Tuesday, September 22, 2009

BJORK


I found ths picture just by randomly searching the web...check it...

MY VAMPIRE SHOOT 8/29/09


Art Direction, Styling & Hair by: BFLY..
Make-up by: KELLY LA BANCO..
Photography & post-production by: CECILIA ORTIZ..
Copyright © Cecilia Ortiz Photography..
Models: CINDI & LAUREE
Assistants: Jerilyn, Mariana & Danny.

DIMA



These are Photos I came across on Facebook. He is a friend named Dima Kochergin from Russia, the photos are taken by Dima's Friend Named Pasha. They give me a soothing hint of art and visual perks...I love things that attract my attention...Thank you DIMA!!!!

Monday, September 21, 2009

ENTER THE CAVE


Soundsuit, 2009. Photography Jamie Prinz. Courtesy Jack Shainman Gallery, NYC

 
 






ARTIST NICK CAVE'S WILDLY IMAGINATIVE WORKS PROVIDE INSPIRATION FOR OHNE TITEL SPRING/SUMMER 2010. HERE, DESIGNERS FLORA GILL AND ALEXA ADAMS TALK WITH THE MAN BEHIND THE INFAMOUS "SOUNDSUIT"
Using found materials like twigs, buttons, old sequin clothes, and broken screen doors, the artist and former fashion designer Nick Cave constructs what he calls “Soundsuits”—large, lavish, wondrous costumes that have inspired Ohne Titel’s Flora Gill and Alexa Adams since the inception of their label. “His work is so deeply textural, and he does such interesting surface treatment—it’s something we strive for in at least a piece or two in each collection,” says Gill. That includes their Spring 2010 collection, which was filled with intricately crafted graphic pieces fashioned from layers of silk knots and feathers.
Here, Gill, Adams, and Ohne Titel’s third partner Stephen Courter sit down with Cave to discuss color, reinvention, and the beauty of imperfection. They also plant the seeds for what will undoubtedly be an intriguing art/fashion collaboration.

FLORA GILL You always seem to be collecting new items —doilies and buttons and stuff¬—and bringing them all together into one large thing. What inspires you?
NICK CAVE I think what really inspires the work is the object and its whole history—is there a nostalgic sensibility in the object so it can aspire to something? When I am out looking for stuff, I am more looking to that idea as opposed to the object itself.
ALEXA ADAMS Do you think it is more interesting to subvert it or to just continue with that idea—or to do something different with it?

NC I think that the way it is incorporated shifts the meaning or puts it into a different context, but I am very interested in it maintaining its own role. Then, how does it all fold into this new way of seeing it—it sort of is reclaiming things that already exist, sort of finding a new voice.
FG Yes, reinventing…
NC Well, it’s like if you were to give me your last collection and then I had to re-design it. It’s that kind of thing. What are the things I want to hold on to, and yet, how can I move it forward?
AA I think what is really interesting in your work is that one thing doesn’t have one natural aesthetic, there could be different sounds that could be created or different ways you can relate to a piece. To me, there is one strong aesthetic and there are multiple ways you can interpret it.
NC Right, is it sculpture, is it performance, is it an object? These are things that are all part of the development, of the process. It’s like that again with clothing, when I do collections, do I think about the client? Not necessarily, as opposed to what is this garment doing? What is its potential? Does it only function as a singular skirt or could it be a hoodie?
FG We do a lot of fabric development, and are always questioning, what is the nature of the fabric we are creating? Especially with knits or more sculptural fabrics. What kind of piece would we like to make out of it? Sometimes, the fabric dictates how the piece will look in the end.
NC Because of how it drapes?
FG Because of how it drapes, but also how it moves on the body, and the personality of the piece and how it turns out after using this interesting material. You did this amazing piece that was like a bunch of bags, little punched-in bags and it seemed like you could stick your arms into it and turn it into an amoeba shape or something. It was really interesting once you made that piece; it became something totally different once you put it on. That happens in our fittings. What you draw is not necessarily what you get. The piece changes a lot once you create on the body…I am really inspired by the idea of taking something, either if it is an embellishment technique or something that had previous meaning and creating something new. We have done a lot with macramé.
NC Well you know, that whole idea of holding on to tradition—like in an old macramé book— is so horrendous, but you just take it to the next level. It’s really all about appropriation. It’s providing a different type of reading, and that is what I love about these traditions. How will we be able to elevate them to this extraordinary level? Your next collection is inspired by my work?

