Pacific Standard

Image of the Day

2012-02-10T14:14:00.000-08:00

David Shrigley, Untitled, 2009

If you're in London anytime soon, David Shrigley has shows up at Stephen Friedman (through March 10) and Hayward Gallery (through May 13). Jelly.

Best Foot Forward

2012-02-09T15:10:00.000-08:00

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This is the kind of shoe that doesn't look like much off, but on is a different story.

Givenchy buckled leather sandals,
$880 at net-a-porter.

Drive

2012-02-09T07:18:00.000-08:00

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Prada SS2012

The Beginning of the Week

2012-02-08T12:07:00.000-08:00

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New York Fashion Week officially begins tomorrow.

10 Crosby Derek Lam Fall 2012

Cool setting and props.

BLK DNM Fall 2012
So plain, and so good.
(Also, the shadows are otherworldly.)

via style.com

It's Your Destiny

2012-02-08T06:30:00.000-08:00

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The War On Drugs "It's Your Destiny" from Slave Ambient (2010, Secretly Canadian)

(Photo: the hospital where I was born – Group Health, Capitol Hill, Seattle)

Material Inspiration

2012-02-07T10:54:00.000-08:00

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For me this show is just about worth a trip to NYC.

Starting tomorrow at Salon 94 Freemans, British fashion designer Duro Olowu curates Material, a pop-up shop and gallery show that includes designs from Olowu's Spring 2012 collection, alongside objects – art and otherwise – that have inspired him. Assembled in a similar vein as the items found in Olowu's shop in London will be a selection of vintage and contemporary photography, textiles, furniture, music, books, found objects, and contemporary art – including illustrations by the lovely and talented Bella Foster. (Bella!)

Illustration by Bella Foster

Untitled (Nikon F2), 2011

Photograph by Juergen Teller

Material runs from February 8 through March 10. More information at Salon 94.

Two designs from Olowu's Spring collection.
See more, and past collections, at style.com.

Image of the Day

2012-02-07T06:48:00.000-08:00

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Victoria Haven: Altered Buzzcocks, 2011 (Graphite on vellum, 25 1/4 x 17 3/4 inches) – featured in the group show Clouds Inclose Comets: The Envelope at PDX through February 25.

Need vs. Want

2012-02-06T18:39:00.000-08:00

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A selection of rare Japanese photo books as highlighted by Abe. Want. Really bad. Go here to browse and purchase.

This one – Daido Moriyama's Karyudo (Hunter: For Jack Kerouac), which comes with a limited edition print – is a steal at $3000.

Pretty in Pink

2012-02-03T13:01:00.000-08:00

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I never think of anything remotely girly as being my style. (Although I do like a bow at the neck, that is purely ironic.) But I found this collection beautiful. Maybe it's more my style than I think.

I like how the fabric makes this look super rich
and prairie-girl at the same time.

(Plus, pockets in fancy dresses are pretty high up on
my list of loves. Maybe that is a little ironic
...or just modern.)

Valentino Spring 2012 Couture.
More at style.com.

Image of the Day

2012-02-03T09:20:00.000-08:00

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I am obsessed with this photograph of Joan Didion and her white Corvette Stingray.

Joan Didion, 1970.
Julian Wasser/Time Life Pictures

And this one:

Joan Didion, Hollywood, November 1970

How much does she rock?

New York magazine had an interesting (and sad) article a couple of months ago about Didion and her new memoir, Blue Nights. Read it here.

Best Foot Forward

2012-02-02T13:00:00.000-08:00

Design for winged shoe by Lady San Pedro.
One of 10 finalists in the shoe design contest
sponsored by i-D magazine and Alberto Guardiani.
See more here.

Lunchtime Viewing

2012-02-01T11:55:00.000-08:00

Natasha Poly shot by Willy Vanderperre.

Yesterday the Cut posted a slideshow of the Spring 2012 fashion campaigns. These are some that caught my eye; see a gazillion more (for better, and for worse – and in addition to one or two already recommended by Strath) here. I like a collection, what can I say.

Daria Strokous shot by Willy Vanderperre.

Anja Rubik shot by Inez & Vinoodh.

Wang Xiao, Tao Okamoto, and (the Northwest's own) Kendra Spears
shot by Alasdair McLellan.

Suvi Koponen and Kati Nescher shot by David Benjamin Sherry.
Reminds me of Strath's black books.

Frida Gustavsoon shot by David Sims.

Cushnie et Ochs. Milou Van Groesen shot by Hugh Lippe.

Gisele Bündchen, Mariacarla Boscono, Simone Nobili, and Chris Moore
shot by Mert and Marcus.

Costume National. Alyona Subbotina shot by Glen Luchford.

Candice Swanepoel shot by Daniel Jackson.

Arizona Muse shot by Inez and Vinoodh.

Chanel. Saskia de Brauw and Joan Smalls shot by Karl Lagerfeld.
I really like this campaign.
It makes me think of Coco at the beach, getting her tan.

Prada Menswear. Michael Pitt shot by David Sims. (Sorry, couldn't resist.)

Thursday Morning, The Jane Hotel

2012-01-31T09:32:00.000-08:00

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My new home away from home.

It's Always Gonna Come Back Around

2012-01-31T06:44:00.000-08:00

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Shabazz Palaces "Are You...Can You...Were You? (Felt)" from Black Up (2011, Sub Pop). New video for my favorite Shabazz cut by the homey Maikoiyo Alley-Barnes.

The Addams Family

2012-01-30T12:24:00.001-08:00

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I don't know...that was just my first thought. They played basketball, right?

