la fievre de la cabine

it's been one of those weekends where i find lots of inspiration whilst breathing in the air of nature.

case in point...my friend's cabin-of-a-house in stony brook, long island, is literally like experiencing a story-kind-of-fairytale of a lifestyle. a one-headlight drive on the dirt driveway alone makes you feel like you've been plopped into a story, or even movie.  if i was a camerawoman at that moment, that's exactly how i would document it.  you sort of get lost in the tunnel-vision of the headlight, so mesmerized that you forget that you're heading towards a destination. 

it's night. we arrive towards the "house," where a campfire's already been flickering away, and a circle of people are sitting, enjoying themselves with beer and food in hand. it's like, "really? this is happening?" small groups are chatting away and the fire is burning. smiles abound. i know this scene isn't anything novel, but compared to the loft-style/greenpoint/nyc/devil-wears-prada lifestyle that i carry on with, this is quite a change of scenery to say the least.  "hey i'm karen, i just arrived after a 3-hour ride on the train that was stopped due to police investigation. but it's finally good to be here. nice to meet ya."  i meet a music therapist and split a raspberry tart with my friend kim. then levy sets up his drums and i go into the "music room" for a mini-jam session with him and some of his ex-bandmates.  there wasn't an amp to the keyboard but was still fun anyway. someone said i was doing "epic" things with the keys....i credit that all to TPF. haha.

the thing is, this is everyday for my friend levy.  campfires, beaching at 3-am, tent-sleeping...cabin fever has become the normal standard.  and yet everyone who lives there is a post-doc candidate...the interior of the house strikes the fancy of the the marine biologist, chef, musician....full of energy, intelligence, partying....Life.

2 jam sessions later (replete with bagpipes), we roast marshmallows, then hit the beach. the Beach is like their backyard, a short one-minute stair-case walk from the house, though could've been a bit treacherous without a flashlight.  stretching along the horizon, the low-tide remains calm for the evening, and someone lights up fireworks. i do my usual "whoooaaaa"...people splash into the water, others sit on the beach, and i'm sitting on the ledge of the "crack house," a small square "room" graffitied up and filled with a single surfboard propped diagonally along the planked floor. it would've been a perfect photoshoot opportunity. the juxtaposition of high-end clothes and beauty against a shitty boarded up crack house. to each their own artistic beauty.  it was such a refreshing view, at 2am.  so graceful and calming to look out onto a few blinking lights on the water, shadows of heads and arms splashing, and the zing of fireworks.  endless horizon along the deepest midnite navy sky.

it's back to the cabin for mini weiner and kielbasa roasting...radiohead provided the backdrop, then turned to MJ. we set up tents in record time...caught a bit of sleep just as the rain started to tap dance on our makeshift roof.

and scene. 

...just got the chills listening to John Mayer's cover of Free Fallin'...from "Where The Light Is, LIve in Lost Angeles." 

we're talkin' about....

leave it to cathy horyn to offer fashion brain-food. here are excerpts from her interview with Louise Wilson, course director of the M.A. program at Central Saint Martins (the "Harvard" of Fashion):

My mantra now is the only thing these students have to offer is youth, and if they can’t offer that, then we’re all in trouble.

 

“It’s not about working hard. It’s about feeling sick and waiting for the idea and not knowing what to do but making sure you have the skills so that when you do get the idea, you can do it without relying on other people.”

 

There are immensely talented people around but I feel huge vortexes of them are sucked into this mediocre world where nobody criticizes and it’s all terribly politically correct.

 

That’s another thing I’ve noticed today—everything is farmed out. Someone else is going to cut it, and someone else is going to supply the fabrics. The hands-on gets more and more removed. If Lee McQueen or Christopher Kane had nothing, they could still make their garments. They have the skills.

from what i gather from Louise's thoughts, it's about returning to the root of what Fashion is all about...youth, dreamery, possibilities, focused through the grounded necessities of skills and craftsmanship. perhaps only then can true design surface.

just a thought.

 

love notes

i've been obsessed with this website.

ob. Sessed.

a crossroads of music video and documentary-esque film brilliantly set against backdrops of charming cities (paris, new york, seattle, etc.)...or elevators, or bedrooms, or whilst strolling on the street.  all it takes is the enthusiasm to make music.  a musician/band is featured through each of the "take away shows," and vincent moon and his film crew/film collaborators sit back and watch, capturing the music in action via the players.  the organic way in which this is all presented is part of the intense appeal...for example, bloc party will have just finished a show at a huge venue in paris (comparable to Madison square, the Bowery, etc.) and then perform outside a local pub where they've gone for after hours.  It's like you're right there with them, acoustically blissed out.

