19.8.13

Cutie and the Boxer





The Japanese Neo-Dadaist Makes a Slow-Mo Splash

A paean to eternal themes of love and sacrifice and the enduring pull of the creative process, Zachary Heinzerling makes his filmmaking debut with Cutie and the Boxer, a meditative observation of painter-boxer Ushio Shinohara. This exclusive sequence, shot on a Phantom camera, shows Ushiro pummeling the glass ‘canvas’ with affecting vigor. The former enfant terrible moved to New York from his native Japan in 1969 in search of international recognition that has never quite materialized. In the Sundance-fêted documentary, Heinzerling captures the Octogenarian and his long-suffering wife and de facto assistant Noriko preparing for their first joint exhibition: Ushio will present a selection of his ‘box paintings’––Jackson Pollock-inspired abstractions created by hurling paint-covered boxing gloves across a massive canvas, and Noriko, a showcase a series of witty illustrations entitled “Cutie and the Bullie”, which satirize their turbulent 40-year-old marriage. “Ultimately, my goal was to absorb the audience in the raw spirit and beauty that emanates from the couple,” explains Heinzerling. “To open a door onto the creative and very private world where the rhythms of the Shinoharas’s lives play out.” The result is an intimate tapestry of a challenging partnership, cemented by a bond that transcends their various artistic and financial impediments.

Cutie and the Boxer hit cinemas in the US this weekend, and will premiere in Europe November 1.

Major Lazer - Scare Me feat. Peaches & Timberlee


Directed by Brandon Dermer

Lady Gaga - Applause


Directed by Inez and Vinoodh

17.8.13

Requiem for Romance


In this "crouching love, hidden breakup" story, inspired by 50's Shanghai water ink animation & kung fu films, themes of distance, tradition, art and longing dominate a telephonic conversation as a martial arts tango provides the visual backdrop.
Shannon Kook, star of Degrassi the Next Generation and The Conjuring, won the best voice performance at the ACTRA awards for his role on the film. Vid Cousins composed the music based on an original musical theme by Kid Koala.
The film won Best Art Direction Award at Anima Mundi, Best Canadian Shortwork at the Whistler Film Festival, AnimAsian award at the Toronto International Reel Asian Film Festival, Audience Choice Award at the Athens Animation Festival in upstate NY. It was nominated for prizes at Cristal Festival in Switzerland, Golden Reel award at LA Asian Pacific Film Festival. The film was Official Selection in Stuttgart International Festival of Animated Film, Melbourne International Film Festival, Palm Springs International Shortfest and was presented as part of the Best of Quebec presentation in the Cannes Market in 2012.

16.8.13

Mykki Blanco on Madonna



The Provocative Artist's One-of-a-Kind Birthday Wish for the Queen of Pop

To celebrate Madonna Louise Ciccone’s 55th birthday, NOWNESS presents a very special message from notorious Harlem rapper and performance artist, Mykki Blanco. The Lil’ Kim-inspired alter-ego of Michael David Quattlebaum Jr., Blanco is the hyper-sexualized, underground hip-hop siren who counts a film collaboration with MOCAtv and a book of poetry published by OHWOW on her polymathic portfolio. “Madonna has the ability to create another dimension, something that she has done many times,” muses Blanco, ahead of her forthcoming debut album, M.I.C.H.A.E.L. Now, in a delirious flourish of retro-fitted postmodernism, New York photographer and director Matthu Placek captures her Monroe-style paean to the icon with a gift for self-reinvention: a performer in referential bloom.

What was your first memory of hearing or seeing Madonna?
Mykki Blanco: It was sneaking into my father’s room and looking at her SEX book. I had to be about six or seven-years-old, and I remember it wasn't the sex itself that fascinated me but the design of the book and the aesthetic. Even as a child I could tell this book was something special and glamorous.

How does Madonna inspire you as a performer?
MB: Her dedication to what makes a whole entertainer; the music, the videos, the choreography. She understands the magic formula of engaging her audience on all levels.

How was the birthday shoot?
MB: It was a little painful, which makes a great shoot! I had to tuck my genitalia in place and stand for 20 minutes in a very Warhol, statuesque pose in stiletto heels. Matthu was very focused, and the hair and make-up team did an amazing job of transforming me into that iconic “Justify My Love”-era Madonna that I personally love so much.

