Breakfast in Fur

QUILTED MASTERWORKS AT THE FOLK ART MUSEUM

2011-02-10T11:07:00.010-05:00

From top: Diamond in the Square Quilt, Artist unidentified, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, 1910–1925, Wool, 78 x 78 in.
Harlequin Medallion Quilt, Artist unidentified, New England, 1800-1820, Glazed Wool, 87 x 96 in.
Bird of Paradise Quilt Top, Artist unidentified, Vicinity of Albany, New York, 1858–1863, Cotton, wool, and silk with
ink and silk embroidery, 84 1/2 x 69 5/8 in.
Double Wedding Ring Quilt, Artist unidentified, Probably Georgia, 1930–1940, Cotton, 86 1/4 x 72 in. (framed)

W IS FOR WILLA

2010-09-05T18:03:00.006-04:00

Finally finished my latest project, a handsewn and embroidered namesake pillow for my pal Kelly and her husband's new little girl Willa. W-W-W-Willa.

JUST FOOLIN'

2010-09-02T17:15:00.008-04:00

It's "Act Da Fool," a new film collabo between Proenza Schouler and Harmony Korine for Jack and Lazaro's Fall 2010 collection. The short film looks great, and I love the styling. It's got grit and tude' and the shots of the girls flipping off the camera and banging up tires is vicious. But for some reason, I'm on the fence about it. Though I love the artistic vision obvious to the project, it feels a wee bit like some sort of 'xploitation to me. Not because of race... but because of how it references a specific socioeconomic group in America that could never dream of affording such a luxury as a $1,125 double-breasted wool blazer. Or a pair of $795 snub toe ankle boots. That's like 109 hours of minimum wage work at a fast food joint. Excluding tax deductions.

BAZAAR

2010-08-27T14:42:00.005-04:00

Just started a position in the fashion department at Harper's Bazaar working with womenswear designers from the United States and Britain. When I was a little girl and should have been reading Seventeen, I was drooling over the glossy pages of Bazaar. Since then, after having been schooled in graduate fashion studies, and as the result of my own personal research, I appreciate the publication for three things: it's longevity (around since 1867, it's America's first fashion magazine), creative edge (has fearlessly collaborated with some of greatest artists and photographers in recent history: Diane Arbus, Alexey Brodovitch, Andy Warhol, Martin Munkácsi), and daring editorials (the first action photographs to depict fashion were published in Bazaar).

I love this cover of the magazine from October 3, 1868! Most likely because I'm obsessed with illustrations and photographs of hairpieces, ie. this Lorna Simpson.

Wigs II, 1996-2006, Waterless lithographs on felt.

FASHION FILMS: Prét-à-Porter

2010-08-23T23:46:00.004-04:00

In 1994 I was 12 years old. The 90s remind me of mocha brown lipstick, flowered dresses, combat boots and daisies, wishing I were a plaid-skirt wearing coed on the pages of the thick slab of fall fashion issues of seventeen, vogue and harper's bazaar, linda evangelista's haircut, day-glo betsey johnson editorials, nirvana, my favorite patchouli-scented vintage shop in my small hometown's downtown where i purchased my favorite lime-green 60s shift dress and pink golf shoes, which as an almost-thirty year old woman now, I still own.

After having made a habit of watching Style With Elsa Klensch since the late 80s, it was also a decade during which I became more familiar with the blatant marriage of fashion and film. Granted, MTV's House of Style with Cindy Crawford was dope, and I swooned over Cher Horowitz's magical closet in Clueless. But Robert Altman's Prét-à-Porter certainly gave me a healthy dose of Parisian fashion, murder and intrigue on the silver screen. Not to mention a really great song called "Here Comes the Hotstepper" by dancehall dirtbag Ini Kamoze. "No no we don't die/ Yes we multiply/ Anyone test will hear the fat lady sing."

