Off the Shelf

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I'm starting a new series.

Mario Testino for French Glamour (1993), styled by Carine Roitfeld

We have a living room full of art, design, and photography books, and all other sorts of random titles we've picked up on our travels. I love a beautiful and beautifully designed book, the more weighty and substantial the better, and I don't look at ours enough. So once a week I'm going to select one at random, and spend some quality time with it, and share a few of my favorite spreads and/or images – with commentary, or not.

To kick things off: Stylist: The Interpreters of Fashion (Rizzoli, 2007).


This was one of my last purchases in New York. I remember schlepping it to our friend April's garden party after buying it – now I don't remember where – somewhere along the way. (I think we had our going-away party that next weekend, in the midst of the remnants of Hurricane Hanna.)

Styling by Camilla Nickerson / photography by Juergen Teller (W, 2007)

Styling by Edward Enniful / photography by Craig McDean (i-D, 2002)

Styling by Brana Wolf / photography by Inez van Lamsweerde &
Vinoodh Matadin (Harper's Bazaar, 2000)

Styling by Carine Roitfeld / photography by Mario Testino (French Vogue, 2005)

From Sarah Mower's introduction:

"Since the turn of the millennium, the term 'stylist' has shot from obscurity to everyday pop usage without, so far, being pinned down precisely in any dictionary. It's easy to see why: on the one hand, its meaning has been moving so rapidly, but on the other, it seems to apply to such diffuse, mysterious, behind-the-scenes skills that only the innermost inhabitants of the fashion world can fully understand what they are....Within [the profession] is an elite: individuals whose supercharged sensitivity to the visual – and sometimes their cutting wit – helps formulate the background aesthetics of every decade. They are the coauthors of some of the most powerful imagery that hits us every time we flip open a magazine, glimpse a fashion show, flick on a TV or computer, or drive past a billboard...."

Styling by Alex White / photography by Glen Luchford (Prada ad campaign, 1997)

Styling by Karl Templer / photography by Mikael Jansson (Arena Homme Plus, 2001)

Styling by Carine Roitfeld / photography by Mario Testino

(Gucci advertising campaign, 2005)

Styling by Camilla Nickerson / photography (L) Juergen Teller
(YSL ad campaign, 2005); (R) Marcio Madiera, style.com (YSL Spring 2005 RTW).

Styling by Melanie Ward / photography by Inez van Lamsweerde & Vinoodh Matadin
(Helmut Lang ad campaign, 2003)

"...At the most basic level, their job can be described as putting the clothes in the picture. That task – of selecting and documenting clothes – can sound humble...but what binds the diverse talents [] together is the ability to make the clothes part of a bigger story."

Styling by Paul Cavaco / photography (L) Peter Lindbergh (Harper's Bazaar, 1992);
(R) David Sims (Harper's Bazaar, 1993)

Styling by Andrea Lieberman ("Cool" music video, Sophie Muller, director, 2004)

Styling by Venetia Scott / photography (L) Juergen Teller (Italian Vogue, 1996);

(R) Juergen Teller (Nova)

Styling by Carlyne Cerf de Dudzeele / photography by Peter Lindbergh (Vogue, 1988).
(from left: Estelle Lefebure, Karen Alexander, Rachel Williams, Linda Evangelista,
Tatjana Patitz, Christy Turlington)

"...Brilliant styling can sell clothes, change the way we want to dress, propose revolutionary ideas about who and what is beautiful, inform fantasies about where and how we'd like to live....In the endless relay race of fashion, great stylists are the ones who pass on the baton for the season to come, reinterpreting what they've seen on the runway to predict what will happen next."

Styling by Lori Goldstein / photography by Yelena Yemchuk (Japanese Vogue, 2003)

Styling by Grace Coddington / photography by Craig McDean (Vogue, 2002)

Styling by Edward Enniful / photography by Craig McDean (i-D, 2002)

Styling by Karl Templer / photography by David Sims (W, 2004)

Styling by Tonne Goodman / photography by Bruce Weber
(Calvin Klein ad campaign, 1988-89)

"...The distinguishing mark of a great stylist's work is the imagination that makes it something that could only come from one person's mind."

Styling by Venetia Scott / photography (L) David Sims (The Face, 1993);
(R) Juergen Teller (The Face, 1996)

Styling by Alex White / photography by Inez van Lamsweerde
& Vinoodh Matadin (W, 2006)

Styling by Carine Roitfeld / photography by Mario Testino (French Glamour, 1994)

Styling by Grace Coddington / photography by Steven Klein (Vogue, 2003)

Styling by Polly Mellen / photography by Richard Avedon (Vogue, 1970)

The photos of the stylists themselves are just as inspiring as their work:

Camilla Nickerson

Carlyne Cerf de Dudzeele

Tonne Goodman

Paul Cavaco

Carine Roitfeld

Grace Coddington

...Such a small peek at what's in this amazing book; most highly recommended.

Find Stylist here.