Givenchy Spring 2012 Couture [click to enlarge].
See the collection at style.com.

Ricardo Tisci's stated inspiration for the collection: the movie Metropolis (1927, Fritz Lang) and the theme music from the Soviet film Aelita: Queen of Mars (1924). Always so interesting to see what designers choose to reference.

Metropolis trailer (1927; restored)

Audio clip from Aelita: Queen of Mars (1924).

Image of the Day

2012-01-30T07:02:00.000-08:00

Bruce Davidson, London 1960. Girl Holding Kitten.

For no reason, except that I love this photograph, and every time I look at it I think of a friend.

Davidson in The Guardian's series My Best Shot (wherein photographers describe how they got their favorite photo):

In 1960, I purchased a Hillman Minx convertible, which wasn't a very expensive car in those days, and drove around England with the top down. It was an American-drive car, which was an advantage because I could snap people on the sidewalk more easily. I also had a sports coat made with the side pockets larger, so I could fit my Leicas in them.
I found this young woman quite by accident, as I was walking the London streets. I came upon a group of teenagers, and struck up a conversation. They took me into a cave, and then some kind of huge dancehall. I think it was on an island. It was getting late, and I needed to move on the next morning, so I didn't stay very long.
But I isolated this girl to photograph, holding that kitten, which was probably a stray she had found on the street, and carrying that bedroll wrapped around her body. There was a great deal of mystery to her. I didn't know where she had come from, and I didn't get her name, but there was something about that face - the hopefulness, positivity and openness to life - it was the new face of Britain.

The Cocktail Party that Could Be a Political Party

2012-01-27T17:44:00.000-08:00

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The full documentary on Glenn O'Brien's classic NYC public access show TV Party (1978–1982) is on YouTube. Of course it is. Another must-view if you ain't seen it.

Full first episode of the show here.

Image of the Day

2012-01-27T13:41:00.000-08:00

Weegee, Heat Spell, May 23, 1941

The caption under the photo in the PM Daily,
the paper where the photo appeared (this is a wider crop):
"The hot weather last night took Weegee,
the photographer, to the lower East Side,
where he found these children sleeping on a tenement
fire escape at Irving and Rivington Streets.
Weegeee says he gave the kids $2 for ice cream,
but their father took charge of the dough."

Kind of an unseasonal choice given that it's the middle of winter, but I just saw a small show of Weegee's photos at Steven Kasher Gallery (Weegee: Naked City) and this was one I hadn't remembered seeing before. Plus I'm just a sucker for kittens. So this can be "Guest Cat" too.

Two other exhibitions of Weegee's photographs are currently showing: Murder is My Business is up at the International Center of Photography in NYC and Weegee: Naked Hollywood at MoCA.

William McCleary in Naked City:

He will take his camera and ride off in search of new evidence that his city, even at her most drunken and disorderly and pathetic moments, is beautiful.

Best Foot Forward

2012-01-26T16:14:00.000-08:00

Gucci Ophelie Chain T-Strap Sandals,
$1195 at Neiman Marcus or
Saks Fifth Avenue (pre-order).
Uhn-kaaay?

Also in two-tone:

(at Neiman)

Sleek Unique Technique

2012-01-26T06:26:00.000-08:00

Alexander Hankoff 's reel – extremely unique. See more of his work here.

(Hat tip to Dalen Bakstad)

Lost and Alive

2012-01-25T07:32:00.000-08:00

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Frankie Rose "Know Me" from Interstellar (Feb 2012, Slumberland)

Photo: The Harvard Exit theater, Seattle, WA, November 2011

Image of the Day

2012-01-25T06:35:00.000-08:00

. A shot from the new Calvin Klein Spring/Summer 2012 campaign – Lara Stone by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott. Cool concept and composition, amazing light, great clothes and styling.

Image of the Day

2012-01-24T12:40:00.000-08:00

Joel Sternfeld, Nags Head, North Carolina (#15),
June-August 1975 (1975)

On view now at Luhring Augustine, NYC as part of the exhibition First Pictures, which consists of four series of photographs taken by Sternfeld between 1971 and 1980 (many never before published or shown).

This exhibition was SO GOOD. Go see it now (through Feb. 4), if you can. If not, watch this slideshow.

I'll Be Out Back

2012-01-24T06:52:00.000-08:00

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Trailer for Moonrise Kingdom, a new film by Wes Anderson. I have high hopes for this one.

F--- You, Motherland

2012-01-23T13:07:00.000-08:00

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I cannot wait to see this.

Trailer for Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry, a new documentary
directed and produced by Alison Klayman. The film premieres at this year's Sundance Film Festival.

Skyline

2012-01-23T06:24:00.000-08:00

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A great story from the current issue of Muse Magazine...

Sigrid Agren shot by Kerry Hallihan, with styling by Sheila Single.

See the rest here.

If You Wanna Make the Noise

2012-01-23T06:07:00.000-08:00

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The Roots f/ Dice Raw & Phonte "One Time" from Undun (2011, Def Jam)

Photo: Jamel Shabazz

Or the Aegean Sea Will Do For Me

2012-01-20T18:03:00.000-08:00

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Dillon "Thirteen ThirtyFive"
from This Silence Kills (2011, BPitch Control Berlin)

Best Foot Forward

2012-01-19T09:48:00.000-08:00

Burberry Prorsum Spring 2012. Coming soon.

Slow Days It Was Super

2012-01-19T00:00:00.000-08:00

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Moshimoss "Slow Days It Was Super" from Hidden Tape No. 66 (2010, Download for free from Dynamophone)

Photo: Montlake, Seattle, December 2011

Amen.

