Category archives: Art for Progress
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9 years ago
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Womenswear designer LaQuan Smith is a juggernaut in the fashion world. He's making a name for himself, displaying a daring looks that reflect a "refined approach to classic tailoring"
He can even make tweed look cool! "I found these awesome, incredible, sick tweeds from Italy and I wanted to experiment with them," he tells Fashionista.
Find out what three most important things you need to know about LaQuan Smith right now.
His Fabulous Designs Are Inspired By Bold Women (And Powerhouse Celebs)
From Kim Kardashian wearing a yellow ochre sweater dress, or Rihanna wearing a long, mesh frock, LaQuan Smith's designs are in your daily news feed whether you like it or not.
"I think that’s the world we live in today — everything is truly driven by celebrities, social media, the 'popular' girls of the world, and the influence they have on the world, especially women and young girls," Smith tells Refinery 29.
"And, despite what anyone might think about these celebrities, or about the Kardashians, they are truly influential in our society right now." He continues: "Whatever they do and wear, their fan base is genuinely interested." Smith adds "and I think that, at least for the LaQuan Smith brand and clientele, that they buy things from us because it feels authentic to them — it doesn’t feel forced, or like I’m trying to fit in. They buy it because they genuinely like it."
He Battled Cancer At 17, All While Embarking On A Fashion Career
The Queens-n[...]
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9 years ago
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There are many different ways that people diagnosed with a terminal illness cope with the devastating situation. For filmmaker Alex Sichel, best known for 1997's All Over Me, the obvious response was to create a film about it. A Woman Like Me, directed by Sichel and Elizabeth Giamatti, is a hybrid documentary that includes scenes of Alex’s illness and exploration of various treatments, along with a fictional narrative that parallels her own story. This latter film-within-a-film stars a luminous Lili Taylor as a New York-based filmmaker named Anna who is also dealing with breast cancer, but whose upbeat attitude and positive outcome contrasts with Alex’s experience. A compelling composite, A Woman Like Me is an honest, moving portrayal of a vibrant personality managing a terrible health crisis with creativity, humor and grit.
Early in the film Alex tells us that making a movie “is my way of understanding what’s going on.” While she sometimes wonders if the stress of filmmaking is the best way to use her time (her mother is strongly against it), it’s clear that she has to do this. The goal for Alex, who identifies as Buddhist, is to face death without fear; making A Woman Like Me is part of her process to achieve that, while also holding on to some hope.
A Woman Like Me, unlike other “meta” films with complicated storylines, is fairly simple and chronological: We see Alex working on character development with the cast of her fictional movie in between visits to tradi[...]
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9 years ago
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On October 1, Olivier Rousteing's exotically ritzy looks for Balmain were on full display as the fashion house presented clothes for Spring 2016 Paris Fashion Week.
Set at Paris’s Hotel Intercontinental, the star-studded event drew notables like Diplo, Jada Pinkett Smith, and of course members of the Kardashian clan.
And while we shouldn't care about whether or not Kris Jenner and her brood were in attendance, it's important to pay attention to the 29-year-old designer.
Since taking over Christophe Decarnin's creative director position at Balmain in 2011, Rousteing has been killing it in the fashion world.
Let's look at three reasons why Balmain is a huge force that is changing fashion history forever.
Reason #1: Camel
Olivier Rousteing displayed a wide array of colors, however it was "camel" that proved to be the biggest standout. Supermodel Caroline Ribeiro kicked off the October 1 showcase, wearing a caramel-colored suede jacket and matching cigarette pants.
Reason # 2: Cut-Outs, Lattice, Ruffles and Sheers
The overall style of the season's collection featured cinched waists, oversized belts, and "statement-making" necklaces. Rousteing has fashioned designs that effectively meld strong looks with soft ones. This is evident in the "body-baring" lattice skirts and tops, as well as romantic ruffles.
Reason #3: High-Waisted Briefs
Yas! Any reason to wear large, comfortable underclothes is perfectly fine with me. The daring style helps to transform[...]
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9 years ago
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It’s fair to say that most people – even those who came of age during the late 1960s and 1970s -- probably have no idea how influential National Lampoon magazine was (and still is) to American comedy. Douglas Tirola’s entertaining new documentary Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead is a sort of primer for anyone who equates the Lampoon name mainly with a disparate assortment of increasingly juvenile movies.
The fast-paced film uses lively animation and tons of vintage graphics, including iconic magazine covers, to illustrate the publication’s history, told via snippets of interviews with those who were involved with the magazine firsthand (Anne Beatts, P.J. O’Rourke) or consider it crucial to their development, comedic and otherwise (Judd Apatow, John Goodman, Billy Bob Thornton). The main focus is (understandably) National Lampoon’s heyday, from birth in the late 1960s through decline in the 1980s, with emphasis on the various characters who shaped it, especially founding editors Doug Kenney and Henry Beard, and chairman/CEO Matty Simmons.
