Plastik #00 by Neverbland

PLASTIFIED

visual magazine - issue 00 may - june 2009

DOLLS vs SOCIETY

featuring

David LaChapelle Viktor & Rolf Yayo誰 Kusama 1

PLASTIFIED

Welcome to the wonderful world of Plastik, Plastik with a K that is, a new bi-monthly magazine published by Beyond Productions, a dynamic collective of young and creative Lebanese. Proud to be from Beirut, yet not necessarily a publication on Beirut, Plastik is a celebration of beauty and creativity with a global perspective. Loosely based on a theme, every issue offers a series of original photo stories and a healthy mix of talented and more established names from the international world of art and culture. Critical, at times ironic, though not afraid to offer praise when praise is due, Plastik is always on the look-out for the thin line between the real and the fake in that ever more global world of ours, which seems to turn faster by the day. In the year that iconic all-American doll Barbie turned 50, Plastik presents The Dolls Issue, as we ask ourselves: is the doll a reflection of society or has society increasingly become a mirror of the all-plastic world of dolls and puppets? While we do not pretend to have the final answer in store, such modern-day giants as David LaChapelle, Yayoi Kusama and Victor & Rolf present their point of view, as they have all playfully tackled that most essential of questions: What is real? In addition, when reading about the lives and careers of the featured artists, one could argue that a second theme emerges from in between the lines. All these creative souls, from Banksy to Elie Saab, believe in the power of imagination and share an incredible will to fight and succeed, at times against all odds. The Beyond Team

24.EVEN DOLLS HAVE ISSUES 28.DAVID LACHAPELLEMODERN-DAY MICHELANGELO 36.KARL LAGERFELD-DRESSES KEN & BARBIE 44.MONTREAL-JE ME SOUVIENS 76.YAYOI KUSAMAUNDER THE SPELL OF THE RED FLOWERS 88.TEN QUESTIONS 96.ELODIE LACHAUD-SOMEWHERE BETWEEN HERE AND ETERNITY 108.EMPOWERED 118.POUPEES OF THE SAAB MANSION 116.BOMBING THE WORLD WITH BANKSY 124.HOOKERS VS COUTURE-DUTCH WINDOW DRESSING 131.GUILTY PLEASURES 145.VIKTOR & ROLF-THE DOLL HOUSE 152.ZIAD DOUEIRY-ON FALSE HEROES AND ETERNAL REBELS 156.MUST-HEAR/READ/SEE 164.PLAYLIST 166. SHOWROOM DUMMIES 174.GOODBYE TO ALL THAT 176.ICON- THE SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS 15

Publisher Beyond Productions Creative Director Eli Rezkallah Editor Peter Speetjens Communication Manager Hussein Sabbah Publication Supervisor Amal Khreish Assistant Creative Hasan-Kamel Sabbah Hekmat Ghandour Artworks Sari Nasrallah Daniel Abdel Sater Contributing Writers Nana Asfour Phoebe Graft Press Relations Serge Khoury Contributing Photographers Roger Moukarzel Steve Kozman Saad Hakkak Carine Badr Charbel Bou Mansour Responsible Manager Alber Chamoun

Beyond Production, Gemayzeh saadeh bldg tel. +961 1 576 888 plastik@beyond-production.com Plastik Magazine, published by Beyond Production s.a.l. ÂŠCopyright 2009 Beyond Production. Printing house Dots-Dar el Kotob

SAAD HAKKAK Saad Hakkak is a Canadian photographer of Lebanese descent, whose work previously featured in, among other magazines, Dressed To Kill. For the Plastik Montreal shoot, he tried to convey the urban feel of life in his hometown.

STEVE KOZMAN An eminent advertising and fashion photographer, Steve was fascinated by photography at an early age. According to Steve, photographs should be looked into and not at, simply because photography is about the artist more than it is about the art. Steve’s work in advertising has been published in magazines, such as Lürzer’s Archive and EPICA, and in the New York Festival.

NANA ASFOUR Nana Asfour has been living in New York City for the past fifteen years. She writes about art, especially Middle Eastern art and film, for various magazines including the New Yorker, Cineaste and the National. She misses Beirut every day.

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EVEN

HAVE ISSUES! In her book Forever Barbie, M. G. Lord draws some fascinating parallels between the evolution of Barbie and the development of American society. According to Lord, Barbie is like the collective subconsciousness of America. A quick visit to California’s Barbie Hall of Fame, home to some 20,000 different barbies, Illustrates her point.

In the 1980s, the years of Madonna’s anthem Material Girl, a careerist Barbie heads to work in a pink business suit, carrying a briefcase and business cards. Other career Barbies included a pediatrician with a miniskirt and pink stethoscope, and a police woman dressed in uniform, yet with a sexy dress on the side. There was also the patriotic Stars and Stripes Barbie dressed in a Desert Storm outfit. Oh, and let us not forget dear ol’ Ken, Barbie’s partner for years, the handsome male she divorced a few years ago. According to Mattel, Barbie felt the need to stand on her own two feet again. The fact that Ken entered Barbie’s life without any private male parts and still became a major hit in the international gay scene, arguably played a role in the couple’s breakup. If Barbie is indeed a true reflection of society, what does that tell us about new gal on the block Lil Bratz? Her most alluring features are the huge eyes and lips that are sure to make every man swoon. If Barbie is Audrey Hepburn, Lil Bratz is Pamela Anderson on steroids. So what is the message here? Dear kids, be prepared to enter the silicone era??!! The sexual connotations connected to dolls should not be underestimated. Even prudent Barbie has a noteworthy sexual past. The

idea to develop Barbie came from Ruth and Elliot Handler, founders of toy giants Mattel. The doll was designed by Jack Ryan, husband of sex goddess Zsa-Zsa Gabor and a former missile engineer who was known for his enormous sexual drive. Barbie’s surreal features have attracted a lot of attention over the years. Barbie stands 11 and a half inches tall. If she were a human being, she would measure 5 feet 6 inches, weigh 110 pounds, and have a 39-inch bust, 18-inch waist and 33-inch hips. No wonder that some critics claim she has been a major cause for girls to become anorexic. The same can be said of rival Lil Bratz. Recently, an American satirical publication, The Onion, launched a sketch, in which we see mothers worry about their daughters who think they are ugly, because they do not have out-ofproportion, huge Lil Bratz heads. While one can regard dolls as a reflection of society and society, in its turn, finds inspiration in the world of dolls (see for example the work of David LaChapelle and Victor & Rolf), one should be careful not to read too much into it. As writer M.G. Lord once pointed out, “talking with women about Barbie often told me more about those women than about Barbie. After all, a doll is also but a doll.” PS: After a 4-year legal battle, 50-year-old Barbie has finally delivered her sexy big-eyed rival a knock-out punch. In December 2008, a US federal judge ruled that MGA Entertainment, the maker of Lil Bratz, must pay Mattel, the maker of Barbie, $100 million in damages for violating copyright laws. The judge also ordered the company to stop producing Bratz and take all existing dolls of the shelves. Bye bye Bratz! Barbie rules!

©Steve Kozman

The very first Barbie appeared in 1959, wearing black eyeliner and dressed in a striped bathing suit and black pumps. As America prepared to land on the moon in the 1960s, Barbie appeared in a silver space suit as the “first lady astronaut.” In 1971, a blonde and tanned Malibu Barbie entered the scene, setting the standards for all Barbies to come. In 1983, Vanessa Williams was elected Miss America, the first black woman to ever win the title. Three years later, the first black Barbie was released.

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DAVID MODERN-DAY MICHELANGELO

©David Lachapelle

Text Peter Speetjens

FEATURE

He is regarded as one of the most influential photographers of our time, has been compared with all-time greats as Man Ray and Helmut Newton, while anyone who is someone in “celebrity-land” has to wait in line to be portrayed by him. Still, David LaChapelle stood at the point of becoming a gardener in Hawaii. At the time, he had spent some two decades working as a fashion and celebrity photographer, and was fed up. He still is. “The fashion industry is no place to grow old. You cannot age with dignity in the fashion world. Everything has to be new, new, new, all the time. Everything is replaceable,” LaChapelle said at a 2008 press conference in Stockholm, which hosted a major retrospective of his work. “It’s all about what it looks like, not about what it means,” he added. The fast pace of fashion and the mysterious powers that determine what is in today and out tomorrow can indeed be cruel. It can even turn deadly. In 2007, British stylist Isabella Blow who has been credited with the discovery of fashion designer Alexander

“The fashion industry is no place to grow old. everything has to be

new, new, new

all the time. everything is replaceable.”

