Fashion Assistant Lauren Deleo
Hair Sarah Sibia at See Management
Makeup Stevie Huynh at The Wall Group NY
Casting Zan Ludlum
Models Dominic, Alejandro, Barry,
Milton, Jackson, Frey Mudd at Red

Missoni F/W 2010-2011
Directed by Kenneth Anger

Entrance Romance (it felt like a kiss) by Ryan McGinley
Featuring Carolyn Murphy

The Block: How did you two meet and create We Are Handsome?

We Are Handsome: We’ve been friends for quite a while now, close to six or seven years. We used to work together at a nightclub in Sydney, where Indhra managed the bar and I was the creative director. Indhra had run Oscar & Elvis – an awesome swimwear label in its own right – for about five years when I approached her about what was to become We Are Handsome. Of course, you know how these things go. A little idea turns into a lot of work, and a lot of work turns into a little success, and so on…

TB: How do bathing suits (Oscar and Elvis) and iPod cases (People Like Us), your respective independent projects, come together in this collaboration?

WAH: For us, it’s our combination of talents that make WAH work well. We both have strengths where the other doesn’t, and luckily for us, they complement each other. Between us, we have almost 20 years of experience in running our own businesses, and we both have creative projects with varying degrees of success. While WAH has blown up in a very short period of time, we firmly believe it’s our wealth of experiences that have made WAH what it is. Of course, luck plays a part, as does timing, but experience counts for a big part of it.

TB: Why one-pieces?

WAH: One-pieces were our starting point, solely because that’s what we had the idea to do. For our prints we need as large a canvas as possible to work with, and we both see the classic scoop-back one-piece as unbelievably sexy. Swimwear shouldn’t be all about showing as much skin as possible; once upon a time it was elegant and sophisticated.

Of course, thanks to the overwhelmingly positive response we’ve had, we’ve expanded into two-pieces. However, we’d love to think that the one-piece will always play a vital part in our collections.

TB: You aim to “fuse art, swimwear, and fashion” – and undoubtedly succeed. But how does one begin?

WAH: Inspiration is always the first step for us. We are image hoarders, both of us. We gather images from everywhere possible and have folders, piles, scrapbooks, and whole hard drives full of them! Of course, one can’t explain the creative process, but once we have an idea, we explore the themes and images associated with it, and then figure out what we’d like to do with it and our apparel. Our designs always come from a creative place of art and design, and work their way through to the swimwear.

TB: From motorbikes and James Dean to roaring lions – what was the theme of this year’s collection?

WAH: Our debut collection was all born from the idea that we wanted to create images that you felt like you’ve seen before. The familiarity of all our prints is really important, even though you’ve never actually seen them before. We love to be able to create an emotional connection to an image and for it to bring back memories or thoughts of distant times.

TB: Where will you seek out inspiration for next season’s collection?

WAH: We have ideas for the unifying theme, but have yet to decide on the direction. Usually, we make a lot of images and then see what really sticks out for us.

TB: Are there any other collaborations in your future, or any plans to branch out beyond swimwear?

WAH: This is a hard one, because I’m really superstitious about revealing my plans before they actually happen. Let’s just say that we’ve been asked by some very recognizable brands and personalities to collaborate, and that this year should prove to be very crazy.

TB: So, how did you get so handsome anyway?

WAH: We’re way too modest to answer this one.

Valentino Garavani retired from fashion design after his 2008 couture show, but this retiree is far from gone. Valentino continues to make heads turn, from 2009’s Valentino: The Last Emperor to this month’s Valentino Garavani Archives.

A permanent museum based out of Valentino’s 17th-century Paris chateau, Domaine du Wildville will exhibit over 10,000 sketches (some displayed on iPads), photographs, and audiovisual documentations of the fashion icon’s designs. Marc Jacobs and Anna Wintour were just some of the many faces that celebrated the opening with the King of the Red Carpet. And come September (when the Archives opens to the public), we’ll too get to slip into the fantastical world of Valentino.

