Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty Exhibit

Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty


May 4, 2011–July 31, 2011

Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Exhibition Hall, 2nd floor
The exhibition, organized by The Costume Institute, will celebrate the late Alexander McQueen's extraordinary contributions to fashion. From his postgraduate collection of 1992 to his final runway presentation which took place after his death in February 2010, Mr. McQueen challenged and expanded the understanding of fashion beyond utility to a conceptual expression of culture, politics, and identity. His iconic designs constitute the work of an artist whose medium of expression was fashion. Approximately one hundred examples will be on view, including signature designs such as the bumster trouser, the kimono jacket, and the Origami frock coat, as well as pieces reflecting the exaggerated silhouettes of the 1860s, 1880s, 1890s, and 1950s that he crafted into contemporary silhouettes transmitting romantic narratives. Technical ingenuity imbued his designs with an innovative sensibility that kept him at fashion's vanguard.

Who's who in Fashion---Cameron Silver

Continuing with my weekly post, from an idea I had at the first of the year after reading "The Little Black Book of Style"by Nina Garcia I cam up with a list of 30 fashionable people in her book I had never heard of.  Thinking if I had never heard of them you hadn't either.  Here we are unto our third person in that list---- CAMERON SILVER

 

Named one of Time magazine’s “25 Most Influential Names and Faces in Fashion” in 2002, Cameron Silver has a Midas touch when it comes to fashion. He’s dressed A-list celebrities such as Nicole Kidman, Jennifer Lopez and Renee Zellweger in upscale vintage designs and contributes to Harpers Bazaar UK, C Magazine, and Departures. Cameron owns the vintage couture boutique Decades on Melrose and co-owns Decadestwo, the 21st Century Designer Consignment store. Decades also has a branch in London within Dover Street Market. Since 2004, Cameron has been the Creative Consultant to the French fashion house Azzaro, which has recently enjoyed a renaissance. At Azzaro, Cameron works with Creative Director Vanessa Seward on the collection’s design, research, and development, as well as initiating and maintaining the brand’s triumphant red carpet dressing of celebrities. In March 2007, he served as Creative Consultant for the global launch of Samsonite’s iconic Fashionaire collection. Decades and Decadestwo were awarded “Retailer of the Year” at the 2006 LA Fashion Awards. In May 2007, Cameron received the “Fashion for Life” award benefiting Friendly House.

 

When Cameron Silver left a successful concert career and opened the doors of Decades Inc, the uber glam vintage boutique on Melrose, he did not expect the business to last more than a decade. Now, 12 years later, the store is not only Hollywood's preferred source of Red Carpet gowns, it is the premier spot for vintage couture for socialites around the world with no sign of slowing down!

At the heart of the business is Silver himself, a dapper and handsome figure with a deep smoothing voice. Discussing vintage couture (especially Hermes) with him is a real treat as he is truly the world's expert on all things vintage!

Franciso Costa--- Who's Who in Fashion

Francisco Costa  was born May 10, 1961 is the creative director of Calvin Klein Collection. Costa won the Council of Fashion Designers America (CFDA) award for best womenswear designer in March 2006 as well as in June 2008. Costa also won the National Design Award in 2009 in the category of Fashion Design. Costa's designs have sometimes estranged longtime Calvin Klein customers. His clothes are lighter and more feminine than those marketed by Calvin Klein previously.


Costa is the second youngest of five children. He grew up in Guarani, Brazil, where his mother, Maria-Francisca, owned a children's wear factory. She began her business producing dresses commissioned by a traveling salesman. Costa's father, Jacy Neves da Costa, ran a small ranch. In his hometown of 8,000 people, Costa put on fashion shows for charities. His size is compact and he has brown eyes. Being civic minded by nature, his mother was like the mayor of the town. She presided over her family. Costa remembers there being fifteen people at his family's lunch table.
When his mother died in 1981 he left with a friend for New York City. He was twenty and spoke no English at the time. He enrolled in a language class at Hunter College and took courses at the Fashion Institute of Technology at night. He obtained employment with Herbert Rounick, whose Seventh Avenue (Manhattan) company made dresses for Oscar de la Renta and Bill Blass. Costa went to work for de la Renta after Rounick's death, designing for the firm's Japanese licenses. Costa credits de la Renta with teaching him the most about both designing clothes and life. He remained with the company for five years.

Klein's partner, Barry Schwartz, brought Costa's name to Klein's attention in 2001.  Costa became the principal designer for Calvin Klein at the age of 42, in September 2003. Earlier in the year Klein sold his company to Phillips-Van Heusen for approximately $730 million. Co sta joined the Klein design group in 2001 after working for Gucci, where he was an assistant to Tom Ford. Their first collaboration is known as the Cher Collection.  Costa was mentioned as a possible replacement when Ford retired from designing for Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent, in late 2003.

