Living Art for SOMA Magazine photographed by William Lords with styling by Bryan Marryshow.
Human League for SOMA Magazine photographed by Jacob Hodgkinson with styling by Keith S. Washington.
Purple Vision for SOMA Magazine photographed by Mike Kobal with styling by Andrew Mukamal.
Choosing a perfume merely for its scent is passé. Here, we pair uniquely stunning vessels with a directional look from the same designers’ fall/winter 2012 ready-to-wear collections.
As co-creative directors for Bally, Michael Herz and Graeme Fidler oversee the Swiss brand’s overall aesthetic. Renowned for impeccable shoes and leather goods since 1851, the company turned to Herz and Fidler to revitalize ready-to-wear and the brand’s broader lifestyle appeal. While clothing had been part of Bally’s offerings since 1976, shoes, boots and bags […]
Text by Jessica Egbu Interior architecture has been revolutionized. Constructed inside a Parisian landmark, the newest luxury boutique for French brand house Hermès redefines expectations. For the past 175 years, Hermès has substantiated their exquisite fashion standpoints on style and apparel. Now Hermès presents their interpretation on modern interior architecture with the striking, intricately woven […]
I-Pose is the latest addition to SOMA’s ongoing tradition of introducing unique, cutting-edge features to our magazine. This section portrays the winners of our online competition, where SOMA readers posed as their favorite icons. In this issue, we feature young creative minds from Tokyo and ask them to explain the reasoning behind their choices. Text by […]
Leading the menswear and tailoring industries single-handedly is young London-based, Japanese-born fashion designer Ichiro Suzuki. Suzuki breathes life into the English designs, offering a fresh take on the country’s classic menswear tradition. At once a skilled atelier and an innovator, he meticulously merges his craftsmanship skills with intricate, animated designs. Where other conceptual designers sometimes […]
Alex Brown Church, the central figure behind the Los Angeles-based musical entity Sea Wolf is uncomfortable. Twitchy and evasive, he populates silences with filler phrases, then ends up mumbling, “I don’t know,” when his thoughts remain unarticulated. Luckily, this communication impairedness doesn’t present itself in Church’s music. In fact, on Old World Romance, his latest […]
A low electronic growl. A flicker of light across a black screen. A nude female figure, stark white, writhes in restraints, fading in and out of the darkness. The soundtrack sizzles and pulses, and the images grow choppier. Lightning strikes. Patterns fly across contorted struggling bodies—electric stripes, stark cross-hatching. Luminous purple cloth flutters in slow […]
Dorian Duvall, the artist known as Onuinu (On You, In You), calls his music Disco-Hop, a moniker that obscures as much as it reveals. While the energetic thump of disco and the erratic beats of hip hop are evident in his sound, the songs on Mirror Gazer, his striking debut, can’t really be tied down […]
“In Colombia, we are living in a war that is not ours.” This statement by Flor Ilva, one of the subjects of first-time filmmaker Nicole Karsin’s We Women Warriors, captures the striking premise of the documentary. The film manages to condense the multifaceted conflict of Colombia by focusing on the account of three women: Doris, […]
JON GASPARINI 15 Romolo, Rye, Rosewood, Rye on the Road – San Francisco Designer-turned-serial-restaurateur Jon Gasparini keeps busy. With three bars (15 Romolo, Rosewood, and Rye) and an A-list cocktail catering venture (Rye on the Road), Gasparini also acts as a consultant all over, from local distillers to brands like Jim Beam Global, and […]
In the search for the freshest in ready-to-wear, fashion has gone global. New designers are sprouting up, and the style-obsessed are taking notice, looking beyond their nearest fashion capital to curate truly international wardrobes. In the full promotion of fashion without borders, SOMA presents three of the most promising international designers. Sofie D’Hoore From […]
1. What’s your connection to the fashion world? 2. What’s your most cherished accessory or clothing item? 3. What influences your fashion choices? 4. What do you think is the most fashionable city? 5. Pick one word or phrase to describe your fashion sense. Photos by Jena Cumbo Azra Red 1. Make-up artist 2. […]
Castro and Market, a corner we San Franciscan’s are well familiar with, has another great reason to stop by. There, in the heart of leather and lace, sits what is becoming a sweet tradition. The Crème Brûlée Cart, with its array of growing flavors brings to life an adult’s fantasy of the ice-cream truck. With […]
Award-winning shoe designer Nicholas Kirkwood dreams in color. And if you want to color yourself pink – or blue, yellow, white or red – you must visit his Meatpacking district flagship store. This museum-style store, alive with animated shoes that burst with rich, saturated hues, is a glorious Alice in Wonderland retreat for shoe lovers, […]
Valerie Steele’s new designer bible, Akris, follows the Swiss fashion house from the day of its inception in 1922 to present. Steele, director and chief curator of the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology, seamlessly bounces between the design points that Akris is known for. Architectural elegance, embroidery, rich fabrics, and high-tech graphics are […]
San Francisco-based accessory company TOKYObay was born when Dory Isaacs, a British art and fashion design major, met Jun Kobayashi, a bass-guitarist and product enthusiast, as the two were passing through Toronto. Though from eclectic backgrounds and cultures, the two saw in one another what Isaacs calls “a great symmetry of aesthetic choices,” and knew […]
Assouline, publisher of beautiful, heavyweight coffee table books, focuses on the American woman for its latest title. American Beauty celebrates the fashionable spirit of the American woman through a series of stunning portraits. Photographer Claiborne Swanson Frank, a Vogue alumna, creates vignettes—accompanied by text from Genevieve Bahrenburg—for each of her subjects, styling them in their […]
Zaha Hadid is not only the most distinct, successful and influential architect of her generation, she is also among the most intellectual. Her works are often described as fluid, curvilinear and organic, featuring unique lines and shapes and oblique inspirations. In this mesmerizing volume, Hadid’s creative narrative achieves a new level of clarity. Previous […]