27/09/2011

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Louis Vuitton Montenapoleone / Naja Conrad-Hansen

To much fanfare, Louis Vuitton’s Via Montenapoleone boutique reopened its doors last week after undergoing a major facelift. With the addition of the Travel Room – the first in Europe and a nice harking back to the label’s long roots in travel excellence – as well as a Made to Order Shoes service and Haute Marroquinerie leather services, the new boutique joins the ranks of one of the brand’s finest in the world.

2DM’s award-winning fashion illustrator, Naja Conrad-Hansen created the visual language of the event, and was behind the animation which debuted today on Vuitton’s Italian site (see the interactive version here). Naja’s strong graphic style and fantastic sense of fashion certainly compliment the brand’s sensibility, and and the work is a breath of fresh air that suits the specialness of the new boutique.

For the occasion of the opening, the boutique played host to a gorgeous exhibition by renowned stylist Katie Grand (with illustrations, of course, by Naja), as well as a party to mark the beginning of fashion week and an extension to Vuitton’s great Amble app According to LV’s Pietro Beccari, the remodel was a “[thanks] to Italians, one of the brand’s most important and loyal… as well as a celebration of the last 14 years of Marc Jacobs.”


Rock on Vuitton! Killer work, Naja!

Tag Christof – Special thanks to Francesca Pedrazzi

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26/09/2011

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The Editorial: Milan Fashion Week

Before the start of the season, we wondered openly about the direction fashion might take in the face of such sustained gloom and doom. Whether economic, political or environmental, it seems a lifetime ago that any news was good. Fashion is always a barometer of mood and a bellwether of things to come, so over the past few years as we’ve seen trends lurch from an overdose of 1980s zealousness to a more recent swing towards earthy, curvy 1970s sobriety it feels in retrospect like the beginnings of a 12-step plan for acceptance of a tragedy. And since, like the 1970s, this decade is already clearly one of deep uncertainty, volatile instability and introspection, perhaps that’s exactly what the doctor ordered.

But after New York and London, the week of solid shows in Milan has made it clear this year that we have finally begun to come to grips with our new set of circumstances. And instead of frenetic runways laced with overtones of the coked-up 1980s energy or too-mellow 1970s heroin soma, we’ve done an about face and turned squarely to the 1920s and 1950s for a strong semiotic connection to hope. This is no naive, unconstrained jazz age / space age hope, however. It is, rather, a hope for hope in the context of increasingly dire circumstances: a manifestation of an honest, holistic self-reevaluation.

This is hope in the age of New Normal, terrifying climate change, political monstrosities and massive shifts of wealth and resources into arguably irresponsible directions. This is also well-informed hope in an era of bike sharing and sustainable manufacture and unprecedented access to knowledge. And by bringing these most hopeful of decades into a decade fraught with sobriety, we seem to have turned an important page.

After a smattering of 1920s silhouettes all over New York, it was easy to predict that there’d be more of the same in Milan. Moschino’s, however, were fun and upbeat and tinged with an Iberian matador flair. Gucci’s rich-looking 1920s flavour was visible more in their gilded details than in their neo-flapper silhouettes. In any case, they’d be pretty nice for a period party at Hearst Castle.

But leave it to Prada to set the stage for the season, with Miuccia’s well-developed understanding for the sociopolitical context in which her clothes exist. The collection was one of the lovelier, most unapologetically pretty from the house in the past few seasons, yet it skillfully avoided overbearing softness and was very distinctive – its 1950s influences even included iconic hot rod flame graphics! Overall, it was a stellar showing from the Italian house of our generation.

A major part of Fendi’s inspiration reportedly came from Nobel laureate neurologist Rita Levi-Montalcini (a centenarian you can still catch from time to time speaking words of wisdom on Italian television). Their woman was the well-dressed lady as genius academic – exactly the kind our times call for. The models’ hair was even teased up to look vaguely like Einstein’s coif. It was the studious and fashionable (if rare) 1950s university woman. Max Mara’s clarity of vision recalled much the same woman, while Ferragamo’s kept the class while hiding the academic behind more obvious luxury.

