HORNY STUFF

... thank you, George Bezhanishvili, for sending me these beautiful images (© David Elias) of a horn chain waiting to dangle from a bullneck (okay, bad pun)...

THE PILOTTO PATCHWORK

... by 70s interiors inspired he was, 70s interiors way he went. Peter Pilotto's fall 2010 collection would have delighted me in my "orange period" back in, uhm, the olden days of '95 or so...

ATHENS SUCKS

... me mind my language? Absolutely, ladies and gentlemen. But what may be on many a strike victim's/frequent flyer's mind today (Filep would disagree, I'm sure) is actually a slogan taken from one of the fabulous coffee mugs by the even more fabulous Greek design conglomerate Greece Is For Lovers. Zeus!


I came across their stuff in Athens and loved it. Be it the Grannytunes crocheted ipod cover, be it the massive gold air purifier.


When I was in Greece (and couldn't visit the Acropolis, as the staff was on strike, and had to console myself with drinks in the more than luxurious hotel Grande Bretagne...), they also had this gorgeous "Oh My Demigod" bag on sale - which seems to have disappeared from their product range. A pity, but still - epharisto...

a BAD case of BAD taste

... unbelievable, ladies and gents, totally unbelievable: the incomparable - professional, convincing, charming and beautiful - Queen of Hearts of Vienna's party scene, our Susanne Bartsch so to say, Tamara Mascara, took part in some kind of - obviously very dubious - competition where she was outshone by a very, uhm, blonde, uhm, something. Beauty queen? Quite unbelievable, I say - may her heart remain unbroken and beat on and on...

Melon carving and the world of fashion...

... a good reason to leave your desk and/or your computer and get out into real life every now and then (apart from all the fun you can have when you're offline): inspiration galore...



Yesterday I was strolling through town, and passing by the (otherwise not particularly gorgeous, I'm being told) restaurant Thai Kitchen I couldn't help marvelling at the melon carving skills they advertise.


Just imagine: you're having a party (a FASHION party, why not...), and they can carve any ornament, any logo or typo you ask them to into the surface of a watermelon.



Now, isn't that just gorgeous? I think I'm gradually getting myself into a summer mood here...

Politique au féminin

... now, that is really a sad bit of news: one of Austria's first, and most committed representatives of feminist matters in politics, the country's first ever minister for women's affairs, JOHANNA DOHNAL, is no longer with us...

A WALDSCHÜTZ BEZHANISHVILI PRODUCTION

... George Bezhanishvili sent me this beautiful editorial he styled using pieces from previous collections of his. George, without a doubt one of Vienna's more interesting fashion talents right now, currently takes a break from uni. At present, he is working on a collection together with Franziska Fürpass (I loved her graduate collection, see my review published by Hint magazine...) a recent graduate from the University of Applied Arts' fashion masterclass. After the two Austrian fashion teams nominated for the final of this year's Hyères festival, George and Franziska may well be the next BIG THING coming up in Vienna. Meanwhile, enjoy this editorial photographed by Andreas Waldschütz, George's congenial partner in photographic terms...

Morituri te salutant...

via diskothek.at / photo Andreas Tischler

... two days ago, Philipp Plein (aka The King of Bling) came to Vienna for a flagship store opening AND to celebrate his birthday. Some very illustrous (probably?) guests attended the party, were seen (and heard) singing songs and toying around with skulls-on-balloons.

Hm.

This is all so memento mori...

Trosman fall 2010

... deary deary, I hope I will make it around to Trosman's showroom in Paris, cos I do really like the label. But I see it coming - mon emploi du temps sera très, très dense...

Lady G.

via whatsonxiamen.com

... this woman wins 'em all, despite her loony nickname. Félicitations, I say. And of course, she didn't forget to thank her friend Lee, to who she paid tribute after receiving a total of three Brit awards...

