The Cerebral Issue

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S T Y LE & CU LT U R E OF TH E S O U TH

A R T& FA S H I O N TH E

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ISSUE NO.12 THE CEREBRAL ISSUE EIDEMAGAZINE.COM

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noun, plural of ei·dos [ahy-dee]. The distinctive and formal expression of the cognitive or intellectual character of a culture or social group. It is the essence of each thing and its primary substance.

Tova Gelfond EDITOR-IN-CHIEF/ CREATIVE DIRECTOR

Craig Rosenberg CFO

Avi Gelfond ART DIRECTOR

Jaime Lin Weinstein SENIOR EDITOR

Tian Justman FASHION DIRECTOR

Christina Montford EDITORIAL ASSISTANT

Alisa Hutchinson and Hannah Johnson ASSISTANT STYLIST

Victoria Knight Borges, Jessica Hough, Austin Holt, Anna Morris, E.J. Ogle and Gina Yu CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Colby Blount, Russell Dreyer, Brett Falcon, David Feldman, Julia Gartland, Jimmy Johnston, Chris Lowell, Alex Martinez, Ian McFarlane, Charlie Watts and David Winton CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS

Brooke Hutchins and Meghan Jackson EDITORIAL INTERNS

Abigail Lambert DESIGN INTERNS

Curtis Carter, Laura Henry and Cassie Kaye FASHION INTERNS

Sheyda Mehrara PUBLIC RELATIONS INTERN

© Enlightenmint Media Group, LLC 2014. All rights reserved. No part of this magazine may be used or reproduced without the written permission of the publisher Enlightenmint Media Group. The views expressed in Eidé Magazine are those of the respective contributors and are not necessarily shared by the magazine or its staff. The registered office of Enlightenmint Media Group is at 1200 Foster Street NW, Suite 20, Atlanta, Ga 30318. All information contained in the magazine is for information only and is as far as we are aware, correct at the time of going to press. Enlightenmint Media cannot accept any responsibility for errors or inaccuracies in such information. Readers are advised to contact manufacturers and retailers directly with regard to the price of products/services referred to in this magazine. If you submit unsolicited material to us, you automatically grant Enlightenmint Media a license to publish your submission in whole, or in part, in all editions of the magazine, including licensed editions worldwide and in any physical or digital format throughout the world. Any material you submit is sent at your risk and, although every care is taken, neither Enlightenmint Media nor its employees, agents, or subcontractors shall be liable for loss or damage. Published six times a year by Enlightenmint Media Group, LLC 900 Dekalb Ave. Suite D, Atlanta, Ga 30307


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CONTRIBUTORS BELINDA MARTIN 1 Originally 4 from Mobile, Ala., Belinda Martin has developed

E.J. OGLE E.J. Ogle is a freelance music writer and DJ based in Atlanta who has written for Eidé since 2012. “Talking to Emily Kinney was perfect because I got to expand beyond focusing just on music,” he explains of interviewing the singer and actress for this issue. “We also have similar personalities to a degree, which helped in understanding the balance she’s trying to maintain artistically between her character on ‘The Walking Dead,’ the Emily portrayed in the confessional nature of her songs and the everyday person underlying both. She has a thoughtfulness that makes deep, interesting conversation easy.”

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DAVID WINTON David Winton is a freelance photographer and creative director at an art company who has been published in all fields of photography from the studio to the street. Hailing from Starkville, Miss., he currently resides in Durham, N.C. with his fancy lady Cathy, pit mix Pepper and 6-month-old powerhouse baby Magnolia. “Working with Ivy at Palette & Parlor was wonderful,” Winton explains of taking pictures for “A Marriage of Design.” “Every minute of being in her space brought a new inspirational moment and a new story.” (david-winton.com)

her career as a fashion stylist over the last 10 years in Birmingham, Atlanta and New York, where she currently resides. “I’ve had the honor to collaborate with many celebrities, but working with someone like Chris Lowell was such a great experience because we both could identify with our Southern roots,” she explains of styling “The Lowell Lens” in this issue. “For this editorial, I was inspired to combine Lowell’s own classic style with a modern twist. He’s a man that knows his own personal style, but is willing to play with fashion and create new characters; a willingness that makes him a great actor as well.” (belindamartinstyling.com)

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JULIA GARTLAND Julia Gartland is a food and lifestyle photographer based in Brooklyn, N.Y. Her love for food and photography led her to create her site, Sassy Kitchen, a gluten-free, whole-foods and seasonal cooking blog. Gartland shares a new, personal recipe with Eidé for each issue, always in keeping with the theme. The brain, in shape, closely resembles the head of a cauliflower — the main ingredient in her “pizza” recipe conceived for this “cerebral” issue. (sassy-kitchen.com/juliagartland.com)

IAN MCFARLANE 3 Ian McFarlane is an Athens, Ga.-based fashion and com-

STYLE & CULTURE Of ThE SOUTh

Th E A R T & FA S H I o n ED ITI O N

ON THE COVER

CHRIS LOWELL

Photography by COLBY BLOUNT Styling by BELINDA MARTIN Grooming by NYLZA YEPEZ Shot on location at The Broome Hotel

Fall Fashion, The Walking DeaD’s Emily KinnEy souThern arTisTs To knoW noW, The liFe oF honeybees

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mercial photographer. His love for the camera began at the age of 15, after he snuck away with his (FBI Agent) father’s surveillance equipment. He would later attend the University of Georgia’s Lamar Dodd School of Art. “This shoot was inspired by the larger-than-life sensual paintings by Jim Herbert,” McFarlane explains of his work, “Thinking Inside the Box,” in this issue. “We shot everything in camera, the models truly in a glass box with 12x12 foot paintings behind them. The results are surreal, sensual moments of color and emotion divided by a thin layer of reality, separating the physical and cerebral fantasy.” (ianmcfarlanephoto.com)

ISSUE NO.12 THE CEREBRAL ISSUE EIdEmAgAzInE.Com

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LImITEd EdITIon ART PRInTS

Chris LoweLL AC TO r , D I r E C TO r , f I L m m A k E r


C A R P E T

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LETTER FROM THE

CEREBRAL INFLUENCE Our capacity for understanding is limitless and ever-evolving. There was a time when it was thought that the Earth was flat and spontaneous generation gave birth to living organisms. We believed belly buttons were scandalous and pink was just for girls. But we know better now — salmon pink was made for menswear. And the real reason we actually change our minds (other than scientists disproving the old with the new), is because people on a larger scale are able to think in a different way. With the accessibility of information brought about by the Internet Age, we are constantly proving and disproving each other’s ideas (when we are not tagging people in celebrity news). There may not be a “dislike” button on Facebook, but don’t let that fool you — if your opinion is unpopular, people will let you know. And on the flip side, people will ban together to rally behind an ice bucket and a dare to raise money for ALS. But perhaps the most pivotal mediums for changing minds throughout history have been art and fashion. The Grecian relics of marble affixed with stone and draped togas, and ornately framed oil on canvas portraits with French lace are tunnels into a time we have left behind and still strive to understand. Most of the iconic images we’re comfortable with today were controversial at the time. And through it all, art and fashion have both been a positive catalyst for change. The visual integration of color, form and figure challenges us to see something new and fresh within the monotonous and ordinary. It breaks rules and takes prisoners. Which makes it even more valuable, it seems, in the South. A place where stigmas and associations that have been carried around

since watch fobs and hoop skirts are continuing to be broken down and reimagined with the emergence of provocative Southern talent. We are ready to think differently. And if purchasing alcohol on Sundays and allocating city funds to breathe life into once-dead parts of town doesn’t resonate, then the warehouse-sided murals, story-high sculpture art and politically charged t-shirts will. Creativity uses what we see and bends it upon itself like a cluster of mirrors that protract into a kaleidoscope. It’s the artist’s lens that allows us to laugh at each other and ourselves — social commentary in its last unthreatening incarnation. Through this, we can try on new ideas just as we might the new Pantone color of the year. Because you don’t have to like the message to enjoy the art. You don’t even have to understand it for that matter. And it’s okay, because art, style, fashion, design — they’re not about answers anyway. They have always been about the questions.

Tova Gelfond


WHILE PREPARING THIS ISSUE WE: Moved to a new (bigger!) office. Rode a bike & rollerbladed inside our new office. Rode a taxi in New York City with Chris Lowell. Spent the day with “The Walking Dead”’s Emily Kinney. Went to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Drank a lot of Bloody Mary’s. Ate a lot of kale. Played Cards Against Humanity. Bailed a friend out of jail. Took the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. Mourned the loss of Robin Williams and Joan Rivers. Mourned the loss of the Goat Farm’s cat. Went to fashion shows. A lot of fashion shows. Went to a wedding at a brewery. Cried about an upcoming birthday. Saw a double rainbow outside the office (see Instagram). Got a speeding ticket. Saw Emily Kinney live in concert. Attended (and loved) Plywood Presents. Listened to the new Alt J album. Got stung by bees to get photos for a story. Played with real airplanes (not model ones). Looked at a ton of art. Visited Highlands, N.C. Tried on jewelry during an exclusive preview of the new Tiffany “T” collection. Got a Clarisonic (finally!). Searched for the best chicken salad in the city (still open for help on that). Took the very first Eidé exec team selfie. Interviewed Kaya Scodelario and Will Poultry of The Maze Runner. Enjoyed this year’s Jeffrey Fashion Cares. Had an exec team photo shoot (pictures to come!). Follow the journey @eidemagazine, facebook.com/eidemagazine and eidemagazine.com Etching by Jason Kofke 18” x 24”, 2008 “Everything Will Be OK (1998)” (jasonkofke.com)


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TABLE OF CONTENTS: THE LOWELL LENS (92) Actor, photographer and now filmmaker Chris Lowell keeps proving himself in front of — and behind — the camera.

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LETTING EVERYBODY IN (52) Emily Kinney juggles the zombie apocalypse, confessional songwriting and fandom. GREEN CAULIFLOWER “PIZZA” (18) With heirloom tomatoes, prosciutto and pesto. A SOUR STORY (24) The history of a 125-year-old sourdough bread starter.

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BEE SMART (26) Our agricultural ways are threatening more than just our honey supply. AVIATOR (30) Men's fall fashion takes flight. SMART HOUSE (44) Enhance your home with genius designs. A MARRIAGE OF DESIGN (48) One innovative couple’s curation of Danish furniture with Southern soul. FROM PLAYBOY TO THE HUMAN PALACE (62) Inside the mind of father and creative extraordinaire David Rams. THINKING INSIDE THE BOX (66) The art of beautiful lingerie basics. ART BY POPULAR DEMAND (76) Southern artists to know now.

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BODIES AS WORKS OF ART (84) Photos from the 1970s have brought things full circle for The Chelko Foundation. A MOMENT OF ECUADOR (86) A snapshot of the South American cities Quito and Mompiche. POETIC JUSTICE (88) How spoken word is reviving a lost art.

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A FILM OF ONE’S OWN (90) Women’s growing role in the "Hollywood of the South." THINK TWICE (103) Facts you learned that turned out not to be facts at all. HYPNOTIZE ME (105) A firsthand experience with hypnotherapy. HIGHBROWS (108) Through thick and thin, there’s more to these features than what meets the eye. BARE ACCESSORIES (112) Statement bags and sexy shoes that stand alone. FILM, FASHION AND SCIENCE FICTION (122) How the imaginative genre is dominating American pop culture. “T” TIME (126) Tiffany & Co. is entering a new era. OVERPASS (130) Oversize layers take to the streets. WEARABLE ART (138) Fashion and art intersect with illustrated scarves.

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In our Pre-Fall 2014 issue, the story titled “Fringe Benefits” about Mignonne Gavigan contained several statements about her former business partner that were not accurate. These comments should be disregarded.


GREEN CAULIFLOWER

PIZZA W i t h H e i r l o o m To m a t o e s , P r o s c i u t t o a n d P e s t o | S e r v e s 6 | G l u t e n - F r e e

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JUL I A G A R T L A ND

R ECIPE & PHOT O GR A PH Y

FOOD & BEVERAGE

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CAULIFLOWER “CRUST” 2 p o u n d s c a u l i f l o w e r (a b o u t 3 c u p s ) 3/4 c u p a l m o n d f l o u r 1 tablespoon dried thyme 3 eg gs, beaten Sea salt Fr e s hl y g r oun d p e p p e r

PESTO 3/4 c u p p i s t a c h i o s 2 garlic cloves, smashed 2 cups basil 1/ 3 c u p p a r m e s a n , g r a t e d 1 lemon, juice and zest Olive oil

TOPPINGS 12 o u n c e s h e i r l o o m c h e r r y t o m a t o e s , s l i c e d 3 garlic cloves, sliced 1 l a r g e b a l l m o z z a r e l l a (a b o u t 12 o u n c e s ) , s l i c e d 3 ounces prosciutto 2 cups baby arugula Shaved parmesan, for ser ving

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DIRECTIONS

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reheat oven to 400 F. In a food processor, pulse cauliflower until purĂŠed to the size of rice. Add to a large mixing bowl. Use a paper towel to press cauliflower well and remove any moisture. Then, add almond flour, thyme, sea salt and freshly ground pepper; mix. Fold in beaten eggs until mixture is well combined. Refrigerate for 20 minutes.

Once crust has chilled, add to a parchment-lined and greased baking sheet using your hands to shape. Make sure to form a crust! Par-bake crust for 25 minutes. Then, remove from oven and begin adding toppings. First, layer sliced garlic along the bottom of the crust. Next, cover with sliced mozzarella slabs and a thick layer of pistachio pesto. Finally, top with cherry tomatoes.

While crust is chilling, use the same (cleaned) food processor to make the pesto. First, add pistachios and garlic until fine. Pulse together basil, parmesan, lemon juice and zest until gritty. Stream in olive oil (about 1/3 - 1/2 cup) while blending until pesto reaches desired consistency.

Bake for 7 - 9 minutes or until cheese has melted completely. Set oven to broil and return pizza to oven for 3 - 5 minutes or until bubbly and browned. Remove from heat and allow pizza to cool. Top with prosciutto, baby arugula and shaved parmesan. Enjoy!

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FOOD & BEVERAGE

A SOUR STORY

Story by AUSTIN HOLT Photography by CHARLIE WATTS

The history of a 125-year-old sourdough bread starter.

