For the fourth issue of Carine Roitfeld’s magazine CR Fashion Book, the editorial “E.T. A Tale of Friendship and Loss,” photographed by Sebastian Faena is inspired by 80s most touching flick, E.T. In the story, Lindsey Wixson plays then seven-year-old Drew Barrymore and Magda Laguigne the lost extraterrestrial, both showcasing the trends of the spring 2014 collections.

Photos via Bloginvoga

The Story of Cinemagraphs  

Settings: New York, 2011-today

Characters: New York based visual graphic artist Kevin Burg and photographer Jamie Beck partnered in 2011 to raise animated GIFs to a new level, giving life to the cinemagraph technique, which combines still life photography and video, creating a whole new style of art for digital ads

Plot: The Kevin Burg & Jamie Beck duo made quite a splash a couple of years ago with their “cinemagraph” technique, a combination between photo and animation. The idea of combining traditional photography with video techniques is relatively simple (cinemagraphs are photographs with movement on a loop), nonetheless results are stunning : cinemagraphs have a mystical effect of bringing the viewer into the moment and allow a glimpse of time “to be experienced and preserved endlessly”. Subject to the photos can be anything from a fashion editorial to a portrait or urban landscape: a tiny movement, a breeze through the model’s hair, an eye blink or the sparkle of a glitter-covered shoe, animate the image, “unfreezing” the photo in time. Cinemagraphs have a retro, vintage flair evoking the charm of old silent films.

All cinemagraphs © Kevin Burg & Jamie Beck via Ann Street Studio

Back to the sixties for Gucci’s Fall 2014 collection. Creative director Frida Giannini, whose story was recently told in The Director, a documentary about her design process, produced by James Franco and screened this January in Paris, looked into the house archives to deliver a collection made of clean lines and references to Gucci’s “casual” heritage. In her program notes, she said she “felt the need to materialize the essence of Gucci,” which included “remembering its early fame with those loafers and extending them to fabulous knee-high boots” (Suzy Menkes). Other sixties details included half belts on pea-coats, slightly raised waistlines, and the Jackie bag, Gucci’s iconic shoulder bag named for Jackie Onassis, commercial star of this collection.

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View the entire collection on Style.com

Willie Christie,1974                                                                                Isabelle Wenzel, 2013

Grace Coddington is photographed by ex-husband and internationally renowned photographer, Willy Christie in 1974. The photographer told Vogue that Grace was one of his favorite subjects because she “had an appreciation and understanding of art in all its forms; mimicry; gentleness and serenity.. she became the image”. Artist, photographer and former acrobat Isabelle Wenzel in her series “positions”, 2013, sets up surreal scenes in which legs feet and intricate postures are the main focus of her lens.

Italian artist Claudio Parentela is unique in the way he engages in several creative techniques, from illustration to art collage, photography and painting. He has been part of the underground art scene for a long time now, collaborating with several contemporary art magazines, e-zines and comics as freelance journalist and cartoonist. Claudio’s art appears to be a reflection of his eclectic personality: varied,versatile, multi-colored and passionate. It almost feels like it were there to please the artist’s numerous faces, the several inclinations of his own nature. The strong graphic component and rich colors place themselves within the artistic tradition of Southern Italy, elaborate and highly iconographic. 

Claudio’ s Timeless Interview
H: Do you belong more to the past, the present or the future?

C: To the future with my mind and heart..to the past with my sight and sense of smell

H: What of your country’s heritage represents you the most?

C: Ancient places, isolated and forsaken..time-worn and consumed by memories.. forgotten stories and stories to forget

H: Something of your family’s heritage which you would like to bring forward?

C: My peculiarity, my peculiarities..I am my family, myself parted in numerous me..my genetic and beloved madness, my individualism, exaggerated and tinged with anarchy

H: An image of your heritage?

C: All my collage art

H: A place?

C: The Egyptian Museum in Turin

H: A word?

C: Lapis lazuli

H: A sound?

C: gahhhh

H: An object belonging to your own heritage?

C: “Come un vecchio incensiere all’alba di un villaggio deserto ” an album by Alan Sorrenti

H: A time in history you would have liked to live in?

C:The one that still has to come

H: Something from your present meant to become heritage?

