Fairy Tale Fashion

I finally had an opportunity to stop by my alma mater FIT (Fashion Institute of Technology) and take a glimpse at the Fairy Tale Fashion exhibit at their museum. I LOVE COSTUMES particularly those in correlation with fairy tales. Television shows like Once Upon A Time or movies such as Snow White and the Huntsman will always get a front row viewing from me because I am in awe at the craftsmanship and skill that is put into these wardrobes.  It is this fascination that turns me into a mad scientist around Halloween because I have to always top my much-involved costume from the year before (but we will get more into that closer to Halloween). Anyway I think you get my point, I love a good costume and this exhibit was a wonderful way to spend the afternoon.

The Little Mermaid, Jean Louis Sabaji sea foam evening gown.

Curated by Colleen Hill, Fairy Tale Fashion is a unique and imaginative exhibition that examines fairy tales through the lens of high fashion. The costumes were selected for its direct reference to clothing or its mention of important recurring motifs from 15 tales by prominent writers such as Charles Perrault, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, Hans Christian Andersen, and Lewis Carroll.

(l to r) Snow White, Judith Leiber apple minaudier; Charlotte Olympia book clutch bag

This exhibition features more than 80 objects placed within dramatic, fantasy-like settings designed by architect Kim Ackert. Since fairy tales are not often set in a specific time period, Fairy Tale Fashion includes garments and accessories dating from the 18th century to the present. There is a particular emphasis on extraordinary 21st-century fashions by designers such as Thom Browne, Dolce and Gabbana, Tom Ford, Giles, Mary Katrantzou, Marchesa, Alexander McQueen, Rick Owens, Prada, Rodarte, and Walter Van Beirendonck, among others.

I photographed my favorite pieces, sorry for the quality of the images I forgot my camera and had to resort to the cell phone and it was a pretty dark room. There's no need to go into detail about the costumes everything was awesome and I think the pictures speak for themselves. 

Little Red Riding Hood, Comme des Garcons (Rei Kawakubo) hooded ensemble

(l to r) Sleeping Beauty, Marchesa evening gown; Zuhair Murad haute couture gown

(l to r) Bibhu Mohapatra white evening gown; Zandra Rhodes gold dress

(l to r) The Queen of Hearts, Hideki Seo; The Bear Prince, Thom Browne

Sleeping Beauty's Court, Dolce and Gabbana

(l to r) The Snow Queen, J. Mendel hooded cape and evening dress;  Tom Ford mirrored dress

If you are in New York City definitely check out the show in person.  The exhibit is up until April 16th at The Museum at FIT on 7th Ave and 27th Street.

First Monday In May, Fashion's Biggest Night

Magnolia Pictures

When I saw the trailer for this film "The First Monday in May" yesterday I got really excited. I love the Metropolitan Museum of Art's annual costume exhibition. Since moving to New York, I think I've gone every year (my favorite show was Alexander McQueen's Savage Beauty show).  However before the exhibit even opens to the public the big extravaganza is the Met Ball, where you have an opportunity to see major celebrities walk the red carpet in themed couture gowns and suits.  As André Leon Tally says "The Met Ball is the super bowl of fashion events".  So when it was announced yesterday that this film about the biggest night in fashion was premiering at the Tribeca Film Festival beginning in April I was ecstatic.

Magnolia Pictures

The film, directed by Andrew Rossi, documents the process, planning and what goes on behind the scenes leading up to the major event.  It was filmed during the prep for last year's exhibit "China: Trough the Looking Glass", which was a beautiful exhibition. The movie follows Costume Institute curator Andrew Bolton and Vogue EIC Anna Wintour who is responsible for organizing the entire gala.  The film will be in theaters April 15th, I can't wait.  Here is the trailer below.

Double Bind

Backstage at the Pyer Moss AW16 show (credit: Kali Brown)

This weekend (February 13, 2016) I had the opportunity to assist backstage at the Pyer Moss AW16 Fashion show "Double Bind" presented by designer Kerby Jean-Raymond and styled by singer Erykah Badu. A double bind is an emotionally distressing dilemma in communication in which an individual (or group) receives two or more conflicting messages, and one message negates the other.  The show addressed a powerful message regarding the issue of depression and mental issues, which is often "swept under the rug" in black culture.

"I think the whole world is depressed," Badu told Huffington Post, but noted that she hasn't personally suffered from any type of clinical depression. "We mask it in different ways -- technology is one of the ways we've found as a group to mask it. Normal bouts of depression are very common -- for all of us -- and we don’t really discuss it and talk about it, we just kind of numb it some kind of way.”

