November 2007
Veronique Branquinho’s Icing on the Cake
In the words of Sebastian Love from Little Britain "Oooh man, I love the cake!"…
…well, you would love the cake if it was printed with images from the new A Magazine, curated by Veronique Branquinho who celebrates 10 years in the fashion business this year. As the president over this year’s Arts of Fashion competition in Miami, Veronique Branquinho was invited out there and I had the pleasure of meeting her. She was feted with a very Miami-style reception at a trendy bar (the usage of trendy in this case is not so much positive as the bar was a little on the over-precious side… I got the impression, Veronique would have had a far better time at a more intimate and down-to-earth venue…) and also in a showy style, ten of the Miami Uni students came parading out each holding an A4 sized cake, printed on with images from the magazine, lighted with a single candle.
Needless to say, there was a lot of leftover cake… I scoffed a bit… delicious… made more so by the imprinted images perhaps?
Of course, I can’t be banging on about the effing cake when there’s Branquinho’s contribution to fashion to be talked about. After hearing Ann Claes, who is responsible for the marketing at Veronique Branquinho talk a little about how a young designer makes herself known at the conferences (which I followed with a very horrific discussion about fashion blogs…), it is clear that Branquinho’s work speaks for itself rather without the help of any clever marketing strategies. The one store in Antwerp, select stockists, catwalk shows that are discreet as opposed to attention-grabbing and clothes that remain in people’s wardrobes for a longer length of time than one season. These are all familiar traits of Antwerp-based designers that aren’t after limelight and if they are, they want the light to be shining on their work as opposed to the face and the persona of the designer. Clicking through the images of 10 years worth of collections from both womens and menswear, there is change, there is experimentation but never veering too far away from what Branquinho has in mind for her ideal women and men. Elegance and quiet beauty is what people normally associate with Branquinho’s clothes but when you look at her backcatalogue of work, she seems to explore an array of facets and styles to a great degree of success because she never takes the exploration to extreme degrees.
Notes about said magazine which we were consuming heavily (both through the cake and reading the magazine…): I get feverishly excited about the arrival of every issue of A magazine with past curators including Martine Sitbon, Yohji Yamamoto and Martin Margiela, only because each issue is like a scrapbook of the designers’ head. The artists, photographers, music and films they enjoy. How they personally wish to see their collections presented as opposed to how another stylist/photographer interprets them. So Veronique likes a sophisticated man tinged with nostalgia wearing her menswear…
She likes Serkan Cuba and Romain Brau masks…
Women wandering lost in the woodlands is a recurring image…
Her parents’ house is filled with the kitschiest collection of nick nacks and she has an admiration for Tim Burton…
Source: Veronique Branquinho’s Icing on the Cake
“The Streit Goods” Kelly featured in October’s issue of Avenue Magazine 2007
Photography by Geoff Barrenger 
Source: “The Streit Goods” Kelly featured in October’s issue of Avenue Magazine 2007
Yea or Nay: The Fiorenza Headboard
From a reader:
Dear BS:
A few days ago, I saw your post about making your own headboard. I’m not that crafty, but I’m thinking about getting this headboard from Target. I’d love it if you could ask everybody if they think it is cool or really bad. I’m conflicted!
Love,
G.
Well now! We are so pleased to be speaking with someone who is sharing our headboard obsession. Now, about this one in particular: We wish it were … just ever so slightly different. With a border, maybe, or a slightly smaller print. That said, with simple (extreeeeeemely simple) bedding, we could be totally supportive. We just wouldn’t want to see that print competing with much else. Especially if that’s a brown and cream—and we think it is—we’d love to see it against a sky blue wall. We’d also want to be sure that the headboard fabric isn’t scratchy. We hate it when we’re trying to go to sleep and the headboard fabric is all weird and plastic-y.
Well, that sounded very princessy. Who else has an opinion on this headboard for G.?
Source: Yea or Nay: The Fiorenza Headboard
Are Pakistan’s Lawyers As Hot As Burma’s Monks? [Polls]
Is it too obvious that our initial reaction to all those shots of lawyers in protest of military rule in Pakistan was, “Umm that’s sort of hot!” a thought that led immediately to the query, “But are they as hot as those monks protesting military rule in Burma a month back?” Of course it is! And would it be kind of TMZ of us to run a thoroughly meaningless poll wondering what you think about this pressing issue? Very much so! Someone “had” to do it though! The fact is, there are two groups of pretty notably fine dressed men in Asia right now marching unarmed down city streets this season, most in support of women leaders, and their outfits indicates something about them: they’re not only willing to get the shit kicked out of them by meatheads, they are special. They’re not zealots or nutjobs or powermongers, but some of their respective countries’ most neutral, levelheaded guys, and the outfits reflect that. Among other things!
