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Table of Contents
05 07 12 16 24 30 Letter from the editor
Ritual
Product
Cover Story
A Sense of Space
GIGI
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President and Publisher Daniella E. Chila Editor James Marcus Managing Editor Hasan Altaf Senior Editors Emily Cooke, Giles Harvey Editor Emeritus Lewis H. Lapham Editor-at-Large Ellen Rosenbush Los Angeles Editor Andrew Cockburn Art Director Stacey Clarkson James
Letter from the Editor
There is nothing like picking up a magazine that speaks to you. I hope this brings you joy and truly helps you grow creatively and tastefully. Have a great month Pebble people! Daniella Elsa Chila Editor in Chief
December P 2016
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ritual
food | 5th floor | travel Unleash the Bestia
The concept for Bestia juxtaposes decorative contemporary elements against a raw, industrial space dripping with character. This approach pays homage to sophisticated modern-day Italian spaces, which often integrate contemporary interiors into centuries-old structures. Strong, traditional building materials such as tile, steel, marble, and wood also provide pops of festive color. The name Bestia (Italian for “Beast”) echoes throughout the space via hardedged design elements, such as the wall covering’s pattern of bar-fight weapons, intimidating meat-hook chandeliers suspended from soaring steel tracks, and bathroom tilework that reads as unfinished. The repeated use of chevron and hexagonal patterns, tulip pendant lighting, warm amber tones, and airy booth seating help soften the aggres-
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sively industrial augustspace with a bit of whimsy. The distinctive booths, engineered and built by District Millworks, feature seats that appear to defy gravity. A raw-copper bar top provides a canvas that echoes throughout the space via hard-edged design as tile, steel, marble, and wood also provide pops of festive color. elements, such as the wall covering’s pattern of barfight weapons, will be ever-changing throughout its lifetime as it reflects the craft of creating artisanal cocktails.
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food | 5th floor | travel
5th Floor Maddness
“Madder and more original than most of her contemporaries, Mme Schiaparelli is the one to whom the word ‘genius’ is applied most often,” Time magazine wrote of its cover subject in 1934. Coco Chanel once dismissed her rival as “that Italian artist who makes clothes.” (To Schiaparelli, Chanel was simply “that milliner.”) Indeed, Schiaparelli—“Schiap” to friends— stood out among her peers as a true nonconformist, using clothing as a medium to express her unique ideas. In the thirties, her peak creative period, her salon overflowed with the wild, the whimsical, and even the
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ridiculous. Many of her madcap designs could be pulled off only by a woman of great substance and style: Gold ruffles sprouted from the fingers of chameleon-green suede gloves; a pale-blue satin evening gown—modeled by Madame Crespi in Von the thirties) were everywhere.conformist, using clothing as a medium to express her unique ideas. In the thirties, her peak creative period, her salon overflow love of trompe l’oeil can be traced to the faux-bow sweater she offered to women. Pace-setters and rule-breakers waved that flag through the sixties, the seventies, and beyond. . Coco Chanel once dismissed her rival as “that Italian artist who makes clothes. Photo credit Portrait: Irving Penn Windows: photographed by Carlos Diaz
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ritual
food | 5th floor | travel
Madrid is on the rise! The city has been going to the gym, cutting out the trans fats, and taking summer courses. Today’s Madrid, despite the economic nightmare that is Spain circa 2012, is both lean and welcoming, with a recently reclaimed river, a burgeoning new arts district within the walls of an old slaughterhouse, oodles of creative cuisine, and, yes, nocturnal 70-yearolds gathered around a piano in the rollicking Chueca neighborhood waiting for the sun to rise. The city has gentrified tremendously, but you can still catch a little flicker of grit in your peripheral vision. There are
fancy new olive-oil stores next to shoe-repair shops whose proprietors live in darkened holes illuminated only. In the oh-so-cool area of TriBall, short for TriĂĄngulo de Ballesta, there are fashion boutiques, cooking schools, artisanal hamburger joints, and the Belgian-owned Al Cuadrado Taglio & Bar pizza shop.
