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IRIS COVET BOOK
WHAT IS IRIS COVET BOOK ? When we first began this publication, people were curious about why we picked the name Iris Covet Book. The iris of the eye, which controls light reception and vision, connotes our creative point of view which is bold, graphic, and visually impactful. The iris flower, symbol of monarchs and royalty, infers the desire for beauty and luxury which is reflected in our imagery. Yet it is the Greek goddess Iris, messenger of the gods, who we at Iris Covet Book most identify with. We strive to be a medium that shares personal narratives and ideas. _ Cov·et ( ' kəvət/)-verb: to yearn to possess or to have. We view “covet” as a synonym for aspiration. At Iris Covet Book, we aspire to bring our readers a diverse glimpse into the worlds and personalities of fashion, beauty, culture, philanthropy, and art. Artists and designers who are emerging in their craft, to legends who have become masters in their industries; we would like to amplify the stories of a full gamut of talented innovators. Iris Covet Book is a compilation of these stories, images, and people who we believe are aspirational, and we want to share it with the world. We believe sharing an individual’s story brings an important opportunity for us to listen and learn from one another. _ Our Fall Fashion Issue has been made into a shrine to honor the people, places, and things that we view exemplify the zeitgeist of the moment. Cindy Sherman’s photographs hold up a mirror to society and the viewer, and ask questions about persona and the making of identity. Bettina Rheims discusses sexuality, feminism, and gender in hauntingly personal portraits of the female form. The Blonds offer up their glamour and camp through delicately articulated works of demi-couture, and give us insight into their dream-like world. The fall fashion stories are about the styles, themes, and trends which we find the most tantalizing and covetable. This issue is for those who want to live in their own constructed fantasies of beauty.
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PUBLISHER'S PICK MONIQUE PÉAN RING 1.05 CARAT OPAQUE GREY HEXAGONAL DIAMOND SLICE, 0.62 CARAT CHAMPAGNE TRILLION CUT DIAMOND AND 0.40 CARAT TRAPEZOID CUT DIAMOND SCULPTURE OPEN RING, WITH WHITE DIAMOND BAGUETTES AND WHITE DIAMOND PAVÉ, 18 CARAT RECYCLED WHITE GOLD, 2.92 TCW $34,000.00, MONIQUEPEAN.COM
PUBLISHER
Irma Brindis
irmabrindis@iriscovetbook.com
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF/FASHION DIRECTOR
Marc Sifuentes marc@iriscovetbook.com
CREATIVE DIRECTOR/PHOTOGRAPHY DIRECTOR
Louis Liu
louis@iriscovetbook.com
CONTRIBUTING EDITOR
FEATURES EDITOR
ASSISTANT EDITOR
Pauline Snyder-Goodwin
Dustin Mansyur
Benjamin Price
DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS
SPECIAL PROJECT COORDINATOR
Adora Galas
Mariana Valdes Debes
adora@iriscovetbook.com
HOUSTON SALES DIRECTOR
NATIONAL SALES DIRECTOR
MIAMI SALES DIRECTOR
Luigi Santos
Max Goncharov
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WWW.VALENTINO.COM
HOLIDAY 2016
FASHION 78
LAZAROTE
94
DO YOU WANNA FUNK?
Hilary Rhoda layers up and takes us to an other-worldly atmosphere. Nolan Funk shows us some casual cool with a stylistic, retro flare.
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MODERN FLAPPER The 1920’s style of furs mixed with metallic embellishments will keep you shining into the new year.
COVERS HILARY RHODA Hilary Rhoda @ IMG Models Photographed by Greg Swales Dress by Michael Kors, Bodysuit by The Blonds, and Fur Coat by Elena Benarroch.
HILARY RHODA
HILARY RHODA Hilary Rhoda @ IMG Models Photographed by Greg Swales
IRIS WOMAN OUTTAKE: Flaviana Matata photogrphed by Dustin Mansyur.
Sweater and Skirt by Versace, Stockings by Wolford and Shoes by Marc Jacobs and Fur Coat by Elena Benarroch. HILARY RHODA
NOLAN FUNK Nolan Funk @ IMG Models Photographed by Bon Duke
DEPARTMENTS 07
MANIFESTO
08
MASTHEAD
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MOST COVETED GIFT GUIDE
SPOTLIGHTING 34
IRIS MAN : Erwin Creed
38
IRIS WOMAN : Flaviana Matata
42
EMERGING : Chloe Gosslin
48
ICON : Antonio Lopez
114
ART : Sterling Ruby
116
FITNESS : Isabelle Derond
120
DINING: Beatrice Inn
132
DESTINATION : Faena Hotel
138
SOCIAL : Iris Parties
142
CATCHING UP WITH: Carson Kressley
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LAST LOOK: Versace
FEATURES 52
Coat by Versace, and Sweater by Lacoste.
STEPHEN JONES The visionary milliner responsible for some of the most iconic moments in fashion history gets intimate with Iris Covet Book about his new book Souvenirs.
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EARTH GUARDIAN : XIUHTEZCATL TONATIUH
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DAVID MONN
NOLAN FUNK
EARTH GUARDIAN: XIUHTEZCATL TONATIUH Photographed by Dustin Mansyur
The face of our future is a 16-year-old boy calling us to action against climate change for the sake of your children and grandchildren. David Monn is a magician of event planning and his beautifully-created, elaborate parties for Presidents, artists, philanthropists, and the fashion elite have dazzled many for over a decade. His new book, The Art of Celebrating, gives privy to some of his plushest parties, no rsvp required.
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STEPHEN JONES Photographed by Paul Scala Custom Suit by Thom Browne and Hat by Stephen Jones.
RYAN KORBAN Ryan Korban is one of the exceptions of retail design—a young and innovative creator of interior spaces. Pioneering a new approach, Korban is re-envisioning the spaces where we shop.
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STEPHEN JONES
IRIS COVET BOOK
Gucci Tian GG Supreme Suitcase A favorite of Iris, the Gucci Tian GG Supreme suitcase is a beautiful blend of traditional, fine-quality craft and whimsical, alluring applique and detailing. The new Gucci Tian print features a contemporary floral motif inspired by Chinese landscapes depicted on 18th-century tapestries and screens with flowers, dragonflies, butterflies, and hummingbirds. The plants and creatures are represented through light and quick brushstroke-style graphics, with a three-dimensional effect printed on the GG Supreme canvas. $2,490, available at Gucci.com
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IRIS COVET BOOK
MOST COVETED GIFT GUIDE TIS THE SEASON FOR GIFT GIVING AND GESTURES OF LOVE, AND NOW WE ARE HERE TO HELP FIND THE PERFECT GIFT FOR YOUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY WITH OUR MOST COVETED GIFT GUIDE. JET-SETTING THIS HOLIDAY SEASON? BE SURE TO TAKE OFF IN STYLE WITH GUCCI’S ECCENTRIC-CHIC TIAN GG SUPREME WITH WHIMSICAL FLORAL MOTIF DETAILING OR LOUIS VUITTON X MARC NEWSON’S NEW ROLLING LUGGAGE IN JEWEL TONES. SHIELD YOUR EYES ON THE SLOPES OF ASPEN OR THE ALPS WITH ALAIN MIKLI’S NEW PROVOCATION SUNGLASSES PAIRED WITH A NEW SET OF GIORGETTI NAGANO SKIS AND THE LATEST GENERATION FITBIT FLEX 2. DON’T SHOW UP EMPTY-HANDED TO THAT HOLIDAY PARTY; AZZEDINE ALAIA’S LATEST LINE OF SCENTED CANDLES OR MARIO TESTINO’S NEWEST COFFEE TABLE BOOK, SIR, PUBLISHED BY TASCHEN, MAKE PERFECT GIFTS. ENTERTAINING IN HIGH STYLE IS A CINCH THIS HOLIDAY WITH LUXE CRYSTAL MEDUSA CAVIAR BOWLS FROM VERSACE OR DAMIEN HIRST’S CUP AND SAUCER SETS. THERE’S MORE YULETIDE OFFERINGS TO DECK YOURSELF OUT BRIGHTER THAN ANY CHRISTMAS TREE (FORGET ABOUT THE HALLS)! WHAT DO YOU WANT UNDER YOUR TREE?
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IRIS COVET BOOK
WOMEN’S
SHOES
VALENTINO ENCHANTED WONDERLAND LEATHER BOOT Before Maria Grazia Chiuri left to lead Dior into its next realm of feminist design, she and Pierpaolo Piccioli created spectacular collections using fantastical motifs, and these boots do not fail to deliver that fantasy. Finely stitched together multicolor laser-cut marquetry leather makes up the body of this magical cowboy boot, and it is adorned with round cabochon studs for added luxury and texture. Valentino is famous for his use of a particular shade of red, and what better time to wrap your body in scarlet than during the Christmas Holidays? With winter approaching, now is the time to sheath your feet in luxurious cashmere socks and leather boots--and those boots may as well be Valentino. $2,495.00, available at Neiman Marcus
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MOST COVETED
WOMEN’S
HANDBAG GUCCI DIONYSUS MEDIUM EMBROIDERED-FLOWERS HOBO BAG
Santa Claus is famous for carrying a big red bag with him to deliver presents to all of the boys and girls of the world, and wouldn’t it be fabulous if that bag was Gucci? This bit of fantasy will be a perfect go-to accessory for any woman with a lot of presents to carry this holiday season. The Gucci Dionysus Embroidered Hobo Bag is the perfect carry-all for everything you may find yourself needing this season: cashmere gloves, fur stole, chocolate chip cookies for Santa, etc. The beautiful applique detail and hardware suggest romanticism and whimsy while the bold red color emanates warmth. Everyone deserves a little bit of Gucci love for the holidays! $3,300.00, available at Neiman Marcus
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MOST COVETED
WOMEN’S
FRAGRANCE CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN BIKINI QUESTA SERA, TORNADE BLONDE, AND TROUBLE IN HEAVEN PARFUM Bikini Questa Sera takes the heat into the night. The heat of the day, sun on hot skin, the voluptuousness of the beach that she doesn't want to let go. The headiness of the fragrance shimmers still in the moonlight, jasmine and tuberose, opalescent against the skin. Intimate, hot and compelling, she is wearing only her Bikini Questa Sera. Tornade Blonde, not a colour, but a fragrance and a state of mind. The scent of love and adventure, a gorgeous red rose lies deep in a bed of sweet violet and cassis. Feminine and potent, animalistic yet floral, Tornade Blonde leaves a trail of light like a comet in the night. Tornade Blonde is the scent of desire. Trouble in Heaven is a fragrance that lights the fire. Mysterious and sexy, for the woman who wants to provoke and is at ease with her provocation. A second skin of perfect iris, patchouli and tonka absolut, resonates with the dry heat of oriental amber, makes Trouble in Heaven. $275.00 each, available at Neiman Marcus
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MOST COVETED
WOMEN’S
WATCH
FENDI CRAZY CARATS STAINLESS STEEL DIAMOND-BEZEL TOPAZ WATCH The christmas tree will be blinking with hundreds of lights and ornaments, the menorah will shine bright, but regardless of what or how you celebrate, why let the decorations outshine you? In a rainbow of precious gems, this Fendi timepiece offers an elegant, understated, but colorful way of adding luxury to your everyday life. It is especially important during gatherings with family, friends, and in-laws to put your best foot forward, or should I say best wrist forward? Regardless, with Swiss construction and Fendi distinction, the Crazy Carats diamond-detailed watch keeps time as impeccable as its style. Sixty diamonds encircle the timeface, and eleven rainbow topaz, eleven pink topaz, eleven white topaz allow you to switch out the stones at your choosing; and a single stationary diamond at twelve. $5,800.00, available at Neiman Marcus
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IRIS COVET BOOK
WOMEN’S
BRACELET MONIQUE PEAN EUDIALYTE, DENDRITIC OPAL, VIOLANE, DENDRITIC AGATE AND WHITE DIAMOND BRACELET As the premier sustainable fine jewelry collection, Monique Péan raises awareness of art, culture and global environmental issues through design. Monique Péan is known for its sculptural and structural one-of-a-kind pieces and unique materials and is committed to partnering with artisans around the world to support traditional craftsmanship. This stunning, sustainable, and unique piece of luxury is the perfect amount of the highest quality materials and modern design. Crafted from Eudialyte, dendritic opal, violane, dendritic agate and white diamond bracelet, and 18K recycled rose gold, this style is one-of-a-kind. Due to the unique color and formation of the materials, this item cannot be recreated. In purchasing this piece, you will receive a truly extraordinary work of handmade sustainable fine jewelry. $28,325.00, available at moniquepean.com
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MOST COVETED
MEN & WOMEN’S
PILLOW CHRISTIAN LACROIX JUNGLE KING PILLOW
The great Lacroix had a background in historical costume and clothing, and he made headlines with his opulent, fantasy creations, including the short puffball skirt "le pouf", rose prints, and low décolleté necklines. He referenced widely from other styles—from fashion history (the corset and the crinoline), from folklore, and from many parts of the world—and he mixed his references in a topsy-turvy manner. He favored the hot colors of the Mediterranean region, a hodgepodge of patterns, and experimental fabrics, sometimes handwoven in local workshops. This pillow is the perfect example of Lacroix’s signature aesthetic: a mash-up of color, print, texture, and opulent refinement. A great way to add some personality to a room, this Lacroix pillow is fit for royalty. Price Upon Request, available at Feliz Interiors
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IRIS COVET BOOK
MEN & WOMEN’S
LUGGAGE LOUIS VUITTON X MARC NEWSON ROLLING LUGGAGE Now, widely acknowledged as the most influential industrial designer of his generation, Marc Newson has worked in numerous industries ranging from aerospace and technology to furniture and fashion. Most recently, Newson has collaborated with the legendary house of Vuitton to create luggage that will revolutionize the way you travel. Built from the highest quality materials, this vessel is more a feat of engineering than design. Marc Newson has minimized the visuals into cleans lines, high function, and high beauty. The structure of the rolling luggage has been built out to become an exoskeleton, and the interior is excavated out to a smooth, suede-lined receptacle for all of your travel needs. Pack the bare essentials with this stripped down suitcase from Vuitton and you’ll always be traveling in style. Epi Leather in Citron, Coquelicot, Fuchsia, and Indigo, $3,700-$4,300, available at Louis Vuitton Photo courtesy of Louis Vuitton
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IRIS COVET BOOK
BOLD, GRAPHIC AND VISUALLY IMPACTFUL A DIVERSE GLIMPSE INTO THE WORLDS AND PERSONALITIES OF FASHION, BEAUTY, TRAVEL, CULTURE, AND ART.
HILARY RHODA
HILARY RHODA
AVAILABLE IN PRINT AND DIGITAL FOR MORE INFORMATION GO TO IRISCOVETBOOK.COM
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IRIS COVET BOOK
Raquel Zimmermann in Alexander McQueen Fall 2010, Photographed by Mario Sorrenti. From Visionaire 58 SPIRIT. Image courtesy of Rizzoli.
