, prone to skipping down sidewalks, even while wearing a smirk that borrows more from Daria than Mary Tyler Moore. She is also uncommonly curious about people — especially young people, whose ideas and skills she mines for the magazine.

“I believe it’s my responsibility to, like, make sure that young people still dream of being journalists,” she said. “We just need to keep iterating and continuing to stretch what it means.”

Ms. Bennett is known to wear a suit and tie to work most days, not unlike the workers surrounding her in Manhattan’s financial district.

Highsnobiety’s offices rise 11 floors above the Charging Bull sculpture. On one wall, the words “Virgil was here” are scrawled beneath the company’s logo. The designer Virgil Abloh shared many of the same interests as Highsnobiety: adolescence, corporate collaborations, the blurring of high-end fashion and “ streetwear .”

Ms. Bennett’s cube-shaped office houses various gifts. She has an action figure of the rapper ASAP Rocky, dressed in an outfit from his Highsnobiety photo shoot. She has a skateboard and a basketball hoop, though she neither skates nor hoops. There is a framed thank-you note from Donatella Versace and a receipt for $19,010 from the Château Marmont in Hollywood, where Highsnobiety co-hosted a dinner before the Grammys in February.

Inside a conference room named after the famous Berlin nightclub Berghain, Ms. Bennett hosts regular brainstorming sessions. It is here, for example, that she was inspired to pursue a cover story on Dries Van Noten, the 65-year-old Belgian designer who recently announced his retirement .

“We were all talking about how Dries is the best,” she said. “This consistent designer that young people can always trust.”

The spring issue had three cover stars: Mr. Van Noten, the musician Andre 3000 (age 48) and the model-actress Pamela Anderson (age 56), none of whom seem like intuitive choices for a magazine that typically concerns itself with young emerging talent. The previous three cover stars were the rapper Lil Yachty (26), the TikToker Khaby Lame (24) — a story Ms. Bennett assigned to a fellow TikToker, whom she later realized was still a sophomore at New York University — and the model Grace Valentine (23).

Still, even if the subjects were older, Highsnobiety’s approach to them was not. “Pamela Anderson Is Mother,” one headline read. Ms. Anderson was a more personal choice for Ms. Bennett, who wrote in the issue that Ms. Anderson’s 1989 Playboy cover once hung on her bedroom wall.

On that cover, Ms. Anderson wore a blazer and tie and nothing else. She wore a blazer and tie on her Highsnobiety cover, too. Women are often styled in men’s wear in the magazine’s pages. Squint a little and Billie Eilish, the first cover star chosen by Ms. Bennett , bears a resemblance to the editor — the bare face, the dark hair with a middle part, the head tilted slightly downward. She looks as if she’s glaring at you, but really it’s more like she’s taking the measure of you.

Ms. Bennett also studies people, more comfortable asking questions than answering them. (How was your day? What are your favorite brands? Do you like writing?) Standing outside Cubbyhole, a West Village lesbian bar, she would only point vaguely in a direction when asked where in the neighborhood she lived with her partner, a television writer.

The personal details she was willing to part with were these: Ms. Bennett grew up in the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles and attended the private school Oakwood. Her parents were divorced. She lived with her mother, a therapist who moved to Hawaii when she was in college. Her father, a prominent music manager, lived in Nashville for most of her life. She wears his birth year, 1950, on a silver ring.

Ms. Bennett came out when she was a teenager, she said, in the comments section of the Australian pop star Troye Sivan’s coming-out YouTube video — an anecdote she later shared with Mr. Sivan while they were seated next to each other at a Prada runway show.

She had always wanted to be a writer. “At the time, ‘Twilight’ was huge,” Ms. Bennett said. “I was like, I’m going to write the gay ‘Twilight.’”

But she was also drawn from a young age to the power of magazine covers — not only Ms. Anderson on Playboy, but also Cory Kennedy on Nylon and Megan Fox on GQ. “What does it mean for a men’s magazine to have someone like Megan Fox on the cover?” she said.

A onetime ballerina, Ms. Bennett attended Sarah Lawrence College on a dance scholarship. When she told her adviser she wanted to write for magazines, the adviser suggested she write her thesis about the future of the industry. Instead Ms. Bennett pitched embedding in a middle school for four weeks, writing “about what teens are reading and how they’re reading it,” she said. The project helped her land a job after graduation at Seventeen.

“She really is a voice of and a champion of what young people care about,” Mr. Welch, the GQ editor, said. “And what young people care about isn’t exclusively, necessarily, all young subjects.”

Ms. Bennett, for example, doesn’t seem to hang out at bars or restaurants catering to the city’s cool 20-somethings. She spends her time at established fashion and media haunts, like Via Carota or Minetta Tavern or the Odeon. One recent Thursday night, walking into the Odeon in TriBeCa, she immediately recognized a few young editors sitting at a table outside the restaurant.

She used to work with them at GQ, she explained, bouncing over to the table to say hello. “They said they all work at Vogue now,” Ms. Bennett reported when she returned.

‘Larger Than Life’

By the end of 2005, Mr. Fischer was fielding brand requests to advertise on his sneaker blog. By 2010, those advertisements had shifted to sponsored content — or brands paying Highsnobiety to write positive pieces.

Over time, Mr. Fischer said, he realized branded stories “performed best if we shot our own imagery, too,” rather than republishing photos from the companies. This is how Highsnobiety gradually became “more like a full service creative agency, rather than just being a publisher.” Brands began asking Highsnobiety to host events, like pop-ups or parties related to the content Mr. Fischer’s team was producing.

“We always kept it very connected to our editorial,” he said.

Many companies that produce journalism have strict church-and-state divisions between editorial and advertising efforts. The division at Highsnobiety is more like “God and church,” said Nichelle Sanders, the general manager of Highsnobiety in the United States.

The journalism “inspires us in the commercial efforts that we create,” said Ms. Sanders, who also oversees Highsnobiety’s research papers of consumer insights into its audience. “The reason our clients come to us is because we can get into the brain of this amazing editorial team.”

Those clients include Champion, best known for its sweatsuits, when it’s looking to reach cooler, younger shoppers. Voilà, suddenly Champion and Highsnobiety are hosting a rave together during London Fashion Week, partnering with an edgy local radio station. (Highsnobiety once collaborated on a T-shirt with The New York Times, one of many products created for an event series celebrating New York.)

Mr. Fischer does not worry about his audience being skeptical of these paid partnerships.

“I think people have accepted that brands like Highsnobiety and influencers need to make a living,” he said. While it is an open secret in fashion media that some magazine covers and features can be bought outright by advertisers, with no disclosure to readers, Highsnobiety denies engaging in that kind of pay-for-play.

“They can go through the sales side, and they can buy branded content,” Ms. Bennett said. “They cannot buy a magazine cover.”

Although the company declined to provide specific financial figures, it is profitable, according to Juergen Hopfgartner, the president and chief operating officer. Its e-commerce business is also growing, aided by the resources of Zalando, an online German retailer that paid 123.6 million euros (about $131 million) to acquire Highsnobiety in 2022. In February, Highsnobiety opened a store in Berlin that, beyond selling products, will be used as a “brand activation space” for clients, Mr. Hopfgartner said.

