the rackit

2011-01-04T14:40:00.000-08:00

China Here I Come

2010-11-10T12:40:00.001-08:00

2010-11-05T15:26:00.000-07:00

People go through periods where they try on different closes like hairstyles. “Norman used to use ‘Cheers,’ and I tried to appropriate it when he died,” the writer and artist Norris Church Mailer said of her husband, Norman Mailer. “It just wasn’t me.” For now, Ms. Mailer is sticking with the lowercase xx — “which are not really kisses but a placeholder, as if I don’t really know how I feel about this person, and they can apply whatever meaning they choose.” But Ms. Mailer did approve of the signoff I was currently trying on, “Be Fabulous.”

“I love that!” she said. “Of course, I’ve lived in Provincetown for the past 35 years.”

via

Living in Margiela

2010-11-01T19:49:00.000-07:00

via Nowness

A Hazy Shade of Winter

2010-11-01T17:27:00.001-07:00

Janz & Cooper

2010-10-22T07:55:00.000-07:00

Some seriously sick shades...

Photos via Style Bubble

Denim at Dries SS11

2010-10-22T07:53:00.000-07:00

Photos via Jak & Jil

2010-10-20T06:47:00.000-07:00

Fall's must-have fabric: fur, preferably worn long, over-sized and paired with a wide brim hat. [via Elle's November Issue]

Dandelion Lights

2010-10-13T12:37:00.000-07:00

Gorgeous. [via]

2010-10-13T11:58:00.000-07:00

From Garry Winogrand's 'Women Are Beautiful,' which my mom gave me at 18. [via]

Rainy Day Listening

2010-10-06T10:59:00.001-07:00

2010-10-03T18:38:00.000-07:00

"The Bosom Is Back." Check out my latest piece in the Wall Street Journal this weekend.

2010-10-01T10:36:00.000-07:00

Amazing rugs. [via]

2010-09-30T10:58:00.001-07:00

Listen up

2010-09-24T12:11:00.000-07:00

Paintings from the amazingly (multi-)talented Michelle Antonisse.

2010-09-21T14:46:00.001-07:00

I'm now on Tumblr with The Rackit! To find out more about the latter, click here.

Come to this...

2010-09-20T12:15:00.001-07:00

To find out more about the super fantastic 5 brands that I'm including you'll have to show up and see for yourself.

2010-09-19T10:48:00.000-07:00

[via]

2010-09-17T19:20:00.001-07:00

Olivier Zahm x Zadig & Voltaire @ Le Bain for Style.com here

2010-09-14T12:06:00.001-07:00

Check out my What It's Really Like to Work For Marc, on Style.com. Yes, that's me at the launch last night in a killer turban thanks to Yestadt Millinery.

2010-09-13T09:05:00.000-07:00

Cathy Horyn on Alexander Wang SS11...

Mr. Wang is not a great designer, though he probably would be happy to accept any laurels that people want to toss him, but he is clearly a shrewd guy.

Unlike some of his dreamy peers, he decided at the outset to make affordable clothes. That’s the traditional, pre-Internet way to reach a lot of people. He also must have sensed that fashion’s memory hole was widening in direct proportion to the numbers of young people Googling his name. The designs were cool, but they didn’t have to stand up to much scrutiny — hey, didn’t Marni do those pants last season? — so long as the stuff was widely and easily available. Mr. Wang doesn’t really have courage in the traditional sense of trying something new and difficult, but he does have China. Nearly all of his clothing is now produced there.

... The collection downloaded the ideas of designers like Ann Demeulemeester and Issey Miyake — naturally, without their sense of energy and intuition — and for that reason, despite some cute looks, the show was a little boring.

But don’t fret for the 26-year-old Mr. Wang: the combined whiplash of globalization and the Internet all but guarantees that these clothes will look new to someone.

2010-09-13T08:47:00.001-07:00

So far a bit of fashion week coverage for Style.com (here, here and here) and for BlackBook (all here).

Collier Campbell

2010-09-09T20:57:00.001-07:00

[via]

Legs & shoes

2010-09-08T09:23:00.000-07:00

Love this series from Kathy Lo...

2010-08-25T16:50:00.000-07:00

Actually, it’s a subject with no clear conclusions. I could tell from my conversations with fashion house executives, like Shirley Cook of Proenza Schouler, that online shopping and information is forcing designers to be better designers — sharper and more competitive. But the landscape presents weird paradoxes. Candace Corlett, a partner at WSL Strategic Retail in New York, made me laugh when she pointed out that designers are all focused on their runway shows, comparing the collections to exquisite, “well-crafted sentences,” and yet, more and more, young women are putting their trust in peer reviews with bad grammar and haul videos shot in messy bedrooms.