In the mid-1960s, the satirical student-run Harvard Lampoon (first published in 1876) fell under the stewardship of charismatic, unstable Kenney and serious, organized Beard, the dynamic duo who would go on to co-found National Lampoon in 1970. Among the film’s many enlightening bits of information is the fact that a popular parody of Mademoiselle magazine was responsible for broadening the college Lampoon’s subscription base, enabling i[...]
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9 years ago
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I once had a friend ask me, "What exactly is graphic design?" The answer seemed pretty easy, as the name appears self-explanatory: design using graphics. But, truthfully, it was harder for me to get into the details of what exactly it is, even though it has been one of the most prolific and widely-used art forms in the modern era. And not unlike some other forms of modern art, there is the hackneyed response, "I could totally do that" while viewing graphic design that has been elevated to a higher status. In fact, I even heard it at the Cooper Hewitt's long-running installation How Posters Work.
Amazing to hear that response, given the museum's breadth of information presented about not only about the history of the medium but also contemporary approaches to it. Furthermore, the beginning of the exhibit, before really immersing the viewer in the posters themselves, contains a section attempting to relay just how graphic designers see, and how it subsequently affects how we decipher messages from images, be they subversive or overt. For example, how designers use black space, how they visualize colors to lay over each other and blend, and the ways in which they see text aligned on a poster to result in certain reading patterns. That was particularly interesting as areas of posters are darkened except one swirl-type shape, and it notes that eyes begin at the thicker portion of the illuminated swirl, and move down to the thinner part across the page. Images are placed alo[...]
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9 years ago
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Talk about 'art for progress!' Label Pyer Moss has left a strong impression at their New York Fashion Week debut on September 10, with what many believe to be one of the most "powerful" showcases ever.
Photo Credit: Pyer Moss
The much buzzed-about menswear label has recently branched out into womenswear. Last week's NYFW was Pyer Moss's way of introducing this new foray for the label to the world. Instead of presenting themselves with frills and fantasy, they've allowed current events to penetrate their work, bringing the 'Black Lives Matter' movement to the forefront.
And from the overwhelming response online, it seems as though the politically-charged gamble has worked!
After the jump, find out more about this challenging and nerve-striking event.
Pyer Moss used their platform to address racism and police brutality head on, incorporating thought-provoking symbols on fashion pieces, including blood splattered sneakers and gun-holster accessories. There was also a 15-minute video presented to the audience before the showcase, featuring various horrific deaths of unarmed men and women who died at the hands of the police.
Police brutality and institutional racism are hot-button topics that founder and creative director Kerby Jean-Raymond, 28, wants people to be more aware of. Personally, the designer has experienced 12 gruesome stop-and-frisk encounters with New York law enforcement between the ages of 12 and 18.
Founder/Creative Director Kerby Jean-Raymond. Photo [...]
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9 years ago
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The title of Morgan Matthews’ narrative film debut, A Brilliant Young Mind, immediately evokes Ron Howard’s A Beautiful Mind, and both films have in common a protagonist who is an exceptionally bright mathematician with mental challenges. Unlike John Forbes Nash, though, who suffered from schizophrenia, A Brilliant Young Mind’s Nathan Ellis is merely on the autism spectrum. And unlike Nash, he’s a fictional character, though the film is based on Matthews’ 2006 documentary Brilliant Young Minds, about British teens competing in the International Mathematics Olympiad.
Matthews, who has made several documentaries, does a solid job with his first fictional feature; the film is nicely paced and well-acted, with a lovely soundtrack and striking visuals. James Graham’s script is both sensitive and witty, including enough real math to be authentic without making the story incomprehensible to civilians.
Diagnosed with Asperger’s, nine-year-old Nathan (Edward Baker-Close) is told that he is unique by his dad, who explains, "You have special powers like a wizard and we’re just muggles.” One of Nathan’s “powers” is synesthesia, wherein he experiences one sense (sound) as another (color); he’s often distracted by lights and patterns. He's also a math wiz. His mom Julie (Sally Hawkins) tries but cannot connect with Nathan the way his dad does. When the latter dies in a car accident, Nathan sinks further into himself, until he meets Martin Humphreys (the excellent Rafe Spall), a r[...]
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9 years ago
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Zeitgeist-identifier and design icon Marc Jacobs perfectly captures the spirit of New York City as the hub of the fashion world in an ultra-specific, ALL CAPS party invitation. Promoting the release of the book Gloss, Marc's glitter-soaked party will happen sometime during New York Fashion Week, (between September 10 and September 17) at fabled 1980-90s nightclub Tunnel.
This glamorous fête is separate from the September 10 book signing event at Bookmarc that looks to be open to the public.
