Sunday, December 30, 2012

The Lives They Lived

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If you have time to take away from all of your New Year's Eve preparations, there's a sweet piece in today's Sunday Times Magazine (devoted to remembering who we lost this year) about Adam Yauch.


Beastie Boys, "Something's Got to Give," 
from Check Your Head (Capitol, 1992) 

 
Fight for Your Right (Revisited) (Dir. Adam Yauch, 2011)

Sunday, December 23, 2012

Christmas Time is Here

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Friday, December 21, 2012

Brass Knuckles

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If I really thought the world were going to end, these would be a Need.

Balenciaga S/S 2013

via AnOther

Image of the Day

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Banksy

WTF. Really??

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This isn't (generally) a political blog, but I cannot let this NYT headline pass. You've got to be kidding.

Thursday, December 20, 2012

Best Foot Forward

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Practical but sharp. A perfect Seattle shoe, if I may say.

Maison Martin Margiela hand-painted oxford, 
$895 at shopbop.com

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

For Your Consideration

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Perfect for New Year's.
Vintage Pierre Cardin feather collar, $950 at Resurrection.

Monday, December 17, 2012

Reading Ed Ruscha

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I saw a portion of this aforementioned show (which traveled from the Kunsthaus Bregenz, Austria) at Gagosian Gallery last weekend.

"Reading Ed Ruscha" (installation view)

It was so good and funny and smart that I had to spring for the book, not something I normally indulge.

While we're at it:

Ed Ruscha in 1968 (photograph by Jerry McMillan)

Friday, December 14, 2012

Need vs. Want

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Delayed gratification.



3.1 Philip Lim Textured Popcorn and Cable Stitch 
Long Pullover with exposed zipper, $795. 
Part of the pre-Fall 2013 collection on pre-order
through Moda Operandi (with a $398 deposit). 
Want.

Take this moment to decide/If we meant it, if we tried

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I know this song has made its appearance on the blog before, so it's kind of lame to repost, I realize. But I'm getting ready for a move and this song is the perfect soundtrack. And I'd never seen the video. So.


The Weakerthans, "Sun in an Empty Room" (Reunion Tour, 2007)

Thursday, December 13, 2012

Best Foot Forward

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Doris Salcedo at MoMA.

Image of the Day

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through Jan. 19, 2013. More here.
Second only to Ed Ruscha at Gagosian
on my Chelsea walk last weekend.

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Screen Style


If you're in Seattle this Thursday night through the weekend, consider adding to your agenda the Northwest Film Forum's fashion film festival, curated by our homegirl Laura Cassidy, writer and style editor for Seattle Met magazine (and a contributor to the first issue of Pacific Standard Magazine).


Thursday night's 60s-themed opening night party will be at Kaleidoscope Vision on Capitol Hill (side note: if you haven't yet you need to check out the shop -- the KV ladies curate a mean selection of vintage gear; I snapped up a fantastic circa-1980 jumpsuit there last week). In addition to free food and drink, a selection of fashion shorts selected by yours truly will be screened throughout the night, and on Friday night Strath presents his selection for the festival, Purple Noon. Films by other Seattle creatives will be presented throughout the weekend.


Sooyeon Lee: Grand Slam from Matthew Donaldson on Nowness.com.
One of my selects for the opening night party.

I've taken a lot of style inspiration over the years from screen characters (if forced to describe my own personal style: Breakfast at Tiffany's meets Blade Runner). So I'm really excited to be a part and hope it's the beginning of a long tradition.

Trailer for Purple Noon (René Clément, 1960)

The opening party goes from 7-10 pm on Thursday night at Kaleidoscope Vision, 1419 10th Ave., between Pike and Union (RSVP to publicity@nwfilmforum.org). More information on the films (and tickets) can be found here.

Thursday, November 29, 2012

Last Supreme Season

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Supreme Spring/Summer 2012

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Need vs. Want

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Sick.
Alexander McQueen Snowflake Knucklebox Clutch, $3,195. 
Want (aren't they all?).

Image of the Day

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Robert Rauschenberg, Canyon, 1959

The New York Times reported below the fold this morning that – after beating out the Met – the Museum of Modern Art has permanently acquired Rauschenberg's combine (at the top of director Glenn Lowry's 10-most-wanted list when he took over the position 17 years ago – way to stick to a plan, dude).

If you like to nerd out over museums and the art market the Times' article is an interesting read.

Monday, November 26, 2012

Meta

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I like the loose nerdiness of this campaign, and the way it references bookmarking and image-gathering. Seems very post-modern and suits the label well, I think.



Tuesday, November 20, 2012

I know I contradicted myself/Look I don't need that now

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I thought it couldn't be done, but I've managed to find a reality show that is even more of a fakey, ridiculous time-waste than The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills: Made in Chelsea. It's great.



Also.

