Cathy Pill makes couture that’s easy to swallow. Belgian exports usually fall into two categories: fashion and food. Chocolate and waffles aside, general word association between the country and design tends to lead to the wildly successful alumni from Antwerp’s Royal Academy of Fine Arts. Royal Academy products like Margiela and Dries, a member of […]
German designer Wibke Deertz is on the move and commanding attention with euro hipster classics. Sometimes when you’re flipping through a look book you just want to jump into the pages and join the well-dressed models—or in the case of Joseph Altuzarra’s look book, I wish I could jump into the pages and become Vanessa […]
Filmmaker Lance Hammer ponders his journey to Mississippi, and what led to the self-distribution of his award-winning debut Ballast. “There is a place for industrial filmmaking, and film as a commodity that you sell like an iPod or a car or a sandwich. But I also think there is another reason to make films,” filmmaker […]
Quantum of Solace’s anti-Hollywood actor, David Harbour, acts like an adult. I’m thinking about wearing a Hold Steady T-shirt to a couple of movie premieres,” says David Harbour, via telephone. “Maybe that will help the cause?” “The cause” is Harbour’s pending nuptials to Strangers With Candy’s Maria Thayer (Tammi Littlenut) for which he has single-mindedly […]
Josh Spear’s digital crystal ball. In a recent episode of amc’s deliciously compelling 1960s-advertising-executives-gone-wild drama, Mad Men, two 20-something creative consultants at the Sterling Cooper agency are brought into a meeting to advise a coffee client on how to best reach the newly empowered younger generation. “We don’t want to be told how to act, […]
Jill Bradshaw mixes business with pleasure and charity. All work and no play makes anyone a dull boy. Failure to balance the two has been the downfall of many a Wall Street banker or socialite party girl. If you’re Jill Bradshaw, cooly juggling the two means you can support your art obsessions by owning a […]
Fall products bring hair back to basics. The days of extravagant hairdos are gone. No more teasing and streaking in sight. Blame the deflated economy for fashion’s return to structure and understated beauty. This season’s subdued styles reflect the working girl’s sensibility for low maintenance, no-fuss chic. Think chunky waves, braids and twists, fringed bangs, […]
Proto hip-hop icon Mike Skinner crafts his indie-embraced, chart-topping tracks one day at a time. What happened to the roughed up, tongue-in-cheek Mike Skinner that everyone knows…or thought they knew? The Birmingham-based Streets lead man has returned light-hearted. But as a precautionary disclaimer: he didn’t plan it to be this way. Just like he didn’t […]
A contemporary disco phenom ponders the extinction. It’s not hard to consider dance music, on nearly all platforms, to be synonymous with enormous soundsystem clubs and those that choose to “feel” rather than “listen.” There’s the producer or sound nerd that really does give a shit about the quality of the mp3 and the dude […]
Jay Reatard proves that staying at home doesn’t make you a loser There’s something dated about Jay Reatard’s face-forward music. Anthemic hooks over boiled-down guitars are often reminiscent of a ’70s punk outfit, not an artist who is enjoying increasing popularity in the age of short-attention spans. The musical milieu of the ’70s seems to […]
Crafting Sweden’s new wave of post-Pink Floyd psychedelia. Fontän is the product of a seven-year musical collaboration between Johan Melin and Jesper Jarold. Formed in 2001, the pair met while taking a multi-media class in its native Sweden and had a rather bizarre first musical encounter. During class, the two were grouped together and asked […]
David Drebin: Love and Other Stories (Daab, 160 pages, $70) The visual narrative of David Drebin’s, Love and Other Stories, needs no introduction—a good thing for the editors over at Daab, as the book doesn’t have one. And why go and muddle-up Drebin’s photographic images with text? Drebin (a Canadian turned New Yorker) has a […]
As fashion week partied its way into London, SOMA caught up with off-catwalk birds and blokes to talk about style and the perks of hosting all those tents. 1 What’s the first thing you notice about someone? 2 What do you like most about yourself? 3 What is your style trademark? 4 If you could […]
For some people creativity is akin to breathing—a seemingly effortless task without which they cease to exist. Australian writer, novelist and journalist, Chloe Hooper is one such person. Saturated with talent and a quest to engage with the world around her through the medium of words, the lithe Melbourne-based writer is on the cusp of […]
Mariano Vivanco is probably the most prolific fashion photographer you’ve never heard of. A clue or two: he photographs regularly for Dolce & Gabbana: group shots, a lot of spread legs. He was behind the camera for all those high-style fuchsia spreads for Dazed & Confused magazine. Still nothing? How about those shots of oiled-up […]
Driving up Post Street you can easily miss the turn onto the narrow backstreet of Cosmo Alley. This unassuming location is hardly the place you would expect to find the grandiose building that is Le Colonial. This sprawling urban oasis has been a landmark in San Francisco for over ten years, and General Manager and […]
Gstaad, Switzerland is a luxury ski resort better known for its shopping and après-ski scene than for skiing. The most popular dining options are invariably rustic and cheese-centric, so when chef Alain Ducasse brusquely abandoned his over-sophisticated and underperforming Spoon des Neiges, no one was surprised. But owner Michel Pastor, the Monegasque businessman and bon […]
Summer is coming to a halt, but before you dismiss the soothing images of palm trees and warm sands, consider The Huntley Hotel in Santa Monica, CA as your final destination. This beachside escape—originally built in 1966—recently went under the knife for an $18 million reinvention. LA-based interior designer Thomas Schoos—behind noteworthy restaurants Koi (Los […]
I met Hoss Zaré at his Folsom Street restaurant and found myself instantly charmed by the quintessential charismatic proprietor. Ingratiating and amiable, you can’t help but root for the already successful restaurateur. Born and raised in Tapriz, Iran, Zaré immigrated to the U.S. to pursue an education in medicine, with the ambition of becoming a […]
Strolling down the street in the Fillmore Western Addition area of San Francisco is not the same experience it used to be. What was once a penurious array of closed storefronts and roach-ridden restaurants has transformed into a newly revitalized area that fosters the arts and innovative new businesses. Enter Gabe Garcia and Brooklyn Circus. […]
Seriously Funny With glammed-up pit bulls and pigs, Walmart moms locked in epic battle with latte-loving elitists, mooseburger jokes, and the odd Paris Hilton cameo, the national stage is beginning to resemble less a pivotal election year than a blockbuster summer comedy. Accordingly we spoke with Adam McKay, the creative genius behind Anchorman, Talladega Nights […]
Maz Jobrani is a funny guy with a serious message. The Iranian comic joined the Axis of Evil Comedy Tour—which ended last May—hoping to encourage peace through comedy “There are not a lot of Middle Eastern comedians,” explains Jobrani, who was raised in the Bay Area after his departure from Iran. Before the comedic route, […]
Visual sniper Shepard Fairey canvasses the politics of pop agitprop and the graphic art of subversion. Now take heed: A terrorist walks among us. Deftly camouflaged with the nationalistic hues of Caucasian patriarchy and left-wing capitalist entrepreneurship, he bears a moniker equally disarming, at once whimsical and rustic-pastoral. His name is Shepard Fairey. Granted, the […]
Photography by Olivia Beasley Styling Vanessa Rubió Sweater and leggings Alexander McQueen, boots Bora Aksu. Jacket Kristian Aadnevik, all in one Miu Miu, fishnet tights Pamela Mann at mytights, shoes Nicholas Kirkwood for Meadham. (on floor) Legend bag Alexander McQueen Kirchhoff Coat Jaeger, vest Camilla Staerk, small silver chain link necklaces and silver swallow necklace […]