Tokyo Diaries

A mental travel preparation.




Comme des Garçons Fall/Winter 1993

Documenting a world before arrival. The aesthetic pleasures one seeks to find. The consumerist mega-structures one desires to wander about. The conceptual fashion one wants to buy.
/HORST

Sherman Questions XV

1. Cindy Sherman at Louis Vuitton Fall/Winter 2014
2. Balenciaga Spring/Summer 2011

So what would Cindy Sherman wear? The real Cindy Sherman. Not her 'other' portrayed self. She does, in fact, wear the 'lesbian collection' - those celebrated buckle boots. In blue crocodile leather. By Balenciaga. By Nicolas Ghesquière. And short hair. At this morning's Louis Vuitton show.
/HORST

Image credits WWD

A Short History Of The Apron In Popular Culture II

1. Cindy Sherman Untitled Film Still #3, 1977
2. Birgit Jürgenssen Hausfrauen-Küchenschürze, 1975
3. Hussein Chalayan Spring/Summer 1999
4. Mario Testino The Butcher, The Face 1997

Women as domestic robots, androids, warriors. Desexualized objects, tools to maintain a tidy household, a clean surrounding. Yet, the apron is worn as outer shell on undergarments - indicating a naughty and cruel side...
... to be continued?
/HORST

Post Milan, Première

A 'False Encyclopaedia' double feature with Rudy Katoch, discussing:
Jil Sander Spring/Summer 2014

"In a white suburban bedroom in a white suburban town,
As she lay there 'neath the covers dreaming of a thousand lovers
'Til the world turned to orange and the room went spinning round."

The lyrics from "The Ballad of Lucy Jordan" echo. Neither the orange (or fluorescent) details in the piping, shirts or coats; nor the cut-up catwalk forcing models to spin around the space; nor the white looks are important. I am more interested in Jil 'dreaming of a thousand lovers' and today we see thirty-eight of them.

But then, each look refracts. We see each look walk by the polished glass, through the glass itself and reflected upon it. So, we never just see one ensemble at any time. The reflective and refractive quality to the show-as-performance opens up a space to discuss the cultural filter of images—both moving and still—in which we see our world. Cindy Sherman will approve.

This was best seen in looks which can be described as intermezzo—short, connecting looks punctuating the show. The opening look is a good example. You have the all-white suit with the fluorescent piping that alludes to sportswear; as well as, the cropped trouser and the wide-set shoe. Colin McDowell, Carlo Brandelli, Tom Hingston, Jack Tobin and Hywel Davies laughed at the poorly cut trousers and nebulous 'man' from the A/W 2013 show. The cropped silhouette (exemplified by re-fashioning the knickerbocker) or innovative shirt/blouson hybrids emerge as a response.

McDowell claimed that Sander is "an older woman who is trying to capture the Zeitgeist of the young". Sander has captured youth in this collection by the super-position of one idea upon another: sportswear and tailoring. Her success lies within the execution of this simplicity.

As Jil steps out to applause, her image is caught upon the glass. The show ends. I could not help but think of Sherman reflecting upon her refraction as both artist and subject. Jil Sander by Jil Sander.
/RUDY

To me, Jil Sander is an emotional affair. Each and every time defending the entitlement of minimalism. And it became an utmost personal affair. For the first time, a collection made me cry. And surrender. To cropped trouser lengths, to monochrome, mirrored floral prints. To pink salmon, to PVC. To white suits and black socks. To skirt-like shorts and 1990s virtual reality piping. She does not need Raf. Jil Simons turned Jil Sander. Jil is God.
/HORST








1. Jil Sander Spring/Summer 2014
2. Jil Sander Spring/Summer 2014
3. Gregory Ratoff Intermezzo (Leslie Howard and Ingrid Bergman), 1939
4. Cindy Sherman Untitled Film Still #56, 1980
5. Ed Ruscha Strength, 1983
6. Cindy Sherman Untitled Film Still #27, 1979
7. Georg Baselitz Ein moderner Maler (Remix), 2007
8. Jil Sander Spring/Summer 2014

All about Rudy Katoch

Sherman Questions XIV

1. Robert Mapplethorpe Cindy Sherman, 1983
2. Giorgio Armani Campaign

Images of Cindy Sherman that are not images of Cindy Sherman. They are more than a character study, more than self-portraits. They are portraits of 'self'. And amidst all the costume choices - from Balenciaga to Comme des Garçons - Sherman opts for the intellectual power woman look of Jil Sander, Calvin Klein and Giorgio Armani.
/HORST

Sherman Questions XIII

1. Cindy Sherman Untitled #473, 2008
2. Marc Jacobs Fall/Winter 2013

Isn't it ironic how both images as aspirations of 'luxury' result in something chintzy? Cindy and Marc present an exercise in fake fur and cheap perfume. Layering kitsch until it becomes rich.
/HORST

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Sherman Questions XII

1. Cindy Sherman Untitled #474, 2008
2. Missoni Spring/Summer 2011

The portrait of a lady evokes a severe pre-version of Jürgen Teller's subsequent family portrait series for the house of Missoni. And indeed, doesn't Cindy's abstract python print dress comprise a first coquettish hint to the Italian multi-pattern enterprise?
/HORST

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