naomi alessandra

Mary Katrantzou S/S 11, after Magritte

Every fashion season, legions of editors and aesthetes converge online and at the shows to witness the turning of the fashion tides. Admittedly, the returns on this investment of time can be less than thrilling on occasion: Shocking! Last season it was the 50s, now it’s the 70s! Would you just look at all those wide-legged trousers! or Goodness me, can you believe the amount of orange around here? or Who would ever have thought of doing a romper in leopard print? Absolutely groundbreaking!

But then there are those moments that make it all worth it, those truly jaw-dropping collections that reveal an unexpected perspective, an astonishing beauty, or an outlandish wit. Mary Katrantzou’s Spring/Summer 2011 collection, entitled Ceci n’est pas un chambre, offered just that solace in London recently. Her deft transformation of women into exquisitely decorated interiors a la Architectural Digest was unquestionably surreal. The models wore poolside decks, country estate breakfast nooks, and dinner tables overlooking city lights, all impeccably detailed and tailored. The pieces included such elements as printed drapes and table runners that gave way into actual flowing fabric; lampshade-esque rose-printed skirts, and bits of chandelier as necklaces. The effect was jarring upon first view, as there was no readily available point of reference to which to connect it. It was truly odd, and truly exciting.

The Treachery of Images, René Magritte, 1928-29

The title of her collection, of course, references the famous René Magritte painting The Treachery of Images (often called Ceci n’est pas un pipe) and the connection to the great Belgian surrealist artist is tangible. Magritte purported to create his art for the purpose of challenging viewer’s perceptions of reality and normalcy, and by so doing to elevate the experience of daily life through deep awareness. Like Magritte, Katrantzou’s work is clean and streamlined, with nothing to distract from the central, paradoxical messages of her collection: Yes, this is a room. No, this is not a room. Yes, this is a dress. No, this is not a dress. Yes, this is a body. No, this is not a body. This humorous philosophical exercise in suspension of disbelief was made possible by the hyperreality of the prints and the precise, clean lines of the collection.

This wasn’t Katrantzou’s first foray into trompe l’oeil imagery on clothing. Since her runway debut in London just a two years ago, she has focused on utilizing utterly realistic, mind-bending digital printing to achieve her fantastic effects. London has become a mecca for such revolutionary technologies, with Basso & Brooke and Alexander McQueen utilizing similar techniques. Her collections for these past four seasons have turned the models into exquisitely detailed perfume bottles, blown glass, jewels, and this season, windows glinting in the sunlight. In each of her collections, Katrantzou seems to be at her best when she captures the reflective quality of shiny surfaces in her prints, creating a sharp concentration of light. Perhaps in that pooled light we can best allow our perceptions of reality to be disrupted and reprogrammed.

This past Friday, Katrantzou won the Swiss Textiles Award, which will provide her with 100,000 euros to continue building her brand and developing her splendid vision. From that stamp of approval, it’s fair to say  that a good number of people are more than willing to cast aside their previous perceptions of reality in favor of those that this amazing young designer brings to the table.

“Here are letters, all yours (already on the folds
their traces of jerky pencil are fading). By day,
folded up, they sleep, amid dry flowers, in my
fragrant drawer, but at night they fly out,
semitransparent and weak, they glide
and flutter over me, like butterflies: one
I may catch in my fingers, and at the night blue
I look through it, and in it the stars shine through.”

-Vladimir Nabokov, 1923
Translated from the Russian by Brian Boyd and Dmitri Nabokov

Harness and brooch, Lanvin. Dress, John Galliano.

A flutter of butterflies burst in from the furthest reaches of the globe to alight on the Spring/Summer 2011 runways, dusting us with the transformative magic for which these creatures are famous.

In New York, we saw L.A.M.B., Rodarte, Lyn Devon and Carlos Miele float them down the runway; in London, it was Aminaka Wilmont and Bora Aksu; in Milan, Sportmax, Iceberg and Blumarine; and in Paris, Loewe, Tsumori Chisato, Lanvin, John Galliano, and Alexander McQueen all presented pieces that had been brushed by the butterfly wing.

