70 posts tagged "John Galliano"
An Ode to Petri
In gritty 1980s London, John Galliano was wrapping up his studies at Central Saint Martins, Leigh Bowery was hosting pansexual club nights, and Nick Logan launched The Face. It was a time of unencumbered experimentation—sartorial and otherwise. And it was during this era that stylist Ray Petri—the man responsible for the anti-glam Buffalo movement—emerged on the scene. Petri (formerly Petrie) laid the bricks for the eclectic British fashion scene of today. His editorials, which set the tone in magazines such as Arena, i-D, and the above-mentioned The Face, pictured rough London teens in unexpected combinations of high fashion, tough workwear, athletic clothes, underwear, vintage, and beyond. He created not only a look but an ideology that was universally recognizable. And now, the iconoclast—who died of AIDS in 1989—is getting a magazine named after him.
Founded by Zadrian Smith—a London-based writer, stylist, and producer who’s worked with such publications as Tank, Love, GQ Style and British Vogue—PETRI(E) Inventory 65 (the stylist would have turned 65 this year—published annually, the numbers will bump up accordingly) seeks to breathe new life into Petri’s legacy. Aiming to channel the man’s uncompromising, unfiltered vision, PETRI(E)’s editorial array extends far beyond fashion. The debut issue offers an ode to Petri by British Vogue’s Francesca Burns, a photo essay by Saiful Huq Omi that lenses the hope and strife within Bangladesh megalopolis, Dhaka (above), and an essay by Valerie Steele on her upcoming exhibition, Queer History. “I think there’s a vulnerability and honesty to each piece that I hope readers will appreciate,” Smith told Style.com. Also included is an editorial titled “Melody of Caged Birds,” (above, right) which, featuring Meadham Kirchhoff’s designs, serves as a visual antidote to the suppression of raw creative impulse. “Don’t get me wrong,” said Smith, “I know fashion is a business, but there needs to be a greater balance of business and creativity. At this rate, fashion will bleed itself of organic artistry.”
PETRI(E) Inventory 65 launches on May 20, and is available for preorder here.
CSM Does It Again
Alexander McQueen, John Galliano, Riccardo Tisci, Christopher Kane—Central Saint Martins College has no shortage of iconic alumni. And it’s not hurting for fresh talent, either. Students in the undergraduate and masters programs have once again broken new ground with the release of 1 Granary, a student fashion magazine, named for the address of the school’s new King’s Cross campus at 1 Granary Square. “We were just having fun, doing what we loved,” explained the student editor and founder, Olya Kuryshchuk (she also styled the below shoot, “Going Sublime,” which was lensed by photographer Nikolay Biryukov), of the magazine’s origins. “Gradually, we realized that we had created a great opportunity—that we could meet the people who truly inspire us and show our own work in the process.”
The issue features interviews with CSM alums such as Kate Phelan, as well as some very rare archival images—the first official image of Alexander McQueen, which was shot by his friend and current CSM tutor Gary Wallis, Katie Grand’s first-ever photo shoot from when she was a second-year knitting student at the school (lensed by Wallis, the spread debuts here, above). “For the shoot, Katie and Gary Wallis drove all evening, shot all night in an old marked-off factory, and were back in time for class the next morning,” explained Kuryshchuk. And of course, 1 Granary highlights work by current students and recent graduates, with editorials showcasing brightly-printed sustainable tunics crafted by students during a group project, and some almost cartoonishly clever architectural pieces from 2011 graduate Jaeyeon Lee. Continue Reading “CSM Does It Again” »
Suzy Menkes Talks Punk, Galliano, and More at 92nd Street Y
Yesterday evening, 92nd Street Y hosted the latest installment of its ongoing Fashion Icons with Fern Mallis series. This time around, British journalist and International Herald Tribune fashion editor Suzy Menkes was in the hot seat, and the tone of her and Mallis’ conversation was appropriately outspoken. “Most designers can’t sleep after she sees their shows,” said Mallis. “She dares to say what she really feels and that is very rare.” Menkes more than illustrated this “rare” quality while opening up about her criticism of the Met’s Punk: Chaos to Couture exhibition (“It didn’t have enough of the sense of anger and freedom and drama that was punk”), her early fashion memories (“I made my own fashion newspaper at age 5—my mom still has it—with a page devoted to this glamorous person: me”), and her misadventures (sneaking into one of Karl Lagerfeld’s Chloé shows by pretending to be a cleaner with a mop).
Offering a detailed reflection on Menkes’ forty-some-year career, the Q&A took the audience through the highs and lows of the journalist’s life and work. It even touched upon Menkes’ personal tragedies, like the death of her husband (“My life is divided into before David and after David”). “I didn’t set out to be a pioneer [for female journalists],” explained Menkes. “I didn’t feel ambitious. I just wanted to have kids and a family, and I had my work, and I didn’t want to give it up.”
The conversation also examined some of Menkes’ more controversial stories and opinions. Of her much-buzzed-about T magazine article, “The Circus of Fashion,” she offered, “[The reaction] was surprising, because I’m so not condemning of blogging or any kind of social media.” Her feelings on John Galliano, who, it was announced today, will not be teaching a master class at Parsons, were discussed, too. “I would never say that I love Hitler, in any shape or form, ever,” she said. “But that is not to say that someone with such brilliant talent shouldn’t be given a second chance.”
The Many Impressions of Christian Dior
This Saturday marks the opening of the Impressionist Festival in Normandy, France, and Granville’s Christian Dior Museum is getting in on the action. On May 4, the museum will bow Impressions Dior—an exhibit that pays homage to the nineteenth-century art movement’s role in shaping the fashion house. The show juxtaposes artworks on loan from private collectors and the Musée d’Orsay—Edgar Degas’ Le Bal, Claude Monet’s Paysage de Normandie, and Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s Roses Mousseuses (below) among them—with seventy-four Impressionist-influenced dresses. “Impressionist fashions fueled Dior’s nostalgic daydreams, spurring him to reinvent various pieces from bygone eras,” curator Florence Müller told Style.com. “The Musée d’Orsay’s Degas painting, Le Bal, evokes this lively and refined past, whose charms left a powerful impression on Christian Dior.” However, it wasn’t just the house’s founder who was inspired by the art movement—more contemporary creative directors have nodded to the Impressionists, too. John Galliano’s yellow tulle Margot dress from Dior’s 2005 Haute Couture collection is on display. Named for ballerina Margot Fonteyn de Arias, its multicolored wool and raffia embroidery boasts a pastoral, painterly quality. Also on view is an embroidered, multicolored tulle-and-silk bustier evening dress from Raf Simons’ Spring 2013 Haute Couture collection.
Positioned next to Renoir’s Marine Guernsey painting will be a fluid dress once worn by Princess Grace of Monaco. “The material of these dresses is often very light and airy, like sheer fabric or organza,” said Müller.” The feeling of fluidity dominates these outfits. They begin to vibrate with nature’s ebb and flow, and the movement of its elements—sea, sky, clouds, or wind—all of which were masterfully interpreted by the Impressionists.”
Impressions Dior will run from May 4 to September 22 at the Musée Christian Dior Granville.
Galliano to…Parsons?
Ever since John Galliano’s unexpected stint at Oscar de la Renta’s studio last January (well, ever since he departed Dior, actually), we’ve been sufficiently curious about his next move. And yesterday night, it was revealed: Via an e-mail to its students, Parsons announced that the couturier will teach a three-day-long master class to a select group of the institution’s BFA candidates. Dubbed “Show Me Emotion,” the course will focus on the influence of emotions on design—a subject, we’d imagine, that Mr. Galliano knows a little something about.