Have been stalking Coco Sumner for a couple of years now, and love this acoustic performance of I Blame Coco’s “Selfmachine”. I feel that what I’ve heard of her band’s new material is pop-heavy and less endearing than her earlier work. Coco is magic with just her voice and guitar, extracted from the pop template:

Please come to Seattle, Coco.

Fernanda Yamamoto’s Summer 2011 collection is sweet to both mind and eye. Her debut at São Paulo Fashion Week earlier this month is an interpretation of aerial photos of the city. “I was inspired by the city of São Paulo but looked at it from a different point of view. The clouds played an important role in the inspiration, specifically because I looked at some images of clouds reflected in buildings.”

Fernanda Yamamoto Summer 2011

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“Ends are ape-chosen; only the means are man’s.”

I love this line. It’s from Aldous Huxley’s Ape and Essence, which I’m reading now:

Ape and Essence, Aldous Huxley’s lesser-known dystopian sci-fi novel published in 1948.

In Ape and Essence Huxley anticipates the central theme (or rather the central warning) of a book I just finished called, The Dying Self by Charles M. Fair. The Dying Self (1969) is as uplifting as the title suggests and is a loud reaction to the spirit of the times. However, Fair’s hypothesis is interesting, his references are encyclopedic and he uses some creative language. Some choice phrases: “gray intermediate mass”, “Man the Anxious Amorph” and “formal time zero”. Good stuff.

Diego Diaz’s photographs are washed in a dreamy light. The overtones of much of his work reflect the essence of Màlaga, Spain - his hometown and biggest inspiration.

“Out of Paparazzi” by Diego Diaz

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Recently learned of the South African label Black Coffee through the May-June 2010 issue of National Geographic Traveler magazine. Jacques van der Watt and Danica Lepen have designed some great coats for their Fall/Winter 2010 collection that are worth a look. A sample below from the February show at Bryant Park:

Bella Naija has a good summary of the collection as well as many more quality photos like those above.

Halfway through Céline’s Death on the Installment Plan the ellipses started floating under my eyelids like retinal flotsam. I needed a break, a breezy intermission. Browsing the stacks I came across Richard Fariña’s Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up to Me:

My copy of Richard Fariña’s Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up to Me. New York: Dell Publishing, 1969

Oh yeah. I keep meaning to read that. It’s got a Pynchon quote on the back. As it turns out, Been Down So Long has some of the most haunting prose I’ve ever read. Why did I neglect this book for so long?

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Came across the stunning Icelandic model Svala Lind while slouching around the Internet:

Photo of Svala Lind by Kristinn Magnússon for Icelandic label Kow, detail

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A little late to the party as her show was last September, but I love the following photos of Nadia Napreychikov’s designs for her graduate collection:

Getting a Dovima vibe from Nadia Napreychikov’s graduate show design detail

A look from Nadia Napreychikov’s RMIT University graduate collection

From Nadia Napreychikov’s RMIT University graduate collection, detail


A look from Nadia Napreychikov’s RMIT University graduate collection

Napreychikov’s statement regarding her graduate collection via RMIT University:

“An assessment of the common understanding of footwear; this collection is a materialization of a widespread obsession with shoes. Shoes are no longer simply garments worn on ones feet, an accessory, or an object of triviality. They become their own entity – the stars of the show.”

Equally awesome is her blog, Di$count. The rest of her wonderful collection can be found there and is not to be missed.

After seeing that Spin Magazine included supermodel Karen Elson’s performance at SxSW as a “Best Moment“, I got curious. I first came across Elson in a musical capacity several years ago with Melissa Auf der Maur covering Danzig’s “Devil’s Plaything”. Elson has improved since then. “The Ghost Who Walks” is a very pretty song, and her album releases May 25th on husband Jack White’s Third Man Records.

photo of Karen Elson by David Swanson

The Autumn/Winter 2010/11 shows at Paris Fashion Week come - for better or worse - leather bound. Also, “tribe” and “tribal” are words that often get tossed about in reference to this season’s collections. Sarah Mower of Style.com quoted Rick Owens as saying that his women are, ‘a sect of nuns with inner discipline’. Well, naturally I think Dune:

Punk Bene Gesserits at the Rick Owens A/W 2010/11 show

All photos from Style.com

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