Heidi Gardner

Heidi Gardner’s “Chop Shop” at the Hôtel Americano shed a darker light into the underlying opulence of 90′s grunge and goth class, prevalent in Autumn/Winter 2012. The surgical theme was mixed with a nostalgia for the eerie, dark industrial sounds from Nine Inch Nails’, Closer and Depeche Mode’s Enjoy the Silence that evoked disturbance and trauma. The presentation was unsettling, like a near death experience exemplified in serial killer lair scene of a horror film. Binding the aural experience with the graphic nature of the jewelry collection intensified the senses of survival and was successfully executed. Colleen Nika’s “haute grunge” playlist for next season’s NYFW was spot on.

Cover Image: Heidi Gardner

Gardner’s macabre environment in various hotel rooms included blood laced on walls, set of models lured over a dead “corpse” on a plastic wrapped mattress and lifelessly reposed in bathtubs. Exquisite St. Germain cocktails served as an anesthesia to the senses that made it bearable to stomach the gore. Specimens placed on autopsy trays were receptacles of decadent objects that de-iconized human skulls. Large pelvic pendants on leather, spinal bangles, pelvic ring with diamonds were metal casted. In addition to the skeletal inspiration, human organs like the heart, kidney and liver made the “cut”.

Heidi Gardner

Heidi Gardner

Promising that it would be a presentation like no other, jewelry designer Heidi Gardner certainly did not disappoint. Editors and writers were invited to the El Privado Room for bites and drinks before being ushered in small groups for the real treat. The inspiration for her Fall 2012 collection—the macabre and human body—came to life with Gardner’s stable of models showing off their dark side next to trays of jewelry that glimmered underneath the strategically placed lights. The pieces themselves are certainly well-crafted and are bound to catch the eye of any unconventional girl (Front Row).

 

Luxe Grunge & Royal Goth

Cover Image: Rochambeau

Rochambeau

Dominic Louis

Dominic Louis

Dominic Louis

Daniella Kallmeyer

Leather Japan

Vantan Tokyo

Vantan Tokyo

Neck and Headwear

Siki Im

Siki Im

Lars Andersson

Lars Andersson

Deep Maroons

Assembly New York

Rochambeau

Dominic Louis

Dominic Louis

Tim Coppens

Tim Coppens

Geometric and Neon Accents

Tim Coppens

Tim Coppens

RAD by Rad Hourani

Mathieu Mirano

NOMIA

NOMIA

NOMIA

Daniella Kallmeyer

Vantan Tokyo

Vantan Tokyo

Vantan Tokyo

C.A.V.E. Gallery Directors 3rdi and ZS Grant with artist John Carr - Estée Ochoa

C.A.V.E. Gallery recently opened an untitled group show that features works by Chris Stain, Taka Sudo and H. Veng Smith – three very distinct talents with varying technique and style. The theme of the show was unclear upon first glance but a deeper investigation reveals each series embodying urgent contemporary messages of social, spiritual and natural awareness.

Artist Idris Morehouse - Estée Ochoa

Chris Stain (New York) grew up writing graffiti and is now an internationally recognized stencil artist. His working class themes and washed-out color palette echo the American Social Realist movement of the 1930′s. Pieces of a Man reflects the struggles of everyday people and assigns an inspiring dignity to his unrecognizable and underrepresented portrait subjects.

Viewer with H. Veng Smith - Estée Ochoa

H. Veng Smith is a native New Yorker whose petite paintings examine the complex evolution and survival of life on a finite planet. Alternative Occupancy is a surreal exploration of whimsical figures of man and animals, the complex and strenuous relationship between the two, and nature’s inherent strength to preserve. If your lucky you may came across one of his larger pieces on the streets of New York City.

Artists Taka Sudo and Mimi Yoon - Estée Ochoa

Taka Sudo (Vancouver) was the in-house live painter for the show’s opening night. His mixed media series entitled Dynamo is exactly that. The collection is full of vibrant color and energy that explodes onto the canvas. The human and animal figures surrounded by fragmented text, mimics conflicting messaging in consumer culture. His artwork is inspired by his quest in seeking true energy and the ideology that every person embodies a spiritual “dynamo” full of symbiotic creative energy. Also, located on the project wall of the gallery is Mimi Yoon’s Don’t Look Into My Eyes (not shown).