Fortunately, LaChapelle did not fly to Hawaii to have a go at gardening, thanks to curator Fred Torres who persuaded him to do a show at his New York gallery. The exhibition was an overwhelming success and LaChapelle today can pretty much do anything he likes. Represented worldwide by Fred Torres, LaChapelle’s work has been shown in nearly all of the world’s leading galleries and published in a handful of books.

©David Lachapelle

McQueen, committed suicide. In addition to being ill, she had told friends that “she could no longer find a home” in the fashion world that she had helped create, yet that no longer liked her work.

FEATURE

“The people that look the most artificial are often the most real”

“I got this idea in my head that magazines were like a gallery and if you got your magazine page ripped out and someone stuck it on their refrigerator, then that was a museum – someone’s private museum,” LaChapelle said in an interview with Gianni Mercurio. At Interview, LaChapelle gradually developed the colorful, in-your-face style that has become his own. He always loved the erotic, the risqué, the fashionable, and always had a special interest in transvestites. One of his muses is the doll-like Amanda Lepore a.k.a. the Marilyn Monroe of the transsexual world. ”The people that look the most artificial are often the most real,” LaChapelle once said. After Interview, LaChapelle went on to become the absolute darling of fashion photography, doing covers for such magazines as Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair and Vogue. However, since that last shoot in Italy in 2005, LaChapelle has sworn never to do fashion again. Just art. Interestingly though, LaChapelle continued to use the same staged techniques, no longer to glorify fashion and celebrities, but to hold up a mirror of our consumer-driven society. His work today is iconic and ironic, all at the same time. It is 21st century pop art with a twist. Take for example his portrait of Leo DiCaprio as a 1950s hamburger sales boy or Britney Spears as an American Lolita with “Baby”

written on her behind. It’s bittersweet and somehow deeply sad. Thanks to his love for the grotesque and surreal, LaChapelle is often called the “Fellini of Photography.” He has so far published four books, including Artists and Prostitutes, a collection of his most famous celebrity portraits, and Heaven to Hell, his most complete book to date. With the dance documentary Rize, he has moreover established himself as a filmmaker to be reckoned with. While his work deals with such themes as consumerism, celebrity and modern Christian iconography, LaChapelle himself does not like to label his work. “It’s really about America today,” he once said. Asked to describe his work in the words of his best friend, he replied: “Escapist fantasies, celebratory, beautiful.” Some examples? A beautiful yet dazed woman stands in the street, while three men in suit appear from behind a giant plastic piglet. A junkie-like Pieta (Courtney Love) tenderly holds a Jesus-like figure. A giant plastic hamburger crushes a woman on the street. A woman lies naked in between steaks and sausages in a butcher shop. Four models eating raw steaks with chopsticks. A doll-like model with a bra stands in front of a wall of bras. Dolly Parton sits amidst a dozen of teddy bears lying in front of LA’s “Dollywood.” David LaChapelle does not do self-portraits. However, some people say every artwork in a way is a reflection of the artist’s inner self. If that is the case, the photo that comes closest to being a self portrait is arguably the image of a well-built beau standing in the midst of a ruined American suburb holding up a giant chain saw.

©David Lachapelle

Born in Connecticut in 1963, LaChapelle moved to New York in the 1980s to study photography and fine arts. As most aspiring photographers, his aim was but to do his own work. He soon found out however, that the city’s art galleries were not exactly standing in line for him. Help came in the shape of Andy Warhol who asked him to work for Interview, the leading New York magazine at the time.

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karl lagerfeld dresses Ken & Barbie 38

ÂŠKarl Lagerfeld

COVER STORY

“A Plastic Tan Never Fades” Barbie

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the world’s most wanted doll, Paris’ trendiest store, Colette, asked fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld to dress and photograph Barbie and her ex-husband, Ken. Lagerfeld‘s photos were on display during the month of March, after which they were put on sale, no doubt with an impressive price tag.

Through the lens of Lagerfeld, Barbie comes to life with class and a touch of irony. We see Barbie dressed in black alongside in Karl’s teddy bear in suit; in a white wedding dress with Ken in all-white as well; in a blue evening gown with Ken in tuxedo; and adorned with a huge hat that would make her an instant hit with the ladies at a very British day at the races. But the ultimate dazzle belongs to Ken. Most heads will definitely turn for the photo of Ken in hot pants showing off his all too real muscles. Even the long-legged Barbie, despite her plastic nature, seems to get slightly excited seeing all that!

Lagerfeld chose model Baptiste Giabiconi to bring Ken to life, and who on earth could object to that? The 61-year-old German designer seems as impressed as the rest of the world with the Italian beau, who posed earlier this year, alongside another world famous blonde, Jerry Hall, for Lagerfeld’s Chanel handbag ad-campaign. “Barbie amuses me,” said Lagerfeld to inaugurate the exhibition. “In a way, she’s touching by her naïve proposition of a certain representation of beauty that would not change across the decades. Actually she has physically not changed at all.”

COVER STORY

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FEATURE

©Yayoi Kusama

UNDER THE SPELL OF THE RED FLOWERS

FEATURE

AGAINST ALL ODDS Although she has lived in a mental institution since 1975, Yayoi Kusama is still regarded as Japan’s greatest living artist today. With solo exhibitions in major museums in France and the United States, Kusama has become a well-respected artist worldwide. Playful and childlike as her works may seem, they are the result of a journey that led the now 89-year-old to the edge of insanity and even suicide.

FEATURE

Born in 1929 in a rich family of merchants, Kusama knew she wanted to become an artist ever since she was a child. Her mother, however, thought otherwise and did everything in her power to suppress her daughter’s creative ambitions. Kusama’s mother, a strong-willed woman in charge of the family business, used to beat young Yayoi and tear apart any drawing she dared produce. Her brothers were not of much help either. They advised her to collect rather than produce art, as that is where money is made. In her essay “Why Do I Create Art?” Kusama described her youth as “truly miserable… I was an unwanted child born of unloving parents.” Fortunately for her, young Kusama was born as hardheaded as her mother. In response to the latter’s abuse, Yayoi took refuge in an ever greater production of paintings and paper cuttings. Kusama’s use of repetitive, seemingly endless patterns of polka dots may aesthetically be very pleasing, but is the result of a rare mental disorientation. Ever since she was a child, the artist has suffered from severe hallucinations. One day at the age of ten, Kusama was staring at a tablecloth’s red flower pattern. The moment she looked up, the flowers had also appeared on the ceiling, the walls and even on her own body. “I felt as if I had begun to self-obliterate, to revolve in the infinity of endless time and the absoluteness of space, and be reduced to nothingness,” Kusama once said. To her, this was not a simple trick of the senses, but something actually happening. Frightened, she ran up

the stairs in an attempt to escape from “the spell of the red flowers.” In her haste to run from danger, she fell and injured her ankle. Such hallucinations continue to haunt Kusama to this very day. She believes her disorder is the result of the verbal and physical abuse she suffered as a child. However, she has learnt to live with her condition, whereby art serves as a kind of therapy, a way to act out her fears. “If it were not for art, I would have killed myself a long time ago,” Kusama wrote. While she has worked with all sorts of media, the infinite networks of polka dots have been a constant factor in her artistic career. A spectator stepping into Kusama’s dotted fairytale spaces also enters the artist’s inner world and somehow relives the loss of self she experienced as a child. According to Kusama, the polka dots symbolize disease, the reoccurrence of phallic symbols reflects sexual fear or obsession, while the nets symbolize the infinity of the universe.

