Backstage Paris Haute Couture January 2009

Zuhair Murad
Christian Lacroix

Zuhair Murad

Zuhair Murad

Christophe Josse

Zuhair Murad

Zuhair Murad

Model Zuhair Murad

This week in Paris I spent three days running from one Haute Couture show to the next. These are some images backstage.

gem hunter presents: crystal bliss

///gem hunter - crystal bliss

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findings from the AC research archive unearthed in preparation

for the upcoming vena cava fashion show on Valentine's Day. 

sounds of glowing souls, white winds, angels & demons at play.

///file under: interstellar elevator music, the crystallarium

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andreas vollenweider - caverna magica
amorphous androgynous - mountain goat
harold budd - flowered knife shadows
brian eno - an ending (ascent)
linda perhacs - chimacum rain
claire hamill - sleep
cocteau twins - donimo
laurie anderson - big science
phil collins - droned
andy summers & robert fripp - bewitched
david bowie - warsawa
tangerine dream - exit
ash ra tempel - ocean of tenderness
vangelis - alpha
deuter - crystal pearls crystal

Lauren Hutton FACE

"Our wrinkles are our metals of the passage of our life... I don't think I will ever cut my face, because once I cut it, then I never know where I've been. Lauren Hutton




I can not imagine any real woman that does not like- LOVE- Lauren Hutton. I received an email from Jenna- J.Crew's creative wonder yesterday with new J.Crew spring styles that featured Hutton. I shop at J.Crew- Doesn't everyone?

Go to the site and see the incredible pictures of Lauren Hutton.


the email from J. Crew


Lauren Hutton for J. Crew


Lauren Hutton is- I might point out- a Never Married Woman. Does anyone ask her Why? She is southern girl- born: Charleston South Carolina - that is, born in 1943. That makes her what? 65? I find that amazing!

Lauren Hutton and J.Crew: a perfect fit. Two American fashion forces that are true originals. The pictures are in black and white. When you look at the photographs think about the amazing sights those eyes have seen- now punctuated with the wisdom of age. Hutton is also proof that women of a certain age can pull off long hair. She would not be Lauren Hutton without the slightly wild mane of golden & now some gray tresses-no doubt. Take a look at the hands of a woman that has not sat on the sidelines getting manicures every week.

Recently, Cate Blanchett said her husband would divorce her if she turned her face, body over to plastic surgery. First thought- why would she? She is another Lauren Hutton type- an absolute original. On second thought- the pressures of her industry and Hutton's as well seem to dictate it. Just take a look at the faces of Madonna ad Demi Moore- I've had the younger generation swear the early pictures, movies of both are not in fact-Them. Their faces bear a resemblance to the public face we see today -but not an Original.

Take a look at MS. Hutton- Live and Learn.








Hutton by Avedon




FYI- In poking about to see what J.Crew is all about I found this great BLOG devoted to J.Crew- jcrewaholics

TRINA TURK by the Pool or at Table

Schumacher has teamed up with savvy CA. fashion designer, TRINA TURK , to create a new "Living- Life- Proof" textile collection.

pillows from Trina Turk's residential design collection~



Right from the SCHUMACHER site!- A detailed design statement from Schumacher:

Trina’s dramatic collection of indoor/outdoor prints, many of which were originally designed for her resort collections, are inspired by the poolside lifestyle of Los Angeles and Palm Springs, and also the variety of cultural influences and landscapes that are found in California. Bold geometric patterns are mixed with prints derived from natural motifs, and also designs discovered in Trina’s extensive collection of vintage apparel. The color palette of this collection is fashion-influenced; bright and breezy shades of turquoise, citron, watermelon and marine are combined with smart neutrals such as sand dune and charcoal, giving these outdoor suitable prints a thoroughly modern appeal.

trina turk~


I have selected two of Trina's fabrics for a spring outdoor courtyard- porch project that will include new furniture pieces from Gloster and an extensive array of inherited wrought iron pieces. I've also decided to use a graphic giraffe pattern from Groundworks. I would love to add some yellow paint to a piece or two of the wrought iron but I'm not firm on that yet.