The fabulousity of the strict "dress to kill" party guideline, expertly delineated in the invitation, seems to be even more exciting than the party itself. So much so that it's been getting lots of attention online thanks to Yahoo! Style, who first posted the colorful dress code.
As we await hungrily for images from the event, you won't believe what sort of look requirements Marc lays out for select guests after the jump!
Set for a September 1 launch, the book "Gloss" pays tribute to the glamorous photographer Chris Von Wangenheim, who's life was cut short in 1981. Known for juxtaposing the evil and grotesque with the beauty and glitz of the disco era, the Fashion Week release party dress code looks to be staying true to the overall energy of that time period.
Photo Credit: Instagram/Mao PR
The insanely "strict" and specific AF look requirement is as follows:
STRICT DRESS TO KILL CODE WILL BE ENFORCED: FUR COATS OVER LINGERIE, LIP GLOSS, JERRY HALL SIDE-SWEPT HAI[...]
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9 years ago
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NURTUREArt's group show Sextant looks to our sense of reality and place as constructed from memory, history, and objects. While a serious subject, some works are able to retain playfulness, an example being Igor Ruf's video work The Cave (2015). The artist as actor recites the same lines over and over as he moves and dances around a cave space. Subtitles indicate that he is saying he has bananas and a guitar, among other basic necessities, and he doesn't need much else. We see Ruf repeating names and asserting his identity, and it's unbelievable in its goofiness. He touches on the ability objects have in shaping our memories and how those moments cumulatively form the perception we wish to have for ourselves, and for others to have of us, and he maintains a lightheartedness throughout.
Calum Craik has two pieces in the show that also examine, as he writes in an artist's statement, "a hazy memory, actual events, and experience." He is more interested in pop culture, however, as he feels that "everyday objects act as vehicles to question and imagine...documents, photographs, and raw materials act as a mechanism to reconsider truths, events, or invent new possibilities." This certainly rings true in Lesiure (2013). A space blanket, shiny and geological-looking, is situated across a small image of a California pool that lays flat on the floor. Above this image hangs a small bowling ball resembling the earth. This creates a shadow on the lower left corner of the p[...]
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9 years ago
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The latest feature from Brazilian filmmaker Anna Muylaert may take place in São Paulo, but its story could be transplanted to any country with a functioning class system. While class differences and tensions are at the heart of The Second Mother (Que Horas Ela Volta?), the film also tackles complicated family dynamics; the result is a multi-layered drama that is as entertaining as it is perceptive.
Val (Regina Casé) is the longtime housekeeper for an upper-class family consisting of laid-back Dr. Carlos (Lourenço Mutarelli), his driven, successful wife Bárbara (Karine Teles) and their teenage son Fabhino (Michel Joelsas), who Val has virtually raised from childhood. Casé is a physically and emotionally expressive actor and her character is a warm, forceful presence, whether interacting with the family or with other workers in the home, especially younger housemaid Edna. Val’s constantly in motion, serving or cleaning up after the family, comically miming her feelings to Edna or muttering to herself as she goes about her duties. She has an intensely affectionate relationship with Fabhino, a coddled kid she caresses and croons to like a baby; he clearly enjoys the attention. In one scene, Val eavesdrops as his parents question him about marijuana they found, then she helps him hide it; the two are totally in cahoots.
Val hasn’t seen her own daughter Jéssica (Camila Márdila) in 10 years, as the girl has been living up north with relatives while her mother works in São [...]
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9 years ago
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As the summer season steadily winds down, and we start looking towards dressing for colder weather, let's look at items that women can wear all season long.
But let's not forget that many of us tend to wear the same clothes all season long, on account of frigid temperatures in many places of work.
(After all, we can't ignore talk about unfairly regulated, "sexist" air-conditioners.)
Meaning, that while it may be hot outside, it's ice-cold in many offices, movie theaters, shopping venues and more, so the need to stash a sweater in our totes is vital to summer survival.
However, this trend story is not about office politics, or sweater layering, it's about what we can wear anytime and anywhere that's always on trend (and will still look fierce under a sweater or with opaque tights).
Here are your three, tried-and-true fashion items (plus a bonus item) below:
The Wrap Dress
Photo Credit: DVF
Pity we don't have a nationally-designated holiday, celebrating Diane of Fürstenberg, the famed designed who introduced the valued fashion staple in 1974.
You can wear a wrap dress anytime of the year. With sleeves pushed up just so, enjoy walking around in breathable fabric, made with seasonless silk jersey.
A Printed Scarf And A Gold Bracelet
Photo Credit: Mariano Vivanco/Vogue Brazil
These are essential and effortlessly chic accessories that always work winter, spring, summer and fall. Use gold bracelets to dress up or down a style, and incorporate a s[...]
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