Inspiration 1.14.11

Yohji Yamamoto catalogue cover, 1986.

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Coveting 10.13.10

Dear Gareth Pugh,

If you could just messenger me over the following looks from your new collection, that would be great. You’ve even sold me on the colour white.

Smooches!

Alex

(Seriously, I would sell my baby brother for this jacket.  Sorry Charles. I love you and all, but I’m a sucker for asymmetrical closures and interesting peplums.)

Sleek, black, vaguely armour-like. WANT.

Disco cyborg. Hate the leggings, covet the dress.

This is so cool and android-at-a-Ren-faire-y. I want to twirl around in it.

I think my other brother might have to be exchanged for this jacket. Sorry, Max. Your charms are no match for metallic drapey awesomeness.

So, Gareth, what do you think? Do we have a deal? My undying love and two brothers in exchange for your awesome clothing?

What do you mean, it doesn’t sound like you’re getting much out of it?

So cruel of you, Gareth. I thought you were better than that.

[via where you will also find awesome menswear looks which I ignored in my selfish focus on my own imaginary wardrobe.]

And inspiration to revisit the collection thanks to Gene!

 

Inspiration 9.20.10

I’m so very much in love with this page from Vogue Hommes Japan 5. I’m completely inspired by the palette, with the shades of cream and pink and red against the charcoals and other shades of gray. It’s a very painterly effect– I had to hold the screen of my laptop to make sure it was in fact a photograph and not a painting, and I’m still inclined to hedge. I love the androgyny of the model, with the almost surprising discovery that he is male despite the pinks and the sheers and the lace and his delicate arm. It’s Caravaggio with a splatter of yellow and a grey fuzzy toy stuck into the frame. Instead, just good ol’ Matthew Stone, who I want to revisit later. I’m almost tempted to go track down the magazine for the sole purpose of tearing this page out to put up on my wall. Gorgeous.

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PS, because I like to overshare and you are big boys and girls who can click on something else if you don’t care: Now that I’m in Parts European, the number order for the date caused me AAAAGONY, hopeless neurotic that I am. 9.20.10 or 20.9.10? All those silly little differences that never even come close to entering one’s thoughts are now ISSUES for me. I really need a life. Anyone hiring? Pretty please?

Stuff of Nightmares

So, this is apparently the week when I steal inspiration from my friends.  I got an email this morning pointing me towards Juxtapoz Magazine’s blog post about Takato Yamamoto’s amazing artwork, and ever since I’ve been obsessed, doing nothing but look through page after page of his paintings. This was rendered slightly sketchy, due to the fact that I was at work and a great deal of his pieces are inspired by Japanese rope bondage and S&M. I kept accidentally clicking on the bad ones just as my supervisor was walking by. Sigh.

Disregard of being thought the office perv aside, what attracts me so much to Yamamoto’s paintings is the dreamlike combination of elements to be found in them. As I said, a lot of them draw inspiration from S&M (not many of the ones I’ve put up here, as I didn’t have time to study those as much to see if I liked them.) The influence of that and other erotica is definitely felt, but I’m much more interested in the images from folklore and horror conventions. The drawing style also reads to me as quintessentially Japanese, the tight lines and small details simultaneously evoking things as wide-ranging as horror manga, tattoo art and Hokusai. I love the use of anatomy, the organic details, the mysterious looming presence of the moon. I also love the intensity and simplicity of his palette (which I just wrote as palate– though with drawings like these one might wonder if he can stomach things, or if he is plagued by the monsters he creates.)

I’ve put up a lot of pictures, but it was very hard to edit it down to even this. I strongly urge you to go look at his works elsewhere and see what other things he has to offer. Everything is basically along these lines, but the variations can be rather glorious.

 

Horror take on Little Red Riding Hood. I love it, queasily. Look at the blood spatters on the post and her leg. I’m so curious, but I’m not even sure I want to know what happened there.

He makes it weirdly beautiful, right?

The blog post also features a pretty interesting interview with him, so I urge you to check it out.

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I love these pictures of dancers. The lights and movement make them look almost abstracted. The gauziness of the skirts is just amplified. Gorgeous!

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Channelling…

 

That’s it. This woman is going to be my inspiration today, red chiffon wrap, bored look and all. I do think her look is just what I need to add some zing to my day. What is a “Snow-Ball of Fire”, anyway? I’m intrigued but slightly terrified.

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Guy Bourdin

Garance just wrote about going to see an exhibition of Guy Bourdin‘s videos. Guy is one of my favourite photographers, so I thought I’d take the opportunity of being reminded of him to put up one of my favourites of his photos. It always surprises me how fresh his photographs look. This one seems to be telling a story that’s half Thelma and Louise, half Max Headroom. I love the retro-futuristic vibe of the sunglasses.

This was shot for Vogue, but I sadly don’t know any more information about when where who why how. It was a surprisingly hard picture to track down. His pictures are splayed all over web, but they tend to be the more shock-to-the-gut nekkid-lady style photos he is more known for. It’s also really really hard to google. Result is, alas, no information. I’m guessing Vogue Paris, late  1980s? Regardless, a really awesome picture. I want to hang out with these girls. Hand over the sunglasses, and we’ll see what trouble we can get ourselves into.

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Silver and Red

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In the running for best movie poster ever.

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Mmm…

One of my favourite looks from AW09/10. Insane asylum-chic, with a little pinch of Renaissance Faire/fairy thrown in. Oh, Ann, I love you so.

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