Boys and Girls on Film

The boys are back.

The original scene stealers and directors of fashion films in the form of music videos are in top form, after more than 30 years. Duran Duran have given us a piece of visual culture as only they can deliver, in a shiny, oozing new vid for Girl Panic, featuring not models of the moment, but models whose collective momentum changed the face of fashion.

In other words, the girls are back.

Helena, Cindy, Eva, Naomi and Yaz are the girls on film in this classic rock star meets runway romp. The ladies each play a member of the band, with the Durans making cameos, along with Dolce and Gabbana, a chauffeur and a few other notable characters.

Is it cheeky?

Is it tongue-in-chic?

Is it dripping with double D-dom?

Why yes, darlings, it is.

It is a Duran Duran video after all.

 

In true media form, the December issue of UK Harper’s Bazaar has an editorial to accompany the video’s release, with a Super cover. The video was directed and the editorial, photographed by Jonas Akerlund.

The ladies, in Dolce & Gabbana corsets.

Cindy as JT. She's got that look Down!

Eva as Nick. It's all about the shoulders, 'innit?

Naomi as Simon - hams, both.

Helena as Rog - hard to define which one of them is cooler.

Mrs. Le Bon as the band's rotating guitarist. Loved the attitude.

These ladies make the 40s look insanely good.

These boys make anything look good, really.

Editorial images: TFS; Duran image courtesy of DuranDuran.com.

Ferry Good Art

I’ve written many a post in the past about the connection between fashion and music. There’s a reason for that. The two, for me, are forever tied together.

There’s a reason for that, too. It was through the looks of bands like Roxy Music, The Jam, The Cure, David Bowie, Japan, Duran Duran, Blondie, The Specials, Sade and countless others (I could go on for days with this list…), that my visual vocabulary (along with my musical education, of course) was formed.

These were and are, not just singers and musicians, but to me, artists working with many different mediums. They went beyond composing and arranging notes and words into music and performing them on stage.  They were also staging their image, working on compositions of record sleeves (which at the time, were a huge part of your experience while the record was played for the first time), arranging models for photographs and setting the stage for the scene they invited you into with their music videos.

It was through these mini films of the ’80s, that I learned about far-off places (how can anyone forget the children of Sri Lanka laughing with Simon and JT?). It was through their clothes that I heard designer and stylist names for the first time – Antony Price, for one. It was because of album covers and limited edition record sleeves that I was schooled in pop art and fetish fashion photography during the same week. The inspiration from those 12″ singles lasted well beyond a dozen years and singled out my love of visual culture.

Bryan Ferry and Karl Stoecker - For Your Pleasure, 1973 - an image so far ahead of its time.

These musicians became my art teachers, in many ways.

So to me, it was fitting to find out that Mr. Ferry is featured in a solo art show at LA’s Michael Kohn Gallery.

The show displays some of the final artwork created for Roxy albums between 1972 and 1983, along with Ferry’s solo album visuals. What’s better, is that it also presents the process of getting there and what was left behind, with studies and alternate versions of artwork and photography.

Bryan Ferry and Neil Kirk - Manifesto, 1979.

Ferry, who was schooled in art, has always made it an integral part of his business – the business of creating. Well before branding buzzwords, this gentleman curated the experience he wanted you to have, the emotion that he wanted his music and his images to create for you. He may not always have done it with a brushstroke, or hung it on an actual wall (until now), but he gave you a visual feast to dive into, from the very beginning of his career. He did it most recently, with the dreamy and  layered journey that is Olympia, by mixing Moss with Manet.

One Night, by Bryan Ferry and Adam Whitehead featuring Kate Moss, 2010.

Like any good artist worth his salt and pepper (suits him, no?), he has had a mass of muses. (Mrs. Hince returned the favour by having him perform at her wedding, this summer.) Olympia, also features a cover of Tim Buckley’s Song to the Siren. His original Siren was of course, Jerry Hall. (Note the electric blue nails on Ms. Hall, below. In 1975. Also, there seems to be a cheekbone déjà vu going on in these four images.)

Bryan Ferry and Graham Hughes featuring Jerry Hall on Siren, 1975.

It’s different from marketing music today, I think. Having grown up with his words and images for a good part of my life, I think his intent has been, not necessarily to market to us, but to communicate with us, to provoke, to seduce, to complement his music. I really think it comes from a place of art, first, before commerce.

Definitions aside, there’s no denying the visual impact his work has had. And isn’t that where art starts?

I wish I could get to LA before next week to see the show, which runs until November 5th. Happily, though, I will get to see Mr. Ferry in the farewell leg of his Olympia tour, later this year.

Images courtesy of Michael Kohn Gallery. 

Rock Chick Chic

Happy Birthday, Ms. Hynde.

The Pretenders performing at the Nashville Rooms, London on March 9, 1979, courtesy of David Corio.

This photo is from 1979, but very au courant, no? Looking good is really black and white – sans seasons, trend-less and unattached to age.

This one is more recent, but the style is still flawless.

