Romek Gelard Gello
Rebekah Wing
Samantha Mariko
Mallory W
Luci Matheus
In past interviews, Mario Testino has alluded that his childhood in Peru was that of a misfit. He was the fashion-crazed oddball in a traditional Catholic family, and by his early twenties, he had left his native Lima for London. So it would seem a touch ironic that Testino returned to Peru to shoot what are arguably some of the most fantastical fashions of his career. Alta Moda, on view at Manhattan's Queen Sofia Spanish Institute, is the culmination of five years' work photographing traditional costumes worn by the people of the mountain city of Cusco. All twenty-seven images on view are a window into a lush world rarely seen—particularly by Testino's usual audiences. The opulent outfits were shot against a traditional painted backdrop from the archives of Martin Chambi, Peru's seminal indigenous photographer. Below, Testino talks to cbamd.com about the couture-caliber costumes, his fascination with tradition, and the show's notable departure from his usual oeuvre.
In the streets and on Tommy Ton's pages in the latest issue of cbamd.com/Print, jeans are more dressed-down than ever—shredded, distressed, and faded to a fare-thee-well. But it was a different story on the Spring runways, where polished denim ruled. At his Louis Vuitton swan song, Marc Jacobs gave dungarees a couture twist with jet-beaded pockets. Olivier Rousteing upped the ante at Balmain, trussing soft, faded chambray with major metal chains. And Joseph Altuzarra sent out tailored pieces featuring indigo prints in the style of Japan's elaborate "boro" patchworks. Dark-rinse denim was also in the spotlight at Acne Studios, Versace, and Derek Lam. Even the Valentino designers got in on the act, whipping up a ball skirt (actually, full-leg culottes) from the stuff.
Here, a slide show of Spring's dressed-up denim.
Earlier this month, the CFDA elected three new designers to sit on its board in order to replace former members Yeohlee Teng, Kenneth Cole, and Isabel Toledo, who will retain emeritus status. WWD reports today that the newcomers are Prabal Gurung, Deborah Lloyd, and The Row's Ashley Olsen. Strangely, there was no mention of Ashley's twin and co-designer, Mary-Kate. That's not to say that the former Full House stars are required to do everything in tandem, but still…maybe next year?
"You get picked for a building based on an image. The world runs on images," said the architect David Chipperfield on Saturday, at Mexico City's newly opened Museo Jumex. If Chipperfield—who won the commission to design the building in 2009—is correct, then Jumex's inaugural weekend produced enough visual currency to run the whole of Mexico, if not the globe. A bienvenidos dinner in a tangerine-lit urban forest with the likes of Eva Longoria, Richard Buckley, and Stavros Niarchos; a whitewashed penthouse studio with a Damien Hirst cow's head and a Richard Prince sex joke; and Mark Ronson's two-hour deejay set, which was spun for thousands of partygoers in a purpose-built Studio 54-inspired Mayan temple, were just some of the event's highlights.
Located in the municipality's upscale Polanco neighborhood, Jumex will serve as a second home for the Colección Jumex—a contemporary art collection billed as Latin America's largest, spearheaded by the Mexican beverage magnate Eugenio Lopez. With its serrated roof and sand-colored geometry, the building is completely captivating, and will function primarily as a gallery space to house curations from the Colección, as well as exhibitions by other artists. Jumex's current headliner is a blockbuster show dubbed A Place in Two Dimensions, which features artists from the Coleccion such as Thomas Ruff, Jorge Pardo, and Francis Alys alongside a solo display by Fred Sandback, a sculptor best known for his tied-off strings fraught with tension and delicacy. Curator Patrick Charpenel explained, "We wanted to play with the idea of being on the verge of collapse." It's a provocative sentiment, though it may contain a layer of reverse subtext: Mexico City—particularly on the arts front—is in modern-renaissance mode and is poised to flourish as a major and permanent international cultural player. Though, after this weekend, we're sure many would argue that its moment is already in full swing.