After all, what 12 year-old could help but love the utterly profound nude fashion show at the end? I count it as a pivotal moment in my still developing artistic brain.

DELUXE

2010-08-15T20:17:00.005-04:00

Pieces from Ellen Gallagher's Deluxe on display at the Museum of Modern Art. Some of my favorite artworks of all time, by far. Luckily I have the original text that accompanied the show when it was on display at the Whitney. It gets better every time I flip through it!

CURSE OF THE CAT PEOPLE

2010-08-11T18:26:00.002-04:00

I watched this 1944 film quite often as a child, and the haunting atmosphere it created, like shimmering sequins in shadows, has stuck with me ever since.

ALL-GIRL JAPANESE PUNK

2010-08-05T14:01:00.003-04:00

From top: Shonen Knife, Red Bacteria Vacuum, The Suzan

2010-07-30T15:19:00.002-04:00

MMM MISSONI

2010-07-29T11:43:00.008-04:00

I'm certifiably in lust over Kenneth Anger's new film made to accompany Missoni's Fall/Winter 2010/11 collection. It feels like an elegant version of the grittiest art films from the 60s and 70s. Think Barbara Hammer's silent Multiple Orgasm from 1976, with less vagina and more Margherita Missoni twirling around in a blonde wig. However, the sparkly, scintillating visuals of Anger's fashion film matches the Hollywood ennui of one of his best earlier pieces, Puce Moment, where beaded gowns, coral lipstick and emerald perfume bottles take center stage.

THE GOOD WITCH

2010-07-27T10:43:00.006-04:00

Incredible. Pieces from a collection of garments designed and worn by African Americans over the course of more than a century were donated in 2007 to the National Museum of African American History and Culture by Joyce Bailey, whose mother, Lois Alexander Lane curated and maintained a makeshift museum of black fashion in a Harlem brownstone for over 30 years. There are pieces by Anne Lowe, Rosa Parks, and Stephen Burrows just to name a few. My two favorites? A 1975 Geoffrey Holder costume created for Glenda the Good Witch in The Wiz, and a supremely beautiful fur-trimmed, sapphire velvet opera coat c. 1900, made by it's one-time owner, Louvenia Price, a former slave.

STYLE MINE: THE SUPREMES

2010-07-26T13:44:00.003-04:00

HEATWAVE

2010-07-25T22:50:00.007-04:00

NO FELLAS

2010-04-04T00:19:00.010-04:00

On November 21, 1979 the New Zoo Discotheque in Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn was to host a hip hop battle amid some 10,000 square feet of raw dance floors and under 15,000 watts of colorful lights. In a setting such as this, pulsating with light and shadow, barren and hungry for reverberating bass drums, rhythmic spoken word and the din of stomping feet, the “Battle of the Sexes” would firmly root female MCs into the world of hip hop where they would lyrically spar with the men—as equals. The event’s red and white flyer advertisement displays a roster of early female MCs called “The Fly Girls Crew” with a row of closely cropped photographs to identify each member. Some smile, while one stares aggressively at the viewer. Charming as they are, all of the faces are akin to traditional FBI’s “Most Wanted” mug shots, suggesting that hip hop’s new onslaught of female rappers were certainly a force to be reckoned with. As early as 1977, women’s crews and stars began to gain ground amidst a world of hip hop that consisted mostly of male artists. The Zulu Queens, DJ Wanda Dee, the Mercedes Ladies, B-Girl Crew, as well as MCs Little Lee, Sweet and Sour, and Pebblee Poo were just a few of the women that initially set a gold standard, laying the ground-work for the celebrated female hip hop personas familiar in the late twentieth and early twenty first centuries. As a gender minority in an arts culture dominated by men, whose modus operandi of artistic dominance revealed itself in the form of ongoing competition for lyrical superiority and style, struggle already existed for women, who, as Christopher “Kid” Reid from the 1980s duo Kid-N-Play notes, “have to work twice as hard to get half the credit.” This struggle for relevancy in the culture created a number of powerful female personas and fashioned identities that attempted to hold their own among the men with lyrical and sartorial style.

