Inez van Lamsweerde & Vinoodh Matadin

If you want to escape the sun, I suggest to take a trip to photography museum Foam in Amsterdam. My favorite Dutch fashion photography duo, Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin, have an exhibition of their extensive work. I love it that their pictures are never just “pretty-pretty”, they mix fashion with art and there’s always an element of darkness in their work. The exhibition contains 300 of their most essential images, selected by the duo themselves. They choose the photographs that showed their fascination for people and their aspirations: who are we, how do we want to look en what does that say about our lives and feelings. A tiny selection of their work:

Advertisement:

Miu Miu Spring/Summer 2006

Chloé Spring/Summer 2007

Abbey Lee Kershaw in Fora by Gucci advertisement

Editorials:

Kate Moss for Vogue Paris, April 2008

i-D Magazine January 2009

French Vogue, August 2009

Lara Stone in W Magazine, May 2009

W Magazine, March 2005

Non commercial:

Pretty Much Everything – photographs 1985-2010:  June 25 – September 15,  Foam Amsterdam, entrance € 10,-.

A Secret Agent Extraordinary: Modesty Blaise

One of my all time favorite movies is Modesty Blaise (1966), because it contains all elements I love in a movie: a fearless leading lady with an excellent profession, great outfits and a crazy storyline. Somehow these movies are always from the sixties, like Barbarella or the Avengers.

Modesty Blaise is a secret agent whose hair color, hair style, and mod clothing change at a snap of her fingers. Hired by the government to prevent a diamond heist, Modesty (played by Italian actress Monica Vitti) recruits her sidekick Willie Garvin (Terence Stamp) to help her battle crafty, colorful foes on the secluded island of a suave mastermind thief (Dirk Bogarde).

At the time the movie was a commercial disappointment, but today it’s still worth re-examining if only for the chance to see Vitti in her prime, being funny and tantalizing and modeling a succession of outre sixties-knockout outfits. It’s one of the very few “comic strip” movies of the Warhol era that actually deploys a Pop Art style with some edge and aesthetic sense, and that’s campy in a way that isn’t harmless, but has some bite. But I’ve also seen reviews of the movie that say it’s an “interesting mess”.

Oh, and the movie has a little bit extra because some scenes were shot in Amsterdam, like the dollhouse scene.  And one scene is named ” Haarlemstraat 74, Apt. C”. Someday I must find that appartment…..

Check out the mad, mod world of Modesty Blaise:

Richard Avedon Photographs Exhibition Amsterdam

One of the most famous fashion photographers of all time is the American photographer Richard Avedon. His images have appeared in magazines like Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar and Life. Avedon did not conform to the standard technique of taking fashion photographs, where models stood emotionless and seemingly indifferent to the camera. Instead, Avedon showed models full of emotion, smiling, laughing, and, many times, in action.

He became the lead photographer of Vogue and photographed most of the covers from 1973, untill Anna Wintour became editor in chief in late 1988. In addition to his continuing fashion work, Avedon also photographed patients of mental hospitals, the Civil Rights Movement in 1963, protesters of the Vietnam War, and later the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Avedon was always interested in how portraiture captures the personality and soul of its subject.  His portraits are easily distinguished by their minimalist style, where the person is looking squarely in the camera, posed in front of a sheer white background. Avedon would at times provoke reactions from his portrait subjects by guiding them into uncomfortable areas of discussion or asking them psychologically probing questions. Through these means he would produce images revealing aspects of his subject’s character and personality that were not typically captured by others.

Sunny Harnett, 1954

Dovima in Dior, 1955

Suzy Parker in Dior, 1956

Marilyn Monroe,  1957

Liz Taylor, 1964

Veruschka, 1967

Twiggy, 1968

Lauren Hutton, 1968

Versace advertisement

Cindy Crawford???