Nippon and me

... purist as purist can be. And I thought, since Japanese aesthetics are always en voge (just think of the kimono-style dresses by Diptych aka Ali Zedtwitz and Valerie Lange that earned them a rank among the finalists of this years Hyères festival), here we go - my Japanese homely look (which I rarely sport, but that's another story...

Public Art competition - create a statement for Vienna's Karl Lueger square

... the deadline for the competition initiated by Luegerplatz.com, which invites creatives and artists to submit projet ideas for a monument to be erected on Vienna's Karl Lueger square, has been delayed: it is possible to submit project ideas until March 31.

Karl Lueger was a notoriously antisemitic mayor of the city of Vienna (from 1897 to 1910), who, as a founder of Austria's Christian Social Party, a precursor of today's Austrian People's Party, enjoys unbroken popularity in a certain political camp.

The initiative Luegerplatz.com points out how it is inadmissible that a square should still bear his name, with a monument celebrating his merits and achievements. Instead, Luegerplatz.com pleads for the installation of a monument against antisemitism on this very square (which should urgently change its name).

Times goes by, and things don't necessarily change as quickly as one would like them to do, alas...

QUESTION...

... ISN'T FASHION REALLY ABOUT HUMAN INTERACTION AND HERE, MAINLY SEX AND SEDUCTION? OR DID THIS NOTION GET LOST SOMEWHERE ALONG THE WAY? ...

Katharina and Diane

... I posted this so long ago, when nobody was reading my blog (I mean, it's not like this has changed since then), and when looking for something on my blog recently I came across these images again.

Actually, this may well have been my one and only (I think) attempt at becoming a street photographer to date, and I even cheated, cos the beautiful youg lady I photographed was not a stranger but my dear friend Katharina after un petit café we had together in central Vienna.

Katharina proudly, or rather: very casually, as she is as casual as lovely a person , sported the WONDER WOMAN bag by good old Diane von Fürstenberg that she had bought in NY - handsigned by Diane, actually (Katharina is known to mingle with rather important people, at times... ;)). And since Diane seems to be a very practial person, she dedicated the bag to Katharina, and her daughter Alma: for the hand-me-down days to come...

my mom and Richard Prince

... my mom is so hip, hipper even than she'd ever have thought she could be (admittedly, being hip is not among the top priorities on her agenda).


Just take a look, in her latest blog post (okay, I kind of convinced her of the necessity to start an internet "diary", which she now eagerly pursues - once every two months or so) she tells us how much she loves line dancing and then, thanks to her somewhat shortsighted and blurry-picture-generating camera, she uploads a très Richard Prince-ish image. If that's not due to land on the next LV bag, then I don't know...

LE MOT DU JOUR: the word that made my day

... since I've been "working" on this baby project of mine for quite some while now, I thought I could as well "break the news". Something for my German-speaking readers, actually, as "Ein Tag, ein Wort" is the maximalistically reduced web log that does without images and any other adornment, only to present you with one essential linguistic item per 24h-unit - in the Teutonic tongue, more often than not. Takes only 1 second to check out, each and every day...

How to dress - for fashion

... I've been pondering over this for a while, and so I'd like to share a loose chain of associations and thoughts with you.


On the one hand, it is quite clear that fashion is essentially about getting dressed and dressing up (while we also know that there is more to fashion than just clothes...). And yet, whenever I drag my limp body to some kind of fashionable fashion reception or similarly stylish event - let alone the Paris shows or whatever, and despite my long-standing fondness for fashion -, I cannot help feeling a little bit puzzled by what surrounds me.


The fashion circus (and not only the fashion circus, of course) is a lot about people who make a statement with the clothes they wear, who turn themselves into someone (else), and maybe that is really what you are supposed to do, "love fashion more than life itself" in the extremest case (as someone said referring to the rather exceptional case of Diane Pernet), and as a consequence, sooner or later, the most prominent exponents of fashion and everything that surrounds it seem to feel the urge to construct their very own FASHION PERSONA.


