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Sebastian Meunier: To Be Myself

Fashion, Features/Op-Ed

A little over two years ago Ann Demeulemeester announced her retirement from her signature label. After the initial shock subsided, the question of succession inevitably came up. That’s when Sebastian Meunier, a Parisian designer who has had a long tenure at Margiela before joining Ann Demeulemeester, stepped out of the shadows. Meunier spent two years at the label before Demeulemeester’s departure and has worked closely with her. But the big question remained; how could anyone fill the shoes of a designer whose style was so clear and who was so inextricably linked to her label? In other words, could there be Ann Demeulemeester without Ann Demeulemeester?

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Work:Space – Geoffrey B. Small

Fashion

Last month I got a chance to visit the studio of Geoffrey B. Small, the American-born designer who has been working in Cavarzere, in the Veneto region of Italy. Veneto is the heart of the Italian fashion industry with a storied tradition of clothes making. It used to be that you could not throw a stone without hitting a fabric manufacturer or a shirt-making factory. Globalization has killed all that by outsourcing much of the work to other countries in Europe and Asia.

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SHOP:CASE – SVMOSCOW

Fashion, Retail

When SVMOSCOW came on our radar we were pleasantly surprised that a forward-looking store like this could exist in Moscow. Hidden away in a loft-like setting without a shop window in the middle of Russia’s capital, with sparse interior in earthy tones, the boutique breaks all the stereotypes of a gaudy, in-your-face “Russian style” that Westerners are accustomed to. SVMOSCOW carries a cutting-edge mix of brands like Rick Owens, Ann Demeulemeester, and Yohji Yamamoto, among others. It was the first shop in Russia to buy Haider Ackermann and Vetements, and exclusively carry designers like Leon Emanuel Blanck and Goti.

KONIG Boris Mikhailov 9783863358167

Boris Mikhailov: Diary

Culture

Boris Mikhailov is a somewhat accidental artist. He worked as an engineer in the Soviet Ukraine, dabbling in photography on the side when he was ratted out for taking nude photos of his wife. He was subsequently thrown out of work for spreading pornography – a common practice to remove “undesirable elements,” especially those of Jewish descent. Consigned to the dregs of society, which included the bohemia of the artists unapproved by the state, Mikhailov began to take photos in earnest. Photos that reflected the deep aesthetic and spiritual ugliness of the homeland that betrayed him.

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Anselm Kiefer in Paris

Culture

If you happen to be in Paris, don’t miss the Anselm Kiefer exhibit at Centre Pompidou. This comprehensive retrospective, first in Paris since 1984, of nearly 150 works of the German master of pain and reckoning is spread over ten thematically organized rooms. It is an awe-inspiring show, profound and simultaneously quiet and disquieting.

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Comme des Garcons Dot Perfume

Fashion

Following its European launch, Comme des Garcons is releasing a new scent, DOT, at Dover Street Market in New York today. Though the company has authored seventy-five scents, DOT is its fifth scent created in-house, and the first since 2011. The scent riffs on the polka dot, which could serve as an unofficial CDG emblem. The prime note in the scent is that of the Osmanthus flower, which grows in the parks all over Japan in the fall.

KONIG On Being an Angel 9783863357504

Francesca Woodman: On Being An Angel

Culture

Francesca Woodman was one of those art prodigies who has never quite found her place in this world.

She died young, but she has left a rich body of work that consists of photographs that could easily be mundane in the hands of a lesser artist, but in Woodman’s hands become enigmatic.