-Cathy Horyn's "Girl's Rules For Fall"

Dear John

2010-08-25T09:32:00.000-07:00

[via]

2010-08-24T19:13:00.001-07:00

A must-read on the overexposure of luxury brands via portholes like Gilt Groupe as well as the growing appetite for ‘the next big thing’ at the Huffington Post here.

2010-08-23T18:14:00.000-07:00

The one and only Audrey. [via]

Burning Man Inspiration, Part 1

2010-08-16T14:19:00.001-07:00

2010-08-13T12:03:00.001-07:00

Great editorial in the new Dazed & Confused...

[via]

2010-08-09T11:50:00.000-07:00

More fashion bloggers are looking to get paid for product coverage, says Fashionista in light of conversations at the recent BlogHer conference.

Meanwhile, PSFK has an interesting piece on CMP.ly, which "aims to provide bloggers and advertisers with a set of easily identifiable disclosures and codes that can be used to identify any material connections in blog posts, tweets or other communications," here.

2010-08-09T10:55:00.001-07:00

2010-08-06T14:09:00.000-07:00

As if Celine FW10 wasn't enough to get one revved up for a 70s comeback, there's this recent editorial from Vogue Turkey...

2010-08-05T15:55:00.001-07:00

[via]

2010-08-04T23:25:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite places I have ever visited: architect Luis Barragon's house in Mexico City...

[via]

2010-08-04T23:16:00.001-07:00

"When all else is lost, the future still remains." -- Christian Nevell Bovee (1820-1904)

2010-08-04T21:27:00.001-07:00

2010-08-04T21:16:00.001-07:00

[via]

Missing Miami...

2010-08-02T09:58:00.000-07:00

2010-08-02T09:11:00.000-07:00

I first came across Dan Hillier's arresting work in a small boutique in Paris last summer. The London-based artist has lent his images to London Fashion Week and sells prints of his evocative, enigmatic etchings on his namesake website. But, now Hillier is offering an even more economical way to nab his work: canvas totes.

2010-07-26T08:49:00.001-07:00

Check out the latest issue of Amsterdam boutique Tenue de Nîmes' journal, Journal de Nîmes, here.

2010-07-26T08:42:00.000-07:00

Just did a piece on The Webster's new surf-themed pop-up shop, curated by Timothee Verrecchia. Check it out on Nowness.com.

2010-07-16T15:36:00.000-07:00

"Cultural insecurity begets its linguistic doppelgänger. The same is true of technical advance. In a world of Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter (not to mention texting), pithy allusion substitutes for exposition. Where once the Internet seemed an opportunity for unrestricted communication, the increasingly commercial bias of the medium—”I am what I buy”—brings impoverishment of its own. My children observe of their own generation that the communicative shorthand of their hardware has begun to seep into communication itself: “people talk like texts.”

This ought to worry us. When words lose their integrity so do the ideas they express. If we privilege personal expression over formal convention, then we are privatizing language no less than we have privatized so much else. “When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less.” “The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make words mean so many different things.” Alice was right: the outcome is anarchy." --Tony Judt

[via]

2010-07-15T23:25:00.001-07:00

I'm very proud to be a part of the newly launched online publication The Wild. There is some incredible talent involved in the debut issue, which just hit the web. Check out my piece on designer Siki Im here and the rest of the stellar stories and images at TheWildMagazine.com.

2010-07-13T09:58:00.000-07:00

Marmol Radziner prefab. Yes, please.

2010-07-12T19:13:00.001-07:00

If you are in LA this Saturday, this looks awesome...

2010-07-08T12:40:00.001-07:00

[via]

2010-07-07T12:38:00.000-07:00

2010-07-07T08:30:00.000-07:00

Amy Odell on Lady Gaga's on stage ensembles losing their luster...

"And that feeling is important, not only for the three-figure-minimum tickets, but especially as Miley Cyrus sheds her stage clothes and Madonna rolls out a line of juniors' clothes inspired by her breakout ultrasexualized self. Meanwhile, the top designers of the world, judging by their fall and resort clothes, are hell-bent on dressing mature, if not necessarily old, women. Women with careers, in all likelihood, with much more to pride themselves on than ass cheeks. Lady Gaga may represent just one example of why designers took that turn. Inspiration and empowerment are not built on a mysterious combination of leotards, glitter, weird capes, and V-cleavage. Sometimes conservative clothes just do the job better. That was probably one reason why Gaga's Cousin It–esque 'Monster' costume was our favorite outfit of the whole night."

