We are facing difficult times. We are all trying to figure out how to be a nation again.
Hubby Watch: Les Liaisons Dangereuses at Centerstage
Fabio designed the costumes for Les Liaisons Dangereuses directed by Hana Sharif.
The fabrics are lush and there are many very special touches.
One review said: Costume Designer Fabio Toblini excels with his elaborate designs that spare no excess or detail. From Cécile’s youthful debutante gowns and Madame de Tourvel’s just demure enough day dresses to Valmont’s velvet waistcoats and brocade dandy vests, he uses fine fabric, texture, and color to perfectly define his characters. But his sumptuous designs reserved for Merteuil, flowing visions in electric jewel tones, trump even the best of his plot. Miss Douglas’ talent and persona draped in Toblini’s extravagant creations espousing Hampton’s sublime words combine into the mesmerizing force of nature she creates in Merteuil. Toblini provides her with every tool she needs to commandeer the stage with minimal effort.
We were ready for our close up with a rare inclusion of our favorites.
Hotly Contested!
Our linen and glow in the dark sheer Moonlight is in Interior Design magazine's Best of the Year contest. There are 2 days left to vote. If you would vote, I'd be thrilled. The contest is great and the award is really pretty. No registration necessary and you can vote once from any screen.
Friends and Heroes
Roy tells me the four green tables are meant to be bought by a collector who would get and use one table, Roy would get and use a second table, a museum would receive and keep pristine the third while the fourth would be anonymously donated to a thrift store. God I love that guy.
The work in his show is gorgeous- often pairing found furniture with large constructions. While I don't fully understand the relationship, I do respond. The drop leave table in a white monolith made me tear up a little.
Luisa's show has her paired with Christina Kim of dosa, inc., and Reiko Sudo of NUNO. All three use industrial waste with originality and surprise.
Luisa and her recycling are, of course, very dear to my heart.
Summer Roundup! Hot Town, Summer in the City
Sure is August in NYC right now. The city really gives a lot to people who stay in town. Right now there are a bunch of shows I love.
The Met is doing double duty with Unfinished and Manus x Machina. Unfinished is at the Met Breuer, whose renovation is understated and stunning. The floor of not modern art delivers a view into the workings of artists that we never get to see. There is a room of Turner paintings found in his studio after his death. They are only background- it's unclear if the boat had yet to be added or if he had made the leap to pure abstraction. What is clear is that I cried a little in there. It's up until 4 September
Manus x Machina is a showstopper because who doesn't love handmade vs computers. Everyone winsAND there are four Fortuny Delphos dresses on display! The show is up until 5 September.
FIT's gallery has a hot hot small show called Uniformity. Beautiful and susinct. Totally worth a visit before 19 November. Starting 23 September FIT is showing Proust's Muse, The Countess Greffulhe. Based on this dress alone it's gonna be great:
El Museo Del Barrio has a show on Antonio Lopez. I love this show so so much. Antonio's brief career had a huge influence on fashion at the time and was formative for both Fabio and I.
Finally my dear friend Randal Stoltzfus is showing on the 7th floor of Bergdorf Goodman starting 16 August. That's two great tastes that go great together!
Standard Incomparable
Helen Mirra has an installation at the Armory Arts Center in Pasadena called Standard Incomparable. In it she asked weavers to weave 7 stripes of alternating local natural undyed fiber. Each stripe should be a hand width wide and and arm’s length long. Each weaving becomes a description of the locale and of the weaver.
My contribution was woven on our Mixtape Light Neutrals warp. Since I live in a city and local can be defined many ways, I unraveled 2 vintage sweaters I bought here- brown Peruvian alpaca and the other Irish fisherman’s knit natural white wool.
Each weaver made 2 pieces. The second became part of an exchange with the other weavers. I received Liz Gipson’s beautiful work.
Thanks to Eric for the heads up on this project.
The show got a lovely write up in the LA Times.
Landed!
We are so happy to announce our presence in the Savel Showroom on the top floor of the D&D building. We are in great company- come on in and check us and them out.
Re-cording
In the USSR music was strictly censored. As a kid I had a chance to visit the USSR as a ‘student ambassador.’ A fella named Sasha made friends with me and was so happy to receive my copied cassettes. One was Laurie Anderson’s Home of the Brave. The was particularly exciting as he’d read about her but hadn’t yet heard her. He promised to share the music widely and without cost.
Maybe some went out on X-ray films etched with sound grooves and using a cigarette to burn the center hole like these I saw in New Scientist:
Here in the studio we have been weaving cassette tape into 5 colors of Mixtape: Light Neutrals, Greens, Blues, Reds, and Greys and Browns.
Our perfect soundtrack for that weaving is from Bow Wow Wow.
It's Science! Plastic Eating Bacteria.
The PBS Newshour has an article on a newly discovered bacteria that digests PET! There is a lot to learn, but maybe we have a tool to not just degrade but digest the most common plastic. Maybe even the microplastic floating in the ocean.
Don't worry- it won't eat all the rubber seals in our underground facility:
I Shop Therefore I Am: Mr Heartbreak
When I was in high school my sister blew my little mind by giving me a cassette copy of Laurie Anderson's Mr Heartbreak. I've really internalized this music. Now at Wright in Chicago an edition of the cover image!
Laurie's film Home Of The Brave made just after the album is available for us all to watch!