Having co-hosted our Issue V LFW launch, Theory creative director-extraordinaire Olivier Theyskens is the focus of Tom Allen’s beautifully-directed black and white film for Twin.
It’s an intimate and lasting insight into his much-adored and critically-acclaimed work for the New York brand. With conversation ranging from his interpretation of style to the influence of art on his designs, Olivier also touched on his long-standing love of New York- as youthful aspiration, creative melting pot and, most recently, home. Having lived there for the past year, his S/S ’12 collection with Theyskens’ Theory was a love letter to the essence of effortless downtown style. Rendered in a romantic, urban palette that could have been lifted from the photos which adorned his childhood bedroom, and embodied by a succession of utterly wearable, highly desirable pieces, there is no doubt that Olivier’s vision of contemporary femininity will continue to capture hearts and minds everywhere.
Watch the film and read his story in his own words as part of Twin Issue V.
Continuing her collaboration with Diesel Black Gold, Sophia Kokosalaki chose to reflect the label’s name at New York Fashion Week last month, with a collection of blinding metallic and midnight petroleum.
Bringing innovative techniques to everyday wear, Kokosalaki created cracked silver leather trousers and tiny shorts that were produced by photographing mirrors, printing them on foil and fusing them with leather.
While there was plenty of high-tech shine, fresh masculine tailored blazers in pink and cream toned down the glare and oil slick flares had the essence of Diesel’s rock chic DNA. This was a collection made from sophisticated fabrics but rooted in casual cool shapes, while the inclusion of Greek draped dresses had the unmistakeable Kokosalaki signature.
Opening Ceremony have a history of cool collaborations. From indie-queen Chloe Sevigny to denim giant Levi’s, the store cum label manages to shape-shift between creative influences while retaining its essential DNA. Their latest collaboration is with conceptual de-constructionists Maison Martin Margiela. Since presenting the collaboration at New York Fashion Week back in February, it’s been a matter of playing a patient waiting game. Finally though, MM6 Maison Martin Margiela x OC is on sale and it’s a partnership based on shared sentiments.
Recuperation, transformation and reinterpretation are the immovable creative cornerstones for the Maison and the collection is a fluid enactment of their 3-in-1 concept. Linings of coats unzip to become lightweight layers and nylon gaters add height to ankle boots to the point of becoming trousers themselves. They’ve even come up with a quirky stop-motion video that brings the morphology of the Maison and OC’s designs to life. Get swept away.
Legendary Austrian fashion designer turned artist Helmut Lang has destroyed his fashion archive and in return created a series of sartorial sculptures featuring pulped and twisted fabrics and fibers, scorched plastics and metals. Having given away much of his catalogue to design collections around the world, the master of Nineties minimalism decided to shred some 6,000 pieces for the exhibition at The Fireplace Project Gallery in East Hampton, New York. Inspired after a fire in the building of his New York studio almost destroyed his life’s achievements, Lang decided to complete the task himself. Out of the carnage emerge eerily, slender columns that resemble elegant birch trees. They give shape and permanence to the transience of fashion and life itself.
MAKE IT HARD, a solo exhibition by Helmut Lang is at The FIREPLACE PROJECT untilAugust 8, 2011. fireplaceproject.com
‘Contraband’ is an extraordinary series of works by New York photographer Taryn Simon. Compiled over five days, the book documents over 1,000 items that have been seized by customs at John F Kennedy International Airport. It’s amazing what people will try to get away with carrying or sending – the objects in question range from an African cane rat infested with maggots, to a South American pig head, counterfeit American Express traveller’s Cheques, gold dust and heroin. Often it’s the way that the banned objects have been concealed that is the most intriguing of all.
The book reveals the dark brass tracks of America and the contradictions of a system that we often try to forget. Each of Simon’s photographs is composed with forensic care. They are like a scientific record which leaves no room for ambiguity. Yet the personal nature and the geometry of the objects themselves means they are often cast in a seductive and haunting light. The result is perfectly lluminating – humanising even the most forbidden fruit.
‘Contraband’ by Taryn Simon is published by Steidl this month (steidlville.com), and an exhibition will also open at Lever House, New York on September 30 and run until December 31, 2010 (gagosian.com).
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