C: My leaf-colored eyes

Photos: Courtesy of Claudio Parentela

Check out Claudio’s work at Saatchi Art

Photos by Sofia Dadourian

“Reality is often stranger than fiction. That’s always in the back of my mind” Annie Leibovitz (Vanity Fair)

Nicole Kidman and Baz Luhrmann, New York City, 2008

The Story of Annie Leibovitz’s Sumo Book 

Annie Leibovitz‘s big book is over two and a half feet tall and weighs 57 pounds! The third baby of the SUMO Collection, started by Taschen back in 1999 with a retrospective of Helmut Newton’s work, was officially launched last night at the Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles by Vanity Fair, Leon Max and Benedikt Taschen. The 476 pages exclusive excerpt, which comes with its own Marc Newson-designed table, includes photographs from the whole range of Leibovit’s 40 years long career as a contributor to Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair and Vogue and from the personal work collected in her former books for a comprehensive retrospective of Leibovitz’s most iconic imagery. Limited to 10,000 copies in all, the book comes in a collector’s edition and is due out this March with the collector’s edition available online and priced at $2,500 USD.

Jack Nicholson, Mulholland Drive, Los Angeles, 2006

Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon, Los Angeles, 1995

Sharon Stone, Anjelica Huston, and Diane Lane, Los Angeles, 2006

All photos © Annie Leibovitz via Taschen

Actress Vivien Leigh placing the Oscar she won for her role as Scarlett in “Gone With The Wind” on her mantlepiece at home, by Peter Stackpole, 1940

Joan Fontaine gazes with quiet pride on gold Oscar she won for the year’s best acting in the movie Suspicion, 1942

Audrey Hepburn, gazing at the Oscar won as Best Actress for her part in the film “Roman Holiday”, 1954

A glamorous, if somewhat doleful, Faye Dunaway reflects on her best-actress Oscar won the previous night (for Network),March 29, 1977. Photo by Terry O Neill’s

Jack Nicholson wins the Academy Award for One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, 1975

Nicolas Cage, pictured with Patricia Arquette after his 1996 Best Actor win for Leaving Las Vegas

Adrian Brody kisses Halle Berry after winning the Oscar for his performance in the Pianist, 2002

Among the buzz of backstage at the Oscars, Tilda takes a quiet moment to take in her win for Best Supporting Actress, Michael Clayton, 2008

Jean Dujardin kissing the Oscar won for his performance in the silent movie, The Artist, 2012

Anne Hataway after winning her Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role Oscar for Les Misérables , 2013

All photos via Pinterest

Karl Lagerfeld designs his dream supermarket as set for Chanel’s Fall 2014 Collection, creating social frenzy among fashion professionals and celebrities..just a word: genius.

By Sissi Macchetto

In this enjoyable editorial Swide magazine takes inspiration from 5 of the most influential queens of Europe from the renaissance and baroque eras, great rulers, known as well for their fashion and beauty statements. Swide’s imagination runs wild and free picturing the Queens dressed in key Dolce&Gabbana Spring Summer 2014 looks. Enjoy!

Catherine Tsarina of Russia, ruler of the great Russian land from 1762-1796

Marie Antoinette, crowned Queen of France and Navarre between 1774-1792

Maria Theresa Empress of Austria, her 40-year reign began in 1740.

Elizabeth I, the Virgin Queen, ruled England between 1558-1603. Known for her interest in arts, her eccentric outfits and beautiful flame red hair

Queen Isabella of Castile, ruler of the Spanish Territories from 1474-1504

Credits: Swide

Digital artist Jon Rafman ’s imagination goes wild when creating the ongoing project, “brand new paint job”, where digital 3D interiors are “soaked” in timeless artworks of master painters. Sourcing the background from google 3D warehouse, Rafman uses ready-made interiors and covers them, and each single object placed within them, with decorative motifs collected from famous iconic paintings, creating a brand new concept space where the coexistence of digital and historical conveys an interesting visual effect.

