fall fashion
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CONTENTS new news 12 News has the best angle on fall fashion
Music 18 We Have Band gets a little face paint 20 Telepathe can see success in their future 22 La Roux doesn’t mind if you rip off her hairstyle
Fashion 24 Hot new designers Jaiden rVa James, Katie Eary, Thomas Engel Hart, and Jen Kao show us how it’s done 42 Accessories that really jump off the page. 50 Guess girl-next-door Emily DiDonato totally kills us with 30 pages of jaw-dropping beauty 80 The Tiny Masters join The Block’s look book committee
art 28 Cédric Rivrain is no badly drawn boy
Feature 32 United Bamboo takes us behind-thescenes for their fall collection 90 Isabella Rossellini gives us some lessons in love in Green Porno 2
Review 94 Put on Amanda Blank and we’ll give you a runway show, baby 96 Douglas Coupland talks about our generation, Valentina inspires us to join the cult of fashion
Cut out 98 Put a band aid on it
Cover photography guy aroch model EMILY DIDONATO THIS PAGE dress Marc jacobs collection earrings chris habana
DKNY Vancouver | 2625 Granville St. | Oakridge Centre Opening September 2009
masthead Preface Preparations for our Fall Fashion Issue began back in the chilly austerity of February, when every clothing and accessories label worldwide allowed the first glimpses of what they had been busy living, dreaming, stitching together for the last few months: their Fall/Winter 09 collections. With such intricate histories to these lines, we at The Block felt it necessary to commit wholehearted to studying the newly minted fashions of 2009. So we made ourselves busy – very busy – at New York Fashion Week, cabbing it from Midtown Manhattan to the Lower East Side, from Bryant Park to the Altman Building, and back again. We kept pace with the masters: Calvin Klein, Diane Von Furstenberg, Marc Jacobs, and Diesel Black Gold. And we took inspiration from a few innovative and slightly lesser-known labels: the runway show at VPL, and the threeasFour presentation. What stood out most, of course, was the United Bamboo show, where we soaked up the pre-show excitement backstage and carefully documented the whole experience with photographer duo Alex Kerr and Julia Koteliansky of ioulex. Those fashion-filled days and sleepless, champagne-drenched winter nights are with us still, and in these pages, we’d like to share those experiences, and those of others who have lived the ups and downs of the fashion world. Like Momoko Price’s profile on artist Cédric Rivrain, whose delicately evocative illustrations of top models have an incredible way of confirming why we love them; a fashion shoot where the teenaged rockstars Tiny Masters of Today modelled with sophisticated aplomb; and our photographic indulgence of up-and-coming beauty Emily DiDonato, who was captured with an unusual vulnerability and sensuality, as only Guy Aroch could. And we can’t resist revealing the precocious, self-conscious style of British popstar La Roux, who’s flirting with the top of the charts, and our day spent getting intimate with the humanitarian leanings and filmic experiments of legendary fashion icon Isabella Rossellini. So read these pages, and remember: over the next six months, fashionable young things may pass you in the streets, wearing YSL or Dior, Acne or Band of Outsiders, vintage Hermès or something created by their own hands. All of these careful choices have a story, and probably one you’d love to hear.
Susan Locht, Editor In Chief
Editor In Chief Susan Locht Creative Director Kris Blizzard
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Associate Editor Jennifer Croll Contributing Style Editor James Worthington DeMolet Designer Eric Roddy Editorial Assistant Carmen Lam Editorial Interns Michelle Chuang, Aliyah Shamsher, M. Cohen-Landherr
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Contributors David Armstrong, Guy Aroch, Amanda Ash, Paula Ayer, Sarah Berman, Geneva Bokowski, Megan Brand, John Buenaventura, G. Joel Chury, Lauren DeLeo, Bret Douglas, Reanna Evoy, Holland Gidney, Gavin Harwin, Olly Hearsey, ioulex, Andreas Laszlo Konrath, Lara Kordic, Adrian Kronowetter, Alice Lane, Ileana Lagares, Dennis Lanni, Jordana Longo, Stephanie MacDonald, Lucy Madison, Paul Maffi, Marcus Mam, Enrico Mariotti, Raymond McLaren, Morgan O’Donovan, Ryan Pfluger, Momoko Price, Cedric Rivrain, Jody Shapiro, Tiga Sontag, Matthew Sprout, Rafael Stahelin, Alexis Stoymenoff, Rebecca Tay, Samantha Trinh, Vanessa Vick, Geoff Vreeken Editorial Inquiries Story ideas and letters to the editor should be directed to editor@theblockmagazine.com. Please note that, due to the volume of submissions, we may not be able to reply to all inquiries. The publishers are not responsible for manuscripts, photographs or other unsolicited materials.
Evan Ho, Publisher/President Megan Wilson, Director of Operations Amanda Breuer, Business/Circulation Manager 781 Beatty Street, Vancouver, BC Canada V6B 2M4 The Block is published four times a year by Forwardthink Media Inc. Copyright 2009. Mailing agreement #41290518 Circulation audited by
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DKNY Vancouver | 2625 Granville St. | Oakridge Centre Opening September 2009
NEW NEWS Words Jennifer Croll
D.A.T.E.
If your boyfriend’s closet full of rotten old sneakers has you mulling the prospect of finding yourself a new evening date, you may be on the right track – but instead of ditching the guy, we suggest fitting him for a pair of D.A.T.E.s. The men’s shoe line, designed in London by four fashionable young blokes, manages to successfully pair stylish details with casual nonchalance, meaning these kicks can comfortably walk from a lunch meeting with a design client to after-work pints at the local watering hole to dinner downtown. And even if your man relinquishes those ancient loafers, he doesn’t have to let go of the past entirely: D.A.T.E.’s linen, velvet, and suede designs borrow heavily from the 70s, lending retro style without compromising his sole. www.date-sneakers.com
Chanel/Stravinsky
An historic love affair between a daring fashion icon and an iconoclastic classical composer spawned by The Rite of Spring sounds like the kind of thing created by Hollywood film execs, but it’s actually a true story that just happens to be perfect for a big-screen adaptation. One in a recent flurry of films about the founder of Chanel, Coco Chanel and Igor Stravinsky (which debuted at Cannes and appears again at TIFF) benefits from the sultry presence of French actress Anna Mouglalis, who’s had a previous turn at playing strong-willed female leads in a role as Simone de Beauvoir, and will soon star as chanson singer Juliette Gréco in a film about Serge Gainsbourg.
