9 posts tagged "Bianca Jagger"
See and Be Scene: Jeannette Montgomery Barron on Her New Book
From Warhol’s Factory to Basquiat’s studio, throughout the eighties, downtown Manhattan was the place for young creative types to be. Photographer Jeannette Montgomery Barron was there, and her new tome, Scene, is a sort of yearbook of the time, documenting the likes of Cindy Sherman, Keith Haring, Francesco Clemente, Willem Dafoe, and more early in their careers. “I was just a fly on the wall,” recalls Montgomery Barron, speaking at Indochine, one of her old haunts. (“It looks almost exactly the same, but there were a lot of drugs happening in the bathrooms back then.”) This afternoon, she’ll sign copies of Scene—which, in addition to the snaps, features personal anecdotes about each artist—at Bookmarc, and starting tomorrow, a select group of her black-and-white photographs will be on display in an exhibition at ClampArt. Here, Montgomery Barron discusses her book, and reminisces about shooting Warhol, working out with Bianca Jagger, and spending time with Basquiat.
How did you find yourself in the center of the eighties New York art scene?
I was just lucky. It’s not that I went out and said, “I want to record every artist from A to Z.” It was more like I’d photograph Francesco Clemente, and he’d say, “You should really go photograph my friend Kenny Scharf.” It was very organic in that way. And, I mean, I knew I could drop a name. I’m sure I said, “Hey, I’m a friend of Andy Warhol. Can I shoot you?” I guess I’d get an adrenaline surge.
In the book, you mention that you could just call up Andy Warhol and ask to take his picture. What were those sittings like?
The first time I photographed him was at the Factory in Union Square, and he wouldn’t even let me out of the outer lobby. When I met Bianca Jagger and we became friends, he warmed up. He never really talked much, but he always made you feel like you were the most brilliant person who said the most profound things. Continue Reading “See and Be Scene: Jeannette Montgomery Barron on Her New Book” »
Shop The Look: That Seventies Show
If the Saint Laurent show was any indication, designers were feeling very “seventies” for Spring ’13. Hedi Slimane’s boho blouses, paired with slim trousers and wide-brimmed hats, recall the era’s style icons, like Jerry Hall, Bianca Jagger, and Stevie Nicks. Now is the time to embrace the past via retro statement pieces with a modern edge. Shop our oh-so-seventies selects from See by Chloé, Miu Miu, Dries Van Noten, and more.
1. Mother jeans, $220, available at www.farfetch.com
2. See by Chloé shirt, $235, available at www.yoox.com
3. Miu Miu sunglasses, $365, available at www.shop.nordstrom.com
4. Dries Van Noten pumps, $623, available at www.mytheresa.com
5. Jason Wu bag, $1,555, available at www.netaporter.com
To view more looks, click here
The Empress Strikes Back
Last fashion week, we got a healthy dose of the legendary Diana Vreeland with the debut of The Eye Has to Travel, the biopic made by the spitfire editor’s grand-daughter-in-law Lisa Immordino Vreeland. Today, we are reminded of the icon’s unwavering legacy yet again with the release of Amanda Mackenzie Stuart’s new book Empress of Fashion: A Life of Diana Vreeland.
A complementary companion to Vreeland’s own fantastical and often hyperbolic memoir, D.V., Stuart’s biography provides a realistic account of the editor’s life, exploring her difficult childhood, her days at Harper’s Bazaar and Vogue, and her time at the Met.
“What really intrigued me about Diana Vreeland was the way she deployed the power of imagination and fairy tale to triumph over the harshness in her life,” says the author, who first stumbled upon D.V. while researching her last book. “At that time, I had only a vague picture of who she was—a terrifyingly hip old lady—raven black hair, snood, Vogue, the Met, Andy Warhol—but I wasn’t quite sure how it all fit together. As I dug deeper, I began to grasp how extraordinary she was and became really fascinated by her.”
What’s not to be fascinated by? From her jet-setting lifestyle to her outrageous photo shoots to guest appearances from Mick and Bianca Jagger, the Kennedys, and every designer under the sun, Vreeland’s life story is decidedly “editorial.”
Of course, it wouldn’t be a Vreeland book without a helping of the editor’s famed sound bites. “I think fantasists are the only realists in the world” is one of Stuart’s favorites. “If readers understand why [Vreeland] said that by the time they get to the end of the book,” says the author, “I may have succeeded in doing her justice.”
Empress of Fashion: A Life of Diana Vreeland is available now at www.barnesandnoble.com
Suits Like Jagger
After 50 years of sweating, screaming, and singing with the Stones, Mick Jagger is all about feeling good on stage. “Men aren’t interested in clothes that look amazing but are fantastically uncomfortable to wear. We’re not into pain—we’re into comfort,” he told WWD today. The dapper duds his girlfriend, fashion designer L’Wren Scott, created for his current “50 and Counting” tour apparently fit the bill. But all one has to do is look at the Stones’ old tour photos to know that, in his earlier years, Jagger’s comfort was the exception, rather than the rule.
In the late sixties, Jagger, along with his then wife Bianca, became big-time clients of Ossie Clark, the It designer of London’s swinging sixties. Clark, who also counted the likes of Twiggy and Jean Shrimpton among his fans, designed jumpsuits that hugged Mick, very, very tightly, in all the right places. From a bedazzled blue velvet onesie to a low-cut unitard, to the lace-up number pictured above (which is currently up for auction at Christie’s with a starting bid of $12,744), Jagger shied away from neither glamour nor flamboyance. Rather, as he wiggled and kicked about on stage in his Clark designs, he embraced them. Which would explain why he quite literally wore his second-skin suits to death. “You can see the pelvic wear and tear from all the gyrating,” V&A curator Kate Dorney told the Guardian in 2009 when asked about one of the rock star’s Ossie-designed costumes featured in an exhibition. However, Jagger never fell victim to the “wardrobe malfunctions” so common in modern stardom. Being the master that he was, Clark always made sure Mick was equipped with well-made backups.
Harvey Nichols’ Secret Garden
For its tribute to the Chelsea Garden Show, Harvey Nichols asked some of London’s brightest designers to create floral installations, unveiling the results last night at its Secret Garden cocktail party on the retailer’s fifth floor. Roksanda Ilincic, Marios Schwab, James Long, and Mary Katrantzou all showed off their masterpieces, which included Ilincic’s “wall” of live flowers, Katrantzou’s window treatment, and Schwab’s gazebo made to feel like a confessional booth.
While Katrantzou, Joan Collins, Tali Lennox, and Astrid Muñoz sipped cocktails from tiny watering cans, Bianca Jagger (who had her grandchildren Amba and Assisi Jackson in tow) and Schwab offered up the best moment of the evening. As the two sat in the “confessional” gazebo and stared at its ceiling, Schwab asked, “Can you see it?” He was referring to well-hidden erotic/pornographic scenes crafted in the Perspex tiles. Whereas it took some guests hours to catch it, if they did at all, there was no getting past Jagger—the queen of seventies decadence (pictured). “Of course, darling, but don’t make me say ‘penis’ in front of all these people…”