Untitled three-person group show
To view works, click here.
February 11 through March 3, 2012

The Center for Audio and Visual Expression aka C.A.V.E. Gallery
1108 Abbot Kinney Blvd
Venice, CA

Cover Image: Chris Stain, United States A Small Something, 2012 - C.A.V.E. Gallery

Corn and Barley - Kings County Distillery

Colin Spoelman and David Haskell’s inherent connection to the distillation process has resulted in establishing Kings County Distillery in 2010. The history behind the name of the distillery dates back to just after prohibition days in New York City and is the oldest in operation. Moonshine and bourbon whiskey are their spirit staples that are presented in a handsomely shaped flask and minimally appointed “no-frills” label. What makes the difference between the two distilled beverages lie in the combination of two key ingredients, corn and barley. The high quality of their offerings are indicative of the source of ingredients and highly formulaic process.

East Williamsburg - Kings County Distillery

For Spoelman, the inspiration came by way of a plastic milk jug filled with moonshine in eastern Kentucky. For Haskell, his great grandfather who made bootleg whiskey in early 1900s. Their ingrained and focused interest in distilled beverages were realized into a 325 square‐foot, second‐floor room in East Williamsburg, Brooklyn laboratory. With good graces, they will be moving to a larger space in the Brooklyn Navy Yard in 2012. Their modest space has hosted tours and tastings, which are temporarily on hold and will resume after the location is open for the curious.

Although they host guests who are interested in the distillation, they do not necessarily have a retail space. Rather, roughly 50 liquor stores, bars, and restaurants throughout New York City carry Kings County Distillery spirits. Some of them include, Heights Chateau, Greene Grape, Dry Dock, Fermented Grapes, Juice Box, Park Avenue Liquor Shop, Winfield Flynn, Astor Wines, Union Square Wines, Natural Wine Co., Pier Wines, Brooklyn Oenology, Thirst Wine Merchants, and Downtown Cellars. The aforementioned stores also offer their inaugural “seasonal”, chocolate “flavored” whiskey.

Cover Image: Moonshine - Kings County Distillery

About their distilled beverages:

Moonshine

Kings County Distillery’s Moonshine is a corn whiskey made from 80% New York State organic corn and 20% Scottish malted barley. It is double distilled and sold at 40% alcohol by volume in glass flasks of 200mls and 375mls. It distinguishes itself from other un‐aged whiskeys in that it is refined and highly drinkable—while also carrying a bright and intense flavor. While moonshine is a word that conjures a lot of fiery opinions, Kings County is smooth and compares to a good clear whiskey made from a mountain still. The spirit won “Best in Category” for Corn Whiskies at the 2011 Craft Spirits Awards.

Bourbon

Kings County Distillery’s Bourbon Whiskey is made from a slightly different combination of the same corn and barley. It is characterized by a rich aroma of fresh corn, balanced with the sweet caramelized sap of a 5‐gallon charred oak barrel. It has a very strong sweet base with flavors of vanilla and caramel. It has a strong oak flavor that provides a bittersweet molasses taste to the middle notes and leaves a smooth finish with hints of nutmeg and autumn spices. It has a caramel color and is bottled at 45% alcohol by volume. Aged nine months, this bourbon is a precocious whiskey, surprisingly robust for its young age.

Cover Image: Funk Food

Join us on Friday, February 17, 2012 at 10PM, as Pulp Lab & Maison Française closes out New York Fashion Week with an Ampersand as Apostrophe & Funk Royal Optics party at subMercer, 147.5 Mercer Street. Arrive early for a rum open bar for the first hour, stay late for DJ sets by Midnight Magic, Home Video, Beacon, and Alfonso Roulé.

Please RSVP no later than Thursday, February 16 at 6PM.

