I finally got around to watching Palladium Boots’ creative campaign film ‘Tokyo Rising’, where Pharrell takes us on a journey around the Japanese capital post “3/11″, and absolutely had to share. This cool little docu in five parts tells the story of how the young and creative Japanese generation experienced the disasters in their country earlier this year, but are quickly rising above it. We meet a young guy who founded his own magazine just because he realized he could, a guy who transforms a ruined building into a collective creative space, a whole group of designers redefining the terms of squat culture and a handful of eccentric and well-spoken artists, harajuku girls, rappers and musicians, who all explain how their generation has redefined the Japanese identity and is taking it to new heights. If you’re anything like me, it’ll leave you inspired, reminiscing your teenage Pharrell crush and wondering why you don’t live in this Disneyland city already. Oh, and the boots are pretty cool too. #madadvertisingskills
I couldn’t resist posting about latest internet sensation Lana Del Rey, the 24-year-old songstress who went from nobody to hot cyberspace topic in just a few short weeks. She sings drawn-out ballads with a smoky, sultry voice and makes cool YouTube montage videos, which she mixes in with footage of herself pouting at the camera dressed up retro old-Hollywood style. There’s been a lot of online frenzy about whether or not she’s ‘authentic’ or is fake-indie or whatever, since she used to sing mainstream under her real name Lizzy Grant as a blonde with un-puffed lips. I say, quite hating. I dig her diy vintage lolita image, and seeing as she managed sell-out shows after posting just one song online is pretty rad if you ask me. Her song “Video Games” has been floating through my mind for days, and I’m guessing i’m not the only one, since none other than Jamie Woon jumped on remixing it recently. Of course, there’s always the chance that she’s a big scam set up by ‘industry insiders’ so that she could be taken on my indie blogosphoere, as I’ve read, but somehow that seems a little far-fetched. Hater or not, there’s no denying she’s got people talking… now let’s hope it lasts longer than a blogosphere minute in the limelight.
Joomi Lim is a namesake jewerly line by designer couple Joomi Lim and Xavier Ricolfi that’s totally rad (which is why I wrote an article on the line that you can find here). Joomi’s a a self-proclaimed free-spirit hailing from Seoul and Xavier’s a Parisian industrial designer, so naturally they came together to design cool, juxtaposing jewelry in a New York City loft. According to the past month of fashion week frenzy, what we should be channeling come six months from now should be all about the neon and the tribal. Check, Check, throw in some ridiculously cool rock ‘n’ roll vibes and some glamour, ét voila, you’ve got Joomi Lim. I like, I want… But first, must focus on finding employment.
Realization of the day: Browsing through my “inspirational” folder, I came across one too many photographs having something to do with clouds. Could I be on to something here? #emotumblrmoment.
After checking the tour dates of my favorite summer band crushes, Austra, I learned they would be coming through the country to a festival somewhere in small-town Belgium. One glance at the line-up, and I knew I had to be present. Making a day out of it, fellow-enthusiast Ianthe (check out her blog) and I found ourselves in among fields, fields and more fields at a small festival where locals of all ages came to check out their annual happening. Puzzled as to why such a great array of international under-the-radar bands had been booked for this location, we did our best to look past the unenthusiastic crowd and enjoyed some great live music. Here are the best-looking pics we snapped, and some music to go along with them.
Austra, a now five-piece girl band hailing from Toronto, didn’t in the least dissapoint. They’re a band that play a goth-inspired synthpop electronica that’s often compared to The Knife, based around front-woman Katie Stelmanis’ massive vocals that even bring Florence Welch to mind. Topped with pulsating in-sync dance moves and cute outfits, they were even better live then I could have hoped for.
Another topper wereCrystal Fighters, a known five-piece East London band (two Englishmen, an American guy, and two Spanish chicks) that play Baroque-meets-dance-meets-everything-in-between. They wow-ed us with their transitions from what seemed more indie-folk to straight up dub, in between clashing on a txalapartas (translation: a massive wooden instrument) and belting rap-like vocals. They’re the kind of band that has you boggled as to how on earth someone dreamed up such a style– which after some research apparently came out of singer Laure’s discovery of an unfinished opera called ‘Crystal Fighters’ that her late grandfather was writing in the Basque country, which they then tried to release in the London indie-dance scene. Makes sense.
