A Magazine, Issue 77

No. 77 APR/MAY 2015 LL10,000

California dreamin'

Beach bums and boardwalk queens Fashion Boho revival Film The classic fairy tale Art Architecture's art darling Beauty Hollywood icons Food Meals on wheels Design A glass menagerie Travel Bali at its best

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Inside No. 77 APR/MAY 2015

Cityscape

50 Beirut Jewelry and juicing 52 London Scenes with Superman 54 Paris Michelin stars and streetside fare 56 Milan Luxury, the Italian way 58 New York Indulge and unwind 60 Accolade Guest of honor 62 Foundation Shaking up the art scene

Playground

72 Mixed media Hanan al-Shaykh 74 Cocktail Old Hollywood mixology 76 Fairy tale A Cinderella fantasy 80 Festival Coachella, VIP-style

Fashion

88 News Floral prints and family jewels 90 Collection Stone Cold Fox 92 Debate Is bigger better?

94 Menswear Boys aloud 96 Bohemian The best coast 98 Maturity Silver-haired muses 100 Trend Go with the flow 104 Family business Santoni 108 Retrospective McQueen 114 Snapshot Step into the spotlight

120 Accessories On the scene 126 Hot stuff Spring ahead 134 Made in America The sun never sets 150 Casual encounters Fast food, high style 160 Untamed sensibility Savage beauty 172 H么tel particulier Haute couture

Beauty

182 Counter Best face forward 184 Movement No poo 186 Fitness Morning raves 188 Treatment Peels on the go 190 Icon Hollywood legends

Design

196 Update As the world turns 200 Trend The lights fantastic 204 Invitation Fashion in the post 208 Collaboration Double agent 212 Artisan Glass menagerie

Inside High Art

220 Exhibitions What’s on view 224 Architect The gallery man 228 Perspective Like a dream 232 Gamble M.I.T. goes to Venice 234 Radical Björk as art 240 Spotlight African roots 242 Expansion Alserkal Avenue

Lifestyle

250 Barbecue The all-American cookout 252 Mobile meal L.A.’s food truck revolution 254 Nostalgia Hemingway’s Paris 258 City Bali at its best

No. 77 APR/MAY 2015 LL10,000

Last Word

260 Footwear Stripe dream

California dreamin'

Beach bums and boardwalk queens Fashion Boho revival Film The classic fairy tale Art Architecture's art darling Beauty Hollywood icons Food Meals on wheels Design A glass menagerie Travel Bali at its best

Cover She’s in a Roberto Cavalli swimsuit. Her bag is by Moschino Photographer Aaron Feaver. Stylist Amelianna Loiacono. Hair and makeup Tami Shirey represented by Nouvelle Vague. Model Jessica Morrow from Wilhelmina Models

A perfect match

A majestic wedding ring and solitaire made with delicately selected diamonds, for an everlasting bond.

33 Weygand Street, Downtown Beirut, Lebanon.

01 981 555 www.georgehakim.com

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Publisher

Tony Salamé Group TSG SAL

Editor-in-chief MacKenzie Lewis Kassab

Art directors

Senior art and production director Maria Maalouf Senior art director Mélanie Dagher Junior Art Director Josée Nakhlé Guest art director Raya Farhat

Editors

Associate editor Pip Usher Assistant editor Celine Omeira Italy editor Renata Fontanelli UK editor Grace Banks US editor Robert Landon

Writers

Daniel Hilton, John Ovans, Rosie Parker, M. Astella Saw, Mehrnoush Shafiei Rich Thornton, Jasper Toms, Laura van Straaten, Millie Walton, J. Michael Welton

Photographers

Fashion photographers Aaron Feaver, Alessandro Furchino, Dirk Messner, Petrovsky & Ramone Contributing photographers Tony Elieh, Raya Farhat, Nabil Ismail, Bachar Srour

Stylists

Joe Arida, Vanessa Bellugeon, Vanessa Geldbach, Jennifer Hahn, Amelianna Loiacono

John Ovans A writer and editor originally from London, John Ovans lived in Beirut for two years until last September, when he took flight to Shanghai. He now works for the city’s edition of Time Out.

Vanessa Geldbach Originally from New York, Vanessa Geldbach spent 10 years in Los Angeles as a celebrity stylist with a client roster that included Hugh Jackman and Chloë Grace Moretz. She is now based in London.

Advertising

Melhem Moussallem, Karine Abou Arraj, Stephanie Missirian

Production and printing

Senior photo producer Fadi Maalouf Printing Dots: The Art of Printing

Responsible director Nasser Bitar

140 El Moutrane St., Fourth Floor, Downtown Beirut, Lebanon, tel. 961.1.974.444, a@aishti.com, aishtiblog.com

beautiful life It’s easy to draw parallels between Beirut and Los Angeles: the amalgam of coastal calm and urban energy, permanently pleasant weather, a disproportionate number of beautiful people and an appreciation for the finer things in life.

Yet Los Angeles is the land of dreams, a city that reinvents itself each morning with a toothy white smile. We set out to see the reality for ourselves, from fashion to food to culture, and we weren’t disappointed. Whether inventive food trucks whet your travel appetite or morning fitness raves get your gears in motion, this issue is a virtual tour of the City of Angels. And if living out the fantasy on our pages isn’t enough, revel in Cali-inspired style and beauty. With looks like these, we expect some L.A. attitude on Beirut’s streets this spring.

MacKenzie Lewis Kassab

Holiday winners (left)

Aïshti’s Christmas sweepstake draw saw two lucky shoppers win gifts too big to sit under the tree. Rola Najem walked away with a 2015 Jaguar F-Type Coupé V6 while Christiane Zein won a Samsung 78”″Curved Smart TV. Jaguar, Corniche du Fleuve, Ashrafieh, tel.

01.613.670, saabtrad.com Samsung, Dbayeh Highway, tel. 01.484.999, samsungctc.com

Cacharel (below)

Drawing inspiration from the Bagatelle Gardens of Paris, Cacharel’s spring/summer 2015 collection is dotted with pastel accents and floral prints. Soft and dreamy, the Cacharel girl is romantic in all the right ways.

Available at Kamishibai, Sarraf Bldg., Independence St., Ashrafieh, tel. 01.323.109, cacharel.com

Onno (above)

Itching for some itch? Beirut institution Onno has opened another Armenian restaurant outpost in Badaro, defined by top-notch, homemade cuisine and the cozy interior of a classic French bistro.

Al Thani Bldg., Main St., Badaro, tel.

70.383.203

Sonia Rykiel (below)

Repossi (above)

Demure, cream-colored dresses and jumpsuits were given Sonia Rykiel’s eclectic edge for spring/summer 2015. Fringe, nautical stripes and unexpected flashes of flesh kept things fresh.

Available at Aïshti stores

The House of Repossi first opened its atelier doors in Turin in 1920. Generations later, a Repossi piece is still recognizable, with sculptural shapes influenced by contemporary architecture defining the jewelry brand to this day.

Available at Sylvie Saliba, Charles Malek Ave., Quantum Tower Bldg., Ashrafieh, tel.

01.330.500, sylviesaliba.com

Wall Street (left)

Wall Street faced vilification for its role in the global economic collapse, but that didn’t stop Badaro’s new bar and grill. Modeled on the New York Stock Exchange, stop by for drinks, dinner – anything but financial advice.

Main St., Badaro, tel. 01.383.681 A 51

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A cityscape

Just in Milan Kartell (right)

Something’s in the air at Kartell. The Italian furniture brand has introduced Kartell Fragrances, eight home scents designed by Ferruccio Laviani with the help of some of the world’s finest noses.

Visit kartell.com

Tabaccheria da Giacomo (left)

Rubinacci (above)

Armani Spa (below)

Located in the luxurious Hotel Armani, this renovated spa features first-rate treatments, with personal consultations to ensure a su misura experience.

Via Manzoni 31, tel. 39.02.88.38.88.88, milan.armanihotels.com

© Armani Spa, Boutique Rubinacci, Kartell, Tabaccheria da Giacomo

London has Savile Row; Italy has Rubinacci.

The house, founded in 1932 in Naples, opened a new store with made-to-measure service (with over 55 hours dedicated to each suit), and a ready-to-wear collection.

Via Gesu 1, tel. 39.02.76.00.15.64, marianorubinacci.net

The new Tabaccheria satisfies grumbling stomachs from breakfast until dinner.

Dine in or take your meal to go, but don’t leave without trying the panini and homemade sweets.

Via Sottocorno 5, tel. 39.02.76.00.79.48, giacomomilano.com

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m a r c j ac o b s s to r e s w o r l d w i d e

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A cityscape

Just in Los Angeles Augustine (left)

The Valley is getting a facelift with the arrival of Augustine, a former radio repair shop turned wine bar. A retro homage to its humble origins, with vintage radios and needlepoint signs, this neighborhood jaunt fixes things one bottle at a time.

13456 Ventura Blvd., Sherman Oaks, tel.

818.990.0938, augustinewinebar.com

Super Saturday (above)

Shopaholics and celebrities unite at the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund’s annual designer charity sale, hosted by Rachel Zoe and Molly Sims. Coined “the Rolls-Royce of garage sales,” it’s a fashion and philanthropy success story.

May 16 from 12-5pm at The Barker Hangar, Santa Monica, supersaturday.ocrf.org

Hollyhock House (right)

Frank Lloyd Wright’s architectural jewel has finally reopened its doors after extensive renovations. The landmark’s California Romanza style – defined as “freedom to make one’s own form” – is strikingly unique.

4800 Hollywood Blvd., tel. 323.913.4031, hollyhockhouse.net

Madcapra (below)

Hotel Covell (left)

Eastside neighborhood Los Feliz boasts a new hangout in the form of sleek Hotel Covell. The interior design is a talking point in itself: inspired by a fictitious character named George Covell, each room represents a different chapter in his life.

4626 Hollywood Blvd., tel. 323.660.4300, hotelcovell.com A 58

© Augustine, Hollyhock House, Hotel Covell, Super Saturday, Madcapra

Middle Eastern fare is gaining momentum on the West Coast with Madcapra, a muchanticipated new restaurant. Described as an “all-things-vegetable falafel spot,” it partners an emphasis on local and seasonal produce with good, old-fashioned grub.

At Grand Central Market, 317 S. Broadway, Downtown, tel. 213.624.2378, madcapra.com

A cityscape _ accolade

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Faster than your mind.

The New Flying Spur.

Flying Spur W12 fuel consumption in mpg (l/100 km): Urban 12.6 (22.4); Extra Urban 27.8 (10.2); Combined 19.2 (14.7). CO2 Emissions 343 g/km.

A cityscape _ foundation

Š David Adjaye Associates

By Rowan Clare

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A cityscape

The Aïshti Foundation, founded in 2005

by Tony Salamé and scheduled to open in Lebanon in October 2015, looks destined to become Lebanon’s most important space for local and international art. The foundation will be the first of its kind in the region, showcasing an eclectic mix of artists and media on an unprecedented scale. The first show will be curated by Massimiliano Gioni.

Aiming to inspire emotion and contemplation with its collection of contemporary art, the foundation’s collection consists of approximately 1,750 works. With paintings, sculptures, drawings, video and works of new media from more than 150 artists, both established and emerging, it’s a truly international collection. Alongside this changing body sits the permanent Aïshti A 64

Foundation collection, comprised of personal works belonging to Tony Salamé, the CEO of Aïshti. A dedicated art collector, Salamé’s collection includes works from the Arte Povera movement, as well as minimalism, pop art, neo abstract expressionism, conceptual art and digital art.

Munich, lending a decorative steel and ceramic skin to the museum. Over the years, many works from the Foundation have traveled around the globe, loaned to museum exhibitions and art shows that include MoMA, New Museum, Aspen Museum of Art, Musee D’art Moderne, Pompidou Center and the UCCA in Beijing.

In addition, temporary exhibitions will be organized throughout the year, supported by the presence of the artists and curators.

Keen to engage young audiences and art aficionados alike, the foundation will welcome performance artists to create original experiences.

Designed by the internationally acclaimed British architect David Adjaye, the Aïshti Foundation is a tribute to sleek design.

Valentino, Gucci, Prada, Saint Laurent, Céline and Ermenegildo Zegna are among the many stand-alone boutiques that will open in the space, and there are a number of luxurious dining options. With its setting along the Mediterranean, this architectural landmark is set to become a premier destination, not only for the country, but the entire region.

Active on the international art scene, the Aïshti Foundation is currently involved with the David Adjaye retrospective at Haus der Kunst in

© David Adjaye Associates

An exciting new chapter for Lebanon’s art scene

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A playground _ mixed media

Alone on a desert islandÄ

By Daniel Hilton

Author Hanan al-Shaykh For London-based Lebanese author Hanan al-Shaykh, some time marooned on a desert island might just be the perfect writing retreat. For survival on this palm-dotted and sandy home she’s leaving her hatchet, tent and matches to pack only what she really needs – 1,001 Nights. As an author who’s cut her oeuvre as one of the region’s champions of feminine voices in literature, she loves how in the classic Arabic text “women were far from passive and fearful – they showed their strong will, intelligence and wit.” Next to it she packs Season of Migration to the North by the late Sudanese author Tayeb Salih. A story playing on the theme of exile that mixes prose with Arabic poetry, Islam and Shakespeare, “its explicit, daring sensuality and sexuality shocked me.” There will be no hula music on this island paradise: Al-Shaykh’s taking innovative Tunisian oudplayer Anouar Brahem’s Barzakh. Listening to the chain of rhythms she finds “images come rushing, of alleys where in childhood we heard music either for weddings or for a ceremony to exorcise the devils.” And for those cozy, quiet nights in her bamboo and bananaleaf house, she’s bringing Wes Anderson’s humorous and beautiful flick The Grand Budapest Hotel Hotel. For Al-Shaykh, watching it is like eating candy – the more you eat, the more you desire. “The film gives hopes for immigrants, who want to start a life away from strife and massacres. It gives back integrity to humankind.”

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WATCH THE FILM AT JIMMYCHOO.COM LEBANON BEIruT SOukS +961 1 991 111 ExT 595

A playground _ cocktail

Tinseltown, with a twist

By Daniel Hilton

A history of Hollywood drinking habits A quick glance back at the early 20th century and you might find yourself asking whether anything has changed over the past 100 years. Countries are hamstrung by a crippling international economic crisis, the Hollywood behemoth rolls out countless films every year and, as the Clooney wedding in Venice showed, glamorous stars still fill column inches and movie theaters alike.

Even bars from London to Chicago are modeling themselves on the salacious speakeasies of the Prohibition era. Brian Van Flandern, master mixologist and author of Celebrity Cocktails would have it no other way.

Van Flanderen, as barman at Per Se, one of New York’s premier restaurants, has seen firsthand the orders of its countless A-list clientele, “and just like you and me, their tastes vary from the ridiculously pedestrian to the elegant and refined.” Looking to begin with something straightforward, Robert De Nero’s favorite, the dirty martini, is a good place to start. Simply “vodka, shaken extra hard, three olives and a bit of olive brine, single-strained into a chilled martini glass,” the cocktail is as lethal and compelling as the characters he plays. Personally, I believe that a martini should never, ever be shaken – but then who’s going to argue with the Taxi Driver?

