Halloween Scenes And Other Stories

Halloween is carved pumpkins, trick-or-treat, horror movies and candy candy. Orange & purple are the colors of the season, skulls, coffins and black velvet dresses; tonight America's dancing with the muertos...

Back in Spain we celebrate the spooky night tonight as well and it's called "La Víspera de Todos los Santos", which sounds quite similar to Halloween when you translate it to English: "All hallow's Eve".

The story of this festivity is a very tragic one, it dates back in the days to Roman Emperor Diocletian's Christian's persecution in 303 AC.
A total of 3,000–3,500 Christians got killed (among them Saint Lucy, the lovely girl in the painting, whose story can be read only for those with strong stomach) and each of them, alas a martyr, became a Saint.
The poor Christians left remained in panic and horror, also with the concern of finding a celebration day for each martyr: a year has 365 days and they needed at least 3,500 ...
They ended up choosing a day to celebrate them all together, a smart and very Christian solution. The day, November 1st, became official when Pope Gregory the III said so.

The night before this famous date, the Saints Day, is the All hallow's Eve, where, I guess, the ghosts start to get ready for the party the following day.

The concept is pretty much the same as in America's Halloween, ghosts and horror stories, add some ring of bells and buy chrysanthemums rather than pumpkins. The play "Don Juan" is shown every year on TV and this is one of our National Holidays, therefore no one has to work the following day.

Let's recapitulate fashion moments of this year's Halloween ..

* Sportmax (what did happen with their website?) decorated its mannequins with bat-man wire wings... a very settle and elegant way to dress the "creepy".










* Mexican dolls from El Dia De los Muertos (Day of The Dead) in a jewelry store's windows in Key West.
It was pouring that night but i took the risk of fucking up my camera to take their picture because they're amazing and i loved the dresses they were wearing.



* This hotty Centaur was trotting in the restaurant where I was taking lunch with a friend this morning.
I couldn't resist the temptation of taking my picture with him


HAPPY HALLOWEEN !!!

The New Campaign Of YSL Is Over The Top

For those who visit my bedroom the question "Do you like YSL?" is inevitable.
The reason why they ask is all the YSL ad campaigns I have stuck in my wall, thus they wonder weather or not I'm a fanatic of the Algerian designer. Ma non... I like his designs, but I'm a fanatic of his ad campaigns.

They're always so Parisian, with that Helmut touch that I love so much, many times shot at night, enigmatic... They give my room some kind of chic exoticism that I enjoy like a kid with chewing gum.
Photographer Juergen Teller has been a regular for the last 4 campaigns, but this season Pilati teams up with Dutch photographers couple Vinoodh Matadin & Inez Van Lamsweerde to bring the best of Paris la nuit in the Seine-side streets of Île Saint-Louis with Brazilian model Gisele Bündchen looking better than ever.

* images courtesy of SHOWstudio

On Cristina Ortiz

I've been in love with Cristina Ortiz since her days at Lanvin back in 1997.
After working for Prada as Designer Director for 3 years (1994-97), this Canary Islands native became head designer of Lanvin, being the person who helped the French fashion house to reborn after years in anonimity. Her designs, still today so avant-garde, were pure 90's: sleek, minimal and very chic.

When she departed from Lanvin in 2001 (to be replaced by Alber Elbaz) she remained "silent" for some years and then I got nervous...
Then in 2005 the Italian fashion house Brioni appointed her Creative Director of its women's collection, good news for me and new designs for all.

Her debut at Brioni was spectacular and I couldn't take my eyes off her black/white designs: no wonder, again, so sleek, so chic, so minimal.

She became my favourite over again and I always wondered, why is she still not as famous as, let's say, designers that work for other houses like Guesquiére, Theyskens or Philo? I dunno.

Last summer Ortiz was in the headlines again when Salvatore Ferragamo named her creative director of its women's ready-to-wear collections, succeeding Scottish designer Graeme Black that will focus then in his own label.
Ortiz's appointment as chief designer will begin with the Fall 2008 collection, and I would lie if I'd tell you I'm not excited.

* all images courtesy of style.com

Spanish Fashion From Spain.

[For those non-American bobble-bee readers the tittle of this post might seem incongruous, but for US citizens "Spanish" means "people who talks in Spanish", alas Mexicans, Venezuelans, Chileans, Cubans etc. It can be very confusing when you're talking of only Spain, therefore I decided to clarify.]

