BLUE

F L A U N T

M A G A Z I N E

P R E S E N T S

B LU E

LONG LIVE DENIM

Cover art by JIM TURNER JIMJTURNER.COM

THIS UNIQUE SLICE OF CULTURE you hold in your hands, BLUE, is a testament of your creativity, DNA, and vision toward the future of our storied denim industry.

It combines our collective values of freedom and expansion, along with our shared histories. It also explores the poetics of artistic expression, and most importantly, showcases the exceptional nature and relentless spirit of denim.

We are all on our own mission within this vast and ever-evolving space, yet we thrive and depend on one another to accomplish our greater goals: to keep denim at the forefront of the fashion conversation, and to champion the values of independence and quality we all hold.

Please enjoy this inaugural journey, in collaboration with Flaunt Magazine, and thank you for your continued commitment to our community.

Long Live Denim.

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AG A D R I A N O G O L D S C H M I E D

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18 « CONTENTS

20 » DENIM TIMELINE in all the permutations of time and space thank goodness you wore jeans 22 » OPEN ROAD I took my problems to the highway and left them on the road 28 » ISKO’S BLUE HORIZON innovation is the name of this game 34 » CHELSEA WOLFE at midnight in the summer, you can hear music playing in the forest 38 » THE BUTTERTONES more is always a good decision 42 » FAY RAY Those chains are made of chrome steel 46 » ZOE CROSHER a small force of less than four hundred 50 » COLE STERNBERG every moment is new and shocking 54 » TEENS IN JEANS IN LOS ANGELES attitude heretofore never seen in this installment 62 » FASHION EMERGENCY photographed by Ian Morrison 66 » BOY MEETS GIRL WHERE THE BEAT GOES ON photographed by Justin Campbell 74 » IT WAS LIKE A FOREIGN EXCHANGE KIND OF THING photographed by Eddie Chacon 82 » BECAUSE A BRUTALIST’S HOLIDAY IS AWFULLY GENTLE photographed by Ian Morrison 88 » SOMETIMES REFUGE IS IN YOUR MIND POWERED BY ISKO photographed by Alvin Nguyen

COVERS: PHOTOGRAPHY BY JIM TURNER // JIMJTURNER.COM

20 « DENIM TIMELINE

1930s

1935

1873 1950s

1500s

Denim originates from French attempts to duplicate the “jeans” of Genoa, which were actually closer to today’s corduroys. Originally, the material is called “serge,” but the town of Nîmes, France, is credited as the birthplace, and serge will eventually become known as “denim,” or of Nîmes.

American gold miners need clothes that are strong, and that do not tear easily. Jacob Davis has the idea of putting rivets on the stress points of workman’s overalls.

He contacts Levi Strauss, and together, they receive patent number 139,121 for the “Improvement in Fastening Pocket-Openings.” The patent is the birth certificate of modern jeans.

Kim Kardashian brings back the Canadian Tuxedo, surprising all of us who never thought it left.

2015

Peak Skinny Jean: An Australian woman was hospitalized with temporary paralysis after her (very) skinny jeans cut off the flow of blood to her legs. Doctors were required to cut the jeans off the woman. The fate of the denim is unknown. The woman survived.

june 2015

1926

Cowboys in film (like John Wayne) popularize jeans, leading to a huge increase in people wearing jeans as everyday wear.

Lee Jeans are the first to use the zip fly instead of the button fly, creating an entirely new way for men to wince in pain.

Lana Del Rey releases her hit single, “Blue Jeans,” which reaffirms denim’s place as an icon for a whole new generation of music lovers.

2012

Jeggings are entered into the Concise Oxford English Dictionary, a registered brand name owned by none other than ISKO.

2011

Excessive skinny jean consumption causes US currency to become more expensive, since denim scraps are used for the manufacture of US dollar bills. The popularity of the jeans also leads to a global downturn in lunging exercises.

2013

Denim’s place in the fashion world is solidified. The raw/ dry denim explosion takes off with brands such as G-Star RAW, Nudie Jeans, Evisu, PRPS, Naked & Famous, and A.P.C. Denim dominating the spring runways of Céline, Derek Lam, and Stella McCartney.

2011

1954

1951

Jeans are featured in Vogue for the first time, and they haven’t shut up about them since.

1940s

American soldiers overseas during World War II introduce jeans to the world by wearing them while off-duty.

Conan O’Brien wears a pair of Jeggings during the taping of Conan, the night after admitting his love for them to Project Runway’s Tim Gunn.

2010

Karl Lagerfeld presents his Chanel resort collection inspired by denim. Lagerfeld’s contributions to the denim world began 20 years earlier when he matched the iconic Chanel jacket with a denim miniskirt.

2011

1942

Rosie the Riveter, a symbol for female empowerment during World War II, wears a denim shirt and a bandana in the famous “We Can Do It!” poster.

Denim becomes popular with young people as the symbol of teenage rebellion in film and TV. In 1953, Marlon Brando dons them for The Wild One, and two years later, James Dean wears them in the classic film Rebel Without a Cause, marking the beginning of the greaser trend.

Katie Holmes wears husband Tom Cruise’s PRPS jeans, and the trend for the baggier “boyfriend” style comes back.

2008

Bing Crosby’s famous all-denim “Canadian tuxedo” is made for him by Levi Strauss & Co. in reaction to Crosby having been banned from a Vancouver hotel for wearing jeans.

A pair of 501 jeans manufactured in the 1880s is purchased by a Japanese collector in 2005 for $60,000, the most ever for a pair of jeans.

2005

Marilyn Monroe is photographed in the garden of her Palm Springs home looking hot in nothing more than a simple denim tunic. A huge step for denim, moving it in a decidely sexy direction for women.

Los Angeles-based brand 7 For All Mankind launches, commencing the premium brand denim trend, while Kate Moss begins the skinny jeans trend.

