Trendletter from fashionoffice.org to your@address.xxx

The Trendletter by Fashionoffice is adjusted for mobile phones! Choose between 'Web' and 'Mobile' to read the article in the appropriate layout for your device.

Jan 2010 - III: Children and art, art and the body, green fashion


The scheme for Mr. Valentine Web/Mobile
Question: What is love on the first sight? Answer: When his look fits into your scheme. Question: What is a scheme? Answer: This is very...


Children and art - Illustrating ecological consciousness for kids Web/Mobile
"I want people to disappear into the sometimes surrealistic world that I create," says the Swedish illustrator Beata Boucht on occasion of her work for HM's first art collection for kids. Her Alice-in-Wonderland alike characters are stepping in leggings and ballerina pumps through a world of over-dimensional flowers and funny creatures...


Children and art - A gigantic installation for children by Japanese filmmaker Beat Takeshi Kitano in Paris Web/Mobile
The Japanese superstar Beat Takeshi Kitano (TV celebrity, painter, filmmaker, actor in films like Robert Longo's 'Johnny Mnemonic') says about his approach to the exhibition which he 'designed for children but speaks to adults': "With this exhibition, I was attempting to expand the definition of 'art', to make it less official, less conventional, less snobby, more casual."...


Green fashion - A space where conventions can be broken; Sport Style SS2010 Web/Mobile
The forest, its woods and berries are the inspiring sources for the designers of the new spring/summer beauty and fashion collections in urban sport style...


Green fashion - Jewellery that promotes the use of the jungles in a sustainable way Web/Mobile
The founder of the South American jewellery label Asta International has sent information about her products in Colombian design. Fashionoffice questions: Are you the designer of the pieces?

Art and the body - Textile works that spot on women at a place in Vienna Web/Mobile
...the second part of the exhibition, the 'Behüteten' (the 'protected'), tells about women "from another world". They are simply standing or sitting on turntables. Margit Czák's women are turning like the roundabouts in the district's famous entertainment park Prater...


SHORT MESSAGES:

Children and art - Funny statements by children about Yinka Shonibare's work Video documentary about the work of Yinka Shonibare at the Newark Museum, the use of African textiles in Victorian era dresses, the dolls' heads etc. with funny statements by children! The artist is on view in Spain at the CGAC (Centro Galego de Arte Contemporánea, 15 Jan - 21 March, http://www.cgac.org). The CGAC has collected artists for an exhibition about today’s Dandysme with the subtitle ‘From Shop Window Mannequin to Media Star’. Three dandies that have strongly influenced the 19th/20th century are leading the curators’ concept: the mannequin George Brummel (he has objectified himself by placing his counterfeit into the window of his club), the word-designer Charles Baudelaire (after Le Figaro has published Charles Baudelaire's essay 'The Painter of Modern Life' in 1863, the term ‘dandy’ went from being a noun to an adjective), the Narcissus Oscar Wilde (became in late 19th century a media star and the inspirational source for artists). The CGAC has selected artists like John Bock, Jeff Koons, Cindy Sherman, or Yinka Shonibare.

Burberry’s creative director Christopher Bailey invites by video to the live show on 16 Jan from Milan Burberry is a pioneer of taking the Social Media risk of letting comment the shows by users. The Burberry SS2010 catwalk presentation (on 22 Sept in London; Fashionoffice article from Oct 2009 https://www.confashion.com/ss2010/burberry10-2009.htm) was groundbreaking in Social Media history: at the catwalk after-party video screens served party-comments from social media sites; a blogging suite was set up to blog directly from the party. The real time show from Milan (men FW10) can be viewed on live.burberry.com or through Twitter or Facebook.

ART and the body- Another view on Valentine’s Day! The Gallery Fúcares (Spain) presents the work ‘Fragmentos de un discurso’ by Javier Pividal (born 1971) about the construction of identity, the body and its images, the concept of portrait, the skin… by referring to an essay from Roland Barthes about love, what love is, how it can be experienced and defined. Pividal’s photography, graphics, and videos are inspired by Barthes’ ‘A Lover’s Discourse: Fragments' (1977) about the foundations of the subject and love as a fact. (By the way: The French writer and semiotic Roland Barthes has contributed with ‘The Fashion System’ one of the most important analysis of fashion in the last century.) Probably the exhibition (runs until 20th February) serves for the Valentine’s Day addicted another view on the day of love; or a nice book tipp for a Valentine's gift.

ART and the body - The artist’s creations of textiles that make sound - video interview The Chicago based performance artist Nick Cave (he and the Australian musician Nick Cave from The Bad Seeds have the same name) creates his 'Soundsuits' from textiles and costumes in a modern dance performance. The sounds are developed from the textiles in movement. From 10 Jan – 30 May the Fowler Museum in California http://www.fowler.ucla.edu/ exhibits thirty-five of his 'Soundsuits'. The costumes, mostly with animal imagery, evoke with the nature-ritual alike performance a spiritual impression. "While conjuring the spiritual strength and power of animal totems used in ancient rituals from around the world, Cave's Soundsuits also become vessels of transformation, and seek to connect us to the earth and the animals around us. Using wit and humor and a fanciful sensibility, Cave's Soundsuits beg us to pay attention and to dream of a different future." writes the Fowler Museum about the exhibition 'Nick Cave: Meet Me at the Center of the Earth'.

