Friday, October 31, 2008

are you afraid of the dark


well you ain't gonna be scared of boogie monsters anymore if you got this little chap to keep all those nasty goblins and imps away. i found out about this genius of an invention from kanye's blog (don't hate because its actually pretty fuckin' rad) and i was so smitten by it. i really really really want one for our living room because i must admit, my living room is lookin pretty dope since its finally clutter free and all the poster art, and wallpaper on the wall my amazing roomate did is finally up. not to mention we scored a couch, and a television courtesy of my parental units and also an amazing horizontal bookshelf and desk courtesy of someone's garbage. anyways, back to the night light. it was made by the play coalition from england and i actually just e-mailed them to see if it was in production and available to be sold. now i'm just hoping and praying that it is and that it doesn't cost a jillion dollars because that would break my heart.

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

whats better than being cool? ice cold!!!!








AnOther Man: autumn/winter 2008-2009
photographer: norbert schoerner
creative director: nicola formichetti
model: oliver m.

holy bejeezus!! that twice a year when AnOther Man comes out is the happiest day of my magazine collecting life!!! i unabashedly dick ride all the stylists in this magazine. but seriously...there is no one in the planet who is as dope as alister mackie or nicola formichetti (the genius that was responsible for this kick ass ed you are looking at right now). its no secret that i love editorials with enough theatricality that it rivals any hollywood blockbuster movie. and shit this one got snow capped mountains, glaciers, hot springs it could put peter jackson's lord of the rings trilogy to shame. i don't even care that i can't really see the clothes because sometimes, like fashion, fashion photography should also go beyond just the clothes themselves. and mary mother of god this shit right here went beyond spectacular. when i finally get my hands on a copy of this magazine, i am going to put it under my pillow so i can dream sweet dreams.

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

alexander mcqueen - fall/winter 2008 ad campaign



okay i know i'm kinda late posting about this because this ad came out almost two months ago but i don't give a shit because seriously asides from the ysl campaign starring naomi and her stupidly perfect body, this campaign season was pretty lame. that is until mcqueen came out with this amazingness late out in the game. the reason i love this campaign is because it represents how dope of a story teller mcqueen is. it has that romantic, gothic, fairy tale, and historical aspect that is present in all his runway presentation and these pictures evokes the same feeling. although i should also give props to craig mcdean who shot the ads and to tabitha simmons who was the creative director. oh and also alice gibb as being the most perfect model to represent a brand through an ad campaign for fall/winter 2008. however i am quite mad at lee for not using her again for his most recent show. but whatevs, this still gets my vote as the top ad campaign of the season.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

sean opry





the boy with the pillowy lips has been everywhere the past year and a half. discovered by nole marin through his myspace page (i actually saw sean's myspace page and dude its hella funny. his profile pic looked like one of those old no limit cd covers with really bad graphics where sean's eyes were this neon blue and everything else was black and white. it was a good chuckle), from the get go this boy basically shot to the top being proclaimed by british GQ as the "man of the season" for spring/summer 2007. pretty dope considering the kid has only been modelling for less than three months and whose runway debut was for no less stefano pilati for yves saint laurent the following season. since then he's scored campaigns for calvin klein, gianfranco ferre, dsquared, belstaff, and most lucratively, armani. i think his appeal stems from being stupidly good looking, but with an interesting, unconventional face. its not classic in a male template kind of way, but its arresting. and if those ridiculous puckers and pair of bewitching blue eyes wasn't enough, his down home southern boyishness is enough to charm the pants off everyone. and i mean that literally.