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ere’s a romantic thought: In Newcastle, Wyo., there’s a charming little home in a residential neighborhood. Inside this home, a nondescript kitchen, tricked out with family photos and wooden cabinetry that, while lovingly maintained, hasn’t been updated for the better part of a half-century. Also inside this kitchen, a run-of-the-mill white refrigerator that contains the usual suspects: milk, eggs, butter, ketchup. But there’s one particular resident of this fridge that stands out: a ceramic jar containing a taupe-hued gelatinous substance, packed with air bubbles. Unscrewing the lid unleashes a pungent, yeasty, slightly sour aroma. This ceramic jar, or more specifically, its contents, have earned 86-year-old

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Lucille Clark Dumbrill an interesting sort of fame. Records are kept for certain achievements — longest paper clip chain; most hot dogs eaten in one sitting; highest hot air balloon flight — but so far, the folks from Guinness haven’t paid Lucille a visit regarding the contents of her fridge. Still, she’s made the local paper a couple of times and has been blurbed up on a couple of foodie blogs, and this prized possession, at the very least, has been an interesting point of conversation on more than one occasion. The jar contains sourdough starter: a bacteria-laden concoction consisting of yeast, flour, sugar and water. A substance like this one is key to preparing a loaf of fresh, hot bread — refer to Food Science 101 for more details — and it’s not too uncommon for a baker to keep

a batch at the ready out of convenience rather than having to whip it up fresh when the want for baked goods arises. It’s one of the oldest kitchen shortcuts in the book: Scoop some starter out of a jar; mix it with more flour, water and sugar; let it sit for awhile; and replace what you borrowed to let the fermentation process continue. A romantic notion was promised at the start of this story, so here goes: Lucille’s starter is 125 years old. It was passed down from her mother, Nina, who received it from one of her husband’s students at the University of Wyoming. As far as anyone can tell, the origins of this starter date back, at least, to a sheepherder’s wagon in Kaycee, Wyo., circa 1889. Ponder that for a moment. While the Eiffel Tower was under construc-


tion, some shepherd in the newly-charted American West combined wild microbes with some flour and water. While Vincent Van Gogh was in Holland painting “Starry Night,” the first batch of sourdough bread conjured from this fermented mass was baking in a cast iron hearth. This glob of yeasty goodness was alive before the Model T, before the Wright Brothers’ first flight at Kitty Hawk, before the diesel-fueled combustion engine, the zipper, the motion picture camera, the matchbook, the radio, crayons, the theory of general relativity, jazz, the Great Depression, two world wars, nuclear fallout and Myspace. Wyoming wouldn’t even be a state for another year. Before all this, the first generation of Lucille Clark Dumbrill’s sourdough starter was thriving. And it’s still alive, in her fridge, in her kitchen. She uses it to make tea cakes. It’s not too hard to see why some people might become a little queasy at the thought of an edible, century-old anything in their house. We live in a world of expiration dates, where yogurt even a few days past its listed prime earns at least a cautionary sniff. I once had a conversation with a co-worker: “Ugh,” she said. “I hate fermented stuff.” “Really?” “Yeah. It’s disgusting.” “Hmm. Do you like coffee?” “Yeah,” she responded hesitantly. “Do you like cheese?” “Yeah…” “Wine?” “Yeah.” “Do you like pooping?” That shut the conversation down entirely. Not gonna lie, it was totally clever and off-the-cuff. I Facebooked the hell out of it. Got like, 20 likes. But there’s a point. Americans have a few taboos when it comes to what we put into our bellies. We don’t eat insects. Guinea pigs are pets, not dinner. We got culturally freaked out when we heard that some British grocery store was surreptitiously selling horse meat to its customers. We love beef, pork and chicken, but typically prefer to forget that our filet once had a face attached to it. And we hate, I mean, we just can’t stand the thought, that a legion of bacteria played

a necessary role in bringing some of our most treasured delicacies to the table. But, that is the uncomfortable truth. We live in a world where we are utterly dependent on a multitude of tiny, single-celled buggies for nearly every aspect of our being. Did you know that there are more bacteria in your stomach, right now, than there are stars in the universe? That statistic is almost certainly bullshit, but it goes to illustrate a really high number, which is the point here. Bacteria is awesome. Without it, we would die. And even worse, we wouldn’t have tasty food. Sourdough is some pretty basic stuff. In one form or another, it has been a part of human civilization since it was baked up by the Egyptians some 3,500 years ago. Essentially, it’s bread, but whereas a typical baguette contains a fungus called yeast, sourdough starter also contains lactobacillus, a genus of bacteria that converts lactose and sugar into lactic acid. This gives sourdough its tang, in the way the same bacteria add a pungency to cheese, cocoa, sauerkraut, cider, pickles and most of the beer and wine you’re ever going to drink. Some of our favorite foods don’t just hap-

erally everywhere in our world — it just needs the right food to flourish: sugar, flour, water, — perfect. And since lactobacilli are as different as the regions from which they hail, a new dimension is added to the mix. The bacteria harvested from 19th century Wyoming was, and is, different from those collected from the valleys of France or the hills of Patagonia. They hail from different sources, have different genetic makeups, and create entirely different flavors. A wise man once said that oysters are the only food that happens to taste like where they’re from. That’s almost true. A quick Google search is in order, intrepid reader. Bakeries from Johannesburg to San Francisco will be more than happy to sell you a taste of home: a Tupperware of starter, on ice, scheduled for next-day delivery. Or, if you’re more in the mindset to begin crafting your own living, breathing heirloom, it takes little more than a bowl, some basic ingredients, and a bit of patience. And science. And what the hell, some love. Why not. At the very least, you’ll earn some DIY foodie points. And at the most, you’ll have a cool hand-me-down that your great-grandkids can play around with in another 125 years.

While Vincent Van Gogh was in Holland painting “Starry Night,” the first batch of sourdough bread conjured from this fermented mass was baking in a cast iron hearth. pen. They’re the end result of a living, breathing process of chemical and biological reactions, carefully cultivated to produce an effect. And that’s where the story takes an artisanal bend. Let’s go back to Lucille and her ceramic jar. The bacteria that went into making the first batch of starter more than a century ago could have easily been captured from the dry Wyoming air, or incorporated from a pile of grain that had been exposed to the elements. Lactobacillus, after all, is almost lit-

The original bacterium that went into the first incarnation of Lucille’s starter is long gone. But through careful, almost obsessive cultivation, the descendants still remain, some incalculable number of generations later, carrying with them the genetic information imparted by their ancestors. In other words, a loaf of bread cooked from this starter today is linked genetically (almost spiritually) to a loaf made a century ago, like some sort of fluffy, crusty, edible time capsule. It’s like slathering butter on history itself. FA L L 2 0 1 4

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FOOD & BEVERAGE

BEE SMART AGRICULTURAL WAYS ARE THREATENING MORE THAN JUST OUR HONEY SUPPLY

hy by Photograp Story and

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GINA YU


“You could say that it runs in my blood, but I wouldn’t say my blood is thick with honey. It’s thin. Thin like the way a Northerner makes their sweet tea,” says Adam Hickman of Foxhound Bee Company in Birmingham, Ala.

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is great-grandfather was a beekeeper and one of the best at making honey from Sourwood trees that bloom along the Southern Appalachia. Hickman remembers him, vaguely. But at age 13, one look at his late great-grandfather’s smoker and honey extractor sparked a curiosity in him that intensified over the next 12 years. Now he’s a chef by trade and a beekeeper after hours. “What it takes to be a beekeeper isn’t found in your run-of-the-mill person,” he says. “It takes a little crazy … It’s the logical crazy that tries to separate the rational from the emotional and that talks to itself when surrounded by 60,000 stinging honeybees.” The honeybee we all know (Apis mellifera) is responsible for pollinating, conservatively, onethird of all the food we consume. Along with herbs, spices and even coffee, honeybees pollinate crops like fruit and wood; in other words, anything from what we eat to what provides us with shelter. “Flowering plants cannot walk, swim, fly or jump to find a mate, so many are reliant on bees to deliver their genetic material,” explains Rusty Burlew, writer for Honey Bee Suite and director of the Native Bee Conservancy. This year, Hepzibah Farms in Talladega, Ala., experienced an extreme example of the bees’ impact. Created in 2011, the farm is a collective of partners that include a lawyer, two artists, a statistician, an IT guy, a student on hiatus, a baby and one person who actually grew up on a farm. Last winter, they erected a massive hoop house using bamboo and greenhouse plastic to extend their growing season and have better control over humidity. Spring came, and their squash plants were small. Very small. The issue? The hoop house had essentially trapped the plants inside, eliminating access to pollinators. “We immediately hiked up the sides of the plastic and planted more flowers inside to help attract bees,” Co-founder Rachel Rowe says. The bees were in there the next day, and the plants grew to normal sizes.

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There is no question — bees are absolutely essential to life. “Ever see a misshapen apple, pumpkin or squash? That happened as a result of the absence of honeybees on the flower that produced that fruit,” Hickman says. Like most of us, he’s purchased peaches out of season. Small, hard or verging on rotten — “Like a dirty chalkboard eraser, they are the perfect reminder that something is wrong,” he says. “That is what I believe a world without honeybees would be like: expensive, dirty chalkboard erasers. That’s the big picture.” Honeybees labor their entire lives for one-twelfth of a teaspoon of honey — but it’s about more than the honey. For the flying, buzzing insects, it’s about the hive.

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THE SOCIAL NETWORK

he hive is a democratic society. Honeybees communicate with each other by dancing. Using what is called the waggle dance, they direct each other to the exact location of nectar, using their relation to the sun or distance from the hive. The figure-eight movement was discovered by Karl von Frisch who was subsequently awarded a Nobel Prize in 1973. “They make decisions and come to a consensus,” says Stephanie Masters-Norton of We Three Beeks in Birmingham, Ala. The honeybees devote their entire lives to the health of the larger community. As a group, they create their own heating and cooling, controlling the hive’s temperature with their wings. Yet when a honeybee stings, it dies. “The individual worker perishes for the good of the colony; a true suicide mission,” Burlew says. In the duration of a bee’s short life, she will be responsible for every role at some point. As soon as a bee hatches out of her cell, she immediately begins cleaning it, making it ready for the queen again. Young bees are responsible for feeding the larvae and then progress through other jobs such as wax building, cleaning, processing incoming nectar and pollen, guarding the hive and foraging outside of the hive. All worker bees are female but do not possess the ability to reproduce. Male honeybees are called drones, because they are just kept on standby for mating with the queen during the summer. With no purpose in the winter, drones are expelled from the hive in autumn. Male bees do not have a stinger, and after mating with the queen, they die. The worker bees decide when to replace their queen; whether they should collect more nectar or if they should collect pollen or water instead; when the males are thrown out of the colony for the winter; and if the nest should be expanded or contracted. “It’s a common misperception that the queen rules the colony. While the queen does hold the fabric of the colony together, she has almost no power. Her job is to lay eggs,” explains Damian Magista, owner of Local Bee Honey in Portland, Ore.

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As the queen ages, the pheromone she emits changes, signaling her decline. The workers then begin creating a new queen to replace her; they choose a young larvae and feed it copious amounts of royal jelly (larvae nutrition that is secreted out of worker bees’ mouths). When a new queen emerges, her first duty is to sting and kill any other potential queens who have yet to emerge from their cells. The more mature forager bees fly around to flowers, extracting as much nectar as possible during the day. Middle-aged curing bees take the nectar from the foraging bees and remove 80 percent of the water from the nectar to concentrate it. How? By flapping their wings! Their wings also create static electricity when they fly, which attracts the loose pollen grains to their hairy bodies. “Their legs are basically brooms designed to rake the collected pollen into a special pollen compartment on their leg,” Hickman says. The nectar is brought to perfectly made cells in the hive — small cavities built into hexagons, the most durable shape possible with the least amount of resources. The concentrated nectar is stored and sealed as honey, so that it’s available during the winter. As eusocial insects, honeybees earn the highest degree of sociality in insects, which means they have overlapping generations (different stages of life are all represented in the hive), co-


“NO SINGLE BEE OPERATES ALONE AND IF ANY PIECE IS OUT OF SYNC, IT DOESN’T WORK — THE BEES WILL FAIL AND DIE.”

operative brood care (all members are responsible for caring for the young) and a sterile worker caste (labor is divided into specialized reproductive and non-reproductive work). “The honeybees’ strict adherence to social duty is why they’ve evolved and thrived for so long,” says Megan Paska, author of “The Rooftop Beekeeper” and known as the “Brooklyn Homesteader.” “Each bee is married to the colony as a whole. No single bee operates alone and if any piece is out of sync, it doesn’t work — the bees will fail and die.” Unfortunately, instinct or intelligence isn’t enough to defend the hives and hard-working bees. Have you noticed how produce and nuts have dramatically risen in prices? The decline of the honeybee population is responsible. Queen of the Sun: What Are the Bees Telling Us?, a 2010 award-winning documentary film, addresses the global disappearance of honeybees due to Colony Collapse Disorder — resulting in a massive revival in bee preservation and understanding. CCD is the spontaneous abandonment of a hive by honeybees, an occurrence that happens naturally. Scientists saw a rise of hive collapses around the 1970s and calculated the disorder to be reaching dangerous rates in 2006; beekeepers reported losing 30 to 90 percent of their hives in October of that year. Although numerous claims have been made regarding the

cause of CCD, the United States Department of Agriculture says no specific cause has been determined. Some contributing factors are pathogens, parasites and stress caused by hive overcrowding or environmental factors such as a lack of diversity in nectar or pollen. Companies like Local Bee Honey avoid CCD by practicing sustainable beekeeping, which means no chemical treatments are used on the hives and they avoid exposure to pesticide-heavy mono-crop environments. “Losses due to CCD is a shot across the bow that we must take notice of,” Magista says. “They are telling us that we cannot continue producing food using current large-scale agricultural methods. It’s unhealthy for the bees and for us.” A few generations ago, beekeeping was a skill that was essential for families; survival at its simplest. Burlew’s grandfather used to take her on walks to check on “bee trees” of wild colonies, and her breakfast table was never lacking honeycomb. Cary Norton of We Three Beeks was inspired by his grandfather Charlie Cornelison, a beekeeper of 40 years, and Hickman was hooked after a look at his great-grandfather’s beekeeping equipment. Now, it’s part of the global foodscape. With the rise of people who care about their food and where it comes from, they’re caring about bees. And luckily, once you start to take notice, it’s pretty hard to look away. FA L L 2 0 1 4

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AVIATOR Photography by

A LE X M A R TI N E Z

Styling by

TIA N J U S TM A N

Models: C A M E R O N for LA Models

FULLER

B R I T TA N Y L . for Factor Models

Makeup by E R I C A for Urban Decay

BOGART

Hair by B R I E N I C H O L S for b. You Blowdry & Beauty Bar Assistant Stylist:

HANNAH JOHNSON

Shot on location at:

P E AC H S TAT E A E R O D R O M E

Three-Piece Suit, $1,495 and Shirt, $165, both MORGAN CODA, both at morgancoda.com. Tie, $85, HUNTZ & WHITE, at Henry & June. Coat, $795, BILLY REID at Saks Fifth Avenue.


Shirt, $165, MORGAN CODA, at morgancoda.com. Jacket, $1,495 and Pant, $395, both BILLY REID, Duffle, $398, POLO RALPH LAUREN, all at Saks Fifth Avenue.

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On him: Jacket, $695 and Pant, $225, both MORGAN CODA, both at morgancoda.com. Sweater, $205, SURFACE TO AIR, at Henry & June. On her: Blouse, $285 and Pant, $395, both HAUTE HIPPIE, both at Tootsies. Jacket, $560, M.LONNBERG and Sunglasses, KOMONO, $55, both at Henry & June.

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On her: Dress, $295, RACHEL ZOE, at Tootsies. On him: White Tuxedo Shirt, $240, GRAY BASIK, at graybasik.com. Tuxedo, price upon request, MORGAN CODA, at morgancoda.com. Bow Tie and Cummerbund Set, $125, SOUTHERN PROPER, at southernproper.com.

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Shirt, $188, Pant, $228 and Belt, $128, Jacket, $798, all SAKS FIFTH AVENUE COLLECTION, all at Saks Fifth Avenue.


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Jacket, $695, Shirt, $165, Pant, $225, all MORGAN CODA, all at morgancoda.com. Tie, $85, HUNTZ & WHITE and Vintage Tie Clip, $20, both at Henry & June. Belt, $128, SAKS FIFTH AVENUE COLLECTION, at Saks Fifth Avenue.


On him: Suit, $469, Shirt, $129, Tie, $65 and Pocket Square, $45, all SUITSUPPLY, all at suitsupply.com On her: Blouse, $190 and Pleated Skirt, $250, CORRELL CORRELL, both at Henry & June.

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Overcoat, $1,495, CANALI 1934 and Sweater, $398, SAKS FIFTH AVENUE COLLECTION, both at Saks Fifth Avenue.


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DESIGN

SMART HOUSE E N H A N C E YO U R H O M E W I T H G E N I U S D E S I G N S

Story by CHRISTINA MONTFORD

A LT E R E G O M O D U L A R S E AT I N G The AlterEgo square-based seating unit by REdesign is made up of two compact cube sectionals. The unit splits along diagonals, morphing into four triangle-based seats, hinged on one vertical side. Magnets hide under the leather coating to reattach the sectionals. “The AlterEgo modular seating, as the name itself states, lets you play with the geometry of its forms, revealing how a simple object may contain additional ‘lives’ on the inside, other aesthetic possibilities and freedom of use, and how the result of its transformation is more than the sum of its parts,” explain REdesign firm architects Eva Alessandrini and Roberto Saporiti. It satisfies both the inherent need for versatility and a space that is visually appealing. Price upon request, at archello.com.

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Antique. Modern. Traditional. Retro. Elegant. These are the things one might consider when finding furniture. You want something that accentuates the décor of the room. But chairs don’t have to only be comfortable, tables can aspire to more than sturdiness and lighting up a room doesn’t have to be a lamp’s sole purpose. If you’re open to it, your furniture can be, well, more.