The New York Years Despite her family’s objections, Kusama entered the Kyoto School of Arts and Crafts in 1947 and had her first show in 1952. She received good reviews, not only by art critics, but also by psychiatry professor, Shiho Nishimura, who introduced her work at academic conferences and advised her to move away from her abusive mother. In 1957, Kusama

traveled to the US, where she rapidly became a hit in the avant-garde art scene dominated by Andy Warhol. During the roaring 1960s, the years of “no war,” sexual revolution and “power to the people,” Kusama continued to work with nets and polka dots, but also experimented with several kinds of media, including film and photography. With the help of artists, hippies and political activists, Kusama staged polka-dot happenings in venues such as Central Park, Washington Square and Wall Street. While she urged onlookers to metaphorically burn Wall Street, she also staged a “Grand Orgy to Awaken the Dead at the Museum of Modern Art.” In a rare interview with Bomb Magazine, Kusama said that the New York police were never much trouble. They were just after a bribe. When she was directing the Wall Street happening and taken into custody, the police demanded she paid them to be freed. Bribes ranged from $400 to $1,000. “Since I paid them every time I was arrested, my happenings ended up as a good out-of-the-way place for them to make money,” Kusama said. Another work, “Air Mail Stickers,” which consists of over 1,000 of post office seals pasted on canvas, greatly influenced Andy Warhol. For a few years, Kusama was in fact more famous than Warhol, before falling out of fashion in the early 1970s. Penniless, ill and forgotten by the Big Apple’s art scene, she traveled back to Tokyo, where she has voluntarily lived in an open mental institution since 1975.

FEATURE

“IF IT WERE NOT FOR , I WOULD HAVE KILLED MYSELF A LONG TIME AGO.”

ART

Pumkin, 1994

FEATURE

Dots Obsession, 1996

FEATURE

“The police were never much trouble. They were primarily after a bribe.”

The life Kusama now leads is one of a sharp contrast with the wild New York years. Every morning she wakes up and walks to her studio, located just around the corner. She heads back to the hospital for lunch, returns to the studio, and then walks back to have dinner and sleep. “It’s very comfortable, very private and very simple. I like it,” the 89year-old artist said. In addition to producing art, Kusama took on writing in the 1970s. Since then, she has published more than a dozen books, including her awardwinning The Hustlers Grotto of Christopher Street. Meanwhile, as she quietly lives her life between hospital and studio, her art has traveled all over the globe, as an increasingly curious art world has gradually rediscovered and embraced her work. Kusama has had major exhibitions all over Japan, Europe and the US. In 2004, her solo exhibition at the Mori Museum in Tokyo drew no less than 500,000 visitors. One of the most personally satisfying shows must have been the retrospective at MOMA, the Museum of Modern Art. Kusama was also asked to produce giant open-air structures in Japan, France and Portugal. As always, with the recognition come the awards. Since 2001, Kusama has received numerous medals, ribbons and the Praemium Imperiale, Japan’s most prestigious art award. She was, in fact, the first woman ever to do so. Today, Kusama is at the top of her fame. Better late than never, one would say. It has been a journey against all odds: from beaten child to New York starlet; from forgotten patient to one of the world’s most respected living artists. God knows she deserves it. 84

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HOOKERS COUTURE DUTCH WINDOW DRESSING

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Many cities have a Red Light District to accommodate the world’s oldest profession, yet none is more famous than that of Amsterdam. Situated along the canals in what is the oldest part of town, the “Wallen,” are home to hundreds of scantily-clad women showing off their stuff inside a red-lit window.

Amsterdam’s Red Light District is loosely organized in terms of age and color. Opposite the old church you will mainly find South American, African and older women, while Dutch and East European girls occupy the inner alleyways. In addition to the “ladies of pleasure,” there are dozens of sex shops, gay clubs, porn cinemas and live sex theaters. While critics claim the distrct is a modern-day Soddom and Gomorrah, advocates point at the blessings of the free market, as well as the thousands of tourists, both men and women, who visit the area on a daily basis. Amsterdam’s Red Light District is as old as the city itself and serves as a symbol of Holland’s famous liberal mindset. As sailors from afar were in need of a love for the night, Dutch authorities from the 14th century onward opted to regulate and tolerate rather than forbid the sex industry. They knew all too well that a ban would only force activities to go underground and fall prey to the criminal circuit. When a wave of Puritanism swept through the Low Lands in the early 20th century, the municipality decided to ban hookers and brothels, only to see them go undercover as massage parlors and art centers. Today, at the start of the 21st century, the Dutch political scene is once again dominated by conservatives and moralists, and the Amsterdam municipality is in the process of trying to curb the Red Light District.

According to local politicians, the area is a hotspot for the trafficking of women and drug dealing. In late 2007, Amsterdam went on the attack, as it forced local porn king “Fat Charles” to close over 60 windows and sell most of his properties to the municipality. Today, one third of the district’s some 360 windows are threatened with closure, in addition to the numerous sex shops, cinemas and theaters. So far, the only people not angry with the municipality are some fifteen Dutch fashion designers. As part of the “Red Light Fashion” project, Amsterdam’s authorities have offered them the windows formerly used by hookers. For a period of two years, the young and upcoming designers have the chance to present their clothes to a wider audience. The world famous windows of the Red Light District today offers haute couture side by side with hookers and prostitutes. According to deputy mayor Lodewijk Asscher, the project aims at bringing a new dynamics to the area by attracting a "new clientele for an economy of quality." Many people believe however that the fashion project is but a PR-stunt to create goodwill for the unpopular attack on the Red Light District. Rather than fighting criminality or promoting fashion, it is thought that the municipality and the city’s leading property developers, in fact, aim to build a series of luxury apartments, hotels and restaurants.

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“One third of the 360 windows are threatened with closure.”

Amsterdam’s Porn Emperor Nicknamed “Fat Charles,” because he once weighed 140 kilos, Charlie Geerts was born the son of a humble market vendor. He made a small fortune in the 1970s by selling sex magazines and attributes, before becoming the undisputed porn emperor of the Red Light District. Until recently, Fat Charles owned several buildings, rented out some 65 windows, and financed the opening of shops, cinemas and brothels. Local authorities worked with Fat Charles for years and have often praised the cooperation. In 2007, however, they accused him of being part of a criminal organization involved in drug dealing and women’s trafficking. Although the allegations were never proven in court, Fat Charles was forced to close his windows and sell off his properties. Mariska Majoor, a former window girl who today heads what is arguably the only prostitutes union in the world, criticized the move. According to her, pimps are the problem for prostitutes, not businessmen who rent out rooms to individual women. Cost: some 60 Euro a day. Unlike the average pimp, Fat Charles did not demand a percentage of the women’s income. Majoor does not claim that trafficking and exploitation, especially of Eastern European women, does not occur in Amsterdam. She just believes that the authorities have taken aim at the wrong target.

EYE-ON

©Elodie Lachaud

SOMEWHERE BETWEEN HERE AND ETERNITY

EYE-ON

AT HOME IN A NEW YORK TAXI

Anyone who has ever taken a taxi in New York will quickly recognize that Elodie Lachaud’s Taxi Series could only have been written in America’s leading metropolis. Who has not sat in the back of a yellow cab, watching life pass by with one eye, while the other is firmly fixed on the meter… that constant reminder that time is money in the Big Apple. But Lachaud’s images are, of course, more than simple registrations. In addition to the taxi, itself a symbol of being in between places, the warm dashboard colors, the neon light reflections of New York’s urban landscape and the raindrops on the window make us feel both at home and alienated at the same time. According to Lachaud, a graduate of the Academie des Beaux Arts in Paris, the main motive in her work is mobility. “I’ve always taken photographs of my wanderings. You can always see the same thing on them … the possibility of escape, of exodus, of desertion and of projection ... a feeling of uneasiness as well … I always have the word “borderline” on my mind. In a car, I feel free. Inside one, you have, at any time, a changing vision of the undefined space of a

moving car … a feeling of infinity. When I’m in a place, I always notice the emergency exit … the vanishing point … I guess I’m claustrophobic.” The mobility motive could be seen earlier in her photo series on Iceland and Palermo. In the first, she drove across the island and at regular intervals took photos of the horizon. Apart from the road or bridge she happened to be standing on – the horizon cutting the image in halves – she showed not a single distraction in the foreground, thus producing the perfect road to nowhere. Stuck between here and there, past and future, the image evokes a sense of being lost in a nameless place that could be anywhere. Still, the images are arguably a good reflection of the icy isle that lies forgotten on the edge of northern Europe and the Arctic. In her Palermo series, we again detect her fascination for car interiors, as well as hallways, doors and elevators… all similar symbols of being in between two worlds. Still, Serie Taxi might be her most complete work to date, because it captures the spirit of New York, as well as the concept of being in between things, of being somehow at home, somewhere, far away from home.

