BEAUTY: Interior Design--Hendricks Churchill

For this 4,000 square foot apartment in a new building in New York City's Carnegie Hill neighborhood, architecture firm Hendricks Churchill took a route that is unexpected. So many of these of these new high-rise apartments are designed in a style that is a little on the minimal side, a little on the neutral side, and, while appointed with well-made and luxurious items, can read a little on the uneventful side. But here, the team furnished the spaces with color, pattern, wood, and an appealing artistic sensibility, mixing contemporary and antique pieces, bringing a delightful sense of life and interest to the entire home.

Photos by Chris Mottalini
https://mottalini.com/

https://hendrickschurchill.com/

In Love: Happy Valentine's Day 2025

To my husband: Happy Valentine's Day. I love you...

If I asked you now
Will you be my prince
Will you lay down your armour
And be with me forever

When you open me
All the power in me moves
How you want to see
All the depths of me real

When you open me
All the power in me moves
I feel real

I love you
Love you

When I look into your eyes
There's a danger inside
When I see the edge
I can never hide

See me runnin', runnin', running...
...to you...
...from you...
...to you

There's a strange love inside
It's getting louder, louder, louder, louder, louder
There's a danger I can't hide
Who I am, it's who I am, it's who I am

I'm in love!
I'm in love!
I'm in love!
I'm in love!
I'm in love!
I'm in love!
I'm in love!
I'm in love!

https://linktr.ee/theirrepressibles

BEAUTY: Clothing--Thom Browne

Thom Browne showed a marvelous collection at New York Fashion Week. It was a co-ed show but I featuring the men's looks below. I love the bird motif but especially love the cozy, autumnal color palette Browne used. And here are the notes from the show to explain:

"surrounded by 2,000 origami paper birds, a pair of ornithologists cloaked in hooded parkas enter wearing double-faced wool iterations of the thom browne uniform. semi-sheer argyle stockings peek from over-the-knee suede waders as they sit at their perch, a white folded desk and chairs, ready to observe what’s to come.

otherworldly visitors emerge in heritage tweeds. silhouettes descend from strong shoulders. signature suiting broadens and argyle cardigans shrink. birds of pure fantasy rendered in satin stitch and gold bullion embroidery come to life on herringbone, glen plaid, houndstooth, and windowpane checks. not a single hemline repeated. each garment distinct from the other.

hallmarks of traditional menswear tailoring reach from the outside in. suede elbow patches and contrast collars complement self-covered buttons, belts, and armbands. a tweed football pinnie and chocolate brown suede varsity jacket, emblazoned with “65” in reference to thom’s birth year, pay homage to collegiate classics. pops of yellow evoke thom’s high school mascot, the canary. elsewhere, sequin, boucle yarn, silk ribbons, and featherlike thread converge in red, white, blue, and silver tweeds.

a dynamic sense of movement reappears in tweed and silk duchess satin dresses. side swept silhouettes contour the body while inverted box pleats reveal repp stripe silk with every move. in contrast, silk trompe l’oeil dresses lie flat on off-the-shoulder origami-inspired looks backed by unfinished petticoats. in the end, a rare bird emerges in a gold bullion embroidered grey suit jacket and sweeping ball skirt draped with 40 meters of heritage tweed.

from beloved hector to the iconic mr. and mrs. thom luggage bags to pumps, tuxedo slippers, and longwings of all heights, accessories and footwear are fully realized in brogued suede with a two-tone spectator color scheme—some veiled by argyle stockings and others punctuated by silk pom-poms and swarovski crystals."

https://www.thombrowne.com/

Warning Signs Of Fascism

Time to repost this...

"Bloom: Living World" by Brian Eno

I have loved Brian Eno's ambient music since I first heard "Music For Airports" nearly 45 years ago. Another classic ambient creation of his, "Thursday Afternoon" is one that makes its way into rotation when I am on an ambient kick. And now I can add this glorious new Eno ambient creation, "Bloom: Living World" to my mix.

"As a decades long pioneer of generative and ambient music, Brian Eno instantly saw the possibilities offered by newly emergent phone apps. In 2008, he and software developer Peter Chilvers, collaborated on their first - Bloom, an award winning, generative, visual music app that can be enjoyed on any smart device. Utilising Eno's original music and visuals, it allows the user to explore elaborate patterns and melodies by simply tapping the screen.

Not many apps have remained fresh and relevant after sixteen years in the way that Bloom has. Over the years it has featured in films and television, gained new features, and spawned an extended 10-year anniversary edition, Bloom: 10 Worlds which introduced 10 new realms to further explore. Bloom: Open Space premiered in The Transformatorhuis in Amsterdam in February 2018. The installation was Eno's first foray into augmented reality with a generative music experience in situ using the HoloLens.

In Bloom: Living World, Brian Eno has reimagined Bloom as a studio work, applying treatments to an hour long recording and adding subtle sonic touches. It is accompanied by Bloom: Small World, which encapsulates the whole experience into a concise 5 minutes and thirty four seconds. Originally released in October 2024 as an Amazon Original, it surpassed 17 million streams in its first three months, and will now be released on all digital music services on January 31, 2025.

