bobble bee

I'm out here

2011-12-10T05:28:00.000-08:00

and now I'm here

Kate Moss + Carine Roitfeld + Mario Testino

2011-02-14T09:45:00.000-08:00

Fashion moves forward.
Carine is not longer at Vogue Paris and I can't wait to see her next fashion project.

Time to Move.

2009-01-29T08:09:00.000-08:00

So seeing that this "flagged" situation is not going to an end, i decided I'm leaving blogger and moving to Wordpress.

But the moving is going a little slower than I thought.

Hopefully everyone that is being flagged will move out of Blogger to another host and Blogger will realized it can not flag a blog without first checking its content.

If everyone moves away, Blogger will have to improve its lame policy. Although it will be maybe too late, who knows.

In any case, i'm moving.
I will let you know my new link as soon as everything will run good and ok.

THANKS SO SO MUCH EVERYONE WHO'S SUPPORTING ME.
IT IS MUCH APPRECIATE IT.

xoxo
:)

image: from The Library of Congress

What The Heck is THIS ??

2009-01-25T11:32:00.000-08:00

It seems some of my readers think that the content of my blog is somehow suspicious...
I wonder who are those people and which content they consider "suspicious"...
Now everytime you try to conect to my blog you will see this annoying warning:

It states that some readers have contacted Google to warn them that my blog ain't no good...

Lace and Crochet are in Vogue

2009-01-06T13:50:00.000-08:00

IQONS * 's New Year greetings reminded me all the beautiful crochet and lace work i saw in Belgium on December when I went to Amtwerp to see Martin Margiela's exhibition at MOMU.

I still have the images of the exhibition in my camera, very busy days these last months but as soon as I calm down i'll tel you all about it :)

The Most Viewed Perfume Ad Campaigns in Spain for Xmas

2009-01-03T13:43:00.000-08:00

I don't know how's in other countries but in Spain TV schedule is taking by perfume ad spots. They are the 60% of programing ! at least !
I must admit is a relief to see them because they are such eye candy.
The ones that follow have been ALL day long in Spanish TV during Christmas 2008-09...

Nina by Nina Ricci. Featuring Ruslana Korshunova.

Quizás, Quizás, Quizás by Loewe. Featuring Jennifer Pugh.

The One by Dolce & Gabbana. Featuring Gisele Bundchen.

The One by Dolce & Gabbana. Featuring Matthew McConaughey.

Madame by Jean Paul Gaultier. Feautering Agyness Deyn.

I have missed very terribly a Chanel ad and a Lancôme though... I wonder why this year we haven't seen any ??

Bejeweled Happy New Year !

2009-01-03T10:13:00.000-08:00

Beginning of Cabaret by Bob Fosse

Portrait of Journalist Sylvia von Harden by Otto Dix.

Hello everyone and first of all Happy New Year!

I am back from a short trip to Berlin. It was short short, just three days, but Berlin is so beautiful it's a shame i can't get a job there because i would be moving right away!

My first fashion New Year greetings came, surprisingly, from two jewelry designers, the French Shourouk and the Turkish Ceren Keyman.
I said "surprisingly" because my blog is not really about jewels so it's so pretty to get greetings form their designers.

Shourouk started as textile designer before pursuing a career in jewelry design, working for important houses as Chloé, John Galliano or Roberto Cavalli.
Her jewels are girly, romantic and vintage-y, those kinds of pieces our little sisters would die for.
Oh, I'm particularly in love with these birds... oh my, I really am!

Now, Ceren Keyman's career is, let's say, quite unusual for a fashion designer. No prestigious design schools here or travels to New York or London for masters or interships with the most famous fashion designers.
Keyman is a professional violinist graduated from Bilkent University in Ankara, Turkey.
She continued her studies in Paris and is now performing professionally and making a life out of it.
But her artistic spirit didn't stop at performing the violin and so in 2007 she created a jewelry collection under the name Keyman Design.
Thereafter she has designed set designs for stage, objects and furniture.
Her work is sleek, made out of plastic and very very Pop. See for yourself.

Brian Lichtenberg's RIP YSL tee shirt and other goodies

2008-12-27T01:35:00.000-08:00

Blood Is the New Black is Mitra Khayyam's fashion-art tee line that features the work of up and coming American artists and designers.

From sunny L.A. Mitra is supporting and aiding the careers of people like 19 years old Milano Chow, Keith Shore or Brian Lichtenberg, designer of the (un) famous RIP YSL tee shirt.

This T almost-sold out in a record time but Mitra is trying to re-edit due to its popular welcome. Keeping fingers crossed.

My World. FLY magazine featuring Prada. The latest not the last.

2008-12-27T00:40:00.000-08:00

FLY magazine has just launched its new website FLY16x9, where they'll upload editorial content in the form of moving fashion films, the same format they do with their magazine.

The news is that such high resolution videos will be able to be seen on iPods, iPhones and all kind of video enable PDA's portable music players.
You need to suscribe to have this service but it means you'll be able to enjoy your FLY magazine on the subway ride and not only on your home computer.

I wonder how often they will upload new content or how good this thing will work but so far the site is covered with many interesting videos featuring designers such Ann Demeulemeester, Junya Watanabe, Louis Vuitton or Maison Martin Margiela.

Their latest video is tittled My World, a fashion short film directed by Stephen Blaise featuring all designs by Prada, starring model Masha Yakovenko.

This video was recently exhibited at Foam Museum in Amsterdam.

Ren Rox, photographer

2008-12-26T23:32:00.000-08:00

I discovered the work of Ren Rox totally by chance.

I was looking for up and coming photographers to contact for a future project when i stumbled upon her work in two different occasions.

In both cases i didn't even look at the pictures photographer's name, i just teared down the page and saved it with the others. Then I realized my two favourite images were signed by her. And just felt in love with her work.

Ren Rox is a London based Spanish photographer.

You've seen her work published in magazines such as The Face, Neo2, Milk or The Telegraph.
She has worked with Spanish style celebrity Gala González aka Am_Lul for a photo shoot called Suicide Blonde and has photographed the coolest young musicians working in London city...
her work is really something to keep an eye on.

ALL images © Ren Rox

People in Spain by Ramiro E.

2008-12-23T04:19:00.000-08:00

Ramiro E. is a Barcelona based photographer who became very popular at the beginning of the decade thanks to his editorials on Neo2 and his wonderful work with La Casita de Wendy, a Madrid based fashion label famous for dressing Björk with one of their designs and for being probably the first ones in doing a DIY campaign in Spain, pasting posters of their catalogue's images all over Malasaña, the Williamsburg of Madrid.

Such campaign was signed by Ramiro E.

Ramiro E. for La Casita de Wendy fall winter 0203

The photographer is now documenting the street style of Spain, Madrid and Barcelona mainly, and uploading the images in a photo blog called I Blog Ramiro E. hosted on YoDona's own website.

And what's YoDona? YoDona is the women's magazine of newspaper El Mundo.
What I like of this blog is the respect that Ramiro pays to his portraiteds, no mean comments here, which is a relief in a street style blog.

Other than that... I saw some of my students here, Claudia & Alberto!! That was sweet to see :)

Quote of the Day._ Stefano Pilati on Fashion

2008-12-22T13:19:00.000-08:00

Fashion could be more relevant. It needs to be understood rather than just consumed.

Stefano Pilati

Stefano Pilati photographed by Kai Junemann for the German Art magazine, Monopol
(via A shaded View on Fashion)

Bubbles of Cava as Every Year for Christmas

2008-12-20T08:39:00.000-08:00

Remember the Spain's synchronized swimming team fashion controversy at the Olympics this year?

Gemma Mengual, captain of the team, and her girls were banned at the Olympics to wear swimsuits with lighting due to some policy of "no accessories" during the performance.

The Spanish team won the Team Free Routine nevertheless and this Christmas they will star in Freixenet's 2008 Christmas ad.

Freixenet is a cava (Spanish champagne) label that every Christmas chooses "the celebrity of the year" to star in their ads.

Last year Martin Scorsese directed the commercial...

Sharon Stone and Antonio Banderas starred it in 1992...

Ballet dancer Angel Corella and Gwyneth Paltrow in 2006...

And now......... The Spanish Synchronized Swimming team !

Some People Call Me The Space Cowboy, Yeahhh

2008-12-14T11:02:00.000-08:00

Last week there was a three days fashion exhibition at the Círculo de Bellas Artes in Madrid.

Why such a short exhibition, I don't know, but those who attended said it was worth a look.

I couldn't attend the event because I knew about it once was over but my friend Maria went and took pictures and explained everything to me...

Jockey Underwear, inventor of the men's brief, was celebrating its 75 anniversary. For this memorable date Spanish fashion designer Carlos Díez Díez was called to design several pieces for them.

The exhibition was divided in three sections:

1_ A retrospective of the more significant pieces of the label, from an original linen shirt from 1790 till the Andy Warhol's brief that appear in the cover of Rolling Stones' Sticky Fingers.

2_ The collaboration between Carlos Díez Díez with Jockey for this ocassion. (these are the pictures I'm showing from)

3_ Original underwear from Carlos Díez Díez... that is, underwear used for him. Some of them dated back to 1963.

It's really a shame i found out about the date of this exhibition so late!.

Photos: María Serret

Changing Room Winter 08_ If in Barcelona, don't miss it!

2008-12-11T04:34:00.000-08:00

Another season, another Changing Room.
It takes place in Barcelona so I won't be able to attend, actually, i've never been there but i've heard really nice things about this event.

It's basically this; One hotel, Chic&Basic Barcelona. One day, December 13th. And 20 young Spanish designers along different rooms of the hotel selling their collections ...

comentrigo
la white
peseta
montse cañadas
juan vidal
barone baronne
intrepida mu
gemma degara
gonzalo cutrina
dora romero
gentz suarez
iris morata
juan vidal
isaacymanu
capricho de muñeca
just4fun .........

music, discounts and gooooood prices.
get ready for Chirstmas ! :)
Hopefully El Fashionista will attend and will tell us all. (She's from BCN>>>)

Quotes of the Day._ Diana Vreeland on London and on being vulgar

2008-11-17T14:05:00.001-08:00

_ "The best thing about London is Paris"
_ " Never fear being vulgar, just boring"

Diana Vreeland

---------------------------

_ "Lo mejor de Londres es París"
_ "Nunca temas ser vulgar, si no aburrida"

Diana Vreeland

Diana Vreeland by Louise Dahl-Wolfe

Lie Sang Bong's aw 08*09 or the Blade Runner collection...

2008-11-16T07:01:00.000-08:00

I discovered the work of Korean fashion designer Lie Sang Bong while I was working with Dragos from Rozalb de Mura label at The Train trade show in New York City (oh, and that's another story i need to tell you about).

He was showing his collection a couple of stands further away from us and I remember being amazed at the construction quality of his garments. Although not quite my style, I couldn't take my eyes off the geometric shapes that formed the SS09 collection.

Dragos told me he's quite a famous designer so shame on me... as soon as I get home i turned internet on and went to his site.

His aw 08-09 collection could be perfectly worn by Rachael (Sean Young) in Blade Runner...

Presentation of lamono magazine in Madrid

2008-11-15T08:40:00.000-08:00

lamono magazine is a free monthly magazine based on Barcelona.
I've been collaborating with them since August but never met them personally till last Thursday when they threw a party in Madrid to introduce their latest issue; En Femenino (Feminine). For such issue I interviewed American artist Maya Hayuk, one the most rebel feminist artists I know.
Here's an extract of the interview:

You are one that defends women rights more than anyone else I know, and i remember once you denied the participation in an important exhibition for the fact that you were the only female among 20 something males.. How do you see the situation of women artists such Agathe Snow, Kiki Smith or yourself in contemporary art?.

I'm always amazed and offended when i am invited to be in a "expose of contemporary art", but am the only woman involved. I find myself having to ask often why there are so few or no women involved, then send around ever-growing lists of women artists who i admire. It seems obvious to me that since there are about 50% women and 50% men in the world, and since there's nothing that would make a man biologically better at making art, that it would be a given that in any art show you'd see this statistic reflected in the gender of the artists. What i hear so often - from men who are putting the shows together - is that they "just don't know any women artists" and i wonder if they live under a big penis-shaped rock. I say that i don't want to be in shows that tell the public that women artists are a minority. I don't have the time or the energy to be the poster child for women or the token woman artist so the curator sleeps well at night. I honestly believe that in a few years we will look back on this time and shake our heads at how ridiculous this time in history was.

The party took place at Fast Cool art gallery in Huertas, one of the oldest neighborhoods in the city.
We got there late but was already crowded; I saw photographer Luis Díaz former assistant of Daniel Riera.
Anna Parini, illustrator, whose work has been featured in the cover of this issue, was there on a 'live-painting-show' (pic above).

My Friend Ainne on Style.com !!

2008-11-15T04:49:00.000-08:00

She's the one on the bottom right corner...

The picture was taken on the H&M flagship on 5th Ave in NYC... waiting in line to buy Comme des Garçons for H&M, isn't she cute?? :_)

here is the story

New Shoes Thanks To...

2008-11-10T15:23:00.000-08:00

I was always a little suspicious when companies would offer me free samples of their products to write about for my readers, or invitations for events that 'could be interesting for my readers'.

Of course it's tempting but I was afraid that accepting or attending these events my blog would become a subliminal fashion ad blog.

I'm quite against those bloggers that write about the 'amazing' qualities of such and such product when the product just sucks; it's like those celebrities that agree to put their faces in ads of products that, ehem, are SO BAD. Credibility to the drain.

Last summer I received another offer but this time i thought it twice before saying no... I realized that we bloggers are always free to say the truth, whether is good or bad for the companies; they never force us to write 'positive' about their products, they just offer us the possibility of trying and talk about the experience. That's all. And I was ready to talk bad about mine...

For this reason and for the first time in my blogging life I agreed to get a free product in exchange of a post. I really wanted to see how the business work.
And let me tell you, I had a big surprise.