14.8.13

Lacoste LIVE presents Unconventional Iceland -- Fall/Winter 2013 (full video)


This Fall/Winter 2013-14 season, Lacoste LIVE takes you to Iceland.

They eat dried fish as a snack, have 13 Santas and are outnumbered by sheep!
Yes, there are many good reasons why we chose Reykjavik, as the 6th city, to shoot the Lacoste LIVE Fall-Winter 2013-14 campaign.
The real reason, however, why we wanted to share this country with you are its two Unconventional Talents, Gudmundur and Hulda.

Watch the film and meet Hulda and Gudmundur.
They have one thing in common: both are unconventional talents.
Gudmundur masters the art of giving words their full potential as graphic designer, and is also a great musician.
Hulda is just starting her modeling career, but also finds time to express herself in her greatest passion: photography.

Immerse yourself in Unconventional Iceland. Discover the definition of the Lacoste LIVE spirit in Iceland.

The Sun Diary


The sun diary is a playful monologue of the sun, portrayed as a woman, adoring and caring for
herself in her leisure time before sunrise, the film presents an optimistic outlook about our being,
while showcasing Daphi Elbee's S/S collection. Written by Dafy Hagai & Daphi Elbee
Director & DP: Dafy Hagai
CA: Yair Cymerman Alcabes
Model: Mirjam Roth
Narration: Zuzana Barak
Art Direction: Dafy Hagai & Daphi Elbee
Make up: Meirav Darzi
Hair: Shai Ben Yakar
Sound: D.B studios

13.8.13

This Must Be The Only Fantasy



Directed by Todd Cole
Produced by The Creators Project
Original score by Beach House
Starring Sidney Williams with Guinevere Van Seenus and Elijah Wood
Screenplay by Ben Collins and Luke Piotrowski


The Abramovic Method Practiced by Lady Gaga



Last week at a three-day retreat in upstate New York, Marina instructed Lady Gaga in the Abramovic Method--a series of exercises designed to heighten participants' awareness of their physical and mental experience in the present moment.
Marina Abramovic Institute (MAI) will be the first space dedicated to practicing the Abramovic Method, which prepares participants to both perform and observe long durational work.

12.8.13

Wood Wood Spring / Summer 2014

Henrik Vibskov Spring / Summer 2014



Words by Didder Rønlund I fell head over heels for all Henrik Vibskov's quirks and curious ideas - indeed, for the entire energy and atmosphere of the collection, inside Carlsberg's large bottling hall. And yet again, I fell for the man himself, and his stone face as he shuffled in, and took his bow. That is, what it is called, when the designers enter the podium, after the finale, and receive their applause. I saw men in many kinds of trousers and even more colours, girls who did not hold back, and everyone wearing the same odd shoes, which probably could achieve some health labelling. Some of Vibskov's distinctive hats, with a tall, round crown, actually cheered you up. Use them with anything, even with a nice fur coat, if you have one. A special addition to this - plus vests, jackets, backpacks, shirts, dresses and blouses in provocative congestion - was Henrik's sharp eye for commercial clothing, for stores and target groups, who neither want to own tailor-made suits or ties. You need a formidable talent to contain all that. And Henrik Vibskov has that talent.

11.8.13

FKA twigs - Water Me


Written & Produced by FKA twigs & Arca

Video by Jesse Kanda
Concept by Jesse Kanda & FKA twigs
Executive Producer: Juliette Larthe (Prettybird)
Head of Production: Margo Mars (Prettybird)
Producer: Shimmy
DOP: Sy Turnbull
Stylist: Jean Paul Paula
Make-up: Bea Sweet

Water Me is available now on iTunes. Pre-order EP2 and get Water Me now: http://smarturl.it/FKAtwigsiTunes

Pre-order EP2 on 12" now: http://smarturl.it/FKAtwigspre

Water Me is taken from FKA twigs' EP2, released 9th September 2013 on Young Turks.

