13 posts tagged "Saskia de Brauw"
Ladies & Gents, Unsexed
The concept of blurred gender lines isn’t anything new. But it’s been at the front of our minds over the last few months, after seeing gaggles of girls dressed like boys (Saskia de Brauw in Saint Laurent’s Spring menswear campaign, Tamy Glauser, Jenny Shimizu, and Ashleigh Good on Givenchy’s Fall ’13 men’s runway) and boys dressed like girls (thank you, J.W. Anderson and Meadham Kirchhoff ). The art world seems to be pondering the topic, too. Evidence? Last night’s opening of Ladies & Gents—an exhibition at Salomon Contemporary that aims to cheekily explore our perception of the sexes. Featuring sixteen works, like Kiki Smith’s Daisy Chain (a long metal chain with a woman’s head and feet, made in 1992), Deborah Kass’ Four Barbras, Six Red Barbras, Four Barbras (a 1993 Barbra Streisand-centric silk-screen series), and Judith Hudson’s Bribe (an irreverent 2009 watercolor of a topless, pearl-adorned woman), the show lightheartedly juxtaposes masculinity and femininity, and sometimes fuses both. Take, for instance, E.V. Day’s work Spidey / Striptease (2012). Known for deconstructing fashion items (like a Chanel jacket, an Hervé Léger bandage dress, and pink panties) and stringing them up into complicated webs, Day presented a piece that combined a shredded Spider-Man costume, fishnets, and red stiletto heels. “I love Spider-Man, because his web looks just like a fishnet stocking,” said Day. “And that brought me to the realization that there’s a feminine idea about him,” she added.
Nir Hod—who showed Genius, a new painting that depicts a jaded, judgmental child wearing what looks like Elizabethan clothes while he smokes a cigarette—insisted that his work is about pure beauty. “That’s beyond gender. If you asked me if this was a boy or a girl, I couldn’t even tell you.” Continue Reading “Ladies & Gents, Unsexed” »
Inside David Bowie’s “The Stars (Are Out Tonight)”
Out of the mystic comes “The Stars (Are Out Tonight),” a new Bowie video. This one is a lot less oblique than the video that artist Tony Oursler made for “Where Are We Now?,” the first single from Bowie’s startling comeback album, and that’s mostly because director Floria Sigismondi’s natural genius with a twisted narrative (case in point: Marilyn Manson’s “The Beautiful People” promo) gels so well with what one imagines is Bowie’s own predilection for the cinematically perverse. “The Stars” sumptuously elevates the man and the myth to new heights.
This particular offering toys with the androgyny, the bravado, the decadence, the desire that turns an ordinary human being into a raving fan. It also has a strong contemporary-fashion quotient, appropriate given that Bowie was, in a way that the upcoming exhibition at the Victoria & Albert Museum will surely clarify, always inclined to the fashion experiment—from the early days of his Kansai jumpsuits to McQueen frock coats and Hedi Slimane suits.
Stylist Jerry Stafford was responsible for dressing the cast of five for the two-day shoot in L.A.: models Saskia de Brauw, Andrej Pejic, and Iselin Steiro, plus Bowie himself and his co-star Tilda Swinton, with whom Stafford has worked for fifteen years. Stafford is, like me, a child of Bowie, but he says there was no time on the set for fandom. “Everyone understood they were part of something special.” There was one moment when Stafford presented Bowie with a long coat, explaining to him it was by a designer named Rick Owens. “More Rick Wakeman than Rick Owens,” was the response, Wakeman being the wizard-coat-wearing keyboard king of Brit prog rock. “He played piano on ‘Life on Mars?,’ ” chimed in Stafford, the sole moment when he let himself indulge his know-every-last-detail trainspotter obsession. “And, indeed, on the whole of Hunky Dory,” Bowie said with a knowing smile. Continue Reading “Inside David Bowie’s “The Stars (Are Out Tonight)”” »
They’re Men, They’re Men in Tights
First, it was meggings. Now mantyhose? According to an article in WWD, men’s pantyhose is a hot item at Emilio Cavallini. Popular styles include those printed with argyle, barbed wire, dots, and crossword puzzles. Quite frankly, we can’t say we’re surprised. What else would gentlemen wear with J.W. Anderson’s Fall ’13 men’s minidresses? With the gender lines blurring more by the minute (boys dressed like girls—think Andrej Pejic; girls dressed like boys, à la Saskia de Brauw, Casey Legler, and Tamy Glauser), this trend—while perhaps surprising at first—actually sort of makes sense. Mantyhose are basically just printed long underwear, which men are apparently donning with shorts (questionable), under ripped jeans (sensible), and as a cozy sock alternative. (Lisa Cavallini told WWD that her male clientele likes the patterns peeking out from their shoes.) If Rick Owens can champion the men’s heel and Marc Jacobs can wear a lace dress, why not push stockings for boys? However, we have a feeling they’d catch on faster if they weren’t called “mantyhose.”
Tamy Glauser: Just One of the Guys
Tamy Glauser is a leader in the new wave of gender-bending models. The 28-year-old Swiss tomboy had a breakout moment today on the Givenchy menswear runway in Paris, where her shaved head, fierce gaze, sharp cheekbones, and lanky frame fit right in with the rest of the guys in the cast (plus several other Riccardo Tisci favorites, including Saskia de Brauw, Jenny Shimizu, and Ashleigh Good). Glauser (left, note the “Garcons” sweater) debuted at the Spring shows, walking in Vivienne Westwood and Jean Paul Gaultier, where they spray-painted her hair red to channel Annie Lennox. “When I went to the [Jean Paul Gaultier] casting, it was two o’clock in the morning. I didn’t have heels, and I didn’t know what the designer looked like, because I didn’t really have anything to do with fashion before. After walking for him, he said he liked my look and told me I got the job,” she told Style.com. Since then, it’s been a whirlwind of change for Glauser, who recently relocated from Zurich to Paris, and just shot a menswear editorial (out this February) alongside fellow androgynous star of the moment, Casey Legler, who is the first female model on Ford’s men’s board.
Before beginning her modeling career, Glauser was paying her bills by working in bars and restaurants, with the occasional acting gig on the side. Earlier this year, she starred in an award-winning music video for popular European dubstep musician Joachim Garraud. Back in 2000, Glauser was an Olympics-bound swimmer on the Swiss National Team (her events were the 400- and 800-meter freestyle), but she decided not to pursue becoming a professional athlete, adding, “Swimmers have the weirdest bodies anyways, and I already don’t like my broad shoulders.” Glauser takes each new chapter of her life in stride, and is fully embracing modeling for the moment. “I like being in front of the camera. It gives me the chance to put my shyness away and be someone else,” she explained. “I don’t have an exact future in mind. In this industry, one day it’s one way and the next day it’s another. I feel like if you expect anything, you might get disappointed, so I try not to have any expectations and just appreciate the present.” Chances are, we’ll be seeing more of Glauser at the Fall shows in February.
A Holiday Surprise From Saint Laurent
The fashion houses are releasing their Spring campaigns in full force, a holiday gift of sorts to online-fashion newsmongers in the slow days leading up to Christmas. Next up is Saint Laurent, where Hedi Slimane chose Spring ’13 show opener Julia Nobis to star. Following Saskia de Brauw’s gender-bending turn in the SL men’s campaign, we’d half hoped for a guy to cross the aisle on this one, but all the same: Merry Christmas to us!