2000

Barack Obama wears a pair of ill-fitting “dad jeans” to throw out the first pitch of Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game, proving that dad jeans might be worse than mom jeans.

2009

In protest of the Belarusian president’s Soviet-like policies, activist Mikita Sasim raises his denim shirt as a symbol of Western culture, suggesting that it be Belarus’ flag instead. The protests are dubbed “The Jeans Revolution.”

2006

Lovebirds Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears wear matching denim ensembles to the American Music Awards. Timberlake later regrets this move. We’re not sure why.

2001

DENIM TIMELINE » 21

1977 1958 1961

1957

1985

1976

1973

Clad in Jordache flared jeans, the image of Farrah Fawcett freestyling on a skateboard launched the ’70s fitted and flared denim look.

Mary Quant + denim = the swinging denim mini skirt.

“Jean Fever” begins in the USSR after Moscow hosts the World Festival of Youth and Students, where foreign students appear in fresh blue denim. The clothing becomes synonymous with the absence of freedom in the USSR leading to a ban on the material.

Rokotov and Faibishenko, two profiteers in the USSR, are sentenced to death for charges including “trafficking in jeans.”

1957

1998

Elio Fiorucci introduces the Buffalo 70 jeans, credited with creating the concept of “designer jeans.”

Hip-Hop artists like Tupac Shakur, LL Cool J, and Method Man popularize sagging.

Guess Jeans signs Claudia Schiffer for their advertising campaigns, photographed by Ellen Von Unwerth.

1989

1990s Alexander McQueen debuts his infamous “bumster” jeans on the runway.

1979

The process of acid washing jeans was first used in 1985 by Rifle Jeans as a marketing tool, removing indigo dyes for a lighter, more worn look. This becomes the final word in denim for much of the American heartland.

Sid Vicious wrote; “...Please bury me next to my baby.

Bury me in my leather jacket, jeans and motorcycle boots.

Goodbye.”

Bellbottoms on Jimi Hendrix send a message of free love.

Elvis Presley’s denim-clad hipshaking causes the devil to possess the children of the world.

Tom Ford designs a pair of feathered, beaded, and distressed jeans on the Gucci runway.

When these “Genius Jeans” hit stores, they sell out instantly at $3,134 (the most expensive pair of contemporary jeans ever sold).

1968

In 1976, Indian designer Mohan Murjani’s Murjani Corporation introduces a line with Gloria Vanderbilt’s name embroidered on the back pocket, as well as her swan logo. Her jeans were more tightly fitted than the other jeans of the time and brought designer jeans into the mainstream.

For her first cover as editor of Vogue, Anna Wintour outfits model Michaela Bercu in a pair of $50 jeans and a Christian Lacroix top.

1988

Magnum P.I. played by Tom Selleck, flaunts his high-waisted jeans, formidable moustache, and flaming Ferrari to ring in ’80s excess.

1980

1996

Kurt Cobain, Eddie Vedder, and other grunge superstars define the slacker era with their ripped, shredded jeans and questionable hair hygiene.

1990s

Ronald Reagan, captured on camera in a full denim get-up at Camp David, John Travolta in Urban Cowboy, and The Dukes of Hazzard bring about a honky tonk, cowboy revival for denim. Also, big hats.

1980s

In a Calvin Klein Jeans ad, a 15-year-old Brooke Shields provocatively declares, “You wanna know what comes between me and my Calvins?

Nothing.”

1980

NO STONE(WASH) UNTURNED SIGNIFICANT CULTURAL MOMENTS FOR THE BLUE MATERIAL

22 « PHOTOGRAPHY

SUMMON ME MY DRONE

PHOTOGRAPHY » 23

WE WENT OUT AND TOOK SOME ROADS SOMEWHERE IN POINT REYES. PHOTO: BRANDON HARMAN.

24 « PHOTOGRAPHY

SOMEWHERE NEAR THE SIERRAS. PHOTO: MOLLY STEELE.

SOMEWHERE CLOSE TO PALM SPRINGS. PHOTO: RACHEL RINEHART.

SOMEWHERE UP THE LOST COAST. PHOTO: BRANDON HARMAN.

SOMEWHERE EAST OF MT. WILLIAMSON. PHOTO: TED CATTON.

PHOTOGRAPHY: BRANDON HARMAN AT BRANDONHARMAN.COM, MOLLY STEELE AT MOLLY-STEELE.COM, RACHEL RINEHART AT RACHELRINEHART.COM, AND TED CATTON.

26 « PHOTOGRAPHY

28 « DENIM

IMAGE FROM THE EYE AND THE MIND, AUTUMN 2015, ISKOOL: COUTURE DENIM BY MEG SPARKS. COURTESY ISKO, ISTANBUL.

DENIM » 29

ISKO'S BLUE HORIZON I WENT TO SEA AND BECAME A SAILOR BECAUSE IT WAS IN MY JEANS

WRITTEN BY Roberta Uosiz The Marlin is a blue water fish, a “pelagic”— meaning it lives neither near the bottom, nor the shore. It does not stay fixed in one place revisiting the same opportunity, but cruises the vastness of the ocean, always with an eye out for what’s next. Being one of the world’s leading denim manufacturers and suppliers requires a similar boldness for swimming into the blue—it requires constant innovation.

“Innovation,” says Marco Lucietti, Global Marketing Director of ISKO—the global denim giant—“is anything that makes the lives of people better, and it is finding something that people and consumers have not yet found on the market. Innovation is about being able to interpret the unspoken needs of the consumer and to put [products] on the marketplace that they would like to buy, and products that they didn’t think to buy two years ago, but which now are available due to innovation.”

