The Synergy Of Art And Fashion

Photographed By Pauline Forje

By Cara & Co.

If The Shoe Fits

Illustration By Ellinor Forje

This was yet another exercise. Shoes. And look, no toes required!

Always With The Drama

Photographed By Pauline Forje

These snapshots are from Manish Arora's Fall 2011 Collection Show. The event was held at L'Atelier Chardon Savard, in Paris, three days ago.

Interestingly, Arora got "mixed" (all it takes is one negative remark to mix things up) reviews last year, when I posted runway photos from his Spring and Summer collection 2011.

Two comments in particular - "Not beautiful" and "All the clothes are fab!" - resonated with me, mainly because they were each other's inverse. Bold (fashion) statements that pull in the direction of opposite extremes, is what I'm always prone to remember.

Il Faut Un Artiste Pour La Faire

Photo Courtesy Of Katarina Ringman

I'm humbled by, and eternally grateful for all the compliments I've recieved for my illustrations on this blog. I'm still an artisan rookie. But, I've been fortunate enough to have had some great teachers over the short period I've pursued this discipline. Let it be known that I pay tribute where it's due. So today, I'm proud to present the work of someone who was my art instructor at one point in time. And peep this, she's only 23 years old!

Katarina Ringman is constantly evolving. She's a virtuosa I believe (I'm convinced) to be a reincarnation of a deceased art maestro. Loïs Mailou Jones, Pablo Picasso - one of the two. Adding to the brilliance, what you see in the photo is actually Ringman experimenting (N.B, that the painting is a replication of the original motif) with a new medium. She usually works more with pencils and markers, and only recently started dealing with paint.

And, on top of everything else, she's also a pro at drawing hands and feet. I'm so jelly! What I wouldn't give to be able to draw a pair of hands and feet. I seriously considered pulling a "Faustian stunt": Until I remembered how disturbed I was by Robert De Niro's fingernails in "Angel Heart", and quickly put that tempting thought, to rest.

In Colour Where Available

Photographed By Ellinor Forje

These are additional photos from the Andy and Debb showroom, I attended (right beforeI ran into God) in New York last year. You can view some of the pieces in colour here.

Although I love attending the live runway shows, I'm finding that I'm slowly developing a preference for the showrooms. Of course, in the aforementioned events, there's an energy and electricity that can't be matched by people standing still on a podium. But when you're struggling to snap images for posterity, a motionless object can't be rivaled by a model, on the run, gone in 60 seconds.

Hi On Life

Photographed By Ellinor Forje

I discovered the boutique, Hi On Life, last winter when I was on my way to one of my favourite restaurants. That is, a food expedition led me to a fashion haven, once again. Although I have to confess, that upon entry of the store, at first, mine eyes were more fixated on the popsicle on the wall, than on the clothes. Oy vey, I seriously need to consider changing the name of this blog already! I mean, if it walks like a duck and quacks likes a duck, well then, well then, well then....

Anyhoo, Hi On Life, owned and operated by Malin Busck and Arvide Greifeneder, has the perfect eclectic arrangement you'd find in a jazz melody, something vintage, something borrowed and something blue note (you're just seeing a tiny section of the store in the photos, so you can image what the rest of it looks like).

Busck who has an academic background in Textile Economics and Greifeneder, presently a student of Information Technology, met a few years ago, while they were working at another similar clothing shop in Malmö, Sweden. They quickly discovered that they had a lot in common, and the rest as they say, is history.

Some of the ideologies shared by the entrepreunerial duo, includes their mutual interest in aesthetically pleasing eco-couture, and fair trade in the fashion industry. "We want to be an arena where people can find fashionable clothes that we can (ethically) stand for," said Greifeneder. And Busck further added, "It's also an art form to be part of change in a positive way."

Living Next Door To Alice

Photographed By Ellinor Forje

The screen print, on these tees, looks like something straight out of Wonderland.

Blood

Photographed By Ellinor Forje

The magazine "Blood" is a one-off publication by Malin Busck (one of the owners of the clothing store Hi On Life) and Sara Rossling. Their goal is to increase the awarness of sustainable fashion so that hopefully one day our planet, plus all that lives and breathes within, doesn't just waste away.