[via]

Standard Finery

2010-06-28T17:34:00.001-07:00

More here...

2010-06-28T13:15:00.000-07:00

My latest for Style.com, featuring the always lovely Jon Hamm.

I almost forgot...

2010-06-24T14:35:00.000-07:00

I'm in the New York Times today! For the photo slideshow or to see it in the virtual flesh, head here.

2010-06-24T11:52:00.000-07:00

"“Women are looking very young. Imagine if a man is married to a 65-year-old who is platinum blonde, with huge lips and high heels — what are you going to wear as a man next to her when you go out? Can you still wear that black suit?” he said. “It’s the same woman you’ve been married to for forty-five years, but now she wants to look like her daughter. So how do you dress as a man? Do you want to look like her grandfather?” --Alber Elbaz in a NYT story today on the prolific gender bending on men's SS11 runways (shows for which just wrapped in Milan and kicked off in Paris yesterday).

I love that the quote above raises great points about the drastic changes we're seeing in both men's and women's wear. This relatively newfound interest men's wear has in the other gender (which I too wrote about yesterday) can't be talked about without touching on the new trend of the 'retrosexual.' The latter is best described as an averse reaction to 'metrosexual' that includes mustaches, flannel and other classical masculine touches by way of suspenders, bowties or frequenting old school barber shops (which are likewise sprouting up by the dozen). Want more proof that men are moving toward the Paul Bunyan look en masse? Gilt Man is selling ax slings. After all, today's fashion savvy male consumer not only shops flash sample sales in his spare time, he gets off on chopping wood.

2010-06-24T11:29:00.000-07:00

Artist Niels Helmink's visual homage to the dying business that is 'Mom & Pop' shops...

[via]

2010-06-23T10:45:00.000-07:00

Big fan of Bambi...

[via]

2010-06-22T19:51:00.000-07:00

Ann Demeulemeester, Dries Van Noten and Rick Owens, respectively. All via Mona Moore.

2010-06-22T19:37:00.000-07:00

[via]

2010-06-18T17:45:00.000-07:00

My latest for Style.com: Shareen Vintage Pops Up At Madewell

Best speech ever...

2010-06-18T13:12:00.001-07:00

Riccardo's Done It Again

2010-06-17T14:21:00.000-07:00

Cannot stop drooling over Givenchy's gorgeous Pre-Spring 2011 collection...

2010-06-15T12:55:00.000-07:00

Me, just off Zuma beach, come Saturday... [via]

2010-06-14T15:18:00.000-07:00

Really want to see this...

2010-06-11T12:51:00.000-07:00

Winner of the 2010 Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize for a Documentary, RESTREPO chronicles the deployment of a U.S. platoon of courageous American soldiers in Afghanistan's Korengal Valley, considered to be one of the most dangerous postings in the U.S. military.

Great interview with the filmmakers here:

2010-06-11T11:23:00.000-07:00

[via]

Better late than never...

2010-06-09T20:42:00.001-07:00

I wrote a little something for the Guardian; it appeared in the newspaper this past Sunday and is available here.

2010-06-09T16:30:00.000-07:00

A little home inspiration...

[via]

[via]

[via]

2010-06-09T16:28:00.001-07:00

Vintage Brad [via]

2010-06-09T15:29:00.000-07:00

I wanna see this...

2010-06-09T12:41:00.000-07:00

Head over to Sight Unseen for a fantastic visual tour of the studio of two of my favorite designers: the Campana brothers.

2010-06-08T10:59:00.000-07:00

Sorcha

2010-06-03T12:02:00.000-07:00

[via]

2010-06-03T11:19:00.001-07:00

2010-06-03T11:11:00.001-07:00

Abortion Foes Advance Cause At Every Level: why the fight for women to have ownership over their respective reproductive rights is nowhere near over.

2010-06-03T11:07:00.000-07:00

Debating between these two super cool iPhone/iPod cases from artist Yellena James... [via]

2010-06-03T11:05:00.000-07:00

Yes, please. [via]

2010-06-02T19:05:00.001-07:00

Making Waves: Dustin Humphrey, my latest piece for Interview can be found here

2010-06-02T12:01:00.001-07:00

Turns out I share my name with an extremely influential Russian Rock band that was formed the same year that I was born. Learn something new every day...

