Wanted to quote Daphne Guinness in a recent article she wrote for the May issue of British Vogue. In the article titled “Shall We Dance” she says this: “The ballgown. A vestige, true, of an aristocratic past, but also for a long time the source of much experimentation in fashion. This was a battlefield where ultimate subversion was made possible in the alteration of this or that facet of a dress. Dresses could cost as much as houses, and small fortunes were spent.”
That is all. That is the post.
Lara Stone photographed wearing Christopher Kane for an editorial for the May issue of Vogue Netherlands. Josh Olins photographs while Gillian Wilkins styles, hair by Sam McKnight, and Lucia Pica does the makeup.
I typically do not like press photos. I think they lack artistic authority. I also hate the idea of a “red carpet” because typically celebrities wear a diluted version of the more editorial pieces seen on the runway and at times it comes off as miscalculated attempt and then designer or the house is blamed. Also I think many celebrities are deficient in the flair of fashion and it is unnerving how invulnerable some of the displays of dress are. It is like they are taking caution for fear of being torn apart by critics and press which indicates a characterless human unwilling to take chances in the category of dress. I say, go for it, try one’s hand at being phenomenal and alluring. Part of fashion is being ridiculed and deemed outlandish by the “unwashed” as I impolitely say. When a celebrity goes the more unpredictable, more glamorous path, they will be canonized and held in incredible esteem by the people who appreciate and care about that sort of thing.
The Metropolitan Museum’s Costume Institute Gala is a “red carpet” that stands apart from the “red carpets” of film premiers, award broadcasts, ballet galas, et cetera. This gala raised funds for the institute but also celebrated an opening of a rather interesting exhibition which is impossible tête-à-tête between designers Miuccia Prada and Elsa Schiaparelli. There was no short of Prada, which had me delighted because there is nothing I love more (besides Marni) than the intellect and perspective of Prada.
As always I wish the attendees dressed more surreal, in keeping with the tune of the exhibit. Yet, you still get columns of monochrome and fluorescents. There were obviously individuals dressed better than some but I don’t believe in best dressed since that title is so subjective. So my preferred are as follows.
Others that I felt were equally stunning was Astrid Bergès-Frisbey, in Chanel Couture, Gary Oldman and Alexandra Edenborough, both in Prada, Anna Wintour, in Prada, Amber Heard in Zac Posen. Two of my favorites that I hold in great regard are Marc Jacobs and Mary-Kate Olsen.
“Every great workof art has two faces, one toward its own time and one toward the future, toward eternity.” - Lester Bangs
This is from the dialogue transcript from the motion picture Billy Elliot.
"To my son, Billy."
"Dear Billy:
I know I must seem like a distant memory to you...
...which is probably a good thing."
"It will have been a long time...
...and I will have missed seeing you grow."
"Missed you crying, laughing...
...and shouting."
"I will have missed telling you off."
"But please know that I was always there."
"With you through everything."
"With you through everything."
"I always will be."
"And I am proud to have known you."
"And I'm proud that you were mine."
"Always be yourself."
"I'll love you forever."
"Mom."
“I think it is unnatural to think that there is such a thing as a blue-sky, white-clouded happy childhood for anybody. Childhood is a very, very tricky business of surviving it. Because if one thing goes wrong or anything goes wrong, and usually something goes wrong, then you are compromised as a human being. You’re going to trip over that for a good part of your life.” - Maurice Sendak
“Regardless of how you feel inside, always try to look like a winner. Even if you are behind, a sustained look of control and confidence can give you a mental edge that results in victory.” - Diane Arbus
Being twenty-one years of age I am unremittingly asked by adults what it is I want to do when I get older, what do I want to be, what am I interested in, and et cetera and so on and so forth. This query always gives me a ludicrous of amount of perturbation and uneasiness. Maybe if I keep writing it will come out, but I am not sure why it is. I feel like the one asking the question gives me that discomfort, it could also be that I do not know it is what I would like to do or to be. Yet, I do know what it is that I like and what I see myself being tremendously excellent at. I just do not know how to clarify it is what I could do with it.
Since I was very young, I have had an allegiance to aesthetics, to dress, to culture, and to grandeur. I am a rather explicit, rather meticulous person. I give serious and outstanding consideration to the details and technicalities of my existence and my surroundings. I make sure everything is exemplary to my personal concept. I have fabricated many versions of myself, many living situations, many ways of life, many polished realms. I am proud to say that I retained, confirmed, endorsed, and continue to labor over these grand reveries and these opulent milieus. I have my own perception of how my life is to look and feel but it does not mean I cannot translate to others who toiled arduously over their own province. As it happens I feel that I can skillfully adapt to other’s environments and help promote their vision. Some may call it fixation and try to inform me in some way that what I devote myself too is trivial but it isn’t so much different because in this world everyone is just looking for solace.
