Ah, bad puns! Anyway, one of my favorite shows of New York last season was undoubtedly Y-3, Yohji Yamamoto’s line for Adidas. His namesake label has lots of draped, loose clothing, and the clothes for Y-3 usually carry the same free-spirited feel. This season was no exception – fun, colorful, everything I guess you would expect from Yohji Yamamoto when he’s making sportswear. It’s very interesting to see a conceptual designer’s idea of more wearable practicality, and to see one make their inspiration more literal – this time, soccer, which included goal net mesh dresses (a bright pink one was my favorite piece from the collection, along with white leather strappy wedges-I am team Nineties Minimalism, all the way) and a soccer net even dropped down from the ceiling for the finale…
All around, lots of fun! I am awful at sports but maybe I will consider joining a school team if it means an excuse to buy one of these dresses (which I’m sure are totally necessary for volleyball, right?):
After writing my last post on Alan Aldridge, I remembered that my dad showed me a few years ago a book of Beatles lyrics, illustrated. BEING THE GENIUS THAT I AM I realized it was the same dude! So I asked him to find the book, which he did, and could I keep it, which I can’t, and well then could I keep it on my bookshelf, which I can (basically I’ll wait until he forgets that he owns it and bring it to college with me.) It’s from around the time it first came out, too (1969-also the year my dad went to Woodstock-God, he is such a hippie!) so all the pages are brown and make the psychedelic-ness feel kind of warm and sweet.
I took lots of pictures but these are my favorites, and I think the ones that best show how broad his technique was in illustrating the songs-drawing, watercolors, clay, photography, and more. Most of the interpretations are very literal when they need to be; others add to the mystery of its corresponding lyrics, allowing the reader to draw their own interpretations from the combined views of the artist and the songwriters. I didn’t find any Aldridge’s work to take away from the songs.
(Oh, and may I highly suggest that you click the pictures and then click “All Sizes” on the Flickr page-TOTALLY worth it/necessary for many of these.)
The Beatles Illustrated Lyrics by Alan Aldridge.
It has a short intro in the beginning, which I truthfully haven’t read yet…
When I’m Sixty-Four
Only a Northern Song, Blackbird
These pages especially surprised me…the simple drawing with humor that is unlike Aldridge’s usual type of obscene, erotic kind. And the simple blackbird in watercolors.
I Will; Here, There, and Everywhere
E
We Can Work it Out; Nowhere Man
I’m Only Sleeping, Love me Do
**EXCELLENT HAND-MODELING RECOGNITION**
Ahem.
Baby, You’re a Rich Man; Yesterday
Small (and relevant!) fact about Yesterday: Before he had the lyrics for it, Paul McCartney referred to this song as “Scrambled Eggs” because he didn’t know what it would actually be about.
Day Tripper
Eleanor Rigby
With a Little Help From my Friends; Run for Your Life
John Lennon later said that he hated “Run for Your Life”…I really have to agree, it is the only Beatles song I really do hate and feel disgusted listening to.
A Who’s-who and What’s-what of Mega Illustration.
A
Hey Bulldog, It’s All Too Much, All Together Now, P.S. I Love You
She played Mayella Ewell in To Kill a Mockingbird. Strange to come home to see that her death was confirmed by her husband around the same time we watched this movie in school. I wish this clip showed the rest of her scene because her bit was the most powerful part of the movie.
I just love this color combination and raw, natural-feeling textures mixed with quiet glitz.
Ryan McGinley’s moonmilk, jewels at Lanvin Spring 2010, leaping lizards at Alexander McQueen Spring 2010, Converge’s Axe to Fall cover art, Ruth Gordon in Rosemary’s Baby, stills from Spike Jonze’s Where the Wild Things Are.
During a season where everyone else seems to be focused on a lighter shade of Spring, Kate and Laura Mulleavy have gone rather dark. The imaginations of these two sisters are always widespread, and were this season, as well — the inspiration was condors, vultures, and girls that burn in the desert and become vultures. A very dramatic collection, the clothes were shades of primarily black and red, and there was of course the mixture of different textures and fabrics that has become a huge part of the quickly developed Rodarte aesthetic. And along with the fog, the lights, the Nicholas Kirkwood shoes of steel, arm tattoos inspired by LA gang girls, and strings of blood-like string trailing from the body, there were also these more homely fabrics: plaids, cheesecloths, and what looks like a soft burlap. A bit like the sisters themselves. While their imaginations and inspirations take them everywhere, both girls remain very down-to-earth. A dramatic collection for Spring, but much more natural feeling than a number of other shows. And the moment the first model glided down the runway in a dress made out of burnt fabrics with a streak of lime running through her chest, even the show goers that fake-coughed at the fog and tried to act unimpressed by the setting were instantly drawn in and wide eyed.
Last season, Marc Jacobs was a solid flashback to the 80’s and not much else. His recent Spring 2010 collection, however, can’t be retraced to just one idea. References came from everywhere this time, and quickly brought the plain white box of the Armory in New York City, where Jacobs held the show, to life.
So, what were all these references? I myself thought it was very geisha-circus-mermaid-pajamas-ballet class, obviously very girly and, of course, a bit granny. Marc Jacobs really is the king of making the kooky old lady look “work” for younger women, and the pieces from this collection will look great on anyone from a lady in her 20’s to her 70’s. In fact, I think the collection could even look decent on somebody in her 13’s! Hint, hint. HINT. (Also, I would love to see BryanBoy and Jean Paul Paula rocking these pieces as well.)
The styling is so SO inspiring.
The collection wasn’t very flashy, especially not after the shiny 80’s redoux of last season, where the inspiration was very literally interpreted. This time things were a little bit more “off,” much to my own glee and squealing as the editors sitting by me look unimpressed. This obviously means the collection wasn’t as glamorous as that 80’s one, or other designers that showed in New York, but who is really dying to be glamorous now when I think it’s safe to say the reign of Last Night’s Party and bandage dresses fit for Winona’s weekly DSYC is over? Jacobs even told style.com he’s tired of seeing young girls in black and studs (which I have to second.) As Donatella Versace recently said, glamor nowadays is all about contradictions. At Marc Jacobs, the silhouettes were awkward yet graceful. Most of the individual pieces were pretty pretty and prim and proper, but the styling made it all a bit disheveled. Sounds like a way more secretive and awesome kind of vavavavoom to me.
So, while Jacobs’s fanny packs and flats might not compliment an outfit full of studded leather as well as shiny leather handbags and 5 inch heels, they are far more impressive when you can pull them off. And I know I would much rather be the awkward fanny-pack-with-flats, ruffle overkill, loads-o-layers show goer than…anything else, really.
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