Fashion for everyone

There's always gossip whispered through fashion circles regarding so-and-so designer who doesn't really know how to sew, or so-and-so designer who doesn't really know how to draw. I've found that most of my designer friends tend to know how to do both pretty decently, if perhaps being stronger in one area than the other (although I've found that most cut-and-sew knitwear designers really don't know how to knit). In fact, often I'm amazed by how multi-talented many designers are. A while back, I wrote about Ann Sofie-Madsen, who recently emailed me saying that she had updated her website with some of her gorgeous illustrations. While many of the drawings relate back to fashion, they're also an artistic outpourings of a wild, twisted, and overactive imagination. My favorites are her latest drawings from her "Blue Ink" series, which I think would translate extraordinarily well into some decadently demented fine jewelry. Here is just a small sampling of her work, I highly suggest you go to her inspiring website and view it all!

Peter Pilotto x Kipling backpack, Foley and Corinna dress, Acne motorcycle jacket, Alexander Wang shoes, scarf courtesy of Gina Tricot, Triskaidekaphobia ring.

Last night I had a busy evening that had me running all over town, starting with a visit to Charley 5.0 to view their spring collection, a pitstop at Creatures of Comfort for their book release party, and finally ending the night at my friend Allegra's gallery for a dinner party for artist Brian Montuori. The dinner started with a bang when my place setting caught on fire, which could have been a disaster if it hadn't been put out so quickly. I swear I was nowhere near it when it went up in flames, so I have no idea what happened, but the resulting mess of melted plastic plate and smoky fumes actually matched the macabre exhibition quite well.

The show, titled "Cold Sweat" depicts an alternative reality where humanity is absent, and the remnants of nature slowly reveal themselves to be part of a greater machine. We had dinner surrounded by paintings of exploding coyotes, and my companions regaled me with appropriate nature-fright stories, which were just as unappetizing as they were fascinating. For example, apparently there's a video of hundreds of displaced rats swimming in unison through the flooded streets of Bushwick following the recent tornado. The image, which sounds like something out of a horror movie, was described as being quite beautiful, and sadly, I haven't been able to find the footage online, as much as a try to Google search "rats swimming in Bushwick." Please let me know if you find it!

I took out my new Peter Pilotto x Kipling backpack, which fits everything, including my super-heavy camera. After shopping around different sites for the past month, I ended up ordering it from the Kipling website, since they're offering 20% off with the discount code, "WELCOMEKIP"

My home attempt at the half-moon manicure. Triskaidekaphobia buckle ring.

My scorched table setting, which actually matched the artwork in the gallery pretty well.

My dinner companions for the evening.

Brian Montuori's installation

While designers often look to artists for inspiration, sometimes lifting from them directly, the results can be mixed. Marc Jacobs was immensely successful with his collaboration with artist Richard Prince, but more commonly you'll see an Andy Warhol soup can cheaply plastered somewhere it was never meant to be.  Demi Park is one of the few designers who has managed to take on the genre of Abstract Expressionism in an in-depth, conceptual manner, and the Spring 2012 Parkchoonmoo show was perhaps the most poetic collection that I saw during NYFW.  Playing with colors that reminded her of her Korean heritage, Park layered various dyed and stained pieces of fabric on top of each other, in an effect that she describes as "painting with fabric."  While the garments are traditionally colorblocked in the sense that bold colors are graphically combined, the layering and movement of the fabrics adds another dimension to the clothing.  While it's difficult to see in still images, the garments' dynamically shifting shapes and colors become living abstract paintings.  Absolutely breathtaking, and truly expressionistic.

Christopher Kane x Topshop Croc dress, DIY Rodarte leggings, Rachel Comey boots, Triskaidekaphobia scribble necklace, restraint bracelet and ring

On Friday night, we went down to Allegra's gallery, LaViola Bank, to celebrate the release of Henrik Vibskov's new book with Andreas Emenius, The Fringe Projects. The book documents and serves as a catalog of the series of art installations, performances, and photographs that the pair have collaborated on over the past couple of years. Andreas is a good friend of Michael, one of the co-owners of the space, and the gallery temporarily put up several of the stunning photographs from the project on display. Allegra seemed a tad bit overwhelmed by the Danish fashion mob that descended, but after the chaos of Fashion Week, it seemed like a perfectly cozy and intimate gathering to me. I also used it as an opportunity to wear the Christopher Kane x Topshop dress that I ran to pick up as soon as it hit the floor.