From left: Ohne Titel S/S 2010, F/W 2009, S/S 2010
AA Yes, you have inspired seven pieces of it. There is a whole group that is about body, silhouette, and shape. It is about molding this fabric, it creates a really fantastic silhouette. That is something I thought was really strong about your work, how you play with a somewhat traditional silhouette and a traditional order, and completely change it. You change the shape too, but it is all very iconic. That is something we are working with this season, a very iconic and strong body silhouette. We also have these pieces that are knits with embellishments on top of them.
NC I love when you are doing a collection, and you have the anchor pieces, like staple pieces, and then you have these three or four fashion pieces that make you sweat. You know the ones, only three stores will get it, but that’s what it’s all about.
FG Yes it is about being special and having something that could hang on its own almost like a work of art.
STEPHEN COURTER: What is your relationship with fashion, I know obviously you had your own line before.
NC Well, I’m the director of the graduate fashion program at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and I have always been interested in fashion, but not in a direct way. I don’t look at fashion to be inspired. I am more interested in everything else. That is why I really like your collection. I tell my students, ‘Don’t look at fashion magazines because it is already done! What is not done is what you see when you walk home from school every day. What could you be inspired by at that moment?’ You know, just trying to move them forward. When I’m doing clothing, I think of more conceptual pieces first and then from that, I draw the collection. I have to have that outlet to be as innovative as I possibly can, and then from that work backwards.
FG It’s interesting how, within your artistic practice, you appropriate fashion or elements of dress, elements of embellishments.
NC It is an intersection between couture, architecture, painting, and my grandma’s quilt.
(laughter)
NC Or, George Clinton meets the fairy, meets the Pope…But why are designers not collaborating with artists? I mean not that my work should inspire you or anyone else’s, but why aren’t we doing a small collection together?
AA It would be amazing. Something really good could come from that.
NC Or if you handed like ten pieces over and said, ‘Do whatever you want, embellish them like you want.’

From left: Ohne Titel S/S 2009, F/W 2008, F/W 2007
FG That would be incredible.
NC
I think fashion needs to become more flexible. There should be a conversation between the artist and the designer. When I think about the designers in Europe, most of their collections are created by working with stage designers, light designers, musicians— all of these things set the stage for the collection, which is very interesting and which is also probably why their shows are so extreme, because there is a group of people coming together to make it happen.
SC We work with some talented people like Alastair McKimm, Jimmy Paul and Bryan Black when it comes to our shows and we are always excited by the work of artists like yourself who have such a strong vision.  I love your sense of color and how you manipulate them.  Do you go into the work with specific color relationships in mind or do you just let it evolve organically?  
NC I don’t think about it. In the studio, I really try to not be responsible for any decisions, although I am responsible for all of them. But I try not to dwell or put a lot of thought behind what I am doing. I really just need to exercise it. I am interested in grabbing something here and there, and putting it together.
AA It is all very instinctual. You let the work become what it wants to become. It grows. I always feel that if you think it over too much, you will overthink it.
NC You basically kill it.
FG It ends up really, really flat.
NC What I do is then turn the dress upside down and then go from there. You know what I mean? What the hell?
(laughter)
FG My dad has this amazing phrase that he uses about his work, which is also very colorful: “All colors go together, but some of them just have to work a little harder.”
NC Ah! (laughter) Yes I think that is true.
AA I think everyone has a pre-conceived notion of what good taste is, and the interesting things might be what you assume to be horrible together. You have to be open to the possibilities of anything.
NC Yesterday I saw somebody crossing the street with bags. I can’t remember what colors they were, but I just stopped because I thought this is so… I would never even have considered these colors together but they were just so amazing.

