fashion collusion

dark light by allison watt

2011-12-16T14:23:00.000-05:00

martin margiela jacket 1999

2011-12-13T13:17:00.000-05:00

illustrations by helen bullock

2011-12-13T12:24:00.001-05:00

R I C A R D O B O F I L L

2011-11-22T09:50:00.004-05:00

The office and home of architect, Ricardo Bofill, converted from an old cement factory, 1975

workwear

2011-11-17T10:07:00.002-05:00

2011-11-17T10:05:00.001-05:00

2011-11-09T14:54:00.000-05:00

from 100 years of fashion illustration by cally beackman

2011-11-08T09:59:00.007-05:00

antonio lopez, 'capezio'. original illustration c. 1972

constance wibaut, sketches from paris, 1966

rene gruau, original illustration for international textiles 1951

darani, madeleine de rauch, l'officiel, 1949

rene gruau, ensemble by christian dior, femina, IV, 1949

oil pastels

2011-11-07T12:00:00.001-05:00

2011-10-24T16:21:00.001-04:00

Alaia

2011-09-22T17:32:00.004-04:00

The weather is changing. As the days get shorter and the sun fades i feel a sense of dread come over me. It's not cold now. Its almost pleasant, but its coming.. the doom of winter. Of cold mornings and dry skin and space heaters. layers and layers of uncomfotableness clinging and pulling and weighing you down. wool and socks and shoes. Gloves and hats ugh. no more open windows, and open toes- no cotton dresses-and sunny days that last well into the night. i cannot bring myself to look much less touch the winter clothes that are now filling the stores.. iI'm in denial- and maybe i have a small hope that time will reverse and it will just be summer all over again. all of this aside, the alaia images i found today in the new york city public library reference section ARE beautiful.. and the library is as well. Steven schwarztman builidng is absolutely stunning. The art and architecture reading room is a real treat. you can order up any book you can find 3 at a time and they come up from the depths of the library on these little old tiny elevators and hand delivered to you at your brass numbered seat at one of the gorgeous old wood tables with little brass lamps that line the reading hall.

2011-08-08T09:49:00.001-04:00

“ The biggest mistake you can make in fashion is imitation. If we keep on like this, fashion will die. There was a time when I used to fall in love on the street every day. I would see someone with such a way about them or such a flawless item that I would have to say, “Stop! Please! That’s perfect.” That never happens anymore. Everything is too similar. Soon it will be only a T-shirt and jeans.

— Yohji Yamamoto

Balenciaga mi amour

2011-08-03T13:19:00.001-04:00

just a few things I like..

2011-07-28T14:58:00.003-04:00

2011-06-15T16:58:00.002-04:00

2011-06-15T15:07:00.001-04:00

r i c k o w e n s r e v i l l i o n

2011-06-15T14:29:00.002-04:00

helmut lang s/s 2003 backstage

2011-06-14T16:46:00.003-04:00

cropping tool

2011-06-10T13:58:00.001-04:00

akule fish school

2011-06-08T17:35:00.002-04:00

www.waynelevinimages.com

sand

2011-05-31T12:33:00.002-04:00

'sup

2011-05-16T17:28:00.000-04:00

dion lee

2011-05-11T12:10:00.002-04:00

martin margiela defile accessories

2011-05-10T11:17:00.002-04:00

MM6 necklace

MM6 ring

MM6 credit card holder

Samburu Warrior in New York shot by Billy kidd.

2011-05-09T18:25:00.002-04:00

Absolutely stunning images of Samburu Warriors from Kenya experiencing their first taste of New York City

http://http://iwasshotbybillykidd.com/

2011-05-09T18:23:00.000-04:00

2011-05-06T14:52:00.000-04:00

images of egypt

2011-05-06T14:14:00.000-04:00

The Selby ~ Eric Werner & Mya Henry at the Valladolid farmers market Tulum Mexico

2011-04-12T12:09:00.002-04:00

2011-04-12T11:52:00.000-04:00

2011-02-21T12:47:00.001-05:00

lines

2011-02-21T12:45:00.000-05:00

Times are tough..

2011-02-07T15:59:00.001-05:00

try to stay cool!!!

2011-02-07T13:12:00.000-05:00

sorry it's been so long...

2011-02-07T13:03:00.003-05:00

2010-07-12T20:18:00.001-04:00

2010-07-12T20:16:00.000-04:00

vivienne westwood

2010-05-16T12:09:00.001-04:00

rick owens mens fall 2019

2010-02-01T22:15:00.002-05:00

I rarely look at menswear- but thought all of these looks were really androgynous, clean, and cool!

www.collectionaday2010.com

2010-01-27T22:13:00.003-05:00

2010-01-22T21:38:00.001-05:00

Gentlemen Of Bakongo: The African Dandies

2009-12-14T20:49:00.003-05:00

A new photo book by Daniele Tamagni explores the phenomenon of the African sapeurs, a clique of extraordinarily dressed dandies from the Congo. In the midst of war and abject poverty, these men dress in tailored suits, silk ties, and immaculate footwear.
This isn’t a new subculture: the style of dress which the sapeurs imitate is that of the French and Belgian colonists who seized control over the Congo during the 1880s.
Sapeur comes from la SAPE, short for Société des Ambianceurs et des Personnes Élégantes, or the Society of Tastemakers and Elegant People. The SAPE, like any club, has rules of conduct and of dress; it’s centered around Brazzaville and Kinshasa, the adjacent capitals of the Republic of Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo, respectively.
A men’s suit always looks complete with cuff links that are made for their event.