2012-01-18T10:48:00.000-08:00

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Best exhibition title I've heard in a while.

Marianne Vitale, from her upcoming show,
What I Really Need to Do Is Lighten the Fuck Up About a Lot of Shit.
At Zach Feuer, NYC, Jan. 19 - Feb. 18, 2012.
Reception for the artist Thurs. Jan. 19, 6-8 p.m.

Image of the Day

2012-01-17T07:33:00.000-08:00

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One of 65 found photographs featured in the new exhibition Other Bodies: A Collection of Vernacular Photography, at ZieherSmith Gallery in New York through February 11.

Castle Walls

2012-01-17T07:17:00.000-08:00

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Behind the scenes of Deborah Turbeville's excellent Spring/Summer 2012 campaign for Valentino.

Judith Thurman wrote a great piece on her in the New Yorker a few months back. Here's an excerpt:

While Deborah Turbeville does not consider herself a fashion photographer—she approaches the genre, she says, “with tongue in cheek”— she has taken some of the most memorable fashion pictures of the past thirty-five years. They have been influenced by filmmakers like Jean Cocteau, Jean Renoir, Alain Resnais and Andrej Tarkovsky who, she says, share her “obsession with style and atmosphere.” They also pay Proustian homage—ironic and nostalgic at the same time—to lost or fading aristocratic worlds. Turbeville and her longtime printer, Jean-Yves Noblet, scanned the negatives and Polaroids that they found “lying in a drawer” into a computer, she explains, with all of their scratches and “scars,” to produce the digital prints in her new book, “The Fashion Pictures,” and in her show at Staley-Wise, in SoHo.

Subscribers can read the full article at newyorker.com and anyone can view a slideshow of select Deborah Turbeville photographs here.

Image from the SS2012 Valentino campaign. See the rest here.

Best Foot Forward

2012-01-12T15:50:00.000-08:00

Giuseppe Zanotti Alien ankle boot,
$930 at Barneys.

Innie & Vinnie

2012-01-12T07:31:00.000-08:00

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I've been digging the Giuseppe Zanotti campaigns for the past few seasons – Anja Rubik shot by Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin. (Spring/Summer 2012 above, Fall/Winter 2011 below.)

Need vs. Want

2012-01-11T09:53:00.000-08:00

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I know, I'm in a shopping mood this week. I've been looking for the perfect pair of high-waisted, loose-fitting black pants forever, and these would fit the bill completely.

Need. But alas, unattainable.
Vintage black pants, Yves Saint Laurent,
worn by fashion consultant Susanne Deeken.
Photographed by Olivier Zahm for the
F/W 2011-12 issue of Purple Fashion.

Need vs. Want

2012-01-10T10:38:00.000-08:00

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Bargains!

+J Wool Wrap Coat,
$129 at Uniqlo. NEEEEEED.

+J Wool Jersey Long-Sleeve Dress,
$79 at Uniqlo. Want.

Image of the Day

2012-01-10T07:10:00.000-08:00

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Marisa Berensen in Vogue, 1969 (not sure of the photographer – maybe Francesco Rubartelli?) from the recent book Marisa Berensen: A Life In Pictures, by Steven Meisel, with design by friend-of-the-blog Jason Duzansky.

A Thousand Islands in the Sea

2012-01-10T06:34:00.000-08:00

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Destroyer "Leave Me Alone" (New Order cover) for the Feb 2012 issue of MOJO magazine.

(hat-tip Suspence / image: Henri Fantin-Latour A Basket of Roses, 1890)

Image of the Day

2012-01-09T20:30:00.001-08:00

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The first spread from a great story by Boo George, with styling by Caroline Newell, in the Winter 2011 issue of i-D Magazine.

Retail Therapy

2012-01-09T12:15:00.000-08:00

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This coat should not still be available in almost every size, at this price. Unless there is something weird going on with the cut that isn't evident from the photos, this one promises heavy wardrobe rotation. The 3/4 sleeves are no issue in a place like Seattle – and anyway, who doesn't like an excuse to wear long gloves?

Good detailing.

Diane Von Furstenberg Loretta Coat,
$325 (originally $815) at Matches.

Eve Arnold

2012-01-09T06:30:00.000-08:00

Marlene Dietrich, 1952

Ten favorite photographs by the great Magnum photographer Eve Arnold, who died last week at the age of 99.

Model in Harlem, 1968

Marilyn Monroe, 1955

Malcolm X, Chicago, 1961

Marilyn Monroe learning dance moves for a role from her husband Arthur Miller, 1960

Red Light district in Havana, 1954

Marilyn Monroe, 1955

Malcolm X, Washington DC, 1960

Marilyn Monroe, 1955

Dubai, 1971

Eve Arnold photographed by Lord Snowdon in 2001

Moon Safari

2012-01-09T06:02:00.000-08:00

Air scores a newly restored edition of George Méliès’ 1902 film Le Voyage dans la Lune (A Trip To The Moon). Méliès hand-painted every frame of the color version of the film, which "pioneered the use of trompe l’oeil objects, papier-mâché props and double-exposure to tell the first science fiction tale in cinema." Air's score features vocals from Au Revoir Simone and Victoria Legrand (Beach House), and “when the people talk [in the film], we decided to use animal sounds,” says Nicolas Godin of Air. More info at Nowness.

