LVMH Takes Us Behind the Curtain
There are open-house visits, and then there are open-house visits hosted by LVMH. Les Journées Particulières translates literally as “Particular Days.” But in French it suggests a broader notion that encompasses heritage and rarity, making it a fitting title for Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy’s all-access weekend, during which it welcomed the public to peek into the workings of its brands.
Conceived by Antoine Arnault, the first Les Journées Particulières, in 2011, drew an impressive 100,000 visitors across all of its twenty-five locations. After skipping last year, the free event returned on Saturday with an expanded presence: forty-four venues throughout Europe, from the Glenmorangie distillery in the Scottish Highlands to the Fendi leather-goods factory near Florence. Of those, Kenzo, Louis Vuitton, and Christian Dior in Paris span more than 150 years of fashion savoir faire, innovation, and iconic style.
The Kenzo walk-through began in the courtyard of a building that dates back to the mid-seventeenth century. The brand’s spirit announced itself upon entering into a corridor covered in the upcoming Fall ’13 motif: a pattern of eyes wide open. Wink, wink. We see you! Next up: a tableau vivant featuring five members of the studio team, including a specialist who forms the toile and the “mécanicien” who ensures that the pattern and fabric match perfectly. A futuristic hologram video of the Fall women’s collection, with a custom M.I.A. track, confirmed that Humberto Leon and Carol Lim are thinking as much about the digital universe as the one that is hands-on. Continue Reading “LVMH Takes Us Behind the Curtain” »
Where Did Models Come From?
The signature struts of today’s catwalkers, such as Cara Delevingne and Karlie Kloss, can be traced back to the early twentieth century, when the shift toward movement and modernity produced a desire to see clothes in motion. Staged in the U.S. and France, these first fashion shows were—as Caroline Evans posits in her new book, The Mechanical Smile—”a nodal point” for the convergence of everything from visual art and cinema to international trade and women’s liberation. “This shift occurs in the same period as cinema, so you have lots of moving devices, and people were particularly fascinated by the technology,” Evans, a professor of fashion history and theory at Central Saint Martins College of Arts and Design, told Style.com from London. “Collectively, it contributed to a sense of modernity and a sense of speed and acceleration.”
Though not the first designer to use live models, Charles Frederick Worth was, in the nineteenth century, among the earliest dressmakers to account for movement in his creations. And later, Lady Duff-Gordon and the House of Lucile, as well as Paul Poiret, among others, helped foster the early twentieth-century rise of the fashion show. In time, models replaced the practice of using dolls to sell clothes. “The most pioneering designers were all excellent sales promoters,” Evans said. “Fashion is an industry. It’s a creative industry, but there’s no reason why you can’t sell creativity.”
A Lot Can Happen on La Divanee
Last night, director Jessica Mitrani invited such pals as Threeasfour’s Gabriel Asfour, Adi Gil, and Angela Donhauser, Glenn O’Brien, and Victoria Bartlett to an intimate gathering at her exotic (think zebra-skin rugs and a grand white peacock) Tribeca apartment. The occasion was the completion of her new short film—La Divanee, starring Fatimah Azzahra— De Palma's voice-over helps tell the story of Mitrani's heroine, who chooses to spend her entire life actively reclining on a chaise longue. “It came from a few ideas—the first being when I wake up in the morning and can just contemplate in my bed. I think those moments are quite special. And the other idea was about a reclining nude,” Mitrani explained, noting that she felt classical female nude artworks focused on women of leisure and were geared toward the male gaze. “I thought, What if I make a recline that’s very productive?” Indeed, the leading lady is just that—during the movie she gives birth, writes seven novels, and hosts a salon every Wednesday. In keeping with Mitrani’s artistic inspiration, the film’s star is nude, save what appears to be a giant strip of snakeskin draped over her body. But the director—who won last year’s ASVOFF festival with her religious hat-centric short, Headpieces for Peace—asserted that clothes, and what they represent, are essential to her films. “Fashion is narrative; it’s part of the dialogue. All my films have a fashion element because fashion is a mode of communication.” Speaking of clothes, de Palma, who was decked out in Dolce & Gabbana, Miu Miu, and Armani, offered, “This is a very special film. Jessica has an amazing energy and sense of humor.” When asked where she’d choose to perma-lounge, de Palma responded that she wouldn’t mind spending the rest of her days in New York perched “somewhere on the High Line.” Bartlett, whose one-eyed cat, i-D (named for the mag), has a supporting role in the film, quipped that she’s not the “reclining” type. “I’m too active. I’m not a couch potato…” That may have something to do with her latest project—a reimagining of the VPL aesthetic via high-fashion gym clothes. “We’re converting everything into activewear. It’s going to be gymwear, but it’s going to have a life that can cross from day gym to night.” The sporty endeavor is set to launch this July.