Armed with confidence, Angostura bitters and a well-stocked bar, even the most outlandish cocktail is far from complicated to A 74

assemble. Feeling adventurous with the martini inside me, my next challenge was the Hemingway Daiquiri. Hemingway, we are told, escaped to Cuba in order to sink this zesty, retro mix of Havana Club White Rum, maraschino liqueur, syrup and grapefruit juice, but luckily we don’t have to. Soon, with consummate ease, I’m giving my Cuckoo’s Nest an absinthe rinse while rattling off a story about Judy Garland getting slapped on the set of The Wizard of Oz, wondering how Van Flandern thinks he’s going to keep his job at Per Se having given away all his trade secrets. The words of writer, socialite and drinker Dorothy Parker, however, should be heeded: “I love a good martini, two at the most – three I’m under the table, and four I’m under the host!”

© Harald Gottschalk / Assouline

Van Flandern’s awe of fame and fine alcohol makes for a colorful and nostalgic handbook to the craft of fixing a drink. Two parts mixology and one part silver screen anecdotes, garnished with a dash of booze-related witticisms, Celebrity Cocktails is perfect for all of you who, like me, believe that the art of being able to whip up a good drink should not have died with Humphrey Bogart. Inside are 60 cocktails, from the classic Old Fashioned to the curious Black Velvet, each one linked to the bright and the beautiful that the drink is commonly associated with.

Grace Patricia Kelly was an American film actress who became the Princess of Monaco when she married Prince Rainier III in 1956. She retired from acting at twenty-six to begin her duties in Monaco.

The country of Monaco celebrated in grand style; even bartenders toasted the event, serving a new drink called the Princess’ Cocktail, made with bourbon, grenadine, and fresh cream.

Robert De Niro and his wife Grace Hightower-De Niro would occasionally drop by Per Se restaurant for a quick bite to eat when I was working there from 2004–07. While Mrs. De Niro was partial to Veuve Clicquot Champagne, Mr. De Niro always started with the same Martini: vodka, shaken extra hard, three olives, and a bit of olive brine, single-strained into a chilled martini glass. A proper martini is traditionally not shaken, but at Per Se the guest is always right.

Ernest Hemingway loved to escape to Cuba during Prohibition to smoke cigars and drink rum. He particularly enjoyed the classic Daiquiri, but diabetes forced him to watch his sugar intake.

In 1921, Barman Constantino Ribalaigua, of the Floridita Bar in Havana, created the Papa Doble or “Hemingway Daiquiri.” The original recipe has no sugar added.

Moulin Rouge is best known as the birthplace of the cancan dance that led to the introduction of cabarets across Europe. Today, Moulin Rouge is a tourist attraction, offering musical dance entertainment for visitors from around the world. The establishment inspired the film Moulin Rouge! (2001), starring Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor. The Moulin Rouge Cocktail first appeared in print in The Savoy Cocktail book in 1930.

Joan Crawford became one of Hollywood’s most prominent movie stars and one of the highest-paid women in the United States, and it was rumored that at the height of her fame Crawford secretly dated a bartender who brought her Stingers.

She threw lavish parties and served punches, but the drink she preferred was vodka on the rocks.

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A playground _ fairy tale

Magic touch Cinderella comes to life with costume designer Sandy Powell

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Š Disney Enterprises, Inc.

By John Ovans

There’s no shoe more famous than Cinderella’s glass slipper. We speak in the singular, of course, because it’s just the one that ends up the at center of a kingdom-wide, estrogen-fuelled frenzy – and just the one that every woman in the kingdom tries on. You’d hope, therefore, it would be able to withstand some wear and tear.

Sandy Powell, the costume designer behind Disney’s new live-action adaptation of Cinderella, had the troublesome task of attempting to temper the fairytale and the practical: “No one was even able to wear the slipper because crystal has no movement,” she says. “I soon realized that the only way we could even attempt to make a crystal shoe was with the help of Swarovski.”

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A playground _ fairy tale

What followed was months and months of tests and trials, scans of different shoes and casts in resin. “But eventually we ended up with a shoe that looked like it was one crystal, which had always been our goal.”

This is particularly evident in the lurid clothing worn by the ugly stepsisters that always, as Powell puts it, “go one step too far.” Cate Blanchett, who plays the wicked stepmother, was a different story. “The look I was going for was Joan Crawford or Marlene Dietrich does Victorian, as I wanted to make her look intimidating more than anything, and Cate has such incredible poise,” says Powell. “She wears every outfit beautifully. It’s a designer’s dream really, because she is one of the greatest people there is to dress.”

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© Disney Enterprises, Inc.

Unlike the fairy godmother, who could cut corners with the flick of a wand, Powell had to rely on hard work to create magic on screen; she spent two years on research before shooting began. After sifting through fashions of different periods, she eventually proposed to director Kenneth Branagh that the style should resemble a ’40s version of the 19th century. “We approached the film as one would approach a storybook or a picture book for children: very colorful and vivid with fairly easy references as to who is good and who is wicked,” she explains.

The film’s fashion comes to a head at the ball, which Powell describes as “an explosion of color, sumptuous, rich and, in some cases, really over the top, as many of the guests are there to impress, and hopefully marry, the Prince.” With 450 extras each in a unique costume, the work for Powell’s team was immense.

Cinderella’s ball gown proved the trickiest. “She had to look spectacular as compared to what she had looked like earlier in the story – the most fantastic looking person at the ball, yet dressed the simplest.” After months making endless prototypes, what transpires is a feat of engineering: 270 yards of fabric, three miles of stitching, seven petticoats, more than 10,000 Swarovski crystals and a few butterflies. Even the shade of blue took weeks to decide on.

While we don’t envy Cinderella for having to travel to her big night out inside a hollowed-out gourd, she got to wear the red carpet dress to end all red carpet dresses. Powell’s work seems to accomplish the astonishing task of making regular old couture seem easy – so perhaps she’s a fairy godmother after all.

Cinderella is out now in movie theaters across Lebanon 79 A

A playground _ festival

Party like a rock star

Coachella boasts comfort and luxury

Once upon a campfire, the word “festival” summed up images of mud-splattered wellington boots, precarious tents pitched on soggy ground and crowds of young, bohemian types with matted hair and a soft spot for Bob Dylan.

These days, the most fashionable stomping ground for the world’s aspirational Instagrammers is Coachella, an annual music festival 130 miles east of Los Angeles.

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© Coachella, Mochi / Pop Up Mob

By Pip Usher

This page Coachella is renowned for its large-scale art installations and scenic setting Opposite page A carnival-like atmosphere has ensured the festival’s popularity

Catering to an upmarket clientele with hefty bank accounts to back up their penchant for crochet and suede fringe, it attracts a lithesome clique of Victoria’s Secret models and Hollywood stars. There are celebrity parties and live performances; last year, Grammy-nominated singer-producer James Blake DJ’d at an exclusive party hosted by members-only club Soho House. As paparazzi and fashion magazines eagerly document each day of Coachella, condensed into two event-filled weekends, the festival’s focus on gourmet dining experiences, concierge services and art installations is setting a glossy new precedent for the music scene.

An ugly duckling tale of sorts, the Coachella of yesteryear was a free-spirited, rough around the edges affair. In 1993, Pearl Jam performed before 25,000 fans at the Empire Polo Club fields; six years later, the first Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival was born. In its early days, facilities were limited and festivalgoers forced to endure intense heat. But as its popularity grew, the festival underwent a transformative facelift. Gone are the days

of filthy hygiene habits. Now, Coachella’s organizers offer “safari tents” to deep-pocketed types who prefer to be nurtured while in nature. Squalor, this is not – the Bedouin-style behemoths are equipped with beds, linens, air conditioning and floorboards. And for those who prefer to avoid brushing shoulders with the sweaty masses at any cost, VIP passes promise shaded tents, air-conditioned bathrooms and the chance to rub shoulders with drunk celebrities.

The lineup may be unparalleled (this year promises Drake, Florence and the Machine and Jack White, among others), but it’s fashion that takes center stage at Coachella. A veritable catwalk show, tanned trustafarians parade around in the festival’s brand of grunged-out glamour: think oversized hats, micro-shorts and a heavy-handed helping of bold prints. Feeling like your own festival apparel isn’t up to scratch? Pop-up shop Mochi will be cruising around this year’s Coachella with a fashion truck, Mochi-Chella, that offers up “tribal chic outfits or simply a shiny flash tattoo to accessorize your outfit during the 81 A

A playground _ festival

Right The sun sets over blissed-out festivalgoers (top), many of whom supplement their hippie-chic wardrobes with items from Mochi (bottom). Left The party rages on late into the night.

festival and its after-parties.” After all, nothing says boho better than ethnic-inspired accouterments.

Even that sun-scorched pilgrimage from Los Angeles to Palm Springs has scrubbed up well. Surf Air offers a private plane service that whisks its crew of cool kids – DJs, fashion types and socialites – from tarmac to private pool in only 30 minutes. Last year, Rita Ora posed next to Surf Air’s kitsch aquamarine-and-white plane in a sheer floor-length Roberto Cavalli gown and fedora. Shared with her four million Instagram followers, the caption read simply, “Off to Coachella #surfair #baby!!!”

© Coachella, Mochi / Pop Up Mob

Visit coachella.com, surfair.com and popupmob.com

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A fashion _ news

Fashion fragments Floral prints, photographers and family jewels

May flowers

The Art of Collaboration

Spring is here again, and floral prints are blooming from head to toe.

Dolce & Gabbana heels, Tory Burch bag, Oscar de la Renta necklace, Chloé runway look

Future heirlooms

Maison Margiela’s latest jewelry collection, Heritage, is inspired by emblematic family jewels. Doing what the house does best, each piece in the line presents familiar forms with an unusual twist.

Available at Sylvie Saliba, Charles Malek Ave., Quantum Tower Bldg., Ashrafieh, tel. 01.330.500, sylviesaliba.com

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Secret Garden

Rihanna has been announced as Dior’s latest spokesperson, and the first black woman ever appointed the role. Film and print versions of the anticipated Secret Garden campaign, shot by Steven Klein in Versailles, will run this season.

Visit dior.com

© Bottega Veneta, Dior, Maison Margiela, Tory Burch, Dolce & Gabbana, Oscar de la Renta, Chloé

This spring, Bottega Veneta is partnering for the first time with Japan’s living photography legend, Nobuyoshi Araki. The photographer’s simple, provocative images offer a fresh perspective on the iconic Italian house.

Visit bottegaveneta.com

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A fashion _ collection

In focus

By MacKenzie Lewis Kassab

Stone Cold Fox, the bad girl-boho label favored by Los Angeles It-girls, is trying something new this season.

Along with the lace details and Jane Birkin-inspired dresses it’s built a cult following on, the brand is mixing in menswear elements, including tailored shirt collars and double-breasted buttons. In terms of design, it was an unexpected move – and a bit like jumping headfirst into a blind date.

“Spring 2015 was inspired by the process of finding ‘the one,’” says Cydney Morris, co-founder of Stone Cold Fox. “It represents the journey of ups and downs until you find the perfect guy.” Or, in this case, the perfect tailored blazer-dress. With each piece in the collection named for ex-lovers of Stone Cold Fox employees – a dejected Owen, Charlie, Patrick and Parker among them – the trail of Mr. Wrongs appears long and winding.

What was infinitely easier for the designers was finding Ms. Right: each other.

After meeting in elementary school, Cydney Morris and Dallas Wand were destined to remain #BFFs through high school and university, which for Morris culminated in a senior year fashion collection. Following graduation, the pair set up a blog for the collection – now known as Stone Cold Fox – and sold made-to-order pieces in their free time. Morris and Wand balanced day jobs with cutting, sewing and shipping out orders at night, but by the time Lindsay Lohan and model Alessandra Ambrosio were spotted out in the label, meeting the growing demand required their full-time attention. Today, they spend most days together in their Downtown Los Angeles office, where Morris handles design and creative marketing and Wand oversees production and collection representation. At the end of the day, they return to the house they share.

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“By now, we know what each other is thinking without saying a word,” says Wand. “We’re always on the same page. We both want the same things, and we really do bring out the best in each other.” They make it sound idyllic, but there’s a reason most married couples shudder at the thought of joining forces in the office.

Surely best friends – or any business partners, for that matter – find straddling the line between personal and professional a challenge? “There’s no competition, there’s no drama,” Morris explains. “The biggest challenge is that we spend a lot of time together. Sometimes we have to try to separate work from our social lives.”

Considering the Stone Cold Fox headquarters operate more like an exclusive clubhouse than a stuffy atelier, it’s a justifiable difficulty. A typical day might involve any combination of status or development meetings, order fulfillment, receiving and inspecting production and, the designers are quick to include, “laughing with one another.” Employees bond over in-house yoga classes, and casual brainstorming sessions are the norm. “We’re always meeting about ways to improve the brand,” says Wand.

If Morris and Wand have worked hard to establish a Stone Cold Fox sisterhood, they’ve shown equal devotion to their home state. The brand proudly bares the “Made in California” label, something that has as much importance to the duo today as it did when they sent out their first order – if not more. Stone Cold Fox is currently distributed across the U.S., in Europe, the Middle East and all the way to Australia. Producing the line in California allows its founders maximum involvement.

“We’re along for the ride at every stage, from design to development to the shipping of all of our products,” explains Wand. “We love having our hands in every aspect of the business and keeping it personal.” Owen, Charlie, Patrick and Parker might object, but that strategy is working out pretty well for the rest of us.

Stone Cold Fox is available at Aïzone stores. Visit stonecoldfox.com

© Stone Cold Fox, Shutterstock

Stone Cold Fox spreads California cool

Masculine details from Stone Cold Fox’s spring/summer 2015 collection (left, right); the designers (center) say their dream shopping destination is a tie between Morocco and India (bottom right) and that when they aren’t in the studio, they can be found hiking, hanging out at the beach or enjoying tequila at brunch with friends (center right)

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A fashion _ debate

Yes or no Is bigger better when it comes to bags?

YES I’ve always preferred to carry my home on my back. From yoga class to editorial meetings to evening drinks, my handbag acts as loyal accomplice to the day’s many incarnations, swallowing outfit changes and snacks along the way.

Remember those dreams where you stepped outdoors only to realize you were butt-naked? In handbag terms, those dreams are a cautionary tale as to what happens when a sense of confidence as you close the front door spirals into gnawing anxiety at all that you’ve left behind.

Hailing a taxi? Too bad – your wallet is currently stranded on the kitchen counter after you made that unfortunate decision to dump the contents of your bag into something “more practical.” Awkwardly hovering alone at the bar while your friend runs late? No sympathy for you, sucker – a magazine would have come in handy, but I don’t mean to be smug. As we rush from one appointment to the next, it feels capricious to lose the capacious bag. Backache be damned, there’s a luxury in knowing that everything you could possibly need is with you.