The major conceptual outlier was Jil Sander and its austere, very white collection with a distinctly 1940s bent and Picasso-inspired graphics. But we’ve long been accustomed to seeing Raf Simons’ trend compass set deliberately a few degrees to the left of that of other mainstream designers. The label this season remains extraordinarily fresh and contemporary. And despite its drawing a bit from the same fountain of midcentury modern as Derek Lam did in New York and Marni did even better here in Milan, the collection is entirely unlike anything else so far this season. “Hope” can certainly be something difficult to glean from Raf Simons rigorous and cerebral designs, but a feeling of positive progress is very present nonetheless.


And as Versace does best, they stuck to glamour. Trend be damned (even the other major Italian at all costs designers Dolce & Gabbana fused Italian with the 50’s mood to pretty good effect). But fashionisti worship the glamourous, eponymous Donatella, and it made sense for her to continue down the path that’s made the brand such a sensation lately (an H&M collaboration is just around the corner). She may be the most tangible example of a designer playing muse for herself. Furthermore, the house’s Christopher Kane designed Versus line, picked up on the sport trend in New York with some rather overwrought basketball player / cheerleader inspired sportswear that certainly won’t age well. But if nothing else, Versace made a statement this season by sticking out for sticking out’s sake.

Does the week have any surprises left up its sleeve? And then there’s Paris…

Tag Christof – Images courtesy Style.com

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19/09/2011

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The Editorial: New York / Next Stop, Milan

Sporty looks. Jackets. Long, lovely dresses. And more sophisticated remixing than ever.

This New York Fashion Week hailed brighter days ahead and gracefully overcame a landmark week of mourning. Starting with light whites and billowy layers of Nicholas K and concluding on a day with a two wildly different interpretations of the 1920s by Ralph Lauren and Marc Jacobs, the week was a drastic and very positive change from last season.

image courtesy of style.com

At the end of it all, Kathy Horyn mused quite appropriate that “like little dopes, we are born back to The Great Gatsby.” And the significance of this shouldn’t be lost: a slight shift away from last year’s 1970s overdose can only mean a shift in mood away from that decade’s identity crisis and frugality. The roaring 1920s was, afterall, the orgy of excess before the massive hangover of the 1930s. But in our context, to look towards the jazz age – an era of unbridaled exuberance and optimism – seems to be a symbolic dropping of the anchor in happier, less-troubled waters. We’ll only know about the hangover tomorrow.

And despite the white elephant in the room, the ten-year anniversary of the September 11 attacks (see last week’s The Editorial), surprisingly little festivity was conceded to the week’s mournful events – and in this case, business as usual was certainly best. In perhaps the only major nod to the day’s darkness, Diane von Furstenburg handed out little American flags after the presentation of her collection in an out-of-the-ordinary gesture. Derek Lam’s collection, which was also shown on the 11th, referenced legendary architect Richard Neutra’s iconic, eponymous Palm Springs house for a very California. It was easily one of week’s best.

image courtesy of style.com

Other standouts of the week included Francisco Costa’s minimal, delicate and eminently flattering work in subdued hues (a big exception amidst lots of bright) for Calvin Klein Collection that Style.com dubbed a “palate cleanser.” Band of Outsiders’ unusual presentation of its womenswear collection finally freed it from the shadow of its (usually superior) menswear collection. And, of course, Marc Jacobs’ polarizing blast through an unlikely mix of decades – love it or hate it (I chose the latter, likening it to iTunes playing a mix of your most cringeworthy music), it was certainly original and the show itself was sensational.

image courtesy of style.com

Looking towards Milan, what can we expect? For one, With little talk of economic despair or cultural chaos, we may be getting cozy in this first decade of New Normal. It’s shaping up to be a decade of more sophisticated blending of styles, a decade in which old archetypes aren’t simply being rehashed, but are instead dovetailing into brave new paradigms. Milan will certainly continue this Remix 2.0, and we’re looking forward to Prada, Bottega Veneta, Gucci and Versace in particular.

We can also expect a continuation of the buoyant and hopeful changing winds these collections signified. The world’s collective mood seems at long last to have lifted ever so slightly. And at least in outlook, New York’s message was unequivocably that good things lie just over the horizon! And this season, like so many times before, fashion is doing a fine job of pulling the world out of its long-running funk…

Adesso, Milano!

Tag Christof

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16/09/2011

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Luis Gispert / Fake Fashion Fantasy

A stroll down New York’s Canal Street on a weekend afternoon is all it takes to know that counterfeit luxury is big business. Peddlers selling knockoffs on the world’s city streets are impossibly well-organized, and at least in Italy, legend has it that mafia involvement is why the police seem to always look blindly away. Whatever the case, counterfeits make up a massive industry, with all the infrastructure and … that entails. And even a pretty mighty subculture.