Accompanying the music is an original video edit, also generated from the app."

https://www.brian-eno.net/

Currently listening to...

...this beautiful song "Say Goodbye" by Washed Out (the nom de musique of Ernest Greene Jr)...

Slow down, it's over now
I don't know why you cry
It's alright, keep going now
Just leave it all behind

I hope you'll find a way
You can love yourself again
I know it's hard sometimes
If you're strong, I think you'll find
All you need to say goodbye
Say goodbye

Say goodbye, say goodbye
Say goodbye, say goodbye

I know you've tried
I know you've failed each time
It's alright, keep going now
Just know you're worth the fight

Say goodbye, say goodbye
Say goodbye, say goodbye

Thematically--and sonically too--"Say Goodbye" reminds me of the equally beautiful "New Jade" by Caribou (the nom de musique of Dan Snaith). Both are songs offering tender support and a better future for someone who needs it...

Now you’re gone for good,
Been through more than anyone should,
And in time you’ll see,
How much better off you will be

And don’t you believe what he said,
Locked up inside of his head,
You’ve got your children with you,
To give you the strength to get through.

It’s like a new first kiss,
Yeah you can start feeling glad,
‘Cause you’re not going to miss,
Something that you’ve never had,

Don’t you believe what he says,
It’s always lies anyways,
You’ve been waiting for so long,
And now he’s finally gone.

https://washedout.net/
https://www.caribou.fm/

BEAUTY: Painting--Selynn Lee

Korean-born Selynn Leee now lives and works in London as an illustrator and artist. Her series of cats incongruously wearing babushkas is humorous and sweet.

Buy your 2025 Babushcats calendar at her store!
https://cf6160-51.myshopify.com/

BEAUTY: Clothing--Saint Laurent

Anthony Vaccarello, creative director at Saint Laurent (YSL) decided to show his Fall-Winter '25-'26 men' collection off the usual Paris Fashion Week schedule (and oddly, smack dab in the middle of women's fashion week, but whatever). He staged the show at the Bourse de Commerce, an incredible circular structure in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, one of his favorite spots for shows (see previous YSL shows here). With inspiration for past collections coming from touchstones of gay culture like French author Jean Genet and the Rainer Werner Fassbinder film adaptation of Genet's novel "Querelle," Vaccarello once again looks to gay culture. This time, he imagined a fictitious meeting between Yves and subversive photographer Robert Mapplethorpe. While there is no recorded proof, it is at least possible that the two met at some point: Mapplethorpe photographed a 1983 catalog for YSL.

But it is this juxtaposition, this mash-up if you will, of YSL's high fashion and Mapplethorpe's unapologetic leather fetish wear (here) that creates the tension in this collection. Men wear blazers of boxy, 80s proportions with wide shoulders (leather trench coats and bomber jackets also make an appearance) but with black leather wader boots that come up nearly to the femoral artery! Vaccarello says it's a look "where you’re respectable on the top, but dirty on the way down." The collection ended with an evening look: double breasted tux jacket, satin lapels, but with the obligatory waders. It doesn't get more mashy-uppy than that!

https://www.ysl.com/

R.I.P. Marianne Faithfull

R.I.P. Marianne Faithfull. It seemed that for most of her life, as sung by former boyfriend Mick Jagger, wild horses could not drag her away. She survived heroin addiction, anorexia, homelessness, and near-death from COVID. But now she's gone and she leaves behind a fascinating life and artistic catalog.

I first became aware of her in 1980 when she released "Broken English," a sort of "comeback" album...or at least a "transformation" album that saw her go from 60s-70s personality to contemporary, cutting edge artist. Here she is singing the amazing, pulsing title track.

Her version of the lovely "The Ballad of Lucy Jordan" was also on this album.

She delighted fans in 2002 with her "Kissin' Time" release that saw her collaborate with Beck, Billy Corgan (Smashing Pumpkins), Blur, Pulp, and Dave Stewart (Eurythmics). Here is the funky Beck/Faithfull tune "Sex With Strangers" starring supermodel Kate Moss.

Thanks for the music, Marianne. Have fun frolicking with those wild horses...

http://www.mariannefaithfull.org.uk/

BEAUTY: Sculpture--Matias Karsikas

Finnish artist Mataias Karsikas' compelling series Rykelmä features a fantastic juxtaposition of wood with glass and ceramic. His Artist Statement explains:

"In the artworks titled Rykelmä, glazed ceramics and mouth-blown glass meet nature-shaped wood. The ceramics are mineral-like, the glass is pouring, and the wood is untreated. Instead of portraying figures and landscapes, abstract textures and diverse surfaces are drawn from nature, thus manifesting the essence of the natural world. The visual starting point for the pieces has been, for example, slime molds that grow in clusters on the surfaces of decaying trees. The viewer can perceive in the works the resin-dripping branch of a tree or the melting of a frost covered moss under the spring sun."

He sells pieces on his site!
https://matiaskarsikas.com/