Not to mention the delightful sense of insouciance that comes with carrying an ample accessory. Slouchy, big and buttery-soft bags suggest a nonchalant approach to the art of dressing, as demonstrated best by Balenciaga’s iconic motorcycle bag. All smooth studs and in-your-face zips, it was slung casually over one shoulder by boho poster girls Kate Moss and Sienna Miller until the rest of the world cottoned on. And if you’re partial to something more structured, Céline’s luggage tote bag is a master class in roomy practicality that can transition from boardroom to dimly lit bar. With handbags, it’s best to go big or go home.

by Pip Usher

NO Confession: I’m a reformed hoarder. Not the type who requires psychological help or a reality-television intervention, but the sort of collector who could easily live out of her purse. At one low moment, my favorite Chloé handbag contained a smart phone, Kindle, iPod, wallet, day planner, reading glasses, sunglasses, four tubes of red lipstick, lip balm, eye drops, a scarf, random scraps of paper and a banana.

And then I fell in love with a microscopic Marc Jacobs cross-body bag.

Understated and sophisticated, the minuscule pouch seduced its way into my tote-filled wardrobe.

Scandinavians are onto something. Simplicity, functionality and minimalism are bywords for Scandinavian design, forming a mantra that extends to the regional lifestyle. Is it a coincidence that Denmark, Norway and Sweden are all ranked in the World Happiness Report’s top five “happiest countries”? A few years ago, neuroscientists at Princeton University found that physical clutter diminishes focus and increases stress. Controlling the chaos – whether that means cleaning out your in box or the contents of your purse – boosts your wellbeing.

The road to recovery wasn’t easy. The Marc Jacobs pouch spent weeks undignified and unzipped, sunglasses and a banana protruding from its top. Even so, I was standing taller and felt more pulled together, both encouragements to keep shedding the excess cargo. But in the spirit of confessing, I’ll admit: having a coat pocket deep enough for four tubes of lipstick helps.

by MacKenzie Lewis Kassab A 92

© Bottega Veneta, Marc Jacobs

Paring down is good for your physical health, too. Overstuffed bags create strain that can cause everything from back pain to headaches.

Not only will a lighter load make you more comfortable, but it will also preserve your posture.

A fashion _ menswear

Boys aloud

By John Ovans

Menswear pumps up the volume It’s not news that men shop differently than women.

Fashion, historically, belonged to the realms of womenswear, and the men who eventually began to play with it were regarded as effeminate and nicknamed “dandies.” In other words, trends were perceived as feminine.

of the few designers to experiment with shape and silhouette, with matador-inspired boleros and trousers (and true to form, the press criticized them for straying into fancy dress territory. We’ve got a way to go yet).

When it comes to menswear, baby steps are the way forward. Designers currently seem willing to take risks with alternative approaches to dressing that reinterpret, rather than rewrite, the rulebook. What next season will bring, who knows. But with the men’s market boom showing no signs of stopping, it remains an unequivocally exciting time for menswear.

In this way, fashion is a clear barometer of a particular era’s take on masculinity.

But keeping their customer in mind, luxury brands have to experiment in different ways. This season channeled a man’s more flamboyant side by keeping silhouettes the same, but ramping up hues, prints and graphics. They popped up in unexpected places, from brightly colored sun hats and sneakers at Burberry Prorsum to Crayola-doodled suits at Dior Homme. Color-blocking provided standout looks at Etro, with models awash in primary greens, blues and yellows paired in unexpected combinations that seemed to take their cues from children’s television presenters in the ’80s. Salvador Dali-esque loungewear printed with large-scale paisley and floating plates of seafood quickly followed. Some prints verged on ornate and others on ridiculous, such as Marc Jacobs’s jolly flamingo shirts and bright red tropical leaves.

Never ones to shy away from the ostentatious, Dolce & Gabbana presented a collection pulsating with Sicilian drama in many shades of rouge. The Renaissance man was in evidence, with suits swirling in rococo tendrils and oversized shirts with polka dots. They were one A 94

Dior Homme

© Burberry Prorsum, Dior Homme, Etro, Marc Jacobs

In 2014, the male consumer increasingly embraced his feminine side – if you remember, we wrote about the beauty-conscious “spornosexual” last year – and designers are daring to experiment, slowly but surely, on the men’s catwalks each season. We hasten to add that this is still in evolution, rather than revolution, in luxury menswear. Fall/winter 2014-15, for instance, stuck to a safe, traditionally masculine color palette that was muted, neutral and dominated by dark green, in contrast with younger labels more willing to be avant-garde as they eke out a name for themselves.

Etro

Dior Homme

Burberry Prorsum

Marc Jacobs

Etro

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A fashion _ bohemian

Best coast

By John Ovans

The Californian sun shines on our wardrobes once again

Saint Laurent

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In London at the end of the ’60s, what was termed the “peasant look” began trending, with gypsy-style dresses manufactured by Brit label Laura Ashley ushering in a new era of eccentricity. And while it now is undeniably the signature look of the city’s other queen, Kate Moss, boho is an aesthetic that seems uniquely Californian, a relaxed free flow that is the antithesis to the tough, angular hipsterism of London or New York City. Now boho style is more closely identified with the likes of Nicole Richie and the Olsen twins, who prove that it’s a trend best accessorized with sun-kissed skin and tousled beach hair.

© Etro, Paul & Joe, Saint Laurent

“California girls, we’re unforgettable/Daisy dukes, bikinis on top.” Luckily, the California girl aesthetic is a lot more expansive than the confines of a Katy Perry lyric.

Its ample design vocabulary includes fringe, kaftans, crochet, velvet, flares, suede, ponchos, maxi dresses, high waists and much, much more. But while some of those are harder to rhyme with, they’re the reason that boho is a trend constantly revisited by fashion designers the world over.

Paul & Joe

Boho, of course, means “bohemian.” And while the trend has reached far further than the poor artists and writers of the ’60s and ’70s who popularized it, it remains an aesthetic shorthand for that same unconventional spirit, albeit as part of a trillion dollar industry. As a trend in 2015, it’s like a sponge, absorbing elements from around the world – India, ancient Persia, China and countless others – which can be reinterpreted for closets everywhere.

The fact that it has so many visual references might explain why it’s a trend that comes back so frequently, from beads and widebrimmed hats to paisley and patchwork. You can have fun with boho, and that’s exactly what designers were doing for spring/ summer 2015 – but, crucially, ensuring it was wearable; sadly, not all of us are padding around Coachella all year round. Festival vibes were aplenty at Etro, with strong Native American and Aztec-inspired patterns and prints, beading and embroidery, fringed hems, bags and boots, and a runway soundtracked by psychedelic ’70s rock. Paul & Joe gave us retro living room swirls, Saint Laurent focused on separates, with cropped jackets in patchwork suede, and Just Cavalli chanced it with bellbottoms, which we’ll perhaps be ready for again one day.

Etro

Things get interesting when designers move beyond the literal interpretation of a trend and try something new, such as with Valentino’s series of tiered dresses in bold floral prints, which provided one of the highlights at Milan Fashion Week.

Embroidery in this collection was key, with heavily worked feather pieces and hair adorned with golden sea shells granting the looks dimensional qualities abstracted from digital prints.

Etro

Paul & Joe

While Lebanon may lack a golden coast of Californian proportions, we do get sun so hot it’ll melt popsicles. Put some Cali in your closet, boho-style.

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A fashion _ maturity

Older, wiser

By Millie Walton

Earlier this year, Céline revealed Joan Didion as its latest campaign star. The media went wild. The French brand, famed for its effortlessly cool reputation, chose not only a writer to model its spring/summer 2015 collection, but a writer who’s 80 years old. Just like that, fashion’s rules were realigned.

Didion is captured gracefully in a black crewneck and oversized sunglasses, with pursed lips and silver hair; it appears that the industry blamed for society’s body issues is recognizing that their older customers – the ones who, let’s be honest, actually have the money to buy high fashion – can look just as glamorous as a fresh-faced 17-year-old with spindly limbs. Didion has never been widely regarded as classically beautiful in the plumped-lips and felineeyes sense, but there’s something uniquely mesmerizing about Juergen Teller’s photograph of the author. The soft lines in her preternaturally pale skin reveal a lifetime of experience, while her expression conveys a fierce strength A 98

© Ari Seth Cohen / Advanced Style, Céline, Saint Laurent

Fashion’s mature muses

This page Ari Seth Cohen captures New York’s most experienced fashionistas in a film titled Advanced Style Opposite page Céline and Saint Laurent both feature silver-haired stars in their spring campaigns

and refusal to be labeled fragile just because she’s over 40. This is a woman who’s lived through insecurities and is daring you to judge her. And isn’t that what fashion is really all about?

It’s ridiculous to think that with middle age and menopause comes bad taste or disinterest; surely, what comes with aging is cultivation and a deeper appreciation of aesthetics, or, at the very least, more confidence and comfort in one’s skin. It should be a period of life to look forward to, rather than something to ward off with antiwrinkle creams and bottles of hair dye.

Ari Seth Cohen, founder of the hugely successful, New York-based blog Advanced Style and the man behind last year’s documentary of the same name, says he “offers proof from the wise and silver-haired set that personal style advances with age,” profiling fabulously flamboyant and elegant older women with admirable poise. These are women who have denied the granny-knitted-jumper stereotype to become sources of inspiration for all ages.

Their colorful clothes and accessories are an extension of their personalities, not just pieces of material hung on

bodies. That’s really what we should be celebrating: not the sudden influx of mature models, but the respectful recognition of accomplishment, life lived and lessons learned.

Saint Laurent’s decision to name much-loved singer/ songwriter Joni Mitchell as the face of its latest campaign, connects the brand’s clothes with not just a pretty face, but with the songs and sights of the ’70s.

What’s more, it’s a refreshing reminder that women don’t disappear or stop achieving once wrinkles start to show.

To quote Audrey Hepburn, “the beauty of a woman with passing years only grows.” Let’s hope that fashion’s front row continues to embrace the allure of natural, mature beauty. After all, it’s the industry with the most power to sway perspective.

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A fashion _ trend

Go with the flow

By John Ovans

Dior

Trends come from unexpected sources

“What you don’t know is that that sweater is not just blue, it’s not turquoise. It’s not lapis. It’s actually cerulean. And you’re also blithely unaware of the fact that in 2002, Oscar de la Renta did a collection of cerulean gowns. And then I think it was Yves Saint Laurent, wasn’t it, who showed cerulean military jackets? And then that cerulean quickly showed up in the collections of eight different designers. And then it filtered down through the department stores and then trickled on down into some tragic casual corner where you no doubt fished it out of some clearance bin.”

Burberry Prorsum

Alice + Olivia

Fendi

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Prabal Gurung

One of the most famous scenes in one of the most famous films about fashion, The Devil Wears Prada, sees waspish fashion editor Miranda Priestly give her assistant a stinging lesson in how trends work. She’s right, up to a point – but it’s not quite as simple as that. Trends actually come into the world via many different routes, and it’s not just through fashion.

To use a simple analogy, a trend is a little like

© Alice + Olivia, Burberry Prorsum, Antonio Berardi, Dior, Fendi, Prabal Gurung, Oscar de la Renta, Gucci, Altuzarra

Antonio Berardi

Alice + Olivia

Oscar de la Renta Fendi

a river. Just as a river has tributaries flowing in, so does a trend – except the tributaries are a myriad of cultural influences. Laura Coppen works as an in-house trend developer for a leading European High Street brand, and her job involves researching trends and then creating them. “A trend is coming from a variety of different sources and places, and it’s definitely not just the catwalk,” she explains. “For instance, films, art exhibitions, what other stores are doing worldwide, what’s going on in the news and technology. As technology advances, that can also make an idea a reality. So when you combine those elements, you can end up with a trend.”

Gucci

Two obvious influences for our era, of course, are bloggers and celebrities. “The celebrity and blogger worlds are affecting ages 12 through 30,” says Coppen, “but from 30 upwards, it’s things like galleries, movies, what they’re seeing in the stores, what their peers are wearing – these become their trends.” There’s also the mini-me phenomenon. Babies, after all, don’t have any agency when it comes to fashion, and as a result, the trend among fashion-savvy moms is to buy things for their kids that look like their own clothes.

Fendi Altuzarra

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Dior

influenced heavily by a little thing called the Internet. Coppen cites Pinterest as a particularly useful resource for her work, providing solid and immediate market research. “It’s an interesting tool because you basically get a newsfeed of images with the greatest amounts of likes,” she says.

“So you can really filter what people are liking and what’s trending.” In this sense, consumers are creating their own trends without realizing it.

Beyond the web, much of Coppen’s job involves traveling to far-reaching places, from Bangladesh to Beijing, to research trends first-hand, and with this in mind, she warns that the Internet is limited. “I think it’s vital to go out and touch and feel and see what people are wearing. It’s not just about the blogger image – there is a reality to it.

There are many things you cannot achieve with the Internet.”

Céline

But trends on the street and trends on the catwalk are two different things. When fashion magazines round up new trends each season, it can actually be only five or six designers – out of hundreds – doing something. Part of this is due to the increased number of collections produced by major fashion houses. The sheer volume of garments within those collections mean that statistically there’s an increased likelihood that there will be some overlap between each brand’s output. Trends also emerge that we’re not even aware of, particularly those pertaining to production.

Coppen talks about something called “needle punch,” a technique that juxtaposes two fabrics by fusing them together, which first appeared on the runway about five seasons ago. “We saw some designers who weren’t doing it quite right because the factory workers didn’t really have the skill or the level to be able to copy it. The next season we saw more people on the catwalk doing it, and then more and more, with different ways of fusing the fabrics.”

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Rag & Bone

Marni Moschino

Gucci

© Céline, Rag & Bone, Gucci, Moschino, Marni, Stella McCartney, Dior

So there you have it – a longer explanation than Miranda Priestly’s, but much less withering. Remember it next time you pull something off the rack.

Stella McCartney

A fashion _ family business

Objects of desire

Santoni celebrates 50 years of craftsmanship and design

“I’m never happy.” With his refined Italian accent, this is the first thing Giuseppe Santoni says as he takes his seat at the Four Seasons Beirut. His wide smile and relaxed manner belie his seriousness, however, as he apologizes in earnest for being late for the interview. What the CEO of Santoni – maker of luxury handmade leather shoes – really means is that he is never completely satisfied.

“I always set the bar higher and higher to constantly elevate and improve,” he explains.

Vibrant and gregarious, Santoni appears to thrive on his hectic lifestyle and shows no signs of being road-weary or jet-lagged, despite being in the midst of a whirlwind Middle East business tour.

“People here are friendly – they like to talk and make conversation. I didn’t expect

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Beirut to be like this,” Santoni reveals.