To commemorate Alexander McQueen’s brilliance, Visionaire 58 Spirit: A Tribute to Lee Alexander McQueen features McQueen’s trailblazing works alongside contributing artists like Nick Knight, Steven Klein, Mario Sorrenti, Steven Meisel, and many others.

There are only 1500 copies and each cover is wrapped in gold brocade (an homage to McQueen’s S/S 10 collection). But what makes this book extra special? The pages are made from seeded paper, which will sprout wildflowers once planted.

www.visionaireworld.com

Hey Pretty Baby With The High Heels On

When Chanel Iman walked into the office of icy perfectionist Anna Wintour, the coltish model was only 15 and didn’t realize she should be nervous. “I walked right up to her and kissed her on both cheeks,” she says. “I had just come from spending weeks in Paris, so I was used to greeting people that way. I didn’t know that this might have seemed a bit bold… The other people in the room were kind of stunned.” But Wintour obliged, and today Iman, whose fashionable names are, in fact, her given ones, credits the Vogue editor with shaping her early modelling career. “It’s funny; there’s so many experiences I’ve had with modelling that now, when I look back at them, were way bigger deals than I knew at the time.”

Since signing with her first agency in Los Angeles at age 12, Iman, now 20 and living in New York, has travelled the world extensively, walking shows for all the major houses, including Christian Dior, Jean Paul Gaultier, and Valentino, and gracing the pages of major magazines like Vogue, i-D, and Numéro. She’s been shot by an impressive list of heavyweight photographers, while most recently, she posed for Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott for DSquared’s F/W 2010 campaign, a gig she’d wanted for a long time. And earlier this year, with the help of her mom, she opened The Red Bag, a clothing boutique in Culver City. “There’s so much more I want to do, so many more things I want to try,” she explains. And since Iman just signed with powerhouse agency Supreme, this luminous beauty is likely to walk fearlessly into a few more big deals. “I want to be the best,” she says, “and I’m not going to stop until I am.”

Kris Van Assche waxes lyrical about his creative vision for Dior Homme

Images ioulex Styling Nicholas Galletti Interview Elisabeth Fourmont

In 2007, Kris Van Assche was charged with the daunting task of replacing Hedi Slimane, the man who exploded the conservative world of men’s fashion during his influential seven-year reign at Dior Homme. Van Assche (who worked at Slimane’s side throughout most of his time at Dior, and before that, for two years at YSL) met the challenge by reversing almost everything Slimane was known for.

As he upended the skinny, pulsing, rock and roll look of his predecessor, it soon became clear that the most defining characteristic of Van Assche’s work was its resistance to conforming to any predictable category. His clothes are at once meticulous and deconstructed, historical and modern, his customer neither too conservative nor too dandy, his models’ physiques neither too muscular nor too skinny. He is a neoclassicist, a hunter of poetic elegance, a man who prefers realistic fashion to radical extremism. He is someone who equally loves what is chic and what is sadly beautiful – both clowns and the elderly have been cited as inspirations.

After three years heading Dior Homme, and five years of running his eponymous line, we took stock with Van Assche, discussing the embellishment of the everyday, fashion’s craving for constant renewal, and the possibility of poetry to cure a world that is too loud and crowded with images.

Elisabeth Fourmont: Your contract with Dior Homme was recently renewed, and earlier this year you were named the number one men’s designer by the Journal du Textile. What have these last few years been like since taking the helm at Dior Homme?
Kris Van Assche: Nobody thought it was going to be easy, and it wasn’t. Those were big shoes to fill! But I definitely feel I am getting there. I definitely found my personal vision for the brand, and people do seem to like the direction the brand has been taking. A lot has happened over the last three years, not only on the inside for Dior Homme, but also for fashion and the world in general. So it took some time and courage to define the right tone for Dior.

