A Klinc Above the Rest

It’s almost impossible to live in New York and not hear the saying, “You don’t get anywhere unless you know somebody.” The saying has held true in almost every facet of my life in this crazy metropolitan, and I can trace almost every achievement and job break I’ve had to random connections with people I’ve met through other people, the street, the subway, or a dance floor.

I first met Patrick Klinc in 2006 when I started working as an assistant designer for the PETROU and DENNIS BASSO brands, and trying to get my freelance modeling career off the ground. I had booked a small job getting some pictures to promote a new downtown party, but at the last minute the hairstylist had cancelled.

Nicolas Petrou put me in contact with the creative consultant associated with EDGE; a boutique filled with over 65 designers who use his talents during an endless gamut of photo shoots for their various collections. He also works as the chief hair stylist for all of the Petrou and Dennis Basso look book and campaign spreads, effortlessly creating countless high fashion looks with his expert technical skill and highly refined vision.





A few of Patrick's creations from the current Dennis Basso Campaign



From the Petrou SS08 lookbook



Patrick's styling from the EDGE t-shirt designer's FAUX lookbook



A recent test shot from my portfolio

Needless to say, no one else has touched my hair since, and in a city and industry where everything depends on how you look—every cut from Klinc has been priceless.

October Lapse

I realized that I haven't changed my massive wall calendar of Taschen Celestial Maps since August. I completely bypassed a month. How did that happen? And then I found myself getting angry last night because I realized it was cold and I missed going to the beach this year. Again. That's three years in a row.

I had a closet overhaul (zen...my clothes do not have feelings...) in early September, when it seemed like it was never going to cool down, and somehow got rid of all of the seasonally transitional clothing I had. Now I'm either too hot or too cold. Relearning how to layer isn't as easy as I remember. I'm still used to going to bed naked, and pay for it in the morning when I'm too scared to get out of the covers.

Fashion week came and went, and nothing remarkable happened. Except for Balenciaga, Chalayan, and (gasp!) Louis Vuitton. Obama surprised no one by putting McCain out of commission by...being Obama. Friends made their out of town visits, and I made more dolls. I intended on sending my older brother his birthday present and still have to buy it. September...seems to have bled into August and October. I will probably post much more over the next week or so about things I forgot to write about in September.

Now people are asking me what I'm going to be for Halloween. Thank god I thought about that eight months ago. And I'm turning 24 on October 24th, the Year of the Rat, my year. What does it all mean?? What is going on here?


Picture from a forgotten month- September, a map of Celestial Bodies

Dennis Basso S/S 09

So we survived abother round of Fashion Week. Nicolas Petrou's collection for Dennis Basso garnered several positive reviews, as well as some major PETA protests happening outside.






The looks were easy to wear, modern, and glamorous. I didn't really have much to do with this collection except order the fabric, snaps, and thread, and watch other people around me suffer. Watch the video below for a quick overview, and stay tuned til the end for a special cameo.

Dennis Basso's Spring 2009 collection

Bear Lover

Later this fall, Steiff, the world's oldest teddy bear manufacturer, will be producing a 'limited edition' (2500 pcs) Karl Lagerfeld teddy bear available at Neiman Marcus.



The bear (which is presumably clad in Dior Homme) will retail for $1,500, though will probably go for much more via Ebay. Steiff has undoubtedly struck gold- who knew that so many people wanted to cuddle with Karl Lagerfeld? Do you think the bear has hidden face lift scars?

Pretty/Trippy

While I was hustling my T's at the Young Designer's Market a tall attractive straight man walked by wearing one of the coolest shirts I'd ever seen. I didn't know what the design was exactly...a sperm whale? a cobra? When I finally had the guts to make my friend Shannon ask for for his picture he impolitely refused and told me to look up the artist, his 'friend' Si Scott.



Even though he was rude, or maybe I was rude, can't quite recall, I'm glad I got the guy's name. Si Scott's work has been weaving in and out of the new neaveau aesthetic of the twenty first century. Amazingly, all of the work is hand drawn, but looks like it was done on the sexiest Mac in the universe.

Check out his work at http://www.siscottstudio.com

My personal favorite is the True Love Swan. Goes to show that not all of today's commercial or gallery art is digital or spray painted on a brick wall. Thank god there are people willing to go blind for their art form!

Feline Affection

I recently discovered the wonders of Cat Prin, a company based out of Japan. The pictures are worth a thousand words--and the words themselves, are arguably the best engrish on the web right now.



