PAPERMAG: WORD UP!

Isabelle Huppert, Isabella Rossellini, and FIAF Honor Robert Wilson at the Plaza

2009-11-03T22:44:24Z

During her speech at the French Institute Alliance Françoise's Annual Gala honoring avant-garde playwright and director Robert Wilson, actress Isabelle Huppert, Wilson muse and star of his upcoming production of Quartett at BAM, credited him with helping her become a more confident performer: "I thought I was invisible," she said, "but Bob sees the invisible." Ms. Huppert, who presented Wilson with the Trophée des Artes, was joined at the Plaza Hotel last night by guests including Isabella Rossellini, Elle creative director Joe Zee, and lady about town Tinsley Mortimer, who was there filming scenes for her upcoming CW reality show. The crew, who descended on Huppert while she was introduced to Mortimer, were eventually banished to an upstairs lobby as guests sat down to dinner. Wilson said that he couldn't have developed the unique vision Huppert noted had he not received the support he did in France -- specifically for his four-hour 1971 silent play, Deafman Glance. During its Paris premiere, Wilson said he left the theater 30 minutes before the production ended because he couldn't bear enduring an inevitably negative reception: "the French are so verbal," he explained. Wilson said, however, said he was astonished when a friend summoned him from his hotel room to return to the theater, where he was being given a standing ovation.

Photo from Patrick McMullan

Perrin Paris 1893 Celebrates Martha Stewart's Do-Gooding Bags

2009-11-03T22:06:34Z

Leather luxury goods boutique Perrin Paris 1893 threw a party Saturday night in Los Angeles to celebrate the launch of their new Beverly Hills flagship store and their top-selling Martha Bag. Co-created by domestic goddess Martha Stewart, $100 from every bag sold will donated to the cancer research charity Stand Up to Cancer. We predict, however, that Stewart's bags will sell out before then -- almost every woman at the party, which included guests like Lyne Renee, Beatrice Rosen, Candice Accola, and Lynn Collins, left the party with one. And gentleman, rejoice: Perrin Paris 1893 CEO Michel Perrin and his wife Sally, who is the company's artistic director, told me they'll be launching a line of men's gloves and bags in the near future.

"Nincompatibles" at Bowman/Bloom Gallery

2009-11-03T20:59:42Z

Three East Village legends in their own right, Brigitte Engler, Richard Hell and Walter Robinson, will come together for the group show opening tomorrow at Bowman/ Bloom Gallery, located inconspicuously in a basement on E. 7th Street. Like the relaxed and mature mid-career artists they are, the gathering of these artistic minds boasts "an absence of agenda" in the "no-concept" exhibition. Be sure to check it out and catch the good vibe.

Bowman/ Bloom Gallery, 95 E. 7th St.

Kai D.: Tools and Clothing for Artisans

2009-11-03T20:14:25Z

It's a tall order to say that any one designer is adding to fashion's narrative with his passion for the city itself. But while the Lower East Side may evoke images of the punk and street grunge movements that have overtaken everything below East Houston as of late, Kai D.'s Spring 2010 collection hearkens back to a time when the neighborhood was a working class melting pot. Nostalgic without being overly-sentimental, and focused on utility without being utilitarian, the Kai D. Collection is a study in New York's past and present; indeed, the collection is even titled "Local."

"You can't replace vintage with more vintage," said Kai D. Fan, designer of the collection. Such Zen-like statements would seem out of place if it weren't for the careful thought -- both historical and sartorial -- that went into each garment. From the vintage linen trim and burnt wood buttons of a soft construction naval blazer, to the Civil War-inspired suspenders over vintage Henleys, to the hand stitched 1/16" welts on the pockets of single-pleated khaki pants, Kai D. is not only keeping it local, but also keeping it in the details. And with so many designers crafting mission statements rather than well-tailored clothes, it's refreshing to find a menswear label that has the goods and the philosophical chops to do so.

Kai D.
75 Orchard St.
(212) 334-6241

Previously on PAPERMAG - Shop of the Week: Kai D.

Eight Items or Less: Kaws Teams Up With Kiehl's & Vibe Returns

2009-11-03T19:00:03Z

1. Kaws has teamed up with Kiehl's on packaging design for their Creme de Corps limited edition skin moisturizer. One hundred per cent of the profits support children's charities.

2. Vibe is back. The magazine returns online December 8 and plans four print editions in 2010. (via Ad Age)

3. Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade won't go down Broadway this year. The route is still down Central Park West to 59th, over to and then down Seventh Avenue to 42nd Street, over to Sixth Avenue and then down to Herald Square.