The Queen Sofia Spanish Institute in NY is hosting an exhibition about Madrid Fashion Week.
Distributed in two rooms, the Institute is showing the work of 25 Spanish designers (see inset) whose work is shown during Madrid's Fashion Week Cibeles. They brought not the best but yet the best well known, and hey, it's always nice to have news from home.

The fact that the Association of Creative Designers of Spain (Asociación Artística de Diseñadores Nacionales de Moda de España) is supporting and promoting Spanish fashion in one of the fashion capitals of the world is something to celebrate. But, just wondering, wouldn't be nicer to cover not only the famous and rich but also the young and interesting? Designers like Txell Miras, Gómez or Carlos Díez?

Spain is a very rare country, it gives birth international geniuses that many times are believed as non-Spanish.
Just to name a few; Balenciaga, Picasso, Cristina Ortiz, Manolo Blahnik ... And I guess they rolled their "R" 's the same way that I do but still, they're considered French, or British in the case of Mr Blahnik. (Sex & The City wouldn't be the same without us).

They are a great example of artists who were "forced" to look for a place where their talents would be appreciated, and so they did.

I'm very aware of this fact, I'm an emigrated myself (not in the group of geniuses), so when the Spanish Government gives money for shows like this I am really all for it, support is all we need.
My drawback is the disappointment at the lack of young designers to get the support.

A Book About Us

Back in the days when i started to move around the Globe in search of the perfect job, I decided I wouldn't buy any book until I would settle, avoiding any extra overload in my life. (i forgot magazines could be as heavy though)

I thought that moment would arrive earlier, and I thank the Providence that I live in a city like NY which Public Library is such I've never needed to buy any book to be well informed in terms of fashion going ons.

Now there's the dilemma... Tomorrow is the released of Stylist: The Interpreters of Fashion from the people at style.com and introduction by Anna Wintour, one of those rare books one waits years to see released, how can I say no?.
I must admit that the price is not helping to make a decision: $75 in stores, $48 in Amazon, (I never understood such differences...).

The image of Paul Cavaco (one of the stylists featured in the book) with his copy during the launch party that style.com hosted at Skylight Studios in NY made me want it even more: this is a BIG book, in every sense.

The book documents the work and contributions of each stylist (a total of 16) through photographs of their creative output and inspirations, and illustrates their distinctive taste, individual flair, and talent for igniting global fashion fervor.

All times favourites stylists of mine like Carine Roitfeld, Lori Goldstein or Polly Mellen are among these pages so that's reason enough for me to buy the book.

As a stylist myself, is such a pleasure to finally being able to enjoy a book about us.
Ours is a very strange profession due to the frivolous connotations it implies, so it's quite rare to find anything that talks about it in a professional way.
When someone asks me, "what do you do?" and I answer, "I'm a fashion stylist", no one understands what I'm talking about and if they do, they just rise one eyebrow and say, "I see...". "No one thinks styling is a real job, but it is. Not one person profiled in the book isn't a workhorse." in words of Paul Cavaco, so there we go.

Every time they ask, I try to find a good explanation, but it's kind of difficult because there's too many things involved.
The closer I got to what I really wanted to say is that a stylist is to clothing what an artist is to ideas: it doesn't really matter what you do, it matters how you do it and the meaning you give to what you're doing.
Stylists show the designer's clothing to the public, they "put" it out there to be enjoyed, and the way they do it will affect the way that that designer or that garment will sell in the market.

For this reason labels are so picky in the choosing of stylists that will work with their clothing, as are magazines (the books of fashion) to hire this or that one, because they know how important is a stylist to interpret the look of a certain moment, and how bad it can be in terms of sales and reputation if the interpretation made is wrong.

So the decision is made, I will end up purchasing this book because I know myself and my soft spots and I won't be able to live the rest of my days thinking about the content of what I was missing. So weight overload, there we go!.

Halloween

Although the official Halloween party is happening next Wednesday Oct 31st, people couldn't resist the freedom of the weekend and last night all NYC was burning with Halloween Balls.

I ended up in an illegal party in Chelsea with a lot of French people, Italians, Germans, Spanish... It was the European Union Halloween party! although this was not made on purpose.

I dressed up like German actress Marlene Dietrich but my costume ended up looking like the one of Charles Chaplin... not even one person guessed who really I was. So frustrating...

I had have taken more pictures ( i did not take any actually) to show you some of the costumes because some of them were really good. One guy was dressed up just like Andre J.!, the subject of my latest post, with a huge black afro wig...
Another girl was Amy Winehouse and it was so good everyone thought the British singer herself was partying there with us.

