This is for all you young models, enjoy!
The rewards, disadvantages, and lessons of a youth spent modeling for the fashion industry.

“Cindy Crawford interviews Beverly Johnson, Linda Evanglista, Naomi Campbell, Christy Turlington, and Lauren Hutton for House of Style Special.”

“The Joan River’s Show with Jennie Livingston, director of “Paris is Burning”. Legendary ball divas Dorian Corey, Pepper LaBieja, Willie Ninja and Freddy Bendover relate the history behind The Houses, The Balls, Voguing. Explain the different categories, the scoring system, and the trophies.”

The culture of vogue balls began in the 50′s as a safe space to realize one’s dreams, if only for that instant. The 6 stars of the documentary “Paris is Burning” are all dead: La Beija from Diabetes, Anji Xtravaganza was murdered and stuffed under a mattress, and the rest from AIDS-related complications.

However, ball culture still goes on strong. This is one I’ve attended: http://www.myballroomlife.com/latex_project
The next annual ball is August 21st!

Freddie Bendover is so cute!

A must see: Diva Davanna started runway walking at the age of 4, and has since gone on to be featured on Tyra/America’s Next Top Model and modeled in 200+ runway shows. She’s only 10 now!

This is when I saw her first at the House of Latex Ball, 2008 (in the blue as naomi campbell):

Child vs Child:

On tyra:

What does this mean for those of us coming up through the grapevines? (Those with the capability, but not yet the experience due to whatever cultural or social reasons.)

We live in an extremely controlled (governed) environment. It is not so much the literal and obvious government, but the societal rules which are mentally restrictive. We are socialized and domesticated because we couldn’t otherwise have order. The flip side is introduced as a cautionary tale in Orwell’s 1984 and in the popular movie The Matrix. You realize you’ve been sedated; you become aware that you haven’t been fully aware. Society relies on over-anesthesia to subdue dissent and function with order. It assumes those who will make it will find their way eventually.

However, to find your way, you still have to have the conceptual framework planted. I’d bet a good portion of the consumers in mainstream media who tout the catch-phrase “out of the box” are describing it from inside the box, so that out of the box is a farce of itself. You can’t know what you don’t know; you can’t understand something if no groundwork has been laid to build the conceptual framework laid groundwork for. You need a seed.

Keep an eye out for a correlation between the disappearance of art programs in schools, and an increase in obedience, conformity, and lack of tolerance among youths. Sadly, the elite are fine with removing the opportunity for the seeds of questioning from being planted. Money can buy it privately. That is an elitist concept in itself.

But back to art– why have some ‘radical’ and highly critical theories avoided censorship or the label of propaganda? Subversive messages survive because the architects of our society don’t actually want to lock the door and throw away the key. It is the idea of qualified patrons only, which can be buried in dark ages and rediscovered hundreds of years later. We wouldn’t give the unqualified or plainly dumb the keys to the control panel, but it can be noted that some of the dark ages have been brought on by just that… the intellectually irrational or uncompassionate.

I think this is an interesting but overlooked nuance of art.. taken for granted as a right of passage into fresh air with no turning back.
I became interested in the possibilities of conceptual photography after being introduced to the work of installation artist Felix Gonzalez-Torres (American, born Cuba. 1957-1996). He chose ordinary household objects to present his ideas (social or political commentary), arguing that objects are neutral and for example, a clock cannot be criticized as having ‘a homosexual agenda’ (“Untitled, Perfect Lovers”).

Abstract art can better survive attacks than the explicit, and it may strike more clearly and simply at higher truths.

Felix Gonzalez-Torres. (American, born Cuba. 1957-1996). Untitled (Perfect Lovers). 1991. Clocks, paint on wall. overall 14 x 28 x 2 3/4″ (35.6 x 71.2 x 7 cm). Gift of the Dannheisser Foundation. © 2006 The Felix Gonzalez-Torres Foundation, Courtesy Andrea Rosen Gallery.

–forum post I stumbled onto (and then corrected grammar of) via http://robertbenson.com/blog/ . I’ve been addicted to reading that blog tonight. I love tech info!