The company that contacted me was Solestruck and they did so through a lady called Danielle.
Danielle offered me a pair of shoes from their web, at no cost for me. I could choose any of the models on view, whatever size and color.

When she contacted me i was packing and getting ready for my European sojourn of 9 months so time was really tight to get anything and my mind was everywhere but where it should be.
I remember watching at the shoes they had on the web and although the type of product they carry is not really my style, I found these lovely Jeffrey Campbell mary-janes (above) and ordered them forgetting that i was leaving for Paris in less than a week.

When I apologized Danielle for my slip (she had sent the package already) she told me not to worry at all as as soon as she read the email she contacted the courier to change the date of arriving; and i got my new pair of shoes right on time for Paris fashion week :)

So what can i tell you? No bad word on this company from my keyboard.
Lovely shoes, and Danielle such a nice person.

Music with no instruments but with fashion

2008-11-03T13:37:00.000-08:00

When I started to work at IED (Istituto Europeo di Design) university in October I wasn't aware of the cool projects that this school was involved with. Actually, it isn't involved but it's the promoter of.

Some of these works can be seen in their youtube page.
Here I wanted to show you one project made through the IED Moda Lab, the fashion department of the school.

"In February 2008, the band Giganto developed a workshop at IED Madrid ModaLab, where students from different courses modified and transformed fashion creation tools into musical instruments. In only sixteen hours and with any previous musical knowledge, they formed an orchestra that ended into a live composition "

Here is the result... absolutely AMAZING

Fashion Lectures at the Museo del Traje in Madrid

2008-11-02T15:42:00.000-08:00

Located in one of the most beautiful buildings in Madrid (I know it doesn't seem like in the picture but trust me, it is really impressive!), the Museo del Traje (The Costume Museum) is offering a series of lectures on modern fashion designers.

It started September 18th so many talks have been given already... in any case, every Thursday and till November 13th, at 8pm and free entrance, journalists and fashion historians will lecture on different designers, from Jean Lanvin to Viviene Westwood to Jean Paul Gaultier.

Unfortunately I have missed some but went to the talk given by journalist Abraham de Amézaga on Paco Rabanne who has met the journalist several times.
The best part came with the questions, some were really funny although I can't recall any of them now..

Next week Jean Paul gaultier by Charo Izquierdo, editor in chief of YoDona magazine.

BLESS nº36 show inParis

2008-11-01T06:14:00.000-07:00

BLESS nº36 Nothingneath was the first fashion show I've ever been invited to during Paris fashion week.

I received the invitation at my friend Antoine's house because in Paris you need to give a Parisian address to get your invitations. The first thing I saw when I arrived at my friend's was the envelope with the invitation on his desk...

The show was a surprise, in every sense.
First, because I stumbled upon friends from Madrid and New York by total chance.
Second, because one of the models was a friend of mine that i didn't know she was in Paris let alone modeling for BLESS! And third because of the show itself; it wasn't a show at all and for the first time i felt how a model feel when people stare at her...

The happening took place in a Le Marais's private house where there was an arrange of models situated on the staircase wearing the pieces of the collection. There wasn't time really to stop and look at them (at the pieces), it was a little violent to do so because of the proximity of the models to you; then i realized how safe is to have a catwalk between you and the models... Therefore you could just go up the stairs, have a very fast peak at the clothes while passing by and down again, this time in an elevator. And the show was over.
Susanna Lau was in front of me in the line, all the time... Maybe I should say something to her, but didn't.

pictures by me

video courtesy of BLESS

Natalia Brilli at Maria Luisa

2008-10-09T15:00:00.000-07:00

I'm writing this post from my mom's house in Madrid... I'm back from Paris, exhausted and happy. It was my first time in the French capital AND during fashion week; really something.

First I should say I've been really impressed at the kindness abound among PR people and doorman/bodyguards at the shows. Yes fellows, they were actually NICE. I say this from a New York perspective where PR people is so stressed out is hard to meet them in a nice day... it's hard indeed. And no comment on body guards and doormen... nice is far from their vocabulary.

But in Paris they're sweet, and respectful, and they talk to you and explain to you that you can't enter in a show with no invitation... in NY they just push you away and don't even say good-by.

Now let's start with my fashion experiences...

Paris' stores are really something... unfortunately i couldn't enter at Colette because the day I chose to visit it it was closed.

Maria Luisa's windows were displaying the work of Belgian accessories designer Natalia Brilli.
Natalia Brilli started her own brand in 2005 after three years at the service as head accessories designer together with Olivier Theyskens at Rochas.

Her work is pure rock & roll, where black, leather and references to Gothic are very usual. Her work reminds me that of Lidia Ligias, another favourite of mine.

"The showpiece is a rock band from beyond the grave: three skeletons, a drum set, guitar, amp, and mic, all encased in black leather. They are scheduled to perform silently during Paris Fashion Week in the window at Maria Luisa, and will be touring to a number of international locations troughout the year." - Leanne Rae Wierzba

The Exhibition of the Season; the dark side of fashion at the FIT

2008-09-21T09:42:00.000-07:00

Big news; I'm moving back to Spain for 9 months, October-June 2008.

Big changes and better jobs. I will be coordinating the styling courses of the ied design school in Madrid, so back to my roots for a little while.
I'm leaving on Friday to go first to Paris for the shows, been invited to attend BLESS and Antonio Berardi's so i will keep you updated on that.
Then cheap flight to Madrid and a new life will start !

These days I'm trying to attend every single exhibition that's going on in town and the one that has kept me in awe was FIT's Gothic; Dark Glamour.
I was a bit reticent to go because the picture they chose for the exhibition's ad and the graphic design of it wasn't very appealing. But it was a fashion exhibition and that was reason enough to go. Glad i did.

Valerie Steele, Director and Chief Curator of The Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT), responsible of some of the best fashion exhibitions I have ever seen, including Love and War: The Weaponized Woman, and so many others I have missed, including The Corset: Fashioning the Body, gives us again an absolutely beautiful and interesting exhibition that is both a surprise and a pleasure to see.
Gothic; Dark Glamour explores and analize the interest on Gothic among certain fashion designers like Yohji Yamamoto, Rick Owens or Alexander McQueen.
The exhibition is divided in 10 sub-exhibitions each of one deals with a different side of Gothic in fashion terms.

The quality of the selected pieces is marvelous, and it's impressive to see a real Balenciaga, Yamamoto or Comme des Garçons in front of you in such an environment as the space has been rearranged as a cemetery.
I must admit my disappointment though on seeing John Galliano dresses because they are not good at all, they seem taken right from the laboratory of a firts year fashion design student. Really cheap.
In the other hand, as I mentioned before, absolutely in awe at the view of Comme des Garçons or Rick Owens.

The finishing touch of the show was the work of Japanese designer Kei Kagami. His designs seem out of the darkest Science Fiction movie you could ever think of... SHOCKING_GEORGEOUS_AMAZING !

Late Post from NYFW.- Unconditional

2008-09-18T17:28:00.000-07:00

The pictures I took from Unconditional spring 09 fashion show during New York fashion week have been lost in my computer till today, when i realized I never wrote about this event.

It took place right after United Bamboo's so that is why the pictures got lost; I focused on UB and forgot all the rest. Inexcusable mistake.

Bed Peace, the collection's name which takes inspiration from John Lennon and Yoko Ono's infamous 1969's "Bed In" peace protest, was shown at the Maritime Hotel in the Meat Packing District, one of those hotels that take your breathe off once you're in.

Up on the rooftop I stumbled upon a cocktail party with free cocktails, beautiful people, photographers and models wearing the collection, both male and females, mixed with the crowd as in a party. So this wasn't really a fashion show, it was more a presentation, and for that reason it was so special and surprising.

Philip Stephens, the head behind Unconditional, started this label in 2003.
His designs have been since characterized for the use of ethically produced (often organic) fabrics and sustainable dyes.

Bed Peace is definitely a very 60's collection for her, but for him was a bit different and was hard for me to realized this was a 'together' collection (male/female).

Both genres seemed from two totally different worlds; women came from Woodstock wearing sheer and loose dresses... men right from a Norwegian summer, with long sleeves cotton t-shirts, bear's ears crocheted hats and striped blue&white sailor tees...

models mixed with the press

the people

the models

a room with a view

Ode to the slow blogger

2008-09-14T14:08:00.000-07:00

For the last couple of months I've been reading several apologies from bloggers who didn't have the time to write a post everyday... It is a very common thing, i have noticed, but I would like with this post to send a message to all my fellow bloggers that feel the stress and the pressure to publish once daily and if they don't, they think they're failing in some way... not at all!

My point is, although there are very gifted people that have the capability, energy and wit to write very insightful posts on a daily basis, such people as Susanna Lau from Style Bubble or Diane Pernet from A Shaded View on Fashion, this is not the norm. It is an extra-ordinary thing that can't make you feel bad, stressed or inferior if your pace needs to be slower.

Leisurely rhythm gives you perspective to think an idea over and to develop your own creativity.

It's important to digest a thought instead of just giving it away half digested. Big thinkers take time to process and develop and idea, and even the fashion blogger Queen par excelance, Cathy Horyn, doesn't give away a daily post... she takes her own time to write and to think what she wants to say, so don't feel bad.

Fast food is unhealthy for a reason...

I personally like, and love for this matter, fashion bloggers that take their time to live before talking about it in their blogs. I like bloggers who experience and "cook" an idea or an opinion before bringing it to their blog. I like bloggers whose real life goes before their virtual one because the latter can lead you to copy-and-paste other people's ideas; you need time to live your own feelings and experiences before hand.

This is the reason why i find amusing and inspiring to wait for new posts on blogs like Suzanna Mars' Style Sauvage, Mike Huynh's Cultures in Between or Search & Destroy because I know that while i wait, they're living and thinking of great things to tell me a bit later...

Good magazines, the good ones I mean, like self service, purple, the purple journal or fantastic man, are quaterly or biannual; only crap magazines are weekly, and some monthly. It might be a reason for that. Information needs to be processed before being exposed.

So next time you've been absent from your blog for days or even weeks, don't apologize; we know you're living.

Matvey Lykov for Jil Sander

2008-09-13T20:17:00.000-07:00

Model Matvey Lykov (Fusion NY and Success Paris) was just arrived in the Big Apple when we did a shoot together; it was his career's second shoot and my second male shoot as well.
What a surprise when two years later I see him as the face of the new campaign of Jil Sander... in a two pages spread on i-D magazine.

Dear Matvey, if you are reading this blog, 2 is definitely our number !

Matvey Lykov for Jil Sander's AW 08-09 campaign

Stupid Magazines

2008-09-10T07:33:00.000-07:00

When you work with magazines, you never know.
Even when they give you an assignment, chances are (many) that the project doesn't get published. You can try to find another publication to run the story but sometimes the time you have to find it is so tight that the work just expires unpublished; magazines is a fast world.

I own a magazine and have lived the experience from both sides, the non-published professional and the one who decides not to publish something assigned; so I know.

As a stylist/photographer, it sucks when a publication rejects a job: time and energy, and so many times money, go directly to the drain.
But as a "decider", as a fashion editor, I know some works are just not what I expected and to be honest with the aesthetic of a magazine, you need to back up.

The good news is that now we have a wonderful blog that publishes very renown professionals' work that was rejected for magazines. They tell you what went wrong and how the shoot was made. Some works are good, some are not, but you will know first hand what the hell happened. The blog is called Stupid mags, and it's pure eye candy.

Full Time Sado by Tony Solís

Full time sado was made almost two years ago with the help of 'El Pana', my ex roomie who was a Venezuelan model. All the equipment and the clothes were borrowed from a rock/sado store. The day of the shooting was the last day of El Pana living on our apartment too, so I woke him at 8 am and in two hours we made this series. They are lots of images, so I tried to make a selection that represent the story I tried to tell. It couldn't be published for unknown reasons.

Hot Dogs by Colectivo Banquels

These polaroids were made like three years ago. We sent them to a magazine or something and they never were returned. It was a goofy work but I think they are great. The scanning is awful, but it is the only thing we have of them. Anyway, they don't look like what we are doing now at all.

New York Fashion Week. SS09. United Bamboo

2008-09-08T13:11:00.000-07:00

I was really exciting to attend United Bamboo's SS 09 show.

My relation with them started when I interviewed them for hotel diana magazine months ago.
Although their style is too girly for my taste, I respect and like their subtle experimentation in a place and a market, New York, where experimentation is not the norm. I even think they don't experiment more because they're not "allow" to, not because they don't want. I remember once in a sample sales to see really interesting dresses that i didn't see later at the stores. When I asked their PR why he told me because American buyers told them not to produce those pieces because the stores would never buy them... too avant-garde for American standards. Here is where I live...

Miho and Thuy presented their SS09 collection at the Altman Building in Manhattan.
It was Saturday and hurricane Gustav was paying a brief visit to New York. The day woke up windy and overcast and looking depressing. At least for me.
In any case, there I went, exciting with my invitation on hand.

The line to enter the building was LONG as expected and we had to wait outside for a little while. The girl in front of me was dressed beautifully, with a nice floral dress and red shoes and purple shirt, the same color combo I was about to see inside... in general people was dressed really nicely and there there were many street style photographers taking pictures, among them Yvan the FaceHunter.

One of the reasons I love to see shows is for the people who attends them. The show sometimes is secondary because at times your location is so far away you can't even see the cloths, or the show is way too short to really enjoy... United Bamboo's crowd was really interesting to see.

The collection was pretty and very 60's, girlier and less experimental than their SS08, with really nice color combos.

The finishing touch was given by Iekeliene Stange; it's always a pleasure to see this girl on the catwalk.

New York Fashion Week. SS09. Iris Loeffler

2008-09-08T08:47:00.000-07:00

A show that starts with Grauzone's Eisbär can't be a bad show.

German designer Iris Loeffler's SS09 collection put a beginning to my fashion week schedule, and it was totally by chance that I went because I was still unpacking from a trip to Madrid when I received the call of my friend Max sanjulián who was DJ-ing at the event.