From left: Alexa Adams, Nick Cave, Flora Gill

FG Don’t you just love when that happens!
NC But then I think, is it just about the moment? Because, sometimes when I try to bring that into my collection or my work, it doesn’t happen the same way. You just appreciate it because of that special moment.
AA There is a uniqueness of a moment, a lack of effort.
NC I’m making this new sound-suit right now out of sweaters, cut up and made into the shapes of bones. It is going to be about 12 feet tall. I don’t know what they are going to do at the gallery.
(laughter)
NC Maybe put it on the roof? You know I realized I am going to make a sweater as well. The sound-suit is really conceptual, so I want to bring it down to its role in terms of fashion. I’m interested in the transition from one to the other, how you maintain the integrity.
AA You need to keep that power. I am so excited to see it! How did you start making them? Why bones?
NC My assistant started cutting up the sweaters and rolling them and stitching them into a pile about this high and this wide.
FG Do it again! Your wingspan is just incredible! (laughter)
NC All of a sudden, I looked at it and I thought, this is a pile of bones. In the exhibition it is going to be this pile of bones, then the sound-suit next to it. Again, it’s like I am working on a lot of things at once and I am not sure how it all comes together, but then, all of a sudden, it will start to formulate as a whole.
FG Sometimes I think that the most beautiful things are the things that are done by hand, but they are not perfectly hand-done.
NC There was this woman who did this sweater for me and she was halfway through and she brought it to me to see and she was like, ‘Nick, this yarn isn’t looping properly,’ and she was freaking out because of it. And I was like ‘Oh my God! That is exactly what I want!’ So she had to do the whole thing just like it. I said, ‘Don’t try to figure it out, just continue doing what you do.’ It’s so amazing. I would never have liked it to be any other way.
FG There is that amazing Chanel documentary where they go to the countryside and this 80-year-old woman is the only person on earth who knows how to make a Chanel braided trim and she pulls out all of those strings and she makes it herself and they tried to have people from a factory in India come and do it but they couldn’t.
SC The whole collection was stalled for two weeks because she had to collect the hay. (She was very cute.) She said, ‘The Chanel trim has to wait until I have collected my hay.’ It’s sort of funny to think that Karl Lagerfeld had to worry about this lady’s hay crop.” (laughter)
NC How does the dynamic between you two translate into work?
AA We are definitely very different in our personal styles, and the way that we work. I think that is what is so cool about our work—we meet somewhere in the middle. We have a completely fresh perspective. What you were saying about collaborations, we have a built-in collaboration at all times. Sometimes, I wonder how people can do it all by themselves. It is about control in a weird way. I feel a total sense of control in our partnership

NENEH CHERRY


 
 
