September | 2014 | THE HARLOW

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MY UNDERCOVER JACKET

Posted on September 30, 2014 by Clara G

The first time ever I saw this jacket it was many years ago. It was maybe during a weekend in 2009, in an outlet store in Berlin. A little bit big for me, very expensive and very difficult to wear so I decided not to buy it… but I never really forget it. A few years later, in 2011, I came back to Berlin, in that moment I was planning to move here, and I saw it again. Still in the same hanger, in the same place: seemed to be waiting for me, it was still too difficult, still too big, still to expensive for me but this time I bought it, with a romantic feeling of belonging. I thought “I belong to this city and you belong to me”.

It is a military green jacket designed in 2005, damaged and broken. Seems like some one hand cut it with a knife, dirty, like burned or been buried, white lace that could be seen underneath. Eyes and teeth are sewed to its cuffs and front, like a monster with a delicate soul. It has something to do with my disturbing relationship with decadency, loss, death, and also with my own misaligned teeth, that I recognize as part of my personality but also make me feel so insecure. But most of all, the jacket it is definitely connected with Edgar Allan Poe and the teeth of Berenice.

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PEOPLE HAVE THE POWER, VALTAGS

Posted on September 23, 2014 by Marco Maggetto

Wear a funny jewel no matter what. Wear a statement, a declaration, phrases that are, in a way, signature of your inner side. And if it’s a special occasion there is a made to measure service that won’t leave you…speechless. Born in Spring of 2013, the bright oversized offshoot of ValentineTags are made in silver, gold and plastic by designer Valentine Breton des Loÿs who want to spread some words. Love messages, anthems, protests: each and every piece is produced in an edition of 100 and only one series is available at a time. The world is yours.
http://www.valtags.com/

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SLITHERSTITION

Posted on September 21, 2014 by Isabella Cecconi

Take away your horror and repugnance, look what I found – as I was browsing and discovering something new, which has been so far my favourite thing to do. I found Andrew McGibbon, photographer: enchanting colors, perfect picture shots, portrays and curious subjects. Symbols of good, symbols of evil, tradition and iconography. Matter of fact since the very beginning of human beliefs, the snake has always been a creature to be feared. Feared and respected. Sometimes badly treated too. Thus, the serpent has always deserved a sort of second look, beyond its slithering and dark hypnosis. In an endeavor to break common suppositions, that snakes are just evil, Andrew McGibbon has shot a series of photographs called Slitherstition which depict snakes with a bright and colored background to emphasise their beauty and design. The project looks pretty awesome, and it surely gives snakes another look.

Still Scared?I’m mesmerized!

http://andrewmcgibbon.co

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MY SAINT LAURENT OXFORD SHOES

Posted on September 16, 2014 by Clara G

What is the aim of an unexpected cover, revealing or unrevealing the object underneath?

A fully covered platinum and diamonds skull, is it something else than a skull?
A Venetian palace covered with an oriental carpet, floors and walls, is it still a Venetian palace? A pair of fine leather shoes covered with studs, is something else than a pair of shoes? When you remove part of the name of a former brand, are you really becoming something different?

I’ve been thinking about it, and I don’t now… a skull inside of a diamond cover must have belonged to a man and I wonder, isn’t it the real man, what is remaining from that man? Is it a piece of art only because Damien Hirst decided so?. That skull, that I have printed in one T-Shirt has a deep meaning for me. Something regarding life, death and memory, something ironic, dark, also beautiful and disturbing, I love and hate that skull. I appreciate it’s enormous influence in fashion, but don’t know if I would ever be able to live with the real piece, in case I could afford it… I had this same feeling of being haunted when visiting the Rudolf Stingel installation in Venice a couple of years ago. Mixing the beautiful palace, the heavy carpet, the medieval pieces painted on detail: saints and skeletons. Something of all that it’s also on my new Saint Laurent shoes. I find a rare connection between all those experiences, something that goes deeper. A kind of ambivalence that goes straight to my own bones, like poison, like love.

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UNSEEN PHOTO FAIR AMSTERDAM

Posted on September 15, 2014 by Editorial Staff

Unseen Photo Fair first edition will opens its door from September 19 to 23 in Amsterdam’s Westergasfabriek, a former gasworks site dating back to 1885. Unseen will be a meeting place for young and established photographers and also a vitrine for 50 galleries from all over the world (check list here). The program also includes talks by photographers Lorenzo Vitturi, Daniel Gordon and Kate Steciw, a discussion on contemporary Japanese photography and a panel discussion with the 2014 Foam Magazine Talents.