LOVE FOR SALE

2010-04-03T22:21:00.006-04:00

BANANAS

2010-03-30T22:17:00.007-04:00

WANDER LUST

2010-03-28T23:02:00.002-04:00

THE LONGEST WINTER

2010-02-26T14:14:00.011-05:00

Yesterday I left the Shortline Bus Terminal at Port Authority to embark on my research trip to Ithaca, NY to visit Cornell University's Carl A. Kroch Library's Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections. They have a pretty incredible hip hop archive just completed in August 2008, with hundreds of sound recordings, party and club flyers, handpainted textile art and a collection of some of hip hop's first photographs by Joe Conzo. All of this awesomeness awaited me just in time for the big noreaster. Luckily, I holed up in a Best Western near campus with heat, chinese take-out, and two double beds just for me.

Before my arrival, as I slept on the bus, I could tell something was on its way. Here is what I awoke to find outside my window.

LUST

2010-02-02T23:48:00.002-05:00

DISCO TROUSERS

2010-01-28T12:23:00.010-05:00

My paper on the disco spandex pant is up for publication this summer in a book entitled "Fashion Forward: Selected Papers from the First Global Conference on Fashion" published by Inter-Disciplinary Press in Oxford. Whoohoo! As I elaborate my discussion for the book, I am considering altering the title to describe spandex "trousers" rather than spandex "pants." The term pants is most often used in Canada, South America and the U.S. to describe those below the waist leg coverings, with the word trousers used primarily to describe a more formal, tailored garment with a waistband, belt loops and fly front. In Australia the words pants and trousers are synonymous. However, in most parts of the United Kingdom and Ireland, trouser is the general category term and pants refer to underwear. As this is to be published and distributed in England with additional worldwide distribution, perhaps it would be wise to accommodate the British use of the term and not confuse readers that may think I conducted research on disco spandex underwear. Just sayin'.

The use of the word trousers in this case is also of note because it has associations with the emergence of designer jeans in the late 1970s, which were so desirable and exclusive they could fit in nicely with that American definition of the trouser. In these television commercials from the period, form fitting designer jeans are associated with action and adventure (as in the Bonjour Jeans ad) and aim to fit you "like you had em painted on" inspiring the illicit touch of a handsome lover (Jou Jou jeans). Top image: Lauren Hutton shot by Richard Avedon for Vogue, 1978, wearing a version of the disco trouser in black leather.

SUSTAINABLE "ICS"

2010-01-27T19:39:00.016-05:00

Last night I attended the panel discussion to accompany "Ethics+Aesthetics= Sustainable Fashion" exhibition held at Pratt's Manhattan Gallery with guest curators Francesca Granata (editor of Fashion Projects) and Sarah Scaturro (curator of textiles at the Cooper Hewitt). Panelists included Mary Ping of Slow and Steady Wins the Race, Julie Gilhart, senior vice-president and fashion director of Barney's New York, and Uluru's Caroline Priebe. The discussion was fruitful, bringing up issues of maintaining sustainable fashion practices and producing quality items that will last a lifetime, despite their increased cost. This idea of quality versus fashionable quantity is an ideal I have upheld for a long time, having been raised around old, sturdy antique objects and well-made vintage ready-to-wear for a lot of my childhood and teenage years. I'm not so sure, however, that this recognition of quality is something that the average American consumer holds as philosophy. It's easy to think of eco-fashion as a trend, although its purveyors insist it to be a "movement." Because the terms "sustainable," "organic," "green" and "eco-friendly" are now so heavily used, I have, throughout their use, remained skeptical and frankly, sometimes rubbed the wrong way. Maybe it's because I co-founded an Environment Club in the 4th grade and no one joined.