Product: Rose Gold Pebble Time Rund Smart Watch $199, pebble.com
KitchenAid Exectric Mixer $599, Kitchenaid.com Stan Smith Adidas $110, Adidas.com
Summer Water RosĂŠ Wine $19.99, winc.com
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Moscow Mule Copper Cup $12.99 each, traget.com
Deer Head Wall Decor $49.99, etsy.com Rose Gold Luggage $230, bloomies.com
Rose Metallic Nail Polish $8, essie.com
Special Edition Rose Gold Flamingo Pool Float $100, funboy.com fall 2016
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life style fall 2016
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Cover Story
Back to Basics The Launch of Cut + Sew
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By: Daniella Chila Photographed by: Daniel Rosenberg
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Banking on the bust at American Apparel as well as consumer’s resistance to overpriced basics, Los Angeles-based branding executives Adam Drawas and Jennifer Walker have teamed with T-shirt designer Kari Weiner, former designer and owner of K Street NYC, to launch a new direct-to-consumer brand called Cut + Sew. Debuting online Dec. 5 with crew neck, scoop and V-neck styles for women and a classic crew neck for men, plus three scented candles, the line aims to become the go-to for consumers seeking a high-quality, Made in L.A. cotton tees and scents to go with them. Retail prices range from $45 to $52. The launch palette consists of basic white, black and gray plus distressed “vintage” versions of each color. Drawas and Weiner met while working at Louis Boston in the late Nineties. He went on to found a public relations outfit in New York, followed by one Los Angeles which he combined with Walker’s company two years ago. Meanhwhile, Weiner remained in New York and began the premium T-shirt label K Street NYC a decade ago. “We understand that the market is saturated, and we wanted to bring a polished, accessibly priced product for consumers who outgrew American Apparel and didn’t want to spend $150 on James Perse or Cotton Citizen,”
said Drawas. “We’re planning to drive our digital brand identity through that.” Cut + Sew plans to introduce newness through collaborations early next year, and may partner with bricksand-mortar retailers. “We’re focused on creating a web site with personality that speaks to our consumers’ lifestyle, but we’re being selective with retailers because it’s more about carving our own way to create new categories and products. We don’t have any seasonal boundaries in mind,” said Walker. The partners are using tried-and-true celebrity seeding methods to get the product out there, though. Halle Berry, Kristen Stewart, Kate Hudson and Justin Bieber have all received product via their stylists, and Drawas said, “We have an aggressive strategy; you will see it after Dec. 5.” While they aren’t giving first-year sales projections yet, Weiner said, “We’d love to become that staple for men, women and mini.” Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Integer nec odio. Praesent libero. Sed cursus ante dapibus diam. Sed nisi. Nulla quis sem at nibh elementum imperdiet. Duis sagittis ipsum. Praesent mauris. Fusce nec tellus sed augue semper porta. Mauris massa. Vestibulum lacinia arcu eget nulla. Class aptent taciti sociosqu ad litora torquent per conubia nostra, per inceptos himenaeos. Curabitur sodales ligula in libero. Sed dignissim lacinia nunc. Curabitur tortor. Pellentesque nibh. Aenean quam. In scelerisque sem at dolor. Maecenas mattis. Sed convallis tristique sem. Proin ut ligula vel nunc egestas porttitor. Morbi lectus risus, iaculis vel, suscipit
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quis, luctus non, massa. Fusce ac turpis quis ligula lacinia aliquet. Mauris ipsum. Nulla metus metus, ullamcorper vel, tincidunt sed, euismod in, nibh. Quisque volutpat condimentum velit. Class aptent taciti sociosqu ad litora torquent per conubia nostra, per inceptos himenaeos. Nam nec ante. Sed lacinia, urna non tincidunt mattis, tortor neque adipiscing diam, a cursus ipsum ante quis turpis. Nulla facilisi. Ut fringilla. Suspendisse potenti. Nunc feugiat mi a tellus consequat imperdiet. Vestibulum sapien. Proin quam. Etiam ultrices. Suspendisse in justo eu magna luctus suscipit. Sed lectus. Integer euismod lacus luctus magna. Quisque cursus, metus vitae pharetra auctor, sem massa mattis sem, at interdum magna augue eget diam. Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae; Morbi lacinia molestie dui. Praesent blandit dolor. Sed non quam. In vel mi sit amet augue congue elementum. Morbi in ipsum sit amet pede facilisis laoreet. Donec lacus nunc, viverra nec, blandit vel, egestas et, augue. Vestibulum tincidunt malesuada tellus. Ut ultrices ultrices enim. Curabitur sit amet mauris.
