Personism

Alec Soth: Asked and Answered

Azzedine Alaia, fancy-pants Parisian, photographed by mandal-wearing Minnesotan Alec Soth.

I've developed a little writing sideline to keep me busy in my copious free time. Back in April I wrote about art for everyone in GOOD Magazine, which was followed by a review of Where We Live, both the Getty exhibition and its accompanying book, in the Summer issue of photo-eye Booklist.

My most recent journalistic endeavor is an interview with the brooding, complex and reclusive Alec Soth in the Fall Issue of Booklist. We discuss his edition of Magnum's Fashion Magazine and its chi-chi Paris debut at length and touch upon other provocative subjects like nerds, sweatshirts, champagne and Where's Waldo.

Mid-Century Ship Interiors

More of these in a Mid-Century Ship Interiors photo set on Flickr.

This is the sort of thing I love discovering, or being pointed to, on Flickr.

(via Coudal.)

Alec ' s Work in W Magazine

April Edition of W

Alec stepped up to congratulate not one, but two Brians on their inclusion in this year's PDN30. I offer my congratulations too! I love the PDN30 - it's how I found Ben Donaldson initially, and many of the Hot Shots were PDN30 picks in the past as well.

Mr. Alec Soth himself has some congratulations due as well - he has a gorgeous 20 page spread in the new issue of W Magazine. It's the April edition and it's on newsstands now, in NYC at least. Alec shot local residents of a small town in Minnesota who were decked out in some fabulous big city couture. There are many awesome shots, none of which I could find online alas. You'll just have to go pick up your own damn copy.

I knew the issue was coming soon, but I found out about it in a roundabout way. One of my regular online stops which sates my gossip obsession is the deliciously weird and bitchy and obsessively detailed Live Journal written by The Earl of Grey. He dissects Alec's spread, focusing mostly on the clothes and lauding the W team's ability to perform "so well in this unorthodox mission":

it is a complete story, however unexpected the mission may have been. I may like this more than some of you. but i like it less than your usual great W model-centric lead edit. rating 7.3 of 10, the scenery/environmental locations still overshadow the non-models even with nickerson's impressive fashion eye.

All his minuses are pluses in my book. One of the reason's I love W is because they are not afraid to stray away from the traditional spread (and traditional fashion photographer choices) from time to time. It's a lovely thing to behold on their over-sized pages.

Special bonus link: A video of Alec at work during the shoot, on Eric William Carroll's blog.

Madonna for H & M

I'm guessing that Personism readers don't all share my nearly insatiable hunger for gossip blogs, so maybe you haven't seen the new commercial for Madonna's H&M line. Now you can!

I've always been sort of fascinated with Madge. In High School, when I first heard her name (I'm old, shutup) I nodded as if I knew who she was and envisioned her as some over-sized black diva with a gospel-trained voice. Why I do not know. Clearly I was wrong.

She's so well-preserved now, it's creepy. And one must admire her very propah diction.

Via A Socialite's Life.

Stephanie, Cindy, Christy...

Stephanie, Cindy, Christy, Tatjana, Naomi, Hollywood, 1989 by Herb Ritts

Via PopPhoto's State of the Art blog, the above photo recently sold for a record 190k at a benefit for the Elton John AIDS foundation. Record prices at auctions aren't all that surprising these days, but the photo stopped me in my tracks. I've never seen a bunch of naked ladies look so dated. 1989, indeed!

In this case, dated in a good way. Their bods are downright meaty compared to the sylphs on the runways today. And look at Cindy, rocking those bushy brows. And I guess the hair is semi-80s too? Regardless, it's an iconic picture, even if Linda isn't there to complete it.

Now my head is spinning with visions of stirrup pants, and EG Smith socks and yes... Capezios (or jazz shoes, or whatever the hell they're calling them this time around.) I'm off to unearth my Fiorucci oversized sweatshirt.

Designer Hans Wegner Dies at 92

Shell Chair by Hans Wegner (1963)

I am a huge fan of midcentury furnishings and Danish design and have always loved the work of Hans Wegner.

Wegner died in Copenhagen on January 26, at the ripe old age of 92, leaving a legacy of many iconic designs. The LA Times ran an obituary which included this quote:

"All designers should be carpenters," Wegner told the New York Times in 1998. "When you sit in a chair, you should feel that the person who has made it has enjoyed it, that every detail has been worked out."

(Thanks to AVC for sending along the link to the obit.)

Resolved

Cardstock: Every card you need this year, in one handy box, from Set Editions.

