Highlights From The Met's Alexander McQueen Fashion Retrospective, Savage Beauty.

From May 4 through August 7th, The Metropolitan Museum of Art featured an impressive exhibit of the innovative fashions of the late Alexander McQueen. The exhibition, organized by The Costume Institute, celebrated the talented and sorely missed Alexander McQueen’s extraordinary contributions to fashion. From his Central Saint Martins postgraduate collection of 1992 to his final runway presentation, which took place after his death in February 2010, Mr. McQueen challenged and expanded the understanding of fashion beyond utility to a conceptual expression of culture, politics, and identity.

The exhibit was extensive including, in addition to the 100 ensembles and 70 accessories, it included videos, runway photos, and a comprehensive website.
I have featured some details of the more unusual and striking pieces in the exhibit, but encourage you to visit the website to see more if you were unable to attend in person.





























Drawn primarily from the Alexander McQueen Archive in London, with some pieces from the Givenchy Archive in Paris as well as private collections, signature designs including the “bumster” trouser, the kimono jacket, and the three-point “origami” frock coat are on view. McQueen’s fashions often referenced the exaggerated silhouettes of the 1860s, 1880s, 1890s, and 1950s, but his technical ingenuity always imbued his designs with an innovative sensibility that kept him at the vanguard.

The exhibition was organized by Andrew Bolton, curator, with the support of Harold Koda, curator in charge, both of The Costume Institute. Sam Gainsbury and Joseph Bennett, the production designers for Alexander McQueen’s fashion shows, served as the exhibition’s creative director and production designer, respectively. All head treatments and masks are designed by Guido.

See more here

Gallery photography by The Photograph Studio, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Courtesy of Alexander McQueen
additional Photographs © Sølve Sundsbø / Art + Commerce


Alexander McQueen now:
Sarah Burton, who has taken over Alexander McQueen's position after working along side him for 15 years, is incredibly talented in her own right and has done the line justice with her own amazing designs. It was Sarah Burton who designed Kate Middleton's Wedding Dress under the Alexander McQueen label name.

GRADMEN: Creative Circus Enlists Creative Directors To Woo MADMEN's Jon Hamm.

As the Atlanta-based Advertising school students tell the story it all happened one Sunday night. Inspiration struck a few booze-laden advertising students while watching the ad industry's favorite tv drama, Mad Men on AMC. They decided to start a side project to bring actor Jon Hamm to speak in character at their graduation as Don Draper.



The Challenge:
To get get actor Jon Hamm to speak in character as Don Draper at The Creative Circus graduation.


above: Creative Circus students Deanna Director, David Ma & Mike Quattrocchi lead the charge

The Pitch:
The students rallied various ad agency Creative Directors to speak, CD to CD, on their behalf.

The Video Plea:



The President of the One Club, Kevin Swanepoel, even sweetened the deal with the offer of a Gold Pencil for Best Fictional Creative Director Ever:


I hope it works (although they may need to woo the writers, too). Best of luck to them!

You can see stills of the Creative Directors who joined the movement on the GRADMEN Flickr page here.

The Facebook Page for GRADMEN

GRADMEN twitter feed

Creative Circus

Steampunk Gas Masks & Helmets So Exquisite, They'll Leave You Breathless.

It's hard to believe that Tom Banwell has no formal art training and is largely self taught when you look at his expertly crafted collection of leather and metal Steampunk Gas Masks & Helmets. The masks and helmets are an impressive display of workmanship, complete with mechanical parts, fully wearable and entirely original.

A Temporary Tattoo Inspired by Pantone Chips!

In contrast to my earlier post today about permanent inking here's a much more light-hearted temporary option. As part of the Designy Temporary Tattoos from Tattly, graphic designer Josh Smith created an ode to Pantone color chips by creating a temp tatt inspired by their color chips.



The transparent rubdown is named TATTONE and uses the numbers and letters "5k1n" spell out skin:





Each sheet comes with 2 chip-sized Tattones and a deluxe-sized Tattone for when you need to send a stronger message. $5
Buy it here

To see the full collection of Designy Temporary tattoos, visit Tattly here.