A Blue Ocean Strategy is one that mimics the behavior of the Marlin. It’s a concept that was developed in 2005 by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne, and it argues that instead of spending time and energy competing with the businesses in your same patch of the sea, a company should look outwards into the blue, and work towards creating new markets by exploiting an otherwise empty area. It is a concept that has been immensely popular in Silicon Valley—Apple being a seminal example of a company that develops new products which create their own entirely new market in the process. It’s a tactic that avoids competition in the “red” water where resources are scant, but that directs the effort of the company towards a “blue,” or less heavily populated part of the sea, where the company can exist sustainably.

ISKO is one of the biggest fish in the red water, and plays a role in the production of a third of global denim sales—one pair of jeans out of every three passes through their factories at some point—yet time and again ISKO continues to expand out into the blue water. They work from a crossroads, dominating an established market, yet at the same time forging ahead into entirely new markets. It is easy to see that their home base is an ideal location for this sort of ambidextrous venture—ISKO is based in Istanbul, the historical gateway between the East and the West.

30 « DENIM

“ISKO is a novelty because we have our cradle in a historical city,” says Marco Lucietti over the phone from his office in Milan, “I like to make a comparison—if you remember, the Florence of the 15th century, you have Michaelangelo, you had Machiavelli, intellectuals going to Florence in the 15th century because they found the right place to express themselves. It was financing, painting, and culture, and so on.

I guess that this is more or less the same place, we have a very international team of people.”

ISKO’s journey into textiles began back in 1904. Over the 20th century the company grew ever-larger, and in 1989

opened the world’s largest single-space denim manufacturing plant—a facility that produces 250 million meters of fabric per year—if stretched from the earth, this would reach almost two-thirds the distance to the moon.

ISKO pursues many space a g e i n n ovat i o n s , w i t h i t s latest including POP Stretch technology—a 100% cotton that feels more like silk, and Scratch’n Jean—the first three dimensional denim that allows for infinite customization. ISKO has also launched Arquas—a research platform to drive innovation in high performance sports and fitness apparel.

Lucietti has been with

ISKO for five years. During his tenure at the Turkish business-to-business firm he has seen dramatic change, not least in the fields of branded textiles.

You might think that with such a strong dominance in the red water—selling a material that has a place in almost every person’s closet—ISKO would be content to keep doing what works and to resist innovation, but in fact they embrace and thrive on it, pushing the market into everything from J e g g i n g s — s u p e r - s t re tc h d e n i m s t y l e l e g g i n g s , to Bluejym—comfortable denim style exercise wear.

While the Marlin stays ahead of its competitors with

speeds greater than 50 miles an hour, it still competes against a formidable pantheon of predators like the Mako shark.

Similarly, while ISKO stays in the lead with its ingenuity, competition in the global market remains fierce. “In a theoretical point of view,” Lucietti says in response to a query about staying in the lead, “As far as competition is fair, the question is, ‘What is the competition?’

In a market where 90% of the case is fair competition, it drives the market in a better direction.

[Our] market is a very competitive environment and competition adds to the quality of the market, and leads us to develop a better product for consumers.”

IMAGE FROM THE EYE AND THE MIND, AUTUMN 2015, ISKOOL: COUTURE DENIM BY MEG SPARKS. COURTESY ISKO, ISTANBUL.

TRUERELIGION.COM

32 « DENIM

Ecosystems are indeed strengthened through competition. In the denim industry, by competing in a strong marketplace, the overall demand is enhanced, and the capacity to individualize the product is greater. “Community benefits from individuality,” Lucetti points out, “because at the end of the day, we have to keep the individuality of each person, and satisfy their needs as individuals. But such an individuality can’t take place without the community working for the same goal, so there must be a business direction. If we see individualism as a need driving innovation, then we must consider the individual as a part of a community.”

ISKO fosters competition and community through its I-Skool program, which is a division of their R&D branch, “Creative Room.” Each summer for the last two years in Milan, ISKO sponsors a creative and marketing competition for fashion students to demonstrate their talents at finding new blue water, and win an internship at ISKO or one of its affiliate companies.

“The times we are living are the times for ingredient brands.” Lucietti muses, “Today, with the availability of information you have on the web, consumers are willing to understand why they are paying money for a premium product. And one of the main reasons to justify the premium of the garments on top of brand loyalty, is to explain the stuff of which garments are made of. It is fabric at the end of the day, if you are able to explain that your premium pricing is thanks to premium ingredients, I guess that is what we are trying to do now.”

Although the Jegging market is no longer the blue water it was— with other brands bustling into the space—and although some reports are claiming the skinny jean is “over,” ISKO has repeatedly succeeded in finding the bluest water in an ocean of denim.

Advocates of this bluest of oceans, Kim and Mauborgne write that: “When imitation requires companies to make changes to their whole system of activities, organizational politics may impede a would-be competitor’s ability to switch to the divergent business model of a blue ocean strategy.” ISKO has succeeded in avoiding the pitfalls of the imitation game, and continues to rely on their capacity to innovate to stay ahead, deep out in the blue.

LEFT: IMAGE COURTESY ISKO, ISTANBUL. BELOW: IMAGE FROM THE EYE AND THE MIND, AUTUMN 2015, ISKOOL: COUTURE DENIM BY MEG SPARKS. COURTESY ISKO, ISTANBUL.

MUSIC » 35

CHELSEA WOLFE M AT E R I A L S

I N C L U D E :

WRITTEN BY » Katie Gavin PHOTOGRAPHED BY » Samantha West

Chelsea Wolfe is feeling free.

Not so long ago, the formerly-Los Angeles-based singer and musician moved outside of the angel city, finding solace in the high desert, about 90 minutes away from her previous home. In a way, she was escaping, gaining freedom.

For much of her life, Wolfe has woken in the early hours of the morning with a staggering heaviness pushing down on her chest, at times accompanied by a

This page: KIELEY KIMMEL velvet blazer and dress, ZANA BAYNE belt with hands clasp, PAMELA LOVE earrings and ring, and UNEARTHEN bracelets .

