chictopia contest

so there is this contest on chictopia.
wear a favorite item of clothing three different ways
i wanna throw my hat into the ring, so here it goes

this is a marc jacobs shirt from s/s09 i believe. i bought it at the resale shop ina. this is me wearing it as a normal shirt

american apparel skirt, obedient sons and daughters cummerbund, borne shoes, rachel comey bag

here it is as a skirt

surface to air shoes, american apparel top, vintage slip worn underneath, vintage belt. cat- my room mates

and lastly, as a tunic-ey thing. okay so it isn't that much different looking than the first one but i did wear it slightly differently.
which image do you prefer?
sarong prada, shoes loeffler randall





anywho, sorry the posts hve been sporadic. i've been packing to go out of town-again. this time i'm gone, abroad, for three weeks! i'm going to copenhagen and stockholm for their fashion weeks and i'm blogging about it for bust! then i'm off to sydney and london, where i'll also be shooting street style for bust.com!
check it out.

love,
c

vogue italia's "water and oil" feature, covered by jezebel and refinery 29.

i heard, via twitter, that vogue italia created a spread shot by steven meisel with the model kristen mcmenamy.
here are some of the images




my problem with them, and dodai on jezebel does a really good job of articulating some of the problems with the shoot, is that aside from the fact that they come off costumey and gimmicky but it also doesn't feel impassioned. some images are incredibly static and still, while only two feature the slightest bit of movement, while the shots are incredibly dark, detailed and slightly horrifying, it doesn't feel real. and that's because it's not. these coastlines are not the ones i grew up seeing. these are rocky, nerfarious, precarious coastlines where southern flatboats could never land, everything is too black and white and there is no green or blue and none of the beautiful gulf of mexico that i grew up seeing. please refer to the images below

but perhaps the strangest thing about these images is knowing that they are based purely in fantasy and they are horrifying but beauitful to look at. they look like a scene out of the '80s clash of the titans, of the river styx (or how imagine that looks like) where everything is dead, blackened and burdened. so i get it, this dead zone is a metaphor.
people are asking is it too zone?
dodai mentions that "Is it ever appropriate to use a distressing catastrophe as a vehicle to shill luxury goods? At its best, fashion photography is art; a work exhibiting creativity, skill, imagination and the ability to evoke (or provoke) emotion..."
this is art but am i moved, is it emotionally deep? and is it too soon?
perhaps in this context, yes, yes it is too soon. while it doesn't directly reference the south (see the landscapes) it is, in an obvious way, contextualizing the bp spill. the name of the spread is called oil and water. it is pretty to look it, but shouldn't it be more? shouldn't i feel something more ? and actually, i do. but you want to know what i feel, as woman from the gulf coast who is ten generations from the gulf coast? what do i feel?
immense sadness. immense, immense sadness. b/c this is the area i grew up in, the area that my family was raised in. this isn't the swamp land that is getting destroyed, there isn't any of the wild life that could become extinct, you see no graveyards of fish that is leading to the destruction of the fishing industry in the gulf coast. all i see are haute couture clothes in black, pointy rocks covered in tar, oil and a beautiful model covered in a dark sheen, i don't see anything else beyond something being sold to me. i love fashion but i...don't like this. it could've been something better but the reference of the bp oil spill wasn't insightful or articulate or amazing, it was just shock value. and i didn't appreciate it.
perhaps dodai said it best, in her closing statement "But context is everything, and instead of being moved emotionally, the only actions that seem right in reaction to this inappropriate spread which aims to shock and awe are a wrinkling of the nose and a rolling of the eyes."

ta ta,
c

new years in new orleans b/c this past week i've been boring

so..the title says it all. here are some old disposable photos i took AGES ago (new years) in new orleans. the heat just sort of sucks out all of my creative juices.
so i've been in seersucker pants and tank tops all week.
but here are some old photos.


boy by band of outsiders top, lyell shorts, hermes twilly, topshop tights, rag and bone boots


rodarte for target dress


monique in vintage and vintage chloe dress

i'm excited, i leave for new york in four hours
love and cupcakes,
c

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