For a man running a fashion empire, it’s hard to believe that this is his first trip to the region; he’s visibly surprised that his experience is nothing like the European media’s portrayal of the Middle East. Now in his 50s, he is forging new frontiers and taking Santoni places it’s never been. What this means for the future of the historic brand and its very European outlook remains to be seen. But one thing is for sure: since taking the reins of the family business from his father Andrea, Santoni’s perfectionism has compelled him to be hands-on when it comes to his business.

In fact, moments before the interview, he was on a Skype call selecting models for the upcoming spring campaign – an unlikely task for a CEO. His assistant tells me that

© Santoni

By Mehrnoush Shafiei

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Š Santoni

This and previous pages Founder Andrea Santoni passed traditional craftsmanship and a legacy of quality down to the next generation

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Santoni caters to a range of desires with its spring/summer 2015 collection of shoes and leather goods

Santoni approaches his work with fastidious devotion, cultivated at an early age; after all, his bedroom was right above the family’s shoe factory when he was a boy.

A few minutes in Santoni’s orbit and it becomes patently clear that he understands the appeal of finding beauty in work well done. “Take the iPhone 6 for example,” he says, “a Nokia might work just as well but you don’t want a Nokia. You want the iPhone.”

Comparing Santoni shoes to the iPhone 6 may seem like a stretch, but the comparison is relevant: economic practicalities take a back seat to aesthetic and philosophical desires in the case of both brands. “Luxury is not needed,” he says. “You don’t need luxury to survive, but you live a better life with it.

Our collections are objects of desire.”

Sending hearts aflutter, the brand’s

signature mix of sensuous lines and solid, old-fashioned craftsmanship lend it seductive powers. But how does the 50-year-old company fan the flames of desire after all these years? As any Italian lover will tell you, it’s the element of surprise. “For us, innovation is everything,” Santoni says. That yearning for something new lies at the very heart of the company’s modus operandi. On a practical level, it means respecting traditional design codes while pushing the envelope to create shoes that have never been seen before.

What’s next for the Santoni empire? It’s revving up an expansion of women’s shoes, which they began 10 years ago. The brand is also growing its leather goods collection.

A sneak peak at the upcoming spring line makes clear that, when it comes to shoes, the heart wants want it wants.

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Alexander McQueen’s otherworldly talent A 108

Alexander McQueen’s unhappiness was never a secret; in fact, it inspired some of his most memorable collections. His spring 2001 show saw models being picked apart by birds and one red dress that flowed like spilled blood, a dramatic display of emotion in which McQueen referenced an abusive incident he suffered as a child.

Other collections and themes channeled his

sympathy for the misunderstood. McQueen sought to represent the philosophical aspects of humanity, rendering them so beautifully that his work is often compared to contemporary art.

In its major retrospective, “Savage Beauty,” The Victoria and Albert Museum profiles McQueen’s dark influences while

© Anthea Sims, First View, Marc Hom / Trunk Archive, Catwalking

A fashion _ retrospective

This page Butterfly headdress of hand-painted turkey feathers by Philip Treacy for McQueen, spring/summer 2008 (left), a tulle and lace dress with veil and antlers, fall/winter 2006-07 (right) and model Shalom Harlow being spray painted on the spring/summer 1999 runway Opposite page A 1997 portrait of the designer

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championing him as the ingénue of 20th century fashion.

Each garment in the show represents a unique stage, and strength, in McQueen’s nearly 20-year career.

In the mix is a cabinet of curiosities that highlights the designer’s talent in collaboration, showing designs created with Shaun Leane and milliner Philip Treacy, and a life-size recreation of a holographic Kate Moss that once enchanted McQueen’s runway. This floating apparition in a textured organza dress, along with a matador jacket from his “The Dance of the Twisted Bull” spring/summer 2002 collection, testifies to McQueen’s ability to create theatre alongside fashion. He would stage-direct his shows to have the same impact as his beloved ballets at the Royal Opera House, and McQueen grabbed any chance to display his skill for theatrical drama with both hands. Though famous for his use of groundbreaking production methods, he never abandoned his haute couture training, often spending months tailoring one dress despite not having a pattern for it.

© First View, Lauren Greenfield / Institute, Rex

This page A fall/winter 1997-98 jacket (top) and the Jellyfish ensemble and Armadillo shoes from spring/summer 2010 (left) demonstrate the designer’s love of dramatic flair Opposite page A dress of dyed ostrich feathers and hand-painted microscopic slides from spring/ summer 2001

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Top A duck feather dress from fall/winter 2009-10 Bottom “It’s Only a Game,” McQueen’s spring/summer 2005 collection

On show is the largest collection of McQueen’s work ever exhibited, featuring a curated selection of 200 outfits and accessories spanning from his infamous Central Saint Martins 1992 graduate show to his last pieces, shown at fall/winter 2010 fashion week, after McQueen took his own life. The bold and expansive collection exhibited shines a light on the Londoner’s impact as a designer and person. Nearly 80 percent of the collection has been loaned by friends, muses and close collaborators such as Katy England and Annabelle Neilson – fans and friends who knew the designer not just for his talent, but for his limitless passion and creativity.

© First View

Runs until August 2 at Victoria and Albert Museum, Cromwell Road, London, tel. 44.20.7942.2000, vam.ac.uk

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A fashion _ snapshot

Snapped Step into the spotlight this spring

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Š Raya Farhat

1. Dolce & Gabbana look, Victoria Beckham sunglasses 2. Moschino top, miu miu pants, Charlotte Olympia clutch 3. miu miu shirt and pants, Lab.617 jacket 4. Dolce & Gabbana top, Valentino bag 5. Mochi top and skirt, Nancy Gonzalez bag 6. Stella McCartney look, Mykita sunglasses 7. ChloĂŠ dress, Stella McCartney bag 8. Dior dress, miu miu bag

ABC DBAYEH MALL, GROUND FLOOR, LEBANON T. 04 417 217

AGENTPROVOCATEUR.COM

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WWW.AISHTIBLOG.COM

A fashion _ accessories

Clockwise from left Flexform couch, LL10,942,500; Dior scarf, LL720,000; Flexform table, LL1,627,500; Diptyque candle, LL153,000; Charlotte Olympia clutch, LL1,642,500; Dior heels, LL1,387,500; Rivière poker game box, LL2,244,000

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Clockwise from left Mambo rug, LL8,872,500; Balenciaga wallet, LL825,000; Flexform table, LL9,264,000; Valentino bag, LL2,235,000; Roberto Cavalli shoes, LL1,417,500; Zaha Hadid Design placemat, LL147,000

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Clockwise from left Zaha Hadid Design chess set, LL16,981,500; CĂŠline bag, LL3,232,500; Dior sunglasses, LL705,000

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Clockwise from left Flexform couch, LL13,860,000; Stella McCartney bag, LL1,920,000; Flexform table, LL2,070,000; Mario Cioni ashtray, LL343,500; Dior shoes, LL1,470,000; Stella McCartney keychain, LL210,000

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Dior sunglasses, LL780,000; Dior bag, LL5,475,000; Bottega Veneta bag, LL4,837,500; Gaia & Gino candelabra, LL1,353,000; Dior shoes, LL1,432,500

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Mambo rug, LL11,475,000; Prada shoes, LL1,222,500; Flexform table, LL5,325,000; Balenciaga bag, LL2,175,000; Arcade vases, LL855,000 (each)

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Spring ahead This season, fashion fixates on color

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Prada

Christopher Kane

Marni

Jason Wu

miu miu

Roberto Cavalli

Roberto Cavalli

Leather rules

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Moschino

Christopher Kane

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Alice + Olivia

Moschino

Comme des Garรงons

Altuzarra

Dsquared2

Alice + Olivia

Christopher Kane

Comme des Garรงons

Dior

Dsquared2

Standout style Moschino

A fashion _ hot stuff

Jenny Packham

Antonio Berardi

Valentino

Pucci

Sheer perfection

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Valentino

Valentino

Antonio Berardi

Antonio Berardi

Burberry Prorsum

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Dolce & Gabbana

Marc by Marc Jacobs

Marc by Marc Jacobs

Saint Laurent

Dolce & Gabbana

Moschino

Connect the dots

Moschino

Dolce & Gabbana

A fashion _ hot stuff

Etro

Etro

Prada

Dolce & Gabbana

Gucci

Etro

Ermenegildo Zegna

Gucci

Color revolution

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Canali

Dolce & Gabbana

Dolce & Gabbana

Corneliani

Corneliani

Dolce & Gabbana

Z Zegna

Dolce & Gabbana

A fashion _ hot stuff

Suits you

Made in America Photographer Aaron Feaver

Stylist Ameliana Loiacono

Location Los Angeles, California

She’s wearing a 7 for All Mankind shirt and shorts.

Her belt and sunglasses are vintage and her watch and bracelet are by Tory Burch

She’s in a vintage swimsuit, 7 for All Mankind jacket and Red Valentino sneakers. Her watch is by Tory Burch and her necklace is by Roberto Cavalli

Her top is by Juicy Couture and her sunglasses are by Marc Jacobs

She’s in an MSGM suiwmsuit and an Adidas by Stella McCartney cap. Her socks are vintage and her watch and bracelet are by Tory Burch

This page She’s in a Roberto Cavalli swimsuit. Her bag is by Moschino Opposite page She’s wearing a Moschino sweater and underwear, 7 for All Mankind shorts and Michael Kors sunglasses. Her bag is by Moschino

She’s wearing a Red Valentino jumpsuit and a Diesel scarf. Her bag is by Valentino

This page She’s in an Agent Provocateur bikini top and a Diesel jacket. Her necklace is by Roberto Cavalli Opposite page Her swimsuit and bag are by Dolce & Gabbana and her socks are vintage

She’s in a Michael Kors swimsuit and a Marc by Marc Jacobs jacket. Her bag is by Dolce & Gabbana, her watch and bracelet are by Tory Burch and her necklace is by Roberto Cavalli Hair and makeup Tami Shirey represented by Nouvelle Vague Model Jessica Morrow from Wilhelmina Models

Casual encounters Photographer Dirk Messner Stylist Jennifer Hahn

She’s wearing a Dior jumpsuit, a Tory Burch top and Etro pants

She’s in a look by miu miu and her bag is by Anya Hindmarch

She’s wearing a Stella McCartney blouse, a Burberry Prorsum skirt, a miu miu belt and Prada heels. Her bag is by Bottega Veneta and her iPhone cover is by Marc Jacobs

She’s in a Victoria Beckham dress

She’s in a Bottega Veneta dress

She’s wearing a Marc Jacobs top and a Dolce & Gabbana skirt

Her dress is by Prada

She’s in a Jil Sander dress. Her heels are by Prada Hair and makeup Fee Romero from Agency Nina Klein Model Antonia Wesseloh from Modelwerk

Untamed sensibility Photographers Petrovsky & Ramone Stylist Vanessa Geldbach

This page She’s wearing a Zimmermann swimsuit Opposite page Her necklace is by Bulgari

This and opposite page She’s in a Valentino dress

This page She’s wearing a Valentino dress Opposite page She’s in a Solace crop top and Zimmermann pants

This and opposite page Her dress is by ChloĂŠ

This page She’s wearing a David Koma crop top and a Dolce & Gabbana skirt Opposite page She’s in an Antonio Berardi dress

Opposite page Her shirt is by Oscar de la Renta and her skirt is by Ellery Available at A誰shti stores Hair and makeup Anita Jolles from Eric Elenbaas Agency Hair colorist Sam Sawyers Model Anouk Sanders from Paparazzi Model Management

She’s wearing a Georges Hobeika jumpsuit

She’s in a Dior Haute Couture dress and shoes

She’s in a Valentino Haute Couture look

She’s wearing a Giambattista Valli dress and cape

Her dress is by Elie Saab Haute Couture

She’s wearing a dress by Rani Zakhem

She’s in a Chanel jacket, skirt and shoes Hair Philippe Mensah Makeup Sergio Corvacho Models Kristina S from Model Management and Isy Dupont from Frimousse

A beauty _ counter

Inside and out Best face forward

Lob index Want to look rich? Cut your hair. New statistics show that short hair means more frequent trips to the salon, which signifies more money to spend. According to experts, the new wave of long bobs (a.k.a. lobs) is the sign of an economic upswing.

A perfect finish Flawless skin is easy to fake with Bobbi Brown’s Face Touch-up Palette. It features the brand’s best-selling corrector, concealer, foundation stick and pressed powder in coordinating shades, all in a palm-sized, mirrored compact.

Visit bobbibrown.com

Seeing red Lipstick tends to lighten for spring, but this year red is the color of the season. Burberry showed wine-stained lips on the runway, while Dior and Tom Ford launched new options in cherry and burgundy.

Burberry spring/summer 2015, Dior, Tom Ford

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© Burberry, Bobbi Brown, Dior, Tom Ford, Bulgari, Shutterstock

Found at sea Inspired by the sun, coastal blossoms and the Mediterranean Sea, Bulgari’s newest fragrance includes notes like salty bergamot and sunlit quince. Keeping with the theme, its bottle resembles a precious pearl.

Visit bulgari.com

The new Infiniti QX80

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Infiniti QX80, with a 5.6L V8 VVEL engine of 400 horsepower and 560 Nm of torque, the world’s first Predictive Forward Collision Warning system (PFCW), and Forward Emergency Braking (FEB).

A beauty _ movement

No poo

By MacKenzie Lewis Kassab

Goodbye shampoo, hello dream hair?

The decision to forgo shampoo often stems from fears of chemical exposure or the guilt of contributing to pollution. Most hair cleansers contain chemical additives like controversial sodium lauryl sulfate, responsible for your shampoo’s suds but also, occasionally, for skin irritation and dry hair; other hazardous ingredients have been classified as allergens or even carcinogens. Once these formulas are washed down the drain and their plastic containers tossed in the trashcan, they pose additional threats to the environment.

It didn’t take long to find women who’ve experimented with No Poo, but they were driven by something altogether different: the promise of silky, manageable hair. One theory suggests that harsh shampoos strip the scalp of its natural oil, which in turn causes it to produce more. Regular washing then becomes a necessity, fueling a vicious cycle. Cutting out shampoo hypothetically restores the body’s oil balance, and with it the ideal conditions for maintaining healthy hair.

Before converting to No Poo eight years ago, Bea McMonagle washed her coarse, tight curls every two days. A sleek New Yorker – and, ironically, the former publicist for one A 184

of the world’s biggest hair care companies – McMonagle eased into No Poo by cleansing with water and conditioner (referred to in the No Poo community as “co-washing”), along with a weekly apple cider vinegar rinse to remove build-up on her hair and scalp. “At first I thought it appeared dull,” she says of her hair’s reaction. “But as my hair adjusted to its new routine, the shine came back and then some. The frizz was dramatically improved and my hair had way less volume, which is a good thing in my case.”

