6 posts tagged "Grace Jones"
Upside Down with Kenzo
Kenzo creative directors Carol Lim and Humberto Leon have once again teamed up with artist Jean-Paul Goude (yes, the same Jean-Paul Goude who created that iconic eighties image of Grace Jones) for their Spring ’13 campaign. And the result is modern-day Jungle Jap at its finest. Wearing the season’s Technicolor animal prints, Models Ming Xi and Jester are flipped upside down, their legs creating geometric X shapes against the Kenzo logo. Take a peek at Kenzo’s punchy Spring ads (above) and watch Mr. Goude in action in the debut of Kenzo’s behind-the-scenes film (below).
Paul Smith’s Sporty Stamps, Alexa Chung Gives Jimmy Fallon A Style Lesson, Kate Moss The Singer, And More…
Sir Paul Smith has designed seven stamps for the Isle of Man in honor of London’s Olympic Games this year. The stamps, which went on sale January 1, include images of tennis balls, pink bicycles, and racing boats. [WWD]
Alexa Chung, who is currently promoting her new television show 24 Hour Catwalk, took a brief break from fashion last night to drink beer and throw footballs with Jimmy Fallon on his show. After that, she taught Fallon a thing or two about style. Of her new gig, she said, “It’s a very mean show.” [Huff Po]
Congratulations to Isaac Mizrahi and his longtime boyfriend Arnold Gerner. The two, who tied the knot on November 30, shared the news on The Wendy Williams Show yesterday. [Fashion Etc.]
Kate Moss reportedly spent New Year’s Eve doing karaoke with friends Grace Jones, Terry Richardson, and her husband Jamie Hince, in Jamaica. Moss sang a version of Blondie’s “Rapture.” We’re still wondering what Hince sang. [Page Six]
They Were With The Band
Lydia Lunch: “T-shirts have become the daily uniform of every slob too lazy to button up a shirt front.” So the post-punk chanteuse prefaces Ripped ($30, Rizzoli), a new coffee-table (or tour van?) collection of rock tees cool enough to convince you to join the slob brigade and renounce buttons forever. Vintage dealer Cesar Padilla—chasing, he explains, a great, lost collection of band shirts thrown out by his mother—has gathered the best of the best for the new book, borrowing from the collections of Betsey Johnson, Thurston Moore, the Magnetic Fields’ Stephin Merritt, and more. Banal but true: They don’t make ‘em like they used to. Shirts celebrating Television (above), the Kinks, Grace Jones, Debbie Harry are enough to send you straight to eBay (most often, probably without much success). For insider tips, Padilla will be on hand later this month to celebrate the book at Acne’s Greene Street shop. Good luck getting the shirt off his back.
Arise and Conquer: Nigeria’s New Fashion Glossy
They say there’s strength in numbers. And Friday night, the Arise African Fashion Collective, a runway show in four parts, proved to be just that. It was a celebration of the launch of Arise magazine, which is published out of Nigeria. The oversize glossy covers fashion, music, and art, and it appears to be Nigeria’s answer to Interview magazine. It’s also snagged Naomi Campbell, Liya Kebede, and Alek Wek as covergirls. The show kicked off with Xuly Bet’s latest collection. For those of you who can’t place the name, he’s been at it for 15 years. He’s still going strong with trademark streetwear—red trapunto stitching over rubberized body-hugging dresses and oversize club-kid pants (see: early nineties skater, Kids, Neneh Cherry). Models from all over the globe—Liya, Lara, Behati, and Alek—flew down the mirrored runway to Grace Jones’ “Corporate Cannibal.” Which brings us to the lady of the hour. Have you ever seen Grace Jones in the flesh? Talk about presence. Watching her catwalk leaves you awestruck. The way she swaggers, demanding you lose the fashion manners and stand up and cheer? Never mind she’s an icon and muse, lady’s got some serious legs. Tough act to follow, but the other three African designers managed to hold their own. Tiffany Amber embellished classic feminine silhouettes with intricate bead work and traditional Ankara fabrics—a standout being the colorful hand-beaded belted trench on Chanel Iman. Stoned Cherrie had a girlie forties feel with chiffon bowed shirts, ruffled skirts, and jacquard capes in pinks and blues. If the former is Africa’s answer to Nanette Lepore, then Momo’s Fati Asibelua could easily be compared to Calvin Klein. Minimal silk and cashmere silhouettes in blacks, grays, and bronze metallics felt incredibly modern. While the designers hail from Nigeria, Mali, and South Africa, all fabrics were sourced from Africa and Europe. And we hope to see them all over the globe.
Sessilee = Grace: More Eighties At Couture
With Jean-Paul Goude doing the rounds this week and Inès de la Fressange at Gaultier Paris, it seems like a full-on eighties couture revival is upon us. Alexandre Vauthier, former first assistant to Gaultier and a veteran of Thierry Mugler’s atelier, narrowed his vision on Grace Jones. A pointy shoulder formed the main silhouette story and Vauthier took it to extremes, sending out the kind of sharp angles that of course recall the decades-old heyday of Mugler and Gaultier (well, actually, also Gaultier’s current day) as well as the more recent revival kick-started by Martin Margiela. Still, it was somewhat of a time warp. Sessilee Lopez with an ultra-cinched waist and shoulders out to there was pure Grace incarnate. Not that we minded. When it comes to full-on fashion drama, we’re slaves to the rhythm.