Opposite: DIESEL silk top with safety pin and PAMELA LOVE earrings .

F R E E D O M ,

vague—or vivid—awareness of a dark figure in her presence: sleep paralysis.

The phenomenon has found its way into the thematic presentation of Wolfe’s most recent full-length record, Abyss.

Wolfe notes that her issues with sleep subsided after the recent move to the desert; perhaps she escaped these spirits and the energy that previously burdened her, perhaps the entities no longer had an easy time reaching her.

When talking to Chelsea Wolfe, artistic intention flows easily from the tall, raven-haired singer. She radiates a darkness that’s far from readymade aesthetic,

D A R K N E S S

it’s her in the most transparent sense. She speaks of process in a voice that drips down like a blackened sap, slowly building a stockpile of sustenance; recalling the ways in which her lead single off of Abyss deals with themes of revolt and revenge: “The first song on the album is supposed to be kind of a revenge song for ghosts almost, or for people who have died unjustly, or died in a situation where they just had no hope and someone really pushed them or someone killed them, and them being able to come back from the dead and haunt that person, or those people who made [the ghosts] suffer.”

ZAID AFFAS leather jacket and wide leg slacks, DIESEL t-shirt, ZANA BAYNE leather harness, GREY CITY pointed laceup boots, and UNEARTHEN ring.

Stylists: Annie & Hannah Hair: Brian Fisher Makeup: Tsipporah Liebman Grooming Notes: Makeup by M.A.C COSMETICS and hair by R+CO.

Yet, in a sense, Wolfe doesn’t write directly from her own personal experiences, but she’s able to draw personal and significant meaning from other sources: “I am writing about reality, I mean, the world itself is enough inspiration.”

Using this worldly inspiration, Wolfe writes and creates parallel histories, layering and intertwining these stories, running them through tape delays and reverb pedals, paired with the electrified growl of distorted kick drums—every element a digit on a hand reaching to pull us down into her world of rash instrumentation and yet: beauty.

Like clefts in a well-worn plate of armor, Wolfe’s instruments maintain defects, but in these she is able to see a meaningful patina. “When I was a kid my dad gave me this little digital reverb pedal and it was slightly broken, so sometimes it would just have this loud hiss slash electronic wave sound and I really grew attached—this sort of white noise was really comforting to me.”

It seems the recent move to the high desert is also a point of comfort to the artist. Having found an artistic freedom that had been lacking previously: “I’ve never really had my own space and now I do. I have my own studio setup that I don’t have to share, and it’s nice to have that 24-hour access to be able to create and to really just feel free and, you know, wear whatever I want and sing whatever I want and act however I want and to just allow everything to come to the forefront and not be worried about anybody else’s energy that I have to deal with, you know what I mean?

“It’s really just about—I guess— freedom.”

PHOTOGRAPHER: SAMANTHA WEST AT SAMANTHAWEST.NET. STYLISTS: ANNIE & HANNAH AT DLMLA.COM. HAIR: BRIAN FISHER FOR THEWALLGROUP.COM. MAKEUP: TSIPPORAH LIEBMAN.

36 « MUSIC

T H E

BUTTERTONES A L L

D I F F E R E N T

F L AV O R S

MUSIC » 39

WRITTEN BY » Elaina Ransford PHOTOGRAPHED BY » Stefano Galli

“I’m on the freeway so if I stop talking I got into a horrible accident,” says Dakota Böttcher, guitarist for Los Angeles-based group The Buttertones. Incidentally, it is the only “I” statement that he will make during our conversation and one of the few times that any of the members of the independent rock band will ever allude to themselves as individuals.

T h e c o h e s i ve n e s s s h ows. T h e Buttertones are a uniquely L.A. band: comprised of five gorgeous young guys, their sound, as Sean Redman, bassist, says “Fits into the indie alternative college rock universe just fine.” And yet, despite their flip admission of fitting a particular bill, The Buttertones don’t quite suit any single category.

“We have the culture of Echo Park and Hollywood, but at the same time, we want to make something different,” says Richard Araiza, guitarist and lead vocalist.

Böttcher, Redman, Araiza, saxophonist London Guzman, and drummer Kobe Modeste, met in Hollywood in 2011, and began playing music together as a reaction to attending a music school they all mutually detested. As they developed their sound, they also became inseparable friends and prolific musicians. To date, they have played practically every venue in Los Angeles, and are a household name in the 20-something Echo Park/Silverlake/Los Feliz crowd.

This page: 7 FOR ALL MANKIND button-up shirt and DIESEL pants.

Opposite: from left to right: Richard wears NEUW denim shirt and LEVI’S jeans.

Sean wears AG jacket and shirt. Kobe wears vintage Levi’s jacket and 7 FOR ALL MANKIND jeans. Dakota wears AG shirt and IMOGENE + WILLIE jeans. London wears NEUW denim shirt and his own jeans.

All shoes talents’ own.

“In the four years that we’ve known each other, the city has really shaped us: the experiences, the shows, the parties…”

Redman trails off and the others laugh. It’s clear that they are considering the plight of the latter.

When asked about their band name the guys become animated, frantically talking over each other. “I mean, butter is an ingredient in a lot of food, and it really brings out the flavor. We have different flavors, so—” Redman is interrupted by Guzman: “It makes you think of a ’50s doo-wop group.”

Despite their retro name, The Buttertones are decidedly of the 21st century. In particular, they are part of Los Angeles’ 21st century. They speak enthusiastically of their teenage fans— comparing their existence in the city to that of participants on MTV’s The Real World—and they flippantly reference their day jobs: “We dabble in acting and, you know, modeling shit.” However, they make it clear that they don’t plan on kicking it on the East side forever.