All things considered, it is not surprising that Mr. Fischer described his company as a “weird mishmash of these different worlds.”

Lauren Sherman, the writer of the fashion industry newsletter Line Sheet, said that Highsnobiety “doesn’t feel like it comes from journalism.”

“It feels like it comes from commerce,” she continued. “But that’s very modern.”

And that may be what is required to find success in the dire publishing landscape of 2024. But a distinct, assertive voice also helps.

In less than two years, in addition to winning the National Magazine Award, Ms. Bennett has shifted Highsnobiety’s audience from predominantly male to a 50-50 gender split, Mr. Fischer said. At GQ, Mr. Welch said, Ms. Bennett possessed a rare confidence and fearlessness, particularly for someone who was both very young and technically in charge only of the social feeds.

“She has a bit of that larger-than-life thing that a lot of the leaders in this industry are missing now,” Ms. Sherman said.

In her slouchy suits, Ms. Bennett somewhat reminds Ms. Sherman of the editors with big personalities that she grew up idolizing, like Liz Tilberis of Harper’s Bazaar or Jane Pratt of Jane.

“People who are like that just don’t go into magazine publishing anymore,” Ms. Sherman said.

Jessica Testa is a Times reporter covering the worlds of style and fashion. More about Jessica Testa

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Bebe Rexha, Tems & Justin Bieber, The Rose, Reneé Rapp & Kesha, Plus More: Best Moments of Coachella 2024 Day 3

Day 3 of Coachella 2024 was all about the surprise guest. Find our highlights from J Balvin, DJ Snake, Doja Cat, Victoria Monet, 88Rising, Lil Yachty & more.

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Who wants a Sunday surprise?

Day 3 of Coachella 2024 was all about the surprise guest. Honestly, an entirely new, parallel Coachella lineup could be constructed out of the unannounced artists who popped up on stages across the Empire Polo Club grounds on Sunday (April 15).

5 Best Moments From Doja Cat's Proudly Strange Coachella 2024 Headlining Set

The night’s headliner alone brought out three guests, with Doja Cat enlisting A$AP Rocky, 21 Savage and Teezo Touchdown for her festival-wrapping set. Then we had Reneé Rapp inviting Kesha to duet on “Tik Tok”; Tems drawing both Wizkid and Justin Bieber out for their “Essence” remix; and J Balvin getting Will Smith back in his Men in Black suit for an otherworldly cameo (more on all three of those major moments below).

In her debut at the festival, Bebe Rexha invited Coachella vet David Guetta to join her for their dance smash “I’m Good (Blue),” DJ Snake invited out both Robin S. and Peso Pluma, and Lil Yachty called on Mac DeMarco (oh, we’ve got all those covered below too).

A few other special guests from Sunday: YG Marley brought out his mother, Lauryn Hill, to perform a series of solo and Fugees hits with her, and they teamed up on a couple of songs by his late grandfather, Bob Marley, as well. (Oh yeah, and Busta Rhymes popped up with YG too, for “Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See” and his feature on Chris Brown’s “Look at Me Now.”) And if that isn’t enough, Katy Perry was there too! She joined her best friend Mia Moretti for her DJ set on the DoLab Stage.

So much happened beyond all those well-planned surprises though. Below, find Billboard ‘s best moments from the third and final day of Coachella 2024 weekend one.

Bebe Rexha Gets Her Coachella Moment

“I always thought I wasn’t cool enough for Coachella,” Bebe Rexha told the crowd in the middle of her debut performance at the festival. But whatever she may have thought, her evening mainstage show proved that she deserved to be there as much as anyone else, with Rexha — who wore a tight black bodsuit and boots — sounding and looking like every bit the big stage pop star.

The setlist included her 2019 Chainsmokers collab “Call You Mine” and her 2017 Florida Georgia Line hit “Meant to Be,” and the show found Rexha dancing hard and in one moment grinding on the floor in a sequence she herself referred to as an “onstage orgy.” But for all the sex appeal, there was also a level of heart-on-her sleeve authenticity, as Rexha told stories about continuing on after getting dropped from her label (“I said, ‘You know what? F— this. I’m going to write the songs, and when I sell the songs I’m going to say, “You’ve gotta keep me on it”‘”) and dealing with haters by understanding that hate “is just confused love.” (It was also endearing when, after gazing deeply into the camera, she then cracked a wide smile and stuck out her tongue.) Rexha closed the show by bringing out David Guetta to perform the pair’s massive 2023 dance hit “I’m Good (Blue),” closing the show by turning it into a full-on EDM dance party that, based on all the cheering and dancing, everyone seemed to think was indeed pretty cool. — Katie Bain

Tems Brings Out Justin Bieber & Wizkid for ‘Essence’ Surprise

Tems had a striking debut Coachella set in the Mojave tent, backed by a gorgeous outdoor setting on the stage that perfectly matched her warm, powerful voice. She live-debuted an unreleased song from her upcoming debut album, teaching the audience the “love me jeje, love me tender” chorus so they could sing along like it was already a hit. And then she treated the crowd to “Essence,” with Wizkid joining her onstage to perform the 2021 Hot 100 top 10 smash. But that was only the beginning of the surprise: Their remix collaborator Justin Bieber then popped onstage as well and completely shattered the decibel levels in the tent. Tems tried to prepare us when she tweeted earlier in the day: “Coachella! I’m too exciteddd I have a surprise tonight.” — Katie Atkinson

J Balvin Brings Out a Man in Black

J Balvin ‘s heavy use of sci-fi imagery during his performance on the main stage — including two massive flying saucers and an animatronic Grey Alien head that swiveled eerily back and forth in the center of the stage — proved the perfect setup for the night’s big special guest: Will Smith , who hit the stage for a brief rendition of “Men in Black” (in full suit-and-sunglasses regalia from the film) as Balvin bounced and slid and made his neck work in choreographed tandem with the Oscar-winning movie star. Elsewhere during his set, the Colombian superstar gamely performed such hits as “Mi Gente,” “Con Altura,” “Ginza” and his Cardi B collab “I Like It Like That” — joined throughout by collaborators Jowell & Randy and De La Ghetto . — Chris Eggertsen

Reneé Rapp Duets With Kesha on ‘Tik Tok’

Reneé Rapp drew a huge, enthusiastic crowd to the Outdoor Stage on Sunday for her debut Coachella set (or “baby’s first ‘Chella,” as she called it), and it all kicked off with an intro from The L Word stars Jennifer Beals, Leisha Hailey and Kate Moennig and creator Ilene Chaiken. “You’ve gotta say what every lesbian wants to hear,” Moennig said, before yelling to wild cheers: “Who’s ready for a f—ing Reneé Rapp concert?” Rapp kicked off the 14-song set with the Snow Angel single “Talk Too Much” and wrapped with the title track from her 2023 debut album. While she went it alone for the bulk of the set, she did have two special guests: her girlfriend Towa Bird, who played guitar on “Tummy Hurts,” and a surprise appearance from Kesha to duet on her 2009 Hot 100 nine-week No. 1 “Tik Tok.” In response to a series of sexual misconduct allegations against Diddy , the pair did a little surgery on the song’s opening line, changing it to: “Wake up in the morning like ‘F— P. Diddy.’” — K.A.

