Bottega Veneta ss10

Alexander Wang SS10

Catch this one!

RL ressesion style

Interesting approach to this collection; the vernacular of hard times Americana : very romantic.

The silhouettes are beautiful, the overkill of denim no so much.

Everyday Americana

3 price points of the same idea

FEAR LOADING & DIVERSION TACTICS

FEAR LOADING & DIVERSION TACTICS, originally uploaded by Maria Horn.

"if one were to watch Fox News or listen to Rush Limbaugh -- as millions do -- one would believe that the burden of the ordinary American taxpayer, and the unfair plight of America's rich, is that their money is being stolen by the poorest and most powerless sectors of the society. An organization whose constituencies are often-unregistered inner-city minorities, the homeless and the dispossesed is depicted as though it's Goldman Sachs, Blackwater, and Haillburton combined, as though Washington officials are in thrall to those living in poverty rather than those who fund their campaigns. It's not the nice men in the suits doing the stealing but the very people, often minorities or illegal immigrants, with no political or financial power who nonetheless somehow dominate the government and get everything for themselves. The poorer and weaker one is, the more one is demonized in right-wing mythology as all-powerful receipients of ill-gotten gains; conversely, the stronger and more powerful one is, the more one is depicted as an oppressed and put-upon victim (that same dynamic applies to foreign affairs as well).

It's such an obvious falsehood -- so counter-intuitive and irrational -- yet it resonates due to powerful cultural manipulations. Most of all, what's so pernicious about all of this is that the same interests who are stealing, pillaging and wallowing in corruption are scapegoating the poorest and most vulnerable in order to ensure that the victims of their behavior are furious with everyone except for them."

Fragment of a superb article on Salon.com
The article here

Proenza Schouler bright lights

Interesting palette and juxtaposition of textures by Proenza Schouler.

I have not been very impressed by the NYC 2010 SS collections. To much of the same themes: either a hyperfeminine pastely boxy frumpy old lady shape that seems to sell very well, or totally Alexander Wangesque Americana rock nostalgia sometimes taken in to trailer trash sublimation... I do prefer the later.

capital strength

SOURCE: SALON

"Women now control $12 trillion of the overall $18.4 trillion in global consumer spending," and as a predicted 200 million additional females enter the global workforce over the next few years, that number's just going to get bigger"

Who wins when women buy? Everybody

It’s no secret that women have buying power. We already purchase roughly 85 percent of the goods and services in the United States, from clothes to cars. But that’s just been the warm-up.

According to the new book “Women Want More: How to Capture Your Share of the World’s Largest, Fastest-Growing Market” females are on the brink of an even bigger global economic revolution. As we maintain our spending power while gaining representation in the workforce and narrowing the income gap, we are, according to co-author Michael J. Silverstein, “the greatest single force for economic recovery.”

The book, by the Boston Marketing Group’s Silverstein and Kate Sayre, is essentially a guidebook for marketers, but the research that went into it is fascinating to anybody who ever spends money. How powerful are the female purse strings? The authors say that “women now control $12 trillion of the overall $18.4 trillion in global consumer spending.” And as a predicted 200 million additional females enter the global workforce over the next few years, that number is just going to get bigger.

So while we may still have to fight for our right to wear pants and keep our jobs while lactating, it’s easy to do the math on this one. When women have financial clout, our status not just as consumers but human beings on the planet rises.

An August study from Goldman Sachs on “The Power of the Purse” notes that women are “notably more likely to buy goods and services that improve the family’s welfare" (splurging on stuff like "higher-quality and protein-intensive food," healthcare and education), and that having more women in the workforce creates “a virtuous circle” of long-term overall financial growth. It also “underscores the importance of girls’ education and health, and strengthens the case for women to play a meaningful role in local and national politics.” And as Rana Foroohar and Susan H. Greenberg point out in this week’s Newsweek, with economic power comes a whole host of perks for everybody, from improved worldwide literacy rates to lowered population growth. Who said money can’t buy happiness? It just depends on who’s spending.

Architecture in Jaipur, India

postapocalliptic Dunst

, originally uploaded by Maria Horn.

Shot for AnotherMagazine by Mario Sorrenti

The great Dries Van Noten

Colorful

Very unique collection of coloration photography, click on the images to go to the collection.

Shoes, to rule them all

, originally uploaded by Maria Horn.

If you are into dominating high profile heads of state or everyday Orks, here are some options brought to you by GIAN MARCO LORENZI -right from the infinite depths of darknesssss.

classic neon

Dance of the Neon Knight from Paul Rayment on Vimeo.

