Tokyo Diaries XIV

A mental travel preparation.

1. Yohji Yamamoto Fall/Winter 2011 2007
2. Yohji Yamamoto Fall/Winter 2007
3. Yohji Yamamoto Spring/Summer 1998

Another example of reversion as cultural adaption. Printed on the back, the pin-up of Western sex-charged trash culture is turned into a decorative token, treated with the same respect as a true masterpiece (or Dalí).
/HORST

Couples V

1. Carven Fall/Winter 2014
2. Lanvin Fall/Winter 2014

Lanvin was very Fantastic Planet and Carven all about surrealist collage. What unites them both is the recurring image of 'hands', the fetish subject/object of Man Ray's work. Hands are back and trending.
/HORST

Double-Faced, 2014

or 'This Painting Is So Last Season'

T-Shirt Raf Simons
Magazine Spike

Raf Simons projects his curriculum vitae onto the products he offers for sale. As art consultant and collector, he places artworks straight onto the clothes he produces for his own line, for Jil Sander and now Dior. With those textile re-editions of Picasso, Rothko and Warhol, pop art can be folded away neatly in drawers or put on hangers - which informs a new term, that is Closet Art.
/HORST

News Alert: Missing Sunset Re-Appears

1. Beijing Televised Sunrise, 2014
2. Calvin Klein Spring/Summer 2014

Red sun, black frame. What has been cut away on the sweatshirt artworks of Italo Zucchelli's army of 'menkind' now emerges amidst the grey clouds of smog and pollution. Dramatic scenes, shockingly beautiful and ironic, are rising when the world is about to end.
/HORST

A Short History Of Typography In Popular Culture VIII

1. Steven Meisel Vogue Italia, 2000
2. Albert Oehlen I 10, 2010
3. Dior Spring/Summer 2001
4. Albert Oehlen I 33, 2013
5. Albert Oehlen I 28, 2011
6. Christian Lacroix Fall/Winter 2001

For a limited time only, we are offering a special high fashion discount. 5% off Lacroix. 5€ for Dior. It's a steal. Albert Oehlen went for prosecco, pillows and olive oil instead. Please keep the receipt.
/HORST

Trend X-Plorer IV

Revealing trends that cannot and will not be picked up but should be nonetheless.
Part 4: The Melting Mesh

1. Christopher Shannon Spring/Summer 2014
2. Kenzo Spring/Summer 2014
3. Alexander McQueen Spring/Summer 2014

The grid (as we know it) is dissolving. The internet turned out to be less than a lie. A virtual reality turned reality. Thus, the poles and meshes are melting. And our clothes are caught between op-art and psychedelia - updated and synchronised with our new state of mind.
/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

Portraits, 2013

or 'Lonely? Looking For Love?'

Shirt Jil Sander

The portrait of a portrait. Cold-hearted and two-faced. Hiding in anonymity, self-portraying Raf Sander's 'German Psycho'. Or, as Britney Spears would sing: 'All eyes on us. They watching us.'
/HORST

See also Granularity IV

Candy Crush

Dior Resort 2014

Within a few seasons, Simons has established a precise colour code of soft pastels and primary electric hues. Adding decorative twists and athletic turns, he continues to define what 'his' womenswear is about: pop, surrealism and superior gender.
/HORST