I am late, late, late with my New Year's post, but that's ok: I wasn't foolish enough to put "be on time" down as one of my resolutions. I've just about given up on that, or at least have resolved to revisit it at some later, less chaotic date. I made a resolution a few years ago, and it stuck, and it had an unexpected and lasting effect on my day to day life. Since then I've taken my resolutions a bit more seriously.*

This year's resolution is a bit amorphous, but what I like about it is that I can do small things in its service everyday. Resolved for 2007: Be more grateful, more often.

I confess that it's mostly sad events that have prompted me to put this resolution at the top of my list. The tragedy of The Kim family is something I watched unfold semi-obsessively. The sudden and shocking death of Leslie Harpold rattled me. Neither of these events had a direct impact on me, but the degrees of separation were uncomfortably close, and both James and Leslie lived lives that I admire and respect and hope to emulate in various ways.

Something stood out in remembrances and mournings that I read about both of them: People saying they wish that they'd gotten to say thank you. Or saying thank you and wishing that the person could hear. Leslie wrote famously about How to Write a Thank You Note and it's advice I've long had bookmarked. (Bonus tip: keep stamps tucked in to that box of cards you always have handy.) I haven't always followed her advice, but there is indeed something deeply satisfying about setting aside the time and effort to formulate a written thank you to some one. It's not just about being polite, it's about remembering. If you take the time to say thank you, you remember the thing you're grateful for just a little bit better.

This doesn't mean that I'm about to transform myself into the Tracy Flick of social correspondence, because quite frankly that'd be unlike me and a little off the rails, and I don't think that there are enough hours in every day of the rest of my life for me to express gratitude to people who've been generous, supportive or just down right nice to me. To get a little woo-woo on you: it's a practice. Just maintaining an undercurrent of gratitude improves my quality of life, banishes at least a little of my persistent neurotic New Yorker guilt and anxiety, and makes me feel like I'm living my life right.

So, yea, resolved for 2007: I am grateful and I am here right now to say it, and there's a vast universe of people and things I'm grateful for.

Thanks today to the three awesome women who came to my place for dinner last night, bringing delicious things to eat (salad! quiche! brownies!), their brilliance, their wit and their willingness to talk about boys and clothes and gossip: Lauren Cerand, Paddy Johnson and Karen Sandler.

*Prior to 2005 I was one of those annoying shift-key-averse people who didn't capitalize anything ever, even, I'm embarrassed to say, my most important business correspondence. Resolving to start doing so had a surprising positive effect: not only did it make me more thoughtful about what I was writing, but it made me feel as if what I was writing was more important and deserved attention and respect. True? I can't really tell for sure, but I'm glad that I did it.

Primpin '

Chelsea Hotel 1982 by Claudio Edinger

I'm off to the Chelsea to commiserate with legends living and dead and... get my haircut. I'll be back this afternoon, freshly coiffed (and with tales to tell) til then you can read up on the Chelsea via Living With Legends, peruse my voluminous del.icio.us links or check out all the buzz that's buzzing about tomorrow night's artists talk at the jb. (Don't forget to RSVP if you wanna come!)

171

For better or for worse, I'm not a Manolo girl. I have a few pairs of kitten heels that I might wear for an opening or an event, but I try to walk most places, so I can't be teetering around on heels. Day-to-day I'm more likely to be rocking Sven clogs (in gold for that touch of glamour), motorcycle boots or, less frequently these days, cowboy boots. (The whole hippie-chic denim minis with cowboy boots thing two summers ago sort of ruined them for me, although it seems safely in the past now.)

These Valenki boots would look awfully cute with a short skirt and tights. My guy friends are reading this and rolling their eyes, but you girls know just what I'm talking about.

(via swissmiss)

Dream Bike, The Sequel

I am a big fan of urban biking. Not the crazy kamikaze messenger style biking, but I always feel tres chic and fancy-free going around town on a bicycle. It's often the easiest way to get from point A to point B, taxi and semi-truck hazards aside. I've been without wheels for a while now, and in my fantasy life my replacement bike would be a sweet Euro-style baby that would come with a special magical forcefield ensuring that it'd never be stolen.

The bike above from Jorg & Olif is close to my ideal (without the forcefield, so far as I can tell). It's a little more sexy-ugly than the Skeppshult I coveted on Unbeige nearly two years ago (see below), but both share that utilitarian yet fetching aesthetic I love so much.

Jorg & Olif bike via Treehugger