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See this: Baldwin Lee, A Southern Portrait, 1983-89



Baldwin Lee DeFuniak Springs Florida 1984

“I would approach my potential subjects, explain in as detailed a manner as possible what I had seen, and ask for permission to take a photograph. Of course, small talk — where was I from, who would see the photograph, why I selected them — would sometimes ensue. Often permission was granted with no discussion at all. Looking is a two-way street. Not only is the photographer looking, but the potential subject is looking too. What the subject sees carries great weight. For some reason, people would see me positively. I am not sure if it was my race, gender, physicality, dress, demeanor, or anything else. If in a day I asked twenty people for permission to make photographs, nineteen would say yes.”
Baldwin Lee (more…)



Dior AW23: steel skirts, haute gorpcore and garconne beauty



DIOR FINALE AUTUMN-WINTER 2023 ©ADRIEN DIRAND

I’m very much enjoying all the variations on classics at the AW23 shows. Sacai, Saint Laurent, Bottega and Prada are doing it for me – and Dior, of course.

Almost entirely in black, the Dior AW23 show was a ‘reincarnation’ of 50s French Girl Style, with Édith Piaf, Juliette Gréco and Catherine Dior (Mr Dior’s sister) the season’s muses. More ‘The New Garconne’ than The New Look, if you will. My top five takeaways… (more…)



Into this: Air Mail’s new beauty beat



Air Mail look - Barbara Sturm profile

“They bled in velvet-tufted hotel suites and town-house living rooms. They bled in conference rooms at Condé Nast and Net-a-Porter. They bled at the bar of the now- defunct Cafe Clover in New York’s West Village neighborhood while the scents of lavender waffles and quinoa pancakes collided in the air for one of the brand’s earliest recorded press events, in 2016. I didn’t get to go, but my boss at the time did. She returned to the office a few fluid ounces lighter, painted with a newfound glow. Not the glow that could, in theory, be delivered by the blood’s own healing proteins when applied topically to the skin—her blood cream would arrive a week later—but the incandescence of somebody recently exposed to an intense source of light. She had met Barbara, and she had fallen in love. The doctor’s charisma had seared her to the bone.” (more…)



The Burberry dilemma



Burberry AW23

Wow, London Fashion Week came back big time this season. Simone Rocha, S.S. Daley, JW Anderson and Moncler were the buzziest shows, but Burberry AW23* was the one with the highest expectations. Did it deliver? Hmmm, still not sure.

There were high hopes for a repeat of Daniel Lee’s work turning around Bottega Veneta. In particular, new CEO Jonathan Akeroyd is aiming to double Burberry’s leather business, so all eyes were on the bags. (more…)