DJ Snake Shows Us Love

“Are you ready for this iconic f—ing moment?” DJ Snake asked the Sahara Tent crowd about 15 minutes into his set, then hitting play on “Show Me Love” and welcoming the song’s power-lunged vocalist, Robin S., onto the stage. As it turned out, we were all definitely ready, with the crowd dancing and singing along at full volume. The French producer then kept the show going with some very grimy bass and equally aggressive sounds before bringing out Peso Plumo to debut on the pair’s forthcoming “Teka,” a woozy, infectious dance track. — K.B

The Rose Recall Their Much Tinier Early Crowds

Another first-time Coachella performer was four-piece South Korean pop-rock group The Rose, who marveled at the size of the crowd they drew to the Outdoor Stage by recalling their early days as a band. “We have been together as The Rose for seven years now,” Woosung said. “When we first started, we started in a very small place in Seoul called Hongdae. That’s where we used to busk and street-perform and do little club gigs here and there. And our very first show as The Rose, we had about 20 people show up, and half of them were our friends. But look at all you motherf—ers now!” The size of the crowd was especially clear when they performed “Back to Me,” a top 10 hit on Billboard ’s Alternative Digital Song Sales chart last year. As the lyrics to the catchy chorus scrolled across the screen, the crowd took over, shouting every word. — K.A.

Victoria Monet Encourages Fans to Exercise Their Right to Smoke

Just before Monet busted out a performance of the JAGUAR II track “Smoke” during her solid, sex-positive set in the Mojave tent, the red-lingerie-clad rising star — who also performed renditions of songs such as “Jaguar,” “Moment,” “Coastin'” and “Ass Like That” — coaxed the crowd to “hotbox” the performance space, in her words, “’cause it’s legal.” A considerable number of Monet’s fans apparently didn’t need to be told twice, as within seconds, pot smoke emanated from various sections of the audience before coalescing into a massive single cloud that hovered above the crowd. Let’s just say that by the time Monet launched into her breakthrough hit “On My Mama” at the end of the set, the Mojave tent was vibing . But in truth, no cannabis was needed; Monet had the crowd entranced from the get-go. — Chris Eggertsen

Jhene Aiko Gets Real

Jhene Aiko put on a dreamy, self-assured show at the outdoor stage on Saturday evening — think crystals, sound baths and even a brief pseudo-guided meditation from the singer herself. Like her music, the performance felt grounded and ethereal all at once, with Aiko seemingly floating across the stage in a multi-layered, snakeskin-like dress while delivering effortless performances of songs like “While We’re Young,” “Sativa” and “The Worst.” Just like Aiko’s set on Saturday, her songs tend to spin a gossamer mood while also delivering lyrical truth bombs (“Please don’t take this personal/But you ain’t s—/And you weren’t special/’Til I made you so”).

Though she hosted such impressive special guests as Big Sean , Tyga , Saweetie (“My Type”) and Omarion during the roughly hour and 15-minute set, it was Aiko’s emotional speech near the end of the performance that proved to be the most memorable part of the show. Reflecting on her debut performance at Coachella in 2014, the singer got real (and occasionally choked up) when she related that at the time, “I had a lot going on, my brother had passed two years before, my daughter was five — and I’m not gonna lie, I was high and drunk out of my mind, I was like blackout high and drunk. I had a good time, but it was probably not my best moment.”

She continued, “I just want to thank god for giving me a second chance to come back tonight and give you guys a sober performance. I hope it’s a little better than 10 years ago. I’ve learned a lot since then. I’ve realized that you have to allow yourself to feel your emotions in order to heal. I’ve also learned that your reality is your choice. Everything that we see in our waking life is just a projection of our state of mind and what we imagine, what we think. I’ve learned that everyone is going through something and is just another version of me. We are all each other’s reflection.”

It was a moment of emotional honesty rare for a festival set, and the tears they did flow — both from Aiko and her fans, many of whom clearly felt the weight of her words. – Chris Eggertsen

All Aboard for the Lil Yachty Set

Leave it to Lil Yachty to bring a not-so-lil boat to Coachella. When the rapper hit the Mojave Tent late Sunday night, his stage had a massive red boat as its centerpiece, with his nickname “Lil Boat” written on the side. He even played the first few songs perched on the boat’s bow, which made for some very cool big-screen shots when he was filmed from behind and the sea of fans in front of him looked like a literal body of water. During the 20-song set — which toggled between the experimental sound of his most recent album, last year’s Let’s Start Here , and his more straightforward hip-hop work — Yachty brought out his Concrete Boys collective to join him aboard the Lil Boat, as well as Justine Skye and Mac DeMarco. — K.A.

Jackson Wang & BIBI’s Surprise New Song During 88Rising Set

The lineup for the 88Rising Futures showcase in the Mojave Tent was already stacked going into Day 3, including Japan’s YOASOBI and Atarashii Gakko! (both of whom also had their own solo sets this weekend) and Korea’s Tiger JK and Yoonmirae. But the music and media company found room for a few surprises too, with 88rising artists Jackson Wang and BIBI showing up unannounced to perform the romantic unreleased duet “Feeling Lucky.” The pair had palpable chemistry as they held hands and got closer and closer toward the end of the song. Wang also came out for the Coachella debut of Japanese boy band Number_i to perform their song “GOAT.” – K.A.

Carin Leon Honors a Late Legend & Spotlights a Contemporary

Near the end of his 50-minute set, the Mexican singer-songwriter, performing at Coachella for the first time, broke out a cover of Selena Quintanilla ‘s “Si Una Vez” in honor of the late singer, who helped set the template for Latin acts in the 21st century. At another point during the set, he brought out Venezuelan Latin pop brother duo (and fellow Coachella newbies) Mau y Ricky for a performance of the song “Llorar y Llorar” — effectively sharing his moment in the spotlight with both a contemporary and a predecessor who arguably helped set the groundwork for Leon’s moment to happen in the first place. – Chris Eggertsen

Doja Cat Keeps It Weird

With her main-stage performance (which made Doja Cat the second Black woman to ever headline Coachella), the rapper squashed debate about whether she was a big enough star to headline the fest — not by pandering to its audience, but just by embracing her signature strangeness. Think playful wigs, a mud pit, a fake Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton, dancing yetis and other elements presented with total dedication to the bit.

Read the full Doja Cat review here.

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Shooter Files by f.d. walker

Street Photography Tips, Interaction, Travel, Guides

Apr 24 2017

City Street Guides by f.d. walker: A Street Photography Guide to Moscow, Russia

*A series of guides on shooting Street Photography in cities around the world. Find the best spots to shoot, things to capture, street walks, street tips, safety concerns, and more for cities around the world. I have personally researched, explored and shot Street Photography in every city that I create a guide for. So you can be ready to capture the streets as soon as you step outside with your camera!

