And the moon is the only light we see

Really cute from the Sartorialist

Photo and accompanying story from The Sartorialist

To me, my grandmother, Françoise Gerondeau, is the most elegant and the funniest woman in the world.

In fact, that photo was taken during the Algerian War, in the late fifties. My Grandfather, who is French, had been mobilized. And just before his departure, he told my grandmother (they were dating for a year) that he didn’t love her and that he would never marry her.
But she’s very stubborn, and she asked her brother to take photos of her during their vacations, so that she could send them to my grandfather, and he would fall in love again.
The photo you see can testify.
Isn’t it childish? To me that story defines exactly my grandmother.
That photo must have a great power, since when my grandfather came back, they got married.
I wish I had a picture of my grandfather, he was very alluring and elegant too. I think that my aesthetic taste comes from the observation of my grandparents. Both of them really represent a model to me.

Preparing for a late night...

I am from the north bank of the Appomattox River

Because of this, and because of my appreciation of the old-fashioned letter in the mail, I was rewarded with a surprise today. I was smiling and jumping up and down when I reached inside the old mailbox and pulled out a package from "Snail Mail Eddie."

THANK YOU KIND SIR!

NY Times T Magazine writes about Maria Callas @ the Italian Cultural Institute

Big thank you to William Van Meter & NY Times T Magazine for this piece on the exhibition I am working on for the Italian Cultural Institute.

Maria Callas. Photo by Cecil Beaton.

By WILLIAM VAN METER

In a world where Miley Cyrus is considered a diva, a stroll through “Maria Callas: A Woman, a Voice, a Myth” is a refreshing detour. Now here is a woman who was both talent and tempest.

The exhibition, at Los Angeles’s Italian Cultural Institute, is composed of artifacts from Callas’s life both onstage and off. Standouts include the costume jewelry she wore in her role as Medea — golden chains adorned with archaic totems of bull’s heads and horned gods — and the black velvet Yves Saint Laurent gown from her master class. Also on display is Callas’s correspondence and her personal wardrobe, which was often as dramatic and regal as her opera regalia; she had a penchant for capes and caftans. Read more…

"DUAL" DIRECTED BY ALIA RAZA FOR ODILON

We screened the short film "Dual" by Alia Raza during Odilon's autum/winter 2010 presentation @ the Eighth Veil gallery in Hollywood last Wednesday to a fantastic crowd of editors, stylists, artists, and the like. We were very pleased with this review of the fall collection by Booth Moore and Adam Tschorn of the LA Times. (check some of the collection and what they had to say here). More to come this week from other esteemed press...

Direction Alia Raza / Featuring Alli Cripe & Annakim Violette / Production Stacey Clark & Jessica Trent / Editing Maximilla Lukacs / Original Score Street Tribes / Creative Direction Jessica Trent / Direction of Photography Shaheen Seth / Makeup William Lemon III / Wardrobe Harold Kuhn / Clothing and bags ODILON

The piece was a collaborative effort of artists, and despite the short turn-around time and the pelting rays of the desert sun, it was one of those experiences where things just flowed well with the group both on site and back here in LA for all of the editing and coordination of the presentation. Of course we wish we could have had more time, done more, shot more, and the ideas keep coming. We ran out to the desert just hours after the 4.8 earthquake where we shot our post-apocalyptic short right on the San Andreas fault by the Salton Sea (about 45 minutes past the ideallic town of Palm Springs). Those shots of dead fish are what line the immense shoreline of what was once a booming resort. I stumbled upon this place 3 or 4 years ago while on a solo soul-searching mission. Not the place to find the meaning of life, but a cool place to shoot.

We made the very dog and vegetarian friendly Ace hotel our headquarters for this trp. (I LOVE the ACE!!) Vita Coco water kept us all hydrated, thankfully!

Click here for more on Odilon and Stacey Clark.

"Dual," a film by Alia Raza, comments on destructive competition with primal, animal-like intimidation as well as cooperative competition for mutual survival in a post-apocalyptic world. Filmed on the San Andreas Fault surrounded by the biological decay of the Salton Sea, artist Annakim Violette plays a character that is the creation of synthetic biology seeking to transinfect and overtake a human played by Alli Cripe. The two battle against and with one another in Odilon's taupe-hued nylon-coated jersey skin suits and stiff hooded shells of translucent nylon-coated spider web organza. The nuclear orange undercoat of a rabbit fur and washed leather jacket grounds the primal human aspect while Odilon's signature ball-bag becomes a weapon. Artist William Lemon III painted the faces of the film's characters to punctuate the cooperation of a new nomadic tribe.

Alia Raza
Alia Raza is a filmmaker and artist based in New York and Los Angeles. Raza's work blends cinema and time-based video, dealing with themes that include self-presentation and its related anxieties, and the influence of contemporary culture and consumerism on self-identity. Her work (which has featured performances by Sebastien Andrieu, Devendra Banhart, Christopher Bollen, Jorge Elbrecht, Karen Elson, Patrik Ervell, Sarah Sophie Flicker, Tavi Gevinson, Liz Goldwyn, Kim Gordon, Elizabeth Hart, Damian Kulash, Lykke Li, JenaMalone, Margherita Missoni, Julia Restoin Roitfeld, Chloe Sevigny, Becky Stark, Arden Wohl) has been shown in screenings and events at the Palais de Tokyo in Paris, Greene Naftali, Moeller Snow, Renwick Gallery, Scope Art Fair, Kreilling & Dodd, LA> www.aliaraza.com

The ultimate

Fernand Khnopff. 1896.

Deutsch: Kunst (Die Zärtlichkeit der Sphinx)

English: The Sphinx, or, The Caresses

Looks a bit Bowie, no?

Desert Boots. Salton Sea. Palm Springs.

Beach Birds: Merce Cunningham

www.merce.org

Happy fade

Fade into you

Adieu a la nuit

I've carried around this album for 15 or more years....

Moonburn

With Ezrabear & Ninacat tomorrow night. Will you be there?