Analogue Chic

Archive for the ‘Personalities’ Category

StyleWeek Providence is an independent, non-profit organization established to connect buyers and the press—along with the public—with the finest design talent from Providence and the surrounding New England area. A true celebration of style and culture, the week includes both formal fashion shows and community-wide events. The inaugural StyleWeek Providence will be held June 6 – 12, 2010.

Image: Nirva Derbekyan

Modeled on major fashion weeks in cities like New York, Milan and Paris, StyleWeek Providence showcases both new and well established designers. While set in Providence, New England’s Creative Capital, StyleWeek Providence focuses on the entire region—featuring designers from throughout the Northeast, and inviting buyers and media from New England, New York and key national markets.

Two designers with Connecticut ties will be among the 15 chosen to show their creations to buyers and media at StyleWeek’s formal fashion shows.

Former Farmington, Conn. resident Maya Luz, a star on this season’s Project Runway, and New Haven area native Kelly Eident have joined the StyleWeek Providence prestigious roster of fashion designers.

StyleWeek is produced by Miamore Communications.

And, dear Analoguistes, I will be reporting for The Mercurial from the Thursday evening shows featuring Nirva Derbekyan, and David Yoo for Andrea Valentini!  So bookmark it, or stay tuned here for the link.

Photo: Leon Levinstein, via Metropolitan Museum.

I’ve added a couple of US and international fashion-related exhibits to my post from last week. Take a look:

If you’re traveling this summer, check out one of these fashion-related exhibits in the US and Europe.  If you know of any others, drop me a line, and I’ll add them here.  [Updated 6/6; 6/17; 7/12]

NYC

Metropolitan Museum, Costume Institute

May 5, 2010–August 15, 2010

American Woman: Fashioning a National Identity

[...] the first Costume Institute exhibition drawn from the newly established Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at the Met. It explores developing perceptions of the modern American woman from 1890 to 1940 and how they have affected the way American women are seen today. Focusing on archetypes of American femininity through dress, the exhibition reveals how the American woman initiated style revolutions that mirrored her social, political, and sexual emancipation. "Gibson Girls," "Bohemians," and "Screen Sirens," among others, helped lay the foundation for today’s American woman.

Metropolitan Museum, Howard Gilman Gallery

June 8, 2010 – October 17, 2010

Hipsters, Hustlers, and Handball Players: Leon Levinstein’s New York Photographs, 1950–1980

Born in West Virginia in 1910, Levinstein moved to New York in 1946 and spent the next thirty-five years obsessively photographing strangers on the streets of his adopted home. Early in his career, Levinstein was quoted in Photography Annual 1955: "In my photographs I want to look at life—at the commonplace things as if I just turned a corner and ran into them for the first time." With daring and dedication to his subject, Levinstein captured the denizens of New York City at extremely close range. He used his superb sense of composition to frame the faces, flesh, poses, and movements of his fellow city dwellers in their myriad guises: sunbathers, young couples, children, businessmen, beggars, prostitutes, proselytizers, society ladies, and characters of all stripes.

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As per usual, when I want my camera, I don’t have it; and when I do have my camera, I don’t need it so it just weighs down my bag until I take it out again.  I don’t understand this curse…

Today I finally met lovely Valerie (gosh, I hope I remembered her name correctly…) at the library– I have seen her before around town, and recognized her by her awesome sneakers. Unfortunately, her great juxtaposition of colors and prints must suffer to be captured by my crummy phone camera.

Valerie is rocking a pink tee with blue and white floral capris.  Her black and pink cheetah print sneakers and ikat-style print bag are from Forever 21.

Superwomen of Fashion

Diane von Furstenberg, Superwoman of Fashion

Wendy Mullin of Built by Wendy

Nawruz & Persian Women

Shadi Ghadirian, Iranian photographer

Tahirih

Street Style from 1960s Mali

Malian photographer Malick Sidibe, via PSFK

Almost the only way you could tell these are not modern photos is from the boys’ clothes– wide collars and flared pants– seriously, these girls, in particular the 2 above, look like they could have been photographed for a Bamako street style blog like, yesterday.

Ohhh, this is like finally catching that elusive, big, beautiful fish after trying, season after season…

Introducing Faith, server extraordinaire of Marcus Dairy.

I saw Faith in this very uniform the first time I went to Marcus Dairy, last year, and of course I didn’t have my camera, and I wasn’t even sitting in her section, but I vowed I would document her style for Danbury fashion posterity.

Today, I was finally successful.

I just adore her fantastic (she called it ‘cheerful’–indeed!) plaid bowtie, and coordinating red apron.  I noticed she also always has this sparkly, dangly pin on her collar.

I have several of just this type of apron in offwhite, that belonged to my great-grandmother, I guess from her days of operating the family hotdog stand/diner.

And of course, I didn’t have my camera, so these are phone-photos that are not doing her justice.  But Faith was so charming, and gracious in letting me take her picture.  And she told me about her mother, who ran a farm stand, but was a bit of a fashionista, and was a pioneer of mismatched, multicolor accessories.