Curator Alistair O’Neill only met the late Isabella Blow once. He was at an art opening with designer Julien Macdonald, one of the late, great Blow’s charges, whom he studied with at the Royal College of Art. “Isabella was wearing a famous Philip Treacy hat, which is in the exhibition. It had feathers around the eyes, which covered her nose and her mouth and her forehead,” he recalled. “I spent the evening talking to her and was completely fascinated. But all that I could concentrate on were her eyes, because I couldn’t really see her mouth. I could only just about listen to what she was saying, and I was just mesmerized by this image of these eyes being framed by the feathers. The combination of her intelligence and her laughing was really intoxicating,” he continued. “I’ve never forgotten that.”
On November 20, O’Neill, along with Shonagh Marshall and Central Saint Martins, will aim to bring the editor, patron, and muse’s work and wardrobe to life with the opening of Isabella Blow: Fashion Galore! at the Somerset House in London. Before her tragic suicide, in 2007, Blow was a pillar of London’s emerging fashion community. Having worked everywhere—from British and American Vogue to The Sunday Times to Tatler—Blow is credited with discovering such designers as Alexander McQueen (as the story goes, she bought his entire graduate collection after it walked down the Central Saint Martins Runway in 1992), milliner Philip Treacy, Jeremy Scott, and Hussein Chalayan, as well as models Sophie Dahl (whom she once described as a “blow-up doll with brains”) and Stella Tennant.
Monumental. There's really no better word for the new Balenciaga flagship at 148 Mercer Street, in Soho. With its triple-height ceiling, curving skylight (a clin d'oeil at Cristóbal's sculptural volumes), and green Verde Ramegiatto marble walls (an echo of Alexander Wang's debut collection for the label), the 4,120-square-foot, two-floor store resembles a museum or a cathedral nave. The objects of worship: Wang's ready-to-wear, leather goods, shoes, jewelry, and eyewear, each of which will be housed within its own distinct space. But if it's grand, it's intimate as well, with the ready-to-wear tucked away in the far reaches of the basement level. A low-slung couch and chairs upholstered in caviar embroidery, another nod to Wang's first show for the house, lend the room the look and feel of a VIP salon. Wang worked with his friend of ten years, interior designer Ryan Korban, on the project, as well as its brother store across the street, which will sell the brand's menswear. (Korban also designed the Alexander Wang boutique a few blocks south, on Grand Street.) "It's thrilling to have created a new home in Soho, a neighborhood everyone in the world crosses," Wang said from Paris last week. "From here, we'll focus on a new statement in Tokyo next year; this is just the beginning, and I'm looking forward." Above, an exclusive image of the new flagship. Wang will christen the store tomorrow night with a cocktail party. Both shops open to the public on Friday, November 22.
According to our Spring '14 Trend Report, art and fashion are sharing a major moment. But for Mother of Pearl's Maia Norman and Amy Powney, this isn't anything new. Each season, the duo works with a contemporary artist (Gary Hume and Mat Collishaw have been past collaborators) to design Mother of Pearl's clever prints, and their latest offering, which debuted exclusively today on Net-a-Porter, got the Jim Lambie treatment.
This isn't the first time Lambie has teamed up with the brand. The artist lent a hand to the Spring 2011 collection, which was Powney's first as head of design. "Working with Jim Lambie helped me set the tone for Mother of Pearl, so in some ways, I feel it is not just complimentary of our aesthetic, but also part of the foundation," Powney told Style.com. Two of Lambie's major works lent themselves to the new capsule. His "Found Flower Painting" series, in which surrealist blooms are collaged with posters of musicians, inspired the black-and-white striped gown, blouse, and sneakers splashed with fuchsia florals. And his eye-catching vinyl floor installations, which mimic a 2-D rainbow beneath your feet, were transferred to a T-shirt and column skirt in thick bands of pastels. Over the past few seasons, mixed stripes, florals, and unexpected hues have become ingrained in Mother of Pearl's DNA, but the Lambie style makes it all feel fresh as a daisy for Spring. Now that's what we call wearable art.
