Sassy Tavi

By Kim Bellware in Arts & Entertainment on Nov 18, 2010 4:00PM

Over the past weekend news came through that Oak Park's resident fashion maven/wunderkind Tavi Gevinson would be teaming up with Jane and Sassy magazine founder Jane Pratt in what's planned to be Sassy for a new generation of readers (or as Gevinson deems it, "a magazine for an audience of wallflowerly teenage girls").

Gevinson, who runs her "Style Rookie" blog from her parents' Oak Park home, already has the attention of the New York Times and Vogue editors around the world, sits front row at Fashion Week and is feted by fashion houses like Comme des Garçons--all at the tender age of 13. Pratt, who founded the pre-Internet era Sassy at the age of 24 appears to have found a kindred spirit (or at least co-conspirator) in the teenage Gevinson, though both maintain that the new magazine will be an entity all its own rather than a spin off of their personal publications.

For those old enough to recall, Sassy was a bit of a ground breaker in its day, eschewing the "Am I Pretty?" and "How to Get a Boyfriend" territory favored by ladymag competitors like Seventeen and YM. Instead, the magazine focused on music, fashion and alternative culture, playing parts in the burgeoning careers of trendy then-kids Spike Jonze and Chloe Sevigny, and sporting memorable covers that featured boys, artists and musicians (rather than models with mouth agape).

Gevinson will be accepting pitches for the yet-to-be-named publication until this Friday. Submissions can be sent to MagazineSubmissionsAreFun@gmail.com.