I think it’s Versace……

Nadja Auermann (my favorite model ever), from a serie called ‘In memory of the late mr. & mrs. Comfort’, 1995

Milla Jovovich in Yohji Yamamoto, 1998

Malgosia Bela and Gisele Bündschen in Dior, 2000

The Foam Photography museum in Amsterdam has an excellent exhibition of his work. Go check it out!

Richard Avedon Photographs 1946-2004, Foam Photography Museum, Keizersgracht 609, 1017 DS Amsterdam, from 13 februari 2009 – 13 may 2009, open daily 10.00-18.00 h, thursday/friday 10.00-21.00 h, entrance €7,50

www.foam.nl, www.richardavedon.com

Vivian Girls: an exclusive interview

Three rocking young females graced the small stage of the Paradiso, our favorite concert venue in Amsterdam, on February 8th. Two of us were there and enjoyed their performance immensly. Kickball Katy, Cassie Ramone en Ali Koehler also known as the Vivian girls are a relavitely new band who emereged from the New York scene only last year. They quickly caused a buzz in the US alternative music scene and recently crossed the pacific ocean and let the buzz be heard all over Europe. On their fist mini Euro tour the girls touched down in England, the Netherlands, Belgium and France.

photgraphed by Ren Rox for clash mag

Their sound can be described as reminicent of early 90s twee with a hint of a 60s influence noticable in the vocal harmonies.  Their personal style is all very New York too in a way, comfort with just a hint of that fabulous vintage quirkiness. Their laid back attitude makes them blend in with the crowd that comes to their shows perfectly making the girls seem very likable(and that they are!) and therefor easy to aproach. Miss Cassie Ramone was kind enough to answer some of our questions about style and music..

3inacrowd:Do you get to do a lot of shopping when you’re on tour?
Cassie Ramone:Sometimes we go to thrift stores or record stores, but we usually
don’t have enough time

What’s your favorite item of clothing and how did you get to own it?
CR:My favorite item of clothing is my Cancun t-shirt, which I wear kind
of a lot. When we were at South By Southwest in March 2008 we played a
day show at a vintage store and I got the shirt there.

What are your favorite places to shop in NYC?
CR:Beacon’s Closet is probably the best place because the prices are
good, but the clothes are pretty hit-or-miss – some days you’ll get 10
things and some days there’s absolutely NOTHING. The Salvation Armies
are never very good because they’re super picked-through.

How would you describe your individual style?
CR:Katy likes to wear black pants, V-neck t-shirts and boat shoes. Ali’s
into wearing clothes with lot of colors and prints, and also band
shirts.  I dress halfway between a grungy 19-year-old boy and a yuppie
from the 80’s.

Cassie Ramone photographed by fairynxd
Who are your style icons?
CR:Ali’s is Zooey Deschanel. Katy’s is Ezra from Vampire Weekend. Mine is
Christina Applegate circa 1989.

What’s your favorite music video?
CR:Smashing Pumpkins’ “1979” and Foo Fighters’ “Everlong.”

Ali Koehler by fairynxd

Is your on-stage style influenced by other female musicians from the past?
CR:No. If anything our on-stage style is more indebted to Nirvana than anyone else.

What was the first concert you went to?
CR:Mine was No Doubt and the Suicide Machines when I was 14. Katy’s was
the Drifters when she was 10. Ali’s was Lilith Fair when she was 10.

What three records have been the most significant to you?
CR:The first three Wipers records – Is This Real, Youth Of America, and
Over The Edge.
kickball Katy photographed by fairynxd

What song always cheers you up?
CR:There are a lot, but Stevie Nicks’ “Edge of Seventeen” and Sophie B Hawkins “Damn I Wish I Was Your Lover” always cheer us up a lot.

What new band(s) should we check out (except yours of course)
CR:Nodzzz, Woods, Wavves, Let’s Wrestle, and Pens are all really really great.

look out for the girls on tour in the US now. Their self titled album is available at amazon.com

all photos taken by fairynxd  unless stated otherwise.