10.8.13

The Old Documentary


Danny Brown documentary shot in 2009 by Nic Notion
Fools Gold Records

SLVDR FH 2013


Director of Photography: Andrew Truong
Graphic Design: Jeffrey Tang
Editor: Andrew Truong, Jeffrey Tang
Models: Ken Radomski, Alan Paradiso, Jeffrey Tang

9.8.13

From One Second To The Next


Xzavier, Chandler, Debbie, and Reggie all know the horrors of texting & driving firsthand.

Whispering Waves: Jarrod Scott

SOULLAND Spring/Summer 2014 · Katastrophe Video


DIRECTORS · SILAS ADLER & MATHIAS NYHOLM SCHMIDT
DOP/EDITOR · MATHIAS NYHOLM SCHMIDT
DIRECTORS ASSISTENT · MARCUS RICKETTS
FOCUS PULLER · TOBIAS NORDENLUND
GRADE AND POST · JONATHAN LIEB
STIL PHOTO · SASCHA ODA
ART DIRECTION · MARCO PEDROLLO
GROMING & HAIR · PERNILLE BUHL & SIMON SHABAN
PRODUCER · SOULLAND
EXCUTIVE PRODUCER · JACOB BERLINER & SILAS ADLER
PRODUCTION MANAGER · T I NA SVO LG A A R D
PHOTO ASSISTANT · ALEXANDER HØG
STYLING ASSISTANT · A L E X A N D E R A SVA R I SC H T SC H
· PRODUCTION ASSISTANTS ·
JULIE ASMUSSEN
NANNA HOUGAARD
FREDERIK HANSSON
ANDREAS WEBER
· MODELS ·
VICTOR NYLANDER / SCOOP MODELS
BENJAMIN S / SCOOP MODELS
M A RT I N L E K I C / SC O O P M O D E L S
JOSEPH KAMBARAGE / UNIQUE MODELS
ADAM MAHFUDH/ UNIQUE MODELS
KRISTOFFER DRØHSE / UNIQUE MODELS
CHRISTOFFER THOMSEN / UNIQUE MODELS
MADS EMIL / UNIQUE MODELS
FREDERIK HANSSON
DANE OUMA
CHRISTOFFER ASMUSSEN
DANE
A D D I T I O NA L T H A N K S :
U N I Q U E M O D E L S · SC O O P M O D E L S
THE LAB · ORDRUPGAARD · SMAG

8.8.13

Things Are More Like They Are Now



Swiss-born and Berlin-based Tobias Jundt makes music that's been called anything from rock to electro pop to visual trash punk. Together with his live band of up to twenty merry misfits, he forms Bonaparte – a fascinating and raucous celebration of artistic and musical freedom. The Avant/Garde Diaries took off on a road trip with Jundt to Upstate New York where, aside from Jundt's provocative outfits and make-up, proved to be a mellow affair soundtracked by Bonaparte's song " Things Are More Like They Are Now."

Her, Trailer



A lonely writer develops an unlikely relationship with his newly-purchased operating system that's designed to meet his every need. 

Directed by Spike Jonze.

with Scarlett Johansson, Amy Adams, Olivia Wilde, Rooney Mara, Joaquin Phoenix, Chris Pratt

6.8.13

Peter Beard: A Wild Life




The Artist and Photographer On His Lifelong Dedication to the Natural World

Peter Beard has been documenting and interpreting Africa’s epic landscapes and indigenous species for nearly six decades. Here he gives a rare insight into his life and practice in this meditative short from director Derek Peck. Shot at Beard’s home in Montauk, Long Island, we find the artist, author and photographer continuing to develop his complex collage practice that brings together found objects, contact sheets, literary quotes and photographs from Tsavo, Kenya, where he made some of his most memorable and affecting work on elephants in the 60s and 70s. “It does the heart good to see what nature has made available to us,” he says in today’s film. “Nature is the best thing we’ve got.” In his delicate, ornate work, his passion for the natural world is evident, and his commitment to the protection of the environment remains unwavering. “Peter is by turns charming and humorous, dark and brooding, and nostalgic,” Peck says of working with Beard. “Every photo in the collage would trigger a stream of thought about his time in Africa, photography, Montauk, and, especially, his concern for, and anger over, the state of the natural world. This subject more than any other has been at the heart of his work over his lifetime.”

