Favourite artist looks? I’ve had a few. Georgia O’Keeffe’s New Mexico minimalism; Warhol’s beatnik Bretons; Lucian Freud’s sweaters and Huntsman suits; not to mention Basquiat’s baggy 80s overcoats.
The New York Times has a great story about the rise of the artist as avatar. Namely, the merch-ification of artists, selling elements of their personal style – an Edward Hopper hat anyone? – alongside postcards in the gallery gift shop. (more…)
This week as I marinate in the damp, wind-battered streets of NW10, I’ve been reading all about the French mountain resort of Megève. In particular, the ‘chaletwear’ store AAllard that specialises in après-ski wear and whose founder Armand Allard actually invented the ‘fuseau’, aka the tapered, tailored stirrup pant that begat the stretchy ski pant as an early garment to tuck into ski boots. (When local ski champ Émile Allais wore them for his triple medal win in the 1937 world skiing championships, a trend was born.) (more…)
“You can only be lucky enough to have one style, a style of your own that becomes a caricature of you, your own ‘sound. I’m probably synonymous [with] punk rock and indieness in fashion, beside being known for my androgynous models. I have been precisely this in fashion for more than 20 years. This is the caricature I gladly own.”
Hedi Slimane
Proof that if you just stand still and do your thing, fashion eventually catches up with you, Hedi Slimane is once again haute stuff. With revenue doubled since his arrival, Slimane’s recent LA Celine AW23 show (part fashion show, part ‘indie sleaze’ rock concert) unapologetically brought his own greatest hits front and centre. (more…)
Everyone’s talking about Joan Didion’s stuff.
The late writer’s personal effects are going up for auction at Stair Galleries this month and as is usual these days, there’s a forensic unpicking of the icon’s possessions as an insight into her mind and creative genius.
As a writer she was lauded for her minimalist prose and sharp cultural observations. As a woman she was admired for her self-assured independence and also a cool aloofness. That enigmatic quality no doubt adds to the interest in her possessions; a promised glimpse of ‘the real Joan Didion’. As Rachel Tashjian observes in Harper’s Bazaar, these vignettes present the “warmest portraits ever painted of her”. (more…)