Image of the Day

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The Kalakala, which operated as a ferry on Puget Sound from 1926–1967. Having been repurposed as a fish processing vessel in Alaska since its retirement, and now residing in Tacoma-WA, the Kalakala has fallen into severe disrepair. It is currently up for sale for $1 or best offer. More info here.

Arboretum

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Can't You See

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St. Vincent "Cruel" from Strange Mercy (2011, 4AD)

The Line

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Early '60s Dior lingerie packaging.

Totally brilliant.

Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out

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Peaking Lights documentary

Crazy talented. Can't wait to hear what they do next.

(yet again via Suspence)

You Always Gotta Have a Plan

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Ice Cube on Charles & Ray Eames for Pacific Standard Time. Read an interview with Ice Cube about this project at nytimes.com

(via Suspence)

Best Foot Forward

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Alexander Wang Chloe sandal,
$525 at alexanderwang.com.

Image of the Day

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Francesca Woodman: Caryatid, New York, 1980 (Diazotype) – on view in the first major American museum exhibition of Woodman's work in 25 years, at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art through February 20. Get info here and read a review by Ted Loos at nytimes.com.

(Image via SFMoMA / © George and Betty Woodman)

Image of the Day

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Peep the line-up for Cairo's fourth annual Expo.
Quite fantastic, I would say. Info here.

Need vs. Want

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This happened to appear in my inbox this morning, courtesy of an email from Matches. I'm not generally one for floral prints, but this is lovely.

Preen Akiki dress, $1169 at Matches.com. Want.

Image of the Day

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Ten of them, actually – classic photographs by the great Alfred Eisenstaedt, who was born today in 1898.

There Is A Darkness

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Stills from Possession (Andrzej Zulawski, 1981).
A new print is showing this week at Film Forum in NYC.


"A movie that has to be seen to be believed! Starts as an unusually violent breakup film, takes a turn toward Repulsion-style psychological breakdown, escalates into the avant-garde... and ends in the realm of pulp metaphysics... Adjani gives the performance of a lifetime – a veritable aria of hysteria... At once a dread-inducing ordeal, a bloody arabesque, and a swooning celebration of Adjani's long, cloaked form in perpetual motion." –J.Hoberman, The Village Voice



"Rewards repeated viewings... With its blood-and-gasoline-drenched apocalyptic ending, Possession joins the recent Melancholia in portraying the sense that it must be the literal end of the world simply because it feels that way." –L. Caldoran, Cinespect


"Looks creepy and chic to the max. Can't wait to see it if it ever comes out on DVD." –Pacific Standard


Here's the trailer:



If you're in NYC go see it here.

Everything

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Micachu & the Shapes/London Sinfonietta "Everything"
from Chopped and Screwed (2011, Rough Trade)

(photo: Lake Union, Seattle, WA, yesterday)

Image of the Day

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Bo Muller-Moore in his studio in Vermont, where he screenprints t-shirts with the slogan "Eat More Kale." The fast food chain Chik-Fil-A, which sells 537 chicken sandwiches a minute, alleges that Muller-Moore's t-shirts violate its trademarked slogan “Eat Mor Chikin.” “This is corporate bullying,” Mr. Muller-Moore said. His lawyer, Daniel Richardson, sent Chick-fil-A a letter in November, contesting its claim that the slogan “is likely to cause confusion of the public and dilutes the distinctiveness of Chick-fil-A’s intellectual property." ... "We believe it’s pretty clear, the issue of dilution and confusion aren’t really triggered here,” he said. “There’s no one out there that’s going to come forward and say, ‘I thought I was buying a Chick-fil-A product but I got this T-shirt.’ ”

Read more at the New York Times and Like Eat More Kale on Facebook.

(photo Joseph Sywenkyj/NYT)

Sunday Morning

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Oddly enough, Ahmad Jamal came up in conversation at a party last night so that's my pick for this week's Sunday record. It would be tough to choose a favorite, but The Awakening, his 1970 recording for Impulse, is definitely on the short list. Some cuts:


"The Awakening"


"Dolphin Dance" (written by Herbie Hancock)


"I Love Music"


"Wave" (Antonio Carlos Jobim)


"Stolen Moments" (Oliver Nelson)

(Photos by the great and underappreciated Chuck Stewart)

Almost all of the songs on The Awakening have been sampled in different ways for some true hip-hop classics:


Nas "The World Is Yours" (produced by Pete Rock) from Illmatic (1994, Columbia)


Shadez of Brooklyn "Change" 12-inch (produced by Da Beatminerz, 1996, Pandemonium/Tape Kingz)


Pete Rock & CL Smooth "It's On You" from The Main Ingredient (1994, Elektra)


DJ Premier beat for Jeru the Damaja "Me Or the Papes" from Wrath of the Math (1996, Payday)

So, um, there you have it, what I'm listening to this bright and sunny Sunday morning.

'Cause Times Have Changed and Life is Strange

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Can't get this out of my head today.



Wu-Tang Clan, "Can It Be All So Simple"

from Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), 1993