At over 12 million people, Moscow is the largest city in Russia and second largest in Europe by population ( Istanbul is #1). An urban, cosmopolitan metropolis with more than enough glitz and glam to cater to the elite, but without losing its fair share of Soviet era roughness around the edges. It can be fast paced, brash, busy, and trendy like other big cities, but it has its blend of West meets Russia atmosphere and beauty that provides plenty of unique interest. The Red Square is as famous as it gets, but there’s so much more to this city, including the most beautiful subway system you’ve ever seen. It would take years to capture all of Moscow, but that means you have an endless amount of areas to discover.

So here’s a Street Photography guide so you can be ready to capture all that Moscow has to offer before you even arrive!

• Patriarch’s Pond
• Old Arbat Street
• Maroseyka Street
• Tverskoy Boulevard

Top 5 Street Spots:

1. red square.

The Red Square is the most famous square in not just Russia, but all of Eastern Europe. The name actually doesn’t come from the color of the bricks or communism, but from the name in Russian, Krásnaya, once meaning “beautiful” before its meaning changed to “red.” This large plaza is what you see on the cover of guide books and magazines for Moscow, with St. Basil’s Cathedral being the center piece next to Lenin’s Mausoleum surrounded by the Kremlin Wall. Of course, the Red Square attracts hordes of tourist due to the main attractions, but all that activity around an interesting atmosphere does provide street photo opportunities. It’s also the central square connecting to the city’s major streets, providing a good starting point to explore outward.

You’ll also find the popular pedestrian only Nikolskaya Street connecting the Red Square to Lubyanka Square. This line of expensive shops includes plenty of activity, while also leading you to another popular square. Filled with history rivaling any city, the Red Square and surrounding areas are the heart and soul of Russia.

2. Patriarch’s Ponds

Patriarch’s Ponds is one of the most exclusive neighborhoods in Moscow. Despite the name being plural, there’s only one large pond, but it’s worth a visit with your camera. It’s a popular spot for locals and expats to come relax or take a stroll around the pond. You get an interesting mix of young and old too, from young love to “babushkas” feeding pigeons. It’s a very peaceful park atmosphere in one of the nicer areas within the city center, while bringing enough activity for street photography. 

The pond is shallow and in the winter becomes a popular spot for ice-skating too. The area is also well-known for the location in the famous Russian novel, The Master and Margarita. 

3. Old Arbat (Stary Arbat)

Old Arbat is the most famous pedestrian street in Moscow, and dating back to the 15th century, also one of its oldest. Originally, it was an area of trade, but soon became the most prestigious residential area in Moscow. During the 18th century, Arbat started attracting the city’s scholars and artists, including Alexander Pushkin. Cafes lined the streets and impressive homes filled the neighborhood. Since then, New Arbat street was created as a highway in the area, while Old Arbat was paved for a 1km pedestrian only walkway.

Due to the historic buildings, famous artists that lived here, and the bohemian atmosphere, Old Arbat has become a big attraction for tourists today. Now, there’s a mix of cafes, restaurants, souvenir shops, street performers, street merchants and other attractions for visitors, and some locals, to come enjoy. It can get really busy here and there’s usually something interesting going on so it’s a good street to come walk with your camera for guaranteed life.

4. Gorky Park

One of the most famous places in Moscow is Gorky Park. The official name is Maxim Gorky’s Central Park of Culture & Leisure, which gives you an idea of what goes on here. When built, it was the first of its kind in the Soviet Union. Divided into two parts, it stretches along Moscow River. One end contains fair rides, foods stands, tennis courts, a sports club, a lake for boat rides, and more. This end brings more active life due to its number of attractions, while the other end is more relaxed, where you’ll find gardens, trees, older buildings, and an outdoor amphitheater.

Gorky Park attracts mostly locals so it’s a good spot to capture the non-tourist side of Moscow life. Muscovites come here to escape the city and unwind in a picturesque setting. The park remains alive outside of the warmer months too, especially when the lake turns into the city’s largest outdoor skating rink. I’d recommend taking the metro out here to spend at least half a day exploring the massive park’s life with your camera.

5. Maroseyka Street

Maroseyka Street is a popular area not too far from the Red Square. The long, winding street turns into Pokrovka and is lined with restaurants, cafes, bars and places to stay. It’s actually where I like to stay when I’m in Moscow due to its location and solid street photography opportunities itself. You have Kitay-gorod station near and if you keep walking southwest, you’ll get to the Red Square. But if you walk northwest, as it changes to Pokrovka, you can find a long street of activity for photography with its own interesting atmosphere.

6. Tverskoy Boulevard

Tverskoy Boulevard is the oldest and longest boulevard in Moscow, beginning at the end of Nikitsky Boulevard, and finishing at Pushkin Square, a spot to come for activity itself. The boulevard is made up of two avenues, with pedestrian walkways in-between. You’ll find grass, shrubbery, trees, benches and more walking it’s almost kilometer length. Many people come here to enjoy some relaxation, walk their dog, or just to use it to walk wherever they’re going. Its center location also provides a nice place to walk with your camera near plenty of other spots you’ll want to check out anyway.

Sample Street Walk:

For a full day of Street Photography, covering some of the best spots, you can follow this sample street walk for Moscow:

• Start your morning walking around the Red Square (1), while exploring the surrounding area, including Nikolskaya Street
• Then walk northwest to Patriarch’s Ponds (2) and slowly walk the pond and surrounding area with your camera
• Next, walk east to the Pushkin Monument and stroll down Tverskoy Boulevard (6)
• Once Tverskoy Boulevard (6) ends, it will turn into Nikitsky Boulevard. Follow this down until you get to the start of Old Arbat Street (3), across from Arbatskaya station
• After you’re done walking down Old Arbat Street (3) for more street photography, spend some time checking out Moscow’s beautiful metro stations
• To finish off the day with more street photography, get off the metro near Red Square (1) again, Maroseyka Street (5) or wherever you’re staying for the night.

3 Things I’ll Remember about Shooting in Moscow:

1. museum metro.

The Moscow metro system was the first underground railway system in the Soviet Union and today includes 203 stations across 340km of routes. The elaborate system has some of the deepest stations in the world too, with escalators that seem to go on forever. None of this is what makes it so special, though. Many of its stations feel like stepping inside a museum, making it without a doubt the most interesting and beautiful metro system I’ve been in.

When built, Stalin wanted to make the metro stations “palaces for the people” with marble, chandeliers, and grand architecture. The best part is the variety of architecture and styles used, making many of the stations a completely different experience visually. You could easily spend a whole day traveling the stations and there are even tours available for people who wish to do just that. My advice, though, would be just to buy a ticket and hop on and off at different stations, while exploring different lines. The museum-like surrounding mixed with the crowds of characters can make for a great photography experience.

