Marfa, this little town in West Texas... " I think that's the Prada store??" ...
this art installation called Prada Marfa from Berlin-based artists Elmgreen & Dragset who chose this location between the towns of Valentine and Fort Davis in West Texas for it. The place wasn't deserted even before, as there was located the then-famous Oasis Gas Station... I investigated a little more in internet and this GREAT interview to the artists in KultureFlash came up.
So yes, it's Prada. And not, it's not a store. It's Art.
Reading people's bad reactions in relation to the latest cover of Paris Vogue with artist Andre J. and model Carolyn Murphy shocked me more than the cover did to them.
I think the cover is fantastic, and best of all, Andre is fun and interesting and it's always refreshing to see new faces in magazine covers.
The first time I saw Andre's image i said to myself, "this kid reminds me of someone else"... Thinking over et voilá! I found the portrait The Bearded Kate by photographers Vinoodh Matadin and Inez van Lamsweerde. The picture was taken in 2005 and shown during the exhibition The Kate Show at FOAM in Amsterdam last year. Another character who reminds me Andre is Harold Perrineau in his role of Mercutio in Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet (1996). In the party scene Mercutio wears a white afro wig, beard, red lipstick and an ultra tight sexy silver short dress (Halloween party-goers, here there's throwing some ideas). What a pity i couldn't find a better image than this ... But Andre is exactly the same! Same hair, same beard, same dress, same attitude... I wonder if he does it on purpose or not, in any case, the wink is there and the image of Harold's butt at the rhythm of Kym Mazelle's Young Hearts Run Free is unforgettable. Thanks Andre for bringing it back.
I'd like to start a series of stylish people through the history of fashion... and not only! because sometimes, many, is people who is "not" in fashion the ones who are more stylish because they couldn't care less of what's in and out... they're beyond. Ladies & Gentlemen, let's start with the über stylish and creeeeepy Mr Screamin' Jay Hawkins.
Jalacy Hawkins was born in Cleveland, Ohio.
"I came in this world black, naked and ugly. And no matter how much I accumulate here, it's a short journey" (source)
He began his career as a conventional blues singer, there was nothing special on him... till the day he recorded his famous song "I Put A Spell On You".
Intended to be a blues ballad, the song ended up being one of the most "cannibalistic" songs ever made, the mother of what will be known as "shock rock".
The reason why this song ended up being the way it is and not the way it was intended to be was the everyone's surfeit during the recording in 1957: Screamin' Jay and the musicians got drunk and wild, they started to play and sing and this is what they brought... a song ahead of their time. And what a great man.