Eternally emerging bright and flawless from the chrysalis, butterflies are the quintessential metaphor for miraculous renewal, a sprightly visual symbol of spring.  Yet their fragile beauty hints also at mortality–a fitting motif for the autumnal celebration of the dead, Dia de los Muertos, or All Souls Day.

Artists such as Philippe Pasqua and Damien Hirst have consistently demonstrated a dual fascination with butterflies and human skull imagery, often superimposing the two in their artwork in various ways. Hirst’s much-hyped new exhibition in London, entitled The Souls and described on Dazed Digital, consists of 120 vibrant prints of the creatures. This follows Hirst’s previous skull-filled exhibition, The Dead. Hirst said while discussing his most recent subject matter, “I love butterflies because when they’re dead they look alive.” Likewise, when they are in the coffin-like confines of their chrysalis, they are alive but look dead. It is this duality that brings power to the winged insect and elevates it from a girly, saccharine spring trend to a powerful emblem evoking the fine line between life and death.

Dresses and shoes, Alexander McQueen. Tights, Bora Aksu.

Sarah Burton brought the butterflies into her first ready-to-wear show since she took the reigns at Alexander McQueen following Lee McQueen’s death in February. Like Pasqua and Hirst, McQueen adopted both the skull and the butterfly as symbols of his brand. For S/S 2008, McQueen, with milliner Philip Treacy, developed a butterfly-filled collection to honor the recent passing of their mentor Isabella Blow. Burton took this opportunity, two years later, to honor the life and death of her own mentor, again utilizing the world-bridging butterfly to do so. The pieces she created for the collection gave a passing nod to the darker side, but emerged triumphantly joyful and full of life. Her vibrant success this season bodes well for the future of this important house.

Another insightful collection for Spring 2011 was that of Aminaka Wilmont. Their moody and magical show featured breathtakingly detailed hand-cut butterflies perched en masse upon shoes, blouses, and dresses. The show was entitled “Psyche,” a reference to the mythological Greek lover of Eros, who was widely regarded as the personification of the human soul. Portrayed in ancient mosaics with butterfly wings, her name literally means spirit, breath, life or animating force. In the ancient story of love, loss, and pilgrimage to the Underworld, Psyche’s path to her destiny is paved with formidable challenges and racked with human error. Her numerous, regrettable follies make her journey impossible, and yet she continues to rise up again, a spirited butterfly that looks mortality in the eye and flutters on regardless.

Naomi Alessandra in vintage Pucci

At the risk of my family making fun of me for my proclivity toward self portraiture and other such vanities, I just had to record this particular ensemble. A few years ago, while visiting my ex’s family in Philadelphia, my son’s grandmother (and my dear friend) Marie Christine presented me with an unexpected and enthralling gift–a classic Pucci dress that had belonged to my son’s great grandmother. I was stunned by the gift of this gorgeous wrinkle-free silk dress infused with all of the early 60s bold, graphic joy that is the earmark of Emilio Pucci! When I tried it on, it fit like a glove.

However, the dress had one issue that I had to address before I could really run with it. The neckline was at my throat, the sleeves were at my wrists, and the skirt hung to my mid-calf. It was just a whole lot of coverage, and at 5’1″, I’ve learned that I need the proper proportions to feel at ease. So the dress hung in my closet for a number of years, just waiting for its day in the sun.

Finally, a few months ago, I pulled the dress out, cut it at the mid-thigh, and moved the base band up to make a minidress. I used the excess fabric to braid together a matching headband. Add a little sixties makeup and a pair of boots, and there I was, a sudden sister to Twiggy, Edie, and Penelope Tree. Yeah, baby!

Clawing at the coattails of Fall 2010′s obsession with all things feral came another contingent of wild felines for Resort 2011. This year leopard, cheetah and jaguar have made themselves at home not only with Dolce and Gabbana and Roberto Cavalli, where they are familiar and loyal pets, but also at Dries Van Noten, Givenchy, and Haider Ackermann, where such spottings  are somewhat less frequent. So why this continuing preoccupation with the furry, the spotty and – there’s really no other word for it – the fierce? And do all of these animal prints a gaudy mess make, or can they be donned with grace?