Hat Box
Back in the early 20th century, the era when haberdashery was a legitimate profession and not just a weird word, people took their hats seriously. So seriously, in fact, that they stored them in boxes made from wood or leather, making it very unlikely that their best friend might mistakenly squish their most stylish chapeau by sitting on it where it was flung haphazardly onto the chesterfield. For those who’d like to preserve the integrity of that prized Kings or Yankees cap, the hat box has been revived in the form of the New Era cap carrier. Made from crush-proof neoprene, the carrier even comes with a shoulder strap, perfect for lugging a full selection of hats to the airport, or if you’re a man of many wardrobe changes, to work. www.neweracap.com
Another Fashion Book
Nooka
It may seem an intuitive leap for a watchmaker to create a fragrance, but Nooka’s collaboration with perfumer Pierre-Constantin Guéros is no mere scent – it’s “the future distilled.” Their marketing tagline might sound like it was pulled from a Philip K. Dick novel, but we’ll allow them their science fiction indulgences since this stuff smells good. A mixture of synthetic and organic essences, the eau de parfum seduces with notes of Japanese yuzu, pink pepper, leather, and steel. Spray a little of this potion on our pillow before bed and we’ll surely dream of electric sheep. www.nooka.com 12 news
The fashion photography in Another Magazine, the pet project of Dazed & Confused co-founder Jefferson Hack, is nothing short of groundbreaking. Featuring the work of luminaries like Rankin, Richard Burbridge, Craig McDean, Stephen Shore, and Terry Richardson, the edgy photos bridge the gap between fashion and art, while the magazine’s images of celebrities are some of the most beautiful we’ve ever seen. Now, under the careful eye of Hack himself, Steidl’s Another Fashion Book pulls together eight years’ worth of star-studded portraiture and avant-garde fashion shoots from the British magazine’s archives. We’re relieved to push aside our guilty stack of Star magazines to make room on our coffee table for this heavy tome full of haunting images of Tilda Swinton, Drew Barrymore, Uma Thurman, Claire Danes, and other muses. www.steidlville.com
SHOWstudio shop
We’ve always been fans of SHOWstudio, photographer Nick Knight’s brilliant nine-year-old website that adds another dimension to fashion coverage with its innovative video and multimedia projects. So of course we’re pretty excited at the chance to be able to step into one of SHOWstudio’s visions. Not that they’re coming to film us (though Nick is welcome into our gorgeous offices any time); rather, we’re going shopping at the new SHOWstudio store in London. This gallery-like space is home to a changing collection of fashion ephemera, including props from photo shoots and catwalk shows, as well as art and wearables created by well-known designers and artists. Right now, they’re stocking stuff from the likes of set designer Shona Heath, art director Simon Costin, and (gasp!) John Galliano. And now that Alexander McQueen and his Puma campaign are done with it, we totally plan to pick up the Knight-designed stuffed Bengal tiger. £50,000 is a small price to pay for décor this fierce. shop.showstudio.com
Louis Vuitton Sunglasses
“Sunglasses” is a bit of a misnomer – after all, these oversized Ursula Strass frames are less about shielding your eyes from the sun than shielding the world from your secrets. Available in glossy black, grey, honey, and a deep red billed as “pomme d’amour,” they’re the perfect accessory for shady undertakings, particularly if your criminal intent is stealing hearts. www.louisvuitton.com
Maria Francesca Pepe F/W 09
Forget clear heels, tight vinyl skirts, and padded push-up bras: Maria Francesca Pepe takes inspiration from hookers, but not the modern sort. The Italian-born, Londonbased fashion designer’s F/W 09 collection for women is modelled after high-end 19th century French prostitutes: think luxurious black fabric paired with accents of cream, magenta, and gleaming bronze, skillful draping and dramatically plunging necklines. With looks this daring, the best accessory to accompany Pepe’s designs is the brazen confidence possessed only by the most stylish ladies of the night. www.mfpepe.com
Hermes
There may not be a lot to love about the recession, but one thing we’re pretty thrilled about is the heavy discounts on air travel. New York twice a year and Paris in the spring? Why not! And for all our overseas and over-land missions, we’ve got Jean Paul Gaultier standing by with our wardrobe. The Hermès F/W 09 line features a lot of leather bomber jackets and Amelia Earhart-style antique detailing, fur muffs, and (let’s not forget the accessories) flying goggles. Looking this good, we don’t need business class to travel in style. www.hermes.com
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new news
Finsk
Odeur
The daughter of an architect and an interior designer, London-dwelling Finnish ex-pat Julia Lundsten creates exquisite shoes that, by virtue of their parentage, look rather like ornate furnishing from a high-end home. Created in an atelier in Brazil, the shoes are made using leather by-products from other industries and locally-sourced woods. Lundsten’s footwear designs borrow heavily from furniture: she even relates the soft upper of a shoe to the cushion of a chair, and the base and graceful heel to the seat and the legs. And though we can’t afford to outfit our apartments in ostentatious metallic leathers and gleaming Amazonian wood, Finsk’s sky-high golden snakeskin booties with sculptural spike heels made from sustainable exotic Brazilian hardwood fit us just fine. www.finsk.com
You don’t need to be an Egyptologist or a card-carrying Freemason to appreciate the simple beauty of a pyramid, something that Swedish designers Odeur took into account for their F/W 09 collection. The casual menswear line uses sacred geometry to its best advantage in a ready-to-wear collection of printed tees, hooded vests, tapered jeans, and billowy windbreakers in a palette of white, grey, buttercup yellow, and black that conjures dreams of a stylish Nordic winter. And we can’t figure out if it’s the flattering lines or the chiselled Scandinavian model, but Odeur’s fall look book has us thinking a lot about the golden ratio. (Hint: It’s 2:1.) www.odeur.se
Dior homme Watch
Unless you count drowning in deadlines, we don’t spend a lot of time underwater – but we still love the Chiffre Rouge men’s diving watch from Christian Dior. Stainless steel with a glossy black rubber exterior, this guy is good up to 50 m, a stylish reminder that as deep as we get, the clock keeps on ticking. www.diorhomme.com
Surface to Air
Solve Sundsbo is going to be all over us. We’re pretty confident. Okay, so maybe the amazingly talented Norwegian photographer isn’t going to take our photo, but when we’re wearing the pieces from his new clothing collaboration with Surface to Air, we’ll be at the centre of his creative vision. The limited-edition collection of printed dresses, tops, and bags uses fabric as a canvas for his photographic prints, all in a variety of flattering cuts that’ll make you look better than a cocked shoulder and a lot of flash ever could. www.surface2airparis.com
converse
Those high-top Converse are great warm-weather friends, but when the fall rains start, our relationship with Chuck starts giving us cold feet. But this year we’ll spare ourselves all the soggy-sock grief by putting on a pair of Outsiders. These full-on rubber boots in the classic Chuck Taylor mold allow guys to wade through the worst sidewalk-gutter floods and still look sharp. www.converse.com 14 news
moroso
We’ve got a crush on the Soft Heart chair by Ron Arad for Moroso, but we’re not quite sure how to approach it. Any way we imagine sitting in this curvy red beauty either leaves us tied in knots, curled into the fetal position, or lying bruised on the floor with a heart broken in two. Which is how most of our first dates end, come to think of it. www.moroso.it
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dior homme bag
That this Dior Homme bag is adorned with a bold little metal right-angle triangle is sufficient enough condition for it to be congruent to our wardrobe. But if you need another proof, its sleek black leather exterior looks fantastic from side to angle to side. www.diorhomme.com
Rad Hourani
Bauhaus
Maybe we’ve been watching too much True Blood, but the F/W09 line from avant-garde Montrealbased designer Rad Hourani makes us want to stay up very, very late at night and do things best not mentioned in print. The unisex collection layers black upon black and leather upon silk, and occasionally shocks with a visceral splash of red. The shiny thigh-high laser-cut boots, dramatic capes, and geometric tunics with gleaming metallic detailing may not take us through until Sunday brunch, but who cares – we’d rather be sleeping then, anyway. www.radhourani.com