2009-12-14T20:15:00.002-05:00

i just had a birthday.
28 years of open eyes
and yawns
and steps and
sleep.
28 years of living.
28 years of breathing
in missouri, indiana
lakes and beaches ,mountains and moving and oh
all the sights i've seen.
summer fall winter spring

i drove across the country with my brother in
a tuquoise green honda.
it had pop up lights and i had
pop up dreams and aspirations.
we stopped in texas.
we stopped in the grand canyon.
we drove through newwwwww mexico
and then we landed in a place
where we werent supposed to be really.....

days go by like nothin.
s.f
l.a
clock in
clock out
28 years of showers and nail clippings
28 years of working and learning and yearning
for what im still not sure.
28 years of hellos and goodbyes
28 years it was on thursday

white out

2009-12-08T08:03:00.000-05:00

textures

2009-12-08T07:59:00.000-05:00

Anne Sofie Madsen

2009-12-04T07:11:00.003-05:00

” In traditional Maori art the most dominant, mythical motif is the ‘avianised man’ or ‘bird-woman’. The most important visual art forms are plaiting, relief carving and tattoo. My idea in this collection was to combine (and confront) this with classic, European clothing – in order to express the contrasts and borders between what we see as primitive/civilianized, exotic/classic and barbaric/elegant. “

daulmonster

2009-11-19T23:39:00.001-05:00

a beautiful face but a more beautiful mind.
rest in peace daul...

shapes

2009-11-05T21:02:00.001-05:00

modern monarch

2009-11-02T21:12:00.002-05:00

haider spring 2010

2009-11-02T21:11:00.001-05:00

2009-11-02T20:58:00.002-05:00

Designing uber-stylish but functional outerwear, Christopher Raeburn makes his pieces entirely out of old military uniforms and parachute fabrics meaning each piece is a ‘one-off', celebrating attention to detail. Awarded Best Emerging Designer in this year’s Hospital Club’s Top 100 in association with The Independent, his recent projects have also included making Richard Branson and his team jackets from his hot-air balloons.

Selling his menswear exclusively at Liberty alongside a parachute installation by Christopher in-store, his lines also include collaborations each season with Tim Soar on a capsule collection sold at B-Store, a Selfridges pop-up shop and soon, ASOS whilst his womenswear is available at Browns Focus.

DD: When and why did you start designing?
Christopher Raeburn: Design has always been an instinctive thing; for as long as I can remember I would draw and make things. What I enjoy most about the world of fashion design is that it presents an opportunity for a complete process; taking an idea, researching, building on that idea, refining it and eventually constructing a final garment actually combines many different areas of design.

DD: Tell us about your collection?
Christopher Raeburn: Both collections (for men and women) are outerwear constructed from re-appropriated military parachute fabric; we either physically deconstruct original parachutes and up-cycle them or we are able to use dead stock fabrics direct from the Ministry of Defence. The pieces range from Pop-Out Parkas (our most complex 3-in-1 coat), through anoraks, bombers and hoodies; we take special care with functional detailing and last process is to shower-proof them.

DD: Why did you decide to reconstruct military uniforms and fabrics rather than use new materials?
Christopher Raeburn: My fascination for military fabrics stretches back to when I was a young; I always collected different coats, jerseys, tents, sleeping bags and pretty much anything I could get my hands on. What really grabbed me was the functional detailing of the garments and also the fabrics themselves; they often lent themselves to my personal design aesthetic; for example a lot of military fabrics are waterproof, hard-wearing or windproof. I was keep to adopt some of these features in the work that I was doing and the next step was actually to use the garments themselves.
I quickly became aware that with the military in particular the inherent thing is they have to overproduce (they can't have to little of certain things) and so a lot of the items barely get used and then end up in warehouses or landfill; for me part of the satisfying thing in my work come from giving something a new life.

DD: Do you hope for other designers to follow suit in future?
Christopher Raeburn: I think there is already a move towards a more intelligent thought process among designers concerning fabrication choices; re-appropriating fabrics wouldn't be the right course for every designer or company; I think it's important you have the right fabric for the job.

DD: Are there any designers you take inspiration from?
Christopher Raeburn: Growing up and studying I always took inspiration from companies like Vexed Generation, Diesel Style Lab and Griffin as well as British heritage brands like Barbour. Today my inspiration and respect for fellow designers has moved into many different areas; for example it's interesting to see the way that bands like Radiohead operate.

DD: What are your future plans?
Christopher Raeburn: 2010 will see the introduction of a new range; again with parachute fabric at its core but this time utilizing laser cutting, a vibrant colour wheel and an ever evolving design direction. I am also looking forward to some exciting collaborations.

some pictures i saw today

2009-10-21T22:09:00.002-04:00

members of the french resistance

2009-09-24T20:02:00.003-04:00

The Maquis (French pronunciation: [maˈki]) were the predominantly rural guerrilla bands of the French Resistance. Initially they were composed of men who had escaped into the mountains to avoid conscription into Vichy France's Service du travail obligatoire (STO) to provide forced labour for Germany. In an effort to escape capture and deportation to Germany, what had started as loose groups of individuals became increasingly organized; initially fighting only to remain free, these bands eventually became active resistance groups.

wang's commin ta getcha

2009-09-17T19:37:00.002-04:00

haider ackermann

2009-08-27T20:43:00.003-04:00

The Nomad Arrives
WITH A GLOBE-TROTTER'S TROVE OF
RICHES, HAIDER ACKERMANN FINDS HIS PLACE
IN THE FASHION FIRMAMENT.
ARMAND LIMNANDER REPORTS.