* Thanks Angela for taking my picture. :)

Andre Is The New Kate. Andre is FANTASTIC.

Reading people's bad reactions in relation to the latest cover of Paris Vogue with artist Andre J. and model Carolyn Murphy shocked me more than the cover did to them.

I think the cover is fantastic, and best of all, Andre is fun and interesting and it's always refreshing to see new faces in magazine covers.

The first time I saw Andre's image i said to myself, "this kid reminds me of someone else"...
Thinking over et voilá! I found the portrait The Bearded Kate by photographers Vinoodh Matadin and Inez van Lamsweerde.
The picture was taken in 2005 and shown during the exhibition The Kate Show at FOAM in Amsterdam last year.

Another character who reminds me Andre is Harold Perrineau in his role of Mercutio in Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet (1996). In the party scene Mercutio wears a white afro wig, beard, red lipstick and an ultra tight sexy silver short dress (Halloween party-goers, here there's throwing some ideas). What a pity i couldn't find a better image than this ... But Andre is exactly the same! Same hair, same beard, same dress, same attitude... I wonder if he does it on purpose or not, in any case, the wink is there and the image of Harold's butt at the rhythm of Kym Mazelle's Young Hearts Run Free is unforgettable. Thanks Andre for bringing it back.

New Yorker fashion designer Mal Sirrah enlisted Andre to narrate – “One Dress – All Women – One World”, for his Spring-Summer 08 collection. Positivism never looked so sexy!

Andre:

"My favourite fashion icon, believe it or not, is the one and only, Diana Ross [...] I've never seen a woman so elegant, so glamorous, so lean and just so captivating"

" The key in living your life is you don't need validation from anyone. A good compliment or a bad compliment, is still a compliment. So my word to YOU, out there in the world, is to love yourself 'cause nobody can't do it like you, and regardless what they say, keep on doing what you do because, guess what?, it got me right here!"

Punk Can't Be Dead ...

... when projects like this are still fully alive.



American born, Japanese descendant artist Hanayo, JPG model in a 1993 ad campaign, musician, photographer and based in the epicenter of rad counterculture, Berlin, teamed up with the members of the band Wooden Veil (where she also performs), to create an 8 minutes video called Gravity Problems, (enjoy it by clicking play in the video above).
Wooden Veil did both the music & the costumes, and they did such an interesting job.

Hanayo is one of those rare characters that the Art world conceives every once in a while.
It tickles me her wonderful sense of humor and some of her projects are so witty and fun: just to name my fav, in 1989 she started her education as a Junior Geisha, writing about it in 1991 in the book Oshakuchan No.1
A year later she is featured in now deceased British magazine The Face chewing bubble-gum and looking quite rad. In 1995 she ends up her work as a Geisha and moves to Europe to live. Nice live uh?.

Gravity Problems has been just featured in Spanish zine Fake magazine.

Our Love For Old Fashion Keeps Growing

When I attended Paper mag Un-Hollywood Film Series and saw the video of bleach haired, Paris-based designer Two Tom, I got very curious and started to explore a little more about his work.

Illustrator and fashion designer, I felt in love with his world of Querelle-alike figures and his designs that remind me the best XVII male attires. His collection for the Festival International of Hyéres was such a pleasure for an old fashion lover as yours truly.

Going through my collection of XVII male plates, i did my very own selection of similarities: cavalier hats, bows, brocades, embroidered vests, feathers, ribbons ... It took almost 400 years for this fashion to come back, let's welcome it then with open arms!

As A Matter Of Fact

First of all, please don't get me wrong; I am the biggest Stella McCartney for Adidas' designs fan and I would buy them all if a) they were more affordable and b) they weren't as synthetic as they are, not that I don't use synthetics, I'm ashamed to admit it but I do, it's just that these are too much, and I can't picture my body exercising under such circumstances: no air for my body, sweat, sweat, sweat. No thanks.

A couple of days ago I was having a discussion with a very good friend of mine who is as fan as Stella's Adidas as I am with the exception that she doesn't care about synthetics or money matters. She mentioned how cool is Stella and her 100% cruelty free designs and her use of innovative alternatives and I was amazed at the hearing of such a statement. I don't get it.

I respect Stella for what's she's doing, for being one of the first current fashion designer to support cruelty free fashion (Following the death of her mother in April 1998, Stella stepped up her fight against the maltreatment of animals, a cause Linda had always held dear) and alternative fabrics, she even turned down an offer to work for Gucci as such position required her to work with leather.
She teams up with PeTa and is all for Vegan fashion but, are we being serious?.