The idea of wearing organic clothing seems to most fashion consumers, very contemporary and on-point, but can sustainable fashion keep up with the constantly changing appetite of voracious fashion consumers that always want something new? Only future collections from Bodkin, Alabama Chanin, SANS (top image) and Loomstate will tell... but in the meantime, I was lucky enough to snag the exhibition catalog which includes a Andrea Zittel Smock pattern. Zittel resurrected her original line of handsewn uniforms in a project called "Smockshop" in 2007, where she designed an incredibly simple double wrap-around garment and asked other artists to reinterpret her design. I can't wait to make my own.

ORFEU NEGRO

2010-01-17T00:57:00.007-05:00

JOYEUX CARNIVALE

2010-01-13T19:06:00.006-05:00

Maya Deren. From top: film still from The Very Eye of Night, 1952-58, carnival image from Divine Horsemen, 1953.

POTS POURRIS

2010-01-12T13:00:00.010-05:00

Snail-shaped pots pourris in soft-paste porcelain. Manufacture Royale de Sevres. C. 1763-68. Height 5 ½ “. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

BUSTIN GLITTER

2010-01-09T10:36:00.009-05:00

I headed north to the boogie down Bronx last night for the best art opening (!) at the Bronx River Art Center. Rompe Puesto, a phrase which loosely translates into "breaking ground," was a one-night performance event in which one-of-a-kind piñatas were created by participating artists, displayed and deconstructed on-site, spilling out the special contents of each piece. After a couple glasses of wine, I personally obliterated one "N" shaped creation that spewed glitter, candy and little square pieces of paper. What a great way to start a new year.

Frenzy.

BLING BLING

2010-01-08T10:23:00.023-05:00

I'm delighted to begin a curatorial internship this year at the Museum of Arts & Design. In working with the curator of contemporary jewelry I'll be conducting research on the elusive topic of hip hop jewelry! in preparation for an upcoming exhibition on the topic at the museum, just in time for the completion of my masters thesis on hip hop lyrics and fashion (working title: B-Boys and Fly Girls: Lyrical and Sartorial Style in Hip Hop, 1979-1989).

An American import originally hailing from London, England, Slick Rick, also known as "Slick Rick the Ruler" was well known in the world of 1980s hip hop for his elaborately accessorized appearance; a look so heavily ornamented, it recalled the majestic decoration of 15th and 16th century European monarchs and the powerful presence of bejeweled African kings.

new year, new bell bottoms

2010-01-07T19:53:00.012-05:00

Ain't nothin more excitin'.

world wide web

2009-08-13T15:26:00.006-04:00

A list of Ericka Bazile blog features, from newest to crustiest. Until these have a proper place on my website, they will be updated here.

Pop and Shorty
Melissakate
Little Designer Book (interview)
Junior Society
Made Sweet
Kat Eyez
Johnny And Stacie
Found Handmade (keyword: Ericka)
The Haystack Needle
Prim and Proper
Five Monkies
Capitola Girl
Style Hive
Creature Comforts
Heartfish
Kaboodle
Royal Buffet
Fabulous Fabulous
Kelly Loves Whales
American Craft Magazine

from the archives

2009-06-25T23:52:00.010-04:00

First published: East Tennessean. 19 February, 2004.

Jackson's Impact Still Felt As Allegations Loom

by Ericka B.

Teen-age German boys bombard him with loving remarks when he visits Deutschland. Women over 40 in Zimbabwe collapse when they hear the opening riffs of "Man in the Mirror." Young Russian girls casually scream, "я тебя люблю Michael Jackson!" with globs of fat tears streaming down their faces.

Across the globe, people won't "stop till they get enough" of Michael Jackson. Not only do little Russian girls, German teen boys and Zimbabwean women love him. A bevy of drunk adults were shaking their booties to "Beat It" on Friday night at the lovely Dixieland bar in downtown Johnson City. Even the gentleman at the bar with the blonde mullet and the "Guns and F*@! Roses" T-shirt couldn't keep his hips from moving to that song of international renown.