THE CANDIDATE


An underhanded company man is offered assistance by a secret organization that immerses him in forces beyond his control.
 
Directed by David Karlak
Written by Marcus Dunstan and Patrick Melton
Director of Photography, Brandon Cox
Score by Zack Hemsey
Produced by Marcus Dunstan, William Morse, and Ryan Harvie

Cast:
Tom Gulager
Robert Picardo
Meghan Markle
P.J. Byrne
Thomas Duffy
Vyto Ruginis

Wonderland | A Short Form Doc on Creative Commerce


In Spring 2013 we set out for a month to make a short educational piece providing a glimpse of what it is like to work in the creative industry. The idea was born out of our own questions and struggles on how to deal with things that may seem out of your control. The themes we decided to focus on were those of creativity, relationships, the pursuit of financial profit, and the many directions you can intentionally or unintentionally find yourself taking. We hope the short provides direction in helping others pursue their own creative and personal goals by hearing first hand experiences. Thank you to everyone involved for your transparency and willingness to be involved.


Produced: letsgoeskimo.com

Special thanks to: Mike Berlucchi, Drew Dawson, Caleb Slain, Chuck Anderson, and Caviar Content for letting us use their LA space.

Credits:
Filmmaker: Terry Rayment
Filmmaker: Hunter Richards - hunterhrichards.com
Assistant Editor: Scott Hanson
Additional Photography: Mike Berlucchi

5.8.13

3.8.13

Chloë Sevigny's 90s Throwback: Part One




Shooting in the late 90s during one of Chloë Sevigny’s visits from New York City to London, photographer and filmmaker Michael Cleary enlisted super-stylist Alister Mackie, then a fellow student, to collaborate on Surface, an intimate film starring the future Oscar and Golden Globe nominee. Air-guitaring, playing dress-up and flitting in and out of a fragile waking dream, Sevigny was at the time an emerging ingénue, fresh from having starred in Larry Clark’s Kids, the film that cemented her position as one of the icons of her generation. “A lot was going on in her life at the time; she was getting into films and Hollywood,” says the director, who edited the never-before-seen 16mm film—which now features specially commissioned title art by Brooklyn musician and artist Hisham Bharoocha—into raw, black-and-white vignettes in the basement of Central Saint Martins. “We were just using what we had around,” adds Mackie. “It was the last revolutionary period in fashion where things actually changed.” In this first installment of our two-day celebration of the 90s as seen through Sevigny’s eyes, Interview magazine Editor-at-Large Christopher Bollen muses on his friend, the decades most enduring symbol.

Christopher Bollen on Chloë Sevigny

The young people who come to symbolize entire eras don’t choose that assignment on their own. We do it for them. The culture decides which youths best epitomize its tempers and spirit. Whatever frightening conclusions we could draw about today from that hypothesis, it does say something pretty excellent about the generation I grew up in: the 90s. While the current fashion resurgence of the 1990s—designer flannels and baby-doll dresses; sloppy rock acts reminiscent of early Pavement; the tsunami-like obsession with rambunctious girl empowerment—might induce us all to believe that the decade was one long grunge ride, there were many other, more valuable forces at work. Memorably, it was also a decade that Chloë Sevigny came to be heralded in many circles as the ultimate American teenager. Everything about her—her hair, her voice, her background, her future, her clothes, her choice of projects, her taste in movies, how she once used a rubber band for a shoelace, how she went out to clubs back when clubs weren’t easy to access and required more than money for entry, that her interest in fashion seemed self-willed rather than strategically implanted, her boyfriend, her love of the Village and the Lower East Side, her blasé indifference to her own star power—wasn’t about market saturation but about a feral personal self-determination. The new teenager back then was a breed apart. And maybe it was the last middle finger to the corporation of predigested culture. That was the weirdness of the 90s; for a minute, beggars could be choosers.

