A few snippets of digital ephemera and IRL recommendations I’ve enjoyed lately…
1/ JONY IVE’S SEXY AI. If anyone can make A.I sexy, maybe it’s Jony Ive, whose company IO is being sold to OpenAI to create desirable devices (think pendants, eyewear…) for the age of AGI (artificial general intelligence). Read more in the NYT (gift link). (more…)
“From the first conversation to the final frame, it felt like floating.”
The joy in these photos, taken by Tyler Mitchell for the MET’s ‘Superfine: Tailoring Black Style’ exhibition catalogue, is palpable. Fabulous finery, impeccable styling, chic shoes (opera pumps!), gentle gestures, it’s all there. Mitchell said he pulled inspo from “Harlem, Atlanta, Lagos, London, and beyond.” The show, a “cultural and historical examination of Black style over three hundred years through the concept of dandyism”, opens on 10th May (preceded by the MET Gala of course) and looks like one of the strongest MET Costume Institute shows in recent years. (more…)
An alternative thought to last Thursday’s post about the cosy conviviality of the Alaïa cafe-bookshop.
Reading Sheila Rock’s excellent 2020 photo book, Young Punks, her photo of the decidedly uninviting facade of Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren’s 1976 SEX shop (above) revealed an audacious weirdness with intimidating appeal that lured people in out of sheer curiosity. (more…)
Farewell Oliviero Toscani, a brilliant photographer and art director who changed the world through his audacious activism dressed as fashion advertising.
I became aware of him in the 1980s via his vibrant fashion shoots for Benetton using groups of racially diverse, often street cast models in simple studio settings, styled in layers upon layers by (my old boss) Caroline Baker. (more…)