the hip hop influence


when hip hop first originated in the bronx in the mid seventies, it was a movement that almost inclusively belonged to the poor black and hispanic youths that was looking for an outlet to express their creativity. rapping, graffiti, d.j.ing, and b-boying was the urban form of writing, visual art, music, and dance. what has now been commonly refered to as the four elements of hip hop was the foundation that gave birth to a culture that has since become one of the most influential movements of this generation.
during the early eighties, hip hop was still an urban phenomenon that had little effect on popular culture. it was still segregated in the poor neighbourhoods of the inner cities tucked away into a corner america would rather ignore. however with the birth of video culture popularized by MTV, hip hop was about to break into the mainstream.
with music videos, the image of hip hop entered millions of homes across america. and while many dismissed it as a fad with no longevity, it nevertheless managed to draw in young people who found a connection with it. in 1982 with the release of the highly seminal film wildstyle, which featured now legends such as the graffiti artists dondi, and lady pink, and dancers from the rocksteady crew, it seduced an even bigger audience. as a result of the visual exposion of hip hop in the form of music videos and film, image suddenly became an important aspect. the braggadocio nature of hip hop contributed to its over the top image with filled with big gold chains, phat laces on adidas shell toes, and logo emblazoned clothes to assert the artist's ghetto superstar status.
while the eighties will forever be remembered as the golden age of hip hop, it wasn't until the nineties that its powerful influence was felt, and suddenly, a world caught off guard was seeing it everywhere. even in the rarified world of french fashion.

hiphopfor fall/winter 1991, designer karl lagerfeld sent down a collection for the house of chanel that borrowed heavily from hip hop imagery (pictured at left). the iconic chanel chains were reinterpreted into jewelry popularized by rappers such as slick rick or big daddy kane. there were baseball hats with oversized rims done in chanel's classic quilted leather worn backwards or tilted to the side. for such an esteemed house such as chanel, and one that represents the highest acme of fashion, the infiltration of hip hop was to be a preview of just how influential the culture will become. and it wouldn't be long before lagerfeld sent down another collection, this time for spring/summer 1994 that again referenced hip hop and sent down a collection filled with baggy jeans in every colour of the rainbow.
while the early nineties saw a backlash in hip hop with the controversial lyrics of artists such as ice t, or nwa which critics argued seemed to glamorize the "gangsta" lifestyle, record sales were climbing astronomically. but it wouldn't be until the late nineties when hip hop conquers not only fashion, but popular culture as well.

the late nineties saw artists such as mase, foxy brown, and puff daddy to name a few starting to mention fashion labels such as versace, prada, or gucci into their rhymes. while many older hip hop fans grunted at how these new emcees lack substance in their lyrics, the younger generation ate it all up. because of the subject mattern these new artists rhymed about, the music had a more pop sensibility and therefore a broader appeal and it earned the artists millions. and these kids who's never heard of louis vuitton or prada before, are suddenly saving up their allowances so that they could look like the rappers in all the flashy music videos. in many ways hip hop music was the driving force that contributed to the success of luxury brands during the late nineties.
the luxury goods market however wasn't the only one enjoying the revenue hip hop brought them. in the late nineties american designer tommy hilfiger became a sort of status symbol for teenagers and young adults. his mixture of traditional american sportswear and an urban aesthetic with a lower price point became immensely popular and pretty soon other labels such as nautica and polo by ralph lauren began immitating the hilfiger formula.
in the early nineties with hip hop being more aggressive, the hip hop costume also had a confrontational aspect about it. it lost all that aggressiveness and replaced by over the top decadence when hip hop and its artists crossed the commercial pond in the pursuit to earn more money. the music seemed to have been selling a notion of the good life to its avid listeners. where once the music was used as a platform to talk about social issues, this time around the subject matter became more about boasting one's success and possessions. this caused another backlash, but this around around it came from hip hop's own community.
the early two thousands saw the popularity of "underground hip hop". it was a movement that turned away from the frivolousness of mainstream hip hop and its themes were more about social consciousness, intellectualism, afrocentricity, and aimed to bring the soul that the music had lost. with that nostalgia for the past it would only be natural that the clothing of those days would experience a rennaisance. therefore kickstarting the eighties trend that eventually influenced and is still influencing all the eighties inspired looks on the runways and on the streets.
these days hip hop artists have finally clued in on how much high end labels make from their image and many have decided to launch their own fashion labels. while many are geared towards a more urban clientel and have little influence outside the hip hop community fashion wise, many, like kanye west or pharell williams still has the capacity to trigger world wide trends without losing the respect of hip hop heads.
hip hop has been exploited not just by fashion, but by every other industry immaginable. it has sold their products, made them billions, and paid for nothing. but there are those out there who has a deep connection with the culture. where hip hop is a huge part of their life and every memory is intertwined with it.


