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/

Sanctuary/Compassion

“We must remind ourselves that in uncertain times our own steadiness can become a sanctuary for others.”
--Jack Kornfield

Painting by Truls Espedal

"Compassion asks us to look into our own hearts, discover what gives us pain, and then refuse, under any circumstance whatsoever, to inflict that pain on anybody else."
--Karen Armstrong

"Girl Feels Good" by FKA Twigs

OK, so blown away...by this incredible track from FKA Twigs' (previously) new album "Eusexua." This song "Girl Feels Good" sounds like a lost track from Madonna's phenomenal "Ray of Light" and I love it. So much.

"Your mother’s sister’s lover’s heart is where there’s healing."
Yes.

I fear the man
Who finds himself lost
In tales of war delusions of more
Beautiful boys
I wish you knew how precious you are
Your mother’s sister’s lover’s heart is where there’s healing

When a girl feels good
It makes the world goes round When the night feels young You know she feels pretty
A girl feels good
And the world goes round Turn your love up loud
To keep the devil down

When a girl feels good You’ll know
When a girl feels good You’ll know

When a girl feels good
She’s gonna keep you around When a girl feels good You’ll know

My city guy
Your boots on the gass of life Hurry up baby take your time Don’t wanna force it
Want u to touch it

My sweet demise
A man who doesn’t know his mind It’s okay baby take your time We’re gonna make it
Wanna enjoy it

When a girl feels good
It makes the world goes round When the night feels young You know she feels pretty
A girl feels good
And the world goes round
So turn your love up loud
To keep the devil down

When a girl feels good You’ll know
When a girl feels good You’ll know

When a girl feels good
The honey bees to the flower When a girl feels good You’ll know


Twigs made an appearance at the most recent Rick Owens show in Paris, for his Fall Winter '25-'26 collection...wearing amazing Owens boots.

https://eusexua.fkatwi.gs/

"It's A Mirror" by Perfume Genius

Holy crap. What a shattering video and song from Perfume Genius (the nom de musique of Mike Hadreas), previously here. "It's A Mirror" is lyrical, and dare I say folky but with an urgent edge--he has never sounded better. And the video...well, the video...I mean...wow...pretty much every hair-raising, harrowing frame is chock-a-block with symbolism.

What do you get from the stretching horizon
That you’d leave me spiraling with no one to hold?
Combing the floor with the light from a cigarette
Something was making you sick in our home
It’s a mirror down

What do I get out of being established?
I still run and hide when a man’s at the door
Polishing boots down a line in the basement
When I should be riding outside on my own
It’s a mirror down

It’s a mirror, holy terror
Taking focus off the horizon
It’s a chorus reaching for us
Swarming locusts wherever you go

It’s a siren, muffled crying
Breaking me down soft and slow
It’s a diamond, my whole life is
Open just outside the door
It’s a mirror down

Can I get off without reliving history
And let every echo just sing to itself?
Can I move on without knowing specifics
While memories hum like a hive shaken out?

It’s a mirror, holy terror
Taking focus off the horizon
It’s a chorus reaching for us
Swarming locusts wherever you go
It’s a siren, muffled crying
Breaking me down soft and slow
It’s a diamond, my whole life is
Open just outside the door
It’s a mirror down

His new album "Glory" featuring this song is out March 28, 2025.

https://perfumegenius.org/

BEAUTY: Clothing--Misc. Paris Fashion Week

Paris Fashion Week showcasing collections for the '25'-26 Fall and Winter season wrapped and here are a few details that caught my attention:

Gloriously wide trousers at Dior Homme.

Chitose Abe's brand Sacai showed a collection that was inspired by children's author Maurice Sendak's classic book "Where The Wild Things Are." There were only a few pieces that spoke directly (an image of one of the Wild Things) or even indirectly (jackets with wooly fur like a Wild Thing) to Sendak's work...the rest was a collaboration with Ugg and Carhartt. Maurice was a friend of mine and I think he would have found this collection very...um...amusing (with a hairy eyebrow).

Fursac creative director Gauthier Borsarello looked back to a Paris of the 70s and 80s and came up with a small detail that made my heart sing: buttons, the kind that featured rock bands or pithy sayings from the 80s adorning sweaters like epaulets, and peeking out from lapels. I still have my huge collection of such buttons from the 80s (Duran Duran, Adam Ant, Nina Hagen, "Rude Boy," BowWowWow, David Bowie, Prince, Laurie Anderson, etc.) and they make an appearance on a denim jacket every now and then.

Feng Chen Wang showed some pretty cool 3D printed shoes in the shape of a traditional Chinese dragon.

