That Hey Day

THEY RODE VESPAS, DRANK COCKTAILS, went shopping, skiing, threw pool parties and wore amazing clothes. They also graced the cover of my notebooks back in high school, distracting me from class and leaving me jealous of both their glamorous lifestyles and their creator's artistic achievement.

Uruguay-born Jordi Labanda grew up in Barcelona where he studied industrial design and in the mid-90s decided to pursue a career as an illustrator. Oversized sunnies, exotic locales, model physiques and superchic interiors, all rendered by hand in a flat yet fluid fashion, became his signature, gaining him international popularity via collaborations with lifestyle brands and publications. Louis Vuitton, Wallpaper, Vogue USA and Nippon, The New York Times, Swarovski, Freixenet and Grand Marnier, among others, have all populated their pages and commercial channels with Jordi's fabulous femmes in fabulous worlds. The artworks have also made it to a credit card, a cafe, a car, and of course the stationery supplies I so eagerly collected.

Ten or so years later, Jordi Labanda's illustrations grace my tabletop once again; this time a coffee table instead of a classroom desk. The scenes are still delicious as ever, and I continue to covet their glamor, but it's great to find a bit more of the wit, and familiarize a bit more with the scenarios that I see.

In a way, I guess I've had my mini heyday. My high school self would be so jealous.

Hey Day by Jordi Labanda and Tyler Brûlé, published by Editorial RM.

That Obsession Compulsion

FEMININITY AND SEXUAL POWER may seem two contrasting concepts and yet together, they've been regarded as the qualities that give high heels their ever-increasing, irrational, even obsessive appeal among women today. Colleen Hill and Valerie Steele's Shoe Obsession examines the role shoes have played in fashion and culture over the past decade. From conveying a wealth of information about the wearer, to eroticizing the wearer's body and gait, to overtaking handbags as the most fashionable accessory and influencing massive expansions in shoe departments, not to mention tremendous hikes in price, the book provides an exploration of the cultural causes and effects of what can only be appropriately called "shoe obsession".

Presenting 150 examples of both the elegant and the extreme, the book features shoe designs by premiere designers including Roger Vivier, Christian Louboutin, Manolo Blahnik and Salvatore Ferragamo, influential design houses Prada, Alexander McQueen and Balenciaga, as well as more avant-garde pioneers Iris Van Herpen and Noritaka Tatehana, among others.

With much pride, I am thrilled to have among the stunning assemblage, the shoes I designed for Alberto Guardiani, whose expertise has brought the pair to its outstanding existence. Flutterby has, in the past year, flown far and wide, and landed on countless publications the world over. In February of this year, it found itself, along with Guardiani's Lipstick Heel, in Museum at FIT's Shoe Obsession exhibit, and in turn, the Shoe Obsession book.


Shoe Obsession by Valerie Steele and Colleen Hill, published by Yale University Press in association with The Fashion Institute of Technology, New York. Available on yalepress.yale.edu

That Arpège

"A DESIGN INEVITABLY REFLECTS the artistic motifs stored in one's memory, drawing on those which are the most alive, new and fertile all at the same time." Assouline's Lanvin by Élisabeth Barillé presents Jeanne Lanvin as a traveler and aesthete who gathered immense inspiration for her various motifs. Her office alone was said to have housed "thousands of treasures" ranging from sculptures and jewels to a meticulously catalogued library of clothing and fabric.

But beyond her marvelous material legacy, one encounters Jeanne Lanvin as an adoring mother whose greatest inspiration -that which seemed most alive, new and fertile to her- came from a much closer, more personal source.

Marie-Blanche, Comtesse de Polignac, Marguerite or "Ririte" as she called her, was Jeanne Lanvin's only child, who, from youth, served as her muse. For the little comtesse, the designer made exquisite dresses that rose to so much popularity, society women began not only ordering copies for their daughters but also dresses for themselves.

Beyond clothing, Marie-Blanche continued to inspire other areas of her mother's craft. The arpèges, or scales, she practiced on the piano led to the fashion house's hit scent Arpège, which also features on its bottle, the brand's trademark graphic: Jeanne Lanvin and Marie-Blanche dressing for a ball.

With Mother's Day being celebrated in many countries this week, I send out my heartfelt admiration to mothers everywhere, whose devotion to loving and doting knows no bounds. And to all of us fortunate muses, comtesses, prides, joys, apples of the eye, et al., may we always strive to be beautiful in the ways it matters most. We are, after all, our mothers' best designs.

Lanvin by Èlisabeth Barillé, Assouline Publishing.

Those Top Finds

ON THE TOP SHELF OF MY WARDROBE, high above where my outstretched arms could reach, I keep a stash of trash and treasures accumulated from youth, work and travel. Those from youth are aged and fragile, those from work provide me valuable documentation, and those from travel are usually still fresh in their unopened packaging. It feels almost symbolic, their being up there; precious despite disarray and far from accessibility. I need a purpose, and a stool, to reach them.

But when I do look up there, it's always an inspiring rediscovery. This book is one such, which I picked up some time ago. I can't remember exactly where, but the currency on the price tag serves as a clue, and fortunately for this wild guesser, it's not in Euros.

Fashion, illustration and theatrics on crisp, pocket-sized pages, the Yves Saint Laurent Colouring Book features previously unpublished sketches by the French designer. Browsing its selection of cultural and theatrical costumes couldn't be anymore timely right now, with my city still on Carnival mode and my mid-winter well of inspiration feeling somewhat frozen.