Yes, there is a story there, and hopefully Faith will call me so I can give you a full report.

Donna Karan is now a household name, but began her career, as so many of us do, as a lowly student intern.  She launched her own line in 1985 with a system of "seven easy pieces" – a bodysuit, a coat, a jacket, blouse, skirt, pants and something a little fancier for the evening – that revolutionized modern dressing and made her synonymous with New York style.

With her amazing success, Karan has always maintained the sensibility of an artist and the earthiness of a woman, wife and mother. 

"Everything I do is a matter of heart, body and soul," says Donna Karan, chief designer of the international company that bears her name. "For me, designing is an expression of who I am as a woman, with all the complications, feelings and emotions." [...]  Says Karan, "That I’m a woman makes me want to nurture others, fulfill needs and solve problems. At the same time, the artist within me strives for beauty, both sensually and visually. So design is a constant challenge to balance comfort with luxe, the practical with the desirable."

She has leveraged her professional success to promote the social issues that are important to her.

A member of CFDA ’s board of directors, Karan conceived and spearheaded its Seventh on Sale benefits to raise funds for AIDS awareness and education. Karan co-chairs the annual New York "Kids for Kids" events for the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, as she has since its 1993 inception, as well as underwrites "Super Saturday," an annual designer flea market/barbeque founded with the late Liz Tilberis in 1998 to benefit the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund. To facilitate her many on-going philanthropic involvements, in 1999, Karan and Weiss established the Karan Weiss Foundation.

Karan’s Urban Zen Initiative, founded in 2007, is the culmination of Karan’s philanthropic efforts. explains Karan, "I have founded the Urban Zen Initiative to create a working structure for advancing wellness, preserving culture and empowering children. These are the causes that mean the world to me."

 Quotes via DKNY.com

Read more about Donna Karan’s influence and accomplishments here.

Read more about the Urban Zen Foundation here.

March – in like a lioness!

Here in the US, it’s Women’s History Month, and Monday, March 8th is International Woman’s Day!  BOOYAH!

This month, I will feature some badass women of fashion, one fashion matriarch per week.

And– bonus– the Spring Equinox is March 20th, which is also Nawruz, the Persian New Year, which I have also adopted as my personal New Year holiday, because it just makes more sense than the middle of damn winter…  So I will feature some badass Persian women, and some Persian-inspired spring fashion.

Stay tuned!

Thank goodness. I first saw one of his paintings at the Met, and my first reaction was, wow, that background looks like African prints! And it was.

Image (c) Kehinde Wiley, via Newsweek.

PSFK: How did you choose which designs to use?

KW: I went to the streets. I was in Africa with my friends, and we went out into the markets and looked at reams and reams of fabric- later figuring out which photo, which portrait worked best with what- it was really a hands on and sort of intuitive experience. There’s no concise system for it,  it was more of an ineffable process. A visceral decision about what had the right look and feel for what we were doing.

I wish he were more specific about what cities or regions he was in, because textiles are so tied to the local culture – there is really no such thing as an "African" fabric.

I’m not such a fan of his portraits, actually – I’ve never been a big modern art fan.  But I am definitely a huge fan of making art accessible to everyone, especially those who are typically not among the elite of arts patrons.

KW:There is actually a lot of conceptual overlap between the two projects. My work is about engaging the  contemporary  global street-whether it’s Harlem or Columbo, Sri Lanka. And many people say it’s  hip hop , many people say it’s a global cultural urgency which is driven by a sort of African essence- I don’t know what it is- but to engage with popular culture is something that I’m excited about. I mean, in the 21st century artists occupy many different states- and it is my job to do whatever it is I do as  well as possible.  To view the world through my eyes and make my vision resonate with the viewer.

(I thought I had previously done a post on Yinka Shonibare, but I guess not.  Anyway, I love his work – it’s the perfect combination of critique, sarcasm, rococo fashion, traditional textiles, and colonialism – it’s like we have the same brain. Google him.)

Quotes via PSFK.

Not always an oxymoron.

It’s been a while since I have had the opportunity to record for posterity the jewels of Danbury street style.  If you thought it was scanty during the warm months, believe me, style is clearly taking a back seat to warmth at this time of year.

Luckily, there are a few sparks in the dark that I find at or around the train station, particularly among the gentlemen – and I can only assume that they spend most of their time in NYC.

This morning I met Reggie as we were waiting for the in-bound train.  As usually happens, the days that I decide to leave my camera at home are the days when I end up wanting it.  Hence the camera photo, which is really insufficient to express how great Reggie looked– sorry, friend, I’m not doing you justice here.

Really nice gray wool coat, classy Ralph Lauren satchel, burgundy cords, and very nice brown leather shoes.  Best of all:

As you can see from this super photograph, Reggie is wearing a paisley scarf, which is so subtle, unexpected, and perfect.

Thanks for being a good sport, Reggie!