CORD LAMP It only takes a few unruly cords to turn a well-designed room into a tangled eyesore. The Cord Lamp by Form Us With Love strives to embrace the chaos of the chord. “You can let it irritate you, break your neck tripping over it, or you can surrender, hide it behind the skirting board or press it into a groove,” says Petrus Palmér, co-designer (with Jonas Pettersson and John Löfgren). “But it’s smarter to make friends with the enemy … If there’s any message to a lamp, just for the fun of it, what about ‘make peace not war’?” $279.91, at miljogarden.se.

PA L A Z Z O B U N K B E D There are certain, unavoidable times of the year when homes seem to be overrun with guests, and the number of extra beds is limited. Resource Furniture has solved this problem by creating the Palazzo Bed System, a modern sofa that transforms into a full bunk bed. “Smaller living spaces require every square foot to be maximized — this means using multi-functional furniture that performs double duty,” says Challie Stillman, design director of Resource Furniture. “The innovative Palazzo solves the issue of limited space by performing the functions of a sofa and a bunk bed in one smart system. When guests are not around, the Palazzo is a stylish sofa. With one swift motion, the sofa lifts into a bunk bed with real mattresses to comfortably accommodate adults and children alike.” The sofa comes with either low or high armrests and includes wood-slatted bedsprings and removable mattresses. Price upon request, at resourcefurniture.com.

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R U S T I C S T O R A G E C O F F E E TA B L E In any living room, two things are vital: a nice centerpiece to pull the space together and a handy place to quickly store (read: hide) all of the “life debris” that litters the room. Upscale furniture company West Elm has designed a coffee table that fits both criteria. “We love to design furniture pieces that are dynamic and multi-purpose,” says Kendall Coleman of West Elm. “We are considerate of how our customers live in their homes, and this piece allows a customer to stash the remotes or even the kids’ toys, and it can also become a desk or a dinner table.” Plus, Coleman notes the sleek pairing of a natural wood finish with industrial hardware and steel legs makes the piece universally appealing, whether you’re a naturalist or a modernist. $549, at West Elm.

F L E T C H E R D I N I N G TA B L E British luxury furniture maker Fletcher Burwell-Taylor Ltd. has put an end to all seating dilemmas with The Fletcher Capstan Table. Operated manually or by use of a remote control, the table expands and has the ability to double its seating capacity. “The table top is composed of 13 self-stored elements and is capable of radial expansion by turning the top through 120 degrees,” explains designer David Fletcher. “Under this first layer lie two more layers of leaves, the second made up of six arrow-shaped leaves, and under that, a large star-shaped leaf. Below all of this lies the magical mechanism, constructed throughout in a combination of hard anodized aluminum and stainless steel, and strikingly beautiful in its mechanical complexity.” Stored within the table, the expansion leaves position themselves as the table changes from one mode to the next. $50,000 - $70,000, at fletchertables.com.


C A N VA S WA L L H A N G I N G Japanese design studio YOY has brought new meaning to the notion of becoming one with your art. The studio has crafted a series of canvas wall hangings that you can literally sit in. “We tried to design a chair that has another function when no one is sitting in it,” says Naoki Ono of YOY. “I think it is a simple, surprising scene that man can sit on a picture.” Made from wood and aluminum, and produced by U.K. furniture company Innermost, the canvas is covered in elastic fabric screen-printed drawings. To sit in the painting, the user simply leans the structure against the wall and it will stretch when weight is added. Chair, $1,318, at momastore.org. Sofa, $3,499, at fancy.com.

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DESIGN

Marriage of

Design Story by BROOKE HUTCHINS Photography by DAVID WINTON

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At first glance, North Carolina natives John and Ivy Simon seemed to fit the familiar mold of a corporate couple with two children, living in a picturesque Southern home tucked inside a charming, tree-lined neighborhood.

H

e worked in operations and quality in hosiery manufacturing; she in global marketing and commercial strategy. But their decision to open Palette & Parlor, a furniture, art, lighting and accessory store in Chapel Hill, N.C. has set the couple on an entirely new path. Trading in their 9-to-5 jobs for the rewarding, full-time experience of owning their own business, they are watching their dream become a reality. The brainchild of the Simons’ mutual love for travel and design, Palette & Parlor highlights their appreciation for modern Danish furniture, with a nod to their unmistakably Southern roots. The result has brought a fresh and celebrated new aesthetic to the Chapel Hill community. While the couple’s move to Copenhagen was the original catalyst that merged these two distinct elements together into a unique design niche, the Simons still never miss a chance to throw a little Carolina Tar Heel blue into their own impeccably designed home.

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EidĂŠ Magazine: How did you two find each other? John and Ivy: We met at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill our senior year and then dated long distance for several years after graduation. We married in Nevis [a small Caribbean island] in 2002 after I (Ivy) completed [a graduate program] at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and moved to Princeton, N.J. shortly thereafter.


What do you love about Chapel Hill and how did you decide on this location for the Palette & Parlor studio? J & I: We are both North Carolina natives and avid Tar Heel sports fans, so we knew we’d like to move back eventually. We met here and got engaged on campus, so Chapel Hill has always been a special place for us. Educational, cultural and athletic opportunities are abundant, and we knew it would be a great place to raise our kids, Jack (10) and Sydney (5). They enjoy pitching in to unload boxes and telling clients about their favorite pieces of furniture when they come by the studio. William Meade Prince (a magazine illustrator in the 1920s and ’30s) called his home of Chapel Hill “the Southern part of heaven” for a good reason — it’s aesthetically beautiful and full of smart, friendly and diverse people. How did the idea for Palette & Parlor come about? J & I: We both come from entrepreneurial families, so we had that influence in our lives since childhood. Deciding to launch our own business after spending many years in the corporate world definitely required some soul searching and a leap of faith, but in some ways, it also felt inevitable. We share a mutual love of travel and great design that was nurtured by an expat assignment in Copenhagen early in our careers. So when we moved back to North Carolina and realized that most of the great Danish and modern furniture we loved was unavailable in our local market, we started making plans for our business. You describe your style as “Danish and modern-influenced, with a Southern sensibility.” What does this mean? J & I: Living in Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, definitely cultivated our fondness of the spare beauty and elegant simplicity of Danish design. While often minimal, we found it to be quite warm also, as expressed by the Danish term hygge, which means coziness and conviviality with friends and family.

The Southern sensibility aspect comes from our upbringing in the South, and is perhaps best described by restrained embellishment; things like freshly cut flowers or magnolia branches in Mason jars, an heirloom piece of furniture, a hand-turned wood bowl, a handmade piece of pottery or silver passed down from your grandmother. What is it that really draws you toward this unique harmony of styles? J & I: We’re drawn to the juxtaposition of the past and present: raw function and aesthetic beauty. Modernists challenged the limits of materials and production, while Danish cabinetmakers, architects and furniture designers have always had an unwavering commitment to quality and craftsmanship. Southern style, to us, can mean a great many things, from the simplicity and quality of early American Shaker furniture (which shares many of the same principles of Danish and modern design) to the more decorative or ornamental pieces. These can often be incorporated selectively into design with a wink to the past, and often along with a great story. Do you differ in any of your individual styles? J: I tend to lean more towards a pure minimalist aesthetic. I: I like to incorporate a few soft touches like flowers, throws or pieces from different eras. J & I: We both love modern art. In terms of a color palette, we’re drawn to the clean contrast of white with black accents and warm wood, and maybe a dash of Carolina blue here and there. We also love large windows and the pairing of industrial materials like concrete and steel, and brick and wood. A loft in a renovated textile mill or tobacco warehouse could be a great next dream home for us. Why have you chosen to showcase the work of both notable European furniture makers and local, North Carolina up-and-coming talent in your studio?

Ivy and John Simon, owners of North Carolina’s Palette & Parlor.

J & I: As consumers ourselves, we like to know the provenance of the furniture we buy, and the stories behind the designers and manufacturers ... We love to support local designers, manufacturers, artists and fellow entrepreneurs. North Carolina has a long history of craftsmanship and quality in furniture, textiles and pottery ... For us, community building is inextricably linked with building a sustainable business. We collaborate with local interior designers and architects, and we’ve found a great partner in the nonprofit organization North Carolina Modernist Houses. We recently sponsored a modernist musical chairs event at their architectural awards ceremony held at CAM Raleigh, the contemporary art museum in North Carolina. We also offer free meeting space in our studio to local nonprofits and boards, and we encourage our clients to donate furniture they plan to replace to our local Habitat for Humanity ReStore. What is the most important piece of advice you give to your clients? J & I: Invest in quality. Buy meaningful pieces you can truly cherish and enjoy for years to come. Palette & Parlor 2160 Environ Way Chapel Hill, NC, 27517 919.960.1781, paletteandparlor.com

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E M I L Y

K I N N E Y

LETTING EVERYBODY IN J U G G L I N G

T H E

Z O M B I E

C O N F E S S I O N A L A N D

S T O R Y B Y E . J. O G L E P H O T O G R A P H Y B Y DAV ID F EL D M A N S T Y L IN G B Y T I A N J U S T M A N H A IR B Y R ACHEL A ND R E AU S FOR B. YOU BLOWDRY & BE AUT Y BAR M A K E UP B Y K AT IE B A L L A R D L I G H T IN G B Y JAC O B F RY S H O T O N L O C AT I O N IN AT L A N TA , G A . AT C R IMIN A L R E C O R D S , G R O C E R Y O N H O M E A ND 4 8 9 E D G E W O O D

A P O C A L Y P S E ,

S O N G W R I T I N G

F A N D O M


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DRESS, $495, HAUTE HIPPIE AND FUR COAT, $1,495, ELIZABETH AND JAMES, BOTH AT 310 ROSEMONT.


OTHIVE CL EAN DR ED C O , T BEAD EQUES UPON R ACE, $48 AND ESIGNS.COM. PRICE L D , K L T E C R E T I A N H E ATS RUZY ASHAP OM. SW OVAL D A PATEL, AT LANG.C 2, CHAN LU, H T S U A M , L 0 , AT H E C K L A C E , $ 1 7 R A C E L E T, $ 5 E B T LANG H E L M U N . Q U A R T Z N T. R E D S I L K , 5 5 6 , $ SEMON T’S OW O S DRESS I R L 0 Y 1 T ., S AT 3 ING CO 8, ALL L E T, $ 2 BRACE

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L

et me start by stating that I am not a “Walking Dead Head.” So don’t expect long ruminations on Daryl and Beth’s relationship, or speculation on Beth’s condition or what’s going to happen in Season 5. Better yet, don’t expect me to address all your begging questions about her character on “The Walking Dead” at all because I didn’t ask. I know all too well the fandom surrounding a favorite show (see: “Breaking Bad” fans). It’s all been chewed to death by “Dead” zealots anyway. There’s just no way to know who gets killed off without watching. And if I did know, I’m no spoiler. But it doesn’t even matter, because it ends up that Emily Kinney is not Beth. Maybe she was Beth, once. Standing across from She’s sipping a venti Starbucks green tea when I ask her about her creative process. Her answers are like a railroad switch locking in and out between tracks as she quickly shifts back and forth between a calm clarity and flickers of cheer. The blue pools of her eyes widen when she speaks about vegetarianism or her favorite Brooklyn bands. But she quickly shifts back to restrained thoughtfulness when delving into her motivations and creative processes. She communicates from an obviously guarded standpoint, but it doesn’t appear defensive or anxious; she’s just gauging the situation, feeling out the people around her. “Now I have separate teams helping me [that] want to take every opportunity for acting and every opportunity for music,” she says, responses dosed out in between baby sips from the candy-green straw. “As each grows … it’s hard to balance and decide which opportunities to take advantage of because you get to this point where you can’t do everything, you know? Only recently has it felt like, ‘how am I going to manage all this?’ like I’m making choices of one against the other.” She gazes off in one of her innumerable reflective pauses then states, “And I love both so much. I want to do everything.” This love for music and theatre has been with Kinney since childhood. She was born and raised in Nebraska, which is “similar in some ways to rural Georgia — it’s very flat. Where I’m from there’s lots of fields and little farming communities. [My hometown, Wayne, Neb.,] is

her in a downtown Atlanta studio, Kinney’s a mature doppelganger at best who is both confident and sophisticated. Leaning against an exposed brick wall, with smoky eyes and punk-rock boots, she’s a far cry from a 16-year-old farm girl with dirt on her face. What she is happens to be somewhat of a mystery. Part singer, part actress, part professional Instagrammer, part professional zombie killer, she’s too quiet to be a stage ham and too grounded to be your average starlet. As an ascendant, multi-talented artist, she quickly becomes more than her show, which is ultimately just a platform for expression (albeit a 13-million-viewers-and-growing platform) that she happens to star in.

pretty tiny, around 5,000 people.” She grew up playing piano and writing poetry, and by high school Kinney was writing songs for fun, “mostly for myself, but I’d sing them for my mom or my friends.” But she had also fallen in love with acting, participating in one-act plays her senior year and entering the theatre program at Nebraska Wesleyan University in Lincoln — despite feeling like she was waiting to move to New York or L.A. the entire time. “It’s funny … I hadn’t done a lot of acting at that point. I always did musicals because I could sing,” Kinney admits. “But when I visited Wesleyan I realized I needed to learn the craft of acting so I [enrolled]. But I always knew I needed to get out of Nebraska.” She made the jump to New York at age 19 with her acceptance to New York University’s theatre program, which ended with Kinney in debt after a semester — “I mean, I couldn’t afford NYU, you know?” — and forced her to return to Nebraska with an even stronger desire to go back to New York. Kinney saved up $1,000 and made the move again. “It was a bit of a back-and-forth journey,” Kinney muses before adding enthusiastically, “It was crazy! When I think back on it I’m like, ‘what made you think that was enough money to move back?’ I must’ve thought that was a lot of money [for New York] … But even before I had a place to live, I was looking for a job and going to open auditions and casting calls. I was like, ‘GET A JOB NOW.’” The sudden burst of energy catches me off guard after the quiet and soothing telling of her life up to that point.

But here marks the beginning of Emily Kinney’s life as a working actress. It comes with the excitement of her nurturing a dream of leaving her Midwestern home to pursue an acting career, which has become reality. She worked at a coffee shop, auditioned for roles and immersed herself in the Brooklyn music scene by going to shows and befriending musicians. “I actually liked working in coffee

THERE’S JUST NO WAY TO KNOW WHO GETS KILLED OFF WITHOUT WATCHING. AND IF I DID KNOW, I’M NO SPOILER. shops,” Kinney says with a soft-spoken chuckle. She wasn’t writing songs professionally, but she frequented music nightclubs on the regular. “I was going to auditions all day, but at night I’d sing backup for fun or see my friends’ bands.” In 2009 Kinney landed a role in the musical Spring Awakening, where her friend (and noted Broadway multi-instrumentalist) Conrad Korsch pushed her to commit to songwriting as seriously as she had devoted herself to acting. Something she did while performing in the traveling stage version of August: Osage County the following year. These songs were later released on Kinney’s first record, 2011’s The Blue Toothbrush. She also began booking shows for herself around the city.


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THREE-TIER CHEVRON NECKLACE, $28, AT 310 ROSEMONT.

PA R I S , AT C R Y S TA L PA R I S D E S I G N S . C O M . S K I R T, $ 1 1 5 , B I G D E E P, AT B I G D E E P C L O T H I N G . C O M .

