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The Last Conspiracy

Fashion, Features/Op-Ed

These days when fashion increasingly seems to be on one continuous treadmill, it is becoming increasingly difficult to slow things down, to approach craftsmanship with care that a well-made product demands.

On a recent journey towards the historic ateliers of The Last Conspiracy, a Denmark-based footwear company, tucked away on a hillside just outside Porto, the second largest city in Portugal, I got a glimpse into how things can still be made the traditional way. The story of Roald Nore, a creative nomad and the brand’s founder, begins with his desire to make something genuine and lasting.

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WORK:SPACE – GUIDI

Fashion

Some time ago I visited the GUIDI tannery in Italy, nestled among the hills of Tuscany.​ GUIDI is one of the best tanneries that still employ traditional tanning methods, such as vegetable tanning. I witnessed the processing of the hides and the finishing applied to GUIDI’s footwear and bags. Below is my photo reportage.

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DEBORAH TURBEVILLE UNSEEN VERSAILLES REVISITED

Culture, Fashion

I had forgotten that Doubleday editor Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis originally commissioned the photographs from Unseen Versailles by the late Deborah Turbeville that are on view at Staley Wise in 1981.  The mind at first could not, perhaps did not, want to reconcile the withdrawn, intimate vision that is Turbeville’s with the stately, public and, one imagines, rigid New York of Kennedy Onassis.

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Work:Space – Werkstatt:Munchen

Fashion

Recently I visited the workspace of the German jewelery maker Werkstatt:Munchen. Their studio is located in the center of Munich in the former foundry. Keeping with his label’s ethos of craftsmanship, Klaus Lohmeyer left the raw space intact. Hidden in a courtyard behind closed doors, this hidden gem of industrial space contrasts greatly with its clean-cut surroundings.

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Fashion Week Ramblings, F/W 2015

Fashion, Features/Op-Ed

Let me get something out of the way – though my writing is critical more often than not, I don’t particularly enjoy blasting fashion. So, it is with a certain elation I would like to report that this past men’s fashion week in Paris was one of the strongest I’ve seen in a while.

For me it began last Wednesday night when Haider Ackermann presented his most convincing collection yet. Everything seemed to coalesce – from the muted but rich color palette to lush fabrics to nonchalant styling. It was presented at the Galleria museum, and the presentation and the clothes were just the right shade of decadence, a fantasy world of the rich and idle whose saving grace is impeccable education and impeccable manners.