Double Feature II

A 'False Encyclopaedia' double feature with John-Michael O'Sullivan, discussing:
Céline Spring/Summer 2015

As Denise Richards would say, 'It's Complicated".

There were lots of things about Céline's show today that were complicated - far more, at first sight, than there were simple ones. For every slim, knitted dress that unravelled into swaying sheaves of fringe, there was a tunic where the same fringing got tangled with oversized embellished cut-outs. Contrast-stitched trenchcoats were reined in with string-like belts and clogged with flaps, and vibrant printed dresses collapsed into cascades of ruffles and shards of crochet. Even the CMK-designed set (because, to be honest, I'm just in it for the architecture) felt like a Louise Bourgeois spider had been trapped, fossilised and gloss-dipped, marooned in a muddle of differently-coloured seats.

Compared to Phoebe Philo's first runway show for Céline, there are startling similarities, and equally startling divergences. It's not that Céline shouldn't have become complicated. And it's not that Phoebe Philo hasn't already successfully shaped her trajectory to challenge and subvert our expectations of the idea of minimalism. It's just that - when an aesthetic is as starkly formal as hers - it takes little to turn an idea about multiplicity and confrontation into something that just feels overwrought.

/JOHN-MICHAEL

Phoebe Philo's Céline always feels a bit like an Alex Katz painting. Lived in and worn by a (red wine) glass and concrete house woman. And also a bit like an heroine from a dysfunctional Woody Allen triangle. And when she puts on that cage vest, Warhol snaps his picture.
/HORST





1. Céline Spring/Summer 2015
2. Céline Spring/Summer 2010
3. Céline Spring/Summer 2010
4. Céline Spring/Summer 2010
5. Alex Katz The Grey Ribbon, 1990
6. Woody Allen Hannah And Her Sisters, 1986
7. OMA Maison à Bordeaux, 2002
8. Céline Spring/Summer 2015

Tokyo Picks

A city of quiet insanity. Of hairspray scented metro malls. Rush hour sundays. Men wearing handbags. Rei crossing the street. And all things matcha and wasabi. Irasshaimase!

Best Architecture
PRADA AOYAMA
5−2−6 Minamiaoyama

Retro futurism as trademark and landmark. While a secret staircase tunnel leads directly to the menswear department in the basement, the women's collection is presented on fur coated rails - decorated with multiple video screens attached to long amorphous arms. Barbarella would shop here.

Best Museum
21_21
9-7-6 Tokyo Midtown Garden

Initiated by Issey Miyake, the angular concrete structure is surrounded by the skyline of Roppongi Hills and the Midtown Garden parks. The venue hosts design themed exhibitions with a strong aesthetic focus such as 'The Art of Rice'.

Best Concept Store
DSM GINZA
6-9-5 Ginza

A temple with a temple. The six storey building hosts all Comme des Garçons collections, artworks by Cindy Sherman, the Rose Bakery café and a rooftop garden with miniature shrine.

Best Department Store
ISETAN
3-14-1 Shinjuku

In fact, the best selection of Japanese designer brands: Undercover, Issey Miyake, Yohji Yamamoto. The most established or hyped. The holy fashion mountain of Shinjuku.

Best Deli
MUJI
3−17−1 Shinjuku

Surprisingly, MUJI stores offer small cafeteria serving exquisite little dishes to be combined individually. A warm atmosphere with wooden furnishings and glass bottle chandeliers characterizes this fast slow food retreat.

Best Lunch
APRÈS-MIDI
1-Chome-15-7 Jinnan

Located on the 5th floor of a little tower building, the concrete and leather equipped bar-cum-café offers a modern Japanese lunch menu and a relaxed, intimate lounge feeling.

Best Bar
ROUGE
3-Chome-20-6 Shinjuku

The bar owned by no one else than Nobuyoshi Araki strikes with a sinister, almost contemplative atmosphere and very devoted barkeepers. A bondage set and little book corner invite well-informed visitors into the Araki world.

Best Schnitzel
TONKATSU MAISEN
4-8-5 Jingumae

Tonkatsu or 'katsudon' is a classic rice dish topped with a sliced breaded cutlet. Japanese schnitzel, sort of. A must-eat. Anyday. Or everday even.