Image of the Day

2012-01-06T18:21:00.000-08:00

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Irving Penn: Lisa Fonssagrives-Penn in Balenciaga, 1950, featured in the book Nostalgia In Vogue (Rizzoli) – written by Eve MacSweeney, with a foreword by Anna Wintour and contributions from Joan Didion, Anjelica Huston, Margaret Atwood, Patti Smith, and others.

Please Be My Third Eye

2012-01-06T18:16:00.000-08:00

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La Sera "Please Be My Third Eye" [MP3] from Sees the Light (March 2012, Hardly Art)

Happy Birthday, Joan of Arc

2012-01-06T18:10:00.000-08:00

600 years old today.
(Photo: Paris, 2006)

Last December

2012-01-05T19:33:00.000-08:00

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TV on the Radio "Blind"
from Young Liars EP (2003, Touch & Go)

(photo: 1937 Haida Totem Pole, Lake Washington, 12/31/11)

Best Foot Forward

2012-01-05T18:54:00.000-08:00

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L.L. Bean Blucher Moccasins, $69

I'm telling you dude, you can't go wrong with the classics.

Image of the Day

2012-01-04T19:27:00.000-08:00

. Imogen Cunningham: Veiled Woman, 1910 – featured in the recent book by photography collector W.M. Hunt, The Unseen Eye: Photographs from the Unconscious (Aperture). Each image in the book features a subject with gaze averted, face obscured or eyes closed.

Developing A Vocabulary

2012-01-03T20:43:00.000-08:00

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Long but worth watching.

Every time I decide I'm tired of Tom Ford – I think it's the way he talks, he can seem so full of himself – I experience something new he's produced, and I come back around.

Image of the Day

2012-01-03T06:18:00.000-08:00

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Eva Zeisel, ca.1930, with some of her designs. In 1946 Zeisel was the subject of the Museum of Modern Art's first solo exhibition by a woman, and she continued working until she died last week at the age of 105. Read about Eva Zeisel's almost impossibly great life at nytimes.com.

HAIR

2012-01-02T07:32:00.000-08:00

Magdalena Frackowiak photographed by Ben Hassett for Vogue Germany (hair by Sam McKnight, styling by Beth Fenton, make-up by Polly Osmond).

Totally amazing to me. See the full story here.

(via Fashion Gone Rogue)

You Know What's Up or Don't You

2011-12-30T17:01:00.000-08:00

Azealia Banks featuring Lazy Jay

Best Foot Forward

2011-12-29T11:46:00.000-08:00

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Happy New Year!

Sergio Rossi Rhinestone Lace Shoe Bootie,
$1,670 at Barneys.

Doe Avedon

2011-12-29T07:48:00.000-08:00

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Photograph by Richard Avedon at the Gare du Nord, Paris, August 1947. Doe Avedon, model and actress, and the inspiration – along with Richard Avedon, her first husband – for the movie Funny Face, died last week at the age of 86.

Funny Face trailer

In 1949 Doe divorced Richard Avedon to marry Dan Matthews, an actor. “I would have crawled to the Bronx on my knees to bring Doe back,” Mr. Avedon said in 1993.

Book photo above from the excellent must-have Avedon Fashion 1944–2000.

Image of the Day

2011-12-28T07:43:00.000-08:00

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A preview from the Akris SS 2012 campaign – the model is Daga Ziober but I'm not sure who shot it... maybe Steven Klein? Minimal and beautiful and I love the white space around the image.

Image of the Day

2011-12-27T06:48:00.000-08:00

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Frederick Eversley: Big Red Lens, c.1985, on view at the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas, which was financed and recently opened by Alice Walton, heir to the Wal-Mart fortune. Roberta Smith writes in the Times that "much more than just a demonstration of what money can buy or an attempt to burnish a rich family’s name, Crystal Bridges is poised to make a genuine cultural contribution, and possibly to become a place of pilgrimage for art lovers from around the world." (Read the rest of her profile and see a slideshow here.) Roadtrip to Arkansas, anyone?

Photo: Steve Hebert/NYT

This is 2011

2011-12-27T06:36:00.000-08:00

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I had a chance to watch Mike Mills' most recent film Beginners on DVD over the weekend – the best movie I've seen this year.

Trying To Let It Go

2011-12-26T17:00:00.000-08:00

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Octo Octa "I'm Trying" from the "Let Me See You" 12"
(2011, 100% Silk). Video by Christopher Cote.

Free downloads here.

Image of the Day

2011-12-26T07:06:00.000-08:00

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I love the shadow and light in this Deborah Turville photograph, of models Zuzanna Bijoch, Maud Welzen, Bette Franke, and Fei Fei Sun, for an upcoming Valentino campaign.

Merry Christmas

2011-12-25T09:09:00.000-08:00

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Parenthetical Girls "Festive Friends Forever"
from A Parenthetical Girls Family Christmas
(2006, Slender Means Society)

(photo: Seattle WA December 2011)

Hey Sparrow

2011-12-23T12:11:00.000-08:00

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Peaking Lights "Hey Sparrow"
from 936 (2011, Not Not Fun)
Video directed by Cam Archer

Off the Shelf

2011-12-23T11:49:00.000-08:00

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Continuing with the abstraction theme this week, The Quilts of Gee's Bend (Tinwood Books, 2002; monograph for exhibition of the same name).

We saw this exhibit when it traveled to the Whitney from the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, and it was pretty fantastic. The older quilts radiated a beautiful sense of time and experience, and the color or the boldness of the lines in others made you feel like you could be looking at a Motherwell or a Rothko. It's strange then to realize that in just about every way the intent behind the work and the lives of the women who made – and continue to make – these quilts could not be further removed from anything going on in the mainstream art world.

