Modern-Day Dandy: Cassius Clay for Pas Un Autre

Thought I'd share some outtakes from my October shoot in New York with the rare and extremely intelligent/fashionable bird that is Cassius Marcellus Cornelius Clay. Read my article and interview with Cassius for Pas Un Autre (with more photos) here.

All photos © Annabel Graham, 2011.

A New Genre for Advertising: The Art Film/Commercial Hybrid

Fashion advertising is headed in a new direction-- as exemplified in the recent short film-ad campaigns for Opening Ceremony and Oliver Peoples, respectively. Gia Coppola and Tracy Antonopoulos' short for Opening Ceremony, released last spring, stars film and fashion darlings Kirsten Dunst and Jason Schwartzman (did you expect anyone else?) wearing clothes from the spring 2010 collection in a bittersweet, tongue-in-cheek Nouvelle Vague-inspired love story set to music by Coconut Records, Schwartzman’s own band. Lisa Eisner’s short for Oliver Peoples stars musical visionary Devendra Banhart and his real-life girlfriend, Rebecca Schwartz, as they traipse through the gorgeously modern yet intimate Rainbow House, John Lautner’s one-of-a-kind Californian architectural masterpiece, wearing an array of Oliver Peoples spectacles and sunglasses from the spring 2011 collection (all this, of course, set to Banhart’s own soulful freak-folk). Both films are whimsical explorations of young love and intimacy, making bold forays into a newly playful, artistic and utterly compelling direction for fashion advertising. Watch both shorts below:

Devendra Banhart at Rainbow House from Oliver Peoples on Vimeo.

Of course, an even "haute-er" couture version of the fashion film-ad comes from prolific filmmaker David Lynch in his 16-minute Lady Blue Shanghai, which he wrote and directed for Dior in May 2010. The illustrious Marion Cotillard stars in the characteristically haunting short.

The entire film can be watched in parts on YouTube, but here's a taste...

Exquisite Corpses: Mugler F/W '11

Notorious for his outlandish, highly structured, anatomical pieces that both accentuate and toy with accepted notions of the human form, Strasbourg-born French designer Thierry Mugler has been an influential and utterly unique figure on the fashion scene since his breakout in the 70's. Mugler shows are designed as spectacles in and of themselves, and this year's men's fall/winter '11 showcase during New York Fashion Week was no exception. Mugler draped models in ethereal layers of transparent vinyl for a characteristically macabre, albeit slightly more poetic look. A few snapshots below from Jak + Jil:

Poet of the Mundane: Eggleston at LACMA

I went to see the William Eggleston: Democratic Camera exhibit at LACMA's new(-ish) wing on a moody, stormy day in late December (during the torrential downpour that caused mudslides and floods from the PCH to the valley). Eggleston, who I mentioned in my earlier "Can I Borrow Your Mixtape" entry, captures a nostalgic and suggestive sense of Americana in his simple, highly saturated color prints. Born in Memphis, Tennessee, he discovered the process of dye-transfer printing (now his characteristic method) while teaching photography at Harvard in the early 1970s. Since then he has become an undisputed pioneer of American color photography, credited with the legitimization of the medium as a serious art form-- his images of ordinary objects are made utterly poignant through his use of intense hues and provocative composition. His iconic photographs have been used on countless album covers, including those of Spoon, Big Star, Joanna Newsom, Primal Scream, Jimmy Eat World, Silver Jews and others-- which only serves to demonstrate his deep connection to and influence on popular culture. We can also surmise his influence on the fashion world-- Marc Jacobs used Eggleston himself, along with Charlotte Rampling, in an advertisement for his haute couture line, while the print ad for Jacobs' Daisy perfume is all-too-reminiscent of a certain Eggleston photograph, Untitled (1975).

Red Ceiling or Greenwood, Mississippi (1973) : you can really see the effects of the dye-transfer process in this photo-- Eggleston himself said of this work, "The Red Ceiling is so powerful, that in fact I've never seen it reproduced on the page to my satisfaction. When you look at the dye it is like red blood that's wet on the wall.... A little red is usually enough, but to work with an entire red surface was a challenge."

Two Girls on the Sofa (1974)

Memphis, Tennessee (1971-74)

Untitled (from "Los Alamos," 1965-1968)

Untitled (from "Los Alamos," 1965-1968)

Huntsville, Alabama (c.1970)

Untitled (1975)

...and an ad for Marc Jacobs' fragrance Daisy. Spy the resemblance?

Eggleston himself, with Charlotte Rampling, in a 2007 Marc Jacobs print ad

The retrospective features an extensive array of Eggleston's work, from his early black-and-white photographs of the early 1960's to his startlingly vivid dye-transfer work of the 70's and 80's to his rarely-seen video work Stranded in Canton.

click for more

Summer Trends: Elderly Women's Fashion in South Korea

"I have noticed something. Elderly women are staunchly devoted to wearing flower prints. Gaudy, chic, loud, subdued, multicolored, monochromatic -- they rock it all. I have decided to launch a photography series fondly entitled 'Flowers in Bloom' to exhibit this captivating fashion trend in South Korea."

- my favorite person Jin Ha. Haha.

Flowers in Bloom first started as a Facebook album on Jin's account; but after tons of replies and "likes" by his friends, Jin decided to take the series to the next level.

This blog is a go-to for laughs. Some (elderly women who ride the subways of Seoul) might be offended, but it's all in good humor as Jin is really just sharing his Korean love and pride with the world. Each picture is accompanied by a blurb - his prose in each is wonderully hilarious.

Next to this photo Jin wrote, "the model didn't ruin the shot by crossing her arms. She created a vanilla cream horizon upon which the sun-flame red flower could rise."

koreanflowersinbloom.tumblr.com

6 more months to go...

Too bad Christmas is so far away...because I really want a small framed bag yo!

Tommy Ton would agree. His photos of cool kids sporting Celine and Chloe bags:

Let the countdown begin.

Lanvin's Menswear S/S '10 ads: Crazy Cool

For this year's spring/summer menswear line, Lanvin has come up with some of the strangest, coolest and artsiest images I've seen recently in the sphere of high-fashion ad campaigns. Not sure if they make me really want to buy these clothes for my boyfriend/brother/dad/guy friend, but something has to be said for the ad team's originality. They definitely give Marc Jacobs a run for his (avant-garde, normal-people, low-res, tongue-in-cheek) money in the ad realm... Thoughts?

the boyfriend of the female image I posted a few entries below...?

This one reminds me of a Van Gogh..

(Is it just me, or is this last one the grossest/weirdest fashion ad ever?!) sort of harkens to the last entry's image of the Abramovic/Ulay "swapping breath" session...

...aaaand this one just reminds me of The Ring....

Doppelgänger Week, Round 2

Lara Stone backstage at Gaultier

Brigitte Bardot in the mid-1960s

Stumbled upon this iconic image of Brigitte Bardot whilst researching for my paper on representations of modernization/alienation in the city of Paris in French New Wave cinema (might blog about this later... stay tuned). In the August '09 issue of W Magazine, Dutch übermodel of the moment Lara Stone beautifully channeled the French film icon's pigtailed, red-sweatered, cat-eyelinered (is that a word??) classic 1960s blonde bombshell look. Check out Interview's April 2010 issue for more of the "most sought-after face in fashion" : an in-depth interview with Lara by Marc Jacobs and some gorgeous, albeit titillating, photos.

Lara Stone in 2009