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I can't get enough of the wonderful Advanced Style blog. Not only does it illustrate how individual style can be inspiring later in life, it's full of wisdom from all kinds of golden girls. I particularly liked The New 90 Year Old post featuring this video with the sprightly Ilona Royce Smithkin.
When it comes to writing about Grace Jones, I just need to quote Andy Warhol: "I never read, I just look at the pictures." I could write too many words about this amazing woman and her indomitable style, but I'd rather let the pictures do the talking. Let me say this first, though: a certain modern pop-star's "original" style comes to mind when I look at vintage photos of Grace Jones, who was a TRUE style originator. I just want it to be in your mind the next time you check out this other, much ballyhooed reigning pop queen or hear people freaking out about her latest funny hat, bondage, and crazy makeup choices--I want you to remember that she copped it (which is cool and all). But the inspiration is clearly all Grace.
Those are tears in the above photos. TEARS, people! Who does that for real anymore?
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"Breakin' is a memory."
FADE IN: Venice Beach, 1986. Perma-tan, pec-olated newbie Corey (aka Josh Brolin) is all about gnarly shreds and bitchin' threads. Despite his Teen Beat preen, he's a serious skater determined to win the local downhill competition as well as the continued admiration of his harmless gang of florescent foals, The Ramp Locals. One day at the beach, amidst the fading glory of breakdancing's heyday, Corey stumbles across Chrissy, a midwestern blonde with lazy eyelashes and one serious fetish for pastel.
ENTER: The Daggers, a hardcore "LOCALS ONLY!" skate crew ready to pummel all outsiders, "Valley jerks", and dudes like Corey with feathered hair. Too bad Chrissy's bro, Hook, is Dagger head honcho or else these two love pups would immediately roll off into the California sunset. Instead, boy fights and turf-wars ensue.
CO-STARS: Sherilyn Fenn as the goth-punk girlfriend of Chrissy's brother Hook, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers as everyone's favorite neighborhood band.
FUN FACTS: Johnny Depp was cast (I'm assuming in the role of Hook) along with his then-girlfriend Sherilyn Fenn only later to be dropped by the producer. Thrashin' marked the debut of Catherine Hardwicke, who served as the film's production designer.
STYLE: Graffiti punk, headbands, ripped Converse, Siouxsie and the Banshees t-shirts, white nails, and a whole lotta face paint.
Smart, hilarious, prickly, weird, articulate, silly, inappropriate, familiar, inspiring, singular, nutzo, and really freakin' wonderful. These are just a few of the words I can think of to describe Alex Ross Perry's The Color Wheel which I saw last night at BAMcinemaFest. Directed by Perry and co-written by Carlen Altman, the film is shot on 16mm in black and white (because it "was cheaper," Perry said) and follows a brother and sister on a weekend road trip gone awry. I don't want to give anything away, but last night's packed house of uproarious laughter later dissolved into one of the best cases of uncomfortable audience silence I've ever experienced in le cinema. My two word review? LOVED IT.
I've said this before, but Carlen is one of the funniest people I've met in NYC. Besides doing stand-up comedy and performing in other people's indie films, she also makes guinea pig fashion videos and sells her jewelry collection of Jewish rosaries and Moses rings to places like Colette in Paris. She's also a fearless performer who isn't afraid to throw her rollicking personality into her work. She and Alex co-wrote The Color Wheel together with Alex penning the script first and Carlen rewriting all of her character's dialogue. Together they have an infectious chemistry both on and off the page, all witty banter and infuriating eye rolls punctuating their characters emotional distance from one another.
The two first met at a stand-up night and recognized similar sensibilities in one another. It was a case of "oh, we should make a movie together" and then actually following through with it. As Carlen said last night, "It feels good to finally finish something," which I'm sure many of us can relate to. Alex mentioned that he'd seen 179 movies at BAM and that it was a dream fulfilled to finally have his own film screen there. I was totally inspired afterwards, especially after they both thanked the audience adding that everyone should go out there and make what they want to make. Here's hoping they make more.
If I had to choose one store in which to blow a ton of money I don't have, I would--without hesitation--throw it all away at LN-CC, aka Late Night Chameleon Cafe. Pretty much ground zero for the heppest of hep-cats in East London (and many a celebrity who book private appointments), LN-CC is a Kubrick-esque concept store, web shop, library, basement club, music hub, and mini style museum. I'm going to go ahead and declare it the coolest store in the world right now, because you know what? IT IS.
Launched in September 2010, LN-CC is the brainchild of seasoned buyers John Skelton and Dan Mitchell (formerly of Harrods and Oki-Ni). Boasting innovative and hard to find labels like Damir Doma, P.A.M, Saskia Diez, Folk, Tze Goh, and footwear brands like Silent and Yuketen, LN-CC takes their retail concept further by stocking art books, zines, and music. They also host DJ nights and art openings such as this month's Richie Culver exhibit and have recently introduced a sort of "thank you to our International customers" contest that will give away a free trip to London plus a £15,000 shopping spree at the store.