The show was held at LaViolaBank gallery on East Broadway, and it was cram with beautiful people, many of them European.

Free beer for everyone, just like an art opening.

This was Iris, who interns at Zero Maria Cornejo, first collection.

--------------------------------------

El viernes pasado, recién llegadita de Madrid, se inauguró mi fashion week con el desfile de la colección Primavera Verano 09 de la diseñadora alemana Iris Loeffler.

Iris, que trabaja en Zero Maria Cornejo, se estrena como diseñadora con esta colección que fué presentada en la galería LaViolaBank en East Broadway, en la zona de Chinatown.

Mucha gente guapa, muchos de ellos europeos cómo no :) y cerveza gratis para todo el mundo.
Para empezar el show, un tema mítico, Eisbär de Grauzone, que mi amigo Max Sanjulián, DJ del evento y quien me invitó al sarao, nos regaló para dejarme más contenta que unas pascuas. Con una canción asi no hay show que pueda quedar mal!

Another Year Again. New York Fashion Week.

2008-09-06T05:55:00.000-07:00

As opposed to other seasons when I used to RSVP to every single show in town, I decided I only want to attend those I am interested in and avoid wasting my time with designers I care very little about.

Thus, this year's summary of my NYFW experience will be petite, maybe just 4 or 5 shows on the whole.

This doesn't mean I only like 4 or 5 designers in town; it just means that among all my invitations there are only 4 or 5 I am interested in.

Unfortunately there are many others I love I haven't been invited to like Patrik Rzepski, Zero Maria Cornejo, Ohnetitel, Y3, Alexandre Herchcovitch, Alexander Wang, Preen, Rodarte, VPL...

Yesterday I attended my first show, the SS09 collection of German designer Iris Loeffler, an intern at Zero Maria Cornejo who was presenting with this her first collection.

I'm uploading the images, will be ready by tomorrow with more news from today's shows, among them, United Bamboo.

Good morning Fashion Week!

Truly in love with the new cover of Kaiserin magazine

2008-08-23T11:52:00.000-07:00

Cover photography by American artist Brandon Herman

And they know it is awesome; only the cover is download-able through their website.

Glorious Scars

2008-08-22T09:12:00.000-07:00

There is a whole beauty market to get rid of scars and acne marks; lotions, Vitamin E capsules, cortisone injections, surgery, spa treatments... I once lived with a girl that was so obsessed with her scars that she could payed hundred of dollars per month just to get rid of them.

Surgery for scars that were produced in terrible accidents disfiguring one's face is one thing to support, of course. But I would like to question this nowadays' panic on imperfect beauty. Why is that?

Aren't scars beautiful? the most magnificent prove that we are alive?
They tell untold stories, and there's nothing sexier than a man with a striking scar...

Joaquin Phoenix's lip scar:

Harrison Ford's chin scar:

David Gandy's eyebrow scar:

Sean Avery's lip scar:

Le Corbusier's leg scar:
image courtesy of search & destroy

Mary J Blige's eye scar:

Kristen McMenamy's belly scar:

Say hello to my first Comme des Garçons!

2008-08-22T07:52:00.000-07:00

This will be my first Comme des Garçons piece to add to my wardrobe... now that's absolutely exciting.

I bought it on Ebay, it was for sale, no bidding involved. The price was really a deal and it amazed me that the garment has been up since April and no one till now have seen it before...

Description from Ebay seller:

" This dress is SAMPLE from robe COMME des GARCONS.

I don't know this sample was released to street.
Anyway This is so rare and hard to get in even Japan.
Size on tag and Material tag are not for sample cloth. "

Please Drink Tap Water or Avoid Plastic Bottles As Much As You Can

2008-08-21T16:40:00.000-07:00

One of the first things you can encounter at the tents of New York fashion week since 2003 are free bottles of Fiji water.

Once inside the building there you find big blue plastic containers with the tiny bottles ready to be picked up, and you couldn't be happier than sipping the liquid Kate Moss swears by...

All those who know me know that I'm addicted to bottled waters, specially Evian. My addiction is such that my hubby gave me 5 bottles of 1.5 liters of Evian water for my birthday... so there you have.

I love the taste of water and I like to taste the waters around the world. I have a very sensitive water-taste and can differentiate between one drink and another with just a sip...

... now let me tell you; please don't follow my steps and read what follows. It's serious stuff. And all my "coolness" for drinking hot bottled waters just go directly to the drain...

Extract from an article by Dr David Suzuki, scientist, broadcaster, author, and chair of the David Suzuki Foundation, Companion to the Order of Canada and a recipient of UNESCO's Kalinga Prize for science, the United Nations Environment Program medal, and Global 500, he's also Professor Emeritus at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver and holds 22 honorary degrees from universities around the world, and Dr Faisal Moola, Director of Science at the David Suzuki Foundation.

The water that comes out of most city taps in Canada is pretty clean.
Yet many people prefer to spend money on bottled water, believing that it is somehow safer.

Now we’re learning that the stuff in plastic water bottles may be more harmful than anything in our tap water.

'Bisphenol A' is just one chemical that’s been in the news recently – and in many plastic bottles. This compound mimics estrogens (human female hormones) and has been linked to breast and ovarian cancers and childhood developmental problems. It is found in clear, hard polycarbonate plastic commonly used in household and commercial water coolers and some reusable bottles, and it’s just one potentially harmful substance associated with plastic containers.

The presence of chemicals isn’t the only reason we should try to wean ourselves from the bottle, though. For one thing, bottled water is expensive, costing more than a comparable amount of gasoline. Unlike most nations on Earth, Canada has vast quantities of fresh water. Have we so polluted our water that we feel compelled to pay a lot for it? And from beginning to end (and for plastics, that end is a long time away), plastic bottles contribute to environmental problems. To start, the manufacturing process is a factor in global warming and depletion of energy resources.
It takes close to 17 million barrels of oil to produce the 30 billion water bottles that U.S. citizens go through every year. Or, as the National Geographic website illustrates it: "Imagine a water bottle filled a quarter of the way up with oil. That’s about how much oil was needed to produce the bottle."

It also takes more water to produce a bottle than the bottle itself will hold. Canadians consume more than two billion litres of bottled water a year, and globally, we consume about 50 billion US gallons a year. Unfortunately, most of those bottles – more than 85 per cent, in fact – get tossed into the trash rather than the recycling bin.

The pollution from plastics affects our air, land, and water. Many plastic bottles end up in landfills or get incinerated, and burning plastic releases toxic chemicals into the air. Plastic that stays on land or that is buried can take hundreds of years to break down, and even then, it doesn’t completely biodegrade. One of the most disturbing things is what happens to plastic that ends up in the oceans – which is about 10 per cent of all plastic produced, according to Greenpeace.

About 550 miles off the coast of California, a massive, expanding island of plastic debris 100 feet deep and bigger than the province of Quebec, swirls in what is known as the North Pacific Gyre. In a recent column for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s website, writer Heather Mallick described it as "a hideous chyme [semi-fluid mass] stretching and pulsing in the sea like an underwater gob of spiky phlegm."

Plastic doesn’t biodegrade; rather, it photodegrades, which means that, under sunlight, it just keeps breaking down into smaller and smaller pieces. The tiniest bits of plastic, called nurdles, enter the food chain when they are eaten by marine animals and birds. Nurdles also soak up toxins, adding to the poisons consumed by animals and every creature up the food chain. More than a million birds and marine animals die every year from eating plastic waste or from becoming entangled in plastics. If the environmental damage caused by plastic bottles or the existence of potentially toxic chemicals in the bottles isn't enough to make you avoid them, how about some reasons that hit closer to home? First there’s the fact that many bottlers get their water from municipal supplies.

Coca Cola filters and bottles water from municipal sources in Calgary, Alberta and Brampton, Ontario for its Dasani brand. Pepsi's Aquafina comes mostly from Vancouver, British Columbia and Mississauga, Ontario. That's right: they're taking your tap water and selling it back to you at a markup that can be as high as 3,000 times the price you pay for it through your taxes.

There's also a danger that governments may use the growing reliance on bottled water as an excuse to avoid their responsibility to ensure we have access to safe drinking water. The federal government must address any existing concerns about drinking-water quality with enforceable standards designed to protect human health. If you're worried about chlorine in your drinking water, put it in a pitcher and let it stand overnight to allow the chlorine to evaporate – or consider buying a carbon activated filter for your tap. To carry water with you, fill up your stainless steel or glass bottle from the tap, and enjoy. Water is a precious resource that belongs to all of us. Let’s not take it for granted. And let’s not put it in plastic.
Reprinted from “Science Matters” a column by Dr. David Suzuki, PhD and Dr. Faisal Moola.

Via

More Science and Fashion Controversy. This time at the Olympics!

2008-08-20T10:20:00.000-07:00

Chinese Olympic Committee gave fashion importance enough such to banned Spain synchronized swimmers from wearing their "flashy" swim suits...

The suits had embedded waterproof lights that flashed during the performance, a fact that seemed to be not of the liking of Chinese committee; they were afraid that someone would get electrocuted. Also by saying that "lights were an accessory" and cannot be used in competition. Thus, they banned the suits.

Andrea Fuentes, member of the team, answered: 'It is too innovative for such a conservative sport'

Some journalists and synchronized swimming experts attacked the Spaniards by saying that their flashy suits was just a trick to cover a poor performance... Spain won the competition after all beijing2008.cn

Here we have, another example of science fashion versus conservative ideals ...

Quote of the Day.- Oscar Wilde on Beauty

2008-08-19T11:47:00.000-07:00

" To look at a thing is very different from seeing a thing. One does not see anything until one sees its beauty.
Then, and then only, does it come into existence."

The Decay of Lying
by Oscar Wilde

Right: MMM bracelet

Science and Fashion á la Chalayan

2008-08-18T21:00:00.000-07:00

I met designer Di Mainstone months ago when she came to NYC to have a talk with the people at EyeBeam, an art and technology center that provides scholarships and tools for artists with technological ambitions.

The day we met we went to have lunch together and she showed me the sketches she was developing for the prestigious Institute for Unstable Media V2 in the Netherlands, where she was going to stay for the next couple of months.

Her main investigation was on garments that could be shared with other people and interact in some way or another with the wearer.

The sketches were really impressive, inspiring and beautiful and they reminded me the best work of Hussein Chalayan.

Di left for the Netherlands days later and kept me updated via facebook with the way her little child was developing.

Now the child is fully developed and looking good and healthy; Sharewear.

The two dresses that form the collection are exhibited through performance; Constructed from a series of magnetic modular blocks, the audience witnesses the work being unpacked from 2 flat-pack crates and assembled in real-time. Both wearer and audience are able to be part of this playful construction process by slotting the modular forms around the human form to create their own structure. British sound artist and producer Scanner composed a playful sound-scape, which is used throughout the presentation, to delineate hidden narratives and encourage the flow between audience and performer.

I couldn't hide my happiness when I saw the final result of this project.

Mostly because we all remember Hussein Chalayan's interview on i-D magazine months ago, his complaints on the lack of support for the type of fashion that he does; no matter how well known he is and how much we love him and his furniture-based dresses, he doesn't get enough founds and money support to continue doing what make us long for; forward-thinking fashion.

Hence the fact that there are more people doing it, getting scholarships and support and doing it so good... is inspiring.

Here's an instance on how fashion can be an art, a medium to develop ideas and forward thinking philosophies.

We don't know if we will ever dress like this but the existence of projects like these make us questioning the way we interact between each other and the role that clothing has on us.

Thanks Di! :)

** There will be more performances on September at the (Re)Actor in Liverpool, Wereld van Witte de With in Rotterdam and Today's Art in The Hague.

Check the v2 website for more updates.

Architecture for the Feet

2008-08-17T10:22:00.000-07:00

Both Architecture and Fashion have always been my obsession but I'm really bad (and i mean what i say) at Mathematics so it was impossible for me to ever study architecture.

Fortunately many of my friends and family members are architects so they keep alive my love's flame. And my book's shelves for that matter!.

The fact that Fashion design is really architecture in a smaller scale was wonderfully analyzed by the exhibition Skin + Bones at the MOCA two years ago; garments house our bodies and can create new volumes and space around us.

If you have ever seen the sketches sent to the factories to create a garment you would be amazed at the similarities with architectural plans.

Now, fashion and architecture go together; and what about shoes?

Last year there was an amazing exhibition on Zaha Hadid's work at the Guggenheim in NY. I went to see it twice no matter the high price of the admission; she became one of my favourite architects alive.
I've been following her career ever since and now my surprise to see her work captured in a shoe, thanks to Brazilian plastic shoe manufacturer company Melissa.

image courtesy designboom

I tried to find Zaha's comments on these designs but couldn't find any interesting but "I have 30 years of research on different areas of architecture and design and this was a very challenging project, not only in design, but on the technical side." nymag.com
The shoes, unfortunately, will be only available at London's Dover Street Market, starting next month.

The making of a shoe model...

Metal magazine launch party. NYC

2008-08-09T09:15:00.000-07:00

Spanish-based magazine Metal has became, in just a couple of years, a referent on what's cool and what's not in fashion photography.
Unfortunately it was hard to get a copy in the US and it was friend and NY fashion editor & content coordinator Angela Esteban Librero who provided copies for us to see.

The publication will finally be distributed in America (it already is) and last Tuesday Angela together with Romina Herrera Malatesta threw a launch party at the Dactyl Foundation Gallery, the same venue where S magazine had its launch party a couple of months ago.

EVERYONE was there, it was packed, it was hot, and it was fun.
The walls were covered with the work of photographer Christophe Kutner and a screen put in the back of the gallery showed the best works published in the magazine to date.

Free margaritas for everyone and obviously I got drunk as hell, my camera died before i could get any good picture and all I could save were a couple of snap shots that follow...

Male Back Portraits

2008-08-05T22:04:00.000-07:00

By Nicholas Haggard
as seen in Bertha magazine #4

Rare Bird of Paradise

2008-07-31T20:36:00.000-07:00

Those who follow my blog might already know that I have a soft spot for the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp. I do firmly believe is probably the best fashion school in today's world and so are the graduation shows of their students. I'm always in awe with their designs and imagination, the quality of the garments and their ideas.