“I’ve always taken photographs of my wanderings. You can always see the same thing on them …

escape, of exodus, of desertion and of projection”

the possibility of

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EMPOWERED PHOTOGRAPHER STEVE KOZMAN CREATIVE DIRECTOR ELI REZKALLAH

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PoupÉEs of the

saab

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On special request of Unesco, Lebanese top designer Elie Saab on November 17, 2008 presented his Russian twin dolls Kalyst and Natalya. They are available in blue and pink, yet wear the same embroidered strapless dress with silk tulle underskirt encrusted in flowers and crystals accompanied by a bolero in shantung. The design of the dolls was inspired by the Diamond theme of Saab’s Haute Couture Spring Summer 2008 Collection. The pretty dolls were first presented to the public at the Frimousses de Creatures exhibition at the Petit Palais in Paris, and will be auctioned on November 27, 2009.

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OWNER OF A PARIS MODELING AGENCY

PAOLA REBEIZ

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QUESTIONS Funny, weird and revealing: a peek into the psyche of seven members of Lebanon’s creative community, as they answered 10 variations on the question “If you were …” If you were a book, what would you be? Lord of the Rings by Tolkien and The Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice If you were a historic figure, who would you be? Genghis Khan If you were a city, what would you be? Istanbul If you were a cartoon character, who’d you be? Betty Boop If you were your own worst enemy, what/ who would you be? Me myself & I If you were a film, what would you be? Scarface & V for Vendetta If you were an object, what would you be? A pair of extremely high heeled boots If you were an animal, what would you be? A black panther If you were a song, what would you be? Here comes the rain again by Hypnogaja If you were God, what would you change? Only fools play god ( & I think I’m smart …)

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If you were a book, what would you be? The Prophet (Khalil Gibran) Uplifling. If you were a historic figure, who would you be? Marie Antoinette /Aloof , Shopaholic ,Party animal ,Mmmm Queen! If you were a city, what would you be? Tokyo .. Slanty eyes and city buzz. If you were a cartoon character, who’d you be? Mickey Mouse a childhood favorite & my nickname by my Mom If you were your own worst enemy, what/ who would you be? Time ! Always chasing it. If you were a film, what would you be? Muriel’s Wedding ! A must watch Hillariously Wacky Trashy Australian 90’s flick with all your favorite Abba tracks. If you were an object, what would you be? Art Glass nothing more useless and pretty in its own way! If you were an animal, what would you be? Aren’t we an animal species already? If you were a song, what would you be? Lawin ma3i alayam ya habibi (Majida El Roumi ) on a good day! The Drugs Don’t Work (The Verve) On a bad day ! If you were God, what would you change? I would change all the botox Plastic Lebanese women back to their original selves ! hehe

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FASHION DESIGNER

ARA AZAD

MICHAEL CHALLITA

CLOSER

If you were a book, what would you be? The Art Of Travel by Alain de Botton If you were a historic figure, who would you be? Adam If you were a city, what would you be? Berlin If you were a cartoon character, who’d you be? Sir Homer Simpson If you were your own worst enemy, what/ who would you be? An executioner If you were a film, what would you be? A biography If you were an object, what would you be? A 24-inches gauge If you were an animal, what would you be? An elephant If you were a song, what would you be? A tARAb of course! If you were God, what would you change? God is perfect as is, after all he created me, didn’t he?

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If you were a book, what would you be? A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle If you were a historic figure, who would you be? Nehmatallah Sarkis If you were a city, what would you be? Bourj Hammoud; a “city” full of detail ‘n character If you were a cartoon character, who’d you be? Marge Simpson (she is a nurturing parent, so to say) If you were your own worst enemy, what/ who would you be? Myself! If you were a film, what would you be? Talk To Her by Pedro Almodovar If you were an object, what would you be? A pillow ... just think of it If you were an animal, what would you be? A monkey: it’s about being street smart and having humor! If you were a song, what would you be? Heartbeats by The Knife (it’s way too sensitive for me) If you were God, what would you change? We as humans DO have the energy to change things – I don’t think we need to be God to change the world.

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JOURNALIST/ EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

(DJ) ette

SAER KARAM

CLOSER

DJETTE

CLOSER

If you were a book, what would you be? Understanding Media by Marshall McLuhan. If you were a historic figure, who would you be? Alexander the Great If you were a city, what would you be? Beirut If you were a cartoon character, who’d you be? Batman If you were your own worst enemy, what/ who would you be? Stress If you were a film, what would you be? Starwars If you were an object, what would you be? The latest laptop If you were an animal, what would you be? A panther If you were a song, what would you be? John Lennon’s Imagine If you were God, what would you change? Mentalities

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If you were a book, what would you be? I’d definitely be a notebook with empty pages - although I’d love to be Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows as well, because of the sheer enjoyment I derived from reading it. If you were a historic figure, who would you be? Buddha’s close disciple Shariputra If you were a city, what would you be? Beirut, no question about it. If you were a cartoon character, who’d you be? Wile E. Coyote, so I could learn how to stop running If you were your own worst enemy, what/ who would you be? The ‘Shaytan’ of my own ego clinging. I can’t think of anyone or anything that has caused me more pain or gotten me into more trouble than myself. If you were a film, what would you be? I can’t be just one. If I absolutely had to, I’d be Les Chansons d’Amour

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GRAPHIC DESIGNER AND CLUB OWNER

MAZEN KHALED

CLOSER

by Christophe Honoré, but I’m sure I change my mind by the time this goes to print. If you were an object, what would you be? My fantasy is to be an “undo” button with a mind of its own. Wouldn’t that be fucking amazing? I would start with undoing the editor’s censorship if (s)he edits out the F-word! If you were an animal, what would you be? A platypus: an egg-laying mammal, whose very existence seems like a contradiction. Its discovery baffled scientists to the point that some believed its existence was an attempt at fraud. I love this animal because it reminds me that everything is possible. If you were a song, what would you be? I’d be one best sung in a steamy Hamam in Aleppo. If you were God, what would you change? I’d change myself. Yes, that does have a double meaning, doesn’t it!

Bilal Barrage 115, rue Philippe Castan, 34090 Montpellier, France Tel : + 33609181882 + 961 7 711 915 www.BilalBarrage.com

PLASTIFIED

BOMBING THE WORLD WITH Text Peter Speetjens

Traveling around the globe and leaving behind a trail of thought-provoking images, Banksy is without a doubt the world’s most famous graffiti artist. Having worked the streets for years, Banksy has also produced works on canvas worth hundreds of thousands of dollars in the fanciest of galleries. And yet, apart from a small circle of close friends, no one knows who Banksy really is.

Banksy comes and goes like a thief in the night, a modern-day Zorro who uses spray paint and stencils to leave his mark. He likes to think of himself as a rat, mankind’s most hated, yet ever-present animal companion, which thrives in the underbelly of society. Banksy, however, is not just any rat. He is a rat with wits, not interested in food or leftovers, but in holding up a metaphorical mirror when you least expect it. He is also a rat with guts. Being a graffiti artist, Banksy has been forever on the run from overzealous policemen, and still is, as the British establishment continues to perceive his work as mere vandalism. Images of two policemen kissing tenderly, Queen Elisabeth as a chimpanzee and Churchill with a mohawk just do not go down well in the public domain. Also controversial is his image of Phan The Kim Phúc, the Vietnamese World Press Photo girl who survived a U.S. napalm attack in 1972. Banksy portrayed her running hand in hand with two all-American icons, Mickey Mouse and Ronald McDonald. Banksy’s notoriety rose to a new level when, in 2005, he visited the separation wall between Israel and the West Bank. The Israeli Defense Forces were not quite your average British Bobby.

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“What the f*** are you doing?” one Israeli officer shouted when he saw Banksy spray paint the concrete wall. Bansky simply replied, “Sorry, but you will have to wait until it is finished.” ”Safety off!” the officer commanded his soldiers and the next thing Banksy saw was a cloud of bullets flying over his head. Even that did not stop him from completing a total of some nine images. The artist, who is often helped by two or more partners in crime, must have managed to convince the soldiers that shooting him would be very bad PR for the Zionist state. Spanish

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“graffiti has been used to

start revolutions, stop wars, and generally is the voice of people who aren’t listened to even if you don’t come up with a picture to cure world poverty, you can make somebody smile while they’re having a piss.”