S H I R T, $ 2 9 , O B E Y, AT U R B A N O U T F I T T E R S . J E W E L E D TO P ( S H O W N AS V E S T ) , $ 1 , 5 8 5 , C RYS TA L


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That same year, while working various guest spots on TV and film, Kinney also landed the role that has, in retrospect, become the biggest move of her career (and presumably a major reason you’ve read this far): farmer’s-daughter-turned-zombie-ass-kicker Beth Greene on AMC’s ratings-juggernaut “The Walking Dead.” At the time, however, Kinney didn’t see the role as her “star” moment: “I saw it as a gig and approached it like any other job,” she says. “I was already a working actress. I was excited to work with [director] Frank Darabont; I’d seen some of the first season and I knew the show had a huge following. But I didn’t know it would become four years of my life. I figured I’d work on a few episodes, then move on.” Instead, Beth evolved from a sui- her roots in poetry and creative this weird thing because I welcidal teen dealing with the zombiefi- writing. She wistfully recounts the come the audience … but when I cation of her friends and family to a moments big and small that define started writing songs it was more mature caregiver for the survivors and relationships and break-ups, while of a personal, private endeavor.” the show’s embodiment of hope in writing a love letter to the New Her eyes roam a space somewhere the face of despair, all while dealing York of her dreams. Expired Love is behind my head for a time, before some serious damage to the zombies hopefully romantic without feeling adding, “Music is precious to me themselves. And on occasion, she saccharine. in a certain way, but I don’t know sings. “Between Seasons 2 and 3 [the During her show in Decatur, if I was necessarily trying to keep producers] had seen me play clubs in Ga. just days earlier, she took time it separate [from acting].” Later New York, so they knew it was some- to discuss with me the veracity of on in our conversation she clarithing they could [add to my charac- the incidents/subjects in her songs; fies this by saying, “There’s someter] if they wanted,” Kinney explains. Kinney deftly confirms their truth thing personally fulfilling in writ“[Executive Producer Glenn Mazzara] while telling everybody she still ing a song and getting it out to called me and said, ‘I have an idea — builds on the original ideas with her the world. So if I have the opporthere’s so much action that we need imagination. She later tells me mu- tunity to get my songs to as many ‘down moments’ so I was thinking sic is “where I’m really honest. The people as possible … I want to do you and Maggie could sing a song, thing that makes me really happy is that, too.” because I know you sing.’” when I can say exactly what I mean.” As the day progresses, she unKinney liked the suggestion — It’s no surprise then that fans feel a winds and becomes comfortable, “In Seasons 2 and 3 there aracting as if one of the crew en’t a lot of Beth scenes and — eating a slice of pizza “MUSIC IS PRECIOUS this was an instant way for in between lighting setups the audience to identify her” and joking around talking TO ME IN A CERTAIN — which has since resulted about mediocre nonsense. WAY, B U T I D O N ’ T in Beth covering Tom Waits That starlet gloss still proas well as last season’s piavides a halo, but she might KNOW IF I WAS no-ballad version of Waxaas well be the girl next NECESSARILY TRYING hatchee’s “Be Good” while door. She’s made for this scouring a funeral parlor kind of success, but she TO KEEP IT SEPARATE with Daryl. That song also seems at ease doing, well, [FROM ACTING].” appears on Kinney’s cleveranything. “I definitely ly feisty solo album, Expired hoped [success] would hapLove, which was released in March personal connection to Kinney her- pen; it always felt like everything of this year. self, even if she also stresses a bit of was clicking,” she shares. “But if Expired Love does away with artistic remove from the Kinney in I didn’t work for a year and had the theatrical balladry and at times the songs. to work in a bar or something … fussy musicality of Blue Toothbrush “The Walking Dead” has un- it doesn’t scare me. I’ll always be in favor of intimate songwriting. doubtedly given Kinney’s music making stuff. I remember walking The new album is more direct and career a giant measure of visibil- from my job [at the coffee shop] earnest, while retaining Kinney’s ity, which she is thankful for, but to do one of my first off-Broadway gift for extended metaphor and she tells me she’d be fine if the shows and thinking, I’m living the picturesque narrative, evidence of intersection hadn’t occurred. “It’s exact life I wanted.”


Our chat concludes when Kinney must return to the glamorous job of posing for a magazine editorial, now on location at Criminal Records, a local record store with a cult following. She has a natural, professional ease in front of the camera, but there’s also a certain lack of ferocity that hints at her artistic introversion. She even breaks a pose at one point to laugh and say, “‘Full sass’? I can’t tell if I’m at ‘full sass.’” If you’re observant enough, you see Kinney’s internal guard at work, regulating what and how much of her person is exposed. A man fumbling with a scrap piece of paper walks up to Kinney. She’s almost done with this look and the hair and makeup crew are buzzing about to create editorial perfection. “My daughter is a big fan,” he breaks in, speaking in barely audible tones. “Do you mind signing this for her?” She smiles graciously and takes the paper and pen without hesitation. Even in a secluded location, she’s a noticeable star. It makes me think about her growing fan base that wants access to the “real” Emily. “It’s interesting to have people feel close to you through the show and feel like they know you through your music, like they’re your friend,” she tells me after she’s done autographing. “It’s an experience that I’m coming up against now more and more. It’s exciting, but I feel shy sometimes. Especially depending on the day. I might not want to talk to anyone, but … I’m trying to get better at it. I think you learn how to let people in, but still I like to be protected.” But aren’t you exposed the most when you’re performing music, I ask. “I like bringing the audience into my little bubble. I like it when it feels like they’re in there with me. So I feel exposed,” she says and then pauses. “But I guess I like it.” Kinney laughs as if she’s embarrassed for having the revelation. “I guess that’s what I want.”

P I N K T O P, $ 3 9 , G U E S S , AT G U E S S . COM. LEATHER JACKET, $275, BIG D E E P, AT B I G D E E P C L O T H I N G . C O M . LEATHER PANTS, $1,095, ELIZABETH AND JAMES AND NECKLACE, $30, BOTH AT 310 ROSEMONT.


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A R T & C U LT U R E

from

PLAYBOY to

THE HUMAN PALACE Inside the Mind of Father and Creative Extraordinaire David Rams


Story by BROOKE HUTCHINS Photography by BRETT FALCON

“So, this is kind of a unique time for me to be doing an interview,” David Rams tells me with a grin as he begins to sit down.

H

e is about to become a dad for the second time tomorrow to a little girl, Jansen Cline Rams, named after David’s girlfriend and the baby’s mother, Jessica Jansen. “I was thinking on the car ride over here, wouldn’t it be cool for her to read this article one day and know how excited I was to welcome her into the world tomorrow?” And with that thought settling between us, I knew I was on the brink of discovering much more about Rams — with his jet-black painted fingernails and dangling skull necklace — than just his impressive career highlights. One of today’s most respected photographers, his work has brought life to the pages of Playboy Magazine and other culture-driven publications for the past 30 years. And as if that wasn’t enough to fill up our conversation, Rams has also photographed some of today’s biggest celebrities, including Morgan Freeman, Woody Harrelson, CeeLo Green, Tony Bennett and Jane Seymour. “It’s funny, it wasn’t until like 10 years ago that I realized I was actually good at taking photos. I thought it was just luck, like one of these days someone would find out I’m a big fake,” Rams chuckles at my mention of his photography.

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This laughable sense of humility stems back to Rams’ early 20s in his hometown, Ontario.

F

resh out of photography school and desperate for work, he jumped at the first opportunity offered to him: taking headshots for a local church’s directory. Before he knew it, he was traveling to congregations all around Northeastern Canada and the United States, taking photos of the members and sleeping wherever he could — mostly in church basements or even in the 1981 Ford Mustang Hatchback that he drove, alone, for thousands of miles from city to city. “Looking back on it, it was pretty bad,” Rams laughs. “I guess you’ve got to start somewhere!” But instead of jumping straight into the big names and fast-paced rhythm of a career that now serves as a comical juxtaposition to his modest beginnings, Rams starts at the root of it all: in a single moment when the relationship between himself, his camera and his subject simply clicked in a way that would forever change his work. “More than any other experience, my son, Max (20), taught me about photography,” Rams says. “When I would take photos of him as a child, my mind went blank. I wasn’t thinking about technical things. It was just me and my son. The camera faded away.” And it is this sincerity that has followed Rams into every photo shoot since, whether it’s with a Playboy model (we’ll get to that in a minute), or with the accused murderer of Run-D.M.C.’s Jam Master Jay. “Everyone, no matter who they are, has a story inside them. When I’m taking photos, I really feel people. I take on their stories and emotions, and I carry them with me long after shoots,” Rams says. Seventeen years of shooting for Playboy was one of these experiences that undoubtedly stuck with him, especially in helping to develop an eye for a certain sexy edginess in his creative work. “I think that we all have some sort of darkness inside of us,” Rams explains. “There was a certain darkness in the Playboy culture that definitely helped to fuel my work.” Realizations of this now come in flashbacks, like two years ago when Rams went out on his friend’s boat on Lake Lanier in North Georgia. “The scene in front of me was something I probably would have

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loved back in the Playboy days, but this time around, as a father, I was overcome with emotion and brought to tears right there on that boat.” This moment wasn’t necessarily a negative one for Rams — the newfound perspective is sharp and clear. Rams decided to harness this tension to create a distinctive beauty that radiates through his work. “This may be [messed] up,” he laughs, “but I think it’s darkness that gives depth to the people and things in this world.” But just as he delves into the brow-raising Playboy stories of private yachts and college campuses, Rams apologetically pauses: “I don’t want this whole interview to be about Playboy,” he blurts with urgency. And so he moves through the natural progression of his 52-year-old life, back tracking a little to the early 1990s, when a few photos that Rams shot of Atlanta-based band Press the Flesh turned into a full-out music video for one of their popular songs, “Tear Me Down.” His first time directing and experimenting with film, the music video was immediately picked up by MTV and even Canada’s MuchMusic channel. After such a buzz surrounding his first video, many of Rams’ photography clients began knocking on his door with their own film needs. Even with such encouragement, Rams admits that shooting videos was more of an afterthought at the time. “I was always afraid to do videos for people because I was scared that my work wouldn’t be good enough. I knew it was something that I just couldn’t fake,” he says with a grin. All it took was the right person stepping into his life to give him that confidence and vision for film that he always had in photography. And that person was David Joseph McCannon. After Rams saw one of McCannon’s promotional videos last fall, things immediately clicked. “We had the same taste in film and similar aspirations, plus we both found ourselves living a quieter life than in years past,” Rams explains. The duo’s first collaboration was another music video: a large production shot on top of Arabia Mountain in Lithonia, Ga.

for a song called “Letting Go” by singer and songwriter Ty Andrews, a friend of Rams. With McCannon’s more promotional and commercial video experience and Rams’ host of photography clients now requesting film, the two decided to combine their vision in 2013 with the startup ParaLLAX Produkt. It’s an artistic solutions agency designed to promote and communicate the messages of clients ranging from small bands to large corporate names — all through compelling visuals. While the company and clientele are continually expanding, Rams’ cinematic interests have grown beyond simple still-life photos and promotional films. A recent opportuniy to travel the United States photographing inner-city basketball team open calls for an upcoming television show has sparked a new human interest angle for the program. He has offered to film some gritty, everyday storytelling from the perspective of the


players as they live their normal lives off the court. But Rams’ talents expand into the conceptual art realm as well, which he has been examining since around the age of 10. Mixed-media projects quickly came about as Rams would become inspired by the interesting shape of a leaf during an outdoor photo shoot or a particularly striking portrait of one of his clients. He would go home, transpose the photo onto a large canvas, add junkyard pieces like old computer boards and other knick-knacks, and then sometimes put it in his basement to collect dust for months. Until one very memorable muse walked, actually crawled, into his life one night: a praying mantis. An unassuming evening at home turned into a full photo shoot on the inside of a lampshade with the friendly insect that happened to follow him inside. Two hours and hundreds of photos later, “We had really bonded,”

Rams recounts. After several unsuccessful attempts to place him back outside, Rams sat awake in bed for hours thinking about what he believed must have been his grandfather reincarnated. “There had to be something going on with a bond like that!” he laughs. That praying mantis ended up being one of Rams’ favorite pieces: a blown-up version of the insect on canvas, separated into tile squares, mismatched into a unique design and showcased alongside his other artwork at a 2010 art gala event in Atlanta. Regardless of the medium — photography, film or art — his drive has always been about taking the time to uncover the story that lies underneath the surface of any creative work. As his talents continue to pull him in different directions and his favorite role as “Dad” takes off into a second chapter of fatherhood, the path on the horizon is unknown. Has he achieved all that he has set out to do?

“Absolutely not,” Rams responds without hesitation. “I still feel like I need to do something big, something that means something, you know?” He drifts off for one more story: this time a vivid dream from years ago in which he gracefully flew into what felt like a biblical setting inside a run-down building. Reaching into his back pocket, he shows a rugged, leather-bound book entitled “The Human Palace” to a group of old, bearded gentlemen. After he researched this striking title with no results, “The Human Palace” has become a manifesto for Rams’ life and art. “One day,” he says, “I’ll put out a book with the same title. It’ll just be a collection of my pictures, mixed-media art, photo journals of my travels, everything. I think everyone’s looking for their Human Palace. For me, it’s love. Just loving people in everything I do. That’s where I want to end up. That’s my goal.” FA L L 2 0 1 4

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Photography by IAN

McFARLANE

Styling by TIAN JUSTMAN Models: AMALIA L. and SHENARA for Factor Models Hair by CHALA WILSON for Model Citizen Salon Makeup by ERICA BOGART Nails by VANESSA HUYNH for LunaXArtistry Photography Assistant: ANDY TURNER

thinking inside the

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ox


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Sports Bra, $64, FREYA and Panty, $29, HANKY PANKY, both at Intimacy.



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A R T & C U LT U R E

AMY LIND

Figurative Painting and Portraiture Savannah, Ga. Amy Lind’s paintings have been featured on the covers of American Art Collector and Art Calendar, and her work has illustrated the New York Times’ best-selling children’s book, “Marcel the Shell With Shoes On: Things About Me.” Most known for her portraiture paintings, her work is desired by many because of her skill in accurately portraying the people she paints, making each subject jump off the canvas. Lind’s paintings come to life through her mastery of light and color, and her art can be found in private collections around the world as well as in multiple galleries across the Southeast. Price: $4,000 - $8,000

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“Anew” Oil on panel 73” x 48”


ART BY POPULAR DEMAND Story by BROOKE HUTCHINS, MEGHAN JACKSON, CASSIE KAYE and SHEYDA MEHRARA

The South is rich with talented artists so impressive it’s nearly impossible to choose a favorite. Each day, a new name rises and a gallery show invitation falls on your doorstep. Whether they are small town up-and-comers making new waves in the art world, or well-established masters of their craft, the creative genius coming out of the new South is more in demand today than it has ever been. We’ve amassed our own collection of artists to look out for as their sought-after work continues to hit

the radar. Their mediums include variations of sculpture, painting, illustration, photography and printmaking, and they can be found everywhere from children’s books and boutiques, to advertisements and album covers. With themes ranging from social messages to the simplicity of beauty, the artists’ pieces collectively adorn the homes of curators around the world. With the rising popularity of these artists, it’s possible that if you don’t collect now, you’ll certainly pay later.

DOLAN GEIMAN Mixed Media Chicago, Ill.

You can take the boy out of the South, but you can’t take the South out of the boy. Dolan Geiman is a shining representation of the intersection between his Southern upbringings in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia and his current residence in urban Chicago, Ill. Unafraid of using natural elements to his advantage, each piece is handcrafted in collage, painting, silkscreen or mixed media assemblage to exemplify his artistic tagline, “Contemporary Art with a Southern Accent.” The sentiment and nostalgia Geiman captures in his art hasn’t gone unnoticed. His work has been featured in The Huffington Post and Country Living, he has produced for Urban Outfitters and Anthropologie, and notable clients include the likes of actor David Schwimmer. Price: $2,500 - $15,000 “Mother Nature” Paper collage on wood 70” x 55”

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ANDREW BLANCHARD Screen Print and Acrylic Ink Spartanburg, S.C.

For Louisiana-born Andrew Blanchard, who boasts clients such as New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning, it’s all about the American South. Pulling images from anywhere below the Mason-Dixon Line, he portrays issues concerning land development, social woes, cultural phenomena, stereotypes and spiritual activities in landscapes both urban and rural. Using his screen print and acrylic art to document the evolution of the South, Blanchard strives to maintain a balance between the battered reality of his subject matter and the artistic nuances he incorporates into the final product. What results is an impressive collection of work that seems both familiar and whimsical all at once. “I’ve Learnt aThing or Two About the So-called Good Life” Screen-print on mounted found-wood panel 36” x 48” x 3”

Price: $1,500 - $12,500

LOUVIERE + VANESSA

Photography, Film, Painting and Printmaking New Orleans, La. No family portraits here. Jeff Louviere and Vanessa Brown, professionally known as Louviere + Vanessa, combine photography with painting, printmaking, film and a plethora of raw materials, including destroyed negatives and blood. Yep, blood. And while L + V are no vampire fanatics, they are attracted to the idea of duality (think creation versus destruction), which they use to create high-concept images. The couple explores the gray area of such themes with work that has been shown in festivals and exhibits everywhere from Australia to Florida to continually push the envelope in the realm of art and photography. Price: $7,500 - $25,000

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“Undine” Gold leaf, kozo paper, resin on dibord 32” x 48”


RC HAGANS Mixed Media Opelika, Ala.

