Last thursday, Tokyo institution Lift opened the doors to their newly refurbished Lift Étage boutique in Daikanyama, celebrating the renovation with an exquisite temporary installation of hand portraits. Founders Minami Atsunoda and Masahiro Tsunoda collected a series of over twenty five photographs from their exclusive list of avant-garde designers, with the only conditions being ‘a black and white image of your hand’.
Their images came in from across the globe with many creative, sensual interpretations of Lift’s concept. From Ann Demeulemeester’s crisp white table cloth and her porcelain hand grasping a feather, to Rick Owens’ lavish fur background and the gnarly, adorned hands of his wife Michele Lamy dipped in tar, a wide range of aesthetics have been broadcast through this seemingly narrow slate. Choosing to represent their profession, some designers toyed with the tools of the trade, grasping thimbles, fabric, and dressmaking pins (in the case of Dries Van Noten, above).
The overall effect is emotive and somewhat imposing, especially considering the dramatic highlight of Masahiro’s own hand, carved into a 2m high wooden sculpture that stands at the store’s new entrance.
Masahiro Tsunoda talks about the ‘Hand Portraits’ exhibition:
Individuals have their own icons. It can be a face, fingerprint… In opening this installation, we have put focus on “hands” as they form very important part of designs of the creators. We create sketches, write research reports, and make art works through this privilege we are born with. Each hand is different from one another, making it our biggest symbol of identity. Unfortunately, the image of hands, in other words, “the icon of creation”, is slowly fading away from people’s minds. To remind this maximum, but minimum source of creation we would like to present art exhibition created via the icon of individual people.
Participating designers:
CAROL CHRISTIAN POELL / UNITED NUDE / REINHARD PLANK / DRIES VAN NOTEN / ANN DEMEULEMEESTER /INES KAAG & DESIREE HEISS BY BLESS / KIMINORI MORISHITA BY 08 SIRCUS / SYBILLE WALTER & SAMUEL DRIRA BY ENCENS / JAS MB /MAURIZIO AMADEI BY m.a+ / STEPHAN SCHNEIDER / INCANATION / RUGGERO GUIDI BY GUIDI / DAMIR DOMA / GIORGIO BRATO / ISSEI AND SUSANNA BY LUMEN ET UMBRA / CORNELIAN TAURAS TEAM / TOMOAKI OKANIWA BY THE VIRIDI-ANNE / YOKO ITO BY INDIVISUAL SENTIMENTS / MIHARA YASUHIRO / OLIVIER THEYSKENS BY MONIKA BIELSKYTE / ALESSANDRO TINELLI / GUSTAVO LINS / ALEXANDER FIELDEN / RYUSAKU HIRUMA BY SAK / RICK OWENS / LUTZ / LUCA LAURINI BY LABEL UNDER CONSTRUCTION / LOST & FOUND
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The ‘Hand Portraits’ exhibition runs from August 20th at the new Lift Étage store.
Moncheri 3F-2,20-20 Daikanyama-Cho,
Shibuya-Ku, Tokyo 1500034 150−0034
東京都渋谷区代官山町
20−20モンシェリー代官山3F-2
This september North London’s Spring Projects gallery will play host to ‘B-Side’, the latest in a long line of exhibited works from designer Hussein Chalayan, a man who has always grounded his fashion designs in the practices of art and science. With a collection of new and previously-exhibited pieces, ‘B-Side’ is a continuation of Chalayan’s study on the dynamics of the human form, bringing together garments from past collections with film, lightboxes and larger scale sculpture and art installations. The exhibition combines three separate projects from Hussein’s extensive portfolio of works, with Micro Geography: A Cross Section, Anaesthetics and Inertia coming together as a holistic digest.
SPRING PROJECTS: ‘B-SIDE’ by Hussein Chalayan September 17th – October 23, 2010 10 Spring Place, Spring House, London NW5 3BH t +44207 428 7159 F+442074287117 www.springprojects.co.uk
She wants no part of the celebrity culture and isn’t interested in trends. Her work draws inspiration from Marcel Duchamp, Bob Dylan and Oscar Wilde. Maybe that’s why clothes designed by Ann Demeulemeester don’t ever seem to go out of style.
Ann Demeulemeester, one of the few successful independent fashion designers today, hates talking about celebrities. “Even if I see them in my clothes, I would never tell anyone,” she says. This does not mean that celebrities don’t wear her meticulously crafted garments. “I want to wish a Happy Birthday to my dear friend, Ann Demeulemeester,” says Patti Smith during her annual concert at the Bowery Ballroom in New York City. “Who?” a drunken man next to me asks. “She’s a fashion designer,” I reply. The man stares at me blankly. “Never mind,” I turn around. And that’s just the way I like to think of Demeulemeester, my unsung hero – the further away from the public, the closer to me.
Sous la signe du Lion – Chanel Haute Couture FW10/11
Rumours were abound throughout couture week in Paris of Karl Lagerfeld’s latest colossal feat for the house of Chanel. From farmhouses to icebergs, the previous efforts were nothing short of extraordinary – and tuesday night’s display proved no less fantastical.
Embossed with a golden lion’s head, the invitation for the Haute Couture Fall Winter 2010-11 show read “Sous la signe de la lion”. Under the sign of the lion. Arriving through the security gates at the Grand Palais, one could not quite grasp the meaning of this until reaching the top steps of the covered entrance, whereupon rose the grandiose figure of a gilded lion – his front paw resting on a glossy white pearl. Standing over twelve metres tall and taking set designer Stefan Lubrina and his team more than four months to create, the lion was crafted in steel and aluminium with a polystyrene skin.
Appearing out of the lion’s pearl, models circled the enormous beast – one of Chanel’s most poignant symbols as Coco was born under the starsign Leo. With flyaway straight hair from Sam McKnight and berry red lips from Peter Philips, the girls appeared as bold, modern princesses opening in a series of crop-sleeved skirt suits in claret, chocolate, beige and black.
“Shine your light”. This was the quiet prompt of Ann Demeulemeester, as written on the small black boxes given at the entrance to her menswear show at the Couvent des Cordeliers on Saturday, June 26th. Inside the box? A black metal torch, and “Ann Demeulemeester (Men) Spring Summer 2011“. Ann’s wish was granted, as perfect white circles of light bounced around the 16th century convent.
