THE PEOPLE ISSUE
Features
Re-Make/Re-Model
Dress Yohji Yamamoto Belt used as headpiece Lara Bohinc Bracelet on belt Medecine Douce Dress Bowie Shirt Burberry Belt used as headpiece Lara Bohinc Sweater Alexander Wang Shirt Palmer//Harding Pants Alexander Wang Belt Yohji Yamamoto Necktie used as scarf Miu Miu Shoes Christian Louboutin Vintage comb from propagandahair Green dress A.F. Vandevorst Purple dress Issey [...]
Tee LLC
Rising above the surplus of twee screen printed tees offered at your local indie boutique, are three companies using high-grade fabrics and apparel design techniques, along with fresh aesthetic sensibilities, to create T-shirts that transcend the mundane. Golden Goods USA reconceptualizes the standard conference/corporate giveaway tee—the boxy, made-in-china polo or crew sporting a requisite left-chest [...]
Swedish Euphoria
Loreen is navigating through rush hour traffic in Stockholm. The phone picks up the noise of honking horns, squealing breaks and revving engines. Every so often, she leans out the window and delivers a few choice words to a passing driver in rapid Swedish. Then she laughs, “Doing an interview while driving is maybe not [...]
Trippple Nippples
Trippple Nippples have been rocking clubs and astonishing audiences in Tokyo with their chaotic-come-beautiful live shows since 2005 and have recently begun to turn heads overseas. Led by three female Japanese vocalists/dancers and backed by an American and two Australians on instruments, the band plays each and every gig differently. Costumes, props and routines—theirs really [...]
KEATON HENSON
The evasive and enigmatic artist provides sounds and answers that force you to feel as he feels: lonely Text by Katia Ganfield Photography by Olivia Beasley Music is something to be loved, an ethereal substance of infinitesimal vibrations that evokes the pain and glory of its human producers. This is where Keaton Henson’s gentle folk [...]
KOTO BOLOFO: Dream Weaver
Avoiding the label of designer, this photographer transforms photographic qualities into dimensional garments that capture more than just attention Text by Michael Cohen Photography by Koto Bolofo Photographer Koto Bolofo is prized for his ability to present honest beauty. His signature is to forsake gimmickry, respecting subjects and composition. He works in film rather than [...]
POWER & ROMANCE
Disregarding the conventional elements of fashion photography, architect-turned-photographer But-Sou Lai has perfected the art of the imperfect Text by Lynn Wang Photography by But-Sou Lai Fashion photography today is obsessed with artificial perfection. Mise-en-scène and composition have become just as important as models and the clothes they wear. The majority of fashion editorials today involve a large [...]
MARIOS SCHWAB
London’s adopted son reveals the depth beneath his delicate layers Text by Katia Ganfield Portraits by Henrik Knudsen & Photography by Olivia Beasley Greco-Austrian designer, Marios Schwab, is a designer of such caliber there is little need for introductions. Winning Best New Designer in 2006 and the Swiss Textile Award in 2007, he has been [...]
TAKING CARE OF ACNE
SOMA talks to the Persson behind Acne Paper When he was a small boy growing up in Oslo, Norway, Thomas Persson was always drawing, constantly making things, forever creating. His love of clothing comes from his grandmother who was delighted by her grandson’s interest in fashion. “She is French and, like most French women, it [...]
UNIQLO HITS NYC
Fifth Avenue is getting a fast fashion facelift. But among the throngs of retailers investing in flagship stores deep in Tiffany territory, one is standing out. Meet UNIQLO, the Japanese retail giant whose latest U.S. store resides at 53rd Street & Fifth Avenue. The three-story glass cube invites us into another world—an enormous 89,000-square-foot flagship [...]
FACEBOOK’S BIG SISTER
SOMA sat down with best-selling author and CEO of Hearsay Social, Clara Shih “Every decade or decade and a half, you get these narrow windows of opportunity and there is such a disruption in the market that you actually can change the world with an idea,” says Clara Shih from the offices of Hearsay Social, just [...]