You don’t want to get in the ring with this guy, but you’ll definitely want to buy a piece of his art. RC Hagans put his professional cage-fighting career on hold to pursue art full time. That fearlessness carries over into his work and bold collaborations with other artists. It’s possible that’s why designer Billy Reid and artist Butch Anthony both want to get a hold of Hagans’ work. He’s most notably recognized for his hand-cut paper stencil pieces — the process for which can take upwards of 20 plus hours for a single work. And if you’re lucky enough, you can catch his free artwork that he hides around his hometown in Alabama. Price: $200 - $6,500

“Untitled” Aerosol on wood panel 54” x 36”


BRITT BASS TURNER Abstract Painting Atlanta, Ga.

Initially inspired by her interior designer mother, Britt Bass Turner creates with the intent of her paintings finding their way into your home. So much so that her work has been featured on the increasingly popular online marketplace One Kings Lane and a wealth of home décor boards on Pinterest. Her work explores the juxtaposition between process and intuition. The paintings are often expressed through layering with small pops of color that reflect vibrancy. Since graduating from the Lamar Dodd School of Art at the University of Georgia in May 2011, she has dedicated her time to making paintings and installations full time. Turner is currently represented by Atlanta-based Gregg Irby Fine Art, but you can get a hold of her prints in various boutiques across the nation. Price: $65 - $2,800

Photo by Britt Bass Turner

“Cozyface” On stretched canvas 20” x 20”

ALDWYTH

Collage and Assemblage Hilton Head, S.C. Known for her physical distance from the art world over the past several decades, Aldwyth’s decision to often spend years on one piece attracts major museums to her much anticipated collage and assemblage works. These pieces are carefully crafted with nods to elements of folk art and Surrealism — each collection of images and items tells its own unique story. Although she appears to be a fairly private person, the artist’s pieces often reflect realities of her own life. Her work is celebrated in public collections and exhibitions throughout the South. Now in her late 70s, Aldwyth calls an octagonal house by South Carolina’s salt marsh her home, and the it’s the place where her art comes to life. “Casablanca, colorized version” Collage on Okawara paper with silk tissue 78.5” x 72.75”

Price: $500 - $75,000


“The United States of Cool”

DL WARFIELD

Painting, Illustrating and Designing Atlanta, Ga. After doing artist image development and designing album artwork for some of the music industry’s most famous names like Usher, TLC, Outkast and Pink, DL Warfield has earned the respect as Atlanta’s creative jack-of-alltrades. Warfield, with a bachelor’s degree

in painting, took his first step into the music industry as the head designer of Tommy Boy Records’ clothing line. From there, his decision to switch over to LaFace Records for the role of art director took his career to the next level, as he received recognition for designing some of the most iconic album covers of our time. Warfield began his own creative agency in 2000: GOLDFINGER c.s. Since then, the company has become

wildly successful in visual media, branding, clothing design and product development, providing works for companies like Nike, Sprite, Heineken, DreamWorks, Virgin Records and Coca-Cola. Warfield remains close to his artistic roots today, regularly adding to his entertainment industry-inspired collection of painted and drawn works of fine art. Price: $4,500 - $35,000

MALLORY PAGE

Contemporary Painting New Orleans, La. Mallory Page, a former interior designer, uses her foundation in art fundamentals to create a focus on color and scale. Her large-scale pieces are monochromatic to create a concentrated emotional force that has garnered rather impressive followers (including collectors of Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso and Cy Twombly). Her work is in public and private collections throughout the United States, and in 2012 she opened her Julia Street Studio in the New Orleans Arts District. She is currently working between New Orleans and New York City and is publishing her first monograph to be released this winter. Price: $5,000 - $20,000 “Melting with the Moonlit Sky” Mixed media on canvas 87” x 96”

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KATE LONG STEVENSON Painting Charleston, S.C.

Recently featured on the Domaine Home website for a painting commissioned by Grammy Award-winning rock artist Darius Rucker, Kate Long Stevenson is an artist to watch. Her work is comprised of beautiful, figurative paintings and wild abstracts inspired by music and color. No matter her subject, Stevenson gravitates toward a feminine, often pastel palette to balance the masculine physicality of her chaotic, gestural brushstrokes. She’s frequently guided by classical compositions as she works to translate feeling, tempo, motion and music into art for her audience. Price: $1,000 - $6,000

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“Untitled, blue” Acrylic, gauche and charcoal on linen 40” x 40”



A R T & C U LT U R E

Famed Southern artist Paul Chelko bodypainting a woman in the 1970s. Photos courtsey of The Chelko Foundation.

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BODIES

AS WORKS OF ART

Photos discovered from the 1970s have brought things full circle for The Chelko Foundation. Bodypainting is one of the oldest established forms of creative expression; one that has been making its way back to mainstream pop culture through art and design. What was once used by indigenous peoples to show a rite of passage has resurged in recent years as a bona fide art form, and no one can attest to this more than The Chelko Foundation. Established in 2005 to commemorate artist Paul Chelko’s wife, Debbie, the foundation raises money for humanitarian grants with the mission of creating a world free of gender bias. Their iconic annual fundraiser, The North American Bodypainting Championship, recruits artists from around the globe to create original works on live subjects while raising funds for their mission. “We’ve changed venues every year because we’ve outgrown every one we’ve been at,” says Executive Director Randi Layne of the event’s success. The competition is the main and final gathering of the three-day affair called Living Art America. The first year of the fundraiser

was in 2010, three years after Chelko’s passing, so you can imagine the serendipity Layne felt when she recently discovered candid photos of the founder and dear friend bodypainting a model in the 1970s. “He liked to mix mediums, that was the way he painted more than anything,” Layne reminisces of Chelko. “He was a beautiful portrait painter as well as an abstract artist — oils, pen and ink. Paul was a prolific artist.” And while Chelko was in no way known as a bodypainter, he was featured as “The Amazing Painted Man” with a painted model on the December 1994 issue of Peachtree Magazine for his love of art and out-of-the-box way of thinking. So, when Layne explains her decision to host a bodypainting fundraiser to carry out Chelko’s legacy of empowering women through art, education and partnership, she knew it was something he would have approved of. “There was no way I could hold a fundraiser that was a typical fundraiser for the foundation. He would have never put up with that, ever.”

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TRAVEL

A MOMENT OF

ECUADOR

Landscapes and lifestyles meet in a snapshot of the South American cities Quito and Mompiche.

S

ilent shadows rise and fall across an uneven landscape. Amazon foliage, pine trees and slow-moving streams of fog spot the snow-capped hills, creating an unorthodox mountain scene. I’d like to think it’s the view that takes my breath away, but it’s really because Quito is one of the highest cities in the world — 9,350 feet above sea level. Its historic center, “Old Town,” boasts cramped colonial cathedrals, long traffic jams

and cobblestone streets that web around the valley. While the city chirps of overcrowded living quarters, occupied businessmen, car sirens and the occasional stray dog, I sense a soothing silent noise from the artistic view that bowls around the entire town. The locals are proud of their home’s 500-year heritage; you hear it in their voices and see it on their faces. There is certainly something magical about a place I previously thought so ordinary.

Story and photography by VICTORIA KNIGHT BORGES

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Perhaps it’s the six volcanos that loom over the city. Pichincha, the closest active volcano, has the power to geothermally heat groundwater, producing what’s commonly called a hot spring. It is here, bathing in an open mountain sky, where my enchantment started. Because the temperature stays as low as 30 degrees Fahrenheit, the thermal baths create a balance of hot-and-cold therapy which boosts blood flow and increases relaxation. In this place, next to the equator, rows of colorful flowers are seen alongside the winding streets, waiting to be covered for the night’s cold temperatures. It’s odd that the region’s frequent chilly climate would produce such a large amount of blossoms, but the volcanic soil is ideal for flowering plants. Just a few short hours’ drive west towards the South Pacific Ocean, I find a contradictory climate in a city called Mompiche. In the midst of sandy bare feet, melting ice cream and dirty fingernails is a small village of Ecuadorians who make their living off fishing and growing shrimp. A three-course meal costs as little as $2.50 and the beer, often sold out by mid-week, can be purchased for less than a buck. The Mompiche beaches require a boat taxi to visit, but it’s worth the 50-cent-round-trip ride because they’re what they call “virgin” — uninhabited, primitive islands where people go to be forgotten, or to forget. The beaches here are surrounded by sharp cliffs and rock arches which create the perfect climate for traveling surfers during Christmas and New Year’s. As I dig my toes into the volcanic black sand of Playa Negra, I am once again entranced.

Available for $5 a bowl is my kryptonite: ceviche. A salty, cold shrimp soup served with plantains and popcorn, locally sourced and always fresh. It’s the cure for the common hangover (which is easy to come by at $4 a mojito), but it’s also recognized as a national Ecuadorian food. Amidst a plethora of deserted beaches, breathtaking weather and food so amazing it’s almost hypnotic, I find myself in a country so captivating, with climates so opposite, I feel as though I could be anywhere in the world, and nowhere else, all at once.

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E N T E RTA I N M E N T

POETIC

JUSTICE How spoken word is reviving a lost art.

Mojgani performs for a live audience. Photo by Carra Sykes.

Story by SHEYDA MEHRARA

As a small child, you begged your mother or father to read your favorite story aloud. The rhythmic verses and meter were expressed by worlds filled with pink pom pom trees and talking cats in boots.

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ou didn’t question them because far-off places were often called home in your imagination. As you grew older, poetry matured too, and in the classroom, you were forced to find esoteric meaning in a page of written words, most frequently from the modernist movement. Turn-of-the-era poets like Ezra Pound, Gertrude Stein and Langston Hughes wrote grand exposés of the universe they inhabited, forced to look outward to make sense of a darkness both world wars created. And it becomes daunting to reread every line with the same amount of fervor as the last, only to be graded on your interpretation. “You’re in this transition period [during grade school] where you’re far more concerned with what was said to your best friend in the hallway or what your crush is doing,” explains Anis Mojgani, two-time National Poetry Slam champion and a

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man committed to poetry revival through spoken word. “Of course, what you’re concerned about at that age will no longer be relevant when you turn 20, but you’re still expected to read and understand these poems that you feel have no connection to your life [then].” What ends up being lost in these academic assignments is the opportunity to explore the words in relation to your life today. “What is given to us when we are young are these stories that are silly and fanciful,” Mojgani says. “But we never once questioned them or said we didn’t understand it. When people are asked about poetry, they don’t connect the art to the works of Dr. Seuss or Shel Silverstein. They instead think of what they are given years later, and it’s far more removed from the context of your life.” Honestly, a children’s reading circle is not far off from how poetry was birthed and bred. The art form itself dates


back to the earliest shamans who would chronicle daily audience that judges the performance as a whole. The life and noteworthy events into easily recalled rhymes. It revival has since exponentially grown, and even has its wasn’t but less than a century ago that families and com- own national and world competitions. Now, you can munities would still gather to recite these stanzaic stories type “slam poetry” into Google and retrieve hundreds of orally as entertainment. Not only does it elicit more ce- videos that allow you to see the poet personally deliver rebral activity in the brain, but it’s also more palatable to his or her work. The Internet allows accessibility of both listen to the woven imagery and the intentional pauses. the medium and the subject matter. “Poetry is simply “When you look at the humanities in general, the forms the opportunity to explore the world and what it means that have withstood the test of time, they are the ones that to be filled with this thing called humanity,” Mojgani are a testament to what it means to be human,” Mojgani says. “It exists on the page, but I think all poems are explains. “It speaks to those greater truths.” begging to be read out loud.” Literary critics believe poetry has ceased to be relThere’s a reason a poem emits different feelings evant to the masses because society has moved on to when spoken, rather than solely read. It becomes bigger and faster fascinations. In fact, the aversion to much more honest because it takes the art of language poetry manifested into such an epidemic that News- back to its roots. The words play upon the tongue and week announced its death in early 2003. “Don’t those require less of the guessing game that causes trepidacritics and poets realize that their art form is dead?” tion. It doesn’t hurt that the context of slam poetry is wrote Bruce Wexler. “... If you doubt this statement, often present, and therefore, relatable. consider the fact that poetry “The summer before my is the only art form where freshman year at SCAD (Sathe number of people creatvannah College of Art and “ T H E AV E R S I O N TO ing it is far greater than the Design), I read this article POETRY MANIFESTED INTO number of people appreciatabout poetry slams, and I S U C H A N E P I D E M I C T H AT ing it.” This isn’t to say that was immediately fascinated. NEWSWEEK ANNOUNCED if you went to pick up a poHere is this thing that says to etry book, you wouldn’t find someone, you are welcome if I T S D E AT H I N E A R LY something that spoke to your you have a thought or feel2003.” soul. It just indicates that as a ing or story to share. It didn’t whole, it’s thought of as purematter about what color you ly untouchable academia. And current cultural habits are or gender or education,” Mojgani says. beg the question, “Why sit around to listen to poetry Slam poetry has become characterized as a democratic when the new ‘House of Cards’ or ‘Orange is the New event because it puts the decision of what is or isn’t poetry Black’ season was just released on Netflix?” You can back into the hands of the people. There is no one absolute binge on these forms of entertainment without much authority that determines the validity or value of a poem. thought and later have some hot topic discussion with The practice has even found popularity among teenagers, your friends. This state of being isn’t conducive to the as groups like Youth Speaks or Urban Word NYC grow in poetry reading students are being introduced to in the members and performance opportunities. “What slam poclassroom. In fact, professors might as well ask you to etry does so well is present itself in a way that hooks the decipher prehistoric hieroglyphs instead. audience,” Mojgani says. “You walk away with an opinion But there is a natural waxing and waning of any art of poetry and open the door to exploration.” form, and this is what’s taking place in the poetry realm. The rising attractiveness has even found its way into Just as the modernists, and later the Beat poets, radically the mainstream, thanks to celebrities like Samuel L. Jackchanged the way the medium was received because they son who performed a homage to “Boy Meets World” as a felt the need to break the mold, slam poets are breathing slam poem on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.” life into this art again. Whether you take Jackson’s recitation as mockery or This current movement is actually using the Internet not doesn’t matter. It’s the fact that slam poetry is relevant to its advantage. Formed in 1980s Chicago by ex-con- enough to the masses and pop culture to be mocked. Postruction-worker-turned-performer Marc Smith, slam etry is neither dead nor at a deadend, it’s just discovering a poetry involves recitation of your work in front of an new route, and it’s using a GPS this time around. FA L L 2 0 1 4

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E N T E RTA I N M E N T

A Fi l m of

One’s O w n WOM E N ’ S GROW I NG ROL E I N T H E HOL LY WO OD OF T H E S OU T H

Story by JESSICA HOUGH

I saw Richard Linklater’s Boyhood, a tender epic filmed over 12 years and compressed into three short hours, and left the theater answering “yes, I liked it” and “it was quite good” to the standard lineup of post-movie questions. In reality, though, part of me sensed something was missing.