Chloë Sevigny moved to New York City in 1993 (although she had been taking trips into the city and corralling her pack of friends for years before that), and was famously photographed that year at age 18 by Larry Clark—the image is currently showing at New York’s New Museum in a smart, hagiographic artistic survey of 1993 (NYC 1993: Experimental Jet Set, Trash, and No Star running through May 26). It wasn’t just grunge influencing American youth back then. A certain lifestyle that now seems eerily portentous was being aggressively promoted on television (I’m referring to 90210). But the fact that Sevigny came to represent New York—or at least a section of it, back when New York had definable sections—demonstrates that there was still, in the mid 90s, a collective interest in independence, an underground, and the possibility, the glorification really, of personal choice (three virtues that really don’t traffic much in the two-thousand-and-teens). It turns out that Sevigny had terrific mentors, and the 1990s was a magnificent time to be a young woman. Women like Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon, the riot grrrl movement, Jane Pratt of Sassy magazine, female-driven art collectives like Bernadette Corporation, artists like Rita Ackermann, and editorial influencers like Ingrid Sischy, were just a few of the strong, impressive women re-shaping the cultural screen. Sevigny seemed like the next and absolute inheritor of that rebellious womanhood, and, after her appearance in Clark’s 1995 nihilist masterpiece Kids, she managed to tightrope over the film, music, fashion, nightlife and art industries, without ever losing herself and her very particular style (a style influenced as much by her hometown of Darien, Connecticut, as by Washington Square Park skateboarders).

I wouldn’t call Sevigny a muse. That sounds far too passive, too privileged and removed from the street. I think the whole world was jealously in awe of her because she appeared to be leading a life that hardly seemed sustainable in the shifting dynamics of the mid to late 90s: she acted in strange, unconventional films and hung out with strange, unconventional artists, designers and musicians. She brought an almost European bohemianism to New York when, under Mayor Rudy Giuliani, the city was quickly sliding in the opposite direction. I remember when I moved to New York in 1996 and when I’d find myself at the same bar or concert or party or club as Sevigny, I felt not some radioactive charge from being in the presence of a celebrity but rather a sense of reassurance that I was in the right place. I trusted her decisions and tastes even before I knew her personally. I think we all did.

Sevigny did not get stuck in time. That’s another vortex she avoided, perhaps the most important of them. She continued to stick to her decisions and tastes and be transformed by them, dozens of film and television roles later, many of them entirely unimaginable without her grit and talent. If this is a valentine to Chloë, it’s a needless one. She doesn’t drift on compliments. And her 90s “it girl” status wasn’t really a compliment but a bizarre attempt at taxonomy for someone so indefinable. Was 1999’s Boys Don’t Cry the end of the 90s in terms of independent film that tackled difficult topics, or the first film of the new decade, when independents became submerged in the mainstream? It was the film that garnered Sevigny an Academy Award nomination and affirmed her career as a professional actress. The actress has already had a busy 2013: a few television roles (she’s appeared in American Horror Story, Portlandia, Louie and just wrapped an as yet-unannounced pilot), her ongoing women’s fashion line with Opening Ceremony, and now hunting for a new apartment in Manhattan. But I came over to her old place and we sat down and went back in time to the 90s. I like to think we still look as young as we did then.

Chloë Sevigny's 90s Throwback: Part Two




The Indie Darling's NOWNESS Takeover Continues with Kim Gordon's Posse and a Marc Jacobs "Situation" 

“Only one thing comes between me and my Calvins,” muses a 21-year-old Chloë Sevigny before setting off on a quest for a mysterious bank boy in this unseen film by Phil Morrison. During her Manhattan frolics Sevigny sneaks a hidden camera into a Marc Jacobs show, where the likes of Ethan Hawke, Naomi Campbell and Suzy Menkes are seen toasting one of the designer's seminal grunge collections. Shot as an original video campaign for X-Girl, the preppy downtown fashion line and one of the many collaborative projects conceived by Sonic Youth's Kim Gordon, the video was “supposed to be like Godard,” explains Sevigny, who starred as the Jean Seberg-inspired protagonist alongside Budapest-born artist Rita Ackermann. “I was hanging out with her all the time and making videos with Bernadette Corporation and all those people; it was all up in the mix.” The tongue-in-cheek script co-penned by Morrison is a loose, sharp-witted rumination on fame, gender roles and the art and music scene of mid-90s New York. “I remember being concerned that people might find it boring, and Kim being very encouraging that she wouldn’t mind that at all, that it was to some degree the idea,” says the Junebug director. Nearly two decades later, the X-Girl muse paid homage to the cult line with a Fall 2013 Opening Ceremony presentation, where Gordon returned the favor with a one-off Pussy Riot-inspired performance. Here, Sevigny opens up to Interview magazine Editor-at-Large Christopher Bollen.

