Thursday, January 29, 2015

thinking about clothes:

as the title suggests, i've been thinking about clothing and how i present myself to tha wide world a lot lately, and trying to find new ways to change my perspectives. here are some of the things that have been helping me along with that:

chalayan rtw13





Hussein Chalayan- Scifi Transforming Dress




chalayan audi fashion festival 2


Hussein Chalayan transformer clothing






hussein chalayan kind of has a reputation for doing beyond cool things with clothing, and i'll probably get into how much i love him in another post-- but right now, i'm really into this last set of transforming dresses where the models give a tug and go from daywear (to something beautiful in between) to eveningwear. the entire collection is just so spectacular and deserves something more coherent than me saying smashing my keyboard to say the same thing over and over again, but i would really love to know what you guys think of this.


tilda swinton's eternity dress




Eternity Dress

Eternity Dress


eternity dress is a performance art piece by tilda swinton and olivier saillard that shows every step of constructing  a 50s-style dress on tilda swinton's body that (i think) is supposed to remind us that in the midst of the fast pace of fashion-- there's an art to be reclaimed in the meticulous construction of what we put on our bodies. it exhibits the mathematics involved in the measuring, the cutting, choosing collars, hand sewing, draping. 

in the trailer there is a flash of a nude oil painting, which may just be for aesthetic purposes, but i have the feeling every moment of the video was painstakinly thought out-- so maybe its meant to add something about how clothing or a lack of it as art.  there's also a section in which tilda drapes bolts of fabric across herself which just made me go ASHJKFYughhh. 

 it's no longer being performed live, and so i have to settle for a teaser trailer. my new agenda is to become befriend tilda swinton, so that i can understand eternity dress and everything else she creates a little better. 
age and beauty



Photo: Terry Tsiolis for Alexis Bittar

via

of course its not a revolutionary concept- but there's been a crop of 2015 campaigns featuring older women that seem to represent an appreciation of age as beauty: joni mitchell for saint laurent's music project, iris apfel (and tavi gevinson!) for alexis bittar, joan didion for celine (eep). these women are cool and intellectual and interesting and i love it.

as i was looking at the celine photos, i found an article for the guardian that talked about "the line between celebration and exploitation"-- and how its a little strange to see a hero used to sell you something. i think this is a really interesting perspective, and leads to a lot of questions about what celebrity even means anymore (is your value in your talent or your image?). i'd love to hear what you have to say about this over e-mail (in the sidebar) or in the comments.

my only criticism for these campaigns is that age as beauty seems to be being embraced for certain women, and i'm hoping that these ads signal a 2015 focused on the meaning of our standards of beauty for all women. 

-=-
kani

Saturday, January 17, 2015

and i'm talking to myself at night, because i can't forget



inspired by julie verbarg

[i'm not sure if i'd ever actually wear nike airs IRL, because i wouldn't be able to contain feeling ridiculous, but they still look nice]





super-duper McLovin this Julie Verbarg shoot. the color composition is so charming and cool, and obviously there's the simplicity of the clothes that's interrupted by dashes of red, and the subtlety of the fit. it reminds me of being really angry and trying to keep your composure (with a kind of obvious allusion to red as the anger and grey, muted tones as feigning calmness). what do you guys think of it?


-=-
kanyinsola

ps: i know this was a baby post but you know... FINAL EXAMS! I've been thinking a lot about clothes in my spare time though and I'm so ready to talk about it. 

Thursday, January 8, 2015

a post about nothing

the past two days have been so incredibly cold, that we were forced to have snow days at school. i've lived in chicago for years, but i'm still amazed that anyone manages to survive in a city where it goes from 40°F to -3°F in a matter of weeks. the cold makes me bitter and cranky. not to mention bored and listless because i simply cannot leave the house.

i'm really into watching seinfeld in the winter, and on the mornings when i can't figure out what to wear  and still stay warm (in a total outfit-repeater move), i wear my seinfeld outfit:


 

turtleneck: thrifted from boy's section a long time ago
mom jeans: UO
reeboks: thrifted

(i'm pretty sure i've already posted some variation of this outfit sometime before but whatevr, i've got some more interesting outfits planned for later)

in the spirit of things, here are two of my favorite seinfeld-themed pieces of the internet:

George Costanza woodburn.





the jerry seinfeld skeletons blog (screencaps episodes of seinfeld and replaces characters with skeletons)

i haven't seen every single episode of seinfeld, so feel free to talk about your favorite episodes in the comment, and i'll make sure to check them out if i haven't seen them before. 

-=-
kanyinsola


Thursday, January 1, 2015

it's a new dawn, it's a new day, and i'm feeling good

   
            
       

In keeping with the themes of newness and positivity and change, growth and creating things for yourself in 2015, I've been staring at pictures of Issey Miyake ss 2002 with the flowers growing everywhere and the bright technicolor all artfully smashed together.

Also- some really interesting stuff to read/think about for the next few days + the rest of the year:

Alan Lightman on Our Yearning for Immortality and Why We Long for Permanence in a Universe of Constant Change


I don't have anything particularly interesting to add to this amazing essay, and I hate feeling like I'm regurgitating so just. read. it.

happy 2015,
-=-
kanyinsola