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C O V EMTO BS O T OCKO FV AE VT OE R DI T E S
LOUIS VUITTON PALM SPRINGS MINI WORLD TOUR BACKPACK Gaston-Louis Vuitton spent a lot of his time traveling, and now Creative Director Nicolas Ghesquieres has taken inspiration not from the vistas and cultures that the founder saw, but from the classic hotel stickers which he collected. This classic monogram canvas mini backpack is a playful nod towards the atelier’s history as the premiere luxury travel accessory maker, and brought it to the modern era with whimsy and fashionable design. Named after a vacation destination of luxury, relaxation, and beautiful sunny weather -- Louis Vuitton has provided the bag to fit any vacation needs, whether you need a place to keep you sunscreen and sandals or a pack for desert hikes. The Palm Springs Mini is the essential accessory for sporty urban nomads. $1,960, available at Louis Vuitton
VISIONAIRE: EXPERIENCES IN ART AND FASHION Visionaire has now released another beautiful compendium of their work chronicling twenty-five years of iconic art, fashion, and design content from the renowned New York–based publication. A publishing experiment that began in 1991,Visionaire has taken the shape of everything from a leather-bound portfolio to 12-inch vinyl records to a collection of dolls. With intimate reflections by contributors, a prized collection of nearly 450 images selected from sixty-five issues produced by an astounding cast of artists, photographers, and designers, this book delivers a rich panorama of two decades of media and fashion revolution from the perspective of independent publishing. Original commentary by cofounders Cecilia Dean and James Kaliardos provides unprecedented access to a pivotal New York scene and the creative life behind Visionaire as it shaped the fashion zeitgeist, propelling emerging voices and exceptional content while challenging the limits of print media. Art and fashion connoisseurs and anyone interested in media, design, and culture will find this landmark volume indispensable. $135.00, available at Rizzoli.com
HERMES 29MM CASE STAINLESS STEEL CAPE COD GM WATCH WITH DOUBLE-WRAP RED ALLIGATOR STRAP As one of the most sought after houses of luxury goods, Hermes always delivers the best of the best, and their timepieces are no exception. Timeless yet whimsical, the Cape Cod watch is in a class of its own. This was what Henri d’Origny had in mind when he designed it in 1991. Going against the grain of a now-iconic utilitarian object, this line of exacting elegance inspired Martin Margiela to design a double tour strap for the watch in 1998. Its modern style is enhanced by the Manufacture Hermès interchangeable straps. Any woman would be happy receiving a beautiful orange Hermes box, and with this stunning red alligator gift inside it will surely create an everlasting holiday memory. $3,475.00, available at select Barneys New York locations
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IRIS COVET BOOK
NARS X SARAH MOON MIND GAME MINI VELVET LIP GLIDE COFFRET François Nars and fashion photographer Sarah Moon dare you to look closer at their limited edition collection which exposes every facet of the feminine. Deeply inspired by iconic cinema, François Nars and Sarah Moon collectively worked from the nostalgic futurism of Metropolis to set the mood for the season’s story. Every element of the collection blurs the lines between real and surreal, serving as a direct expression of their collaborative vision. Rich and hypnotic, the Sarah Moon for NARS Color Collection sharpens and softens, evokes and provokes. These daring shades of color are sure to be the perfect shade for the cloudy days of Fall. $45.00, available exclusively at Sephora
ESTEE LAUDER LIMITED EDITION MOON DREAMS POWDER COMPACT Luxury jewelry designer and storyteller Monica Rich Kosann created this distinctive collection exclusively for Estée Lauder. Each piece features unique characteristics that capture your personal moments, ideas and inspirations—your own story. Intricately designed, exquisitely crafted, this one-of-a-kind refillable compact is filled with Perfecting Pressed Powder. This beautiful piece of art is included with a velvety pouch to keep the compact safe, and a very elegant presentation box. This one of a kind item will not be around forever, so snatch it up now before all of Monica Rich Kosann’s creations are gone. $150.00, available at Saks Fifth Avenue
LA PRAIRIE CELLULAR CREAM PLATINUM RARE As a leader in cellular, anti-aging therapy for more than half a century, the La Prairie brand is famous worldwide for the scientific integrity of its products and its commitment to perfection. La Prairie's distillation of the rarefied powers and pleasures of Platinum into an extravagant anti-aging masterpiece is the most exciting advance in skin science of this decade. Pure Platinum inspires perfect balance to improve hydration, protection, and receptivity to nutrients. Exclusive Smart Crystals™ help guard skin's youthful appearance, actively reducing the effects of time resulting in the reduction of lines and wrinkles. As far as beauty products go, this cream feels like the fountain of youth come to life thanks to its natural, rare ingredients blended with the cutting edge technology of today’s skincare. If you are looking to enhance your skincare routine and quickly refresh your face, you most definitely must add La Prairie to your wish list. $1,140, available at Neiman Marcus
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MOST COVETED
MAISON MARGIELA SILVER METALLIC LEATHER PALLETTE ANKLE BOOTS WITH ACRYLIC GLASS BLOCK HEEL Metallics are always a necessity for celebrations, so why not ring in the new year with a disco party for your feet? Martin Margiela is known for discretion and anonymity, but in the hands of the audacious John Galliano, the great Maison is as much about discretion as it is about outre artistic expression. Made of fine-quality leather and mixed sizes of shining pallettes, these boots are sure to make every head turn. Fabulous shoes are a necessity for every woman, so why not indulge yourself with these sparkling, avant-garde booties? $2,290.00, available at Barneys New York
CARTIER RADICAL LOVE CUFF INTERLOCKING BRACELETS Cartier’s ‘Love’ collection is an iconic jewelry range that has been influencing the fashion world for decades. Inspired by the spirit of the hippie era, it stands for the strongest of emotions, as well as legendary design and rock’n’roll spirit. Liz Taylor and Richard Burton, Steve McQueen and Ali MacGraw, and Sophia Loren and Carlo Ponti were all fans of the style and marked their love for each other with the statement piece. Almost forty years after the creation of the ‘Love’ collection, the brand is introducing new statement designs that rewrite this jewelry story. ‘Love to the Power of Two’ revisits the iconic shape of the ‘Love’ bracelet, adding precious stones and exciting layering to the mix, while ‘Radical Love’ goes even more bold with wide cuffs, excess sparkle, and interlocking bracelets. Price upon request, available at Cartier.com
BOND NO. 9 NEW YORK CHINATOWN DRAMMING UNIT The outsized 42 oz. amphora vitrine, made with CRYSTALLIZED - Swarovski Elements. Not to forget the bottle top, an elliptical mirror with honeycomb base. Bond added the Bond No. 9 signature and a handy golden spigot. Fill with your choice among Bond No. 9 New York’s thirty-two scents. This bedazzlement comes in a white patent leather gift case, also adorned with crystals. A true item of luxury, Bond No. 9 has created a dream vessel to display on your vanity. $3,500.00, available at Saks Fifth Avenue
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IRIS COVET BOOK
FITBIT FLEX 2 Fitbit’s ultra-slim, first-ever swim-proof fitness wristband features a removable tracker that transforms with classic bands, elegant bangles, or pendants, allowing you to effortlessly track all day activity, exercise and sleep in a style that’s all your own. Flex quickly became the best-selling fitness tracker on the market as one of the first wearables to successfully merge fitness and fashion; they have revolutionized Flex 2 by making it swim-proof and adding more features in a design that is 30% smaller than the original. Fitbit broke new ground with Charge HR by making wrist-based heart rate accessible to millions of users around the world. The tracker has a longer battery life, is waterproof, gives notifications and reminders, and looks effortlessly chic with these metal bangle options. Gold, $99.95 and silver stainless steel, $89.99, available at fitbit.com
CREED SUBLIME VANILLE FRAGRANCE Creed is famous for unrelenting high standards when it comes to fragrance creation. Mr. Creed travels the globe searching for the purest essences to compose his masterpieces. The first release in the Creed Royal Exclusives collection, Sublime Vanille is an investment-quality fragrance and object of art from sixth generation master perfumer Olivier Creed and his son, Erwin. The Royal Exclusives collection is one of the most ambitious projects in Creed's 250 years, a statement to the aesthetic world about the legacy, quality and collectability of fragrance as art. Creed Sublime Vanille is sought by connoisseurs and by newcomers to fragrance who wish to begin their collections with a true asset in scent. $545.00, available at Neiman Marcus
ALAÏA PARIS SCENTED CANDLE The power of scent is one of the most important senses of the body and is deeply connected to the core of the brain. When entering a home, one is immediately struck by it’s fragrance, whatever it may be. The scent, in a way, speaks for the home and the person who owns it. Azzedine Alaïa has never focused on the trend based aspect of fashion, and this holds true with his approach to candles. It is not a surprise that a line of candles would be produced by the famed house because there is nothing more simple and elegant than a beautiful candle. The Alaïa Paris scented candle recalls bare skin, animal and musky notes from the original fragrance so your home may smell akin to the beauty of Alaïa’s sculpted clothing. $300.00, available at Saks Fifth Avenue
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MOST COVETED
VERSACE MEDUSA CAVIAR BOWL Do you ever ask yourself, “What do I do with all of this caviar?!” Well, luckily Donatella Versace has come to your aid and her atelier has designed this very unique caviar accessory for just that problem. Founded in 1978 by the late Gianni Versace, this Italian design house specializes in sizzling glamour and excess. This glamour has been effortlessly translated into a crystal and stainless steel caviar bowl for your holiday entertaining needs. The bowl itself will hold fifty ounces of beluga caviar, while the crystal insert holds five ounces. While hosting dinner parties or cocktails around the fire, no holiday party would be complete without caviar, and crystal adds the perfect touch of elegance. $465.00, available at Neiman Marcus
KAYMET PATTERNED HOME TRAYS Crafted of goldtone anodized aluminum, Kaymet's tray features different high-gloss laminated pattern surfaces and base. The classic designs, evolved over the years, feel fresher today than ever. They have a simple beauty and their timeless elegance will forever be a staple in the home. Kaymet has been proudly hand making anodised aluminium ware in London since 1947. The items that emerge from the Peckham factory sell in a collection of wonderful shops around the world. The trays can be found in some very special households, restaurants and hotels, as well as in yachts, airplanes, coffee shops, workplaces and family establishments. These trays are perfect decoration as well as serving the purpose of serving guests throughout all of your special occasions. Each $168.00, available at Barneys New York
DAMIEN HIRST SET OF CUPS AND SAUCERS A successful and controversial artist, Damien Hirst was born in Bristol, England, on June 7, 1965. He emerged as a leading figure in the Young British Artists movement in the late 1980s and 1990s. His works include dissected animal displays and spin-art paintings which have sold for exceptionally high prices all around the world to society’s elite. His work focuses on life, death, the macabre, and the commercial. Damien Hirst's anamorphic design allows the image on the saucer to be reflected onto the metallic cup. This set of six porcelain cups and saucers will look beautiful displayed in one’s home, and is a great topic of conversation for those in the cultural and artistic know. Each $160.00, available at The Shop at The Broad, Los Angeles
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IRIS COVET BOOK
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NEVILLE JACOBS: I’M MARC’S DOG Dubbed "the hardest working dog in fashion" by T Magazine, Neville Jacobs, the sweet-natured bull terrier belonging to the ubiquitous Marc, is, in the canine world at least, fast becoming as popular as his owner. Drawing on hundreds of photographs taken of Neville from puppyhood to today, this charming book not only captures the character of one charismatic pup, but also sheds light (and some fur) on the busy and glamorous world of a downtown New York dog. From the Marc Jacobs offices (where Neville plays a key role) to the streets of SoHo, the dog runs of Manhattan, and even private jets to exotic vacations, Neville’s life is a whirlwind the likes of which most dogs could only twitch their paws and dream of. Surrounded by beloved friends, both human and canine— from fashion icons like Christy Turlington and Karlie Kloss to Choo Choo Charlie, the French bulldog from whom he is inseparable—Neville brings joy and his unmistakable energy to every adventure. With classic images from his popular Instagram account as well as outtakes, carefully styled shots from Neville’s "fashion editorials," and candid snapshots of Neville and Marc together, NEVILLE JACOBS: I’M MARC’S DOG is a treat for any dog lover and a delight for anyone with equal fascination for fashion and dogs alike. $22.50, Rizzoli, available at Bookmarc All photos © Nic Newbold
THOM BROWNE BLOCK-STRIPED CASHMERE DOG SWEATER Thom Browne is known for two things: uniformity and whimsy. So, it comes as no surprise that his creative mind has come up with yet another fun way to dress, but this time it is for the family dog! The winter is a time of cold puppy paws and snow covered fur, so it is time to bundle up man’s best friend in a swaddling of cashmere with the unmistakable, signature Thom Browne tricolor grosgrain ribbon trim. Browne has been dressing men and women in tasteful, fun, clean-cut clothing for years, and now the dog will match the whole uniformed Thom Browne family. Everyone deserves a present of love and appreciation for the holidays, and your furry little should be no exception. $590, available at select Barneys New York locations
KINDER MODERN FAWN AND SHEEP MOTIF CHAIRS Kinder Modern is the only gallery worldwide specializing in vintage child design of the 20th century and inventive, contemporary design objects, furniture, and accessories. Lora Appleton’s, founder and creative director, ability to identify and cultivate emerging talent has singlehandedly enabled her to create a new niche in the over-saturated world of high design, one that melds iconic vintage pieces with fresh and fierce contemporary design work. With a playful approach steeped in fantasy, Kinder Modern has chartered the path for contemporary child design through collaborations with established and emerging product and furniture designers. These unique chairs are styled with antler-shaped and horn-shaped backrests, Kinder Modern's wooden animal-motif chairs areconstructed of European oak and American walnut beautifully finished with a faux fur seat. Each $340.00, available at Barneys New York
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LOUIS LEEMAN SWAROVSKI CRYSTAL-EMBELLISHED VELVET SMOKING SLIPPERS Swarovski crystals create an ombrè effect on this comfortable style crafted from plush Italian velvet and leather. Dutch shoe designer Louis Leeman and Erica Pelosini met during their studies at Polimoda school in Erica’s hometown of Florence, Italy, the city of birth of the Renaissance. Louis found his passion for handcrafted shoemaking, working side by side with Italian masters, while Erica, who was working for Vogue Japan as a research stylist, found her calling in fashion. Louis Leeman shoes are designed for men who want to preserve a timeless elegance, but with a zesty attitude. This is why every style is developed with meticulous attention to every detail. Metal accessories, special embroideries, futuristic prints, and top-quality fabrics are the key elements for which the brand stands out. Traditional Italian craftsmanship is embodied in every pair. Classic shapes are reinterpreted working hand in hand with tuscan artisans. $1,585.00, available at Saks Fifth Avenue
FENDI RIB-KNIT WOOL HAT The iconic monster eyes design has reawoken a love for Fendi’s fun, whimsy, and luxurious designs. Now you can warm up in the coming winter in this ultra-comfortable beanie with an adorable fox fur puff. The Fendi Monster eyes will peak out at the top of your head like a high-fashion creature, and the thick black wool knitting will become a staple in your Winter wardrobe. Everyone has a friend who is always cold, and now you know what to get them! $600, available at Barneys New York
ACQUA DI PARMA COLLEZIONE BARBIERE The quintessence of Italian style is revealed in small gestures, preferences and habits. It is an authentic, understated style, the hallmark of innate class, of which Acqua di Parma has been a flag-bearer the world over for almost a hundred years. The luxury of minor rituals is embodied in the Collezione Barbiere creations that perpetuate a rich tradition projected towards modernity. The Barbiere Collection presents a well-balanced synthesis of elegant design, refined textures and stylish packaging designed with the modern man in mind. It is much more than a collection in the sense that it transforms the mundane into an enthralling ritual that expresses masculine elegance. The act of shaving is a timeless grooming ritual to which generations of men have dedicated time and attention. This collection celebrates this ritual and will undoubtedly appeal to demanding men who pay increasing attention to their personal appearance and for whom a perfect shave is an unmistakable sign of an impeccable lifestyle. The style of Acqua di Parma's Barbiere Collection is akin to the style and refined atmosphere of an ancient Italian barber's shop. Price varies depending on product, available at Saks
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GIORGETTI NAGANO SKIS No ski vacation is complete without a pair of killer skis. The surface finish of these luxurious skis is in “abonos“, fossil oak sourced from rivers, and is very durable. The wood is treated with varnishes and oils that ensure that the skis last for years and years. The core, built entirely from poplar and birch, is covered with layers of bamboo and composite fibres. Completing the structure are metal layers and rubber inserts to enhance performance and reduce vibration. The bases are of the highest quality to ensure the least amount of drag over all types of snow surface. All the materials are fixed using a slow process at low temperatures to create a unique skiing experience. The skis come complete with bindings and mounting plate, adjustable to suit all users, and telescopic poles in aluminium. Plan a family trip to Aspen or the Alps to break in these elegant, tasteful, and understated skis. Price upon request, available at giorgetti.com
ALEXANDER WANG X POLTRONA FRAU DRINKS CABINET Fashion wunderkind Alexander Wang launched a limited-edition collection of furniture, consisting of bean bag chairs and a drink cabinet, in collaboration with luxury Italian furniture brand Poltrona Frau. Wang's furniture designs echo the style of his clothing. Brass is used to line the inner edges of a black trunk bar, which opens to reveal two shelves for drinks in each half.The metal is visible as a thin seam that runs in a line around the outside of the cuboid form, incorporating the material cohesively throughout. Available at select Alexander Wang and Poltona Frau boutiques.
ALAIN MIKLI PROVOCATION/COLOR CAPSULE COLLECTION SUNGLASSES The emergent German street artist 1010 is the inspiration for this sunglass collection. 1010 is a Hamburg-based contemporary artist known for his enigmatic, portal-like street art illusions on walls around the world. The Mikli sun collection features a mix of sophisticated colors and classic shapes and plays with sculptural layering of materials. The styles unique touch is given by the exclusive three layers lamination acetate, which is inspired by 1010’s work as his art brings new layers of depth to flat surfaces. Retro avant garde were the keywords for this particular pair of sunglasses. An iconic style from the 80’s archive, this is a unique round metal frame with a distinctive acetate bridge and new two base lenses. Eighties inspired hues and pops of bright colors like those from the Memphis movement inspired this new color capsule collection. Price Upon Request, alainmikli.com
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THE COLLECTION BY PHUONG DANG BARNEYS Created by Phuong Dang in collaboration with perfumers Bertrand Duchaufour and Marina Jung-Allegret, The Collection features 10 unique fragrances. Each captivating perfume and scented candle is inspired by the Vietnam-born artist's original paintings and is housed in a sleek, modern vessel. From Left: Believing Extrait de Parfum 50ml $300; Vermillion Promise Extrait de Parfum 50ml $300; Untamed Oud Extrait de Parfum 50ml $450. available at Barney's New York
ARTIST-INSPIRED SKATE DECKS These iconic works in contemporary art are the inspiration for a series of skate decks. Works by Robert Longo, Eric, $700; Damien Hirst, 5 Spot, $1,850; Jeff Koons, Monkey Blue, $2,500; George Condo, Masked Superman, $1,095; John Baldessari, Blue & Yellow, $850; Richard Prince, Abstract, $2,500; and more. Great for kitchen, child’s room or accent dÊcor. All are signed, limited editions. Available at The Broad.
SIR , MARIO TESTINO From Rio to London, Cusco to Seville, Mario Testino is renowned for his free-spirited chronicles of dress and demeanor. In SIR, his largest book to-date, the influential photographer presents over 300 photographs in his search to define the allure of men. Featuring an essay by Pierre Borhan, an interview with Patrick Kinmonth, and many previously unpublished works from Testino's archive of thousands, this book traces the evolution of male identity over the past three decades. Costume, tradition, gender play, portraiture, photojournalism, and fashion collide as Testino observes masculinity in all its modern manifestations: through the dandy and the gentleman, the macho and the fey, the world-famous face to the unknown passerby. Hardcover, Swiss binding, Japanese cloth, in metallic slipcase, 32,2 x 41,7 cm (12,7 x 16,4 in.), 456 pages $1000 at Taschen Limited edition of 1,000 numbered copies, each signed by Mario Testino for further information please visit www.mariotestino.com
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Carlos Bokelman, London, V Magazine, 2000. Copyright © Mario Testino.
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A conversation with the
IRIS MAN ERWIN CREED After two and a half centuries of perfuming the rich and powerful of the world, the iconic Creed brand thrives to this day by the skillful hands of Erwin Creed and his father, master perfumer, Olivier, who keep the tradition of luxury fragrance crafting alive. Photography by Jake Toler Interview by Rene Garza
The House of Creed has been passed on through seven generations of the Creed Family since 1760. It began with King George III who commissioned a bottled fragrance of mandarin, ambergris, and sandalwood that mimicked the leather of a pair of Creed scented gloves. Royal English Leather spurred the next 250 years of celebrated fragrances from the eponymous French house. The House of James Henry Creed has been handcrafting irregular fragrances, honoring natural, pure ingredients, that have been coveted by royalty and celebrities for centuries. Creed is the only house to use the time-honored tradition of an ancient infusion technique to utilize raw, rare materials for perfumes worn by such esteemed people from Queen Victoria to President John F. Kennedy. Erwin Creed, the heir apparent to The House of Creed, is taking his own spin on a centuries old tradition. A lover of extreme sports, the perfumer takes the energy and emotion of the adrenaline fueled activities into the modern era of fragrance. Each generation of Creed continues to evolve and change while honoring the craft that came before, and Erwin and his father Olivier are no different–they want to put their stamp on the brand while remaining true to the artistry of the Creed laboratory. Here, Erwin Creed gives Iris Covet Book a look into the storied past of The House of Creed, its future, and his experience as the next master perfumer.
How did the fragrance house become a favorite with royalty, and then later with presidents and celebrities? Because they have taste! (laughs) You can be very rich or very poor, but what we want is a customer who is loyal and who understands
what is good, beautiful, elegant, etc. We were put on the map as a perfumer over two hundred years ago because of royalty, and we have been fortunate enough to continuously have elite members of society on our client list ever since. I am just fortunate they have good taste and appreciate our products.
Creed is about heritage; how do you see yourself maintaining that but still making a personal mark on the history of the company? The thing is, we wake up and say, “Let’s do great things!” We do not worry about the money or business. It is something we love and are passionate about. We are artists; we wake up and we want to make something we like.
Do you think it is important to you to take the company in a new direction? Maybe try something out that you have not done before? Do you want to make your own personal mark? It is quite difficult to work within the family, and I want my father to keep his own signature. I am not trying to revolutionize the brand. What we need to understand is the customer and my father’s vision. He’s not the easiest person to work with, but he is a wonderful creator and today I am like a security guard for my father, like do not touch him and if you want to copy or destroy our company I will not be nice! (laughs)
As the seventh generation owner, did you always want to become a master perfumer and follow in your family footsteps? You know I wanted to be a fireman when I was a kid! I was crazy about racing cars as a kid, but step by step I became more involved with the business, and the beautiful thing is that I wake up every day to make the brand
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better so I can fight for its success. I am a lover, and you need to show that you are in love with and loyal to the brand. My passion is to put Creed before myself. It is why sometimes I need to do some completely crazy sport to forget my business and forget my responsibilities and passions.
Speaking of those extreme sports, what draws you to these activities and do you think these sports bring a little danger into your own work? I love extreme skiing, racing–these dangerous sports make me forget everything because if I am not completely focused on the sport then it can be really bad. It is nice because in twenty to thirty minutes I feel completely relaxed; it’s really intense but afterwards I feel cleansed and it is like a new chapter. It’s good, it’s fast, and I like it. I have a lot of stress and I travel a lot, but this helps me.
Do you think that danger seeps into your work? It’s good because it evokes emotion and that goes into the perfume. When you make a fragrance you don’t know when it will be finished, so you have to clear your mind and move onto something else. For example, any perfume can take six months to three years. Three years will lead to a lot of aspirin! We do not invest in market research; we want to do something we like which can be more difficult for the brain.
