I found this gentleman’s framed photo sitting on the sidewalk yesterday. I like looking at old photos — especially to help research vintage clothing and accessories. But I also like a backstory. When I find a lovely jewel at a thrift shop I always wonder who owned before me. So I started to investigate the identity of my black and white friend.
This portrait is signed Ashley & Crippen, a photographic studio that’s been in business since 1915. I had fun times investigating their archives, looking at portraits of all the potentates (John Diefenbaker! Queen Elizabeth II! Frances Loring!) in all their period finery. But my guy does not appear.
Andrew then pointed me to a website called Tin Eye. It a reverse image search engine. I uploaded my find, but, alas, found nothing. But the database is growing everyday. I thought I’d mention it in case you were looking for a name to match a mysterious face.
The Montreal native is also Ryerson grad (he received his B.A.A. in Apparel Design with a specialization in Men’s Tailoring). After Azzuolo’s school days ended, he relocated to Milan and then Paris where he worked at Hermès and Kenzo. After that, he was of to New York City where he was design director for the Ralph Lauren Purple and Black Labels.
In New York, Azzuolo created his own collection, a.a. . It’s only two years old, but so far his work has evoked a sort of Brideshead Revisited dandyism (that’s a look from his Spring/Summer collection pictured above). For fall, it sounds like he’ll be sticking with the louche leisure-class vibe by focussing on the luxury menswear market with luxurious, lightweight flannels, silver and gold trim and recycled sheared mink and seal collars.
I remember in high school, we would soak in the SeaBreezeastringents until our faces felt as tight as a drum. And we would BufPuf until our skin was rosy with actual exposed capillaries. We’d shower in boiling water before and after school. These are all bad habits that are hard to break. Many of us still associate roughness with cleanliness.
L’Oréal Paris’ new Go 360 Clean collection of facial cleansers takes a gentler approach. The formulations are familiar — for example, the Deep Exfoliating Scrub features mechanical exfoliants like natural apricot seed powder and salicylic acid. The real innovation, however, is a soft, supple cleansing disc called the Scrublet that’s embedded in each bottle. You just pop it out, wet it, apply some scrub or cleanser, gently massage onto the face for 30 seconds to a minute, and rinse. The idea is that this rubbery doodad will help to remove oil and dirt and to unclog pores without scraping off the skin.
L’Oréal sent us the scrub and three cleansers to test drive. Since the Go 360 range ($12 each) is aimed at the younger demographic, I gave them to my niece Sarah and her friend Caitlin. Here is their report:
They love, love, love the Scrublet. Sarah got the aforementioned Deep Exfoliating Scrub. She says that it is, as advertised, gentle enough to use everyday. Admittedly, she can’t tell if the scrub works better than other products she has used, but because of the Scrublet she is using it everyday. “It makes me feel really clean,” says Sarah. Because she’s using it daily, I’ve noticed that her pores appear more refined. She adds that she likes to use it in the shower as opposed to over the sink.
The Scrublet may be a victim of its own awesomeness. Caitlin tried out the Deep Facial Cleanser for Sensitive Skin. She likes the soap-free solution but not enough for everyday use (she still uses it once a week). She’s gone back to her regular product, but is using the Scrublet to apply it.
In a nutshell, they are cleansing everyday without sandpapering their skin. So that’s got to be good.
Take one broken brutalist-inspired bracelet from the 70s and remove broken panels. Attach one end to a wire choker (available at any bead shop). Pry polished amethyst stones from broken panel piece and glue on bales (again, available at any bead shop). Attach new amethyst dangles to free panel ends. Wait 24 hours for glue to set. And voila, a super cool neckpiece.
My nemesis — in fact, the foe of all right-thinking people everywhere — is the moth. I have fought against this pest valiantly in the past. I have bought cedar oils, cedar balls, cedar sachets and pheremone traps. And sometimes our ‘lil kitty Ronnie James Dio lazily swipes one out of the sky. Generally, I am winning the moth wars.
Until I discovered that the vile creatures had eaten through my Pendleton skirt. Then I realized that there were also holes in my moth prevention strategy. Namely, these hell-bugs like dark places as much as I do. So I’ve thrown open the blinds and blackout curtains. Take that Tineola bisselliella. I also took my precious Hudson’s Bay Point Blanket, cashmere sweaters, old kilts and my War Rug outside for 24 hours to freeze-die any moth larvae that might be kicking around. Then I paid my niece to give the place a good vacuuming.
