BEAUTY: Ceramics--Hylton Nel

As South African conceptual artist, sculptor, and ceramicist Hylton Nel says of himself, "Been doing this for 50 years." Over that time, he has created a charming body of work but I am most drawn to his pieces featuring script. I love his sculptures and vases, but the plates are special: lovely works of art, but I would like to use them as functional plates as well...

https://hyltonnel.co.za/HOME

"The Lake" by Fever Ray

On the heels of yesterday's International Women's Day, here is Fever Ray (the nom de musique of Karin Dreijer), previously here, performing "The Lake" from the new film "The Bride" written and directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal and starring the award-winning--and Oscar-nominated--actress and singer Jessie Buckley, previously here. Fever Ray makes an appearance in the film and I believe it is this footage we see below... we can see The Bride dancing in the audience...

https://feverray.com/
https://www.thebridemovie.com/

Happy International Women's Day 2026

Today, March 8th, 2026, is the 115th International Women's Day. Read on for information about this year's theme from the official IWD site:

When we give, we gain.

Together, let's help forge gender equality through abundant giving.

The IWD 2026 Give To Gain Campaign encourages a mindset of generosity and collaboration.

Give To Gain emphasizes the power of reciprocity and support. When people, organizations, and communities give generously, opportunities and support for women increase. Giving is not a subtraction, it's intentional multiplication. When women thrive, we all rise.

Whether through donations, knowledge, resources, infrastructure, visibility, advocacy, education, training, mentoring, or time, contributing to women's advancement helps create a more supportive and interconnected world.

What will you Give to Gain gender equality?

Visit the International Women's Day website to learn more:
https://www.internationalwomensday.com/

BEAUTY: Drawing and Digital Art--Toshihiko Okuya

The thoughtful work of Japanese artist Toshihiko Okuya is entirely engaging. He imports pencil drawings into a digital format and adds color. The results are fascinating. I see echoes of so many great artists in his work: Miro, Bacon, Picasso, Klee...

Top to bottom: 190818; study #015 (story of t he family); study #073; study #115; study #117; study #141 (dancers); study #153; untitled; visitor; wednesday woman

https://quinbaya.com/okuya/#
https://www.tumblr.com/toshihiko-okuya

Purchase prints here!
https://okuya-art.stores.jp/

BEAUTY: Clothing--Rick Owens

Regular readers know that when I share haute couture, I generally post coverage of men's clothing during Fashion Weeks, and only houses that are on-calendar, with a few exceptions. But this ethereal FW '26-'27 womenswear collection my beloved Rick Owens just showed is amazing. And I need to share it.

Titled "Tower," it is the companion show to his menswear show of the same name (each season he titles his men's and women's collections the same). Feminine, yet savage--a pleasing combo. But I mean, come on...just look at the structure and volume.
Structure. And. Volume.

https://www.rickowens.eu/

"Helios" by Luke Jerram

I would love to see this amazing art installation is person! This enormous representation of our star is a companion piece to one of the moon that artist Luke Jerram created in 2017, previously here.  Of this current creation, the artist's website says:

Helios is a touring artwork of the Sun by UK artist Luke Jerram.

Measuring seven metres in diameter, the artwork features 72dpi detailed imagery* of the Sun’s surface. At an approximate scale of 1:200 million, each centimetre of the internally lit spherical sculpture represents 2000km of the Sun’s surface.

It is very dangerous to look at the Sun directly as it can damage our eyesight, so Helios provides a safe opportunity for the public to get up close to, and inspect its extraordinarily detailed surface, including sunspots, spicules and filaments. The sculpture also features the source of the solar flares which caused the Northern lights to be visible from the UK in May 2024.

As well as highlighting the science of the Sun, the artwork allows us to consider its importance in all our lives; for light, warmth, energy for our planet and how our nearest star has inspired culture and religion throughout history, all around the world.

The installation is a fusion of solar imagery, animated lighting and a specially created surround sound composition by Duncan Speakman and Sarah Anderson.

Over its lifetime, Helios will be presented in a number of different locations worldwide, both indoors and outdoors, so altering the experience and interpretation of the artwork. As it travels from place to place, it will collect personal responses, stories and mythologies, as well as highlighting the latest solar science.

Helios also acts as a venue, enabling hosts to create their own programme of Sun inspired events and activities to take place beneath the artwork, including orchestral and choral performances; space science lectures by astronauts; environmental and wellbeing discussions with scientists and activists; yoga; poetry readings; dance and theatre performances.

Helios, in ancient Greek mythology, is the god who personifies the Sun. He drove a four-horse chariot across the sky each day, giving the earth its hours and seasons.