So what are the important factors that you look for when creating a new scent? Sometimes we have suppliers with beautiful roses or something like this, and when you smell one natural ingredient it gives you a lot of ideas. Some companies may say
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Erwin Creed photographed at Neiman Marcus in Houston, TX.
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Only at Neiman Marcus Inspired by some of history’s most powerful women and nearly three years in the making, Aventus for Her, is an irresistible feminine fragrance in celebration of femme forte.(Strong Women) $405.00/ 75ml/2.5 fl. Oz. exclusively at Neiman Marcus Top Notes Egyptian green apple, pink berries, Indonsian patchouli, Italian bergamot Middle Notes Bulgarian and Turkish roses, Indian sandlewood, styrax, musk Base Notes Sweet peach, cassis, lilac, amber, ylang ylang
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that the inspiration is about Tuscany, for example, and the scents of the countryside because they need to market it. That may be true, but for us we have direct access to the ingredients and as a perfumer that’s the purest thing. When you smell a wonderful bergamot or rose it gives you a lot of creative ideas.
Is there a correct way to wear a fragrance? I think so. The thing about perfume is that it should be the main part of the body’s fragrance, not the lotion or body wash or anything like that. You need to not wear too much perfume, and you have to find a good one that mixes with the skin. People ask me what kind of perfume should I give as a present, and I say no, give some samples and if they like one then buy it for them. It’s about the connection, like some people understand each other some people do not, it is the same thing with perfume.
but when I smell figs, I always think of those trips. It’s quite interesting how those smells will bring me back.
Do you have a favorite smell? No. To be honest with you I try to stay neutral, and I like to find beauty everywhere. My father is a master perfumer, and you know I think a good perfumer is like a good cook. A good cook can fuse different things together. Last time I was in France, I went to one of the best restaurants in the world, and the chef, who was French, fused French food with the Italian tradition of pasta and some Asian elements – and it was amazing! You have to be very open minded.
Creed recently donated to “I Am That Girl”, an organization that empowers young women to love themselves. Why did your company find it important to empower young women? For me, women and men are the same, we
Are there any scents that are more popular with men rather than women? You know skin changes a lot and when we speak about “Love in Black” which is very woody, very dry perfume, but there are roses in it and when some women wear it roses are the number one note, and on some people when you smell it, it’s more like violets and wood. Perfume is complex and changes on different people.
That makes it more special–when it reacts to the body’s chemistry. There’s something we trust in perfume and there’s something special in it.
When did you start to appreciate the sense of smell? It was when I took a bath in my father’s bathroom and he had a lot of perfumes and lots of things mixing together. I remember when I used to ride bikes and I would smell oil with gas and as the bike was speeding. I could smell the burning tires with the oil and gas, and there was something nice about that. I remember the smell of my mother’s room and the smell of the garden.
That’s great how when you smell something it gives you all of these memories. My family also has a house in the South of France, and when we go to the beach we see a lot of fig trees, and we smell that mixing with the garbage of the city. We would drive down with the windows rolled down, and the sweet and sour smells would mingle together. It’s funny,
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are human. You know it is so unfortunate that in a lot of countries women are not treated fairly or equally, and they are precious and need to be treated well. We donated to “I Am That Girl” because Creed supports the rights of women and felt very strongly about the cause.
You are currently traveling to different Neiman Marcus store locations throughout the U.S., what has Creed’s history and relationship been with the luxury retail chain? Well, Neiman Marcus is like a very good nanny. They have put trust into our brand for such a long time. Our first big store was in Saudi Arabia, and since then we have grown so much and Neiman Marcus has supported us through that growth. We have been with them for such a long time and I have so much respect for what they have done for my family and our business. I am very grateful for Neiman Marcus.
IRIS COVET BOOK
A conversation with the
IRIS WOMAN FLAVIANA MATATA Championing for underprivileged girls of Tanzania with the power of education, top-model-turned-humanitarian proves true beauty is from the inside out. Photography and Interview by Dustin Mansyur Styling by Marc Sifuentes Hair & Makeup by Nina Soriano
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he first word that comes to mind when one meets Flaviana Matata is “poise”. She possesses a quiet confidence that is underlined with a charming sense of humor and hearty laughter, the kind of qualities that make her an approachable and empathetic leader. The top Wilhelmina model, and former Miss Universe semi-finalist, is also a burgeoning entrepreneur (she recently launched, Lavy, her nail polish line) and budding humanitarian. After founding the Flaviana Matata Foundation (FMF) in 2011, the top-model turned her attention towards her home country of Tanzania. In sub-Saharan Africa, 24 million girls cannot afford to go to school, and due to cultural customs, many are married off as early as the age of thirteen. Research indicates that through education, a girl is three times less likely to contract HIV or AIDS, and will earn 25 percent more in her lifetime. It also shows that she will grow up to have fewer, but healthier children. Being instilled with a strong sense of duty to help others, Flaviana envisioned her home country blossoming with a rise of strong, educated women, breaking the cycle of poverty within their communities. It is the transformative power of education, that she believes has the ability to help end poverty in Tanzanian communities. Initially targeting orphanages, and later expanding its reach to sponsoring school girls, FMF has created educational grants and empowerment programs for Tanzanian school girls. It’s mission is “to empower young girls and women through education, training, and microfinance projects” so that they can “improve their livelihoods and achieve poverty reduction.” It also provides practical assistance to school facilities by means of building projects and renovation upgrades to existing schools. Here, Iris Covet Book had a chance to speak with
the extraordinary, Flaviana Matata, on the set of her photoshoot in NYC.
When did you first come to the United States, and when were you discovered? I first visited US in 2009 on my way from the Bahamas. I decided to stop by see my friend and of course to explore NYC a little bit before flying back to South Africa where I was living back then. I got discovered in 2010 when I came to NYC for the second time to attend a charity event as an international guest, they were raising money to build a hospital in Tanzania.
What was your experience like growing up in Tanzania and do you still have family there? I grew up in a middle class family and I have a lot of great childhood memories to date that I don't even know where to start if I have to tell you about it. We were this one big happy family, including my extended family. My parents provided and helped everyone to the best of their ability. I loved it and I miss those days. My family is still there and I try to go back home as much as I can because I don't have any other family here apart from my husband. I am also well established there since I moved to New York only a few years ago.
Was modeling something you always wanted to pursue? Not really, I grew up as a tomboy and never saw myself as a model. Thankfully my friends really pushed me and made sure that I pursued this great journey and career path that I now really love and enjoy. It has taught me so much and I’ve met many amazing people because of it.
What made you decide you wanted to pursue
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a humanitarian cause; was there a specific incident that motivated you? Growing up, my parents helped a lot of our relatives to go to school, this taught me so much that it's always important to give back. After I started modeling I decided to use it as a bridge of opportunity to give back to my community. I thought of millions of girls who don't have access to education because of different circumstances, I was lucky enough to have to choose this path as I had options to either continue with my studies after I graduated college or pursue modeling but imagine a young girl back home who really wish could only go to school but she can't. That's where the Flaviana Matata Foundation (FMF) commenced. That was a drive.
When you first began to form the foundation, did you face any challenges that you have had to overcome to ensure it’s success? There are still a lot of challenges in a nonprofit world but I take them as they come and I am not stressed much about them. I do only what I can and within my reach, no pressure as long as I make a difference for the girls we sponsor in school.
What is the purpose of your foundation and why did you choose this as it’s mission? There's a lot of girls with no access to education, FMF is empowering young girls through education by providing them with scholarships, school supplies and other needs to ensure that they are getting quality education.
Why are you passionate about this issue? I believe in a woman’s power and capabilities. I believe when you help a girl you are helping her entire community as
IRIS WOMAN
Flaviana Matata photographed in New York City, Wearing a dress by Cynthia Rowley.
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This Page: Dress by Cynthia Rowley. Right Page: Dress Shirt by Vince and Skirt by Cynthia Rowley.
well, so it’s big results at the end of the day.
What are some key issues affecting Tanzanian girls that your foundation focuses on? Some communities still believe that girls are not supposed to go to school instead just get married and have babies. We are trying to engage communities and make them understand the importance of education for girls, slowly we will get there and eradicate these customs depriving girls the right to an education.
Gender equality is one of the central issues of your foundation. Why is education such an important role in helping Tanzanian girls? How many girls is your foundation currently working with? As the late Nelson Mandela once said "Education is the most powerful weapon we can use to change the world." We
believe by educating these girls, we are preparing future leaders, doctors, teachers, entrepreneurs you name them, that will serve their communities. And we now have 20 girls, they are all in their first year of high school. We are hoping to support more girls in the near future.
What kinds of projects has your foundation undertaken or recently completed? Apart from our scholarship program, we also provide school supplies to underprivileged kids around the country (Tanzania). We have built toilets for teachers and students plus a classroom this year. We still have a long way to go but am sure we will get there, we want to see kids getting the education they deserve on safe and comfortable environment not only sending them to school.
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Do you frequently visit Tanzania and are you actively involved on these projects? I am very much involved on everything we do and I go back home at least three times a year.
What kinds of fundraising methods does your foundation use and how can others contribute? We have started a project of selling school kits, including school bags, pens, pencils and exercise books under our foundation brand. The money collected goes to the foundation. People can be involved in different ways; hosting an event to benefit FMF, spread the word about our work and support a girl with school supplies or school fees. More information can be found on our website www. flavianamatatafoundation.org. ‡
F L AV I A N A M ATATA
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EMERGING
CHLOE Chloe Gosselin is a tour de force in the world of shoe design. Gosselin’s successful career bedecking celebrities and supermodels in her posh creations has led her to be one of this year’s finalists for the prestigious CFDA Vogue Fashion Fund, bringing her one stiletto step closer to becoming a household name. Interview by Benjamin Price
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Bryonia Snakeskin Sandals from Chole Gosselin's Fall/Winter 2016 collection
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"I
did not have three thousand pairs of shoes, I had one thousand and sixty.” said Imelda Marcos, former First Lady of the Philippines while correcting the rumors of the quantity of her infamous hoard. Many men and women have been known to collect vast amounts of shoes and treasure them for their beauty, value, and some intrinsic psychological quality that causes us to cherish our footwear. Some “sneakerheads” have whole storage facilities devoted to the altar of footwear, while many women amass a small fortune’s worth of stilettos. What is it about shoes that is so beautiful and important to us? Turning her passion for the pump and all kicks related, shoe designer, Chloe Gosselin has created a cult following certain to satisfy any fashionista’s footwear obsession. Born in France, and now a citizen of the world, Gosselin’s aesthetic has adopted styles from Belgium to Milan fused with a Parisian sensibility. Her latest presentation at NYFW was reminiscent of old Las Vegas showgirl glamour. Suggestively, bare legs peek-a-booed from behind a black velvet curtain creating a striking contrast with a colorful pop of shoes. Luxurious leathers of vibrant red and silver set the tone for a collection of romantic shoes that remained true to the mission of Chloe Gosselin -- shoes that create emotion through design. From studying fine art to learning the highly technical and historically rich craft of making shoes, Gosselin has proven herself as a designer through her feminine, powerful designs and luxurious Italian craftsmanship. Gosselin’s shoes quickly caught the attention of the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA). As one of the ten current CFDA Finalists, the stakes for success are high, and the pressure of ending one fashion week is only momentary. Gosselin is already globe-trotting, sourcing inspiration for her next collection. Here, we had a chance to catch up with the designer during her busy traveling and designing schedule.
A lot of women have an intense love for shoes, obviously yours goes further than just wearing them. When did you first realize that you loved designing shoes? I actually started to design shoes when I was a kid. I always felt that shoes were the perfect bridge between Art and Fashion, and I loved to imagine sculptural shoes with crazy heels. It is only much later in my mid-twenties that I decided to make it my career.
Has this been a career path that you always saw for yourself ? Ever since I was about 13, I knew that a normal life was not for me and I could not
handle a 9-5 office job, it would give me anxiety and still does to this day thinking about it. I had this deep instinctual feeling to follow my dreams and what truly made me happy, and that’s how I decided that unless I pursued art I would not be happy. I would rather die than not do what I like to do for the world around me.
You were born in France and studied fashion design in both Belgium and New York City; how do you think these three cultures have shaped you and your design aesthetic? I definitely think all these cultures have influenced my design aesthetic, and I would actually add a fourth culture to the mix – Italy. All of them have played a very important role in my designs and have been incorporated in different ways. I love Paris – women are effortlessly chic, and Parisian fashion is tailored and detailed. Belgium taught me to think out-of-thebox and sometimes dare to be bold. New York is where my heart is and inspires me to always push the limits. And last but not least, Italy and its unparalleled craftsmanship inspires me to hone my craft and strive for excellence.
You attended the School of La Cambre in Belgium to study Fine Art, how does this specialization in the world of art affect your design and point of view? My work in fashion is deeply connected to fine art; the way I choose my materials and colors is very similar to the way I used to compose my paintings in art school. I draw so much inspiration from paintings. I just created a special design for the CFDA around Monet's iconic Water Lilies series. There is something eternal about art – how we can see through a painter's work what he/she has seen and felt at that particular moment. It is immortalized, frozen in time. I'm very inspired by that and always try to create timeless designs.
Why did you choose New York City as your home for your eponymous brand? Love. I fell in love and moved to New York. Then, I fell in love with the city and the culture. I really believe I was always meant to live and work in the United States.
How does living in an urban environment like New York City affect your life and design? I actually share my time between Nevada and New York. In Nevada, I'm surrounded by nature, the horses, the desert. I get a lot of inspiration from the landscapes –
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the colors and textures in the rocks, the vegetation, etc. In New York, we live on the 57th floor. So, being there is like being suspended in a bubble in the sky. In New York and Nevada, there is an infinity, a never–ending landscape or horizon. This influences a lot of what I do; I'm always trying to achieve the same quiet strength.
You clearly have a signature style of romanticism, clean lines, and luxury; what are your biggest inspirations for your shoe confections? Nature always inspires me. All my shoes are named after flowers, and I imitate their curves and colors in my designs. Art, of course, and the classic (yet revolutionary) aesthetic and vision of legendary designers like Madame Gres, Geoffrey Beene, and Galanos. All of these designers created emotion through fashion. That is what I aspire to do with my collections.
You design each shoe with a moment of fantasy in mind and a location for each shoe to be worn, why do you find this approach easier rather than picking a muse or finding a theme/story for each season? In a shoe collection, it is important to have a shoe for each moment of a woman's life. A collection must have a range of silhouettes – from evening wear to day wear – and styles – from understated pieces to more bold, editorial shoes. All of which must speak to my personal aesthetic. So, I find it easier to design a collection around a moment or a location.
Ultimately, my brand blends romanticism and feminism. The Chloe Gosselin woman is romantic and feminine, but also super strong, intelligent, and independent.
IRIS COVET BOOK
Spring/Summer 2017 Collection Presentation, New York Fashion Week, September 2016
In this way, I always have a theme and a moodboard that I interpret and modify depending on the moment for which I’m designing.
Lethal, poisonous flowers are a major reference each season – why do you find this deadly beauty so inspiring and important? Naming my shoes after poisonous flowers came from a couple of different elements. Ultimately, my brand blends romanticism and feminism. The Chloe Gosselin woman is romantic and feminine, but also super strong, intelligent, and independent. A poisonous flower also has a physical beauty that belies their underlying strength. It is also a playful choice… after all, who doesn't love a bit of danger?
Your brand launched in 2014, what has been the toughest part about being such a young brand in a hyper-competitive market? The most difficult part is learning to be patient. It takes time, energy, and an unwavering vision to establish a luxury brand. This investment is very important. It is crucial to trust your path and hopefully, with a lot of work and dedication, everything will happen when it is supposed to.
The CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund is a hugely competitive and intense competition. You are currently a finalist in this competition, but how has the process been for you from assembling your portfolio to now? The first step in applying for the CFDA Vogue Fashion Fund is to submit an
application with a lookbook. Then, you are invited to be one of fifty designers selected to submit a portfolio. The portfolio is a very interesting process; to look back at what you have accomplished thus far in your career and put it together in a creative way – it’s like a retrospective, on a very micro-scale. From amongst the 50 designers asked to submit their portfolio, they finally choose ten. These ten designers will spend four months learning and growing with the CFDA. Regardless of whether or not I win, this entire process has been a life–changing experience for me, and I am hugely grateful to have been given the chance to be a part of it.
If you were to win the CFDA Fashion Fund, what would you do with the endorsement? Who would you like to have as a mentor? I'm still defining who will be my mentor. What is amazing is that the CFDA is really a family, and each and every one of the judges is so involved and available for advice. If I win the CFDA Fashion Fund, I will continue working to expand the brand overseas, as well as get a strong sales team. I’d also like to introduce pre-collections.
combine them in the same design… So, things usually end up changing a lot along the way!
How do you see your brand growing in the next few years? What’s the next big step for Chloe Gosselin? The next big step is to have a great retail partner in Asia and Europe. I want to grow, but slowly and steadily, by making sure there is a strong foundation in place for success.
What’s the best advice you could give to a young student studying footwear design, or a seedling fashion business trying to start a brand? I think that any student or person aspiring to break into the business should define what makes them different and be ready to work really hard.
What is your favorite part about your work? What makes you excited to get out of bed in the morning? It is an incredible privilege to imagine, draw and produce designs that then come to life as a part of women’s daily lives. I love the idea of my shoes contributing to all of their beautiful adventures.
When designing a shoe what is your first step? Form, color, occasion, materiality, etc. I usually start with the form, followed immediately by the color. Then, I try to match leathers with my sketches. Something magical happens when picking leathers. I love seeing how they correspond to each other, how I can
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For more information, visit ChloeGosselin.com
CHLOE GOSSELIN
Image from Chole Gosselin's Fall/Winter 2016 collection lookbook
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Images Courtesy of the Estate of Antonio Lopez and Juan Ramos, and Antonio Lopez Fashion, Art, Sex & Disco book
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ANTONIO LOPEZ (1943-1987) A
master illustrator and photographer, Antonio Lopez was a pioneer in the fashion illustration world and later in photography for over a span of three decades. His illustrations brought new life into the fashion imagery of the time and gave a youthful and energetic boost to the pages of the fashion magazines in the U.S. and Europe. With a charming personality and a love for all things fashion, Lopez along with his partner and collaborator Juan Ramos, quickly discovered and launched the careers of some of today’s legends such as Pat Cleveland, Jerry Hall, Grace Jones and Jessica Lange.
fashion elite, inspiring designers everywhere to follow suit. Throughout his career, Lopez produced large volumes of illustrations, photographs, and sketch journals that still today influence fashion designers. Most recently Lopez’s influence was seen on the runway for Kenzo’s Spring 2017 show in Paris, where models walked the runway with Lopez’s illustrations and photos printed on crop tops and paillettes.
With a resume that included working alongside Karl Lagerfeld and Yves Saint Laurent, Lopez went on to implement a controversial style, appropriating and representing the ethnic and racialized body within the
To read more read Antonio Lopez - Fashion, Art, Sex & Disco by Roger Padilha and Mauricio Padilha and published by Rizzoli
Antonio Lopez: Future Funk Fashion is on view until November 26, 2016 at El Museo Del Barrio New York - 1230 Fifth Avenue.