And this is no student film work. The artistry of the shot comes from not the head-on shot of the musician/band, perse, but of the wandering eye of the camera lens, ie a closeup of the mouth, panned to the strumming, the scenery, the locals or audience grooving to the beat...or even just a shot of the feet as the band is in transit to their scouted location.  the "wash" of the lens is similar to what you could achieve using an analog camera.  vintage-inspired, but not commercially so...a bit peppery and fuzzy but completely organic. the colors are nothing short of amazing.  but what's also entrancing is the way it's shot...purely free of commercial editing...and not trying to be emo or williamsburg-y...just pure viewing of the elements that make music what it really is - a release, an artistic expression, Love...

many thanks to my drummer, bobby, for sending this my way. i know i'm not the only one who's been touched and inspired by this, but one of the lucky to have been exposed.

hmmmm...

'But what do you need to know about that sort of thing to do it

 well? The naivety of diving in and not really knowing what's what can really bring something to the design.'

darren spaziani, accessories designer for proenza schouler

POP magazine, 20th anniversary edition...the last one. ever.

duet a la Bailey

if i could dress you up in my love...

Burberry Prorsum, as per Christopher Bailey.

Resort 2010.

all images courtesy of style.com

there is a castle on a cloud...

this was taken during Erica and Patrick's wedding over Memorial Day weekend...the backdrop was gorgeously set against a castle in Lambertville, PA.  It was definitely a fun time...and I'm wearing green, a color I rarely wear. It was one of those dresses that I pulled out because I'd never worn it before but had in my closet for over a year. And I had developed this dress back in my phillip lim days, so it has sentimental value. Alas I digress....

My friend (and wedding-photographer-o'-occasion) produced this shot, plopping me among a field of green. When I got this picture my first instinct was "where's waldo?"

I still don't love the color green (except when it comes in Patina or Peacock shades), but this picture makes it at least interesting!

it's that time again...

from what i've seen so far from the Resort 2010 shows, it's about lightness, soft but bright colors, (the neon of Spring 2009 is slowly fading out), and an effortless cool.

my faves: Burberry (of course), Thakoon...and some of Rag & Bone. Seems like Rag & Bone has gradually shifted from total-London-street-meets-Savile Row-tailoring to modern-biker-street-chic...sort of a dirtied-up-classy kind of look...even a bit alexander wang-esque...not sure what to make of it yet, but i do think the clothes in this collection look a lot more dishevely-cool and approachable than their former collections. i would wear these outfits on the street or to a show.

it's really interesting how composition and imagery of the lookbooks, from model poses to the photography style, makes a huge difference in creating and defining a fashion house's image. Free spirited and Young? Serious? Contemporary? Cool/Street? Girl-Next-Door? Luxurious? or just Je ne sais quoi? 

With Burberry, the signature look lies against the gradient charcoal grey, almost iconic of London weather, and the composed model stances with disheveled long hair. Skinny, of course, but still approachable. The pictures simply exude a sophisticated calm, not too grown up but mature enough to take on the world...a feeling of a serious poet perhaps.  And it's always inspiring to see the ways a trenchcoat style can evolve season after season. 

Collection wise, I love how Christopher Bailey uses a limited color spectrum (mostly taupes, chalk whites, greys and blacks, hints of distressed chartreuse) but still stays sophisticatedly exciting.  Because through this simplicity you can appreciate the ripple and folds of the laundered fabrics, the ease of the drape, the beauty of the pleats embedded in a trenchcoat, making it a trenchcoat-dress....even down to the monochrome socks and platform shoes...somehow it just, exudes....

I also share these sentiments when seeing Lanvin clothing up close....while at Bergdorf's (window shopping and market researching....clothes i could only dream of buying) I saw the Spring 2009 collection and touched the crazy gazaar and silk mousseline pieces that Alber manipulated into pleated clouds on the body. It. was. amazing. 

Thakoon is a mixed breed in my book.  Always on the fun spirited side, he's got great colorful prints and a quirky take on them (walking lips anyone?)...for this collection his lookbook and model stances contributed to his concept of "sun ray"....a striking shadow of the model against a white backdrop, and the model is always looking in the direction of the sun, wearing shades or closing her eyes, basking in pretty pretty clothes. It's right up my alley.

Rag & Bone...like the girl you see on a motorbike on her way to a rock show...I especially like the liquid black tunic dress, worn with indigo leggings and black ankle boots. It's very street, and I wouldn't have thought of Rag & Bone unless I was told.  And now that I look at it more closely, perhaps it's more about the styling that is delivering this message, whereas the clothes themselves remain true to Rag & Bone's identity...the cropped blazer, buttondown shirt, long snap-front vest...

 

Enjoy, as I did, with a delicious Americano and toasted wheat bagel w/cream cheese and tomato...this is on the list of my favorite things to do...perusing through the Shows, taking in the splendid fashion eye candy for the weekend.

all images courtesy of style.com