But not everyone’s a believer. Nynke Burggraaff attempted No Pooing for about three weeks on her long, loose curls. “I did it for a while hoping I would look like Beyoncé,” she explains. “That didn’t happen.” Despite never having an issue with greasy hair in the past, co-washing suddenly left her hair limp and dull. “There was always a creamy residue from the conditioner on my hair; I just didn’t feel like it was ever clean.”

Like Burggraaff, Dr. Maurice Dahdah, a dermatologist specializing in hair and nail disorders at DermaClinic, doesn’t see the logic behind the No Poo hype. While he wholeheartedly supports anyone making lifestyle changes that benefit the environment, he says other arguments don’t add up. “I’m surprised someone would do it because they think their hair would look better,” he says, going on to explain that the trick to healthy, manageable hair is finding the right combination of shampoo and conditioner from the hundreds of formulas on the market.

Eliminating shampoo entirely can be too risky.

“As doctors, we make hygiene a priority. You can clean your scalp and hair with just water,” he says, “but having a detergent is much more effective at removing sebum (oil), dandruff, secretions and environmental pollutants.”

Dr. Dahdah points out that Beirut’s poor air quality and smoking culture make thoroughly cleansing the hair especially important.

“Walking around with environmental pollutants on your hair just because you want to avoid a few chemicals that are present in shampoo doesn’t make sense to me. You’re only exposed to shampoo for a few minutes, and the surface area of your scalp is so limited.”

Nancy Golombisky falls somewhere in the middle of the debate. “I’m trying to be patient,” she admits after a few months of gradually cutting back on shampooing. Now down to twice a week, she says her long, fine and wavy hair is slightly more manageable as its natural oil balance returns – but that other challenges have emerged. “I’m styling less frequently, but I full-on flat iron when I do style it, because it lasts longer than a basic blow-dry. I might actually be doing more damage to my hair.” Golombisky started No Pooing partly to ease her beauty routine – “I like washing my hair like I like getting into sheets that smell like bleach,” she jokes – and partly in hopes of attaining a certain mermaid-esque look. Even that is easier said than done. “Working out and not washing my hair is the grossest feeling, so naturally, I’m skipping workouts,” she laughs. “It’s counterproductive to the whole ‘hot mermaid’ thing I’m going for.”

© Shutterstock

Chances are you’ve heard of someone who’s given up deodorant or chemical hair straighteners, for any number of reasons.

But what about shampoo? Proponents of the No Poo movement – currently sweeping New York, London, Los Angeles and small towns in between – believe that less is more when it comes to shampooing.

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A beauty _ fitness

Body beautiful

By John Ovans

California might be the land of the body beautiful, but you can forget the treadmill – Angelinos are finding far more interesting ways to get fit.

Morning raves If you wake up in the morning with a face like a grumpy cat meme, then it might be time to become a Daybreaker. Looking for a healthy fix, L.A.’s reformed club kids are gathering at 7am for sober morning raves, dancing themselves silly for two hours and enjoying live entertainment, healthy smoothies and massages.

Visit dybrkr.com Punk rope Take it back to the old school with a jump rope.

With Punk Rope, jump-based activities are tied in with body weight exercises, while classes are themed anything from superheroes to country music to World Animal Day. Tripping over ropes can make newcomers a little self-

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conscious, but it burns loads of calories.

Visit punkrope.com Fitocracy Forget democracy: it’s Fitocracy that’s taking this year by storm. The new app is tailored to fitness enthusiasts – or “fitocrats” – in search of a little competition to motivate them. It’s part online game and part social network, which allows users to follow and compete against one another in running, cycling and more.

Visit fitocracy.com Freerunning Freerunning, or parkour, has moved beyond the privy of boys in beanies and low-slung jeans to become a legitimate, alternative fitness practice in its own right. You won’t be flinging yourself off buildings, Matrix-style, right away – classes usually start in gyms and use mats, foam pits and trampolines to get you going on the basic moves.

Visit tempestacademy.com

© Sara Wass for Daybreaker

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A beauty _ treatment

Dr. Peel-good

By Grace Banks

Beauty’s most invasive treatment just got an update

Imagine getting a chemical peel and leaving the salon without any redness, peeling or signs of treatment at all. You slip out on your lunch break and within the hour you’re back at your desk, skin makeup-free and illuminated. With their acid-saturated properties, chemical peels are often considered a full-blown procedure. But in 2015, women call for something more efficient, modern and less dramatic – they’re opting for the halfway peel. Gone are the unfavorable associations the peel once had, partially due to that episode of Sex and the City. Now London clinics like Bliss Spa and product lines like Natura Bissé are ushering in a new wave of low-key peels that offer maximum results and require little to no downtime.

The lure rests on the ease of the treatments, which are altogether less invasive.

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Hydrohealing’s Hydrozyme Illuminating Facial replaces a high acid content with high-pressure water and marine enzymes, known to reveal glowing skin. Bliss Spa’s Peeling Groovy minimizes fine lines and tightens pores, and you can even buy a takeaway bottle for touch-ups at home. These treatments fit into your life seamlessly, and, most importantly, you’re in control of the when and how. Sarah Chapman’s Omnilux Photodynamic Peel uses an Omnilux LED light that is tuned to your desired strength.

But beware: at $1,000, this might be the most you’ve ever spent on lunch.

Halfway peels are also better suited to a diverse range of wants and needs. Wellness fanatics who have crossed over entirely into organic skincare are turning to the Pyruvic Master Peel at Natura Bissé, which contains natural acid derived from honey

and apples. Those hesitating over peels because of acid levels are reassured by the 20 percent glycolic acid count in the Skinesis Cosmelan Treatment, which still effectively targets open and inflamed pores tarnished from over-exposure to the sun; practicing dermatologists insist that there’s no peeling and little redness. Control freaks are reassured by ZO’s Controlled Depth Peel which uses a dye to highlight where the acid is, meaning you can decide exactly how much and where youElizabeth want your peel to Queen I target. Pre-event, quick peels are easier to organize than a lengthy series of facials.

And if you’re a real D.I.Y. fan, Dr. Dennis Gross’s Alpha Beta Daily Peel or Decléor’s Peeling Gel leave skin fresh and tightened.

The real proof? The results. These peels give base and foundation a run for their money.

After a year of halfway peeling, you may not Marc Jacobs need them at all.

© Hydrohealing

The Hydrohealing wellness clinic is just one of London’s go-to spots for quickie skincare treatments

A beauty _ icon

Get the look

By MacKenzie Lewis Kassab

West Coast allure From Old Hollywood glamour to the bronzed girl next door, California girls show us how beauty is done.

Yves Saint Laurent, Couture Eye Prime in Fair

Chanel, Le Volume de Chanel Waterproof in Noir, No. 10

Bobbi Brown, Creamy Lip Colour in Honeysuckle

Yves Saint Laurent, Couture Mono Eyeshadow in Marceau, No. 03

Christophe Robin, Instant Volumizing Mist with Rose Water for Fine Hair

Dior, Eye Reviver in Illuminating Neutrals Eye Palette, No. 001

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© Wiki Commons, Yves Saint Laurent, Chanel, Bobbi Brown, Christophe Robin, Dior, Lancôme, Estée Lauder

Sharon Tate Big hair and even bigger eyes were Sharon Tate’s calling card. Though originally from Texas, the ’60s actress and model was the perfect embodiment of the laid-back California bombshell – so much so that the Malibu Barbie doll was created in her likeness.

© Wiki Commons, Yves Saint Laurent, Chanel, Bobbi Brown, Christophe Robin, Dior, Lancôme, Estée Lauder

Cher Horowitz Nothing says Cali Valley Girl like a hot pink pout forming the words “as if.” Clueless teen queen Cher Horowitz nailed the look, from her straightened locks and flawless complexion right down to her fully made-up eyes, even during high school gym class.

Bobbi Brown, Brightening Brick in Pastel Pink

Bobbi Brown, Natural Brow Shaper and Hair Touch Up in Rich Brown

Lancôme, Cushion Cream in Beige Rosé, No. 02

Dior, Miss Dior eau de parfum

Estée Lauder, Double Wear Stay-in-Place Eye Pencil in Burgundy Suede

Dior, Rouge Dior Brilliant in Darling, No. 775

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A beauty _ icon

Elizabeth Taylor Old Hollywood settled for nothing less than perfection, and with Elizabeth Taylor among its ranks, it didn’t have to. The actress highlighted her lavender eyes and two rows of eyelashes (both the lucky result of a genetic mutation) with bronze, navy or plum shadow and a ruby red lip.

Chanel, Rouge Allure, Intense Long-Wear Lip Colour in Passion, No. 104

Yves Saint Laurent, Couture Variation Palette in Tuxedo

Chanel, No. 5 parfum A 192

Dior, Dior Addict It-lash in Black, No. 092

Chanel, Precision Lip Definer in Bois de Rose, No. 48

© Wiki Commons, Yves Saint Laurent, Chanel, Bobbi Brown, Lacoste, Dior, Estée Lauder, Giorgio Armani

Dior, Diorblush Kingdom of Colors in Cherry Glory, No. 873

Giorgio Armani, Skin Lacquers Collection, No. 503

Giorgio Armani, Eye Liner in Perla Nera

Farrah Fawcett A starring role in Charlie’s Angels catapulted the girl next door to California’s golden girl, making her sun-kissed skin and lemonlightened hair the envy of women everywhere.

Fawcett kept her makeup routine simple, with neutral hues that showed off her natural beauty.

Estée Lauder, Sculpting Foundation Brush

Bobbi Brown, Shimmer Brick Compact in Bronze

Lacoste, Eau de Lacoste L.12.12 Rouge

Estée Lauder, Perfectionist Youth-Ingusing Makeup SPF 25 in Ivory Nude, No. 1N1 193 A

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A design _ update

As the world turns

By J. Michael Welton

Miami (above)

Architects Jacob and Melissa Brillhart looked to Paul Rudolph’s mid-century modern designs as they developed strategies and tactics for their own home A 196

in the Spring Garden section of town. They worked side by side with every work crew on its construction, from its foundation to the wooden shutters.

Visit brillhartarchitecture.com

Š Archigram, Brillhart Architecture, Hastings Tile & Bath, Insidherland, International Contemporary Furniture Fair, Phoebus Interiors

Adventurous designs from around the globe

Porto (left)

Portuguese architect Joana Santos Barbosa designs furniture, lighting and upholstery, all influenced by organic forms of nature. Part of her Insidherland Beyond Memory Collection is the Homeland sideboard, finished in plaster with metal doors – and shelves and drawers lined in white velvet.

Visit insidherland.com

Manhattan (right)

About 33,000 people will be in attendance at the 27th International Contemporary Furniture Fair, with more than 700 exhibitors anticipated.

This year, 120 Italian designers and brands will be on hand, the result of a new partnership with Fiero Milano.

On view from May 16 to May 19 at The Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, Midtown West, 360 Bond St., New York, icff.com

Normandy (left)

Toby Alleyne-Gee of Zurichbased Phoebus Interiors tackled the restoration of this 19thcentury barn in the French countryside. Employing a color palette inspired by sea, sky and land, he picked up an honorable mention at the Los Angeles International Design Awards.

Visit phoebus-interiors.com 197 A

A design _ update

Hastings Tile & Bath’s new Artisan Ceramic Collection offers a number of patterns, each applied by hand directly onto bath ceramics before glazing and baking. Patterns like the Rainbow, pictured here, are available in vessel sinks, toilets, bathtubs and bidets.

Visit hastingstilebath.com

New York (right)

Michie Cao is a former architecture student who’s now a graduate student at the School for Visual Arts. She’s also the entrepreneur who launched Archigram, posters and cards that depict some of the world’s best-known buildings.

They’re educational too, with explanatory notes in plain English.

Visit archigram.net

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© Archigram, Brillhart Architecture, Hastings Tile & Bath, Insidherland, International Contemporary Furniture Fair, Phoebus Interiors

Northern Italy (left)

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A design _ trend

The lights fantastic

By J. Michael Welton

Lamp designers reimagine how we see the world

Triptik Lamp (left)

Cartocci Print Collection (above)

Amourette (above)

Designed by Dima Loginoff, its suspended body is made by slicing a metal cylinder in pieces, then welding them all back together.

It’s available in white or black finishes.

Visit studioitaliadesign.com A 200

Made of paper clay infused with pulp, paper, glazes, gold and platinum, these pendant lamps are opaque and transparent at once.

Their French maker compares their texture to wood, stone, resin and ceramics.

Visit paolaparonetto.com

© Flos, Foscarini, Fulility Studios, Minka Group, Paola Paronetto, Studio Italia Design

Designed by Karim Rashid and recalling the lava lamps of ‘60s, it’s got an effervescent Pop Art feel. Three plastic cones on a steel base are offered as desk, table and floor models.

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A design _ trend

Big Bang (left)

A suspension lamp created from random intersections of spatial planes, it evokes the original explosion that created our universe.

Made of aluminum and mythacrylate, it’s available in white or white and red.

Visit foscarini.com

Chrysalis (right)

The Draftsman (left)

Chicago-based Joseph Wislar takes vintage automotive parts and turns them into lamps of all kinds. The Draftsman is made of ‘60s Harley-Davidson and BSA parts mounted on a warm wood base for contrast.

Visit futilitystudios.com A 202

© Flos, Foscarini, Fulility Studios, Minka Group, Paola Paronetto, Studio Italia Design

Two meters high, it’s a floor lamp made with ‘60s “cocoon” resin for adaptability and high strength. Designer Marcel Wanders draws its inspiration from classic flower vases and Greek amphorae.

Visit flos.com

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A design _ invitation

By invitation only

By Jasper Toms

Š Iain R. Webb, Prada, Dior, Saint Laurent

The history of fashion in the post

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This page A Prada invitation (top) and the author’s shot of Dolce & Gabanna’s fall/winter 2003-04 collection (bottom) Opposite page The author’s private collection of photos includes images from the Yves Saint Laurent fall/winter 2001-02 haute couture collection (top) and Valentino spring/summer 2003 haute couture collection (bottom), many of which are featured in his new book (left)

In an era when email has killed the art of letter writing, the pleasures of printed stationery have slipped out of focus. Who sends physical invitations these days?

Thankfully, fashion does. From Yves Saint Laurent and Balenciaga to Marc Jacobs and Prada, designers’ artful invitations act as calling cards for their catwalk shows.

No email compares with the experience of opening an exquisite piece of stationery. Iain R. Webb, former fashion editor of British Elle and The Times of London, knows this well, and has compiled a book to celebrate these increasingly rare objects.

Webb was looking through over four decades of personal catwalk show invitations when he realized he had amassed what amounted to a historical collection.

The veteran fashion journalist discovered, with surprise, that no one had compiled a history of fashion

invitations, and as both a committed fan of glamour and a fashion academic, felt he had to remedy the situation. His new book, Invitation Strictly Personal, is the result. With an introduction by the American fashion designer Anna Sui, the portfolio gives a glimpse into the different mindsets of each designer. For Webb the show begins the moment the invitation is received.