“We want people to experience us around the world,” says Redman.

The rest of the band agrees, adding that they will remain independent, despite any form of fame: “We’re such a unit.

We’ve taken things into our own hands.

We’re going to do things by ourselves as long as we can. We’re building our own little empire.”

Left to right: AG shirt and IMOGENE + WILLIE jeans. vintage Levi’s jacket and 7 FOR ALL MANKIND jeans. NEUW denim shirt and talent’s own jeans.

Stylist: Abi Arcinas

PHOTOGRAPHER: STEFANO GALLI AT STEFANOGALLI.COM. STYLIST: ABI ARCINAS. PHOTOGRAPHY ASSISTANT: JULIAN FERNANDEZ. STYLING ASSISTANT: JANELLE LOPEZ.

40 « MUSIC

@mavi

@maviusa

www.mavi.com

@maviusa

42 « ART

FAY RAY EVERY CREVICE HAS ITS WEED

WRITTEN BY » Werner Barnsdall

“THREE WOMEN,” (2015).

ARCHIVAL INKJET PRINTS, SUMI INK, AND POLYVINYL ACETATE. 17 X 22 INCHES. COURTESY THE ARTIST AND MAMA GALLERY, LOS ANGELES.

In 2010, LAXART welcomed Fay Ray to the burgeoning global art capital with a provocative, redflared billboard. This involved double-exposed images that overlaid her naked body with cars. In shooting a nude self-portrait series on film then rolling the film back to shoot automobiles on display at international car shows—she became a reflective combination of flesh and machine, object and image.

A native Angeleno, Ray crossed the continent to experience N.Y.C.’s harsher clime and learned that sunlight and warmth encourage her to work.

Since returning, she’s found fertile soil in and among respected L . A . i n st i t u t i o n s — i n c l u d i n g LAXART and LACMA—and assisted Los Angeles luminary John Baldessari. Ray’s pieces live in a feminine space, contemplating the use of female imagery and construction in the media. From a collection of feminine attributes that float disconnectedly in “Three Women”—a woman’s hair, ear, nose, and tropical plants—to “Bow, Hair, Block” where cinder blocks, chains, and hair bows exist in friendly opposition to one another. Her resistance forms a new intelligence, not only confronting the space it creates, but redefining space as resistant.

ART » 43

“DOUBLE ABSTRACTION,” (2015). ARCHIVAL INKJET PRINTS, SUMI INK, AND POLYVINYL ACETATE. 30 X 40 INCHES. COURTESY THE ARTIST AND MAMA GALLERY, LOS ANGELES.

44 « ART

Do you consider yourself an iconoclast?

I do, especially in the sense that I take issue with the way women are used to market products and the way they are represented in the media. I think a lot of women have a hard time squaring what they are told to be and buy in relationship to who they are and what they want. The complexities of this contrast activate my work. One of my biggest challenges in the studio is to be more aggressive with my approach to the commodified and understood representations of women because the urge to want to see myself reflected in the images is so strong. I find the whole relationship extremely nuanced and changing.

Your work often takes feminine concepts and presents them in a hard or industrial way—to what extent is this is a comment on feminism, and to what extent is it a representation of how you see yourself and the women around you?

My collage work is an honest representation of how I understand women to be portrayed and my own personal relationship to those images at the time when it is made. As I make more, I learn more about what is coming through the works subconsciously and what is necessary in the work. For instance, my use of high contrast black and white images.

That is essential because it emphasizes the dualities women are often asked to live by and the narrow choices we are allowed.

What aspects of Los Angeles influence your work? Could you see yourself making art anywhere else, and what would it look like?

Jan Avgikos once said, “Artists are like weeds, they can work anywhere.” When I heard that it reinforced that I was part of a tribe of people that need to make art to live, and they will do so one way or another wherever they are or die.

“BOW, HAIR, BLOCK,” (2015).

ARCHIVAL INKJET PRINTS, SUMI INK, AND POLYVINYL ACETATE. 30 X 40 INCHES. COURTESY THE ARTIST AND MAMA GALLERY, LOS ANGELES.

dl1961.com

46 « ART

ZOE CROSHER HEAD OUT ON THE HIGHWAY, FORGETTING THE ADVENTURE

ART » 47

THIS PAGE: “LA-LIKE: COMPOSITION I-10, DESERT CENTER—PERFORMANCE BY SCOTT BENZEL,” (2015).

DESERT CENTER (COMPOSITION I-10 MVMT IV: DUSK) FOR STRING QUARTET, EXPERIMENTAL PERCUSSION, AM RADIO, AND ELECTRONICS. DIMENSIONS VARY. COURTESY THE ARTIST AND SCOTT BENZEL. OPPOSITE: “TRANSGRESSING THE PACIFIC: WHERE NATALIE WOOD DISAPPEARED OFF CATALINA ISLAND,” (2008). FUJIFLEX ARCHIVAL PRINT. 40 X 40 INCHES. COURTESY THE ARTIST AND MAMA GALLERY, LOS ANGELES.

WRITTEN BY » Jordan Auckland A child of a diplomat and a flight attendant, Los Angelesbased artist Zoe Crosher spent much of her childhood as an outsider, detached from the country of her birth.

Time and again her works return to the themes of transience and impermanence, yet Crosher shuns the idea that her work has a place in the canon of counter-culture. “Counter-culture is a word that never even enters my vocabulary,” she says. “I associate this notion with a more traditional and historical approach to activism, a more reactive stance, literally a countering to culture. It is an approach that certainly is important and has a place, but is not, at least for now, the strategy I employ to effect change. I’m looking for a way through something, not against something—or perhaps this very approach defines an iconoclast, and I am one even if I don’t intend to be?”

