Irving Penn

More inspiration, almost too much to handle, from our trip to the Met earlier this month. I know I know. I’m in a museum, taking photographs of photographs. But these images conjured up so many memories for me, I wanted to take them with me, my particular memories of the photographs of Irving Penn.

As a girl, I started receiving subscriptions to Vogue at a very young age, and it was my bible. It came into my room and brought me to a fantasy land of fashion, of where I wanted to be. It was my visual sanctuary.

My mother made all of my clothes when I was growing up, and after each issue arrived, it was followed by a trip to the fabric mills, to collaborate on trying to recreate the illusion of what I saw. All my aunts were in on it in their own ways. So many of these Irving Penn images from the 50’s and 60’s remind me of my mother and aunts.

Here’s a sneak peak. Show closes July 30.

And we got to play a bit. They had Penn’s backdrop set up that he used in his studio, so as my “photographer” was with me, I got to particpate.

IMG_1589

From the Beautiful to the Grotesque

Above, her own words, Rei Kawakubo. We had a chance to catch this show at The Met last week, and I’ve been thinking about it ever since. So interesting to have a conversation from our very different perspectives……my background in fiber art in three dimension, my partner’s in fashion design Haute-Couture, with a very different main inspiration from Yves St Laurent; mine western looking east, his eastern looking to the west, in our young and formative years. Working together for all these years, the push and pull arrives at influences from both.    This show is a must see if you are in town.

“Dressed for Defiance”, NY Times