EF: There was a witty line in American GQ about your F/W 2010 collection for Dior Homme. They wrote, “[Dior is] still very cutting-edge – just no longer cut so close.” Working with Hedi Slimane, you helped create the super skinny look that the brand was known for during his regime. How did you evolve the Dior style after the departure of Slimane?
KVA: The slim and sharp silhouette is always of the moment. This look marked a turning point in men’s fashion, which had been stuck in a rut of boring conservatism. But as the “skinny” silhouette has moved down onto the street, it’s up to us to offer something new. Fashion exists to be constantly renewed. In any case, I’ve never had a strong calling just to dress skinny adolescents. More than anything I want to dress men, whatever their age, who have allure and a certain frame. It’s from this that the Dior Homme style has evolved towards more subtle cuts, complex volumes, and unexpected pairings. The body must be freer, comfort the first rule, and there must be elegance in the soft movement.

EF: Can you tell us about your inspirations for the F/W 2010 collections, for both your eponymous line and for Dior Homme?
KVA: For Dior Homme, since summer, I have been rewriting the story of the “little black suit” which has become such a pillar of the male wardrobe. I shook it up, wrapped it in beautiful oversized trenches, removed it from its safety zone by pairing it with exaggerated volumes. The first idea was one of military coats, usually heavy and stiff, all but comfortable. I wanted to loosen them up, as I had started doing with the suits for summer. It’s a collection that aims toward a new kind of contemporary luxury, comfortable, with exceptional materials and precise silhouettes. For my Kris Van Assche line I wanted to revisit the fundamentals of the brand: soft and urban suits, cargo pants, and check shirts. It’s a pure, pared-down, subtle, and sober collection. It expresses the line’s identity with a lot of simplicity and strength. I like the idea of hybrid clothing: nothing is entirely classic nor sporty. It’s all about contemporary “real life” clothes.

EF: Your universe is extremely coherent. How did you come to develop your aesthetic? Looking back at what you were designing at the Académie Royale in Antwerp during your school years, does the thread follow through to what you are doing today?
KVA: The Royal Academy in Antwerp is a school based on discipline and creativity. It leaves a major mark and, in hindsight, I feel very indebted to this teaching. The Belgian school isn’t a myth, it exists and stands for a vision of fashion that corresponds to me totally. It’s fashion that’s long-term, independent, sober, and creative, avoiding caricature and precious details. Still today, my work is a reflection of that state of mind that I meld with what’s dubbed “Parisian chic.” This highly fertile interaction allows me to overturn the classics, and to invent a new elegance.

EF: Your models have a very particular look, a bit more athletic than many male models, but not overly-sculpted. You find many of them in places like Argentina and Brazil, correct? What is it that you are looking for in a model?
KVA: Balance, a look, a personality. I’m not systematically drawn to the top stunning guys, I prefer to create a casting that really reflects the spirit of the collection. The boys I choose look like young men, not adolescents. My clothes require a balanced body, with shoulders and a well-carried head. The general sense of coherence is more important than the colour of their hair or skin. However, when it comes to my castings, I’ve left South America behind in favour of Russia. I don’t have any go-to country, I’m open to all types of physiques. And in a way it is important to change directions from time to time, just to keep a fresh eye. I guess it is a constant search for the right balance of modernity and elegance.

EF: I read in another interview that you are inspired by the chicness of elderly people. That combination of care for how they look, and the disconnect in the way they mix pieces from different time periods, so that everything is pleasingly a bit off. How do those particular qualities that you like in elderly people translate into your work?
KVA: Paying attention to one’s look without being precious about it. Certain older people have been known to keep this extreme sense of elegance, one that’s detailed and precise but which owes nothing to the female wardrobe. It’s a type of un-neglected masculinity, that of a man who takes care to look good. This mindset is essential to me, as it melds masculinity and sophistication.

EF: Could you speak a bit about your grandmother and how she influences you?
KVA: She showed me how to embellish the everyday, that poetry was everywhere. The fact that a little extra effort makes all the difference. She is the definition of aesthetic living.