Whoever said disco is dead was wrong. Yes, it’s true – dance music is back and here to stay. Riding the wave of the recent disco and house revival (which can be partially accredited to the popularity of acts on labels like DFA and Italians Do It Better), Brookyln’s Midnight Magic is bringing back jazzy, high energy dance music to a new generation of music aficionados. (The Neighborhood TV)

Blending the charming guitar stylings of Pulp and the like, Home Video’s minimal electro Brit-pop is infectious, to say the least. At times reminiscent of really poppy new wave, No Certain Night Or Morning is destined to stick in our heads for some time to come. (XLR8R Office Top Ten Album Picks)

It’s that holy Friday feeling—anticipating brunch, anticipating not refreshing Mail.app obsessively and reading long stuff. Brooklyn duo Beacon’s “Exhale” plucks the Friday heartstring delicately and directly. (The FADER)

Ampersand As Apostrophe’s preferred method of solving design challenges is to refine what’s there instead of focusing on what’s not. Making handbags with envelop-like features out of the mail bags that used to deliver them is the type of stuff that gets our rocks off.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In 1992 an idea became reality. FUNK IN CASE was founded in Munich. Head of it all: Dieter Funk – optician, former co-owner of the legendary “Freudenhaus,” designer, characteristic head and a DJ very near to many artists and to the music scene. He has always been driven by the disposition to “make it different.” This is what his first collection of sunglasses expressed.

Bill Cunningham - The Satorialist

Bill Cunningham is, in all and more than the meaning of the word flâneur, as coined by Charles Beaudelaire. The camera that arms him captures the public’s “garbed” yet candid, non-verbal expressions on the streets. Since 1978, his photographic mosaic on newsprint has inspired domestic and international publications to follow suit. The Metropolitan Report section of The New York Times featured head-to-toe portraits and descriptions of high society notables that include Marella Agnelli, Countess Conseulo Crespi, Greta Garbo, Patricia Kennedy Lawford, Stanley Marcus, Paloma Picasso, and Gloria Vanderbilt. This spread catapulted his status as the street style photographer. Today, Cunningham’s work graces the Style section called, On The Street and Evening Hours.

Saturday, December 30, 1978 - The New York Times

Some of the publications that feature multiple cladded city dwellers in their environment include Harper’s Bazaar, Nylon Magazine, Vice Magazine, and FRUiTS. Although the perspective on the full body portraiture of street style photography season after season, has not changed, the distribution of these images have. The photographer Scott Schuman of The Satorialist and Phil Oh of Street Peeper provide a robust view of what people are wearing across the globe. Moreover, the public began to realize and actualize their sense of style on Lookbook.nu, where they share their self-portraits with fellow online community members. The immense amount of images become a rich archive that can fill pages of a book. For instance, Japanese photographer Shoichi Aoki shocked the West with images of Japanese suburban youth’s hyper-manga style, depicted in the book titled the same as its source zine, FRUiTS.

Richard Press, Bill Cunningham New York - Film Poster

From newspapers, magazines, zines, blogs, and socially active sites to books, the camera is pointed from the subject to the photographer. In 2010, Richard Press’ documentary, Bill Cunningham New York was released. This feature film was the director’s debut that took 10 years to produce. The story portrayed a glimpse of the public and private life of a former resident of Carnegie Hall studios, an 82 year old photographer, on and off the streets. Cunningham’s modest life is embodied in $3 dollar lunches, a red Schwinn bicycle and a “royal blue workman’s jacket worn by Parisian street sweepers.” Ironically, his simplicity and honesty has attracted affluent and influential individuals like Brooke Astor, David Rockefeller, Anna Wintour, and Tom Wolfe. For many decades, despite his proximity to economic and cultural wealth, he has kept the integrity of his creativity.

See, if you don’t take money, they can’t tell you what to do. That’s the key to the whole thing.
- Bill Cunningham

Source: New York Times

Bill Cunningham New York, Directed by Richard Press, (Zeitgeist Films). Trailer 2:04.

Cover Image: Bill Cunningham - Harpers Bazaar

GustOrganics

During New York Fashion Week, designers and their staff, PR companies and media outlets are all feverishly working to define, refine and distribute style. Amidst this organized chaos, making the time to eat is made easier with catering. A four-year old restaurant in New York City is taking this purposeful duty a step further. GustOrganics sustainably serves Latin-inspired cuisine and is the first and only USDA Certified Organic caterer in New York.