If you’ve ever perched on a cantilever chair or coveted a YSL Mondrian-print dress (or, arguably, danced to “She’s In Parties” at a new wave nightclub), then you’ve felt the influence of the Bauhaus. Though the Weimer-based school was shuttered in 1933 by the Nazis, the movement’s unmistakable aesthetic lingers on in art, architecture, décor, and fashion. Surprisingly, the MoMA hasn’t had an exhibition devoted to Bauhaus since 1938 – until this November. Bauhaus 1919–1933: Workshops for Modernity, which runs until January 25, will display more than 400 multidisciplinary modernist works, including stuff from the likes of Walter Gropius, Vasily Kandinsky, and Paul Klee. We’ll be there, and we’ll make sure to don our chunkiest Naum Slutzky-inspired metal necklace for the event. www.moma.org
A Magazine
lola marc jacobs
We’re uncertain of the identity of this Lola who inspired the new scent from Marc Jacobs. With top notes of pink peppercorn, pear, and grapefruit, heart notes of rose, peony, and geranium, base notes of vanilla, tonka bean, and musk, and a curvaceous lavender glass bottle exploding with a flamboyant floral bouquet, she’s either a real girly-girl or a full-on drag queen. www.sephora.com 16 news
Magazines are the peacocks of print media, shamelessly flaunting their good looks all over newsstands, grabbing the attention of passersby with their immaculate sense of style. With that in mind, cocky five-year-old A Magazine has pushed those boring word-obsessed editors into the background to highlight the talents of people who really know about beauty: fashion designers. Each biannual issue is “curated” by an established house or designer, each who lends their particular aesthetic to the book. The current edition (#9) benefits from the talents of Jack McCullough and Lazaro Hernandez of Proenza Schouler, who’ve put together a “Made in the USA” themed issue with scene queen Chloë Sevigny on the cover and video performance artist Kalup Linzy and celebrated photographer Bruce Weber (famous for his wholesome-sexy shoots for Calvin Klein and GQ) on the inside. Just holding this magazine we feel more stylish. www.amagazinecuratedby.com
Coming Out Party
Music officially got more fun when We Have Band arrived Words Alexis Stoymenoff Image Olly Hearsey
There’s no doubt that Thomas, Dede, and Darren have really got something. In the past year this glitch-rock trio has gone from a group of friends experimenting at home to one of London’s hottest buzz bands. We Have Band started out when married couple Thomas and Dede Wegg-Prosser recruited co-worker Darren Bancroft to help out with their extracurricular music project. “We wanted to do something new together, and Thomas had been doing music before so we had the idea to make some music,” says Dede, the band’s spirited female vocalist. “One night we mentioned it to [Darren] at a party and he joined on the spot.” Inspired by artists like ESG and Michael Jackson, We Have Band produce energetic pop just as catchy as their name, an appellation that the band tellingly describes as “part playful, and part savage.” They’ve been compared to an assortment of post-punk veterans, including the Talking Heads and Joy Division. Upbeat percussion, electronic synth vibes, funky bass lines, and three sets of vocal chords all add to their quirky sound. The recent video for “You Came Out” was an eccentric stop-motion co-produced by creative agencies Wieden + Kennedy and Blinkink, and led by director David Wilson. Comprised of almost 5,000 stills and 18 Music
countless make-up changes, Dede describes the process as “a bit excruciating.” “Holding your head in one exact position for hours is really tough, and then all the paint going on and off! Our faces were nearly falling off by the end of it,” she says. Along with their latest video, WHB can now add We Have Release, We Have Gigs, We Have Press, and We Have Label Offers to their list of acquisitions. In just over a year, they’ve gone from unknowns to media darlings, and along with the attention have come some pretty exciting experiences. According to Darren, the biggest thrill is getting to travel and perform abroad. “I think every time we go to play a new city or country is the best,” he says. “We get contacted online by people from all over the world, asking us to come and play places, and when you finally make it there it’s great. We’re so happy to be there and they’re so happy to have us there. It’s a lovely feeling.” We Have Band may not have had to get a visa to travel to this year’s Glastonbury festival, but the experience was a milestone for them. The group’s packed shows that weekend marked their biggest gigs yet. “Glastonbury was very special for us,” says Thomas. “We were awarded the Glastonbury emerging talent prize, which
they give to one band each year, and we ended up playing four times over the weekend. It was incredible.” So far they’ve been featured on a few dance compilations and have put out two singles in the UK, but the currently unsigned trio kept fans on this side of the ocean waiting anxiously for a North American release. And it’s finally here: the EP just saw its US debut on September 15th, and the band is currently working on a full-length album, which will be produced by Gareth Jones, the guy behind Grizzly Bear, Interpol, and Depeche Mode. It’ll hit stores in early 2010. As for their future label, We Have Band are carefully considering their options. “It’s a long and complicated process, and we’ve decided to do a lot of things alone rather than wait, so that complicates things even further,” says Thomas. “We want to find the right home for us so we’ve not rushed into anything.” Whatever they decide in the end, their DIY approach seems to be panning out so far. “We have love for a lot of different types of music, and I think most importantly we all write the songs together,” Darren explains. “We had a strange sense that we could do something. And it worked!”
Lucky Stars
Telepathe’s serendipitous pop doesn’t leave dancing up to chance Words Amanda Ash Image Andreas Laszlo Konrath
The conditions were right for Telepathe to take the world by storm. First, the electro-pop duo of Busy Gangnes and Melissa Livaudais set up shop in Brooklyn, a city where respected artists are found in every chip of the pavement. Then MySpace introduced them to buzz blogs and rabid hipsters seeking their latest music fix. Somewhere along the line, TV on the Radio’s Dave Sitek stumbled upon the girls’ tunes. He admired their flair for posh atmospheric beats, and before they knew it, Sitek was producing their fulllength debut, Dance Mother. Sure, fate has been good to Telepathe, but Gangnes maintains their success is more than just a flick from lady luck’s wand. Gangnes had to work to get where she is today – which is now a car in the middle of the Arizona desert, touring Dance Mother. “New York and Brooklyn are obviously very culturally rich,” she says. “The stuff going on in Brooklyn is at the forefront. It was really exciting and inspiring, but on the other hand, it was really expensive to live there.” Gangnes recalls the early days of Telepathe, when she and Livaudais holed themselves up in a tiny apartment and furiously tried to make sense of their 20 music
music. They calculated everything down to the last breadcrumb in the cupboard. “Melissa and I had to get so focused. We set up our schedule and moved into a tiny room in a loft to save money and worked nonstop until we finished writing the record.”
considering ourselves to be singers or lyricists really. The lyrics and vocals always came last. We’d make our beat or instrumental track first… There are often hierarchies [about what comes first when writing music], but we wanted to fuck all that up.”
Dance Mother was Telepathe’s way of expressing personal taste. Gangnes says she wanted to make music she’d actually listen to: something that was distinctly pop but more interpretive than skin-deep mainstream music. “We didn’t want to create an auditory assault on a listener’s ears,” she laughs. “We started exploring ideas of making [our music] sound more open, and have dance elements and be more melodic… But even though our music doesn’t sound like regular pop music, we wanted it to have a strong pop sensibility.”
For two girls who had never written a song before, they seem to be doing pretty well. Their experience working with Dave Sitek puts it into perspective; you’ve got to show a lot of gumption to get noticed by a guy like him. You also need a lot of stamina. Sitek, who likes to produce at night, would demand Telepathe work from 4 p.m. until around 4 a.m. or 6 a.m. the following day. “It was very focused but it was also really fun. He has a really good sense of humour. The way he works is he keeps pushing us – whatever idea we had, good or bad, he made us try it.”
As far as lyrics go, Dance Mother was written as stream-of-consciousness. Gangnes and Livaudais collaborated by passing back and forth a crumpled piece of paper, writing random words and stringing them together. They’d look back at what they dug up from their collective subconscious, sift through themes and tweak a few words here to make it more cohesive. “We really liked working that way. We weren’t really
Here’s hoping the stars align in a nice neat row again for Telepathe in the future. And if they don’t, well, Gangnes will shape her own fate. “Working on Dance Mother we learned how to craft a pop song, which is something that didn’t come automatically. We want to make our next stuff even poppier and dancier. It’s the natural direction.”