MUJI: SWEEPING NYC
Meaning “no brand,” MUJI comes from the Japanese word mujirushi and their simple aesthetic mirrors their moniker. With humble beginnings, MUJI started as a small storefront in 1980 in the hip Aoyama area of Tokyo, offering only 40 products. Since the concept emerged in the Japanese metropolis 30 years ago, the company has skyrocketed into [...]
WHEN YOU GOTTA GO…
Remember when people used to visit a bar or restaurant for the drinks and food? Now a whole crop of venues features design-forward lavatories that have patrons lining up for the loos Sketch London When Sketch opened in London in 2002 in an 18th-century townhouse in Mayfair, its formula of delicious food by master chef [...]
FROM ART TO ANTHRO
Clothing and home retailer Anthropologie scouts artistic talent to design not only its products but also each of its surreal, dream-like locations in an effort to revamp a traditional strategy Most retailers operate with specific methods, chasing profit via products with the widest appeal. It’s a formula that ensures fun colors and funky styles are [...]
CUSTOM COUTURE
Experts pertaining to varying confines of the fashion industry have gone back to school to study under clothing guru Simmin Sethna The day Simmin Sethna left her family’s home in Calcutta for Paris, with dreams of mastering the ‘art of couture’, it seems unlikely that she foresaw the way in which she would inspire generations [...]
CONTEMPORARY SIMPLICITY
Creative director Kenya Hara and product designer Naoto Fukusawa come together to design well thought out contemporary homeware. Quality meets simplicity in this brand new concept Since setting up shop in SoHo back in 2007, MUJI is a brand that many will be familiar with—modern furniture, simple lifestyle goods and everyday essentials. But with a [...]
MINESWEEPER: THE NEXT LEVEL
Afghani designer Massoud Hassani takes the idea of a childhood toy and transforms it into a device that will save lives. Design adopts a heroic identity in this clean, simple, and efficient project If you ever played with a suction cup ball as a child, most likely it was an utterly unremarkable experience. Rubbery, fluorescent, [...]
SACHA LAKIC
Movement, speed, fluidity, industry. These are a few terms that zip through the mind at breakneck speeds when confronted with one of Sacha Lakic’s projects. It may be any number of things: a bike, a piece of furniture, an object, a space or — most impressively, enough to take your breath away — a car. [...]
STORYTELLING IN THE FLESH
Often recognized for tattooing an impressive roster of celebrity clients, the New York-based artist, Scott Campbell, has now branched out with a well-received gamut of fashion and fine art endeavors Whether in collaboration with Louis Vuitton’s menswear collections or in dynamic sculpture, watercolors and mixed media art, Campbell’s work is attracting international and cross-genre appeal. [...]
XVALA WAS HERE
XVALA reshapes social commentary like he reshapes Mark Zuckerberg’s coat hanger: creatively, boldly and a little bit inappropriately Guerilla tactics crossed the boundaries of warfare a long time ago, and their presence in the art scene is certainly no new phenomenon. What is new, however, is XVALA’s approach and use of contemporary art to comment [...]
Elisa Stephens In The Fast Lane
Academy of Art University President Elisa Stephens is famed for accomplishing many things, but she described only two things as in her blood during an interview last month Text by Shilpika Lahri Photography by Bob Toy This well known entrepreneur’s various areas of interest boil down to two main passions: cars and leading the San [...]
Graydon Carter: A Double Life
If he hadn’t been raised in middle-class Ottawa, Graydon Carter’s rise to the apex of New York high society wouldn’t be out of place in the pages of a Horatio Alger novel. As writer and editor for such esteemed publications as Time, Life, and the both revered and irreverent Spy Magazine, his acerbic wit and [...]
Alyona Minkovski: She’s Got It!
“You don’t want someone who looks like your dad preaching to you all the time,” Alyona Minkovski says at a Washington bar. The Alyona Show on RT might not be the best-known primetime news and commentary program, but it’s one of the most refreshing, and not just because its 25 year old host is instantly [...]
Fashion or Fake?
Depending on the viewer’s perspective, Luis Gispert’s “decepción” series chronicles either couture creations or black market counterfeits. After embarking on a project to photograph unique vehicle interiors, Gispert stumbled across a niche culture of car clubs and enthusiasts who upholster cars with luxury branded fabrics. Seeking out these rarities over several years, Gispert was able [...]
