A MAGAZINE is pleased to announce the launch of ‘January to August’, the first book from NY-based visual artist Erik Madigan Heck. Having collaborated with A on several stunning chapters of this title, Erik brings a unique visual aesthetic to the fashion world – fusing his fashion photography with an eclectic blend of landscapes, essays and other visual studies. Heck’s work has a dreamlike quality marked by surrealist undertones, an appreciation for fine art conventions, and an exploration of various photographic mediums (both modern and obsolete).

Featuring the creations of designers including Ann Demeulemeester, Mary Katrantzou, Rodarte and Giambattista Valli, ‘January to August’ shifts focus between the delicate creations of high fashion and the vibrant artistic personalities wearing them – be it the sculptor Kiki Smith in Comme des Garçons, the artist Lawrence Weiner in Ann Demeulemeester, or Gabriel Orozco in Dries Van Noten. Further chapters explore beauty in strange places – be it on the ski fields of Colorado or an intriguing study entitled ‘Return to Giverny’, interpreting the gardens discovered along Erik’s travels through Monet’s frame.

‘January to August’ is available in good bookstores internationally, or click here to purchase it online.

Above: The cover of ‘January to August’ by Erik Madigan Heck.

Above: A closeup of a floral gown by Giambattista Valli.

Above: An image from the ‘Return to Giverny’ series.

Above : An image from the ‘Tremblant Vielfache’ series featuring mountain skiers.

Above: A watercolour painting from the ‘Felicity Brown and the end of Spring’ series.

The veritable melting pot of aesthetics from our past curators & other ‘A’ contributors has inspired this weekly curation of items, with a showcase of one designer for women or men here in the new A BOUTIQUE.

Deconstructing a look straight from the runway, A BLOG CURATED BY offers you an exclusive selection of ready-to-wear garments thanks to thecorner.com.

For the Spring Summer 2011 mens show, Ann Demeulemeester asked her audience to ‘shine your light’, offering a small torch to each guest to join the spotlights that circled the catwalk of models – clad in sharp, slim tailoring reminiscent of fencing attire, entirely tinted in shocking white or inky black.

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ANN DEMEULEMEESTER MENS SPRING SUMMER 2011

Click the images to shop

1. Fencing Jacket

2. Cummerbund Belt

3. Casual Trousers

4. Riding boot

All items available (at time of publishing) on thecorner.com.

On a bright Tuesday afternoon in New York’s West Village last week, the photographer Erik Madigan Heck sat with conceptual artist Lawrence Weiner to conceive this intimate portrait series. Dressing the artist in a selection of garments from the recent collection FW11 of Belgian designer Ann Demeulemeester (a devoted follower of Weiner’s work), Heck once again spins a web of delightful coincidence and character. The clothes transform Weiner into a modern-day sage; with the dusty grandeur of Demeulemeester’s greatcoats, leather gauntlets and unkempt layers amplifying his own aura with a sincere gravity.

Inspired in his layout by the Catalogue Raisonne for Alfred Steiglitz (produced by the Metropolitan Museum), Heck has worked in an indexical and encyclopedic manner when collating the images. Eschewing the traditional photographic monologue, he has placed diptychs and triptychs and four framed images all together (with time stamps, and locations), to read as a miniature index of the day.

The series is presented in exclusivity here on A BLOG curated by, and at www.nomenusquarterly.com.

With her signature plumage aligned as though ammunition in a bullet strap, Ann Demeulemeester delivered an intense show in Paris today – in swathes of inky textures applied with both a light and heavy hand.

Amidst the wooden columns of the Couvent des Cordeliers, Ann’s girls glided to the lilting piano of the French composer Erik Satie with switches of horsehair woven through their own – jutting out at odd angles, crowning them with a sort of gothic tiara. Casting her eye upon the waist and neck as focal points for an array of formidable jackets, Ann laced heavy hides or velvet on the vertical and horizontal, wrapping corset belts around the hips as gauntlet gloves fell loose at the wrist.

An elaborate climax arrived in blood-tipped goat fur, cascading in rich layers in a high-necked jacket or coat and even a flowing skirt. It most literally captured Ann’s animal mythology that was present throughout the show – her idea of the faun (half-man, half-goat) was animated here with an intense visual impact. She swiftly pared back to a finale of spare, deconstructed tailoring and evening dresses on bare skin, accented by feathery artillery and horsehair fringing. This was surely one of Ann’s most exciting, adrenalin-fueled collections to date, and proof of the relevance that Ann’s intimate stories continue to hold within the fashion fray.