Here are some other moth reduction tips:
• Thoroughly clean garments before storage. Clothes moths are more attracted to fabrics that are soiled by food, beverages, perspiration and urine than the clean wool itself. To really get at organic ickiness, add some bleach into the laundry cycle. If you got furs, professional cleaning and cold storage is recommended.
• Store clean articles in tight storage containers or sealed plastic bags (without holes).
• If the moths have already had at your precious, you can get rid of their damned larvae and eggs by brushing and sunning them, or by having them dry cleaned.
Now that fake boobs and spray on tans garner Jersey Shore style derision, where can a fancy lady go a little artifice? Well, false eyelashes have never been more popular. Even Michelle Obama wears them.
You can get fabulous fakes at the Shoppers Drug Mart, but if you’re a lash cultist, only Shu Uemura (available at Sephora and Holt Renfrew) will do.
Click here for professional makeup artist Alex Byrne’s excellent lash application tutorial. Via The Guardian.
I’ve been Googling the iconic photographer all day trying to answer this question. I am disturbed that I cannot remember if this event actually happened or not, because this is the kind of thing you definitely should be able to recall with conviction.
Bassman worked as a photographer and art director at Harper’s Bazaar From the 1940s until the 1960s. In the ’70s she lost interest in the fashion world, packed up her negatives and pitched them. Then, in 1991, the painter Helen Frankenthaler, who was renting studio space from Bassman, found a bagful of these forgotten images. A book was published and Bassman was back in demand.
Bassman was never fully part of the fashion world. Married to Paul Himmel, protégée of Alexey Brodovitch and pal to Richard Avedon, Bassman started out as an illustrator. Her painterly images were famous for pushing light and shadow to extremes and blurring edges to create a romantic kind of abstraction.
This is around the time I think I met her. In my memory/dream it was springtime and she had a very distinct style, sort of what I imagine people who have places in the Hamptons dressed like. Not at all Bohemian. Because it was the Shoe Museum, I took note of her footwear and it was like a moccasin or topsider or something sort of preppy. She was like 82 but very spry and funny.
Only four more sleeps until Mercedes Benz Fashion Week or, as I like to call it, New York Fashion Week. The big and little names of American Fashion will premiere their Fall/Winter 2010 ready-to-wear collections at the tents at Bryant Park (for the last time *sniff*).
• If you’ve always wanted to go to a fashion show, now is your chance! Naomi Campbell is putting on a charity catwalk extravaganza for Haiti. Anyone with $100 to $150 can attend. Proceeds, which are expected to reach $100,000, will be donated to Fashion for Relief. ViaThe Cut.
• Back in olden times, Fashion Week was called 7th on 6th. The first time I went in 1993 was also the first time the shows were held in the tents at Bryant Park on 6th Avenue behind the public library. In those sepia-tinted years, you could actually see garment workers pushing racks of schmattes in the middle of the road. This year will be the last year for the tents. I feel old.
• If this happens, then New York Fashion Week has officially jumped the shark. ViaPage Six.
Image from last season’s shows courtesy Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week
One of the skills I learned when I took a silversmithing course at Organic Metal Gallery was how to bezel set stones. I have reverse engineered this skill a couple of times to set new stones into rings that were missing their jewel. Most bezels are made for the stones that they hold, so the hardest part is finding a gem (salvaged from my collection of single earrings and other scrap jewellery) that will fit a found mount.
Today I got lucky. Here is a marriage of a kooky ring that I found at the Value Village (it sort of resembles like a Tamagotchi or a cartoon chicken to me) and a lovely crystal opal from an otherwise unremarkable pair of earrings.
Just as there is haute couture — hand-fitted, hand-sewn clothing made from fine fabrics and with obessive attention finish — there is also the magical realm of Haute Joaillerie. The video above shows the creation of such one-of-a-kind pieces of fine jewellery from concept to finish. It’s in French, but speaks the international language of “I want to go to there“.
Most collections featured a nod to nature. Flowers bloomed at Chanel (Coco’s signature camellia) and Mellerio (a group of ruby, emerald and purple and pink sapphire rings called Fleurs des Champs). At Chaumet, bees adorned coral necklaces and rings featured insects that moved when the wearer moved her finger. At Van Cleef & Arpels, butterflies landed on earrings and brooches. Even Boucheron’s Cirque du Soleil-inspired collection had the odd sapphire-encrusted lizard.
