Je Suis Belle AW '09/'10 Sneak Peek

Since I first saw the fall '09 collection of Hungarian designer duo, Je Suis Belle, I literally can't get it out of my head. I was on pins and needles to get the chance to present it here.

And finally, the designers, Dalma Devenyi and Tibi Kiss allowed me to publish their breathtaking collection and sent me the lookbook, which is just even more spectacular than I remembered!

Review's coming soon. Until then, start wondering!

photos: Je Suis Belle AW '09/'10

Regards, Miska

Blossom Time

A few weeks before I was walking on the campus, in the morning the buds were just about to open, and a few hours later everything burst into flower.

What's left from the crowd of blooms now? Parched flower petals are chasing each other on the ground, or in the wind, and we are running into summer incredibly fast.

It took only a moment, which is very difficult to capture.

Photographer, Amy Gwatkin made it. She eternalized the blossom time of this spring through this delicate editorial for Dazed Digital, styled by Alex Cunningham, featuring models Joshua Press and Thomas Campbell.

photos: Dazed Digital

Regards, Miska

Connected by Igancio Lozano

We used to have a huge box of K'nex at home. My brothers always built helicopters, motorcycles and weapons... I created costumes. I embellished myself with strange armors and headpieces and imagined that I'm a space-warrior or a robot.

It's fun to see, that other people play the same games, that I used to.

photos: Ignacio Lozano

These unique portraits were photographed by Ignacio Lozano (aka Black Sheep Boy), a young Spanish artist based in New York City. The editorial is entitled "Connected", the model is Ethan James.

Regards, Miska

The Waking Artist by Jacob Mendel

I haven't slept for a while. My mind is crowded. I'm waiting for dreams, to attack my eyes. Inspiration is waking. I keep a close watch over it.

An adaptation of Franz Kafka's short novel, "The Hunger Artist", following the cinematic artist that refuses to sleep.

Writing, cinematography and editing by Jacob Mendel. Acting by Jason Sudak. Narrating by Jason Prasad. Music by Miles Davis, Wayne Shorter and Chick Corea.

Regards, Miska

Damir Doma A/W '09

Statements:
I like perfection. Damir Doma’s creations are beyond beautiful. I love Damir Doma's work.

Thoughts:
I am a wayfarer. I walk miles, and sometimes I even ride the whirlwind. Sand, blowed into my eyes, or snowflakes melting on my lips. The distance is endless but everything is only a stone’s throw away.

+ Statement:
I also like when press releases tell everything about a collection.

“In a balanced calm of tension and easy flow, with a perspective of birth into the unknown, Doma pursues his exploration with seemingly bare shapes, focusing upon the architecture of volumes as if to return to the spines of his constructions.

Streaming drapings, twisted folds and floating structures in wet blacks, earth greys or dirty creams alternate between light and dark.

Doma's nomads could be visiting from elsewhere, on the dawn of an epic crossing, either into future times or antique steppes.

The sleek lines and simple shells of the clothes are underpinned by lightly constructed loops, and as boundaries and edges are blended, a feeling of continuity and endless wandering is evoked in the silhouettes, with pieces folded, held or knotted in only one of possibilities.

There is a quiet peace in Doma's distant spaces and solitude, when he hides tiny gates to infinity in his works.

Just as desert dune landscapes can reveal an arid undulating sensuality, or the icy austerity of snowcapped peaks may beguile with gently glittering skins, it is tempting to get lost for an instant in Doma's quest, on a path seeking majesty.”

Regards, Miska

Photos and text from Damir Doma's website. Runway video by Alessandro Tinelli from Vimeo.

Yang Du's Buda and Pest

Oversized, colourful, perky knitwear.
Caps with huge pompoms.
Cactus-like bunny-ears.
Strawberries, watermelons, portraits of strange folks and a pink & black zebra.

How come all these things to my beloved capital city, Budapest?
In no wise.

Apart from that, the unisex creations of Yang Du have some special personal magnetism.

Electrifying.

The 30 year old Chinese CSM-trained designer, Yang Du entitled her latest collection for fall '09 "Buda" and "Pest" because of symbolic considerations.