Full program and infos: http://unseenamsterdam.com/

Photo: Particular from Domingo Milella, Arsemia, Turkey, 2013 – Camilla Grimaldi Gallery London

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THE JUAN MACLEAN

Posted on September 11, 2014 by Maxim Deluxe

are John MacLean and Nancy Whang . The american group play the best electronic music at the moment and it’s out with the new album on September 15 ‘In A Dreams’ on DFA Records.

http://thejuanmaclean.com/

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A OTHERWORLDLY BOUQUET, AZUMA MAKOTO

Posted on September 9, 2014 by Luisa Fazio

Forget the ikebana art, the traditional wedding bouquet, lazy days spent to grow bonsai! Modern organic sculptures (with the addition of minimal inorganic materials) by Azuma Makoto, Japanese flower artist, are something more. Strong gladioli and delicate lilies give them character. Composition and decorum are two important ingredients for his always winning recipes. Difficulty: easy. Essential condition: a high amount of emotional attachment to flowers. In his studio-workshop in Minami-Aoyama district in Tokyo, he demonstrates every day his obsession and sensitivity towards beauty. He fixes any idea on a blackboard before realizing original projects while a background music calms the plants and helps him to find a way to bring out beauty and allure of vegetables. Amaryllis won’t be put in the pot but leaved suspended in a steel frame with bulb and roots in view. He also dips the bouquet in glass bottles filled with water where the flowers fade it, showing their veins, they float. Always fascinated by space, he is recovering from a unique experiment in plant ethology beyond their physiological respiration and photosynthesis. Operation Exobiotanica: from Black Rock Desert in Nevada he launched into the stratosphere – about 27,000 feet above the Earth’s surface – a pine-bonsai inside a super light metal frame and a spherical bouquet composed of about thirty different species of plants including lilies, hydrangeas, irises, orchids, tillandsia. He observed the reactions of flowers and plants outside the context of land. Makoto, in Japanese means “truth.” It is also the name of Azuma. Nomen omen, the destiny in his name which can be summarized in John Keats words: “Truth is beauty, beauty is truth” Makoto does not stop there. Next mission: Mars!

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HAUTE COUTURE: THE POLAROIDS OF CATHLEEN NAUNDORF

Posted on September 5, 2014 by Editorial Staff

Polaroids, once again, will never loose their allure. The Cathleen Naundorf exhibition at Fahey/Klein Gallery Los Angeles will opens its door on September 11th and it’s a must see for Polaroid fans. Instant shoots of haute couture as you never seen it before. Cathleen Naundrof started her career in the 90ies and traveled all over the world for prestigious publishing houses. In the beginning it was all about photo reportage on ethnic groups, then, after her encounter with Horst P.Horst, Naundorf became interested in fashion photography and that’s when the story started. Living in Paris and having access to Paris Fashion Week’s backstages, in years when nobody really was admitted, permitted this sensitive photographer to create an unique body of work now on view in Los Angeles. A must see.

Photo: Dior Haute-Couture, Summer 2007

http://www.faheykleingallery.com/

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WILDCAT! WILDCAT!

Posted on September 3, 2014 by Maxim Deluxe

Hailing from Los Angeles, ! is the uplifting indie electro-pop project of vocalist/bassist Jesse Taylor, vocalist/keyboardist Michael Wilson, and vocalist/drummer Jesse Carmichael. Their music has reminiscences of that of MGMT . The debut album ‘ No Moon At All” is out now on Downtown Records.

Wildcat ! Wildcat

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FLORAL LEATHER? CUIR CANNAGE!

Posted on September 1, 2014 by Editorial Staff

Cuir Cannage is a diverse fragrance in which soft floral notes blend with the density of leather to open up a whole new realm. It recreates a world of intriguing scents that intertwines the fruity notes of a lipstick tinged with Rose and Violet along with more powerful scents, in which the leather of the bag meets the warmth of tobacco. Cuir Cannage appeals to the senses, like an olfactory portrait painted with personal and subtly scented objects, protected by the finest cannage-stitched leather. The Dior way.

Dior’s latest release, mixes flowers and leather in a masculine and feminine way. Let’s say it’s a Serge Lutense approach. Created by François Demarchy, the artistic director and nose for Parfums Dior, the name refers to the woven technique used on Dior’s “cannage” leather bags. Orange blossoms are trailed by leather notes. Sweet, richly oiled aroma. The Dior scent has shifted the scales and the balance to make its leather more dominant. A black leather infused with a heavy dose of burnt tar, rubber, smoke. Delightful for all seasons. And remember: the Fall is the Spring of Winter!

www.dior.com