Simply Red
La Roux’s emotional pop music has got some serious style Words Jennifer Croll
Elly Jackson, better known by her electro-ingenue stage name of La Roux, may passionately enact the second coming of Annie Lennox during every one of her intense, wistful stage performances, but in person, she’s soft-spoken and serious, with the rarest of smiles both infrequent and genuine. She arrives to our morning meeting slightly early and carefully groomed, her slender frame draped in billowing white harem pants and a loose yellow blouse, red hair perfectly sculpted into the angled pompadour she’s made famous. Clearly, she means business. The 21-year-old frontwoman of the rapidly-rising, Mercury Prize-nominated pop duo speaks quickly and sometimes guardedly; it’s obvious that a few missteps in the past (she’s recently and infamously slammed both R&B and Lady Gaga) have made her cautious. This is a girl learning how to walk in the spotlight. And she’s got a lot to live up to; when asked about her inspiration, Jackson rattles off a litany of heavyweights: Joni Mitchell, Grace Jones, Debbie Harry, David Bowie, Prince. “The great songwriters of our time, that’ve stood the test of time,” she explains. “That’s the kind of people that I choose to respect.” She’s unapologetic but careful in her criticism of “empty” pop music such as the 22 Music
Backstreet Boys or even Bananarama, hedging, “It’s not that it’s bad or good, really, it just doesn’t really get me going. I like music to make me feel something.” Though Jackson handles this interview (and all of La Roux’s publicity) solo, she’s by no means in this alone: lingering enigmatically in the shadows, both figuratively and, in the case of the live show, literally, is Ben Langmaid, La Roux’s other half. Jackson is clearly frustrated by the media’s habit of assuming that she’s the sweet-voiced muse to Langmaid’s musical inspiration, when really, the band is an equal partnership. “It’s not like he’s the producer and I’m the singer or I write the lyrics and he does this… everything is just completely done together.” “The thing is,” she continues, “La Roux does refer to me, ‘the red-haired one,’ and the lyrics are about my life and stuff. So it makes sense that I front it and talk about those things. It would be great to talk to him about the way that we make things together… but about the whole project, it makes more sense to talk to me, and to present it that way.” Jackson pauses, and admits pragmatically, “It’s a much stronger image as well.”
The self-conscious attitude and precariously tall hair are two signs that Jackson takes her image very seriously. There is also the impeccably edgy clothing. “I’m very picky and choosy about designers,” she says earnestly, gazing down at her tapered hands. “There are very few things, basically, that I will wear. There are very few things that I like!” Jackson has some wardrobe assistance in the form of up-and-coming stylist Nova Dando, who waits patiently at the back of the room during the interview. “She’s like my best mate, you know what I mean,” Jackson explains. “And we just have a laugh doing it. We just draw things, look at patterns, and go out and buy material… It’s just sort of like that, really.” Word is that girls in London are imitating Jackson’s signature coif, and I wonder what it’s like to imagine people standing in front of a mirror with her picture, painstakingly mimicking. “I guess it’s kind of weird, yeah. But it’s cool, as well. It must be a good thing, I guess,” she concedes with obvious shyness. “But, I guess until I’m in London for a long period of time I don’t think I’ll feel [the fame]. It’s not like I walk down the street and people run after me, or anything,” she laughs. “It feels pretty normal, really. It does feel kind of like a…” Her voice lifts, thoughtfully, “… a job, really. Because it is.”
Photography Rafael Stahelin
Jaiden rVa James “Evening Punk” is the slightly (okay, very) masochistic, straitjacket-heavy fall collection by Rasharn d’Vera Agymang and Jaiden James for their Londonbased label, Jaiden rVa James. Inspired by the punk movement, including everything and everyone from Sid Vicious and A Clockwork Orange to Sir John Everett Millais’ painting, Ophelia, and Skins, the classic book by Gavin Watson, the collection (which is a menswear collection, although Lady Gaga was seen wearing a pair of the skin-tight red shorts) is also comprised of leather harnesses, 24 profile
rubber leggings, and cotton pleated kilts, juxtaposed against floral shirts and bias-cut, sheer, stretch jersey tops. “We have always loved the subcultures that Britain has produced,” says the duo, “but… punk most of all.” Jaiden rVa James remains loyal to the fashion staples of this scene, but reworks the biker jackets, super-skinny pants, and pleated skirts in luxurious evening fabrics such as velvet, lace, and silk, “to give them a softer feel and a more grown-up approach.” jaidenrvajames.blogspot.com - Rebecca Tay
Photography Morgan O’Donovan
Katie Eary For 25-year-old menswear designer Katie Eary, modern fashion is anything but inspiring. “Since the Victorian era, men’s fashion has become a slave to ‘making things easier,’” she laments. “How did we go from the beautifully-tied cravat to a tie with an elastic hidden under the collar? From beautiful dinner [and] evening shirts to ‘non-crease-no-need-to-iron-ever-again shirts?’” Her solution? A collection (designed for her graduation from London’s Royal College of Art) based on formal menswear shapes and traditional special occasion
military wear, combined with contemporary streetwear silhouettes. “It’s like we are starting again and introducing more and more glamour and beauty into menswear,” she explains. Other points of reference in Eary’s designs include George Orwell’s Animal Farm, the t-shirt prints from Italian label Krizia, the awe-inspiring weirdness of John Galliano, and the timeless beauty of Burberry Prorsum and Lanvin – all unified to create a style that she calls “refined chaos.” www.katieeary.co.uk - RT profile 25
Photography Marcus Mam
Thomas Engel Hart Lauded for putting Thierry Mugler Homme back on fashion’s radar during his three years as the line’s creative director, it’s no surprise that Thomas Engel Hart’s eponymous collection has garnered much praise of its own. Though originally launched in 2001 after Hart studied at New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology and at Studio Berçot in Paris, the brand was abandoned when the designer was enlisted to re-launch Thierry Mugler Homme in 2005. Three years later, Hart finally re-established his line to much critical acclaim. Dazed 26 profile
& Confused co-founder Jefferson Hack describes Hart as “the kind of designer who likes to spend time creating high-end tailoring for a small and stylish clientele;” we couldn’t say it better. It’s no surprise that his menswear – think skinny pants, boxy jackets, eccentric rock ‘n’ roll prints, 70s blazers, buffalo plaid shirts, and the occasional lambskin vest – evokes the Lower East Side performance art scene of the 90s. After all, that’s where Hart came of age. www.thomasengelhart.com - RT
Photography Paul Maffi
Jen Kao Born in Los Angeles, raised in Kansas City, and now based in New York, designer Jen Kao creates collections inspired as much by her diverse personal experience as by the signature details of her label. Kao begins each season’s work with a piece of art – a painting, a collage – ultimately allowing fashion to act as a conduit for her art. A science degree in Studio Arts from NYU, a postgraduate education in design from Parsons The New School, stints at indie label Twinkle and Jill Stuart, and collaborations with other artists, such as jewellery designer
Eddie Borgo and photographer Ryan McGinley, also inform the aesthetic of the Jen Kao label, which debuted in fall 2007. Signatures include inventive prints developed in-house, a painstaking attention to minutiae, origami-like features originating from Kao’s love for Japanese crafts, artistry and folklore, and fluidity and three-dimensionality in shape and fabric. The result is sportswear, eveningwear, leather works, and swimwear that are both easy and dramatic. www.jenkao.com - RT profile 27
Dream Girls
Drawing models, Cedric Rivrain mixes his past, present, and fantasy Words Momoko Price Art Cédric Rivrain
World-famous models pose for Cédric Rivrain. But sometimes real women – even tremor-inducing, drop-dead babes – just don’t cut it. So Rivrain makes them up. “It’s great when you draw Sasha Pivovarova, or Natasha Poly, or Kate Moss,” he says casually. “I mean, they are not big models for nothing. They really have something special, and they’re great girls. But when you want to say something more personal, it’s better to just invent some person. You can be more of yourself.” He stops: “But I don’t mean that they look like me!” he laughs, checking his English. They don’t. Most of Rivrain’s muses look like stunning, utterly unapproachable models, even the ones that don’t actually exist. They stare you down like the common man you are, their spectacular cheekbones held high. But Rivrain’s art isn’t about elevating the unattainable. It’s really more about close friends. It’s just that many of Rivrain’s friends happen to be unattainably beautiful models, as well as members of the avant-garde fashion elite. “All the art drawings I did at the exhibition I had two months ago were about persons that I know,” Rivrain explains, recalling his last show at the Brachfeld Gallery in Paris. “Because the better you know the person, the better it is for the drawing. I never draw someone who asks me to draw for them. No, actually. Unless I know the person well.”
