Category Archives for Uncategorized
“A Wonderful Ruin”
Malcolm McLaren has always had a foot in both the fashion and art worlds (among several others), and last night at the Swiss Institute in Soho, he drew a crowd of both designers like Sam Shipley and Jeff Halmos and art-world luminaries like Jeffrey Deitch, Nate Lowman, and Rita Ackermann. The occasion was the U.S. premiere of his film Paris, Capital of the XXIst Century. Tie maker Alexander Olch was in attendance, though he had his filmmaker hat on for the evening. (Olch’s documentary The Windmill Movie premiered at the New York Film Festival and played on HBO last year.) “I feel like editing is an intrinsic part of the cinematic art,” Olch said, reflecting on the 60-minute McLaren work, which weaves together footage from vintage French commercials, passages by Baudelaire and Henry Miller, and text and music by the auteur himself. “It’s nice to see a film where editing is the emphasis.”
Before sitting down with critic Michael Bracewell for a Q&A, McLaren submitted to a few sidebar exchanges. “You know, I’ve been living in Paris off and on for many years, though even now it’s more of a spiritual home than a real home,” he said. “But I felt like if I was going to continue living [there], I had to enter into its conversation, contribute something to it, because otherwise I was just a long-term tourist.” He went on to say that the collage structure came out of his desire to make the film “as personal as possible.” “It’s sort of like, this isn’t ‘Paris,’ this is my experience of Paris, which is as much informed by the writing of Henry Miller, for example, as it is by the city itself. Paris is sort of a wonderful ruin. But,” McLaren added, “that’s what appeals to me.”
—Maya Singer Continue reading
The Love Connection
Valentine’s Day: romance pressure cooker for the coupled-off, depression-inducing bane of singles. Who invented this holiday? Not Richard Chai, but given that his newest line is called “Love,” the designer felt honor-bound to take a crack at playing Cupid last night. To celebrate the arrival in stores of the debut Love collection, Chai teamed up with Barneys New York to host a party at White Slab Palace on the Lower East Side. And he was hoping at least a few of his single pals would luck into some amour at the fête. “I wanted to celebrate Valentine’s Day with all my wonderful friends,” Chai said, squeezing the hand of party co-host Poppy Delevingne. “And who knows? Maybe there’ll be some sparks…”
DJs Harley Viera-Newton and Sébastien Perrin were doing their best to set the tone, music-wise, mixing up eighties pop faves (Viera-Newton) and bleeding-edge dance tunes and new wave (Perrin). “I want to dance!” enthused Barneys New York fashion director Julie Gilhart. “I’m not sure there’s room, though….” No kidding: By the time Viera-Newton saw fit to spin Human League’s “Don’t You Want Me?” the party had spilled out of White Slab’s petite private back room and into the main restaurant space. Ana Lerario and Robert Geller, who found love together long ago, could be discovered there, mingling with Thakoon Panichgul, Phillip Lim, and Carlos Quirarte. The latter had stopped by en route to his own party for Evisu, where he had enlisted some exotic dancers to perform. Ah, romance.
—Maya Singer Continue reading
Quelle Surprise
On Sunday night, Purple magazine celebrated its 13th issue with a dinner, sponsored by the Villency Design Group, at the recently opened Kenmare, a new Nolita restaurant venture from Nur Khan and Paul Sevigny. Given that combination of French fashion-mag cool and downtown nightlife firepower, hipster overload was always imminent, and the crowd—Sevigny’s sister, Chloë; Michael Stipe; Nate Lowman; Daphne Guinness—didn’t disappoint on that score. Between the main course and appetizer, a young man, who wished to be unnamed, stripped down to just his tennis shoes and poured candle wax on his body. “What is shocking about this,” said Purple‘s editor, Olivier Zahm, “is that this is not shocking.” If you’ve ever seen an issue of Zahm’s magazine, you would know that a naked body covered in wax is unlikely to cause him to raise an eyebrow.
After dinner, the Purple posse made its way 20 or so blocks uptown to Khan’s other outpost, the Rose Bar at the Gramercy Park Hotel. The draw was a (not so) secret show by Guns N’ Roses, but the notoriously tardy Axl Rose wasn’t in a hurry, and by the time he took the stage, after 1 a.m., the joint was crowded, to say the least. Maybe that’s why Chrissie Miller, Jen Brill, and Ryan McGinley stayed on the Gramercy’s roof with cocktails. By that point, there seemed to be little thought that some of this crew would need to be up for the Zac Posen show at 9 a.m. the next morning.
—Derek Blasberg Continue reading
It’s a Family Affair
It’s all coming together for the Flatiron District’s Ace Hotel: a buzzy restaurant, an underground club, a fragrant coffee shop, and, as of last night, some hotly anticipated retail in the form of an Opening Ceremony boutique. Friends of owners Carol Lim and Humberto Leon oohed and aahed on their way into dinner at the hotel’s Breslin restaurant, with Ryan McGinley admiring the green hue of some garment bags (“So beautiful!”) and Jason Schwartzman fawning over the store’s neon Tumi luggage and almost complete collection of Criterion art-house DVDs. “There’s a couple that are out of print that aren’t there,” the actor confided, then added, “I have every one of them—it’s my most prized possession.”