Since there are so many stations, here are some of my favorites to check out:

• Novoslobodskaya
• Mayakovskaya
• Elektrozavodskaya
• Komsomolskaya
• Ploschad Revolyutsii
• Dostoyevskaya
• Prospekt Mira

2. Moscow is Big

It’s no secret that Moscow is a big city, but it can feel even bigger with how spread out much of it is. This is especially true if you compare it to cities outside of Asia. If I compared it to cities in Europe, I’d probably say only Istanbul would warrant more time to really discover the depths of this city. Most only explore around the Red Square and surrounding area, but that is such a small part of the city. Although, that central area does give you plenty to see on its own.

Fortunately, I had a good friend living in the city to show me around, but it opened up my eyes even more to how much there is to discover in Moscow. It’s a big city with a variety of atmosphere that can take you from “east” to “west” and trendy to rugged depending on where you go. I’d imagine you’d have to live here a while to really know the city.

3. Cosmopolitan Mix of East meets West

Modern skyscrapers mixed with amazing architecture, a world-class metro system with museum-like beauty, trendy fashion and chic clubs, Moscow is a rich mix of Russian culture and history in a more western cosmopolitan package. There is a push to keep the Russian culture, while also pushing forward with a modern metropolis the whole world will envy. This comes with an impressive skyline, that continues to grow, and endless modernities, but with soviet nostalgia and atmosphere mixed in for good measure.

Mixed in with this grand western cosmopolitan atmosphere, is a strong national pride in Russia. This includes their famous leader, Vladimir Putin. Maybe no other place will you see a country’s leader more often. All over, from the pricey tourist shops to the underground walkway stalls, you’ll find goods with Putin’s likeness covering them. From t-shirts to magnets to Matryoshka dolls. There’s a strong national pride that can be seen around the city, which also extends to their leader. Moscow is many things. It’s East meets West, modernizations meets Soviet era, and a whole lot more.

What To Do For a Street Photography Break?:

Eat at a stolovaya.

Stolovayas are Russian cafeterias that became popular in the Soviet days. You grab a tray and walk down the line of freshly prepared local dishes, and select whatever you want from the chefs. They’re usually inexpensive and a much better value than restaurants, while giving you the opportunity to try from a wide selection of everyday Russian food. They’re also very tasty. I always include some borsch on my tray and go from there. The places themselves are all over Moscow and usually come with Soviet-era aesthetics to complete the experience.

Street Safety Score: 7

*As always, no place is completely safe! So when I talk about safety, I’m speaking in general comparison to other places. Always take precaution, be smart, observe your surroundings and trust your instincts anywhere you go!

Being the 2nd largest city in Europe with over 12 million people, you’re going to have your dangerous areas, but for the most part, it feels safe walking around. Russia is statistically higher in crime compared to most of Europe, but this generally doesn’t apply to tourists and visitors. Around the Red Square and surrounding city center, you should feel completely safe walking around. Pick pocketing can happen, but no more than other touristic places. I always explore Moscow freely without coming across too much to worry about. It’s a spread out city, though, so of course it matters where you are. Just use basic street smarts, know where you are and Moscow shouldn’t give you a problem. 

People’s Reaction Score: 7

Moscow is fast paced, big city life, which usually means people aren’t too concerned with you, or your camera. I don’t find people notice or pay much attention to me when I’m out taking photos in Moscow. For the most part, people just go about their day. You shouldn’t get too many looks or concern. But it can depend on the area you are in. The more you stick out, the more you might get noticed with suspicions. I’ve never had any problems in Moscow, or Russia, but just be careful who you’re taking a photo of if you get out of the city center. Other than that, it’s about average for reactions. 

Street Tips:

Learn the alphabet .

Much of Moscow, including the metro system, doesn’t use english. The Russian alphabet uses letters from the Cyrillic script, which if you aren’t familiar with it and don’t know the sounds, can be hard to decipher the words. This is most important for street names and metro stops when trying to get around. It can save confusion and make it easier getting around if you learn the basic alphabet. At the very least then, you can sound out the words to see which are similar in the english conversion, which can help matching them to maps. When out shooting street photography, getting around is as important as anything. So save yourself some time and frustration by learning the Russian Alphabet.

Use the metro

While Saint-Petersburg feels very walkable for a city its size, Moscow can feel very spread out, even for its bigger size. Outside of the Red Square area, you can have plenty of walking before getting anywhere very interesting, so you’ll need to take the metro a lot if you really want to explore the city. Maps are deceiving here too, it will always be further than it looks.

Another reason it’s less walkable than Saint-Petersburg is its completely different set-up. Moscow’s streets are mostly contstructed in rings with narrow, winding streets in-between. This is common with medieval city cities that used to be confined by walls, but you usually don’t have it in a city this massive. Saint-Petersburg has a more grid-like pattern that also uses the canals to help you know your way around. When it comes to navigating on foot in Moscow, it can be more difficult, so bring a map and take the metro when needed. It’s why Moscow’s metro carries more passengers per day than the London and Paris subways combined.

Explore other areas if you have time

Moscow is really big. While most people stay around the Red Square within the Boulevard Ring, there’s so much more to the city. I covered some other spots outside of this circle, but if you really want to see the city, you’ll need time. If you do have time, some other areas I’d check out first are Zamoskvarechye, along some of the south and western Moscow.

Inspiration:

For some more inspiration, you can look through the Street Photography of Moscow photographer Artem Zhitenev  and check out 33 of my photos taken in Moscow .

Conclusion:

Moscow’s name brings a certain mystique, but once you’re there it might bring a different atmosphere than you expect. It’s big and sprawling, but beautiful in many ways. It can feel like a European capital on a grand scale, but you can definitely find its Russian side in there.

The urban sprawl of Moscow can be intimidating, but give it enough time and you’ll be rewarded with plenty to discover. All with the world’s best metro system to take you around.

I hope this guide can help you start to experience some of what Moscow contains. So grab your camera and capture all that Moscow has to offer for Street Photography!

If you still have any questions about shooting in Moscow, feel free to comment below or email me!

(I want to make these guides as valuable as possible for all of you so add any ideas on improvements, including addition requests, in the comment section!)

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The Comprehensive Guide to Moscow Nightlife

• Posted on April 14, 2018 July 26, 2018
• by Kings of Russia
• 8 minute read

Moscow’s nightlife scene is thriving, and arguably one of the best the world has to offer – top-notch Russian women, coupled with a never-ending list of venues, Moscow has a little bit of something for everyone’s taste. Moscow nightlife is not for the faint of heart – and if you’re coming, you better be ready to go Friday and Saturday night into the early morning.

This comprehensive guide to Moscow nightlife will run you through the nuts and bolts of all you need to know about Moscow’s nightclubs and give you a solid blueprint to operate with during your time in Moscow.

What you need to know before hitting Moscow nightclubs

Prices in moscow nightlife.

Before you head out and start gaming all the sexy Moscow girls , we have to talk money first. Bring plenty because in Moscow you can never bring a big enough bankroll. Remember, you’re the man so making a fuzz of not paying a drink here or there will not go down well.