Riccardo Tisci's Resort 2011 collection for Givenchy, inspired by Frida Kahlo

Large spotted cats have long been an object of fascination in various world cultures for their hunting prowess and their intricate rosette patterns. From the Maya in Mesoamerica (jaguars) to the Zulu in Africa (leopards), the pelts of these beasts were reserved for kings and were usually hunted by only the most celebrated of marksmen once or twice a year. With the rise of the British Colonial Empire came the demand for spotted furs in the courts of Europe, where they likewise adorned only the likes of the rich and powerful.

When Jackie Kennedy wore a leopard coat designed by Oleg Cassini in the early 1960s a mania for spotted coats followed that reached a crescendo in the bohemian late 60s. By 1969, many of these regal felines were near extinction. The Endangered Species Conservation Act aimed to stem the spotted cat trade in the US; then CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species) came into effect in 1975 with more far-reaching restrictions that effectively banned the trade of large cats, although smaller spotted felines continue to be hunted and farmed for fashion today.

Chloe Sevigny for Opening Ceremony, Burberry (Melissa Tammerijn), Tracy Reese

So that’s exotic cat fur in a nutshell. It’s not my aim to delve into the politics of fur in this post. But what we’re getting at here with the leopard print trend has less to do with the physical reality of an animal pelt and more to do, if you will, with the very essence of leopard. For indeed, that is what the best of these designers are getting at. When the pattern is simply being printed on cotton, silk or wool, it is no longer about the hunt or the physicality of the creature, exactly. Does feline grace lie in the actual pelt? Is it in the arrangement of the spots? Or does it, instead, exist in something sublimely indescribable to which these physical trappings can only refer?

In addition to symbolizing power and wealth in both eastern and western ancient cultures, jaguars, leopards and their kin were also revered as spirit guides and were frequently called upon by shamans to assist them in their mystical work. These great spotted felines are equally at home on the earth, in the branches of trees and in the water, unlike any other cat. They demonstrate an uncanny ability to travel between worlds. This, the shamans thought, in addition to their ability to subdue any being, made them ideal spirit companions on travels through the immaterial worlds.

Giambattista Valli (Ramona Chmura), Marchesa, Gucci (Anna Selezneva)

Maybe this is more along the lines of what we seek when we swoon over Dries Van Noten’s leopard print scarves or Givenchy’s spotted leggings – a passport to new worlds where we are wild and capable of anything, where nothing and nobody will stand in our way.

Perhaps this is what the ancient Mayan kings felt as well when they threw the protective skin of the jaguar over their shoulders, or even what Jackie Kennedy felt when she wore the leopard skin coat that launched a thousand ships. Maybe this is what Mexican painter Frida Kahlo, Riccardo Tisci’s muse for the Givenchy Resort 2011 collection, was thinking when she painted a jaguar peering over her shoulder like a watchful bodyguard. I know this was what I was channeling when I wore the hell out of my sexy, stretchy leopard print dress throughout my pregnancy with my son. I was fierce. I was unstoppable. And I was about to travel between worlds.

As it happened, that dress was not as unstoppable as I on the journey between worlds; I had to retire it when I realized that it would never regain its original shape. But it did provide that subtle surge of wild strength just when I needed it most. And, when the time is right, I will gladly welcome a new spotted garment into my wardrobe for that moment when life hits me with an otherworldly travel itinerary once again.

Nicki Bluhm: One tall, cool glass of water

I recently had the pleasure of witnessing Nicki Bluhm perform with her Gramblers at the High Sierra Music Festival. This woman has a winning vocal presence and an exemplary personal style to match. Her clear-as-a-bell voice won the hearts of her eager audience as she swung through a variety of sweetly rockin’ tunes, occasionally sharing the mic with her hubby Tim Bluhm, one of her Gramblers as well as lead singer for the well-loved San Francisco-based rock outfit The Mother Hips. Oft compared to inestimable songstresses such as Bonnie Raitt and Joni Mitchell, Nicki has a warm, clear voice that breathes ingenuousness. With it, she smoothly traverses the pathways between folk, classic pop, and country rock.