This exhibition was Rivrain’s most personal, in which he showed delicate etchings of close colleagues and friends, including designers Yazbukey, Gabrielle Greiss, and Lucas Ossendrijver. Bandages were spread across their noses, cheeks, or breasts – ironic accessories on such flawless figures. It was Rivrain’s friends in fashion who discovered him, gave him an audience and got him noticed more than a decade ago when he worked as an intern under publicist Kuki de Salvertes. So he returned the favour and put them on display – and with the bandages, he made sure to keep them safe. “All the portraits are of my friends and the idea of the bandages, it’s to protect them, of course, to protect my friends, to make them beautiful and protect them as well,” he says. “They’re like a special garment that you wear. I know it sounds weird, and I don’t go to parties like this, but I love the idea of the protection and something healing but something beautiful at the same time. They’re really like ornaments.” Those medical ornaments are also a whimsical tribute to Rivrain’s late father, a doctor who surrounded Rivrain with 17th-century anatomical drawings when he was a boy, thus igniting his son’s love of portraiture at an early age. Given his father’s keen interest in anatomy and his Chanel-sporting mother’s adoration
Kate in Alexander McQueen 2007 28 art
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of fashion, Rivrain’s entire career actually seems like a kind of homage to his parents. Looking back, he says, he knew exactly where he was headed. “I was sure I would live [off drawing],” he says. “There was no question [of living off] something else.” Artistically, drawing was his first word. “Now I’m slowly making the sentence more and more clear.” He doesn’t see himself diving into anything radically different in the future, but he is slowly letting his theme evolve. For Rivrain, Kate Moss was easy street. Only recently has he overcome his timid nature enough to draw nude men. Not real men, of course. 30 art
“There is only one naked man in the exhibition [at the Brachfeld Gallery], and he doesn’t exist,” he laughs. “I was too shy to ask a guy to pose naked, and I didn’t want to make one of my boyfriends that I had – not several at the same time, of course I only had one boyfriend at a time – but I thought it would be funnier to make it a fantasy man: ‘If he’s naked, let’s make him a fantasy!’ And it’s a redhaired guy. And it’s funny because my new boyfriend now is a red-haired guy. But I didn’t have him at the time! I created him and he appeared!” Rivrain jokes affectionately, but it is really so incredible that he would pull his next lover out of his dreams? After all, he did the same with his career, didn’t he?
this page Sasha in Balenciaga 2008 opposite page Maison Martin Margiela 2007 art 31
United Bamboo
backstage at the fall 2009 runway show Words Susan Locht Images ioulex
It’s 10 a.m. and we’re some of the lucky few backstage at the United Bamboo Fall/ Winter 2009 women’s runway show. The never-before-seen organdy blouses, tweed jumpers, and jacquard skirts and dresses – 29 striking looks in all – hang on rolling racks, steamed and sorted and ready for the catwalk. Each ensemble is assigned a model, and each model takes a turn with the hair and make up team, stopping once and a while to have a photo taken for one of the many news media covering the event. Thuy Pham and Miho Aoki, the designers behind the 11-year-old label, are also here, of course, giving interviews and posing for photographers. 32 FEATURE
Show production staff mill about, armed with headsets and to-do lists, and various VIPs file by to wish the designers well: Purple editor Olivier Zahm, musician Sean Lennon, Sex and the City stylist Patricia Field, Rita Ackermann, James Iha of The Smashing Pumpkins, and artist Terence Koh (who happens to be the face of the United Bamboo men’s campaign). But despite the charge in the air, inevitable with such a large production only minutes away, the place is quiet. The only sounds are blowdryers and soft conversation. There is no shouting, no pacing, no flailing of arms. But this is supposedly par-for-course with United
Bamboo, whose designers will only work with simpatico people – calm and relatively laid-back. Collaborators on this particular collection and show include the Confetti System, an artist group that created the dreamy, geometric backdrop, James Iha, responsible for the show’s soundtrack, and Rita Ackermann, who designed the graffiti-inspired prints featured in the collection. Back at their studio in SoHo a couple of days later, Aoki explains that despite the show’s serene atmosphere, she wasn’t entirely cool and composed. “I
always get nervous before a show, no matter how much preparation we do,” the designer confesses. And, like any project, there are always small glitches and last minute stresses. “One of the shoes we had a model in were too big, and they were coming apart right before she walked out onto the runway. She walked in them anyway, carefully, and they were completely broken by the time she finished.” But, from a front-row vantage point, no one noticed. All we saw was the preppy, quirky, and slightly masculine collection passing by, head-to-toe, on model after stunning model. FEATURE 33
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fashion put it all on me Images Reanna Evoy Styling Vanessa Vick
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magazine Interview September 1990 shot by Jeffrey Thurnher sunglasses ted lapidus (80’s vintage) necklace wear and tear gold studded bangle H&M lucite bangle club monaco perfume chanel FASHION 43
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magazine Interview March 1990 shot by Michel Comte fringe necklace iheartnorwegianwood red lip gloss chanel bangles H&M cuff Club monaco FASHION 45
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magazine Interview May 1990 shot by SanTE D’Orazio lipstick dior bracelet expressions shoes chanel earrings H&M FASHION 47
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magazine Chatelaine November 1973 shot by Marc L’huillier ring (balls) club monaco ring (stone) house of harlow eye shadow dior bracelet chanel chain club monaco FASHION 49
sweet child o’ mine
Images guy aroch Styling James Worthington DeMolet for See Management Model Emily DiDonato for ReQuest Model Management Hair Dennis Lanni for Art Dept Make Up Samantha Trinh using Dior Cosmetics for Atelier Management Prop Styling Bret Douglas B.A.D. Design Corp Fashion Assistants Lauren DeLeo and Ileana Lagares Photography Assistants John Buenaventura and Matthew Sprout
dress Prabal Gurung skirt Giles bracelet Erikson Beamon
With eyes that could launch a thousand daydreams and legs that extend into the boroughs, model Emily DiDonato is nothing but a star on the set of The Block’s shoot with photographer Guy Aroch. She is energetic and confident, and this easy poise, combined with her preternatural beauty, means she’s incapable of taking a bad photo. The 5’10” vision-in-Dior, Prada, and YSL hasn’t been in the business long, but you’d never know it. Her start, a charmingly literal example of “overnight success,” might make any aspiring model cry. Not so long ago, Emily was 17, in her last year of high school in Orange County, New York, playing sports and getting up to the usual things teenagers do. She never thought modelling was something she could actually do, and so never entertained the idea. That is, until a family friend sent her photo to someone at ReQuest Agency in New York City. Smitten by the teenager’s doe-eyed allure, the agency invited Emily to their offices for a meeting. She went, signed with them on the spot and started working later that day. “I had never even been on a set before, and they sent me to a casting for a Ralph Lauren campaign,” she recalls. She got the job and was in front of her very first photographer by morning. Within the six months that followed, Emily landed jobs with Victoria’s Secret, Vanity Fair Italy, Guess (which, by the way, was how Claudia Schiffer launched her career in the 80s), and most recently, as the newest face of Maybelline. “I just shot a commercial for them with Christy Turlington. I was so nervous about meeting her, and when I got there, we had to share a trailer! But she was amazing. So down-to-earth and warm. She ended up giving me advice about starting in the business while still following my desire to go to school.” While she’s effortlessly breaking hearts from the pages of magazines, Emily would like to study Psychology and Women’s Studies at some college or another (their pleasure, we’re sure). For now, she’s moving into her first big-city apartment in the West Village. Yes, wannabes, we know your sorrow.