So the only question left — beyond, you know, whether it’s possible to simultaneously promote democracy and stability and economic growth in impoverished and often hyper-religious Third World countries — is, you know, some less tacky iteration of the “who would you rather?” dilemma. Which is why we exist.
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Source: Are Pakistan’s Lawyers As Hot As Burma’s Monks? [Polls]
Additional: Pearls and Ropes
As I was flying out Westbound towards Miami two Saturdays ago, Eastbound in sunny Athens, Filep Motwary and Maria Mastori were busy preparing for their collaborative show as part of Athens Fashion Week. I previewed Motwary’s SS08 collection a while back and it was a shock to see the clothes hyper-styled on the catwalk as the change in mood, feeling and aesthetic was so dramatic. Maria Mastori’s accessorising were all inspired by the inside of a shell and used sailor’s ropes, silver and gigantic pearls to construct jewellery and body pieces. It’s just as well that Motwary’s softly curved satin/cotton pieces and clean palette of navy and cream, have the ability to handle the addition of these STRONG accessories. In reality, the clothes are beautiful worn solo because Motwary has juxtaposed the lux sheens of fabrics with the louche shapes perfectly, but then again, what is shown on the catwalk is like the alternative fantasy vision, complete with partially black painted faces and white glasses. However, I’m the sort of person would be most happy to go with the exaggerated catwalk vision so Mastori’s giant rope coils and huge glossy pearls sewn on fishnet tights and bodies aren’t so far-fetched as real-life accessories. Due to the prim image of pearls in general, I tend to want to go oversized with them or overload on pearl strands so Mastori has got the mind cogging with her playful/provocative oversized embellishments.
Source: Additional: Pearls and Ropes
Hotel Chocolat Story
All good stories need a bad guy, an antagonist who sparks the action. For us that bad guy was the mediocre quality of chocolate available in UK stores. So, 15 years ago, co-founders Angus Thirlwell and Peter Harris embarked on a journey to do something about it.
Starting as a mail order catalog business, we began making our brand of exclusive chocolates available to UK consumers for the first time. An award-winning website soon followed and in 2004 the first of many Hotel Chocolat retail stores appeared across the UK. The company and their chocolate have a loyal following all over the world, and have established a presence in the United States to better serve the American chocolate connoisseur.
The combination of authentic, premium ingredients with plenty of imagination and flair is something we’re passionately committed to. And it’s a position that we have strengthened by growing our own cocoa at our historic plantation, Rabot Estate in St Lucia. This exciting step allows us to extend our expertise all the way from the bean to the bar – making a unique connection between you the consumer and the cocoa plantation.
We think that chocolate should be exciting, whether you’re having some quiet me-time, or making someone’s day with a gift. For us, chocolate made with passion and imagination is more than just chocolate – it’s a state of mind, a place, a feeling that can take you on a journey. Where you go is entirely up to you…
The pure Chocolat here
Source: Hotel Chocolat Story
Feminists Might Like Hillary, Or Not [Presidential Politics]
One of the major narratives surround Hillary’s run for the White House is that some women like Hillary and others don’t. While this story at least gets a bunch of supposed feminists to weigh in on her gender and her “feminism,” it doesn’t manage to find one that will actually weigh in on things like not kicking Bill to the curb, her actual positions on so-called feminist issues or anything like that, let alone one who says she’s not voting for Hillary. They probably should have talked to us last week! But I have been mulling over Hillary for a good long while, and I consider myself a feminist, so my thoughts on her are after the jump.
As a Senator, Hillary has surrounded herself with at least as many Kool-Aid drinking staff at George Bush. They are notoriously difficult to talk to or get in touch with, they aren’t always helpful when constituents come to town, and they’re more than happy to call you when you have something they want and then never return a phone call when you’re looking for some information. From my perspective, this doesn’t bode well for her being a significantly different style of President than GWB — just a different set of politics in the same kind of President. Good policy doesn’t come from an echo chamber of sycophants, as many people have pointed out in the last (almost) 7 years.