While many artists lose themselves in counter-culture, rebellion, and rock and roll, Crosher walks a different path: “I’m not interested in criticizing, destroying or opposing whatever the status quo is for its own sake. I am much more interested in notions of expansions—of engaging, activating, and opening up conventional standards to go beyond whatever the current norms and expectations are.”

Crosher might doubt that she is an iconoclast, yet her work continuously chases new horizons. In her work with the LAND (Los Angeles Nomadic Division) Manifest Destiny Billboard Project, Crosher created a series of billboards of lush vegetation that stretched through the Californian desert, urging “people to reconsider the history and mythology of the cross-country road trip.”

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“My hope was to disrupt embodied and served as the vehicle for cultheir normal commute,” Crosher tural and social movements...counterculture… says, “their everyday—to pres- spread out from San Francisco...rock music has ent the passersby with images been associated with political activism as well just unfamiliar enough as to as changes in social attitudes to race, sex and shake them out of their predict- drug use, and is often seen as an expression able comfort zone of traditional of youth revolt against adult consumerism and commercial billboard imagery. conformity.”

“Instead of talking abstractly The counter-culture of the ’60s drifted and fantasizing about the trip across California, and still echoes through the West, the idea is to physically amp of every young rock and roller. Crosher’s move through the problematic work may yet find itself to be a part of the landscape being fantasized—to general clamor of the time—iconic of the noise punctuate the landscape by that this era will one day be known for. It’s the tracing territorial expansion very process of remembering she’s interested in, from East to West, to insist on the backward glance, and the artifice of it our reconsidering the history behind memories and histories create. As she puts it, the fantasy.”

“I’m concerned with the imaginary, the image, the D i s r u p t i n g e x p e c t a - conversation around the image, the memory of tions, reconsidering history; the image, the misremembering of the image.

Boundless U.S. History records The medium itself doesn’t matter so much to that “Rock music of the 1960s… me, it’s more a conceptual conceit.”

“NO.39 FROM THE ADDITIVE DUST SERIES (GUAM 1979) FROM THE DISAPPEARANCE OF MICHELLE DUBOIS,” (2012).

ARCHIVAL PIGMENT PRINT. 21 X 31 INCHES. COURTESY THE ARTIST AND MAMA GALLERY, LOS ANGELES.

ADRIAN GRENIER & BARBARA PALVIN in

BuffaloJeans.com /BuffaloJeans @BuffaloJeans

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COLE STERNBERG CANDY APPLE GREY PAINT WRITTEN BY Charlie Latan

“SYNTHETIC ARCHWAYS OBSCURED

BY THE CLOUDS,” (2012-2014).

ACRYLIC, INK, SPRAY PAINT, AND WATERCOLOR ON LINEN. 84 X 96 INCHES. COURTESY THE ARTIST AND MAMA GALLERY, LOS ANGELES.

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Cole Sternberg’s “behind the clouds the fireworks became less of a distraction,” could stand alone as poetry, but it’s the title of a single panel in his exhibition, A Moment Near The Sea. In “behind the clouds...”, he applies mixed material onto wood, the series imbuing a dissociative effect, an ineffable amnesia of events perceived without having been sensed.

The medium is the message, and Sternberg’s variance formulates subversive commentaries on social issues—from human rights activism and its relationship to law, to the media and concepts of content overload. Sternberg’s anomolous approach could be expected though, given his education: studying law at American University.

ABOVE: “AMELIA EARHART,” (2015).

MIXED MEDIA ON WOOD PANEL. 18 X 24 INCHES. COURTESY THE ARTIST AND MAMA GALLERY, LOS ANGELES. LEFT: “A COVE THE COVE OUR COVE,” (2015). MIXED MEDIA ON WOOD PANEL. 36 X 48 INCHES. COURTESY THE ARTIST AND MAMA GALLERY, LOS ANGELES.

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“THE COLORS ONCE NATURAL, WHERE NOW ONLY SYNTHETIC,” (2014). ACRYLIC, GRAPHITE, AND WATERCOLOR ON LINEN. 72 X 90 INCHES. COURTESY THE ARTIST AND MAMA GALLERY, LOS ANGELES.

When Sternberg tells a story through blurry and convoluted means, he intuits a barbiturate effect—the works are soothing, if not frustrating. It’s recommended to see them in context with their melancholic titles. Take, for instance, “a moment…” where a square-patched collage of incoherent cursive—dark, brooding hues crowded with chalk-swirl lines (are we lost within a fictional elementary school?)—draws the viewer in, panel by panel, anchoring them in an ephemeral investigation. Then to overdeveloped landscape photos of lonesome foliage, a pool and its reflection, and a first-person POV on a diving board, each cut up and laid in overlaps. Sternberg ’s work contemplates itself, a narrative beyond description. “skylight,” “one man show,” “amelia earhart,” “jumping in,” read the titles. It’s a colorful scansion, one that might arguably lead to the most frightening frontier—one where the language, which

governs us, also perceives itself.

Your art sometimes uses fragmentary effects and textures, are you consciously drawn towards those types of form and pattern, or is that something that just emerges organically from the work that you create?

I’m not really sure. I think for me the line between conscious, subconscious, and unconscious is difficult to draw. Form and composition certainly play a significant role in each work and if said composition is not sound, the process continues on the piece until it is. Glad I answered that so clearly.

Your work spans a variety of media. What role does mood play in drawing you towards a particular form? For example, do you find yourself painting when you’re happy, or writing poetry when you’re melancholic?

Anger, sarcasm and frustration certainly drive the writing and forethought of painterly works. Painting itself tends to shift that mood towards a more comforting one.

Finishing a work in any media that pleases me brings on the most positive of moods.

You studied law. Do you think that the legal mode of thinking has manifested in your art?

I went to law school due to interests in a few things, chiefly, the practice of exploiting language to control, the role of international law in public policy, and to fill three years of time while reading books and living off student loans. The use and structuring of language, as well as many social political components of my work is certainly grounded in those years of study.