*The imagery for the artwork has been compiled using approximately 400,000 photographs of the Sun provided by Astrophotographer Dr Stuart Green (taken between May 2018 to June 2024) and NASA observations of the Sun, with guidance from solar scientist, Professor Lucie Green of University College London (UCL).

Photo by Bec Hughes

Detail of the surface of Helios

Photo by Hugh Mothersole

Photo by James Dobson

Helios in Bath Assembly Rooms, England, Photo by Thomas Greetham

Helios at the Old Royal Naval College, London

Dinner under Helios

Silent disco under Helios by Jolade Olusanya

For the touring schedule, check Luke Jerram's site below:
https://my-helios.org/

Just finished reading...

"Giving Up Is Unforgivable: A Manual for Keeping a Democracy" by Joyce Vance (a Distinguished Professor of the Practice of Law at The University of Alabama, and former U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama from 2009 to 2017 appointed by Obama).

A friend of mine gave me her copy of this uplifting book to read, saying that she found it to be a helpful antidote to the fear and disappointment many of us in the former United States of America are living with. And she was right, it was wonderful to be reminded that the government is not broken, the principles are not broken, Congress is not broken, the Supreme Court is not broken, the office of the President is not broken, the concept of Democracy itself is not broken...these things remain whole, innocent, waiting to be used in an ethical, moral way. It is some of the people within these positions and institutions that are broken. The bedrock is intact. But we the people have the power and obligation to remove and replace the broken ones with those who believe in the Constitution, Democracy, and the ideals of what we can continue to achieve as a Nation.

The book's blurb says:

We’re in this together.

For the past several years, Joyce Vance has signed off posts on her chart-topping Substack, "Civil Discourse", with these four words. In that time, she has guided readers through a continued erosion of democratic norms, the unprecedented felony conviction of an ex-president, and the constitutionally calamitous beginning to the second Trump administration. Here, Vance offers a blueprint for avoiding burnout and despair, and for strengthening our democratic muscle.

Giving Up Is Unforgivable is a clarion call to action, putting our current crisis in historical context and sketching out a vision for where we go next. Vance’s message is hopeful at its heart, even as it acknowledges the daunting challenges that lie ahead. She is the constitutional law professor you never knew you needed, explaining the legal context and the political history— and why the rule of the law still matters. At the same time, she empowers the reader to do something, both as individuals and collectively.

Consider this the birth of a countermovement to Project 2025, a rallying cry for citizen engagement to combat the second Trump administration and save American democracy.

Recommend? Yes, it is a wonderful, easy read: six succinct chapters allow her to make her case and outline a paradigm. If you could use some fortification against the daily onslaught of vicious cruelty and ineptitude, buy a copy and read carefully!

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/801635/giving-up-is-unforgivable-by-joyce-vance/
https://joycevance.substack.com/

"Peace Is Just A Word" by Eurythmics

...Today...the, um...



Uh, it's just...it's just that, uh...



I don't...I can't, um...



...um, yeah.

Stop the world, turn out the sun
I'm so tired of it turning 'round
Stop the world, call it a day
Leave it all behind, leave it that way

Peace, is just a word, is just a word
Peace, is just a word, yeah

Stop the world, just let it bleed
Well, we've taken more than everything we need
Stop the world, just shut it down
(Just shut it down, shut it down)
(Just shut it down, shut it down)
There's no point in it spinning around

I tell you that peace, is just a word, is just a word
Lemme tell ya that peace, is just a word, yeah

Stop the world, take it any where
It's just that, living here is more than I can bear
(More than I can bear, ooh)
Stop the world, just pack it in
Well, we've reached the point, where no one ever wins
No one ever wins

Peace, is just a word, it's just a word

https://www.eurythmics.com/
https://www.annielennox.com/

"Jamie" by Perfume Genius

This song "Jamie" by Perfume Genius is killing me.

Taken from "Glory (Extended)" out now.

https://www.perfumegenius.org/

"Aperture" by Gem Club

I am so excited that Gem Club (the nom de musique of Chris Barnes, previously here) is releasing a new album titled "Emerald Press" on April 17, 2026. This song "Aperture" is the first single. Achingly glorious as usual, Chris!

https://www.instagram.com/gemclub
https://www.iamgemclub.com/

"Suburban Requiem" by Yungblud

He just keeps pumping out the amazing songs..."Suburban Requiem" by Yungblud off his current album "Idols (Complete)" which serves as a part two to the previous "Idols" release. If you missed them, listen to his past tracks "Ghosts" here, and "Hello Heaven, Hello" here.

https://www.yungbludofficial.com/

BEAUTY: Clothing--Simone Rocha

Simone Rocha's FW '26-'27 co-ed collection at London Fashion Week featured her regular vocabulary of details: lace, ruffles, bows, pleats, cockades, and the rhinestones of costume jewelry. But it was tempered with a trio of of inspiration sources.