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t’s a film where a breadth of experiences and different lives reveal themselves through the characters’ interactions with the protagonist, Mason, as he grows from curious child to artsy college student. There is no question that it is a thoughtful and articulate film, well constructed and generally considerate of its characters, so I struggled to identify what I found amiss. I decided I wanted to see more of Mason’s older sister, played by Linklater’s own daughter. I pined for a multifaceted high school love interest. I was desperate for better glimpses into the complicated life of Mason’s mother, beautifully portrayed by Patricia Arquette. What I really wanted, I think, was “Girlhood.” But Linklater could not have directed the “Girlhood” I wanted to see — something sensitive and powerful and problematic — and this is because it would have needed to be directed by a woman. Recent films like Lucy, which took in a little over $44 million on its opening weekend, Maleficent and The Fault in our Stars have all made audiences and Hollywood accountants pay attention to women onscreen. On the indie stage, record numbers of women were represented at Cannes — 20 percent of the films selected were directed by women. But only 7 to 8 percent of the 1,800 films submitted could claim the same. Unfortunately, it is the second statistic that is common within the film industry. Although awareness is growing of the underrepresentation of women onscreen (only 30 percent of speaking characters are women), and Hollywood

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does seem to be taking the hint that audiences prefer dynamic characters and casting, there remains a discrepancy between men and women behind the camera. In a comprehensive analysis of the top 100 grossing films over the last six years, Dr. Stacy L. Smith, Marc Choueiti and Dr. Katherine Pieper at the University of Southern California’s Media Diversity and Social Change Initiative concluded that only 2 percent of directors are women, 7.4 percent of writers are women and 19.6 percent of producers are women. Only four females have ever been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director and only one has won: Kathryn Bigelow. Statistically, things are not improving — there have been no significant increases in the number of women working in film since the 1990s. To put this in perspective, women make up 9 percent of construction workers, 5.2 percent of truck drivers and 21 percent of metal-plating machine workers — all male-dominated industries perceived as masculine. We can hope that as the film industry expands into new places, these biases won’t continue to hold sway. This does seem to be true, at least, in Atlanta. Tax incentives in Georgia have made it home to one of the fastest growing film industries in the country. In 2001, only four movies were shot in the state, a number that has been steadily increasing since. To date, there have been over 700 feature films, TV movies, TV series, single episodes and pilots produced in the state and a number of television series that have brought attention to Atlanta in particular as what some have called the “Hollywood


of the South.” Furthermore, the movement of the in- can use our creative power and energy to create projects dustry to Atlanta has encouraged the creation of thou- that involve and show women and have women on the sands of jobs and fostered a skilled and diverse group of crew,” she says. In this sense, Jenkins is not alone. There film workers, many of whom are female. is an increasing number of organizations like WIFTA Mallorie Coleman, an Atlanta native and member that exist to help women distribute and exhibit their of the set decorators’ union in Atlanta, has worked in work, including New York-based Women Make Movthe local film industry for three years now and says one ies, the Women’s Film Institute and the Women’s Film of the biggest challenges she faces on a daily basis is Preservation Board. holding her own in a male-dominated work environIn the same way, there is an ever-growing communiment. “Set decorating crews tend to be mostly male, ty of women filmmakers and advocates who are thriving and I’ve felt many times that I’ve had to go above and in the festival scene. For many years, the independent beyond just to be taken seriously. There’s an attitude film arena and especially the documentary film indusof ‘can you hang’ camaraderie amongst crews, so being try have been more friendly to women working behind a rookie and a female, I’m inherently an easy target,” the camera. Breneman and her co-worker and friend, she says. Christina Humphrey, the ATLFF Shorts Programmer, “It’s a continuous battle. While there have been have a direct view into this world each year when they plenty of working opportunities, you are constantly select the films for the festival. The women who work having to prove your worthiness and intellect,” Kristy behind the scenes at these festivals strive to elevate and Breneman, who began working in production and is champion their female colleagues. “I would love to see now the programming director at the Atlanta Film more ladies behind the camera, calling the shots or servFestival, explains of her early days in freelance. “There is the game of doing a lot of “THERE ARE A LOT OF WOMEN WHO work for someone else’s title — you have to be assertive in order not to get taken WANT TO GET THEIR SHOWS OFF THE advantage of.” GROUND AND THEY’RE WILLING TO Despite the numbers, Coleman says that she sees a lot more women in the inJUST GO OUT THERE AND DO IT.” dustry than there were 20 years ago, especially in Atlanta. A lot of these women have become ing in more creative direction roles,” Breneman says. her close friends, and they point each other to work “We are always being used for our organizational abiliand assist on one another’s sets. Women do tend to hire ties to keep things from falling apart. Imagine what we other women — there is a 21 percent increase in wom- could do when given the reins.” Across the world, fesen working on a narrative film when there is a female tivals have been founded for this purpose: to celebrate director. the creative power of women directors, writers, cinemaCheryl Jenkins, president of Women in Film and tographers and producers. The Women’s International Television Atlanta, began working in the film industry Arts and Film Festival, Moondance International Film 18 years ago and now devotes herself to encouraging a Festival, Films de Femmes and Lunafest are some of the female film professional community that is sometimes best known, but only several amongst a growing continlacking on set. WIFTA exists to cultivate careers for gent. These festivals are an essential platform for women women in the entertainment industry and does this by filmmakers to build an audience, and often feature netoffering workshops, networking events, mentorships working and educational events throughout the year. and internships, and produces something each year. It’s the kind of enthusiasm and optimism of Brene(This year it’s a short film and a public service announce- man that, more than anything else, found its way to the ment.) Jenkins says that these networking opportunities forefront of my conversations with women working in are essential to encouraging women to keep pushing, the business. When it comes down to it, women in the even when the numbers look grim. “One thing I’ll say Southern film industry love what they do, love to do it about Atlanta is that there are a lot of people here who for each other and will keep working to empower one are very entrepreneurial,” she notes. “There are a lot of another’s work. “Sometimes it’s hard, but I feel extremewomen who want to get their shows off the ground ly lucky to have the career I do,” Coleman says. “I have and they’re willing to just go out there and do it. When the financial freedom from working on union shows and you’re going from project to project in freelancing, you commercials to be able to volunteer on fun indie projects, run into people just trying to get to the next gig — in make props and help with art installations or puppetry this city people are trying to make stuff of their own.” builds or whatever the wide world of Atlanta artists and And that, specifically, is what Jenkins believes will be filmmakers have up their sleeves next. Not many people the future for women in film. “It’s all changing, and we have those options and it’s pretty freakin’ great.” FA L L 2 0 1 4

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Photography by COLBY BLOUNT Styling by BELINDA MARTIN Grooming by NYLZA YEPEZ Photography Assistant: CAROLINE PETTERS Shot on location at The Broome Hotel.

ACTOR , PHOTOGRAPHE R AND NOW F IL MMAKE R , CHRIS LOWE L L KE E PS PROVING HIMSE LF I N F RONT OF — AND BE HIND — T HE CAME RA

Story by JAIME LIN WEINSTEIN

“What I think is so beautiful about it, is it had to literally be held and touched by real hands,” Chris Lowell says, explaining his choice to use film rather than digital for his directorial debut, Beside Still Waters. I’m getting a technical lesson in filmmaking, but the passion in his voice makes the words come out like poetry. “And then on a purely philosophical level,” he continues, “the film is all about this character dealing with

nostalgia and his past. And film (especially super 8 and black and white), the moment you see it, it immediately feels nostalgic. It feels like something from a bygone era, and I really wanted to bring that energy to the film.” Since sentimentality, for so many, is expressed through saturated Instagram filters and ’90s remakes, it’s refreshing to hear a young man speak with reverence for the past rather than romanticism.


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aybe the idea of yesteryear isn’t as alluring when your current year looks like Lowell’s. It’s been a busy season for the Georgia native, most well-known for playing Stosh “Piz” Piznarski in the cult-hit “Veronica Mars” and William “Dell” Parker in ABC’s “Private Practice,” and performing roles in Oscar-nominated films such as Up in the Air and The Help. He starred in a new comedy series “Enlisted” that premiered on Fox in January, and his first feature film as the leading man, Brightest Star, was released the same month. He did a press tour for the long-awaited Veronica Mars film that hit theatres in March. His photography exhibit, “Thirty-One Days,” opened at Jackson Fine Art Gallery in Atlanta over the summer. He started rehearsals for the world premiere of The Debate Society’s play Jacuzzi opening Oct. 13 at New York City’s Ars Nova, and he secured distribution for Beside Still Waters through Tribeca Film that has set a Nov. 14 limited theatrical release. (Did I mention that he also produced and co-wrote the indie dramedy that claimed the Jury Prize and the Audience Award at the 2013 Austin Film Festival?) If you’re not feeling like an underachiever yet, you might when you learn Lowell will turn just 30 years old while this issue is on stands.

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All too often I read of a new, young actor achieving success in the industry due to a famous parent or sibling (eminent offspring include Minka Kelly, Alexander Skarsgard, Dakota Johnson, Chris Pine and all four actresses who star in “Girls”); Hollywood nepotism thrives these days. But Lowell has never been one of them. Perhaps that’s why, despite such an impressive résumé, a sense of “normality” abounds. Evidence of this pervades his personal narrative — one that he shares openly, answering questions genuinely, without calculation. Like when I ask about his audition for “Veronica Mars” and he mentions getting arrested in South Carolina. “I was 21 years old. I had just been on this insane road trip … I was kind of in a wild, sort of loose part of my very early 20s,” he explains sort of matter-of-factly, no shame detected. “I had taken the spring of that year off to go back to college (at the University of Southern California), and it was coming toward the end of summer and I got a phone call from my agent.” It only took one read with producer Rob Thomas for Lowell to secure the role fans know as “Piz,” Veronica Mars’ love interest introduced in the third season. While that season would be the television program’s last, the Veronica Mars movie began production five years later (in 2013) after an incredibly successful Kickstarter fundraising campaign, the same method Lowell would eventually use to secure funding for the distribution of his own film. “There are a lot of Veronica Mars fingerprints on the movie … one of the climactic scenes in the film was actually taken from one of my favorite memories with Kristen (Bell) … and when I think about the Kickstarter campaign that we did, Kristen and Jason (Dohring) and Ryan (Hansen) are in the damn video that I made! And so much of the support that came for Beside Still Waters came from the Veronica Mars supporters, which was very flattering.” Lowell ended up more than tripling his initial fundraising goal, which was surpassed on the second day of the month-long campaign. The film was inspired by his family’s lake house in North Georgia and the time he spent there with friends. “It was the place that, growing up, we would always escape to,” Lowell remembers. “It was the first place that any of us went skinny-dipping or drank alcohol or had our first kiss. It just kinda had this real mysticism to it … It was always a landmark for us as friends.” In 2011 his family decided to sell the home. Faced with saying goodbye to what he considered the epicenter of his youth, Lowell decided to move back and live there for a month while working on the script for the movie. The film stars Ryan Eggold (“The Blacklist”) as Daniel Thatcher, a young romantic who experiences difficult times and recruits his childhood friends to relive the days of their youth. “It’s kind of my love letter to this chapter in my life,” he says. Writing the script seems to have been a cathartic practice — allowing him to reflect on and let go of that time — as seen through his main character acting as an extension of his psyche. But the decision to make a film inspired by his own life provided more than catharsis it turns out. “I think for me going forward as a filmmaker, I always will probably tell stories that are personal to me,” Lowell surmises. “Only because when the going gets tough, it’s nice to have a true north. It’s nice to have a part of you that always knows what the story is about and what it should feel like and what it means.”


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He references this preference for intimacy in relation to his creative endeavors more than once, especially when on the subject of photography. Lowell learned to take pictures during his first professional acting job — a role on the 2004-2005 television series “Life As We Know It.” One of the show’s producers, Gabe Sachs, gave Lowell his first camera (a Leica M3) and taught him how to shoot on film, which is all he shoots today. Lowell talks of his love for street style photography and “seeing the art in the everyday,” as well as his ventures in shooting portraiture and how that work has been defined by his relationship with the subject. “For me to take a portrait of someone, I either cannot know them at all, or I have to know them very, very well. Otherwise it’s impossible for me to know if I’ve accurately caught them, or what I feel like is the true version of them,” he says. Models take the place as his least favorite subjects: “Because as a model, you have these masks that you wear and these expressions that you adopt to communicate your version of an idea, and for me, as a photographer, I feel like when I see those I can recognize them as not being the person, but simply this idea of a person. And it drives me crazy.”

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Lowell chronicles his return to his family’s lake house with black and white traditional silver gelatin photographs in his exhibition “Thirty-One Days.”

his makes me question how he feels about being a “model” on the other side of the camera for his photo shoot, traipsing between corridors clad in three-piece suits, lounging in the backseat of taxi cabs wearing plaid and a fedora, posing with his camera on stairwells — in summertime in New York City. “I feel like I’m like a subject that I would hate. And I always feel this great amount of sympathy for whoever’s having to take my portrait because I know I can’t make it easy,” he confesses. “Acting is one thing cause the whole point is to forget that the camera exists, and it’s very rare that you ever have to look into camera. Having my portrait taken, I find that I’m probably a terrible subject.” And yet, while on location at The Broome Hotel, Lowell seems at ease, fearlessly pushing through situations outside a normal comfort zone (see: jumping into the air with high-flying leather cape action during oncoming traffic for a dozen takes or so). “It was great being surrounded by a bunch of Southerners in New York,” Lowell adds. The South has played a big role in his life — personally and professionally. He remembers being so excited at the opportunity to go back for The Help. An idyllic casting, it seems, as his sentiments toward the Southern disposition mirrors that of Kathryn Stockett’s (author of the eponymous novel), found neatly tucked in verse of her best-selling book. “I went to a book reading with Kathryn … and she read this beautiful afterword that she put in the novel about being born and raised in the South and leaving … and you suddenly realize in hindsight just how incredible and important a place that it is.” The moment Lowell moved to Los Angeles he was able to appreciate the pace and beauty of the South and how thankful he was for having been raised there now that it’s merely a small image in the rearview. He waxes poetic about the region as if it were a long-lost friend he hadn’t seen in years — the kind you might forget about when life gets in the way, but once you reconnect it’s as if no time has passed. Traces of Southern hospitality still linger. He sent an email to our photographer after his shoot thanking the entire crew — even down to production assistant by name — a rarity.

When he’s not posing for the cover of a magazine, he’s in rehearsals for his theatrical debut in Jacuzzi. Directed by Obie winner Oliver Butler and starring Tony nominee Peter Friedman (Ragtime), the play is set in a Colorado ski chalet in 1991 where “the lifestyles of the rich collide with the lifestyles of the aimless.” (And there is actually a hot tub on stage.) Lowell’s role was written for him by the company of actors known as The Debate Society who he met when he was a part of the Sundance Institute Theatre Lab back in 2011. “To me, you’ll never beat performing on the stage. I think it’s the actor’s medium,” Lowell says. “And there’s the immediate gratification of having an audience. So you can totally feel that energy, which is like the best high ever.” I ask if he gets the same gratification as a musician, too, but Lowell is quick to deny that he is, or ever was, a “musician.” (But I’ve seen the Youtube videos. Lowell plays a fine harmonica.) “That was what I was doing when I got arrested, playing in that band!” Lowell exclaims. He tells the story of getting robbed while travelling through Turkey and Israel with a friend in 2005 and instead of calling their parents for help, they had “this screwball idea” to play music in the streets for money in order to live out their last four days abroad. “And so we had such a fun time doing it that the next year we were like, ‘Lets see how far we can stretch it’.” With his friend’s mom’s minivan and $200 in cash in the front seat, they drove from Atlanta to Montreal and back, pulling into towns along the way, going to bars, asking if they would give them 50 bucks or free food and drinks to play. “They all said no,” he continues. “Then we would go play in the streets and we camped out or we would meet people and go stay with them. I mean it was a wild, wild ride.” While the details were left vague, my imagination was left satisfied after learning a charge of “disorderly conduct” resulted from “something to do with scaling the side of a hospital…” Sounds like it could be the basis of his next film, I suggest. “Believe me,” Lowell says, “I’ve already discussed it with my writing partner.”


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SOCIETY

THINK TWICE These so-called “facts” are worth a double-take. In the mid-1800s people believed that drinking too much alcohol would make you spontaneously combust. Really. Around the same time, mathematician Urbain Le Verrier was absolutely convinced

there was a planet, which he named “Vulcan,” orbiting Mercury. Centuries later, we think we know better. But here’s a short list of facts you learned that turned out not to be facts at all.

ULCERS ARE CAUSED BY STRESS. Interesting how avoiding stressful situations hasn’t prevented your ulcers. Probably because this assumption is not true. Regardless of the medical advice given over centuries or commonalities shared over one too many cups of coffee, an Australian researcher named Barry Marshall discovered that the bacterium H. pylori is actually the cause of peptic ulcer disease. He actually discovered this in the 1980s. And it proved significant enough to win him the Nobel Prize in 2005.

YOU HAVE A RIGHT-BRAIN OR A LEFT-BRAIN PERSONALITY. Sorry if you wasted your time, but those personality tests you took were useless. Ends up that the logical, analytical “left-brained” people aren’t any different than the artistic, creative “rightbrained” types when it comes to the cerebellum. The original theory of left vs. right personalities probably came from the work of Roger Sperry who, in the 1960s, studied and published findings on epilepsy and surgical treatment, which cut the connection between both sides of the brain (he also won a Nobel Prize). But a 2013 study out of the University of Utah analyzed more than 1,000 brains during brain scans and mapped out the activity in more than 7,000 brain regions. Turns out, both sides of the brain get a ton of neural action and are veritably equal when thinking in either creative or analytical ways. Neither are dominant.

