Take Five: Pamela Love and Her Quiver of Arrows
Fashion folk are a curious bunch, and we’ve found that they tend to collect equally curious things. In our new Take Five feature, we get the lowdown on our favorite industry personalities’ most treasured trinkets.
Arrows are a recurring motif in jewelry designer Pamela Love‘s work (evidence: the pendant on her new silver necklace that depicts a hand grasping three of them, and the pair of crystal arrows she crafted for a recent CFDA/Swarovski project). But for Love, the pointy projectiles aren’t just design elements—they’re tangible symbols that she’s treasured since before she can remember. “I’m not really sure why I gravitate to them,” said Love, who recalls digging arrowheads out of the ground as a child. “I love how they’re so strong and so delicate, and how they can mean so many different things. And I love what a beautiful shape they are,” she added. For those not in the know, Love explains that “two arrows crossing means peace and friendship, two arrows running parallel means war, and an arrow piercing a heart means love.”
Over the years, Love has amassed quite the collection of arrowheads, arrow trinkets, arrow tattoos (of which she has four), and actual arrows. “I have about twenty of those,” she said. “I don’t get too crazy.” Here, the designer discusses her five favorite arrow mementos with Style.com.
1. These are actual arrows. I can’t even remember where I got them—I pick up arrows in antique stores when I travel to the Southwest. These are two of my prettiest ones.
2. This is an antique Navajo ring that I got about ten years ago in New Mexico, during a road trip. It’s so tiny. I can only wear it on my pinkie. It has the two arrows crossing, which means peace and friendship, so it’s a really nice reminder. I used to wear it all the time, but I’m afraid I’m going to lose it—it’s very easy to lose a pinkie ring—so now it’s on display in my apartment.
3. This is a bundle of decorative brass arrows that I got about two months ago from my friend’s store The Hunt, on the Lower East Side. It’s a store that sells weird antique oddities. Again, it’s the arrows crossing, and I bought it from my friend, so I thought that was really special. It sits next to my bed.
4. This is a necklace by Aurélie Bidermann. I’m a really big fan of her work, and I just thought it was one of the most beautiful arrow pieces I had ever seen, and I had to have it. I bought it about two years ago, and I keep it on display in my apartment. The way it’s carved is so beautiful, so for me, it’s more of an object than a piece of jewelry.
5. This is a little copper box that has arrow detailing on the top. I keep it in my studio, next to my desk. One of my best girlfriends gave it to me with a present inside, but I actually liked the box better.
Everything’s Coming Up Rosie
Design was never far from the heart of 28-year-old newcomer Rosie Assoulin. “I did terribly in school my whole life,” explained the Brooklyn native during a preview of her debut collection. “But this world came out of it. I retreated into this intimate space of design.”
Assoulin, who put in a brief stint at FIT (she dropped out after four months), got most of her fashion training while interning with Oscar de la Renta, in New York, and Lanvin’s Alber Elbaz, in Paris. “Every single thing goes through their hands,” she recalled. “They’re so passionate. They don’t change for other people. They really do what works for them. And you can’t touch that.”
