A Thoughtful Girl

Freja Beha Erichsen for Chanel

Fri, 08 Jul 2011 17:48:00 -0400

For some reason this reminds me of the scene in Breakfast at Tiffany’s where they steal the dog and cat masks <3

INTERVIEW: Zach Hyman

Wed, 06 Jul 2011 22:40:00 -0400

You first became known for your nude shots of models on the subway and at the Met. Can you tell me a bit about how those sessions worked in the moment?

It’s always very quick. Literally so quick there’s no way not to capture the moment. I find the models pretty randomly if they’re not friends of mine. I usually have a concept in mind and we just go do it. It’s as simple as getting my focus, frame and settings on my camera, and then shouting go… I’ve luckily never been personally arrested, but KC was arrested at the Met in 2009. You kind of learn where to pop off a shot and when to let it go.

Would you call yourself a fashion photographer?

I don’t know if I’d necessarily classify myself as a fashion photographer. If you put clothing on my models then yes I would be… I think the thing that interests me in general about fashion is the simplicity and ridiculousness of it all. It’s a lot of the time just a model and what they’re wearing… But I’m interested in cross-pollination. Mixing portraiture and more artistic styles to create more of a scene than a mannequin… There’s so much advertising these days, if you’re going to throw a giant billboard of your work into the mix, it might as well say something more than look at this dress… like… look at what this dress says about society.

You are twenty-four and your work has already been exhibited alongside that of icons like Robert Mapplethorpe, David LaChapelle, and Bert Sterns. What’s that like?

All I can say is that I’m humbled and grateful for the opportunity to have work in the same room as my idols. These guys and girls inspire me to the fullest and help me to keep my head up even in the most un-inspirational moments.

It’s Friday night, midnight, in New York. Where are you, who are you with, what music is playing and what are you drinking?

My backyard with a glass of Johnny Walker Black with my cat and my girlfriend.

Check out Zach Hyman’s work at his website, www.zhfoto.com, and keep up with what’s new on Facebook or Twitter!

[Photos courtesy of Zach Hyman.]

terrysdiary: Jared Leto… Okie Dokie.

Fri, 01 Jul 2011 15:16:29 -0400

terrysdiary:

Jared Leto… Okie Dokie.

Yves Saint Laurent... mmmm :)

Wed, 29 Jun 2011 15:04:09 -0400

Today I was inspired by these photos from Yves Saint Laurent, by Florence Muller and Farid Chenoun. I found it at Paul Smith Soho. If you haven’t visited yet, you should really check out the store’s fashion books section. It is a really nice distraction, and almost too easy to get lost in for awhile!!

Paul Smith is located at 142 Greene Street, between Houston and Prince.

STUX GALLERY: Ike Ude, "Sartorial Anarchy"

Wed, 22 Jun 2011 19:33:33 -0400

Stefan Stux Gallery is located at 530 West 25th Street, between 10th Ave. and 11th Ave.

PRETTY FACE: Julia Kravitz

Sun, 19 Jun 2011 22:57:19 -0400

What modeling agency are you with? RED Model Management

Where did you grow up? Throughout the Tampa Bay area, Florida.

Who is your personal style icon? Blake Lively.

What summer trend are you really into? Maxi dresses and anything with cool American flags on them, like tee shirts.

What are the top songs on your iPod right now? I love Seether and Country Song, and I’m really into Dubstep.

What is your most exciting professional experience so far? A shoe campaign with a UK company.

SUMMER STYLE: The High Line

Wed, 15 Jun 2011 19:19:00 -0400

PRETTY FACE: Jennifer Gjelaj

Wed, 08 Jun 2011 13:00:00 -0400

What ageny are you with? I am with RED Model Management.

Where did you grow up? I grew up/am still growing up, in a very small town also in New York.

How did you get into modeling? I was scouted leaving the city with a few friends. In Grand Central Station to be exact! I was surprised.

What is your favorite movie? I have to say that the movie Requiem for a Dream is one of my favorites! I think that Darren Aronofsky is just amazing. His movies are so bizarre, I love it!

Which designer(s) inspire you most? Alexander Wang is most definitely one of my favorite designers! He is just wonderful.

What do you like to wear off-the-job? It all depends on what mood I’m in. I do enjoy getting dressed up often, though!

“Marina the Magnificent” directed by Beau Grealy

Thu, 02 Jun 2011 12:07:08 -0400

“Marina the Magnificent” directed by Beau Grealy

PRETTY FACE: Nyasha Matonhodze

Tue, 24 May 2011 17:35:02 -0400

Where did you grow up? I was born in Zimbabwe, in a town within the capital named Chitungwiza. Although I was born there, a lot of my early memories are in England as I moved here at the age of 8, so I guess the answer to that is Chesham, Buckinghamshire.