Art lives everywhere.

(I am in a rush to leave town for the holiday, so I will have to
insert captions and credits later...apologies to the artists!)

"Gee's Bend" in its narrowest usage describes a geographical feature: one of several "bends" where the Alabama River makes an abrupt, looping turn. More broadly, Gee's Bend is the traditional but unofficial name of a small African American community centered at the town of Boykin and encircled by the river. -- Alvia Wardlaw (from the Introduction)

What nature created at the Bend, history has reinforced. Its people were all but forgotten after emancipation, subsisting from generation to generation as sharecroppers and tenant farmers for absentee white landlords....Isolation has spawned a mythology unique to Gee's Bend. Well into the twentieth century, the settlement was regarded as a throwback: an antebellum artifact, even an Alabama Africa. -- John Beardsley (from the essay "River Island")

The quilts are products of the brilliant originality that lived through the dark eras of slavery and Reconstruction. ...The [quiltmakers] are descended from generations of slaves who worked the Pettway plantation at Gee's Bend. The ancestors of these artists were so firmly rooted in that place that they stayed put on that peninsula in Alabama after the Civil War and established a tightly knit community that during the Great Depression was declared one of the poorest place in the United States and singled out for federal relief programs. -- Peter Marzio, Director, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (from the Preface)

Studying the quilts of this small community called Gee's Bend, one quickly realizes that they embody a strangely independent, or self-referring, aesthetic. To a certain audience, they may reverberate with the rhythms and patterns of other twentieth-century art, whether the German Bauhaus-inspired work of Josef Albers or Paul Klee, some of Barnett Newman's compositions, or more contemporary painters such as Sean Scully. Yet these parallels quickly seem irrelevant. To claim too much "originality" would be pointless – and yet it is equally fruitless to attempt to establish actual influences from other art...Our fascination with these quilts lies in part in the impact they have on modern "high art," yet the quiltmakers of Gee's Bend cannot be shown to be directly, or for that matter indirectly affected by the mainstream art world. -- Jane Livingston (from the essay "Reflections on the Art of Gee's Bend")

[T]he Gee's Bend aesthetic . . . is as inventive as the town's social history is intricate. . . . [A] totally unselfconscious approach to the act of making art prevails …. This is an aesthetic of the here and now. An unabashed immediacy permits the women to make snap decisions about a quilt and move on, sharing their decision-making with us. Theirs is an aesthetic of contemplation, but not hesitancy. The results are large-scale geometric permutations of pure color and form-bars and bands of color offered up in bold confidence, intricate triangles playing visual eye games.... -- Alvia Wardlaw (from the Introduction)

Working with "useless" bits of cloth, these artists seem to follow linear patterns–a classical path to beauty. But they also show a profound color sense that is as refined as that of any professional artist. The women know one another's styles as confidently as Jackson Pollock knew his as compared to Willem de Kooning. These women learn from one another but strive to be themselves. Their quilts are both the signatures of individuals and the banners of a community. -- Peter Marzio, Director, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (from the Preface)

Image of the Day

2011-12-23T10:07:00.000-08:00

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Bacon and spinach-stuffed rib-eye roast, photographed by Marcus Nilsson from Bon Appetit's Holiday Roasts Slideshow

Chrisssssmissssss

2011-12-23T09:54:00.000-08:00

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One choice selection from 16 Amazingly Terrible Christmas Cards.

Best Foot Forward

2011-12-22T17:18:00.000-08:00

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I tried these (but with gold spikes) on at the store in the West Village. So killer, and devastatingly, not my size. My store credit survives to fight again another day.

Christian Louboutin Pigalle Spikes (120 mm),
$1,195 at Christian Louboutin.

Can It Be

2011-12-22T06:29:00.000-08:00

David Bowie & Bing Crosby: "Peace on Earth" / "Little Drummer Boy"

It Must Be in the Air Here

2011-12-21T12:41:00.000-08:00

Lopez Island, WA, August 2011

This past weekend I was at a party, and at one point I happened to be standing around outside with some of my homegirls – beautiful, smart, ridiculously talented, and – best of all – hilarious, every one. (This is no exaggeration.) I had two thoughts: one, how did I get so lucky? And two – not to take a thing away from my amazing girls elsewhere, but – why are Northwest girls so damn awesome? I'm just saying, because they are.

I feel like a theme song is in order. This doesn't quite cut it, but it'll do for now.

Say Hi, "Northwestern Girls"
from The Wishes and the Glitch (2007, Euphobia)

This concludes my sentimental moment.

Recent Acquisitions

2011-12-21T07:47:00.000-08:00

Gauntlet Hair

EMA

ASAP Rocky

Boris (note, this album cover also available on pillows and underwear)

Memoryhouse

Kurt Vile Smoke Ring For My Halo Deluxe Edition (includes the EP So Outta Reach)

Lower Dens

Bellflower OST by Jonathan Keevil

Oh Land

The Vaccines

Nicolas Jaar

Image of the Day

2011-12-19T13:11:00.000-08:00

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Well, images.

Jason Middlebrook, Imposing Forces, 2011.
(Acrylic on maple plank.)

Jason Middlebrook, Once again a version of nature through my eyes
(detail), 2011. (Acrylic on beech wood plank.)

Jason Middlebrook, Vertical Landscape Painting, 2011.
(Acrylic on black walnut plank.)

Jason Middlebrook, Black and White Number 2, 2011 (detail).
(Acrylic on wood plank.)

[Photos by Karen Pearson.]