Picasso’s living room

Lichtenstein moe’s tavern, 2013

Hans Hoffman kitchen, 2013

Rousseau study, 2013

Guston kid’s room, 2013

Keith Haring theatre, 2013

Franz Kline operating room, 2013

Picasso bed ‘n breakfast, 2013

Tanguy sushi dinner, 2013

O’Keeffe waiting room, 2013

De Kooning hallway, 2013

Credits and photos: Design Boom

By Sissi Macchetto

Arthur’s fashion embodies the Viennese sentiment of Gemütlichkeit, a philosophical state of mind which derives from the adjective Gemüt , whose meaning “heart, mind, temper, feeling” implies a feeling of peace and belonging. It’s not hard to imagine him sketching his new collection under the notes of a waltzer, relentlessly searching for that feeling, that harmony which is reflected in the solid structure and simple lines of his new designs. His promising talent was celebrated in 2013 when, thanks to the ability of giving shape to a contemporary attitude with an utterly free “mixage”, he co-won with Esme Vie Vogue WHO IS ON NEXT? 2013 edition. The same ability turns out in Arthur’s Fall Winter 2014 collection, where simplicity and androgynous, geometrical forms are combined whit the use of transparencies, which seem to celebrate the feeling of freedom breathed during the years Arthur was a student at Central St Martins, while soaking up the many inputs of London artistic buzz.The combination of unconventional materials recalls as well those experiments with unusual materials and gaudy colours distinctive of the Memphys style that developed in Milan during the 80s under the influence of Ettore Sottsass, whose objects harmoniously “conversed”  with Arthur’s clothes when they were presented in the apartment of architect Luca Cipelletti, during last Milan Fashion Week.

Arthur’ s Timeless Interview

H: Do you belong more to the past, the present or the future?

A: My mind is often romantically linked to the past..but I actually feel best in the present.

H: What of your country’s heritage represents you the most?

A: The Austrian/Viennese sense of “Gemütlichkeit”.

H: Something of your family’s heritage which you would like to bring forward?

A: The continuous idea of collecting beautiful things.

H: An heritage image?

A: The Christmas dinner table set up.

H: A place?

A: Will always be Vienna..a place synonymous with heritage for me.

H: A word?

A: Tradition

H: A sound?

A: It may sound kitsch but it has to be a Strauss’s Waltz.

A: An icon?

H:Anyone who knows her limits, knows how to move and knows how to effortlessly respect certain rules.

H: An object belonging to your own heritage?

A:My precious 12 bright green Lobmeyr wine glasses from my great-great-grandmother.

H: A time in history you would like to live again? 

A: I’m pretty happy right now…but maybe Vienna around 1900 but also the late 80s/early 90s, from a fashion point of view.

H: Timeless inspiration for your new collection?

A: Milan’s architecture of the 20s, Wiener Werkstaette, Memphis Design and Joy Division.

H: Something from your present meant to become heritage?

A: Suzy Menkes’s article of my last collection in the International New York Times

Photos : Courtesy of Arthur Arbesser

Amateur filmmaker Tatia Pilieva gets 20 strangers to make out on You Tube capturing the most transient of human interactions – the first kiss – in a touching video that reveals the wave of nerves and laughter it seems to bring us. (The Indipendent)

The Story of Nick Cave ‘s Soundsuits

Settings: Chicago, 1992-today

Leading character: Nick Cave is an American fabric sculptor, dancer, and performance artist. He is best known for his Soundsuits. He resides in Chicago and is director of the graduate fashion program at School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Plot:  Soundsuits are full-body outfits crafted from discarded objects found in antique shops and flea markets, mostly sentimental objects, those kind of things people like to collect, keepsakes from holidays that bring memories along. Part sculpture, part costume, the complex, kaleidoscopically colorful works of art can be displayed as objects and can be worn as well, often featuring in movement performances. Cave created his first Soundsuit after the Rodney King beating in 1992. “I built this sort of suit of armor, and by putting it on, I realized that I could a make a sound from moving in it,” Cave told The Washington Post. “It made me think of ideas around protest, and how we should be a voice and speak louder.” He has been creating new, whimsical soundsuits since then, experimenting an array of different materials and shapes, from animal-like suits made of colorful fur to spacesuits crafted from silver beads and mother of pearl buttons. Recently Cave collaborated with Harpers Bazaar for the making of  ”Where the wild things are” , fashion editorial where soundsuits appear alongside the season’s wild and woolly looks. Cave’s most recent work, which includes soundsuits , sculptures and paintings, is on show at ICA Boston until May 4th 2014.