This year's graduation took place last month and the work of Meryll Rogge was specially dear to me. Let's say I have a total crush on her collection. (here to see all the shows)

Her work, as that one of Andrea Ayala, another Antwerp student graduated in 2007 whose collection still keeps me in awe, brings to mind Sonia Delauney's designs for theater during the 20's.- Cubism seems a very recurrent topic for these graduates.

Sonia Delaunay's costumes for "The Gas Heart" by Tristan Tzara.

Although such inspiration might seem dated, let me tell ya, I rather to see Cubism-inspired collections (and I'll clap if I see them!) than another twiggy/60's-hippie/70's one... it's needed more knowledge and imagination.

Quote of The Day.- Tom Ford on Sex

2008-07-28T17:54:00.000-07:00

" Sex is part of my image. It's part of me. I'm extremely sensual. If I like someone I want to touch them, if I love them I want to hold onto them. I'm very physical. But also I don't find sex offensive, I don't find the human body offensive. I don't find a guy's cock or a woman's vagina offensive, in fact I find them beautiful. I would put them on an ad with a perfume bottle if I could get away with it."

Tom Ford interviewed by Stephen Todd
Fantastic Man, issue 7
page 106

Oh I Was So Upset... Now I'm Ok

2008-07-27T17:05:00.000-07:00

Remember last fall when I missed the premiere of the film Lagerfeld Confidential ?

I was so upset... For the first time in my blogging life I was invited to attend a cool event and my going of vacation aborted the enjoyment. Damn it!

I was so upset that I promised myself that this won't happen ever again... Well, I just missed another super awesome invitation because, this time, i had to work.

The last Tuesday the FIT Couture Council awarded Cuban designer Isabel Toledo, one of my favourite designers, this by the way, with the Couture Council Award for Artistry of Fashion at their annual Fall Fashion Week benefit luncheon.

You can imagine how excited I was for going... and how upset when at the very last minute I got a call for a gig I couldn't say no.
I wrote the FIT apologizing my absence and they answered me back a very lovely email so i really hope next time i can make it.

All my best wishes to Isabel Toledo.

Rubén and Isabel Toledo by Miguel Villalobos

Yes! Finally! Men are Back. DAVID GANDY

2008-07-25T21:40:00.000-07:00

True. There was a time when I was into skinny guys, into a kind of feminine-looking dude...
But the more I grow the more I want men back in fashion. Let's say that the Slimane's Dior Homme's silhouette is not my type anymore... It's cool, but that's pretty much all. There's not "life" in it, if you know what i mean.

It's such a relief that finally men as David Gandy are pushing their presence through fashion shows and editorials... and what a presence!.

He's part of a new breed of male models which, to me, is far more interesting that the eternal boy we have seen in all the magazines and catwalks during the last decade.
As he put it "When I first started, the demand was for very young, very skinny, androgynous guys. That look has dominated a lot of the campaigns and editorials over the last few years. Because I’m none of those things, I went down the commercial catalog route in order to earn a living. I did earn good money, but I realized that money wasn’t the reason I become a model." (source).

Dolce & Gabbana Underwear.
Featuring David Gandy

David Gandy is probably the king of this new breed of models, being some kind of a star after his appearance in the Dolce & Gabbana Light Blue ad.
He's done ads for Zara, Carolina Herrera, Ermenegildo Zegna... and VMan featured him in one of the best covers I've seen in a men's magazine.

Now let's just hope that if men like that are back, real women are just around the corner...

More info on David here.

Music I'm Into Right Now

2008-07-21T22:11:00.000-07:00

Following sweet Dreamecho's tag on what I'm into right now in terms of music... there we go.
First I need to post the rules, how annoying, but you can step this if you don't feel like reading, anyway.

The Rules:
List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether they have words, or even if they’re not any good, but they must be songs you’re really enjoying now, shaping your summer.
Post these instructions in your blog along with your 7 songs.
Then tag 7 other people to see what they’re listening to.

"Ready For The Floor" - Hot Chip
Ah... this is FUN! And look at the styling... terrific

"Electric Feel" - MGMT
The perfect summer song

"Wicked Game" - Chris Isaak
Because it involves three things i truly love:
1.- Wild at Heart (it's part of its soundtrack)
2.- Fashion (with super Helena Christensen playing gorgeous as ever)
3.- and a hot dude, that is, Isaak himself.

"The Little That You Have" - Justin Hinds and The Dominoes
Because it's fun, it's summer and makes me feel good.

"When Doves Cry" - Prince
Because they play it at my work EVERY DAY. And I love Prince

"A Felicidade" - Vinicius de Moraes and Toquinho
There's not summertime without a bossa nova song
(I couldn't find the right version though, but this is quite good)

"Paper Planes" - M.I.A.
She's the queen.

I tag (but you don't need to follow if you don't feel like):

*Flora's Box
Bikes and the City
Killing Denouement
Miss at La Playa
Rosetung
Roybot
Wendy Brandes

Hot Chicks in the Air

2008-07-20T18:09:00.000-07:00

There was a time when girls dreamed of being stewardesses when they'd grow older... Or at least I did.
My cousin Tatiana never finished college because at age 18 and due to her ability with languages (she spoke 4 at the time!) she was hired as stewardess for Iberia. It was the coolest thing ever!
I was so envious... she was always flying, traveling, knowing places and telling me all these crazy stories... with pilots you know.
Fashion designers died for having the chance of designing flight attendants uniforms, and some privileged did as Christian Dior for SAS, Balenciaga for Air France or Valentino for TWA. (source)
If you want to know more about these fashions, do not miss the book Airlines: Identity, Design and Culture by Keith Lovegrove.
Unfortunately times changed and everything got cheap, affordable and tacky and being a stewardess wasn't cool anymore. That's a real shame, isn't it?

[A big thank you to Dark Roasted Blend for collecting such wonderful an archive]

Remember??... Free cocktails for everyone!

Summer Knitts and Marie Louise Vogt

2008-07-20T09:06:00.000-07:00

Knitted garments for summer are my soft spot. They remind me my childhood when my grandma used to knit all kind of stuff for me, or the gorgeous 70's knitted dresses my mom used to wear when I was a child.
For this reason I fancy designers as Sandra Backlund or Marie Louise Vogt, whose SS 09 collection is being presented right now at projektgalerie showroom during the Berlin Fashion Week.

It's a pity I can't find her designs in NY, it's always the same...

SS 08 by Marie Louise Vogt
Images © Florian de Brün

Karlota Laspalas

2008-07-17T23:13:00.000-07:00

I met Karlota Laspalas during my job as fashion stylist for potipoti's AW 08-09 show during Pasarela Abierta in Murcia, Spain.

One day Karlota came to backstage to ask me for safety pins and we exchanged some words. Later I found out that she was one of the students who won the opportunity to show their graduate collections during Pasarela Abierta, being she the one who later won the special award to the best student collection.

Her designs surprised the audience and jury for their quality, and I still remember the long wait to talk to her after the show... that was A big line!

Say hello to Karlota Laspalas...

1.- Hi Karlota!. Let's start with a question that is wondering my head since I started to find out things about you... are you the same Karlota Laspalas that used to win awards on snowboard?
Yes, that's me. Well, life has different phases and that was a good one. I went to Barcelona to study and that meant rent, student bills... too many expenses to pay with a student's salary.

1.- Para empezar una pregunta que me viene comiendo la cabeza desde que empecé a averiguar cosas de ti... Eres la misma Karlota Laspalas del mundo snowboard?. Si es así, a que se debió este cambio de snow a moda? Aunque me imagino q seguiras haciendo snowboard...
Si la misma. Bueno, la vida son etapas y aquella fue una muy buena, llego el momento de venirme a Barcelona, piso, estudios...muchos gastos que cubrir con un pequeño sueldo de estudiante.

2.- One collection and innumerable awards. What are you enjoining the most in the present and are afraid the most in the future?
The truth is that I'm not having enough time to enjoy my present but the most rewarding thing is to see your efforts valuated, not only for the awards but also for the lovely welcome I find everywhere. In regards of my future, I have more respect than fear, although things are going on very well there's still a long way to walk.

2.- Una coleccion y millones de premios. Que es lo que más estas disfrutando de tu presente y lo que más miedo te da de tu futuro? La verdad que estoy teniendo poco tiempo para disfrutarlo pero lo mas gratificante es ver de alguna manera el esfuerzo recompensado, no solo por los premios sino por la buena acogida que me encuentro en los distintos lugares. Y respecto a mi futuro, mas que miedo tengo respeto, aunque las cosas estén saliendo muy bien aun me queda mucho camino por recorrer.

3.- Are you preparing your next collection or you're giving yourself a break to enjoy what's happening?
Right now I'm fully immerse in a possible participation in Modafad. Then i will work on a Madrid fashion competition, followed by Mittelmoda (where I was also selected for the Levi's Award and I will be showing two or three new designs). After that it comes Modorra in Bilbao and maybe then i will start to think in my next project...

3.- Estas preparando ya tu proxima coleccion o has decidido darte un respiro para disfrutar de las cosas buenas del momento? Ahora mismo estoy inmersa en una posible participación en Modafad, luego vendrá un certamen en Madrid, Mittelmoda, en el que también estoy seleccionada para el Levi´s award donde presentaré dos o tres nuevos estilismos. Después posiblemente participe en Modorra de Bilbao y tal vez entre tanto empezaré a pensar en mis próximos proyectos.

4.- What did it mean to you to be finalist of a prestigious fashion competition such Mittelmoda? How was the selection?
It wasn't that different from other contests. Through our fashion school they offered us to participate, so I prepared the long dossier you need to submit and sent it. It is very special to be in there because it is an international contest where they receive a great deal of works and being selected is already a great satsfaction.

4.- Que ha significado para ti el ser finalista del prestigioso premio Mittelmoda? Cómo fue la selección?
No ha sido muy diferente al proceso de selección de otros certámenes. A través de mi escuela nos propusieron la idea y simplemente, realicé el dossier extenso que se precisa para participar. Es muy especial porque es un certamen internacional al que se presentan un gran número de trabajos y estar entre lo seleccionados ya es una gran satisfacción.

5.- During these months of shows I guess you have had the chance of meeting fashion professionals whose work has been very inspiring to you. Who has been the person or people you keep a better memory of?
Yes, i have been very fortunate in that matter too, first for having as tutors for my project no other than Ismael and Sergio from Spastor, such a honor, and second for meeting all kind of people during the contests, people that has shared with me their own vision on fashion, from the jury of each contest to photographers as Javier Ferrer, Manuel Lozano, Juan Francisco Lopez... stylists as you or Analia Lanfranco, press journalists as Leticia Orúe or designers as Alberto from Sinpatrón, Pedro form Pedro y El Lobo, Silvia y Nando from potipoti, Jose Zambrano and Ibai Labega.

5.- Durante todos estos meses imagino que habras tenido la oportunidad de conocer profesionales de la moda de una calidad valiosisima. Quién ha sido la persona o personas a quienes más te ha sorprendido y placer te ha dado conocer?
Si, en eso también he sido muy afortunada, primero al tener como tutores de proyecto nada mas y nada menos que a Ismael y Sergio de Spastor, todo un honor, y después al encontrarme en los diferentes certámenes personas que me han aportado su visión sobre el sector, desde los jueces de cada certamen, pasando por fotógrafos como Javier Ferrer, Manuel Lozano, Juan Francisco Lopez, estilistas como tú y Analia Lanfranco, gente de medios como Leticia Orúe, hasta diseñadores como Alberto de Sinpatrón, Pedro de Pedro y el Lobo, Silvia y Nando de potipoti, Jose Zambrano e Ibai Labega.

6.- What's the difference between men's wear and women's?
For me none. My collection is unisex so I odn't see the difference between woman and man. The fact that I proposed men's wear in the contests is because I think that it could be a different proposal to what's the norm.

6.- Qué tiene la ropa de hombre que no tiene la de mujer?
Para mi nada diferente, mi colección es unisex y por tanto no veo diferencia entre mujer y hombre. El hecho de que haya presentado hombre en los certámenes es porque considero que podría ser una propuesta diferente a las que normalmente se presentan.

7.- Bla Bla Bla magazine with Klaudia Laspalas... Tell us about this project.
It's not exactly a project per se but some designs I created while studying fashion design. Then, thanks to Klaudia, I could collaborate with this magazine where I presented part of those designs.

7.- Bla Bla Bla magazine con Klaudia Laspalas... Hablame un poco de este proyecto. No se trata de un proyecto en concreto sino varios diseños creados durante mis estudios. Luego, gracias a klaudia, pude colaborar en este magazine haciendo una pequeña presentación sobre algunos de mis trabajos.

8.- If you could curate a fashion exhibition in a Contemporary Art Museum, what would you choose?
It could be an exhibition on international young designers. It is always interesting to know what new proposals are emerging in other countries.

8.- Si pudieras comisariar una exposicion de moda en algun museo de Arte Contemporaneo...
Podría ser una exposición sobre diseñadores noveles a nivel internacional. Siempre es interesante conocer que propuestas están emergiendo en otro lugares.

milkshakechocolate.net in ELLE Girl Korea

2008-07-16T21:35:00.000-07:00

My very personal fashion project milkshakechocolate is featured in this month ELLE Girl Korea on a special "Online Magazines" together with Australian sesamemedia.com and Korean nazine.com thanks to the lovely MinKyung Kim who contacted me to ask permission to publish the magazine and send me a couple of questions.

I was thrilled.

I founded milkshakechocolate and been fashion director and editor in chief for two years and right when the e-zine came to an end I received the best press I could ever had.

I'm very grateful for such honor because ELLE Girl Korea is demonstrating that a girls' magazine doesn't need to be all boys and pinks; they are publishing interesting articles, really good selection of contemporary designers and cool stuff by the hour in their pages. Believe me.