2 MIN BACKSTAGE WITH ANN DEMEULEMEESTER – A short film by Erik Madigan Heck

On the occasion of Ann Demeulemeester Men’s Fall Winter 2011-2012 Show, Paris
With an original score by Marsen Jules

In an exclusive collaboration with Nomenus Quarterly and A Magazine.

Following in the footsteps of contemporary artists such as Tacita Dean, TJ Wilcox, and Matthew Buckingham, Erik Madigan Heck explores the physical implications of film and it’s narrative possibilities in an ever expanding digital age.  For his ongoing project Nomenus Quarterly, Erik revisits physical mediums for the intention of the final result only being displayed digitally.

In this short observational film, Heck observes the preparation of the models before their runway appearances at Ann Demeulemeester’s Fall 2011 show. Layers of Super 8mm film overlap and dissolve into one another – an echo of the delicate manes of horsehair Ann wove into the boy’s fringes. The focus of the quiet and haunting film lies in the details of the faces of the men, and conversations that are replaced by composer Marsen Jules’ atmospheric soundscape.

Read our interview with Erik on AnOther Current

With thanks to Michele Montagne & the BVBA32 for their support.

After the defiant switch of white for black in the monochrome starkness of Ann Demeulemeester‘s recent ‘two-tone’ menswear show, we have been left wondering how this conceit would translate into her womens collection. Use the same trick? That would be too obvious. Instead she blended the two opposites to offer us ‘graphic abstraction’ – a simple term, that for Ann wholly encapsulated her astringent offering for Spring Summer 2011.

Disrupting the traditional lines of her long, slim silhouette, these graphic abstractions came thick and fast in the form of shadowy geometric prints and top-stitched breastplates – buckled around the torso like strait-jackets. The first few echoed linings and internal shoulder constructions turned inside out. Several of the flat pieces were cut in a curve at the navel, arching up to carve a delicate frame around the shoulders. Cummerbund belts nipped in the waist over trim blazers, some intricately folded into double-breasted styles that fanned out at the hip.

Long columns of silk and gauzy cotton wound around the body forming jackets and blouses, wrapping the neck in an elegant high collar accented with contrast quilting. Miniskirts and cropped trousers were cut in supple, papery leather, as was a floor length tailed skirt that scooped up one thigh and hung loose down its other side.

A sliver of fine chainmail wrapped across the eyes pronounced the single form of accessory for Ann’s sharp, labyrinthine garments – in a distinct departure from last season’s exotic plumage and heavy silverware that adorned both wrist and neck. Shoes retained a honed point, in both an acute ankle boot and velcro-strapped sandal – further exploring the rather surgical whiteness that clung to many looks.

Scoring the parade with the meandering piano of Alexandre Desplat’s Gnossiennes No. 1 Lent suffused with the pulsing strings of Fanes d’Automne by German composer Marsen Jules, Ann orchestrated a clever balance of urgency and resistance – ensuring as always that her alarming contrasts and sometimes chaotic structures remained soulful and true to her inimitable signature.

Last thursday, Tokyo institution Lift opened the doors to their newly refurbished Lift Étage boutique in Daikanyama, celebrating the renovation with an exquisite temporary installation of hand portraits. Founders Minami and Masahiro Tsunoda collected a series of over twenty five photographs from their exclusive list of avant-garde designers, with the only conditions being ‘a black and white image of your hand’.

Their images came in from across the globe with many creative, sensual interpretations of Lift’s concept. From Ann Demeulemeester‘s crisp white table cloth and her porcelain hand grasping a feather, to Rick Owens’ lavish fur background and the gnarly, adorned hands of his wife Michele Lamy dipped in tar, a wide range of aesthetics have been broadcast through this seemingly narrow slate. Choosing to represent their profession, some designers toyed with the tools of the trade, grasping thimbles, fabric, and dressmaking pins (in the case of Dries Van Noten, above).

The overall effect is emotive and somewhat imposing, especially considering the dramatic highlight of Masahiro’s own hand, carved into a 2m high wooden sculpture that stands at the store’s new entrance.

Masahiro Tsunoda talks about the ‘Hand Portraits’ exhibition:

Individuals have their own icons. It can be a face, fingerprint… In opening this installation, we have put focus on “hands” as they form very important part of designs of the creators. We create sketches, write research reports, and make art works through this privilege we are born with. Each hand is different from one another, making it our biggest symbol of identity. Unfortunately, the image of hands, in other words, “the icon of creation”, is slowly fading away from people’s minds. To remind this maximum, but minimum source of creation we would like to present art exhibition created via the icon of individual people.

