Erwin Wurm is an Austrian artist who makes some of the coolest art I’ve seen in a while. His approach seems rather random and funny to me, like his one minute sculptures where he poses people with random objects, redefining the notion of what sculpture is. What I’m really loving though are his fat cars, these bulbous, mutated versions of cars that are completely insane. These are made using polyurethane foam and styrofoam covered with lacquer, once painted look exactly like a real car gone plump. He’s got some other really great pieces I had to post as well like the house which is perilously tipping over the edge of the Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien in Vienna. To me it feels like Erwin is really having a lot of fun making his art, and in turn, makes it that much more fun to see.
The Dior show went on as part of Paris Fashion Week on Friday without dismissed designer John Galliano in attendance.
Chief executive Sidney Toledano made a speech on the runway beforehand, Women's Wear Daily writes. He said, "It has been deeply painful to see the Dior name associated with the disgraceful statements attributed to its designer, however brilliant he may be. What happened last week has been a terrible and wrenching ordeal for us all. So now, more than ever, we must publicly re-commit to the values of the House of Dior."
Forbes has the full text of the statement. Another excerpt:
Christian Dior founded his House in 1947.
His family had been ruined in the Crash of 1929 and his own beloved sister had been deported to Buchenwald. In the aftermath of the dark years of the war, he sought to free women, to give them back their sparkle and joyfulness.
Christian Dior's values were those of excellence in all that he undertook, of elegance and of craftsmanship reflecting his unique talent. His mission was not only to make his clients -- indeed all women -- more beautiful, but also to make them happy, to help them dream. He saw himself as a magician who could give women confidence and make them ever more feminine, more sublime. He believed in the importance of respect and in the capacity of this fundamental value not only to bring out the beauty in women, but also bring out the best in all people.
His values, his genius and his legacy have contributed to enhancing France's image and culture around the world for more than sixty years.
Story continues below
The values that Monsieur Dior taught us are unchanged today. Those values are carried on by the wonderful and diverse group of people within the House of Dior who devote all their talent and energy to achieving the ultimate in artisanship and femininity, respecting traditional skills and incorporating modern techniques.
Karlie Kloss was the first model to hit the catwalk, which was filled with capes, frilly frocks and furs. The Associated Press notes that few famous faces were on-hand for the occasion:
Dior officials unveiled a meager list of celebrity attendees expected on Friday -- seven names, mostly little-known French starlets including actress Melanie Laurent and Vanessa Paradis' sister, Alyssob Paradis.
Security at the show was unusually high, with television teams being told they couldn't speak to any of the celebrity guests.
At the end of the show, the Dior atelier staff took the final bow in their white lab coats. They received a standing ovation.
Dutch producer 2000 and One was the special guest DJ at our last 'Heads Up' party in East London. Here, we speak to him about all things house and find out more about his remix of 4th Measure Men's seminal classic '4 You' which also includes a remix from Maya Jane Coles.
The narrative of “plus-size” (translation: “normal-size”) models in the fashion industry has built to a fever-pitch in the past few years. Weight has been a powerful force for fashion magazines in particular, showing the ability to boost — or harm — major titles. There was the overwhelming reaction to Glamour‘s inclusion of model Lizzie Miller, shown happily nude at 5’11″ and 180 pounds, in the September 2009 issue. Then 2010 brought a tempest for Marie Claire blogger Maura Kelly, after she openly criticized overweight people on her blog. The retribution was harsh and swift.
At first, the presence of plus-sized models in magazines was dismissed as a gimmicky one-off. But now, curvier models are making serious inroads in fashion publications — and their presence is bringing in dollars. The British weekly magazine Look began regularly featuring heavier models five months ago, and watched their circulation drop a mere .5% in the second of half of 2010 (a period during which magazine sales in general fell precipitously). The Guardian notes that Look, as well as two other women’s magazines that have chosen to permanently include non-models, all show successful numbers:
Brigitte (Germany) – up 4% in overall sales after discontinuing use of models altogether
Essentials (Britain) – up 12.7% in circulation after instating only non-model covers (first non-model cover up 25% in sales)
The editors of these magazines stand behind their choice to use models who look like their readership: the readers love it, as do advertisers and retailers of mainstream fashion, says Ali Hall, the editor of Look.