I love the practicality of these new fabrics and have used them for years on furniture IN the house. A Scalamandre indoor/outdoor fabric went on a french chair for a Living Room and now resides in a bedroom in the client's new residence. A Kravet fabric that is and indoor/outdoor chenille covers a pair of sofas in a bright family-dining-kitchen space that looks out on a lovely pool and rustic landscape. The sofas take everything an active family with two large dogs throws at it.

Here are the fabrics- All from the Schumacher website:

Schumacher's Driftwood~ in citron, grays and charcoal



Schumacher- Trina Turk Trellis Print~ a citron graphic design interpretation


by Groundworks- Masai Mara~



interior design and fashion morphed by Trina Turk~


I think my client could actually get away with this- I'll have to mention it.

equinox - change of seasons

equinox - change of seasons

last night my friend casey were chatting online and trading youtube clips of smoothness and new ageness. following the rabbit-hole of video links, casey came across this jam. an incredible find. it's posted by someone running the 'ambient music collective' out of montreal canada. it sounds like a daft punk sample. literally it's some amazing digital lazer euro lite-funk complete with dope 808 tom thuds. I'm stunned. if you have any leads on this, please, come forward.

until further notice

the weekly riding high podcast is suspended until further notice, while I do things like have a life. please don't go kathy bates on me.  be on the look-out for special mixes in the interim, followed by a podcast relaunch in the near future. yay. 

sun ra - saga of resistance (theo parrish remix)

sun ra - saga of resistance (theo parrish remix)

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sun ra remix! by theo parrish! 

ra wants to make love in this club: nerds rejoice. 

seriously though, if only more dance music was this hip-shaking but gloriously eccentric at the same time. wonky, out of tune horn loops, frog-voiced guttural mutterisms. I like tracks that sound like the Tattoine bar scene in "Star Wars." 

so deep. unfortunately there's no one singing "space is the place!!! outttter spaaacce..." and no upside-down laser organ solos. don't let that dissuade you from riding the smoothed-out afro-groove submarine all the way to the deep-house ocean floor. 

PINK augury

PINK

There is nothing new under the SUN! True.

New Blog- New Topics. I hope so- but if I step on toes, Sorry, well here goes.
I for one believe that nothing is so "SO" that new perspectives and new insights can't be experienced.

It's just history repeating itself- An ongoing belief of mine and one I see everyday in work and world and one that will be a recurring theme in my blog.

Enjoy......



In the spirit of new ideas- I am going to attempt to POST PINK for February.

Think PINK!, I hate PINK!, PINK Stinks? , in the PINK... Pretty in PINK, Does any of this apply to you?

I hope to make you love pink by the end of February- or maybe just be glad the month is a short one!

Now don't expect NOTHING but PINK - but every time I post there will be something PINK.


Verushka photographed by Irving Penn.


So- let me know what you think about PINK?



my LITTLE AUGURY PHOTOGRAPH.

I selected the photograph to be representative of Little Augury, my blog , because... I Absolutely Love it.
It is one in my new- but growing- collection of photographs from the late 19th century ongoing.

This photograph is by a photographer known only as GIRAUDON'S ARTIST. I purchased two of these works from Paul Frecker in London. Alas, I wish I had purchased more. Here are the two I couldn't live without.


2 Peasants ~ A. Giraudon


close up ~ A. Giraudon


Lamb~ A. Giraudon


I checked back with Paul to get the details and here is what he wrote siting his source:

In the 1870’s, the Paris printer A. Giraudon advertised that he had commissioned a painter who wished to remain anonymous to produce a series of artist’s studies. The Millet-like photographs that subsequently appeared were probably that series, and it is more than likely that they were taken near Barbizon. The photography is marked by slight technical faults, which may indeed suggest a painter turned amateur photographer. There is a strong spirit of Barbizon and of the paysanne in these images and the occasional blurring of figures carrying their loads is evocative of Impressionism.

[Source: Ken Jacobson’s Etudes d’Après Nature, 1996.]

