Helmut Lang: Journal Gallery exhibition

10 years from now, when all things Zeroes are dredged up in the spirit of ironic retro, will they look at the decade's sustained fusion of art and fashion and giggle? Or will the union of the two most compulsive by-products of late capitalism spawn a deadly serious new hybrid, one with an unnatural long life? It is certainly starting to look that way recently with virtually every fashion publication worth its pulp splicing in a heavy dose of "art" to keep the pages crisp and current.

Helmut Lang Fragrances Ad Iconography

Its been a very Proustian weekend, one about nostalgia and the realization that moments that you lived through with complete frivolity, were actually powerful turning points in your life. And now these moments are lost forever, except for maybe the memory of a smell. The time that is haunting me is the late 90's and the scent? Helmut Lang. In 2000, just at the time the tides were turning against them, the Helmut Lang company introduced a line of fragrances, starting with the unisex duo Eau de Cologne and Eau de Parfum created by perfumer Maurice Roucel and then shortly afterwards Cuiron composed by Françoise Caron. Like Lang's clothes Eau de Cologne was clean and simple yet lush and sexual at the same time. It was sweet and powdery enough for women with a strong base of amber and almond, so much so that some cultists were comparing it to the long lost Belle Epoque masterpiece, Jicky. But like a classic fougère, (the fresh citrus, the herbal lavender) it was complex too with touches of oakmoss and coumarin so that it perfectly suited a man. Especially a man in a suit. Its as if Roucel has created a masterpiece of musk .

Ph: Jayson Keeling. Styling: Sterling. Perforated leather jacket : Helmut Lang. B+W striped tie: Missoni. Black Shirt: Jean Colonna

This photograph was taken in May 2000 back when I fancied myself a stylist. The image is an out-take from a 10 page black and latino hair story that tried to capture the extravagant hair-styles the kids on the streets were beginning to rock . The photographer, Jayson Keeling and I were working for a "edgy" urban magazine at the time that would freak out everytime you showed anything outside of expected values. This particular pic was not a problem but the one with a kid with a "wipe" (think early Prince: hair straightened, flipped to one side, asymmetrical over one eye) was to be edited. I walked out . I felt guilty for years that the hard work JK put into this shoot was never rewarded. So we're going to re-shoot the whole thing again. From scratch. Just because. Except for this pic which we are not going to try to replicate, though I could probably execute all its mechanics in a much slicker way now.