Best Gay Bar
DRAGON
2-Chome-11-4 Shinjuku

Topless waiters on Friday night deliver the prime reason for a visit. Add disco ball, laser lights, iconic pop diva songs and reasonably priced drinks and the night is set.

Best Souvenir Shop
DON QUIXOTE
1-Chome-16-5 Kabukicho

The 24h multi-store, fondly called 'Donki' by locals, allows instant late night shopping satisfaction. Coloured contact lenses, tabi socks, phone cases. You want it, you can have it.

Best Antique Books
COW BOOKS
1-Chome-14-11 Aobadai

Rather gallery than boutique, the space is equipped with small library-esque tables to read and study. On display are monumental works by Bruce Weber, Robert Mapplethorpe or Irving Penn.

/HORST

Tokyo Diaries XV

A mental travel preparation.




Naruse Inokuma Architects Setagaya Flat, 2011

Moving in. A wooden box of medetative emptiness. Moving. Unfinished finished surface manipulation. Just moved in. The completeness of nothing. Moving away. The souvenir: a feeling of removal.
/HORST

Tokyo Diaries II

A mental travel preparation.







Yoshihiko Ueda Mies van der Rohe, 2012

The foreign view and observations of a visitor - a fundamental exercise of Modernism. Accept, adapt, react. Ueda embarked on a pilgrimage to photograph and document more than just a site but an emotional state.
/HORST

Welcome To Tomorrow

Snap - Welcome To Tomorrow 1996

Animated 3D renderings that perpetuate the visions of Dalí and Magritte. Weird illogical elements wafting in undefined space, ranging from clock tower (time) and strip dance pole (sensual enjoyment). Symbols without meaning. 16 years before Raf Simons and Willy Vanderperre for Dior.
/HORST

Hamburg Picks

While appearing reserved and distant as a city, Hamburg offers a different view once following the right angles and perspectives, once willing to step out and find them. A fine selection of places, many still to be unveiled.

Best Exhibition Space
Deichtorhallen
Deichtorstraße 1-2

The grande, semi-circular hall hosts contemporary art exhibitions. Amongst others Anselm Reyle who took over the space and divided it into a light and a dark half. Even equipping the entry hall with blinking, shiny and rusty 'atelier trash'.

Best Shop
Werkhaus
Große Elbstraße 146

Alexander Wang, Dries van Noten and SILENT Damir Doma for men, Helmut Lang and Acne Studio for Women. Situated directly at the sea side in an original red brick style 'Kaufmannshaus' from 1772.

Best Flagship Store
Jil Sander
Neuer Wall 43

Visiting a Jil Sander store always feels like an exhibition, especially for retail travellers. 'Exhibited' side by side are pieces by Raf Simons for and Jil Sander as Jil Sander. Next to an arrangement of Asian antiques for an ascetic aesthetics.

Best Gourmet Food
Mutterland
Poststraße 14-16

Grey sea salt, chai tea honey or sea salt caramel. Unconventional, original and delicate combinations, products designed for display rather than hiding away. They still do exist.

Best Design Shop
punct.object
Große Elbstraße 68

A marble dining table, wooden chairs, a cubic writing desk. Here, furniture is beautifully arranged, creating geometric lines - almost like a studio-size still life. Again, a retail experience with exhibition character.

Best Spa Hotel
SIDE
Drehbahn 49

Designed by Robert Wilson, the neon light installation pending above the lobby provides a spectacular mood and luxurious 2000s feeling. Perfectly complemented by spa and pool areas as well as a high class breakfast buffet.

Best Architecture
Hafen City
Am Kaiserkai

A piece of water, elevated from its depths into the sky. The Elbphilharmonie Hamburg marks the starting point for a newly constructed, artificial yet mesmerizing city disctrict.

Encounter

ENCOUNTER Calvin Klein 2012

Steven Klein for Calvin Klein. Trapped in apocalyptic concrete, surrounded by the salty air of a forbidding coastline. A cold-hearted play of repulse and distance, only endangered by the smell of cardamom and pepper and the warmth of patchouli, cognac and cedarwood.
/HORST