Participating designers:

CAROL CHRISTIAN POELL / UNITED NUDE / REINHARD PLANK / DRIES VAN NOTEN / ANN DEMEULEMEESTER /INES KAAG & DESIREE HEISS BY BLESS / KIMINORI MORISHITA BY 08 SIRCUS / SYBILLE WALTER & SAMUEL DRIRA BY ENCENS / JAS MB /MAURIZIO AMADEI BY m.a+ / STEPHAN SCHNEIDER / INCANATION / RUGGERO GUIDI BY GUIDI / DAMIR DOMA / GIORGIO BRATO / ISSEI AND SUSANNA BY LUMEN ET UMBRA / CORNELIAN TAURAS TEAM / TOMOAKI OKANIWA BY THE VIRIDI-ANNE / YOKO ITO BY INDIVISUAL SENTIMENTS / MIHARA YASUHIRO / OLIVIER THEYSKENS BY MONIKA BIELSKYTE / ALESSANDRO TINELLI / GUSTAVO LINS / ALEXANDER FIELDEN / RYUSAKU HIRUMA BY SAK / RICK OWENS / LUTZ / LUCA LAURINI BY LABEL UNDER CONSTRUCTION / LOST & FOUND / MUÑOZ VRANDECIC

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The ‘Hand Portraits’ exhibition runs from August 20th at the new Lift Étage store.

Moncheri 3F-2,20-20 Daikanyama-Cho,
Shibuya-Ku, Tokyo 1500034 150−0034
東京都渋谷区代官山町
20−20モンシェリー代官山3F-2

http://lift-net.co.jp/

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Above: Dries Van Noten’s hand portrait at Lift Étage, Tokyo.

Above: Rick Owens’ hand portrait with wife Michele Lamy at Lift Étage, Tokyo.

Above: Stephan Schneider’s hand portrait at Lift Étage, Tokyo.

Above: Ann Demeulemeester’s hand portrait at Lift Étage, Tokyo.

Above: Damir Doma’s hand portrait at Lift Étage, Tokyo, photographed by Sybille Walter.

Above: A wall of hand portraits at Lift Étage, Tokyo.

Above: A wall of hand portraits at Lift Étage, Tokyo.

Above: The 2m high carved wooden hand of Lift director Masahiro Tsunoda, at the entrance to Lift Étage, Tokyo.

Above: ‘Hand Portrait Project’ by Muñoz Vrandecic,   photo ©Muñoz Vrandecic.

Above: A view inside the newly refurbished space of Lift Étage, Tokyo.

“Shine your light”. This was the quiet prompt of Ann Demeulemeester, as written on the small black boxes given at the entrance to her menswear show at the Couvent des Cordeliers on Saturday, June 26th. Inside the box? A black metal torch, and “Ann Demeulemeester (Men) Spring Summer 2011“. Ann’s wish was granted, as perfect white circles of light bounced around the 16th century convent.

The defilé began with a grinding industrial soundtrack, with those same light halos’ recreated with fixed spots dotted down the runway. Models emerged head-to-toe in blinding white, shining under the spots with a clinical brightness. Ann’s formula of deconstructed layers held a new restriction in a uniform of precise, slim jackets and trousers held close to the body with buckled straps or a wide cotton cummerbund.

Drained of all colour, each silhouette felt surgical with sleeveless gilets and coats with a nehru collar, reminiscent of dental scrubs. Breastplates were worn over bare skin or peeped out under blazers, as a soft interpretation of fencing armour. Even the fabrics held a stark, laboratory quality – with a parachute nylon parka held tight under a buckled cotton harness, knee-high boots or velcro sneakers in hard white leather.

As the last streak of white exited the runway some applause began, at a moment’s hesitation of a rather hasty finish. The music however continued, and suddenly another boy stepped into the light in an inky black replica of the very first outfit of the show. In solemn file every look returned in solid black, with soft black leather contrasting the opening of white cotton. It was an intelligent u-turn, one that spoke both an uneasy conceit to the immediate audience and a grander statement of conflict and expectation in her narrative.

“I wanted to see what would happen, things look quite different. It’s a different emotion.” – Ann Demeulemeester.

American photographer Erik Madigan Heck has carved a sure path through the cultural spheres of art, fashion, and film in the past decade – having graduated Parsons School of Design and going on to found Nomenus Quarterly, a niche visual product that is part online magazine, part printed art project. His selective eye and accomplished technical prowess have seen him cross paths with many of the world’s greatest fashion designers, influential artists and institutions to produce the nine past editions of Nomenus.

In the lead up to his tenth magazine (released in September this year), we present these archive images from Nomenus Nº7, entitled “Ann Demeulemeester: Male Retrospective, 1996-2009″. This selection of his stunning black & white photographs is chosen from a wider portfolio that will be exhibited in collaboration with Ann Demeulemeester in Antwerp this year.