Still, persuading high-end designers to change their ways remains the hard part — Alexandra Shulman, the editor of British Vogue, once complained that the sample clothes she was given were so small that the magazine was forced to find rail-thin models just to fit into them. And there was that nasty blind rumor making the internet rounds about a modeling agency that refused to let its so-called “good” girls be photographed with their plus-sized counterparts.
Money has a way of changing attitudes, and magazines — which are already feeling the pain of the recession and the transition to online media — are looking for ways to keep their product fresh. French Elle, V magazine, and Glamourhave all done much-lauded special issues using size 12 to 16 models. And the designers Mark Fast and Jean-Paul Gaultier have had plus-size girls on their runways.
Most tellingly, The Guardian looks to Cambridge Ph.D. candidate Ben Barry’s study of 3,000 women, which showed that “the vast majority of women significantly increase purchase intentions when they see a model that reflects their age, size and race.” We’ll let the numbers speak for themselves.
Since the events of last Thursday evening I have not been able to make any public comment on what took place based upon advice from my French lawyer. However, given the continuing delays at the French Prosecutor's Office I should make my position clear. I completely deny the claims made against me and have fully co-operated with the police investigation.
A number of independent witnesses have given evidence and have told the police that I was subjected to verbal harassment and an unprovoked assault when an individual tried to hit me with a chair having taken violent exception to my look and my clothing. For these reasons I have commenced proceedings for defamation and the threats made against me.
However, I fully accept that the accusations made against me have greatly shocked and upset people.
I must take responsibility for the circumstances in which I found myself and for allowing myself to be seen to be behaving in the worst possible light.
I only have myself to blame and I know that I must face up to my own failures and that I must work hard to gain people's understanding and compassion. To start this process I am seeking help and all I can hope for in time is to address the personal failure which led to these circumstances and try and earn people's forgiveness.
Story continues below
I have fought my entire life against prejudice, intolerance and discrimination, having been subjected to it myself. In all my work my inspiration has been to unite people of every race, creed, religion and sexuality by celebrating their cultural and ethnic diversity through fashion. That remains my guiding light.
Anti-semitism and racism have no part in our society. I unreservedly apologise for my behaviour in causing any offence.
Lawrence O'Donnell tore into Mike Huckabee for the former Arkansas governor's false statement that President Obama grew up in Kenya.
Speaking to New York radio station WOR on Tuesday, Huckabee was asked about Obama's birth certificate by host Steve Malzberg. Malzberg claimed that Obama has been sending lawyers to quash people from looking at the certificate, and asked, "don't you think we deserve to know much more about this man?"
"I would love to know more," Huckabee responded. "What I know is troubling enough. And one thing that I do know is his having grown up in Kenya, his view of the Brits, for example, very different than the average American."
Speaking on his own Tuesday show, O'Donnell did not take kindly to this mistake. "No, no, no, no, no," he said. "He did not grow up in Kenya. Yes, he did have a Kenyan father and grandfather, but he did not grow up there. This is what we know. This is what is beyond dispute."
O'Donnell noted that Huckabee said Obama's having grown up in Kenya was "one thing I do know."
"If that is the one thing that Mike Huckabee knows, then Huckabee knows less than nothing," O'Donnell said. He also refused to take seriously Huckabee's statement later on Tuesday that he had misspoken and that he was not questioning Obama's citizenship. To O'Donnell, Huckabee was guilty of playing dog-whistle politics with Republican primary voters who doubt that Obama is a U.S. citizen.
"Mike Huckabee desperately wants every one of their votes if he's going to run for president next year," O'Donnell said. "In his ugly pursuit of those votes he has now fallen below the already low standard for integrity that we have come to expect from former governors of Arkansas."