dress Prada leggings Karl Lagerfeld
coat Alexander Wang leggings toga earrings UGO Cacciatori
coat Alexander Wang leggings toga earrings UGO Cacciatori
THIS PAGE pearl necklace Sequin dress Toga gloves Karl Lagerfeld rhinestone necklace Badgley Mischka spike ring Lauren Deleo opposite PAGE shorts Alexander Wang top toga boots Marc Jacobs Collection
dress Dolce & Gabbana
dress Givenchy shoes and headpiece Dolce & Gabbana
dress Vera Wang
leather jumpsuit YSL
blazer Dior Homme earrings Sequin
underwear Dolce & Gabbana sweater toga earrings Sequin cuff Erikson Beamon ring Lauren Deleo
underwear Dolce & Gabbana sweater toga earrings Sequin
THIS PAGE coat Moschino dress Vera Wang belt Prabal Gurung bracelet Sequin opposite PAGE leather jumpsuit YSL
dress Prabal Gurung necklace Badgley Mischka
fall 2009 preview
The Tiny Masters of Today show off for The Block’s fall Look Book Images Ryan Pfluger Words Lucy Madison Styling/Casting James Worthington DeMolet at See Management Fashion Assistants Ileana Lagares and Lauren DeLeo Make Up Samantha Trinh using Dior Cosmetics for Atelier Management Ada’s Hair by Enrico Mariotti at See Management Ivan’s Hair by Raymond McLaren at Mildred Inc for Stephen Knoll Salon
Ivan, age 15, and Ada, age 13, may have started their band as a joke, but the Brooklyn-based brother-sister duo Tiny Masters of Today has never had to ask to be taken seriously: the band’s first gig (at an open-mic night for kids in Brooklyn) was covered in the pages of Newsweek, their first single, “Stickin’ it to the Man” was praised as “genius” by David Bowie, and their first album (which came out in 2007 – you do the math for how old they were then) earned them fans like Karen O and Nick Zinner. And that was just the beginning. Last June, the Tiny Masters put out their second full-length, Skeletons, which features the vocal contributions of the aforementioned Karen O, and opened up for Art Brut at their New York show. For The Block’s fall fashion Look Book, we asked Ivan and Ada to model looks by Louis Vuitton, Dior Homme, Tim Hamilton, Acne, Diesel Black Gold, Calvin Klein, DKNY, Rodarte, and 3.1 Phillip Lim. They also told us about their personal style, their musical influences, and what it’s like to go through one’s punk-rock rebellious stage at the age of eight. Lucy Madison: How did you guys manage to get a band started when you were so young? Ada: My brother got a guitar for Christmas when he was seven, and I started playing piano. It was kind of as a joke that we started writing songs and playing together in the basement, and then we got serious about it, I guess. Ivan: It was summer, and we were bored. 80 fashion
LM: Were your parents big music junkies? I: You could say that. There were always records and stuff. A: There’s a closet filled with CDs and records. It’s kind of scary to go into. It’s like a booby trap. Everything is stacked so precariously. LM: Did the music that your parents listened to affect your own sound? A: You know, you listen to the Ramones when you’re little and you’re like, “Yeah, I want to start a band!” That probably inspired us. Listening to The Clash, stuff like that. But you kind of get sick of it. Sooner or later, I’m going to rediscover it. I: I was very into The Clash. I was going through my punk-rock, rebellious stage. LM: How old were you then? I: Probably eight or nine. LM: Do you guys feel like people ever give you a hard time because of your age? I: It’s definitely hard to be recognized as a real band. It’s kind of annoying when people just talk about how amazing it is, how young we are. A: I’m not going to deny that the age thing is something that people notice. There’s nothing wrong with that. I just don’t want people to begrudge us any success because we’re young. I want to be recognized as a musician, not just a novelty act.
LM: You just put out your second album, and you got to work with Karen O on it. What was that like? I: It was definitely cool. I’m a huge Yeah Yeah Yeahs fan. She’s a pro. A: When we came into the studio, we’d see her recording, singing the songs in one take, getting them perfect. Whereas we probably had to do like, five takes, because sometimes Ivan would be dancing and laughing at me through the glass, and I’d crack up. LM: This is The Block’s fall fashion issue. Do you have any fashion influences? A: Well, I think Karen O’s style is really great. I don’t know if I’d have the guts to wear what she wears onstage, but I still admire her. I just like to wear skinny jeans and a t-shirt, with some accessories. I also wear a lot of vintage clothes. But I’m not that crazy. I don’t take that many fashion risks. I: I like wearing jeans. And t-shirts. LM: What’s next for you guys? Another album? I: Well, the new one just came out so we’re slowly realizing that eventually we’re going to have to do it again. A: That’s our problem, the album comes out and we’re so glad it’s over, and then people ask, “Are you writing songs for the next one?” We’re like, “What?! I feel like I just stopped writing songs.” But we’re mentally preparing ourselves.
Louis Vuitton dress Louis Vuitton earrings Bing Bang
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dress Calvin Klein Collection earrings Bing Bang cuff Anna Sheffield bunny ears Louis Vuitton
Dior Homme jacket Dior Homme jeans levi’s
DKNY
leather jacket DKNY fur vest & t-shirt Yigal Azrouel earrings Bing Bang
Tim Hamilton striped sweater Tim Hamilton jeans Levi’s
diesel black gold coat Diesel Black Gold knit dress Brian Lichtenberg tank H&M necklace Bing Bang earrings Chris Habana tights Jonathan Aston
acne
t-shirt & sweater acne shirt Rochambeau
3.1 Phillip Lim coat & henley 3.1 PhilLip Lim
rodarte
dress Rodarte post earring Bing Bang human hair Bijules
isabella
the Actress, writer, and filmmaker on her environmental pornography Interview Susan Locht Image David Armstrong Styling James Worthington DeMolet for See Management Hair Gavin Harwin Make Up Alice Lane both for Jed Root inc Fashion Assistants Jordana Longo and Lauren DeLeo
Dressed as a male whale, Isabella Rossellini turns to the camera and explains, wryly, how these giant creatures-of-the-sea mate. “When needed, I can have an erection six feet long, and stick it inside a female,” she deadpans. Then, carefully, Rossellini shimmies over to a female whale (a beautiful paper-mâché and cardboard creation from an obviously-talented prop team), and enters her with the pink prosthetic from between her legs. This is episode five of the second series of her Green Porno project, a collection of short, instructional films on how insects and animals procreate. In other episodes, Rossellini plays, among other creatures, an earthworm, a barnacle, and a starfish, which, interestingly, can reproduce asexually by fragmenting their own bodies to make other starfish. The films, produced in collaboration with the Sundance Channel, are odd, cheeky, and totally based on fact. The daughter of actress Ingrid Bergman and Italian film director Roberto Rossellini, Isabella Rossellini is perhaps best known for her acting roles in films like Blue Velvet and Death Becomes Her, her 14-year stint as the face of Lancôme, and, most recently, playing the role of Jack Donaghy’s tempestuous ex-wife on NBC’s 30 Rock. She’s worked extensively with Canadian director Guy Maddin, including on the film she wrote and starred in as an homage to her father, My Dad is 100 Years Old. I met with Rossellini this summer in New York, as she was preparing to premier another group of Green Porno films at the Toronto International Film Festival as well as a sculptural adaptation of the films. The TIFF events are part of the Future Projections programme, which focuses on moving-image art projects. Susan Locht: So, let’s start by talking a bit about Green Porno 2. Isabella Rossellini: Well, the first series came out last year, in May. It was very successful, and we thought that was it. But then the Sundance Channel commissioned more. So we did a second series, which was divided into releases in April and the new release this September. The release in September is slightly different from the ones that I’ve done before.
just thought he was very, very talented. Then I went to Winnipeg to meet him and loved him right away… So the first thing we did together was The Saddest Music in the World. SL: I’m a huge fan of that film. I was actually living in Winnipeg when it was shot, and when it premiered. I remember the buzz in the city as a result of having you there… And the next project you worked on with Guy was My Dad is 100 Years Old, right? IR: Yes. When I was doing The Saddest Music in the World, I thought maybe Guy could direct this little film that I wanted to do as an homage to my father [Roberto Rossellini]. Guy’s films are in black and white, and they look old, like they’re about to disintegrate at any second – a little bit like my father’s films. My dad made films that are black and white, but they are also 60 and 70 years old now. I see them a lot in archives, and I’m always anxious that one day they will disintegrate. And so I thought working with Guy would give my film, emotionally, the right look. I wanted to make this little surrealistic film about my dad, and thought I could borrow Guy’s aesthetic to do it. SL: Can you tell me a bit about your experience in making this homage to your dad? IR: It was great. I knew there was going to be a major retrospective on my father in 2006 to celebrate the centennial of his birth. And I knew I would be asked to do interviews, and generally interviews are not personal. No matter how much the interviewer thinks you’re going to confess, it’s never very personal. So I thought it might be nice to do something that is very personal about my father. And also, I thought it would be good to have it travel to archives in various cities. It ended up going to 20 cities all over the world that year.
