Pre-moticon.

The first issue of i-D, August 1980. Designed by Terry Jones.

I have a love hate relationship with online slang. The internet land shorthand can get out of hand, and the elllloonnngatttiiiiooonnn ooooffff woooorrrdddsss drives me bananas, but the one thing I couldn't do without are the winky, smily, sad-faced little emoticons that help make typed-word-only convos a little more human. In this post, I pay homage to one of the first major communication vehicles to make big-time use of the graphic representation of an emotion: i-D Magazine. See it winking at you? It's been doing that since it's first issue (above) published 30 years ago. I was just reading a NYT article that cited the name of the fashion glossy and I winked back. Here, in all of it's glory is the winky wink and it's long tradition of cover girl imitations.

Why the wink? Because it's cheeky like all things British should be. Thanks for so many years of so much fun i-D. Wink on.

For a good time visit the i-D cover archive.

You Look Pretty. I Look At You. I Feel Better.

Peter Lindbergh's work from the Supermodel age.

Just A Suggestion.

I want to be this illustration.

In the fashion business, the ability to convey clothing through art on paper is extremely important. How else does one get an idea from the mind of the designer to the needle of the seamstress? Putting dresses on paper is quite a skilled talent, requiring a knowledge of how much detail is enough. This talent isn't just for designers either. The job of a fashion illustrator is to dedicate their artistic skills to rendering the glitz, glamour, and gild of the sartorial world in ads and publications so that Conde Nast doesn't have to shell out boatloads of cash for photoshoots every time they want to show you something. Well, also, the illustrations are completely gorgeous works of art and are a nice, occassional break from envy-inducing supermodels. Fashion Illustration runs the gamut from super souped-up (think collages of fabric, glitter, flourecent colors) to paired down (think, well, Mats Gustafson).

Gustafson renders Yamamoto.

Simple suggestions of simple outfits.

Mats Gustafson was born in Sweden in 1951, but New York can now call him its own. He studied costume design at the Scandinavian Drama Institute and had his first illustration published in British Vogue in 1978. He soon moved to New York and started contributing to Interview when it was under the guidance of Andy Warhol and then he hit American Vogue. Now he works for many designers and fashion houses through both editorial and ad campaigns.

A face in ten lines or less.


A portrait of Linda Evangelista.


Papercuttings.


Watercolor washes.


Work for Tiffany.

The thing about his work is just how much it conveys with just so little. Some whispers of watercolor perfectly shape an iconic Yamamoto ensemble, some cuts of white paper instantly become a perfectly pleated, plisse dress. The simplicity of his work is remarkable, and it creates a mood that induces just as much envy in me as the photoshoots dripping with supermodels. I want to be a Gustafson; I want to be that sophisticated, elegant, and chic.

Twitterific.

The ever-brilliant Steven Meisel flips a switch and brings digital technology to the printed page. His latest editorial for Vogue Italia features a paper Twitter feed filled with supermodels in grainy cell phone-like pics. The layout matches the blue bird's site exactly and I had to resist the urge to mouse and click the mag pages.

Meisel's Twitterific layout that features the heavy hitters of modeling: Kristen, Freja, Linda, Hannah, Agy and others.

It's pretty phenomenal and fearless of a photographer who has made his major mark in print to embrace the quick-shot, usually low quality product that the Twitter tech offers. Meisel is a genius of the magazine medium, and even though the medium is dwindling, I'm sure he'll transition nicely. I'll be sad when all of the fashion photos I view glow rather than crinkle, but I'm open to change. I think it's inevitable, and so does Steven Meisel apparently.

Ten Grand, Or I Sleep.

The recent resurgence of Madame Linda Evangelista (that's her on the W Art Issue this month) made a friend and I recall the former omni-cover girl's famous quote, "I don't get out of bed for less than $10,000 a day." I think it's a sentiment remarkably well suited for today's economic climate, no? I'll be putting that on the latest version of my resume in the Salary Requirement section. It's about as likely to get me hired these days as my willingness to work for 10,000 pennies. Maybe someone will admire my chutzpah? I'll have to study this video of Linda E. in her primo days for some personality pointers.




I've got it! The key to diva success is blazing, cropped, red hair. Now, only if I could afford hair dye...

The Issue With Art.

W Magazine's annual art issue is like my version of the Sport's Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. I love a smart pairing of high fashion and high art; and W really focuses in on that blurred border between the two. This year the issue puts dark humor artist extraordinaire Maurizio Cattelan to work with middle aged model extraordinaire Linda Evangelista.

Cattelan's pieces: La Nona Ora, 1999.; Stephanie, 2003.; and Bidibidobidiboo, 1996.

Cattelan's work regularly takes the piss out of some pretty stodgy topics. He's killed a life-size, hyper-real effigy of the Pope in a meteor crash, staged a squirrel's suicide, and duct taped his gallerist to the wall. He's also created a bust of supermodel Stephanie Seymour in the fashion of a mounted trophy kill, and hoisted polymer women and taxidermied horses way above their natural latitudes.

"A Perfect Day" 1999


"Frank & Jamie" 2002


"Mini-me" 1999


"Untitled" 2007

In the editorial he did with Linda, he stayed a bit darker than usual. Although, the leggy model surrounded by a coop's worth of chickens while in her lacy underthings is humorous in its own way. Mostly though the shots are on the darker, more unsettling side.

I actually picked this magazine up and leafed through it at a newsstand. I forgot the simple tactile pleasure of feeling the texture of the paper in my hands while looking through a great magazine. I highly recommend it.

One/One-Thousand: Roxanne Lowit

Roxanne Lowit has been fashion chaos' documentarian for decades. She single-handedly brought the bustle of fashion's backstage to the forefront. She sneaked behind the scenes on the arms of model friends like Jerry Hall in the eighties and worked her way from FIT educated textile designer/painter/sometimes photographer to fashion snapping legend. Lowit is an icon in front of and behind the camera, in her all black signature style. Stick with her and her infinite coolness and you'll never miss a single celebrity/fashion model soaked second of fun fun fun. Let's put it this way, Lowit gets you in when you aren't even invited. Where? Everywhere.Will it be fun? Yes. Will you love it? Yes.

For more information and more photos, visit Lowit's agency Stockland Martel.