will davidson and frances bean cobain

some new obsessions in black and white
first
will davidson's august spread in "RUSSH" magazine. one of my favorite photographers, this is an amazing shoot. a perfect example of the marriage of art and fashion, of complex and beautiful images that create a narrative and illuminate not only the clothing/costuming choices but the emotion of the model.









and then
france bean cobain's ink drawings made under the pseudonym "fiddle tim." i met frances once, briefly and randomly, and let me tell you, that girl is so wise beyond her years and incredibly well voiced and cool to boot. looking at her work, it proves not only her talent but maturity. you can tell that she will make some incredible work within her life time. i just love how dark and sardonic her work is.
some of my favorites




enjoy some of my new visual obsessions
ta ta,
c

martin schoeller "female bodybuilders"

martin schoeller's show opened about a million and a half hours ago, to be incredibly exact. or rather...three weeks ago.
we opened on a wednesday, which is unusual, but it was the weekend of july 4th.

it was one of the biggest openings i've witnessed as an intern.
the show featured two parts. in the main part of the gallery was the "female bodybuilders" segment.
in the back featured schoeller's close ups of well known people including sarah palin, paris hilton and marc jacobs.


(L- my friend emma)

what i find so incredibly strong about schoeller's work is the use of 4x5 or 8x10 format coupled with the intense close ups of his subjects. the lighting, the bare background and the crop featuring just the face or the shoulders and face are so intimate, i find myself lost in the subjects- looking for personalities, emotions, and i find myself projecting upon them. his subjects even, neutral stares force us, the audience, to draw our conclusions about the subjects. schoeller offers little opinions and that is the beauty of his work. his neither judging nor placing his subjects upon a pedestal and with confrontational subject matter (sarah palin, barack obama portraits and the female bodybuilders) this is the strength of the work. the size of the prints distorts but also projects, it reminds me of cinema, when is the time one usually sees faces that large.
there is something so incredibly off putting about the female bodybuilders, perhaps knowing what extremes they put their bodies through but also seeing the evidence about it (the body augmentation via breast implants, the perhaps steroid use and the size of their muscles, the makeup, the very dark spray tans, the rhinestone encrusted bikinis) and the titles are just the women's names, i find myself wondering about them, who they are, how they ended up here, and what lead to them competing in bodybuilding competitions.
even three weeks later, i still am thinking about the show.
i love schoeller's comerical work in addition to his fine art work. he just manages to pique my interest, even in the most famous of subjects with how he photographs his subjects.
the not smile, sometimes the unmade face, the large prints to where you can see every pore- it humanizes his celebrity sitters while also projecting them the way the media does, which is larger than life, larger than reality.
you know it's great work when i find PARIS HILTON's face incredibly captivating and intriguing.



me making the world's dumbest face but in all honesty, i was laughing really hard at the photographer.
ebay marni shirt, marni skirt, prada shoes, pearls (a deb gift from my mom's friend).

if you are interested in seeing more of his work, check out Hasted Hunt Kraeulter or Martin Schoeller
be well,
c

moleskin and road trips to texas

a couple days ago...i went out and lost my moleskin. hours later it rained. the next morning, a lovely samaritan called me to say my moleskin had been found, albeit it was now incredibly soggy. i pulled the papers out of the book, as delicately as i could. i pasted them on a wall to drive and took photos.



it also rained today

(skirt j crew, shirt urban outfitters)
also, today i drove from new orleans to houston (6 hours ish) and took some photos. i love road trips. and black and white photography (though this is digital).




one of my best friends megan, the trusty driver.

love,
c

theory runway show at the saks in new orleans

last night i attended a theory runway show at the saks in new orleans.
two girls interning for theory/saks in new orleans planned and executed the idea and the entire show.
two things that are important to point out about this:
a lot of saks and department stores in the south sometimes, i feel, get shafted when it comes to events compared to semi larger stores such as ones in LA, NYC and even Dallas. However, shows like the theory one generates a ton of money, buzz and prestige for the company. last night's show as covered by the society pages in the times picayune (i ran into the social writer there).
in addition to that, and this is something that i have known for ages, southern women (like most women) care a lot about their appearance and clothing and are willing to spend money on it, they just have a particular style.
last night's theory runway show was held primarily for the saks's best clientele, so it was a private event complete with champagne, raffles for gifts, gelato and of course, shopping. and people did shop and spend money, a fair amount of money on theory.

holding fashion shows like these are such a smart, smart, smart idea-its a way to showcase a particular brand and illustrate how diverse pieces can be, it's essentially a walking editorial, it creates feelings of exclusivity (b/c its a closed event) but it also shows that the company prides and cares for its customers, and it's also fun, too. but aside from that, events like these will usually be covered by any news outlet, be it blogs, the newspaper, small fashion peridoicals that most big cities have, or weekly locally run papers, all of which is equivalent to free ad space. saks will be mentioned, as will theory, thus alerting potential consumers and customers to the fact that saks now has a new shipment of clothing, particularly theory.



so now about that night.
was it fun? oh heck yes it was! how was theory? well....no olivier theyskens collab in sight (that may be...a ways down the road?) but plenty of cute basics.
did i buy anything? well i tried...but this one shirt wasn't in my size. oh, pooh.
i enjoyed the fashion show b/c it was styled really really well. theory isn't really a brand i gravitate towards- it's a brand all about basics for the trendy and classical styled girl that has to wear a suit to work. none of which applies to me. but the outfits were really well done, i have to say. everything looked classic but with an edgy twist, which can be difficult with very basic pieces.