Be it the strictly geometrical haircut plus sunglasses as traditionally sported by Anna Wintour at a fashion show, be it the Suzy Menkes trademark quiff - both of them relatively modest when compared to the greater part of those fashion bloggers flying up and down the dusty alleys of the tuileries (Anne aka Blica's recently published some thoughts about one of them) - and then, of course, there is this entire, and very prestigious, Anna Piaggi - Isabella Blow - Lynn Yaeger fraction of the fashion flock...


... just as there are the countless street photographers eagerly capturing those infamous "outside the tent/off the runway"-looks ...


... and then, on the other hand, there are intelligent observers and theoreticians of fashion the likes of Alison Clarke who (quite rightly) states that "the street is dead because it looks like Vogue" - and then, somehow, you really have to start wondering whether "outside the tent" you still see any trends emerge, a profoundly creative way of dressing, the appearance of noteworthy ideas and things and stuff...

... or whether the greater part of this is just about styling skills, about selecting from high fashion collections, about a clever pick and mix of expensive designer clothes, and then you wonder, when reading what Suzy Menkes states in a Pudri-interview, namely that dressing up for fashion shows has always been a common thing to do, whether "back then" the dressing up bit may not have been a wee bit more creative, whether people didn't actually create some "new" kind of look instead of just replicating and pushing forward already existing avantgardes...

... and that's when you get to the point where you stop wondering and musing only to realise that maybe, after all, you should keep your musings to yourself rather than blab them out on your blog.

But then again, that's the raison d'être of a blog, isn't it...

note 1: this is also where refreshingly different views of fashion in the sense of what's being worn and by who become ever so vital, just think of Stil in Berlin or Anders Anziehen... (as opposed to the rather annoying self-enactments incl. the beautiful city of Paris on Alix' Cherry Blossom Girl blog, I mean - Karl may like it...)

note 2: and that's also the point where I realise that dressing up and trying to get away with as much as you can, fashionably, aesthetically, seems to be about courage, too, as I used to be tremendously courageous fashion-wise some years ago, while I seem to just fade away in reduced monochrome pieces lately. Maybe that's something I should change, actually (with the Paris shows coming up, ha ha!)...

s'anéantir

Kitsch as kitsch can: Kitschaward 09

seashell china I adore, (c) Anna Mayer

... my dear cousin brought my attention to the annual KITSCH AWARD organised by Wolfgang Strauß and Igor Petkovic. Unluckily, I missed this year's award cereomony bringing together the country's most remarkable collectors (and even creators...) of kitsch.

Eva Kleemair'S lovely picture postcard construction

Fantastic. I do absolutely adore kitsch. Positively.

whatever it may be... (c) Josef Lipscha

Check out the website for a comprehensive overview of all the nominees, or if you live somewhere near Weiz, an exhibition showcasing a selection of the best kitsch from 2009 is open until Sunday Feb. 14 in the local Kunsthaus.

a lollipop right through my heart... (c) Michaela Grabner

What a great Valentine's gift, a kitsch exhibition visit...

Is this a design blog?

... I've been doing some research about design blogs recently (don't ask...), and in the realm of home furnishing - decoration - interior design with a distinct dose of homeliness and well-being, a post based on a soup-face image would be the rule rather than the exception...

the internet's culture of sharing contents & a "young and talented" writer

... alright: publishing a book at the tender age of 17 years, why not, after all, the young ones have got something to say, too - in all contexts. Thanks to blogging and the internet, making your voice heard isn't a problem any more, and if your daddy or your mummy occupy a comfortable position within the field of cultural production, all the better - you may even see your diary published, or be encouraged to write a book.

We all know that this happens every now and then, we've got examples in various languages, the German-speaking world warmly welcomed Benjamin Lebert's debut novel "Crazy" some years ago, and now there is the particular case of a certain Helene H....

...whose debut novel came out just a few days ago and was unanimously (in an almost suspicious way) greeted by critics. Until it turned out (the German blog Gefühlskonserve did some very meticulous research, luckily...) that the teenager had copied passages from the "live" blog by an anonymous author called Airen and the resulting book Strobo that was brought out by an independent publisher (whilst H.'s publishing house is far from being a small one...).

