A New Place To Wear Denim This Spring

Denim is an every day staple for most wardrobes.  From street style to high fashion, the American working class material has become an American infatuation.  

Now there is now a new place to wear the iconic stuff – on your face.   Mac Cosmetics launched their limited-life cosmetics collection, Jeanius, this March as a part of their spring color story.   The collection includes four jean inspired eye shadows with befitting names such as Motorhead and Diva in Distress, as well as lipsticks, lip glass, powder blush, eyeliner and brow marker.

Also included are the white Frayed to Order and black blue hued Biker Blue nail lacquer, the latter being a decided replacement for my standard black, this spring.

Bottega Veneta: Restrained Provocation

At one point or another we’ve all watched strangers and wondered about their story, often adding our own twist of fantasy.  After all, the unknown is so immensely intriguing. Anonymity allows the ordinary to become exotic, romantic even.  And if the ordinary just so happens to be beautiful models and lust-worthy leather goods, well, you may just have full-blown enchantment.

The romance of travel and anonymity of hotel life is what Creative Director Tomas Maier draws upon with his new fashion film Viaggio Notturno (Night Journey) for Bottega Veneta.  Directed by Christian Weber and scored by minimalist instrumental ensemble Balmorhea, the film features models Patricia van der Vliet and Terron Wood but the true stars are an assemblage of luxury goods from Bottega Veneta’s permanent collection including a highly covetable set of Marco – Polo hard-case luggage, filmed amidst the stark opulence of Setai Hotel in New York.

Admittedly, it might just be said that the understated quality of the cinematography is what allows the film to be played more than once without the artful veil of mystery wearing too thin.  You can view the film yourself at Bottegaveneta.com or on their Facebook and YouTube channel, on repeat, if you’d like.

Olsen Twins Announce New Launch in July with StyleMint.com

What would you give to go shopping with Mary-Kate and Ashley Olson? In July, you can get a little closer (ok, like maybe a nanometer closer) with the launch of StyleMint, a digital coalescence of media platforms and personalized e-commerce.  Think Pandora meets book-of-the-month but for women’s T-shirts at 29.99 a pop, starting with eight styles of cotton/Modal Ts available in different basic colors.

StyleMint is the second fashion undertaking for BeachMint, which is headed by Josh Berman, one of the original begetters of MySpace.  It comes as no surprise then, that there is an interactive element to the site.

Based on the model of BeachMint’s first fashion launch,JewelMint, (which is in partnership with Kate Bosworth and stylist Cher Coulter), consumers will be able to use integrated Facebook and Twitter features to amass peer opinions about products they might be interested in buying.  They will also receive personalized recommendations based on style quizzes and predictive algorithms that fine-tune the customer’s style preferences with each purchase.

“With Stylemint.com, Ashley and I have created an online experience reflecting our love of style and allowing us to engage with our customers directly, which is an inspiring new way for us to think and create as designers”, said Mary-Kate Olsen.  The twins will be involved with designing and merchandising the goods as well as creating short videos for the site.

So if you see a tweet from a friend in July, something along the lines of ‘The Olson Twins picked out this T just for me’, you won’t be able to call her a liar. Well, at least not a total liar.

More Than One Way to Load a Gun

Anna Chapman shot into stardom following a Starbucks sting operation in the U.S. that exposed her as a Russian spy and led to a very public arrest in June 2010, along with 9 others.

Since then, she has been exiled to Russia and has been under lockstep surveillance – from magazines, fashion blogs and television shows to the cover of Russian Maxim and just recently, walking the runway for Ilya Shiyan and Yana Rudkovskaya at Moscow Fashion Week.

Was the loaded gun she held to head of a male model as she made her way down the runway gimmicky?  Sure.  Was intentionally dropping the gun at the end of the runway even more gimmicky?  Yes.   Did it work?  At least for now.

When mentioning Fashion Week, Moscow’s contributions don’t even touch the first 10 cities to cross the mind of the average fashionista.   However Moscow FW 2011 has put two new designers’ names into the forefront.  And although they may not remain there for long or for any merits of their own, for better or worse, they have made a momentary impression.

Danger is always exciting in fashion.  It thrives on extremities.  It’s this intrigue that thrust Chapman into the limelight in the first place and although she received criticism by KGB veterans for the loaded gun stunt, it was hardly a sabotage maneuver for her career.

Kind of like how Kate Moss lit up at the end of the runway for Louis Vuitton at Paris Fashion Week on Non Smoking Day.  Both women know how to turn disgrace into a powerful media tool.  Unfortunately, however, only one of them gets to wear Louis Vuitton.

Rise Japan: San Francisco

What could easily have been mistaken for a raging block party in the Tenderloin of San Francisco last Saturday night, was actually Vol. 1 of Rise Japan – a collaborative effort of galleries Heist, Kokoro Studio and Japanese art collective S.I.R.

The event raised money to provide aid for those affected by Japan’s earthquake and Tsunami.  100% of the proceeds of the 100+ artists who donated their work went to the Artists Help Japan Earthquake & Tsunami Fund founded by Dice Tsutsumi, an art director at Pixar Animation Studios and partnered with Give2Asia.

Live performances, Onigilly, and 2 dollar Sapporos all contributed to the sidewalk, nay, street spillage and enthusiastic atmosphere not present at all art openings.  Not to mention local bars Ambassador and Rye Bar offered special cocktails with partial proceeds being donated to the cause.  Throughout the night, over 900 guests made their way through the small spaces and an estimate of over 90 paintings were sold in a single night.

If you missed it, you have a second chance.  Rise Japan Vol. 2 will be held at Arc Studios & Gallery this coming Thursday, April 7^th from 7 pm -11 pm.  Or if you can’t make it to the event, you can donate to the cause here without  having to get out of bed.  But that’s just not as fun, now is it?

‘IT WAS BEAUTIFUL TO SEE THE WHOLE BLOCK BEING UNITED FOR A CAUSE.’

- S.I.R.

Photos courtesy of SFStation.  To see more from Rise Japan Vol. 1, click here.