It's hard to know exactly when a designer goes from newcomer
to trendsetter. Occasionally, fashion catches up to an aesthetic that was ahead of its time. Or a season gravitates toward specific
style quirks. Sometimes it’s just plain luck. In any event, and
for whatever reason, it seems clear that Haider Ackermann is
making that jump.
Ackermann started showing in Paris in 2002 and almost immediately became a cult favorite. After his debut, he was tapped by the Italian leather company Ruffo, which at the time invited young talents to design its experimental Ruffo Research line. (Raf Simons and Sophia Kokosalaki were also Ruffo Researchers.) Ackermann received encouraging reviews and quietly started building a community of fans. In 2004 he got a leg up after winning the Swiss Textiles Award at the Gwand fashion festival in Lucerne , which included a prize of 100,000 euros (about $133,000 at the time) that gave him some room to grow. In 2005 he guest-edited an issue of A Magazine, featuring work by Steven Klein, Cris Brodahl and Roger Ballen, among others. Last year he curated an exhibition at Villa Noailles, as part of the Hyères fashion festival in the South of France.
It was Ackermann’s fall 2009 presentation, however, that fully showed off his maturity. The elements he has been developing for years were all there: rich, moody colors; lots of draping; sexily distressed leather jackets. But there was also a new rigor in his mannishly tailored jackets, and a sure hand in the burnished gold sequins and seductive Indian- and African-inspired embroideries. They were the kind of clothes worn by women whose sense of confidence does not depend on vanity or effort — which explains why Ackermann’s friend Tilda Swinton slunk onto the red carpet
at the Cannes Film Festival, a few months after the show,
wearing one of his dresses.
‘‘I can’t actually remember first meeting Haider,’’ Swinton says. ‘‘I’m guessing it was in super-off-duty circumstances, possibly singing Chinese karaoke, but it was about seven years ago. I have been wearing his clothes since I first saw them. He has become a very good friend, and we feel in close sync in terms of general sensibility.’’ Safe to say that Swinton's style is anything but prissy: ‘‘There is something very louche about Haider’s dresses — they feel like good dresses to be completely at ease in.’’
Ackermann was born in Colombia but was adopted by French parents and lived a peripatetic childhood. His father was a cartographer, and his work took the family to Iran , Chad , Ethiopia and Algeria before Ackermann was 12; they then moved to the Netherlands . That early nomadism had a formative effect on Ackermann’s work. ‘‘When you live so many years abroad, you belong nowhere,’’ he says. ‘‘So for this collection I had the idea of a woman who was traveling, going somewhere from nowhere, taking all her treasures with her, like a little soldier.’’
When Ackermann moved to Antwerp in 1994 to study at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, broody and cerebral Belgians like Martin Margiela and Ann Demeulemeester were very much in vogue. ‘‘You can imagine how I felt when I was a boy living in Africa seeing all the glittering gold and all the different colors,’’ Ackermann says. ‘‘My initial aesthetic was built on that, but then I went to Belgium and everything was dark and gray, and I became attracted to the complete opposite. Now I try to combine both elements.’’
Early on, Ackermann reached out to Raf Simons, who was then Antwerp ’s rising superstar, for advice. ‘‘I thought Haider was one of the most modernist people at the academy, but he didn’t graduate because he could never finish his collections,’’ Simons says. ‘‘But to me it made complete sense. If he had to do five silhouettes, he would only do three, but they were the best. I felt Haider was very serious.’’ Ackermann interned for John Galliano while he was in school;
after that, he did some commercial design work in Belgium before settling down in Paris to create his own line. ‘‘He has developed his own signature, and thinks in terms of silhouettes, which is an
almost old-school way of working,’’ adds Simons. ‘‘He likes doing everything himself.’’
Another key person in Ackermann’s development has been Anna Chapelle, who brought him into her company — which is called 32 and also includes Ann Demeulemeester — in 2006. ‘‘Haider came to my house on a beautiful Saturday morning, rang my door and asked me to help him,’’ Chapelle says. ‘‘I said, ‘But who are you?’ ’’ They soon got to know each other, and Ackermann won Chapelle over: ‘‘I loved the way he expressed himself. He was drawing for me, and I trusted his hand.’’ Chapelle says that Ackermann has been on track with the business plan she laid out for him (breaking even in three years, recouping her investment in five) and that his business grew by 43 percent last year.
It helps explain why rumors have been swirling for months that Ackermann would be taking over Maison Martin Margiela, which
has been considered the holy grail of conceptual design for the
past 20 years. When queried about the speculation, he
sidesteps: ‘‘When you meet the person you have admired for
so many years, how can you possibly replace him? Sometimes
it’s better never to meet your heroes.’’
That doesn’t mean, however, that he wouldn’t be open to other possibilities, as long as he was able to continue designing under his own name. Intriguingly, Ackermann likes the idea of a house with a different sensibility from his. ‘‘You have your own repertoire, to which you are attached, but sometimes you have something else to say, and the code of another house might help you do that,’’ he says. ‘‘I would love to share another aesthetic, but it would have to be the right house. And the right timing.’’
For now, Ackermann seems content solidifying his own vocabulary. ‘‘He will always try to find the summum of the most beautiful woman,’’ Chapelle says. ‘‘That is his search: how to make her stronger and more powerful.’’ Swinton, for one, agrees. ‘‘There is something so utterly ancient and modern about his work — the grace and fluidity of the weight and line, the timelessness of his palette,’’ she says. ‘‘His clothes have the true elegance of eternal Berber tribal dress as
worn on the chicest and most enterprising starship from the
future. Supersonic anthropology.’’
It’s hard to argue with that.