Now, what I do find a little bit worrying is the fact that H.'s publisher (she may actually be too young, or too naive, or too dumb to even bother about the whole thing, who knows...) now justifies what she did (let's get things straight: we are not even talking about "productive reception" or "intertextuality", this is, obviously, a case of plagiarism...) by her young age and the corresponding fact that she grew up in an internet-dominated culture where generating original contents is (apparently) not even unusual, but virtually impossible. A "culture of sharing" this is called, then.

Excuse me, but to claim that originality is impossible anyhow and only authenticity is what counts (if channeled through the right and most powerful media platforms, needless to add) and, thereby, to open up the door (and wide) for a very preoccupying practice "even" in the context of literature would probably be a good argument to dissuade anybody from publishing their thoughts on openly accessible platforms such as a blog AND, in a way, gradually lead to the extinction of a more demanding literary production...

Carla - unique!

... when rummaging through the always incredible storage of Caritas in Mittersteig, I came across the output of a very special collaboration called "CARLA UNIQUE". Margarete Siebenhofer and Nelli Mücke (a young Vienna-based jewellery designer, who was recently awarded the award sponsored by Kultursalon Hörbiger).

It may be because of the love for all kinds of weird, rare or antique objects that made me adore Leanne Shapton's great object-based catalogue-novel, but strolling through Caritas is always a very welcome mid-day break where I can air my head, think about articles &c. and, sometimes, come across special vintage couture.

The objects created by the two young designers, made from "recycled" or rather, redesigned, furniture are a perfect example of the more or less eccentric items you may well come across in these huge premises. Be sure to check this out, as "CARLA UNIQUE" items are still on show and available...

I Think We Have a Good Time

... and I do think so for sure, at least if you'll join me at Karl Karner's and Linda Samaraweerová's cycle of performances scheduled to take place at Vienna's TQW from February 11 - 13. Check it out here and meet me there...

Sabine Scholl's fashion crime novel

... just received this from Lisa D. in Berlin, who I first met years ago when I lived in Berlin myself: Sabine Scholl will read publicly from her first crime novel set in the fashion scene, Giftige Kleider, at the Lisa D. Workshop / Hackesche Höfe in Berlin Mitte on Feb. 16 starting at 8 pm. Call +49 / (0)30/ 282 90 61 for reservations...

Snow Fun

... okay, after all that Viennese fashion hysteria, I think it's time for a little outfit post again.

As it's snowing outside, let's get in gear for some fun on the slopes, or even, a frosty urban sidewalk, with this (except for the Nike shoes and the American Apparel corduroy pants) all-vintage furry, woolen, plasticky ensemble...

Fashion Tents in Vienna and elsewhere

... just like Michaela very rightly remarked in a comment following up on my bewilderment regarding the fact that an article about Berlin Fashion Week published on the website of the government-funded institution for the support of Austrian fashion did not mention ONE Austrian label present in Berlin ...

image via fashionpuppe.de

... it is even more absurd that another article beweeps the disappearance of Berlin's fashion tent - while the same website/online magazine (or whatever it is) did not lose one word about the launch of Vienna's very own fashion tent last autumn. What an interesting communication strategy, to say the least...

Pride goeth before a fall? Probably not...

preview: Ute Ploier and Christian Weber for Gössl

... when I recently talked to Ute Ploier, she already told me about her collaboration with Gössl Trachten off the record. Now this piece of news has been made public, and we are all eagerly waiting for some first image material.


These two images are a preview of Gössl's fall 2010 collection realised by Christian Weber (women) and, of course, Ute Ploier (men). The interesting thing is, once this collection hits the floor, it will finally be possible to purchase Ute Ploier in Austria - as her mainline (which is totally incomprehensible to me) is not on sale in this country.


And I'm already in line and virtually about to press the "book now" button for my plane ticket to London just in time for the presentation of Ute's collection for Topman...