SHAG takes pride in collaborating with artists, designers, sex educators, and our general community.  Some of our recent collaborations include partnerships such as Valentine Armartey's "Shibari by SHAG" @ The William Vale Hotel, Dirty Lola's "Butt-Stuff Basics" & Carolyn's "Poly(amory)101 & "Wonder Women" by City Reliquary. 

Be sure to stay tuned for the next edition of SHAG SWAG; always in collaboration with fine artists we love & respect.

Feel free to email us at connect@weloveshag.com if you have collab ideas that resonate with our mission. <3 xoxo  

DIRTY LOLA

Dirty Lola has been part of the SHAG family since 2014, when she started working at the Brooklyn boutique. 

Check out all of Lola's mini-workshops:
April 2022: Get Sprung"
June 2022: "Pleasure for All"

Lola is a sex "edutainer", speaker, and self-proclaimed dildo slinger. Recently she partnered with Netflix in a 3 episode limited series called "The Principles of Pleasure;" a groundbreaking new health and wellness series that explores the forgotten legacy, emerging science, and candid stories of real women and pleasure. Many people are excluded and feel unseen when it comes to having pleasure. This series was made for those of us who have historically been left out of these experiences. We’re not only talking about culturally diverse cis women but trans women, gender-diverse, and nonbinary folks too. Pleasure is for all of us.

Trailer for the Netflix show: https://youtu.be/bbtcUPJ_N4U 
Companion site for the Netflix show: https://principlesofpleasure.org/

Lola is also known for her live sex-ed Q&A show Sex Ed A Go-Go and as co-host of New York Magazine’s The Cut’s “Sex Probz” web series, Lola has spent almost a decade working to end stigma and shame surrounding sex and sexuality.

Having started her journey sharing personal discoveries with polyamory and kink online, Lola now uses her knowledge, warm candor, and public platforms to teach the masses in-person and to rapt internet audiences. 

VALENTINE AMARTEY

Valentine has been teaching SHAG's Shibari Rope Bondage classes for over 10 years. With a background in costume and knitwear design, he began making costumes for various downtown performance artists back in the late '90's. During one of these assignments, he was asked to make costumes for a performance that called for rope looks for an underground ballet/burlesque troupe. He discovered the art of Shibari and immediately incorporated the art form into his design work.

After this initial dive into the art form, Valentine took the time to study Shibari with Tyutumi, who received his basic training from Mistress Midori. After years of practice, he was ready to share this knowledge with people of all levels.

“Shibari is a discipline that involves the control of rope, your partner, and ultimately yourself — this I find to be greatly appealing. I’m drawn to the fine balance between something that was designed for punishment and something that is visually stunning. The combination of brutality and beauty is endlessly fascinating to me."

Valentine’s credits to date include providing looks for pop stars such as Shakira, Lady Gaga and Brooke Candy, designing for the Calvin Klein Collection and teaching a BFA knitwear course at The New School.  

CAROLYN KOSSOW

Carolyn (she/her) is a gender, queer, and racial justice activist based in Brooklyn, NY. She received both her Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees in Gender Studies and is dedicated to a life and career advocating for social justice.

At SHAG, Carolyn manages our social media, is a staff sex educator and helps run daily customer service and operations at our brick & mortar. 

Check out all of Carolyn's mini-workshops:
May 2022: "Hey Diddle Diddle"
July 2022: "Poly(amory) Play 101"

Carolyn’s work and research has utilized critical-race, queer, and feminist theories to examine reproductive health injustices worldwide with specific focus on racism and classism within assisted reproductive technologies (i.e., egg donation and surrogacy). She has worked in several nonprofits and start-ups advocating for economic, racial, LGBTQ, and gender justice at a local and global scale.

Carolyn’s dream is to advocate for social justice, specifically supporting reproductive justice, LGBTQ rights, and anti-racist initiatives, through progressive communications, advocacy initiatives, and education.