All at Dodge Gallery, NYC, as part of Middlebrook's show "A Break from Content" (one of my favorites of the many I saw last weekend). I really like the conversation between nature and culture that is going on - the way the superimposed abstractions complement and contrast with the organic lines of the cross-sectioned wood. Something about it struck me as very Northwest. (A side point, but I also feel compelled to mention for some reason that Kristen Dodge, with whom I had an enjoyable chat, also happened to be the most beautiful and stylish woman I encountered on the trip.) More info about the show, which runs through Dec. 23, is at dodge-gallery.com.

Image of the Day

2011-12-16T07:53:00.000-08:00

Richard Avedon: Christmas Boy, 1965
(via Steven Kasher Gallery/1stDibs)

Best Foot Forward

2011-12-15T08:43:00.000-08:00

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I must have these.

Fendi Respect sandal (Resort 2012),
$695 on pre-order at Nordstrom.

Need vs. Want

2011-12-15T07:41:00.000-08:00

Vintage Daisy BB gun for shooting cans on Whidbey Island – highly relaxing activity. Need.

See Me Change

2011-12-14T17:54:00.000-08:00

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The Stills "Changes Are No Good"
from Logic Will Break Your Heart (2003, Vice Records)

Image of the Day

2011-12-14T07:38:00.000-08:00

Walker Evans, no title, 1974.

A selection of Walker Evans's Polaroids are up now at Andrea Rosen Gallery in NYC, as part of "The Wedding (The Walker Evans Polaroid Project)." The show, which was curated by Ydessa Hendeles, marries 83 Polaroids from 1973-74 with photographs from Roni Horn's "Bird" series (1998-2007). One of the better gallery experiences I had on my recent trip. Runs through January 14, 2012.

Believe Me When I Say

2011-12-14T07:20:00.000-08:00

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Real Estate "It's Real" from Days (2011, Domino). Video directed by Weird Days.

Off the Shelf

2011-12-13T11:54:00.000-08:00

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I'm starting a new series.

Mario Testino for French Glamour (1993), styled by Carine Roitfeld

We have a living room full of art, design, and photography books, and all other sorts of random titles we've picked up on our travels. I love a beautiful and beautifully designed book, the more weighty and substantial the better, and I don't look at ours enough. So once a week I'm going to select one at random, and spend some quality time with it, and share a few of my favorite spreads and/or images – with commentary, or not.

To kick things off: Stylist: The Interpreters of Fashion (Rizzoli, 2007).

This was one of my last purchases in New York. I remember schlepping it to our friend April's garden party after buying it – now I don't remember where – somewhere along the way. (I think we had our going-away party that next weekend, in the midst of the remnants of Hurricane Hanna.)

Styling by Camilla Nickerson / photography by Juergen Teller (W, 2007)

Styling by Edward Enniful / photography by Craig McDean (i-D, 2002)

Styling by Brana Wolf / photography by Inez van Lamsweerde &
Vinoodh Matadin (Harper's Bazaar, 2000)

Styling by Carine Roitfeld / photography by Mario Testino (French Vogue, 2005)

From Sarah Mower's introduction:

"Since the turn of the millennium, the term 'stylist' has shot from obscurity to everyday pop usage without, so far, being pinned down precisely in any dictionary. It's easy to see why: on the one hand, its meaning has been moving so rapidly, but on the other, it seems to apply to such diffuse, mysterious, behind-the-scenes skills that only the innermost inhabitants of the fashion world can fully understand what they are....Within [the profession] is an elite: individuals whose supercharged sensitivity to the visual – and sometimes their cutting wit – helps formulate the background aesthetics of every decade. They are the coauthors of some of the most powerful imagery that hits us every time we flip open a magazine, glimpse a fashion show, flick on a TV or computer, or drive past a billboard...."

Styling by Alex White / photography by Glen Luchford (Prada ad campaign, 1997)

Styling by Karl Templer / photography by Mikael Jansson (Arena Homme Plus, 2001)

Styling by Carine Roitfeld / photography by Mario Testino

(Gucci advertising campaign, 2005)

Styling by Camilla Nickerson / photography (L) Juergen Teller
(YSL ad campaign, 2005); (R) Marcio Madiera, style.com (YSL Spring 2005 RTW).

Styling by Melanie Ward / photography by Inez van Lamsweerde & Vinoodh Matadin
(Helmut Lang ad campaign, 2003)

"...At the most basic level, their job can be described as putting the clothes in the picture. That task – of selecting and documenting clothes – can sound humble...but what binds the diverse talents [] together is the ability to make the clothes part of a bigger story."

Styling by Paul Cavaco / photography (L) Peter Lindbergh (Harper's Bazaar, 1992);
(R) David Sims (Harper's Bazaar, 1993)

Styling by Andrea Lieberman ("Cool" music video, Sophie Muller, director, 2004)

Styling by Venetia Scott / photography (L) Juergen Teller (Italian Vogue, 1996);

(R) Juergen Teller (Nova)

Styling by Carlyne Cerf de Dudzeele / photography by Peter Lindbergh (Vogue, 1988).
(from left: Estelle Lefebure, Karen Alexander, Rachel Williams, Linda Evangelista,
Tatjana Patitz, Christy Turlington)

"...Brilliant styling can sell clothes, change the way we want to dress, propose revolutionary ideas about who and what is beautiful, inform fantasies about where and how we'd like to live....In the endless relay race of fashion, great stylists are the ones who pass on the baton for the season to come, reinterpreting what they've seen on the runway to predict what will happen next."