While traveling the United States in search of extravagant custom cars to photograph, artist Luis Gispert stumbled upon that mighty subculture: cars upholstered in shiny Fendi and Gucci and Vuitton. All fakes, of course. But sumptuous, meticulously made, and obviously doted over to the point of actually becoming luxury to their owners. And just like any extravagantly cared-for SoCal lowrider, they are tangible symbols of their creators’ strongest desires.


So, the wealth fakes pretend to signify is a powerful symbol of optimism. They are forced access into the lavish dreams espoused by their ripped-off brands, and nowhere has this been more clear than in Gispert’s photographs. They are a look into vast cultural inequality and the power of symbols. These counterfeits are a surrogate for “capitalistic fantasies that may never be attained.”

From there, Gispert explored the wider culture surrounding knockoffs, stemming from 1980s and 1990s hip-hop and LA’s legendary Dapper Dan boutique. In all, an alternate view of fakes emerges. Not of the sweatshop labour and theft that produces them, of course, but a view that seems to legitimize the symbolic access to fantasy they create.

As fashion continues to move beyond logo-emblazoned mainstays, we’d argue that fakes pose little real threat. And if you’re truly in the market for a Hermès bag, you likely won’t cross-shop that glitzy Via Sant’Andrea boutique with a terrifying Chinatown basement, no matter how convincing the ripoff.

And when you carry that “Birkin” with track pants and a pair of Uggs, we all know where you got it, anyway.

Catch Gispert’s excellent works in an exhibition entitled ”Decepción” at Mary Boone Gallery, 745 Fifth Avenue in New York, running through October 2011.

Tag Christof – Images courtesy Mary Boone Gallery

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14/09/2011

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Guest Interview n°31: Memoryhouse

Memoryhouse have been called many things in their brief career—lo-fi, nostalgic, bedroom rock, dream pop, shoegaze, ethereal—but they’ve never been noted for a lack of ambition. Which is funny, because when we spoke with them while they were preparing to play Fashion’s Night Out at Steve Alan’s Gallery last Thursday, they told us they had never envisioned their project escaping the confines of the bedroom. “We were never planning on playing live,” multi-instrumentalist Evan Abeele said. “There’s been a phenomenal amount of growing pains with that. Our expectations are constantly being subverted. But I think where we are as a band right now, we’re really comfortable with that.”

The group has a knack for crafting surreal, low-fat pop songs—sort of what Stevie Nicks might sound like if she were a little less into witchcraft and a tad softer around the shoulders. Sure, they may borrow an ingredient or two from their contemporaries, but one thing is clear: Memoryhouse have arrived in the right place at the right time. Their particular brand of sepia-toned pop fits nicely alongside bands like Beach House and Neon Indian to name just a couple. Their new EP, The Years, was released this month on Sub Pop, and they have a full-length set to be released early next year. We sat down and spoke to Evan, singer Denise Nouvion, and drummer Daniel Gray about how the band came to be, the unexpected nature of success, and how touring has influenced their songwriting over the course of the last two years.

Photographer Samantha Casolari shot the band for The Blogazine in Brooklyn earlier this week.

What was the purpose of re-recording The Years?
Evan: Our main goal was to up the fidelity. The original material was so lo-fi that it couldn’t really be played on speakers, especially on a record player. We kind of just re-did the vocals and the arrangements to make everything a bit clearer.

You’ve also altered the track sequencing and added a couple of new songs.
Evan: We recorded it two years ago—it was our demo, really—and I feel like we’ve gone beyond that in that short time. We grew into our sound in the course of two years, and we wanted to make that EP sound more like us.

Why not just record new material?
Evan: We did record two new songs for the EP. But we spent the last four and a half months recording the songs for our album. We already had the LP songs written. We were in a situation where the EP was going to be released before the LP—we had the LP songs sitting in reserve. We didn’t really want to cannibalize the LP. So we wrote a couple new songs for the EP, and it kind of fit the idiosyncrasy of that specific sound.

When is the album coming out?
We actually just finished recording. We’re looking at January or February of next year.