A common phrase during this frenzied season is, “don’t forget to eat”. The fact that the food is in the studio and backstage adds to the efficiency of the production of the show. This situation is very similar to ancient times that calls attention to catering’s history:

Catering can be traced back to the 4th millenium BC in China. During this time in China as well as in Ancient Egypt, Greece and the prosperous times of the Roman Empire, catering was used to provide food for soldiers on transportation and trade routes…
- University of Connecticut

Among the choices that GustOrganics offer for lunch catering include, Fair Trade Coffee & Tea Service, Tortilla Espanola, Paninis, Sauteed Portobellos with Spinach, Fajitas and Empanadas. The catering developed after the restaurant acquired devoted diners over a few years. It is of importance to recognize the vision of the founder and his achievement of having the first USDA Certified Organic restaurant.

GustOrganics

Argentinian-born Alberto Gonzales, frequented New York City on business trips. With each successive visit, the quest to find fresh, high-quality foods proved to be a feat. This challenge became the inspiration to further a philosophy of “changing the world one meal at a time” through a restaurant. In one year, Gonzales’ initiative churned out a survey of New Yorkers that resulted in an organically green vision. Gustorganic’s philosophy is embodied in the word “organic.” The acronym represents standards and consciousness for the company’s staff and growing community.

Here’s an interview with the founder courtesy of Living Maxwell:

Again, “don’t forget to eat”.

Cover Image: Corporate Catering Minneapolis

Colleen Nika - RANKIN

Colleen Nika is a music nerd turned writer, fashion editor of Rolling Stone, and burgeoning DJ who has several bylines in noteworthy publications like Interview, Style.com, Paper, and recently Popjustice, to name a few. This fashion and music maven curated a NYFW A/W ’12 Playlist for YouTube. The correlation between these two disciplines for her is very strong. They are mutually exclusive in that the aural component has the dynamism to make the wearable art come alive and at times overpower it. In terms of sound, she has an affinity for the sonic dissonance present in the urban decay, “synthetic, highly produced, and colder (sounds).” Although she is contently based in the East Village and being a culturist linchpin, she has considered being a recluse in Berlin making glitch music.

Source: A Big City Died

I chose a powerful series of high octane, haute grunge clips that I personally relate to and that, either sonically or visually, capture an unnerving mood of icy isolation and/or discord with their environments. Ranging from surreal to playful to brutally confrontational, these clips share a common theme: they pit the visceral and personal against harsh, indifferent tech-dependent backdrops, an age-old man-vs-machine contrast I find strangely alluring. There’s also more obvious aesthetic ties to be enjoyed here: bleak steely palettes, beautiful abnormalities, industrialism, ‘urban decay’. Many of my favorite designers–Gareth Pugh, Martin Margiela, Raf Simons, Rodarte in intervals–play with notions of disconnect from society and capturing the political tension between individual identity and imposed conformism…
- Colleen Nika (YouTube)

There are 22 videos in YouTube’s playlist. Here is a handful:

Atari Teenage Riot (Germany), Revolution Action (Banned Version), 4:57

Clinic (UK), Walking with Thee, 3:01

Curve (UK), Chinese Burn, 4:03

Death in Vegas (UK), Anthony Anderson Nick Avin It Dirt, 3:41

Leftfield (UK) Afrika Bambaataa, Afrika Shox, 4:43

Vermin Twins (Belgium), Exoskeleton, 4:48

Cover Image: Colleen Nika - RANKIN

1962 Publicity Still for Halston - John Tiffany in Harpers Bazaar

Nearly 70 years from Press Week’s inception, Eleanor Lambert’s role as a pioneer continues to pave the way for the fashion industry, that ultimately shifted from France to America. Her prowess and vision as a publicist for American designers lead us to today’s internationally celebrated semi-annual event, known as New York Fashion Week. In three days, designers from all over the world will present their Autumn/Winter 2012 collection.