“They are a visual continuation of the creative thread that designers wish to share that particular season. John Galliano, for example, always used them to introduce the story of his collection, constructing an intriguing narrative, be it a leopard clutch bag filled with a lipstick, match book, party streamers and bank notes or a rusty old key with a handwritten luggage label.” As much for design enthusiasts as for ardent fashionistas, the 300-strong collection ranges from chic to political via the provocative, decorative and witty.

It’s significant that this first book of fashion invitations is being published now, when digital culture is in full swing. Only now are design acadamics starting to consider the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s as historical periods.

Now that receiving something in the post has come to feel like a special occasion, we can consider the humble invitation card a subject worth publishing. The book also includes ephemera that emphasizes the differences that digitization has brought to the worlds of fashion and journalism. Hand-drawn sketches and analogue photography collected from his catwalk-side seats look incredibly charming today, like intimate relics from some pre-digital 12th century.

Despite his experience, Webb remains full of appreciation for the beauty and drama of his industry. “I count myself lucky to have been invited to the theatrical spectacles of John Galliano and Alexander McQueen 205 A

A design _ invitation

This Page Fashion show invitations from Dior and Yves Saint Laurent make mail delivery an occassion

and the unique presentations of Geoffrey Beene and Jean Muir,” he gushes. “I have seen a Valentino show in the Secret Palace in Beijing and an Issey Miyake show on the platform of an underground Metro station in Paris. For someone who loves fashion, how lucky was I to have attended the final curtain of Yves Saint Laurent’s career?” His passion shines through in the book and brings energy to its pages. One of Webb’s charms is his love of humble details, whether trimmings at student shows or the intricacies of invitations. This eye for detail makes his book resemble a finely curated catalogue; what could be more appropriate for a glossy compilation of fashion iconography in print?

© Iain R. Webb, Prada, Dior, Saint Laurent

Invitation Strictly Personal: 40 Years of Fashion Show Invites, by Iain R. Webb, foreword by Anna Sui, is published by Goodman Books and is out now

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A design _ collaboration

Double agent

Š Jeremy Bitterman, Rafael Gamo

By J. Michael Welton

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This page John Patrick (left), founder of Above the Fold, works with architects like Edwin Chan to build his brand and promote his work (right) Opposite and following page Chalet Hollywood, a temporary, lodge-like speakeasy designed by Edwin Chan and commissioned by artist Piero Golia

Above the Fold plays matchmaker with architects with clients In 2012, architect Edwin Chan faced an identity crisis. For 25 years, he’d been working in the office of Frank O. Gehry & Associates in Los Angeles, designing some of the most prestigious buildings on the planet. Among them were the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, the Foundation Louis Vuitton in Paris and the Opus Hong Kong residential tower.

But in 2012, he was on his own, setting up an architecture firm he calls EC3.

The problem: No one knew who he was. “My dilemma was fairly unique,” he says. “I had a lot of great experience, but it was gained under the name of a master.”

Coincidentally, that year entrepreneur John Patrick was setting up a management agency for architects, akin to those planning career trajectories for artists and Hollywood stars. He calls it Above the Fold. It’s not for starchitects, but for little-known, gifted designers hidden away from the spotlight. “The people I work with have a very clear history and typically have worked with some of the best architects in the world,” Patrick says. “They’re second generation, like Edwin, who are emerging now.”

Chan and Patrick met via social media in 2013, and by 2014 were working together to advance the architect’s 209 A

A design _ collaboration

Besides all that, he’s got energy. “I do the cold calls, the research and then build up the contacts,” Patrick says. “My clients don’t do that - they’re at mid-career, and they want to take on projects that challenge them in new ways.”

For Chan, he started slowly with step-by-step coaching, and carefully examining the architect’s experience.

When Chan now works on business proposals, Patrick participates in presentation strategies, helping select the work that’s relevant. He also offers a third-party opinion, something limited in a small practice like EC3. “Working at Frank’s office was a very collaborative experience – and it was a huge office, with Frank critiquing me,” Chan says.

“In some ways, John has helped fill that void.”

Above the Fold strives to guide its clients toward the work they want. In Chan’s case, that means projects far different from those he worked on for Gehry. He A 210

now seeks new work for public spaces or projects with landscape components, with the goal of pushing his designs to a new level. “John’s helped by bringing to my attention projects that fit that category.”

Above the Fold aggressively looks for clients and cultural institutions who are, in turn, looking for talent. “I go to developers because I have to identify who I want to work with,” Patrick says. “Above the Fold is developing a profile where they can go and find an architect – and an interesting one, not just anyone.”

A textbook case is a recent improvement project for an undeveloped underpass in Cleveland, Ohio, which is precisely the kind of work Chan’s looking for. “I just finished the proposal,” he says. “John brought it to my attention and encouraged me to give it a shot.”

The results may be uncertain for now, but lessons were learned along the way. “He pointed me in the right direction, using the experience I have,” Chan says of Patrick. “It’s an editing process, to transform my professional experience from Frank’s office to my own identity.” That identity was there all along, of course; Above the Fold simply brings it to the attention of others.

© Jeremy Bitterman, Rafael Gamo

career. Savvy beyond his 28 years, Patrick offers career strategies and business acumen to designers like Chan, who learned neither in school or on the job. In addition, Patrick is adept at press relations, arranging gallery shows and aligning clients with other professionals sharing similar goals.

www.napapijri.com

A design _ artisan

Glass menagerie

Š Andrea AvezzÚ

By Robert Landon

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A Venetian count finds a creative refuge

You couldn’t ask for more from a Venetian count. Giberto Arrivabene Valenti Gonzaga is handsome and dashing – a man with a brisk gait, salt-and-pepper locks, indomitable sociability and an elegance of dress that is not one bit fussy or forced.

No life is easy, but the count’s is certainly charmed. He lives in a sprawling, art-filled apartment atop Palazzo Papadopoli, the grandest palazzo on the Grand Canal. It also happens to be his ancestral home. He shares it with his wife Bianca di Savoia Aosta, a brilliant, statuesque and sharply funny princess with

whom he has five beautiful children. So much good fortune could be annoying. But Gonzaga takes such hearty pleasure in it all – his children, his wife, his palazzo, his city and its marvels – that, when you enter his rarefied world, as I did briefly this winter, you find yourself merely happy in his happiness.

But I came not to admire his person, or even his art-filled home. It is the count’s own creative output that I am keen to see. And so he leads me into his private study, a grand room crammed with books, art and reams of papers documenting a family history that 213 A

A design _ tradition

This and previous pages The beautiful Palazzo Papadopoli comes to life with the artist, his family and a collection of glass pieces that have become part of his family’s story

reaches back almost 1,000 years. In this sublime but distinctly masculine refuge, he reveals a line of home wares and objets d’art that are remarkable for their sensitivity, breadth of vision and rigorous craftsmanship.

Not surprisingly, Murano glass takes center stage. The count shows me simple, jewel-toned tumblers; roseate wine decanters with silver spouts; a crystalline glass bust of Emperor Augustus Caesar. It turns out that even a set of hand-etched glasses, which I had just ogled in a nearby shop, is in fact the brainchild of Gonzaga. Called the Palazzo series, they are adorned with architectural motifs from the Venetian palazzos he has frequented over a lifetime. It is a simple, beautiful concept, executed with great skill and grace.

Like many of his works, these glasses are born out of a desire to revive the elegant world into which Gonzaga was born – one that, in the 21st century, has largely evaporated. He remembers the way, beneath the Tiepolo frescoes in his childhood home, a table was set with rockcrystal candleholders. He remembers the finely grooved cup from which his grandmother sipped hot chocolate on damp Venetian mornings.

Of course, it would not be enough to simply to copy the objects from his childhood. Instead he seeks to recast them in new ways, to endow them with new life. And so his works have an uncanny mix of baroque effulgence and contemporary austerity. Consider his picture frames.

Rather than rely on complex shapes and motifs, the sleek frames assert their pedigree through exquisitely simple ingredients: agate, rock crystal, hand-woven velvet, Murano glass. Yet here again, the count slips in surprises, A 214

for example by mixing slate – humble but elegant – with more precious materials.

An only son, Giberto lost his father, a war hero, when he was nine. And so he was raised in a home full of women.

This, he says, explains his unabashed embrace of things usually the preserve of women: fabrics, scents, flowers, the art of the table. “From my mother I absorbed a deep sense of aesthetics,” says Gonzaga. “I consider it a wonderful gift.”

Visit giberto.it

© Andrea Avezzù

You would never guess such Proustian sensibilities lurk inside this hale fellow who, during a walk through the back alleys of Venice, seems to have a backslapping familiarity with everyone we come across. If he had attended my university in America, he would have been that lovable bad boy who is unanimously elected president of his fraternity – without mounting a campaign. Yet this same person is, it seems, afflicted with an almost painful sensitivity. But rather than brood, he uses that sensitivity to inspire his designs.

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A high art _ exhibitions

Christian Rosa Known for his elegant paintings, Christian Rosa uses the canvas sparingly, applying a stroke of charcoal here, a burst of primary-colored paint there.

Garnering serious attention in the art world over the last A 220

year, the Brazilian artist’s indefinable flair can be seen at his solo exhibition at White Cube.

On view until May 23 at White Cube, 25-26 Mason’s Yard, London, tel. 44.207.930.5373, whitecube.com

© Fredrik Nilsen / White Cube, Ulrich Ghezzi / Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac Paris / Salzburg, Pace Gallery

On view

© Fredrik Nilsen / White Cube, Ulrich Ghezzi / Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac Paris / Salzburg, Pace Gallery

In the Storm of Roses War and peace take center stage at Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac’s exhibition of new works by Anselm Kiefer. Broken flowers and pastoral scenes cloaked in darkness evoke a utopia crushed by destruction. It may not be cheerful, but Kiefer’s works is infused with urgency and, with the political instability of our current time, weighted with added relevance.

On view until May 15 at Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, 2 Mirabellplatz, Salzburg, tel.

43.662.881.3930, ropac.net Stars Famed for his adolescent figures with bowl haircuts and petulant pouts, Yoshitomo Nara’s new exhibition adds golden stars to the familiar works. The meaning is left deliberately obtuse: Do the stars represent aspirational longing or do they hint at a darker sense of cynicism? Stop

by Pace Gallery and decide for yourself.

On view until April 25 at Pace Gallery, 30 Queen’s Road Central, Hong Kong, tel.

852.2608.5065, pacegallery.com

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Beatriz Milhazes Brazilian artist Beatriz Milhazes has always drawn on the vibrancy of her cultural heritage to create collages distinctive for their outlandish colors. Her latest exhibition at White Cube Hong Kong was inspired by the riotous flora of Brazil – expect candy wrappers and wrapping paper layered in a mass of organized madness.

On view until May 30 at White Cube, 50 Connaught Road Central, Hong Kong, tel.

852.2592.2000, whitecube.com A 222

Š Motivo / White Cube, Galerie Perrotin, Jorit Aust / Galerie Eva Presenhuber

A high art _ exhibitions

Sticks and Stones May Break My Bones Mel Ziegler is one half of a famous art couple you’ve probably never heard of.

Together with Kate Ericson, the duo spent two decades creating art that placed America at the heart of their creations. Since Ericson’s death, Ziegler has continued to craft humorous installations with the United States as his leading lady; his latest exhibition showcases a pioneer of conceptual art in all his stars-and-stripes glory.

On view until May 30 at Galerie Perrotin, 76 Rue de Turenne, Paris, tel. 33.178.940.148, perrotin.com Franz West Since his death in 2012, Franz West has received substantial airtime for his playful, occasionally crude pieces.

Focusing on three groups of his work – passtuecke, poster designs and papier-mâché – his solo exhibition at Galerie Eva Presenhuber relishes the creativity that is always present in West’s art, whether it’s through the unpolished nature of his materials or his wearable, limblike structures.

On view until May 23 at Galerie Eva Presenhuber, 21 Maag Areal, Zahnradstr, Zurich, tel.

41.43.444.7050, presenhuber.com

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A high art _ architect

The gallery man

David Adjaye finds his place in the art world

David Adjaye, Principal Architect of Adjaye Associates, is at the apex of the art world’s admiration for architecture. From overseeing grand plans for landmark museums to creating homes for his artist friends, Adjaye is the go-to architect for art’s big names right now, evidenced by top New York gallerist Marian Goodman’s decision to have him design her London space, which opened in October.

Adjaye’s work is currently the subject of an exhibition itself, at Haus der Kunst in Munich, titled “Form, Heft, Material.” As his first major survey show, it explores the artist collaborations that have contributed to his avant-garde sensibility alongside his broader oeuvre. This isn’t the architect’s

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first solo exhibition; “David Adjaye: Making Public Buildings” was shown at the Whitechapel Gallery in London in 2006. In 2002, he ventured into the artistic realm by collaborating with Chris Ofili on “The Upper Room,” an installation Tate Britain later acquired. A set he designed to exhibit photographic murals by Richard Avedon at the Gagosian Gallery became well known in 2012 when Gagosian posted billboards featuring the images around New York City.

More recent installations include the Gwangju Pavilion, South Korea, and The Source, at Tate Liverpool, in collaboration with Doug Aitken.

Adjaye Associates’ gallery commissions range from remodeling their interiors to

© Dean Kaufman, Robert McKeever, David Grandorge

By Jasper Toms

This and opposite page Adjaye’s design for the Hutchins Center at Harvard University stands out among Cambridge’s history

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A high art _ architect

constructing them from scratch. The studio recently completed the Museum of Contemporary Art, Denver and the Hutchins Center, Harvard – both new buildings with glass facades. For Marian Goodman, he envisioned something utterly different, converting a textile warehouse dating from 1886 into a series of classically inspired boxes with vaulted ceilings. Speaking in October, he said this project “is about the dialogue between art and its context as well as between the historic building and contemporary architecture.” Two large-scale and recent museum projects, the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C., and the National Museum of Slavery and Freedom in Cape Coast, Ghana, form a trifecta of Adjaye-designed cultural focal points created to acknowledge racial injustices, along with the third, the Steven Lawrence Centre in London, a tribute to the murdered black architecture student. For Adjaye, himself once a black architecture student in London (he earned a B.A. from London South Bank University and an M.A. from the Royal College of Art), Lawrence’s tragic story must have hit uncomfortably close to home.

This Page An award-winning design by Adjaye Associates for the Museum of Contemporary Art in Denver Opposite page London’s Marian Goodman Gallery (top) and a Richard Avedon exhibition at Gagosian Gallery in 2012, designed by Adjaye (bottom)

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© Dean Kaufman, Robert McKeever, David Grandorge, Ed Reeve

Officially, Adjaye’s nationality is Ghanaian-British, but he can legitimately call himself a global citizen having grown up in Tunisia, Yemen and Lebanon as he traveled with his diplomat father. He knows Africa best, however, and over the past 10 years has been documenting the continent’s urban architecture, traveling to the capital of every country, just him and his camera. Last

year Adjaye Associates opened an office in Ghana (in addition to London and New York) from which to run his growing number of African projects. In response to the continent’s rapid urbanization and need for housing, this office focuses more on district master plans and social solutions than chic art galleries.

