Thierry Mugler is a big, beefy, insect-like German whose clothes are perhaps as equally inspired by bugs as his major physique. Also drawing from the 1940s, science fiction, fetishism, and pop art, his designs were tough, dramatic, other-worldly, and extreme. I say “were” because sadly, his radical work wasn't really accepted after the roaring 80's and now he mostly produces beauty products like perfume.
His clothing has not gone completely without a home, in 2003 he designed costumes for (appropriately) Cirque du Soleil’s first adults-only show, Zumanity. You’ll be pleased to learn that he hasn’t lost his touch: the stage was teeming with men in butt-less leather pants and stone washed jeans (no kidding!), and women in various teeny-tiny outfits made of beads, fringe and see-through nylon. It’s the perfect venue for his over the top fun tackiness.
Of course, I think we all remember his work from George Michael's Too Funky video (see this week’s song) where all the day’s most spectacular models and odd lovelies walked the runway in his outrageous creations, most famously Rebecca Romijn in the motorcycle corset.
Mel Roberts’ vividly bright, playful homo erotic photography of his friends and lovers in 1960’s southern California ironically have a sort of fun innocence to them, an innocence of a time before STDs and AIDS. Ironic, because at the time, they were considered anything but innocent.
In fact, sadly Roberts livelihood and life were thrown upside down when his photos were deemed pornography and false accusations that his models were under age (they were not) opened the door for a police raid on his home in 1977.
Nearly forgotten by the public since then, when the business nude photos became more and more dirty, he has lately gained some popularity and recognition with a new generation. His work is sold at Homobilia, shown at museums (The Erotic Museum had a exhibit of his work called California Boys in 2005), been compiled in a books (The Wild Ones and California Boys) and Elton John is among his many private collectors.
Personally, I love the colors and I relish in the unashamed joy captured. I am of the thinking that joy and happy colors should go hand and hand with sexuality- but I know that sentiment isn't always shared in this country.
With the Summer Olympics underway, I should probably include something sporty in this week’s list. Honestly though, I'm so out of it with the whole thing that when a co-worker told me there were photos of the Opening Ceremony online, I thought she meant a new location of the clothing store...
Still, I watch Project Runway and being an Olympian seems pretty cool. Also cool? Kihachiro Onitsuka, manufacturer of the coolest sneakers out there.
I admit, I'm not sneaker crazy, but these are usually the only ones in the store that I totally could go for. I love that they’ve stayed true to original vintage designs, but I also love that they’ve stayed relevant and modern with their poppy colors.
The man himself, who passed away last year at age 89, was as radical as his designs. According to his company's site he spent “years in the military and having worked for a company who bought and sold beer on the black market” before he began manufacturing shoes. He found inspiration in octopus suction cups, he worked with marathon runners to fix the major problem of blisters, and he was an awesome boss who in 1958, “decided that Onitsuka should not become a family-run business, but an employee-run business. He distributed 70 percent of the shares to his employees.”
While his work is fun and imaginative, his own life was no bed of surreal roses. It's believed that the frequently used image of someone's head covered in fabric was inspired by seeing his own mother's body pulled from the river with her dress obscuring her face after she committed suicide.
Still, he ended up with a stunning career, counted Dali among his friends, and married a beautiful woman who he grew old with holidaying in Cannes.
David Hicks was as volatile as his rooms were tranquil and lush. In his obituary (he died in 1998) he is described as having an “apoplectic rage” and his wife said, ''He was an absolute volcano to live with, but so life enhancing, I already miss his slamming of doors.”
While I'm not quite envious of that part of his legacy, I've recently become very envious of anyone who can put a room together with flair for interior decorating. It may be the fact that I have a bit too much stuff for my abode or that Jim has a soft spot for plastic bins, but I can’t manage to keep most of my apartment from looking like we just moved in. I've decided to do a thing or two about it, but that’s another tale.
These images are just so fun. Imagine sitting in this corner, organizing your porcelain, or greeting your roaming peacock during breakfast in this informal kitchen at your country estate, or gazing at your Bill Blass heavy wardrobe while bathing in this indescribable room, or starting a torrid affair with a David Bailey type in this sauna.
Joe Don Baker kicks ass. Seeing him strut around the BBC (in this week's TV pick Edge of Darkness) this week made me realize my deep appreciation for the man. As my list of beloved character actors grows, I am realizing I've actually seen very little of Baker's hailed and popular roles. Sure, now that you mention it, I remember his stint as a bad guy in Golden Eye and Tomorrow Never Dies, and I recall him vaguely as Babe Ruth when we watched The Natural in High School, but I am mostly a fan of the big guy from the work he might not want mentioned too often.
For starters he is just plain awesome as ma-ma-ma-ma-Mitchell, one of the greatest MST3K episodes ever. He plays, as Time Out said in their review of the film when it was released “a big lumpy cop” who (according to the New York Times review) “spends what seems to be the greater part of the film climbing in and out of automobiles, driving automobiles, chasing other automobiles, parking automobiles, and leaning against the body of automobiles that are temporarily at rest.”
Most importantly I have to give credit to his spectacular turn as an old guy who hates video arcades in the classic, our all time favorite, teen sex comedy Joy Sticks. I honestly admire these performances, and once you see Edge of Darkness, you'll agree that there is talent and charm under all that accent and beer weight. I plan to revel in more of his talents by putting Walking Tall and Charley Varrick on my netflix queue.
My favorite album is Hot Rats, which features the amazing Willie the Pimp on which his good friend Captain Beefheart sings. This connection is how he becomes a central character in Pamela Des Barres's 'I'm With the Band', this week's book and current obsession. Reading about the way he just fabricated scenes, lived his own way, and nurtured creativity has got me even more intrigued by the charming, tall, mustached master mind.
I've really only scratched the surface, but he's created so much work that I could easily come back to his catalog for inspiration for many years to come.
Even though the Ralph Lauren look has never been one I adopt verbatim, there is no denying the ingenuity of the brand in re-imagining and selling a truly American sensibility. It's the ultimate paradox of appreciating our hard working and rugged past then making it only accessible to the elite.
Influenced by the sadness in his own life, particularly the lobotimization of his dear sister Rose as a treatment for her schizophrenia, his work is often unsettling and frank, especially for its time. As he said: "The strongest influences in my life and my work are
always whomever I love. Whomever I love and am with most of the time,
or whomever I remember most vividly. I think that's true of everyone,
don't you?
"
After a youth in Mississippi, he made his home in Provincetown, New Orleans, and Key West. Provincetown and New Orleans both honor his memory every year with a Tennessee Williams Festival, the former of which is having its on September 25th to the 28th.