Photos via Pinterest

To know more: ICA Boston

Bodys Isek Kingelez ,Maman Isek Mabo Bendele, 2000

The Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, longtime sponsor of Art Dubai , presents at the 2014 Edition the architectural piece “Maman Isek Mabo Bendele”, work of African artist Bodys Isek Kingelez , sticking to a theme which is dear to the French Maison, the City. As part of the artist’s Extrêmes Maquettes (Extreme Model), a series of colorful model-like Utopian cities, the artwork created in 2000 and made of salvaged materials recreates an imaginary, ideal urban space where nature and buildings cohabit in harmony. As a response to Kigelez’s artwork Cartier imagines a white city installation which will contain the Maison’s latest collection, “L’Odyssée de Cartier”, that depicts various sources of inspiration and influences, such as the East, Africa and China.

L’ Odyssée de Cartier, African Inspiration, zebra motif bracelet

Photos: Courtesy of Cartier

He may not (yet) be as famous as his father Alejandro, who recently released his first movie after 23 years, the documentary Dune, but Adan Jodorowsky, aka Adanoswky, has a pretty large following of his own. Mostly in Europe, both as a director and a musician, he is now willing to bring it to the US with the release of his first English language album, next April. In the single, “Dancing to the radio”, directed by Adan himself, he plays ADA, a half man, half woman character who represents unity in the universe. The vibe is all “80s glam” and the wig and make up suits him just fine.

Source: Vogue

The appeal of realistic looking dolls is timeless. In the early 30s look-alike dolls became an exciting new concept, with celebrities from the Old Hollywood photographed with their replicas and innovative editorials printed on the pages of the most influential magazines (In 1939 Life Magazine published the Article “Dolls Like Girls”, with young models posing with their look-alike dolls). A trend that seems to revive today, thanks again to the fashion world and its most famous exponents.

Karl Lagerfeld and his look-alike figure created by Fendi for the Fall 2014 collection 

Jayne Mansfield photographed by Allan Grant with lookalike hot water bottles, 1957

A young Dakota Fanning with doll, 2002

Ballerina Alexandra Danilova with replica boudoir doll, 1934

Marc Jacobs’s collaboration with South Park to create the Muscle Man Marc Doll, a limited edition of Marc look-alike dolls

Model with doll in a fashion editorial by Sofia Sanchez and Mauro Mongiello for Vogue Nippon, 2009

Buster Keaton and a “Buster Keaton” puppet, 1930

Kate Moss poses with her replica in Alexander’s McQueen SS2014 Ad Campaign

Yayoi Kusama dolls created on the occasion of the collaboration between the artist and Louis Vuitton

Albert Einstein poses with a mini-Einstein puppet made by famous puppeteer Harry Burnett in 1931

Photos via Pinterest

Dries Van Noten’s exhibition at Musee des arts decoratifs in Paris, Inspirations, displays a journey into the designer’s most intimate universe. Barneys, sponsor of the French exhibition, teamed up with the Belgian designer to bring a glimpse of it to New York City, asking Van Noten to design the new windows of their Madison Avenue Store. Unveiled over the week end, the windows show settings from the exhibition and display archival pieces from Van Noten’s 28-year career, along with four original short films by film maker Andrew Zuckerman , meant to illustrate the transient moments in nature, from flowers blooming and decaying to a butterfly emerging from a cocoon. “We took elements of inspirations of Dries and incorporated them into the window in a more abstract way,” Freedman said. “It’s another way of seeing Dries’ work, and hopefully it adds to the [Paris] show.” (WWD)

To know more: Barneys New York

Tim Walker does his usual magic shooting whimsical settings, doll looking models and riotous colors for the editorial “Babes in Toyland” , to come out next April on W Magazine. Set somewhere in between Toy Story and Beetlejuice , the images show models appearing more like stylish creepy creatures than cute dolls, conveying a surreal, rarefied atmosphere, as it always happens with Walker. And, as always, we love it.

Photos via The Terrier and the Lobster

By Silvia Macchetto

American brand Opening Ceremony dedicates a limited edition ready-to-wear collection to Belgian Surrealist painter Rene Magritte. Twelve of Magritte’s iconic paintings will embellish garments from the Opening Ceremony spring summer collection alongside footwear from brands Birkenstock, Vans, and Manolo Blahnik, with which OC collaborated to recreate the whimsical and wonderful world of Magritte. The collection will be available at Opening Ceremony stores in May 2014.

Photos via The Terrier and the Lobster