A Casual Day

The talented Lance Drake popped by on a cozy & casual Hollywood afternoon. He always mesmerizes my regal rescue beasts Mimi & Callie :) (The vintage leopard booties are from SCOUT on Cherokee Ave in Hollywood.)

Will Lemon III @ Eighth Veil. NY Times T Magazine

Excited to have been working for some time with fellow Libra creative inspirer/collaborator Will Lemon III on his show @ Eighth Veil gallery here in LA, as well as some other projects such as the Odilon A/W 2010 film with Alia Raza and a very cool project coming up in the future.

Come check out his closing night performance on the full moon of August 24th @ 8PM! Eighth Veil. 7174 Sunset Blvd. LA

FULL ARTICLE: http://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/04/los-angeles-dispatch-will-lemon-at-eighth-veil-gallery/

I can't thank journalist Steffie Nelson and the staff at the NY Times enough. Thrilled with the piece! Thank you! Snippet from the article below:

The comparison was clear at Lemon’s multimedia exhibition, “Parcival vs. the Sun,” which opened recently at the Eighth Veil gallery in Hollywood and attracted artists, architects, fashion designers and stylists, along with friends and collaborators like Devendra Banhart (a guest musician on “VII Acts”), Thomas Bangalter of Daft Punk and Paul Hahn, who runs the band’s production company Daft Arts. They all gathered under a series of large canvas tapestries and looked through a limited-edition book printed by the gallery’s publishing house. Lemon’s intricate, colorful designs depicting the quest of the knight Parcival to find his true self included motifs that are echoed in his skin-printing work.

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The custom linen cloak that Will wore in the performance was a collaboration with Cavern Collection

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Erin Garcia is the amazing sound designer Will collaborated with to compose the piece for the performance. Erin is also a drummer in the band Widows. They met last year when Will recorded & co-produced with Erin a cover of David Bowie's "African Night Flight" with Aska Matsumiya for an upcoming Manimal Vinyl Bowie tribute record.

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The exhibition is inspired in part by the senses. Thanks to IZZE soda (we REALLY love the new ginger flavor) and Lorenza Rose for their beautiful contribution to the sense of taste for the opening night beverages.

California Design Biennial Opens this Weekend!

I am excited to see the work of all of the amazing designers who have been selected to be in the California Design Biennial at the Pasadena Museum of California Art, which opens this weekend. Its an honor to be on the host committee for the opening alongside so many amazing people I respect, especially as your Virginia/LA Steel Magnolia has only been living in this big city for 3 years.

The LA Times Booth Moore did a great preview on the fashion portion of the exhibition, and I truly look forward to seeing the other categories. The fashion category is curated by the ever so lovely and brilliant Rose Apodaca.

From the press release:

The curators, all design experts, will place the work in a context for the viewer that facilitates a deeper and richer understanding of the design that surrounds them every day. Curators include Louise Sandhaus, graphic designer and California Institute of the Arts professor; Rose Apodaca, pop culture and fashion journalist, and former Women’s Wear Daily West Coast Bureau Chief; Stewart Reed, head of Transportation Design at Art Center College of Design; Frances Anderton, Los Angeles Dwell editor and host of KCRW's DnA: Design and Architecture; and Alissa Walker, freelance design journalist for publications such as Good, Fast Company, and Core77.

I encourage you to come!

Saturday, July 17, 2010, 7:00 – 10:00 pm
Opening Reception for California Design Biennial: Action/Reaction
$5 admission, Free for PMCA Members

Gaetano Pesce @ Italian Cultural Institute LA. NY Times T Mag

Click HERE for the article by Brooke Hodege, curator of one of my most favorite exhibitions at MOCA in the past several years, "Skin + Bones: Parallel Practices in Fashion and Architecture."

Harper's Bazaar: Milla Jovovich in AND_i & Costume Dept

Costume Dept. leggings.

Shot here in LA at the end of January, Harper's Bazaar pulled leggings from Los Angeles-based Costume Dept. and avant-garde accessories from Vienna, Austria-based AND_i from our office for fashion Director Kenneth Goh's "Burberry space-age diner waitress" April 2010 cover & 8-page editorial with the lovely actress Milla Jovovich.

The shoot was photographed by Simon Upton for Harper's Bazaar Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Taiwan and Korea editions.

AND_i headpiece and bracelets.

I have't found the issues here yet, but here are some images as well as paparazzi shots. The main apparel is all by Burberry. Thank you to Hachy Mendez, Rebecca Alexis, and Kenneth Goh.


PAPARAZZI SHOTS:

Kenneth Goh with Milla wearing Costume Dept. leggings.

AND_i headpiece and bracelets.

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…

The latest project: Leonardo da Vinci & Bill Viola

Its been days of little sleep, great espresso, and impassioned meetings with fantastic Italians about this incredible exhibition which opens to the public on December 3rd. This is a RARE opportunity to be close to Leonardo's work in a very intimate setting alongside the contemporary video work of Bill Viola. A very smart and interesting contrast.

There is very much an Italian connection right now. I left the Istituto Italiano di Cultura this afternoon where we were meeting about the opening event, and then Fedexed a great deal of beautiful clothing samples from my designers to Vogue Italia for another shoot with Steven Meisel.