Below is the translation of the interview, although I don't think they published the whole (I can't really tell as the publication is in Korean so I have not clue of what's published and what's left away). But there you have:

1. Milkshakechocolate... So sweet name! For readers of ELLEGirl, tell us a bit about what's Milkshakechocolate magazine.

milkshakechocolate started in 2006 as a platform for young artists, both in the field of fashion and art.
At the beginning, all the work that was published was from artists I met through myspace or from artists I knew personally whose work was really good but very difficult to find other than in their personal sites, because they were still young and unknown.
The first issue was a bit of a success and soon I started to have the opportunity to feature the work of wide renown artists like BLESS, Sandra Backlund or Boudicca, whose presence in the magazine would support the work of the younger ones.
Now milkshakechocolate is focused in avant-garde fashion because that's where my personal interest led me to.

2. It is known that one staff is in charge of editing and designing. How do you choose up the rest of staffs?

I choose the people that work for milkshakechocolate in regards of the quality of their work. The majority of those people are friends or friends of friends whose work I really respect, so it's like a community of friends working together and doing things they like to do. I'm very fortunate to have such good professionals collaborating with me.

3. Why you choose online-based magazine, instead of paper based one? In comparison with other online magazines, the majority of articles are lengthy detailed interviews. With so much read, is it more suitable for offline media?

This is a really good question that I often ask myself too.
milkshakechocolate started as a very personal project, and still is really. When I started my main goal was to feature the work of artists I knew and really admired.
The first thought was to do it on paper, in a zine-kind of magazine. But paper is very expensive and you need a good monetary back up to print and then distribute, something I didn't have at the time, so I needed to think of an alternative.

I believe in a DIY (Do It Yourself) philosophy, if you want to do something you should use all is around you to make it happen.

My friend Alex gave me the brilliant idea to do it online because it's cheaper and the distribution is worldwide. So I attended a course on web design and started to design the magazine myself.

Now things are a little different, the quality is getting better and the goals are others.
I realized myself what you so brilliantly asked me: my articles are very in-depth because that's what I was looking for, but online readers want quick and very easy readings because it's uncomfortable to be in front of a computer.

For this reason I decided to go on paper and that's what me and my partner Sonia Ostrovsky are working on right now. The next issue will be on paper and the magazine will have a new name.

4. Anyway, you feel keenly the boundary of online magazine. What's the most difficult thing?

The most difficult thing is to find artists (designers, photographers, illustrators, journalists etc) that want to be feature or to work for an online magazine, unless is a world renown online publication like showSTUDIO of Totem Fashion.
I was really fortunate to have the support of designers like BLESS or Boudicca, who believed in my magazine and their interviews opened a lot of "doors" to me.

But online magazine have not credibility whatsoever because there's thousand of online publications so for the artists their work gets lost on the net. That is why I decided also to go on paper because I wanted to feature the work of designers who only agreed to be interviewed if my magazine was printed.

5. On the contrary, what's the fascination with online media as compared to offline one?

I like the democratization of online media.
Everyone is able to express his/her creativity and to show it to the world.
Before we had Internet it was very difficult for artists and designers to get known if they were living in a remote town. They needed to move to big cities in order to know the right people. Now they can be in contact with the whole world with just a click!
I think we all are very blessed that this thing is happening in our time. You only need two things to make an online magazine: a web design program and Internet connection.

6. Two special issue 'Subway Issue' and 'Child Issue' were shown. What are your inspirations in planning special issues?

Haha… there is really not a planning!
Both themes were chosen in a certain moment when I just felt inspired.
I chose the Childhood issue because that was the first issue of the magazine so I thought it would be fun to ask the artists how they see childhood, the "first", the beginning of everything.
The Subway issue was chosen because at the time I met a very special person on the subway… ☺

7. It has been dealed with fashion, art, and cultural whole. But most recent issues are inclined to define only fashion and design. Are you deliberately designed for this purpose?

When I started milkshakechocolate I wanted to create a Fashion & Art magazine, a publication with an eye on modern culture.
For that reason the first issues headed that way but I soon realized that fashion was my real passion, that all my energy was dedicated to find good designers rather than good fine artists.
Consequently the magazine developed into a fashion platform and now it's a mainly-fashion online publication, always focusing in fashion as an art more than fashion as a shopping experience.

8. Milkshakechocolate still has stayed in 2007. When will the next issue be out? The issue from winter 2007, the one that is now on view, was the last online issue.

We are now working in the new issue that will go on paper. The magazine's name will change too but unfortunately I can't give more details yet.
In any case, I would like to give you a little scoop so I'd say that we interviewed amazing designers like Jean Pierre Braganza, Toga or United Bamboo… And the magazine's new name was inspired by a trip that my partner Sonia did to Seoul last year!

Thank you so much (again and again and again)

My New Ebay

2008-07-09T07:18:00.000-07:00

Being a stylist means TONS of clothing used just once and untouched for the rest of their life in your closet.
Some of the shoes and clothing are really fantastic but the sizes don't suit you so you'd never put them on...
Thus the solution came with Ebay. I don't know why I didn't think of it earlier, i had to wait to my friend Ana to be reminded that "things can be sold on internet"...

So i started my own Ebay account. :-) where I will basically sell books about fashion and clothing.

My first item posted are these hand-made Italian leather sandals from the 90's by Joan & David. The perfect sandal for those summer walks in the coast! They always reminded me Capri for some reason...

..... and my Dorotea for Antonio Miró green sandals... which I love but need to get rid of them to have more space in my wardrobe!
I bought them in 1999 when Dorotea was starting her professional career. I remember staring at them in awe... really cool heel and sole.

Karlla Girotto

2008-07-07T08:38:00.000-07:00

Laura Eceiza, friend and fashion sociology teacher at the IED where I graduated in Fashion Design, is writing an atlas on contemporary fashion and every now and then she sends me news on how is going with the designers.
Not long ago she pointed out the work of Brazilian Karlla Girotto whose work is far from samba and color and very close to that of Rick Owens or Helmut Lang. Dark and poetic.
Karlla does art-fashion, a work that goes beyond design.

Karlla Girotto at Sao Paulo Fashion Week

Her website is pure eye candy ...

Karlla studied Fashion Design at the Faculdade Santa Marcelina in Sao Paulo and started her days designing costumes for the company of theater director Antunes Filho, probably the reason behind her wonderful shows/performances.
She also collaborates with Art gallery Florence Antonio for which opening she created the performance Bela Adormecida (Sleeping Beauty).

On An Island With You

2008-07-04T09:04:00.000-07:00

MGM's On An island With You, directed by Richard Thorpe, is not mentioned in the books of Hollywood history for being a good movie, but I think is a perfect watch for a lazy summer day.
Esther Williams, the Hollywood mermaid, stars this musical that is set in a Polynesian island during a movie filming. [If you work in movies this is a film for you too, some good gags, specially in a scene when the hair stylist is being rushed by the first AD to finish the main character's hairdo and she answers "I'll let you know when I'm ready"...]
The story is too predictable and moralist at a times (note that these are the 40's, when the Hays Code was still in full moon) but in general is a very amusing film, a 100% a chick flick.
The costumes, by Irene Lentz, executive costume designer for MGM from 1942 to 1949, are just gorgeous. I always speak of Edith Head as the great costume designer of all times but some day i must speak of Irene because she was another big time costume designer. Big big time.

-------------------------

Bien es cierto que la película de la MGM On An island With You (no encuentro la traducción al español) dirigida por Richard Thorpe no aparece en los libros de historia de Hollywood por ser una buena pelicula pero yo la encuentro deliciosa para esas tardes de verano en las que uno esta tirado en el sofá y le apetece evadirse un poco.
Esther Williams, la sirena de Hollywood, protagoniza esta película que narra las venturas y desventuras de un equipo de rodaje en una isla de la Polinesia. [Si trabajas en cine hay algunos gags en este film que son muy buenos. Como cuando el ayudante de dirección mete prisas a peluquería para que termine el peinado de la protagonista y ésta le espeta: "Ya te avisaré yo cuando esté lista"...]
Y aunque a veces la historia peca de predecible y moralista, estos son los años 40, todavia pleno apogeo de la Ley de Hays, es una película bastante entretenida.
El vestuario corre a cargo de Irene Lentz, quien fuera Jefa de Departamento de Vestuario de la MGM de 1942 a 1949, la cual hace una labor exquisita teniendo en cuenta los años de escasez que corrian por entonces. Y mira que siempre hablo de Edith Head como "La" diseñadora de vestuario por excelencia, pero algun día tendré que dedicar un post a Irene que fue otra que creó más de un (y más de tres tambien) vestido memorable.

My New Swim Suit

2008-06-25T21:25:00.000-07:00

Right from the 80's and won on Ebay...!
Can't wait to wear it... perfect for the swimming pool, isn't it? ^_^

-----------------

Venido directo de los 80 y recién ganado en Ebay!...
Que ganas de recibirlo en el correo... perfecto para las tardes vagas en la piscina, no? ^_^

Remember Crystal Renn?

2008-06-25T07:25:00.000-07:00

This Miami native was one of the most gorgeous plus-size model in the fashion business for the last couple of years, but it's been quite sometime since I've lost sight of her.

She was once a "normal" size model, skinny and all, although she had to loose 50 pounds at the beginning of her career once she was scouted by her former agency (she would later sign up with Ford which had no problems on her weight).

But the thought of a good cheese burger overpowered her and so she took the decision to be who she is no matter the size she would get. It was actually her gaining of pounds, up to a size 12, that gave her the good work, what made her to be the special model she became and to work with photographers such Steven Meisel, Craig McDean and Patrick Demarchelier.

She did even "gain" a wikipedia entry.

photographer: Craig McDean
magazine: Vogue UK 2005
images courtesy of foto decandent

Goo See It

2008-06-24T13:19:00.000-07:00

I remember from some comment that Riz from Mode et Utopie wasn't very excited about the selection that the MET chose for this year's fashion exhibition.
But let me tell ya, Superheores: Fashion and Fantasy is superb.
I went this morning to take a look and I stayed there for more than an hour! The fact that they chose such a not-so-random subject is what makes this exhibition so special.
The link between fashion and comics' characters is very interesting and to see the real costumes from movies like Spiderman or Iron Man is quite something. I couldn't take my eyes off the cat-suit that Syren Couture created for Catwoman /Michelle Pfeiffer in Batman! Or the aerodynamic suits from Speedo or Nike. Or the creations of Hussein Chalayan, Gareth Pugh, Balenciaga... It's worth it.

Turning Old Rings New and the Art of Knitting

2008-06-23T07:38:00.000-07:00

I'm more of a "re-use" person than a "recycle" one.
I find interesting, creative and far more ecological to find new uses to old stuff, re-create them into something new and exciting rather than just throw them into the recycling bin. And not everything is recyclable!
Thus I got very excited when a week ago I received an email from jewelry designer Michelle Kendriak who is exactly doing that, converting old found jewelry into delicate pieces of art by adding hand-made embroidery bits.
You could find these rings in her Etsy page (and still you can), but now also at the Museum of Arts and Design of New York's store.

Quote of the Day. Diana Vreeland on Surfing.

2008-06-22T07:49:00.000-07:00

photography by Vava Ribeiro

"Do you know what I think a lot about? Surfing! I do think that surfing would be the most beautiful thing in the world to do. I do really believe that. Oh, I've seen surfers by the hour! In California I used to go down to Malibu Beach; I'd stay until midnight, wrapped up in shawls and helmets and things around my face. Out there, they were all in rubber suits, and I could just catch sight of them on the top of the waves in the light of the moon. I could watch forever! Forever! And envy them. You know I'm not an envier. I envy no man... usually. But I do envy their surfing. "

Diana Vreeland.
D.V. page 186

Custo Barcelona, Vice Magazine & F&Art

2008-06-20T09:18:00.000-07:00

You know New York City: everything happens all at once and there's not choice, you take it how it comes.
Yesterday there were WAY TOO MANY things to do and to choose was impossible!

Mahret from F&Art is in town! and I had the wonderful chance to meet her and friend Kathrin.
We went to the opening of the new Custo Barcelona showroom of which I took no pictures at all...

Then the Vice Magazine Mexican Issue launch party with a line to enter THIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIS long and because we didn't RSVP or had a VIP name, we couldn't enter. So instead of a Mexican party we had a Mexican pick-me-up at La Esquina, the best taqueria in the city.

There were more parties to attend but we ended up our night here. We were too tired, and poor Mahret still suffering the inclemency of the jet-lag.
Claire form Enchant and Doom is in town too and tried to reach her but this thing with phone roaming never works...

This is My Bike

2008-06-19T03:12:00.000-07:00

This post is dedicated to Roybot who has ALMOST the same bike as I have.
Wish you all a beautiful day!

The First Supermodels. Part II

2008-06-14T14:10:00.000-07:00

Working in a popular coffee shop in a cool neighborhood gives you the chance to meet all kind of people.. and to SEE.
Two days ago none other than Sasha Pivovarova came in with friends to have some food. I was amazed! So then I remembered my posts on the first super-models... I did a first part but there are so many more to come! So let's get continued...

Anne St Marie
I found the flickr account of her ex-husband and Harper's Bazaar photographer Tom Palumbo, where I could find endless images of her. But I couldn't find even one mention of her life along the www. How strange!
I knew of her because she is named in many "best of" models' list and the photo where she is with the monkey (see below) that her friend and photographer Irving Penn gave her is quite famous. But there is not even one word on her life.
All we know is that she worked for Harper's Bazaar, Vogue... and she wasn't young but what a face!, she had elegance and poisse! Wonderful character.

Suzy Parker
What Lisa Fonssagrives was to the 30's and 40's, Suzy Parker was to the 50's; The Face.
She was born Cecilia Ann Renee Parker in Queens, New York.
It was her elder sister, Dorian Leigh, who introduced the future model to agent Eileen Ford when Cecilia was just 14 years old.
Suzy became the "signature face" of Coco Chanel and Vogue would point her as one of the confident post-war American frontage women.
She was one of the models to be chosen to play in our fave movie Funny Face together with Fred Astair and Audrey Hepburn (she danced during the Pink Number) although her importance in the movie wouldn't be as important as Dovima's who was "the model" of the film.
Suzy died in 2003 at age 70 after a long battle with ill health.