Although Assoulin was constantly sketching her own designs during the aforementioned apprenticeships, it wasn’t until she was back from Lanvin, taking care of a new child and working in event planning, that launching her vision felt right. “My friends Claire [Distenfeld] and Leandra [Medine] had been pushing me to do it for years, but it always seemed very scary,” expressed Assoulin. “And it is scary. But it started to be scarier not to do it.” Continue Reading “Everything’s Coming Up Rosie” »
A Seductive Resort Short, Courtesy of Altuzarra
Joseph Altuzarra debuted his romantic Resort ’14 collection earlier this month, and while shooting his lookbook, he and photographer Simon Cave had a thought. “We came across the idea of wanting to make something that was atmospheric and more of a visual manifestation of the Altuzarra woman,” the pair told Style.com. Enter Altuzarra’s heady black-and-white Resort ’14 film, which, styled by Vanessa Traina and Melanie Huynh, stars models Magdalena Jasek, Manuela Frey, and Kayley Chabot. Directed and set to some moody beats by Cave, the short sees its heroines dressed up in pieces that, as Altuzarra explains, “were very strong in silhouette and details. We wanted to create something that was very classic in mood, and highlight the masculine and feminine contrasts.” Blindfolds and fluttering veils of sheer black and white chiffon lend an air of mystery to the spot that, we have to admit, is seriously sexy. “A large part of the collection was about exploring the idea of seduction and sensuality, with lace details and lingerie elements in many of the pieces,” said Altuzarra. “The blindfolds and veils were an extension of this concept of seduction and provocation.” Catch the sultry film’s debut above, exclusively on Style.com.
Three’s A Trend: Naked Ambition
Nudes on clothes. It’s a novel concept, and one that’s emerging as a trend on the London runways. Richard Nicoll has long collaborated with Linder Sterling—a British artist informed by Manchester’s seventies punk scene—and for Spring, the latter whipped up a montage of reptile and avian patterns atop vintage gay pornography. “I found the source material in a bookshop in Barcelona, and Linder treated it with snakes and birds of prey,” Nicoll told Style.com. “She almost always uses the body as a canvas for her collages. Look three—the bomber jacket—is my favorite.”
In both his men’s Spring and women’s Resort ’14 collections, Christopher Kane webbed 3-D grids to create naked female torsos and male skulls. The images lent a lo-fi, diagrammatic pop to simple T-shirts and sweatshirts.
And finally, Sibling—the riotous knitwear label founded by East End cool kids Joe Bates, Sid Bryan and Cozette McCreery—anchored its collection around a pinup-girl theme. At times, that girl found herself undressed and in various states of undulation across a number of allover prints. “We found the inspiration through World War II plane imagery, as well as vintage T-shirts,” McCreery told Style.com. “We were also after that West Side Story feel of young guys and girlie images. It’s almost quite innocent.”
Fashion East Goes Full-Throttle
If the seven designers featured in Lulu Kennedy’s Fashion East menswear installation have anything in common, it’s that not one of them is a shrinking violet. Color, chaos, and cartoons burst forth, with Joseph Turvey (above) and Kit Neale paving the way. Neale, who once worked with Gareth Pugh, paid homage to Peckham (a part of London that makes Shoreditch seem absolutely gentrified) by printing a cartoonish map of the neighborhood on trousers. Turvey explained that he “loves flowers,” and there they were, blooming on a range of shirts. His explosive hues also turned up on a pair of baggy, Rothko-inspired trousers, and on the models’ hair, which was dyed pink and green.
Liam Hodges—whose models were getting a morning beer buzz while wearing his knitted, “garish,” multicolored stadium ponchos—told us that he creates “luxury that doesn’t cater to the highborns.” Meanwhile, Craig Green—the MAN designer who famously customized David Beckham’s Adidas sneakers for the Olympic celebrations—showcased a painterly range of footwear (below), which he made in collaboration with Purified. “I think these shoes will sell like crazy,” said Kennedy, adding that they were a smart way to subtly incorporate color into one’s look.
Another uniting aspect of the collections was a military theme. Meadham Kirchhoff showed vintage military footage during their presentation upstairs, and Marques’Almeida—which debuted its first menswear outing—displayed navy-and-black-camo denim looks with unfinished hems. To cap it off—literally—Tom Ryling’s models wore military berets, which for more than one onlooker evoked an image of Prince Harry in uniform.
While watching over her talents, Lulu offered a little bit of insight into this season’s LC:M. “I’ve seen things normally reserved for women, like floral, lace, and frills,” she said. “For sure, the fashion types will wear it. But really, these details are all so incredible, I hope they will trickle down into the mainstream.” Here’s hoping, Lulu.