Mullet Man

"The legendary Metallica frontman talks to Tim Noakes about his life, from his dark childhood and 80s excesses, to his worst fashion crimes and ongoing musical competition with Lars and Kirk. Film edited by Michael Oswald."
Click in the image to go to the video

excuse

excuse, originally uploaded by Maria Horn.

words of wisdom make a fun typographic exercise

Nuns

nuns, originally uploaded by Maria Horn.

Interesting article about the state of affairs of Nuns in the USA. SOURCE

"Senior figures in the Vatican are concerned that as nuns respond to the changing needs of US society, some have become too liberal.

Recent guidance about the investigation - known as the "apostolic visitation" - reveals questions about whether nuns take part in daily mass, and "the soundness of doctrine held and taught" by them. "

"Traditionalists have long been concerned that some sisters might be flouting Church teaching on sensitive issues such as homosexuality and the ordination of women as priests."

"But many nuns believe the investigation is intended to rein them in, while others warn that a male hierarchy wants to regain control of them as women and as a free workforce.

There could be consequences for those who disappoint the Vatican. "

My thoughts: FUCK THE VATICAN!

Night and Day

Influence of Schopenhauer on Tristan und Isolde

Wagner's friend, Georg Herwegh, introduced him in late 1854 to the work of the philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer.[15] The composer was immediately struck by the philosophical ideas to be found in “Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung” (The World as Will and Representation), and the similarities between the two men's world-views became clear.[citation needed]

Man, according to Schopenhauer, is driven by continued, unachievable desires, and the gulf between our desires and the possibility of achieving them leads to misery while the world is a representation of an unknowable reality. Our representation of the world (which is false) is Phenomenon, while the unknowable reality is Noumenon: concepts originally posited by Kant. Schopenhauer’s influence on Tristan und Isolde is most evident in the second and third acts. The second act, in which the lovers meet, and the third act, during which Tristan longs for release from the passions that torment him, have often proved puzzling to opera-goers unfamiliar with Schopenhauer’s work. Wagner uses the metaphor of day and night in the second act to designate the realms inhabited by Tristan and Isolde.

The world of Day is one in which the lovers are bound by the dictates of King Marke’s court and in which the lovers must smother their mutual love and pretend as if they do not care for each other: it is a realm of falsehood and unreality.Under the dictates of the realm of Day, Tristan was forced to remove Isolde from Ireland and to marry her to his Uncle Marke -- actions against Tristan's secret desires. The realm of Night, in contrast, is the representation of intrinsic reality, in which the lovers can be together and their desires can be openly expressed and reach fulfilment: it is the realm of oneness, truth and reality and can only be achieved fully upon the deaths of the lovers. The realm of Night, therefore, becomes also the realm of death: the only world in which Tristan and Isolde can be as one forever, and it is this realm that Tristan speaks of at the end of Act Two (“Dem Land das Tristan meint, der Sonne Licht nicht scheint”).[17] In Act Three, Tristan rages against the daylight and frequently cries out for release from his desires (Sehnen). In this way, Wagner implicitly equates the realm of Day with Schopenhauer’s concept of Phenomenon and the realm of Night with Schopenhauer’s concept of Noumenon.[18] While none of this is explicitly stated in the libretto, Tristan’s comments on Day and Night in Acts 2 and 3 make it very clear that this was, in fact, Wagner’s intention.


The world-view of Schopenhauer dictates that the only way for man to achieve inner peace is to renounce his desires: a theme that Wagner explored fully in his last opera, Parsifal. In fact Wagner even considered having the character of Parsifal meet Tristan during his sufferings in Act 3, but later rejected the idea.[19]

Reactions to Tristan und Isolde

Although Tristan und Isolde is performed in major opera houses around the world presently, critical opinion of the opera was initially unfavourable. The 5 July 1865 edition of the Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung reported: "Not to mince words, it is the glorification of sensual pleasure, tricked out with every titillating device, it is unremitting materialism, according to which human beings have no higher destiny than, after living the life of turtle doves, ‘to vanish in sweet odours, like a breath'. In the service of this end, music has been enslaved to the word; the most ideal of the Muses has been made to grind the colours for indecent paintings... (Wagner) makes sensuality itself the true subject of his drama.... We think that the stage presentation of the poem Tristan und Isolde amounts to an act of indecency. Wagner does not show us the life of heroes of Nordic sagas which would edify and strengthen the spirit of his German audiences. What he does present is the ruination of the life of heroes through sensuality."


Click the image for a link to an audio file analyzing the sensual aspect of this Opera (real player recommended)

Gender bending Coco

This movie depicts the process of finding her inner voice. The early years of her creative talent.