How did you get involved with Sub Pop?
Evan: They contacted us last winter, actually. What began as a casual conversation turned a bit more seriously. And (our ambitions) seemed to gel with what Sup Pop had in mind for us. We’re really happy with it. Growing up with them, they were such a big deal. They have such a sense of history. In the current musical climate things are always about immediacy and what’s big right now. Sub Pop’s a label that’s stood the test of time, they’ve done some iconic releases. There was something appealing about working with a label with that much history to it.

How did you and Denise meet?
Evan: Denise and I met at a concert in Goethe, Ontario, and we started working together shortly after that. We met (drummer) Daniel when we were on tour. We were playing in Toronto with Silver Mt. Zion. At that point we didn’t have a live drummer. Our first EP is all electronic, programmed drum beats. Since then we’ve definitely moved in to a more organic sound.

Was this a natural progression?
Evan: Definitely. When we were doing the original EP we didn’t have a drum set, or fancy equipment. So rather than fake it or go for a fake sounding real drum sound. We just figured ‘ok, let’s just put in an electronic beat’. We’re not really an electronic band. There’s been this assumption that we’re on the more electronic side of things. We wanted to go in a more organic direction, and we really liked what Daniel was bringing to our sound, coming up with interesting rhythms. And you can hear that progression on Modern Normal, one of the new tracks on our EP. That was the first song we recorded with live drums.

How much live drumming is on the new record?
Evan: The new album is all live drums.

What is the new album called?
Evan: We can’t say.

You’ve also expanded your live line-up from a two piece to a five piece. Is it more difficult to tour with such a big band?
Evan: It’s way, way, way better. It’s more satisfying for us to be on stage with this full band because we’re really playing off each other and growing as musicians. That was a very wonderful thing that we were able to bring into the studio—that we’ve been playing a lot of the LP live before we recorded it. That helped our songwriting a lot more. We spent two and a half years with these LP songs, we took our time on purpose. We found ourselves in a situation where multiple people were offering to release these LP songs over the past two years, but we were very particular about who we wanted to work with, and just how long we wanted to wait, and make sure these songs were ready.”

Did you always envision this band as a two piece?
Denise: There was no envisioning.
Evan: We had no expectations, we just recorded a demo and put it online, and were surprised by the listener reaction.
Denise: We were actually never going to play shows.
Evan: We were never planning on playing live. Our expectations are constantly being subverted. There’s been a phenomenal amount of growing pains with that. But I think where we are as a band right now, we’re really comfortable with that.


Growing pains?
Evan: We’re very introverted people, so we’re not natural performers. When we first started playing shows, they were terrible because we didn’t know anything about performing. There were lots of growing pains in the sense of learning how to be a live band, because (as a bourgeoning band) that’s just what you do. We’ve always had a phenomenal amount of respect for bands that can parlay their vision live. Being a good live band helps you write better. You just can work out so much live. The recording of the new LP went so smoothly because we already knew what worked, and what didn’t.

It’s phenomenal, seeing the progression of songs as you play them live.

Who produced the album?
Evan: I did. It was more work than I anticipated. For the first time we were in this very major studio working with (engineer) Jeremy Darby.

Tell me a little bit about your songwriting process. Do you actively write as a band?
Evan: A lot of the arrangements for the LP were fleshed out on the road. Otherwise I do a lot of the arrangements in my home. Denise does a lot of the vocal melodies. Her presence is bigger than ever in terms of our songwriting partnership.

Who writes the lyrics?
Evan: It’s very pretentious, like we’re writing a sitcom or something. We have a chart about things we want to say, just phrases and things like that. We’ll pitch them to each other, just bounce on each other.

What are some themes you wanted to explore on the album?
Evan: Well, we’re not ready to talk about the album just yet…

What about the EP?
Denise: I guess just the fleetingness of life. The perception of your own memories—how seeing something that you remember can always be very startling because your own memories are always a memory of a memory. You’re always remembering the memory of the memory. Also, a big thing for us was moving from Goethe to Toronto, from the small town to the big city.
Evan: Yeah. This sort of pastoral isolationism amidst this big concrete jungle that is downtown Toronto.

Lane Koivu – Photos Samantha Casolari – Special thanks to Memoryhouse and Al Verik

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12/09/2011

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The Editorial: Ten Years Later

In honour of yesterday’s 10th anniversary of 2001′s epic New York disaster, we turned a special The Editorial over to our man in city for a first hand perspective of the day, and life as a New Yorker in the wake of incomprehensible tragedy.