Love the layered angles of the vest and jacket, here - and her trademark tied scarf. AP Photo.

“I’m special – so special…there’s nobody else here…no one like me…”

There have been a lot of contrasts in my consciousness lately (more so than usual). Look for a series of posts looking back at black and white this past year – and ahead to the chiaroscuro created by both the absence of, and the indulgence of light in wearable forms.

Stroke of Genius?

Fashion and music are often bedmates.

Well, Julian Casablancas has recently been bedded by French perfume maker, Azzaro, for the brand’s latest campaign. Or is it the other way around?

Sell-out, you say? I suppose the Strokes frontman beat them all to the punch. Better to hear a new tune he composed for the commercial now (called I Like the Night) – versus having a fave Strokes tune that carried you through a tough time in your life, show up in a toothpaste ad in a few years.

You laugh, but I almost cried when I heard The Jesus and Mary Chain accompanying a VW hipster’s quest for love.

Cue the bland. Nothing is sacred anymore, my dears.

Is it a stroke of genius or the homogeneous?

Cherish the Day

Seeing one of my fashion and music icons tonight.

What to wear? What to wear?

The Sun and the Rain

Mr. Bailey is a muso. And so am I.

Loved this little vid from a little brand called Burberry, featuring a little band called Madness.

The April Showers at my end were in the form of nostalgic (happy) tears at hearing this lit’l tune again after so long.

 

It’s part of Bailey’s Music Mondays – which in the past have featured acoustic performances and videos of new and older tunes, alike.

The Big B continues his world domination of the other big B in well, Beijing later this week, with the official launch of a 12,500 square foot boutique in China’s capital.

And in keeping with the musical roots of the brand, Brit band Keane will be performing at the launch, which promises to be Burberry’s biggest mash-up of fashion, music and technology to date. The whole thing will be live streamed on Burberry.com, on Wednesday.

The world’s gone gaga over Burb.

Call is Utter Madness (incidentally, also the title of a greatest hits record by Suggs et al).

Re-Make, Re-Model

My love of fashion is closely tied with my love of music, as many of you know from hanging out in this space from time to time.

I have been eagerly awaiting the release of the forthcoming Bryan Ferry album – an oasis in a long, arid, desert journey without Mr. Ferry. It’s been over three years since Dylanesque - an album of covers of well, Bob Dylan songs.

What I’ve uncovered today is that none other than the fabulous Kate will be gracing the cover of Ferry’s new album, entitled Olympia.

Kate Moss photographed by Adam Whitehead for Bryan Ferry's latest album.

Glam women have always had a place in glam rock. Mr. Ferry is no stranger to model muses, including his ex-fiancée, Jerry Hall. Supermodels and slightly lesser-thans have graced Roxy album covers since the beginning, wearing big baubles and little else.

Olympia certainly recalls Roxy’s past and for me, it’s specifically from these combined covers…

Roxy Music: Stranded album cover, November 1973.

The Best of Roxy Music, 2001.

Trash single cover, 1979 (from the Manifesto album)

This, then is a return to the classics.

Roxy Music's self-titled debut album, 1972.

Remember when actual albums had inside covers? This is Kate's under-the-covers inside cover.

The album’s title and photo shoot is also based on Manet’s painting of the same name.

Edouard Manet. Olympia. 1863. Oil on canvas. Musée d'Orsay, Paris, France.

Given Ferry’s art school roots, it all just comes together like paint by numbers, doesn’t it?

Can’t wait to hear the remaining new songs, out October 25th. You Can Dance, the first single, is pure Bryan.

I, too am starting to come back, after a much-needed creative hiatus. Let’s just say I’ve been inspired again after seeing one of my favourite album covers of all time…

Roxy's For Your Pleasure, 1973.

Kate Moss pics courtesy of Daily Mail UK. Old Roxy cover images courtesy of Wikipedia. Manet image courtesy of ABC Gallery.

Rei Rocks Tokyo with Beatles Launch

We first told you about the Comme des Garcons and Beatles collaboration in September. The launch party for the line was held last week in Tokyo at Trading Museum, a new concept store by the masterminds at CDG, chiefly, Rei Kawakubo.

The designer was hanging with the likes of one Yoko Ono – both dressed to match, natch in ultrablack, no doubt.

Can’t wait for the pics of the products, come Saturday. I’ve seen that one bag with the green apples, but didn’t think it was spectacular. Hope the next lot has some juicy things to share. More to come…

Image courtesy of WWD.

Bag Lady Madonna

Friday night might arrive without a suitcase, but there may be a handbag in tow.

Talk about an unlikely duo. Rei Kawakubo and The Beatles are the latest fashion celebrity marriage. The avant-garde goddess is designing handbags for Apple Corps – managers and marketers of the Beatles’ legacy.

The bags will hit the über cool Dover Street Market, the brainchild of Kawakubo herself, along with her beloved Tokyo.

More distribution and possible other fabulous things to follow.

Rock Star Rei

Photo source.