Street Style Story: Interview‘s Maggie Barr on Cambodia’s Doo Wop Scene and Angelina Jolie

Friday, July 18th 2014 at 11:27 am

Maggie Barr, wearing clothes and sneakers, borrowed from her friend.

We know that the truth about real people blows everything else out of the water. The real women of New York are fascinating. They’re engaging, they have refined opinions, and they do stuff with impact. They also dress cool. We don’t believe in the privacy of their feelings, nor of their stories. While the selfie generation is busy altering reality on Instagram, a few people, us included, are burning to get real girls on the street talking, laughing, and schooling.
Maggie Barr is the integrated marketing & events senior manager at Interview. We found her carrying the Atlas-sized magazine around the Lower East Side. She told us she’s an ambassador for Interview magazine “at all times.” When she takes a break, she travels. She recently bathed herself in the rivers of Cambodia surrounded by phosphorescence, which is a kind of a lighting quality that radiation creates. She talked to us about how she dresses like a portion of wallpaper, the complex history of Cambodia, and the Doo Wop scene there.
Where are you off to tonight?
A premiere, I Origins.
What’s it about?
I know it has something to do with a scientific discovery that alters our perception on something specific.
Is that a normal weekday night for you, perception-altering cinema?
(Laughs) I wish it was. I wish it could always be something stimulating.
Your shirt’s like a new version of the Aloha shirt.
I know it’s very graphic, I feel like I should be a portion of wallpaper or like a curtain in some Southern home.
It’s smart to plan your outfits so that they match drapery.
Thank you.
So what do you do?
I work for Interview
You seem like a pretty cool lady. What do you do when you’re not working in a glamorous library?
I travel a lot. I was in Southeast Asia, and I was in France.
Wow. You don’t look like an American tourist, you probably pass for European.
Thanks, I’ll take it. It’s good to be an international woman.
You have the white sneakers, but they’re cool white sneakers.
I can’t take credit for owning these white sneakers, they’re my friend’s. This whole outfit is my friend’s.
So you’re a thief basically, and I’m outing you.
(Laughs) A little bit, essentially.
So Southeast Asia, where?
I was in Cambodia, which is a complex country, there’s definitely a lot to experience there.
What did you see?
What didn’t I see… it also has a UNICEF site… Angkor Wat, Tomb Raider, Angelina Jolie adopted her son after the film, so that was really amazing. It was like bathing in rivers with phosphorescence all around you, and being on stilted houses and interacting with all the locals. It’s just special. The cities are incredible. The Khmer Rouge is still there, you still definitely see the ghost of that awful chunk of time. There’s actually an incredible movie [The Missing Picture] that just recently came out that is one survivor’s own way of coping with and interpreting his emotions and what happened with the Khmer Rouge, as a little boy, and just trying to reconcile with it. He did it with clay figures and sets. He built each one, and told his story with it. It’s amazing. I got back, and they were screening the film at the Soho House like a week later. Cambodia’s having its moment.
What surprised you about the culture over there that people don’t know about?
The music! The music is insane. They have their own versions of rock ‘n’ roll and doo wop, and they had so many influences from other continents back when it was still flourishing and had its own pop culture. It’s crazy. Now you can’t even find records because Khmer Rouge wiped out everything. There’s just so much to learn about everything. Sorry for going off on a tangent.
You’re a walking advertisement with the magazine under your arm.
I’m the ambassador for the magazine at all times. I’m like, pulling an Andy, like distributing it. I’m actually bringing the magazine to someone. Next, I’ll just be signing it.