Having started as a free-hand graffiti artist, Banksy reportedly discovered the art of stenciling thanks to yet another police raid. Hiding under a truck, Banksy saw a stenciled serial number on the vehicle’s plate and thought, “Why not do the same, but bigger?” And so he did.

photographer Fernando arrived on the scene shortly after “the rat” had left and supplied us with the images shown here… a girl floating over the wall with the help of balloons, a simple ladder, an imaginary hole showing a tropical beach. On his website, Banksy explains the reasons behind traveling to Palestine. With his characteristic mix of reason and hard-hitting irony, he writes that the wall “essentially turns Palestine into the world’s largest open prison,” while it is “the ultimate holiday destination for graffiti writers.”

Banksy Who? Over the years, numerous magazines and newspapers have attempted to unmask the great unknown guerilla artist, but with little success. One fact they have been able to put their hands on is that Banksy was born in the early 1970s near Britain’s alternative capital Bristol. “When I was about ten years old, a kid called 3D was painting the streets hard,” Bansky said in one of the few interviews he has ever given. “I think he’d been to New York and was the first to bring spray painting back to Bristol. Graffiti was the thing we all loved. We did it on the bus on the way home from school. Everyone was doing it.” Graffiti was first introduced in Great Britain by the American hip-hop band, Rock Steady Crew that was accompanied by several spray paint artists. The latter proved a major influence on 3D, who went on to form the band Massive Attack.

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One British newspaper recently investigated a photograph allegedly showing Banksy at work in Jamaica. It published a name Robin G. and tracked down Robin’s parents. Robin, however, categorically denied having any links to the artist. “I have no interest in ever coming out,” Banksy once said. “I figure there are enough self-opinionated assholes trying to get their ugly little faces in front of you as it is.” As we could not agree more, and love a little mystery, we will just leave it at that. Let Banksy’s work speak for itself.

Banksy in Lebanon? Under the bridge between Downtown Beirut and Achrafieh, you will find the image of a worker in a Sukleen outfit sweeping bullets with a broom. The image, realistic yet with an ironic twist, bears all the trademarks of Banksy, including his eye for location. Spanish photographer Fernando believed it could be the real Banksy. Christine Tohme, director of Ashkal al Alwan, the Lebanese association for Plastic Arts and a fan of Banksy, agreed it could be. Yet, as far as she knows, Banksy never been to Lebanon. If that is true, the image of the worker with a broom is a true Banksy-like work. A second Banksy work may have been inspired by the 2006 war in Lebanon. It shows a child with a teddy bear standing amidst the rubble, as a reporter holds back aid workers to get a better picture. While the image may have been inspired by the mayhem of postwar-Lebanon, it is unlikely that it was produced in Lebanon. If you want to know more about Banksy, visit his website www.banksy. com or buy one of his books, Existencilism, Banging Your Head Against a Brick Wall, Cut It Out or Wall and Piece.

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PHOTOGRAPHER Roger Moukarzel CREATIVE DIRECTOR ELI REZKALLAH Casting PAOLA REBEIZ

PARIS MODEL AGENCY HAIR SAMIR DAOU MAKE UP CHRISTIAN ABOU HAIDAR

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Helmet Gardem shoes Aldo

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Hair accessories Accessorize Babydoll La Senza Shoes Aldo

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Hair accessories Nicolas Jebran, Top Cortefiel, Panty Accessorize, Boots Nicolas Jebran

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Bra La Senza, Shoes and bracelet Aldo, Leggings American Apparel

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Necklace Nicolas Jebran, Bra, Gloves, Corset, Legging La Senza, Top Cortifiel, Shoes Aldo

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Hair Accessories & panty Accessorize, Bracelet & Bag Aldo, Baby doll La Senza, Shawl Vero Moda, Shoes Nine west

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Dress Nicolas Jebran, Shoes Nine west

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COVER STORY

VIKTOR & ROLF

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FROM CATWALK TO GALLERY Text Peter Speetjens

Dutch designers Viktor & Rolf have taken the fashion world by storm over the past 15 years with their blend of cool irony and surreal beauty. Their haute couture collections have grown increasingly exciting and out of the ordinary, thanks mainly to the use of layering, distorting and exaggerating classic design elements. Take for example their blouses with ten nested collars, their upside-down and lop-sided dresses, or their white one-shoulder-wedding dress emblazoned with I LOVE YOU in bold red.

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Seeing their almost twin-like appearance in gentleman’s suit and their artistic, theatrical approach to fashion, it should come as no surprise that the duo is also known as the Gilbert & George of the catwalk. In 2008, London’s prestigious Barbican Art Gallery presented the “House of Victor & Rolf,” a retrospective of V&R’s signature pieces from 1992 till today, emphasizing their status as both fashion designers and conceptual artists. As if the thought of revisiting V&R’s timeless and cutting-edge-designs was not enough to give eagle-eyed fashion critics and fashionistas the jitters, the exhibition was set in an oh-so-sweet dollhouse designed by Seibe Tettero, who previously signed for the duo’s famous upsidedown-boutique in Milan. “We hope to have built the largest dollhouse in the world,” said Rolf Snoeren at the opening. Whether the 6-meter and 3-story-high house was indeed the world’s largest doll house or not, V&R undoubtedly produced a fashion moment of pure enchantment. With their love for high-end costume drama and surprise, V&R were able to create a time machine, in which the visitor, who in this day and age is only concerned with what’s next, was forced to celebrate what once was with V&R. The dollhouse rooms were inhabited by 2-feet-tall porcelain dolls, dressed in the designers’ most memorable replica creations. Each doll was individually crafted by Belgian doll makers, had human hair, and was made up by a professional make-up artist. The miniature creations

they wore were uncannily identical to, and took more time to produce than the human size pieces once presented on the catwalk. This was due to the scaling down of the meticulous use of detail the designers are known for, making the dolls true “couture dolls.”

‘No’ this season,” the duo told a group of devoted fans and curious reporters eager to grasp the meaning of a somewhat difficult defile that started with a precise grey trench, the word “No” popping out of its chest in 3-D.

Highlights of the V&R exhibition included pieces from their first and breakthrough show, Atomic Bomb (1998-1999), which featured mushroom cloud-like cushioned necklines, and Russian Doll (19992000), in which a single model was painstakingly dressed in ten independent layers by the designers in front of a catwalk crowd – an experience reminiscent of performance art. By the end of the show, model Maggie Rizer wore more than 70 kilos of clothes. In the boudoir-themed show Bedtime Story (2005-2006), a dreamy atmosphere was created by garments abundant with “broderie Anglaise,” quilting and ruffles.

“NO” was based on the impossibility to sustain such a fast tempo for a long time. “Demand for the new has reached a stage where it is difficult for a piece to develop into something of lasting importance. Collections are picked up by the internet, and high street fashion copies styles quicker than a designer can produce the style commercially,” V&R told The Times.

Although V&R straddle the line between avant-garde and unwearable, they still manage to produce pieces that are “sophisticated, tasteful, and refined,” fashion stylist Annabel Tollman told Vanity Fair. “In some respect, their whole identity is a concept — the identical dressing, the fact that most people don’t really know which one is Viktor and which one is Rolf, including me!” Meanwhile V&R have no intention to change their art-driven approach to fashion, as they once again proved by their Paris Fall/Winter show in 2008. “We love fashion, but it’s going so fast. We wanted to say

In addition to their concept-driven catwalk presentations, V&R signed for the fragrance Flowerbomb, which comes in a grenade-shaped bottle. Containing extracts of rose, amber, patchouli, musk, bergamot, sambac, tea, orange tea, jasmine, freesia and orchid, Flowerbomb is a true “explosion of a thousand flowers.” Since the London Dollhouse exhibition, V&R have already presented a new collection, the Spring/Summer 2009. Boasting a selection of intricate and original cocktail dresses and a very strong accessories line, the new collection also included pixie-shaped earrings, oversized necklaces and rings, futuristic black and white tights, as well as shoes and bags to rival the seasonal “IT” brands. Seeing their last creations, it probably will not be long before V&R will use another gallery to showcase yet another apogee of their work.

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COVER STORY

“we love fashion but it’s going so fast. it is difficult for a piece to develop into something of lasting importance.”

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“These are the films that I think influenced me the most, films that I forced all my friends to watch,” said Ziad Doueiri, sipping an espresso, and adding that he could easily have given another forty titles. The most striking characteristic of his Top Ten is the dominant presence of Korean cinema, which only matured over the last decade or so, and today, regularly sweeps up the main awards in the international festival circuit.

