flowers/smoke, more things from around

Floral styling by Matthew Josephs; Luna T-shirt by Mother of Pearl, and Flora Vanitas by Simon Costin from the SHOWstudio shop; Edita Vilkeviciute shot by Alastair McKimm for Muse on Fashion Gone Rogue and some good old fashioned smoke flares deployed yesterday in London.

the entrance band vs. nicolas provost

Monochrome, symmetry, and mirrors in the music video for Grim Reaper Blues by The Entrance Band, and Papillon d’Amour, a film by artist Nicolas Provost.

huge supplement, nieves catalogue

Art supplement published by Nieves to accompany this month’s issue of Huge, my favourite Japanese men’s style magazine. Featuring the work of Beni Bischof, Chris Johanson, Dimitri Broquard, Hendrik Hegray, Ingo Giezendanner, Johanna Jackson, Kim Gordon, Rita Ackermann, Stefan Marx, Warja Lavater, and Will Sweeney. I like Kim Gordon’s best (above), and not just cos I had a teenage crush on her.

missoni autumn/winter 2010/11, kenneth anger

Designer/artist collaborations aren’t new but they feel more popular than ever at the moment. Latest example is this psychodrama campaign for Missoni shot by legendary filmmaker Kenneth Anger, featuring footage of the Missoni family layered over a psychedelic backdrop to create a surrealist lookbook. This focus on more sophisticated fantasy in fashion marketing seems to be gathering pace too (see today’s Prada post below) .

prada fall 2010, fantasy lookbook

My favourite image from the Prada lookbook for next season. A lot of the rest reminds me too much of that clunky interpolated rotoscope animation they used in the film of Scanner Darkly. Not so cool. See the whole thing here.

african print inspiration, spring/summer 2011

Saw a lot of African-style prints coming through for next summer from brands like Petrou\Man and Lou Dalton last time we were in Paris for the men’s trade shows. These are two kind of off-kilter examples I like. The top is found, the bottom is an installation by artist Matthieu Lavanchy.

art club 2000, untitled (conran’s 1) 1992-93

I know this is totally staged, and by a ’90s New York art collective to boot, but if anyone’s going to make a statement about preppy brands then they’re probably best qualified. Found flicking through KALEIDOSCOPE magazine.

the 80*81 book collection: what happened?

This project is a collaboration between writer George Diaz and film director Christopher Roth, who are trying to show how 1980 and 1981 changed the world by researching the people, places and parties that were behind cultural shifts at the time. They have a great found photo blog too at 80*81. All images lifted from there.

the foundry, 1800hrs

At about 6pm last night the protest wasn’t looking too strong but then I guess they’re not likely so send the bailiffs in on a Saturday. There was one fella drinking cider under a blue tarp but he didn’t look to tasty in a stand-off. It is a shame, never been exactly a regular at the Foundry but do remember some odd nights out there listening to worm woman’s poetry and taking pics of tattoos in the gents. Part of the charm was that it always felt condemned anyway.

la jetée, chris marker 1962

This film was the inspiration for 12 Monkeys. It’s set under a post-WW3 Paris, is only half an hour long, and is told in a series of photographic stills rather than moving images. Without spoiling it, the story is about time travel, love, imagination, and war. It also has a vicious twist that explains where Gilliam got his idea from. My favourite bit by far though has to be the visit to a natural history museum halfway through. The way the b+w film picks out the texture of the animals and her hand-knitted sweater is beautiful.