"I am a frog."



"A spring admission season -- exactly . It is the uniform of "the school of a sacred cat"! "


Don't you doubt? "Although I want to dress with dress extravagant with my cat, doesn't a cat dislike having" clothes on?

It is impossible that continue for time long to be sure, and you continue dressing a cat. But about [ to which you dress a cat and take a commemorative photo on special days, such as a birthday of a cat, ] is OK.

Baby Boom

Oh no. Oh yes. President Jolie and First Lady Brad Pitt and their beautiful children at their chateau in France where they are planning world domination. This is too good to be true. ANGELINA FOR PRESIDRENT T's will be reappearing at the Young Designer's market this weekend to celebrate-- along with a few more surprises.

This business of selling baby photographs has not been hurt by the faltering economy-- the future Ms President and Stud Hubby scored a cool 7 million dollars -- per twin (Knox Leon and Vivienne Marcheline *sigh* the glamour..) -- for the photos. No doubt they will be donating the moola to refugees- instead of splashing it around Beverly Hills. Apparently there was also a stipulation that the crap rag also stop referring to the couple as Raisin Brangelina. Such a political duo!

I must note that it is a little disconcerting the cover photo only featured the white members of the royal family. Don't you think Maddox, Pax, and Zahara are going to be pissed they missed out on a cover shot?.....








....Then again...maybe not.

Six Degrees of Separation

I recently discovered some old photographs of my great-grandmother, the super great Mary Astor, cuddling on set with James Dean.



James Dean's young death catapulted him to eternal fame and iconoclasm, despite the fact his career was quite short and debatably unexciting. I haven't ever actually seen a movie with Jimmy Dean, although when after I saw these photos I found myself looking through more galleries set up by his fanatics-- and can definitely understand the allure. He is so brooding and sensual! Bad boyishly charming! Sigh...




They co-starred as mother and son in a made for TV movie in 1955 for "The US STEEL HOUR" and hour long LIVE television drama. The segment was called "The Thief." I wish television was still live - and I mean dramatic television - not the bloody Miss Universe Pageant. It's like free theater from your living room.

It was this particular role that secured James Dean his part in Rebel Without a Cause, which in turn, secured his immortality.

I particularly love the way my great-grandmother looked in this part of her career- although it is harder to find pictures of her during this time because she was mostly pioneering the actor's art form in the then new media of television. She is a little older, and reminds me a little more of my beloved Grammy and Moms.

Welcome to the Dollhouse

Somehow, in my recent travels to Europe, I missed London. Now, I feel like selling all of my worldly posessions for an overnight flight so I can see the monster Viktor & Rolf retrospective at the Barbican Museum.



The retrospective isn't like anything the fashion world has ever seen. Its not a stuffy old gallery filled with white mannequins and silver placards.



Its an ultra modern Dollhouse, V&R style. The dolls are crafted out of 5 times baked bisque porcelain. Their makeup and faces were styled to look like the original models who donned their outfits. The fashion house hired a wigmaker full time for one year to recreate crazy coiffures out of real human hair.





The ensembles themselves are perfectly scaled down replicas of the original outfits, some of them taking twice as long to reproduce as the original.

Both designers have were quoted as saying this is the most exciting thing they've done in their entire careers. And when you consider the fact they've dressed Maggie Rizer in forty outfits at once, painted their models pitch black from head to toe, and set off a Flowerbomb heard round the world-- dressing a bunch of dolls has been no small feat.

http://periodici.repubblica.it/d/?num=590

Hey friends. check out pages 256-271.

Metropolitan Doll

This is Snejana, she is the prototype of a line of dolls I am working on to debut later this summer, tentatively called the Changelings. She's 20 something inches of gorgeousness. Her skin is muslin, her face is hand drawn, and her hair is mongolian lamb.



Each doll will be one of a kind. Prices are available upon request. She is meant to be dressed up, played with, and photographed.



Snejana has already provided hours of fun for me and my roommate, and many unsuspecting guests that have passed through our Park Slope abode. You should see her when she gets drunk.

The Resurrection of Yang

Hello all.

Yangabang is risen. I've been busy as all hell in a handbasket-- working on a line of t-shirts, and more excitedly, my line of muslin dolls...soon to take over the world.


Here is one of the prints for my capsule collection of silkscreened oversized T's-- available exclusively at The Young Designer's Market in Nolita, the new location in the West Village, select boutiques in the East Village, and by mail order.




Stay posted....