SHAVING MAKES YOUR HAIR GROW BACK THICKER. We’re still scratching our recently groomed heads over this one, but the studies have spoken: Shaving doesn’t change the thickness or speed of your hair growth. And apparently we have known this for a very long time. An early study in 1928 analyzed the hair growth patterns on men’s faces by shaving half of their face and leaving the other half untouched. These lopsided participants proved that there was no significant difference with the growth on one side over the other. Another similar study was then performed on legs in the 1970s, showing no significant change in the thickness, coarseness or length of the hair growth by either the shaved leg or the control. So why has this unproven statement been dubbed as factual common knowledge? Because shaving the ends of hair changes the shape of its end, rendering it sharper and eliminating a natural tapered end, which makes hair seem softer and thinner to the touch. Additionally, hair growth patterns naturally ebb and flow, which can account for a noticeable difference in thickness of body hair as you age.

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HYPNO TIZE ME A FIRSTHAND EXPERIENCE WITH HYPNOTHERAPY

Photo by Derek Key

Story by ANNA MORRIS


SOCIETY

Skeptical is an understatement. I was beyond the point of disbelief. With my hypnosis experience reaching about as far as a failed comedy show in college, I had already concluded that hypnotherapy was just another new-age psychological tactic designed to suck in money and spit out nothing in return. I’ve been proven wrong.

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n a small, cozy office, seated across from hypnotherapist Sean Wheeler — professionally dubbed “The Heartbreak Hypnotist” for his expertise in dealing with relationship issues — I’ve become a believer in this less-than-ordinary version of therapy. Mind spinning and heart racing, I divulge what it is I’d like to fix: a crippling case of low self-esteem that has plagued me for over a decade. I purposely didn’t do too much research on hypnotherapy before my session (no need to combat more preconceived notions prior to experiencing it firsthand), so I’m unaware of what’s going to happen. Is Wheeler going to make me subconsciously reveal everything I hate about myself? What ugly truths am I going to spill while under hypnosis? He quickly reassures me there will be no talking on my part, only relaxing. When it’s time for my session to begin, I try to let go of any biased ideas of hypnosis and shake off my nerves, which proves to be an incredibly difficult feat. “Don’t clench your fists,” Wheeler remarks. “You’re not going into battle.” I open my hands, close my eyes and find my breath. He gives me my first instructions: “Allow your breathing to continue slowly and comfortably as I continue to talk to you, knowing that from this point forward you won’t have to move, and I’m not going to ask you to talk, which means you have no responsibility to do anything but relax.” Despite the fact I was adamant that hypnosis is a hoax, I find it relatively easy to clear my mind within a matter of minutes. Waves of relaxation wash over me, and I feel my hands and arms begin to go numb — a sensation I was warned might happen

during hypnosis. Wheeler’s words go in and out, almost like a faulty radio station, as I allow my mind to drift elsewhere. The remarkable thing about hypnosis — and the bit of information that most people, including myself, are unaware of — is that it’s all voluntary. “Once someone is hypnotized, they become very relaxed and comfortable,” Wheeler explains. “In hypnosis, people aren’t like puppets being controlled by a puppet master. They’re willingly deciding to do these things, because they’re not worried about anything.” Hypnotherapist Susan Gold equates the subconscious mind to a sort of gatekeeper. Once a hypnotherapist gets past the gatekeeper, which is easier to do when the mind is completely relaxed, old thoughts can be erased or old experiences can be explored and used to create new perspectives. With my eyes closed and mind at ease, I picture myself sitting on a beach in Charleston, a Donna Tartt novel in hand — my goto happy place. I can hear Wheeler’s voice, very peaceful and almost monotonous, but in the best way possible. It’s much like a favorite song you turn to when you want to be lulled to sleep. “At this deep level of relaxation and comfort, it’s easier to see things clearly.” Wheeler’s words enter my ears and pass through to my subconscious. “When you’re this relaxed, you can be honest with yourself. And when you’re being honest with yourself, you can see that you’re a good person. And what makes you, you and who you are is unique, interesting and valuable. You possess intelligence, passion, love, empathy. You’re a good friend. And there are a lot of possibilities available to you in life.” FA L L 2 0 1 4

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Hypnotherapy reached its peak in the 1950s when Milton Erickson, the proclaimed father of modern hypnotherapy, was the first to use this psychological tactic on patients.

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is approach became known as indirect hypnosis, or Ericksonian hypnosis, which puts more control in the hands of the patients and is a method that Wheeler found himself drawn to. “Milton was trusting that the individual probably knows more than the therapist what they need and what they really want and how to get it,” Wheeler explains. “So the therapist’s role in his eyes is to facilitate a change rather than to direct it.” In my session, the speech focused on self honesty rather than just self respect, so I was made to ponder that honesty, allowing the ideas that followed to go into my mind without immediate resistance. But there are different methods of hypnosis, of course, and different practitioners have varying techniques. Traditional hypnotherapy, the method practiced by most hypnotists in the Victorian era, takes a more direct approach and sometimes includes aversion techniques (i.e. telling a smoker that smoke smells like car exhaust). The use of one method over another has not been shown to be more effective; however, one method may be preferred for a certain patient. Indirect, for example, is more suggestive than forceful, which can be particularly beneficial for those patients that may be more defensive, or skeptical (like me). After my session, I admit I felt the exact same as before. I was a slightly more relaxed version of myself,

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but it wasn’t an immediate cure-all. I made a point to listen to the recording of my session every day (okay, almost every day), each time feeling the same numb, floating-above-my-body experience as before, but not feeling like I was some brand new person. It wasn’t until I went in for my second session that it all dawned on me: I had become a new person. Thinking back on my previous week, I realized that not once did I put myself down, which is a triumph considering that before my session I couldn’t go a day or two without berating my body. I feel more confident in my abilities to walk into new situations without being a bundle of nerves and now feel as though it’s my duty to steer people away from harboring the same negative feelings I had toward hypnotherapy in the beginning. “One of our biggest problems in the industry is that there’s just so much bad information about it out there,” Wheeler says. “In addition to the comedy shows that just aren’t explained properly, there’s just a lot of blatantly false or exaggerated advertising like ‘Hypnotize once and forever you’ll never smoke again, guaranteed.’” Hypnotherapy is not a one-session-and-you’recured miracle pill. But it is so much more than that hokey hypnosis show I witnessed in college. I wasn’t asked to quack. I wasn’t even asked to talk. I was simply asked to come in with a desire to change.


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BEAUTY

Story by

HighBROWS BROOKE HUTCHINS, CHRISTINA MONTFORD & JAIME LIN WEINSTEIN

Through thick and thin, there’s more to these features than what meets the eye.

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Beauty is a fickle thing, and there isn’t a truer object of its fluctuation than the eyebrow.

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he delicate, little hairs framing and protecting the eye have been subjected to an extensive history of trends and a rotating supply of pencils, tweezers, razors and even bleach — balancing facial features and altering the perceived shape of the face in their wake. But brows serve a purpose other than decoration. If you’ve ever seen someone raise them in a moment of wonder or draw them together with a response of distaste (and it’s likely that you have), then you know the significance these arches bring when it comes to interpreting nonverbal communication. Disgust, anger, fear, sadness, happiness and surprise — whether you’re in the United States or China, the 21st century or the fourth, these six basic human emotions have universal indicators. The brief, reactionary facial expressions reveal an undisclosed sentiment, whether suppressed or repressed (consciously or unconsciously so). And the eyebrows are essential in interpreting each one. First documented in the 1960s and originally termed “micromomentary expressions” — since shortened to “microexpressions” — by a research duo known as Haggard and Isaacs, it was American psychologist Dr. Paul Ekman who pinpointed the six specific expressions through his studies during the same decade. (He proposed some additional ones in the ’90s including amusement, contempt, embarrassment and shame.) But here’s what sets them apart from your everyday display of emotion: Each microexpression is fleeting, and lasts only a fraction of a second — one-twenty-fifth to one-fifteenth of a second to be precise. And while Haggard and Isaacs inferred that the brevity of these movements meant they couldn’t be individually recognized or analyzed, Ekman and colleague Wallace Friesen determined that these

expressions could indeed be seen and broken down into a system of facial movements. From the slight raise of the brow to the faint squint of an eye, such localized activity has been studied and recorded in fields ranging from animation to counter terrorism. But if you’re not an animator or say, a deception-detection specialist with the CIA, or the television producer of “Lie to Me” (Ekman served as scientific advisor to the popular TV show that aired from 2009 to 2011), there are other valuable uses for learning to recognize these expressions. Emotional intelligence, while often overlooked, is something that can be developed simply by clueing in to these nonverbal cues. It’s about tuning in to the quick facial changes that occur within the small window of time that most people miss. When it comes to the brows, having a keen eye for their fleeting movements is key to decoding the emotions behind them. For instance, being able to catch the hint of surprise in brows that are raised and curved with stretched skin underneath, versus the glimpse of fear in brows that are raised and drawn together in a flat line with wrinkles in between, is a skill that can aid in deciding the best way to respond to others in specific situations. From disgust to anger, happiness to contempt, and everything in between, the brows are essential players in unraveling the discrepancies between someone’s words and their short-lived microexpressions. Narrowing in on these tiny movements can help us most in those first few seconds after words are exchanged, allowing us to quickly detect what emotion someone might be trying to conceal — and ultimately preventing misunderstandings with spouses, bosses and children alike through intentional communication. The result is a sense of empathy and heightened awareness: two traits that help you catch others’ emotions often before they even recognize their own.

GUIDE TO MICROEXPRESSIONS Size up strangers, understand lovers and catch liars in the act. Learn the basics of reading microexpressions based on Ekman’s research and tap into others’ feelings, and maybe even your own.

Sadness

Fear

Disgust

Brows are drawn inward together and outer corners are drawn up. (Corners of the lips are drawn down and the lower lip may pout outward.)

Brows are drawn inward together and raised. (The mouth may be slightly open or tensed and drawn back. The upper eyelids raise, but the lower lid is drawn up, exposing only the whites above the iris.)

Brows are drawn slightly inward together. (The nose also wrinkles and the cheeks rise, causing wrinkles below the lower lids. The lower lip may raise.)

Happiness

Anger

Surprise

Brows remain in place and are not raised or lowered. (Corners of the mouth are drawn back and up, while teeth may or may not be exposed, and cheeks are raised, causing crows feet near the outside of the eyes.)

Brows are lowered and drawn inward together, causing vertical wrinkles between them. (The lower lids are tensed, the lips are firmly pressed together and the jaw may jut out.)

Brows are raised, causing horizontal wrinkles high across the forehead. (The jaw also drops and the upper and lower teeth part; the eyelids open, causing the white of the eye to show above and below the iris.) FA L L 2 0 1 4

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FROM THEN TO BROW Every era has its signature look. It was bold and bushy à la a teenaged Brooke Shields in the ’80s and you can bet that Audrey Hepburn had the ladies of the ’50s growing their brows out to be perfectly sculpted in bold, beautiful lines. But the history goes back beyond Blue Lagoon or Breakfast at Tiffany’s. 3500 B.C. - 2500 B.C.: Both men and women in ancient Egypt were serious about their makeup and maybe even more serious about their brows. The typical affluent ancient Egyptian brow was dark (due to carbon oils) and had pointed arches that were elongated just past the end of the eye. Regular shaving and tweezing was normal for males and females alike. 1066 - 1485: Medieval women preferred almost invisible brows, opting to pluck them extremely thin while leaving them their natural color. Early versions of today’s razor came about, and shaving and grooming all facial hair became the norm for men. 1920s: The women from the ’20s might have been taking a hint from their medieval foremothers as most opted for straight, thin brows — often plucking them to bare existence and boldening the line with pencil. 1930s: The thin brow look went well into the ’30s, but with a curved twist. Women added a more distinct arch to their brow to get the “surprised” look. 1940s: Eyebrows began to regain thickness and take on a more natural look via actresses like Bette Davis and Loretta Young. 1950s: Brows were becoming even darker, thicker and more dramatic. Strong brows with high arches were the norm. 1960s: Taking a turn from naturally thick brows, eyebrows in the ’60s were shaven and typically penciled in to have a more controlled thickness. Actress Sophia Loren made this look increasingly popular. 1970s: In the ’70s, hair was everywhere — armpits, legs and brows alike. Most women just let their brows grow free during this period. The natural arch reigned supreme. 1980s: Bold, bushy and beautiful. In the ’80s, the wilder the brow, the better. Think Madonna in “True Blue” or “Causing a Commotion.” 1990s: Brows became a little more varied in the ’90s, but most women were still opting for a thinner look as long as the brow appeared sculpted and under control. Now: Eyebrows are currently at one of two extremes. Recent fashion shows and trends have favored brows that are either thick and bushy (think Cara Delevingne) or bleached into almost nonexistence. Everyday women seem to prefer a more natural brow with soft arches and a squared inner brow. And today, more than ever, men are starting to give more thought to grooming their brows. A thick, natural brow that is properly trimmed seems to be the way to go. Think Jude Law, not Albert Einstein.

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BEAUTY and the BROW Though what’s considered a “trendy” brow has changed over the years, one thing has stayed true: eyebrows are the frame of your face.

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f the brows are fuzzy, too thin or misshapen, a person’s entire facial structure can be thrown off. But perfect brows differ from one individual to the next. The goal is to be able to accentuate your natural brow line, and if you, like most, have spent the majority of your life waxing and plucking, that could be hard to find. This calls for “eyebrow rehab,” according to Alyson Hoag, eyebrow specialist of Atlanta-based Authentic

Beauty. This regimen involves letting your eyebrows return to their natural arch, but that doesn’t mean you just let your brows grow wild and free. Like a perfectly manicured lawn, even brows in rehab need to be touched up every four to six weeks. “The brow actually stops growing if you do not ‘mow,’” Hoag says. “The growth cycle is around four to six weeks. You have to pluck in that time frame or they slow down or stop all together.”

How to touch up brows in rehab: 1. Pull your eyebrows up with your finger and pluck the obvious hairs that aren’t connected to the brow. (Do this once a week at the most.) 2. Brush the eyebrow hair up and cut off the uneven hairs with eyebrow scissors. (Never cut straight across. Cut with the arch or you will cut holes in your brows.) 3. Use gel-based wax to fill in empty spots, then comb it through with a spoolie brush. 4. Repeat this every four to five weeks, filling in the brow on a daily basis.

How to sculpt your natural arch from Southern eyebrow genius, Alyson Hoag: 1. Begin by lining up the front of the brow by this angle: Find the point that is equidistant between the socket and the tear duct. Then hold a brush up and draw from the nose through that point up to the brow. That’s where the front of the brow should start. 2. The tail: Take the equidistant point of the tear duct and the socket and line up the nose to this point. This is where it should end. If one follows just the tear duct, the brow will be too short. 3. The arch placement is the highly debated topic. I believe it is angled to the outside of the iris, and not straight up. The book that is used in the esthetician program suggests the brow arch is to the outside of the iris straight up. This is why so many brows look surprised or have a rainbow shape. My suggestion: From the corner of the nose to the outside of the iris and the arch placement is to the outside of the eye. Look for the model Shalom Harlow in the Tiffany & Co ads. Hers are pretty perfect.


Hoag gives tips on the “guy brow” and the proper grooming process:

Extra tidbits for men and women:

It’s no secret that males typically have a little more hair than women, and proper, professional care must be taken every three to four weeks to keep the male brow line looking under control. 1. Do not shave the brows. You might be tempted to think that shaving is the easy solution to overgrown brows, but it always makes matters worse. 2. Do not allow your hairdresser to cut straight across your brows with cutting shears, which is a common practice. And never allow a professional to give you arched brows, at the risk of appearing too feminine. Instead, opt for a simple trim using manicure scissors and tweeze only the wild hairs that stick out. 3. It’s not a bad idea to take a few Advil before an appointment with tweezing — men seem to have a lower threshold for this kind of pain. 4. If your brows are very light and appear to trail off mid-way, consider asking a professional to color them once every two months for a fresher, younger appearance.

