Photos by Gail
This whimsical silk dress Pansy Dress (2017) is composed of giant images of pansies. The pansy is a flower’s unique blends of color are a result of crossbreeding, a concept not lost on Scottish fashion designer Christopher Kane. Cain once remarked, “that’s what I am doing now – cross breeding my ideas . . . Pansies are a symbol of freethinking! I like that. I never want to follow trends.”
Photographed as Part of 2017 Exhibit, Force of Nature, at The Museum at FIT in NYC.
Photos By Gail
The Trashy Lingerie store (online, visit Trashy.com) is a Los Angeles institution specializing in handmade and bespoke lingerie and costumes, and housed inside a fabulous Pink Building. They had already closed for the day when we happened to pass by in mid-December, but I did get a snap of one of the front Christmas-themed window displays!
Trashy Lingerie is Located at 402 N. La Cienega Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90048 (Just One Block from the Famous Canter’s Deli)!
All Photos By Gail
Ever on-the-hunt for the elusive Pink Thing, I was magnetically drawn into the newly-opened Swarovski store on Broadway by their vast display wall of exciting pinkness!
The concept of displaying the brand’s jewelry and small crystal trinkets nestled against a wall lined with various-sized shaped compartments — punctuated by the occasional expressive mannequin — is just genius. Creating a ‘Life-Size Jewel Box’ concept, the store’s transportive design not only provides an immersive shopping experience, it’s obviously also highly Instagram-able.
Located at 542 Broadway in SoHo, the store (which opened in May 2021) is part of Swarovski’s Instant Wonder identity rebranding. And while it’s not shown in this post (for reasons which will be immediately clear) the other half of the store is entirely green. You’ll want to at least pop in when you are in the area.
All Photos By Gail
Chicago is a fabulous city and home to one of the most beautifully curated art museums (The Art Institute) in the world. That said, it definitely does not enjoy a socially vibrant art scene that is equivalent to that of NYC — with its vast number of galleries in Chelsea, the LES, Midtown and Uptown. While the NYC art scene hosts a weekly (Thursday) night of opening receptions in galleries across the city, Chicago has one such evening per month, which is called Second Friday. Taking place in the Chicago Arts District (also known as Pilsen) Second Fridays Gallery Night is a monthly evening of opening receptions at the galleries and artists’ studios along South Halsted Street. If you’re a tourist and have the chance to attend Second Fridays only once, the one studio you must absolutely must not miss is House of The Apocalypse.
More of a studio showcase than a traditional gallery, House of The Apocalypse is where you’ll find an impressive and visually engaging collection of wildly embellished Sci-Fi-themed, mannequin-based sculptures known as the Warriors of the Apocalypse, which are designed and compiled from found objects by artist and gallery owner Brian Sperry.
The Warriors have a backstory, courtesy of Sperry, as follows:
The year is 3095, a post-apocalyptic world. Man and machine unite to form a hybrid super soldier to fight against tyranny and oppression perpetrated by governments, corporations, and banks that have destroyed the planet. The Warriors spread truth and light in a futuristic world where humanity is fighting to survive. In the darkness, we are light. We will stand and fight. We are the Warriors of the Apocalypse!
Sperry also offers his Artist’s Statement:
The visual elements of my figurative sculptures takes abstract human forms and gives them an acid bath in the surreal. The compositions attempts to displace the viewer and prompt them to question their own cognitive dissonance that is a pervasive part of what is destroying our society. The reconceptualization of mechanical found objects and the human form exudes hybridism and trans-humanism, the next wave of human evolution
This juxtaposition of objects and the body attempts to give the viewer an interactive experience and encouragement to take a stand against imperialist scum who are determined to act as slave masters over the entire planet. Each figure is a Warrior embodying specific aspects of the spirit of revolt against the system. My work can me summed up in one slogan: Death to Tyranny!
House of The Apocalypse is located at 1908 South Halsted Street, Chicago. It is open to the public every Second Friday of the month from 6-10 PM and by appointment. A suggested donation of a few dollars is requested to photograph the sculptures. Worth it.
All Photos By Gail
In 1970, Life magazine invited Rudi Gernreich (1922 – 1985) to envision what people would wear a decade in the future. He extended his prediction to the year 2000, illustrating men and women in matching ensembles with heads either shaved or wigged. Unlike other contemporaneous unisex styles, Gernreich’s designs did not use menswear as a baseline for women’s garments. “Women will wear pants and men will wear skits interchangeably,” he predicted. “The aesthetics of fashion are going to involve the body itself. We will train the body to grown beautifully rather than cover it to produce beauty.”
Continue reading Eye On Design: Unisex Jumpsuit By Rudi Gernreich