The documentary below shows a very well established Coco, defending her creative choices and identity.




And now Legerfeld calls the shots, standing on the shoulders of original talent... I prefer the female genius, less mockery.

pathos and leather jackets

leisure cotton pants

AKA "SweatPants", coming to a store near you.

black beauty

, originally uploaded by Maria Horn.

Found this image that captures the glorious beauty of a horse

The Dead Weather

transition boots

I got this boots to wear when not wanting to wear heels...cute and affordable

lucas ossendrijver -the shelby

Scarlet in animated frames

Best Radio Station ever on You tube!

The Current from Minnesota public radio has a YouTube channel showcasing all the performances in their studios.
Their programs feature from the newest and hottest to the long lasting excellence in rock. The best NON COMMERCIAL
radio-station ever. Two samples here : French Group Phoenix and Pixies Frontman Black Francis.

Cigarras in summer

Sounds of an ever residing nature.

alva noto & satie re-edit

Buchanan-Smith

Danish Rose

The Savage Rose is a Danish psychedelic rock group, founded in 1967 by Thomas Koppel, Anders Koppel, Alex Riel, Jens Rugsted, Flemming Ostermann, and Annisette. Ilse Marie Koppel was also participating. Nils Tuxen replaced Flemming Ostermann from their second album. Since the mid 1970s, the group has been an acoustic trio consisting of Thomas Koppel, Annisette Hansen and John Ravn as a core. From the beginning of the 1990s, the group returned to electric instrumentation. Thomas Koppel died on February 25, 2006.

MTV new stuff

MTV International / Mister Furry from Universal Everything on Vimeo.

There is a whole new identity to MTV originated in Europe! Fresh out of the oven!

"MTV launches a spanky new look as of today – as its international brand refresh rolls out across the company's network of 64 channels, created by MTV's creative directors from around the world in collaboration with UK-based studio Universal Everything."Now the logo is sacred," says Roberto Bagatti, Vice President of Creative for MTV Networks International and Creative Director of MTV's World Design Studio in Milan, who oversaw the project. MTV Networks International now has a new flexible typographic navigation system for displaying onscreen information. The MTV logo remains in a fixed top left position onscreen at all times and acts as an anchor for the new system of information display - with the title of the current programme always appearing immediately to the right of the logo in a blue progress-bar so viewers can guage where they are in the current programme. To the right of this info is where viewers will occasionally see information in yellow text boxes: yellow denotes what's coming up next on the channel. And to the right of this, appears what's coming up later - always in a pink info box. The typeface used for this primary information is Pharma Bold Condensed by Swiss type foundry Optimo. As well as the main programme info, more playful messages will appear in the lower third of the screen - and for this text, there is a collection of secondary brand typefaces to choose from, depending on the mood of the message. The eight secondary typefaces were selected for their expressive or emotion-inducing nature - and to add an element of fun to the onscreen identity of the channel." Source

Of the French film industry and vats

Sontag on Photography

A must read on Photography.

From Wikipedia

"In 1977, Sontag wrote the essay On Photography, which gave media students and scholars an entirely different perspective of the camera in the modern world. The essay is an exploration of photographs as a collection of the world, mainly by travelers or tourists, and the way we therefore experience it. She outlines the concept of her theory of taking pictures as you travel:

The method especially appeals to people handicapped by a ruthless work ethic – Germans, Japanese and Americans. Using a camera appeases the anxiety which the work driven feel about not working when they are on vacation and supposed to be having fun. They have something to do that is like a friendly imitation of work: they can take pictures.

Sontag suggested photographic "evidence" be used as a presumption that "something exists, or did exist", regardless of distortion. For her, the art of photography is "as much an interpretation of the world as paintings and drawings are", for cameras are produced rapidly as a "mass art form" and are available to all of those with the means to attain them. Focusing also on the effect of the camera and photograph on the wedding and modern family life, Sontag reflects that these are a "rite of family life" in industrialized areas such as Europe and America.

A New Visual Code

In her Essay On Photography Sontag says that the evolution of modern technology has changed the viewer in three key ways. She calls this the emergence of a new visual code. Firstly, Sontag suggests that modern photography, with its convenience and ease, has created an overabundance of visual material. As photographing is now a practice of the masses, due to a drastic decrease in camera size and increase of ease in developing photographs, we are left in a position where “just about everything has been photographed”(Sontag, Susan, (1977), On Photography 3). We now have so many images available to us of: things, places, events and people from all over the world, and of not immediate relevance to our own existence, that our expectations of what we have the right to view, want to view or should view has been drastically affected. Arguably, gone are the days that we felt entitled of view only those things in our immediate presence or that affected our micro world; we now seem to feel entitled to gain access to any existing images. “In teaching us a new visual code, photographs alter and enlarge our notion of what is worth looking at and what we have the right to observe” (3). This is what Sontag calls a change in “viewing ethics” (3)."