SL: The ones released in September are different? How? IR: In these new ones, which include “Shrimp” and “Anchovy,” we mix in documentary footage into what I call my little theatre, which is more surrealistic.
SL: And you played all the characters in this film. Tell me about where that idea was born. IR: At first I thought I’d ask some friend actors to play the different characters. But I was worried because some of the characters, like Fellini and Hitchcock, are very iconic – people know what they look like. How would I make the actor look like them? And it was Guy’s idea, instead, that I would play all of them. He said, “If you play all the characters, then it would be completely clear that this is the way you remembered your father’s story.” I didn’t want it to be a documentary, but rather, a sort of personal memory.
SL: Yes, surrealistic is certainly a good descriptor for previous Green Porno episodes. Your exploration of and fondness for surrealism – is this what attracted you to Guy Maddin’s work? IR: Yes, probably. I mean I don’t know, exactly. The way I started working with Guy is that he sent me the script for The Saddest Music in the World. He also sent me a short film that he did called The Heart of the World, and when I saw this film, I
SL: How did the idea for Green Porno come about? IR: In part, it was commissioned by Sundance. Sundance, like a lot of other television stations, is intrigued by the internet. And they decided they wanted to offer something slightly different on the web, in addition to their regular programming. They felt that the net was an opportunity to show short films. Generally, no one makes short films because there’s no release for them. There’s no commercial
90 feature party
coat Vera Wang feature 91
Isabella Rossellini in Green Porno 2, photography Jody Shapiro
distribution. The shortest piece you can show on television is half an hour, but there was no platform for three, four, or five minute films. But with the internet, with the tradition that YouTube had established, and MTV, there were a lot of short films that people liked and watched. So Sundance Channel decided that they were going to invest money in short films, possibly about the environment. [Robert] Redford [who started Sundance] is a very big environmentalist and very concerned about the planet and concerned about art. So, I had a mandate to make short films about the environment. SL: And how did you come to develop the films’ unusual content and aesthetic? IR: We realized that for the internet, we might need to use animation. Animation is very good for a small screen, say, if you were to look at it on your cellular phone. For example, Lawrence of Arabia, or Apocalypse Now, if you were to see these on the small screen or your cell phone, you wouldn’t have seen the films. So we knew that my short films about the environment had to be very colourful. And I’ve always liked animals and studied animal behaviour… I went back to Sundance and said we’ll make a series about bugs or animals that everybody knows, and how they sexually reproduce, which nobody knows and which is very funny. SL: It is very funny, and you certainly get that across in these films. I’m thinking now about that scene in the first series, where you play a male fly, and you’re humping another fly. And then, with perfect timing and expression, you look at the camera and smile, totally proud of your actions. It’s hilarious… And yes, there is also an environmental message, but it’s subtle. IR: I wanted my film to be comical, I wanted people to laugh, and then I also wanted a second reaction. I wanted this second reaction to be, “Oh, I didn’t know that about a worm.” But I didn’t want to preach in any way. I think if you show that 92 feature
even a fly has its own life, that it’s a fascinating animal, then hopefully people will react when they hear something like bees will be wiped from the face of the earth. Why do we put all our money to save the Mona Lisa or the David by Michelangelo, and not nature, which has also given us so much in terms of aesthetic and beauty? SL: Yes, it’s so easy to forget about the little creatures around you, especially when you live in the city. IR: Actually, we’d like to do something on the animals in the city. It’s full of them, and people don’t really think about them too much. SL: So do you have plans to make more films with Sundance, then? IR: Well, I don’t know yet. I’m writing and pitching to different television stations and to friends who are investors in film. SL: You’re obviously a very creatively-driven person. Do you see yourself this way? IR: I don’t really look at myself. I don’t really ask, “Who am I?” I just say, “This is fun to do, so I’m going to do it.” SL: So, clearly, filmmaking is something you want to be doing. IR: Oh yes. Ever since I was a teenager I’ve wanted to make films about animals. But, you know, then I modelled and it was fun and I made good money… It’s very difficult to raise funds to make a film. You need to have some credentials. So I think the fact that I am an actress, because I’ve been in films, I have written books, it encourages investors to say, “She’s not an amateur; she has a career and she shows responsibility, meets deadlines, finishes the job.” It would have been difficult at 16 to make a film. So now I’m doing what I always wanted to do.
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Photography Evaan Kheraj Model Jenna for Lizbellagency.com
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Listen to what I'm saying! Words Paula Ayer, Geneva Bokowski, G. Joel Chury, Jennifer Croll, Holland Gidney, and Geoff Vreeken
I Love You Amanda Blank | Downtown
Red Datarock | Nettwerk
Philly-based rapper/singer Amanda Blank has an attitude problem and a penchant for booty-shaking bass on her first solo release, a boombox-ready collection cheekily entitled I Love You. Lead single “Might Like You Better” has a pretty serious Baltimore vibe going on, while “Lemme Get Some,” a slinky, cocky, West Coast-inflected banger, features Chuck Inglish of The Cool Kids and the polished flair of Diplo and Switch. But Blank’s brash party-girl lyrics start to border on introspective on certain tracks like “DJ,” a bittersweet retro groover, and “Leaving You Behind.” With XXXChange of Spank Rock and Eli Escobar rounding out production, I Love You upholds the B’more mash-up tradition these heads helped pioneer. – GB
Just when you thought skin-tight red jumpsuits were out, Datarock fires away with a sophomore album sure to have you combing thrift bins. Bolstered by the international success of their first independent release, four years later the Norwegian duo has paired with Nettwerk Records to refine their jangly dance-riffs into a multi-layered soundscape. “The Blog” comes complete with epic synth lines and manic crowd screaming, while “New Days Dawn” puts the album’s nu-disco feeling through a velvet strainer to yield a super-smooth musical concoction. If Red is a flavour, it’s one best consumed in the late morning with brunch, whilst clad in a too-short robe and sporting one of those flip down visors. – GV
LP Discovery | XL
Art Brut vs. Satan Art Brut | Universal
On this side project started in 2005, Rostam Batmaglij (Vampire Weekend) and Wes Miles (Ra Ra Riot) offer a playful and sometimes serious dance-pop album that borrows heavily and ironically from the mainstream’s fixation on the likes of Timberlake and T-Pain. Heavy beats, singing synths, and tongue-incheek usage of Auto-Tune vocals on Discovery’s LP blast the ears with a confusing, yet entertaining mix of experimental joy. The music bounces and changes pace in an uneven fashion, best captured by the track “So Insane,” the best damn dance song you can’t actually dance to. Skip around the ill-timed cover of MJ’s “I Want You Back,” and you’ll find an album that’s truly party-worthy. – GJC
With chord progressions reminiscent of vintage punk and droll lyrics about hangovers and mixtapes, Art Brut’s lead singer Eddie Argos has attracted a cult following of closeted rock geeks. But shortly after their debut in 2004, the band drew the fanboydom of the biggest music nerd of them all: former Pixies frontman Frank Black. On their new album, Art Brut vs. Satan, they form an alt-rock match made in heaven, with Black’s production talents marrying Argos’ rants to distortion-heavy Pixies-influenced hooks and melodies. But despite the heavyweight producer, Art Brut keeps their sound rough and whiskey-soaked, making that stand against the devil himself sound like a whole lot of fun. – GJC
Music for Men The Gossip | Sony
