Photography

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…)



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…)



Into this: Bottega Veneta banal luxury



Bottega Veneta SS23 ad campaign

The new Bottega Veneta SS23 campaign just landed and I love it.

There’s a soothing video by Massimiliano Bomba shot in a slow-mo Milan streetscape serving everyday city life in the most fabulously chic way. (It’s a little bit Lemaire and a little bit Thomas Maier!)

The stills are also beautiful – elegant yet casual, styled by Alastair McKimm with the leather ‘denim’ jeans and white ultra-luxe vests centre stage, accessorised with slouchy Andiamo totes*. The no-make-up-make-up and minimally styled hair give the campaign a timeless quality and I’m glad that they resisted the urge to include obvious props like a Starbucks coffee or phone. (Wait, do Italians even drink Starbs?) In this case, less it more. Superbo! (more…)



Single or stack?



Cartier Trinity bracelet by Chitose Abe Sacai

Cartier has been in the news a lot in the last 12 months. Mostly for its watches (this was the latest release and this guy seems to be its most high profile collector), but this month for a new jewellery drop (above).

The Cartier x Chitose Abé (of Sacai fame) collab is perfectly in sync for the two design leaders. The Cartier Trinity ring was initially created in 1924 by Louis Cartier and was a favourite of Jean Cocteau. Its three intertwining bands of yellow gold, rose gold and white gold have been deconstructed by Abé into new distorted shapes in a collection of two rings, a bracelet, a necklace and a hybrid earring-ring. (more…)