5 avenue marceau

2009-08-26T22:45:00.000-04:00

old balenciaga

2009-08-25T21:52:00.001-04:00

black and white II

2009-08-25T21:51:00.002-04:00

boudicca

2009-08-25T20:30:00.008-04:00

FORM FOLLOWS EMOTION :

…………….an exploration and documentary of ourselves and the world we live in.

The collections from B O U D I CC A are stories, short scenes from films, that at times are simple and reference the obvious, at others become complex and ill fitting. The modern paranoia of human life, the beauty and the vanity of modern life, the anger of another, the fake lies that we are told and the real truths we forget...

It’s an unspoken language, that garments have; more function than just covering the body. There is an intimate relationship formed between the wearer and the garment that Boudicca demand to be examined.

Boudicca’s design reflects this demand, this journey, this social documentation, taking into account an emotional response to the system that is life. Boudicca strive to see a future of people wearing clothes that express a person’s feelings and emotions to the world they exist in. Not clothes as escapism, but of expression. A constant evolution between light and dark, hot and cold, hard and soft, right and wrong, day and night, male and female, rich and poor, fast and slow, now and never, forever and ever.

“Art is dead, long live Fashion”
Max Ernst

RESEARCH/INSPIRATION
click here

Queen Boudicca (AKA Boadicea) Led the revolt by the ancient Britons against the Roman invaders 60 AD The Britons had become slaves to the Roman Empire and their humiliation continued with the public flogging of Queen Boudicca and the rape of her two daughters. Boudicca raised an army and sacked Colchester, then marched her army on London - Her army marched down Bishopsgate and burnt London to the ground. - And to this day archaeologists still refer to a red layer under London as the Boudicca Layer. After the Roman reinforcements arrived there was a huge battle in which the Britons were defeated. Instead of surrendering to the Romans Boudicca fled and killed herself by drinking Hemlock. - There are many myths about the final resting place of Boudicca - One of them being under Platform 13
at St Pancreas. From this Myth we took the name Platform 13 for our company
name and website.

www.platform13.com

black/white

2009-08-19T17:54:00.003-04:00

some great black and whites i found at a site called "elegantly wasted". Love the fish tail, and the shirt that looks like tose little candy dots that come on a piece of paper.

sewing factory

2009-08-17T20:56:00.004-04:00

I found the most amazing visual resource today and spent hours looking at old photos and drawings!!!! Aren't these amazing? I love the photo of the factory worker cutting through the layers and layers of fabric- and the first photo of the really huge looking sewing machine is one of the very first industrial models.

balenciaga pre spring 2009/2010

2009-08-17T20:54:00.001-04:00

2009-08-17T20:53:00.000-04:00

belts of interest

2009-08-15T00:45:00.000-04:00

New York, my one and only...

2009-08-14T23:19:00.003-04:00

just got back from San Francisco- was a little bit scared some old feelings would surface and My heart would sink at the site of the golden gate, or the headlong hills, the avocados or the fog rolling in....The city is beautiful after all. Spending six formative years of my life there brought forth a romance i never thought would die.
But I AM positive now- that I am whole heartedly in Love with New York City- felt a wave of relief wash over me as i stepped off the bus and got swallowed back up into the mass of people, bustle, character, energy and a beat that makes me feel so alive!

morgan puett

2009-08-05T21:08:00.001-04:00

its okay to look...

2009-08-02T17:30:00.004-04:00

I am not a shoe obsessed woman for one reason- cannot afford it.
I spend my money on comfortable (usually flat) shoes that can work with almost anything and are usually on sale and under 150 dollars. Then i wear them in to the ground. Usually through seasons and seasons until they are falling apart and are replaced by a similar pair which gets tortured the same as the last. Its for this reason- if, somehow, i am able to indulge, i fear, it could be a serious problem. Balenciaga would be my first choice.
These are so beautiful i wouldn't wear them with anything that would take away from their allure- just a t shirt and jeans.

complex geometrics

2009-07-31T16:46:00.002-04:00

washed out

givenchy prespring 2009/2010

2009-07-31T16:43:00.000-04:00

but does it float?