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Images Courtesy of the Estate of Antonio Lopez and Juan Ramos, and Antonio Lopez Fashion, Art, Sex & Disco book
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ANTONIO LOPEZ
Images Courtesy of the Estate of Antonio Lopez and Juan Ramos, and Antonio Lopez Fashion, Art, Sex & Disco book
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Photography by Paul Scala Styling by Thomas Davis Interview by Dustin Mansyur
The visionary milliner responsible for some of the most iconic moments in fashion history gets intimate with Iris Covet Book about his new book Souvenirs.
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F E AT U R E
STEPHEN JONES
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tephen Jones is an unending source of creative energy. The “mad hatter”, with an illustrious raconteur who has created some of the most iconic moments in fashion, released his new book Souvenirs, published by Rizzoli. It serves as a retrospective of the artist’s life and career. An intimate glance at the process and inner-workings of the mind of a visionaire, Souvenirs reads like a journal with a curated melange of personal artifacts, photos, sketches, and notes. With the foreword written by, his friend, and fellow fashion royalty, Grace Coddington, and peppered with personal memories and stories, Jones’ invites us into his world. Souvenirs spans a lifetime, and reflects on different periods and cities formative to Stephen Jones’ career. From his childhood years, to his early millinery days fresh out of Central St. Martin’s while frequenting the Blitz, Jones’ creativity and talent is instantly undeniable. Responsible for looks he created for his friends, Boy George and Steve Strange, Jones helped launch the New Romantic subculture movement. In a butterfly effect, he caught the attention of the fashion world. Catapulting into the arena of fashion is where the real fun begins in Souvenirs. Vintage archival clippings of an editorial featuring Jones’ hats in i-D magazine’s second issue chronicle the raw creativity of Jones’ earliest hats and are an intriguing snippet for all fashionistas. Arriving on the Paris scene marked a period of exuberant creative force, and Souvenirs documents this with beautiful photos and behind-the-scenes sketches of Jones’ most significant collaborative works with Gaultier, Mugler, Montana, and Galliano, to name a few. The additional myriads of collaborations that Jones has had with fashion designers around the globe is also welldocumented throughout the book’s entirety. Souvenirs also delivers a well-curated visual narrative of Jones’ fashion editorial and celebrity work, with vibrant photos that won’t disappoint. Iris Covet Book was fortunate enough to speak with Stephen Jones in between fashion shows in Paris.
Souvenirs touches on the influence of your family in the formative moments of your childhood. Has there been a particular family member who has proved most influential in your life and your artistry? It’s so strange when you are growing up, you think you are being this independent person growing up and doing these things and at one point at thirteen or fourteen someone says “oh my god do you remind me of your mother/father”, and you think “oh wow all is lost!”. Both my mother and older sister, I was the youngest of three siblings, and my older sister who is thirteen years older than me – they
were huge influences. When I was a little boy she was a 60’s groovy girl and was at London College of Art and Design trying to pursue art, and I got that from her. My love of art and design and those things I really got from her. As a child I just wanted to play with my toys and my mother would drag me along to art galleries and say “look at this!”, and I was seven. My mother was very driven to show me what she loved, but she did it in a very sort of educational ways like saying “this is a Tudor building, it’s all black and white”. She wasn’t saying, “I love this because…” It was a bit more Anglo-Saxon than that.
She was also very interested in gardening too, correct? I think that because gardening was very difficult – we basically lived on a sand dune. We lived in the breeziest point in the entire known universe, it was always so windy and cold even in August, so trying to make a garden out of that was really difficult. So my mother became quite an expert and took me around gardens all over Britain and would teach me about flowers and perspective and who designed the gardens and made the ground plan.
Were both of your parents very supportive when you chose to enroll in Central Saint Martins? Oh no, they hated it! (laughs) I thought they wanted me to take ove the family company or at least be a nice accountant or a doctor or something like that. You know how your parents wanted you to find a nice job? Well my parents are no different. My older sister had been to art school and dropped out, so they really did not want me to pursue it. They did not dissuade me from doing it, but they didn’t make things particularly easy for me either. I wanted to find my own way, I didn’t want my parents way. I went to college in 1976 during the Punk movement so I had to do my own thing! The arrogance of a 19 year old, you know your parents’ ways are no longer important. They were supportive in their own way, and they wanted to push me out of the nest. I think nowadays parents keep their children for much longer, but I rememeber when I was seven years old I used to walk to the bus stop and go on the bus to the next town and go back and I was all by myself! I would have been
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horrified if my parents dropped me off at school!
When you enrolled at Central Saint Martins you were their only male student, what was your experience like when you were there? I was very much the token male. I was the only male student in my year, but there were others in other years. I learned much more from my friends than I did from any of the teachers. They were all sort of crazy girls, and some of them were just interested in finding a husband and wearing beige, but a lot of them were these young punks who were really into art, appearances, and they came from all different backgrounds. I just loved it! It was a real mixture of people, which I loved, and we all went and partied.
Then how did you come to choose millinery as your expertise when you were there? This was all by chance. I had been at boarding school, and I was a big rugby player and so sewing was not something that we did. So I went to college around girls who were fantastic at sewing and I had no idea how to sew. My teacher came to me and said he needed some help at his couture house where I became a tailoring intern, and I was the only person I knew who was an intern. The term had not been invented yet really and my friends thought I was crazy working in the industry. I was getting coffee and picking up things and all of that, and all of the tailors were very, very, grumpy. But I just thought it was a bit of a waste of time. The milliners working in the studio next door always seemed so happy. Even though they were also working late hours, everyone was always chatting, and it was somehow a great atmosphere. After the first day working in the millinery studio, I realized that it was the most fantastic thing. I didn’t know that was what I was going to be doing as a career, I thought I was going to be a fashion designer. It was out of college that I started to make more hats, and the whole thing started to happen, and then the idea began that I was going to be a hat designer.
So you were instantly smitten once you stepped into that world. Was this your time at Le Chaise? And Shirley Hex was the Head Milliner there correct? Yeah, Shirley Hex. <continues on page 58>
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Models line up backstage just before making their entrance for the Thom Browne Spring/Summer 2015 show wearing hat-dresses that reinterpert their outfits. The hats are made of straw, crin, and metal with embroidered motifs. Photographed by Barbara Anastacio.
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What was it like learning millinery from her, because she is quite legendary in the field of millinery? I would never call her Shirley, I always called her Mrs. Hex. She was always there ten minutes before work started in the morning, and you always had to be immaculately dressed and all of that. I was slightly terrified of her, and she was a real prankster. After the first day, she turned to me with an arched eyebrow and she said, “Stephen, if your hands moved as fast as your mouth does the hat would been made by now.” I did not say another thing for a month! It completely freaked me out. I just worked really hard and millinery was just something I understood. It was easier than making clothes. It was smaller and it clicked!
at The Blitz nightclub. The book mentions Boy George, Steve Strange, Leigh Bowery, and you all later became known as The Blitz Kids. That must have been very inspiring to be around all of those creative people! Were you making hats for all of your friends during that era?
You mentioned earlier the influential effect your friends at school had on you. The late 70’s and early 80’s was the beginning of your career as a milliner, when you were going out
It’s really funny how the club thing worked, because yes, I went to clubs. I went to punk clubs with a few friends of mine from college, but when I started going to The Blitz, there were people there from all walks of life. They were really inspirational, and just doing what came naturally. At that time New York was really the cool place to be, I missed out on Studio 54 and CBGB’s and so we had our own things. A lot of New Yorkers were coming over and going to The Blitz and places like that, but we weren’t really aware that we were doing something that would be remembered. We created our own
world because we knew that the worlds that have come before were somehow not applicable and it was the beginning of popular print media like The Face or i-D or Blitz Magazine and they were showcasing everything we did. I was in i-D #2 just out of college, and you know I wasn’t in Vogue. I thought at the time it would have been the kiss of death to be in Vogue! Who wants to be in Vogue that’s just for old people? It’s very, very different now. Five to six years later all of the older fashion people became interested in our “street fashion”.
Did you ever anticipate it was going to turn into this whole “New Romantic” subculture movement while you were doing it, or was it just a bi-product? I think it was just a bi-product. It just happened, and we were aware we were doing something really fun. I lived in a spot with a group of other people, and the whole lot of us were photographed for Elle Japan. They printed the address, and on Monday there was a big group of Japanese people waiting outside to see us. It’s so funny and this house was really falling apart, but we were a tourist destination! (laughs)
At that time Kim Bowen was one of your muses, can you describe your relationship with her? How was she influential to your work? We were in college studying at the same time, I was in my third year and she was in her first year. I had asked if she could come help me during my last collection, and she said she could, but in reality she couldn’t. She did look fabulous, and she was really funny. She left college early to come work with me and we became friends throughout the years and she is now a stylist in Los Angeles and she was on commercials and videos and working with Janet Jackson and Lady Gaga, all sorts of different people. It’s always great to work with somebody, you listen to the other person and bounce ideas off one another. I didn’t realize that most designers are like that. Dior was like that with his assistant, who actually did the hats for him too. Every creative person has got to have a foil to work against, and Kim was the greatest one.
You later appeared in the Culture Club single for the hit single “Do You Really Want to Hurt Me” and you were recognized by Jean Paul Gaultier. He was really one of the first designers to reach out to you as a milliner.
Initial crown ideas for Comme des Garçons Spring/Summer 2006
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What sort of thoughts and feelings were going through your mind when he called you up? Gaultier at that point was like the king of Paris. He was the hottest, newest, brightest star in Paris. He was doing real, young, funky club wear. I had seen him at the clubs in London, but he was sort of untouchable, so to have a phone call from him was really extraordinary. He asked me to be in his men’s show, but I wasn’t able to. It was such an inspiring collection because it was about Moroccan men’s dress in the 1950’s. All along the way it has been the kindness of other people and them wanting me to do my work for them. I’ve approached designers before to ask if they wanted to work with me. I asked Christian Lacroix if I could do the hats for him and he said, “No, no, no, Stephen. You can’t do that! That’s the part I really enjoy!”. Whether it’s working with Thom Browne in New York or in Paris at Dior, we all have a great time together and enjoy collaborating.
Because you have had so many designer collaborations throughout your career and so many different design processes for each designer, what kind of qualities have you had to learn that benefit with you collaborating with them so that the vision is actualized? Have you ever had to put your ego aside? First of all, you have to sort of become friends. You don’t have to become intimate friends. But you have to understand each other, because when I’m making a hat every stitch is a decision. You have to be a bit of an educator because often a designer will know a lot about clothes but how can you expect them to know about the very “alien” world of millinery? You have to explain the possibilities. You know, you don’t have to reinvent the wheel with each hat. Just the fact that you are putting a hat on lends a complete different spin to things. Also, when viewing their collection in the showroom, I question how they envision using the hat? Do they believe that the hat is just for the fashion show, or that men and women should wear them every day? Do they see them as a punctuation in the collection? I have to be a good listener. What’s so crucial to what I do is to make them feel comfortable enough for them to express themselves. It’s not just a brief, they need to tell me in a way that understands their vision, fears—they have to be completely open with me. I have worked with many people, but very few of those relationships have lasted
You’re a collaborator and it’s not them doing their thing and you doing your thing, but you’re creating something together. That’s why you need so much trust, it’s almost like you need to be in love. through years and years. You have to be a huge diplomat as well! (laughs) I remember once asking L’wren Scott during her first season in Paris, which was my first too, and I said how do you work with all of those actresses and the most famous people in the world? She said, “Stephen, leave your ego at the front door.” And that was such good advice because you have to be a negotiator. You’re a collaborator and it’s not them doing their thing and you doing your thing, but you’re creating something together. That’s why you need so much trust, it’s almost like you need to be in love.
Has any collaboration ever pushed you outside of your comfort zone or helped you to grow? They always do, every time. If they don’t push me out of my comfort zone then I’m getting blasé about the situation and I’m not working as hard as I should. If you ever find yourself getting into a formula, you’re doing the wrong thing and you’re getting lazy. You never get used to it. The great thing about what we do is it only lasts a month or a season, you have to create something new all the time. It’s a challenge, but it’s fabulous and exciting, and that’s why we do it!
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I want to touch on your collaboration with John Galliano because perhaps no other designer has had the passion for referencing the romance of the past as you have. You both have worked together since 1993 and created a body of work together that has spawned some of the most iconic designs in history. So during your time collaborating together, what have been some of your favorite designs or collections? There are so many! One that particularly stands out was one where it was all about dressing up; it was like children dressing up in their parent’s clothes and that was amazing. The second collection that I ever worked with him on was also fantastic. He showed about sixteen outfits in Paris and it was extraordinary and I was very young ; we were fitting Kate Moss into a dress. He was pinning her, and I was pinning her, and we were like an octopus! We pushed her onto the stage and we shared this long look and it was like, “Ooh! We could really work together”. Somehow that was the really magic point. Working at Dior, well there were so many great ones like the very extreme Chinese collection or the Egyptian collection—those were all extraordinary, and we created lots of beautiful things.
I saw in the book the photos from the Egyptian collection, the sketches and the photographs were so amazing. What materials did you use for the Anubis hat, for example? That was carved in wood by our block maker in Paris. I did my initial sketches then they were reinterpreted in wood. They were actually carved in like a plastic then covered in rubber and the ears were gold leaf and she would look through the neck of the Anubis.
She must have looked like a giant walking down the runway (laughs) She was huge! And then she had these 7” heels on as well. The weird thing is, you know I’m 5’9” and when you’re photographed next to these models they look like the real thing and you look like some strange subspecies! (laughs)
You also collaborated with Comme des Garcon to create two fragrances. Did you take the same creative approach that you do to create a hat with a designer? I worked as a creative consultant with Shiseido in Japan for about twenty years and I started really becoming interested in creating a collaborative fragrance. I was the first person really to do it, and I worked with all of the people in her
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fragrance division, I sent everything to Rei for approval. One silly thing was when it came to the box and I wanted to have a circular box, like a hat box, which is difficult and expensive to have done. Rei said, ”Of course it has to be round! You’re a hat maker. You don’t use square boxes” She saw the concept of what we wanted to do. It’s great to be able to have different lives, and experience different things because you learn from the different worlds.
I want to move on to talk about your eponymous brand and how that differs from working with other labels and designers? Much more tortured. (laughs) I’m not saying working with designers is an easy thing, but you know I design in my head all the time and then sometimes we get it on paper or a 3-D model. Of course these things tend to be thematic, so every season I ask what is it going to be about? A hat tells a story because it’s the story about who they want to become, not about who they are. They want to have confidence and look cool and be a glamour-puss. They want it to be transformative. So, it has to have a story behind it and every season is meant to be a story.
What are the features of your different lines, because I know you have more than one under your eponymous label? Model Millinery is more an old-world craft around handmade hats and there’s more of an artistic aesthetic and it’s more complicated. Miss Jones just has a different aesthetic; it can be as grand, but it’s probably easier to wear. Jones Boy is for men but women buy those as well.
Has the Asian market proven to be an opportunity for your labels expansion? Yes, since 1985 I have had a license in Japan. So, the Japanese people love great hats! Absolutely, on that side of the world Asian people love decorating themselves. It’s a very important part of the cultural mindset—they love dressing up. Hats so often have not been a part of their wardrobe historically, so they really love exploring the world of hats. A hat, in a way, is easier to take on and off, whereas if you do the same thing to your hair it’s much more complicated.
There’s a photo in your book that I was really attracted to and it’s a little black and white photo of your workroom and it kind of looks like Santa’s workshop! What’s the energy or the experience like in your studio? Productive people are very serious about
what they do. People work hard and they play hard! If you want an easy life, don’t become a milliner, but if you want something that is sort of magical and evocative and emotional and rewarding, then yes be a milliner. I have people coming to me from all different walks of life – everybody has come to me because they have chosen to, not because they have some sort of plan mapped out.
Are they like an extended family for you? Yes, and I love that! It’s always much more interesting to find out about someone else’s life. It’s all ages, all races, all sexes. We have an older lady, Anna, who is a bit like the mother of the family and she is the chicest 75 year-old you could ever see!
So you’re definitely an equal opportunity employer? (laughs) Oh my god, yes! I think if you were sort of normal and introverted then you wouldn’t be interested, but don’t worry we get that normality out of you within the first few weeks. (laughs)
The book has so many lovely photographs in it, was it difficult to curate all of your work into that format? Absolutely. We have to have photographs that make sense to me, to other people, and of course the big glamorous photographs of Louis Vuitton with all the girls lined up--pictures like that. I didn’t want to do a book full of lovely, big pictures. I wanted to include all of the funny flotsam and jetsam of everything I picked up along the way.
The book also highlights your work with some of the biggest celebrities and pop stars such as Madonna, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Rihanna –how does this process differ from designing with a designer of for your own line? In a strange way it’s very similar because you ask, “Where and when?” There’s a whole list of technical things for different needs. Like for a film, the bill cannot be too big at the front because it will shade the face, but if you’re a singer like Mick Jagger maybe he wants to use the shade to hide his face during part of a song. Obviously when you are making a hat with a celebrity, you often, nowadays, are working with a stylist as well. I have to say that every person I work with enjoys hats. A hat can really change their look and they want to look striking and like a star.
Yes, I remember in the book you were
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talking about fitting the swim cap for Keira Knightley’s character in the film Atonement, and how the fitting process was so important because if you moved it back even a millimeter it changed the proportions of her face. Especially with film, what may be a millimeter turn into two meters once it is projected on the screen, so those details become hugely important!
How powerful has intuition been in shaping your life or career path? Has it been a tool you have used throughout? I think intuition is important and I think saying “yes” is even more important because it gets you into lots of scrapes. It can lead you down to terrible places and you learn the resilience to deal with it, but more importantly doors open to you into a whole new world.
How do you think that hat culture will evolve into the future? I think that hat wearing in the beginning was about a sense of belonging, the reason your grandmother or great-grandmother would wear hats and gloves regardless of where they were or what their status was, that was how people were. I think people see hats as just another item in their wardrobe to have fun with. In a way it is the most special accessory because it is the most visible, but because of that is the most transformative and the most fun.
What do you see for your future? More of the same I hope! Lots of exhibitions though over the next few years which is really great. Working on a new fragrance with Comme des Garcon which will be my third fragrance with them. Redoing my men’s hat line “Jones Boy” and expanding that. People always ask me when I will start designing evening gowns or a line of tractors or something, but no I’ve got the cherry on the cake already, thank you!
Throughout this feature, Stephen Jones wore a custom suit by Thom Browne and hats by Stephen Jones. Souvenirs published by Rizzoli. For more information about Stephen Jones, visit stephenjonesmillinery.com
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F E AT U R E
The face of our future is a 16-year-old boy calling us to action against climate change for the sake of your children and grandchildren.