On the morning of September 11, 2001, I had just been stirred out of bed and was eating a bowl of Fruit Loops in my underwear at the dining room table, barely paying attention to the TV when I saw the second plane hit the south tower in real time. Like most of the world watching the news that morning—as well as the media outlets reporting it—what unfolded before my eyes was at first too surreal to register as reality, too horrifying to be believed, and—after the second plane hit—far too conspicuous to be considered an accident.

At the time I was fifteen years old, living in Indianola, Washington, and eager to get to my second day of high school—far removed from the horror unfolding in New York and, later, in Washington DC, Pennsylvania, and, not long after that, the Middle East at large. I distinctly remember my mother standing next to the television in disbelief, moments after that second plane hit, wondering out loud what the hell was going on. Ten years later, that question remains more pertinent than ever.

From the mainstream media’s perspective, the public sentiment in New York—and certainly around the rest of the United States—has been and remains one of resilience and courage. I moved to Brooklyn in September of 2009, just in time to see the Tribute in Light towers for the first time. Jay-Z—whose classic album The Blueprint was released on 9/11/01—had just released “Empire State of Mind”, and, as far as I could tell, being new to the city, the caricatures seemed to hold up. New York had survived the worst, and—to echo what mayor Giuliani had promised in the days following the attacks in 2001—was stronger and more unified as a result. The typical big-city stereotypes us small town country types were told to watch out for—arrogance, narcissism, curtness, to name a few—were absent from the people I met, replaced instead by a sincerity and sense of decency that rivaled the generosity of any provincial I’d ever met. At the time I was told by many who had grown up here that 9/11 had brought the city together in a way nothing else could have. It seemed that a terribly dynamic act of terrorism had knocked a mammoth chip off of New York’s shoulder. In a new city, staring at the ghosts of two towers I had never seen, I was hard-pressed to disagree.

As far as stereotypes go, my then wide-eyed naïveté couldn’t last forever. So much has happened over the last ten years—wars, a financial crisis, the dismissal of Pluto as a planet—and the consequences of these events were on full display today in downtown Manhattan. Once above ground we immediately ran into a topless woman pacing wildly up and down Broadway, posing every few paces for the inevitable stream of photographs taken from shocked onlookers. Her hair was dyed a shocking yellow, and she’d drawn on herself a black mustache with a Sharpie, perhaps to underscore the absurdity of using a international tragedy to promote her identity crisis. “I am here because I can be free to be my character,” she told a crowd of onlookers, her eyes revolving to the back of her head like a pair of baoding balls. “Instead of, you know, trapped or dead. I am what the terrorists hate!”

There was a strange mix of emotions to be found in the Financial District on this particular afternoon—distress, gloom, and widespread anxiety not the least among them. Conspiracy theorists flooded lower Broadway, from Canal to Wall Street, exchanging cross words with mourners and tourists at large. “You know it’s a fucking lie!” one man yelled. Behind him, a sign read ‘Bush: Liar. Murderer. Terrorist.’ in red, white, and blue. “Tower 7! How the hell did Tower 7 fall?!”

“Why today?” another man replied. “This is not what this is about.”

The police, however, remained in the street, unaffected by the banter going on either side of them, instead dedicating their efforts to keeping the heavy crowds and traffic liquid and mobile.

As we continued our walk downtown, a friend jokingly told me that if we had been too scared to go to the memorial, that would mean the terrorists had already won. I laughed, and so did he, but not because we thought it was an absurd assumption. Like any decent joke, it was funny because it carried in its undercurrent a heavy truth, perhaps one a bit more frightening than either of us would’ve liked to admit. Instead, we rolled into the crowd and joined in for the Pledge of Allegiance. Taking advantage of the moment, a bearded man walked by those waiting to be patted down, bushels of plastic Made In China flags in his hands. “God bless America!” he yelled as he walked up and down the sidewalk. “$2 a flag!”

Photos from The International Center of Photography’s excellent exhibition Remembering 9/11, which opened Friday and runs through January 8.