Bettina Graziani aka Bettina
Imagine that someone as Hubert de Givenchy names his first collection after yourself... well, that's exactly what happened to Bettina!
In 1952 Givenchy launched his first collection what named after the French model, and one of its designs, the Bryonesque "Bettina" Blouse, became a must in the early 50's. source Now, that's something!
Bettina, a favourite of Roybot as he kindly reminded me in my first super-model post, retired from modeling in 1955 after meeting Prince Aly Khan. She was with the Prince in the terrible car accident that cost his life, when both were coming back home from a party in Suresnes, France, a suburb of Paris.
After the accident Bettina wrote her memoires "Bettina by Bettina".

Te Amo in New York City!

2008-06-13T15:27:00.000-07:00

I interviewed Mexican fashion duo Te Amo two months ago... then Face Hunter met them during Mexico Fashion Week and the meeting was captured in his The Facehunter Show Mexico City- Part1...

The only chance we had to get their clothing for us lovers of Te Amo in NYC, was to contact them directly and waiting a deliver...
Till now!
Two lovely friends of Rafa and Roberto have brought from Mexico DF Te Amo clothing to sale tomorrow Saturday at Mercado Libre, a small outdoor shop in Williamsburg.
Free Margaritas and Vampiros!
174 Grand @ Bedford Avenue.

Hoy inauguración en Madrid!

2008-06-12T07:47:00.000-07:00

A aquellos que esteis en Madrid, hoy a las 20h es la inauguración de la expo de Miguel Cococrash en La Casa de la Carne de Carlos Díez Díez (c/ Loreto y Chicote nº9).

La música correrá a cargo de La Casita de Wendy. Promete estar bien!

David Hamilton Loves The Beach As Much As I Do

2008-06-08T09:46:00.000-07:00

Christian Dior at YOOX

2008-06-06T05:06:00.000-07:00

In a vintage madness era, virtual boutique YOOX is bringing to its costumers a rare selection of Christian Dior pieces found around the world in cities like New York, Paris and Florence.
With this project, Long Live Christian Dior, YOOX is ending a series of "specials" on vintage clothing which height was last year with Chanel, a sale that sold out in a record time.
Selection from the 40's to the 80's and beyond.
This is my own selection...

---------------------------

En una época de locura por lo vintage como la que vivimos, la boutique online YOOX aprovecha el tirón para lanzar una serie de prendas del couturier francés Christian Dior encontradas en diferentes viajes por el mundo, Nueva York, Paris, Londres, Florencia...
Con este proyecto, bajo el título de Long Live Christian Dior, YOOX termina asi una serie de especiales "diseñador vintage" que tuvo su punto álgido el año pasado con la venta de diseños de la gran Chanel, una venta que se agotó en tiempo récord.
La selección de Dior recoge prendas de los años 40 hasta llegar a nuestros dias... y aqui, mi selección personal...

Maria Cornejo Celebrates its Tenth Anniversary with A New Space in New York

2008-06-04T14:44:00.000-07:00

I do ALWAYS carry my digital camera with me in case something exciting happens and needs to be snapped. But yesterday I decided I didn't want to carry it; after all I didn't plan to do anything special, just taking a walk. Thus I wanted to avoid extra weight on my shoulder... I wanted to feel light as a bird.

My friend Max called me during my walk inviting me to the opening party that Maria Cornejo was throwing in order to celebrate her tenth anniversary with Zero Maria Cornejo.
The venue was the new location purchased by the Chilean designer in Blecker street at Mott in Manhattan.

I asked; may I go home to change cloths and pick up my camera?... mais no!
Come here RIGHT NOW, this will finish in an hour...

So there I went, looking rather dull and with no camera to record the event.
The space was filled with super duper fashionable people, and it was a surprise that no one stopped me dead at the entrance (i swear, i was looking bad, bad): Victoria Bartlett, the people from Three as Four, Maria herself... I love Zero Maria Cornejo so it was a shame i wasn't ready to be introduced to her...

The space was big and very white, pictures of past collections and campaigns hanging on the walls and the most emblematic pieces of Zero on mannequins along the room.
Sorry I couldn't take any picture AT ALL.

Opening Night Party at the Metropolitan Museum

2008-06-03T21:28:00.000-07:00

Every year the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum in New York hosts a Gala to celebrate the opening of a new fashion exhibition. It's the Oscars of the West Coast, where a red carpet is unrolled and celebrities walk it with the best fashions of the world. Fashion rules the night.
This year's Gala theme was Superheroes, and the whole blogosphere posted images of their favourite guests with their favourite outfits. We all knew who, what and when but, did we ever wonder what was behind the walls? How was the party? What did the people do inside?...
I found some footage on youtube from a 1982's Opening gala party at the MET, invitee included Andy Warhol, Gianni Versace, Diana Vreeeland, Marisa Berenson, Halston, Bianca Jagger... what a night!

The Saddest New: Yves Saint Laurent. RIP

2008-06-02T09:22:00.000-07:00

Yesterday fashion genius Yves Saint Laurent left us for good... :'(
He was 71.
------
Ayer el gran Yves Saint Laurent nos abandonó para siempre. :'(
Con 71 años.

Yes, Yes, Yes! Opening Ceremony Sales!!

2008-05-29T20:59:00.000-07:00

Yes!

Tomorrow Friday our fave store ever, Opening Ceremony, is starting their summer's sale.

Up to 60% off on selected items... hopefully those selected items include Chloë Sevigny for Opening Ceremony...

Patricia on Patricia

2008-05-28T09:21:00.000-07:00

The story of Patricia Field and her impact on New York street-fashion didn't begin, as one might think, in the late 90's with her work as stylist for über famous TV show Sex and The City.

Although the series and posterior work in the film The Devil Wears Prada brought her name into the fray, for those not familiar with downtown New York, Patricia Field has influenced the look of countless women since she opened her own store, House of Field, in Greenwich Village in 1966, when she was just 24 years old. .... [keep reading]

I am collaborating with art & fashion web 212DressignRoom/BLOG. Rachel, founder and super woman, contacting me weeks ago to be part of this very personal project and I chose Patricia Field to be my first post, a woman whose work and personality I truly admire.
To read the full article go here... I hope you'll enjoy it! :)

Beryl Markham

2008-05-27T12:39:00.000-07:00

On my way home from a BBQ (Labor's day) I found a cardboard box full of books and magazines. Books are my obsession, and so are magazines so i stopped dead to take a look.

I found three things of my liking: a US Vogue from 2005 with Salma Hayek on the cover, a book on Art and modern culture and a biography of female pilot Beryl Markham: Straight On Till Morning, the biography of Beryl Markham.

Beryl was born in the town of Ashwell, England, but spent most of her life in Kenya where her father moved the family when Markham was 4 years old.

She pursued a career on her own as a breeder and trainer of race horses (one of her horses won the most prestigious racing prizes in Kenya when she was just 24) and later as a bush pilot, which is quite something; Bush flying is a term for air operations carried out in remote, inhospitable regions of the world.

Beryl Markham, as opposed to Amelia Earhart, made to cross the Atlantic West/East in a solo flight, a trip that wouldn't take her where she wanted to finish, New York, but Nova Scotia, due to an engine failure. While she's pointed as being the first person to fly the Atlantic, such tittle belongs to Scottish Jim Mollison.

The love of Markham for flying was born thanks to pilot Denys Finch Hatton, who you might remember for both the movie and the book Out of Africa and with who Beryl had an affair when his relation with Karen Blixen was loosing up. Beryl was the outspoken "Felicity" in the movie.

Beryl Markham wrote about her childhood in Kenya in an book tittled West with the Night. The book was highly acclaimed by different authors including Ernest Hemingway, who found the writer not as appealing though: [...] this girl, who is to my knowledge very unpleasant and we might even say a high-grade bitch, can write rings around all of us who consider ourselves as writers ... it really is a bloody wonderful book. (source)

According to her biographer Errol Trzebinski, the book's real author was her third husband, the ghost writer and journalist Raoul Schumacher, fact that didn't stop the pilot to enjoy the success.

Central Saint Martins' Pavel Ivancic

2008-05-25T19:15:00.000-07:00

I discovered the work of Pavel Ivancic while searching for designs of graduate students for an article I was writing on European fashion schools.

When I moved to New York in 2005 there were two things I promised myself to do as soon as I'd have the change, a chance, I thought, that would arise pretty soon; one thing was to spend as much time as I could at Jazz venues. The second thing was to attend graduate shows from FIT and Parsons every year.

Jazz, I soon found out, was expensive and too "fancy", thus I never got the chance to attend as "frequently" as desired. FIT and Parsons' grad shows, on the other hand, weren't well advertised so I have missed them every year. I don't even know if it's even possible to attend them the same way you can attend Central Saint Martins' or The Royal Academy in Antwerp.

Pavel Ivanic presented his collection during last year's Central Saint Martins' Degree Show, fall 2007, a superb work of deconstructivism and minimalism if such things can be put together in the same sentence.

This year's CSM degree shows are taking place very soon. If you happen to be in London and want to know venues and dates, go here. And then let us know about it!. :)

Orfeu Negro

2008-05-23T22:26:00.000-07:00

Although the day woke up nice and warm today, rain and wind reigned the city of New York for the last couple of weeks.
It's not a secret I'm longing for summer so I decided I better bring the summer myself... onto my TV screen.
Marcel Camus's Orfeu Negro (Black Orpheus) won an Oscar in 1960 for Best Foreign Language Film. It sets the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice in Rio de Janeiro carnival, a tale on love, death, happiness and tragedy.
I've had the soundtrack of this movie (unforgettable "A Felicidade" by Antonio Carlos Jobim) for years in my ITunes but never saw this movie before... it was about time!

---------------------------

A pesar de que hoy el dia amaneció calentito y primaveral, llevamos unas semanas qdonde lluvia y viento son los mandamases de New York.
Asi que en vista de la ausencia de verano he decidido que para que esperar más, yo mismita me lo traigo... a la pantalla de mi tele.
La peli Orfeu Negro (Orfeo Negro) de Marcel camus ganó el Oscar en 1960 a la Mejor Película de Habla Extranjera. Narra el mito de Orfeo y Eurídice durante el carnaval de Río, una historia donde no falta la Samba, la risa, la tragedia y mucho amor...
Tengo la banda sonora en mi ITunes desde hace años, y me imagino que no soy la única que tiene el "A Felicidade" de Antonio Carlos Jobim... lo peor de todo es que nunca antes había visto la peli... anda que ya era hora!

Alexandra Groover: An American Designer in London

2008-05-21T14:05:00.000-07:00

The Shell Hooded Dress...

The Shell Shoulder Dress...

... by California native Alexandra Groover.

Groover currently lives in London, capital of the avant-garde, where she studied at Central Saint martins and trained with Alexander McQueen and Zandra Rhodes before launching her eponymous label.

She has been getting a lot of attention since January 08 (Refinery29, Diane Pernet, Montmartre Sketchbook ...) and hopefully she will be getting more because her designs truly deserve it.

Alexandra at BoomBox, courtesy of TeenVogue

Oh My Goodnes! Thank You So Much!

2008-05-19T18:26:00.000-07:00

A Thank You note after a wonderful party is de rigueur.

I wanted to post earlier about last Saturday blogger's meeting organized by super street-style photographer Craig aka Altamira but my tight schedule serving tables -yes my dear, I came back from Spain really poor, the Euro is skyrocketing! and started to serve coffees in a super cool coffee shop in Williamsburg- that I haven't had time till now to sit down and pull some words together to send my appreciation to all the people I met that day.

Me and my friend Ana arrived a little late due to working schedule (again).
Everyone was there already: Wendy, Gala, Andrea, Jessica, Doshka, Jenny and Soren from Copenhagen (amazing couple) and of course Craig.

L.A. based jewelry designer Ninaki Priddy, who is in town because she won the GenArt contest this year, joined us late in the evening (some of you might remember Ninaki for the interview I did with her for milkshakechocolate).

I wanted to take pictures to show them in my blog but it is better if I don't show the ones i took or i'll be black-listed for the rest of my blogging life... i'm not a great photographer really.

It was great to see Jessica and Wendy again (the only ones I knew already personally), although i didn't really have the chance to talk with the later too much due to our "long" distance at the table.

Craig very kindly took a picture of me and called me to ask for my permission to post it in case i didn't like the way i look. That was lovely but hey, the picture is his and that's my face anyway.
I feel ashamed for that call and would like to apology: when he called me and said who he was (hi Patricia, it's Craig! how are you?) i said : Craig who?... I'm so bad with American names!!

Birthday under the rain...

2008-05-16T08:21:00.000-07:00

Picture this: the past few days have been wonderful in NY, really sunny and warm. We all were thinking, yes! summer is here.
Then I woke up today and it's raining cats & dogs... it's cold and not very inspiring, all looks grey and wet. On top of everything else, it's my birthday...
What a day.
So i rescued a picture of old days in sunny Spain.

-------------------

Estos últimos dias han sido espectaculares en NY... solecito, calor y olor a flores.
Esta mañana me he levantado y no para de llover... esta todo gris y húmedo y hace un frío de narices. Qué tristeza, menudo cumpleaños...
Ahí os dejo una foto del último dia que estuve en Madrid. Ese mismo dia el cactus de mi madre, que solo florece una vez al año y por 24 horas, nos despidió lleno de flores. Todo un detalle.

the cactus, me & my mom
This cactus blooms only once a year and for only 24h. It bloomed the the day we were leaving from Spain. Which is the day the picture was taken.

Silk Making In Thailand

2008-05-12T08:54:00.000-07:00

Designboom is featuring the story of Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University Architecture professor Wichai Lailawitmongkhol who is "teaching a group of women the techniques involved in the ancient art of silk making", helping this way the village ‘hong hae’ with new ways of employment and self-sufficiency.