Henrik Vibskov, on the right, and the crowd in the back yard of LaViola Bank

One of the self-portraits of Vibskov and Emenius from The Fringe Projects that was on display

Dom and Carlo, wearing CDG and Margiela respectively

Jimmy and his drinking companions for the evening

Demon Babies tee courtesy of Blood is the New Black, American Apparel bra, Ostwald Helgason x ASOS leggings, Alexander Wang shoes and sunglasses, Antti Asplund cross necklaces, Miu Miu bracelet, Triskaidekaphobia ring.

I'm sure you're already familiar with Blood is the New Black. If, for some reason, you don't recognize the name, I'm certain that you've at least seen the work. In music videos, at concerts, riding the L train. These are just a few places where I've spotted the t-shirts in the last few days alone. Basically, the ubiquitous t-shirt line is all around you, even if you aren't aware of it. And why not? Everyone loves a tee, and in the height of sticky, humid, New York City summer (it's been topping 90 on a very regular basis this month---whywhywhy), who can be bothered with putting on much more than sweat-absorbing, machine-washable jersey?

What make Blood is the New Black different from your average t-shirt line is that rather than obscuring the artist behind the graphics, the company seeks to showcase emerging talent, with the end goal of promoting their careers and introducing their work to a wider audience. Artists in the current lineup include Brian Lichtenberg, Skye Parrot, Keren Richter and Kime Buzzelli, and you can browse the website by the designer. And since they're tees, everything on the site is super-affordable (around $10-$40).

Last week, they offered to send me over a few tees, and after going through the hundreds of designs and styles available, I chose out a couple of designs from Demonbabies and Sumi Ink Club. I immediately put on the Demonbabies Hex Mex tank that I got, and I can already tell it's going to be a summer staple. I love all the evil eyes and the pair of hands, and the whole design reminds me of Rasputin, who will always fascinate me as one of history's biggest creepos. Anyway, here's a peek at some of the other current designs from the Blood is the New Black Summer 2010 lookbook.



Anybody else love this iconic image from The Night Porter?

All photos by Elisabet Davids and threeASFOUR

Last month I picked up a classic threeASFOUR circle bag at the Opening Ceremony Sample Sale, conjuring up old memories of how obsessed I had been with the design when it first appeared years ago (was it a decade ago, or more?). Recently, threeASFOUR has slipped off my mental radar, and I hadn't really looked at their collections for several seasons. Shame on me, as this fall collection is especially good. This season the eclectic design collective was inspired in large part by string instruments, which were incorporated into the clothes in the form of full violins and miniature harps, as well as plenty of strings, naturally.

I'm particularly obsessed with the bits and pieces they made in partnership with Bollinger Atelier, a family atelier that works with artists and sculptors to help realize their ideas. They created several of the showstopping pieces for threeASFOUR, including this functioning (!!!) harp belt, that was constructed with the help of a harp technician, and two shoulder pieces. The designs fluidly integrate art, music, and fashion, in a synesthetic way that only threeASFOUR could achieve.

SQUAT installation opening at the VPL store

The Hipstamatic app is by far my favorite iPhone program, and I've taken such a fancy to the faux-aged digital images that I almost like them better than the photos I take on my much more expensive REAL camera. You can change the film, the lens, and the flash for varying results, but they all have a wonderfully dreamy, washed-out, vintage feel, like they were dug up from your parent's photo albums from the seventies. Here are some of my favorite photos that I shot in the past two months. Do you use Hipstamatic? What are your favorite settings?

My cousin Vincent and his beautiful bride Jenny cutting the cake at their wedding

Jimmy and I at Jenny and Vincent's wedding. I wore a Stella McCartney dress and a Kate Moss x Topshop leather jacket.

Chandelier at the Catherine Malandrino x Lacoste launch party at the Mondrian Soho

Olov celebrating his birthday at home

Olov's collection of headphones, wires, and miscellaneous stuff

Artist Allen Grubesic having a cigarette break

Artwork at a warehouse installation in Gowanus, Brooklyn

Urs Fischer's 'Untitled (Lamp/Bear)' in front of the Seagram's building--built with the help of 3D modeling!