Styling by Lori Goldstein / photography by Yelena Yemchuk (Japanese Vogue, 2003)

Styling by Grace Coddington / photography by Craig McDean (Vogue, 2002)

Styling by Edward Enniful / photography by Craig McDean (i-D, 2002)

Styling by Karl Templer / photography by David Sims (W, 2004)

Styling by Tonne Goodman / photography by Bruce Weber
(Calvin Klein ad campaign, 1988-89)

"...The distinguishing mark of a great stylist's work is the imagination that makes it something that could only come from one person's mind."

Styling by Venetia Scott / photography (L) David Sims (The Face, 1993);
(R) Juergen Teller (The Face, 1996)

Styling by Alex White / photography by Inez van Lamsweerde
& Vinoodh Matadin (W, 2006)

Styling by Carine Roitfeld / photography by Mario Testino (French Glamour, 1994)

Styling by Grace Coddington / photography by Steven Klein (Vogue, 2003)

Styling by Polly Mellen / photography by Richard Avedon (Vogue, 1970)

The photos of the stylists themselves are just as inspiring as their work:

Camilla Nickerson

Carlyne Cerf de Dudzeele

Tonne Goodman

Paul Cavaco

Carine Roitfeld

Grace Coddington

...Such a small peek at what's in this amazing book; most highly recommended.

Find Stylist here.

Image of the Day

2011-12-13T07:44:00.000-08:00

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The Kalakala, which operated as a ferry on Puget Sound from 1926–1967. Having been repurposed as a fish processing vessel in Alaska since its retirement, and now residing in Tacoma-WA, the Kalakala has fallen into severe disrepair. It is currently up for sale for $1 or best offer. More info here.

Arboretum

2011-12-12T07:26:00.000-08:00

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Can't You See

2011-12-09T18:23:00.000-08:00

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St. Vincent "Cruel" from Strange Mercy (2011, 4AD)

The Line

2011-12-09T07:15:00.000-08:00

Early '60s Dior lingerie packaging.

Totally brilliant.

Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out

2011-12-09T06:53:00.000-08:00

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Peaking Lights documentary

Crazy talented. Can't wait to hear what they do next.

(yet again via Suspence)

You Always Gotta Have a Plan

2011-12-08T18:03:00.000-08:00

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Ice Cube on Charles & Ray Eames for Pacific Standard Time. Read an interview with Ice Cube about this project at nytimes.com

(via Suspence)

Best Foot Forward

2011-12-08T08:11:00.000-08:00

Alexander Wang Chloe sandal,
$525 at alexanderwang.com.

Image of the Day

2011-12-08T08:10:00.000-08:00

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Francesca Woodman: Caryatid, New York, 1980 (Diazotype) – on view in the first major American museum exhibition of Woodman's work in 25 years, at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art through February 20. Get info here and read a review by Ted Loos at nytimes.com.

(Image via SFMoMA / © George and Betty Woodman)

Image of the Day

2011-12-07T17:11:00.000-08:00

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Peep the line-up for Cairo's fourth annual Expo.
Quite fantastic, I would say. Info here.

Need vs. Want

2011-12-06T13:00:00.000-08:00

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This happened to appear in my inbox this morning, courtesy of an email from Matches. I'm not generally one for floral prints, but this is lovely.

Preen Akiki dress, $1169 at Matches.com. Want.

Image of the Day

2011-12-06T08:04:00.000-08:00

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Ten of them, actually – classic photographs by the great Alfred Eisenstaedt, who was born today in 1898.

There Is A Darkness

2011-12-05T18:08:00.000-08:00

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Stills from Possession (Andrzej Zulawski, 1981).
A new print is showing this week at Film Forum in NYC.

"A movie that has to be seen to be believed! Starts as an unusually violent breakup film, takes a turn toward Repulsion-style psychological breakdown, escalates into the avant-garde... and ends in the realm of pulp metaphysics... Adjani gives the performance of a lifetime – a veritable aria of hysteria... At once a dread-inducing ordeal, a bloody arabesque, and a swooning celebration of Adjani's long, cloaked form in perpetual motion." –J.Hoberman, The Village Voice

"Rewards repeated viewings... With its blood-and-gasoline-drenched apocalyptic ending, Possession joins the recent Melancholia in portraying the sense that it must be the literal end of the world simply because it feels that way." –L. Caldoran, Cinespect

"Looks creepy and chic to the max. Can't wait to see it if it ever comes out on DVD." –Pacific Standard

Here's the trailer:

If you're in NYC go see it here.

Everything

2011-12-05T08:25:00.000-08:00

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Micachu & the Shapes/London Sinfonietta "Everything"
from Chopped and Screwed (2011, Rough Trade)

(photo: Lake Union, Seattle, WA, yesterday)

Image of the Day

2011-12-05T08:09:00.000-08:00

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Bo Muller-Moore in his studio in Vermont, where he screenprints t-shirts with the slogan "Eat More Kale." The fast food chain Chik-Fil-A, which sells 537 chicken sandwiches a minute, alleges that Muller-Moore's t-shirts violate its trademarked slogan “Eat Mor Chikin.” “This is corporate bullying,” Mr. Muller-Moore said. His lawyer, Daniel Richardson, sent Chick-fil-A a letter in November, contesting its claim that the slogan “is likely to cause confusion of the public and dilutes the distinctiveness of Chick-fil-A’s intellectual property." ... "We believe it’s pretty clear, the issue of dilution and confusion aren’t really triggered here,” he said. “There’s no one out there that’s going to come forward and say, ‘I thought I was buying a Chick-fil-A product but I got this T-shirt.’ ”

Read more at the New York Times and Like Eat More Kale on Facebook.

