The fashion and art publication Visionaire has continuously used a variety of unique formats to present its content. For the 57th issue, the publication draws inspiration from the two-seater Smart Fortwo car. Visionaire 57 “2010″ will be the first plug-in electric issue in the publication’s history. As seen in the photo above, the plug is shaped like Daimler’s compact automobile. The magazine uses electricity to illuminate 365 pieces of art displayed in the form of a daily calendar.

Visionaire 57 was assembled by 52 renowned guest curators and culture icons, including artist John Baldessari, museum curator Klaus Biesenbach (MoMA), fashion designers Raf Simons and Marc Jacobs, and the architect Zaha Hadid. Natalie Portman and Tilda Swinton also contributed to the publication. Visionaire began in 1991 and now publishes three times a year, each issue with a drastically different format for delivering avant-garde and cutting edge artistic presentations. Visionaire 2010 is limited-edition with only 4,000 copies and will be available for $295 in October.

[Via Design Crave and Auto Blog Green]

We are seeing a trend where marker drawings are playing an interesting role at fashion events in New York. This past Sunday was the closing party of the Wish You Were Here Swap in the LES, a retail pop-up project featuring goods from London’s Newburgh Quarter. At the party we noticed the London-bred artist-in-residence, Shantell Martin, decorating peoples’ faces and bodies with markers which she called Line Drawings. These animations truly seemed to echo Martin’s work. Her series of line drawings are created in sync with the energy of the live performance during the closing party.

This week marker art was seen again. For Rodarte’s latest collection for New York Fashion Week, WWD captured body art on the models’ arms and necks drawn with heavy black markers.  The marker art appears to add a mesmerizing, tribal-quality to the pieces of destroyed leather, scrap beads, and burnt knitwear that comprised of the collection. The drawings produce a darker dimension to the futuristic aesthetic which the Mulleavy sisters are known to create. The “idea that someone could ‘be scarred and still beautiful’ was the collection’s leitmotif,” as described by Style.com. One would think it’s about the clothes, but it’s interesting to see this decorative art at staged fashion events.

Photos by Shantell Martin, Style.com and WWD

Shantell Martin

Rodarte

Bijin-tokei is a Japanese website that photographs girls on the street in real-time and with non-stop updates. Every minute of the hour, cute girls are featured holding up a blackboard with the time written in a white marker. Bijin-tokei call themselves “a 1 minute automatic update site” and refreshes a new photograph every minute. Details like the girl’s name, birthday, hometown, height, blood type, occupation, favorite website, and even body measurements are recorded for a heightened voyeur appeal.

The photos appear to be taken in shopping centers around Shibuya and Harajuku in Tokyo, featuring what seems to be real girls with a fashionable edge. Though bijin-tokei is an amusing concept and interesting to share with friends, the purpose of the project still remains a mystery. It’s also available to purchase as an iPhone app.

bijin-tokei (English)

After eight grand collections designed at her namesake boutique on Brooklyn’s Atlantic Avenue, Sir designer Joanna Baum has opened her third shop in New York. Sir is located in the heart of Williamsburg at 129 Bedford Avenue and is the  designer’s latest exciting venture.

With Kirsten Dunst, Kate Hudson, Kiera Knightley, and Michelle Williams as regular clientele of Sir, the opening of a Williamsburg boutique near Bedford Avenue promises to enhance the cool. Since the beginning, Sir had gained a glamorous following through word of mouth and a simple retail model alone.

The new boutique will exclusively carry Ms. Joanna’s creations while serving a tightly curated showcase for her constant evolving collection of favorite designers. “I like to whip the sewing machine out in the shop, and let people watch if they are around as I stitch things into shape,” explains Joanna. “It’s something I did in my Brooklyn store originally that I also want to try when time permits.”

Sir’s specialty are its bias-cut silk pieces creating a great fit and a “well-loved feel.” She honed her skills at the world-renowned Rhode Island School of Design. Experimenting with different techniques, she washes her silks by hand (consisting of both chiffon and charmeuse) to give the luxurious pieces a “pretty, but roughed-up look.”

Featured at all Sir locations are this season’s fall dresses, artisian jackets, and an assortment of one-of-a-kind hand-dye Sir signature silk and jersey dresses that are perfect for taking you from the office to a night out in Manhattan.

Sir

129 Bedford Avenue

Brooklyn, NY 11211

Tel: 718-384-0700

Email: sirbrooklyn@hotmail.com

Hours: Tu-Sa 1-7:30pm, Su 1-7pm, Mon Closed

all photos courtesy of CoolHunt Inc.

]]> http://momokomashups.com/fame-fashion/putting-the-sir-in-williamsburg/feed/ 0 http://momokomashups.com/everyones-talking-about-it/grit-glamourous/ http://momokomashups.com/everyones-talking-about-it/grit-glamourous/#comments Sun, 08 Jun 2008 08:00:17 +0000 Janice Momoko Chow http://momokomashup.wordpress.com/?p=6 If you’re a wanderer like me, you know that walking in Downtown LA is a little twisty.  It’s posh and pretty in some places, while grimy and dirty with a touch of street characters in others.  Strolling down Frank Gehry’s Walt Disney Concert Hall, I walk down Grand Avenue to MOCA, an area so nicely perched on a hill.  Dare to venture down from Bunker Hill, like say going to the Mike & Chris sample sale like I did during lunch a few weeks ago, and you find yourself on Broadway.  It’s like Roppongi in Tokyo, a completely different place.  You soon begin to hear Gloria Estefan on karaoke, stores spill out into the sidewalks, Prado (Prada!) handbats, a gazillion of electronics are for sale, and three amigos share shots of tequila over tire-size ashtray under the lazy noon sun.  As the avenues advance 7^th, 8^th and 9^th, I reach the famed Orpheum Theater where LA once had a roaring opera scene, has long lost its glamour to grit, beside a fruit stand.

In the Greenwich Village, “Sarah Jessica Parker is bemoaning the loss of a city that many say she has helped push out. As trendy bars and boutiques take over Manhattan’s corner bodegas and laundermats, the famously stiletto-heeled “Sex and the City” star laments the loss of grit for glamour in New York.” But what fun would it be without our favorite glamour girls strutting their stuff all over Manhattan?  Fantasy it was, the movie is everything I love about NYC.  Word of advice, don’t blink when watching the movie.  The styles changed so quickly, one blink and you’ll miss Carrie styled to perfection. I saw a Nina Ricci tutu, Dries van Noten dresses, Peter Som chemisiers, Balenciaga platform sandals…me likes! (Can anyone tell me who makes the white rosette zipper jacket and satin shift Carrie wears in the last scene? I’d love to know!)

Grit glamourous, as I call it, became a photo shoot competition for America’s Next Top Model.  Yes, it’s a guilty pleasure indeed, and recently I found out by boyfriend watches it with his best buddy roomie all the time! Shhh…! Tyra put a spotlight on homeless youth and the girls posed for a photo shoot with real homeless youth. The shoot was awk-ward and entertaining at the same time.  So wrong! Imagine what the real homeless people were thinking?  I walk by homeless in Downtown all the time and I think they’d rather eat a nice big lunch, not be in a photo shoot with these model hopefuls.  In this twisted fashion world, somehow living on the streets involves personal stylists and perfectly tilted rag doll-style ski caps!

SJP laments what was once the City’s grit’s past, but I think the true lost is lamenting over a Downtown LA’s glamourous past!