YOU WEAR THEM. YOU TEAR THEM. WE REPAIR THEM

TEENS IN JEANS

Lola, 18, does not fear the bus.

IN LOS ANGELES PHOTOGRAPHED BY » Louis Canadas

Talullah, 15, thinks she could defeat a shark if she tried.

56 ÂŤ TEENS IN JEANS

Sadie, 17, is enthusiastic for the weekend.

TEENS IN JEANS Âť 57

Ruby, 18, and Sullivan, 16, both like Jason, though he seems ambivalent.

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Leonora, 15, wishes people weren’t so selfish, unattractive.

USA

LONDON

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www.worldjeanshop.com

AUSTRALIA

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PHOTOGRAPHER: LOUIS CANADAS AT LOUISCANADAS.COM.

Olive, 16, lays awake at night thinking of plastic.

F A S H I O N E M E R G E N C Y PHOTOGRAPHED BY Ian Morrison

L’AGENCE dress and US JEANS CO. jeans.

IRO sweatshirt, 34 HERITAGE mid-rise tapered jeans, and KELLY COLE belt.

A.L.C. dress, US JEANS CO. jeans, and HELMUT LANG belt.

Model: Mathilda Tolvanen and Otto Seppalainen Hair: Christine Nelli Makeup: Garret Gervais EAMGMT.COM USING ORIBE HAIR CARE. MAKEUP: GARRET GERVAIS FOR GRIDAGENCY.COM.

PHOTOGRAPHER: IAN MORRISON AT OPUSREPS.COM. MODELS: MATHILDA TOLVANEN AT PHOTOGENICSMEDIA.COM, LOS ANGELES AND OTTO SEPPALAINEN AT LAMODELS.COM, LOS ANGELES. HAIR: CHRISTINE NELLI FOR

SANDRO shirt and AGAVE ‘rocker’ jeans.

SANDRO shirt and ROBIN’S JEAN jeans.

TAMARA MELLON shirt, DL1961 jeans, and J.SOUTHERN ring.

A.L.C. dress, DL1961 ‘nick’ jeans, and BALMAIN belt. HELMUT LANG jean jacket, COS turtleneck, DL1961 ‘russel’ jeans, and KELLY COLE belt.

US JEANS CO. jeans.

TAMARA MELLON shirt, DL1961 ‘nick’ jeans, and J.SOUTHERN ring.

BOY MEETS GIRL WHERE THE BEAT GOES ON PHOTOGRAPHED BY Justin Campbell

SAINT LAURENT BY HEDI SLIMANE leather jacket, STRĂ–M long sleeve knit sweater and jeans, and DANIEL ESPINOSA hammered plate drop earrings.

VALENTINO georgette point d’esprit blouse and black patent leather ‘rebelle’ boots, HUDSON JEANS ‘illicist’ jeans, and PLUMA gold spiral bangle.

DIOR patent leather jacket and ‘dior chromic’ sunglasses, JOE’S JEANS ‘markie crop’ jeans, AGENT PROVOCATEUR ‘margot’ bra, TOM FORD pony hair patchwork knee high boots, and ED LEVIN sliced mirror earrings.

ROLLA’S ‘east coast flare’ denim overalls, SAINT LAURENT BY HEDI SLIMANE leather bra, and CHANEL metal and resin chain bracelet.

JEAN SHOP denim shirt, ERDEM leopard print fur pencil skirt, PHILIPP PLEIN calf leather belt, CHANEL metal and resin bracelet, and DANIEL ESPINOSA sphere stud earrings.

PHILIPP PLEIN kidassia fur jacket, ALEXA CHUNG FOR AG ‘sacred monster’ long sleeve tight t-shirt and ‘gove’ suede skirt, WOLFORD tights, SAINT LAURENT BY HEDI SLIMANE ‘gourmette’ double choker, and DANIEL ESPINOSA hammered plate ring.

HAIR: DIMITRIS GIANNETOS FOR OPUSBEAUTY.COM. MAKEUP: JAKE BAILEY FOR STARWORKSARTISTS.COM. PHOTOGRAPHY ASSISTANT: MICHAEL PREMAN.

Grooming Notes: Hair by ORIBE

PHOTOGRAPHER: JUSTIN CAMPBELL AT JUSTINCAMPBELLSTUDIOS.COM. STYLIST: MONTY JACKSON FOR THEONLY.AGENCY. MODEL: SOLVEIG MØ​RK HANSEN FOR UNIQUE.DK, COPENHAGEN.

Stylist: Monty Jackson Model: Solveig Mø​rk Hansen Hair: Dimitris Giannetos Makeup: Jake Bailey

ALEXANDRE VAUTHIER leather fringe jacket dress, SIWY denim shorts, AGENT PROVOCATEUR ‘margot’ bra, SAINT LAURENT BY HEDI SLIMANE fishnet tights and ‘punk gourmette’ choker, CASADEI steel toe pumps, CHANEL belt with plexiglass, resin, and glass pearl detail, and DANIEL ESPINOSA sphere stud earrings.

IT WAS LIKE A FOREIGN PHOTOGRAPHED BY Eddie Chacon

AG top and jeans.

Above: CÉLINE top, MAVI ‘sheena’ high-rise flare jeans, and DIOR vinyl boots.

Below: DIOR HOMME wool overcoat, stylist’s own turtleneck, 7 FOR ALL MANKIND jeans.

EXCHANGE KIND OF THING

Above: left to right: LEVI’S crewneck sweatshirt, filtered ‘canyon 501’ cutoff shorts layered over ‘flushed’ jeans, DR. MARTENS boots, and stylist’s own rope belt.

LEVI’S t-shirt and ‘icon’ jeans, and DR. MARTENS shoes.