He emphasized trouser suits for women as opposed to ruffles in the spring 2004 collections. His creations stress the idea of freedom in dress with female underpinnings. With evening dresses Costa's designs reveal both flesh and underpants, often accentuated by the cool hues of the sea. He is not uptight concerning nudity and lingerie. Costa prefers sensuality in sexual imagery as opposed to the more explicit ads used to market Calvin Klein clothes formerly.
For 2004 his models wore stretch bras and underpants in foundation colors. Costa utilized a clingy, transparent material for daytime skirts. He combined them with cashmere tops, which sometimes gave the look an artificial quality. Costa's loose cotton shorts, modelled with cardigan sweaters, were layered over rumpled white shirts and men's ribbed undershirts. This look reflected the late 1970s styles when designers like Calvin Klein and Perry Ellis came to prominence.

Costa maintains a ledger-size mood book in his studio. In early 2004 photographs of horses by Max Eastman appeared frequently in these volumes. Costa is inspired by the coats of horses, especially in his palettes of sepia and cream. The textures of his collection owe much to pony skin, alpaca, and leather. He enjoys photographs of Lauren Hutton and Charlotte Rampling from the 1970s, particularly ones which have them posed in close proximity with ponies and stallions. Costa said, These women are thoroughbreds.
In the fall of 2004 Costa introduced washed silk dresses and black wool felt coats. The clothing was given weight by the librarian brogue heel, variations of which first appeared at Calvin Klein. The style was exceedingly popular during both the Paris, France and Milan, Italy shows.
In his collection for Spring 2005 Costa showed a sea-green silk dress wrapped like a towel. An alternative of the dress, of like color and style, was unveiled on the runway in September 2004. The silk dress was coveted by many buyers and was shipped to stores in the late fall and early winter.

The original inspiration for this collection were primitive wood sculptures by Brancusi. After spending a week in Wyoming Costa aspired to capture the surreal hues of green, blue, and orange, which he had observed juxtaposed with the western landscape at Yellowstone National Park. Costa purchased silk and viscose jersey (clothing) in the garment center of New York City. He had these dyed to match the colors he had photographed in Wyoming. Next he pinned the fabrics on a model, blending and shaping the patterns until he was pleased with their natural effect. The evening dresses he designed were uncomplicated. They were based on a trapeze, combining viscose jersey with silk to make them appear lively.

Vogue and Harper's Bazaar chose a lime green dress worn by Elle Macpherson as a highlight of 2005. Both publications named her to their best dressed lists after she wore the Costa design, which she combined with casual flats. Macpherson asked Costa to pick the color and he selected lime green. It was especially attractive on her because of her skin color.
Costa's new collection for Calvin Klein was criticized by critic, Cathy Horyn, for conveying largely a surface beauty. She wrote about his February 2006 showing in the New York Times. It featured dresses with many layers of black chiffon and tulle. Horn pointed out that Calvin Klein is a sportswear house, not a dress house, and Costa is gifted with a talent for designing sportswear. His collection was reminiscent of the 1930s, with shapes which were long and relaxed. The models wore chiffon bras with tiny handkerchief points of chiffon on their dresses, which extended nakedly across their backs. Horn wondered if many women would not find the fashions untenable and fussy, if not stifling."
In May 2006 Costa served as chairman of a benefit for the Whitney Museum of American Art. He conceived a project for the museum which created art out of fashion. He approached artists Ghada Amer, Vik Muniz, and Billy Sullivan about making art which would be clearly identified with fashion. After showing at the Whitney Art Party, the work was moved and displayed in the windows of the Calvin Klein boutique on Madison Avenue, Manhattan.

Costa designed a line of long slim dresses and pantsuits which were introduced in September 2007. They were constructed of white stretch cotton. His collection featured long stretch silk T-shirts in egg-wash shades of green or blue. The colors accentuated the refreshing impression of the lines, especially Costa's spare evening halters worn with high-waist silk trousers and a strapless dress of pale jade organza. Reviewer Horyn had only one criticism of a collection she believes will gain more meaning with time. This was Costa's failure to notice that the hemlines of his dresses should have been longer.

As of May 2004 Costa's partner was horse trainer John DeStefano Jr. The two had been together fourteen years. Costa donned a coat and tie to join DeStefano for opening day at Belmont Park, where the latter had horses running in the eighth and ninth races. Costa and DeStefano met at George Smith, the furniture store where Costa worked on Saturdays to supplement the salary he earned on Seventh Avenue.

