Tales From the Suburbs

Photographs by Niall O'Brien, courtesy of McQ

Plenty of designers are jumping on the Tumblr bandwagon, erecting pages dedicated to inspirational images, lookbook photos, and online campaigns. I myself recently tried to create one, only to find that both the Triskaidekaphobia and the Six Six Sick domains are already taken (WTF). One of the most high-profile labels to join the site of late is McQ, the Alexander McQueen contemporary line, which has built an entire website off of Tumblr, with the intent of having the content shared and re-blogged. Week by week they have gradually released images of pieces from the collection, shot by different photographers.

Their latest series, featuring the Spring collection, was shot by British photographer Niall O'Brien during a road-trip across America, using small towns and classic bits of Americana as the backdrop. Having grown up as a city-kid, spending my entire life in Manhattan, my idea of American suburbia is awash in a semi-dull yet alluringly-comforting glow, which was originally constructed through sixties television sitcoms and teen movies. Now my image of suburbia is equally shaped by the songs of Arcade Fire, and the books of Jonathan Franzen; the mix of romance, decay, and ennui. Only a few images have been released thus far, but I think O'Brien manages to capture both feelings in his work. While you might want to listen to Arcade Fire while perusing the site, I also suggest you take a look at The Ghosts video (below) by Eddie O'Keefe, which has no relation to the McQ site at all, but also runs in the same vein of American suburban nostalgia and complements the site quite well.

The GHOSTS from Eddie O'KEEFE on Vimeo.

-Tiffany

Sauvage Beauty

Belle Sauvage Fall 2011. All photos by Simon Armstrong.

I first came across Belle Sauvage at Pixie Market a little while back, and was immediately taken by their distinctive prints, which combine geometric shapes with illustrative imagery. For fall, the designers Virginia Ferreira and Christian Neuman have layered self-similar shapes with spiritual images, and have created a variety of distinctive silhouettes which often jut out from the body in an alien manner. The colors are mesmerizing, and even though it is difficult to tell from the runway images, close inspection of the fabrics reveal all sorts of hidden illustrations. One of the most astonishing aspects of the line is how relatively affordable it is compared to the work of other digital-print focused designers, and even though the runway pieces will cost you a pretty penny, their diffusion line Leopard by BS has quite a few silk dresses and leather pieces hover around $300 or below. I especially encourage you to check out their online shop, where they have a sample sale section that has some incredibly great steals.

-Tiffany

Twelfth Street

I think I'm coming down with a serious case of date dyslexia, cause even though I obsessive-compulsively check and update my Google Calendar (every five minutes or so), I still manage to mix up dates, times, and A.M. vs. P.M. with alarming frequency. This has caused me to miss plenty of fun and exciting things, and there's nothing worse than showing up somewhere a full twelve hours late (yes, this has actually happened). I was seriously looking forward to the Cynthia Vincent store opening party on Wednesday night, and yet I sat at home futzing around on the computer until midnight before I had that smack-your-forehead moment of "Eep! Wednesday is TONIGHT!" Even though I missed getting a look at the store (and probably massive amounts of fun too), I did take some photos of the Cynthia Vincent collection at their press preview the week before. I was immediately drawn to the leather accessories, and in addition to the gorgeous shoes which have gotten plenty of attention lately, there are some lustworthy supple leather bags added to the mix. The snakeskin satchel above is my favorite, and I also love the classic riding boots with the straps on the back. However, I will still have to make a trip over to the new store at 853 Elizabeth Street soon, as I hear they have a fabulous temporary installation by famed candle-maker and houseware designer, Douglas Little.

-Tiffany