Wednesday night we had the hottest (and dare I say chicest) ticket in town. Over at RS POP Shop on 47th and Lexington, IN*TANDEM Magazine has the pleasure of sponsoring “Fashion Art Gallery Presents: Studio 2020″, an intimate look at a modern New York City single woman’s closet - but set in the year 2020. The Pop Up boutique is the brainchild of the ultimate modern woman (and IN*TANDEM featured New Creative) Kelly Mills, whose future woman is an obvious extension of her current self. As the wine flowed and the cupcakes were devoured, we were truly inspired. Designs in collaboration with LaQuan Smith, Telfar, Mari J. Brooklyn, Mercury Sunglasses, Original Women and Gabriel Barcia-Columbo were on showcase and a little more than a twinge of jealousy flared up as we drooled over the futuristic accoutrement. And, did we mention the best part: all of Studio 2020 is up for sale, with a portion of the proceeds being donated to Care.org.
Gucci Group, the owners of the late designer Alexander McQueen’s eponomous clothing line, announced the label’s new creative designer today and her name is……..drumroll, please………………..Sarah Burton! The word around town is that she’s basically the only one who could truly take over McQueen’s line. Having studied at Central Saint Martins and McQueen’s first assistant from 1996 to the day he died, Burton was the woman responsible for turning McQueen’s runway vision into successful commercial collections.
She’s been an intergral part of the McQueen brand for over a decade - and not some superstar designer Gucci Group picked out of hat. And I think that is truly where Alexander McQueen’s legacy lies. He was such a gift and and a talent to the fashion world, only someone who knew him so intimately could follow in his footsteps.
I would love to tell you how the opening of Ryan McGinley’s New York City show “Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere” was full of the beautiful bright white lights and the sweet smell of museum board I’ve come to expect from NYC’s finest galleries. I would have loved to tell you how nuanced the images were - how the photos were both invasive and revealing. But alas, I cannot. I CAN tell you about waiting on the sidewalk with about 500 other people, clamoring to get inside Team Gallery (located at 83 Grand Street, NYC). And I can tell you about the cops and firemen who made me back my ass up on the curb. That’s right. We were DENIED. Though, we’re not too surprised. McGinley’s show was where to be last Thursday night - a first time retrospective on what McGinley himself described as what “A classical Ryan McGinley black and white portrait would look like”. The exuberance and spontaneity of his former works are all gone, replaced with the confines of the white backdrop of a studio. The collection features the 150 hand picked men and women McGinley chose to document in the nude and the monochromatic. And though we all know these images are nowhere, they do take the viewer somewhere - a place of intimacy and overwhelming emotion. Which is exactly what all of McGinley’s work is about.
The exhibition is open from March 18 to April 17. Go see it without the crowds - it’s more than worth it.
Todd Selby is a portrait, interiors, and fashion photographer and illustrator, whose project The Selby offers an insider’s view of creative individuals in their personal spaces with an artist’s eye for detail. Having began in June 2008 as a website, TheSelby.com, where Todd posted photo shoots he did of his friends in their homes, requests quickly began coming in daily from viewers all over the world wanting their homes to be featured on the site. The Selby’s website became so popular—with up to 35,000 unique visitors daily—that within months, top companies from around the world began asking to collaborate.
These joint projects have included a large ad campaign and web project with Nike 6.0, a solo show at Colette (picture above), an international ad campaign for Habitat, work for the New York Times T Magazine, and frequent contributions to Vogue Paris and Architectural Digest France.
According to his website: “before working on this project full time, Selby worked as a translator and Tijuana tour guide to the International Brotherhood of Machinists, a researcher into the California strawberry industry, a Costa Rican cartographer, a consultant on political corruption to a Mexican Senator, an art director at a venture capital firm, an exotic flower wholesaler, a Japanese clothing designer, and a vermicomposting entrepreneur. Todd currently lives in New York City. His pastimes include eating four square meals a day, planning vacations, breaking his computers, and working on his tan”
Alexander McQueen sadly passed away last month. Hailed as a master of his craft, his final collection pays tribute to the old masters of fine art. The 16-piece Renaissance and Byzantine-inspired collection premiered at Paris Fashion Week for Fall/Winter 2010 for a select group of fashion editors. The collection was 80% finished before McQueen’s death. Artworks by the likes of Sandro Boticelli, Hans Memling and Hieronymus Bosch were digitally printed and transferred to the clothes –all very delicate, and intricate work.
Here’s a closer look at Alexander McQueen’s last collection in this video by Fashionista.com.
From Hermès to Kenzo, the looks were mostly brights, lace, furs and retro. Designers like Marc Jacobs for Louis Vuitton seemed to be referencing a “Mad Men”/Brigette Bardot era when women had hips, ass, boobs and dangerous curves.
Carine Roitfeld, editrix of French Vogue sums up Paris Fashion like this: “La Fashion Week de Paris se termine par une note Sixties, très daisy girl.” (Paris Fashion Week finish with a nod to the sixties, very daisy girl—referring to a 1960s controversial anti-nuclear war TV ad)
Miu Miu offered minidresses in black wool, or a wool jersey that had wide straps or prim collars closed with a big cord bow. The hems had a stiff flounce with a rounded quality, like the bell shape of a tunic over skinny pants with belled cuffs. Thankfully, I might have items similar to what was presented currently in my closet, which will save me thousands of dollars that I don’t have in trying to copy the looks in this season’s showcase.
We’ve come to expect great things from Lady Gaga and Beyoncé. The video for their latest collaboration, “Telephone,” directed by Jonas Åkerlund, premiered during E! News yesterday (March 11). Featuring fantastic fashion, girl fights, make-out sessions, and cameos from Tyrese Gibson and Jai Rodriguez, it’s all exciting, intense, and over-the-top. She knows her little monsters well. The video ends with Gaga and Beyoncé riding in the P—y Wagon (Quentin Tarantino approved) with the text “To Be Continued … ” on the screen.