We also chanced upon a couple previously unknown bands. EMA(Erika M. Anderson), another genre-blurring cool chick originally from middle-America who somehow manages to make music somewhere in between country, goth and grunge. And then there was Man Man, a fantastically quirky and apparently weathered experimental band from Philly who put on a spectacular performance including everything from tribal decorations to a front man who likes to strip into drag and dance around in a glittery dress for a few numbers.
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The cherry on top was none other than Nosaj Thing, the 24-year-old L.A. producer otherwise known a Jason Chung, who did a great set of his who’s dreamy, nighttime electronica. If you haven’t heard them already, check out his well-known Aquarium, a spin-off from Kid Cudi’s Man on the Moon below, or his mix of Charlotte Gainsbourg’s Heaven Can Wait.
The wildchild of the infamous Antwerp Six designer dream-team Walter van Beirendonck has his first ever retrospective collection “Dream the World Awake” exhibiting at the MoMu fashion museum in Antwerp. We’re talking over 100 outfits that celebrate what the bearded man has dreamed up over the years. Yes, that means shirts painted with chest hair, sparkling sequins explosions, digital phallusus, webbed-toe boots, plastic toy accessories, corsets, butterflies, gasmasks, mohawks and a whole lot of fashion politicization. I attended the opening, and this is what Ianthe of Reflections on my Sunglasses managed to snap amidst the turning mannequins and fashion student crowd. And, if you want to know more, check out the article I wrote on the exhibition for Fidoo here.
We also snapped some cool looking peeps in the crowd.
And here’s the rad video that legendary fashion photographer Nick Knight and stylist Simon Foxton created of Van Beirendonck’s most iconic pieces, especially for the retrospective collection.
Kiwi sisters Cate King and Sarah Busby of WhyWho are a shoe-designing duo hailing from a small town on the North Island of New Zealand. Their Summer 2012 collection (a.k.a. the majority of the world’s winter 2012 season) called “One Fine Day” paints a whimsical picture of sixties youth in revolt, when kids were “primly dressed adolescents hiding mysterious deeds and dark secrets underneath polo shirts, pinafores and Mary Janes”. Marrying femininity with masculinity, innocence with adulthood, and edge with girliness, these sisters know their dichotomies. Plus, with shoes with names like “The Drifter”, “Lost Soul Clog”, “Runaway Clog”, “The Juvenile” and “Dollface”, how could I possibly not rave about them?
Gia Coppola has done it again. Last October I blogged about the whimsical film she directed for Opening Ceremonystarring Kirsten Dunst, and now she’s done it again. This time, her film ’22′ follows a bunch of LA Kids on a summer day of teenage dream fun, decked out in pieces from Opening Ceremony’s collaboration with Hawaiian brand Reyn Spooner. Judging by the way the film makes us want to blow up watermelons and wear Hawaiian print, it’s obvious a Coppola is involved.
Here’s a collaboration to knock your socks off: New-York city based jewelry designer behind Bing Bang, Anna Sheffield, has gone underground collaboration with Swedish streetwear brand, who you probably know for their headphones, WeSC (WeAreTheSuperlativeConspiracy). Beside winning the prize of having two of the coolest brand names, the partnership has definitely resulted in some bad-ass offspring. Check out the article I wrote on the collaboration for Fidoo HERE. As for the rest, I’ll let the pictures do the talking…
It’s not just the music industry that’s forced to get creative, but the fashion world, too, sometimes needs to up its game. Artsy fashion films have been the perfect way for designers to spread the love beside the catwalk and photoshoots. London-based designer Markus Lupfer ditched these all together for his Resort 2012 collection, instead making this amazing tongue-in-cheek mockumentary on ‘the puzzle of the mysterious mind’ that features the collection. What’s more, it stars Florence Welch and Sadie Frost! Oh, and the clothes are pretty cool, too.