“We’re kind of nerds,” Leon admitted—the kind of nerds, that is, that prefer Margiela feather pens and velvet espadrilles to standard hotel-shop offerings. The evening (which also celebrated the opening of the Ace’s No. 8a boutique) wasn’t all about cool merch, though. After midnight, Solange Knowles performed with the Dirty Projectors in the hotel’s downstairs party space, and the dinner at the Breslin gave an intimate group of the store’s fans the opportunity to table-hop and chat over buttery biscuits and suckling pig. Terence Koh talked about collaborating with Jeff Koons at the New Museum, while Michael Stipe shared an analysis of Lady Gaga’s music (“Five hooks in one song!”) with P.S.1 director Klaus Biesenbach. Kirsten Dunst said she wasn’t in the mood for shopping, but hoped Leon might give her the pair of vintage sunglasses she’d tried on in the shop. (Seems only fair, considering her solid work in the latest OC short film.) A little give and take, why not? “It’s a family affair at this point,” Dunst said.
—Darrell Hartman Continue reading
Relief Workers
Say what you will about Naomi Campbell—and, believe us, whatever you’re going to say has probably been said before—but when the 39-year-old supermodel puts her mind to something, everyone else had better get on board. Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, summed that up best in her opening remarks at the Fashion for Relief catwalk show, a Friday night event orchestrated by Campbell to help Haiti. (Garments from the runway will be sold on Net-a-Porter.com starting on March 15, with proceeds going directly to reconstruction efforts on the island.) “When Naomi calls and tells you to be somewhere,” the original Fergie said, “you drop everything and you be there. She’s an incredible lady, and a loyal friend, when you’re on her good side.”
At most fashion shows, industry professionals (OK, and celebs, and hangers-on) fill the seats, but this fundraiser was open to the public. So alongside the front-row regulars (Dennis Basso, Anna Sui, Dasha Zhukova, Peter Brant), you had plenty of “regular” front-rowers. Their wardrobe choices, from long ball gowns to far more casual attire, may have brought smiles to the more jaded fashionistas’ faces, but it was their unbridled enthusiasm that propelled the show. They cheered wildly and clapped for their favorite catwalkers—a crew that was basically a smattering of Campbell’s cell-phone contacts, from longtime friends like Diane von Furstenberg and Marisa Berenson to newbies like Kelly Osbourne and Shala Monroque. “What a fabulous audience! It just invigorates me,” said Pat Cleveland, whose runway routine included twirls, clawing, and gyrations. “But I’ve always said a woman’s feet have eyes and ears, and you just have to let them walk!”
The finale of the Relief show turned into a memorial of a different sort. Starting with Daphne Guinness, several models wearing Alexander McQueen’s Spring collection met at the end of the runway, ending with a teary-eyed Campbell. For intimates like Campbell and Guinness, as well as models like Karen Elson and Angela Lindvall who had known McQueen well, it was an emotional tribute to the recently deceased fashion designer. And for Campbell, it was understandably the only one she was prepared to make. “I’m not ready to talk about that yet,” she sighed from backstage. Her friend Fergie added: “I know you’re missing your friend. He was a genius, and he will be missed.”
—Derek Blasberg Continue reading
Relief Workers
Say what you will about Naomi Campbell—and, believe us, whatever you’re going to say has probably been said before—but when the 39-year-old supermodel puts her mind to something, everyone else had better get on board. Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, summed that up best in her opening remarks at the Fashion for Relief catwalk show, a Friday night event orchestrated by Campbell to help Haiti. (Garments from the runway will be sold on Net-a-Porter.com starting on March 15, with proceeds going directly to reconstruction efforts on the island.) “When Naomi calls and tells you to be somewhere,” the original Fergie said, “you drop everything and you be there. She’s an incredible lady, and a loyal friend, when you’re on her good side.”
At most fashion shows, industry professionals (OK, and celebs, and hangers-on) fill the seats, but this fundraiser was open to the public. So alongside the front-row regulars (Dennis Basso, Anna Sui, Dasha Zhukova, Peter Brant), you had plenty of “regular” front-rowers. Their wardrobe choices, from long ball gowns to far more casual attire, may have brought smiles to the more jaded fashionistas’ faces, but it was their unbridled enthusiasm that propelled the show. They cheered wildly and clapped for their favorite catwalkers—a crew that was basically a smattering of Campbell’s cell-phone contacts, from longtime friends like Diane von Furstenberg and Marisa Berenson to newbies like Kelly Osbourne and Shala Monroque. “What a fabulous audience! It just invigorates me,” said Pat Cleveland, whose runway routine included twirls, clawing, and gyrations. “But I’ve always said a woman’s feet have eyes and ears, and you just have to let them walk!”
The finale of the Relief show turned into a memorial of a different sort. Starting with Daphne Guinness, several models wearing Alexander McQueen’s Spring collection met at the end of the runway, ending with a teary-eyed Campbell. For intimates like Campbell and Guinness, as well as models like Karen Elson and Angela Lindvall who had known McQueen well, it was an emotional tribute to the recently deceased fashion designer. And for Campbell, it was understandably the only one she was prepared to make. “I’m not ready to talk about that yet,” she sighed from backstage. Her friend Fergie added: “I know you’re missing your friend. He was a genius, and he will be missed.”
—Derek Blasberg Continue reading