At Landmark’s Sunshine, A Surprise Appearance from Pussy Riot
“Women are a lot funnier than people realize,” said Maxim Pozdorovkin, one of the directors of HBO’s soon-to-be-released documentary Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer. He’s talking about one of the more unexpected takeaways from his new film, which screened courtesy of The Cinema Society last night at the Lower East Side’s Landmark Sunshine theater and tells the shocking, dark, and, yes, subversively comical story of feminist-punk-cum-conceptual-art group Pussy Riot’s February 2012 performances, arrests, and subsequent imprisonment in Russia.
The film drew in a full house, including Pat McGrath, Charlotte Ronson, Salman Rushdie, Girls’ Alex Karpovsky, and Patti Smith, who introduced the project with a compelling dedication (“There is not a time that I go onstage that I do not think about them or feel the freedom to speak out and say the things that upset or anger me about my own country that I don’t think about these girls”) before running off to the Bowery Ballroom to perform.
A Q&A following the screening dialed in Pussy Riot member Katia for her thoughts via Skype, and in a surprise, carefully anonymous appearance, two members of the group took the stage in Pussy Riot’s signature fluorescent balaclavas to tell the audience how they could take action now.
“I was extremely inspired,” said model Heidi Mount at the Pravda-hosted after-party. “I had heard of [Pussy Riot] because of Madonna’s representation of them, and have been following them for the past year, but to actually get to hear their statements, what they’ve been through, was really—I want to protest outside the Russian embassy now.” After a few sips of rye-tini, Mount added, “We take for granted, as women in America, that we can wear what we want and say what we want—especially in fashion—but the girls that I work with are coming from these places where they don’t have that opportunity. People need to hear this story.”
Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer will premiere June 10 on HBO.
DKNY Goes Round the World
In 1992, DKNY unveiled its giant, six-story-high black-and-white wall at 600 Broadway. Depicting a pre-9/11 skyline inside the DKNY logo, the mural reached what many would describe as icon status—it was a landmark for tourists and locals alike that marked the entrance to Soho. In 2008, however, Abercrombie & Fitch, or, more specifically, Hollister, acquired retail space in the building, and plans to remove the image were put into action. This month, the wall, or rather, its sentiment, returns. But instead of posting it at Houston and Broadway, Karan asked a host of artists to reinterpret the facade, and their iterations have been erected in ten cities around the world. Dubbed #DKNYArtworks, the project includes a series of installations in cities such as Tokyo, Paris, Dubai, Kuwait City, Seoul, and, of course, New York—residents have no doubt seen the red, black, and white work by HOW & NOSM in Times Square, or California-born artist Amy Gartrell’s creations at Yankee Stadium, JFK Airport, the DKNY Madison Avenue Flagship, and on the Hampton Jitney. Colorful renderings of the Big Apple inside the DKNY logo have also been placed in London (graffiti artist ROID is projecting his DKNY logo on Big Ben), Shanghai (Nod Young has mounted a billboard and LED installation on Nanjing West Road), Hong Kong (multidisciplinary artist Calvin Ho put his illustration skills to work at three locations), and Milan (photographer and fine artist Maurizio Galimberti produced a billboard). A selection of the international signage debuts here. Continue Reading “DKNY Goes Round the World” »