NYC Restores Funds for Homeless Youths

The New York City council announced Thursday morning that it had reached an agreement with the office of Mayor Michael Bloomberg that would restore $35 million in proposed budget cuts, including devastating reductions for runaway and homeless LGBTQ youth services.
According to a council news release, “The Council proposed alternative cuts and sources of savings in order to pay for its proposed restorations. Together, the alternative cuts and identified savings achieve the Council’s goal of reducing spending while preventing cuts to programs that serve New York City’s most vulnerable groups.”
The release cited a period of “extensive negotiations” between city council speaker Christine Quinn, finance committee chairman Domenic Recchia Jr., and the Bloomberg administration.
The restorations prevent mid-year cuts to runaway and homeless youth programs in the Department of Youth and Community Development that would have halved the funding for street outreach and drop-in centers for LGBTQ youths. The agency had proposed reducing expenditures for runaway and homeless youth services by $969,407 in the current 2011 fiscal year and by an additional $700,000 in fiscal year 2012.
Advocates learned of the proposed cuts in an e-mail the day after Thanksgiving, sparking protest over the suddenness and severity of the proposals. As many as 40% of the estimated 3,800 runaway and homeless youths in the city are believed to be LGBTQ, a statistic that prompted Mayor Bloomberg to appoint a commission to study the issue last year. The commission found needs for expanded drop-in center hours and street outreach, or exactly what the city had proposed to cut.
Earlier this week, Carl Siciliano, the executive director of the Ali Forney Center, which serves homeless LGBTQ youths, issued a statement criticizing Mayor Bloomberg for an “It Gets Better” video in which he welcomed LGBTQ youths to New York City while his administration proposed the severe cuts.
Siciliano released a statement Thursday morning in which he thanked the city council, advocates, and homeless youths for the collective effort to restore the funding.
"Today is a great day for the homeless LGBT youth of our city, and for the LGBT community," he said. "The cuts to street outreach and drop-in centers would have been catastrophic. But the fight is not truly over until there are safe beds for the 3,800 youth who are without shelter every night in our city."

The start of a new weekly feature--30 fashionable people

A few days ago I finished reading "The Little Black Book of Style" by Nina Garcia--which by the way is a MUST read--- and in that book I ran across a bunch of names I did not recoginize.  Thirty names to be exact.  So I compiled a list of those names.  I then decided I would research and write about all thirty of those names over the next year in this blog.  One name a week over the next thirty weeks.  Because if I don't know then you may not know them as well.  We will learn together.

 So the first name, and in no particular order is-----Nan Kempner born July 24, 1930 and died July 3, 2005. She was a New York City socialite, famous for dominating society events, shopping, charity work and of course fashion.

She was born as Nan Field Schlesinger in San Francisco, an only child from a wealthy family. Her father, Albert "Speed" Schlesinger, owned the largest car dealership in California and reportedly told his daughter "You'll never make it on your face, so you'd better be interesting."

She attended Connecticut College and met Thomas Lenox Kempner, a banker. In the early 1950s they married and had three children. After living in London for a short time the Kempners moved to New York City, where Nan took the initiative to become a leader in society.

Over a thirty year period she helped raise over $75,000,000 (USD) for the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. She also amassed the largest private collection of haute couture clothing featuring classic designers like Mainbocher and her favorite designers Yves Saint Laurent and Bill Blass.

At various times in her life Kempner worked as a contributing editor for French Vogue, a fashion editor for Harper's Bazaar, a design consultant for Tiffany & Co. and an international representative of the auction house Christie's.


In Armistead Maupin's "Tales of the City" series, two society matrons discuss the creation of a society wax museum, emphasizing that future generations might not otherwise know what Nan Kempner looked like. Kempner herself authored a book about how to be a truly great host entitled R.S.V.P. (2000, ISBN 0-609-60430-9). The proceeds of the book benefited several charities.

Diana Vreeland, former editor of Vogue, once said: "There are no chic women in America. The one exception is Nan Kempner."

Notable quotes said by Nan Kempner:

I wouldn't miss the opening of a door.



Some people say the camera loves me, the truth is, I love the camera.


The only plastic I want is plastic surgery!


I want to be buried naked, I know there's a store where I'm going.


I spend way more than I should ... and way less than I want.

LGBT Homeless NYC Funds Cut by 50%

Advocates for homeless LGBT youth are outraged over New York City’s decision to slash funding for drop-in shelters and street outreach by 50 percent next year.

Citing high rates of homeless LGBT teenager suicide, drug addiction and prostitution; representatives from the Ali Forney Center and the Bronx Community Pride House attended a City Council Finance Committee hearing on Monday, Dec. 6, to emphasize the need for these programs, which the City Council’s discretionary funds currently provide.

"The main program facing cuts is the shelter bed program, which disproportionately affects LGBT youth, who comprise one-third of homeless kids sleeping on the street tonight" said City Councilmember Member Lew Fidler [D-Brooklyn]. "We have to keep hope as we go into the holiday season that no one would do anything that cruel..., but it is not going to be an easy fight."