I look at the different publications and magazines I have in piles around my room that I read religiously. There is Muse, Vogue Paris, Vogue Italia, 10, i-D, Purple, W, Another, and Dazed and Confused just to name a few. I consider the vision of the photographer, editors, and stylists and what they wanted to convey to someone like me, an enthusiastic reader in that issue. And then I consider how they communicate their arguments, the information, and their beloved artistic viewpoint to a world outside that doesn’t find Anna Piaggi’s opinion to matter about the most recent Rei Kawakubo show, that Olivier Zahm just looks like a unwashed Serge Gainsbourg, that Terry Richardson is a clearly director of pornography, and Edward Enninful must be insane if he thinks I am going to wear my dress backwards. It is about a viewpoint of being more than utterly outlandish but that change and interruption in the mundane should be instilled in even the slightest detail and that grandeur and allure never abandoned. As always dissimilarity is necessary.
As I finger the rack of clothes in my closet the designers each communicate a different aesthetic, have contrasting convictions, and have an individual response to society but somehow come together to make my wardrobe cohesive and appealing enough. Raf Simons, Marni, Dries Van Noten, Prada, and Marc Jacobs are some of the few designers that suspend from their hangers in my walk-in. When I wear these articles, however I decide to wear them that day they elevate me to a platform where I am assured, confident, fulfilled, composed, and ravishing. By swaddling myself in garments that were designed by individuals whose aesthetic I crave, whose concept I will endorse, whose ideals I consent with, and who make me feel magnificent, I am then adhere to my own artistic milieu. A devotion to set of designers is relevant and not restricting because it allows you to recognize and regard extent of their vision. I have an attachment to Marni because I find it to have an individualistic, artful appeal and I am conscious of the quality. Dries Van Noten is preferred for he is a self-funded independent designer who makes remarkably sentimental clothing that isn’t delicate or unmanly but for vulnerable men. His garments typically are of beautiful fabrics and marvelous embroideries. I gravitate towards the structure of Raf Simons because his menswear is experimental, psychological, and progressive. However, I take these designer pieces and wear them under my discretion because it is the combination with other designers pieces and interesting accessories that provides me with a sense of consolation that I am sustaining my aesthetic. My appearance is something I am always, it is my marquee. I have felt that my mien would be a integral part of my future and career, about who I want to be. I want it to be since I am so enthusiastic about it and that I devote so much time to it.
What and who I surround myself is also an extension of my aesthetic and my aura. This extends to the people I confide in, the music I listen to, the blankets I swathe myself in, the cologne I spray on my chest, and the flowers I choose at the florist and what vase I put them in. I could not understand surrounding yourself with something you do not like or cannot bear to stand any longer, if it is under your jurisdiction. I view my physical surroundings as a broadening of my expression in what I prefer and who I am as a individual inside, as I do with the clothing I wear. I have a penchant for creating atmospheres and sensations with aesthetic. I promote my aesthetic with all the senses.
When people ask what I want to do when I grow older or what I want to be, I tend to toss a few things out there. I study art history, it provides a training for the basis of my personal interests for I feel so much is influenced by art and culture. I want to provide society with a vision whether that be in the form of retail or restaurant. I want to make people try to reason and to contemplate with themselves as well as with others and understand their influence as consumers. I want to dispose of the present way of approaching culture, shopping, dining, dressing, living. I want to curate a way of living that allows people to retain their individuality but also expose them to the experimental and progressive. Most of the population lacking an understanding of sustainability and lasting innovation. I believe it could be expressed to my generation in the correct manner if a younger influence explained and follow through a medium of retail and dining. So that sort of answers the question that people ask me. I still though don’t really have a title for it or what I really want to be precisely. I know though, that I would like to countercultural in some form or another.
Daniel Jackson photographs Ming Xi for the May issue of Vogue China. Tiina Laakkonen styles Ming in Haider Ackermann.
“If you can talk brilliantly about a problem, it can create the consoling illusion that it has been mastered.” - Kubrick
Toni Garn is photographed by Camilla Akrans. Ludicine Poiblanc styles the Vogue Italia beauty supplement.
“I don’t mind if my skull ends up on a shelf as long as it’s got my name on it.” - Debbie Harry
Daniele & Iango photograph the beautiful Natasha Poly for Vogue Japan. George Cortina styles the editorial.