Erykah Badu talking to Wale backstage at the Pyer Moss AW16 show (credit: Kali Brown)

The models were accessorized in police/chauffeur style hats, fitted with buttons reading names of various medications such Prozac, Xanax, and Lean; while walking to a choir composed of classically trained opera singers performing operatic renditions of popular hip-hop songs such as Fetty Wap’s “RGF Island” and Future’s “Trap N-----”

Backstage at the Pyer Moss AW16 show. (credit: Kali Brown)

Backstage at the Pyer Moss AW16 show. (credit: Kali Brown)

Backstage at the Pyer Moss AW16 show (credit: Kali Brown)

The show ended with the last model walking out holding a sign that read: “My demons won today. I’m sorry.” That was the last Facebook status shared by MarShawn M. McCarrel II, a Black Lives Matter activist and founder of Pursuing Our Dreams, who killed himself outside the Ohio Statehouse on Monday.

(credit: Pyer Moss)

Black History Art: Malick Sidibé

Malick Sidibé (born in 1936) is a Malian photographer noted for his black-and-white images chronicling the exuberant lives and pop culture, often of youth during the 1960s and 70s in Bamako.  His work documents a transitional moment as Mali gained its independence and transformed from a French colony steeped in tradition to a more modern independent country looking toward the West. He captured candid images in the streets, nightclubs, and sporting events and ran a formal portrait studio.

Malick Sidibé is a generation behind Seydou Keïta and I’d like to think that he was influenced by Keïta’s photography.  Similar to Keïta, Sidibé was a studio photographer known for his black-and-white portraits, but what set him apart is the sense of youthful pride and fun captured in the photographs. He enjoyed using the studio as a way to pretend and create new lives for his subjects. Also people enjoyed coming to his studio because unlike the others he had electricity, which was a luxury at the time. When talking about his studio portraits he states in an interview:

“As a rule, when I was working in the studio, I did a lot of the positioning. As I have a background in drawing, I was able to set up certain positions in my portraits. I didn’t want my subjects to look like mummies. I would give them positions that brought something alive in them. When you look at my photos, you are seeing a photo that seems to move before your eyes. Those are the sort of poses I gave them. Not poses that were inert or lifeless. No. People who have life need to be positioned that way. It was quite different at my studio. It was like a place of make-believe. People would pretend to be riding motorbikes, racing against each other. It was not like that at the other studios. That’s why my studio was so popular, already by 1964, 1965. The studio was a lot more laid back.”

I was first introduced to Malick Sidibé in 1997 when Janet Jackson put out the “Got ‘til It’s Gone” song featuring Q-Tip and Joni Mitchell.  The music video, directed by Mark Romanek used African photography as a motif, creating what he called a "pre-Apartheid celebration based on that African photography."   The video wanders a massive house party and includes scenes inspired by the work of photographer Malick Sidibé. After falling in love with the video and being an aspiring photographer at the time I dove deep into finding out what Sidibé was all about. I love how Sidibé captured the essence of that time period and the sixties and seventies fashion.  It gave me a whole new perception of African culture, which before then I thought was very traditional and tribal.

Joni Mitchell, Janet Jackson & Mark Romanek discuss the Music Video "Got 'Till It's Gone" Includes music video by Janet Jackson w/Q-Tip and Joni Mitchell - "Got 'Til It's Gone" (Def Radio Mix). (C) Virgin Records. Directed by Mark Romanek. From the album "The Velvet Rope"

I also learned that Malick Sidibé was like the original club photographer in Bamako (days before social media).  In an interview with lensculture.com he states:

“At night, from midnight to 4 am or 6 am, I went from one party to another. I could go to four different parties. If there were only two, it was like having a rest. But if there were four, you couldn't miss any. If you were given four invitations, you had to go. You couldn't miss them.  I'd leave one place, I'd take 36 shots here, 36 shots there, and then 36 somewhere else, until the morning. Sometimes I would come back to parties where there had been a lot of people.  Afterwards I had to develop the photos and print them out. Sometimes, right up to 6 in the morning, I would be at the enlarger. For the 6 x 6 films there was a contact printer, but the 24 x 36 had to be enlarged.  You could work in the morning, but, by Tuesday, the photos had to be ready for display. The proofs were pinned up outside my studio. Lots of people would come and point themselves out. ‘Look at me there! I danced with so-and-so! Can you see me there?’  Even if they didn't buy the photo, they would show it to their friends. That was enough for them. They had danced with a certain girl, and that was enough. I wasn't happy, though. I wanted them to buy these photos!”

The true hustle of a photographer hahah.

Sidibé’s work has been exhibited extensively.  His photos are in numerous public and private collections all over the world and he’s received several honors and awards.  He has become a true inspiration in portrait photography for me especially in men's fashion and style.

In a 2010 interview with John Henley in The Guardian Sidibé explained, “To be a good photographer you need to have a talent to observe, and to know what you want. You have to choose the shapes and the movements that please you, that look beautiful. Equally, you need to be friendly, sympathetic. It's very important to be able to put people at their ease. It's a world, someone's face. When I capture it, I see the future of the world. I believe with my heart and soul in the power of the image, but you also have to be sociable. I'm lucky. It's in my nature."

Malick Sidibé presently resides in Mali.