ART and the body - The body as a carrier of national identity The Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago shows from 26 to 28 February the newest work of Akram Khan (b. 1974 in London into a Bengali family) with the title 'bahok' which means in Bengali ‘carrier’. In the video you can take a look at the rehearsals and hear the choreographer speaking about choosing the stage of a theatre for his exploration of the body as a carrier of national identity and a sense of belonging.

Music:

Valentine’s music tip - ‘In a manner of speaking…’ by Tuxedomoon:“But the way that I feel about you is beyond words” On the video you can see Winston Tong singing. He had joined Tuxedomoon early after two electronic music students from the San Francisco City College have founded the band in 1977. The video is a great document for the beginning of electronic music in the post-punk/new wave era. Tuxedomoon has recorded the albums ‘Half Mute’ 1980 and ‘Desire’ 1981 at the prominent Ralph Records, owned by the avant-garde formation ‘The Residents' which released even music videos with political impact.

AFROBEAT - Tony Allen is on world tour with the new album ‘Secret Agent’ In February/March the Nigerian born, currently in Paris based drummer Tony Allen will tour with the album ‘Secret Agent’ in France, Poland, Portugal… He has written the album songs in Paris and travelled to Afrika to mix the voices from the singers. Tony Allen collaborates with other musicians like Charlotte Gainsbourg for ‚5:55’, or Damon Albarn (known form the rock band Blur and the virtual band Gorillaz), Flea (Red Hot Chili Peppers), Paul Simonon (The Clash) who have worked together with Tony Allen on the album ‘The Good, the Bad & the Queen’ (2007); the album was soon high-ranked in the charts. A special documentary http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UzIGdFZOgU provides behind the scene views on the production of the 'Secret Agent' with the musician's own words and statements by Damon Albarn and Flea.

AFROBEAT - Music playlist by a textile and costume addicted artist British born Nigerian multimedia artist Yinka Shonibare is known for using in his installations Victorian era dresses made from atypical fabrics (brightly colored, wax-printed cloths from African batiks which he gets on a market in London). Now, Yinka Shonibare publishes his playlist with musicians like Fela Kuti, Guiseppe Verdi… on the website of the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art/Washington where his work is exhibited until 7 March. The mix of the 19th century Verdi with original afrobeat from Nigerian Fela Kuti fits best to the idea of his art. (Fashionoffice article about Yinka Shonibare's work, March 2009)

Fashion/model party - Ben Westbeech plays live at a fashion-model-party in Vienna The roomservice at the Planetarium in Vienna announces the next fashion-model party with the musicians Ben Westbeech - who plays live, Rodney Hunter, and Klaus Waldeck on 23 January. Sounds like a relaxed party! Watch the video ‘So Good Today’ from Ben Westbeech and get a pre-impression from the event.

Ball in Vienna - 'Rebellion of the mountain' - The 1st Viennese Poacher’s Ball happens on 13th Feb at the Ottakringer brewery. The poachers’ shady tradition makes this ball special. Guest speaker at the ball is Dr. Roland Girtler, the well-known Austrian sociologist, cultural anthropologist and professor at the University of Vienna. During the night of the 13th February, he will bring light into the ‘shady’ legend of the poachers from the Alps of Austria and Bavaria who have broken the law and forced the reigning noble society to get own hunting rights. Roland Girtler cites an old saying from the Alps which means as much as that a boy who has not poached, is not allowed to visit a girl by night. To get the right look for that night, scene-figaro Erich Joham makes the hair and face directly at the ball (poachers have blackened faces). The dress-code is easy: women wear the traditional costume from the Alps, the dirndl, men leather pants and alpine boots; but in a more bold fashion than usual! The ‘poachers’ on the ball can fill their pans with goodies by the Viennese star-chef de cuisine Reinhard Gerer. The stage will be heated up by several prominent regional stars; one of them is Zabine Kapfinger (on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UjOsfRiS4Q you can get an impression from the musical style; the video shows Zabine yodelling with Hubert von Goisern). Tickets for the Poacher’s Ball (Wildererball www.wildererball.at) are available on www.oeticket.com or www.ticketcorner.com. You can try to win 2 tickets by sending an email to gruener (et) brightsolutions.at. Short Message by author Lisa Grüner.

Fashionoffice’s Traffic Data by Quantcast:

The monthly traffic (visits, impressions*) of Fashionoffice is published with daily new data by Quantcast on fashionoffice.org/contact.

*Data are measured on the inventory pages of Fashionoffice.org and its special channels only. Not all content pages are carrying inventory. The inventories of the Fashion Feeds or the Mobile Site are not included. The eMail-Trendletter has no inventory slots.