Lane Koivu

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09/09/2011

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Harpers Bazaar: A Decade of Style

Patrick Demarchelier, Man Ray’s floating lips (Harper’s Bazaar, February 2002)

Glenda Bailey is the most recent in a long line of illustrious heads of Harpers Bazaar, including Diana Vreeland, Alexey Brodovich, Nonnie Moore and Kate Betts. Her ten years at the helm of the publication – all in one of the most disruptive and game-changing decades in the history of publication – have nonetheless been marked by a fantastic wealth of works and a continually fresh perspective on fashion. At 144 years old, Harper’s remains a highly relevant icon, today thanks in no small part to Bailey.


Patrick Demarchelier, Carmen Kass (Harper’s Bazaar, November 2001)


Patrick Demarchelier, Stephanie Seymour (Harper’s Bazaar, February 2002)

Dovetailing nicely with the start of New York Fashion Week, Harpers Bazaar: A Decade of Style, an exhibition at Manhattan’s International Center of Photography and curated by Vince Aletti, opened last night as a sort of forward-looking retrospective on the photographic legacy of Bailey’s reign so far.

In her own words, Bailey called the exhibition “the culmination of a decade in a new world where every popular phenomenon comes with a fashion spin.” And her culture as fashion outlook has given the magazine a healthy sense of mission that has perhaps been at least partly responsible for its continue relevance. When so many illustrious publications face both economic and identity crises, a great publication today truly requires keen foresight and a healthy dose of cultural sensitivity to do more than just remain afloat.

Jean-Paul Goude, Naomi Campbell (Harper’s Bazaar, September 2009)

Included in the exhibition are works from industry heavyweights Mario Sorrenti, Tim Walker, Yasuhiro Wakabayashi (Hiro), William Klein, Mark Seliger, David Bailey, Sølve Sundsbø, Melvin Sokolsky, Peter Lindbergh, Jean-Paul Goude, and the ubiquitous Karl Lagerfeld among several others. The likes of Nan Goldin, Chuck Close and Ralph Gibson – all of them thoroughly outside the Beaton / Avedon fashion canon – are also on display, in a testament to Bailey’s keen sense of culture beyond the established realm of fashion.


Jean-Paul Goude, Naomi Campbell (Harper’s Bazaar, September 2009)

A Decade of Style opened last night and will be on view from today through January 8 at the International Center of Photography in New York, and is accompanied by a book, Harpers Bazaar: Greatest Hits. Today also marks the start of two other excellent new exhibitions at ICP, Signs of Life: Photographs by Peter Sekaer and Remembering 9/11.

Tag Christof – Special thanks to David Appel & Kelly Heisler at the International Center of Photography

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07/09/2011

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Roger Deckker for W / Goga Ashkenazi

For W Magazine’s typically overflowing September The Fashion Issue, 2DM’s Roger Deckker shot socialite tour de force Goga Ashkenazi in her very… shall we say opulent London townhouse. And opulent is a gross, butler-serviced understatement.

The Kazakhstani sensation, who’s caused quite a stir in British and international haute société for her keen business sense (she’s an oil tycoon – really), stunning beauty (just look at Roger’s photos) and illustrious friends (she just so happens to be “best friends” with a certain Prince Andrew), showed off her domestic side in a flowing red The Fashion Issue, 2DM’s Lanvin dress for a revealing profile written by Christopher Bagley. One pull quote from the feature reads “I’m this Christened Jewish Muslim girl with an Asian face and and English accent who’s a Buddhist. I’m really everything, y’know.” Oh, how right you are, Goga. We can only imagine the fun this cozy little shoot must’ve been.


Very nice job, Roger.

Tag Christof

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06/09/2011

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Corduroy IX

It’s been a treat to see Corduroy grow over its past few issues. The summer launch of its ninth issue is quite possibly the title’s best outing yet, with a fantastic lineup of profiles (almost all shot by the project’s mastermind, Peter Ash Lee), a well-curated list of contributors, and some of the most refreshingly simple, straighforward art direction of any title. This time out both heartthrob Josh Hartnett and the gorgeous Vicky Christina Barcelona star, Rebecca Hall, are featured on alternative covers.


This time out, profiles include in addition to the two cover stories, youngest Coppola spawn Gia Coppola, Ben Kingsley, Christophe Lemaire, Taylor Kitsch, Jamie Chung, Nicole Atkins, Sebastian Stan, and others. 2DM stylist Tamara Cincik marvelously styled Lily Cole – in Pringle, Erdem, Chanel, D&G and others – for a London shoot with Lee to accompany a profile written by Katia Tallarico. And we must say, Tamara made Lily look goooooooood.