A place for inspiration as much as retail-ization, the LN-CC store itself is a dramatically minimal wonder. From a caged hallway tunnel to a series of individual rooms linked via untreated wood, soft lit concrete, and gravel pathways, it's a lifestyle store unlike any other. Here's a peek inside...
The Earth Room
The Light Room
The Library
The Warmth Room
Items from my wish list...
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"I don't do minimal."
I'm not alone when I say that octogenarian style-icon Iris Apfel is one of my heroes. A longtime New Yorker and polymathic aesthete, she lives her life in BOLD. From a legendary wardrobe bursting with eclectic accessories and whimsical ensembles that has been celebrated by the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute to her maximalist taste in interior design, the world Ms. Apfel has created for herself is utterly unique and entirely her own. She seems to relish living life by her own rules.
I've always wanted to know what Ms. Apfel's Manhattan apartment looks like, and this month's issue of Architectural Digest gives us a rare peek into her home life. It's just as I imagined and more. I especially loved learning more about her history, specifically that she used to be a copy girl:
"But after landing her first job as a $15-a-week copy girl at Women's Wear Daily, she figured out that advancement there was blocked because the editors she hoped to someday replace were, as she puts it, 'either too old to get pregnant or too young to die.'"
True words, even to this day. Perhaps inspiration for those of us who want to live by our own rules or break out and do something by ourselves in a different way. I don't know about you, but I think our world needs more color, whimsy, and individual exuberance. Also, gigantic glasses and multiple brooches on one lapel. I love you, Iris!
Photos via Architectural Digest
Tonight I will be spending the night--the entire night--with 499 people at the New York Public Library as part of a game called Find the Future, a game we have no idea how to play. All we know is that tomorrow morning, at 6 a.m., we will emerge all bleary-eyed and triumphant onto the Fifth Avenue sidewalk brandishing new titles: Published Authors. What we write tonight, together, will be a book about our future. We think. We have no clue! What we do know is that we'll be writing something unprecedented and monumental. And what we complete will be published by the NYPL to be kept in its archives forever.
Needless to say, I'm still freaking out about getting to be a part of this. To enter, you had to write an essay discussing how you want to make history and change the world by finishing the statement: "By the year 2021, I will become the first person to..." I wrote about wanting to tell the story of my immigrant history spanning three cultures, two continents, and one woman. I want to tell this story through writing, film, and performance. I want to tell it with the curiosity of youth and the mark of age. I want to encourage other women to look way back into their pasts and find the ghosts with something to say, the women whose voices were silenced or never deemed worthy enough to be heard.
I hope I can start this process tonight tucked into a cozy corner or splayed out on that glorious marble three floors above 42nd and 5th. I hope I can leave something there that those who come after me can read 100 years from now. My family is the reason I do this, and I thank them for not only encouraging me to take part in this game but for sparking my interest in where I come from in the first place.
Starting Saturday, everyone will be able to take part in the Find the Future game online. You can also help the NYPL celebrate their centennial by checking out a new exhibit featuring pieces from their vast collection such as a John Keats letter to Fanny Brawne, journals from Jack Kerouac and Virginia Woolf, a copy of the Declaration of Independence written in Thomas Jefferson's hand, and Charles Dickens's letter opener featuring his pet cat Bob's taxidermied paw as a handle. Here are a few photos I took yesterday during one of their free, daily tours.
The Carl H. Pforzheimer Collection of Shelley and His Circle, a repository for the study of English Romanticism.
Charles Dickens's letter opener with cat paw handle.
A hidden reading room, one I plan on haunting tonight.
The journal and personal belongings of Jack Kerouac.
A doll's casket.
The entrance to the New York Public Library.
Please help support the NYPL and all local libraries!
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The buzz around Cannes this year hasn't all been surrounding a certain dogmatic filmmaker. Critics are shifting their attention towards Spanish filmmaker (and my personal fave) Pedro Almodóvar's latest "horror film without screams or frights," The Skin I Live In. Adapted from Thierry Jonquet's novel, Tarantula, it's a tale of plastic surgery obsession gone awry, and in literary form at least, is described as a "poisoned bonbon" of a story. Um, yes please!
The film reunites Almodóvar with former male muse, Antonio Banderas, whose career he launched back in the late 1980s and with whom he hasn't worked in 21 years. Cannes critics suggest not letting anyone tell you much about it (which defeats the purpose of a review telling you all about it then I guess), and most have praised both the "magnificent" direction and "creepy" turn by Banderas. Unfortunately, we have to wait until November for this goodness, but here are a few photos and a trailer to tantalize us until then.
