I’m a big Rachel Roy fan, so I’m happy to report she and Estelle have teamed up to create a limited edition jewelry collection that’s available early on Rachel Roy’s facebook page and releasing wide in March. The collection is small but sweet, heavy on floral elements and colorful accents. While I enjoy this work, I favor the jewelry Rachel has designed for her Rachel Rachel Roy line. My top three of the five pieces from Rachel + Estelle to follow:
Petal Ear Cuff
Statement Ring
Petal Ring (exclusively sold in Rachel's Facebook pop-up shop)
I came across a ton of 1950’s covers of Jet Magazine, here are some I thought were super-trips:
<images from Vieilles Annonces>
I was happy to discover that opening next week at MoCADA, Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts, is an exhibit called The Gentrification of Brooklyn: The Pink Elephant Speaks. Finally!
From MoCADA’s press release:
This exhibition, guest curated by Dexter Wimberly, will examine how urban planning, eminent domain, and real estate development are affecting Brooklyn’s communities and how residents throughout the borough are responding. The exhibition will include the works of several Brooklyn-based artists, as well as those who have been forced to relocate as a result of gentrification. In addition to works of art featured at MoCADA, there will be a schedule of public programs taking place throughout Brooklyn.
Below are billboards I quite like done by Toronot0-based artists, Specter, in Promotion of the upcoming exhibit:
"Storytelling" Oil-Linen. 110 x 130 cms. 2008
"Afterhours". Oil-Linen. 45 x 58 cms. 2007
"Conquista". Oil-Linen. 130 x 190 cms. 2008
"Delantera". Oil-Linen. 140 x 200 cms. 2004
"Internacional." Oil-Linen. 110 x 150 cms. 2008
"Mi pequeña ciudad." Carboncillo-lienzo. 40 x 50 cms. 2006
From Today & Tomorrow.
Visit Paco Pomet’s blog for more of his work, here.
a young Vera Wang with skates
Two of my favorite things: The Olympics & Sarah Lawrence alum Vera Wang. With the Vancouver winter games around the corner, Wang is gearing up to design for male skater Evan Lysacek. An ice skater herself, and former Olympic hopeful, Wang reviews past skating outfits and discusses the nuances of designing for athletes with the Associated Press:
“You wouldn’t want someone to lose Olympic gold because their sleeve ripped off,” Wang says.
Other considerations: The outfit has to sparkle like eveningwear but function like workout gear; it has to stand up to the considerable wind generated by skaters’ speed; and it must be show-stopping from every angle, unlike a Hollywood-starlet gown that is usually photographed straight from the front or back.
“This is more pressure than an Oscar dress in a strange way,” she says.
The costume also has to complement the music. “I have to have the music for a skating costume,” she says, “and that’s not the way I normally work.”
Some of Vera’s skating outfits from the past:
Michelle Kwan covers WWD in Vera Wang's design before the 2002 Olympics
Nancy Kerrigan
Nancy Kerrigan
The 2010 Vancouver Winter Games air February 12th.
Caroline, the Brooklyn-based blogger and textile designer at Looks Good To Me creates these playful, girly, watercolors to illustrate some of the fashion, design, etc. that she’s interested in. I like the way the watercolors bring to life some of her original tastes, I’d love to see more of her pattern works. I’ve included some of my favorites below:
watercolor prints from this blog, here.
M.I.A. tweeted a new video today,” There’s Space For Ol Dat I See”. Pitchfork caught wind & wrote this afternoon:
So what is this video? We haven’t been able to confirm that it’s a song from the new album that M.I.A.’s been talking about lately, but it definitely seems like a very good possibility.
Thought I would further extend the reach of what’s beginning to sound like a very cool album:
Window of Architect, Daniel Libeskind
When I was home for the holidays my grandfather lent me his VHS recording of Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window. It had been recorded from TV and part of a series of remastered classics hosted by Jodi Foster in the 90’s. It has become my favorite Hitchcock film – like most people, I’m captivated by the perspective: a story through a pane of glass.
From an article The New York Times ran in November, Window Watchers in a City of Stangers, I learned of Matteo Pericoli’s sketches. Pericoli’s latest book, The City Out My Window: 63 Views on New York, chronicles sketches of private views belonging to and described by New Yorkers. I think there’s something sort of sad and fascinating about our relationship with what’s going on on either side of these panes. The Times also ran a slideshow of Pericoli’s sketches, from which, I’ve included my favorites:
Junot Diaz: "Up here windows are not windows, they're more like peepholes. 'Rear Window' without any of the architectural or human splendor."
David Byrne: "I think of my view as pretty typical for a New Yorker. We look out our windows at other windows. That, in a way, mirrors our lives here -- we are constantly looking at each other, millions of us, on the streets and elsewhere."
Nicole Krauss: "My son's bedroom looks out over the Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture. All summer, the Ethicists rent out the garden for weddings: brass bands, drunken toasts, feedback, 'Can You Feel the Love Tonight,' 'That's Amore,' 'Unchained Melody' filter through his sleep. A child's education in romantic cliché."
Mikhail Baryshnikov: "It's one of New York's most beautiful buildings, but it looks better at night ... like a woman."
Pericoli on Stephen Colbert's window: "He was very of proud of the meaninglessness of his view. I think he thought that my project was going to be about handsome window views. This made me happy—it was so him. He has irony in his veins."
After a decade of albumlessness, Sade releases her 6th record, Soldier of Love, on February 9th, 2010…and I am pumped! In a statement today, Sade said of her musical timing:
“I only make records when I feel I have something to say. I’m not interested in releasing music just for the sake of selling something. Sade is not a brand.” – Helen Folasade Adu
It’s hard to believe that as she releases Solider of Love, Sade will be celebrating her 51st birthday. Few women are as beautiful and down-to-earth cool:
‘Soldier of Love’ single, below:
Read the Pitchfork review, here.