Photography by Dustin Mansyur Styling by Marc Sifuentes Art Direction by Louis Liu Grooming by Anthony Joseph Hernandez
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A
n unassuming leader, not old enough to vote, Xiuhtezcatl Tonatiuh (pronounced Shoe-tezkaht Ton-ah-tee) is an undeniable force of change for his generation and those to come. Possessing an intrinsic spiritual wisdom stemming from the traditions of his Aztec heritage, Xiuhtezcatl’s love for the earth was instilled in him from early childhood. As one of the twenty youth plaintiffs suing the United States Federal Government in a historical class-action case for its prior knowledge of climate change and failing to take preventative action, Xiuhtezcatl is a voice among many pleading for us to recognize the magnitude of the issue that we’ve created. At a time when grassroots movements can be nurtured through the use of technology, social media wields the power to cause both disconnection from our realities, and connection amongst those who will create our reality. It is by this means that the future summons the past for collaboration. As youth director of the non-profit, Earth Guardians, Xiuhtezcatl has already spoken three times at the United Nations on environmental policy, a hefty accomplishment for anyone who is leading a movement. He blends his leadership skills with his charismatic musical talent as a hip-hop artist, to amplify his message on all social media platforms and connect with others around the globe who support his cause. Xiuhtezcatl exudes, “The combination of both generations can create a better world for the future where we can balance ways of life that existed in the past, but also taking advantage of technology and creating societies that are less destructive to the planet but can continue to move forward into the future.” The implication of the issue at hand, however, is that climate change is a violation of human rights. With peak-consumerism climaxing at the environment’s expense, it’s hard to imagine how one might pursue life, liberty and happiness, if in fact the earth cannot even sustain life. Perhaps then it is a surprise that the seeming-naivety of youth is the one sounding the largest alarm. Xiuhtezcatl beckons us, “I think that reconnecting to the sense that we are part of the whole planet and a species of beings that will not exist anymore unless things change–and that means lifestyle change, policy change, people standing up in our courts, streets, communities, electing officials who will speak with our voice.” Iris Covet Book had a chance to speak with the “Kid Warrior” on set at his photoshoot in New York.
When did your passion for environmental issues and what age did you begin organizing/ working with Earth Guardians? My passion for environmentalism began when I was super little. Growing up, I spent all of my time outside in nature: in the forests, in the mountains and rivers. Just immersed in the beauty of the natural
world. From there, I began to learn about the problems facing the environment through my mom and through my siblings. We were all engaged in that, and I began using my voice to speak up about it. We started talking about climate change, environmentalism, creating small local events –then in 2009, I thought, what if we got other young people involved? I had an interest to engage in the friends of my community. I was nine years old when I began Earth Guardians, kind of the third generation of my community. It was just me and a group of my friends who showed up to town hall meetings because they started spraying pesticides on our parks, from there we stopped getting pesticides sprayed in Boulder and then able to get movement on a global level. It became so much bigger than just ourselves, because the world saw it as a step forward for young people to use their voices to make a difference in the world regardless of the cause.
In your videos online, you attribute your love for nature to your upbringing and the traditions of your father’s tribe. Can you describe when you first became aware that you had this connectedness to the Earth? There was never really a defining moment because being born into that culture taught me that being with nature was just a way of life. Since I could walk, I was learning traditional dances. Since I could speak I was learning our languages and our songs. All of that revolved around prayer and ceremony for the elements that give us life. That shaped the deep connection that I have with the natural world, and I am apart of it just by being on the Earth.
In regards to modern society, what attitudes, behaviors, or beliefs do you think people in general are missing in their way of life that contribute to environmental degradation? I think it’s about convenience. As a teenager, growing up and going to high school I saw that in my peers because it is very easy to go through life and not care about anything. Where we are so disconnected from ourselves, from one another, from the planet from what we eat, there’s such a sense of disconnection that it’s easy for us to fall into apathy. It’s easy to fall into hopelessness because when we look at crises that face the world, it’s incredibly overwhelming. I see a general disconnection with human beings to problems that matter.
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Why do you think climate change is a multi-generational issue? How do you think that we can benefit from multi-generation collaboration? I think it is pretty plain to see. Past generations created this crisis, and obviously we perpetuate it today, but our parents and the generations of the past are responsible for letting it happen. Those in power are responsible for climate change. As young people, we are going to be inheriting the problem that the past generations created. They had a party on the planet and left it for us to clean up. If you look at it that way, if we want to actually create change in the world to fix a global problem like climate change, it is going to take more than just action from our elected officials, action from older generations. I feel like older people have a wisdom that we can learn from to make things actionable, and the youth have an incredible amount of ingenuity. We are creators, entrepreneurs, thinkers. We are exploring the world in such a new way because we have lightning fast access to information, media, etc. The combination of both generations can create a better world for the future where we can balance ways of life that existed in the past, but also taking advantage of technology and creating societies that are less destructive to the planet but can continue to move forward into the future.
That brings to mind inventive and visionary solutions like Studio Roosegaarde’s Smog Free Project in China that will turn smog into diamonds by means of a giant “air purifier”. We’re making lots of advancements! Yeah, I mean you see it every day! Part of what keeps my head above water and keeps me inspired and hopeful is looking at all of the solutions. I see kids all over the world who are improving and creating amazing ideas on how to reduce our impact on the world. Our use of paper, water, etc. We need to focus on long term solutions so we can create a lasting society so that generations in the future have something to inherit.
How has technology and the internet been influential to you as a leadership tool? Telling my story through the media has been incredibly important to having the world know who I am, what I am doing, the movement I’m trying to spread. As I said, I started this as a kid trying to help my community, and people started to see what I was doing and post things online
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and share through YouTube and Facebook. I started working with this documentary filmmaker named, Vanessa Black, to make a short documentary called “Kid Warrior” to show my story. That went viral and got millions of people to learn about what I was doing. It went beyond just “Kid Warrior”, but got the attention of the United Nations. Now, I am working with a lot of different media outlets in the fashion industry, Hollywood, the music industry, and using these different avenues to propel the message so everyone has access to find out what we are doing. It’s not just about one person, it’s not just about me, it’s about inspiring leaders all over the world to make change.
You recently addressed both Presidential candidates via YouTube, and even though you’re not old enough to vote, what kind of action do you want to see taken by the next President of the United States? I feel like as the United States we have an amazing amount of power and influence in the world, and these next couple of decades are going to determine the next several hundred years. That’s not me saying that, that’s scientists all over the world saying that. Based upon the amount of actions we take, carbon that can be sequestered in the oceans and forests and soil – that will determine what our world will look like. As a leader of one of the biggest and most powerful nations in the world, they have an amazing amount of responsibility to address climate change, to put climate recovery tools into place, and to get off of a fossil fuel infrastructure. Fossil fuel is not a sustainable source, it’s cheap and convenient, but it is not sustainable. Unless our leaders take action, there will not be an earth left to pass on. They have to do something for my generation and the generations ahead to keep the positive momentum going.
Is there a crucial window or time frame that change must happen? I just watched Leonardo DiCaprio’s new documentary Before the Floods, and he said that the ice sheet in the Northern Hemisphere will be gone by 2040. The impact that this will have on rising sea levels globally is already evident, we already have island land masses sinking. Climate change is a human rights issue. People are dying, losing their families, etc. It’s really a question of how much time we have as a city, a country–everyone will be affected differently but in extreme ways. We will have food shortages, lack of clean water, national security, all different
Unless our leaders take action, there will not be an earth to pass on. problems which we will see with more frequency. There’s not really a specific window because unless we take action soon by making drastic changes in the next five decades, things will just continue to get worse and worse. One of the first places that will be affected are island nations, and it will continue to spiral.
You’ve been personally affected by fracking in your town, can you explain what it is and why it is dangerous? Fracking is a process in which they take millions of gallons of water and mix it with toxic carcinogenic chemical and sand and they shoot it down into the ground at high pressure. We have exploited so many of our shallow oil reserves, so now we have to go deep into the Earth to crack the last of the shale, and it is very difficult to extract because of the way the shale is formed so they have to open up pockets of gas and extract it from there. The impact of shooting millions of gallons of toxic chemicals into the Earth is bleaching. It leaks into water reserves, naturally occurring watersheds, rivers, basins, where we get our water from, basically. We have about 130,000 fracking wells in Colorado which have been drilled over the past few decades.
Out in public spaces? Like that park in your neighborhood? Yes, public spaces, parks, homes, hospitals, schools. We’ve fought really hard to get bans and moratoriums on fracking in specific municipalities of Colorado and we got a five-year moratorium on fracking in Boulder, but this year it will lift and we will no longer be safe from its impacts. I know kids in other communities where the people are suffering from different cancers, lung diseases, respiratory problems, nosebleeds, migraines–all of these different problems that are affecting
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children and families. The people living next to these wells are screwed. We have to take action against these oil and gas companies.
Do you always wear your gas mask when you play basketball? (laughs) Not always, but when I am in certain areas of Colorado you've got to.
What prompted the decision to file the lawsuit against the United States government, and what was going through your head when you started that journey? So, I am one of twenty youth plaintives filing against the US Federal Government to keep them accountable for violating our constitutional right to life, liberty, and property because of their lack of action on climate change. I’ve been working on these lawsuits for the last five years, starting with local powers in my state to get statewide action on climate change and those lawsuits are still going on in my state. Now we are in a huge class-action lawsuit against the Federal Government, we are hoping in the next thirty days that we will get a ruling that will allow us to take this case to Supreme Court so we can put the Federal Government on trial for threatening our future. It is incredible to see we have a voice in a legal system where people aren’t represented or heard from. This is not about politics or money, it’s about our future.
What are some of the practical ways that Earth Guardians is making a difference on the issue of climate change and how expansive has the group become? It’s incredible to see how so many different communities all over the world are taking different actions to make global change. That’s the beautiful thing about Earth Guardians because it is a movement where anyone in any part of the world can sign up and create a community in their homes or schools and begin to make change in small steps—whether that’s through tree planting, or picking up litter, to painting a mural, creating a fashion show out of recycled materials, whatever it is that inspires you. Being a part of Earth Guardians is just being a part of a big global family of people who care and want to make a difference. We have quarterly global events where every young person involved with Earth Guardians has a chance to connect with each other where we can protect our Earth, air, water, and climate. We’ve planted hundreds of thousands of trees, had huge initiatives to clean up our water supplies
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Look at yourself and your generation to see what it is you want to leave behind and what legacy you want to have. and educate about water potability. In different countries and different places, we need to work on different things, but it is amazing to see how all of these young people creating small changes individually makes a global impact.
Do you believe that we can unlearn our disconnectedness from the Earth at this point in time? I think that we all breathe the same air, drink the same water, and we really only have one planet. Culturally we have trained ourselves to be separate from the planet to only view it as an object which we exist on. I truly believe that with the right steps humanity can be trained to fall back in love with the Earth through music, art, culture, nature—these are all aspects of what it means to be human. I think falling back in love with our humanity is what it will take for the human race to understand that we are in danger of going extinct because of our consumption and the destructive relationship we have with the planet.
What are some practical lifestyle changes that people can make to reduce their carbon footprint? The biggest way is to be more conscious. I think that each and every one of us, regardless of how busy we are, we can all take more steps to be more conscious as consumers—the products we buy and the companies we support—and then looking at the food that we eat. Localizing our diets more and being conscious of what is made locally and organically.
Small steps like that are great—change your light bulbs, use less water, take more public transportation, but more than anything be conscious of the fact that every decision you make will impact the world, regardless how small. That means that you have a huge amount of power with how you live your life regardless of age, economic background, where you are from, the color of your skin.
Do you believe it is a principle of us taking collective responsibility that should be our motivation, rather than consumerism and profit? I think living in this country it is very easy to be blind to the world, because we have everything we want, we are so privileged in this country where it is easy to detach ourselves from the problems that are affecting other parts of the world. I think that reconnecting to the sense that we are part of the whole planet and a species of beings that will not exist anymore unless things change–and that means lifestyle change, policy change, people standing up in our courts, streets, communities, electing officials who will speak with our voice.
How do you think greener living affects the psyche? Does it make you more relaxed, more calm, what are the benefits? When you do good things for other people or for the environment you feel like you’ve accomplished something and felt better about yourself. If you look at yourself as a human being with a legacy, then you realize how much power you have. Whether it is being a spokesperson for a movement, or something as simple as just creating art for a cause. I believe that the biggest understanding is that we have so much power to promote change and there is so much hope and opportunity for things to change if we will them to.
Why should we have hope on this issue? What gives you hope? I think giving up hope turns your back on every single person who has suffered before you, every person who has died. Having hope I think is one of the last things that we have, what gives me hope is seeing people wake up all over the world, and it is slow but it’s happening. Looking at struggles like what is happening at Standing Rock in North Dakota. I was there to play a concert and look at what was going on and to be there to support the protests. I saw families living there and resisting multimillion dollar corporations that are trying to go underneath their river, their land, to transport crude oil. In the past we have seen incredible injustices to take away the rights of indigenous people, but now these indigenous people are taking back their rights and their land. It’s not about indigenous people it’s about all people. It’s not just about this pipeline, it’s about all pipelines. It’s about the infrastructure that threatens and destroys our ability to live on this planet. This protest is one of the greatest symbols of hope that I have seen in a long time, and it is an example of how when you look at the small things that we often overlook our land, our water, our children, and when we understand that that is what’s at stake then people will stand up to fight. Look at yourself and your generation to see what it is you want to leave behind and what legacy you want to have. We are not just fighting for the environment and the world, but to protect the things that we love in life so our kids and our grandkids can also have those things.
How do you see yourself growing and evolving with this work? People often tell me that I’m an old soul, and you know I am a hip-hop artist and an emcee, and I have a huge passion for art and using this art to reach out to people. We’re working on an album now called Break Through that talks about our experiences over the last two years. I am still growing up, and there’s so much that I am learning every day about life, relationships, being a human being, and life on this earth. I think there is a huge amount I have to learn in order to grow and become the kind of person that I want to be.
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Stylist Assistant Benjamin Price, Production by XTheStudio. For more information visit earthguardians.org
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Photography by Jhane Hoang Creative Direction by Louis Liu Grooming by Anthony Joseph Hernandez Fashion Editor Marc Sifuentes Interview by Benjamin Price
David Monn is a magician of event planning and his beautifully-created, elaborate parties for Presidents, artists, philanthropists, and the fashion elite have dazzled many for over a decade. His new book, The Art of Celebrating, gives privy to some of his plushest parties, no rsvp required.
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DAVID MONN
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vent planning is an art, and in David Monn’s new book, The Art of Celebrating, we are given a look into the work that goes into creating fantastical environments from performance art at the Armory to the Met Gala. As a creative in the world of interior design and jewelry— David has taken his business skills and keen sense of design into an internationally respected event planning business. Using all five senses as a guide to creating sensorial experiences for guests, Monn is a genius of the event planning world and has made his mark on the industry. Iris had the opportunity to sit with the talented man and discuss his new book and his career from his humble upbringing in rural Pennsylvania to throwing memorable White House dinners.
How did your career first begin in event planning? I began working in events in 2003, as a way to tap into my creative side. My good friend Gayfryd Steinberg felt that my skill-set would lend itself to designing temporary environments, since I had a background in interiors and urged me to pursue it. She actually gave me my first big commission, working with the team at the New York Public Library on their Library Lions event in 2004. On the heels of that project, another friend Harriet Weintraub, recommended me to design and execute the opening of the Time Warner Center complex in 2004. Gayfryd and Harriet believed in me, and these events built a strong foundation upon which my current business stands.
You used to work in fine jewelry and interior design, how did those crafts play into becoming one of the top event planners in the nation? I did interiors for years and then a new opportunity came my way in the form of the jewelry business. I dabbled in diamonds on the business side and helped take a small company into a multimilliondollar business. Both opportunities gave me a different perspective to bring to events. Interior design gave me an opportunity to be creative, to build experiences and refine my design ability. The jewelry business was an insight into scaling and running a very successful business. I use everything I learned from my past experiences to run my company today.
Do you remember your first event planning job? Was it a success? The New York Public Library is really where everything in my event world began. My friend Gayfryd Steinberg asked me to help her design a party for the
Library Lions. It was a success! That was my first big event, so to be able to launch The Art Of Celebrating at the library is really a full-circle moment for me. I have worked with the NYPL for over ten years and as you can see in the book, it is the biggest chapter. The NYPL holds a special place in my heart.
Growing up, were there any indications that you would be doing something in the arts or decorating fields? I am originally from Fayetteville, PA. I have five brothers and sisters. We lived in a two bedroom house. We were humble, code for being poor, but I always loved being creative. As a young boy I always thought I had talents that were unique, but they were not popular things a young boy would be doing… making flower bouquets for my next door neighbor, creating clothes from lace table cloths… I was made to feel ashamed of them. So thinking I would ever be successful at those talents was hard to imagine.
From scent to sight to touch your events are all carefully planned out, why do you find it important to focus on every sense? Is this typical of event planning? Our bodies function in a natural rhythm, and if your body is not using one if it's senses, it overcompensates with another. To engage all of our senses in order by which our brain registers them, smell, sound, sight, taste, touch. This is what I believe is key to creating a lasting experience. The combination of these
Planning an event for me begins with what I like to call ‘The Power of One’– take one color or element and thread it throughout your entire concept. 73
elements transports you to a different place and time. It's important to me that my guests are not just "at the party," but are able to escape their everyday environments, and be taken to an entirely different mindset from the minute they arrive.
With the holidays coming, our readers will be planning events of their own. What tips, tricks, and suggestions can you give to beginner and/or seasoned amateur planners? Draw inspiration from the things all around you. Recently I've been inspired by the works of Grinling Gibbons, a sculptor and wood carver from the 1600's. Many of the projects I'm working on now feature sculptural elements like fruit, and painted complexities of similar objects in one color with different shades. When planning your own events, I believe each should be thought of in terms of authenticity, scale, and detail. To get to these essential elements, you have to ask yourself "Why?" Why is your event happening? With those factors in mind, you can take a fantasy and bring it to reality. Planning an event for me begins with what I like to call "The Power of One"- take one color or element and thread it throughout your entire concept.
What are some of your favorite creative decor tips for a holiday dinner party that our readers can achieve at home? Stick to your strengths when planning a holiday party. How the host feels really comes through at a party, so if they are stressed or overwhelmed it shows. Focus on a few key items for décor. The mantle, table and entryway set the tone for the party. Entertaining starts before your guests arrive, with the right combination of the five senses. Start with a scent, then add some music, adjust the lighting (I prefer natural light, like votive candles when possible as they make a space feel warm), and voila! You'll feel yourself starting to relax, and be transported to a different place and time. Your guests will have that same experience from the minute they walk in the door.
Where does your unique style and sense of taste come from? Were you influenced by a certain person or time in your life? For as along as I can remember, I've had a vivid imagination. As a child, I spent countless hours dreaming up elaborate fantasies and creating things by hand. A high school art teacher of mine <continues on page 76>
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In The Void, an "experience" I created for the Park Avenue Armory exploring the relationship between darkness and light based on the concept that in our very darkest places, if we hold fast to the truth that light exists, our faith in that light will pull us toward it. Photography by Lynn Saverese, Image Courtesy of David Monn LLC.
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when designing our events, and you never know where you'll find them. Sometimes some of the greatest things we find are not what we're looking for.
What advice would you give someone who wants to follow in your footsteps in event planning? You need to love events if you are going to get into event planning. It helps to be passionately curious about the process and storytelling. Our job, at David Monn, LLC is to transform spaces and create experiences and connections that weave themselves into the storyline of your life.
Who is a dream client of yours? What about a dream event and why?
White House State Dinner, 2010 Prior to opening the doors at any of my events, I take a moment to clear the room and make final adjustments myself. Since I believe entertaining plays a role in diplomacy and is certainly part of statecraft, I took great care to make sure everything was perfect. Photography by Robert Bloom, Image Courtesy of David Monn LLC.
recognized my potential and passion for creativity and pushed me to follow my dreams. She is the reason that I'm a big supporter of Arts Connection, an organization that provides arts programming to children in NYC public schools. Giving back to arts education is an essential part of who I am.
How were you approached to design the White House State Dinner? While decorating the State Department for Christmas the previous year, I shared many thoughts on the purpose of design in relationship to diplomacy, with the Chief of Protocol of the United States, Capricia Marshall. She invited me back to engage and translate those ideas into the Official Mexico State visit lunch, dinner, and after party. I did extensive research into the iconography of Mexico, but also into the personal story of President CalderĂłn, who was the guest of honor. It was important for me to be respectful of the country's traditions while amplifying the beauty of the elements we chose to highlight.