Elsewhere in the issue is a stunning series of images in long gone infrared Kodak Aerochrome by Richard Mosse from the Democratic Republic of Congo, editorials by Philip-Lorca DiCorcia, Ina Jang and David Black, and an impressive series of works by celebrated Canadian artist Marcel Dzama.

Stay cozy Corduroy. We can’t wait for issue X!!

Tag Christof

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05/09/2011

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The Editorial: New York Fashion, American Fashion

Another New York Fashion Week is nearly upon us. As it just so happens, fashion always seems to be at its best in the midst of crisis. Which is luck for fashion (and us), since it seems that “crisis” lately has been a severe understatement about a never-ending shitstorm of global problems. As the world economy teeters relentlessly on the brink of collapse, income inequality skyrockets, politics the world over become ever dirtier and less democratic and epic climate change looms large, fashion (as we might expect) has lately been the best and most dynamic it’s ever been. By a long shot. But how will fashion – especially New York fashion – continue to cope with such sustained trauma?

This NYFW, we’re taking a slightly different view of the cultural landscape within which New York’s particular brand exists. This fashion week will coincide with the much ballyhooed 10-year anniversary of the destruction of Manhattan’s Twin Towers. Diane von Furstenburg , Derek Lam, Y-3 and others all have the unenviable position of showing on September 11. They must be smash hits if they’re to stand a chance of overcoming the weight of the day.


Still, it’s been a long decade since the disaster, and the rhetoric surrounding its aftermath has long since died down. Fear mongering about terrorism and propagandistic speeches about “liberty” have been superseded by economic disaster (which was also a product of Manhattan) and political infighting between a too-pragmatic left and an absurdly extremist, religion-driven right. And although most New Yorkers consider themselves thoroughly outside the realm of America – New York is New York! – the city is nothing if not the cultural and spiritual (and economic) head of its sprawling, once formidable country. As America goes, so does New York. And vice versa. New York’s fashion is America’s.

Which makes the country’s current state rather troubling. We spent a big chunk of our summer traversing the USA outside New York. With AM radio spewing political vitriol from coast to coast, the backdrop for our tour of the bleak scenery was set. The scale of poverty now engulfing massive swaths of country is incredible. Entire cities on major roadways have been reduced to half-abandoned skeletons populated only by parcels of generic big-box chain business. Decay. Wal-Mart. Taco Bell. Decay. McDonalds. Destitution. Abandonment. Highway. And then it starts all over again in the next population centre.


Poverty has most famously ravaged Detroit, but that once grandiose city is just the tip of the iceberg. While crown jewel New York – and even LA, Chicago, Miami and San Francisco – shine bright for all the world to see, an uncomfortably large part of the country is now just rotting buildings and abandonment set in rapidly decaying cities. The places that have managed somehow to hold onto population are now swaths of cultural wasteland lit by identical signs and powered by cheap, anonymous labour. And while most average citizens may not yet have taken notice – their SUVs are still so inexpensive to drive, they really have no reason to stop and look around – the American cultural environment has consequently shifted unequivocally…

But think of Ralph Lauren’s rags-to-riches fashion legend. Or any other storied, intrinsically American product for that matter, and all the hope and power and innovation they once embodied. Levis. Polaroid. Ford. But the country, whose cultural power has always come from an undying myth of endless possibility, has atrophied from within. New York may be the brains, but cancer anywhere in the body is dangerous, indeed.

Take, for instance, Italian fashion, which is so strongly linked to the territory that its value comes primarily because it is Italian. But as Italy’s prestige as a cultural force falls, so too does the status of its fashion. Places like Stockholm and Mumbai and Saõ Paulo are rising to the occasion while Milan stagnates. But culturally, Italy is still in much better shape than America. What can a ravaged, broken down, unapologetically corporate country really offer its creatives? New York fashion must be good from now on despite the fact that it is American.

As a symbol of possibility, populism and wealth, the death of that imagined, ideal America is certainly a sad thing. But, will this decaying, fragmented, depressingly corporate version provide fodder for New York’s extraordinarily talented designers? Is America’s advancing disease to be overcome? Or will the death of a formerly limitless dream prove ruinous? Where will American fashion – and New York’s identity as the epicenter of a much less healthy country – go from here, now that September 11 is finally just a part of history?

We should get our first taste this week.

Tag Christof

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