What modeling agency are you with? My mother agency is Elite Model Management London, however I’m also with Elite Paris and Marilyn New York.

How did you get into modeling? At the age of 14 I dragged my mother and stepdad into the Elite office to see if I had what it takes to be a model. Immediately I was entered for the Elite Model Look competition held in London. I won and got a chance to go to China, and that’s how my career began.

What was your first runway experience like? Nervewracking and very exciting! I remember telling myself, “This is it!” The show was Louise Gray, the atmosphere was surprisingly just the way I’d imagined it: lights, camera, runway. My moment had finally arrived, and it seemed everyone in participation shared the same emotions. The best feeling came at the end of the show… You feel this great whelm of accomplishment! Very memorable.

Is there an article of clothing you have shown that you really fell in love with? It’s impossible for me to choose one, because I always love all of them.

It’s Sunday Brunch: where are you going, what are you eating and what are you wearing? Ahh that would be after church, so I guess we’d go to my aunt’s. She prepares an African delicacy named mangayi. It’s a mixture of different beans, sweetcorn and nuts. You are likely to find me in a long black dress with purple accessories.

EXTEMPORE: Clay Ezell and Vadis Turner

Sun, 08 May 2011 23:02:00 -0400

I’m happy to tell you that I am now doing a column for BOMB Magazine’s blog called Extempore. It’s kind of a dream assignment, because it requires me to meet and hang out with creative New Yorkers— artists, writers, filmmakers, etc.— and to write profiles of them.

Check out my first piece on artist Vadis Turner and Clay Ezell, a literary agent at ICM, based on a dinner party they held at their lovely home in Williamsburg :)

DAVID LEVINTHAL: Barbie!

Thu, 05 May 2011 23:41:00 -0400

We learned about David Levinthal in Art Law class this week. Thank you Professor Adler :)

[Photo Sources: i) www.augengallery.com, ii) www.artnet.com, iii) culturevore.blogspot.com, iv) www.panopticongallery.com]

PRETTY FACE: Chloe Norgaard

Tue, 03 May 2011 18:09:00 -0400

What agency are you with? Request Model Management

Where did you grow up? I was born in Long Beach, California, and grew up on beautiful Long Island! But I have been switching between the East Village and Brooklyn for a couple of years now.

What are your favorite Summer activities in the city? I enjoy going to concerts (especially if they are outside), DJing while my friends and new faces dance, sitting in cafes for hours, reading books and writing in my hammock, painting, and taking road trips (my main reason is to go to music festivals =]). And I try to travel outside of New York a bit every year. Last year I went to Tokyo (which is now my favorite city in the world) and Europe and this year to Sydney.

In another life, if you weren’t living in New York and modeling, what would you be doing? Music Festivals are my favorite thing ever so if I wasn’t modeling I would probably be traveling from festival to festival throughout the world while creating art and being in the company of interesting people. I would probably also travel to live with the Buddhist monks for a bit. I think that would be amazing.

If you could only wear one color for the rest of your life, what would it be? Wow,. One color. I really can’t answer that. Does rainbow count?

Where do you see yourself in five years? I see myself happy, loving life and very successful.

DAVID ZWIRNER: Stan Douglas "Midcentury Studio"

Mon, 25 Apr 2011 15:10:00 -0400

This is the woman.

This is the man.

PRETTY FACE: Iris Colburn

Fri, 22 Apr 2011 13:20:00 -0400

What agency are you with? RED Model Management

Where do you go to high school? I attend a private, all-girls school on the Upper East Side.

What is your favorite book? My favorite novel is The Great Gatsby. I enjoy Fitzgerald’s descriptive language and subtle imagery.

Since you go to a private school, do you wear a uniform? If so, how has that affected your personal style? I wear a dark green or green plaid skirt with a collared shirt. I don’t mind wearing it. It makes it easy to get ready in the morning. Other than giving me an appreciation for some nice collared shirts, my uniform has given me an appreciation for simple, “easy” fashion.

Is there an accessory or piece of clothing you can’t do without? Collared shirts! Also, I cherish my rings because they remind me of the people who gave them to me, and the places I got them from. The rings are simple, and they add style without being overbearing.

Who is your personal fashion icon? My father is my personal fashion icon. He mixes different pieces from all over in an effortless but appealing fashion. I admire his appreciation for quality; he does not look at the label or the store, but instead at the individual garment.

He shops on Madison Avenue, including at Barney’s, but he also prowls the neighborhood’s thrift stores and the semi-annual church rummage sales. He bargains at flea markets and brings back clothes from Latin America. And best of all, he wears his father’s old, tortoise-shell eye glasses.

My father is not pretentious; he knows what is too “young” for him. I admire his high standards, patience, sense of aesthetics and thriftiness.

CRAZY, SEXY WOOL (and the GANG!)