An image from your book shows the performance production In The Void at the Park Avenue Armory, was designing this space different because of the performative aspect? This event was such an important one for me because it was my first performance art piece. It really came to me and I was honored the Armory allowed this creative vision to be the gala celebration for that
year. I took the concept of darkness and light and wanted to convey to people the importance of both in partnership with connection and the human spirit. In designing the space, I wanted the darkness to feel all encompassing so we shrouded the room in black, and let the tablescape and performance tell the story. The dancers from Alvin Ailey are spectacular, and the choreography was a pivotal tool for delivering our message of "light."
As a New York based event planner, how does the city affect your design processes? How has the urban environment shaped you over the years? I'm so inspired by New York. When I arrived in NYC, I couldn't afford college, so my education came from observing the beauty of the city, its glamour and its traditions. Manhattan's pulsing energy, the diverse cultures, unique people, and the neighborhoods that continue to reinvent themselves as something new offer a constant ever-changing landscape to draw from. On the flip side, those elements, like the Flower Market which has been here for more than 50 years, that have withstood the test of time are also inspiring. I live and work in Chelsea, and walk through the Flower Market with my King Charles, Sammy, every morning on the way to work. It's bustling, colorful and a different experience every day. The city is also the most fantastic place to operate, because it's buzzing with creative energy and endless resources for us to play with
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On the heels of an amazing summer Olympics, I'm always inspired by the opening ceremonies. It's something I would love to be part of. I find that they are the ultimate representation of authenticity, scale, and detail. These enormous fantastical celebrations of competition, passion and kinship all in one place. To me, they are such powerful events, and one of the few times that the entire world is brought together. Gatherings can be incredibly effective. If you think about where things happen, partnerships are put together over a shared meal, deals are sealed over a cocktail, not at the boardroom table.
At Iris, we like to cast a spotlight on philanthropy and charity, are there any charities or causes that you are involved in? Yes, absolutely. The Animal Medical Center - My king charles spaniel, Sammy, is one of the great loves of my life. To give back to animal care is an honor for me for all that Sammy has given me. Alvin Ailey- I love art in any shape, but this dance company is truly truth in form. Beauty from the inside out. It's been my great joy to serve on this remarkable dance company's board. Legal Defense Fund- which fights for justice and equality for all. Â&#x2021;
The Art of Celebrating by David Monn. Published by Abrams. For more information visit davidmonn.com
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For the AngloMania Costume Institute Gala in honor of Burberry, I transformed the museum's grand staircase with sheet moss and candles. Correctly uniformed guards from London watched over the proceedings. Photography by Stephanie Jasper, Image Courtesy of David Monn LLC.
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JUXTAPOSED AGAINST THE BEAUTIFULLY HARSH, VOLCANIC LANDSCAPE OF LANZAROTE, SPAIN – ONE OF THE MESMERIZING CANARY ISLANDS OFF OF THE COAST OF WEST AFRICA – HILARY RHODA LAYERS UP IN LUSH FURS AND DECADENT TEXTURAL TRAPPINGS. THIS OTHER-WORLDLY ATMOSPHERE IS A PLACE WHERE STYLE INSPIRES AS MUCH AS THE SURROUNDING VISTAS.
Photography by Greg Swales | Model Hilary Rhoda @ IMG Models Styling by Marc Sifuentes | Art Direction by Louis Liu
This Spread: Gown and Shoes by Marc Jacobs, Fur Vest by Elena Benarroch, and Vinyl Gloves by Purple Passions Boutique.
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Left Page: Jacket, Skirt, Vest, Shirt, and Sunglasses by Chanel, Fur Vest by Brunello Cucinelli and Boots by Lodovico Zordanazzo. This Page: Gown by The Blonds and Fur Coat by Elena Benarroch.
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This Page: Coat by Jason Wu, Gown and Scarf by Roberto Cavalli. Right Page: Jacket and Dress by Chanel, Fur Coat by Georgine, Belt by Carven, Gloves by Purple Passions Boutique, and Boots by Jimmy Choo .
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This Spread: Jumpsuit by The Blonds, Fur Coat by Elena Benarroch, Sunglasses by Dior, Shoes by Roberto Cavalli.
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Left Page: Sweater and Skirt by Versace, Stockings by Purple Passions Boutique, Shoes by Marc Jacobs and Fur Coat by Elena Benarroch. This Page: Dress by Herve Leger and Fur Coat by Elena Benarroch.
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This Page: Dress by Michael Kors, Bodysuit by The Blonds, and Fur Coat by Elena Benarroch. Right Page: Dress by Alexander Wang, Turtleneck by Carven, Boots by Christian Loubotin and Fur Coat by Elena Benarroch. Hair by Elsa Canedo @ See Management using René Furterer, Makeup by Misha Shahzada @ See Management using La Mer, Manicure by Narina Chan @ Wilhelmina Artists using Chanel Le Vernis “Organdi”, Production by XTheStudio, Photo Assistants: Jean Claude Levasseur, Casey Franklin and Lavoisier Clemente, DP: Casey Showalter, AC: Nick Korompilas, Dolly Grip: Brian Lynch. Stylist Assistants: Benjamin Price and Zack Woods. Clothing partially provided by Neiman Marcus Paramus. Special Thanks To Pier59 Studios.
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DO YOU WANNA FUNK ? ACTOR AND MODEL, NOLAN FUNK, TAKES A MOMENT IN FRONT OF OUR LENS TO SHOW US SOME CASUAL COOL IN THE WOOLS, FLANNELS, AND CASHMERES OF THE MODERN ERA WITH A STYLISTIC, RETRO FLARE. PUNCHES OF COLOR MIXED WITH CLASSIC PRINTS CREATE A REFRESHINGLY MODERN, YET VINTAGE-INSPIRED TAKE ON MENSWEAR FOR FALL.
Photography by Bon Duke | Styling by Ian Bradley Art Direction by Louis Liu | Model Nolan Funk @ IMG Models
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Blazer by Valentino, Turtleneck by David Hart, and Vintage Necklace.
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Left Page: Coat by Versace, Sweater by Lacoste, and Trousers by David Hart. This Page: Jacket and boots by J.W. Anderson, Turtleneck and Trousers by Versace, Belt by Roberto Cavalli.
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This Page: Full Look by Prada, Shirt (worn underneath) by Orley. Right Page: Full Look by Dior Homme.
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Left Page: Jacket and Pants by Michael Kors, Sweater by Orley, and Shoes by Dior Homme. This Page: Vest and Trousers by Jil Sander, and Pullover by Tim Coppens.
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This Page: Coat and Shirt (worn underneath) by Roberto Cavalli, Sweater by Alexander Wang, and Trousers by David Hart. Right Page: Coat by Marni, Blazer and Trousers by Canali, Shirt by Jil Sander, and Belt by Maximum Henry. Makeup by Michael Anthony using Anastasia Beverly Hills, Hair by Cecilia Romero @ The Wall Group using RenĂŠ Furterer, Production by Carmel Quinn, Photo Assistant: John Temones, Stylist Assistants: Alex Cruz and Chester Huynh, Makeup Assistant: Kat Reel. Special Thanks to Splashlight Studios
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Right Page: Dress by Cushnie et Ochs, Coat by Philipp Plein, (top) Necklace by Missoni, (center) Necklace and rings by Chrishabana, (under) Necklace by Eddie Borgo, Vintage earrings and bracelets: stylist’s studio
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RETURN TO THE ROMANCE OF THE ROARING 20’S THIS HOLIDAY SEASON. SOPHISTICATION MEETS STREET LIKE NEVER BEFORE! WITH MAXIMALISM ON THE RISE, PLUSH FURS MIXED WITH METALLICS AND EMBELLISHMENTS GALORE WILL KEEP YOU SHINING INTO THE NEW YEAR.
Photography by Hadar Pitchon | Styling by Marc Anthony George | Art Direction by Louis Liu Editor Marc Sifuentes | Model Zhenya Katava @ Women Management
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Left Page: Dress by Jil Sander, Fur stole by Polygeorgis Furs, Hat by Graham Tyler, (top) Vintage necklace and rings, stylist’s studio (under) Necklace by Eddie Borgo. This Page: Dress by Vivienne Westwood, Fur Stole by Polygeorgis Furs, Vintage earrings, (top) necklace, and bracelet: stylist’s studio, Choker by Creepy Yeha, Tights by Falke, Shoes by Topshop
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This Page: Dress by Philipp Plein, Necklace by Missoni, Vintage earrings: stylist’s studio. Right Page: Coat by Versace, Dress and headscarf by Missoni, Choker by Creepy Yeha, Vintage head chain and earrings: stylist’s studio
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This Page: Coat by Michael Kors, Blue Track Jacket by Adidas, White Turtle Neck by Versace, and Pants by Private Policy, Shoes by Nike. Opposite Page: Jacket, Pants and Shoes by Prada, T-Shirt by North Face.
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Left Page: Coat by Michael Kors, Trench coat, dress and necklace by Valentino, Du-rag and vintage earrings: stylist’s studio, Tights by Falke, Shoes by Topshop. This Page: Coat by Roberto Cavalli, Vintage earrings, brooch, and bracelet: stylist’s studio.
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This Page: Coat by Valentino Dress by Roberto Cavalli (top) Vintage Choker: Stylist’s studio Earrings and (under) necklace by Eddie Borgo Shoes by Topshop. Right Page: Dress and coat by Burberry. Fur stole by Polygeorgis Furs Necklace by Chrishabana Vintage earrings: stylist’s studio Hair by Michael Fernandez using Evo hair products, Makeup by Michael Anthony using Kevin Aucoin, Stylist's First Assistant Alyssa Ramano, Second Assistant Zack Woods, Production by XTheStudio
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DEEP FLAG (5533), 2015 Bleached fleece and elastic, 179 1/2 x 228 inches. Sterling Ruby: Paris. Installation view, Gagosian Gallery Le Bourget, 2015 Photo by Thomas Lannes. Courtesy Sterling Ruby Studio and Gagosian.
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Portrait of Sterling Ruby, 2015. Photo by Melanie Schiff. Courtesy Sterling Ruby Studio and Gagosian.
Sterling Ruby PARIS
Provocative contemporary artist releases stunning new book encompassing more than twenty new works detailing his simultaneous exhibitions at Gagosian Gallery’s two Paris locations.
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he vanguard of a new genre of artistry, Sterling Ruby has cut, bleached, splattered, twisted, melted, and bent his way to become an icon in the world of fine art. With more than fifteen years of artistic rebellion, Ruby has an impressively large portfolio of sculpture, paintings, collages, fabric installations, and collaborations which have changed the contemporary landscape of art and design.
has exhibited at institutions including the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; Garage Centre for Contemporary Culture, Moscow; Saatchi Gallery, London; MACRO, Rome; and on the backs of models during Raf ’s first show at Dior in the form of satin graffiti couture dresses.
Born in 1972, Sterling Ruby has emerged as a premiere multi-media artist who has inspired countless artists and designers, even counting Raf Simons as a close friend and collaborator. An American artist, Ruby works in a large variety of media including ceramics, painting, drawing, collage, sculpture and video out of his spacious LA studio. Often, Ruby’s work is presented in large-scale and densely packed installations. The artist
In addition to his solo exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles ("SUPERMAX 2008"), Ruby has been the subject of solo exhibitions at the Drawing Center, New York; La Galleria d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Bergamo, Italy, and the Winterpalais in Vienna. The traveling exhibition SOFT WORK was exhibited at FRAC Champagne-Ardenne, Riems, France and the Centre d’Art Contemporain, Geneva,
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Switzerland; ; and Bonniers Konsthall, Stockholm, Sweden and Museo d'Arte Contemporanea, Rome, Italy. Sterling has cited a diverse range of inspirations and influences including aberrant psychologies, American domination and decline, urban gangs and graffiti, violence, public art, hip-hop culture, craft, punk, masculinity, prisons, globalization, waste and consumption. In opposition to the minimalist artistic tradition that has come before Ruby and remains prevalent in much contemporary art, the artist’s works often appear scratched, defaced, camouflaged, dirty, or splattered. Proclaimed as one of the most interesting artists to emerge in the twentieth century by New York Times art critic Roberta Smith, Ruby’s work examines the psychological space where individual expression confronts social constraint. Published by Rizzoli
IRIS COVET BOOK
Isabelle Derond MASTER TRAINER
From Chanel to Crossfit: Isabelle Derond has traveled across the Atlantic Ocean to teach women of all skill levels how to be the most powerful version of themselves they can be.
Photography by Dustin Mansyur | Styling by Marc Sifuentes Art Direction by Louis Liu | Hair and Makeup by Nina Soriano Interview by Benjamin Price
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FITNESS
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hen entering Bowery CrossFit, it’s hard not to feel a little intimidated watching athletic men and women tone and carve their bodies into statuesque silhouettes like Roman gladiators. The word “CrossFit” may conjure up images of “bros” hoisting large weights, exhausting themselves with lunge after lunge, pushing their body’s limits. Though often considered to be a majority male training method, for Isabelle Derond it is a way to empower women through fitness. She sees it as a community-building tool for both genders to connect with their health, body, and each other. Born in France, Derond was taught to follow a more conventional career path in business, though she grew up playing sports and hip-hop dancing. After going to school for business and working in sales for Chanel, Derond followed her heart and pursued her love of activity and movement. Isabelle does not view exercise like so many of us do, as a means to an end, but rather as a game and a source of power. As a personal trainer, CrossFit queen, and Nike Training Lab professional– Isabelle is raising the bar for everyone in the wide world of fitness. Here, in her own words, Isabelle tells Iris about her journey, her career, and her goals. I’ve been driven all my life by movement in all forms. However, a major part of my life was dedicated to dancing. I used to dance like a maniac, in dance classes or alone in my bedroom, when I was a kid and subsequently as a teenager. I just couldn’t stop, I wanted to dance in those awesome music videos from the 90’s with Missy Elliot. My dad wasn’t completely opposed to the idea, but he made me promise to finish my education before anything else. I did finish, and I ended up going to business school. I started to work for major luxury brands like Ralph Lauren, Jean-Paul Gaultier, and Chanel. I’m grateful for that part of my life. Because of my experiences, I like to think of myself of a chameleon; I can adapt myself and interact with very different demographics and types of people. This ability has helped me a lot throughout my life, and in my work as a trainer. I really love getting to know people and learning their stories, perspectives, and emotions. As much as I loved it, something was missing in my life. I needed to go back to my first love: movement. However, this time around it had to be much more meaningful to me. I wanted to help people and train them so they could feel more connected to their bodies and be knowledgeable of how important their health is. So at twenty-five years-old, I went back to school to became a certified trainer. Fitness is so fun, and it can be artistic and creative if you want it to be. Through my hip-hop dancing and sporting years in school, I learned how creative
I wanted to help people and train them so they could feel more connected to their bodies and be knowledgeable of how important their health is. and exciting movement can be. I had already established myself as a professional hip-hop dancer, but now training allowed me to express the inner athlete lying dormant in me. I started to coach and to compete in various aerobic individual and team competitions, as well as honing my bodybuilding skills. I have always let my passions drive me, and I was so invested and passionate about my newfound career that in 2007 I was cast to be a Nike Women’s Master Trainer and ambassador for France. Three years ago, I came to New York City with one suitcase. I wanted more than just to be a CrossFit athlete, I was ready to pass on my knowledge and share my experience in order to help others achieve their goals. I had a job offer and a Visa within three months, and I’m still working with the same company: Bowery CrossFit. I have loved growing there as a coach and also being a part of our growing community. CrossFit showed me more results, for myself and for athletes that I coach today, than I had ever experienced with any other training method. The level of strength, power, endurance, confidence, awareness of living a healthy life, and how it empowers women were all important factors that I found very exciting. The most rewarding moment for me as a coach, and as a person, is to witness a woman achieve something she thought she would never be able to do. I love it! It is their success, hard work, and effort, but at some point I helped them believe that it was possible.
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Why did you first start your fitness career? I was a very energetic kid. I grew up dancing, doing gymnastics and always aspiring to be the best in sports and music in my school. All I ever wanted to do as a child was to kick butt and I couldn’t understand why some kids didn’t want to play sports. When I was growing up, France did not prioritize sports in its culture and it definitely did not prioritize athletics in its culture like the US. I started my fitness career 10 years later because of this feeling, and was given the opportunity to coach adults who wanted to be there and who were actually motivated. It was perfect!
CrossFit is a very intense, physically and mentally demanding training method, how do you inspire women to come and workout with you? CrossFit is terrifying for woman. They don’t even need to step foot into a CrossFit gym and they’re already intimidated. Six month ago we had a 75% man ratio at Bowery CrossFit, so it was even less reassuring for a female beginner who ever dreamt of trying it. We decided to care about them–their needs and their fears–so we created a six week program designed only for woman where we work on form, mobility, and metabolic conditioning first, and then we slowly introduce basic barbell movements. I reassure them on my expectations. Meaning that I don’t expect anything from them. I don’t expect them to do even a single push up or crush a workout. I don’t expect them to do a pull up or to have amazing cardio. I just expect them to show up and trust me because this is why we are here: to work one step at a time towards goals and getting better and stronger. Also, the fact that I’m an active, approachable, healthy, not bulky, and a not-skinny thirty-seven year-old woman is inspiring to them.
What are the biggest fitness and nutrition mistakes that you see people make? Overall, I think that the biggest mistake people make is that they get comfortable and all of a sudden they are fifty years old, their knees hurt when they try to squat, and running after children is not an option. Naturally, the second mistake is not taking time for themselves. One hour, three times a week and another two hours or less to cook healthy and delicious healthy meals is all you need to start towards a healthy life. I am lucky to live in a city where everybody is incredibly active, but the mistake that I noticed is
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ISABELLE DEROND
people (especially women) focus on one activity. Let me give you an example of a young lady who is absolutely in love with her cycling class. She goes there five times a week, she lost ten pounds since she started and wouldn’t do anything else, she looks exactly how she wanted to: skinny. But then she makes a body composition test thinking she is at the best shape of her life and she is at thirty percent body fat. You have to make sure to have variety in your training (mobility, endurance and strength), and ladies have to lift weights in order to burn fat and to get stronger.
With your dance background you understand the importance of movement, entertainment, and expression; how do you incorporate those things into your training sessions? My dancing background definitely helps me on a personal level. The body awareness that CrossFit requires is massive, so I was one of the lucky ones that understood when I received correction on my movements and form. I strongly believe that I wouldn’t be the athlete that I am today without my love and passion for dance. You won’t find a single mirror in a CrossFit gym, unlike a dance studio, so there is no distraction, the body image is no longer a priority–but the movement and safety is. That’s what we ask of our athletes: to master movements and to be fully aware of their body in space.
What is it about training women that you find so inspiring? Even though it’s been changing like crazy in a very good way thanks to social media, training is a man’s world, so I’m definitely inspired by women who are breaking barriers at every level. Especially women who make the decision to take action after years of inactivity, and they start training and commit to it. I know it’s hard, I know it’s sucks, I know they are going through a lot of emotions, but they power through it because it’s important to them. Every time my motivation is down I just have to take a look around me to be instantly inspired to move forward. There is a big community of support amongst female trainers, and I love that.
