The Mid-Century Modern Photography of Marvin Rand

I seem to be working with variations on a theme here for the last few days, with images reminiscent of summers gone by--the vintage motels of Seth Smith (here) and the neon retro signage of Kellie Talbot (here). So along the same lines, I want to share with you the vintage photography of Marvin Rand who captured images of Mid-Century architecture--both commercial and residential--in and around Los Angeles during this lovely post-war time period.

Rand started his studio in 1950 photographing products for advertising campaigns but soon switched to architectural photography, chronicling the exciting boom in building that Los Angeles experienced in the 50s and 60s. His sense of California modernism is now available for all to see in a beautiful book called CALIFORNIA CAPTURED by Marvin Rand available through Phaidon books, linked below.

Top to bottom: Tiny Naylor's; Capitol Records building; Cinerama; Equitable; Honnold and Rex building; LAX; Pereira Residence; Steeves Residence; Stone Stuart Pharmaceutical Offices

http://www.phaidon.com/store/architecture/california-captured-9780714876115/

BEAUTY: Interior Design--A Cevicheria by Antonio Martins

Interior designer Antonio Martins designed a fantastic little restaurant in Lisbon, Portugal called A Cevicheria. Specializing in seafood, the restaurant sports a whimsical, giant octopus in the central dining area. The iron doors with laser cut images of fish and fowl are reminiscent of an Escher print. And I love how Martins used a blue and white color palette which not only evokes the sea but also references the azulejos, traditional Portuguese tin-glazed ceramic tiles which are always in blue and white...

https://www.facebook.com/ACevicheriaChefKiko/
http://www.antoniomartins.com/

Serge Lutens

In anticipation of Paris Fashion Week for men which begins today, let's take a look at one of France's most interesting designers...

Serge Lutens is not only a fashion designer but a photographer, filmmaker, hair stylist, and, most famously, a perfume art-director as well. In the 1980s, the Japanese beauty product company Shiseido hired Lutens to develop their product image for Europe and North America. What resulted was an astounding output of package design, make-up design, art direction, set design, and commercial direction. His make-up creations and styling tended toward a pale white face with dramatic dark colors on the eyes and lips, a look that fit well with traditional Japanese ideas of beauty. These highly stylized, nearly hallucinogenic commercials for Inoui, a Shiseido brand, owe a debt to the magical film work of the great Jean Cocteau.

Lutens also directed a very memorable commercial for Jun Ropé, the Japanese fashion brand. I find this one to be the spookiest of the lot. There is something inexplicable and dream-like about the positioning of the woman in the car--she is presented almost like a cardboard cutout, all torso and no lower extremities; see how she is facing the window as if she has no lower body. The sheer nylon around her head gives her an unsettling, ghostly appearance. And the final tableau of the couple in the backseat, staring disconnectedly out toward nothing, seems so frozen and stiff...a cold approximation of what that moment could be. It gives me goosebumps every time.

Lutens is alive and well, and has created over fifty scents for his own perfume empire, Les Salons du Palais Royal.

http://www.sergelutens.com/