Christopher Kane graphic fang

These Babbon T-Shirt series by Chistopher Kane are yummy and kind of devilish. The contrast of the big prints with the shape of the garments create amazing organic patterns that are colorful and totally unexpected.
It probably will get you stronger powers than the infamous 3 wolfs shirt.


Now, give 400 bucks to buy one!



Kane established his own-name label in 2006, with his sister, Tammy Kane, who studied at the Scottish College of Textile Design, running the financial side of the business and also assisting in his fabric creation and design process. ^[5]. His first independent show, presented on 20 September 2006, consisted of super-short bandage dresses in neon shades. Kane said of his collection that he " only used neon last year because it was [his] first collection and I wanted to go as bright as possible." ^[5] The collection was lauded by prominent international fashion critics ^[6][7]and credited by various sources as a major contributor to summer 2007's 'fluoro' trends. ^[8] In April 2006, Kane was awarded the Young Designer of the Year at the Scottish Fashion Awards. ^[9] Subsequently, the designer launced a capsule collection for British high-street clothing store Top Shop.^[10]

Bill Murray As Hunter S. Thompson

The film music was scored by Neil Young, who sings the opening theme, "Home on the Range" accompanied by a harmonica. Variations on "Home on the Range" are played by Young on electric guitar as "Ode to Wild Bill" and by an orchestra with arrangements by David Blumberg on "Buffalo Stomp". Music in the film included rock and R&B songs by Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan, The Temptations, the Four Tops and Creedence Clearwater Revival. Additionally, characters played by Bill Murray and Rene Auberjonois sing lyrics from "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds".

Where the Buffalo Roam is a 1980 comedy film based on a number of semi-biographical stories written by author Hunter S. Thompson. The film loosely depicts Thompson's rise to fame in the 1970s and his relationship with Chicano attorney and activist Oscar Zeta Acosta

On japanese Goth

I have never been a big fan of frills ribbons or lace, anything that defines femininity as arrested development. There is something about the literal mockery of the Gothic Lolita child like yet totally erotic elements that turns me off. BUT i do think taken in healthy proportions it can be a very interesting addition to fashion. I found some examples of these healthy measured appropriations that have been subtracted from a bigger landscape of Japanese inflections into a more western frame.
Photos by Young Kyu Yoo
Illustrations by Takato Yamamoto

Japanese Gothic Lolita

Gothic Lolita or “GothLoli” (ゴスロリ, gosurori) is a fashion particularly popular among Japanese teenagers and young women. It emphasizes Victorian-style girl’s clothing and often aims to imitate the look of Victorian porcelain dolls.

Variations of the Gothic Lolita look include “Classic Lolita” (more traditional clothing) and “Elegant Gothic Lolita” (EGL, which is heavily influenced by gothic fashion). The male analog to this fashion is “Elegant Gothic Aristocrat” (EGA) which shares EGL’s emphasis on the Victorian era, though not on children’s clothing. Gothic Lolita is also influenced by the imagery of more feminine Visual Kei (or “visual rock”) bands. Visual Kei is a Japanese form of pop music where the musical style may vary but defined by bands featuring performers in elaborate costumes.

following

SOURCE

Dandella (think dandelion) is a GPS-like tracking device. Though it behaves more like a sunflower always point towards the sun, this device lights up & bends towards its direction or other dandella that it's been synchronised with. Easy for finding your friend in a crowded mall, or for parents to keep track of their kids at the mall. The form is kept minimal and humble, likened to holding a flower in the hand. Dandella simplifies the complex interface of current GPS devices to a simple notion of ‘just follow where it points.

Designers Yong-kai Tan and Priscilla Lui from NUS Design Incubation Centre say they were simply trying to solve the problem of losing someone and having to find them.

Dandella provides an intuitive way to navigate, and find directions by ‘pointing’ to the right way.

This device works with GPS enabled mobile phones to track physical locations. Dandella bends and points toward the targeted location. It can be programmed to track each other, for parent and child to locate one another. Alternatively, it can also be use to find a location base on a particular set of GPS coordinates determined by the user

. By ‘going where it points’ users can instinctively find their way with Dandella.

Hot Damn!

Originally uploaded by Maria Horn.

i want these shoes!! SO Barbarella...Via OAK