A lot of women are scared of being “big” or “manly” from weight lifting, what do you think about that perspective? I totally understand. It’s natural and normal to think that way. CrossFit highlights amazing female athletes who
are incredibly strong with an overall fitness level off the charts. Those women live, breathe, eat, and sleep to be at that level of fitness. They train two hours, twice a day, six days a week to build muscle and perform competitively. It’s a matter of reassuring women that gaining bulk from lifting weights, at our level, is not going to happen. Actually the opposite is going to happen, they are going to build lean muscles, lose fat, get toned, and they are going to love it. It also depends on their nutrition, and it’s our responsibility to educate them on that topic. Whatever results they are looking for is half hard work at the gym and half hard work with what they prepare for themselves in their kitchen.
What is your advice for people who have very busy schedules with work and family and friends but still want to be fit and feel their best? The first thing to do is be on point with nutrition. What you put in your body nutrient wise is so important, and there are so many options out there to make it happen even if you don’t have time. There are a lot of clean meal delivery services out there to feed a well-functioning body: healthy proteins, vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, and clean oils like olive oil and coconut oil, with no artificial or chemical ingredients. Then I would advise them to do High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT). The best and fastest way to get back in shape 20 to 30 minutes a day. HIIT will help you burn fat, build lean muscles and a healthy heart without
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equipment, increase metabolism and can be done everywhere.
Why is helping to inspire and motivate women feel good about their bodies and health important to you? Women are stronger than they think they are but they just need to be reminded of that. That’s why I am here. I will tell them to step up and go heavier on a lift if I think that they will do it successfully, or to step back and work more on form or mobility. I love training women because I absolutely love to see them grow, and nothing makes me happier than them achieving things they would have never thought possible. It can be anything: a back squat at a certain weight, a pull up, or just showing up and being committed for more than three weeks. At that moment you start to see a really cool thing: they gain a lot of confidence, they interact with each other, and support each other. I’m passionate about what I’m doing, I love to train, I love educating people about nutrition, I love to dance. I don’t have to force it, and even though I can be very shy sometimes, I’m a very happy person, and people love and need that. If I can inspire and influence one woman every day for the rest of my life, I’ll die happy.
All Clothing Provided by Nike. Production by XTheStudio. For more information on Isabelle, visit IsabelleDerond.com on CrossFit, visit bowerycrossfit.com
Beatrice I nn
Chef Angie Mar’s fearless balls to the wall
A 100-year-old building in the West Village of New York City has had many lives. In the restaurant’s re-birth, Chef Angie Mar continues to share her love of meat and wild game where a fork is optional, but a knife is a must.
approach, yet cool under pressure, earned her the Chopped Grill Masters, Grand Champion title on the Food Network’s season two finale in August 2015. One of the items in the appetizer basket was a rattlesnake but that didn’t intimidate her considering she had no prior experience cooking or preparing it. It’s no surprise that this side of her persona has been a key ingredient in her success as a chef and now an owner of her own restaurant. The Beatrice Inn.
Photography by Jhane Hoang Art Direction by Louis Liu | Fashion Editor Marc Sifuentes Hair and Makeup by Anthony Joseph Hernandez Interview by Pauline Snyder-Goodwin
Once a speakeasy in the 20’s, and then an Italian eatery in the 50’s, running two quarters of a century. In 2006 it became an underground nightclub that was more of a play-den for nightly debauchery of A-list celebrities, supermodels, and the stylists who
THE BEA LIVES!
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DINING
Chef Angie Mar photographed in the safari atrium dining room at Beatrice Inn
dressed them until the city shut it down in 2009 due to noise and traffic complaints. In 2012, Graydon Carter reopened it as a classic NY chophouse with a revolving door of chefs until 2014, when Chef Angie Mar thankfully took the reigns of the kitchen breathing new life into the menu with her decadent meat dishes. Chef Mar recently had the fortuitous opportunity to purchase the Beatrice Inn, making it her own; and reincarnating, once again, this iconic West Village locale. The restaurant’s ambience is a perfect blend of masculine and feminine, with a nod to it’s lively past, yet with a modern twist of the present. Guests can devour their 45-day, dry-aged burger or game pie in a dark, wood clad room up front. Or, they can have a seat in the back dining area in a lighter, airy room,
with a sexy emerald green fireplace. Wildlife paintings and mirrors under a vast skylight all serve as the perfect setting for the roast duck flambé. The entire feast can be washed down by one of the unique cocktail creations prepared in the classic bar intended to complement the meaty dishes. Acknowledging it’s hedonistic past, the infamous disco ball still floats from the ceiling. A neon sign on the wall in the front room by artist Esmeralda Kosmatopoulos named “Coupe de foudre”, which reads “Emotional Supplies”, subliminally suggests to guests that good food, drink, and company are the best remedies to heal your hungry heart and soul. We recently caught up with Chef Angie Mar to learn more about her and her new role as owner of the Beatrice Inn.
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Congratulations on your purchase and recent re-opening of the Beatrice Inn. As a restaurateur, has your role as a Chef evolved in the kitchen? What have been the challenges? Thank you, we are all tremendously excited. I think my role has definitely evolved, and as with anything there are always challenges. We are all going through a huge growth period at the Bea currently, and it’s a really fun and exhilarating time for us.
What motivated you to become a chef ? When I was young, I never actually thought of becoming a chef. My family has always been in the restaurant industry.
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My aunt was the great Ruby Chow, and many of my other family members owned restaurants around the city. I went into the corporate world for a long time, but was never happy. I quit my job and traveled to East Africa and Spain. I was in Sevilla one night on a tapas crawl, and that’s when it hit me. I wanted to cook. When I returned to the States, I moved to New York with $250 in my bank account, enrolled in culinary school, and never looked back.
Tell us about your family childhood dinners. My family has such a love for food. So many of my best memories are from around our dinner table. My mother grew up bouncing back and forth between England and Taipei. And my father is American, so food at our house was always a mixed bag. I grew up eating all things meat; Taiwanese food to t-bones and rice, shepard’s pie and liver and onions, to roast ducks at Christmas.
Who has been your biggest mentor in the kitchen? I feel tremendously lucky to have worked for such talented chefs and restaurateurs such as April Bloomfield and Andrew Tarlow, and of course was able to learn an invaluable amount from them. Pat La Frieda has been a huge influence, mentor, and friend throughout the years. He has always guided me through the nuances of business, career, and of course the world
of meat. My greatest love and influence though have been my kitchen crew. I find it rare that perhaps the people that I employ and manage would play such a huge role in my growth and outlook on life. But the crew that I have in my kitchen at the Beatrice may just be the finest crew cooking in New York right now. I learn from them every single day. They have enabled me to cook food from my wildest dreams with their enthusiasm, passion and skill. Most importantly, they have taught me how to be a better cook, a better chef, and a better person.
I'm a meat lover. What dish should I order at the Beatrice Inn? What’s the perfect cocktail or wine pairing with this dish? That’s a loaded question, my entire menu consists of the meat! Honestly, my favorite item on the menu right now is the Whiskey Aged Tomahawk Rib Eye. We are the only restaurant in the U.S. implementing this dry aging technique right now. I picked up this technique from a butcher in France last year and was so excited to roll it out here when we opened the Bea. I love a Brunello with this steak. My wine director has done an amazing job curating our list so there is something for every palate. Then of course, you could never go wrong with bourbon rocks and a good piece of beef either.
You’re known for your milk braised pork shoulder. What inspired you to create this? My family has always had Sunday supper. When I was 15, my father asked me to start contributing to it. So I pulled a milk pork recipe out of one of his old cook books. I saved all my money, went grocery shopping and made the dish. It turned out terribly! The milk was curdled and I don’t think that I braised it long enough so the pork was a bit dry. I served it to my family anyway despite the relentless teasing from my brothers. Every Sunday after that I made the pork braise until I figured out how to make it perfectly and it got my family’s seal of approval. To this day, every time I make this dish for them they still tease me about the curdled broth. But when I taste this dish at my restaurant, it still reminds me of home.
Your menu offerings include dry-aged beef. What’s the advantage of dry-aged v.s. fresh? I love dry-aged beef. Everything about it. The tenderness, the robust flavors, the funk. I actually don’t serve any fresh beef at my restaurant because I love the flavors so much. There are vast differences in
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aged and fresh meat. When you age meat the amino acids break down the muscles creating tenderness. It will also lose about 30% in water weight which will concentrate flavor.
“Where’s there’s smoke there’s flavor”. What ways do you like to add smoke to a dish? There is something about cooking with fire that I find incredibly sensual and primal. I love roasting meat over wood and open flame but since we are in a New York basement restaurant, that isn’t possible. So when I wrote the menu I tried to find ways to interject those flavors and bring that primal quality to the restaurant’s menu. We tend to do a lot of cold smoking here which gives our food flavor and character, but still allows us to cook a finished product quickly and efficiently.
You were born in Seattle, WA. Are any of your dishes influenced by your Northwest roots? My food is definitely influenced by my family. My childhood, what we ate, my travels, and so on. One of my favorite memories is picking blackberries in my father’s backyard. In Seattle they grow like weeds. My brothers and I used to climb over the fence and eat the berries until our fingers and lips were stained blue. Then we’d pick even more and bring them back to the kitchen where we’d make jam for our pancakes on Sunday. It’s the same jam that we serve with our chicken liver pâté.
Do you incorporate locally sourced items into your kitchen? You know, I have never been an advocate for buying locally sourced. It's not that I am against it at all, and when the product is exceptional, I will always buy it. My philosophy on sourcing for my kitchen has been and always will be that I simply want perfection. The perfect beef, the perfect venison, the perfect stone fruit or leaf of sage. Regardless of where it comes from.
What global influences can we see in your dishes? When I was seven, I took my first trip to France. I remember sitting at an outdoor café eating veal kidneys in cream and cognac and declaring that I would not return to the States at all. The food of rural France and Italy has always been a huge influence on me. I love the rustic simplicity those cuisines hold.
B E AT R I C E I N N
Top Left: Main dining area featuring "Emotional Supplies" neon sign by artist Esmeralda Kosmatopoulos. Top Right: Smoked Bourbon Old Fashioned cocktails. Bottom: Roast Duck Flambe served with cherry jus and fingerlings lyonnaise.
Best advice you can give a woman wanting to become a chef ? What techniques must she master in the kitchen? I think the word “Chef ” gets vastly overused. We can turn on the television and there is an entire network devoted to people that are not chefs, but are called that. To me, “Chef ” is the leader of the kitchen, of the restaurant, the artist and visionary, and the one who is ultimately responsible for everything that goes right or wrong. But at the end of the day, I believe that we are all cooks or as the French say, “commis”. We are all still learning and evolving. One of the things that I have always loved about kitchens is that they are genderless. Kitchens are ageless. There is no race, nor religion, only cooks. And my best advice to anyone who is looking to cook is to work hard, to learn, to be a sponge and observe everyone and everything that is better than you are – be humble and learn from them. Don’t be afraid to push yourself to the point where you think you may break. When we push ourselves to that point is when we truly grow.
How did you get involved with Free Arts NYC? Do you support other other nonprofits? Free Arts NYC is such a great organization. I am truly honored to be working with them. I view creating food as an art so if I have the chance to support new artists, I always will. I am also the Culinary Chair for SHARE Cancer Support, which is an organization that supports breast and ovarian cancer awareness.
What do you do for fun when you’re not creating amazing things in the kitchen? I love New York. I truly think there is no better city in the world to live in. When I am not in the kitchen, I am sure to be in one of my favorite dinner spots around the city.
What’s your secret to staying fit and fabulous? Do you have a fitness routine?
for me to get out of the kitchen once a day and clear my head.
Last book you read? The Englishwoman’s Kitchen. It’s a fantastic vintage cookbook that was given to me.
If you only had one meal left to eat, what would it be? Death Row Meal- Great question. This is a game I often play with my chef friends at the end of a great meal together. For me, it would have to be my dad’s specialty- ground pork with salted duck eggs over jasmine rice. Not what you’d expect I know. A lot of people always name something incredibly fancy but for me, it’s the opposite. I’d go back to comfort, to the beginning, to one of my first food memories. At the end of the day, it’s just food. But we may as well make it count.
My secret might be lifting all that meat! I actually go to the gym during the day so I can get a quick workout in. It’s so good
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Production by XTheStudio. For more information visit TheBeatriceInn.com
IRIS COVET BOOK
Ryan Korban REDEFINING LUXURY
Ryan Korban is one of the exceptions of retail designâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; a young and innovative creator of interior spaces. Pioneering a new approach, Korban is re-envisioning the spaces where we shop.
Portraits by Dustin Mansyur | Art Direction by Louis Liu Grooming by Anthony Joseph Hernandez | Fashion Editor Marc Sifuentes Interview by Benjamin Price
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DESIGNER PROFILE
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yan Korban has established a stronghold following in the niche of retail design, with an A-list roster of fashionable clients such as Balenciaga, Aquazurra, and his most notable long-time collaboration with Alexander Wang. Launching his design career at the age of 22, Korban set out on a mission to manufacture environments for the public that evoke a sense of comfort, beauty, awe, and extravagance. With a love of luxury and refinement, and an undying passion for things that are new, youthful, and modern, Korban has a unique design aesthetic that sets him apart. When stepping into Korban’s home, guests are met by the welcoming fragrance of a distant Dyptique candle contrasting against an optic palette of dark wood floors and whitetrimmed walls. The living spaces are tastefully curated in a palette of monochrome with accents of concrete, raw crystal, wood, and fur. The home feels inviting and familiar, yet intricately curated like a pristine gallery space. It is clear to see that the young designer pays attention to every detail, from the width of the drapery down, to the fractional angle of each beautifully-curated object atop the oversized wooden coffee table. Here, Ryan has sat down with Iris Covet Book to discuss his career, his designs, and his recent projects and plans.
I wanted to start with your time at the New School, and I was wondering if there were any indicators that you were going to be working in interior design during your education? When I look back on it and when I was much younger, there were indicators, but when I had originally moved to New York to go to the New School I had planned on becoming an actor. I spent a lot of my high school life in the theater and I tried to join the Actor’s Studio at the New School to become a theater actor. Then when I started studying more European art history and liberal arts, I moved more towards art and design. I realized that what I liked most about the theater was the idea of creating an atmosphere and a space that was different than the world outside. I then decided that I was going to go down a design path.
Yeah, it seems like your work is very much about storytelling and atmosphere. That’s sort of what I do. I don’t see myself as a decorator and that is why I went straight into specializing in retail design. For me it’s more about giving experience to a public space, and it rings true to the trajectory of my path and career and what I have always done.
Were you always more interested in pursuing retail spaces rather than private? If so, why? I set out to do retail design which is what I always wanted to do. I had such a strong passion for design and fashion and had all of these creative fashion people around me. The ultimate experience to me was retail design; to be able to create a space that is so alluring in its design that people want to consume within it and spend their hard earned money inside this space because it feels so good to them. I also really love the idea of creating a space that I can come back to over and over again. It’s a space that you have to find a way to keep alive, and it takes work to keep it going. That’s why it all started in the retail world and that was the beginning of my career and the most important part of what I do. People’s homes are important to them, and while it can be rewarding and I want to give them a beautiful home, at the end of the day I move on. Retail spaces are an extension of a brand, and to be able to have something that is in the city which people from all over the world can see and experience is important to me.
When you are designing these retail spaces what is the first thing that you turn to? The brand, color, form, materiality, the customer, the designer? Unfortunately, or fortunately, I am sort of a bit boring in the sense that I am not like a traditional decorator. I start very pragmatically and business-oriented. I like to really understand the business, the future of the business, how it wants to grow, how much product they want to fit into the space, and if they want to introduce new product categories, etc. I like to get a really good handle on what the future of the space is going to be and how the space will help grow the brand, because at the end of the day, I want to create something that is very successful. The first thing I do before I start a project is to sit down with the retail team and the President of the company to learn about the business and the goals of the space.
Do you think that’s common in interior design or are you unique in this approach? I don’t think I’m unique because there’s a lot of incredible people who I think I would be lucky to even have a little bit of their career, but I do think that maybe for my generation it is a little more unique. As a young designer, when I first started out in this industry I felt like the other designers doing this were much older
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than me and there were no peers of mine in that retail world. I think for most people in the retail or hospitality world, what they like about it, is being able to add value to a company through your design as an extension of the brand; it is the most rewarding thing that you can do. You can make a beautiful space anywhere but if it is not lucrative then it serves no purpose.
Since you started out very young in a competitive business, has your experience been evolutionarily from your first retail space to now where you have brands such as Balenciaga and Aquazurra under your belt— how has that transition been? I think when I first started I was looking to the past a bit more and I had a much more layered look, and I was a little freer. I look back at the first store I did and I was just so free with it and just put together whatever I thought would look beautiful. Then over the course of my career I really stripped things down and became the type of designer that likes things edited. Over the past eight years I have looked back at all of the layers to decipher what were the most important ones. Now I think my philosophy has really landed to editing things down, and taking one thing that you really believe in so that it is almost like your brand owns that material and you’ve made it your own. For Balenciaga, I found this dark green stone and for some reason it just felt so right and it was a time when a lot of people were doing black and white. And instead of just doing some bits of green marble around the store, I felt it necessary to go for it in a huge way so it becomes so recognizably Balenciaga. It felt monumental and like a very holistic way of thinking about things. I really tried to stay true to that approach.
Can you tell me about your experience with Aquazurra? With Aquazurra, when the designer, Edgardo Osario, told me he really liked pink I thought, “Ok, let’s really own the pink.” I found this pink suede which I loved and I thought we could just upholster some sofas in it. But, “what if we clad every single wall in the space in this pink suede?” This way, people really get the message that we own pink suede.
Then the brand becomes this whole environment. I think that’s about selling fantasy, too. Definitely. You know, after looking at a lot of materials with a client and what
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they say more than anything is that they want something that has never been used before. While there are lots and lots of materials being developed every day, in the end we have been using the same stones since Ancient Greece. It’s less about finding a material that you have never seen before and more about taking the material and doing something in the application of it that people have never seen before. There are only so many materials in the luxury sector, so sometimes my philosophy is more about something that people have seen, but never in that way. That strikes a balance of familiarity and excitement.
Especially for retail spaces it must be important to create an element of familiarity because you want the customer to feel comfortable, yet intrigued. Since we are talking about spaces, can you tell us about your experience designing your friend and colleague, Alexander Wang’s apartment? It’s a really natural, fluid collaboration that we have been doing for so many years that it seems second nature. It’s just a really easy working relationship where we both know where each other go and how to push each other. What I think is really interesting about the spaces we create together is that they sort of represent the new generation of design where people don’t want a decorated space but they still want really beautiful things. I think the idea of the classical sense of decoration is something really old fashioned and kind of dead, and what we strive to do together is assemble really beautiful objects in a space that somehow feels fresh, modern, and youthful.
It sounds like you like to start with the bare bones and work your way out from there. Yeah, I mean that’s what we did—the space is really just white walls and black floors which is what we wanted to emphasize. We wanted to strip it down and make it not feel fussy so we could go in and pick really cool, sometimes eccentric pieces, but because of the architecture of it, the objects took on a more gallery feel than they normally would have.
One thing I have noticed with your work and your private home is there is a lot of focus on bold, graphic shapes and structures as well as a heavy mix of texture. So, I am wondering if you can describe what your aesthetic is? I like really beautiful, amazing craftsmanship. I like luxurious materials,
Facade of the Balenciaga's Women's Store, Soho, NYC
but I just really like things to feel fresh. I am not sure how to articulate that… but it is just something that I have to see. The idea is to redefine luxury for my generation so that I can represent the future of design. It is an industry that moves slower than fashion, for example. And it is an industry that a lot of young people are interested in so it’s a question; “what can I do to help people see things in a new way?” That’s the way it manifests itself in my work. Mixing worlds of old and new in a way that is digestible to someone who may not live in a fourmillion-dollar apartment.
