A To The Scene

Steven Klein Lone Star (Dutch Magazine), 2000

Using an inflationary term, this is most probably the 'best' fashion story 'ever'. Everyone seems to still be trying 'hard', while others have already achieved 'everything'. Today is a prudish age. No one cares to dare anymore.
/HORST

Grand Poop

LAZOSCHMIDL Spring/Summer 2015

A collection that follows the storyline of contemporary performance art. Tracking down the fascination of body liquids such as piss, shit, sperm and spunk, the garments turn the perverse universe of Sarah Lucas, Paul McCarthy and Gilbert & George into rich textures and embroidery. Stains are re-interpreted as crystal applications on silk dupion and screenprint on organza. The obscene turns into decadence.
/HORST

Apples, Cigarettes etc.

Artworks Roe Ethridge

Hunger for photorealism of photos of realism. Realist photos. Naturalist photos. Outdoor food sex. Exhibitionist fruit, nicotine fruit, the slurp of aphrodisiac.
/HORST

The Camp Of Plagiarism II

Alex Katz Round Hill, 1977
Steven Meisel An Interpretation, 1997

It is not a secret. For the Spring/Summer 2015 campaign, the newly redefined Loewe brand (directed by J.W. Anderson) is appropriating the work of Steven Meisel, who himself is appropriating a painting by Alex Katz. The truth is never/always sad.
/HORST

See also Nudist Camp

Tokyo Diaries XI

A mental travel preparation.



1. Eikō Hosoe Barakei, 1961-1962
2. Tamotsu Yatō Mishima Yukio, 1967

Theoretically following the man who died for his genius, insanity and sexual identity. While examining various possible aspects, it is radicalness that attracts this cultural tourism.
/HORST

Tokyo Diaries IX

A mental travel preparation.




Hedi Slimane Vogue Hommes Japan, 2008

The eroticism of exotism. The beauty of revealing truth within a cliché. The kimono as pop artefact. The modernity of tradition. The moment when opposites merge. This day is approaching.
/HORST

Tokyo Diaries VII

A mental travel preparation.




Benetton Kokeshi Dolls, 1999

An early introduction to Japanese street style, rapidly westernized as inflationary virus. Yet, one wishes to encounter its true and sincere form when putting the first step on Tokyo ground.
/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

The Nude Portrait VI (Posing Without Pants)

category g.1) 'bottomless' with shirt



1. Willy Vanderperre Men Are From Mars, Man About Town 2011
2. Alasdair McLellan "Together That Summer We Raised Some Hell, Yeah!", 2013
3. Thomas Whiteside Piccadilly Palare, The Wild #5, 2014

category g.2) 'bottomless' with dress, lifted

4. Tyrone Lebon Pop Magazine Fall/Winter 2013

category g.3) doubles/couples

5. Wolfgang Tillmans John And Paula, Sitting Bottomless, 1994
6. Terry Richardson Terryworld, 2004

category g.4) dropping pants

7. Flint-Fuyt The Belgian Beat, 2013

category g.5) from underneath

8. Wolfgang Tillmans Dust I, 2004

category h.1) 'bottomless' as campaign and magazine cover

9. Sølve Sundsbø Yves Saint Laurent M7, 2002
10. Mathilde ter Heijne & Amy Patton Gentle Men, Rediviva #23, 2013
11. Will McBride DUST Magazine #5, 2013

'Bottomless' is the ambivalent term for male models wearing nothing but a top. Not quite nude photography yet, fashion editorials are currently exploring the opposite to and much lower focal point of 'topless'. Quintessentially, the images are not 'sexy' or 'provocative'. Instead they do carry the nonchalance of naturalism.

Thus, the Penis Revolution is not a sexual one. It is something in between: a study of exposure and privacy, of dressing and undressing, of the male form that is accepted and documented as what it is. The images evoke tension as loosing the trousers first contradicts the regular, everyday process of undressing. As a result, the unagitated depiction always contains a certain notion of staged-ness. Irritation lends these photographs their strength.

The picture that initiated this new-found ease of presenting male genitals in a high fashion context is the Yves Saint Laurent M7 fragrance campaign shot by Sølve Sundsbø. Directing the beholder's view diagonally from headline to product still to Samuel de Cubber's casually exposed crotch.

A revealing motif that is common within the performing arts, particularly men's ballet where nude tights and suspensory gear create the trompe l'œil illustion of lower nudity. Signs are we will encounter this visual effect more often.
/HORST