20 posts tagged "Cecilia Dean"
Metal Heads
Visionaire’s latest book, Issue 63: FOREVER, comes out on May 11. And this year, the project has been underwritten by G-Shock—the watchmaker known for its durable timepieces. What’s the tie-in, you might ask? Visionaire’s avant-garde edition is rendered entirely in metal, and features images by artists and fashion designers that have been either hammered or laser-etched into 9 x 12 inch plates. Thus, both the timepieces and the tome are, in essence, everlasting.
“The word indestructible is the catalyst—if G-Shock does the indestructible watch, we want to do the indestructible publication. It was a nice, tight concept,” said Cecilia Dean, Visionaire’s cofounder and editor in chief. G-Shock, who’s celebrating its thirtieth anniversary and a recent store opening in Soho, liked the pitch and came on board to sponsor the inevitably “expensive” production
The idea for an all-metal issue was spawned during Dean’s time spent with Givenchy’s Riccardo Tisci, while working on Visionaire’s Issue 60: RELIGION. “In religious iconography, there’s all this incredible metalwork, the metal on the altars, gold painting—it’s just so beautiful and rich,” said Dean, adding, “I have to say, it’s so funny, everything goes back to Riccardo—a big inspiration was also the Jay-Z and Kanye West album cover he designed,” referring to 2011′s Watch the Throne.
FOREVER features everyone from a nymph-like Kate Moss, shot by Mario Testino, to a Karl Lagerfeld-lensed in-the-buff Baptiste Giabiconi, to a suggestive Lady Gaga snapped by Inez & Vinoodh, to Linda Evangelista ringed in light by Maurizio Cattelan and Pierpaolo Ferrari. “It’s Linda as a saint, basically,” said Dean.
To commemorate the coupling, G-Shock will open a mini-retrospective of Visionaire’s past (above) in its downtown outpost tomorrow. The exhibition runs through the end of May.
Visionaire In 3-D
For its last issue, Visionaire set a world record for the largest magazine ever produced (it was fittingly dubbed the Larger Than Life issue #61). The newest edition might not win any awards for its physical size, but #62, which is all about Rio de Janeiro, has a cool factor all its own. Boldfaced names like Gisele Bëndchen, Mert Alas & Marcus Piggott, Lea T, Adriana Lima, Richard Phillips, Karl Lagerfeld, and Marilyn Minter collaborated on a series of 3-D images celebrating Brazilian culture that appear on double-image slides. To look at them, there’s a stereoscope (which creates the illusion of depth), designed by NYC-based design studio aruliden, that comes along in the 3-D lenticular case. Visionaire 62 Rio ($375, available this week at www.visionaireworld.com) made its debut at the Iguatemi-hosted private launch party last night in São Paulo, but here, Style.com has an exclusive first look at some of the issue’s best images by Lagerfeld, Minter, and Jason Schmidt.
Master Class
It might have been a balmy after-work Friday evening, but an impressive fashion lot made their way to Washington Square to preview Helmut Lang’s latest show, titled simply Helmut Lang: Sculptures. The power players in the room, including Barneys’ Mark Lee, Ed Filipowski, and Cecilia Dean, were a testament to the designer-turned-artist’s lasting draw. “It’s really a confirmation of Helmut’s style,” said Giambattista Valli, who was in town for the Met gala and was taking in the rubber, foam, sheepskin, and tar stacked sculptures—modern totems of a sort (pictured). Valli, who has never met Lang, admitted he had long been an admirer. “He came into fashion and completely changed the aesthetic,” he said. “It went from the over-the-top eighties to his own clean and spare aesthetic. If you look around, his aesthetic continues to today.”
Lang’s forward-thinking, stark work contrasted particularly nicely with the classic parlor-floor town house space, including vintage moldings. The viewing venue came courtesy of art veteran Mark Fletcher, who co-curated the exhibit with Neville Wakefield. “It’s not easy to make the transition from fashion to art,” Fletcher said. “But when Helmut shredded his fashion archive, I thought ‘This guy is really serious.’ ” Fletcher was also quick to point out, though, that those with vision shouldn’t be restricted. “People like to keep people in specific arenas, whether it’s art, music, film, or fashion,” he said. “But transgressing cultural boundaries is what’s interesting. Look at Tom Ford.”
Helmut Lang: Sculptures, 24 Washington Square North, is on view until June 15.
Nicholas Kirkwood’s New Digs: 1,500 Square Feet Of Shoes And A Garden To Boot
Two days before the opening of his New York store—his first on U.S. soil—Nicholas Kirkwood is talking by phone from the space, which, from the sound of it, is still very much a construction site. The 1,500-square-foot store, with its white, gray, and beige palette and minimal decor, will have, he says, “a charming feeling. It’s all very easy on the eye. It’s hopefully a relaxing kind of shopping experience.” Behind him, a very loud horn blares. “A boat?” he wonders with a laugh. (The Hudson River is a block away.)
If he isn’t able to relax just yet, it’s easy to believe relief is coming soon. Kirkwood is arguably the most exciting new footwear designer of the last few years, and his New York location is poised to be a major new outpost for his brand. The store is designed to emphasize space: “I like the idea of doing something else that you can kind of walk around and explore it,” he says. “It kind of has a gallery-esque feeling, without being quite as cold as a gallery.” (The reference is apt; the new, downtown site of the Whitney Museum will be just across the street when it opens. “That’s going to be absolutely fantastic,” he says.)
The store will sell the full Kirkwood collection, as well as a selection of collaborations with other designers, including Peter Pilotto, Erdem, and Paco Rabanne, at the opening; other collaborations, like the shoes he makes for Prabal Gurung, will eventually arrive. Just outside, and visible through the back windows, is a garden. “The luxury of having a garden in New York is quite special,” he says. For the opening, Cecilia Dean and Anne Christensen will host a private tea party; customer events will likely follow.
The store debuts with an opening party on Friday night, once every tile and display is in place. Is Kirkwood swinging a hammer himself, a reporter wonders? “I might do,” Kirkwood deadpans, “if they don’t hurry up.”
Nicholas Kirkwood opens Friday, May 4, at 807 Washington St., NYC, www.nicholaskirkwood.com.
Toasting The Artist Who Saved The Standard From Itself
Multimedia artist Marco Brambilla’s (pictured) work is very familiar to a certain partygoing set. He’s the man behind the trippy elevator video, Civilization, that plays on the long ride to the 18th floor of the Standard hotel. “I’ve seen Marco’s work too many times going up to Boom Boom Room,” Waris Ahluwalia admitted last night a private dinner to fête the artist’s latest exhibition, RPM, at the hotel’s High Line Room and Terrace. “I know every scene and every bouncing breast.”
It almost wasn’t to be. “We originally had a lame concept for the elevators: gold bricks to convey that we were the ‘gold standard’ of hotels,” André Balazs said in a toast. The audience—which included Cecilia Dean, Marina Abramovic, Jacqueline Schnabel, Dustin Yellin, and Casey Neistat—groaned. “It was a terrible idea.”
When the lights dimmed, the guests dutifully put on red stereoscopic shades they had been given to watch the psychedelic 3-D video, featuring a continuous loop of racing clips from the Monza Grand Prix processed with archived Ferrari photos and set to the sound of roaring Formula One engines. Midway through the screening, a rowdier set spilled in. The group, including Theophilus London, had come from the OHWOW fête taking place just upstairs to check out what Brambilla had created. “I wanted to capture the feeling of euphoria and danger, which are equally present in the mental state of a driver during a race,” the artist explained. Luckily, cabs were the preferred mode of transport home.