2009-07-31T16:35:00.002-04:00

more inspiring images here

1983

2009-07-31T16:33:00.000-04:00

commes des garcons

tools of the trade

2009-07-30T22:54:00.003-04:00

worn

2009-07-30T22:50:00.001-04:00

ambitious project collapsing

rick owens, present to past

2009-07-29T21:48:00.009-04:00

These photos are from shows dating back to 2002. After receiving my "pass" onto first view.com I immediately delved into my favorite designer archives. For those of you who don't know- firstview is a fashion website which records every picture from every fashion show ever... for a serious sum. A limited amount of shows are free to view by the general public- but if you want it all -you have to pay. Style.com only goes back a few years but firstview offers photos as far back as shows were photographed. It's amazing to see how some brands have changed, its almost frustrating, actually. Its like a friend you think you know, who is so impressionable or insane, or influenced that they change face every few years- or 6 months. Then theres those trusty friends you know will never change and still be the same old pal youv'e always had. this may sound boring- in fashion anyway- an industry that thrives on change-but i feel its like your old blankey- and every baby knows, those only get better with time.
rick's style was strong from the get go. the dark overcast- gothic chic, apocalyptic wrapped, abstract, modern, monotone looks from his first collection easily fit in to the present one. He only refines certain details and adjusts his silhouette a tad each season so that the core rick owens aesthetic is never tainted and always beautiful- love every bit of it.

fall 2009

spring 2009

fall 2008

fall 2008

fall 2008

fall 2008

fall 2008

fall 2008

fall 2008

fall 2006

fall 2006

fall 2004

fall 2004

spring 2003

spring 2003

spring 2003

fall 2002

fall 2002

fall 2002

fall 2002

fall 2002

matthew ames

2009-07-28T21:22:00.005-04:00

i am in love with desinger Matthew Ames. Especially this collection. The clothes are draped perfetly- almost grecian in feeling. He eliminated all zippers, and buttons to create a completly pure garment, with a closureless feel. Most of his garments can be worn many diffent ways and have a functional quality to them which i love. The photos for his lookbook capture the freeness and purity he strived for with this collection.- if i had to pick one "daily uniform" it may be something close to this... especially loving their nomadic quality

Sutro Baths

2009-06-30T21:11:00.004-04:00

In 1896 the Sutro Baths were opened to the public as the world's largest indoor swimming pool establishment. The Baths were built on the sleepy western side of San Francisco by wealthy entrepreneur and former mayor of San Francisco, Adolph Sutro. The vast glass, iron, wood, and reinforced concrete structure was mostly hidden, and filled a small beach inlet below the Cliff House which was also owned by Adolph Sutro at the time.
A visitor to the Baths not only had a choice of 7 different swimming pools—one fresh water and six salt water baths ranging in temperatures—but could visit a museum displaying Sutro's large and varied personal collection of artifacts from his travels, a concert hall, seating for 8,000, and, at one time, an ice skating rink. During high tides, water would flow directly into the pools from the nearby ocean, recycling the 2 million US gallons (7,600 m³) of water in about an hour. During low tides, a powerful turbine water pump, built inside a cave at sea level, could be switched on from a control room and could fill the tanks at a rate of 6,000 US gallons a minute (380 L/s), recycling all the water in five hours.

Piscine Molitor

2009-06-30T21:00:00.004-04:00

John Galliano housed his Mens Spring 2010 fashion show in an amazing dilapidated, graffiti drenched pool house in the 16arindossement, Piscine Molitor. PIctured below in its original state- and how it looks now The pictures caught my eye immediatly- i have a fascination for abandoned buildings and pool houses sice living in San Francisco and learning of the Sutro Baths.

Senufo Bronze Anklet Cuff African Currency Bracelet

2009-06-23T22:08:00.003-04:00

Metal was highly valued throughout Africa, and, as with most African metal items, pieces that were originally created for an entirely different purpose became viewed as wealth over time and then used as currency in trade for a wide variety of items - the metal could always be smelted down to reform into a more desirable or needed object. Most African tribes used a wide array of metal rings in varying sizes and shapes for adornment and primitive money. While records show that copper rings functioned as currency in Takrur in 1068 A.D., it is commonly believed that copper ingots were mined in the Katanga region as early as the 9th century, and the first appearance of heavy copper bracelets was recorded during the 8th century. Bracelets, often referred to as 'ring money', served as a medium of early exchange in addition to ornamentation - a convenient way to transport wealth was to wear it as a show of prestige and power. The two main techniques for producing the rings or bracelets were drawing wire to forge or form the shape, and casting, and the pieces could easily be melted down (smelted) at another location and then reformed as desired. The use of imported copper and brass bangles or 'manillas' dates back to 1439, when the Portuguese ordered their production from Venice for trade in Africa. The manillas continually grew smaller over time, and their metal content changed from solid copper to brass, and then to highly leaded brass until the importation and use of manillas was prohibited during the early 1900's when the British government sought to establish their own currency and therefore forbade the use of any other. The 'native' currency (or primitive money) that was buried as a result of that British decree was not excavated until much later, and is now surfacing into the current market as art.