It takes about 2 hours to read and digest it all, but it’s as good as taking a course!

Start with reading the Model Release Primer: http://www.danheller.com/model-release-primer.html

Then read the full article on Model Releases: http://www.danheller.com/model-release.html

And finish with When Editorial Uses Require Model Releases: http://www.danheller.com/blog/posts/when-editorial-uses-of-photos-require.html

The main lessons I learned were:

• There are only disputes on HOW an image is published, not THAT it is taken. You can always take a photo, of a person or crowd or building etc. so long as you’re not illegally trespassing on property as a peeping tom. Deal with usage later.
• Model releases are for the publishers. Photographers are not responsible for how an image is published. We only get them because it improves saleability to certain clients. Photographers should just be clear if they have a model release for an image or not, it’s up to the publisher to use the image in the appropriate context given that information. However, the photographer probably shouldn’t give their opinion to the publisher on how an image could be used.. because then you start to assume some liability.
• Money/financial transactions do not require model releases. You can sell a photo to someone or any agency, or sell your work in a gallery without needing a release because the sale has nothing to do with a person’s likeness, it’s an objective transaction.
• Editorial content typically does not require a release. You can take a photo, sell it or give permission to a newspaper to run it, all without needing a release.
• Artwork is covered under freedom of speech and almost never needs a model release. You can openly display photos you’ve taken on your own site, in a gallery, and sell prints.

I’ve had the above image of a massive visually endless pool with dividing walkways strongly imprinted in my mind from a dream I had a couple years ago. I’m not sure if I’d seen this imagery before, or if I was pulling from something collective– but interesting to come across this again.

In the 1930′s floating baths on barges popped up around Manhattan as a service for the tenement residents. It’d seem like such a crazy idea if it popped back up today. We have a variation though.. a floating swimming pool in brooklyn bridge park!

Birds Eye View of Astoria Pool Bathers with Hell Gate Bridge in Background

The Aquazanies perform at Astoria Pool in Queens, early 1940s.

Check out the videos on the pools (including mccarren park pool) and more images on the NYC Parks and Recreation’s site:
http://www.nycgovparks.org/sub_about/parks_history/pools.html

I stumbled onto all these while looking at possible shoot locations. This seems like a nice website to learn about the types of architecture in this city: http://www.nyc-architecture.com/GRP/GRP034.htm

I think this will also teach you how to make other thai dishes:

http://thaifoodcast.com/asian-ingredients/groceries/coconut-milk.html

PS. This is one of my favorite desserts:

Q. Japanese Mother, Italian Father…two very strong cultural influences to be born of.  What traits do you carry today that you would put in the column of your Father/Italian side vs. the traits you may associate more with being the influences of your Mother?
Both cultures are a big part of my life and work.  I am east meets west….Spaghetti sushi!! From my Dad’s Italian side I have picked up a love for tacky things but as well I love the glamour of it all and am a bit of a Romantic.. Due to my Mothers Japanese culture I have a huge collection of crazy toys and love for Japanese food.

Q. Just reading off your titles and credentials listed in the number of Publications where you are an editor or Creative director is quite exhausting, how is that you are able to consult for so many labels on top of these publications and then go on to style Celebrity?
I know, so crazy, right??!! I’m currently in Japan working with UNIQLO for few more days here, then going back to NYC to start working on the next issue of Vogue Hommes Japan…Thanks to my blackberry I am always up to date with everyone, everywhere, any time!! I have really great relationships with all of the magazines I work with, (Dazed & Confused, V Magazine, V Man, Another, Another Man and Vogue Hommes Japan) you  can never be too busy for things!! I work hard and play hard….but traveling  across so many time zones constantly could be tiring  but its so much fun what I do.. I’m always so excited to visit new places! I recently started working closely with lady Gaga. My new fashion icon! My collaboration with her goes beyond the typical stylist/ celebrity relationship!
she is so into fashion that she needs to change so many times a day!! love it!!