2010-06-02T11:58:00.000-07:00

The obvious choice for how to organize my Google RSS reader's feeds.

2010-05-25T10:59:00.000-07:00

First Mayle, now Lyell. So very sad to see another great Elizabeth Street mainstay go...

2010-05-25T08:46:00.000-07:00

[via]

2010-05-24T09:37:00.000-07:00

LCD put on quite the show last night. 3 down so far this year and still couldn't be more excited to catch them June 4 at Palladium in LA.

[via]

2010-05-13T09:30:00.000-07:00

A peek inside Net-A-Porter's lovely London office, where everyone gets a double screen. [via]

Masculin/Feminin

2010-05-12T17:02:00.001-07:00

Smoker's delight: this Margiela smoking shirt and these antique Whiting and Davis cigarette and lighter cases.

2010-05-12T15:28:00.000-07:00

Yes, please. [via]

2010-05-12T10:21:00.001-07:00

A few more geodesic domes (forgive my current obsession)...

2010-05-12T10:13:00.000-07:00

A peek into Lisa Eisner's exhibit, Psychonaut, currently on view at Los Angeles' M+B Gallery . Nowness talks to the perfumer responsible for the transcending aromas that fill the room and, particularly, the beautiful geodesic dome.

2010-05-11T16:34:00.001-07:00

These will never get old.

2010-05-11T15:41:00.001-07:00

[via]

Kanye West's House

2010-05-11T12:58:00.000-07:00

Been dreaming of a stuffed animal Campana Brothers chair for far too long. More photos of West's not surprisingly, extremely impressive abode here.

2010-05-11T12:45:00.000-07:00

The one and only Isabella Rosselini is at it again with the all-new series of shorts, "Seduce Me."

2010-05-11T12:36:00.000-07:00

Surely the chicest Petanque set money can buy. [via]

2010-05-11T09:59:00.000-07:00

Well worth the 12 minutes. [via]

2010-05-10T10:25:00.001-07:00

Just started reading Gary Taubes' Good Calories, Bad Calories last night and already totally hooked. It raises a wealth of interesting questions about the links between diet and health, as well as the exponentially increasing rates of obesity and diabetes in this country. I highly recommend.

I Miss Cyndi

2010-05-10T10:23:00.001-07:00

"I may have contradicted myself. My problem isn't actually with Lady Gaga. But there's not much in her music to distinguish it from other glossy, formulaic pop. She just happens to wear slightly weirder outfits than Britney Spears. But they're not that weird — they're mostly just skimpy. She's fully marketing her body/sexuality; she's just doing it while wearing, like, a 'fierce' telephone hair-hat. Her sexuality has no scuzziness, no frank raunchiness, in the way that, say, Peaches, or even Grace Jones, have — she's Arty Spice! And, meanwhile, she seems to take herself so oddly seriously, the way she talks about her music in the third person, like she's Brecht or something. She just makes me miss Cyndi Lauper."

-Joanna Newsom on Lady Gaga

Attn: NYC Cinephiles

2010-05-07T11:11:00.000-07:00

A complete copy of the classic film Metropolis has been found in Argentina... Film Forum in NYC is showing the complete film starting tonight (through May 20). [via]

2010-05-07T10:12:00.000-07:00

Simple tips on how to protect yourself from Nicholas Kristof's op-ed, "New Alarm Bells About Chemicals and Cancer," in the New York Times this week...

¶Particularly when pregnant and when children are small, choose foods, toys and garden products with fewer endocrine disruptors or other toxins. (Information about products is at www.cosmeticsdatabase.com or www.healthystuff.org.)

¶For those whose jobs may expose them to chemicals, remove shoes when entering the house and wash work clothes separately from the rest of the laundry.

¶Filter drinking water.

¶Store water in glass or stainless steel containers, or in plastics that don’t contain BPA or phthalates (chemicals used to soften plastics). Microwave food in ceramic or glass containers.

¶Give preference to food grown without pesticides, chemical fertilizers and growth hormones. Avoid meats that are cooked well-done.

¶Check radon levels in your home. Radon is a natural source of radiation linked to cancer.

2010-05-05T10:21:00.000-07:00

[via]

2010-05-04T15:09:00.000-07:00

New stuff on Style.com...

Spike Jonze's New Cast

Et Tu, Brvtvs?

2010-05-04T15:05:00.000-07:00

Ksubi is making a comeback...

2010-04-28T00:57:00.001-07:00

[via]