Below: LEVI’S boyfriend trucker jacket and button-down pencil skirt, stylist’s own turtleneck, and DIOR vinyl boots.

From left to right: CHANEL jacket and belt, NEUW ‘marilyn’ ankle jeans, and TOM FORD velvet boots. NUDIE leather jacket, stylist’s own turtleneck, NEUW ‘ray’ tapered jeans, DARNER socks, and DR. MARTENS shoes.

TOM FORD top and velvet boots, and DIESEL ‘skinzee’ low waist jeans.

LOUIS VUITTON top and boots and NEUW ‘iggy’ raw jeans.

AT WHITNEYTHOMASHAIR.COM. MAKEUP: ELIE MAALOUF FOR JEDROOT.COM. PHOTOGRAPHY ASSISTANT: ISAAC VON HALLBERG. STYLING ASSISTANTS: KEYLA MARQUEZ AND MONIQA SOMERA-OVERLY.

PHOTOGRAPHER: EDDIE CHACON AT METROPOLISOFVICE.COM. STYLIST: SISSY SAINTE-MARIE AT SISSYSAINTEMARIE.COM. MODELS: DALLAS HAUPT, ILANA KOZLOV, AND KRIS KIDD FOR NEXT MANAGEMENT.COM, LOS ANGELES. HAIR: WHITNEY THOMAS

Left to right: DIOR HOMME wool overcoat, stylist’s own turtleneck, 7 FOR ALL MANKIND jeans, DARNER socks, and DR. MARTENS shoes. SANDRO leather jacket, stylist’s own turtleneck, 7 FOR ALL MANKIND jeans, and DIOR vinyl boots.

Left to right: CÉLINE top and MAVI ‘sheena’ high-rise flare jeans.

NUDIE overcoat, stylist’s own turtleneck, MAVI ‘jake’ slim skinny leg jeans.

Stylist: Sissy Sainte-Marie Models: Dallas Haupt, Ilana Kozlov, and Kris Kidd Hair: Whitney Thomas Makeup: Elie Maalouf

B E C A U S E

A

B R U T A L I S T ' S H O L I D A Y

I S

A W F U L L Y

G E N T L E

PHOTOGRAPHED BY Ian Morrison

This page: MAIDEN NOIR sweater, BUFFALO ‘zoltan-x’ dropped crotch jeans, and PUMA sneakers.

Opposite: Left to Right: Stylist’s own trenchcoat, TRUE RELIGION ‘mick’ jeans, GRENSON STANLEY oxfords available at Likelihood, Seattle, and BEDFORD 11TH tote available at Baby & Co, Seattle.

SCHAI cashmere jacket, US JEANS CO. jeans, VIC MATIE boots available at Baby & Co, Seattle, ISABEL BENENATO satchel, and stylist’s own denim collar.

Left to Right: TRUE RELIGION ‘gigi’ trucker denim jacket, stylist’s own denim collar, and SCHAI cross over trousers. AGAVE denim shirt in soft clouds blue and SCHAI cross over trousers.

AGAVE denim shirt in soft clouds blue stripe and SCHAI button-up dress and cross over trousers.

OLIVERBEAUTYSTUDIOS.COM.

REED DANIEL AND ISABELLA NECE FOR HEFFNERMANAGEMENT.COM, SEATTLE. HAIR AND MAKEUP: OLIVER BEAUTY AT

Stylist: Michele Andrews Models: Reed Daniel and Isabella Nece Hair & Makeup: Oliver Beauty

PHOTOGRAPHER: IAN MORRISON FOR OPUSREPS.COM. STYLIST: MICHELE ANDREWS FOR BIANCOARTISTS.COM. MODELS:

Left to Right: MALENE BIRGER pants, HANNES ROETHER belt available at Baby & Co, Seattle, and 1-100 choker. SAGE DE CRÊT trench available at Baby & Co, Seattle, ROBIN’S JEAN leather moto pants, and GRENSON STANLEY shoes available at Likelihood, Seattle.

SOMETIMES REFUGE IS IN YOUR MIND

POWERED BY ISKO

PHOTOGRAPHED BY Alvin Nguyen

DRIES VAN NOTEN jacket, A.L.C. top, 3X1 jeans, and FRĒDA SALVADOR shoes.

BURBERRY PRORSUM coat, CARVEN top, JAMES JEANS jeans, and FRĒDA SALVADORE shoes.

DRIES VAN NOTEN jacket, DSQUARED2 top, BLUE SKIN jeans, and FRĒDA SALVADORE shoes.

DRIES VAN NOTEN jacket and MOTHER jeans.

DIESEL fur vest, DRIES VAN NOTEN sequin top, and HUDSON JEANS jeans.

DRIES VAN NOTEN jacket, ARQUAS top, J BRAND jeans, and FRĒDA SALVADORE shoes.

BURBERRY PRORSUM cashmere fringe poncho, RAG & BONE top, MCGUIRE jeans, and FRĒDA SALVADORE shoes.

Stylist: Mimi Le Model: Lydia Hearst Hair: Michael Dueñas Makeup: Kristee Liu Set Designer: Cassie Jakubowski LA.COM. MAKEUP: KRISTEE LIU FOR T MG-LA.COM. SET DESIGNER: CASSIE JAKUBOWSKI FOR BIRDIE-BOUTIQUE.COM.

PHOTOGRAPHER: ALVIN NGUYEN FOR JORGEPEREZREPS.COM. STYLIST: MIMI LE. MODEL: LYDIA HEARST FOR DT MODELMANAGEMENT.COM, LOS ANGELES. HAIR: MICHAEL DUEÑAS FOR T MG-

BURBERRY PRORSUM cape, DSQUARED2 top, JAMES JEANS jeans, GLADYS TAMEZ MILLINERY hat, and FRĒDA SALVADORE shoes.