Luckily most Moscow clubs don’t do cover fees. Some electro clubs will charge 15-20$, depending on their lineup. There’s the odd club with a minimum spend of 20-30$, which you’ll drop on drinks easily. By and large, you can scope out the venues for free, which is a big plus.

Bottle service is a great deal in Moscow. At top-tier clubs, it starts at 1,000$. That’ll go a long way with premium vodka at 250$, especially if you have three or four guys chipping in. Not to mention that it’s a massive status boost for getting girls, especially at high-end clubs.

Without bottle service, you should estimate a budget of 100-150$ per night. That is if you drink a lot and hit the top clubs with the hottest girls. Scale down for less alcohol and more basic places.

Dress code & Face control

Door policy in Moscow is called “face control” and it’s always the guy behind the two gorillas that gives the green light if you’re in or out.

In Moscow nightlife there’s only one rule when it comes to dress codes:

You can never be underdressed.

People dress A LOT sharper than, say, in the US and that goes for both sexes. For high-end clubs, you definitely want to roll with a sharp blazer and a pocket square, not to mention dress shoes in tip-top condition. Those are the minimum requirements to level the playing field vis a vis with other sharply dressed guys that have a lot more money than you do. Unless you plan to hit explicit electro or underground clubs, which have their own dress code, you are always on the money with that style.

Getting in a Moscow club isn’t as hard as it seems: dress sharp, speak English at the door and look like you’re in the mood to spend all that money that you supposedly have (even if you don’t). That will open almost any door in Moscow’s nightlife for you.

Types of Moscow Nightclubs

In Moscow there are four types of clubs with the accompanying female clientele:

High-end clubs:

These are often crossovers between restaurants and clubs with lots of tables and very little space to dance. Heavy accent on bottle service most of the time but you can work the room from the bar as well. The hottest and most expensive girls in Moscow go there. Bring deep pockets and lots of self-confidence and you have a shot at swooping them.

Regular Mid-level clubs:

They probably resemble more what you’re used to in a nightclub: big dancefloors, stages and more space to roam around. Bottle service will make you stand out more but you can also do well without. You can find all types of girls but most will be in the 6-8 range. Your targets should always be the girls drinking and ideally in pairs. It’s impossible not to swoop if your game is at least half-decent.

Basic clubs/dive bars:

Usually spots with very cheap booze and lax face control. If you’re dressed too sharp and speak no Russian, you might attract the wrong type of attention so be vigilant. If you know the local scene you can swoop 6s and 7s almost at will. Usually students and girls from the suburbs.

Electro/underground clubs:

Home of the hipsters and creatives. Parties there don’t mean meeting girls and getting drunk but doing pills and spacing out to the music. Lots of attractive hipster girls if that is your niche. That is its own scene with a different dress code as well.

What time to go out in Moscow

Moscow nightlife starts late. Don’t show up at bars and preparty spots before 11pm because you’ll feel fairly alone. Peak time is between 1am and 3am. That is also the time of Moscow nightlife’s biggest nuisance: concerts by artists you won’t know and who only distract your girls from drinking and being gamed. From 4am to 6am the regular clubs are emptying out but plenty of people, women included, still hit up one of the many afterparty clubs. Those last till well past 10am.

As far as days go: Fridays and Saturdays are peak days. Thursday is an OK day, all other days are fairly weak and you have to know the right venues.

The Ultimate Moscow Nightclub List

Short disclaimer: I didn’t add basic and electro clubs since you’re coming for the girls, not for the music. This list will give you more options than you’ll be able to handle on a weekend.

Preparty – start here at 11PM

Classic restaurant club with lots of tables and a smallish bar and dancefloor. Come here between 11pm and 12am when the concert is over and they start with the actual party. Even early in the night tons of sexy women here, who lean slightly older (25 and up).

The second floor of the Ugolek restaurant is an extra bar with dim lights and house music tunes. Very small and cozy with a slight hipster vibe but generally draws plenty of attractive women too. A bit slower vibe than Valenok.

Very cool, spread-out venue that has a modern library theme. Not always full with people but when it is, it’s brimming with top-tier women. Slow vibe here and better for grabbing contacts and moving on.

High-end: err on the side of being too early rather than too late because of face control.

Secret Room

Probably the top venue at the moment in Moscow . Very small but wildly popular club, which is crammed with tables but always packed. They do parties on Thursdays and Sundays as well. This club has a hip-hop/high-end theme, meaning most girls are gold diggers, IG models, and tattooed hip hop chicks. Very unfavorable logistics because there is almost no room no move inside the club but the party vibe makes it worth it. Strict face control.

Close to Secret Room and with a much more favorable and spacious three-part layout. This place attracts very hot women but also lots of ball busters and fakes that will leave you blue-balled. Come early because after 4am it starts getting empty fast. Electronic music.

A slightly kitsch restaurant club that plays Russian pop and is full of gold diggers, semi-pros, and men from the Caucasus republics. Thursday is the strongest night but that dynamic might be changing since Secret Room opened its doors. You can swoop here but it will be a struggle.

Mid-level: your sweet spot in terms of ease and attractiveness of girls for an average budget.

Started going downwards in 2018 due to lax face control and this might get even worse with the World Cup. In terms of layout one of the best Moscow nightclubs because it’s very big and bottle service gives you a good edge here. Still attracts lots of cute girls with loose morals but plenty of provincial girls (and guys) as well. Swooping is fairly easy here.

I haven’t been at this place in over a year, ever since it started becoming ground zero for drunken teenagers. Similar clientele to Icon but less chic, younger and drunker. Decent mainstream music that attracts plenty of tourists. Girls are easy here as well.

Sort of a Coyote Ugly (the real one in Moscow sucks) with party music and lots of drunken people licking each others’ faces. Very entertaining with the right amount of alcohol and very easy to pull in there. Don’t think about staying sober in here, you’ll hate it.

Artel Bessonitsa/Shakti Terrace

Electronic music club that is sort of a high-end place with an underground clientele and located between the teenager clubs Icon and Gipsy. Very good music but a bit all over the place with their vibe and their branding. You can swoop almost any type of girl here from high-heeled beauty to coked-up hipsters, provided they’re not too sober.

Afterparty: if by 5AM  you haven’t pulled, it’s time to move here.

Best afterparty spot in terms of trying to get girls. Pretty much no one is sober in there and savage gorilla game goes a long way. Lots of very hot and slutty-looking girls but it can be hard to tell apart who is looking for dick and who is just on drugs but not interested. If by 9-10am you haven’t pulled, it is probably better to surrender.

The hipster alternative for afterparties, where even more drugs are in play. Plenty of attractive girls there but you have to know how to work this type of club. A nicer atmosphere and better music but if you’re desperate to pull, you’ll probably go to Miks.

Weekday jokers: if you’re on the hunt for some sexy Russian girls during the week, here are two tips to make your life easier.

Chesterfield

Ladies night on Wednesdays means this place gets pretty packed with smashed teenagers and 6s and 7s. Don’t pull out the three-piece suit in here because it’s a “simpler” crowd. Definitely your best shot on Wednesdays.