See Mystery Lights YACHT | DFA
It’s a huge understatement to say Beth Ditto’s no shrinking violet, but now that The Gossip has majorlabel cash, she looms ever larger: more polished, and somehow, more naked – both figuratively and, if you’ve seen many magazines recently, literally. Where the band’s previous album, Standing in the Way of Control, was rough-hewn, blistering, fullthroated gospel-punk, Music for Men is glossier, with higher production values and more restraint. Ditto’s still got passion, but on Men she’s pulled back on the fire to create a smouldering album of soulful dance music that occasionally flirts with disco, sure to create the sort of dancefloor debauchery that’ll make Southern Baptists squirm. – JC
It’s not every band that feels the need to announce that it “is not a cult,” as YACHT does on its website, replete with triangle insignias, talk of “belief systems,” and references to strange lights in the Texas desert. That’s a good thing, because the Portland duo’s irresistible future-disco grooves could probably persuade a lot of people to drink their Kool-Aid. With its percolating beats, deadpan mantras, and handclaps, See Mystery Lights takes an obvious cue from DFA label head James Murphy’s LCD Soundsystem, but referencing glitchy Timbaland-style R&B as much as New York’s early underground scene. Proof that indie dance-pop can have a little heart, and a big sense of humour, too. – PA
BREAK UP Pete Yorn and Scarlett Johansson | Warner One hot night doesn’t make a relationship, nor does one perfect pop song make an album. Pete and Scarlett seduce successfully with handclaps and tambourine on 60s-retro “Relator,” but they don’t seem to want the relationship to go any further: the rest of Break Up doesn’t match it musically or lyrically. On her solo album, Scarlett covered Tom Waits well, but Break Up doesn’t show off her voice, and Pete does little to convince he’s a great writer of duets. When the Hollywood starlet confesses, “I’m not interested in this” on “Blackie’s Dead,” it becomes clear. Rather than going through the motions, these two should have settled for a one-night stand. – HG 94 review
mix tape We knew there was nobody better than super-smooth Montreal DJ/producer Tiga to add a little style to The Block’s Mix Tape. www.tiga.ca 01. The Juan MacLean Happy House (Matthew Dear Vs Audion Remix) 02. Fever Ray Triangle Walks (Tiga’s 1-2-3-4 Remix) 03. Hugg & Pepp Sweet Rosie (Sei A Remix / Disco Dub) 04. Planetary Assault Systems Hold It 05. Tiga Beep Beep Beep (Crookers Remix) 06. Oculus Short Groove 07. Noob & Brodinski Cajou Club 08. Boys Noize Transmission 09. D.I.M. & Tai Lyposuct 10. Fabrizio Maurizi Daddy Diego 11. Rebolledo Pitaya Frenesi feat. Matias Aguayo
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I see you looking at me Words Paula Ayer, Sarah Berman, Megan Brand, Jennifer Croll, Lara Kordic, and Stephanie MacDonald
The Death of Bunny Munro Nick Cave HarperCollins Nick Cave is the latest in a short line of singer-songwriters who have felt compelled to carve out a sideline literary career. Whereas Billy Corgan’s poetry fell flat, however, Cave’s The Death of Bunny Munro does an admirable job of bringing Bunny Munro to life – only to drive him into the grave. Our hero-cum-beauty-product-salesman, along with his unwitting son Bunny Jr., becomes hell-bent on self-destruction after his wife offs herself. Bunny is no Avon lady, and his house-calls generally involve dispensing pseudo-skincare advice tampered with large doses of flirting, fornicating, and fist-fighting (in that order). Somehow managing to stay one step ahead of a string of irate husbands, pimps, and serial killers, Bunny and Jr. just take a licking and keep on ticking. Not exactly life-affirming stuff, but a raucous read nonetheless. – MB
Art Deco Jewelry: Modernist Masterworks and Their Makers Laurence Mouillefarine and Évelyne Possémé Thames & Hudson The year is 1925. Times are good, skirts are short, and Parisian aesthetes are rocking bling so extravagant it would make Lil Wayne blush. This is the heyday of Art Deco. With an ample appreciation for geometric shapes, editors Laurence Mouillefarine and Évelyne Possémé attempt to explain why so many Hollywood stars and fashionistas traded their traditional diamonds and gold for chunky onyx and platinum. The book also offers insights as to why the movement’s excesses eventually spelled doom for jewellery hucksters when the 20s suddenly stopped roaring. Jean Dunand, Suzanne Belperron, and Jean Fouquet are among the prolific designers profiled. Are there more captivating reads out there? Totally. But the sheer amount of arty vintage baubles bound within its 256 pages is enough to warrant coffee table reading. – SB
Valentina: American Couture and the Cult of Celebrity Kohle Yohannan Rizzoli Deciphering fact from fashion world myth is uniquely challenging when your subject is the self-declared embodiment of Theatre (note the capital T). But in the visually exquisite, anecdote-filled Valentina, historian Kohle Yohannan embraces the reinvention and dramatic flair of a celebrated RussianAmerican couturiere. Valentina Schlee’s creations, which hid masterful form and construction under simple, even monastic, elegance, were as contradictory as the woman herself – imagine scathing Slavic wit draped in an impossibly chic nun’s habit. Fashion aficionados will devour this tribute to the designer who helped define the aesthetic of the 1930s and 40s, while the rest of us will drool over the images of Valentina and her loyal celebrity followers, as we long for the days before Photoshop when artfully draped fabric was enough to achieve visual perfection. – LK
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Generation A Douglas Coupland Random House Nearly 20 years ago Douglas Coupland penned the era-defining novel Generation X, so neatly capturing the post-Baby Boomers’ anti-corporate irony that the book became both an affirmation of identity for the generation as well as every frustrated advertising executive’s dream. Now Coupland has taken a stab at a new generation of disillusioned 20- and 30somethings with Generation A, a novel set in a near future where bees are extinct and most people calm their existential ennui by popping Solon, a drug that makes time pass more quickly. The novel’s format, which weaves together short stories by an ensemble cast of characters, indulges Coupland’s talent for witty aphorisms and clever storytelling. But, with its mix of prescient observations on technology and society, ironic sci-fi, and philosophical underpinnings, it’s also easily Coupland’s best book in years. Note to ad execs: just kidding. Move along now. – JC
20th Century Fashion: 100 Years of Apparel Ads Jim Heimann and Alison A. Nieder Taschen From Holeproof Hosiery’s proclamation that “The best of our hosiery will grace any ballroom” to Gucci’s wordless ad that strongly implies “Buy this handbag! You will be immediately surrounded by sulky, Speedo-clad Italian hotties on your pool deck!” fashion advertising has always been a fascinating mix of artistry, trendsetting, and psychology. For folks who simply adore the 200 or so ad pages that precedes (or used to precede) the table of contents in their monthly Vogue, Taschen, king of coffee table tomes, has put together 20th Century Fashion: 100 Years of Apparel Ads. The sheer elegance of the illustrative ads from 1920s and 30s is enough reason to study this history, but further on there’s a world populated by thick moustaches and green and orange, floral bell-bottom jumpsuits that will either provoke delighted nostalgia or pure horror, depending on your taste. – SM
Our City Dreams DVD, First Run Features Beyond gender and profession, there wouldn’t seem to be much connecting the Egyptian-born embroidery artist Ghada Amer, the octogenarian painter Nancy Spero, and the street artist Swoon – except all were drawn, in different decades, to live and work in New York City. It’s this link that Chiara Clemente explores in Our City Dreams, a portrait of five women artists (the others are Kiki Smith and Marina Abramovic) and the big, dirty, intense metropolis that nourishes their creativity and careers. Most memorable is Abramovic, who in her sixties still subjects her body to enigmatic, gruelling performance art that includes carving a star into her abdomen, lying naked on blocks of ice and, in the film’s most striking scene, leading a group of men in Phuket, Thailand, in a ritualistic whipping of the ocean on the anniversary of the tsunami. – PA
eyes 2009 CĂŠdric Rivrain 98 cut out