aliquet eget, justo. Sed pretium blandit orci. Ut eu diam at pede suscipit sodales. Aenean lectus elit, fermentum non, convallis id, sagittis at, neque. Nullam mauris orci, aliquet et, iaculis et, viverra vitae, ligula. Nulla ut felis in purus aliquam imperdiet. Maecenas aliquet mollis lectus. Vivamus consectetuer risus et tortor. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Integer nec odio. Praesent libero. Sed cursus ante dapibus diam.
“I won’t dim
my light so that you feel more comfortable�
Morbi in dui quis est pulvinar ullamcorper. Nulla facilisi. Integer lacinia sollicitudin massa. Cras metus. Sed aliquet risus a tortor. Integer id quam. Morbi mi. Quisque nisl felis, venenatis tristique, dignissim in, ultrices sit amet, augue. Proin sodales libero eget ante. Nulla quam. Aenean laoreet.
Sed nisi. Nulla quis sem at nibh elementum imperdiet. Duis sagittis ipsum. Praesent mauris. Fusce nec tellus sed augue semper porta. Mauris massa. Vestibulum lacinia arcu eget nulla. Class aptent taciti sociosqu ad litora torquent per conubia nostra, per inceptos himenaeos. Curabitur sodales ligula in libero. Sed dignissim lacinia nunc. Curabitur tortor. Pellentesque nibh. Aenean quam. In scelerisque sem at dolor.
-Adam Drawas
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Maecenas mattis. Sed convallis tristique sem. Proin ut ligula vel nunc egestas porttitor. Morbi lectus risus, iaculis vel, suscipit quis, luctus non, massa. Fusce ac turpis quis pebble
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ligula lacinia aliquet. Mauris ipsum. Nulla metus metus, ullamcorper vel, tincidunt sed, euismod in, nibh. Quisque volutpat condimentum velit. Class aptent taciti sociosqu ad litora torquent per conubia nostra, per inceptos himenaeos. Nam nec ante. Sed lacinia, urna non tincidunt mattis, tortor neque adipiscing diam, a cursus ipsum ante quis turpis. Nulla facilisi. Ut fringilla. Suspendisse potenti. Nunc feugiat mi a tellus consequat imperdiet. Vestibulum sapien. Proin quam. Etiam ultrices. Suspendisse in justo eu magna luctus suscipit. Sed lectus. Integer euismod lacus luctus magna. Quisque cursus, metus vitae pharetra auctor, sem massa mattis sem, at interdum magna augue eget diam. Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae; Morbi lacinia molestie dui. Praesent blandit dolor. Sed non quam.
tellus sed augue semper porta. Mauris massa. Vestibulum lacinia arcu eget nulla. Class aptent taciti sociosqu ad litora torquent per conubia nostra, per inceptos himenaeos. Curabitur sodales ligula in libero. Sed dignissim lacinia nunc. Curabitur tortor. Pellentesque nibh. Aenean quam. In scelerisque sem at dolor. Maecenas mattis. Sed convallis tristique sem. Proin ut ligula vel nunc egestas porttitor. Morbi lectus risus, iaculis vel, suscipit quis, luctus non, massa. Fusce ac turpis quis ligula lacinia aliquet. Mauris ipsum. Nulla metus metus, ullamcorper vel, tincidunt sed, euismod in, nibh. Quisque volutpat condimentum velit. Class aptent taciti sociosqu ad litora torquent per conubia nostra, per inceptos himenaeos. Nam nec ante. Sed lacinia, urna non tincidunt mattis, tortor neque adipiscing diam, a cursus ipsum ante quis turpis. Nulla facilisi. Ut fringilla. Suspendisse potenti. Nunc feugiat mi a tellus consequat imperdiet. Vestibulum sapien. Proin quam. Etiam ultrices. Suspendisse in justo eu magna luctus suscipit. Sed lectus.