Christopher Bollen: Tell me about the picture of you that Larry Clark shot in 1993 that’s in the New Museum show [NYC 1993: Experimental Jet Set, Trash, and No Star].

Chloë Sevigny: I moved to NYC June of 1993, but I think that was shot earlier in the year when I was still visiting. I’m trying to think of the length of my hair because I was always shaving it that year. There’s a tank top, the ringer tees, stars of course were very popular in the 90s, so I feel like my outfit is very emblematic of 1993. It was shot in Larry’s apartment. I think I went over there with Harmony. He was already photographing us and making weird little videos and stuff.

CB: You were raised in Darien [Connecticut] and you’d come into the city on the weekends or after school, and that’s how you eventually met Harmony. I know this is part of your legacy.

CS: I met Harmony when I was a junior in high school, just hanging out. He was going to NYU and living at his grandmother’s in Queens. Washington Square had two different camps. There were the homeboys on one side: it was more the hip-hop, gangster side of the park. On the other side was the skaters. Me and this girl Lisa would come in together and she liked the gangsters so she’d hang on one side of the park and I would be on the other side with the skaters. And then we’d drive back home together in her mom’s Isuzu Trooper [laughs].

CB: Have you watched Kids recently? Are there specific scenes that you remember?

CS: I can remember almost every scene. The hardest one was when I was sitting with the doctor and she told me that I’m [HIV] positive and I had to react. I’d never really acted professionally, it was so hard, and Larry and I were trying to figure it out together.

CB: Were you interested in acting from a very young age?

CS: Yeah, I was interested in acting since kindergarten when my mom brought me to see Annie on Broadway and that was it. That was when I decided. Because they were kids my age, on stage singing and dancing, which is what I loved to do. I was always dressing up.

CB: Were fashion, style, and music all interrelated for you as a kid? Like a form of acting?

CS: I was into style and fashion really young, I really went for it! Eighth grade was when I veered off into the alternative world because I was obsessed with my brother’s girlfriend Ellie. She had blue hair and wore kilts and Doc Martens and I just thought she was so cool and so pretty and I wanted to be like her. Then I started getting into weird music, but even when I was doing the mainstream thing like everyone else, I didn’t feel like part of the popular kids.

CB: What did you wear while walking around New York in your first months here?

CS: I had combat boots and this white satin wedding gown that I had torn the train off of and I’d wear little T-shirts underneath, usually they’d have a Rita Ackermann drawing on them. And I had this pink 60s coat that was all falling apart and tattered, and I had pink and white hair.

CB: Do you look back on those early days in New York as particularly feral or free?

CS: A lot of that time in the 90s when me and Harmony were going out, more of my world was just about him. But I don't think about it much now. It takes a trigger like when I read Christine Vachon’s book about the making of Kids, or a photograph or someone’s story—then a flood of memories comes back.
CB: Was Harmony really ambitious at that age? Were you both? It seems like such a slacker skateboard world, but the two of you managed to make pretty astounding careers.

CS: I was less ambitious; more curious, you know? People thought I had a staring problem. I remember everybody saying: “Why do you stare so much?” Harmony knew what he wanted, he was on the fast track. But I didn’t know what I wanted to do. I thought I wanted to work at a magazine, which is why I worked at Sassy. I knew I was interested in fashion and maybe designing because I’d made stupid hats on my sewing machine. Or maybe acting or some modeling, you know, if I can get that. I was just kind of feeling it out.

CB: Do you think the New York of downtown in the 90s is gone now? When you walk around are you aware of the changes?

CS: I guess it felt more like a community, more like a village. Even walking down Lafayette Street, there wasn’t all the shops and stuff like that. There were only a couple of little spots where you could see people but that was just my scene. I hung out at X-Large everyday.

CB: What do you miss most about those days?