Surrounded by so many strangers who didn't hesitate to show their admiration for Michael Jackson's music through physical gyration and the drinking of Coors Light, I began to think about the power and immensity of Michael Jackson's music.

Imagine moving millions with your creative genius and talent as a performer. The very thought boggles the mind, I know. Even I, the sometimes quiet and reserved Ericka, secretly performed the choreographed moves to "Beat It" in front of the door of a ladies restroom in a small Memphis bar with my friend Silaja, simply because the music moved me so. It is not only people from around the globe and from Dixieland bar that love Michael Jackson. I love him. Not only am I in love with Michael Jackson, but I want to have his babies (which simply means that I think he is wicked cool).

No doubt, many of his songs are anthems to the underdog that is tired of being pushed around. Anthems to those that want suffering to end so that the world "can be healed, making it a better place for you and for me." The king of pop sings about how "it doesn't matter if your black or white," or about how if you're a girl named "Dirty Diana" you should "stop playin' with his emotions."

It is with this work in mind that I consider how horrible the charges brought against him are.
No one knows what really happened at his Neverland ranch except for the gloved one himself and those that were around. I would like to give him the benefit of the doubt and reason that out of the thousands of children that have stayed with and visited Jackson's home, only two have accused him of inappropriate conduct.

Jackson is going through a tough period in his life. His nose seems like it has had enough, he is being charged with a crime he staunchly denies ever committing and while he was in custody he was put in a place that had "doo- doo on the walls."

Alas, if only it were as easy for Jackson to forcefully express his feelings to all of these allegations as it was for him to act tough around a bunch of gang-bangers with thuggish dance moves in his "Beat It" video. He could inquire of the judge, "How funky and strong is your fight? Uh huh, that's what I thought. Just beat it!" During his testimony, he could confess that it deeply saddens him how all these people always "wanna be startin' somethin" and if the prosecuting attorney starts to get fresh during questioning he could simply tell them, "Leave me alone - stop it! /Just stop doggin' me around. Heh hee."

In support of Michael Jackson during this tough time, I wear my "Beat It" shirt with pride, which features the "gloved one" striking a crotch-grab pose in those smooth penny loafers I love so much. Beat it child molestation allegations! Beat It Gloria Allred! Beat it LaToya! All Michael wants to do is make music and love children and monkeys and Charlie Chaplin and roller coaster rides and gold home decor. What's wrong with that?

Excluding the life changing experience of great cheesecake, I feel that there is nothing more gratifying on this earth than seeing Michael Jackson clad in leather from head to toe, belting out lyrics like "You know I'm bad, I'm bad, you know it." So why shouldn't he do this in a court of law, to settle this matter once and for all? And, by bad here, he means innocent.

Hopefully those that are college educated will understand. It seems like we are dealing with a potentially complex metaphor here regarding Michael Jackson's innocence in this matter. Listen people, Billie Jean is not Michael Jackson's lover. She's just a girl who says that he is the one. And hey! The kid is not his son.

renegade brigade

2009-06-08T12:29:00.010-04:00

Thanks so much to thesouthwing.com for the Renegade Featured Interview!

capitale de la douleur

2009-05-27T09:57:00.006-04:00

flora

2009-05-26T22:16:00.009-04:00

From top, detail from Mickalene Thomas Still Life with Flowers, springtime in Tennessee orangeses, and 60s era paper dress from Atomic Hot Dish.

second skins

2009-05-24T11:23:00.009-04:00

Halston bodysuits for day and evening.

Detail from 1963 Frederick's of Hollywood catalog spread.