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Integer euismod lacus luctus magna. Quisque cursus, metus vitae pharetra auctor, sem massa mattis sem, at interdum magna augue eget diam. Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae; Morbi lacinia molestie dui. Praesent blandit dolor. Sed non quam. In vel mi sit amet augue congue elementum. Morbi in ipsum sit amet pede facilisis laoreet. Donec lacus nunc, viverra nec, blandit vel, egestas et, augue. Vestibulum tincidunt malesuada tellus. Ut ultrices ultrices enim. Curabitur sit amet mauris. Morbi in dui quis est pulvinar ullamcorper. Nulla facilisi. Integer lacinia sollicitudin massa. Cras metus. Sed aliquet risus a tortor. Integer id quam. Morbi mi. Quisque nisl felis, venenatis tristique, dignissim in, ultrices sit amet, augue. Proin sodales libero eget ante. Nulla quam. Aenean laoreet. Vestibulum nisi lectus, commodo ac, facilisis ac, ultricies eu, pede. Ut orci risus, accumsan porttitor, cursus quis, aliquet eget, justo. Sed pretium blandit orci. Ut eu diam at pede suscipit sodales. Aenean lectus elit, fermentum non, convallis id, sagittis at, neque. Nullam mauris orci, aliquet et, iaculis et, viverra vitae, ligula. Nulla ut felis in purus aliquam imperdiet. Maecenas aliquet mollis lectus. Vivamus consectetuer risus et tortor. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Integer nec odio. Praesent libero. Sed cursus ante dapibus diam. Sed nisi. Nulla quis sem at nibh elementum imperdiet. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Integer nec odio. Praesent libero. Sed cursus ante dapibus diam. Sed nisi. Nulla quis sem at nibh elementum imperdiet. Duis sagittis ipsum. Praesent mauris. Fusce nec tellus sed augue semper porta. Mauris massa. Vestibulum lacinia arcu eget nulla.
Meet the Crew No, that’s the music you hear when... I’m sorry are you from the past? Oh really? Then why don’t you come down and make me then. If anyone was ever rude to me, I used to carry their food around in my trousers. Oh my God! Before you brought it to their table? No, after! Of course, before! Why would I do it after? Dear Sir stroke Madam, I am writing to inform you of a fire which has broken out at the premises of... Graphic homoeroticism? Does that mean they’re going to get them out? Hello? I’ve had a bit of a tumble. fire which has broken out at the mount charleston lazy river collecting rocks! No, that’s the music you hear wyone was ever rudE to me, I used to carry their to get them out? Hello? I’ve had a bit of a tumble. fire which has broken out at the mount charleston lazy river collecting rocks!remises of... Graphic homoeroticism? Does that mean they’re going to get them out? Hello? I’ve had a bit of a tumble. fire which has broken out at the mount charleston lazy river collecting rocks! No, that’s the music you hear wyone was ever rude to me, I used to carry their to get them out? Hello? I’ve had
Class aptent taciti sociosqu ad litora torquent per conubia nostra, per inceptos himenaeos. Curabitur sodales ligula in libero. Sed dignissim lacinia nunc. Curabitur tortor. Pellentesque nibh. Aenean quam. fall 2016
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In scelerisque sem at dolor. Maecenas mattis. Sed convallis tristique sem. Proin ut ligula vel nunc egestas porttitor. Morbi lectus risus, iaculis vel, suscipit quis, luctus non, massa. Fusce ac turpis quis ligula lacinia aliquet. Mauris ipsum. Nulla metus metus, ullamcorper vel, tincidunt sed, euismod in, nibh.
dignissim in, ultrices sit amet, augue. Proin sodales libero eget ante. Nulla quam. Aenean laoreet. Vestibulum nisi lectus, commodo ac, facilisis ac, ultricies eu, pede.