That Adjaye happily maneuvers between town planning and art installations is testament to his adaptive attitude and broad perspective. “The kind of architecture I’m interested in seeks to make sense of environments that may seem chaotic,” he has said – and just as well. He’ll soon be bringing his architectural vision to Lebanon for the new home of Aïshti’s art collection, the Aïshti Foundation, in Jal el Dib. That one of the strongest voices shaping today’s global built environment should be so closely involved with the criticality and aesthetics of fine art should be seen as a blessing. As an Adjaye tower goes up in China and his silkweaving factory appears in India, it will be with one eye on social context and another on creative credibility – as we should expect from the very best architects.

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Š Palazzo Grassi, Luis Vasconcelos / Unidade Infinita Projectos

A high art _ perspective

Like a dream

By Millie Walton

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This page “Valkyrie Octopus” in progress (top left), “Marilyn (AP),” made of stainless steel pans, lids and concrete, and “Contaminação” (right) are proof that color and humor can thrive anywhere Opposite page “Coração Independente Vermelho (Red Independent Heart)” is breathtaking against its ornate surroundings

Joana Vasconcelos brings a Brazilian fantasy to Macau

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A high art _ perspective

Joana Vasconcelos’s work is recognizable by its monumental scale, vibrant colors and decorative nature.

There’s a consistency to it that demonstrates the artist’s impassioned approach to her culture and an unwavering belief in her vision. “Work always changes, to an extent, but all of my art still makes sense to me,” she says. “If I created it then, I’d still create it now.”

Vasconcelos is speaking from her studio in Lisbon, where her latest project – a major installation for her first solo exhibition in Macau, China – is receiving a few final touches before making the long journey overseas.

She talks about her art the way someone might talk about a school project: there’s no sense of pretension or a desperate attempt to explain or justify her rationale.

In fact, I get the sense that the whole point is for me, or rather, the viewer, to do the thinking. “I don’t intend for my audience to react in any particular way to my work, and their reaction is not something you can or should predict,” she says. “I like to hear people’s opinions and their criticism – it’s a way of discovering new perspectives. China will be an exciting opportunity for me to find out something new about my work.”

This page The team works to complete “Valkyrie Octopus” (top) and “Golden Valkyrie” (bottom) looms over classical busts in 2012 (bottom) Opposite page An installation view of “Cottonopolis”

© Palazzo Grassi, Luis Vasconcelos / Unidade Infinita Projectos

Commissioned for the Grande Praça at the five-star MGM Macau resort, and the largest addition to her ongoing “Valkyries” series, “Valkyrie Octopus” is already quite magnificent, even as a work in progress. In fact, it’s her largest piece to date, measuring 35 meters long, 20

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© Palazzo Grassi, Luis Vasconcelos / Unidade Infinita Projectos

meters high and weighing 1,200 kilos; it had to be taken from her studio to an aircraft hanger-sized space for test assemblage. Made from thousands of meters of bold, patterned fabric and intricately decorated with beads and ornaments collected from her various travels, the piece required a team of 50 skilled professionals – including artisans skilled in traditional Portuguese crochet, architects and metalworkers – to bring Vasconcelos’s vision to life. Pieced together, “Valkyrie Octopus” will fill up almost the entire space of the Grand Praça, drawing on the historical connection between Joana’s native Portugal and the Chinese city, which was historically loaned to the Portuguese as a trading port. “It’s about exchanging experiences and cultures,” Vasconcelo explains.

To look at, it’s a playful piece – bright, seductive and covered in hundreds of tiny LED lights – that takes influence from the sea creatures at the resort’s aquarium.

“Art is an expression of what you feel and what you think,” Joana muses when I ask her whether she’d consider herself a dreamer, given that her installations create entirely new universes. “I’m absolutely a dreamer.”

That’s not to say that her work is airy or whimsical; in

fact, the themes to which she continually returns are highly polemical and controversial, namely consumerism and feminism. In 2005, Joana stirred conversation at the Venice Biennale with “The Bride” – a large, 18thcentury candelabra made entirely from tampons – and she maintains an interest in the female role, drawing on Norse mythology surrounding fierce women who had the power to decide fate. “I’m fascinated by [the Valkyries] because they’re strong, intense figures.

They’re warriors,” Vasconcelos says, though she admits to thinking of herself as feminine in the “traditional” sense. I ponder aloud what femininity means to her. “It means having the gift of creation, beauty, intelligence and awareness. It means being present.” By the latter definition, her work is most definitely feminine. It has a presence that is both overwhelming and welcoming; it encourages the viewer to touch, imagine and interpret.

“The whole purpose of my work is its accessibility. I’m never afraid of the public damaging it – it can always be restored. What matters is that if people feel ready to interact, they can.”

Runs until October 31 at MGM Macau, Avenida Dr., Sun Yat Sen, N.A.P.E., Macau, tel. 853.8802.8888, mgmmacau.com 231 A

A high art _ gamble

M.I.T. goes to Venice

By Laura van Straaten

The science of art In early May, the artists, curators and art institutions that have been chosen from across the globe to exhibit at this year’s Venice Biennale will be doing victory laps among the verdant paths of the Giardini. Among them will be a seemingly unlikely presence: the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, whose reputation of more than 150 years has been built on its devotion to and innovation in the sciences and engineering.

But this year’s Biennale represents a milestone for M.I.T., who will be presenting the American artist Joan Jonas in the U.S. pavilion. It is the third time in 15 years that the U.S. has chosen M.I.T. as the presenting institution for the Biennale. That is a record for any university, including colleges and art schools whose lifeblood is the arts, since the U.S. began participating in 1930.

Although Khoury is an esteemed scholar of the Middle East, maintaining strong ties to the region as board chair of the American University in Beirut where he once studied and his mother taught, he had little connection to the arts. “As someone who isn’t an artist,” Khoury says that he protested when M.I.T. asked him to add oversight of the arts to his portfolio. But when he delved into M.I.T.’s strong and long (if not wellpublicized) commitment to both the visual and the performing arts, “I fell in love with what we were doing.”

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And then, in 2011, Khoury hired Paul Ha, the director of the Contemporary Art Museum in St. Louis, Missouri, to take over M.I.T.’s on-campus gallery, The List Visual Arts Center, also under Khoury’s purview. “I knew from the minute that I got to M.I.T. that I wanted to present Joan as the U.S. representative for the Venice Biennale,” says Ha. M.I.T. had organized the pavilions by American artists Fred Wilson in 2003 and Ann Hamilton in 1999, who are not affiliated with the university. But Joan Jonas is a longtime professor of art at M.I.T. This time, as they say in the movies, it would be personal. Ha recounts, “She said ‘Don’t! … We’re not going to win.”

Even though Jonas pioneered using video as art (she bought her first video camera in 1970) and the TV monitor as a sculptural object, she knew that Venice Biennale is not a lifetime

© Beatrice Helligers

Behind M.I.T.’s most recent success in this realm is Associate Provost Philip Khoury. He oversees all things arts at M.I.T., including the public sculptures on its campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and its stewardship program that lends 600 valuable, university-owned art objects by lottery to students each academic year.

This page Joan Jonas’s “Organic Honey’s Vertical Roll” (top, right) and a choreographed performance titled “Mirror Piece,” shot by the artist in 1969 (bottom) Opposite page Henry Moore’s “Three-Piece Reclining Figure, Draped” (top) adorns the M.I.T. campus and Pablo Picasso’s “Figure découpée (Cut-Out Figure),” fabricated by Carl Nesjar, was installed at M.I.T. in 1975

achievement award. Nor it is a retrospective.

Rather, being chosen for the Biennale means a “consensus of curiosity about an artist’s future and what’s next,” explains Ha. He previously served on the U.S.’s selection committee, whose members are mostly artists and curators and “fans themselves who vote for someone whose new work they want to see,” he says. And Jonas is nearly 80.

“Paul didn’t need to convince me,” Khoury says. “I was there when we tenured Joan. I saw what a specular case she had.”

Ultimately, Jonas agreed to let M.I.T. throw a hat in the ring.

“A year and a half later, you get this phone call from the [U.S.] State Department,” Ha says. The U.S. Pavilion in the Giardini was theirs.

Ha and curator Ute Meta Bauer have organized Jonas’ exhibit “They Come to Us Without a Word.” Jonas is transforming the pavilion into a dynamically immersive environment with new original video, drawings, objects and sound.

Khoury said no one should be surprised to see M.I.T. in Venice again. “Artists take risks, and that is exactly what scientists do,” Khoury says, “Art is about innovation and M.I.T. is all about innovation.” But for M.I.T., “what makes this so much more interesting than the other two times is it is our own professor,” Khoury adds. “We are swooning over this.”

Runs May 9 through November 22 at the Giardini della Biennale and at the Arsenale, Ca’ Giustinian, San Marco, Venice, tel. 39.041.521.8711, labiennale.org 233 A

A high art _ radical

The one and only

Björk turns an exciting story into great art

When MoMA bought Björk’s app Biophilia, it marked a watershed for museum collections.

Modern though it may be, MoMA is among the most august world museums; when an authority with such influence considers apps as art, you know things are moving forward.

When the app it chooses to collect is made

by Björk, you realize this woman – an icon, musician and innovator – has entered the annals of art history.

Björk has been a leader in music since she established her solo career with the album Debut in 1993. Her innovation, however, has relied on other arts to shape her persona.

Video, costume, performance and technology have been key to her cultural impact, and the hybrid whirl she creates using media is the subject of the new MoMA exhibition, “Björk.”

Speaking at the opening last month, curator Klaus Biesenbach remembered how he

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first asked the singer to collaborate on an exhibition in 2000. She finally agreed 12 years later, but on the condition the show focused on her music. Björk worked with a designer to come up with a musical experience called Songlines, which accompanies visitors via headphones as they walk through her notebooks and costumes at MoMA. Disappointingly – for artist and audience – the installation was harshly criticized by New York’s leading art reporters for underrepresenting Björk’s full story. Although damning of the museum and Biesenbach’s curation in particular, no critic aimed their distaste directly at the singer.

Biesenbach is a controversial figure in the art world; known more for his Instagram account than his exhibitions, he often draws figures from performance art and popular entertainment into the museum space.

Ranging from Marina Abramović to Lana del

© Wellhart / One Little Indian, Inez van Lamsweerde & Vinoodh Matadin, Danny Clinch

By Jasper Toms

This Page “Vespertine” (top) and “Medulla” (bottom right), by Inez & Vinoodh, and the singer in a characteristically overthe-top look (bottom left) Opposite page A still from “Black Lake,” commissioned by The Museum of Modern Art and directed by Andrew Thomas Huang

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Rey, these ventures are sometimes exciting, while at other times they seem tokenistic.

His work with Björk is a bit of both; she’s an accomplished artist worthy of a MoMA exhibition, but his execution could have been more thorough. Respected for two decades of experimentation, the singer’s back catalogue looms larger than a single MoMA show, and carries her artistic credibility above the reach of curatorial mismanagement.

The sustained admiration Björk received both from mainstream fans and the intellectual elite isn’t based just on her long career, but also on other parts of the MoMA show. Her music videos show in a cinema room, giving a glorious opportunity to appreciate her as a performer at large scale.

These videos from over the years were made in collaboration with filmmakers including Michel Gondry and Spike Jonze; they are art works in themselves, and Björk is their central protagonist.

The best part of the exhibition is “Black A 236

© Jonathan Muzikar / Museum of Modern Art, Wellhart / One Little Indian

This and following pages A still from “Wanderlust” directed by Encyclopedia Pictura (bottom) and installation views of “Björk”

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Lake,” a new video commissioned by the museum and a song that Björk built out from to compose her latest album, Vulnicura. Both song and album chronicle the breakdown of her relationship with artist Matthew Barney.

They are intensely personal and Björk is her usual self, baring her raw emotions.

At MoMA, “Black Lake” is screened inside a black box that imitates a volcanic cave, designed by young architects The Living. In the video, Björk wanders through a real cave in the dramatic landscape of her homeland, singing about the breakdown of her family.

It’s a heart-wrenching song, and you witness an artist you’ve known as an energetic girl transformed here into a forlorn woman.

Yet as it’s Björk, she still leaves you feeling uplifted. As if there wasn’t proof enough of her artistic prowess, “Black Lake” leaves you excited by Björk’s work, rather than saddened by her story.

Runs until June 7 at MoMA, 11 West 53 St., tel.

212.708.9400, moma.org A 238

© Jonathan Muzikar / Museum of Modern Art, Wellhart / One Little Indian

A high art _ radical

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A high art _ spotlight

African roots

By Richard Thornton

Nigeria’s contemporary artists flex their muscle This May, the international art elite will flood the pavilions of the 56th Venice Biennale, scrutinizing what’s hot and what’s not at the world’s most respected contemporary art fair. Champagne will be sipped, but the most interesting thing on everyone’s lips will be the impact of Okwui Enwezor, the Nigerian artistic director of this year’s Biennale and the first African ever awarded the role.

Last year, Enwezor was named the 24th most powerful person in the art world by ArtReview magazine, but this curator is just one of the many Nigerians who’s shrugged off the “tribal” and “earthy” tags that have long dogged descriptions of West African art.

In 2010, British-Nigerian artist Yinka Shonibare was given the honor of contributing a piece to the prestigious Fourth Plinth in London’s Trafalgar Square. Victory was a detailed replica of the ship Lord Nelson (whose statue stands on the central column of the square) used at the Battle of Trafalgar. The only variation was that Shonibare ditched the historically accurate white canvas and used his colorful, hallmark patterns to decorate the sails.

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© Yinka Shonibare, Ben Enwonwu, Yusuf Grillo

At Bonhams’ “Africa Now” auction last spring, Nigerian artists Ben Enwonwu and Yusuf Grillo set world records when their paintings gained the highest prices ever paid for works of contemporary African art.

“Since our inaugural ‘Africa Now’ auction just five years ago, this market has gone from strength to strength. The top prices were reserved for the best pieces by the Nigerian masters, which seems appropriate for a country celebrating its centenary, and which recently became Africa’s largest economy,” said Hannah O’Leary, Bonhams Head of Contemporary African Art.

This page Ben Enwonwu’s “Africa Dances” (top) and “African Woman with Gele”

by Yusuf Grillo (bottom) Opposite page “Earth” by Yinka Shonibare

Nigeria’s art world triumph is stretching East as well as West. The Seoul Museum of Art recently hosted “Africa Now: Political Patterns,” making it the first museum in South Korea to introduce contemporary African art to its public. Works from Yinka Shonibare and U.S.-based Nigerian artist Victor Ekpuk dazzled the crowd. Across the globe, the country’s art march continues as the Nigerian-American Leadership Council in Washington hosts the first ever retrospective of Nigerian art displayed on U.S. soil.

Throughout March and April, 300 works spanning from Nigerian independence in 1960 to today will be on show.

