Inspirational Imagery: March 2011

Spring Shoes, 2011

Tabitha Simmons

Carolina Herrera, above and below

Catherine Malandrino

Nicholas Kirkood, above and below

Jil Sander, Spring 2011

I'm really loving the vibrant color palette in Jil Sander's Spring collection for this year. The floral collage print is really pretty. The accessories are especially a favorite for me.

I am not entirely certain yet how I feel about Killing Joke's music. Eric is shocked that I claim to not like them, because he feels that they are my sort of thing. Truth is, I can't stand that Living in the 80's song, and I have heard a few other songs of theirs that I disliked as well (which were probably the newer industrial-sounding ones.) However, I can't say I have too much experience with Killing Joke beyond that, so maybe their first few singles or whatever could work for me.

I do like some of their album art though!

Killing Joke, Follow the Leaders/Tension, E'G Records UK 7-inch, 1981. Cover above, back below.

Killing Joke, Killing Joke, E'G Records UK LP, 1980

Killing Joke, Wardance, Malicious Damage Records UK 7-inch, 1980.

Killing Joke, Nervous System/Turn to Red, Island Records UK 7-inch, 1979

Miscellaneous

Coffee Served on Porch of Ante-Bellum Mansion, Riverview, Mississippi, Alfred Eisenstaedt, 1943.

From Life Magazine: Coffee served on porch of ante-bellum mansion by young ladies wearing hoop skirts at party for cadets from local Army Flying School.

A prolific photojournalist, Eisenstaedt took the iconic photo, VJ Day, The Kiss.

1981 Mazda MX-81 Aria, a concept car designed by Gruppo Bertone

Lanvin ring, Spring 2011

City Night, Harry Brodsky, ca. 1940s

Fiorucci ad, 1970's

Dries Van Noten, Spring 2011

Dries Van Noten has some really special things for spring 2011. As you can imagine, I am a huge fan of the holographic materials.

I'm also loving the disco-Chinoiserie floral patterns, because they transport me to a glamorous fantasy of the late 70's: I'm in my penthouse, wearing a satin robe lounging around amongst black lacquer furniture, mauve carpet, and metallic wallpaper. I would imagine, that as a proto-yuppie on a Sunday morning, I'm listening to Hall & Oates.

Mummenschanz

Eric was so pumped to tell me about Mummenschanz, which is a Swiss avant garde pantomime troupe. They were founded in 1972 by Bernie Schürch, Andres Bossard, and Floriana Frassetto. I had never heard of it before, but he remembered them from when they would perform on Sesame Street.

Above and below are photos of a couple of their acts.

This is the Mummenschanz theatre, in Villars-sur-Glane, Switzerland.

Holiday Magazine

Holiday was a travel magazine published by Triple A from 1928 to 1945, and by the Curtis Publishing Company until 1977. The covers are so cute!

Rome, April 1960. Illustration: George Giusti

I'm not really sure about the babies sucking on the cow's teats...

Africa, April 1959. Illustration: George Giusti

September 1957. Illustration: George Giusti

Wisconsin, July 1949. Illustration: Richard E. Howard

See more Holiday covers after the jump.

Gang of Four, Outside the Trains Don't Run on Time

Gang of Four, Outside the Trains Don't Run on Time; EMI/Zonophone Records UK 7-inch, 1980.

From top: Cover, Back, Vinyl

The first song I ever heard by Gang of Four was "Man in Uniform," which I didn't really get into. It turned me off of them for a long time, which was really quite a shame, because that song isn't really like most of their other songs. When I finally got around to hearing their other music, they became a favorite of mine.

Gang of Four is back to touring lately, and they released a new album this year, Content. I will have to let you know about the quality of its content later, because I just got it like 2 minutes ago.

Maria Blaisse, Foam Costumes for Dance

Maria Blaisse is a Dutch designer/artist, who works in the medium of foam rubber. She has designed costumes for dance performances (below), accessories for Issey Miyake (see hat below), and shoes for Camper.

Foam costumes for the dance, Spheres (1989), above and below.

The remaining images below are foam rubber costumes from the dance performance Kuma Guna (1996) at the Bickersgracht Studio, Amsterdam. Photos by Anna Beeke.

Peppercotton Necklaces

I visited Kirna Zabete the yesterday, and of course they have loads of stuff that's super cool, but there was one set of things that really got me excited: necklaces by Peppercotton. They are monofilament tubes filled with crystals. They come in different widths and lengths and color palettes, and look incredible when layered.

Below are a couple that are for sale on KZ's website.