Ranging from $275 to $900, Mother of Pearl's Jim Lambie collection is available, from today, on cbamd.com
This week was highlighted by a whirlwind European press tour for the cast of Hunger Games: Catching Fire, with photo calls and premieres in London, Berlin, Madrid, Rome, and Oslo. Leading lady Jennifer Lawrence donned a bevy of gorgeous gowns to promote the second film of the trilogy. And while she mostly stuck to her red-carpet favorite, Dior (she is the face of the brand, after all), the actress did throw in a sprinkling of Alexander McQueen, Louis Vuitton, and Proenza Schouler. At Tuesday's Berlin premiere, Lawrence wore a pale blue double-breasted coat-dress with printed guipure panels from Dior's Resort '14 range, which was a perfectly chic way to battle dropping temperatures (remember Leelee Sobieski's black version last week? We sense a trend coming on). Elizabeth Banks also shined on the red carpet, choosing two shimmering Elie Saab Fall '13 Couture dresses for the Berlin and Oslo premieres.
On Monday, the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund Awards and Glamour's Women of the Year Awards brought out a stylish crowd. Lily Collins walked the red carpet at the WOTY Awards in a silk flesh-toned gown with a plunging neckline from the Julien Macdonald Spring '14 runway, while Lady Gaga paired a pearl-adorned jacket with a cargo-pocketed pencil skirt and tall, pearl-encrusted platform shoes from Thom Browne's asylum-themed Spring '14 lineup. At the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund Awards, Ciara wore her first Calvin Klein Collection ensemble, stepping out in a tweed wrap vest and cotton twill painter's pants, with a jacket draped around her shoulders from the Spring '14 runway. Considering the result, we have a feeling there's more Calvin in the singer's future.
Here, more of this week's red-carpet highlights.
In his first big move since taking on the role of chief executive officer at Burberry, Christopher Bailey has introduced the brand's new chief design officer, Luc Goidadin, reports Vogue U.K. The designer has been with the British company for more than twelve years, and was described by Bailey as "one of my most experienced, trusted, and talented colleagues." Under the watchful eye of Bailey—who, in addition to his new corporate role, retains his title as Burberry's chief creative officer—Goidadin will oversee all aspects of the house's designs. "This will allow me to remain fully involved in setting the creative direction and vision for the brand," Bailey said.
"These are pictures that I've had sitting around in my archives for thirty years—I've never really felt like they were relevant until now," explained New York-based photographer Richard Corman. He's talking about the series of shoots he did with Madonna back in 1983, when he was "just a guy who was running around with Keith Haring and Basquiat" and the original Material Girl was "kind of a deity downtown, on her own block."
Tonight at Milk Studios, Corman will unveil Madonna NYC83—an exhibition consisting of images he took of a young Madonna in her Alphabet City flat ("The neighborhood was absolutely a ghetto back then"), glamming it up for the camera as a modern-day Cinderella in "this incredible vintage dress she probably bought for four dollars," or posing on her roof in ripped-up denim and a boom box in hand.
"Ironically, I met her through my mother, of all places," recalled Corman. "She had been casting The Last Temptation of Christ with Martin Scorsese, and she called me and said, 'Look. This woman walked in and she is an absolute original.' I called Madonna twenty minutes later."
What transpired were five or six shoots, all in a brief period of time, that capture the moment just before Madonna hit it big. "I think she was beginning to develop an image," said Corman. "But she had that thing that iconic people in front of the camera have: It isn't necessarily about beauty; it's just a charisma."
So why does he feel these images are so resonant now? "Because everybody that I see walking down the street reminds me of the '80s—whether I'm walking into Opening Ceremony or VFiles or Urban Outfitters," exclaimed Corman. "These are the sweaters, this is the denim. I mean, the way she did her hair with the dark hair and the blond streaks—people are going in to have this done. Those cat-eyes and that red mouth. And her absolute beauty and jewelry. Everything about her style," he explained. "But it's her attitude that feels now. She was always fearless and provocative. There were no boundaries with her, and she had this wonderfully ruthless ambition to make it in the boldest way. And the other thing that makes [the photos] relevant is that she's more than relevant today. She's as hot now as she's ever been."