Furthermore, I think she’s squishy on the issues. I know as well as anyone that politicians are all about triangulation and she’s made an art of it. But, personally, I would rather disagree with a politician on an issue because it is a matter of conscience for them (and thus know that they have an actual conscience) than to have someone who tells me they’ll just do whatever the polls say most people want. I am far more comfortable with someone with a conscience making decisions than I am entrusting my government to people with nothing more than great political minds.
Finally, and this comes from a place of deep pain, I am concerned that Hillary could end up being the feminist equivalent of a shande far di goyim, in a way that I don’t feel that Barack Obama would be to the African-American community. I think that Hillary has the capacity to be a decent President (although, not a great one) and an equal capacity to be the President that a generation of people point to and says “that’s why” the next time a woman runs. I personally think that, for all Obama’s flaws as a candidate, he just doesn’t have the capacity to fuck things up for other candidates of color down the line as Hillary does for women.
Plus, I don’t vote for female candidates just to vote for a woman.
U.S. Feminists Weigh Vote For Clinton [MSNBC]
Source: Feminists Might Like Hillary, Or Not [Presidential Politics]
Beauty News: Makeup Junkie Interviews Celebrity Makeup Artist Michael DeVellis at CMS!
As most of you know the Canadian Makeup Show is coming up this November 10 and 11 at Kool Haus! Exciting! What’s even more exciting is that I will have a chance to have a one-on-one interview with The Powder Group founder himself Michael DeVellis!! We’ve been emailing each other back and forth for months now that I feel like I kind of know him! If you’re not familiar with his fabulousness then shame on you! He is not only the founder of The Powder Group but also The Makeup Show and the soon to launch On Makeup Magazine! As the former Executive Director of Artist Relations at M.A.C. Cosmetics and 14 years in the industry I think he knows a thing or two about being successful makeup artist. For an industry that can be harsh at times, he’s created a makeup artist community where artists can connect with each other and learn a few things from one another. But TPG isn’t just for makeup artists. TPG concept: they want to be your resource for everything makeup. Through Michael’s roster of talented makeup artists and some of the biggest names in the industry (Billy B.!), he’s created seminars and workshops covering everything from technique to business. I think it’s fantastic that he cares so much about the art and the people behind it.
Michael will be speaking at 12 pm November 10 in the seminar room about The Portfolio and Marketing Workshop. This is a wonderful seminar for those starting out in the makeup industry or needing a refresher. If you have any questions you would like me to ask him, please leave me a comment for consideration! I’m sure he’d love to hear from the readers. As excited as I am, I’m also VERY nervous but hopefully my interviews with Eddie Maleterre and Eric Del Monaco have prepared me enough! Fingers crossed! Stay tuned for the interview and for coverage of CMS!here.
Source: Beauty News: Makeup Junkie Interviews Celebrity Makeup Artist Michael DeVellis at CMS!
Not just for women
I have always looked at menswear with respect and admiration. Those are two of the reasons why I have never talked about it here before. Apart from my lack of knowledge…
The thing is, I LOVE menswear. Actually, at my dream job, I would style a rock band shoot. Clearly, Lasse, The Rakes’ drummer, wouldn’t need my help. He exudes style!
Song: Don’t be cruel - Elvis Presley
Source: Not just for women
I’m Starting The South Beach Diet [Burning The Scale]
I’ve been doing Atkins for seven months now, and I’ve reached a stall that has lasted at least four. I’ve heard some good things about the South Beach diet, so I’ve decided to start Phase 1 on Monday.
The South Beach diet is focused on “good” fats and carbs and is broken up into three phases. In Phase 1, grains, fruit and alcohol are prohibited. This is where I’m starting tomorrow and will stay there for 2 weeks. Phase 2 allows back some fruit, whole grains, and red wine, and Phase 3 is the maintainance phase that is the most lenient. This is where you would ideally stay for life.
I’d like to lose about 15 pounds, and I’ll keep you updated each Monday. I’m hoping this will break the stall I’ve experienced doing Atkins.
Have any of you tried the South Beach diet? What were your results? Let me know!
Claire
Atkins, carbs, fat, phase 1, phase 2, South Beach Diet, stall, weight loss
Source: I’m Starting The South Beach Diet [Burning The Scale]