William Klein “YES” at the International Center of Photography

Culture

The new William Klein exhibit at the International Center of Photography in New York is called simply, “YES.” Why the affirmative title is unclear, except that, yes, you should go see the exhibit of one of the main figures of contemporary photography.

This was my first visit to the ICP’s new location, which moved down to the Lower East Side just before the pandemic hit pause on all in-person viewing and relegated us to the faux world of virtual exhibits (a ridiculous proposition if you have really thought about what it means to look at art). The two-floor space accommodated 300 of Klein’s works organized by chapter into a fairly straightforward, mostly chronological arrangement. This seems like a lot, but given Klein’s prodigious output it actually leaves you wanting more, as each chapter feels like an appetizer and not an entree.

In America: An Anthology of Fashion at the Met Museum

Culture, Fashion

The paramount question, perhaps the only question that can be put to any work of art, or any exhibit of works of art, is whether it succeeds or fails. It is hard to answer that question with regards to the new exhibit by the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, titled In America: An Anthology of Fashion. The reason for this ambivalence lies in defining what fashion is, and since there is no more agreed upon definition, the answer is largely left to the viewer, and thus you will get a review of this particular viewer guided by his particular definitions.

Fashion Comes for Books

Culture, Fashion, Features/Op-Ed

In his 1967 classic critique of late capitalist society, “Society of the Spectacle,” the French philosopher Guy Debord posited that the West has reached a new stage of relations between commodities and people. Whereas before the laboring classes were alienated by capitalism from the product of their labor, now they were also alienated by it from their entire lives, from their surroundings, and most importantly from each other. He posited that during early capitalism the process of alienation occurred only during the workday. Once the factory lights were out the worker could at least go home and engage in his or her communal life. Now, however, leisure time became completely monopolized by what he called “the spectacle,” a mode of life in which fetishization of commodities has “moved the focus of existence… from having to appearing.” If that sounds like Instagram to you, you are not wrong.

StyleZeitgeist Podcast: The Fashion Media Landscape And Its Discontents With Luke Meagher, Mario Abad, and José Criales-Unzueta

Culture, Fashion

On this episode we speak with three young fashion media people – Luke Meagher of the YouTube and Instagram channel Haute Le Mode, Mario Abad, the fashion editor of Paper magazine, and Jose Criales-Unzueta, a regular contributor to I-D, Them and the Business of Fashion about the challenges they face and the problems they see with the current fashion media landscape.

StyleZeitgeist Podcast: Make It New with Aitor Throup

Culture, Fashion

On this episode we host Aitor Throup, one of the most innovative menswear designers who has conceptualized menswear like no other. We discuss his meteoric rise, the difficulty of translating conceptual fashion into a ready-to-wear proposition, his stints at Stone Island and C.P. Company, designing a uniform for the English national football team at the…

Aesop’s Nose Barnabé Fillion on its New Perfume Range

Culture

Recently Aesop released a trio of new perfumes called Othertopia, inspired by the relationship between the sea and the shore and the rich olfactory experience that comes with it. We caught up with Barnabé Fillion, Aesop’s artistic Nose in order to delve further into the process of creating these three new imaginative scents. What was…