Comfort in Copenhagen
August 20, 2012
Last week, Denmark’s capital came to life for the Nordic region’s biggest fashion gathering of the year, Copenhagen Fashion Week. This season’s event featured dozens of runway shows and four trade fairs, highlighting over 2,700 international brands.
Yohji Yamamoto’s Museum Style
July 3, 2012
Yohji Yamamoto, champion of the avant-garde, has built an empire crafting ready-to-wear clothing brilliantly complex in texture, fabric, and tailoring. Simple lines create striking effects; a dark, primarily black palette is playful in its execution; and a penchant for androgyny produces feminine silhouettes.
DC Public
March 27, 2012
A hundred years ago, the mayor of Tokyo gave 3,000 cherry trees to Washington, D.C., and a colorful tradition was born: the National Cherry Blossom Festival. This past weekend marked the centennial of the gift, and a year since Japan was hit with a devastating tsunami. “5×5,” initiated by the D.C. Commission on the Arts & Humanities, asks five curators—Amy Lipton, Justine Topfer, Laura Roulet, Steve Rowell and Richard Hollinshead—to select five international artists who create temporary site-specific works throughout the city’s eight wards in vacant or dormant spaces.
Designers Are Solid in Stockholm
February 2, 2012
Blacks, browns, grays, and creams dominated the runways this week. But the Nordic country’s long, brutal winters mean that many designers account for functionality first, while Sweden’s long history of embracing a spirit of collectivism over individuality is also a reflected in their fashion. The norm is not to stand out, but rather to blend in.
Johanna Pihl Breaks Open Swedish Fashion Week
January 27, 2012
The 13th installment of Stockholm’s Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week kicks off this Sunday, Jan. 30, in what promises to be a bit of cultural sunshine in the Nordic city, where right now, temperatures are low and the sun rarely shines. The three-day event will see a line-up of Sweden’s best designers presenting their Fall 2012 collections. Audiences will be introduced to rising design star Johanna Pihl.
With Menswear, Cynthia Rowley Shares Bill Powers’s Secrets
December 8, 2011
This fall, designer Cynthia Rowley launched Mr. Powers, a menswear line inspired by Bill Powers: owner of Half Gallery, judge on Bravo’s Work of Art, and her husband. Set to debut around the same time that the second season began in October, this new waist-up only collection of blazers and jackets has been modeled by none other than Mr. Powers every week on Work of Art, which will air its final episode at the end of this month.
With Olaf Breuning, Pop Goes the Bally
November 29, 2011
The art world is never more lively than during Art Basel Miami; so it was only fitting that the fashion mainstay Bally would team up with Swiss artist Olaf Breuning—known for his humorous and playful work—for their ongoing BallyLove series.
There Goes the Neighborhood! Sol Lewitt at the Mondrian
November 14, 2011
In 1979, the neighborhood around Sol LeWitt’s live/work loft at 117 Hester Street in New York was desolate and downtrodden. Dominating the landscape were political posters, tagged storefront gates, graffiti and other signage, which signified a melting pot demographic of a Puerto Rican, Chinese, and Jewish community.