2009-06-23T21:50:00.001-04:00

more here

2009-06-23T21:48:00.000-04:00

Derek Lawlor is a contemporary knitwear designer and graduated from Central Saint Martins MA in 2008. His graduation collection is inspired by Japanese body armour.

i'm leaving

2009-06-19T21:45:00.000-04:00

st martins grads

2009-06-18T20:28:00.002-04:00

mourning angels

2009-06-10T19:53:00.004-04:00

chanel resort 2010 focus on accessories

2009-06-09T22:02:00.000-04:00

balenciaga spring 2009

2009-06-08T21:26:00.000-04:00

aski kataski

2009-06-08T20:53:00.002-04:00

katsuhiro makino of Aski Kataski uses antique materials and commonplace garments from the 19th century To the 1940’s to create his work. The name of the label derives from incantation “aski-kataski-haix-tetrax-damnameneus-aision” which means “darkness, light, earth, sun, and truth”

As ancient priests used to recite these words to protect people from devils, makino hopes his creation becomes a talisman of people who wear his clothes—

2009-06-08T20:45:00.004-04:00

Alber Elbaz of Lanvin is a technical virtuoso on a mission to make people smile. Sarah Mower profiles a designer who deals in delight.

From INTELLIGENT LIFE Magazine, Spring 2009

AN INVITATION TO Alber Elbaz’s pre-collection presentation at the Hôtel de Crillon in Paris is one of the most cherished in the fashion calendar. There is no grand catwalk, and only half a dozen people in the audience. Instead, you get guests sitting on a couch in one of the hotel’s salons, a simple canvas screen backdrop, and the designer stepping forward in his Chaplinesque shoes—hands in pockets, bow tie maybe slightly askew—to do a show-and-tell about his ideas. Models pop out from behind the screen (which Elbaz might well have painted himself) and every-one—meaning a diplomatic mix of editors and journalists from Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar and the serious newspapers—gets to laugh and relax, and understand why a dress falls such-a-way, where a belt snaps, or how a bow on a brooch came to be placed just so.

And, especially, they get to listen to the designer, as he thinks aloud about what might make his customers still want to buy clothes in a post-crunch world. “I want to make women laugh and feel beautiful,” he says, looking at his shoes. “It’s a paradox. I’ve looked back at how women dressed in times of war, and they become even more beautiful. Maybe it’s the feminine survival instinct. When we feel down, maybe we need a nice dress or coat to face the world. I’m here to work for women. To find out how to make the dream, but to keep it real.”

This small, low-cost event is the antithesis of the theatrical spectacular, the opposite of how most people imagine the fashion business behaves. It is also a PR masterstroke. Even scary, powerful arbiters of fashion like to feel included in something this cosy. This empathy here can be seen in everything Elbaz does, from his considerate, semi-fitted, body-skimming dresses to the delicious wit of his stores. Elbaz understands, perhaps better than any other designer, that in a time of crunch, confusion and too much meaningless stuff, being personal is a vital professional asset.

THE MINUTE YOU cross the threshold of a Lanvin shop, there’s a palpable air of delight. At the flagship headquarters at 22 rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré—just across the street from that bastion of French establishment correctness, Hermès—the shop feels deshabillé, as if you’d walked into some particularly exuberant lady’s home just as she was throwing things on, trying to get dressed to go out. It’s the opposite of the clinical, minimal, intimidating spaces favoured by many designer labels in the early 2000s, before Elbaz sidled onto the scene.

Clothes are hung facing invitingly outwards; bags and jewellery are strewn, as if spontaneously, on tables and armoires; everything asks to be touched. Window displays, devised by Elbaz himself (and often dressed by him, at night), are comical tableaux in which the mannequins get up to all manner of fun—dancing on tables, petting toy dogs, swinging on trapezes or slipping off park benches in mock-shock while reading a financial newspaper. Even the piped music is good: at Christmas, Madeleine Peyroux’s cover of the vintage hit “Smile” (“you’ll find that life’s worthwhile…if you just smile”) trickled like honey into the ears of browsing shoppers. Even if they didn’t buy anything, they did leave smiling.

It is the same with his approach to men. The new Lanvin menswear shop in London, which opened in Savile Row last September, was intended—according to the press release—to give a feeling of “luxury and conviviality, where customers feel instantly at home”. In practice, that meant an unprecious opening during fashion week, at which the eccentric Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain played rock standards such as “Smells like Teen Spirit” à la George Formby. Again, everybody left happy.

Since the turn of the millennium, Elbaz’s supreme design gifts have led fashion into an entirely new look. His clothes have a luxurious “undone-ness” about them, often looking almost as if they’ve been twisted and knotted together minutes before being put on the rail. The fabrics he uses—taffeta, silk, satin, faille—are often washed or hammered in some way, to beat anything stiff and ladylike out of them, and frequently left with raw edges. For anyone with a knowledge of technique, his ability to waft an airy, flattering, semi-fitted dress out of a length of fabric and a single seam is breathtaking, yet he never uses his mastery to make things pompous or overly formal.

Elbaz calls himself an “emotional” designer—which can sound like touchy-feely fashion nonsense. But observe him over time, as I have (we first met in 2000), and it becomes clear that his warmth and humour have become a corporate asset for Lanvin. It’s Elbaz’s emotionality, as much as his design flair, that gives Lanvin the advantage. At a moment when there are no rational reasons left for buying luxury goods, what else but feelings will continue to persuade people to spend?