"The reason I called it "Buda" and "Pest", was because, I realized I was on the "bridge" between the past and the future, trying to make my mind up about what I should do! I had very little time and I thought it would be good to carry on from my last collection, have more fun and more experience with knitwear, both hand knitting and machine knitting." ~ Yang Du

photos: Dazed Digital

Yang Du A/W 09 "Buda" and "Pest"
Photographer: Bella Howard
Stylist: Yasuhiro Takehisa

Regards, Miska

"Firekites - Autumn Story" Chalk Animation

A certain feeling, mixed from melancholy and zest for life.
A song, which invisibly nestles in your ears, and your inner record-player plays it over and over again when it begins to disappear.
1900 chalk drawings on a rough estimate.
6 months of work from start to finish.
03:29.
A beautiful vision, with something extraordinary inspirational.
Tears forming a moustache, then a beard.
Diamond raindrops.
Birds…

Chalk animated music video by Lucinda Schreiber and Yanni Kronenberg for the song "Autumn Story" by Australian band, Firekites.


Regards, Miska

Visionaire 56 SOLAR

As a kid I was mesmerized by colour-changing objects. I had a toothbrush, that changed its colour while I brushed my teeth. I believed, it was magic.

Actually, sometimes I still believe in magic.

Richard Burbridge, Calvin Klein Collection SS'09

Visionare 56 SOLAR in collaboration with Calvin Klein Collection is a special, limited edition issue, printed with the most innovative techniques, using patented high-tech inks.

Under indoor-light the pages are black & white, but exposed to direct sunlight (or UV) the photographs transfrom into brilliant colorful pictures.

Peter Lindbergh

Mario Sorrenti, Yoko Ono, David Sims, Inez Van Lamsweerde & Vinoodh Matadin, and Peter Lindbergh are some of the participants in the project.

Mario Sorrenti

Cecilia Dean, co-founder and editor of Visionare about the inspiration and collabration with Calvin Klein:

"We developed the inks to work in print, but we originally saw these inks used in thread and fabric. We immediately imagined clothing transforming from white to color. Calvin Klein Collection was a natural fit because of Francisco’s (~Francisco Costa, designer) minmalist aesthetics and geometric influences and Italo’s (~Italo Zucchelli, designer) experimentations with new techniques. What they accomplish with clothes, we do in print.”

Inez Van Lamsweerde & Vinoodh Matadin

The special copies of Visionaire 56 SOLAR are available at the Calvin Klein Collection store on Madison Avenue, New York, as well as at some selected spots, for about $250.

For more information visit http://www.visionaireworld.com/.

Regards, Miska

All images featured in this post are from Visionaire's website.

Alexander McQueen Layered Illustration by Danny Roberts

I do constantly look for inspiration, to keep my imagination alive.
I follow lots of blogs, I start reading one, and it leads me up to another, then another, and the journey continues. I walk miles.

One of my newest favourites is the blog of California-based artist/thinker, Danny Roberts. His site features his artworks, sketches, paintings, illustrations, videos... an alternative world of his mind, a rare utopia of beauty.
--- Danny's blog is entitled "Igor + André", and is available through this link.

"The video I made by mapping camera movements of still pictures, I took of my McQueen Display. Basically, I love all of Alexander McQueen's Collections because they're straight out of a storybook. So with that said, I decided to create a world for McQueen's People. This Layered Display is what I came up with. I call it The Under Ground Forest." ~ Danny Roberts

Regards, Miska

A MAGAZINE Curated by...

„A MAGAZINE makes a cultural statement, a statement against homogenisation and for individuality. It is made out of respect for the design and the designer, in which we want to question fashion because we are fascinated by it, in which we want to use the designers’ parameters we love: passion, emotion, fascination, spontaneity, craftsmanship, authenticity. Therefore A MAGAZINE is conceived and designed in the same way as a fashion designer creates a new collection every season. To guarantee that the magazine remains surprising, varied and innovative we invite a new guest curator for each issue.”

A return to a poetic, fresh and ‘pure’ fashion magazine. Each issue is a new story.

The first issue of A MAGAZINE was curated by Maison Martin Margiela in 2004., and he was followed by Yohji Yamamoto, Haider Ackermann, Jun Takahashi, Martine Sitbon, Veronique Branquinho, Kris Van Assche and Riccardo Tisci to create their own issues.

Next up A Magazine will be curated by Proenza & Schouler.

Photos & text from www.amagazinecuratedby.com

A MAGAZINE is distributed world-wide by book- and museum shops, fashion-boutiques and concept stores.

The numbers are available in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Great-Britain, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden, the Netherlands, Japan, China, Hong-Kong, Taiwan, Korea, Singapore, Thailand, New Zealand, Australia, South-Africa, Canada, U.S.A. …a.o.

Regards, Miska