To start, there is a story from Irish mythology where a boy falls in love with a woman and they go to live in Tír na nÓg, the land of eternal youth. Second is the Yeats family. For her color palette, Rocha looked to the painting In Tír na nÓg by Jack B. Yeats. She also took inspiration from his sisters Elizabeth and Lily, who ran the Cuala Press, a women-only arts enterprise producing handcrafted books, cards and prints from 1908 to 1940. And finally, she liked the rough-and-tumble secondhand clothing worn by Irish kids in Pony Kids, a renowned photography book by Perry Ogden documenting the vibrant, marginalized horse culture among Dublin's working-class youth in the 1990s.

I personally love the mix of high and low...bomber jackets with oversized suiting, skirts with workwear, and a trade jumpsuit but in black lace. Shearling lined jackets and stoles are a great touch. And please take a moment to zoom in on those amazing tooled leather shoes.

In Tír na nÓg by Jack B. Yeats | sold through Sotheby's 9/25

https://simonerocha.com/

BEAUTY: Clothing--London College of Fashion

As part of London Fashion Week which started Thursday, the LCF Fashion Design Technology MA students’ final collections were a delight to see. As I just noted in a post about the Central Saint Martins MA fashion program, there is an exuberance to what fashion and design students from any institution create while still in a safe space. There is a willingness to go out on a limb with a concept or idea, no matter how unfeasible or unsellable it seems. I recall when I was in an interior design program many, many years ago that the most fun I had was creating interiors for completely made-up clients... I was able to do whatever my imagination could dream up. Of course this is not so in the real world: I now have clients with their own needs and preferences. And designers too, must please investors or shareholders and produce things that will sell, not just fantastical works of art. So while still in school, these students get to create fantastical works of art and I am thankful for that.

Just take a look at Jiyuan Fan's amazing carved wood skeleton torsos worn on the outside of suiting or poking through overcoats. But there are others who created garments which do seem sellable to my eye... lovely diaphanous pieces like those from Qian Tan, sharp suiting (literally) from Zeting Xu, or futuristic silhouettes from Kechen Yu. These FW '26-'27 pieces are interesting and sellable.

Qian Tan

Qian Tan

Jiyuan Fan

Zeting Xu

Kechen Yu

Kechen Yu

https://www.arts.ac.uk/colleges/london-college-of-fashion
https://www.instagram.com/qian.tann/

BEAUTY: Clothing--Central Saint Martins MA

The MA fashion program at Central Saint Martins has produced a truly staggering amount of talent, and as Sarah Mower at Vogue says, the college's "MA graduates are the backbone of London fashion, and have been for years": Alexander McQueen, John Galliano, Stella McCartney, Riccardo Tisci, Sarah Burton, Kim Jones, Grace Wales Bonner, Simone Rocha, Hussein Chalayan, Craig Green, Mark Fast, Paolo Carzana, and Harris Reed. That is quite a (partial) list and it's growing as we speak.

So for London Fashion Week currently underway, the MA program's graduate collections were a delight to see. There is an exuberance to what fashion and design students create while still in a safe space. There is a willingness to go out on a limb with a concept or idea, no matter how unfeasible or unsellable it seems. I recall when I was in an interior design program many, many years ago that the most fun I had was creating interiors for completely made-up clients... I was able to do whatever my imagination could dream up. Of course this is not so in the real world: I now have clients with their own needs and preferences. And designers too, must please investors or shareholders and produce things that will sell, not just fantastical works of art. So while still in school, these students get to create fantastical works of art and I am thankful for that.

There were many students and many collections, but what caught my eye was the mix of pattern and age in the work of Benaissa Majeri...her pieces looked like a post-apocalyptic Dries Van Noten. And Kai Ghattaura's fascinating collection entitled "Seminomadic" was filled with reworked and upcycled pieces featuring South Asian prints and colors. And Finnerty Mackay (who took home the L’Oréal Professionnel Creative Award at the annual Central Saint Martins MA Fashion press show) unexpectedly combined an historical sense in wool tailoring (I love the cut away jackets, especially the one with the pleated skirt) with rubber and latex shirts, socks, and shorts! Mackay said his collection was inspired by addiction: "I was interested in looking at it as a queer man," he said. "Substances are everywhere, especially in London. It’s such a part of the community and so many people’s lives. I wanted to look at it as a social problem, instead of a political problem."

Benaissa Majeri

Benaissa Majeri

Kai Ghattaura

Kai Ghattaura

Finnerty Mackay

Finnerty Mackay

https://www.arts.ac.uk/colleges/central-saint-martins
https://www.instagram.com/flirty.lollypop33
https://www.instagram.com/kaighattaura
https://www.instagram.com/finnertymackay