17 March, 2023

See this: A Hard Man is Good to Find!

A Hard Man Is Good To Find - The Photographers Gallery - Keith Vaughan Highgate Men's Pond Album 1933

Another new London exhibition worth your attention. A Hard Man is Good to Find! at The Photographers’ Gallery is a brilliant little history lesson of queer photography of the male physique, surveying the years when making or distributing imagery of male nudity was illegal in the UK.

Centred on key areas of London – Highgate, Chelsea, Brixton, Pimlico, Portobello, Euston, Soho – it explores some of the ways that photographers would go about scouting modelling subjects. For example, a concentration of fit young males around the army barracks of Pimlico would result in images of partially uniformed men, including some fabulous styling. (more…)

Disneyrollergirl 0 Comments Art, News, Photography exhibitions, Keith Vaughan, Montague Glover, photography, The Photographers' Gallery

16 March, 2023

The culture of fashion: AKILA x Keith Haring eyewear

AKILA x Keith Haring eyewear Paradise red

What’s the deal with all the Keith Haring collabs? The FT has the answer to all my questions here (pay wall), looking at the legacy of Keith Haring as an activist and accessible artist who coined the phrase “art is for everybody”. The company responsible for the never-ending list of collabs (Uniqlo, Primark, Junya Watanabe and Coach among them) is Artestar. The licensing agency also represents photographers, designers and creatives, and its success highlights the merchification of culture in the modern age.

But this latest Haring collab isn’t just a print slapped onto a tee. (more…)

Disneyrollergirl 0 Comments Art, Brands, Business of fashion, Design, News, Trends AKILA, art, Artestar, collabs, culture of fashion, design, eyewear, keith Haring, Kenny Scharf

14 March, 2023

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…)

Disneyrollergirl 0 Comments News, Photography Baldwin Lee, David Hill Gallery, exhibitions, photography

8 March, 2023

Dior AW23: steel skirts, haute gorpcore and garconne beauty

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…)