Just received news that my paper "Second Skins: Spandex Pants and the New American Woman" will be a part of the 1st Global Conference: Fashion- Exploring Critical Issues to be held at Mansfield College, Oxford University from September 25 - 27. This will be my first time presenting at an academic conference, which is very exciting. Here are some excerpts from the paper:

"Such were the revolutionary shaping qualities of the new stretch fabrics that in a 1940 issue of The Science News-Letter Robert D. Potter exclaimed, “for the first time since Adam killed an animal and used its skin for clothing, man has at last achieved a fabric that will hug the figure and not hang in folds.” Potter’s biblical reference took fashion back to basics, before heavy draperies and superfluous layers, before structured garments with boning and hoops. It signaled a new body consciousness and a determination on the part of science to develop new figure-hugging materials. These fabrics were akin to the animal skins worn by the couple banished from paradise. As they attempted to survive on their own outside of the Garden of Eden, they wore second skins, a new layer demanded by modernity.

Perhaps the Adam and Eve figures are best represented by Danny Zuko and Sandy Olsson from the 1978 film Grease, whose matching skin-tight ensembles in the film’s last scene come together to represent a lusty freedom of sartorial expression in their snug, black second skins. In the scene, Sandy reveals her dramatic change from a conservative schoolgirl in full skirts and bobby socks into a sexually charged woman in body-hugging spandex pants, tempting her “Adam” with a shapely figure, accentuated by stretch material. Sandy’s transformation signaled the discovery of the woman’s body by women themselves.

This new social consciousness of the figure prevailed as fashion evolved over time, but the female figure underwent many significant changes during the course of discovery. Molded, shaped, flexed, and manipulated by the whim of the designer and the silhouette of the period, waists have been tightly cinched, bodices curved, hips exaggerated, breasts flattened, shoulders padded, legs both hidden beneath long layers and brazenly exposed from underneath miniskirts. In its endless variety of looks, trends and fashionable shapes, sculpting the ideal female figure has been a significant aim of twentieth century fashion. In the midst of these changes the idea of fashion as a second skin had been lost, until materials utilized in foundation garments, such as lastex from the late thirties and 1940s were later used in pants of the same material manufactured by Frederick’s of Hollywood in the fifties and sixties. As women became more active and aware of the health and fitness of their figures in the 1970s, silhouettes began to narrow, and by the latter part of the decade when disco became mainstream, slim fitting pants were a must have article for evening wear. These narrow pants represented a new freedom of movement and daring personal display of the body for women. Giving her an almost naked look sheathed in shiny confetti colors, the skintight trouser was the ultimate symbol of second skin exposure, a celebratory layer allowing for the raucous freedom of movement associated with the 1970s disco club scene."

Clubgoers at New York, New York disco, June 16, 1979.

"The skintight spandex pant made a woman look fabulous while she lived out her wildest fantasies in the dark shadows and colorful lights of the discotheque. Frederick Mellinger, whose aim was to “glorify and re-glorify a woman’s figure,” had been producing various styles of these fantasies since 1957, selling them to women across America through his famous Frederick’s of Hollywood catalogs. Styles like the “Sizzler” “Cock-O-the-Walk” and “Wow!” had names and looks with a dynamic aura of brazen sexual confidence. This self-assurance could be found in the illustrations of women posing on the pages of Frederick’s of Hollywood catalogs through the 1950s, and into the sixties and seventies. However, it wasn’t until the late seventies that the sexually confident woman, aware of herself and her body, made her entrance into the world of fashion.

In the creation and production of the most body-hugging trousers of the twentieth century, Frederick’s of Hollywood utilized new stretch fabrics like lastex and spandex to accentuate and hug the female figure. Early styles of the pant were constructed in a variety of lastex blends with nylon, wool, cotton batiste, lurex and satin. The latter was the most popular for its glamorous shine, and lurex made every curve of a woman’s hips and legs sparkle. Throughout the fifties and sixties, the lastex pant aimed to lengthen and slenderize the natural shape of the feminine leg with its light-catching shine and sinewy lines.