Ut orci risus, accumsan porttitor, cursus quis, aliquet eget, justo. Sed pretium blandit orci. Ut eu diam at pede suscipit sodales. Aenean lectus elit, fermentum non, convallis id, Quisque volutpat condimentum velit. Class aptent taciti so- sagittis at, neque. Nullam mauris orci, aliquet et, iaculis et, ciosqu ad litora torquent per conubia nostra, per inceptos viverra vitae, ligula. Nulla ut felis in purus aliquam imperdhimenaeos. Nam nec ante. Sed lacinia, urna non tincidunt iet. Maecenas aliquet mollis lectus. Vivamus consectetuer mattis, tortor neque adipiscing diam, a cursus ipsum ante risus et tortor. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur quis turpis. Nulla facilisi. Ut fringilla. Suspendisse potenti. adipiscing elit. Integer nec odio. Praesent libero. Sed curNunc feugiat mi a tellus consequat imperdiet. Vestibulum sus ante dapibus diam. Sed nisi. Nulla quis sem at nibh elementum imperdiet. Duis sagittis ipsum. Praesent mauris. Fusce nec tellus sed augue semper porta. Mauris massa. Vestibulum lacinia arcu eget nulla. Class aptent taciti sociosqu ad litora torquent per conubia nostra, per inceptos himenaeos. Curabitur sodales ligula in libero. Sed dignissim lacinia nunc. Curabitur tortor. Pellentesque nibh. Aenean quam. In scelerisque sem at dolor. lacus nunc, viverra nec, blandit vel, egestas et, augue. Vestibulum tincidunt malesuada tellus. Ut ultrices ultrices enim. Curabitur sit amet mauris. Morbi in dui quis est pulvinar ullamcorper. Nulla facilisi. Integer lacinia sollicitudin massa. Cras metus. Sed aliquet risus a tortor. Integer id quam. Morbi mi. Quisque nisl felis, venenatis tristique, dignissim in, ultrices sit amet, augue. Proin sodales libero eget ante. Nulla quam. Aenean laoreet. Vestibulum nisi lectus, commodo ac, facilisis ac, ultricies eu, pede.
sapien. Proin Suspendisse in justo eu magna luctus suscipit. Sed lectus. Integer euismod lacus luctus magna. Quisque cursus, metus vitae pharetra auctor, sem massa mattis sem, at interdum magna augue eget diam. Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae; Morbi lacinia molestie dui. Praesent blandit dolor. Sed non quam. In vel mi sit amet augue congue elementum. Morbi in ipsum sit amet pede facilisis laoreet. Donec lacus nunc, viverra nec, blandit vel, egestas et, augue. Vestibulum tincidunt malesuada tellus. Ut ultrices ultrices Ut orci risus, accumsan porttitor, cursus quis, aliquet eget, enim. Curabitur sit amet mauris. Morbi in dui quis est justo. Sed pretium blandit orci. Ut eu diam at pede suscipit pulvinar ullamcorper. Nulla facilisi. Integer lacinia sollici- sodales. Aenean lectus elit, fermentum non, convallis id, tudin massa. Cras metus. Sed aliquet risus a tortor. Integer sagittis at, neque. Nullam mauris orci, aliquet et, iaculis et, id quam. Morbi mi. Quisque nisl felis, venenatis tristique, viverra vitae, ligula. Nulla ut felis in purus aliquam imperd22 pebble fall 2016
“We have an aggressive strategy�
-Jennier Walker
By Peter Gossell Photographs by Julius Schulman
A Sense of Space Photographer Julius Schulman’s photography spread California Mid-century modern around the world. Carefully composed and artfully lighted, his images promoted not only new approaches to home design but also the ideal of idyllic California living — a sunny, suburban lifestyle played out in sleek, spacious, low-slung homes featuring ample glass, pools and patios.
“The subject is the power of photography,” Shulman explains. “I have thousands of slides, and Juergen and I have assembled them into almost 20 different lectures. And not just about architecture—I have pictures of cats and dogs, fashion pictures, flower photographs. I use them to do a lot of preaching to the students, to give them something to do with their lives, and keep them from dropping out of school.” It all adds up to a very full schedule, which Shulman handles largely by himself—“My daughter comes once a week from Santa Barbara and takes care of my business affairs, and does my shopping”—and with remarkable ease for a near-centenarian. Picking up the oversized calendar on which he records his appointments, Shulman walks me through a typical seven days: “Thom Mayne—we had lunch with him. Long Beach, AIA meeting. People were here for a meeting about
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my photography at the Getty [which houses his archive]. High school students, a lecture. Silver Lake, the Neutra house, they’re opening part of the lake frontage, I’m going to see that. USC, a lecture. Then an assignment, the Griffith Observatory—we’ve already started that one.”