The fact that an architect is teaching a fashion technique to a little town in North-East Thailand in order to preserve the technique and the jobs in the area was the main reason why i started to read this interesting article. I miss stories like this in fashion blogs; we all are too concern on Paris, Milan, New York or London! Maybe we should travel a little more to see beyond! :)

HERE

Anne Valerie Hash talk in Madrid!! May 9th

2008-05-08T19:02:00.000-07:00

Are you in Madrid??
Don't miss French designer Anne Valerie Hash talk at the Istituto Europeo di Desing (Palacio de Altamira) at 3.30pm tomorrow Friday.

-----------

A todos aquellos que esteis en Madrid, no os perdais la charla que va a dar la diseñadora francesa Anne Valerie Hash en el Istituto Europeo di Desing (Palacio de Altamira) mañana viernes a las 15.30!

The Costume Institute's Party of The Year

2008-05-07T19:18:00.000-07:00

While I was sick and feverish in bed, the fashion world was enjoining the annual Costume Institute gala whose motif were Superheroes, due to the upcoming exhibition Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy at the Metropolitan Museum of New York.

La Wintor and Naomi Watts were the ones who stick to the motif more than anyone else, although cuffs in women weren't rare to see, a clear Superwoman hommage...

I hope I will be invited some day!, but meanwhile, I'm happy to enjoy the pictures style.com shares with us...

Coco Rocha & Anja Rubik, stunning

Sofia & Marc, surnames are no needed

Lou Doillon & Consuelo Castiglione, European style

Michelle Trachtenberg, probably my fave

Christina Ricci, lovely

Tilda Swinton & Justin Bond, matching shoes and charm

A [nother] new magazine. NICO

2008-05-04T04:27:00.000-07:00

I haven't lived in another era so I can't really compare the current with any other.

For that reason it's all speculation when I say that the market haven't been so crowed with magazines never before. Every time i go to the news stand a new cover with a new name looks at me and I wonder, another??

The competition is tremendous, which is good if you're a reader (quality rules) but worrisome if you're a magazine maker (space is narrowing and advertisers get pickier and pickier).

In any case, as I said, quality is ruling these days. From Luxembourg arrives NICO, a new magazine. Although is not exactly new because this issue is their second.
On April 10th they throw a release party in Paris and Angelina A. Rafii, fashion editor of the mag, sent me the news. What a shame I don't live in Paris!. ^_+

Photos from the Gallery...

2008-05-03T06:41:00.000-07:00

Photos from the setting up of the Javier Ferrer Vidal exhibition at Mister Pink in Valencia, Spain.

Agnes b. and Godard: Viva La France!

2008-05-01T10:26:00.000-07:00

I'm back in NYC. Penny-less, jobless and full of energy. How do you eat that!?.

It's hard but fortunately spring time in the big apple is packed with events that will keep me busy while i desperately try to find a job.
And the first event to keep track on is due tomorrow!!

French designer Agnes b. is presenting the series Godard's 60's at Film Forum in New York City at 8.30pm, a series that will last till June 5th.

Agnes will introduce and open the series with my all times favourite movie Á Bout de Souffle (Breathless), one of those 60's French cinema's gems that Godard gave to us.

Jean Paul Belmondo never looked so sexy, neither Jean Seberg did.

“No film has been at once so connected to all that had come before it and yet so liberating . . .
Like a high-energy fusion of jazz and philosophy.”
– Richard Brody

Happy Birthday. Feliz Cumpleaños Penélope!

2008-04-28T08:08:00.001-07:00

Penélope Cruz turns 34 today and she looks better than ever!.
Feliz cumple guapa.

Mexico Fashion Week AW 08-09. Te Amo

2008-04-28T00:48:00.000-07:00

This year's Mexico Fashion Week [end] (April 14th-18th) celebrated its 19th edition.
Unfortunately I couldn't assist due to my trip to Spain but good news has been sent to my inbox.

Mexican duo Roberto and Rafa, aka Te Amo, presented for the first time in such event. They sent me a lot of pictures but when I saw the video I thought it would be more interesting to feature the whole show rather than just some images.

For street style, Face Hunter did a wonderful covering.

[If you'd like to know more about Te Amo I interviewed them for bobble-bee.]

Pasarela Abierta photo album by potipoti

2008-04-27T10:08:00.000-07:00

I've been looking for news on Pasarela Abierta since I came back from it but it's been hard to find anything even though the event was crowded with press.

It's a shame and a little frustrating the lack of press of it all, although some people is telling me we should wait till the print publications are out as they might speak about it. I want to publish my experiences in an American publication, but i will keep you updated about this.

In any case, today Silvia from potipoti has sent me an email; they are collaborating with online magazine Soitu and they just published the photo album of potipoti during Pasarela Abierta where you can see yours truly and other goodies... ;)

The images were taken by David Momyer and potipoti.

My hubby, me, Silvia (potipoti), Óscar and Gori from Gori de Palma

-----------------------------------

Desde que volví de Pasarela Abierta he estado buscando información sobre ella en internet para publicar pero no he encontrado ni una sola mención, lo cual me ha sorprendido dada la cantidad de prensa que había allí.
Algunos me dicen que habrá que esperar a que salgan las publicaciones en papel y entonces tendremos la parte que nos toca. Por mi parte estoy esperando a llegar a NY para ver si publico mis experiencias en alguna publicación americana, ya os iré informando sobre ello.
De cualquier modo, esta mañana Silvia de potipoti me ha mandado el link de la revista online Soitu, para la que colaboran, y que acaban de publicar su album de fotos durante Pasarela Abierta. Las fotos fueron tomadas por David Momyer y los potipoti.
Un besito.

Javier Ferrer exhibition at Mister Pink Gallery

2008-04-23T06:43:00.000-07:00

Para aquellos que esteis en tierras valencianas, Javier Ferrer Vidal expone en la galería Mister Pink, inauguración este próximo viernes a las 20.00.

Me at Pasarela Abierta

2008-04-21T15:37:00.000-07:00

by super photographer Javier Ferrer Vidal.
Thanks Javi!

Just Back from Pasarela Abierta

2008-04-20T15:14:00.000-07:00

First of all thanks so much for all your nice wishes on my trips!.

I got to Madrid a couple of hours ago after 4 days in Murcia working in Pasarela Abierta.

I'll post about it as soon as I get more images from it because I couldn't take much myself as I was running around all the time. Now I'm begging my friends to send me some... ^_^

-----------------

Lo primero de todo dar las gracias a todos aquellos que me han estado mandado los mejores deseos durante estas pequeñas vacaciones que me estoy dando!!.

Acabo de regresar de Murcia donde he trabajado en Pasarela Abierta.

Postearé en cuanto consiga fotos porque yo no pude hacer muchas ya que me pasaba el dia entero de aca para allá... aquí me tienes ahora pidiendo de rodillas unas foticos pa publicar... ^_^ un besote

Mad is Mad

2008-04-14T12:07:00.000-07:00

Silvia from potipoti told me about mad is mad, a new gallery in Madrid that focus its energy in emerging artists.

Then I met Luján, owner of such gallery, at the opening of Maxluz, and she invited me to come by the space whenever I had a chance.

So a couple of days ago I went to the gallery and the first thing I saw was an artwork of my friend Coke in the windows... I couldn't believe it because A) Coke doesn't live in Madrid and B) he never told me he has artwork exhibited here... world is really a handkerchief.

Creative Squat

2008-04-12T01:50:00.000-07:00

In the neighborhood of Malasaña in Madrid there's a pizza-shaped area that includes Ballesta and the streets around it. It is the "red neighborhood" of the city, a place where prostitution and crime was not something rare.

Till not too long ago, the area housed several brothels, an area that was also one of the most beautiful of Madrid because is located in the old part of the city, where places and houses are really old (some are centuries old) and full of history.

Now some of those brothels have been bought by Triball (Triangulo Ballesta.- Ballesta Triangle) and donated for a month, under the name "Okupación Creativa Ya" (Creative Squat Now), to different artists and designers to promote the culture and bring fresh air to the area.
A total of 13 locations, among them old brothels, a dry cleaner and a meat shop, has been transformed into art galleries and upcoming designers' stores. A project that will last until May 10th.

These are some images from the improvised opening party at Maxluz (C/ Puebla, 13. Madrid) the artistic space by Lujan, Letoy and 100.000 Luciérnagas.

--------------------------

En el barrio de Malasaña en Madrid existe una zona que tiene forma de pizza y que incluye la calle Ballesta y alrededores. Esta zona digamos que es considerada el "barrio rojo" de la ciudad, donde prostitución y delincuencia eran el pan nuestro de cada día. De hecho, hasta no hace mucho, la zona albergaba unos cuantos prostíbulos y lugares de mala muerte, y esto en una de las zonas más impresionantes de la ciudad, en el Madrid de los Austrias, donde las casas y las calles tienen siglos de historia.

Ahora se quiere revitalizar la zona y sacarla un poco del estado en el que se encuentra. La inmobiliaria Triball (Triangulo Ballesta) ha comprado diversos locales, entre los que se incluyen antiguos prostíbulos, una carnicería y una tintorería, para la venta a artistas y diseñadores y así de esta forma traer aire fresco al barrio.
Durante un mes se han donado 13 locales a diferentes colectivos y diseñadores para que se haga lo que se quiera con ellos. La propuesta durará hasta el 10 de Mayo.

Estas imágenes son de la fiesta improvisdao que se montó en Maxluz (C/ Puebla, 13. Madrid) el espacio cedido a Lujan, Letoy y 100.000 Luciérnagas.

silvia from potipoti

Letoy toys

Leslie Hall vs La Terremoto de Alcorcón

2008-04-09T06:32:00.000-07:00

Alcorcón is a little region in the North West of Madrid. General speaking, the youth from that area is somehow known as being a little chav, and so, La Terremoto de Alcorcón (The Alcorcón's Earthquake.- earthquake known as someone who stirs up all that's around) is the "chavest" of them all.

La Terremoto is a Spanish big phenomenon who started to be known around 2005 with her "single" Hang Up, a parody in Spanish of Madonna's single with the same name. The video really worths a look... (although you'd need to see the Madonna's first so you will understand what's going on...)

Hang Up

This is another of her unforgettable shows...

It's Raining Men

Before posting this post I was wondering if La Terremoto was something too local, too Spanish to be understood in the outside because she clearly makes fun of things that affect Spanish culture.

I was wondering so when I stumbled upon the work of Leslie Hall, an American singer from Iowa (or so it says in her myspace) who is hilariously fantastic and uses the same "tricks" that our dearest Terremoto: fun lyrics, big fashions, big hair and big doses of intelligence.

How we Go Out

Gems Sweater

-------------------

Alcorcón es una zona que se encuentra al suroeste de Madrid. Generalizando, digamos que a los jóvenes de allí se les considera algo macarras, asi que La Terremoto de Alcorcón es la más macarra de todos ellos.

Para los españoles poco puedo contar que no sepais de La Terremoto, pero para aquellos que no lo son decirles que La Terremoto es todo un fenómeno aquí que empezó a darse a conocer en el 2005 cuando sacó en internet la parodia del video de Madonna Hung Up, digno de ver, aunque para disfrutarlo al 100% ved primero el de Madonna para ver dónde esta la coña...

El caso es que no estaba yo muy segura de si este post lo iba a entender mucha gente porque La Terremoto es algo muy "español", un poco como el chiquilicuatre que a ver quien le entiende si no ha nacido en tierras españolas. Pues bien, pensando esto dsecubrí el trabajo de la americana Leslie Hall, originaria de Iowa, que es como decir que vienes de Alcorcón. Me sorprendió la similitud de ambas artistas, el uso que hacen de la moda, los pelos, la música, las grandes dosis de humor e inteligencia para parodiar y pasar un buen rato. Y tan lejos la una de la otra!.

Madrid, Madrid, Madrid

2008-04-02T23:12:00.001-07:00

El Rastro

Tomorrow is the day: I'm leaving for Madrid where I'll stay till April 30th.
It's been more than two years since the last time I was there so I can't wait to see with my eyes all the good changes all my friends keep saying are happening in my home town.
From now till my come back, all news directly from Spain.
Salud!

----------------

Me marcho mañana jueves a Madrid de vacaciones por un mesecito aprovechando que fui invitada por los potipoti a hacer el estilismo de su desfile en Pasarela Abierta en Murcia, y asi me pongo al día con las últimas novedades, que ya me han dicho varios pajaritos que las hay a raudales.
Si hay alguien de Madrid leyendo estas lineas que quiera mandar consejos, bienvenidos sean.
Quiero aprovechar estos dias también para trabajar un poquito, asi que a ver si hay suerte y puedo hacer algun editorial. Crucemos los dedos!.
Besote y salud!

I Know Where The Summer Goes

2008-04-02T21:16:00.001-07:00

Tomorrow Thursday is the opening of the exhibition I Know Where the Summer Goes at the Team gallery in NYC, new work by New York-based photographer Ryan McGinley.
Unfortunately i won't be able to attend it because a flight to Madrid will be awaiting for me at the airport... a whole month to be in Madrid with old friends again! :)
Enjoy the opening if you have the chance to go.

---------

Mañana es la inauguración de la exposición I Know Where the Summer Goes del fotógrafo Ryan McGinley en la galería Team de Nueva York.
Por desgracia no podré ir porque un avión me espera en el aeropuerto señores que me marcho a Madrid de vacaciones!! :)
Si tienes la oportunidad de ir a la inauguración, disfruta por mí también.

Mystery Train

2008-04-02T16:05:00.000-07:00

Sweet Jen from Sleep Deprivation and Stories of my Bullshit Youth pointed out Jim Jarmusch' Mystery Train when I posted on Screamin' Jay Hawkins style.

It's been quite a while since she did so but finally I watched what has become one of my fave movies of all times.