EF: You’ve lived in Paris for over a decade now. What neighbourhoods inspire you here?
KVA: I don’t really feel inspired by Paris as a city… I get inspired by personalities, but they can live anywhere.

EF: We loved your Kris Van Assche collection for women. Can you tell us a bit about the choice to suspend the line?
KVA: At the Academy in Antwerp I only did women’s collections. As a result, when I set up my own Kris Van Assche brand, it was always my intention to develop a women’s line in parallel with the men’s. The only thing I’m lacking is enough time to do it the way I want to. It’s on hold, and I will get around to organizing myself properly to get it going again. It’s only a matter of time.

EF: Each year you put forth four collections: two for Dior Homme and two for your own men’s line. How do you reconcile the time it takes to prepare these different collections?
KVA: It’s an unstoppable machine with an organization that seeks to avoid any unpleasant surprises. My teams are the essential backbone. Also, I am quite obsessive about organization… I hate being late and I don’t like people who are. I do not function under last minute pressure like some people do. After a show, I do take some days off, but never really long, and usually I try to combine rest and research. I like the idea of using as much time as I can in between shows to develop ideas. This discipline allows me to stay relatively calm under pressure.

EF: Can you tell us a bit about your “Poète en Grève” exposition in Paris last fall? Do you see yourself as a poet of the quotidian? This may sound a bit heavy, but what do you think is the role of poets in our society today?
KVA: I’m not a poet in the strict sense of the term, but I’m searching for beauty in my own way. This installation reflected my most profound questioning, and my worries about the deaf and blind world in which we live. Poetry today must be preserved. Not only in books and through the words of poets, but also inside those who create and who desire freedom of expression. In this sense I guess I’m a hunter of the poetic.

Siki Im

With a second collection under his belt, the German-born architect (Im studied at London’s Oxford School of Architecture) turned menswear designer impresses us with his literary inspirations.

The Block: Did you always know you’d be in fashion?

Siki Im: No, it was really pure accident. It fell on my lap. I tried to be open about it and went with the flow.

TB: Fall/Winter 2010 was inspired by American Psycho, can you explain the inspiration?

SI: Well, before and while developing my Fall/Winter 2010 Collection, we were in the midst of a crisis – maybe even the lowest point. Reading the paper every day, the media really knew how to ignite fear. So I thought how could I use this notion of fear and destruction and turn it into something more poetic and hopeful. In American Psycho the main protagonist is a metaphor of the elite, the vain, the non-individual coping with reality and surreality. It’s almost, also, a metaphor for the fall of Wall Street. This theme provoked the thought of what the new financier would look and feel like.

TB: Can you tell us a bit about your collaboration with accessories designer Made By Eugene (also featured in your F/W 10 campaign)?

SI: We have been friends and I always liked his stuff. Out of the blue he asked me to do a collaboration, and that’s when it all started.

TB: Spring 2010 was also inspired by a novel, Lord of the Flies; which novel will inspire your 2011 Spring collection?

SI: Several. And I can tell you that the theme will be about immigrant youths in European cities.

TB: On the topic of novels, what are you currently reading?

SI: The Cultures of Globalization by Fredric Jameson, In Praise of Shadows by Junichiro Tanizaki, and Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky.

TB: What’s next for the brand?

SI: At the end of June we are going to Paris for Men’s Market. Making great shoes out of Italy. And some great collaborations to come.

A New Era – Siki Im F/W 2010
Directed by Robert Hamada

Painted in watercolour and acrylics, Woo’s series, He Wears It, has Darth donning Band of Outsiders, Jango Fett in Comme des Garçons, Scout Trooper in Viktor & Rolf, Boba Fett in Supreme, Clone Trooper in A.P.C., and Stormtrooper in Thom Browne. As during Phantom Menace, we’re a little put off by the addition of Jar Jar Binks, but we’ll admit he does look smart in Maison Martin Margiela.