Q. I was reading about your early days as a buyer in a retail store in London that stocked emerging young designers, was that a conscious choice over working for a store that carried more established brands? Or was the new designer aspect of the store simply a coincidental detail of where you ended up working at the time?
In my early 20s, I helped launch the store Pineal Eye in London. I came up with concept of selling merging young designers because there was nothing like that at the time, and it was what interested me most. We stocked one off things one couldn’t get anywhere else. It was mostly pieces designed by my friends and people around me. Through Pineal Eye I got the opportunity to meet such talented designers as Hedi Slimane, Raf Simons, Gareth Pugh and Kim Jones.

Q. When you were scouted by Dazed&Confused who approached you offering a position as an editor for the magazine, you had never assisted any other stylist or had any real previous experience is that right?  I’m quite sure that it was your lack of experience or the fact that you were never really influenced or molded directly by someone already set in their ways, that may have been one of the most enticing aspects of your raw talent… what do you think the difference is between your perspective now as oppose to what it may have been if you had spent sometime assisting someone established prior to your own debut?
I was so lucky,  I was  approached by Katy England and Alistair Mackie to be part of Dazed, then we all started working together under Jefferson hack’s direction. It was so much fun!  And it still is!!  From the beginning they gave me complete freedom to decide what I was about, and what I believed in. I was truly able to do what I felt as there was never any fear of doing something wrong.
At the time I didn’t even know a stylist existed, much less that it could be a real job!!!  I just did what I loved, which was showcasing things I know around me. It’s amazing to think that I haven’t changed that much in this….to this day I am still doing what I love and what I feel strong about!!
I have never assisted another stylist however sometimes I wish I had…When I started I didn’t know the technique of how to deal with other things like the politics of it all. When you do a shoot it’s a collaboration with lots of other people, there are certain steps you have to go through to make it all come together. It was a double edged sword not knowing this at first, because on one had it made things a lot harder for me but on the other hand, if I would have known I probably would have been a lot more scared to do new things and take risks.

Q. I was reading in a previous interview when you were answering the question of ‘what items are you saving up to buy’ , that you look forward to being able to purchase more art one day… what type of Art is it that mostly captures your eye when wandering through a gallery?
It’s just a little personal dream of mine to have very beautiful things in my surroundings.

Q. When I found myself looking at some of the more abstract pieces that you and Solve had done together it made me curious as to how you both conceived of the idea to shoot the images that way…essentially erasing the models right from the photo and replacing them with anything from a blue sky to a poke a dot pattern…
I’m so sorry about that! I am sure you at a model agency are not a big fan of those types of shoots, with the models face erased. With my work I am most interested in the final image, and if that is what has to happen then so be it. Though this is not the case in every project as I love to promote new faces and good models, so it all depends. Working with Solve, an outstanding image maker, always leads to something more surreal and exciting!

Q. This famous sketch book that you never leave the house without, what would one find while thumbing through the pages of that book? Words? Drawings? Pictures glued on to the pages within?
I just love having a brand new sketch book. I just like the book as an object. as soon as I mark up the first page I am ready for a new one. I have piles of empty sketch books lying around my flat with scribbles on the first page!!

Q. You’ve brought to the ‘scene’ a fresh perspective that comes from your own experience and genuine interest in various subject matter… if you had the ability to Influence the business today in any way you wanted..what is the greatest result you wish to achieve?
I like to give people something positive and fun, just pure love and if I can make money doing so then that’s great.  But it is very important for me to give back to people, which is why I like working with young creative designers and new models. The more successful I become the more I can give back, that’s the way I see it.

“There and about town, once useful objects are presented as decorative artifacts, bereft of purpose except to evoke vague images of an era about which little need be known other than that it was a “simpler time”.
The common word for this kind of distortion is “nostalgia.” This word can be generally defined as a state of inarticulate contempt for the present and fear of the future, in concert with a yearning for order, constancy, safety, and community–qualities that were last enjoyed in childhood and are retroactively imagined as gracing the whole of the time before one’s birth.”