Neneh Cherry in London, 1984. Photography Jean-Baptiste Mondino

BACK TO CULTURE
WITH HER ASSERTIVE, MULTI-CULTI MUSIC AND MASHED-UP STREET STYLE, NENEH CHERRY MADE AN M.I.A. POSSIBLE. TWO DECADES LATER, THE ICONIC SINGER’S STILL LOOKING GOOD, LOOKING GOOD IN EVERY WAY 
Neneh Cherry’s 1988 debut album Raw Like Sushi introduced a dance–hip-hop sound so global and groundbreaking that we still feel its reverberations today. Her style wasn’t bad either. Dressed more often than not in biker shorts, bomber jackets, and oversized gold jewelry, the Stockholm-born singer and step-daughter of jazz trumpeter Don Cherry gave rise to the Buffalo style, a mid ’80s fashion phenomenon cooked up by Scottish stylist Ray Petri. It mixed designer and vintage clothing with skateboard and hip-hop culture, and, yes, M.I.A. and Santogold owe much of their look to it.Two decades later, Neneh Cherry is still making music, both on her own and with CirKus, the electro-rock band she started with her husband, Cameron McVey. Here, she talks with her friend and former stylist Judy Blame about their Buffalo days, the changes to the music business, and why Grandma isn’t a bad name for the new record.
JUDY BLAME So what have you been doing, then, Neneh?
NENEH CHERRY
Just trying to get back into the grind.
JB What about your solo record? Last time we spoke, you said you were working on one.
NC
Yes, I have been. I kind of just got to a point in the middle of last year where I felt genuinely ready to make my own record. So I’m in the dimension. I’m recording songs, writing songs, and really enjoying it. I think it’s been ten or eleven years since Man. I think that the journey I’ve taken, for some reason, has been more about collaborations, especially with CirKus.
JB But that’s always been the point of your work.
NC
Yeah, we’ve always worked like that, haven’t we? It’s always been kind of like a cottage industry in a weird sort of way.
JB It was always about teamwork. We always used people who had similar ideas, like [Jean-Baptiste] Mondino or Juergen Teller—people who could fit into the unit and deliver what we needed. Even clothing-wise, we always used Azzedine [Alaïa] and Jean-Paul [Gaultier] because we really got on well with them.
NC There were always those people who got it, and then obviously
you feel safe with someone who gets it. It’s also what they add to it, their interpretation. For instance, when we were working with Mondino, we kind of thought through the ideas, didn’t we? We did the Manchild cover, and then, at the end of the shoot, Mondino had this sort of Buffalo idea to wrap my hands up in bandages, like I had just come out of the ring or was just going in. We were going to go twelve rounds.
JB I think we were just going in.
NC
Yeah, we were just going in the ring, getting ready, still looking slick and sharp. I just remember all of us being there and looking at the contact sheets.
JB I’ve still got them. And the, I think, seventy-four rolls of film.