Perhaps the real proof of Nigeria’s blooming

art scene comes from grassroots artists working in more experimental mediums.

Jelili Atiku is a performance artist who lives and works in Ejigbo, a suburb of Lagos. Far from Okwui Enwezor and the glitz of the Venice Biennale, Atiku wraps himself in red linen and performs his free one-man act on crowded, dusty city streets, surrounded by a social milieu – many of whom have never been to an art gallery, let alone bought a piece of art.

The 56th Venice Biennale runs from May 9-November 22, labiennale.org and The Nigerian-American Leadership Council in Washington’s Nigerian Arts Expo runs from March 6-April 17, nalcouncil.org 241 A

The new art capital

By Laura van Straaten

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Dubai’s Alserkal Avenue expands its reach

© Lindsay Kirkcaldy

A high art _ expansion

This and previous page Alserkal Avenue Galleries Night in March (left, bottom) included works by Hassan Sharif (top)

“It’s our own little Chelsea.” That’s what Dubai-based arts booster Dana Farouki calls Alserkal Avenue, Dubai’s privately developed arts community where, with a new $14 million expansion, more than 40 new creative spaces will join the extant 20 art spaces that have made a crisscross of dusty warehouses in the industrial Al Quoz neighborhood an unlikely destination for art lovers.

The 40 newcomers, announced in March and opening this fall, include three important galleries and gallerists: New York-based Leila Heller, Dubai-based Third Line and Stéphane Custot of the London gallery Waddington Custot.

Each of the new galleries joining Alserkal has unique goals, in addition to, for most, secondary market sales.

According to a statement, Leila Heller seeks to bring solo exhibitions of prominent Western artists to provide “a dynamic context for the work of artists from the region,” which has long been her specialty. The Iranian-born Heller, who opened her first gallery in New York City in 1982, will inaugurate her first space in the Middle East with a show by the renowned Egyptian-American artist Ghada Amer.

Third Line, now a neighbor in Al Quoz, will double its space in making the move to Alserkal. Third Line has had considerable success representing Middle Eastern 243 A

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artists locally, regionally and internationally. It will be part of Frieze New York and Art Basel this spring. And the Guggenheim in New York City has a retrospective (through June 3) of Third Line artist Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian.

Stéphane Custot, going out on his own for the first time, aims to “support the region’s next generation of artists and their education by showcasing works of influential and historical European and American artists.” He told the French newspaper Quotidien de l’Art that “95% of the galleries in Dubai present art from the region, and I am looking to do the opposite.”

During the fair, Farouki, who spent nearly 10 years as a champion of arts organizations and initiatives in the region (including as curator for the much-awaited Guggenheim Abu Dhabi and on the board of patrons for Art Dubai), participated in a panel hosted by Alserkal on “the future challenges and opportunities of the Middle East art scene.” It is part of Alserkal’s new effort to provide more substantive programming for the arts community. Sooud Al Qassemi, the founder of Sharjah’s Barjeel Art Foundation, was Farouki’s animated seatmate during a rigorous discussion about the need for more arts training programs in the region and about how much to care about what Western curators and collectors want.

William Lawrie, who quit his job as Christie’s head of contemporary Middle Eastern art to cofound one of Alserkal’s first galleries, Lawrie Shabibi, recently watched a crowd of his gallery’s patrons perusing new work by Berlin-based, Tunis-born Nadia Kaabi-Linke (through May 14). He calls Alserkal’s burgeoning community “quite special.” And the hunger in the market is there. His partner Asmaa Al-Shabibi says stone sculptures by the Beirut-based Jordanian artist Mona Saudi at the gallery’s Art Dubai sold out on the first day of the fair. (Next up at Lawrie Shabibi is a solo show of Saudi’s work.)

Following the panel, Abdelmonem Bin Eisa Alserkal, the real estate developer and a managing director of the Alserkal Group business conglomerate who is funding the district named for him, stressed the importance of rounding out the commercial galleries into “an ecosystem… to support artists and art creation in Dubai.”

To that end, the expansion will soon introduce studios and residencies for artists, film and performing arts programs. “We want to make sure the talent here has opportunities to grow as well,” added Vilma Jurkute, director of Alserkal Avenue. “We can’t neglect that.”

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© Lindsay Kirkcaldy

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Afternoon delight

By MacKenzie Lewis Kassab

Celebrate summer with an allAmerican cookout Courtney McBroom, Leslie Behrens and Sue Chan, founders of Los Angeles-based event planning and catering company Large Marge, say the key elements of an all-American barbecue are simple: “California sun, a swimming pool, a gas grill, good friends, good music and good food.” With rays to rival the West Coast, Lebanon already sets a sun-drenched scene. The ladies behind Large Marge tell us how to do the rest.

Less-is-more décor “The smell of barbecue wafting through

the air sets the mood perfectly,” McBroom says. “That and flowers.” She recommends a colorful mix from the local farmer’s market.

“Add your favorite music, bottomless beverages and you’re set!”

Make mouths water The Large Marge team suggests a simple mix of chicken thighs, skirt steak or tofu, and a cucumber and tomato salad made with dill, buttermilk and lemon dressing. Vanilla bean ice cream drizzled with Large Marge’s Pralinella sauce* is enough to impress guests.

The only rule when it comes to ice cream?

“Just get the good stuff!” clarifies McBroom.

Pour it up When it comes to drinks, “anything goes at a barbecue,” she says. On hot days, the Large Marge bar is typically stocked with

dry white wine or sparkling rosé and smallbatch, artisanal beer. You can also designate someone to mix up Negroni sbagliatos – a Negroni with Prosecco rather than gin.

Forget formalities “Casual is always the best move,” says McBroom of seating arrangements. “We’re trying to have fun, after all.” She encourages a mix of buffet and served dishes – “there are no rules here” – and laying the food out as it becomes ready, letting people eat as they please. “Socializing and relaxing is the number one goal.”

Visit largemargecooks.tumblr.com, Twitter and Instagram @largemargecooks * See Large Marge’s Pralinella sauce recipe at aishtiblog.com

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A lifestyle _ mobile meal

Fuel up

By Rosie Parker

Los Angeles food trucks tempt the palate Food trucks are a staple of Los Angeles culture, from the traditional taco trucks that have been around for decades to the gourmet, fusion-focused vendors that have more recently taken to the streets. We’ve rounded up the best (and most wonderfully weird) mobile eateries that people are lining up for all over L.A.

The Grilled Cheese Truck Going beyond the simple bread, butter and cheese melt, this truck has introduced L.A. to a grilled cheese that could include mac ’n’ cheese with BBQ pork, or homemade chili with crunchy Fritos. For dessert? Another sandwich: Mom’s Apple Pie Melt on French bread.

Visit thegrilledcheesetruck.com

Seoul Sausage Co. Explosive Korean flavors packed into traditional street food, Seoul Sausage Co. delivers with dishes like Da KFC: Korean Fried Chicken with a sweet and spicy glaze, served with pickled daikon radishes and a kimchi cheddar cornbread.

Visit seoulsausage.com

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© Jogasaki Sushi Burrito, The Grilled Cheese Truck, Seoul Sausage Co., Komodo, Coolhaus, Kogi BBQ

Jogasaki Sushi Burrito Jogasaki’s takes your favorite sushi rolls and turns them into an on-the-go burrito wrapped in a traditional or soy paper tortilla.

They’ve got soft-shell crab, BBQ eel and even a popcorn lobster burrito. If that’s not enough fusion for you, there’s the Spicy Tuna Nachos, which are served on a bed of Doritos with avocado and eel sauce.

Visit jogasakiburrito.com

Kogi BBQ An icon of L.A. street food, Kogi BBQ is the founding father of the food truck craze.

Think Korean-Mexican grub with favorites like the Kimchi Quesadilla and Korean BBQ Short Rib Taco.

Visit kogibbq.com

Coolhaus An experiment in “farchitecture” (a food/ architecture hybrid), Coolhaus serves architecturally themed ice cream sandwiches or allows you to custom-design your own creamy creation. Choose from fresh cookie options like Red Velvet and Maple Flapjack, and esoteric ice cream flavors like Avocado Sriracha and Beer & Pretzels. Bonus: each sandwich comes complete with an edible wrapper.

Visit eatcoolhaus.com

Komodo Cali-Mex meets Southeast Asia, Komodo’s menu is a playful mash-up of cultures.

It strives to bring gourmet to the street food scene using the freshest ingredients for dishes like the Fish n’ Grapes Taco or Indonesian shredded pork rendang.

Visit komodofood.com A 253

Š Robert Wheeler

A lifestyle _ nostalgia

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A modern take on the ’20s

Anyone seeking to soak up the feel of Ernest Hemingway’s ’20s Paris would do well to start with Robert Wheeler’s new book of photography. Inside its 208 pages, Hemingway’s Paris illuminates some of the City of Light’s most picturesque locales – many of which inspired and fueled the writer in his formative years. “A lot of critics say he did his best writing before 1928, in the days when he was struggling,” Wheeler says.

The New Hampshire-based Wheeler – a teacher, lecturer and photographer – spent four years with a camera in Paris, recording Hemingway’s early haunts.

His black and white photographs are light-drenched and evocative renderings of the cafes, museums and monuments that the expat author favored. They’re accompanied by Wheeler’s knowing text, much of it informed by Hemingway’s A Moveable Feast, the wistful, posthumous memoir of his time in Paris.

Hemingway and his wife Hadley first arrived in Paris in 1921, returned to America for the birth of their son in 1923, and then came back in 1924. The city was then the epicenter of the modern movement – in art, literature and life – and there, Hemingway would befriend some of its brightest lights, including Ezra Pound, Gertrude Stein and Sylvia Beach. “Beach was one of the first people Hemingway met in Paris,” he says. “From the time he met her, he found a home, with her and with her shop.”

Beach’s Shakespeare and Company bookstore, established in 1919, served as a lending library and a place of collaboration where writers and artists could talk late into night. The patron saint of the modern movement in Paris, she was helpful with the publication of James Joyce’s Ulysses.

“Sylvia was a warm, inviting person with a beautiful American bookshop.” Wheeler explains. “Artists need connections and energy and dialogue from others, and Shakespeare and Company was that kind of environment.” Beach would close up her shop on the rue 255 A

A lifestyle _ nostalgia

This and previous pages In his new book, writer and photographer Robert Wheeler retraces Hemingway’s steps through Paris

Stein’s parlor at 27 rue de Fleurus was also a highly influential artistic salon. An early patron of Matisse and Picasso, Stein was a collector and promoter of all things modern. To some locals (a few of whom came to her parlor to laugh at what she hung on her walls), she was known as the “garbage collector.” Still, she had enough money to purchase art and entertain, and for Hemingway, her parlor was a source of food, drink and inspiration.

“For a guy who was hungry and had doubts about his own written work, it was a brilliant place for him to be.

I look at Gertrude Stein as Hemingway’s literary mother and Ezra Pound as his literary father,” he says. “This was a place that he could call an extraordinary home.

Like any good parent, she would instruct, encourage A 256

and tell the truth about his work and progress.”

And then there are the cafes Hemingway frequented, each for a different purpose. “For romance, he used Les Deux Magots. For writing he used La Closerie des Lilas, where he penned Big Two-Hearted River,” says Wheeler.

“And for commerce and meetings, he used Le Dôme and the Dingo American Bar.” The Dingo was the site of Hemingway’s first encounter with F. Scott Fitzgerald in 1925, two weeks after Scribner’s published The Great Gatsby. Alas, that bar is long gone, as are those two fine American writers. But their work continues to inspire the thoughtful reader, and Hemingway’s Paris will too.

Hemingway’s Paris: A Writer’s City in Words and Images, by Robert Wheeler, is published by Yucca Publishing and is out now

© Robert Wheeler

Dupuytren at the start of World War II, but a bookstore with the same name and philosophy has been located on the rue de l’Odéon since 1951.

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A lifestyle _ city

Bali at its best

By Pip Usher

Bali, coined the Island of Gods, has been attracting sun-seekers, surfers and spiritual warriors since the ’70s. Whether it’s the palm trees and white sand beaches, its mountainous volcanic center or the numerous temples that dot the lush landscape, the island’s evocative landscape brings in three million tourists every year.

Starting in April, the oppressive dry season brings clear, comparatively cool days filled with sunshine. Hop on a bicycle and explore the island’s beautiful rice fields and ancient monuments; if cycling isn’t your thing, Bali’s strips of white sand have sent many a tourist home with picture-perfect photographs of the crimson sun setting over an endless stretch of beach. Kuta was the original reason tourists began flocking

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to the island and it still reigns supreme, with surf that crashes to shore in symmetrical breaks.

But if the crowds prove too chaotic, grab a Bintang, Bali’s local beer, and head to Canggu, a coastal surfing village with a laidback vibe and buzzing beach bars filled with beautiful people. When night falls, Hotel Tugu, a boutique hotel filled with a collection of antiques from across Asia, offers an elegant place to lay your head.

Craving culture? Venture inland to Ubud, the island’s cultural capital. Littered with yoga studios, health food hotspots and galleries, it’s a town that attracts a tourist with a tendency towards soul-searching. Invest in a pair of bamboo cotton harem pants and wander slowly through the streets, stopping only for a vegan brownie or one of the

island’s trademark Balinese massages. For art aficionados, the batik, a traditional Indonesian textile crafted with wax and wax-resistant dye on cloth, is an ancient art form that still thrives today. Vibrantly colored and boldly patterned, it’s a conversation starter hanging on your wall at home.

If the slow life gets too sleepy, Seminyak, on the south of the island, offers a boozy outcropping of bars and luxurious beach clubs. Leave the flip-flops at home and head to Potato Head, an internationally acclaimed beach club that transforms from daytime joint into a sophisticated restaurant and bar with artisanal cocktails and resident DJs. To ease the next day’s hangover, check into Spa Bali for a hot stone massage and petal bath.

© Locavore, Five Elements, The Bulgari Resort Bali, Shutterstock

An island unparalleled

Five Elements These master chefs challenge assumptions of raw food with their epicurean vegan and raw foods cuisine. Set aside a few hours for their seven-course tasting menu.

Mambal, Abiansemal, tel. 62.361.469.206, fivelements.org

Stella McCartney

Alberta Ferretti

The Bulgari Resort Bali Asia may feel like a long flight away, but Bulgari’s exclusive resort makes the journey worthwhile. Nestled high on a cliff overlooking the Indian Ocean, expect spectacular sunsets, dolphin sightings and an unspoiled beachfront.

Jalan Goa Lempeh, Banjar Dinas Kangin, Uluwatu, tel. 62.361.847.1000, bulgarihotels.com

Locavore Haute cuisine that attracts a high-end crowd and rave reviews. With an emphasis on local produce and ethically sourced meat, its morals match its artful menu.

Jalan Dewi Sita, Ubud, tel. 62.361.977.733, restaurantlocavore.com

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A last _ word

Stripe dream

Chloé Eliza platform sandals A 260

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