City spokesperson Andrew R. Doba said the cuts will not have a significant impact on the number of shelter beds. "Services for runaway and homeless youth have been held harmless from budget cuts over the eight most recent budget reductions," he said. "However, due to a combination of city and state reductions for FY11 and FY12, DYCD [Department of Youth and Community Development] has made the difficult decision to reduce Runaway and Homeless Youth Services funding. This reduction was proportionally less than other reductions in the DYCD portfolio-less than seven percent of the total RHY funding, and will not impact our crisis shelters or transitional independent living programs at all."

Fidler pointed to the recent Commission on LGBTQ Runaway and Homeless Youth report that confirmed the need to expand street outreach, noting teens driven from their homes due to emotional, physical, and sexual abuse were often not trusting of adults in drop-in centers. Because the same people who provide drop-in services and street outreach are the ones who provide shelter beds, Fidler said both programs need to be maintained.

"If you’re gonna talk the talk, you gotta walk the walk," he added. "They are doing the opposite, and that is going to have an enormous impact on these shelter beds.  Carl Siciliano, executive director of the Ali Forney Center, agreed.

"They are talking about how Cyndi Lauper recently lit up the Empire State Building to announce the campaign..., but that doesn’t mean a hill of beans to a kid who can’t have a sandwich at a drop-in center, or see a doctor, or take a shower, a kid who is stranded on the street with nothing," he said.

Ali Forney faced a $500,000 budget gap last year, which Siciliano filled by reducing his staff’s health care coverage and education as opposed to cutting money from youth programs. According to Siciliano, 25 percent of the youth at the drop-in center test positive for HIV-more than all 10 homeless drop-in centers in the city. Sixty percent of these young people have also attempted suicide. "And that’s with support," noted Siciliano. "What will that mean if they are just out there on their own?"

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn has also spoken out against the cuts.  "While I recognize the need to balance the budget, I absolutely oppose doing it on the backs of our most vulnerable youth," she said. "We can-and must-do better than this for our children. I have called on the city to look harder to find alternative savings, and I have presented a number of alternative measures that I urge the city to adopt in lieu of these cuts. My colleagues and I will fight to prevent these cuts from taking place."

Dirk McCall, executive director of the Bronx Community Pride Center, said the current proposal would slash his organization’s budget by 90 percent. "These are the most vulnerable youth on the streets; it’s appalling," said McCall. "We have youth who need referrals to shelter beds, anger management, HIV medication referrals, emotional support. For the LGBT kids of the Bronx and Northern Manhattan, this is where they go. It’s really difficult to see this happen, but I have full faith it will be overturned."

In light of the proposed budget cuts, youth advocates also trained a gimlet eye on the Commission for LGBTQ Runaway and Homeless Youth that Mayor Michael Bloomberg established in Oct. 2009.
"When the mayor announced this commission, two weeks before election last year, I thought, ’Is this the same guy I fight with every June to put half this money back?’ How interesting that he found God at end of October," said Fidler. "So they held all of these wonderful forums on LGBT youth, and right of the middle of that they announce this cut. Does anyone see anything hypocritical in that?  Siciliano agreed.

"They announced the formation of the commission two weeks before the election...and then is going to turn around and endanger them by reducing what’s already available," he said "If they drop those programs, these kids have nothing but... total abject suffering on the streets, prostitution, and drug dealing. The people who are responsible for protecting children have to take that responsibility seriously. I really question the competence of anyone who would make a decision like this."  McCall was more sanguine about the outcome.

"I don’t think the mayor started this commission knowing he would have to make these budget cuts I think he started the commission with the best of intentions, and definitely put a lot of energy into it, spoke up for it, circulated the report, and coordinated work with other city agencies," he said. "But these are the most vulnerable youth on street; it’s appalling. There have to be other funds utilized to protect homeless LGBT youth."

He said he would like to see the mayor baseline funds for these programs to avoid annual budget battles. Siciliano also called upon LGBT New Yorkers to stand up for homeless youth, saying he would pitch tents at City Hall Park and camp out "to show these kids their lives mean something to us" if necessary. On Monday, Dec. 6, a dozen additional members of the LGBTQ Runaway and Homeless Youth Commission had signed on to a letter to Bloomberg and Commissioner Jeanne Mullgrav urging them to not to cut funding.

"I am not one of these guys to say we should spend money we don’t have, nor can we raise the property tax any more," said Fidler. "I get that we need to cut spending, but is this seriously what a civilized society does: cut the funding of kids sleeping on subway grates? That is truly outrageous."

Doba stressed the city acknowledges the importance of these funds, but Siciliano, who spoke with EDGE on the anniversary of the death of the gay teenager after which his organization is named, remained adamant.
"I fought and fought to make New York City safer for gay kids," he said. "I didn’t sit on this commission and do all that work as co-chair to see it go back to how it was."