And kudos to Bluemarble for using mature models.

https://www.dior.com/

https://www.sacai.jp/
https://fr.fursac.com/
https://fengchenwang.com/
https://bluemarbleparis.com/

BEAUTY: Clothing--Wooyoungmi

Youngmi Woo said she was thinking of a return to elegance both externally as well as internally when she created her Wooyoungmi FW '25-'26 collection shown at Paris Fashion Week. She thinks the world has lost its, how I interpret her remarks, state of individual self-respect. And I must agree with her. To live a life of self-respect, of elegance, means to slow down, and to value oneself enough to live with grace and gentility.

As I say at the beginning of every fashion season, I look forward to seeing how designers take an inspiration, an idea--sometimes an abstract or complex idea--and manifest it within their medium. Like any artist. And here, this state of elegance manifested itself in beautifully tailored suiting (look at those nipped waists) adorned with flowers as a brooch, but in the same suiting material (or leather!). An elegant statement, indeed. Florals and botanicals floated through the rest of the collection. But in the grand scheme of things, the clothing is unimportant... it is the inner state of wanting to make life--yours and the world around you--as good as it can be that will heal the world.

https://en.wooyoungmi.com/

BEAUTY: Clothing--WILLY CHAVARRIA

I am pleased in so many ways with Willy Chavarria's first Paris show, a moving spectacle of authentic culture. I don't usually do this but I am posting fashion journalist Sarah Mower's review from Vogue about this show because she was there and it covers a lot of vital material in a succinct way.

Willy Chavarria
FALL 2025 MENSWEAR

By Sarah Mower
January 25, 2025

Paris got to witness an unforgettable full-force fashion moment when Willy Chavarria brought all of his friends and all of their massed Chicano and Latine pride to the American Cathedral today. It was political, packed with personalities and raring with the kind of authentic high-octane silhouette-shifting design conviction that has largely gone missing in fashion.

It is always unexpected, overlooked “outsiders” who have the power to challenge and shift the status quo in fashion. The difference with Willy Chavarria—in a very good and accomplished way—is that his moment has come as a “newcomer” in Paris at the same time as he's celebrating his 10th anniversary. To European eyes who’ve never seen his New York shows, and are fresh to his glorification of broad-shoulder tailoring, spread collar shirts, and his unique volume of trouser, or the waist-focused sexiness of a tan workwear bomber and a high-rise fluid pant, the impact—the completeness of his worldview—is stunning.

And it was the place—a church—and the timing of Donald Trump’s declaration of war on immigrants, LGBTQI+, and women’s rights, which of course super-charged the political relevance of Chavarria’s takeover. It began with men in super-smart Chicano Sunday Mass suits, clutching pearl rosary beads, segued through a wink to Chanel-like tweed jackets, celebrations of low-rider and Cholo culture, and ended with a bare-chested, knuckle-clenched ’90s hip-hop style Chavarria adidas collaboration parade—characters he described as “warriors for social justice, taking a strong stance in the fight for equality.”

When Chavarria came out, he was wearing a t-shirt emblazoned with “How We Love Is Who We Are,” from his see-now, buy-now collaboration with Tinder “serving as a powerful response to over 570 anti-LGBTQI+ bills introduced globally in the past year.” (Tinder has made a donation in Chavarria’s honor to the Human Rights Campaign). Then he stood in front of the ranks of his models as the speech that Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde made to President Trump played.

There was a wild crush of people pushing through in the dark to the presbytery-backstage to congratulate Chavarria afterwards. He spoke on the global message he is promulgating: “It’s important now to wear your heart on your sleeve. We are people living in fear right now. We are gay, lesbian, and trans, queer immigrants, the people who cook our food and clean our rooms, and we need to protect them.”

Asked about the religious significance of showing in church, he began, “it’s very synonymous with Latino culture. I really wanted to show so many of the people who have not been welcomed into the church, not only being here in the church, but being canonized in the church.” At that split second, he saw a man in a black cassock in the crowd.

“Are you a priest?” he exclaimed. Came the answer: “I’m the Dean, and this place welcomes everyone. I hope everyone realizes that your message is true to this place. We welcome everyone. And we’re glad you were here. Thank you for doing this.” And then Willy Chavarria and the Dean of the American Cathedral in Paris hugged. A beautiful, bright piece of fashion history blazed in the darkness.

Please take some time to watch this powerful, exquisite statement.

https://willychavarria.com/

BEAUTY: Clothing--IM Men

The Issey Miyake brand decided to retire their Homme Plissé runway from the Paris schedule although the line still continues to be produced. The replacement is something called IM Men (Issey Miyake Men) and their first presentation was at Paris Fashion Week for the FW '26-'26 season. While the pleats remain with the Plissé line, this new IM line demonstrates the Miyake sensibility beautifully. Garments are architectural, Asian, dramatic...many pieces were based on the idea of a square or rectangular piece of fabric and what can be created within that parameter. The resulting extra fabric flows and billows around the wearer. In fact, at the end of the show--in the video at bottom--models disassembled their ensembles into said rectangles and proceeded to run around the event space as though in flight. It is a sweet, evocative gesture that reminds me of childhood...

https://isseymiyake.com/