“I believe Korean cinema, as no other, has mastered the classic dramatic structure of film making,” Doueiri explained. “What’s more, Korean films focus on the human condition, on human suffering, take it right to the edge and even over it. Yet they always do so with humanity. A film like Old Boy may be ultra-violent, but it is not violent for violence sake.” Arguably the most known among Doueiri’s Korean entries, Old Boy is the second film in Chan-Wook Park’s famous revenge trilogy. It tells the story of a man who having spent 15 years in a private prison is given five days to find out why he was jailed and by whom. Based on a Japanese comic book, Old Boy is a dark and Kafkaesque movie that twists and turns and keeps you guessing for the truth until the very end. Director Chan-Wook Park also made Joint Security Area, a classic “whodid-it” thriller about the killing of two soldiers in the no man’s land between North and South Korea. Oasis and 3-Iron both focus on an odd couple on an odd journey. In the latter, a young man has taken up the habit of breaking into homes not to steal, but to nose around and spend the night. One night, in what seemed an empty house, he meets a young woman hiding from her violent husband. They fall in love, but soon have the police on their trail. In Oasis, a social outcast just released from jail falls in love with a physically handicapped girl. “Quality-wise, Korean films are very consistent, although they are very different in form,” Doueiri said. “Old Boy is a very stylish film. Oasis is almost documentary-like, while the main characters in 3-Iron do not talk. I think the problem today with most mainstream American films is that they generally tell “small” stories and are quite formulaic. They always end well for example. Not so Korean films. They really go all the way.” Even more surprising is Doueiri’s inclusion of two Ron Fricke films: Baraka and Chronos. Both are majestic visual masterpieces. The first is a kind of ode to biodiversity, human civilization and the threats to which both are exposed in the modern day era. The second is a filmic essay on time.

ZIAD DOUEIRY

ON FALSE HEROES AND ETERNAL REBELS 152

“After I first saw Baraka, I immediately bought an 8-mm camera and started experimenting,” said Doueiri. “Baraka is not really a film, it’s an experience. Technically, these films are sublime. Fricke works a lot with time lapses for example. That is not something I can use much in my films, but I try to incorporate it whenever I have the chance.” In addition to Fricke’s film-scapes, which were both produced in the United States, Doueiri included three ‘real’ American films. The first, Rumble Fish, is hardly Francis Ford Coppola’s most famous film. In fact, it got heavily criticized when it first came out and flopped at the box office. Coppola himself, however, regards it as one of his favorite and most personal films. Set in a poor industrial town, Rumble Fish tells

the story of a young delinquent and gang leader living in the shadow of his older brother, Motorcycle Boy, played by Mickey Rourke. “I like the way Coppola dealt with the theme of the rebel, the decline into delinquency and the false hero. I also like the film’s non-linear structure and the use of black and white,” said Doueiri. “I must say though that today I can intellectualize about the film, but as a teenager I just wanted to be Mickey Rourke. He was so cool. That reminds me… I actually thought of including Jungle Book on the list, simply because as a child I adored that film. For years I wanted to be Mowgli.” One of the most well-known titles on Doueiri’s list are Blade Runner and The Insider. Regarded as one of the ultimate sci-fi classics, Blade Runner is about a cop who has to hunt down a bunch of cyborgs that have remarkable human qualities. The film’s success is to a large extent due to the bleak futuristic setting of Los Angeles in 2019. “This is such an amazing film,” Doueiri said. “If you see that film today, you don’t feel it was made in 1982. This film was so ahead of its time. It just never grows old. One of the reasons is that, despite the futuristic setting, it was very realistic. Lots of details in the film, like the phone boots and street names, were kept, and you really think, “This could be LA in 2019.” And don’t forget, in those days there was no computer animation. It’s also a film about humanity, about a man who wants to live and love.” Based on true events, The Insider portrays a chemist played by Russell Crowe who first tells the story of the dirty dealings of America’s tobacco industry to “60 Minutes” journalist Lowell Bergman played by Al Pacino. The film won many awards, but not an Oscar, even though it received seven nominations. ”To me, this is a perfect example of a great modern American film. It’s perfect on every level: the script, the acting, the camera work, everything. I mean, Michael Mann truly nailed this film in every aspect, and it is not often you can say that. Of course, I also like the story of two very different individuals, both with very high principles, connecting to fight the system, the corporate world.” Finally Leolo, a Canadian film about a young boy, Leo, who grows up in a madly dysfunctional family in a poor area of Montreal. To escape his absurd reality, Leo creates his own fantasy world, in which he is Leolo Lozone, son of a Sicilian peasant. Set to the melancholic tunes of Tom Waits, Leolo is a sweet and sad film that effortlessly navigates between fantasy and reality. “This is by far the most lyrical film I’ve ever seen,” Doueiri said. “I really love this film. I don’t know what to say about it. You should just see it. The way the director plays with time and weaves the story, with Leolo as an infant, a child and an adolescent, is just brilliant. And the way Leolo escapes his family neurosis through writing, it is so totally tragic, and yet so beautiful.”

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DIRECTOR’S FAVORITE

O LD B O Y (Chan-Wook Park; 2003; South Korea)

JOINT SECURITY AREA (Chan-Wook Park; 2000; South Korea) 3 IRON (Ki-Duk Kim; 2004; South Korea)

OASIS (Chang-dong Lee; 2004; South Korea)

BARAKA (Ron Fricke; 1992; USA)

CHRONOS (Ron Fricke; 1985; USA)

RUMBLE FISH (Francis Ford Coppola; 1983; USA)

BLADE RUNNER (Ridley Scott; 1982; USA)

LEOLO (Jean Claude Lozon; 1992; Canada) THE INSIDER (Michael Mann; 1999; USA)

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KALA

TV POPMUZIK

Named after her mother, Kala is MIA’s brilliant follow-up to her debut album Arular. It consists of a similar mix of political lyrics and dance beats from around the world. MIA is the stage name of 32-year-old Mathangi Arulpragasam. It stands for Missing in Action, a reference to her father, a Tamil activist, who disappeared in the Sri Lankan war. MIA grew up in the cultural melting pot of London. No wonder therefore she likes mixing up the styles. Kala is especially known for the hit single Paper Planes, which samples The Clash with the sounds of shot guns and cash registers and was nominated for a 2008 Grammy. But that is not all: Tamil film soundtracks, Bollywood disco, Jamaican dancehall, Nigerian rap, Aboriginal hip hop, while on Twenty Dollars she effortlessly blends The Pixies’ Where is My Mind into a dance beat. In short, MIA reminds us of the richness of the world’s musical traditions and brings them into the realm of the hippest clubs of London and New York. In addition, she is not afraid to speak her mind. Following censorship controversies and visa problems in the US, she now lives in Brooklyn.

Having composed the soundtracks and opening tunes for some 150 reality shows, documentary series and fringy comedies, Daniel Pemberton is known as the sound of British television today. TV Popmuzik offers a selection of 21. According to Pemberton, the album focuses on “the tracks that, like great pop music, were a bit more disposable, silly and catchy.” Like MIA, Pemberton certainly likes to mix up sounds and genres: military bands, massive string sections, washboards, human beat boxing, Icelandic vocalists, and any funny synthesizer sound you can imagine. This may be music for TV, it is definitely not elevator music: catchy, creative and highly enjoyable! In the composer’s own words: “this is definitely a very odd record.”

LOST IN THE 80S (2008)

COLETTE NO 9

Lost in the 80s is the independently produced debut album of Quebec trio The Lost Fingers, which has become a bit of a local cult hit. The band has given famous 1980s tunes a jazzy 1930s swing makeover. The result is enjoyable and funny. This is not the kind of record that changes pop history, but does well on a late party. When hearing the album, you will not be surprised that the band’s main inspiration was Belgian-born guitar virtuoso Django Reinhart. Lost in the 80s include remakes of Technotronic’s Pump up The Jam, Samantha Fox’ Touch Me and Soft Cell’s Tainted Love.

Cool, cool, cool double CD of great known and unknown songs compiled by what is arguably the coolest shop in Paris – which will arguably comes as no surprise for people familiar with the Colette series. No easy pop tunes on this one. While the first CD, mixed by Michel Gaubert and Marie Branellec, will make you move on the dance floor, the second, mixed by Mickey Moonlight, opens with William Burroughs to go on a trip through the world of ambient electro pop ruled by Brian Eno, Sun Ra, Goldfrapp and Sakomoto.

