tweet of the day
With this weather, I’d consider Uggs.
— Chris Glass (@glass) January 14, 2012
“Hit me!”
Anatomy of a Global Streetwear Cult
For almost two decades, Supreme has existed in a cult-like bubble. Many of their short-run products have a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it shelf-life; you’ll pretty much never, ever receive an invite to some Supreme-sponsored open-bar fête (because they almost never happen); and unless you’ve been systematically tracking its product developments on the array of feverish blogs devoted to the brand, or know a mole on the inside who can text you when a new shipment has been delivered, you’ll miss out entirely.
Being sovereign – the supreme ruler of culture – is the brand’s unofficial mission statement; everything is appropriated, recontextualised and refitted in Supreme’s hands to be made better. They’ve carefully chosen to cross-pollinate their homegrown image with unhip but timelessly macho brands like Hanes and The North Face, worked with blue-chip artists such as Jeff Koons and Christopher Wool for their art-deck series, and built ad campaigns around a motley crew of celebrities that have no direct connection to skateboarding, including Kermit the Frog, Mike Tyson and the pop star Lady Gaga.
Part one was published today in The Business of Fashion, part two exploring ‘the creative and commercial philosophies that underpin Supreme’s lasting success’ will be published tomorrow January 11th.
UPDATE An excerpt from part 2:
Mr. Jebbia, however, is playfully cautious about the idea that his small production runs are part of an exploitative plan to skew supply and demand to fever-pitch levels. “The main reason behind the short runs is that we don’t want to get stuck with stuff that nobody wants,” he says. But admitting to a kind of customer trickery isn’t exactly the coolest thing to say, so you let him be. “Let me put it this way,” he adds tellingly. “We work really, really hard to make everything seem effortless.”
(via The High Definite)
Blues in the Night
There’s a twisted thread that leads to my recalling this song, but I will not even try to unravel it, merely to recollect a boy named Danny Stevens, whom I knew when we were age seven or so, who used to sing this song as he loped down the halls of our school.
Except he only kept repeating the one line:
Muh mama done tol’ me
Muh mama done tol’ me
Muh mama done tol’ me
Muh mama done tol’ me
Danny also used to say to his classmates, “Shu-u-t up. Beat-cha brains out.”
At the end of second grade, Danny and his family moved to a state he called Organ.
12 Indicted On Hate Crimes Charges For Hair Cutting Assaults Led By Break-Off Amish Group
I think this is my favorite story of 2011.
image out of context
I am posting this post
because to now I have posted 1964 posts. So this will be 1965. And that was a beautiful year. I was just old enough to know that I wanted to be a grown-up woman. In 1965.
At least one of those grown-up women in the movies. Or to have a hit record.
Smell Them; You’ll Know.
Fade from black to black.
Illustration Out of Context
image out of context
Viva la Sauna Svedese (Mah Nà Mah Nà)
Ponder this if and when you view The Muppets.
from the comments
Matter of fact a good percentage of Italians dress on the street like Americans dress to play golf.
Red trousers!
So I’ve been, like, trying to get some work done today, but I keep drifting off to look at all the fucking red trousers on the Look at my fucking red trousers! blog.
(Thank you, clusterflock friend @peteashton.)
How To
I tied a tie after consulting You Tube. My efforts were acceptable, even though I did not master the Full Windsor.
I said I needed a photo before he took off to the pre-party. He was grumpy. “But why? You got a picture before I went to last year’s winter formal.”
Cherchez La Femme — Dr. Buzzard’s Original Savannah Band [circa 1976]
on the “Tony Orlando & Dawn” show.
DISCLAIMER:
The intent of this post is anthropological and not to make profit. It is strictly to share with fans and the periodic visitors to this planet from other galaxies a part of the musical history of the aforementioned musical group.
Also:
During these times all the TV shows wanted us to mime the entire performance which we were reluctant to do. A compromise was reached with the shows we finally performed on.
quote out of context
Off the field, I’m all hers. But on the field, I’m a monster. And I don’t want my queen to be associated with a monster.
I’m Just Askin’…
The cap I bought at Saks in Pittsburgh last weekend. Me? Or home skillet? My good friend KP said it looked like me.
Sugar Von Tassels
I’m almost done with a process I started in January of evaluating all the footage I collected for a documentary I’ve been working on that started as an exploration of costume culture. This phase has been long, tedious, a real slog. I’ve been going back through each section of footage, evaluating clips, making notes, and roughing out speculative timelines. After nine months, I’ll just say I’ve gotten tired of evaluating, and wanted to make something. So, I dove into a section of footage that may or may not end up in the film (I ended up getting more footage of Sugar at a performance that may be more relavent to the larger themes of the movie), but I liked a lot of moments in this interview session, and like I said, I was tired of looking and wanted to make something. It’s still a little rough, but I hope you enjoy it.
I’m holding out for the iPhone Final
Strut
Après lunch at the sub-urban lesbian bar. My dear friend Miss Mindy struts her stuff.
Bill Cunningham New York
Jason posted recently about the Bill Cunningham New York documentary, and we watched it last night. It is beautifully done in a straightforward way, and really the subject is what causes the movie to shine. At 80, Cunningham is still buoyant and exuberant, with a clear passion for what he loves: taking pictures of fashion as it is worn by people on the streets of New York (once you see the movie you’ll understand the awkward phrasing). He is the original Sartorialist. The movie is streaming on Netflix, and is available in various formats on Amazon. Recommended.
from the comments
Speaking of cons, as a college freshman I decided I was a talented hair stylist. I announced that I could cut anybody’s hair. I had never done such a thing, except to cut some bubble gum out of my bangs as a 5-year-old. So, three friends with beautiful, long straight hair sat down, one by one, in front of the dorm mirror. I draped their shoulders with towels. And I cut their hair into long shags. They looked fabulous and were very pleased. I continued to give them trims for a while, but eventually got bored with it.
I wish, at the time, I had announced that I was an entrepreneur amassing my first billion dollars…
The Blessed Virginal Creeper
St. Mary’s Cemetery. Galena, Illinois.
from the comments
When I first saw this headline I instantly thought of the old guys you see in the South who have an ass belly and wear their slacks pulled up to their armpits.
on reading The Atrocity Exhibition in Brighton
«There are one or two other bits and pieces, but together the inventory is an adequate picture of a woman, who could easily be reconstituted from it. In fact, such a list may well be more stimulating than the real thing. Now that sex is becoming more and more a conceptual act, an intellectualization divorced from affect and physiology alike, one has to bear in mind the positive merits of the sexual perversions.»—JG Ballard
More musings on Brighton, Ballard, Quadrophenia, Joy Division, presidential pubic hair, Beachy Head, mods, rockers, cars, crashes, 911, partying, sex & suicide.
