Some Brave Apollo

Would these beady eyed anglo-saxon faces lie to you? April 77 has issued a series of items inspired by the the Apollo moon walk conspiracy. The basic gist of the conspiracy is this: The event that everyone watched around the world, live on tv, was actually an elaborately staged video drama to spook the Soviets. Moon walk skeptics ask if we were able to get to moon in '69 then why is it that now thirty years later we've never returned?

Personally, I don't care. But you can explore that tangent yourself.

Back to earth. Head uncorked from the stratosphere. If the premise and silly product description are set aside (pleats certainly do not protect you from solar radiation, kids), this jacket looks really incredible. Its about time someone revived the memory that astronauts (and pilots) were once treated like rock stars, and were deployed, naturally, in some of the most popular rock songs of all time. (Space Oddity, Rocketman, anyone?) . Who better to honor forgotten rock stars than April 77?

Modern Couture

It's all too easy to forget that clothes are no more than an augment to our bodies. Our body type suggests the flavor of drape and the shapes we surround ourselves with. Whether wraith thin, or broad and muscular, we all have a form. Some wrestle with it, other settle into comfort. But contemporary neuroscience and philosophers of the mind are currently challenging the boundaries between mind, body, and environment such that we should seriously reassess our identity as situated in the flesh and what lies beyond.

Electronics have become essential parts of our active life. We are in fact merging with our inventions. Some artists, such as Nancy Nisbet, and scientists like Kevin Warwick are already exploring the frontiers of cybernetics. Warwick succeeded in forming a kind of radiotelepathy using the internet with his wife at the other end of a direct link. Integrating the mind with databases and linking it to appliances has become a practical reality, so the self is extending into our tools.


The most accessible and common form of body transformation is excercise. Rick Owens was recently featured in Details declaring that "modern couture" consists in mastering your own body, promoting your own health. He goes on to say," No outfit is going to make you look or feel as good as having a fit body." It's now taken for granted that a good diet and regimen of exercise can greatly impact our daily stress levels and self esteem.

Our personal lifestyle is absolutely an extension of our sense of self. How lost do we feel when we leave home without our cellphone? How coherent are we without proper rest? These devices, technological and behavioral, are simply features of who we are. The limits of our identity is flexible, amorphous, and shifting like the transition of one season into the next.

The Lengths We Go For Fashion

Lord Whimsy of The Affected Provincial's Almanack has supplied sleazerag Vice with a sampling of body mutilating fashions of the past and semi-present. If you thought you were too body conscious, then this will make you feel better (and then make you a bit sick).

Imagine if, when you were a kid, your parents used elaborate and painful methods to force your head or feet into bizarre and permanent shapes. Or imagine if the surest way to get a decent job was to stand perfectly still while your friend hacked the side of your face with a cutlass. Now imagine never washing your hair until it became a hardened crust or being completely covered in mites and lice for your entire life. Or imagine living in permanent fear that your neighbors might at any moment decide to hunt you for the fur on top of your head.

Of course this isn’t fantasy: It’s history. Over the centuries, human beings have practically turned themselves inside out—and on occasion happily turned others inside out—for the sake of status and style. Let’s take a wee stroll down memory lane.

Brave stomachs may read the rest of the article here.

Sufjan Covers The Castanets - "You Are The Blood"

Just listen.

Inter.view: Mike Townsend of Inven.tory

New York moves along at a fast pace. Staying in tune with the shifting forces of streetstyle and cutting edge design takes more than fluency it takes prescience, intelligence, and taste. It takes more than syncretism; you have to be what's happening.

The minds behind Inven.tory are owners Mike Townsend, Whitney Singer, Jon Daou, and Erin Berkery. Last fall they launched a brand which hit the ground running, targeting the thirst for wholesale priced overstock. Imagine a perpetual sample sale. They opened their first store on Kenmare and Elizabeth, bringing together brands like Idol Radec, Corpus, and Acne. It worked and so they opened the doors of a second location on Lafayette in a massive space with simple laid back decor.

I spoke with co-owner Mike Townsend to discuss the neighborhood, Inven.tory, and his views on style.

Q: New York has been a fashion mecca for a long time but not many people have heard of Nolita. It's a little neighborhood which has over the past decade developed into a unique pocket of New York culture. What originally attracted you to Nolita as a location for Inven.tory?

Mike Townsend: My gravitation to Nolita was based on the places my friends and I ate like Lovely Day (before the fire), Rubys, Bread and Cafe Gitane. The neighborhood also has a great feel to it with great restaurants and cool boutiques. It also helps when your business partners do real estate in the Nolita area.