Since you are younger than I imagine most of your peers are, you are sort of tasked with carrying the torch for the next generation of designers. Well, I am not sure if that’s true. It’s a nice thought, and if it is in fact the truth, then I feel really confident about it and it is something I am really passionate about. One thing I would like to see in this industry is definitely an infrastructure of support for the youth of our industry.
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The nature of this industry, you know, it takes so long to do a project and it does take a certain budget, so since it is sort of hard to do this at a certain age I would like to see more support. I was starting off at twenty-four and I didn’t have anyone to turn to, and there’s not really much support for people of that age in the industry.
That’s interesting that you say that because in fashion there’s so much beckoning towards youth to influence everything. Exactly, and I was coming up parallel to friends of mine who were in the fashion industry and I saw how much support they were getting—and you know I am not complaining. I got so much support and I turned to the fashion world because they were so supportive of me when I couldn’t turn to the design world. That was something that became my identity; this young fashion world interior designer, and in a way the fashion world accepted me before the design world did, and I am forever grateful for that. I was feeling <continues on page 131>
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Interior of the Balenciaga's Women's Store, Soho, NYC Photo by Naho Kubota, courtesy BALENCIAGA
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Interior of the private residence of designer Alexander Wang, in NYC
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very insecure about not being supported by this magazine or that magazine and looking at other designers, and I felt like it was so far away from me. When I started my first book, I worried that everyone was going to laugh at me. But I had something to say, and I think that now all of those things that I was insecure about really set me apart and helped me carve out my own career. When I look at it, I am in a really modern place in my career. Now I am not defined as an interior designer and I am not in any sort of box, and what better position to be in in this day and age than to be able to diversify and create who you want to be.
What can you tell me about this image of the Fivestory boutique and your experience designing it? I really love working in small spaces; I think it’s very New York. It’s how I started and I think that smaller spaces are more of a challenge. Fivestory was such a great challenge in the sense that there were so many product categories to fit in this narrow townhouse but this townhouse was just so beautiful and had so much charm that being able to work with it and renovate it was such a rewarding experience. With that project, more than anything, you really have to start with zoning the whole space and thinking about each category and how it will be organized because there’s no room for error. It’s scary because you have to make very definitive decisions and be confident in them. I love that it’s an Upper East Side place, but someone from downtown can come in and feel very comfortable. I love being defined by that and the blend of youthful, fresh downtown aesthetics, mixed with more refined, luxurious uptown tastes, and a project like Fivestory really represents that.
You have a private residence building in the works and I know it is under wraps, but I am wondering what you can tell our readers about it? I am working on my first full residential development building downtown which means that it is a completely Ryan Korban branded building downtown. I am so thrilled about the project, it is a dream project, but I don’t know—I just feel like, gee I hope I get hired again once this is finished. I’ve never really felt successful and even if I did I would never sit back. I am always anxious and wondering where my next job is and who will be hiring me.
In our last issue we featured the famous photographer Bettina Rheims and she said
Interior of the Aquazzura Boutique, Madison Ave, NYC Photo by Naho Kubota.
she never knew what the next step would be, she just hoped there would be another project that she could work on. Do you have a big goal or a dream client, or are you just taking it step by step? No, I mean there are obviously things I would like to do, but my main goal is to just keep doing what I am doing. I am so grateful for all of the work that I have had and the only thing I want to do is just keep working.
What would you say to young students or designers who are trying to enter this highly competitive field? I think the biggest thing you can tell someone is to stop thinking about it and just do it. I used to live in a four-hundred square foot studio above a bar and I thought that there was no way I could ever be in Elle Décor or Architectural Digest, but I decorated that studio like it was Versailles and didn’t think for two seconds that it was above a bar or only four hundred square feet. I took it to the Wall Street Journal and they ran it and it was in the Style section, and it was the first press I ever had. So, I didn’t sit around thinking, “How am I going to get into Elle Décor or get my first client?”, I just did it. I think people get scared because they think they have to do things a certain way or they have to wait. I didn’t want to wait until I was forty and had twenty different projects to put in a book, I wanted to do a book so I did it. I think you should really take advantage of the time when you are young and
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have nothing to lose because that’s when you can take risks.
Would you like to expand your company at a certain point to LA or Chicago, or perhaps even work internationally? We do a lot of international work in London and Madrid, and there’s definitely a lot of stuff in the works right now! I feel like for me, because I work with international designers in Asia and Europe, it is the natural next step. I’m interested in the European market because I think it is so cool that through a studio in London you can reach clients in Italy, France, and all the way to the Middle East.
What do you think is the future of interior design and retail spaces? I think it is an interesting time in Europe and New York. The client is different than it was a few years ago, and retail is in a much different place. I have to start looking forward and seeing what the future of retail is and what my role is in that, so getting to know the international market and what is there, is all a part of understanding what the future of retail is. It can be kind of scary, but you have to look at it as an exciting time. If one business model is not working, then it will really fall on us to decide what the new model will be. That’s a really exciting project. Production by XTheStudio. For more information visit RyanKorban.com
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D E ST I N AT I O N
Faena Hotel MIAMI BEACH, USA
The Faena Hotel of Miami Beach delivers a hospitality experience that evokes all of the beauty and star-quality of the days of Old Hollywood.
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Miami is a city that has experienced the transformative power of the arts. With this conviction in mind, Alan Faena and Len Blavatnik debuted Faena Hotel Miami Beach in December 2015, reimagining the historic Saxony Hotel, originally built in 1947 by George Sax and designed by Roy F. France. Once known as the “Queen of Collins Avenue,” the hotel reigned in the 50’s and 60’s as the lodestar of glamour, where Hollywood icons Frank Sinatra, Marilyn Monroe and Dean Martin once performed and dazzled the crowds. The sunny days and sexy nights are back, with Alan Faena envisioning each one of the 169 rooms and suites and 13 penthouse residences spanning the top two floors of the property. To make his vision come to life, he enlisted film director/producer Baz Luhrmann and Academy Award winning costume designer Catherine Martin to develop the narrative for what would become the essence of Faena Hotel Miami Beach. Together they created an artful visual language that recalls the glamour of the 1950s: stunning Art
Deco appeal, old-world grandeur, hardwood floors, sumptuous Faena Red velvet and cool blue tiled bathrooms. Each floor features a signature Faena Butler offering guests one point of contact and personalized service throughout their stay, and all visitors to the hotel will additionally enjoy access to Experience Managers, who assist in designing the overall experience from pre-arrival planning to departure arrangements. Sun-worshipers can enjoy the palm-lined pool area and the beach club Faena Playa, which is situated on 100,000 square feet of pristine white sand.
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As part of their commitment to transform the ordinary into the extraordinary, Faena Hotel features remarkable works by artists Damien Hirst, Jeff Koons, Alberto Garutti, Gonzalo Fuenmayor, Manuel Ameztoy and Juan Gatti. Faena offers delectable gourmet meals to all of the guests out of Los Fuegos by Francis Mallmann, the celebrated chef ’s only restaurant in the United States, offering a contemporary take on the Argentine dining experience. Faena has additionally collaborated with award-winning chef Paul Qui, who has debuted Pao by Paul Qui– Qui’s first
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restaurant outside of Texas – which offers the chef ’s renowned brand of modern Asian cuisine. Meanwhile, chef Gabriel Ask serves as Executive Chef for Faena Hotel Miami Beach, overseeing all Food & Beverage, as well as room service. The 3,000-square-foot Faena Theater, with its weekend world-class cabaret-style revues for guests and public alike, adds a worldly flair to Miami Beach, as will special performances by some of the most talented musicians, dancers and singers from all over the globe.
Tierra Santa Healing House is a one-of-akind South American inspired spa dedicated to the art of well-being, with a holistic approach to healing, fitness and relaxation. Conceived as an oasis for rejuvenation, the spa features custom treatments that meld ancient South American healing rituals, indigenous ingredients and the latest anti-aging technologies, including shaman-developed body treatments, acupuncture, sound and color therapy, as well as advanced facials. Located in the heart of Miami Beach,
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Faena District stretches north from 32nd Street to 36th Street, between the Atlantic Ocean and Indian Creek. Every single one of its elements defies convention while promoting cultural inclusiveness that will benefit the entire community. This is, at its heart, Faena’s definition of luxury: a clever combination of art, design, technology, service, nature and sustainability. Faena District is the result of a collaboration between some of the most talented and rebellious minds who continue to challenge existing concepts of culture, entertainment and community. By integrating art, architec-
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“The debut of Faena Hotel exemplifies our commitment to bring new and extraordinary experiences to Miami Beach. It gives me great pleasure to share with our guests thoughtful, attentive service in a warm, luxurious environment recalling the golden age of Miami.” -Alan Faena “We have collaborated with some of the most creative minds across a range of disciplines to revolutionize the travel experience. We look forward to welcoming visitors to this new and inspiring community in Miami Beach.” -Len Blavatnik “Miami is poised to become the capital that unites the Americas. It is our goal for it to also become one of the great cultural capitals of the world.” -Ximena Caminos
ture, nature and technology, Faena District will change the physical and cultural landscape of Miami Beach forever. Founded by Alan Faena, the Faena Hotel is a pioneer in its field, specializing in the creation of one-of-a kind holistic environments anchored in cultural experiences and socially responsible projects, which integrate residences and hotels with art and cultural spaces. The Faena is rooted in ideas and concepts that have the power to
reshape and enhance our world. Its projects are platforms for personal expression, cultural interaction and original thinking—destination landmarks encompassing new buildings, revitalized historic properties, and dramatic natural settings, which Faena develops collaboratively with teams of leading architects, designers and artists.
For more information visit faena.com
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Social SPOTLIGHTING
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KEN DOWNING X JOANNE KING HERRING X IRIS COVET BOOK Le Colonial Restaurant played host to our private dinner and after-party honoring cover stars Neiman Marcus SVP/fashion director Ken Downing and political activist Ms. Joanne King Herring. The chic yet comfortable surroundings kept the party going late into the evening with guests tasting the delicious Vietnamese cuisine from a crew of traditionally clad waitstaff. Riazul Tequila kept the libations flowing while the DJ and a cast of Cirque du Soleil inspired feathered friends entertained the guests. Downing and Herring are legends in their own right and we at Iris were grateful to have them as our guests of honor for this unforgettable night.
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Photography by Jhane Hoang 1/ Charles & Lily Foster 2/ Lauren & Chloe Nguyen 3/ Harriet Gertner & Lance Rosmarin 4/ Gracie Cavnar & Joanne King Herring 5/ Malcom Morris, Joanne King Herring, Guillermo Sierra, & Tatiana Galitzine 6/ Eugene Esselborn & Rhys Kosakowski 7/ Roz Pactor & Alan Pactor 8/ Fred Heredia, Cassidy York & Irma Brindis 9/ Larry Brookshire & Irma Brindis 10/ Marc & Duyen Huynh Nguyen 11/ Maha Rasheed Khan
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THE BLONDS X IRIS COVET BOOK X STOLI ELIT Tao Downtown was the host venue for The Blonds fashion week after party. The Blonds, Stoli Elit and Iris Covet Book celebrated the release of our issue #4. Cover stars Phillipe and David Blond partied alongside NYC legend Susanne Bartsch, television personality Robert Verdi and the usual cast of outrageous club kids while dancing the night away. Iris Covet Book was honored to feature the duo on our cover and to celebrate the brand's 10 year anniversary of creating iconic fashions.
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7/ Jonté, Ansoni & Susanne Bartsch 8/ Staniel Ferreira, George Pérez, Clair Westenberg & friends 9/ Emily Simone 10/ Kyrk Corbin & Jasmine Schutt-VanMeveren 11/ Dominique Bacote & Allan Kent 12/ RJ Raizk & David Casavant 13/ Sherica Maynard 14/ Aman Ahluwalia, Junix Fernandez, Aleshia Chow, Enrique Crame III 15/ Phillip & David Blond 16/ Eliseu Zimmer & Jefferson Santiago
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Catching Up With... CARSON KRESSLEY
If James Bond were to reinvent himself as a fashion stylist, he would be Carson Kressley. With more tools and tricks under his Hermès belt to offer the everyday woman, Golden Boy, Carson Kressley, has succeeded once again with his latest book; Does this Book Make My Butt Look Big? Portrait by Rainer Hosch Interview by Pauline Snyder-Goodwin
New York Times bestselling author Carson Kressley, has recently released his fourth book Does this Book Make My Butt Look Big? His other books include Off the Cuff: The Essential Style Guide for Men and the Women Who Love Them and You’re Different and That’s Super! A children’s book. He also coauthored Queer Eye for the Straight Guy as one of the Fab Five members. Kressley’s love of style began as early as his first day of kindergarten where he wore a plaid polyester leisure suit. Jump a couple of decades later and he’s a stylist for Ralph Lauren. This experience inspired him to design his own clothing line of “basics with a twist” for QVC. Kressley made his TV debut in 2003 on Queer Eye for the Straight Guy on the Bravo network which earned him an Emmy Award for “Outstanding Reality Program” paving his way to numerous TV and film opportunities, including hosting Lifetime’s How to Look Good Naked, and his first film appearance in The Perfect Man. A frequent guest on the Oprah Winfrey Show, in 2011, Kressley once again, collaborated with the media mogul, starring on OWN’s Carson Nation; a one hour reality show doing countless makeovers and “makeunders” all across the country. Carson continues to make appearances on TV as a fashion commentator on Good Morning America and the E! Network. He has also critiqued highprofile, red carpet events such as the Golden Globes and the Oscars. His new book, Does this Book Make My Butt Look Big? will have everyday women and fashionistas laughing until they cry as they peruse through this cheeky and informative style guide. Whether a fashion novice or
expert, Kressley’s latest book is a must have in every woman’s arsenal. We caught up with America’s fashionable sweetheart to learn more about him and the motivation behind his latest book.
Does this Book Make My Butt Look Big? is your fourth book and your first geared specifically to women. Why did you choose to write this book now and what do you want readers to take away from it? Well I started with a humorous title because I wanted to put the reader at ease. In all of my makeovers on TV from QUEER EYE to HOW TO LOOK GOOD NAKED to THE OPRAH WINFREY SHOW, I always use humor to make the person I'm making over comfortable. Getting dressed is supposed to be creative and fun and empowering, not stressful or intimidating and I think the title sets the right tone right off the bat.
In your book you give us your seven styleuniform staples. What shoe, accessory, and WOW piece would you add from this season to fine tune these staples? A stacked heel pump in a neutral like doeskin or soft graphite would be a great useful choice. Aquazurra makes a great one but there are many other good and less pricey versions of this shoe out there. I love a good jumpsuit and I think a lace one or one with embellishment like leather trim or gold grommets would certainly add wow factor and is a fun and modern alternative to the little black dress. Top it all off with a faux fur vest as an accessory and you have a really fun look!
I’m ready to “glamsform” my closet but it’s super tiny. What tips can you offer to
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maximize my space to make it fashion functional? Definitely try double rods. About half of your closet can be done in double rods for hanging twice as many jeans, pants and blouses. Leave the other half for hanging long skirts, dresses and jumpsuits. Try painting the ceiling or wallpapering the exposed wall with a fun and feminine color or print. A bold throw rug from a discount store like Marshalls or HomeGoods can be really fun too. Lastly make sure you have nice hangers (wood is best but when space is tight I like the slim velvet coated ones).
In your book you talk about a glam squad getting you ready to get the job done with your dance number on Dancing with the Stars and that it takes a lot to make famous people camera ready. What fast and easy advice would you give a friend that has a last minute interview in a creative field but no fashion squad to help her? A hair blow out from a blow out bar is a great way to look and FEEL great before a big meeting. A fresh manicure works wonders too! A little bit of bronzer on the face and you are set!
You end the book with a recap of your favorite fashionable women and one man. Have you ever been star struck by a fashion icon or celebrity that you were dying to meet? Who was it? Well I've had the honor and delight to meet two of my favorites! Dolly and Cher. They are as wonderful as I could have imagined. And I was speechless. That never happens.
You appeared numerous times on the Oprah Winfrey show when it was still in
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production. What was the best advice you received from the Queen of talk? Those were wonderful years. And that show was far and away in a league of its own. I guess the overall lesson learned there is: do your homework, do your very best always, and always work from the heart.
You were born in Allentown, PA and as a tot lived in the town of Claussville in Pennsylvania Dutch country. My dad was from Allentown too and it’s not often I come across someone from this part of the world! Do you visit often? What was the best thing about growing up there? The worst? Oh I go back all the time and actually bought a farm there. Now I can be near my horses and my family!!! And it's so close to NYC so that makes it easy. And contrary to the images conjured by Billy Joel's "Allentown", it's not all smokestacks and showering steelworkers (ok, it is too bad about the last part!). It’s really very beautiful in the countryside and provides a wonderful escape from the hustle and
bustle of NYC and LA. The best part was growing up on a horse farm and being surrounded by animals. The worst, there wasn't a Neiman Marcus for miles!!!!
In your younger years, what did you envision yourself doing for a career as an adult? I always new I wanted to work in design. Either architecture, interior design or fashion design!
You styled your sister for her prom. Does she still seek you for styling advice? Any other members in your family you enjoy styling? Yes I did!!! And yes I still offer my two cents even when they don't ask!!!
You’re a world-champion equestrian. Tell us about your love of riding horses? When did this begin? I've loved horses since I was a kid. They are pure magic and have such wonderfully kind hearts. I love the partnership required to compete successfully. I also love the camaraderie of horse shows and the wonderful people who I get to spend time with sharing a common passion.
Favorite place to people watch? Airports usually! It's a real sample of the entire world!
You’re stranded on an island. What’s one item you can’t live without? A Ralph Lauren slim fit, skinny cable, cashmere sweater. It's so comforting!!!!
When out in public have you ever taken it upon yourself to approach a stranger that was tragically in need of some fashion help? No but I really should. It's the lord’s work really.
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Does This Book Make My Butt Look Big? Published by St. Martin's Griffin
IRIS COVET BOOK
Last Look VERSACE
BY DONATELLA VERSACE runway and backstage shots to intimate scenes at the Versace atelier, with accompanying original essays penned by fashion’s most authoritative voices. Featuring arresting photography by Richard Avedon, Irving Penn, and Steven Meisel, among many others; images of Versace fashions modeled by the original "supers," such as Christy Turlington, Naomi Campbell, and Linda Evangelista; and red-carpet coverage of Hollywood’s elite wearing dazzling Versace couture, this glittering volume delivers the magnetic vibrancy, supreme luxury, and glamour quotient that define Versace.
Versace—a name that epitomizes Italian opulence, bold sexiness, and a flair for the extravagant—holds its place firmly in the fashion world as a legendary and iconic luxury brand. Taking over the creative artistic direction of the family-run fashion house in 1997 after her brother Gianni’s untimely death, the enigmatic and alluring Donatella Versace has since catapulted the brand into popular culture, cementing Versace as a go-to label for A-list celebrities. This richly illustrated tome chronicles Donatella’s interpretation of Versace in the twenty-first century and her remarkable work as the curator and face of Versace. Versace includes exclusive contemporary and archival imagery from
Published by Rizzoli
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