NC Have you? Wicked. I remember that scene with such clarity. Everything back then was about being at the right place at the right time. I remember when Ray Petri got sick and we were kind of on our way, and he was like, “Look, I’m not going to be able to do this, but I want you to do it with Judy.” I just remember being like, Judy Blame? How fucking off-the-wall from Ray, being as classic as he was. I just remember I always got on really well with you. I’d see you near Cavendish Street, down in James Le Bon’s place, and you were working with Chris Nemeth, and it just seemed like such a funny suggestion. And then I remember you coming down Mortimer Road and you’d done these sketches and it was really funny looking at them because I couldn’t possibly wrap my brain around the process of defining what I am. But I remember looking at the drawings and feeling really strongly like Oh yeah, that’s me. And I remember you with a hair tie or the big chunky earrings and the trainers and it just felt really right.
JB That was what we were doing then. We were mixing up a lot of different cultures, weren’t we? My favorite concept was for the Under My Skin video. It was just so exciting, and so pure, in fact.
NC
There was also something very direct about that song, in terms of energy, both lyrically and visually.
JB The reason it worked was because we weren’t really putting on an image, we were just perfecting one.
NC
That’s kind of what I was remembering when we were just talking about picking through those images. Being at that table, looking over the shots we’d done with Mondino and the things that were so easy to define, the things that mattered, the sound and the pictures and what we stood for.
JB The thing is, we were never really trained for anything. I never went to college to study jewelry or fashion. We were quite instinctive about what we wanted to do. And because I’m not classically trained in anything, I’m a bit shameless about the way I put it all together. No one ever told me how to do it. I think we have that in common.
NC
Yes, I think we definitely do.
JB I think it’s hilarious that now I’m working with this whole new generation of kids who grew up listening to us. I actually feel more creative now than I did as a teenager.
NC
Completely. In a weird sort of way, I almost feel younger than I did when I was a teenager, but at the same time, I don’t really want to be eighteen again. I’m going to be forty-five this year. Over Christmas, I was saying, Fuck it, the working title for this new project is just going to be Grandma. I mean, shit, I’m not interested in jumping up and down and pretending I’m eighteen. I want to celebrate what I am. At least I can be a hot grandma. And Flynn, who’s my grandson, said, “Yeah, you can be a hot grandma who never melts.” [Laughs]
JB Can my credit be Old Queen?
NC
Yeah, Old Queen and Grandma. Come on, let’s go! But you know, I’m really happy, and I’m really proud. I’ve had people say to me, “You mustn’t tell anyone that you’re a grandmother.” And I’m thinking, Fuck no, I’m going to tell everyone I’m a grandmother! It’s just going to make me look better! [Laughs]
JB Well, I feel a bit like the ghost of British fashion at the moment. All the young ones are coming up, and they’re all referencing images that we made years ago. It’s kind of cute working with a whole new set of people again.
NC
Well, it’s really important. And that’s kind of what we do when we’re making music. It’s like, Ok, I’ve had this ongoing thing with Cameron for a million years, but we’re always working with kids and sort of learning from them. It’s just the way you do it. I feel that what I have to offer is as relevant as what the kid who’s coming to play drums with us, who’s, like, nineteen, has. We’ve got a lot to say to each other. People ask me all the time, “What have you been doing all these years? Why haven’t you done something?” And I’m like, Well, actually, I’ve been doing lots of stuff. I suppose in our world a ten-year span just sort of flies by horribly fast. I feel like the Spice Girls changed the entire music industry.
JB The whole process changed. It’s no longer based on talent, it’s based on formula. In fact, I’ll say it myself, the image has become more important than the music.
NC
Well, I think it’s because of the celebrity-crazed era that we’re coming through and hopefully coming out of. No disrespect, but I really don’t give a shit whether Britney Spears is wearing knickers
or not or where she goes out at night. I don’t want to sound like a moany old queen, but I definitely felt like when Tricky and I had recorded all those tunes that I was really proud of, and I went into Virgin and played it to their people, there were no dollar signs flashing in their eyes and therefore there was no place for it. I got quite upset, and it probably knocked a bit of my confidence. It was a really cool body of work that kind of just went to waste. But the good thing right now is that there are lots of other ways to get new music out. The Internet is kind of amazing like that.
JB People can communicate from all over the world.
NC
Anyone can put their music out there, and that’s knocked the wind out of the record industry’s sails.
JB I think it’s going to make people want to go live more.
NC
Yeah, definitely, because it’s getting pretty hard selling
records. It’s going to be about going out and playing, and that’s been the really great thing with CirKus. I mean, we just started out playing tiny little places, and it’s just grown. It’s really great in a very simple way, to be able to just stand up there and belt some tunes out. It’s healing for the soul, it’s good for the mind. It’s nice to ride on the bus. [Laughs]
JB Definitely.
NC
We’re like nomads, definitely. Gypsies.

LADY GAGA GORY PERFORMANCE GETS SLAMMED


 Anti-suicide advocates have slammed Lady Gaga's performance at the MTV Video Music Awards on Sunday - blasting her for "romanticizing suicide" with her gory stage performance of song Paparazzi.

Click here for photos & video of Lady Gaga at the MTV VMAs

The singer stunned the star-studded audience with her most bizarre stage act to date, dancing with crutches alongside a wheelchair-bound performer while blood poured down her bare midriff.

She was then surrounded by her dancers, who acted as if to mourn her death, before her lifeless and blood-spattered body was pulled up from the stage on a winch as the curtain came down on the stage.

Gaga later revealed that the quirky routine represented her private life being killed by the paparazzi, but bosses at U.K. teen suicide prevention group PAPYRUS were outraged - branding the star "irresponsible".

In a statement, a rep for the charity says, "This act is not cool - sensationalizing and romanticizing suicide is irresponsible. Celebrities, who are often idolized by young people, need to be more aware of the impact that such acts can have on vulnerable young people."

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Luminia.etsy.com

 
I love little jumpsuits they are so in...I love every style i came accross these on etsy...luminia.etsy.com

SARAHSEVEN.ETSY.CM

 
This is something i ran into reading one of my Lucky mags, SARAHSEVEN.ETSY.COM
the prices vary 300$ and up, but its so soft and romantic...
BEAUTIFUL!!!!!

Derek Lam


 

Derek Lam 2010 SPRING RUNWAY SHOW