Céline Selection

December 23, 2017December 22, 2017 | Design & Culture by Ed

Since Céline opened its on-line store, it’s worth checking out their site from time to time. Even if you can’t afford one of those perfects coats or knits with foulard inserts, the brand will treat you with some very. very lovely visuals (probably taken by Juergen Teller). I’m enchanted with Charlee Fraser and the bangles shot, just like with the entire resort 2018 collection. Enjoy!

P.s. It’s official – Phoebe Philo leaves Céline. A huge, tribute post is coming up. But let’s feel the festive mood for now and leave the sorrows for later…

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.

Mr. Jeanloup Sieff

August 19, 2017 | Design & Culture by Ed

In honour of the World Photo Day, here’s a post devoted to one of the most intriquing image makers – and one of my all-time favourites – Jeanloup Sieff. Born in Paris, Jeanloup Sieff received a camera for his 14th birthday and since that moment he had a passionate love affair with it. Throughout his career, he introduced an innovative feel of eroticism to fashion photography that traditionally used to represent stiff, ice-cold models. In his hands, the camera adored the sitters and vice versa, making the shoot feel like more like a flirt. Often emphasizing a specific area of the body – mostly backs and bottoms – Jeanloup Sieff believed that ‘sometimes, the face is not interesting when the body is. Sometimes the face is a distraction.’

With his wide-angle black and white images, the French photographer caught the dramatic potential of light and shadow while he often added a touch of humour to his pictures, playing with situations and his, lets not hide the fact, sexy sitters. Obsessed by women like Françoise Hardy or Mia Farrow, Jeanloup Sieff also captured one of fashion photography’s most legendary male nude – the controversial image of Yves Saint Laurent in 1971, for his perfume Y. Also, one can’t forget the couple-shot of Jane and Serge, the up-to-now epytome of French love.

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Visual Privilege of Polly Mellen

June 6, 2017July 29, 2018 | Design & Culture by Ed

Twiggy photographed by Richard Avedon and styled by Polly Mellen, Vogue, July 1967.

After reading System’s incredible interview with 92-year old Polly Mellen (former fashion editor of Harper’s Bazaar, American Vogue and Allure), I realised how boring fashion is today. Those were the days, when Polly took Veruschka to Japan for five weeks and made the most expensive editorial in Vogue’s history; when Leslie Winer and Jean Michel Basquiat made out at Irving Penn’s studio; when Mellen and Avedon worked with Nasstasja Kinski, who willingly posed with a snake on her naked body. The way Polly describes this experience to Jonathan Wingfield is equally emotive: now, I don’t know if you’ve ever held a snake… it is so erotic, you cannot imagine, it’s like holding your lover’s penis, it really is. Truly, I found reading this feauture inspiring and gripping like an adventure book – Mellen’s life is, as she describes, a ‘visual privilege’.

Nastassja Kinski photographed by Richard Avedon and styled by Polly Mellen.

Veruschka photographed by Richard Avedon and styled by Polly Mellen, Vogue, 1966.

Jerry Hall photographed by Helmut Newton and styled by Polly Mellen, Vogue, October 1974.

Unpublished, photographed by Steven Klein and styled by Polly Mellen, 1997.

Orient. Christian Wijnants AW17

March 10, 2017March 10, 2017 | Design & Culture by Ed

In his autumn-winter 2017 fashion show, Christian Wijnants celebrated the idea of a world with no borders. Not being too referential about the orient, he and his in-house studio developed one-of-a-kind prints which had a lot to do with traditional paisley and Persian rugs patterns. A brilliant remix of oriental rhythms and booming beats were another clue of the designer’s inspiration. However, the styling of those flowing maxi-dresses and skirts was purely European. In bold colours of orange, green and purple, the Belgian designer focused on the technical side of his clothes: the pleats were made of polyamide to keep the silhouette, while the sweaters were of highest quality Alpaca and other yarns to satisfy a Wijnants client for years. At the Le Marais showroom, to see and touch the clothes, I’ve spotted that the python boots in yellow were the star among the buyers. No wonder why.

Christian Wijnants AW17

Backstage / showroom photos by Edward Kanarecki.

Bye, Franca.

December 23, 2016 | Design & Culture by Ed

Franca Sozzani, the editor-in-chief of Vogue Italia, passed away yesterday after a year of struggling with a sickness.

28 years ago, she became the editor-in-chief of quite forgotten and dusty Italian edition of Vogue, bringing pulsing energy, erotic seduction and provoking ideas to the again desired pages. Throughout her career, Sozzani invited cult photograohers and stylists, like Tim Walker, Steven Meisel, Joe McKenna or Paolo Roversi, to work on the editorials, and most of all, the non-chalant, yet refined image of Italian Vogue. She was often called the “gold-mine of creativity”, for a reason.

Let’s look back at small part of archival shots and editorials that were done under Sozzani.