OMGINEEDTHISDRIESBAG!

Wow.  Dries Spring/Summer 2011.  Courtesy of Tommy Ton of Jak and Jil

GRRRRRRRR

Picture courtesy of Tommy Ton of Jak and Jil, from the Lanvin Spring 2010 runway show.  I need this necklace!!!

Heartbeats

I know that I've mentioned my love for Fever Ray before.  I have to admit, I was not an avid listener of Karin Dreijer Andersson's earlier project, The Knife.  I knew that the band had critical success, but never took the time to listen to their work.  In an even stranger twist of fate, I discovered that I had all of The Knife's albums on my iPod after having purchased Fever Ray's album.  I've been listening to The Knife a lot lately and, I have to admit, I'm completely hooked.  They are genius.  Here's the track that I've been listening to the most, off their live album, which also comes with a DVD.  I wish I had gotten a chance to see them perform this live!

Song of the Moment

Florence and the Machine - Cosmic Love.  Love this song and love the video!

Givenchy Men's Spring 2011

Oh, Ricardo Tisci, how I love you!!!  It's amazing to see how much he's growing at Givenchy.  On the female side, he went from being considered a flop after his first show to becoming one of the most influential designers today.  He had already begun to establish himself as a true force in womenswear when he showed his first collection of menswear.  There was mixed reaction to the first collection initially, but it had influence in the direction that menswear was going to take.  Now, the gothic romantic and streetwear trends are so prevalent, it's tough to find a designer that is not covering these trends in some way!


What I find most fascinating about Ricardo is that he is influenced by his own work.  The work that is done in Couture has significant impact on what he does in ready to wear.  Now, womenswear is starting to have an impact on what he does in menswear.  The collection is still masculine, but he is starting to add couture touches into his menswear collections.  The graphic elements that were such a dominant force in most of the menswear collections was also present here, but the animal print was unexpected.  The collection was still heavily influenced in streetwear, but more romantic than Fall 2010.  The skorts were a bit much, but hey, he wasn't the only designer to show them.......*cough*RAFSIMONS*cough*....Overall, I still count it as a success!

BORN FREE

Ok, so M.I.A.'s new album is getting mixed reviews.  Some love it, some totally hate it.  There's also a lot of controversy swirling around the New York Times article and her response to the article.  Essentially, she pulled a Kanye, and it wasn't pretty.  I have to admit, I was on the fence about the album initially, but it's grown on me with each listen.  I do still also see creative integrity in the work.  Is it as creative and important as her previous work?  Not by any means.  But I do think that people are judging the album harshly.  The reality is, it's still better than a lot of the garbage that's out there!


Ok, enough with my rant.  The whole point of this post was to give M.I.A. props on her amazing performance on Letterman last night!  She performed her song, "Born Free", with the help of a pack of doppelgangers all dressed just like her.  Oh, and Martin Rev from Suicide joined her on stage.  No big deal.  Check it out below!

Lights

So, I know that many people hate Interpol.  Yes, many see them as a Joy Division knock off band.  Yes, I've heard the stories about how pompous and arrogant they are.  That being said, I can't deny that I love these guys.  I do think think they've written some great music.  I can listen to "Turn On the Bright Lights" and "Antics" from beginning to end.  You can't hate me if you want, but I'm only owning up to one of my musical weaknesses!

Now that I've gotten that off my chest, I give you the new video for "Lights".  Interpol are getting ready to release a new album and had Charlie White(who directed the video for "Evil") direct the video of the first single off the album.  I think it's stunningly beautiful.