Gift It: Photo Booth.

My magnet board, showcasing some of my photo booth strips. I love them.

So, I'm a little obsessed with photo booths. I think they are 90% of the reason I ever go anywhere near the Jersey Shore, because they are there waiting for me and my friends on the boardwalk. I'm such a fan of piling into a tiny booth and the ensuing shock and awe scramble of the flash bulb, and then the pregnant pause of waiting for them to appear in the side tray. I even love the grabby-hands, giggle-filled passing of the strip after they come out. Photos from the booth are usually records of pure joy, fun, love, and faces you shouldn't make in polite society. It's all too good. If you also have a photo booth fan in your family or group of friends, I have the perfect (inexpensive!) gift for them:

It's a book entitled...wait for it...Photobooth by Babbette Hines (Princeton Architectural Press for $19.95.), and it's a visual collection of the most wonderful booth snaps from now and then. The book includes over 700 photos from the last 75 years and gives you just a few points of history about the booth. I'll summarize: It was invented by a Siberian immigrant named Anotol Josepho in 1925 as a way for people to take quick, anonymous photos. The booths boomed in America and Europe due largely to family and loved ones exchanging instant photos with soldiers stationed abroad during World War II. Now they are more of a Brooklyn bar novelty but, recently I've been to a few weddings where they are the new purveyor of takeaway memories. Whatever happens with booths in the future, this book really let's you see the magic of their past. Here are some of the book's best shots as seen on Google Books Preview:

As historical records of dress, photo booth pictures are the pre-streetstyle blog, aren't they? It's random shots of people just the way they were, wearing things just the way they wore them. Or, showing off their uniforms and their Sunday best. I'm certain any photography or fashion aficionado would love this book, but if you think the mini-tome won't be enough to satisfy your favorite photo booth fan, you can always get them one of their own:

Seriously, click the pic for a link. It'll only cost you around $8,000. No biggie...

PS: 'Tis the season where Cheap Thrill posts turn into Gift It posts to help you with your Holiday shopping. Got any tips for great gifts under $20? Hit me up!

I Could Watch You Paint All Day. Or, For Four Minutes.

Youtube user Mitsib paints. You can watch if you want.

Fashion's Been Bailed Out.

Beyonce and Gaga are fashion's emergency stimulus act. Their fierceness has revitalized the industry this year, I must say. Beyonce's heavy Gareth Pugh and Christopher Kane infatuation are bested only by Gaga's intense love of the avant whore look. It's all just the shot that the glossed over, styl-ed out world of celeb fashion needed. How much of this translates into clothes you will wear in your day? Slim to none. Instead, the risky energy of these ladies' choices permeates the air with freaky possibilities and stretches the limits for you. It's a legacy thing. You'll get it in a few years. For now, just watch them get it done.

Love this video. It's directed by the amazing Hype Williams. Click any still to watch the video. Yowza.

Sometimes a Banana Vase Is Just A Banana Vase.

These Jonathan Adler vases want your flower.

Perfect decor for a Freudian Psychologist's office? No? You must have at least one on your Holiday list.

One/One-Thousand: Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin

The Amazingly Dutch Duo: Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin

Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin are a team in business and life. Their collaborative fashion photography helped shape the modern definition of what that is in that it made early and good use of digital techniques to expand the field in the '90s. I remember seeing this photo of Madonna from Spin magazine around 1998 and getting hooked by the surreal style of it.

The rest of the Madonna photos from the Spin shoot were equally mysterious and led me into a headlong search for who was snapping such great shots of my Pop Music Queen. From there I saw Inez's iconic, digitally-aided ode to longing entitled Me Kissing Vinoodh Passionately from 1999, which I loved with as much passion as she did her husband. The shock of this photo, with it's early use of digital imaging, cannot be emphasized enough. It came to be at a time where you wondered "how'd they do that?" a lot more often.

Later, in the early '00s Inez and Vinoodh teamed up with Bjork to make the innovative "Hidden Place" video for a beautiful result. And then their fashion photography career took off with rocket speed and never looked back.



The Dutch duo got lush, prestigious assignments for W Magazine, Calvin Klein advertising, The Pirelli Calendar, and an impressive opportunity to snap The New York Times' annual portfolio of noteworthy acting performances in 2004 and a couple subsequent years. The work they turned out was consistently artistic and transformative to the field itself.

Their photos are as ghostly as they are glossy. They're high fashion, no doubt, but with a murky filter of incongruity. There's something amiss, the lithe women look too big and heavy-boned, the familiar cinema stars look more severe than you remember them, and the whole mis-en-scene seems to be inviting or documenting some crime or indiscretion that will or has taken place.

Inez and Vinoodh's celebrity portraits of (from top) Sophia Loren, Jodi Foster, Reese Witherspoon, Heath Ledger, and Charlize Theron.

Haunting? I suppose that's the right word. Their work is haunting--with Gucci bags and Calvin jeans.


All photos by Inez and Vinoodh, found across the interwebs via a google image search.

It's For The Pretty (trans)People.

Boys who love to look like girls and girls who love to look like boys and those with no particular gender divide now have their own magazine. Candy is a limited edition glossy mag with work from Bruce Weber, Terry Richardson, Rodarte, and so many more focused on the trans nation. Check out a video comp of the first issue featuring Kelly Osbourne's current beau Luke Worrall as cover boy/girl.

CANDY 1 from Luis Venegas on Vimeo.

How Do You Fold A Shirt?

Wanna fold a shirt shop-style? Click this:

See, just like that!
This made me laugh too hard.
Link courtesy of SomersetHouse's Tweet! Follow them.

Connie Lim Is A Player.

Illustrator Connie Lim is about to make your game of go-fish the prettiest darn thing that ever crossed a card table.

Her project for the site Trend.Land makes fashionable friends with that old deck of playing cards. Her illustrations for a full deck are gorgeous to say the least, and sexy with a capital S to say the most.

I'm not aware of any purveyor of a deck of these pretty things, but you could stay up to date on her postings via Trend.Land and print yourself a lovely set when she's all done.

Even if you don't actually get to play with these cards, they'll at least be fun to look at.