1. Don’t use a magnifying glass. No one sees you that close. You will end up browless by 40. 2. Brows are sisters and not twins. Don’t ever try to make them identical unless they are that way. Stop obsessing over symmetry. 3. The car is one of the best places to tweeze your brows. In the bright noon sun, pull the mirror down and tweeze there. You can see both eyes clearly. 4. Eyebrow color needs to be relative to skin and hair color. Be comfortable dying brow hair. It’s usually safe to go half a shade darker.

RAISING THE BROW There’s one thing about eyebrows that simply can’t be helped with proper shaping and maintenance: age. Over time, the eyebrows begin to sag over the upper eyelid and creases start creeping in between and around the brows. The familiar answer? Botox. Just ask Dr. Bhatia.

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t’s been over 10 years since the toxin was approved by the FDA for “cosmetic” use and its popularity has only continued to grow since then — for men and women alike. The American Society of Plastic Surgeons reports that 6.1 million Botulinum toxin type A injections were given in the year 2012 alone, a 680-percent increase since 2000 and by far the highest number among both surgical and minimally invasive procedures. All the while, injections have gotten cheaper and have become more accessible, and the stigma surrounding such beauty procedures has all but disappeared. Notable “Botox Brow Lift” guru Dr. Shivani Bhatia, Atlanta-based anesthesiologist and owner of b. You Blowdry and Beauty Bar, specializes in several skin care services, including Botox. “In order to give my patients a functional brow lift, I inject the Botox into five facial points,” Bhatia explains. “Two over each brow and one in between them.” This procedure essentially relaxes the muscles surrounding the eyebrows and opens up the patient’s face. It’s a brow lift sans surgery. If done tastefully, Botox should not affect macroexpressions; however, it does affect microexpression, causing an overall loss of the small lines and creases as-

sociated with those facial movements that often carry important emotion detectors. “The muscle fibers between the brows are lost after Botox, so microexpressions naturally won’t look as intense,” Bhatia explains. Essentially, you just won’t look quite as stern with a furrowed brow after receiving Botox injections, which typically last four to six months. While many visit certified Botox professionals like Bhatia with the hopes of opening up a tired and aging brow area, too much of the drug can potentially wipe out microexpressions that impart emotional cues, causing that ever-familiar frozen look. And it’s for this reason that it’s more important than ever for men and women to take care in hiring Botox specialists who have a great reputation and a tried-and-true technique. (Bhatia notes that while women still outnumber men for interest in the brow lift procedure, she still sees men regularly looking to improve the issue of forehead lines with Botox.) The goal of the brow lift is to leave the patient looking natural, light and refreshed. Remember that great Botox is meant to be nearly undetectable, so resist the temptation to give into the stiff, alien-like look of an overzealous Botox abuser — or you run the risk of foregoing facial expression altogether.

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FA S H I O N

Bare Accessories Photography by JIMMY JOHNSTON Styling by TIAN JUSTMAN | Models: ELISABETH MURRAY for Click Models and RACHEL ZEHNER for Ursula Wiedmann Models | Hair and Makeup by KATIE BALLARD | Hair Styling Assistant: ERIN TIERNEY

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Red Noe Bag, $599, LOUIS VUITTON, at bellabag.com.


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Cash Only Crossover, $595, 3.1 PHILLIP LIM and Sneaker, $2,595, CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN, both at Saks Fifth Avenue.


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Knuckle Duster Clutch, $2,785, ALEXANDER MCQUEEN, at Saks Fifth Avenue.


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Shoe, $695, SOPHIA WEBSTER, at Saks Fifth Avenue.


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Shoe, $825, MANOLO BLAHNIK, at Saks Fifth Avenue.


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Clutch, $1,399, CÉLINE, at bellabag.com. Boot, $1,750, PRADA, at Saks Fifth Avenue.


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Camo Crossover, $2,495, VALENTINO, at Saks Fifth Avenue.


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Duffle, $1,049, LOUIS VUITTON, at bellabag.com. Shoe, $2,110, BRUNELLO CUCINELLI, at Saks Fifth Avenue.


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ention Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 masterpiece 2001: A Space Odyssey and the image of astronaut Dr. Frank Poole probably comes to mind — maybe while flailing in a mustard-colored space suit surrounded by dark, vast emptiness. Or think of the 1982 cult classic Blade Runner and you likely picture a dystopian Daryl Hannah — sheathed in a sheer top and iridescent jumpsuit with torn fishnets, a studded dog collar and platinum blonde locks to boot. Science fiction, whether of the space opera or cyberpunk kind, has always provided a source for some of our most memorable cinematic and sartorial visions. So when plans for a continuation of George Lucas’ Star Wars films were announced (Episode VII is currently scheduled for release in December 2015), it was perhaps not so shocking that fashion houses sought inspiration from the franchise for their fall 2014 collections — notably, American fashion label Rodarte. Closing a collection ripe with turtlenecks, paper bag pants and shearling-collared metallic coats, five gowns floated down the runway featuring stills of Luke Skywalker, C-3PO, the Death Star, Tatooine suns and Jedi Master Yoda. “Our fall 2014 was inspired by our nostalgia for our childhood, delving into the ephemeral space of our imagination, highlighting our fascination with storytelling and cinema,” explained sisters Laura and Kate Mulleavy, founders of the Rodarte brand, of their design concept to Lucasfilm. “These images have impacted us greatly both as young women and as adults; their influences have been broad, shaping our aesthetic understanding, as well as our connection to storytelling, art, film, innovation and creativity.” (No word as to why R2-D2 and Princess Leia didn't make the cut.)

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N O T S U R P R I S I N G LY, T H E D R E S S E S W E R E A S O U R C E O F D E B AT E A M O N G T H E S T Y L E S E C T, S PA R K I N G VA R I E D R E A C T I O N S .

“And with all due respect to fans of Star Wars (for they are legion), the use of giant Luke Skywalker and R2-D2 prints in the final passage of gowns just seemed silly,” wrote Maya Singer for Style.com. Maybe Singer would have felt differently if she knew her C-3PO from her R2-D2. But Star Wars enthusiast or not, critics needed to be reminded that fashion, after all, is fundamentally an industry of make-believe, and designers are always striving toward the future in the same vein as the mythical genre — whether they’re designing for the runway or the cinema itself. Consider Jane Fonda donning a shiny, green leotard with chain-linked Rhodoid plastic fringe in the 1968 sci-fi romp Barbarella, and the concurrent fashions from designer Paco Rabanne. The Spanish designer had been defining futuristic couture since the start of his career, designing jewelry for the likes of Givenchy and Dior from unconventional materials like metal, paper and plastic, and in 1966 he showed his first collection, suitably titled “12 Unwearable Dresses in Contemporary Materials.” Imagine dresses crafted from aluminum discs and sheet metal. The futuristic sex goddess character of the film provided the perfect canvas for Rabanne’s aesthetic — chainmail crop tops, plastic bodysuits, thigh-high silver boots and all. Designer Jean Paul Gaultier took a cue from Rabanne’s shiny, form-fitting space age outfits in creating the costumes for 1997’s The Fifth Element — like Milla Jovovich’s iconic white bandage dress and Chris Tucker’s gender-bending leopard catsuit. But Gaultier had been displaying similarly ostentatious designs on catwalks since the late ’70s (and on arena stages since the ’80s — he’s the one responsible for Madonna’s iconic cone bra). So his work in The Fifth Element didn’t only mark his own achievement in cinematic contributions, but also emphasized the grander symbiotic relationship between film and fashion’s fantastical worlds.

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“IN 1966 HE SHOWED HIS F I R S T C O L L E C T I O N , S U I TA B LY T I T L E D ‘ 1 2 U N W E A R A B L E DRESSES IN CONTEMPORARY M AT E R I A L S .’ I M AG I N E D R E S S ES CRAFTED FROM ALUMINUM D I S C S A N D S H E E T M E TA L .”


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he fact is, cultural obsessions permeate more than one facet of society, and science fiction is one influence that has never been stronger than it is today. Just take a look at some of the top-earning Hollywood movies in the past few decades — The Avengers, Harry Potter, The Hunger Games, Avatar, Transformers, The Matrix, Independence Day, Jurassic Park and Back to the Future before that. It’s clear that America has a particular affinity for anything to do with wizardry, space travel, time travel, aliens, post-apocalyptic worlds and Robert Downey, Jr. And movies are just one slice of the science fiction pie; we can’t disregard the television shows, video games, comic conventions, books and, of course, fashion. (Though Rodarte’s couture pieces may belong in a different subcategory

than, say, a brandished pair of Vans featuring a Stormtrooper.) But why the science fiction obsession? Nineteenth-century German sociologist Max Weber’s research may provide some insight. In a modern, bureaucratic Western society where scientific understanding is valued over belief, and rationality and pragmatism preside, we have become “disenchanted,” in Weber’s words. There is no place for mystery or magic in a world rife with explanation, with systems, with facts. So we turn to science fiction to gain a sense of wonder and recover the imagination of our childhood. Childhood, imagination … exactly what the Mulleavy sisters said inspired their Star Wars gowns. “In the end, for Rodarte, the dresses represent something intangible,” they added. “The instant where you learn to keep your eyes wide open to the vast potentiality of everything.”

After all, sometimes that with potentiality becomes reality: Nike is introducing the self-tying “power laces” worn by Marty McFly in Back to the Future Part II next year — the same “future” year the shoes are from in the 1989 film.

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Tiffany Design Director Francesca Amfitheatrof photographed in her studio at Tiffany & Co. Photo by Martin Crook.

Story by JAIME LIN WEINSTEIN

Given that diamonds are said to be a girl’s best friend, it’s hard to believe that one of the world’s grandest purveyors of the precious gem has a history dominated by men. But with the recent appointment of Francesca Amfitheatrof as its first female design director, Tiffany & Co. has finally welcomed

a woman to its reins. Amfitheatrof assumed her new role with the luxury brand in September last year, and she’s already proving herself alongside the 177year male-dominated legacy with the introduction of her first collection — one that honors the company’s past, but undoubtedly looks to the future.

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ppropriately titled “Tiffany T,” the collection “felt like a natural jumping off point for my work here,” Amfitheatrof says of using the letter that pays homage to the Tiffany name. “I took ‘T,’ which is a strong and graphic form,” she explains, “and I simplified, deconstructed, extended and bent it into jewelry that has an extraordinarily beautiful clarity.” The result is streamlined, modern pieces like T-shaped stacking rings and minimal bangles; thick, sculptural cuffs; and chain-link bracelets and necklaces in varying lengths, all offered in 18 karat gold — rose, yellow and white — in addition to sterling silver; some accented with diamonds or ceramic. And while they may appear simple, Amfitheatrof clarifies that this characteristic is meant to merit a positive connotation. “I believe there is great power in simplicity. And by simplicity I don’t mean just that something is plain and uncomplicated. I mean there is great power in taking a design and distilling and refining it until it is just exactly what it needs to be. Nothing more, nothing less.” The same could perhaps be said of Amfitheatrof herself. Clean and elegant in styling; poised and refined in presence; she looks like one of those impeccably chic, yet understated French women — though actually “a global citizen,” in her own words: born in Japan, and most recently relocated to New York from London. Her CV boasts an equally rich history. A trained jeweler and silversmith with a master’s degree from the Royal College of Art, Amfitheatrof has previously designed jewelry collections for the likes of Chanel, Fendi, Marni and Alice Temperley. She’s also designed furniture and lighting, worked as a creative consultant and art curator, and even developed fragrances for private clients and Claridge’s, the five-star London hotel. It’s a pedigree she applies to reimagining the icons of a century-plus old establishment like Tiffany. But for all her modern brio, she hasn’t taken things too far from the brand’s origins — at least where her innovation and process are concerned. “Always, always, I start with a dream, something I see in my head that won’t fade until I get it down on paper ... I like to start with a sketch, to give the design process a human element, a real touch,” Amfitheatrof says. There are even a number of diamond pieces in the collection that were inspired by sketches from the 1920s she found in the Tiffany archives. “I love those initial drawings, when anything is possible and your mind is wide open.” It’s a spirit that’s as much a part of the Tiffany history as its collections of jewels: “Tiffany has always been a company of great innovators, great dreamers who are constantly pushing the boundaries of what’s possible with design.” It’s luxury at its finest incarnation — whatever the era.

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“THERE IS GREAT POWER IN TAKING A DESIGN AND DISTILLING AND REFINING IT UNTIL IT IS JUST EXACTLY WHAT IT NEEDS TO BE. NOTHING MORE, NOTHING LESS.” The Graivier Center & Med Spa The Graivier Center Plastic Surgery ~ Med Spa Where innovation meets artistry. The eyes of an artist. The mind of an innovator. The hands of a world class surgeon.

Sketch for Tiffany T collection by Design Director Francesca Amfitheatrof. Photos courtesy of Tiffany & Co.


The Graivier Center P L A S T I C S U R G E R Y & M E D S PA

Where innovation meets artistry.

THE EYES OF AN ARTIST. THE MIND OF AN INNOVATOR. THE HANDS OF A WORLD CLASS SURGEON.

Dr. Miles Graivier is a highly skilled surgeon, industry innovator, teacher and humanitarian. He successfully combines the science of medicine with the artistic opportunities of plastic surgery. He has been in private practice in Atlanta for over 20 years. While his business has grown and become a renowned plastic surgery facility, The Graivier Center maintains an intimate setting. Dr. Graivier and his select team of nursing and administrative professionals strive to uniquely enhance the natural beauty of each patient – boosting confidence and elevating self-image.


HAIR AND MAKEUP BY CANDICE H O L L O W AY ASSISTANT STYLIST: HANNAH JOHNSON HAIR AND MAKEUP ASSISTANT: ALEXANDRA ZAKAR

Striped Jumper, $295, MARGAUX LONNBERG and White Shirt, $119, I LOVE UGLY, both at Henry & June. Navy blazer, $790, MM6 MAISON MARTIN MARGIELA, at lesnouvelles.com.

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PHOTOGRAPHY BY RUSSELL DREYER STYLING BY TIAN JUSTMAN M O D E L S : TAY L E R D E N I S E A N D TAT U M OPHELIA FOR CLICK MODELS

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Coat, $350, THAKOON ADDITION, at lesnouvelles.com. “Without” Necklace, $357, GRITTY JEWELRY, at grittyjewelry.com.

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Sweater, $255, MIH JEANS, at mih-jeans.com. Pant, $155, HENRIK VIBSKOV, at Henry & June. Coat, $994, A.L.C., at lesnouvelles.com. Extension Cord Necklace, $348, GRITTY JEWELRY, at grittyjewelry.com.


Poppy Shirtdress, $350, ABBEY GLASS, at abbey-glass.com. Grey Blazer, $780, MM6 MAISON MARTIN MARGIELA, at lesnouvelles.com.

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Dress, $444, CREATURES OF COMFORT, at Henry & June. Sweater, $275, MIH JEANS, at mih-jeans.com. Necklace, $118, Half Moon Brass Cuff, $69 and Double Band Brass Cuff, $60, all YOUNG FRANKK, all at eidemagazine.com.


Blouse, $285, MIH JEANS, at mih-jeans.com. Palazzo Pant, $525 and Belt, $225, both TIAN JUSTMAN, both at tianjustman.com. Scarf, $120, MARIDADI TRADING CO., at maridaditrading.com. Ring, $328, GRITTY JEWELRY, at grittyjewelry.com.


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Erte Coat, $725 and Palazzo Pant, $525, both TIAN JUSTMAN, both at tianjustman.com. Shirt, $90, HAM, at Henry & June. Guitar Necklace, $420, GRITTY JEWELRY, at grittyjewelry.com.


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With fall, comes the scarf.

conic and cozy, polished and playful, the scarf is the sidekick of your season’s wardrobe. Unless it becomes the star. Illustrated, 100-percent silk satin scarves by fine artist Hannah Cross are where fashion and art intersect — with designs that seem almost too alluring to wear and double as a focal point when framed. Each scarf is one of a limited run of only 100 in a color and pattern, making

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it collectible for your foyer or your neckline. Inspired by folk art from cultures around the world, Cross’ scarves add a luxe touch of elegance and sophistication to a layered look. And when not draped beautifully around your neck, each wearable illustration (32.5” x 65”) can be displayed as a vibrant addition to any interior. $325, available at Showroom Ampersand by appointment and hannahcrossltd.com.


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