Detail from Leonardo da Vinci's "The Angel in the Flesh" Istituto Italiano di Cultura.
The Last Angel, Bill Viola, 2002, video, 9:00 min, Studio Bill Viola.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
LOS ANGELES, CA— November, 25, 2009—The controversial drawing the “Angel in the Flesh” (c. 1513-1515), discovered in1990, will appear in its unique splendor at the Istituto Italiano di Cultura (Italian Cultural Institute) of Los Angeles December 3-12, 2009. It is a truly historical moment as this is the first time ever that the “Angel in the Flesh” (formerly in the Royal Collection at Windsor Castle) will be shown on the West coast before it returns to Europe. Under the High Patronage of the President of the Republic of Italy and organized in collaboration with the Department of Cultural Affairs of the City of Los Angeles, Leonardo da Vinci and Bill Viola’s exhibition concludes the 9th Italian Language Week dedicated to Arts, Science and Technology.

Drawn with black chalk on rough, blue paper, like many of Leonardo's late anatomy studies in Windsor, the “Angel in the Flesh” is a masterpiece which was the object of scrupulous studies and interpretations by major art historians, psychologists and psychoanalysts.

Also part of the two-week exhibition is Leonardo’s “Theatre Sheet” (c. 1506-1508, from the “Codex Atlanticus”), which includes its two fragments, cut out of it in the late sixteenth century, now next to each other at last. “Theatre Sheet” shows Leonardo as a master in theatrical arts, set design and music.

Installed alongside Leonardo’s works at the Italian Cultural Institute of Los Angeles will be “The Last Angel” (2002) a work featuring slow motion imagery of an angelic figure in water by celebrated video artist Bill Viola, who is also part of MOCA’s new 30th Anniversary exhibition. Starting in the early 1990s Viola created a series of pieces involving figures plunging into and emerging out of a shadowy underwater realm. Representing the threshold between birth and death, the undulating surface of the water and its reflective properties were transformed into a moving image canvas where time and space were inverted and reversed. “The Last Angel” is the final work in this series. It is kindly lent to the exhibition by Bill Viola Studio.

The exhibition is free and open to the public December 3-12, 2009 10AM-6PM daily.
Italian Cultural Institute of Los Angeles 1023 Hilgard Avenue (Westwood) Los Angeles, CA 90024

Vogue Italia loves LA Designers

Costume Dept. "Grand Floral" leggings, left. Laura Kranitz headpiece, right.

Costume Dept. white lace leggings. Laura Kranitz headpiece. The lighting in this shot...the beautiful red and contrast of those white lace leggings. Kill me with joy ;)

October Vogue Italia was near impossible to find for some reason. But we kept stalking her, we had to find her. I had a search team. And viola, here she is with 2 of our LA loveys: accessories designer Laura Kranitz and women's/unisexy Costume Dept. We've all been waiting for 4 months to see how this shoot came together and what made it through to final edit. Also some great shots with Jeremy Scott--especially loving the mouse hands coat. Photographed by Steven Meisel. Styled by the incredible Lori Goldstein.

You think you know LA fashion? This is it people, and so much more to come!

REGGIE CASAGRANDE // PARADISE LOST: EXTENDED THROUGH NEXT WEEKEND

The first solo exhibition of Reggie Casagrande's work has had such a terrific response that we have extended the show until Halloween weekend.OCT. 17 TO OCT. 30, 2009. Gallery hours are Tuesday-Saturday 12-6 or by appointment.

6020 Wilshire Blvd. (across from BCAM at LACMA) Los Angeles, CA 90036

Paradise Lost tells a story of Miami’s most explosive decade. In the late seventies Miami re-emerged as a cocaine-ridden city of drugs and violence. Debaucherous discothèques, palatial mansions, exotic car dealerships, and international banks defined the new space that would become the future of contemporary South Florida. This body of work features photography, film, mirrored etchings, and works on paper exploring the themes of power, desire and destruction. Historical figures like cigarette boat king Don Aronow, drug queenpin Griselda Blanco and celluloid icon Tony Montana all worked well as symbols of empty promise. A passion for true crime and the current level of greed and corruption in our culture provided timely inspiration. “I figured it was a loose metaphor, much like the poem Paradise Lost by John Milton (1667) about the fall of man,” says Casagrande.

In the glamour of the night, the mirrored squares circling the dance floor create a fleeting contradiction between fantasy and reality. The power of transformation, and the popularity of cocaine’s anxiety ridden nature framed my decision to work within the notion of mirrors and perception.

The grid pattern’s allusive nature creates a linear abstraction reducing the space down to a single square. The square becomes a ring, the ring becomes a battle, and within this square is a spectacle of power. A dance unfolds where power and morality are on the line until a new opponent emerges in victory. -- Paul Mittleman, curator, Paradise Lost.

http://www.reggiecasagrande.com


Reggie Casagrande crew opening night.... It was a long week for all but so excited for Reggie to see this come to fruition for her. I met Reggie about 8 years ago when we hired her to shoot an ad campaign for the brand I was working for. I had seen her work in Paper magazine and thought she had such a cool POV. She was one of the first friendly faces from my former life that I saw once I moved to LA and I feel lucky to know this amazing woman.