February, 2012
Christian Dior Spring 2010 Steampunk-Inspired Collection
Awesome Dior runway collection with plenty of steampunk/neo-Victorian influences. The second half of the collection seems to be inspired by Marie Antoinette/18th-century France, Old Hollywood, and formal wear in general. Here are a few of my favorite images from the runway show:
See the whole collection here.
Tags: haute couture, neo-victorian, runway fashion, steampunk
The Self-Portraiture of Kristamas Klousch
I love the work of self-portraitist Kristamas Klousch. It’s fascinating, brilliant, and ever-changing. Combining instant film and digital techniques, she creates images that express a myriad of facets of, revealing and yet eluding the subject of the photographs, her “self.” What results is intensely beautiful, haunting, and dreamy. In the mini-bio on her site, she says, “Kristamas Klousch is a strange little wolfgirl, residing deep in the forests & cities of Canada.” She has also been described as “at once wild forest creature, fetish vixen, tousled witch, Lolita, courtesan, silent movie vamp, and voodoo priestess.” One of her pictures is on the cover of the current issue of Coilhouse Magazine.
Tags: grainy, kristamas klousch, self-portraits, vintage
Dirtyland
Brian M. Viveros‘s work features tough, defiant dames with a cigarette eternally jutting from the corner of their lips in a rich, realistically rendered atmosphere of dark sensuality, abuse, and tainted innocence. Cuts, bandages, neck braces, helmets, and red roses abound. These girls are injured, but brazen and brave and graceful in the face of their injury, and ready for battle in their Mickey Mouse-ear helmets, though they seem to serenely disdain it. Sort of a twist on the classic pinup.
Tags: brian m viveros, medical-themed, mickey mouse ears, pinup
Asta Nielsen: Fleur du Mal
Asta Nielsen is another one of those piquant silent film actors who intrigue me. A sort of dark flower, she has a very striking, iconic image, with a bone-white face, heavily contrasting huge dark eyes, and whimsical, rather mercurial expressions. Her features and the positioning of her body in stills (her look in 1921′s Hamlet!) I think give her almost a spooky appearance, and also a somehow modern look, as though she belongs more walking down the street around where I live than on the long-dead, silent screen. Now largely unknown, she was one of the most popular actresses of the 1910s and one of the first stars of the silver screen.
Born in 1881, she was a Danish actress who played in over 70 films, almost all of which were made in Germany. She was known for portraying passionate women caught in tragedy, and for the erotic quality of her performances. She brought a more subtle, naturalistic, and minimalistic acting style to cinema, in contrast to many silent actors who used theatricality – much like my beloved Louise Brooks did later on in the late ’20s. She also played Lulu in the 1923 adaptation of the Wedekind play, Erdgeist (“Earth Spirit”), which role Louise Brooks was to play in 1928 in Pabst’s Die Büchse der Pandora.
“‘Asta Nielsen’ means the power to speak of pathos, to see pain, and to find the middle path between Baudelaire’s flower of evil and the sick rose of which Blake sang.”
- M. S. FonsecaHere are a few pictures of Asta below:
Tags: 1910s, 1920s, asta nielsen, flappers, silent films, vintage
Caia Koopman
The very pretty pop surrealist art of Caia Koopman:
You can see more of Caia’s art at her site.
I actually got a card case featuring Caia’s art for Christmas, I love it dearly and never use it.
Tags: animals, day of the dead, environmentalism, pop surrealism
Fashion Designer: Mother of London
Mother of London is an innovative alternative couturier that makes beautiful, inspired creations in rough vs. delicate textures: black leather, gauzy, tattered layers, elaborate lace, hardware and corset lacing. Their aesthetic is simultaneously rugged and delicate, futuristic and Victorian, with lots of asymmetry and contrasts. Check out some of their work below:
Tags: asymmetrical clothing, collars, leather, neo-victorian, ruffs, steampunk
Vintage Image of the Day
via mothmilkTags: vintage, vintage undergarments
“Metropolis”-Inspired Fashion Editorial
I love the 1928 silent science fiction/German Expressionist film Metropolis. Check out this Metropolis-themed shoot from Vogue Germany that was posted over on Haute Macabre:
Tags: 1920s, fashion editorial, german expressionism, metropolis, robots, sci-fi, silent films, vintage
Exquisite Torture: Angelspit’s New Album, “Hideous and Perfect”
Check out this interview with Angelspit from ReGen Mag:
The Beauty of Perverted SoundHere’s an excerpt I particularly like, explaining Destroyx’s image for the album artwork:
Visually, you once more set up a whole new appearance. Destroyx this time spreads a kind of geisha vibe, in connection with erotic and doll-like imagery. What’s the background for the current visual concept, and how does it relate to the lyrics?
Destroyx: For our previous albums, we have often looked towards history for our visual concepts. This time we decided to do something fresh and completely new….I worked with an extremely talented makeup artist, Karen Hopwood, to develop the makeup look. The outcome is something edgy and quite horrific, yet also strangely alluring. The overall look is quite alien, a weird mix of fetish fashion and screwed-up geisha makeup. The makeup is a mask which covers my recognizable facial features, thus contorting my identity. Most responses to the makeup have been very interesting. Many people have been confused and disturbed by it, which is definitely the intended outcome. I’m not trying to look glamorous, as many people do for their promotional looks. I guess I’m still trying to get people to readdress their attitudes towards beauty, which is always an ongoing theme. Through presenting highly polished, almost hyperreal imagery, we are attempting in a way to use the language of advertising that we are so constantly bombarded with in society. However, we are subverting the message in a disturbing way. People seem to be repulsed and confused by the message, which is our intention. It’s meant to be an alluring yet terrifying image; it’s basically Hideous and Perfect.
“Destroyx is a typical girl who has a fetish for shoes; I’m a typical boy who is a junkie for old synthesizers.”
- ZooGHansel and Gretel
These are some images from a Hansel & Gretel-themed editorial with Lily Cole:
Tags: fashion editorial, lily cole, modern fairy tales, surreal