CS: I guess I miss that sense that something could happen, and I don’t think that was just to do with the age that I was. I think there was more danger—not that I want that anymore but it was more palpable and more exciting. Even something as little as people smoking in a club. There’s a different feeling in the room. It’s as simple as that. That’s what I loved about [Sevigny’s older brother] Paul’s clubs, always. There was this sense that anything could happen. It was kind of wild again at the Beatrice Inn. Not that many people can capture that feeling of recklessness. I miss the big nightclubs, Times Square, the street walkers.

CB: It seems like there was a nice convergence in the 90s with musicians and artists and filmmakers working with fashion, like Kim Gordon and her X-Girl line. She seemed to get all of the artists and filmmakers involved. You starred in the 1992 Sonic Youth video “Sugar Kane” set in a Marc Jacobs fashion show.

CS: Kim called me at home and said, “We’re going to do this music video. Would you be interested? You have to be naked.” And I said, “Okay.”

CB: So you really were naked in that runway scene?

CS: I think I might’ve worn a thong, which I’d never worn before in my life. I mean I was young, I was a junior in high school.

CB: You were very brave.

CS: I guess I just wasn’t very self-aware. I think people weren’t as brand obsessed, not the people who I was hanging out with. It wasn’t like Clueless. I don’t think I was thinking about making money. It was easier to live here without as much money, so it wasn’t anything I aspired to have. I didn’t want to be rich and famous. I just wanted to be cool and respected and admired. Harmony was into being pure and not being photographed. He informed how I felt about the press and what kind of decisions I wanted to make in my career. He was a real purist.

CB: The culture of film has also really changed since then. Do you think indie films still even exist? Boys Don’t Cry, for instance, was a watershed role for you. It really confirmed your place as a serious actress.

CS: I wish there had been more. There are a lot of movies I’ve made in my career that I’m really proud of, like the Last Days of Disco and American Psycho and even later with Dogville and Zodiac. But I feel like since then there’s been a dip and I want to get back to that consistency of working with good people and doing good work again. I read somewhere that no matter how famous you are, or how many movies you’ve been in, you’re always remembered for one or two parts. You know Robert De Niro is always Taxi Driver. I think I’ll always be associated with Kids. And that’s okay.

2.8.13

FALL 2013 T BY ALEXANDER WANG - UNDISCLOSED EVENT


For Fall 2013, Alexander Wang continues to play with his seasonal T by Alexander Wang videos as a platform for experimentation. This video is set in an unexpected scenario, directed by Darren Stein. Alexander Wang invited New Yorkers to a 'one-time-only undisclosed event' digitally where the initial 'open call' revealed only a location and a time. Hints and updates were leaked on the days leading up to the event via Twitter and Facebook. Once the doors to the lobby area opened, Wang revealed in a projected video message that attendees will have access to pieces from the T by Alexander Wang collection -- for free; no shopping bags or shopping carts. See the video for the full story.

Stein directed the 1999 dark comedy, Jawbreaker. The movie's final prom scene, where enraged classmates toss things at Rose McGowan and her tiara slips, is a favorite of Wang's, and it's an inspiration for this video.

Tokyo Tower Gigapixel Panorama




This is a 150-gigapixel image shot from the top of the Tokyo Tower. It was shot in September 2012 with the kind assistance from the management of the Tokyo Tower. The trip to Tokyo was sponsored by Fujitsu Technology Solutions, and this panorama was rendered and edited on a Fujitsu Celsius R920 workstation.

This image was shot with a Canon 7D digital SLR camera, with a 400mm telephoto lens. The camera was mounted on a special "gigapixel robot" called the Clauss Rodeon. This programmable robot allowed the camera to move and shoot very quickly, so that it was possible to shoot more than one photo every second. 

The image was shot from three different locations around the top of the tower. Each section was stitched together into a panorama, and then these sections were joined together to make a single, full 360° image.

1.8.13

Fashion Week Travel Essentials - MR PORTER


From Mr Samuel L Jackson to Sir Paul Smith, we asked those attending the spring / summer 2014 runway shows to share their travel essentials.

Kate Upton, Dree Hemingway - David Yurman Fall 2013 Campaign


Kate Upton, Dree Hemingway, Anais Mali and Catrinel Menghia were shot by legendary photographer Peter Lindbergh for David Yurman's Fall 2013 advertising campaign.