Mystery Train, the first color movie of the American director, is the connection of three different stories in a hotel one night (with Screamin' Jay Hawkins' as Night Clerk and Cinque Lee, Spike Lee's little brother, as the young bellboy) in the city of Menphis: a couple of young Japanese travelers, Mitsuko (Youki Kordu) and Jun (Masatoshi Nagase), in search of the roots of their rock idols Elvis Presley and Carl Perkins. An Italian widow (Nicoletta Braschi), who awaits overnight in Memphis her next flight to Rome. And the three friends whose night will see an unexpected turn: trouble-making Johnny (Joe Strummer), his friend Will Robinson (Rick Aviles) and Charlie (Steve Buscemi).

I want to focus my post on the Japanese couple, specially her, Masatoshi Nagase, who wears the coolest outfits of the movie, like the tiger-shaped bag, very hard to forget.

Jim Jarmusch won the Best Artistic Contribution award at Cannes 1989 for this movie.

Costume Design by Carol Wood.

Adam and Eve Love Chair Reminds Me Coco Chanel

2008-04-01T09:28:00.000-07:00

Maybe is my fashion obsessed mind that sees fashion everywhere by the Adam and Eve Love Chair by product designer Wirawan Hasbi Suryanto, presented at this year’s Furniture Design Awards (FDA) exhibit in Singapore, brings Lagerfeld right to the center of my mind. :)

source

Editorial with Napoleón Habeica

2008-03-31T13:38:00.000-07:00

I just finished an editorial for Celeste magazine with Napoleón Habeica as photographer and the lovely and sweet Kimberly Lamb as model (to keep an eye on this girl!).

The funniest thing of it all is that I posted on Napoleón's work a year and a half ago when Stella et Moi pointed it out to me once I spoke of Mexican magazine Baby Baby Baby... and life turns around and I end up working with him months later. It's been amazing. And it has kept me busy as hell too. ^_^

Special thanks to Sonia, Lessa, Suzy and Vanessa, my guardian angels.

napoleón & kimberly

kimberly lamb

----------------

Acabo de terminar un editorial para la revista Celeste con Napoleón Habeica haciendo las fotos y la dulce Kimberly Lamb de Marilyn posando. Espero que esta chica dé que hablar dentro de poco!.
Las vueltas que da la vida... hace año y medio escribí un post sobre el trabajo de Napoleón cuando Stella et Moi me habló de él al yo hacer otro post sobre la revista mexicana Baby Baby Baby... y quién me iba a decir a mí que año y medio despues acabaría haciendo algo con él!. ^_^
Un saludo especial desde aquí a Sonia, Lessa, Suzy and Vanessa, mis angelitos de la guarda.

The Museum Oscar goes to...

2008-03-26T17:13:00.000-07:00

Our friend Missy, from Texas, is in town to attend the 2006-2007 Annual Awards by the U.S. Art Critics Association, in plain words, the Oscars of the Museum Exhibitions.

The ceremony was held on March 17 at the Guggenheim Museum in NY, and two of the awards were awarded to Fashion exhibitions...

As important as it sounds the event, I couldn't find any website that support my words so all I can say is that I have my friend Missy to back up my post!.

Best Architecture or Design Show

- First Place: Poiret; King of Fashion. At The Metropolitan Museum of New York.
Curators: harold Koda & Andrew Bolton

- Second Place: Skin + Bones: Parallel Practices in Fashion & Architecture. At the MOCA in L.A.
Curator: Brooke Hodge

And I can brag about my posting of them both! ;)

I <3 You

2008-03-24T21:44:00.000-07:00

Love is definitely in the air... two posts in a row about love!... this time about my love for Mexican label TEAMO.

TEAMO is Roberto and Rafa, two kids from Mexico DF that decided to start something together and ended up designing really interesting clothing, and not only.

Roberto very kindly answered a couple of questions for bobble-bee.

México is in vogue, no wonder why...

1.- What's TEAMO? ... Quién es TEAMO?

TEAMO is a concept that involves fashion, the label's main reflexion, but not only.
Rafa Cuevas is a musician and also throws parties, and Roberto Sánchez is an illustrator and media speaker. We do styling together so this way we try that everything done in our label is done with love: there are pieces that might be rough and aggressive, while others are very pretty and organic, but all are inspired by our love. That is what made us create TEAMO two years ago.

----- TEAMO es un concepto que involucra principalmente la moda, que es el mayor reflejo de la marca, pero no sólo hacemos eso.
Rafa Cuevas es músico y hace fiestas y Roberto Sánchez es ilustrador y comunicólogo, y juntos también hacemos Styling, de esta forma tratamos de que en nuestra marca todo esté hecho con sentimiento, puede ser que hayan piezas crudas y agresivas como pueden existir piezas lindas y fluidas que sean inspiradas por el amor que nos tenemos mutuamente, es esto lo que dió origen a TEAMO ya hace dos años.

2.- You design fashion but also do styling for magazines, promote music ... what did come first and what did come last?
Vosotros diseñais ropa pero tambien haceis estilismo para diferentes publicaciones, promoveis música ... qué vino antes y qué vino despues?

Well, the firs thing was to meet each other. It's funny because that same day our group of friends met each other as well, we all met at theopening of photographer Regina Pozo here in México DF.
After that day all started to happen organically, Roberto lived in Cuernavaca and Rafael in México DF. The started to date for a month, decided to live together and build up something together. That's the way TEAMO was born, we have always been surrounded by very talented people that never give up their artistic dreams. That gave us also faith in what we do.

Things are rolling, nice and strong. Let's say that a little water drop fulfilled the bottle: firs Rafa and me met, then we dated, moved together, TEAMO was born and so forth.

Regarding the music, Rafa was in a band called Dragkillers together with painter and producer Mario Varguez, an electro band that was very successful.
I had some friend in DF like Zemmoa, an electro pop singer here in México, also Regina Pozo was my friend and she put me in contact with several people, the same did Juan Pablo Bastarrachea, who is now director together with more people of Discos Tormento which has Rafa under its wing. Mario Varguez is producer of his new solo project Yo Soy Dios, y a su vez Rafa fue con quien Zemmoa empezó su proyecto musical, él como su productor. Todo es un rollo lo que nos encanta es que todo siempre hemos estado juntos de una u otra manera, algunas veces de mi lado y yo los presento con rafa y hacen proyectos juntos o viceversa.

----- Bueno, lo primero fue conocernos. Es chistoso porque ese mismo día nuestro grupo de amigos también se conoció, nos reunimos todos en una exposición de la fotógrafa Regina Pozo aqui en la ciudad de México.
Después de ese día todo empezó a fluir de la mejor manera, Roberto vivía en Cuernavaca, y Rafael en ciudad de México. Al mes de salir como novios, decidieron vivir y crear algo juntos.
De ahí nace Teamo, siempre hemos estado rodeados de gente muy talentosa que no se ha dado por vencida en el ambiente del arte y de la lucha por alcanzar sus sueños, eso nos ha hecho tambien que no perdamos la fe en lo que hacemos.

Las cosas han ido pasando muy bien y sólidas, digamos que la gotita poco a poco ha ido llenando la botella, primero Rafa y yo nos conocimos, luego nos hicimos novios, luego vivimos juntos, luego nació TEAMO y de ahí todas las conexiones han ido dándose.

En cuanto a la música, Rafa antes de que yo llegara a su vida ya tenía una banda con el pintor y productor Mario Varguez, juntos hacían Dragkillers una banda de electro que tuvo mucho éxito.
Yo por mi parte tenía algunos conocidos aqui en DF como Zemmoa que es una cantante de electro pop aqui en México, también Regina Pozo era mi amiga y ella me conectó con varia gente, lo mismo que Juan Pablo Bastarrachea quien ahora es director junto con un grupo de personas de la disquera Discos Tormento donde Rafa está firmado. Ahora con su proyecto de solista Yo Soy Dios, que por cierto Mario Varguez sigue siendo su productor, y a su vez Rafa fue con quien Zemmoa empezó su proyecto musical, él como su productor. Todo es un rollo lo que nos encanta es que todo siempre hemos estado juntos de una u otra manera, algunas veces de mi lado y yo los presento con rafa y hacen proyectos juntos o viceversa.

3.- What can you tell me of the project Clínica Store? ... Y Clínica Store?

In fact that project was started for two friends of ours, also designers, Denise Marchebout and Enrique González, both Rafa's friends from Guadalajara, his hometown.

They came to the city and created the store almost two years ago. Then, just by chance, Enrique leaves the store and it's when TEAMO and Mancandy, another fashion label made by Andrés Jiménez, were invited to collaborate with Denise in this project. We've been almost two months now. We are really happy with this because even before being partners of it, our collections were sold here and now we are part of it. We don't sell anywhere else now, only here. The concept of it all is awesome, it's called "Clínica" (Clinic), it's a Fashion Clinic!.

----- De hecho el proyecto de Clinica lo iniciaron unos amigos nuestros que también son diseñadores de moda Denise Marchebout y Enrique González que son amigos de Rafa desde Guadalajara su ciudad natal.

Ellos vinieron a la ciudad y crearon la tienda hace ya casi dos años. Hoy por azares de la vida Enrique se ausenta de la tienda y es cuando Teamo y Mancandy (otra marca de ropa hecha por Andréz Jiménez), somos invitados a colaborar en el proyecto junto con Denise. Llevamos en la tienda casi dos meses. Estamos muy contentos porque antes parte de nuestra colección se vendían ahí, y ahora ya es todo, de hecho no vendemos en otros sitios aqui en la ciudad, solo confiamos en esta tienda. El concepto es padrisimo, se llama Clinica, una clinica de moda.

collection SS 08. photography Andrés Jiménez

4.- Mexico Fashion Week is around the corner. How's everything going? ... Dentro de nada es la Mexico Fashion Week. Cómo van los preparativos?

We are doing pretty good, the collection is almost done but hey, it's really around the corner!!!!! but everything will be perfect, we think that as long as one's working, things will turn as one desires.
Although the truth is that we are a little dissapointed with the organization, I don't know how other fashion weeks work but each time we get a letter from the organization it make us think if it is really worth it. But anyway, it is our first edition so let's see.

----- Vamos muy bien, la colección casi está terminada, tenemos ya el tiempo encima¡¡¡ pero todo saldrá perfecto, creemos que mientras uno no deje de trabajar las cosas salen como se desean.
Aunque la verdad estamos un poco desentusiasmados por la organización del evento, no sé si en las demás sedes del Fashion Week en el mundo pasan cosas así, pero cada vez que tenemos un correo nuevo del equipo son cosas que nos hacen dudar si de verdad vale la pena. Pero bueno es nuestra primera edición.

5.- What's the name of your new collection? ... Cómo se llama vuestra nueva colección?

It doesn't have a name, but it has a concept behind it. It evolves around the animals and their night lives. It's a little sarcastic and funny, very clean and dark.

----- La colección no tiene nombre, pero sí un concepto que viene de los animales y sus vidas nocturnas en el bosque, un poco sarcástico y divertido pero limpio y oscuro.

collection SS 08. photography Andrés Jiménez

6.- How is living in México DF? ... Cómo se vive en México DF?

It's beautiful but also very difficult.
We that work in the fashion industry, where the support is not very clear or often, we need to work in more than one thing to make a living.
The city itself is really pretty. It's amazing to think that being one of the biggest cities in the world those who work in the same business know each other!. There are a lot of casualties and if you don't keep your eyes open you might miss them and don't see them anymore.

----- Es muy lindo pero también difícil.
Nosotros, que mayormente nos dedicamos a la moda, en un país como México donde el apoyo no es muy claro ni frecuente, tenemos que hacer más de una cosa en nuestros ámbitos para poder sobrevivir.
La ciudad es preciosa, es increible saber que es una de las ciudades más grandes del mundo y que dentro de ella la gente que se dedica a lo mismo se conoce. Hay muchas casualidades y si no abres los ojos y estas atento se te pasan y no las vuelves a ver nunca.

7.- So is México DF for ever or you have plans tomove somewhere else? ... México DF for ever o teneis planes de ir a vivir en otras ciudades?

We'd love to live in other cities but right now México is a virgin space with a lot of potencial for fashion and art proposals as ours, that is why we want to keep on doing things here and later going away to share those things.

----- Nos encantaría vivir en otras ciudades, pero no por ahora, creemos que en México hay un campo virgen para propuestas como la nuestra en cuanto a moda y arte y por eso queremos hacer cosas aqui y después ya salir y compartirlas.

8.- Mexican Art and Fashion ... Arte y Moda Mexicana.

Art, we like illustrator Cynthia Yee and photographers Tony Solís and Andrés Jiménez. In music we like Porter and in fashion, designers Denise Marchebout, Marvin y Quetzal and EGR.

----- De arte nos gusta Cynthia Yee que es una ilustradora, de foto Tony Solís y Andrés Jiménez, de música Porter, diseñadores Denise Marchebout, Marvin y Quetzal y EGR.

9.- The TEAMO campaign of your dreams. ... Cual es la campaña teAmo de vuestros sueños?

Model: Lara Stone
Photographer: Juergen Teller
Stylist: Terence Koh
Location: The Palacio Nacional de Bellas Artes

Modelo. Lara Stone
Fotógrafo. Juergen Teller.
Estilista. El Artista Terence Koh
Localización. El Palacio Nacional de Bellas Artes

10.- Un unforgettable concert ... Un concierto inolvidable.

Rafa: Björk
Roberto: Yo soy Dios

11.- Who would you like to send your greetings? ... A quien quereis saludar?

Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen, and all our crew in México!.

----- Mary Kate y Ashley Olsen y a toda la muchachada de México!.

código 4140 magazine featuring TEAMO

In Love With Skye Parrott

2008-03-18T22:10:00.000-07:00

There's very little information about photographer Skye Parrot other than what's written in her website, but the importance of her work in fashion publications is indisputable: former Manager Editor at Self Service and studio manager for Nan Goldin, Skye is now publishing for big time magazines such 10+, Lula, The Blow Up or Preen.

One of those girls you really want to know.

Skye Parrott by Skye Parrott