For this interview we caught up again over lunch in the red-plush-and-crackled-mirror bar of the Hôtel de Crillon, effectively Elbaz’s work canteen, as his studio is a few steps away. Typically, he begins with self-deprecation and ends with a sharp observation. “Being an overweight designer, I’m very aware of comfort,” he observes, waving for the waiter without looking at a menu he clearly knows by heart. “We don’t only do clothes for 20-year-old girls. We see the same piece worn by a 20-something and an 80-year-old. I love that. I love to see old women, grey hair, wrinkles.” This pragmatic, considerate attitude to customers’ needs—in direct opposition to received fashion-industry wisdom, which is to make clothes for a narrow band of young, skinny customers—is the motor behind Lanvin’s success. “I never went to business school,” he shrugs. “I do things by instinct. At one point in my life, I accepted ‘I am what I am.’ At first people think Alber is funny. But I’m not funny at all.”

ALBER ELBAZ ONLY reached his present prominence after the kind of struggles and knocks that would have floored many people. He was born in Casablanca in 1961, the youngest of four children. The family moved to Israel , where his father worked as a colourist in a hair salon. “Since I was a really small boy—about four or five—I used to go to school always with two bags: one with books, and one with colours. I would sketch. I had a teacher I thought was very, very beautiful, and every day I sketched her and drew her dress. My mother asked the kindergarten teacher, ‘What do I do with my son, he sketches only women!’, and she said, ‘Leave it, and see where it goes’.”

There was little money at home, and no toys. “But we had a box of chess pieces,” he remembers. “I used to make hair for them with cottonwool stuck on with chewing gum, and cut dresses for them out of the silver paper in my father’s cigarette packets.”

Perhaps inevitably, Alber ended up studying fashion in Tel Aviv before, at 25, plucking up the courage to go to New York to look for a job. “I came from nowhere, as an immigrant,” he says. “I wanted to succeed, but no one would take my call because I didn’t even speak English. Everybody asks you, ‘Where did you work before?’ And if you didn’t work anywhere grand before, no one grand will take you.” He eventually found a place designing mother-of-the-bride dresses for a downmarket garment manufacturer, where he made friends with a girl in the studio, Susie Billingsley, who, after she got fired, ended up as an assistant at American Vogue. Through her, Elbaz eventually got an interview with the great New York modernist designer, Geoffrey Beene, who gave him a job. Beene, Elbaz acknowledges, taught him “everything”.

After seven years as Beene’s right-hand man, Elbaz moved to Paris —again without being able to speak the language—to look for a job that might let him express himself. He landed the top job at Guy Laroche in 1996, turned out acclaimed collections until 1998, and was then, fatefully, headhunted by Pierre Bergé of YSL to design the Rive Gauche ready-to-wear collection after Saint Laurent ’s retirement. His three collections were jumped on by young, avant-garde stylists—but behind the scenes, things were strained. For one thing, Elbaz was intimidated by the weight of YSL’s heritage (“I was even frightened by the secretaries,” he confessed to the New York Times); for another, he didn’t know that the company was about to be sold to Gucci Group, then controlled by Tom Ford and Domenico de Sole. Ford wanted to design Rive Gauche himself, so Elbaz found himself summarily fired.

The corporate machinations were no reflection on Elbaz’s work, but it was a potentially crushing blow. For two years, he was out of work, licking his wounds, travelling in Asia , and complaining to his boyfriend about fashion. “Then one day, [my boyfriend] said, ‘If you don’t like it any more, stop.’ And that did it. I suddenly started sketching again. I tried to hold myself together. And from that time, I found out that there are so many people I adored in this business. There wasn’t one person who didn’t return my call because I was out of Saint Laurent . And that showed me that I was Alber, and I didn’t want to be someone’s replacement any more.”

The right opening arose in 2001, when a Taiwanese publishing magnate, Shaw-Lan Wang, bought Lanvin from L’Oréal. Lanvin had been founded in 1889 by the milliner Jeanne Lanvin, and by the time she died in 1946 it was an established couture house. But, to all but the few whose memories went back as far as the couturier Antonio Castillo’s stint at the house in the 1960s, the name was now virtually meaningless. Since the 1980s, the door of the Lanvin design studio had revolved embarrassingly fast: between 1984 and 2001, it sucked in and spat out no fewer than six designers, two of whom survived for only two collections.

For Elbaz, the beauty of the Lanvin job lay exactly in this lack of heritage and image—it would allow him to create his own vision, quietly. He had a slow start. The woman he respectfully refers to as “Mrs Wang” hired him, as he remembers, “straight after 9/11”, when fashion generally was at a low ebb. But his reputation gradually built, especially amongst young London stylists and magazines—always the quickest to grab hold of anything new (Intelligent Life’s fashion editor, Mary Fellowes, remembers that “we not only wanted to photograph his pieces, we wanted to buy them—and for stylists, the two things are usually mutually exclusive”).

Word-of-mouth enthusiasm spread, until in spring 2003, when Elbaz designed a break-through collection of pleated dresses with antiqued crystal, tulle-covered necklaces implanted in their necklines. Fatefully, Kate Moss got hold of one and wore it to the opening of a Manolo Blahnik exhibition, her first public foray after having her baby. Her photo was splashed everywhere, and—having neither sought, let alone paid for, the endorsement—Lanvin had its launchpad. Suddenly everybody wanted to be at Lanvin’s shows, stores were mobbed, and the world finally started taking Alber Elbaz, the fashion joker, seriously.