Q. Did all the restaurants play a factor? There's a lot of excellent little restaurants in the area.

MT: I think my answer to the first question answers this! It definitely is a plus, the great restaurants, but wasn't really a factor in our decision to set up shop here.

Q. How did the idea for Inven.tory emerge? I think the wholesale direction its a brilliant move for the area and the times, but what thread connects the labels that you've brought together?

MT: The idea of Inven.tory started after we had hosted a few sample sales at OpenHouse Gallery with Whitney Singer and Erin Berkery. We realized that young designers needed another outlet to sell overstock than sample sales. That's when we created the idea of a curated boutique with wholesale prices. As for choosing labels, we go after designers who we personally admire and wear, but also designers whose overstock is on trend. We also have future collaborations with some young designers.

Q. Was it scary expanding to another location so soon? I know little about running a business but I've heard expansion is supposed to be scary.

MT: No, it wasn't scary! We saw it all as a great opportunity. We have a very confident team- Whitney Singer, Jon Daou, and Erin Berkery.

Q. What's permanent in men's style?

MT: I think footwear is the most permanent in men's style. It is one of the way men can be fashion forward and have fun with their style.

Q. If you could resurrect one element of menswear that's gone the way of the dodo what would it be?

MT: At the moment, I feel that a lot of elements have been re-used and tweaked throughout the years whether it be from the 70's or the 90's. I don't think I have any one specific element because almost everything has been resurrected at some point. I really like how designers such as Robert Gellar and Rick Owens take the best of the past and incorporate them into new ideas for today's fashion.

Q. Trends you could live without? And by 'live without' I mean piss you off.

MT: I can't stand when people don't dress age appropriate.

Check out Inven.tory's stores found at 237 Lafayette St and 19 Kenmare or follow them online @ inventorynyc.com

Beverly Hills Housewife For Sale

David Hockney's Beverly Hills Housewife painting, part of the gorgeous series "California Dreaming" is soon to go under the auction hammer at Christie's following the death of the original owner and subject of the painting Betty Freeman this past January. Hockney was good friends with Freeman a major patron of the arts. She was an angel to the great painters and modernist composers of the mid-20th century. Fans of Mark Rothko and John Cage owe her a priceless debt.

This painting was probably the centerpiece of her private collection but its striking and humorous faceoff between a mounted antelope head and Mrs. Freeman evokes so many bizarre tracks of thought. The housewife as a trophy. The housewife as a decorative fixture. Its an odd uncomfortable joke but a rich one as well. I am all but certain I've never seen more than two paintings from this series and very few important Hockneys at all. I hope this winds up in a major international show so I can finally get a chance to see more of Hockney's most well known work.

For more info on Betty Freeman and/or how you can spend your millions this May click here.

Linda Farrow x Everybody

Linda Farrow Vintage has more partners than a Mormon patriarch but I love their promiscuity and will continue to love it as long as it continues to spawn new profiles and playful Harringesque primitive scrawlings. Seven New York has a gross number of styles from David David, Raf, Bernhard, Henry Holland and more designed to make me look for a better job

The brand was relaunched in 2003 after Simon Jablon, son of Linda Farrow herself, discovered in one of his families warehouses the remains of glamour past. Soon the brand became a launch pad for original collections and fruitful collaborations with some of the shiniest avant garde designers of today.

AnOther Man: Hedi and Herzog

AnOther great issue from AnOther Man for Spring and Summer has arrived and this time its free, which is very kind. The issue features the work of superstylist Nicola Formichetti and some shit shot by some guy named Hedi whom is rumored to have some sort of clothing line project to unveil later this year. Whatever the situation may be he and Nicola sure can take pretty pictures together.







The mag also contains an Elizabeth Peyton inspired editorial and a discussion with one of my favorite film directors Werner Herzog (Red Dawn)and Errol Morris (Mr. Death; Vernon, Florida). The two discuss cinema verite, contrasting so-called "realism" with the ecstatic truths of the late Grizzly enthusiast Timothy Treadwell.

I had the pleasure of seeing Grizzly Man premiere at the National History Museum several years ago and a subsequent Q&A with Herzog himself. My question for him went unasked: Who would win in a cage fight a grizzly, or a bengal tiger?

Film fanatics unfamiliar Werner should consider reading his fantastic book Herzog on Herzog in which he discusses his craft, films, and his ideal version of film school which would include boxing classes. Next to Tarkovsky's Sculpting in Time its one of the richest discussions of a filmmakers approach and theory to making a movie.