Happy New Year from Los Angeles, California! This month, I’ll be featuring fashion stories from the “Golden State,” kicking it off with 20 year old L.A. songstress, Layne Putnam, otherwise known as LAYNE. Recently, I met Ms. Putnam at The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) to chat about her three favorite fashion items. I was greatly impressed with her bright spirit and ambition. Raised in the Black Hills of South Dakota, Putnam released her first album entitled Better Than Me at 15. “Growing up in the Black Hills gave me the desire to want to explore and invent,” says Putnam. One of her biggest influences has been her father, Kenny Putnam, a musician who spent many years touring with Roy Clark. There were always instruments around the house, and those seemed to fascinate Putnam more than conventional toys. Unlike most teens, she was playing almost every weekend at different venues throughout South Dakota, and was featured twice on public radio and multiple times in the newspaper. By age 18, she already dropped a second release called Mind Games, and moved to L.A at to pursue her dreams.
On January 2nd, LAYNE will release her new EP called Warrior. The young indie-popper has a very clear idea of the album’s overall sound: “I want people to see the production we’ve spent so much time creating come to life, and to hear the huge wall of sound—even if there are only two or three players on stage.” You can check it out on iTunes, Bandcamp, and SoundCloud, and her first two records on her official site LaynePutnam.com.
In the meantime, find out LAYNE’s most prized fashion possessions and check out a sneak peak of “The Lonely” off her new EP after the jump.
My hat is my thing. It started probably about a year ago. It’s kind of part of my look now. It’s a Traveler’s Hat that I found at a locally-owned vintage shop in Silverlake on Sunset. Unfortunately, I don’t remember the name of the shop, but I think there’s a vegan restaurant nearby. The shop’s a cool, little spot, and there’s not many places down there so it wouldn’t be hard to find. My hat was $40 bucks, which I feel like was a good deal for such nice wool hat.
It reminds me of my dad’s tan hat that I used to wear all the time as a kid. I always thought it was so cool. When I was searching for a hat, I wanted want one just like it but in black since that’s generally the color that I wear. But I’m stealing my dad’s hat from him next time I visit.
BOOTS
I’ve always worn boots. I want to dress in a way that makes me feel empowered like I could go fight in an apocalypse or something. [LAUGHS] I’m not necessarily a confident person but I like to dress like I’m ready for anything. Right now, I’m getting ready to do a lot of traveling [in support of my album]. I feel like my boots bring out the little warrior in me. Like my hat, I’ll pick a pair of boots and wear them everyday for a year straight and then I’ll move on to something new. I feel like a new look is coming soon, and I’m going to switch it up but I don’t know what’s next yet.
LEATHER JACKET
As a kid, I used to get made fun of a lot because I’d wear leather jackets and boots. People would say ‘you look likea biker!’ To that, I’d say ‘no, I’m not a biker, I like to play music.’ The kick-ass musicians that I looked up like Joan Jett dressed this way.
This jacket is actually a cheap jacket from Forever 21 but it reminded me of the brand All Saints. I can’t always afford All Saints [LAUGHS] because it’s so expensive. When I saw this jacket, I thought oh perfect! and it was on sale for like $20! It’s sleek and polished but still [reads] tough.