Channeling the bohemian 1970s in a big way, Nicki rocked a pair of high-waisted bellbottom jeans and cropped vest in an appearance on the Big Meadow Stage. We know that not everybody can pull off the high-waisted jean look–in fact, next to nobody can– but Nicki is one tall, cool glass of water, and she owned it in her sweet, unassuming way. Elsewhere throughout the festival, she continued to betray a deep and abiding passion for late 70s vintage style, from a peasant halter dress to her layered shag haircut. Yves Saint Laurent would be proud.

The key to pulling off vintage or retro style is ensuring that the clothes do not wear you, and Nicki’s got that all sorted out. It doesn’t hurt that she’s a talented chanteuse with a doe-eyed, slightly androgynous beauty that shines out from beneath those dark bangs. As her song proclaims, she aims to Keep it Loose–and she does so with an easy, fluid grace.

Christopher Kane Fall/Winter 2010, after Klimt's 'Farm Garden'

There’s no doubt that Christopher Kane likes to push our buttons. I love a designer who plays with contradictions, and Kane has become a master of archly walking the line between high art and cheap thrills. Like Vladimir Nabokov, whose notorious Lolita Kane tapped as inspiration for his Spring/Summer 2010 collection, the up-and-coming London designer seems to have an endless repertoire of unsettling references with which to imbue his collections. The word mash-up is entirely appropriate here-and it might be the only thing that is.  » Read the rest of this entry «

Braided dress (representing copper), Threeasfour Fall/Winter 2010

Brilliantly experimental designers threeASFOUR drew upon the esoteric world of alchemy as a point of inspiration for their Fall/Winter 2010 collection. The collection featured garments that twined around the body and evoked the seven metals involved in the alchemical process. Their runway performance in New York presented looks that represented lead, tin, iron, copper, mercury, silver and gold to reach a final crescendo of a dress that combined all seven metals to form something completely transformed and exalted.

Since ancient times alchemists have sought to transmute common substances, through mystical symbolic practices, into the most precious of all elements–gold. As well, our world mythologies tell us tale upon tale of the pursuit and ultimate fulfillment of similarly inconceivable goals. » Read the rest of this entry «

Wolf headdress and socks by Topshop Unique, shirts and leggings by Helmut Lang

Wild things ran rampant on the Fall/Winter 2010 runways, gnashing their terrible teeth and showing their terrible claws.  Wolves in particular made a striking appearance at Helmut Lang in New York and again at Topshop Unique’s woodland romp in London. I’m a sucker for wolves, as many of those closest to me can attest, so I simply had to mash up Emma Cook’s fabulously feral animal headdresses for Unique with Lang’s antithesis of the traditional wolf-howling-at-the-full-moon hippie shirt to create a true Where the Wild Things Are moment. » Read the rest of this entry «

Dress, Lanvin Spring/Summer 2010; nail polish, Chanel Nouvelle Vague

I was recently visiting my dear friend Jessea and she showed me her newest antiquarian treasure trove: a collection of early and first edition Oz books, with the original illustrations by John R. Neill. So transfixed was I as I breathed in that old book smell and pored over the poignant ink drawings of the Patchwork Girl and Polychrome, the daughter of the rainbow. » Read the rest of this entry «

Still life in plaid and garnet. Dress designed by Naomi Alessandra Schultz.

Continuing in the deep garnet mood (this won’t last forever; Spring is here after all!), I give you this still life of a plaid-bedecked wood nymph on a rumpled maroon bed.  I endowed my dryad with a monobrow to intensify her gaze.

I designed this dress a couple of years ago and it’s still one of my favorites.  The actual dress, photographed here by Rebecca Teague, weighs a ton because there are about 20 godets on two tiers.  But all that extra fabric is worth it when I spin around and around…