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…)
Just after New Year I treated myself to a banana bread and coffee date at the new Violet Cakes cafe in the New Bond Street Alaïa store. Food and fashion have been forging an alliance for some time and I was reminded that Azzedine Alaïa was a natural instigator of this idea as far back as the 1980s.
Unlike other luxury fashion houses with their ultra brand-coded cakes and confectioneries (hello Louis Vuitton x Takashi Murakami cakes) this is a somewhat more wholesome approach. The food is consumed round an aluminium communal table nodding to the original spirit of Azzedine Alaïa himself, famous for inviting models, seamstresses, editors and even passing VIP clients to join the home-made feast at the studio table. (more…)
This photo of Roy Halston and Andre Leon Talley (above) appeared on my Pinterest and got me thinking about opera pumps.
WTF are opera pumps? Quite simply a Regency-era formal men’s slipper previously adorned with a buckle, now with a flat grosgrain bow (below). The opera pump is traditionally worn with black tie, accompanied by black sheer silk socks (and sock suspenders!). The classic variety popularised by the Edwardians is made from black patent leather, although since the 1950s highly polished calfskin has also been an option. How is an opera pump different to a ballet pump? To me, it has a slightly slimmer profile, a more solid heel, is cut higher on the vamp and finished with a grosgrain bow. (more…)