In the 1970s the California based Frederick’s remained the most prolific manufacturer of the garments, still faithfully producing the shiny trousers in spandex rather than lastex. Most styles were constructed of ninety percent nylon and ten percent spandex combining shine and stretch to make a sturdy material that provided support. Straight-as-an-arrow off the body but spectacularly full of life when worn, the two-pocket, zip front pant became the ubiquitous figure- revealing garment of the late 1970s, leaving a woman looking as if she had been dipped in any vibrant color of the rainbow: gold, electric blue, pink, red, green, orange, brown, white, burgundy or black.

As its popularity grew, other brands produced “body-beautiful” versions of the sought after trouser. Le Gambi, Michi, TA, DBA for Bojangles and Bojeangle’s Skin Ease were the most popular makers besides Frederick’s of Hollywood (see fig. 10). Other brands followed suit, producing spandex and lycra pants in addition to their own designs. Danskin had their popular “Pantskins,” Frangipani of California created a line of “Franiskins,” Gilda-Santa Monica made “Flexatard Body Designs,” and jean companies such as Sassoon and Chemin de Fer also came out with clinging stretch trousers. With an overwhelming variety of companies manufacturing the garments, they were readily available to women everywhere, allowing them to make daring statements from the waist down in snug but comfortable second skin stretch materials."

haïti chérie

2009-05-14T00:08:00.006-04:00

Alliance Française (FIAF) in Manhattan is hosting a month-long event dedicated to the richness and vitality of Haitian art and culture, with tons of cinema, music and visual arts events. I kicked off the festivities with a viewing of L'Homme sur le Quai (1993) on Tuesday night.

workaday

2009-03-05T19:30:00.004-05:00

So many orders to fill and so much work to do. This weekend is going to be busy!

krazy klompen

2009-03-02T21:15:00.014-05:00

I just discovered Krazy Klompen by Mollie Zanoni, a mixed media artist from Northampton, MA. The bright, googly eyes makes these whimsical found objects even more so. Like the "them there eyes" of Kewpie dolls paired with the dark color of the clogs, cartoon imagery of african-americans in blackface in the 20s and 30s comes to mind, and Fred Wilson's Drip Drop Plop.

greenery

2009-03-01T22:32:00.009-05:00

A nice dose of central park on a sunday gives luscious bits of green and lots of texture. The pine needles look like brush strokes.

unicorns and women under the influence

2009-02-22T18:28:00.015-05:00

Anticipating the excitement of cross-borough travel, I hopped on over to slick Long Island City on Saturday to visit PS1. It was there that I stumbled upon a supersexy three room installation by Norwegian artist Børre Sæthre. The spaces contained tiny image monitors, blinking light and soundscapes, paneled mirrors, and in the final room, a full-sized taxidermy unicorn in a fogged glass vitrine. It is here that, "Anachronistically frozen in space, his mythological taxidermy hybrids insinuate elements of surrealism, drawing from an ancient register that collides with futuristic settings." You can say that again. It was hypermagical.

Then for the Saturday night special (a movie and three buck chuck) I dove into a little experiential Cassevetes, A Woman Under the Influence, with Gena Rowlands and Peter Falk. It hit hard exquisitely. Especially in the scene at the end where her son Tony kisses her nose.

fashion week

2009-02-17T20:53:00.018-05:00

The start of fashion week was a flurry of activity, creative and hectic. I am new to this. The excitement of it all is palpable and hits you like a ton of 24 karat gold bricks. Backstage saw gaunt models running around amidst photographers, stylists, make-up artists, Karla Otto production assistants and a table full of dainty cupcakes, gummy bears and mini-quiche (alas! i now know what models eat). As my co-workers complained of their aching feet in 4.5 inch heeled booties, we still had a laugh and anticipated the show that was about to begin.