Erik’s photographs capture the brooding quality of Ann’s menswear coupled with an unbridled youthful spirit. The bright, sunny images were shot in Mourning Park, New York, and break traditional barriers of fashion imagery, with liberal use of movement, unconventional framing and an inate human connection with the subjects. Styled by Emily Barnes, the models wear a mix of garments from across the Demeulemeester archive – with dramatic woolen capes and jackets, long white shirting, heavy leather boots and a myriad of hats, scarves and other subtly embellished accessories.

Erik Madigan Heck will be shooting Super 8mm film to document Haider Ackermann’s Pitti Immagine event in Florence this week, exclusively for Style.com and for a special feature in Nomenus Quarterly Nº10. Keep reading as A BLOG catches up with Erik shortly to discuss his photography, his magazine and inspiring beauty.

All photographs: Erik Madigan Heck
Styling: Emily Barnes @ See Management
Additional styling: Jesper Gudbersgen
Make-Up: Yuka Washizu @ Joe Management
Hair: Wesley O’Meara @ The Wall Group
Models: Marcel, Stas, Ian Denig, and Scott Weidman @ DNA Models. Ariel Collins, Matthew Krause, Julius and Tripp Dixon @ Next Models. Ludwig P, Ramon and Yuri @ Request Models.

Follow the coloured chalk lines and unravel Bernhard Willhelm’s colourful maze of friends and budding cooks, in this DIY spread in NºB. Posing 15 questions each to seven friends (even his mum), the article shines with intimate moments and an obscure window into each different personality, and what comforts them in the kitchen.

From world famous French chef Paul Bocuse to the local Antwerp fast-food restaurant manager, from avant-garde design duo BLESS to Bernhard’s own mum, the characters each proffered a recipe from their own expertise – be it as rudimentary as As Four’s 1,2,3,4 coffee-making steps, as luxurious as Monsieur Bocuse’s elaborate Pot au Feu, or  as traditional and wholesome as Rosemarie Willhelm’s traditional German cheese dumplings.

Ludivine Billaud’s softly colourful graphic interpretations of each recipe are accompanied by a few brief answers to the questionnaire, that support the nature of each entity. Whether it be the collective sterility of As Four and their caffeine issues, the conservative and routine perfection of Paul Bocuse, or the homeliness of Rosemarie Willhelm and Ann Demeulemeester’s husband Patrick Robyn in their respective cotton blouse and dressing gown, we glimpse a charming new side of each fashion and cultural entity.

Questionnaire
01. What do you wear when you are cooking?
02. Do you change clothes after preparing a meal?
03. Do you listen to music when you are cooking?
04. Do you use a cookery book?
05. Which dishes do you prepare and prefer?
06. Do you like desserts? Which ones?
07. Or do you prefer first courses?
08. Are you vegetarian? Why or why not?
09. Do you like to experiment in the kitchen?
10. Which garment do you associate with the dish you have chosen?
11. Do you drink a glass of wine or a glass of water when cooking?
12. What about setting the table? Is it important?
13. Do you eat in the kitchen or in the dining room?
14. Do you invite unexpected guests to share the meal?
15. For whom do you cook (friend, child, husband, family, yourself)?

Rosemarie Willhelm’s “Allgäur Käsespätzle”
01. When cooking I like to wear a tishirt or a cotton blouse, easy to wash.
And I always wear a cotton apron.

As Four “Coffee”
05. We As Four do not know. We are never cooking but we love music allllways.
06. No, we As Four have no kitchen.

Alix Browne‘s “Toast”
08. I’m a huge fan of desserts, especially tarte tatin with vanilla icecream – which I have enjoyed immensely in many restaurants but have never made myself. Veronique Branquinho has promised to come to New York and make a tarte tatin from scratch, but I’m still waiting!

Patrick Robyn’s “Breakfast”
02. My activities in the kitchen are restricted to preparing breakfast (in dressing gown), feed the dogs, make flower arrangements, clear and clean.
07. Bread and cheese of course.

Paul Bocuse’s “Pot au feu”
02. I wear a slip, shirt, black trousers, a cooks’ jacket and a traditional white apron.
(en effet, the same type of clothing since 1942.)

BLESS SauerkrautnudeIn
06. Our cooking is based on experiments and advice.
Emergency help by phone from our boyfriends/parents occurs.
08. All of them: the richer, the better.
09. On top of it.

Dave Vanderveken (manager of Quick, fastfood restaurant in Antwerp)
Wokked fried chicken with fruit.
06. I prefer a dessert and my favourite is banana split with hot chocolate.