« July 2009 | Main | September 2009 »
I am having a National Geographic moment and was inpspired by a Youtube video that Michael sent me of amazing portraits of the Omo tribes of Ethiopia.
We often struggle to make the perfect, delicate head wreath for a bride’s flower girl, while the Omo people create these magical headresses that look so effortless. So beautiful . . .
D.
.
.
.
.
.
When I was a student at RISD, I always looked very much forward to the Spring student fashion shows to see what my buddies had been up to during their year in Apparel. The highlight of the show was the sophomore end of year project, the “Innovative,” where each student was required to create a collection out of non-apparel materials. This radical idea has stayed with me till this day and regularly enters my event work where we often repurpose everyday items, giving them a whole new meaning or purpose.
The House of Margiela does this as well in their Artisanal Line 0, creating stunning art pieces that are sold like clothing in their shops. They may not be all that comfortable to wear, but they are certainly inspiring. Check these out below.
Xoxo
D.
Check out these super cool accessories by the House of Margiela. I love all of these jewelry pieces that appear as if they are re-purposed or recycled trash – champagne foils, soda can tabs, wine corks. In fact, they are not disposable at all. Rather, they are valuable gold and silver interpretations. They are something valuable that LOOK like trash. I like that.
And in this newest collaboration between Margiela and biker accessories label, Les Ateliers Ruby, Margiela whites out the iconic helmet and all the members of the Margiela team give their John Hancock (below). There were 600 of these babies created.
I have been obsessed with last season’s trompe-l’oeil women’s shoes and boots too (below).
The below messenger bags (shaped like guitar cases) are funny and fun.
Is the House of Margiela creating fashion or making fun of fashion?
(wink)
D.
Ok . . . so I have to admit that I am a little obsessed with this fashion house, and I have quite a collection of the designer’s clothing from over the years, but the store environments that they create to shop in are fantastically exciting too. This year, the House of Margiela premiered a line of home pieces at the furniture fair in Milan. Whether it was an experiment that will become a reality in the marketplace is one thing, but I was sad that I didn’t get to see it firsthand. I am also sad that I did not get to see the retrospective, celebrating 20 years of Maison Martin Margiela at MoMu in Antwerp. So . . . I am going to do my own little homage today, focusing on interiors. Part 2 and 3 (in the future) will focus on clothing and accessories. There’s too much yummy stuff for one posting, you know?!
I love the whole trompe-l’oeil thing, a frequently used strategy. Note the real wooden floor that has been painted to look like a “real wooden floor.” This is something that we do quite a bit too. Note our real wooden stumps, painted to look like “real wooden stumps” for an event we did for the Sundance Institute (below). It’s turning the tables; I love the wink and nudge of it all. You see fake things all the time that are trying to be real – fake Louis Vuitton bags on Canal Street, fake Rolex watches, but it is funny to see a real thing, posing as a real thing.
The wine bottle lamps (below) have been staples of the store interiors for years. A couple of years ago, I was sent a holiday gift from the New York team, thanking me for being a good customer. It was a bottle of champagne entirely painted over in their signature gesso, making the bubbly incognito, and rendering the bottle unusable. Thus, a standard gift, a bottle of spirits, is transformed into an art piece.
Painting everything over in matte white until something is “anonymous” is the method de rigueur in the shops. I am not attributing the painting to “they” or the house because there is something about the way it is done which makes you feel that everything is naturally the way it is. You don’t feel the hand of the person who does the painting or the obscuring. Rather, you feel as if everything has always been that way. Often times, materials that are of value (leather), that “should” never be painted over are painted over. Note the leather chairs below that have been erased in white gesso. The furniture naturally rises out of years of painting jeans and shoes and coats.
When not painted, furniture is often wrapped in white muslin slipcovers. Some of the most inane objects are also covered in white slip covers (hangers, for instance). And often, multiple objects, grouped together, have one single slip cover that is made for the objects as a unit. See the vignette of mannequins below, sheathed as one as well as the various seats in a line that have a single cover that unifies.
The New York store has a tiny room whose walls are upholstered in egg cartons and the jewelry collection is shown off to great effect in there. It is a brilliant amalgam of trash and chic all at once. I couldn’t find any pictures of it, but go check it out. Of course, I wish I had thought of that one. It’s so perfectly inane. And I love that they have the audacity to display and sell some of the most expensive clothing and items around in a setting that is anything but. Once again, it is not what you use, but how you use it that wins the race. It’s so inspiring for me to learn from others that do it so brilliantly and fearlessly. Merci Monsieur Margiela.
Xoxo
D.
Robert and I took a ride to Garrison, New York the weekend before last and toured Manitoga, the home and studio of the iconic 40’s and 50’s industrial designer Russel Wright. It was a real pain to find (once again, we owe that to Map Quest’s less than dreamy directions), but we made the tour in just the nick of time. And BOY, WAS IT WORTH IT! The grounds were incredible, the house and studio incredible. RUN. DON”T WALK, kids!
Of course, I knew Russel Wright for the above ceramics. In college, my friend James had an incredible collection, and that was my first introduction. But I didn’t realize he was such a nature lover too. Try to find his home in the picture below. Wright was playing “Where’s Waldo” long before there was a “Where’s Waldo” as it was really important for him to integrate his home into the grounds with the least impact on the land. Perhaps his roof was one of the first “green” roofs ever with grasses and then sedum planted on the entire, flat rooftop? His natural concerns in the 50’s and 60’s were so ahead of his time. So many of his personal design concerns from that period are in vogue right now. Pretty cool.
He “encouraged” moss gardens (below). I didn’t know anything so yummy was growing in the northeast.
A couple of years back, I had been obsessed with moss patches. Note our moss “wall,” created for an event for the Turner Networks (below).
The house itself (below) was kind of like a cross between Falling Water and perhaps the Eames home in California. He brought the outside inside and the glass walls blurred those boundaries. Natural boulders, tree trunks, bark covered doors, stone door knobs, and other sensitive surprises were juxtaposed to the iconic and mass produced furniture of the times from companies like Herman Miller. Of course, Russel Wright’s tableware graced the kitchen.
The below screen of butterflies, pressed between a filmy plexi created a pocket door to the bathroom in the house (right). Doorknobs were surprising moments. A carved face here, an actual stone from the woods there, become tactile experiences, not just utilitarian features (left).
Wright’s studio (below) was in a separate wing of the house. The male guests stayed here. The female guests stayed in the “Harem Wing” of the main house. (wink!)
You need to make a reservation to tour the house. It is well worth it. Without a reservation, you can hike the grounds of the property. I believe there are 60 or 80 miles of trails. But if you go there, it would be a shame to not peek inside Wright’s sanctuary and mind. You know what I mean?
D.