A Permanent Reminder Of What Plagues The Planet: The Social Tattoo Project.

Let me say, right off the bat, that this doesn't sound like a very good idea to me. But then again, I'm not a tattoo-type of girl. Permanently inking the world's problems on one's body seems akin to tattooing a loved one's name on your body. Things might change... and what seems relevant or important today could very well be obsolete in a decade or so. But kudos to the courageous volunteers who are lending their body as a canvas to advertise their social awareness.




That said, the Social Tattoo Project is a quest to make empathy permanent by taking today's world problems, such as the recent tragedy in Norway, the earthquake in Haiti or Human Trafficking and emblazing them on your skin. The twist is that those who volunteer to be part of the Social Tattoo Project let Twitterers decide what the actual subject will be.



For each tattoo, they will post 4 trending topics on Twitter, and the most tweeted trend will be the subject of the tattoo. To vote, tweet #socialtattoo and your #favorite trend of the 4 to @social_tattoo. With your vote and their volunteers’ skin, they can make what the world empathizes with today, what you have to care about forever.

Mary gets a #Japan tatt:

Ulises gets a #Norway tatt:


A brave volunteer receives a #Haiti tattoo:



And another, a #Human Trafficking tattoo:



Learn more about the Social Tattoo Project

Kia uses Nail Art in a Stop-Motion Animation Film to Market the Picanto.

To market the new KIA Picanto, Kia Motors of Korea came up with a novel way to say "small." Using painted fingernails as stop motion animation to serve as a metaphor for packing things into a small vehicle.






The project took 25 days (and nights), 900 fingernails, 1200 bottles of nail polish and 2 hours to complete each piece of nail art.



The result is a video (cut as a :21 second teaser, a 1:13 second spot and a 2 minute director's cut)

Full version:


The director's cut, shown below, includes nails painted to call out features -like those shown below- as well as for the stop motion animation:


Images from the director's cut only:




Kia Picanto microsite

LEGO Minifigs Stow Away on NASA's Juno Spacecraft Mission To Jupiter.

Okay, so they weren't really stowaways, but certainly not your expected passengers. The special cargo - three 1.5" tall aluminum LEGO® Minifigs- left earth on NASA's Juno deep-space probe on August 5th for a five-year mission to Jupiter as part of NASA and LEGO's Bricks In Space program, a joint partnership to inspire children and broaden awareness of the importance of planetary research.




above: the Lego Minifigures affixed to the Juno probe before take-off.


In Greek and Roman mythology, Jupiter drew a veil of clouds around himself to hide his mischief. From Mount Olympus, Juno was able to peer through the clouds and reveal Jupiter's true nature. Juno holds a magnifying glass to signify her search for the truth, while her husband holds a lightning bolt:



The third LEGO crew member is Galileo Galilei, who made several important discoveries about Jupiter, including the four largest satellites of Jupiter (named the Galilean moons in his honor). Of course, the miniature Galileo has his telescope with him on the journey:



The LEGO Minifigures will help get attention for Juno’s mission to improve understanding of our solar system’s beginnings by revealing the origin and evolution of Jupiter.


above: click to enlarge and get a better look at the Juno Spacecraft

The inclusion of the three mini-statues, or figurines, is part of a joint outreach and educational program developed as part of the partnership between NASA and the LEGO Group to inspire children to explore science, technology, engineering and mathematics.



Video of the August 5th launch (on which the minifigs were affixed to the space probe):


The spacecraft is expected to arrive at Jupiter in 2016. The mission will investigate the gas giant's origins, structure, atmosphere and magnetosphere. Juno's color camera will provide close-up images of Jupiter, including the first detailed glimpse of the planet's poles.

More information about Juno is available at: http://www.nasa.gov/juno and http://missionjuno.swri.edu. You can follow the mission on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/nasajuno.

images courtesy of LegoSpace, NASA and Wired

Lightbodies by Kilu. Limited Edition Lamps With Male and Female Human Forms.

The Lightbodies are life-sized human shapes made by artist Kilu. Male and female human forms become functional sculptures when their heads conceal vibrantly colored lightbulbs surrounded by a shade.