(photo Joseph Sywenkyj/NYT)

Sunday Morning

2011-12-04T11:35:00.000-08:00

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Oddly enough, Ahmad Jamal came up in conversation at a party last night so that's my pick for this week's Sunday record. It would be tough to choose a favorite, but The Awakening, his 1970 recording for Impulse, is definitely on the short list. Some cuts:

The Awakening by Ahmad Jamal Trio on Grooveshark
"The Awakening"

"Dolphin Dance" (written by Herbie Hancock)

"I Love Music"

"Wave" (Antonio Carlos Jobim)

"Stolen Moments" (Oliver Nelson)

(Photos by the great and underappreciated Chuck Stewart)

Almost all of the songs on The Awakening have been sampled in different ways for some true hip-hop classics:

Nas "The World Is Yours" (produced by Pete Rock) from Illmatic (1994, Columbia)

Shadez of Brooklyn "Change" 12-inch (produced by Da Beatminerz, 1996, Pandemonium/Tape Kingz)

Pete Rock & CL Smooth "It's On You" from The Main Ingredient (1994, Elektra)

DJ Premier beat for Jeru the Damaja "Me Or the Papes" from Wrath of the Math (1996, Payday)

So, um, there you have it, what I'm listening to this bright and sunny Sunday morning.

'Cause Times Have Changed and Life is Strange

2011-12-02T15:00:00.000-08:00

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Can't get this out of my head today.

Wu-Tang Clan, "Can It Be All So Simple"

from Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), 1993

Pitch-Perfect

2011-12-02T10:21:00.000-08:00

A.L.C. Spring 2012

via style.com

Best Foot Forward

2011-12-01T12:01:00.000-08:00

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A couple for the holidays, specially selected in honor of Strath's new job.*

For a punk rock New Year.
Dolce & Gabbana Stars platform pump,
$474.90 (originally $795).

(A good vamp on a pointed-toe pump
cannot be overrated.)


Jimmy Choo Cosmic suede platform pump
in "regal purple," $414.90 (originally $695).
This silhouette is pretty much perfection, IMHO.

*both available at nordstrom.com.

Changing

2011-12-01T07:37:00.000-08:00

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Sharon Van Etten "Serpents" from Tramp (2012, Jagjaguwar), which features collaborations with The National, Beirut, Julianna Barwick, and Wye Oak, among others.

Life Is Only On Earth...and The Skin I Live In

2011-11-30T18:08:00.000-08:00

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Trailer for Lars von Trier's Melancholia – seeing it tonight.

Comments on YouTube, reading of which is a little like staring directly into the sun, include the following:
-can sum1 plz explain the movie 2 me.....lol
-looks pretty fuckin stupid just from the trailer
-I laughed, I cried, I fapped. Great film.

Anyway I'm looking forward to seeing it.

...
UPDATE!
The Harvard Exit theater canceled the screening of Melancholia that we were planning to see, so instead we saw Pedro Almodóvar's latest, The Skin I Live In:

Picky typography complaint: why, when the title of the film at the end of the trailer is nicely styled Futura...

...would they use compressed Arial or whatever this is for the typography in the middle of the trailer?:

Actually, I hate to say this but it might be Akzidenz, which I love – uncompressed of course. [UGH, here we go, type nerd-out and I'm not even a type nerd.] I think they didn't use Futura because it would have seemed too kitschy for what they wanted to convey with these titles. But then maybe they should have thought about not using it for the final title. Or they could have used Akzidenz (uncompressed) for these, and then use something entirely different for the final title, like Didot. Okay, you know what? They should have used Optima for everything – it would have made at least plausible conceptual sense with the movie and would have looked nicer. Case closed.

Anyway. Nowhere close to Almodóvar's best, but an entertaining diversion, I still love the Harvard Exit, and the company was top notch.

Image of the Day

2011-11-30T07:16:00.000-08:00

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A spread from photographer Christian Patterson's book Redheaded Peckerwood. Patterson self-published 10 copies of the book last year and a newly expanded edition is now available from MACK.

Christian Patterson's Redheaded Peckerwood retraces the steps of 19 year old Charles Starkweather and 14 year old Caril Ann Fugate who murdered ten people, including Fugate's family, during a three day killing spree across the mid-West in 1958. The true crime story was the basis for Terrance Mallick's masterpiece "Badlands" which had a profound aesthetic influence on Patterson as he matured as a photographer.

Beginning ominously with the tragic handwritten confession by Chuck and Caril, Patterson revisits the locations of the crimes and retraces their flight across Nebraska and Wyoming. By incorporating forensic photography, artifacts and press photos from the period with landscapes and still-lifes of his own Patterson weaves an enigmatic narrative deliberately mixing fact and fiction, past and present, myth and reality.

The book is presented as a sort of vintage crime dossier, including three documents found in the wallet of one of the victims that have been reconstructed and bound in. They serve as further evidence of the senselessness of the crimes and the rich mythology that has evolved from these random artifacts.

If you're in New York, stop by Dashwood Books tomorrow from 6–8PM to pick up a signed copy of Redheaded Peckerwood.

Looking Up

2011-11-30T07:12:00.000-08:00

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Mount Eerie "Distorted Cymbals"
from a forthcoming 12" on K Records.

(photo: Thorp, WA, November 2011)

Image of the Day

2011-11-29T07:01:00.000-08:00

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Banks Violette: Untitled, 2011 (Painted steel, 65 x 290 x 65 inches), from Team Gallery's installation at Collins Park, outside of the Bass Museum of Art, for Art Basel Miami.