Jay-Z "Feelin' It," Reasonable Doubt (Roc-a-fella, 1996)

Monday, November 19, 2012

Civilization and its Discontents

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I realize that there are probably few things less appetizing than a big block of text to start the week, but it is a short week – and I can't resist sharing this great piece from the Sunday Review section of this weekend's Times about the price of irony (by Christy Wampole, a professor at Princeton). Highly recommended, if, like me, you are cranky and generally sick of bullshit these days. A few excerpts:
The ironic frame functions as a shield against criticism. The same goes for ironic living. Irony is the most self-defensive mode, as it allows a person to dodge responsibility for his or her choices, aesthetic and otherwise. To live ironically is to hide in public. It is flagrantly indirect, a form of subterfuge, which means etymologically to “secretly flee” (subter + fuge). Somehow, directness has become unbearable to us.

...

While we have gained some skill sets (multitasking, technological savvy), other skills have suffered: the art of conversation, the art of looking at people, the art of being seen, the art of being present. Our conduct is no longer governed by subtlety, finesse, grace and attention, all qualities more esteemed in earlier decades. Inwardness and narcissism now hold sway.

...

Where can we find [] examples of nonironic living? What does it look like? Nonironic models include very young children, elderly people, deeply religious people, people with severe mental or physical disabilities, people who have suffered, and those from economically or politically challenged places where seriousness is the governing state of mind. My friend Robert Pogue Harrison put it this way in a recent conversation: “Wherever the real imposes itself, it tends to dissipate the fogs of irony.”

...

Moving away from the ironic involves saying what you mean, meaning what you say and considering seriousness and forthrightness as expressive possibilities, despite the inherent risks. It means undertaking the cultivation of sincerity, humility and self-effacement, and demoting the frivolous and the kitschy on our collective scale of values. It might also consist of an honest self-inventory.

...

The ironic life is certainly a provisional answer to the problems of too much comfort, too much history and too many choices, but ... this mode of living is not viable and conceals within it many social and political risks. For such a large segment of the population to forfeit its civic voice through the pattern of negation [] described is to siphon energy from the cultural reserves of the community at large. People may choose to continue hiding behind the ironic mantle, but this choice equals a surrender to commercial and political entities more than happy to act as parents for a self-infantilizing citizenry.
Read the whole piece here and then discuss over Thanksgiving dinner.

While we're on the topic:

Fran Lebowitz, Public Speaking (Martin Scorsese, 2010)

And, here, watch this again over Thanksgiving weekend too:

 


  
Kicking and Screaming (Noah Baumbach, 1995)

p.s. Just for the record, the irony that I'm blogging about all of this does not escape me.

Friday, November 16, 2012

Solidarity

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I'm missing my old town this week. I was there for the turn of the century, for 9/11, and for the Eastern Seaboard blackout in 2003. We had our going-away party in 2008 in the middle of Hurricane Hanna. I can't help but feel like I should have been there for this, too.


Thursday, November 15, 2012

Manipulated Minds Need to Make an Escape



Blackalicious, "Swan Lake" (Solesides, 1994).

Best Foot Forward

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This has not been a very good year to be a girl in need of a new pair of tall black boots. Price tag aside, these would be a solid option, though.






Yves Saint Laurent mirrored-heel stretch leather 
knee boots, $2,295 at net-a-porter.
For old times'.


While you're there:
Everyone could use a little more Art Deco in their closet.

And (why quit while you're behind):



Sort that color block trend.

The Proof's in the Pudding

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I missed this when it came out.



"Repton Boxing Club" by Alasdair McLellan for British heritage label Sunspel, featuring Ryan Pickard (2011)

Boxing is one of those old-school sports I feel like I should be repelled by -- just the thought of a broken nose makes me cringe -- but even knowing next to nothing about it I find the whole enterprise totally fascinating and even romantic. (And this is not because I watched Rocky as a kid, because I didn't.) There's so much ritual to it, and so much reverence for the past. From an outsider's perspective it seems like it requires a physical and mental discipline that verges on the religious. Maybe it's so ugly that it comes full circle to beautiful.

While we're on the topic of beautiful destruction, another movie I want to see again:

Raging Bull (1980)

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

We're Not Going to be Shady, Just Fierce

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I've been working on something lately that has me thinking about fashion in film, and was reminded that I need to see this documentary again.

Opening scenes from Paris is Burning (1990)

Image of the Day

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So much black and white lately. Must be the influence of all the gray winter weather we've been getting in Seattle.

Gordon Parks, Harlem Neighborhood, Harlem, New York, 1952.

If you happen to be in New York in the next two months: ICP's public installation to mark the 100-year anniversary of Parks's birth (on November 30) is up through January 18.

Friday, November 9, 2012

Fair Play

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Anna Selezneva shot by Camilla Akrans for Plein Sud, F/W 2012. Anna is one of my favorite models of all time, and underrated, in my opinion. I wouldn't normally think twice about this label but she makes everything look good.





I mean.