Amsterdam Fashion Week poster, Koen van Os, 1951.
Showing posts tagged fashion
A beautiful moment I captured at Thom Browne. If only all fashion shows had this level of ecstatic imagination!
I finally watched the Bill Cunningham documentary & I have some thoughts on it.
Bill is an inspired, disciplined, yet self-abnegating soul who has selflessly committed his life & talent to documenting the most selfish industry in the world, fashion. He is the last of a dying breed in NY social culture; as a relic and loyal tag-a-long, he’s one of the very few people I can think of who are fascinated by glamour and yet want none of it for themselves. This is respectable on one level, but ultimately odd. What does he get out of it, out of photographing very vain people? Is it a vicarious thrill/substitute for real connection/love/sex? Tellingly, he’s never had a relationship & is devoutly religious; an obsessive being with no inner life. It’s not like he’s donating his abilities or time to a noble cause; he seems saintly only in comparison to the self-serving lifestyle of those he doggedly photographs, but he is ultimately a chronic fanboy. Bottom line: Bill is an interesting NYC character but perhaps doesn’t deserve quite the priestly reverence he’s been alloted by the industry in recent years. I suspect it makes his subjects feel better about what THEY do more than it has to do with honoring his life or hard work. But, of course, the documentary is expressly created for those already deeply entrenched in the image industry; it is preaching to its own choir. :)
A plea to women’s magazines (and the advertisers that sustain them)
Wish women’s magazines would focus less on shoving useless vanity wares down our throats, relying upon (and preying upon) our insecurities. Stop condescending and start trying to have meaningful, progressive dialogues with your audiences — who ARE, in fact, adults with intelligence, passions, and concerns beyond dating, aging, and their weight. THIS IS 2012. You have the power and the resources to shift the conversation. Do something with it.
I served as model/muse for my friend Yara Flinn’s awesome label, NOMIA.