And after he left, I’d put it back where I wanted it, and he wouldn’t know the difference—I translated. And fourth, I transform the composition with furniture movement.”
Yet rather than seeming overtaxed, Shulman fairly exudes well-being. Like many elderly people with nothing left to prove, and who remain in demand both for their talents and as figures of veneration (think of George Burns), Shulman takes things very easy: He knows what his employers and admirers want, is happy to provide it, and accepts the resulting reaffirmation of his legend with a mix of playfully rampant immodesty and heartfelt gratitude. As the man himself puts it, “The world’s my onion.” Shulman is equally proud of his own lighting abilities. “I’ll show you something fascinating,” he says, holding up two exteriors of a new modernist home, designed for a family named Abidi, by architect James Tyler. In the first, the inside of the house is dark, resulting in a handsome, somewhat lifeless image. In the second, it’s been lit in a way that seems a natural balance of indoor and outdoor illumination, yet expresses the structure’s relationship to its site and showcases the architecture’s transparency. “The house is transfigured,” Shulman explains. “I have four Ts. Transcend is, I go beyond what the architect himself has seen. Transfigure—glamorize, dramatize with lighting, time of day. Translate—there are times, when you’re working with a man like Neutra, who wanted everything the way he wanted it—‘Put the camera here.’
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To illustrate the latter, Shulman shows me an interior of the Abidi house that looks out from the living room, through a long glass wall, to the grounds. “Almost every one of my photographs has a diagonal leading you into the picture,” he says. Taking a notecard and pen, he draws a line from the lower left corner to the upper right, then a second perpendicular line from the lower right corner to the first line. Circling the intersection, he explains, “That’s the point of what we call ‘dynamic symmetry.’” When he holds up the photo again, I see that the line formed by the bottom of the glass wall—dividing inside from outside— roughly mirrors the diagonal he’s drawn. Shulman then indicates the second, perpendicular line created by the furniture arrangement. “My assistants moved [the coffee table] there, to complete the line. When the owner saw the Polaroid, she said to her husband, ‘Why don’t we do that all the time?’” Shulman’s remark references one of his signature gambits: what he calls “dressing the set,” not only by moving furniture but by adding everyday objects and accessories. “I think he was trying to portray the lifestyle people might have had if they’d lived in those houses,” suggests the Los Angeles–based architectural photographer Tim Street-Porter. “He was doing—with a totally positive use of the words—advertising or propagandist photographs for the cause.” This impulse culminated in Shulman’s introduction of people into his pictures—commonplace today,
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“American photographer Julius Shulman’s images of Californian architecture have burned themselves into the retina of the 21th century.”
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sliders. “Because flies and lizards would come in; there were strong winds. So I told Soriano I wanted a transition—a screenedin enclosure in front of the living room, kitchen, and bedroom to make an indoor/ outdoor room.” Shulman opens the door leading to an exterior dining area. A bird trills loudly. “That’s a wren,” he says, and steps out. “My wife and I had most of our meals out here,” he recalls. “Beautiful.” When I ask Shulman what Neutra saw in his images, he answers with a seemingly unrelated story. “I was born in Brooklyn in 1910,” says this child of Russian-Jewish immigrants. “When I was three, my father went to the town of Central Village in Connecticut, and was shown this farmhouse—primitive, but [on] a big piece of land. After we moved in, he planted corn and potatoes, my mother milked the cows, and we had a farm life. “And for seven years, I was imbued with the pleasure of living close to nature. In 1920, when we came here to Los Angeles, I joined the Boy Scouts, and enjoyed the outdoor-living aspect, hiking and camping. My father opened a clothing store in Boyle Heights, and my four brothers and sisters and my mother worked in the store. They were businesspeople.” He flashes a slightly cocky smile. “I was with the Boy Scouts.” I ask Shulman if he’s surprised at how well his life has turned out. “I tell students, ‘Don’t take life too seriously—don’t plan nothing nohow,’” he replies. “But I have always observed and respected my destiny. That’s the only way I can describe it. It was meant to be.” but virtually unique 50 years ago. “Those photographs—with young, attractive people having breakfast in glass rooms beside carports with two-tone cars—were remarkable in the history of architectural photography,” Street-Porter says. “He took that to a wonderfully high level.” “I tell people in my lectures, ‘If I were modest, I wouldn’t talk about how great I am.’” Yet when I ask how he developed his eye, Shulman’s expression turns philosophical. “Sometimes Juergen walks ahead of me, and he’ll look for a composition. And invariably, he doesn’t see what I see. Architects don’t see what I see. It’s God-given,” he says, using the Yiddish word for an act of kindness—“a mitzvah.”