for mikey




top photo: jamel shabazz

elise


omg i fucking love love love love this girl. i especially love her since she's signed to the elmer olsen agency. the agency that discovered daria werbowy, jessica stam, alana zimmer, sofi berelidze, taryn davidson, kori richardson, and amanda laine to name a few. and also the agency that i intern for once a week and filled with some of the nicest people in the planet. when i went there for my interview they lead me to the wall filled with comp cards of all the models and they asked me to pick the girls that i liked. i didn't bother picking the big girls because they're obvious choices so i picked the ones i wasn't familiar with and it just so happened that elise was one of them. i love red heads, they're instant crushes. anyways she's since been signed to viva in paris and for her first round of the paris shows she walked for margiela, ann demeulemeester, veronique branquinho, a.f. vandervost, tara jarmon, sonia rykiel and issey miyake. i really really hope this girl blows hella up. but if all the talks about the industry looking for classic beauties in these dark economic times, which explains why new girls like sigrid agren are doing extremely well, then this red head is going to be massive.

Monday, October 20, 2008

CDG countdown





only less than a month left till the comme des garcons and h&m collaboration comes out. and just like all the designer collaborations that came before it, expect to see it everywhere in all your monthly glossies. this particular one is from the november issue of vogue nippon starring her hotness herself erin wasson who self styled this story and was shot by david mushegai. i'm super excited for this one because i fucking HATED the roberto cavalli one from last year. if you ask me the roberto cavalli collection looked like something you can find at any tacky guess or marciano stores anyways. but of course people went ape shit for it because most people ain't got no steez anyways. while this collection isn't as commercial as the cavalli one, i'm still pretty sure that the day this collection comes out h&m is going to be fucking retarded. trust me, i've seen it first hand, twice actually, and bitches are crazy. i'm gonna do the smart thing, i'm just gonna wait till someone returns the drop crotch shorts and assymetric cardigan that i've already saved room in my closet for because trust me, more than half gets returned when people finally realize that they just got caught in the moment and they spent way way way too much money.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

christy turlington





if there ever was an archetype for the perfect face, my vote goes to christy turlington. yes one of her eye is slightly bigger than the other but considering she has the most perfectly symmetric nose, razor sharp cheekbones, and those perpetually pursed lips that when opens up reveals a smile that can make a man out of miss jay alexander, its no wonder that mannequins from the metropolitan museum of art in new york city were molded with her pristine face. oh, that would also explain why she has landed on the cover of more than five hundred magazines and amassed her a fortune by scoring seven figure contracts from calvin klein and maybeline. but its not her physical beauty that deserves a shout out, its her massive heart. not only is she constantly regarded by people in the fashion industry as the nicest girl to ever have lived, she has also lent her fame to such causes for PETA, anti-smoking, and most recently project RED with her homeboy bono of u2 fame. she retired from the catlwalk in 1994 and since she's not only beautiful with a big heart, she's is also quite the brainiac and decided to go back to NYU and get a degree in comperative religion and eastern philosophy. a long time yoga practitioner, christy has launched her own yoga based clothing line called nuala in partnership with puma, released a yoga book, and launched a skin care line all based on the principles of the ancient practice. all that zen in her life even though she has two kids running around now probably explains why even as she gets older, she get more and more babelicious. beauty, brains, a heart...i love christy turlington.