Spotlight-stealing fabulosity, this one's sure to inspire:

Yves Saint Laurent Colouring Book by Fondation Pierre Bergé - Yves Saint Laurent.

That Specialization

OF MY DAD'S COLLECTION of Graphis magazines and annuals, I count as my favorite, the 1968 Japan Edition which spotlights the roots of, and new directions taken by, Japanese visual art at the time. The book is worn, with few pages gone loose, but many of the photographs and illustrations continue to look relevant today, a good forty years since they were made.

Despite my having looked through, and to, this digest for years, I never actually took the time to read its articles. Last night I did, making it halfway through before falling into a pre-dinner nap, the worst thing an insomniac like myself could possibly do. The feature on katachi was most interesting, but only secondary to Yusaku Kamekura's discussion on specialization as a hazard to individualism.

It is a natural phenomenon that, as organizations grow, there is a movement towards specialization. To create advertisements, special personnel is required for designing, copywriting, photography, etc. It is now difficult to complete an advertisement without teamwork, and a cooperative attitude is therefore required of the designer. However, if a designer prefers to show individualism in his work, he will find these modern trends unacceptable. In most cases he will then move to editorial design, publicity or theatrical design, where there is more room for individual approaches.

Living and working at the present time, where this "modern trend" is more normal than phenomenal, I assess my own need for individualism. Perhaps, a kinder term would be individuality.

11 months since setting off to work independently, it has in some ways felt abnormal. But it also has, in other ways, felt phenomenal.

P.S. That's Kitty Bang Bang, who specializes in disturbing my peace.

Graphis 138/139 Special Double Issue: Japan, 1968

That Luxus

FROM LATIN LUXUS, meaning extravagance or excess, do we derive the word luxury. A concept we're all very much familiar with and yet its meaning never fails to evolve and devolve, depending on whose point of view we see it from.

Helena Carratalá Mander couldn't stress to us more when we met how she intended to redefine luxury by pairing it with responsibility. Can luxurious indeed do away with wastefulness? Give it to the artist to practice her preaching, serving us fine worldly feasts prepared only with local ingredients. After all, how much energy is consumed importing stuff from Europe?

Still hungover on yesterday's film post, I quote New York Times legend Bill Cunningham on what is truly priceless in this world: "Money is the cheapest thing. Liberty, freedom is the most expensive." True enough, the photographer beloved by fashion and society's crème de la crème chooses to live as humbly as his two-dollar breakfasts and taped-up ponchos would allow him.

Reverting to luxury as extravagance and excess, wouldn't freedom, liberty and creativity, too, count as luxuries that those who possess them indulge in? To say what you want, to do what you want, just because you can. At what point do non-material luxuries truly become excess?

Pictured above are two luxury items I wish to possess at this point in time. Interesting to know how despite being worlds away in cost, the two would provide me similar, if not the same amount of pleasure. I will buy neither of them though as money isn't my luxury. At the moment, it's time.

What's yours?

Valentino clutch, www.style.com/accessories and Piranesi by Luigi Ficacci, www.taschen.com

That Razzle-Dazzle

I WON'T EVEN PRETEND. The jet lag is taking its toll on me. Having had three days of very early sleeping times, that one night had to come when I'd finally be sleepless and still wake up hours before the alarm is set to go off. Unfortunately, I've got such a big, busy day today and could really use a full night's rest.

Yawn.

And so to provide the fabulous theatrics I can't seem to put on lately, here are some spirited and flamboyant characters from a book I picked up at the La Pedrera gift shop. Featuring works by Romain de Tirtoff, more commonly known as Erté, Erté's Seven Deadly Sins and Other Great Graphics in Full-Color collects visuals from the artist's designs for film, theatre, fashion, publication and interior decor.

The name Erté is directly taken from the sound of his initials "R.T." said in French. It was a pseudonym he took to avoid causing disgrace to the family, after pursuing a career in design over a career in the Russian Navy.

Does it look like a man this flamboyant can really help it?

Neither can I help myself from adding what just happens to perfectly capture my current groggy, soggy mood.


Still flamboyant nonetheless.

Images from Erté's Seven Deadly Sins and Other Great Graphics in Full-Color by Dover Publications.

That Individuality

IT WAS WONDERFUL OF YVAN RODIC to take the time to chat with each and every one of us who came to see him that day for an autograph. Never less than 5 minutes each and up to over 20, I had grown hungry and impatient waiting in line as he spoke with person after person after person, as if he were just with them at a cafe.

I finally got my turn and discovered that like myself at the moment, Yvan used to be a copywriter in advertising. Obviously, he no longer is one, expressing a casual lack of tolerance for the bureaucracy and imparting with me some advice about following what you love; precisely the thing that allowed him to become Face Hunter.

It would be amazing to follow lead. To take the route which most successful folks do. That is, to actually be an individual. In heart, in mind, in lifestyle and in craft.

But even some of the most individualistic thinkers too can be bound by security, responsibility, necessity. Others, plain and simply, just don't have the courage. Or maybe just not yet.

Lucky for me, this job is in fact one of the things I love. At least at the moment. Still, the future holds many surprises. Sometimes you just really never know.

FaceHunter by Yvan Rodic. From Thames & Hudson, www.thamesandhudson.com