From that collection flowed many of the elements on which the Lanvin look has since been based. After the strict minimalism and tailored pant-suits of the 1990s, Elbaz had found a way to say something new with dresses and with decoration. He helped bring flowing lines and femininity back into favour. And he singlehandedly reinvented an entire sub-category of fashion: costume jewellery. “People said it [costume jewellery] was ‘old’—but I like old,” he says with a laugh. “Old people don’t scare me. Fat people don’t scare me. And maybe I had a craving after so much minimalism. So I started. I introduced fabric to jewellery, wrapping pearls in tulle and fastening necklaces with grosgrain ribbon. It became our trademark. I thought it looked personal.”

There we are again: the personal is at the heart of his business. Lanvin does not conform to the trickle-down paradigm of fashion, where a top line of clothing is followed by a second, cheaper collection, which is itself followed by other ever-more commercial diffusions of ideas handed down from the designer original. “Instead of diluting, I kept it concentrated in capsules. So we have bridal, we have denim, made by the best denim people [the hip Swedish label, Acne], now we have sweaters, accessories.” Elbaz makes a point of overseeing everything himself, from the advertising campaigns right down to the stores’ ribbon-handled carrier bags—which he thinks may explain his portly silhouette. “At 8.30 I’m at the office—and I’m still there at ten. You come home so tired and so stressed. And then you’re not into steamed vegetables!”

Stressed or not, Elbaz has brought Lanvin to the point where its twice-yearly runway shows are critically lauded, mentioned in the same breath as the conglomerate-owned giants YSL, Louis Vuitton and Balenciaga. Accolades have come thick and fast, culminating in 2007 in the award of a Légion d’Honneur for services to French fashion. (Not often given to foreigners, it is usually only awarded to senior Parisian fashion notables.)

All this in only eight years. And now? As Elbaz considers the economic crisis—the most serious challenge to luxury fashion in two generations—he doesn’t sound fazed. “You know, [fashion] has become a bit too much. I think this will clean the air, and make us think more.” Yes, he is considering his prices carefully, and talking to his women-friends even more than before about what pieces they really need. But Elbaz is not one of those designers who have to work out how to get down from an ivory tower to face reality—because reality is what he has always preferred. “I was never behaving like a star,” he smiles. “I was very much with my feet on the ground. If you are up in the air, you are destroyed.”

2009-06-08T20:43:00.000-04:00

gareth

2009-06-03T22:14:00.001-04:00

John Berkey

2009-06-03T22:11:00.000-04:00

ahhh.... yeah.

2009-06-02T21:34:00.000-04:00

love, N.

none of these have anything to do with each other except that they are all cool.

2009-06-02T21:31:00.000-04:00

i wanna be just like me

2009-06-02T21:27:00.000-04:00

floating, flowing, flying, gone.

2009-05-27T21:39:00.001-04:00

some days i feel like this.....

we heart jeremy laing!

2009-05-27T21:37:00.000-04:00

2009-05-27T21:36:00.000-04:00

2009-05-27T21:29:00.000-04:00

I absolutely love the photography of Chadwick Tyler. Not only are his subjects beautiful but his photos are so real looking it feels as though you could flick a speck of dirt on Diane Conteratos cheek. lovely.

Indian ankle Ornament

2009-05-27T21:17:00.000-04:00

Drawing of a full set of foot and toe ornaments.
From The Journal of Indian Art and Industry, early 20th century

2009-05-27T21:16:00.000-04:00

2009-05-27T20:50:00.000-04:00

I have been searching for ancient shoes - and ancient methods of sandal making and although my search was for something old, what i found was something new. Well not new as in resort 2010-- but new as in made within the last 100 years or so. I found an amazing website which shows shoes from all over the world old, and new. What i love about these is that so much work and care went into each of them- they are all very well thought out and planned and therefore very special.

Clogs like these were used in 19th century France to de-shell acorns and chestnuts. The meat from the nuts could be ground into flour or used as pig feed.

France , 1800-1900

Crossed multi-strapped sandal with buckle and lace-up fitted leather sock. The sandal guards the soles against the rough terrain, while the sock offers additional protection and warmth.

Leather, metal
Chamba, Himachal Pradesh, circa 1895

One-piece leather shoes can be found throughout Eastern Europe and are categorized as opanke. Despite the fact that many regions in Europe wore the opanke, each area gave it a regional variation. Called opintsi in Macedonia , the instep straps provide the regional distinction.

Woven grass sock decorated with delicate crosses stitched in black thread. Grass socks were worn as liners in skin boots along the Southern Alaska coast.

Aleut, 1910

It was customary for the Zuni bridegroom to make the footwear worn by his bride at their wedding. Brain-tanned skin boots with wrap-around shafts are created using a stitch that is not visible on the outside of the sole.

This pair of silver embellished ataderos (ankle boots) from the ancient Chimu culture is the only known pair in existence which could possibly have been worn; the three other known examples are miniature. The ancient Pre-Columbian Chimu culture flourished between the 12th and 15th centuries in the region of what is now northern Peru. Chimu craftsman excelled at metalwork and the use of precious metals such as silver was limited to goods for the upper-classes. These boots would have been very labour intensive to create and would have been intended for an elite burial.
Chimu culture, North-western Peru, c. mid 15th century

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