Wed, 20 Apr 2011 02:58:00 -0400

A 6th floor walk-up on Grand Street, with hardwood floors and lots of natural light, is the setting for Wool and the Gang’s Soho studio. Designers Jade and Aurelie work there each day of the year. Except for the days of December. In December the two girls, who have been friends since college, flee the cobbled streets of downtown to find design inspiration in the remote cordilleras of Peru.

First they fly south— but that is the easy part. The flight is followed by a drive that covers the winding distance between the city and the rural village high up in the mountains that is their destination.

“It’s like taking a bus-plane to get there,” said Jade. “The whole trip takes twenty-four hours.”

At last, they arrive at a house with a courtyard. They make their way to the back of the property and take their place among thirty women sitting in a circle, knitting. Each time they arrive, it is like they were never gone, and they are greeted warmly and casually. It is in this improbable setting where the girls set to work designing the following year’s ready-to-knit kits and ready-to-wear collections for Wool and the Gang.

This knitting circle in the mountains of Peru is special. The village is the heart of the knitting tradition, which is something dear to both Jade and Aurelie. Jade started knitting when her grandmother taught her at age 7. Both she and Aurelie focused on Knitting when they studied Textiles at St. Martin’s College in London. Then they followed their passion to Wool and the Gang.

They are thrilled with the opportunity they have each year to come to this village, where women have gotten together for countless generations to stitch.

“Knitting is their life,” said Aurelie about the women in the village, most of whom are farmers’ wives. ”They are very respected for being knitters.”

But the knitting circle is also special for another reason, which is that the women who host it are super, super nice.

“They are like moms to us,” said Jade. “They offer us food. They give us the hats on their heads so we won’t get sunburned.”

For anyone familiar with knitting, such hospitality is no surprise. The thing about knitting, unlike other forms of art, is that at its heart it is communal. Sitting in the circle, people can disconnect from their daily lives, relax and get inspired.

For Jade and Aurelie in Peru, that means disconnecting from the hectic pace of the City. For the other women in the circle, it means something different.

“Because there were no men there, this was their moment,” explained Jade. “Some of the women had hard lives. But there in the circle, we just laughed all day.”

Jade and Aurelie have a real appreciation for the community aspect of this tradition. For them, being expert knitters means being good hosts as much as it means mastering the stitch.

And that’s where Wool and the Gang’s knitting parties come in!

Twice a month, Jade and Aurelie throw open the doors of their Soho store after hours. They bring wine, cheese and plenty of yarn. They’re happy to help new knitters master a stitch and forget their cares!

Last week, I stopped by for my first party. I received a primer from Jade on beginners’ technique. And I met some super-cool girls, like Danielle, a musician from Venice, CA and Elsa, an architect from Paris.

Conversation at the table centered around Burning Man, the merits of Williamsburg, and the good, bad and weird things that happen on the New York subways…

And also how knitting has become a new art…

And how awesome widely stitched scarves can be for the beach…

And how designing the Jane Collar is like designing a building…

And how, woudn’t it be cool if the concept of Wool and the Gang was expanded to bring other heritage traditions to Soho?? (“I’d like to do this with Scottish cashmere….” suggested Jade.)

And how, if Jade and Aurelie set out to bring something completely amazing to Soho, they have suceeded :)

Feeling feisty. “My Moon, My Man” by Feist.

Sun, 17 Apr 2011 19:50:00 -0400

Feeling feisty.

“My Moon, My Man” by Feist.

PRETTY FACE: Mirielle Butigian

Fri, 15 Apr 2011 14:49:15 -0400

1. What modeling agency are you with? APM

2. What decade in fashion most inspires you and why? I wouldn’t be able to pinpoint a particular decade that inspires me most in the sphere of fashion. I’d say I’m more inspired by bits and pieces from all time periods as diverse as from the Victorian era to the ‘70’s.

3. What’s your favorite movie? This is also a hard question since there are so many great movies! I’d have to say one of my favorites is The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. It’s one of those rare movies that was transcribed from a book to film in a really wonderful way.

4. What is your favorite world city, or the place where you would like to travel to most? Paris! I am living there next year and will be going to college as well as modeling.

5. What’s your favorite nightlife spot in New York? New York is filled with so many great places that for me it’s not really about where I am. It’s just about who I’m with. So being anywhere in New York with my friends is a good time, even if it’s just at a friend’s shoebox apartment in the East Village.

6. What has been the most exciting work experience for you so far? I would say doing an editorial shoot for Elle Mexico that was shot at a beautiful, old mansion, which had a gorgeous lake and garden. The team was great and the location was so serene it was like living in a fairy tale land for the day.

Photo

Fri, 15 Apr 2011 14:38:55 -0400

MEN IN THE CITIES, By Robert Longo

Tue, 12 Apr 2011 23:25:05 -0400

I picked this up at Book Marc this weekend, and I love it so much :)