If you haven’t pulled at Chesterfield, you can throw a Hail Mary and hit up Garage’s Black Music Wednesdays. Fills up really late but there are some cute Black Music groupies in here. Very small club. Thursday through Saturday they do afterparties and you have an excellent shot and swooping girls that are probably high.

Shishas Sferum

This is pretty much your only shot on Mondays and Tuesdays because they offer free or almost free drinks for women. A fairly low-class club where you should watch your drinks. As always the case in Moscow, there will be cute girls here on any day of the week but it’s nowhere near as good as on the weekend.

In a nutshell, that is all you need to know about where to meet Moscow girls in nightlife. There are tons of options, and it all depends on what best fits your style, based on the type of girls that you’re looking for.

Related Topics

• moscow girls
• moscow nightlife

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2018 Primetime Emmy & James Beard Award Winner

In Transit: Notes from the Underground

Jun 06 2018.

Spend some time in one of Moscow’s finest museums.

Subterranean commuting might not be anyone’s idea of a good time, but even in a city packing the war-games treasures and priceless bejeweled eggs of the Kremlin Armoury and the colossal Soviet pavilions of the VDNKh , the Metro holds up as one of Moscow’s finest museums. Just avoid rush hour.

The Metro is stunning and provides an unrivaled insight into the city’s psyche, past and present, but it also happens to be the best way to get around. Moscow has Uber, and the Russian version called Yandex Taxi , but also some nasty traffic. Metro trains come around every 90 seconds or so, at a more than 99 percent on-time rate. It’s also reasonably priced, with a single ride at 55 cents (and cheaper in bulk). From history to tickets to rules — official and not — here’s what you need to know to get started.

A Brief Introduction Buying Tickets Know Before You Go (Down) Rules An Easy Tour

A Brief Introduction

Moscow’s Metro was a long time coming. Plans for rapid transit to relieve the city’s beleaguered tram system date back to the Imperial era, but a couple of wars and a revolution held up its development. Stalin revived it as part of his grand plan to modernize the Soviet Union in the 1920s and 30s. The first lines and tunnels were constructed with help from engineers from the London Underground, although Stalin’s secret police decided that they had learned too much about Moscow’s layout and had them arrested on espionage charges and deported.

The beauty of its stations (if not its trains) is well-documented, and certainly no accident. In its illustrious first phases and particularly after the Second World War, the greatest architects of Soviet era were recruited to create gleaming temples celebrating the Revolution, the USSR, and the war triumph. No two stations are exactly alike, and each of the classic showpieces has a theme. There are world-famous shrines to Futurist architecture, a celebration of electricity, tributes to individuals and regions of the former Soviet Union. Each marble slab, mosaic tile, or light fixture was placed with intent, all in service to a station’s aesthetic; each element, f rom the smallest brass ear of corn to a large blood-spattered sword on a World War II mural, is an essential part of the whole.

The Metro is a monument to the Soviet propaganda project it was intended to be when it opened in 1935 with the slogan “Building a Palace for the People”. It brought the grand interiors of Imperial Russia to ordinary Muscovites, celebrated the Soviet Union’s past achievements while promising its citizens a bright Soviet future, and of course, it was a show-piece for the world to witness the might and sophistication of life in the Soviet Union.

It may be a museum, but it’s no relic. U p to nine million people use it daily, more than the London Underground and New York Subway combined. (Along with, at one time, about 20 stray dogs that learned to commute on the Metro.)

In its 80+ year history, the Metro has expanded in phases and fits and starts, in step with the fortunes of Moscow and Russia. Now, partly in preparation for the World Cup 2018, it’s also modernizing. New trains allow passengers to walk the entire length of the train without having to change carriages. The system is becoming more visitor-friendly. (There are helpful stickers on the floor marking out the best selfie spots .) But there’s a price to modernity: it’s phasing out one of its beloved institutions, the escalator attendants. Often they are middle-aged or elderly women—“ escalator grandmas ” in news accounts—who have held the post for decades, sitting in their tiny kiosks, scolding commuters for bad escalator etiquette or even bad posture, or telling jokes . They are slated to be replaced, when at all, by members of the escalator maintenance staff.

For all its achievements, the Metro lags behind Moscow’s above-ground growth, as Russia’s capital sprawls ever outwards, generating some of the world’s worst traffic jams . But since 2011, the Metro has been in the middle of an ambitious and long-overdue enlargement; 60 new stations are opening by 2020. If all goes to plan, the 2011-2020 period will have brought 125 miles of new tracks and over 100 new stations — a 40 percent increase — the fastest and largest expansion phase in any period in the Metro’s history.

Facts: 14 lines Opening hours: 5 a.m-1 a.m. Rush hour(s): 8-10 a.m, 4-8 p.m. Single ride: 55₽ (about 85 cents) Wi-Fi network-wide

Buying Tickets

• Ticket machines have a button to switch to English.
• You can buy specific numbers of rides: 1, 2, 5, 11, 20, or 60. Hold up fingers to show how many rides you want to buy.
• There is also a 90-minute ticket , which gets you 1 trip on the metro plus an unlimited number of transfers on other transport (bus, tram, etc) within 90 minutes.
• Or, you can buy day tickets with unlimited rides: one day (218₽/ US$4), three days (415₽/US$7) or seven days (830₽/US$15). Check the rates here to stay up-to-date.
• If you’re going to be using the Metro regularly over a few days, it’s worth getting a Troika card , a contactless, refillable card you can use on all public transport. Using the Metro is cheaper with one of these: a single ride is 36₽, not 55₽. Buy them and refill them in the Metro stations, and they’re valid for 5 years, so you can keep it for next time. Or, if you have a lot of cash left on it when you leave, you can get it refunded at the Metro Service Centers at Ulitsa 1905 Goda, 25 or at Staraya Basmannaya 20, Building 1.
• You can also buy silicone bracelets and keychains with built-in transport chips that you can use as a Troika card. (A Moscow Metro Fitbit!) So far, you can only get these at the Pushkinskaya metro station Live Helpdesk and souvenir shops in the Mayakovskaya and Trubnaya metro stations. The fare is the same as for the Troika card.
• You can also use Apple Pay and Samsung Pay.

Rules, spoken and unspoken

No smoking, no drinking, no filming, no littering. Photography is allowed, although it used to be banned.

Stand to the right on the escalator. Break this rule and you risk the wrath of the legendary escalator attendants. (No shenanigans on the escalators in general.)

Get out of the way. Find an empty corner to hide in when you get off a train and need to stare at your phone. Watch out getting out of the train in general; when your train doors open, people tend to appear from nowhere or from behind ornate marble columns, walking full-speed.

Always offer your seat to elderly ladies (what are you, a monster?).

An Easy Tour

This is no Metro Marathon ( 199 stations in 20 hours ). It’s an easy tour, taking in most—though not all—of the notable stations, the bulk of it going clockwise along the Circle line, with a couple of short detours. These stations are within minutes of one another, and the whole tour should take about 1-2 hours.

Start at Mayakovskaya Metro station , at the corner of Tverskaya and Garden Ring,  Triumfalnaya Square, Moskva, Russia, 125047.