I was the most smitten with the looks from Thakoon's Fall 2009 RTW collection that included brightly colored dyed furs. They made me sigh and think of some of Nick Cave's most recent Soundsuits that I had the pleasure of experiencing alone recently at Jack Shainman Gallery.

featured sellerness

2009-02-15T22:26:00.009-05:00

When I was a little girl, I wanted to be a featured seller on Etsy when I grew up. Visit my shop for a peek and read the interview.

rear window

2008-09-22T10:34:00.003-04:00

Now that I live in an apartment building full of people whom I don't know, and constantly speculate about, I thought it was about time for some voyeurism into the Hitchcockian world of crippled voyeurs suspecting their neighbor of (gasp!) murder. Bonus: in this fixture, Grace Kelly is a dream in her shopgirl frocks and matching gloves.

manhattan

2008-09-09T20:08:00.006-04:00

My favorite scene from Manhattan. After this awkward moment, he later he confesses wanting to perform interstellar perversion with her. How romantic. But I especially love Margeaux Hemingway's boyfriend clothes throughout. If I were still in high school and dating a much older man I would try not to dress like a slut, too.

evening

2008-09-07T19:04:00.004-04:00

Finally settled into my new apartment on York Avenue on the Upper East Side. I'm in a 5 story pre-war walkup above a place called "The Saloon" and a cute little Ethiopian restaurant with yellow painted french doors. I am also very happily situated next to a flower shop, fish market, bodega and szechuan restaurant. There is sushi nosh and a charming book shop across the street. On the weekends, my block is the hot spot, and I can feel the pulse of electronic beats through the heat pipes in my bathroom. If I sat on my fire escape, enveloped in darkness and obscured by the tree in front of my building, I could drop water balloons onto debonair men and stiletto heeled women all flustered and flirty after a couple of cocktails.

School is great and busy. I love what I'm studying. Philosophy, history of costume, design. My critical theory professor is very bohemian (a la european) and wears dark red lipstick, graphic dresses and kelly green ray ban wayfarers. She admits to having purchased a Dali signature on the street when she moved to New York from West Virginia at the age of 16. She helps to explain Kant and recommends Simone de Beauvoir films at La Maison Francaise. Exhibition design is the best. I review a different show each week, and like never before, have been critiquing every conceivable intricacy of how a show is curated and displayed. I spent an hour and a half doing an analysis of a show at the Met last week... Art of the Royal Court: Treasures in Pietre Dure from the Palaces of Europe.

I'm about a 10-15 minute walk away from the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Guggenheim. Carl Schurz Park is a hop, skip and a jump away, and the East River esplanade is perfect for long strolls, morning runs or sitting on a bench by the waterfront with a book. This area reminds me of a mini Central Park.

I like walks around the city in the evening most of all, before the blanket of darkness envelopes Manhattan. I like the air with a tinge of gray, crisp in its transition from light to dark after the sun sets. The other night I discovered a little pickle and olive shop on First Avenue. Heaven.

countdown to new york

2008-08-23T14:46:00.006-04:00

Boxes, boxes. Today I leave Johnson City. The car is packed and my stomach is in knots. I'm gonna miss my geraniums, my friends, the mountains.

it could only be terrific

2008-02-01T23:18:00.002-05:00

So I just submitted my piece for this years 4x4 Exhibition event organized by the Johnson City Area Arts Council. I like making small things. It's always like conducting an experiment or operating on a tiny alien. Go here to look at my piece from last year.

bah humbug

2008-01-31T20:45:00.002-05:00

I publish my first blog post as I am working on the last of my grad school applications, Parsons, NYU and Maine College of Art. What an incredible amount of work this has been through the winter months! And as usual, it is cold outside. I yearn for spring and the settling of my stomach upon the arrival of decision letters. Whatever the decisions are. Eeesh. I like this Ho Chi Minh quote I rediscovered today in some of my old notebooks from college.

"Without the cold and desolation of winter there could not be the warmth and splendor of spring. Calamity has tempered and hardened me, and turned my mind into steel."

Far out.