THE BASTA (2008)

MY FAVORITE SONGS

Who says marriage kills all creativity? Rainbow Arabia is a truly excellent album by Californiabased couple Tiffany and Danny Preston. Do not get confused by the record’s name, as there is very little Arabic on this one. Sure, if you listen well, there are some traces of oriental and tribal music, yet they are deeply buried in a synthesizer wall of sound, which somehow manages to mix dance and the better 1980s new wave and noise of bands like Joy Division and Sonic Youth. Tiffany’s dreamy, high-pitched voice beautifully drifts on top. Check it out!

In cooperation with Vogue Magazine, fashion icon Karl Lagerfeld has compiled a double CD with his favorite songs. It is a collection of a bit of everything: from Igor Stravinsky to 1980s new wave from The Fall and Siouxsie and The Banshees; from the happy dance tunes of Goldfrapp to the grungy Super Flurry Animals and “Your Kisses are Wasted on Me,” a kind of 1950s revival pop by The Pipettes. It must be said, Lagerfeld has made some pretty interesting choices! And if this album proves anything it is that the 36-year-old-looking 66-year-old is still as cool as it gets.

M.I.A.

The Lost Fingers

Rainbow Arabia

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Music from the Daniel Pemberton TV Orchestra

Colette

Karl Lagerfeld

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THE STEPHEN SPROUSE BOOK

BARBIE LOVES L.A

The Stephen Sprouse Book is a richly illustrated tribute to cult designer Stephen Sprouse, who died in 2004 at the age of 50. Although he never became a big hit on the catwalk, Sprouse was the first to incorporate punk and rap-inspired street art into the high-brow world of fashion. Through photos of his creations and personal life, as well as dozens of his original sketches, the book gives us a view on his life, work, and New York’s early 1980s avant-garde scene, of which Sprouse was a prominent member. For years, he was the personal designer of Debbie Harrie a.k.a. Blondie. As the American designer always sought the edge and refused to compromise, he received the nickname “Warhol’s Heir.”

Artist and Hollywood costume designer Greg LaVoi has always had a thing for the world’s most famous doll. In this fun, tongue-in-cheek publication, he portrays her in a wide range of 1960s outfits at Los Angeles’ most famous spots. The photos are accompanied by fragments of Barbie’s personal diary explaining where she is and why: surfing at Malibu Beach or on a date with Ken to the movies. For die-hard Barbie fans: each model is meticulously identified in the back of the book.

By Roger and Mauricio Padilha

(2003) Greg LaVoi

The Stephen Sprouse Book was printed by Louis Vuitton, who in 2009, also hosted a major exhibition on Sprouse’s work.

LIMA, PERU

By Mario Testino Damiani

POST SECRET By Frank Warren Regan Books

In November 2004, Frank Warren handed out 3,000 postcards to people across the country, asking them to write a secret and post it to him anonymously. The only instruction was, “reveal anything – as long as it is true and you have never shared it with anyone before. Be brief. Be eligible. Be creative.” For years, leading photographer Mario Testino looked for a book about his hometown Lima, wishing to show that Peru was more than just lamas, the Incas and the Andes. When he couldn’t find one, he decided to make his own by choosing a selection of his favorite images that were taken by Peruvian photographers since the 1960s. The result is a wonderfully rich, vibrant and colorful account of life in Lima in all its facets: from cheap striptease bars to high society parties; from a day at the races to a day at the beach.

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Post Secret is a selection of tens of thousands of the sweetest, saddest, funniest and loveliest cards Warren received. Each one is a small marvel of anonymous creativity. Some show nothing but a simple drawing, others are elaborately decorated, sharing secrets from “I stole valium from my epileptic dog” and “The love of my life is ugly” to “I think about women when I’m having sex with my husband” and “He’s been in prison for 2 years because of what I did … 9 more to go.” In short, Post Secret is a portrait of humanity on a postcard.

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MARC JACOBS & LOUIS VUITTON

INSIDE DEEP THROAT

Loic Prigent France (2007)

Fenton Bailey/ Randy Barbato (2005)

Director LoicPrigent offers a rare look into the life and work of American top designer Marc Jacobs who, in addition to having his own clothing line, is creative director of French fashion house Vuitton. The film is said to be the first ever to portray media-shy Jacobs at work, both in his New York atelier and Vuitton’s secretive headquarters in Paris. LoicPrigent’s film is a unique document that allows a welcome glance behind the scenes of fashion: the chaos, the stress, the hard work, as well as the fun and after parties. The film has enough precious moments to make it worthwhile to watch, even for non-fashion addicts. Among the film’s highlights is no doubt the fashion show in Japan, which allows Jacobs and Prigent to meet artist Yayoi Kusuma, who is portrayed in this issue of the magazine. Still, at times one cannot ignore the feeling that Jacobs and Vuitton’s PR-people had a look over Prigent’s shoulder as he made the film. Prigent is becoming a bit of an expert in the field, as he previously made a documentary series on Chanel.

NEW YORK STORIES Martin Scorsese/ Francis F. Coppola/ Wood AllenUSA (1989)

An excellent documentary on the ground-breaking 1970s sex flick Deep Throat, which back in the days caused much controversy, especially in the US, where the religious right and Nixon’s Republicans went on a moral crusade to have the film banned in 23 states. But their work went in vain, as the $25,000 film grossed over $600 million, making it the most profitable film ever! The documentary interviews all the people who were somehow concerned with the film, including its director and main actors, and recreates the repressive and revolutionary climate of 1972, in which the mafia ran off with the film’s revenues. The DVD includes nice extras, most notably of which is an interview with main actress Linda Lovelace.

LE SOLDAT ROSE (THE PINK SOLDIER) Brian Palmet/ David Welsman (1972)

Three short films on New York by three of America’s most celebrated directors who cherish an intimate relation with The Big Apple. In Life Lessons, Martin Scorsese portrays the aging artist’s (Nick Nolte) obsession for his young assistant. In Francis Ford Coppola’s Life Without Zoe, little Zoe is the daughter of a world famous flutist who is always gone. The spoilt but sweet 12-yearold girl has to find ways to amuse herself in the posh Sherry-Netherland Hotel. Not Coppola’s best, but amusing. And in Oepidus Wrecks, Woody Allen is back to his old, funny and neurotic ways. Allen plays a 50-year-old banker, whose tiny mother dominates his life and who does not understand why he is divorcing his wife. One day, the mother mysteriously disappears and our banker realizes it is actually not all that sad. He can live without her, until suddenly she returns. Allen is Allen. You either love him or you hate him. While not his best film, Oepidus Wrecks is worth seeing. Similarly, New York Stories will probably not rank on anyone’s best-films-ever-list, yet it is perfect for those lonely moments, in which you desperately miss the city of lights.

HAPPY TOGETHER Kar Wai Wong Hong Kong (1997)

Although KarWai Wong previously tasted success with The Chunking Express and Fallen Angels, Happy Together once and for all put the Hong Kong-based director on the world cinema map. KarWai Wong was nominated for the Golden Palm and won the Best Director Award at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival. Mainly set against the backdrop of modern day Buenos Aires, Happy Together tells the tale of two young lovers from Hong Kong on a trip to Argentina. As the movie proceeds, the couple’s relationship turns sour. While Yiu-Fai starts working at a tango bar to earn enough money to go back home, Po-Wing hits the local party scene. They no longer talk, but when Po-Wing is severely beaten up, Yiu-Fai takes him in and takes care of him, as a final attempt to save their love. Happy Together portrays a gay couple, who goes through the ups and downs of a relationship. Also, the mind games they play are a realistic reflection of the end phase in any love affair. In 2000, KarWai Wong went on to make his cinematic masterpiece in The Mood for Love.

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Le Soldat Rose is a film registration of the highly successful French musical under the same name. It tells the story of a small boy, Joseph, who no longer wants to live in the world of adults and decides to hide in the toys department of a big department store. To his surprise, all toys come to life at night. Among those toys is the pink soldier, who has been in the store for years, as boys do not like pink and girls do not like guns. In the movie, we find out that our pink hero is especially sad because his fiancé was recently sold. Will they ever meet again? Can little Joseph be of help? Watch and see! Le Soldat Rose is of course a film for kids, yet as the musical’s writer, Louis Chedid, said: “It is a tale for all children and all people who have remained a child at heart.” By the way, for people who prefer drawings, an animated film version is set to appear in 2010.