Who was the photographer for A. Giraudon? Here are links to galleries that have works of the same if you want to see the loveliest photographs that in my mind might surpass some of the paintings from the Barbizon School of landscape painters. Charles Isaacs of New York , Contemporary Works/Vintage Works Ltd. Chalfont Pa. The National Gallery's show entitled In the Forest of Fontainebleau: Paintings and Photographs from Corot to Manet last Spring featured a number of A. Giraudon's Artist works. Perhaps it is the quality of the photographs themselves and the reality they capture that set them above the realism the Barbizon School was trying to capture. This is why photography has become a TRUE art form and can capture many times what the brush cannot.

Millet of the Barbizon School, was reacting to the grand Academies and Salons of the period with its Romanticism-the flourishes, the monumental works of tragedy and the flesh. Here are some of his paintings and drawings.

Perhaps it was Millet or maybe another of the many noted artists of the Barbizon? Either way the artist-as photographer- achieved greatness with these photographs, albeit anonymous-but perhaps that is best.

Brian Jones Presents: Pipes of Pan at Jajouka

Brian Jones Presents - Pipes of Pan at Jajouka

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If AC were a seminar, which it is, we would devote an entire week just to this record. Actually if there was any justice in this world, which there isn't, this record would be either the alpha or the omega of AC blog posts. But just like the world, which more often than not is a confused jumble of events lacking in both inaugurations and consummations, this record appears instead in media res. 

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Brian Jones was invited by Brion Gysin in 1968 to go to Jajouka, a small village in Morocco. There he made tapes of the local musicians, who have a highly localized musical tradition, going back thousands of years. Then he went back to England and studio manipulized them, adding serious dub effects, accidentally inventing the remix (not Puff Daddy). History is like that, very chancy. Like Manuel Goettsching, who helped to accidentally invent techno by recording E2-E4 in a single afternoon. 

Pipes of Pan is an extremely psychedelized field recording of deep moroccan bug-outs, and a mind-blower regardless of your musical attunement and/or general blown-mind skill level. 

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Tales of Grift: Music Hunted, Never Found #2

When I studied in Prague my friend Mike and I were obsessed with this record, in the way that young minds can ascribe certain things with talismanic intensity, and hold them close like blessed weapons in foreign lands.  At some point it became clear to us that with our fairly light course-loads we could fly to Morocco and spend a week there, with little academic consequence. Why my parents ever consented to this is still a mystery to me. Knowing the various fine messes and fool-headed quests that I myself have gotten into in my so-far short stay on this earth, I am going to lock up my children in a closet until they are eighteen. 

Mike and I flew to Morocco because we wanted to go to Jajouka. We never found anyone who recognized the name, which we were probably not pronouncing right. But like most griftorial adventures, it was the experiences along the way, while searching for the eternal Mecca of free noise-nerds, which remain eternal stars of my own soul's innermost constellation. Morocco is sensually overwhelming, a dreamworld in the desert, enveloped in hallucinations and secret symbols. Brion Gysin's "The Process" is the best book on the matter. 

We road a midnight bus from Casablanca to Marrakesh. In the back of the bus we gave two upper-snorting bootleg-hat wearing grifters a tape to play on their boombox, everyone head-nodding to "Shimmy Shimmy Yaw" in the desert darkness. We drank the freshest orange juice in the world. We brought tape recorders and recorded numerous street bands. At night the food stalls in Marrakesh would set up and we would sit and devour kebab, while steam from the grill rose in the hot air across a field of hanging lanterns. We explored Fez's labyrinthine medina. We rented bikes and rode them aimlessly. We both got the shits after the first and only time we ever ate in the French Quarter instead of the medina, although in hindsight it could have been because of the room-temperature yogurt we had earlier on the train. We took a taxi from the Meknes train station to Volubilis, a site of Roman ruins, the Westernmost tip of the Roman Empire, columns still standing in the African hills. Scorcese filmed "The Last Temptation of Christ" there, and George C. Scott walked on the stones as Patton, dreaming aloud of his past lives. We met Aziz, a young goatherd, while traversing a small hill behind the Fez medina, near a crashed car. We recorded all three of us throwing rocks at the car, then Aziz got inside and found some shoe polish and a bit of newspaper, and painted his goat-bone cane brown. Then we drum-circled on some car parts, Aziz having to tone things down for his two whitey bandmates. We gave him some stickers with fish on them. We stayed up all night in Rabat while waiting for the train back to Casablanca, drinking tea with a highly articulate, professorial grifter in a djellaba, who pontificated and seemed to have no place to go. Everywhere we asked for Jajouka. 

