donderdag 31 mei 2012

vlisco

One of Holland's most beautiful (export) products is Vlisco. Vlisco has been designing and producing colorful fashion fabrics that form an essential part of the lively West and Central African culture since the 19th century.

In Africa, developments take place in a breath-taking speed. Therefore, innovation is an essential element within the company.With four new collections each year, Vlisco not only embraces international trends from all across the globe, but is a trendsetter itself. With its colorful, expressive, creative and quality designs it is unparalleled to other brands.

Summer 2012: Palais des sentiments



The collection for the summer of 2012 is called 'Palais des sentiments' which in english means Palace of feelings. It is inspired by dreams of exotic places, delicate fabrics and glittering golden moons. Palais des sentiments contains a lot of vibrant colors, a mix of textures and fluent silhouettes. Throughout the whole collection you feel a touch of India.

Palais des sentiments
Palais des sentiments

Some of the beautiful textiles of Palais des sentiments








Palais des sentiments
Palais des sentiments

Palais des sentiments

Palais des sentiments


Palais des sentiments


for more information visit: www.vlisco.com

woensdag 23 mei 2012

Google synthesizer

Google honours Bob Moog's (electronica pioneer and inventor of the moog synthesizer) birthday with a special synthesizer doodle. Google has placed this doodle on their homepage. It's interactive so it allows you to play and record your own songs. If you think you're on to something sweet, you can even share it with your (social media) friends.

if you can't wait to get started visit: www.google.com





zaterdag 19 mei 2012

Culture Couture


Last weekend I visited the 'Tropenmuseum' in my hometown Amsterdam. It is one of Europe's leading ethnographic museums. It certainly wasn't my first visit to this beautiful museum, but this time I came with a purpose: the exposition Culture Couture. Three young students from the Antwerp's Academy of Arts are showcasing a selection of their creations inspired by other cultures. Manon Kündig, Tabitha Osler and Wali Mohammed Barrech.

Tabitha Osler was inspired by a portrait painted by Swiss artist Karl Bodmer who traveled the upper missouri region in the 1830's. The portrait was of a Lakota woman. Tabitha's collection is  called Burning Bush. In her collection she tried to stay true to here inspiration as much as possible. She only used stitching techniques that Lakota women use themselves.
Burning Bush

The ethnic costume inspired by the portrait 'wood red nation woman'  with in the background Tabitha's collection pieces 

Burning Bush

Manon Kündig's collection was inspired by der hobuspöönig, which is a part of the Swiss culture. The costume of this man (see photo below) is made completely of out wood chips. She translated this volume and lightness in to a series of inflateble objects. The items are made of latex. Her collection is called Blowjob. One of the pieces is a inflatable skull (which unfortunately wasn't on display at the Tropenmuseum).

Hobespoonig
Blowjob

Blowjob

Wali Mohammed Barrech's collection is inspired by the Feredja Burka Mostar. Which is a traditional Burka from Bosnia Herzegovina. With this collection he deals with questions raised by the progress in modern medicine and the way pharmaceutical drugs affect our lives. He translated some of the most successful pharmaceutical drugs suchas Xanax, multi-vitamins and HIV drugs into silhouettes by blending the purpose and the effect of each drug with its respectice chemical composition.
Feredja Burka Mostar
Reset
Reset

Reset

Reset

for more info go to: www.tropenmuseum.nl (dutch, german, english, french, spanish, italian)
for more information about the collection Reset, go to: http://www.catch-fire.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Idolitryline.pdf

sugary tunes AlunaGeorge - you know you like it


zondag 6 mei 2012

sugary tunes Jai Paul - jasmine

This time 'round in sugary tunes Jai Paul, a record producer and songwriter from the UK. His sound is an interesting mix of different genres all combined to make an unique and innovative sound.
He's definitely one to watch! 

vrijdag 4 mei 2012

American Gigolo

Last week i finally was able to watch a golden oldie: American Gigolo.
In this film Richard Gere makes his debut as an actor. But that's not why it was on my 'one to watch' list. It represents it's timeframe very well: staying in shape, the social importance of the club scene, rising technology, shoulder pads, wrap dresses, high waists, loose fitted shirts and tops, close-fitting trousers, the importance of brand names and well power dressing in general.
If you look closely, you'll see so much similarity to our modern-day society, and that's not only the case when it comes to fashion.
As you may know the 2000s were a decade where the social and emotional aspect was very important. The 80s however were a decade where the rational and individual aspect were important. Society reified, people were ambitious, society's hero was the person who helped himself. This had everything to do with the threat of a potential war, crisis and unemployment...sounds familiar doesn't it?
Enjoy and have a great weekend y'all!

Some music from American Gigolo, by Blondie to get in the mood: