Louis Vuitton

Richard Prince:Debutante Nurse: 2003

When I get back to NY I'm heading straight to The Guggenheim for the current Richard Prince exhibit "Spiritual America" which is going to make a lot of sense after my California adventure. Who would have thought those pulp kitsch "Nurse Paintings" from the 2003 Barbara Gladstone show would have become so iconic this year. From the opening reference at the SS 08 Louis Vuitton, to the Phillips de Pury & Company November auction ads as well as the front imagery for the Guggenheim exhibit, Prince's nurses are having a major Zeitgeist moment. My favorite nurse is "Debutante Nurse". She reminds me very much of someone iconic in her own way.

The Vuitton store at the MOCA Murakami exhibit: NY Times

Now that fashion endorsements by Hollywood stars are as common as ragweed, progressive fashion makers are moving on. “To be perceived as cutting edge, they must make use of a different kind of celebrity,” said Ms. Currid, the author of the Warhol book. “They need an art star.”
Ruth La Ferla in The NY Times

Interesting (and inevitable) article in the NY Times Style Section today about the Louis Vuitton Store at the MOCA/Murakami exhibit. It makes the larger point that art, like celebrity is being spliced frantically into fashion's gene pool to keep the whole thing ticking. 1000 thoughts are unspooling . What if the art booms ends abruptly? What does the fashion world wants from art apart from pretty pictures and easy cachet? Just how big is the overlap between an art audience and a fashion audience ANYWAY? It is like one gallery owner in Paris hissed "Art today is for the very rich and fashion is for the middle class who want to fool each other into thinking they are rich" . ...Just coming back to after a loooooong night of nightcrawling and will post more + a POV on LA nightlife as soon as the word machine kicks in.

I would kill your cat for this KAWS/Comme des Garcons collaboration wallet!

TI's secret hideout this week

Example Of A Lawrence Weiner Work Referring To An Art Piece Yet To Be Built

Stephanie Seymour opening Louis Vuitton SS 08. Image at style.com

Stylists: The Interpreters Of Fashion: Rizzoli 2007

The talk this week? Rachel Zoe's bold claim about possibly being more influential than Anna Wintour. The cabal is in a frenzy at this sacrilege. Its the best fashion sound byte since “We don't get out of bed for less than 10,000 a day” But given the high altitude Rachel now lives at (and the corresponding lack of oxygen) Rachel Zoe is entitled to be as megalomaniac as she wants to be. I mean maybe she means more influential in malls...or more influential with the 18 and unders. There is even a rumor in circulation that Zoe has first pull at Calvin. A rumor probably...possibly started by the Zoe camp. But it gets you thinking. Whose eyes, tastes, preferences inform the idea of what is fashion now? And how does the tastes and preferences (and talent) of these forces affect how fashionable women dress? . I spent my entire Saturday ringing up some kids in the trade to form an informal style council. Not only was Wintour with her fashion funds, speed dial to billionaire CEO's and Met Costume Balls PR machines in another universe of influence, the conclusion was there were easily 5 forces in the world of styling who could eat Zoe for lunch...and use her ribcage as toothpicks.

THE FIVE:
Grace Coddington:

Sandra Backlund: Blank Page Collection. Model Haidy Mottus

There's a current thought circulating in the image trade which holds that we're seeing the decentralization of the traditional fashion loop of NY/Lon/Milan/Paris. The idea is that the next wave of directional design talent is going to come from unexpected places but move through the mainstream of that 4 city grid with a kind of amped up digital speed. In other words, new talent is coming to the cities fully armed with a highly articulated product. If so the blogsphere has become a space of its own for the discovery and stealth marketing of freshly emergent designers. Take for instance the case of the brilliant young knitwear designer Sandra Backlund.

Sandra Backlund: Diamond Cut Diamond Collection. Model Carolina K