* Vegans do not use or consume animal products of any kind. The most popular reasons for becoming a vegan are ethical commitment or moral convictions, concerning animal rights, the environment, or human health [...].

As I mentioned before, Stella's designs for Adidas are basically all made out of synthetic materials such NYLON, Polyester and Lycra, hidden under names such ClimaLite® or ClimaProof® and those products are not very eco-friendly really. They are not good for the environment, ain't not good for human health either... Isn't protecting animals from a cruelty treatment in opposite direction than supporting and using chemicals that affect all animals' (humans included) environment?.

• Nylon and Polyester are made from petrochemicals, whose production creates nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas that's 310 times more potent than carbon dioxide.
  
  
• Lycra or Spandex is made from several chemicals that are known sensitizers. TDI (Toluene Diisocyanate) and MDI (Methylene Diphenyl Diisocyanate) are used as precursors of the polyurethane used to make spandex.
  TDI is a toxic chemical which is proven to be carcinogenic. It is also a skin irritant and can cause severe dermatitis. MDI is toxic and known to be an allergic sensitizer.

Now you tell me if this eco-friendly fashion designer is such or not.

Being Incomunicated Can Be BAD as Hell

You go on vacation thinking, "i want to rest, relax and disconnect". The first days are great, you really relax. Then you start to think, "am i missing something?".
I was having a lot of fun in Key West and wasn't thinking anything of the like when yesterday I opened my email inbox and saw what i just missed:

I was invited to the premiere of the film Lagerfeld Confidential by Rodolphe Marconi that Accompanied Literary Society was hosting yesterday at Tribeca Grand Hotel, event that I missed because I was on holidays... now you can figure how upset I am.

The movie is the result of the edit of a total of 300 hours of footage that Marconi got once, for the first time in history, the kaiser agreed to be followed and filmed in a daily basis.
Many have tried to write a biography of this German genius (do you remember Alicia Drake's The Beautiful Fall?) but any of those succeed in getting a word from the subject.
Now we get not only words but images as well, and intimate moments with a living myth.

The film, officially opens in the US on Wednesday, October 24 at Film Forum. I'm going prob on Friday, is there anyone out there who wants to come with me? email me!

Lagerfeld Confidential : Kidman private photo shoot



all teasers here

More Sun and More Fun

Yes, I've been away again and couldn't let you know earlier because of my lack of success in finding an internet connection somewhere.

When I got back from Puerto Rico, my hubby proposed me a trip to Key West, the Southernmost point in the US (just 90 miles / 144 km from Cuba), home of writers such Ernest Hemingway or Tennesse Williams, as well as French writer Anaïs Nin honeymoon nest.

Here is the preview of the short-film Key West Picture Show, by BJ Martin, where you can get a glipse of the kind of place this used to be...

The reason why my dear fella asked me to go there was Fantasy Fest, a once a year festival/parade that celebrates the originality of Key Westerners.

Taking advantage that he knows quite a few people there, we packed and road-tripped down south to help create one of the floats, King Cock, where we cut and painted card boards to shape it into all kind of things. I loved to get dirty in papier-maché ...

Each float in the parade chooses a theme and the members create the costumes around it. Even though there's a general theme that the City Hall picks up each year, the floats normally do what they please.

Our float theme was a parody of the film King Kong, using a rooster instead of a gorilla because Key West is full of wild chickens everywhere. Now you know the meaning behind the name King Cock.

Unfortunately or not, I got a call to assist in a commercial back in NY and couldn't say no.
For this reason I came back earlier than expected (that's why I'm now being able to write this post) and have only pictures of the before show.
Hopefully someone will send me images of the parade to see how everything went.
Meanwhile, enjoy what we did and some other treats... It was fun, sniff...

* Big thanks to Cayman for putting all this together, to Arlo for sharing his car with us and to everyone else in the float for welcoming us the way they did.

Collections in Drawings.

When I studied Fashion Design in college I remember the importance of a good drawing to show your ideas; it was very painful to have a good "picture" in my mind of what I wanted and not being able to reproduce it.
For this reason I always love to see the sketches of artists. For this same reason too I always enjoy The Coveted's process section.
Belgian designer Celine Collard, who I interviewed for MilkshakeChocolate but whose interview can't be seen now due to some technical problems (we just changed server and are in the process of updating) sent me the drawings that French illustrator Nine Antico did for her Fall-Winter 07-08 collection. I couldn't help myself but posting them because they are the loveliest drawings I've seen in a long time. What a sweet way to introduce your collections.