also...the champagne was delicious.

what i wore:

mayle dress, prada shoes, marc jacobs bag
i was kind of going for a lady who lunches but in another life was probably a roadie (not a groupie) for asiouxsie sioux and the banshees. and i think i did a pretty good job of articulating that with my clothes. and the shoes were cute, too :)

ta ta for now,
c

courtney love's fashion tumblr

so courtney love has a blog-STOP THE PRESSES BC SOMEBODY HAS FULFILLED MY DREAMS


well actually, its a tumblr about her with three authors (all affiliated with c-love) and she sends them photos of what she wore today/that day.

how obsessed with it am i?
oh, incredibly.
i check it at least four times a day.

just as often as i browse through my favorite (underlined, boldfaced, italicized) book FASHION: a history from the 18th century to the 20th century



what do i think of the entries?
i'm so digging c-lo's (her nick name on the tumblr) new look- super elegant but a little raw- imagine lanvin with worn out louboutins, amazing bangs and an elongated bob that curls in just at her shoulder length.

o wowowowo

but wait, there is also writing on this blog, in which one of hte three authors breaks down her look. sometimes it's witty, most times its not. it kind of falls onto that schticky "fashionista" talk that the last two seasons of sex and the city championed, where everything has a double entendre, hidden joke or just catty and thus "WITTY" one liners.
not really for me.
but i like the blog.


i just wish the photos were more high res.
check it out!
what courtney wore today

love,
c
ps. yes, my hair is straight. but, it's only for the time being.

mama's house

this is my mother's house.
and sometimes, i just take photos in it.


it's rather hot in new orleans, so this romper-being so incredibly festive- was incredibly appropriate to wear around. i think the print of this romper really matches the disposition of the city of new orleans.


thanks to my lovely cousin jennifer leigh for helping me! she is the best assistant/test monkey.



ta ta from nola for now,
c

best of last week

so some outfits i thought were a best of and then some random photos



teeshirt i wanted to steal from my friend nick


monique being a flapper doll

my friend hannah, on a smoke break during brunch and flea market shopping

what i wore


ebay rachel comey dress, new prada sample sale shoes, rly old miu miu bag

raaska dress, new hat b/c its waaay hot out, super old miu miu shoes with big ole holes in the sole

now off to sushi with my god sister madeline!
tata,
c

hot daze//canada comes to nyc!

soooo right now, im updating from the airport, waiting for my flight to new orleans (i got here waaaaaaaay to early-oh well, i'll just watch buffy until the flight comes! )
*yawn* i had a long day, starting at moma with the lovely miss emma, and a late night last night, so late in fact that i really only slept two hours.
why do yo say that caroline?
well last night was a night of hellos and dear goodbyes!
first MoMA
we went to the maya deren exhibit, and saw a documentary on maya deren. it was incredibly illuminating, i had no idea she had done such such extensive work with haitian voodoo rituals. maya deren is one of my favorite video artists but after the documentary, she became one of my favorite artists. the documentary showed clips of a large portion of her films, most i had never seen before. she filmed the body in such a poetic way.
ze photoz
this is a from the bruce nauman "days" instillation (which was the US entry to the venice biennale in 2009)

marilyn minter video still i took. i am kind of obsessed with her work. most of it is oil painting that is just so lush, juicy and all about sex. the frankness of it is incredibly refreshing. emma and i were talking bout if i was drawn to it b/c it was a woman portraying sex so frankly and thus exploring female sexuality or was it the subject matter, medium and execution? and honestly, i think its all of that combined. it is interesting knowing that woman created it and it is so frank about sex. however..i just really like how it's rendered. the colors, the use of anatomy, of close ups and everything is incredibly slick...i just like it.


hey, look! it's an emma looking at art!


what? i was really excited about my shoes, they are new!
american apparel skirt, tatty devine T REX necklace, loeffler randall shoesies


first for the hellos
MISS ISABEL IS IN NYC and we met up for a hot second. it was really cool to finally talk to her face to face as opposed to blog to blog chit chatting via comments.
we went to jalopy in redhook brooklyn and had all around a swell time.
however, it sucks a wee bit that isabel came to visit nyc when it was so hot, swampy and gross gross gross out.

aviva and isabel switch glasses. aviva kind of has the best shoe and glasses collection this side of the universe. well...my friend stephanie has pretty sweet glasses as well.


so that is all...i'll update lots more when i'm down south.

ta ta for now!
*c*

paolo ventura

around a week or two ago, i was invited by hasted hunt kraeutler to accompany one of the gallery owners to visit paolo ventura's studio, who is one of my favorite artists.
paolo ventura makes miniatures and dioramas and then photographs them, which is the most basic way to describe it. a more elaborate way, is that paolo creates little scenes that hint of yesteryear and fairy tales, of european stories that were told a long time ago. imagine, if you will, a traveling theatre group stops in the woods, a man wearing a soldier's uniform and bird head masks standing amongst snow and birch trees; paolo creates beautiful scenes that are based in both in fantasy and reality.
to say that i like his work is an understatement.
but the even better part, is that paolo is a very nice guy. and he welcomed my critique and opinions of his current work.

some photos of his studio





mr ventura, the artist and mr kraeutler, one of the gallery owners



what i wore (and what i've been wearing to move furniture as it is very very comfortable and does well in this swampy, murky weather)




also...check out paolo ventura's website here

ta ta for today,
c