1. Mayakovskaya.  Named for Russian Futurist Movement poet Vladimir Mayakovsky and an attempt to bring to life the future he imagined in his poems. (The Futurist Movement, natch, was all about a rejecting the past and celebrating all things speed, industry, modern machines, youth, modernity.) The result: an Art Deco masterpiece that won the National Grand Prix for architecture at the New York World’s Fair in 1939. It’s all smooth, rounded shine and light, and gentle arches supported by columns of dark pink marble and stainless aircraft steel. Each of its 34 ceiling niches has a mosaic. During World War II, the station was used as an air-raid shelter and, at one point, a bunker for Stalin. He gave a subdued but rousing speech here in Nov. 6, 1941 as the Nazis bombed the city above.

Take the 3/Green line one station to:

2. Belorusskaya. Opened in 1952, named after the connected Belarussky Rail Terminal, which runs trains between Moscow and Belarus. This is a light marble affair with a white, cake-like ceiling, lined with Belorussian patterns and 12 Florentine ceiling mosaics depicting life in Belarussia when it was built.

Transfer onto the 1/Brown line. Then, one stop (clockwise) t o:

3. Novoslobodskaya.  This station was designed around the stained-glass panels, which were made in Latvia, because Alexey Dushkin, the Soviet starchitect who dreamed it up (and also designed Mayakovskaya station) couldn’t find the glass and craft locally. The stained glass is the same used for Riga’s Cathedral, and the panels feature plants, flowers, members of the Soviet intelligentsia (musician, artist, architect) and geometric shapes.

Go two stops east on the 1/Circle line to:

4. Komsomolskaya. Named after the Komsomol, or the Young Communist League, this might just be peak Stalin Metro style. Underneath the hub for three regional railways, it was intended to be a grand gateway to Moscow and is today its busiest station. It has chandeliers; a yellow ceiling with Baroque embellishments; and in the main hall, a colossal red star overlaid on golden, shimmering tiles. Designer Alexey Shchusev designed it as an homage to the speech Stalin gave at Red Square on Nov. 7, 1941, in which he invoked Russia’s illustrious military leaders as a pep talk to Soviet soldiers through the first catastrophic year of the war.   The station’s eight large mosaics are of the leaders referenced in the speech, such as Alexander Nevsky, a 13th-century prince and military commander who bested German and Swedish invading armies.

One more stop clockwise to Kurskaya station,  and change onto the 3/Blue  line, and go one stop to:

5. Baumanskaya.   Opened in 1944. Named for the Bolshevik Revolutionary Nikolai Bauman , whose monument and namesake district are aboveground here. Though he seemed like a nasty piece of work (he apparently once publicly mocked a woman he had impregnated, who later hung herself), he became a Revolutionary martyr when he was killed in 1905 in a skirmish with a monarchist, who hit him on the head with part of a steel pipe. The station is in Art Deco style with atmospherically dim lighting, and a series of bronze sculptures of soldiers and homefront heroes during the War. At one end, there is a large mosaic portrait of Lenin.

Stay on that train direction one more east to:

6. Elektrozavodskaya. As you may have guessed from the name, this station is the Metro’s tribute to all thing electrical, built in 1944 and named after a nearby lightbulb factory. It has marble bas-relief sculptures of important figures in electrical engineering, and others illustrating the Soviet Union’s war-time struggles at home. The ceiling’s recurring rows of circular lamps give the station’s main tunnel a comforting glow, and a pleasing visual effect.

Double back two stops to Kurskaya station , and change back to the 1/Circle line. Sit tight for six stations to:

7. Kiyevskaya. This was the last station on the Circle line to be built, in 1954, completed under Nikita Khrushchev’ s guidance, as a tribute to his homeland, Ukraine. Its three large station halls feature images celebrating Ukraine’s contributions to the Soviet Union and Russo-Ukrainian unity, depicting musicians, textile-working, soldiers, farmers. (One hall has frescoes, one mosaics, and the third murals.) Shortly after it was completed, Khrushchev condemned the architectural excesses and unnecessary luxury of the Stalin era, which ushered in an epoch of more austere Metro stations. According to the legend at least, he timed the policy in part to ensure no Metro station built after could outshine Kiyevskaya.

Change to the 3/Blue line and go one stop west.

8. Park Pobedy. This is the deepest station on the Metro, with one of the world’s longest escalators, at 413 feet. If you stand still, the escalator ride to the surface takes about three minutes .) Opened in 2003 at Victory Park, the station celebrates two of Russia’s great military victories. Each end has a mural by Georgian artist Zurab Tsereteli, who also designed the “ Good Defeats Evil ” statue at the UN headquarters in New York. One mural depicts the Russian generals’ victory over the French in 1812 and the other, the German surrender of 1945. The latter is particularly striking; equal parts dramatic, triumphant, and gruesome. To the side, Red Army soldiers trample Nazi flags, and if you look closely there’s some blood spatter among the detail. Still, the biggest impressions here are the marble shine of the chessboard floor pattern and the pleasingly geometric effect if you view from one end to the other.

Keep going one more stop west to:

9. Slavyansky Bulvar.  One of the Metro’s youngest stations, it opened in 2008. With far higher ceilings than many other stations—which tend to have covered central tunnels on the platforms—it has an “open-air” feel (or as close to it as you can get, one hundred feet under). It’s an homage to French architect Hector Guimard, he of the Art Nouveau entrances for the Paris M é tro, and that’s precisely what this looks like: A Moscow homage to the Paris M é tro, with an additional forest theme. A Cyrillic twist on Guimard’s Metro-style lettering over the benches, furnished with t rees and branch motifs, including creeping vines as towering lamp-posts.

Stay on the 3/Blue line and double back four stations to:

10. Arbatskaya. Its first iteration, Arbatskaya-Smolenskaya station, was damaged by German bombs in 1941. It was rebuilt in 1953, and designed to double as a bomb shelter in the event of nuclear war, although unusually for stations built in the post-war phase, this one doesn’t have a war theme. It may also be one of the system’s most elegant: Baroque, but toned down a little, with red marble floors and white ceilings with gilded bronze c handeliers.

Jump back on the 3/Blue line  in the same direction and take it one more stop:

11. Ploshchad Revolyutsii (Revolution Square). Opened in 1938, and serving Red Square and the Kremlin . Its renowned central hall has marble columns flanked by 76 bronze statues of Soviet heroes: soldiers, students, farmers, athletes, writers, parents. Some of these statues’ appendages have a yellow sheen from decades of Moscow’s commuters rubbing them for good luck. Among the most popular for a superstitious walk-by rub: the snout of a frontier guard’s dog, a soldier’s gun (where the touch of millions of human hands have tapered the gun barrel into a fine, pointy blade), a baby’s foot, and a woman’s knee. (A brass rooster also sports the telltale gold sheen, though I am told that rubbing the rooster is thought to bring bad luck. )

Now take the escalator up, and get some fresh air.

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21 Things to Know Before You Go to Moscow

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