Women
I am quite familiar with Nina Hagen’s recordings, so I have come to expect the unexpected in her work. In this performance she mashed a Carmen aria with a two-year-old Michael Jackson single….and threw in the “Close Encounters” jingle for the intro. Whoa.
Interiors 1978
scenes from Interiors, Woody Allen, 1978
Never have I seen a movie whose cinematography, sets, and colors created such an alluring mood. Not a feel-good mood, but a mood that felt so good because it looked so right.
Paris. Mohair. Sigh….
Cerruti Fall 2010
London designer Richard Nicoll began as head designer of Cerruti this season. Hm. The colors between his own collection and this one are verrry similar. The silhouettes, also very similar. But what it all comes down to is: this is what I want to wear when I move to Paris.
Click to enlarge image.
Brain Cleanse
Piano music re-sets the brain. It’s a brain cleanse, a tare button. The CD that I remember most from my childhood is called Music for a Rainy Day, a collection of pieces performed by Roland Pontinen. Stenhammar’s “Fantasy in B Minor” was always my favorite of the tracks. This piece still haunts me, mainly because I’ve never heard it elsewhere.
Hair in The Mirror
from The Mirror - Tarkovsky
Mind Flowers
Many people believe stones and gems emit vibrations that can affect their surrounding environments. Some stones enhance communication, others can heal illness…
The Chrysanthemum Stone makes your life unfold like a flower – harmoniously and with fluidity. The stone’s floral motif occurs naturally – minerals like calcite and celestite create these formations on the black limestone through geological pressure. In the weathered stone pictured at left the mineral deposits are exposed, giving a sense of their depth. These are not fossils, nor were any flowers involved in their creation, which is why they are so extraordinary.
Elson & Company
It is crazy how living in a cramped apartment in New York (combined with the optimism that one day soon you will be moving) can make you fantasize about interior decorating. Seriously, these rugs just look like ice cream to me right now.
Tuleh Rug Collection for Roubini
Fornasetti Rug Collection for Roubini
Manolo Blahnik for Carolina Herrera Fall 2010
Are these fabric-covered Swarovski crystals? Suede? Such a great way to use them, transcending their glitzy feel. To me they become earth – she’s walking the earth barefoot, her feet sinking into the rocks and clumps of dirt. I’d love to see these used on other styles, too. I’d love to see my concept pushed further. Things could get wild.
Etro
Etro ads from the 1980′s are basically my favorite images ever. This campaign is the best of the best. Scanned from an old Vogue a couple years ago. I’m not sure of the date, but it doesn’t matter – I already almost said too much.
Click image to enlarge
Oh, Rio
Osklen Spring 2009
Osklen can do no wrong (well with their women’s collection, at least). From sequin bangs to solar panel dresses (same season as Balenciaga no less), they just get it right. This Spring they feature layers and layers of tulle t-shirts, sequined athletic wear, and a general celebratory feeling which seems to be inspired by Carnival.
Maybe it’s the fact that they’re Brazilian and are under the radar in New York, but these clothes always have a foreign, obscure feel. They manage to be super fun but smart.
If you don’t live in Rio, Osklen can be a bit difficult to fit into your daily life – but they definitely inspire you to make room for them.
a Wanted mag
this is when you’re happy to have WANTED.
The KLF/The Timelords/The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu…from what I call the “Ancient Stadium Extravaganza” genre from 1987. A thoroughly intriguing piece of musical history that is pertinent to the current obsession with The Ancients. Plenty more where this came from at KLF Communications Net.
Mary Katrantzou
Mary K. is a genius, and here’s why -
Exhibit A: The 90′s are back, making this the perfect time for some Versace references. With so many designers taking the 90′s minimalist or grunge root, it is nice to see someone delving into the excesses of Gianni’s Miami. And when you think of Gianni Versace you think of Claudia, Naomi, and Christy, who are not coincidentally enjoying a resurgence in current pop culture.
Exhibit B: Prints have recently been flirting with the notions of what is real and present. In Christopher Kane’s Spring 2009 Gorilla Dress, the wearer’s chest became the hollow cavity of an animal’s mouth. Mary K. is utilizing similar elements of trompe l’oeil that play with the body’s form. Form becomes surface posing as form. Dimension recedes. Flatness buckles.
In some abstract way, it seems Mary K. tied this all together in one big trump card of a collection and I like it.
Mary Katrantzou Fall 2010
Time-less
How transformative this would be to live with! William Morris Carpet – can you even imagine? (Insert own furniture below)
from J.R. Burrows & Company
The New Fresh
Peter Som Fall 2010
Elisa Palomino
Exciting, appealing, great. Informed, up-to-date. Alberta Ferreti hinted at the freshness of good old-fashioned florals in her Spring ’10 show, but I am glad the movement continues.
Rodarte Fall 2010
Alberta Ferreti Spring 2010
Grace Coddington – the fairy godmother of the fashion industry. Well-recognized and admired due to her role in The September Issue, which chronicled her genius as the Creative Director of Vogue magazine. Always creating magic in her work (holding the most respected position in American fashion) and in her life (holding cats). She champions the romantic, the offbeat – the less new side of things. The lesson? Only by absorbing the past and the present with open-ness and passion can you point the way to the future. And does she ever.
Rick Wakeman~from The Six Wives of Henry VIII.
I want to be surrounded by a double-decker hexagon of keyboards. I want to have long blond hair, center part, and I want to be a wizard. I want to be the best piano player in the world.