I might be wrong, but I just don’t see it.
- Eleanor Lambert

Miss Lambert is often referred to as the Empress of Seventh Avenue–substantiated by the commitment in championing American designers, Bill Blass, Oscar de la Renta, Roy Halston Frowick, Anne Klein and Stephen Burrows. These designers surpassed their French counterparts, Givenchy, Yves Saint Laurent, Pierre Cardin, Emanuel Ungaro and Marc Bohan for Christian Dior in 1973, at a show in the Palace of Versailles. This year carved her international influence.

Program cover of Franco-American fashion show held at Versailles, France, 1973. From Eleanor Lambert: Still Here © 2012 Pointed Leaf Press

Her conviction that clothing design is an art form led to her concentration on fashion promotion.
- Enid Nemy (New York Times)

The legacy of this Crawfordsville, Indiana native includes her visionary and leadership roles in Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, Art Dealers Association of America, the International Best-Dressed List, Coty Fashion Critics Awards for design excellence, sponsored by Coty fragrances of the late 1930s-40s; Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) and National Council on the Arts of the National Endowment for the Arts of the 1960s; Seventh on Sale, a benefit for AIDS research in the 1990s. In 2003, she joined the fashion industry canon.

John Tiffany's Eleanor Lambert: Still Here

Just in time for Spring/Summer 2012 collection, John Tiffany, a former assistant of this tour de force, released his biography and documentary on Miss Lambert titled, Eleanor Lambert: Still Here, published by Pointed Leaf Press.

Source: New York Times and WWD

Cover Image: Fall 2012 - Mercedes-Benz New York Fashion Week

Still image from Unmade Beds by Amos Poe

Anthology Film Archives is presenting four of Amos Poe’s 16mm films from 2/3-5. The filmmaker at the helm of No Wave Cinema will be at the Friday and Saturday screening for the introduction and Q&A. The late 70s in New York City was a time when there was nothing to lose. To many artists, that attitude became the catalyst for a latent creative freedom that summoned raw innocence and pure experimentation. The zeitgeist of the No Wave movement included the oscillation of conscious and subconscious of Charlie Ahearn, Patti Astor, Scott B & Beth B, Steve Buscemi, James Chance, Vincent Gallo, Debbie Harry, Jim Jarmusch, Richard Kern, Ivan Král, Lydia Lunch, Eric Mitchell, Thurston Moore, James Nares, Kembra Pfahler, Amos Poe, John Waters and Nick Zedd, to name a few.

I wanted to do something that approximated the French Nouvelle Vague movement in New York. I had this attitude then that I didn’t know how to make a film, but I wasn’t going to let that stop me, which was kind of like the aesthetic of punk in a way. So, I figured if I couldn’t make a film, I could make a film movement, predicated on the idea of “do it yourself,”…
- Amos Poe’s response to Glen Andreiev’s interview (Films in Review)

Arguably, the antecedent of this film genre, bearing the same name, is punk’s subgenre scene in the Lower East Side. Amos Poe is the first filmmaker who shot the bands that mattered to each other but to no one outside their sphere, like Blondie, Talking Heads, The Ramones, and Tuff Darts. Within less than two years, the hyper-development of his rough style, penchant for mistakes, and influence of the Nouvelle Vague propelled his fervor into employing a film technique such as the “jump-cut”. This visual effect combines two similar shots (a suggested 30 degree angle difference) that produces a “jump” in continuity of the moving image that reveals its process, hence a remark on time and visual memory. Unmade Beds, 1976 intimates Poe’s affair with Godard’s A Bout de Souffle (Breathless), 1960. His films present his affinity for the everyday and Existentialist philosophy.

Please visit the Anthology Film Archive’s website for showtimes:

Night Lunch, 1975, 32 minutes, 16mm. Film by Amos Poe and Ivan Král.

Blank Generation, 1976, 55 minutes, 16mm. Film by Amos Poe and Ivan Král.

Unmade Beds, 1976, 77 minutes, 16mm. Film by Amos Poe, Still Photography by Fernando Natalaci, Music composed by Ivan Král.

The Foreigner, 1978, 95 minutes, 16mm. Film by Amos Poe, Music composed by Ivan Král.

Anthology Film Archives
32 Second Avenue and 2nd Street
East Village – Lower East Side

Cover image: Still from Unmade Beds - Amos Poe