toby, ben & adam.

grooming :: sung hee park

PRINTS PRINTS PRINTS

MOVES //

ANDREW WEIR // THE BOYS FROM MILAN

source models.com

MORE DYNASTY // ADAM CARRINGTON

the machiavellian prince of denver, colorado.  et al.

THE MEN OF DYNASTY

PRADA "FIRST SPRING" vs. CHANEL PARIS-SHANGHAI "A FANTASY"

brilliant fashion film in my opinion.  though i might just be saying that because i'm still reeling from the disaster that is Chanel Paris-Shanghai.  china is portrayed as both very traditional but also very modern and a surreal place of any possibilities.  the 'foreign travelers' are just as exoticised as their environment, and chinese models/actors are used to play chinese people.  well of course that would be the case anyway, but not for Karl's film where european models are clearly in yellowface.  yes why don't we get the video up:

this is only the second part (the rest can be viewed on the youtube user's channel or in full on www.chanel-paris-shanghai.com).  1.25 - 1.32 is just pure orientalism.  2.40 - 2.45 = LOL.


the same inspiration in both cases but one is internally generated, the other externally.  different executions and the results speak for themselves.

POWER

LIGHT AGE // JAN WELTERS

DIRECTION

PRADA SPRING 2010 // YANG FUDONG

no doubt in my mind that i'm liking this a lot more than Chanel Paris-Shanghai.  Lagerfeld is out of touch in his ivory tower.

chinese artist Yang Fudong was invited to shoot Prada's spring collection as well as direct a short film available on their website.  will watch and review asap.

"IT'S JUST ONCE AROUND THE SUN"

this is where we walk today...for your birthday.

LUKE WORRALL // METAL MAGAZINE no18

MILAN FASHION WEEK AW10 // JIL SANDER (MENS)

just perfect.  amazing trousers, great fabrics on the jackets and lovely sweaters.  as always such a perfect silhouette.

MIRAGE MAG no2 :: SNEAK PEEK

AN AFTERNOON ON THE STRANGLES

FIRST ISSUE :: UNFAIR

i bought this magazine a couple of weeks ago and only just had the chance to properly look through it.  it's the latest high fashion glossy to come out of the middle east, abu dhabi precisely.  

my first impression was that it was very UAE, but i'll come back to that.  second, that for a magazine's first issue it absolutely dripped with money - dior, calvin klein, lancome, longchamp, estee lauder, valentino - all absolutely dominated the first opening pages in advertising space.  third, that there was quite an interesting discrepancy in the construction of the advertising images produced outside the UAE for their consumption and those produced within it.  

going back to the first point, because of the omnipresence of islam in the UAE, explicit sexuality cannot be used to sell fashion in the way we're so used to in Europe; the  visibility and market presence of western brands and their advertising is largely controlled by the monolithic boutiques who in turn create their own advertising images featuring those brands.  the result is a very surreal world of hyper-luxury where, in a way, the fashion becomes much more the focus as everything is more or less sterilized of sexuality.

i found it quite interesting as well because i was looking through it with an old schoolfriend from dubai and we were just amazed at how differently we saw these images now that we don't live there anymore - they were the kind of images we were so used to seeing and a way of looking at fashion that was just so normal to us.   now being exposed to all that again just reminds me that there are still other ways of seeing that haven't been so strongly affected by the armada of western media.

BALMAIN HOMME SS10

the brand's debut menswear line // clement chabernaud shot by karim sadli

alex.
designs :: norman de vera

alex wells @ premier // styling :: raphael hirsch // hair&makeup :: sian duke

THEODORE DE BRY :: PEREGRINATION IN AMERICAM

an idea of america presented to the european colonial powers in 1597 :: crucial in shaping european views of the new world - it's primitivism, barbarism, savagery, and most importantly it's inferiority, to justify their subjugation and 'civilizing' of the natives.

no actual practices of cannibalism exist(ed) amongst the native peoples of america

DUANE NASIS...

WILL BE BACK ONLINE SOON.

WATCH THIS SPACE.

CHANEL PARIS SHANGHAI

beautiful collection, amazingly made - you only need to watch the other 10 videos to see how much hard work went into each garment, but there's something more interesting going on here

chinoiserie is being sold back to China.

HEDI SLIMANE // OSCAR NILSSON