“And it was a destiny that suited you?” At this, everything rises at once—his eyebrows, his outstretched arms, and his peaceful, satisfied smile. “Well,” says Shulman, “here I am.”
“Most people whose houses I photographed didn’t use their sliding doors,” Shulman says, crossing the living room toward his own glass
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Zayn &
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& Fame
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G
igi Hadid is jazzed bout Zulu. He'll be arriving any minute. Someone decided the former equestrian/current "It" girl would enjoy a photo shoot that involved posing with her spirit animal, a black Lusitano horse, and as she gets styled, she gets a little wistful about her childhood. "We were living in Aspen, and my first pony, Rocky Daddy, was a rescue from a farmer next door," she says, shouting over the roar of the blow-dryer. "The farmer was kind of old and couldn't take care of him, so my mom 32
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asked if we could, and that's the pony I started riding." Hadid got her first pony when she was two. "Every morning, I'd feed him, and Mom would let me dress myself, so I'd put my rain boots on backward, which I thought was really funny." She pauses for a moment. "I never really had a great sense of style. I was wearing what I wanted to wear. I don't really know what my style is." Could have fooled us. Then again, maybe you don't need to know what your style is when every single thing you put on your body looks spectacular. Imagine that for a moment. Versace? Check. Hilfiger? Well, sure; she collaborated with Tommy Hilfiger to design his new nautical-themed line, Tommy x Gigi. Tom Ford, Diane von Furstenberg, Chanel, Marc Jacobs: At 21, Hadid has done their shows and/or been featured in their campaigns. She's the face of Maybelline New York, regularly smoldering in ads for crimson lipsticks and fluttery mascaras. If she decided it would be cool to dress like a rodeo clown, half of America—or at least those under 30—would be suiting up in puffy pants, Stetsons, and red noses. Hadid is five foot ten and in person has the build of a hot praying mantis. But in the fun house mirror of high fashion, she has been deemed “curvy,” and with her full cheeks and honey-colored skin, the happy result of her Dutch/Palestinian heritage, she hearkens back to the shapelier supermodels of the ‘90s—the Naomis and Cindys and Christys. Heroin chic, no. Multivitamin chic, maybe. Not that she looks blandly wholesome; if anything, those arched eyebrows make her look like she’s got a raunchy secret that amuses her. As my 14-year-old son put it, “She looks like a beautiful villain
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The otherworldly face and body aside, Hadid has a public persona that is somehow deeply relatable. One young fan said to me, “She doesn’t have a lot of kiss-ass in her vibe—she reads as someone with zero fucks to give.” At the same time, she can seem almost vulnerable. Responding to online trolls who have said that her fame is due to her wealthy family and her social media presence more than innate model perfection, she will admit to being a little wounded—but she laughs about it, too. When her walk was roundly criticized for being too clomp-y, she did a video about “perfecting” it by running on a treadmill in a full designer outfit and heels. And after her bottom was declared too wide (how?), she appeared in a video in which she turned to the camera and deadpanned, “Today’s workout has been seven minutes. I’ve really been pushing myself this week.” This sense of humor about herself, and about fashion, has connected deeply with millennials—those very millennials that advertisers crave. First, and perhaps most important to that bond, is her social media presence: 3 million followers on Twitter, 25
bye.