EMPREINTES: PHILIPPE STARCK (STARCK VERSUS STARCK) Vassili Silovic France (2008)

Starck versus Starck is a portrait that is not a portrait. Vassilli Silovic set out to shoot a documentary on Philippe Starck, arguably the most famous and influential designer in the world today. The latter agreed, yet stipulated that none of the many objects he designed would be shown. Nor did he want to talk about his life. Starck was only willing to cooperate if the film would somehow show “how his brain works.” Not an easy task and not an easy film therefore. Interestingly, we mainly see Starck direct and instruct Silovic, not the other way around, as Starck talks about Starck. Although at times a bit self-indulgent, the film is an interesting experiment in how to film someone who does not want to be filmed, while it manages to show a rare glimpse of Starck’s strangely wonderful mind. It is a must-see for Starck lovers and a maybe for anyone else.

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MUSTS

HONEY, HOW DID YOU HURT YOUR BACK? RUNNING OUT OF STYLE? GRAVITY’S RAINBOW (KLAXONS)

MY GIRLS (ANIMAL COLLECTIVE) HAPPY UP HERE (ROYKSOPP) THE NUMBER 1 SONG IN HEAVEN (SPARKS) WICKED GAMES (CHRIS ISSAK) WHO IS IT (MICHAEL JACKSON) STEPPING STONE (DUFFY) THE QUEST (BRYN CHRISTOPHER) PARLEZ VOUS FRANCAIS (BACCARA) ARIOSO (NEIL LARSEN) UMBRELLA 5 IN THE RAIN JUST ANOTHER DAY ( BRIAN ENO)

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KAREN WALKER TO ROSARIO WILL AND GRACE

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PLASTIFIED

Baby Doll, Wings and accesories, La vie en rose Boots, Nicolas jebran

PHOTOGRAPHERs CARINE AND CHARBEL CREATIVE DIRECTOR ELI REZKALLAH STYLIST RATIBA GHODBANE MAKE UP HALA AJAM HAIR SAMIR DAOU

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Swimwear American Apparel, Shoes Aldo

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Bra, panties, gloves, fouet, collant, fan La senza, Hair accesories, Nicolas Jebran, Shoes Aldo

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Cape, Boots Nicolas Jebran Bra, Panties La Senza

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Bra, panties, Tights La Senza Corset and gloves Dolce Gabbana Baby Doll, Corset La Senza

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Bra, Panties, Top and Tights La Senza

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Swimwear American apparel, Shoes Aldo

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NEWYORK LETTER

GOODBYE to all

THAT On a bone-chilling Saturday morning, I headed to Sol Moscot to order a new set of lenses for my eyeglasses. Moscot is a century-old optician and one of a handful of Eastern European businesses that have managed to survive in my recently refashioned neighborhood: New York City’s Lower East Side. Text Nana Asfour

I was in no mood to mess about in the frigid air, so I followed the straight shot down Orchard Street. Even though I’ve lived in the area for goingon a decade and walked down this same stretch an infinite number of times, I hardly recognized it anymore.

long-shuttered storefronts and now total some forty within a ten-block radius, thus creating an alternative art hub to the blue-chip-infested Chelsea area. Young architecture, fashion and design firms began moving into the vacated lofts.

For the past five years, the area has been changing rapidly. Every outing unearths new venues. Sure enough, on my way to the optician, amidst discount leather stores and hat sellers, I discovered a just-opened gallery whose knowingly quirky name – On Stellar Rays – matched the art on view. One block away, I found a boutique with a quaint and reasonably priced selection of shoes and clothes.

Rather than having to seek it out, the best and most interesting aspects of the city are now all within reach. The newly built New Museum, the city’s most progressive art institution, is around the corner. The Sunshine Cinema, the best film art house in Manhattan, is a short walking distance away. Celebrity chefs have opened up several boutique restaurants on seedy nearby streets, providing their chic Upper East Side clientele a slumming-it atmosphere.

On the block between Grand and Broome streets, I passed a vintage store, a women’s boutique, an Austrian restaurant, a men’s boutique, a Thai restaurant, a café, a pickle vendor (one of two remaining of what were once neighborhood-staple establishments) and another restaurant. And this was but one side of the street! When I first moved to the Lower East Side, a large swatch of the area was abandoned and desolate. At the time, I reveled at the fact that I inhabited one of the few corners in the city redolent with the past. Traces of the immigrant community (incl. the Moscot family) that built this neighborhood in the 19th century, and made it its home for generations to come, was still discernible in faded signs that hung atop shuttered establishments. The pushcart economy on which this part of the city was founded was still going strong, especially on the stretch of Orchard street between Delancey and Houston, which was blocked off every weekend and bristled with vendors displaying their wears on the sidewalks. Sol Moscot’s father, who arrived in the city in 1899, spent many years selling his ready-wear eyeglasses out of a cart on Orchard before opening his store. The area was a perfect capsule of the multiculturalism and immigrant life that once defined New York. But, while heavy on charm and history, it wasn’t very user friendly; I had to trek far for a cup of coffee, or a good meal, or a drink. Then one day, it began to change. One new place opened up, then another, one building was turned over, then another, and before long the surrounding streets were heaving with young newcomers, mostly art refugees, looking for cheap rents and a foothold in the city. Small, independent art galleries began to voraciously gobble up the

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There was a moment when it looked like the transformations were effacing the area’s history, but as it turns out there has been an embrace and revitalization of its heritage. The Eldridge Street Synagogue was recently restored, and now gives tours about the wave of Jewish immigrants who settled here in the 1800s. The Tenement Museum has relocated to a newer, bigger space. Most of the pickle vendors may have gone, but there is now a pickle fair, and this year’s was, much to everyone’s surprise, swarmed with young urbanites who crowded the sidewalks and the streets, clamoring for a taste. For a while, Sol Moscot looked like it might suffer the same fate as many of the old immigrant-run businesses—obliteration. And as I made my way to it on that chilly Saturday afternoon, I worried that my fears would be realized. Yet, not only was it still there, it had reinvented itself. The entrance had been transformed into a museum of eyewear and vintage photographs of the surrounding streets. The continued presence of Sol Moscot was a comforting sign. Cities are constantly shape-shifting and the here-today-gone-tomorrow phenomenon is a long-established byproduct of urban life. But unlike other metropolises, New York has a short history: a mere four decades. And this is the thing: although extraordinary, it’s not an easy city to call “home.” Most of the place is an artificial la-la land built and inhabited by dreamers. That is why it is important, for those of us who are here for more than just the fantasy and looking to build actual lives, that the Lower East Side’s history does not get entirely eradicated. Only then can it continue to provide, as it did for the self-uprooted generations who came before us, a sense of home away from home.

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ICONIC

PLASTIFIED

THE SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS Text Phoebe Graff

The lady who slips into Chanel No 5, a perfume created nearly 90 years ago, combines classic taste with a modern attitude. No 5’s iconic glass case and the amber liquid it holds speak at once of women’s extraordinary transformation since the perfume’s debut at the dawn of the roaring 1920s. The No 5 bottle emerged from a trend in women’s fashion that famed couturier Coco Chanel originated and named “garconne.” When their beaus came home from WWI, women trimmed their hair, plucked their brows, and bound their breasts, donning short, angular dresses and kicking up skinny legs in jazz clubs and at garden parties. With her first fragrance – most notably in its flask-shaped case – Chanel capitalized on the way the new fashion’s masculine top notes accentuated the wearer’s womanly charms. Known as a “flapper,” the

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1920s female hipster could drink, smoke, and dance, and men found her all the more irresistible for it. Before Chanel’s innovative collaborator, chemist Ernest Beaux introduced a heady dose of synthetic floral aldehydes into the perfume, women had to either wear a fragrance excessively or reapply it frequently. No 5 clings to the body like an aristocrat’s glove, even when its bottle hints at the loose constellation of a woman’s perfume-related anatomy: just behind the ears, the base of the throat, the cleavage, and the wrists. Marilyn Monroe embodied the curvy glamour of the next post-war era, but she also fell for Chanel’s original concoction. When asked by a journalist at the airport in Japan what she wore to bed, Marilyn answered: “Why, Chanel No 5, of course!” Now… that’s sex appeal for the ages.

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