Dogs, designers' dogs, rooms fit for dogs, and finally...going to the dogs..

In starting to write this blog- I had many things on my mind. Well- I started thinking about writing it in the summer- so I had other things on my mind- BUT now as that a new year has begun- I have more prescient things on my mind. As mentioned in other posts- the loss of my friend and my dog- both and all of us three interconnected by a house and love. Love presents itself in many forms and from there-takes many roads.

I hope Moses and Peele are loafing in green pastures together- and raising a little hell too! For me, I have another chapter to write and a new dog -Zetta-to help me find it.

I received the most wonderful gift from a fellow blogger Patricia-go there now and see it for yourselves. What a warm welcome from pve.


Portrait of a Dog.


Moses by Patricia van Essche of pve designs and her blog of the same name.



Moses in the Sitting Room I decorated with him in mind.



The "once" room for Moses designed in 1998 , as he observes from just in range of the camera. See his beautiful velveteen ears in the foreground.


I've waxed about Edith Wharton in several posts- well, here she is again. A great dog lover, pictured with one of the many dogs in her life.



Young Edith Jones with friends-



Edith Wharton's library at the Mount full of her books and doubtless, her "little old dog, a heartbeat at my feet."




The incomparable Elsie de Wolfe with the dogs in her life- Her breed, the Pekingese.





A room in Elsie's Villa Trianon at Versailles. I can SO see- Elsie's dogs here in the Long Gallery. The warm honeyed camels were an inspiration in my little sitting room designed for Moses.




I love this room by Elsie de Wolfe- designed for her once lady friend Elisabeth Marbury. It is modern, comfortable and full of books, just as all rooms should be- along with dogs!





The late Pauline de Rothschild-with her dog Gogo. My personal style icon (how could anyone resist or dispute?), photographed by Horst. The balustrades in this picture at Mouton are trompe l 'oeil red ochre and gray marble.



Pauline de Rothschild and the Baron in the Living Room at Chateau de Mouton-again the mellow camel- a design favorite of my own.





Stylish and creative, Carolyne Roehm, Bill Blass referred to her as the "ultimate tastemaker." Her breed of choice- West Highland Terriers- pictured here- Her country dogs come to the city, Lucky and Lady.


(photographs are by Miki Duisforhof)


One of Roehm's wonderful rooms with both masculine and feminine strengths~




I don't know why?, but I feel I know Bunny Williams. Maybe it is because of her own intense love for dogs and her perfectly designed interiors- custom built for style, comfort and intimacy-and just for her client eyes only. It doesn't matter that the entire design world wants to watch.

Bunny Williams with her dogs- a true breed of their own-Charlie and Lucy.

(photograph by Pieter Estersohn)

Bunny's room- all dogs love this color palette- Again mellow, mellow.


Bunny Williams office- no doubt her dogs are frequently here too and if I'm not mistaken her friends and their dogs too, as the photograph of Kitty Hawks reveals. Actually these two designers and friends created a dog show for dogs of mixed breeds in New York that focused on the importance of adopting dogs from shelters and just all round good care for the dogs we love.



Her rooms are discreet and serene, Kitty Hawks another dog lover/ designer with one of her dogs.



A Kitty Hawks interior~



Ruthie Sommers and her dog- much sought after by Domino readers (the much sought after dog is the designer's own- not available at any price.)


(photograph by Melanie Acevedo)

A room from Ruthie Somer's portfolio