4. The seven hottest women in the world at this moment.

5. A court in Wisconsin ordered Pepsi to pay $1.2 billion to two men who claimed the soft drink manufacturer stole their idea to sell purified water.

6. Nintendo's fashion game "Style Savvy" ($29.99, via Amazon) is out now.

This Month in Theater: November 2009

2009-11-03T18:05:42Z

THE LILY'S REVENGE
Taylor Mac has proven himself to be one of New York's more adventurous playwright/performers. This could be his masterstroke. In a five-part, five-hour spectacular, with more than 40 performers and musicians, and six collaborating directors, Mac theatrically unfolds the fantasy tale of a flower on a quest to become a man, only to find himself at the center of a revolution of flowers, intent on destroying their oppressor -- the God of Nostalgia. Almost every type of theater, from Noh to puppetry, from vaudeville to dance, will be represented.
HERE Arts Center, 145 Sixth Ave., (212) 352-3101. Oct. 29-Nov. 22.

IDIOT SAVANT
The prolific writer/director Richard Foreman, maker of 50 plays since 1968, moves to the Public Theater for his latest philosophical comedy. Playing the title role is Wooster Group co-founder and two time Academy Award nominee, Willem Dafoe, who leads five other actors (two women and three men; all the men play slaves) in this avant-merriment, which includes a game of interspecies golf with a Giant Duck. Fore!
Public Theater, 425 Lafayette St., (212) 967-7555. Previews Oct. 27, opens Nov. 4-Dec. 13.

THE UNDERSTUDY
Julie White's wisecracking was so well-timed and pure in The Little Dog Laughed that it won her a well-deserved Tony. Here she plays a put-upon stage manager in a new backstage comedy by Theresa Rebeck, directed by Scott Ellis, in which she has to deal with two male actors, Mark-Paul Gosselaar and Justin Kirk (both with regular TV series roles), one of whom plays the titular character, a theater person that the audience rarely sees. Put your money on White's character to be the one still standing when the smoke clears.
Laura Pels Theater, Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theater, 111 W. 46th St., (212) 719-3100. Previews Oct. 9, opens Nov. 5-Jan. 3, 2010.

]]> THE STARRY MESSENGER
It's good to have writer/director Kenneth Lonergan back doing live theater. His This Is Our Youth and Lobby Hero were both Drama Desk nominees before he turned to making movies. In this one, Matthew Broderick plays a married astronomy teacher at the Hayden Planetarium, who meets a single mom, played by Oscar nominee Catalina Sandino Moreno; six other actors round out the cast.
The New Group at Theatre Row, 410 W. 42nd St., (212) 279-4200. Previews Oct. 24, opens Nov. 16-Dec. 12.

THE LATE CHRISTOPHER BEAN
This is a rarely seen 1930s comedy play by Sidney Howard (who was the 1948 Oscar winner for his adaptation of Gone With the Wind), directed by Jean Thompson, about a painter's early work, traced to a country doctor's house by those of the "art world" who see money to be made. It's a case of Yankee practicality vs. New York art world sophistication.
Beckett Theater, 410 W. 42nd St., (212) 279-4200. Previews Nov. 1, opens Nov. 1.

Image from Idiot Savant by Joan Marcus.

Kids From My Travels: Ohio Boys Jamie & Stephen

2009-11-03T16:14:54Z

WHO: Jamie Aaron Campbell
AGE: 23
OCCUPATION: I work at Best Buy, and I'm also a full time student studying graphic design.
HOMETOWN: Akron, OH, aka the biggest shithole to ever be made.
SHOT IN: North Canton, OH
FAVORITE AKRON HANG SPOT: Thursdays Lounge is in downtown Akron. It's a really fun dance bar with cool people and cute babes -- well at least most of the time.

WHO: Stephen Oravetz (aka No Shirt Kid)
AGE: 22
OCCUPATION: Remodeling homes in the Akron/Coyahoga Falls, Ohio area
HOMETOWN: Canton, OH.
SHOT IN: North Canton, OH
FAVORITE AKRON HANG SPOTS: Rays MTB Skatepark, The Flow Skatepark, Evolutions Skatepark, Thursdays Lounge, Crystal Lounge, Chipotle.

Simian Mobile Disco Go At It Alone at Webster Hall

2009-11-03T15:24:45Z

Unlike most Girls & Boys parties, Simian Mobile Disco's James Ford and Jas Shaw ruled the roost solo when they played Friday at Webster Hall. No VIP passes for photogs, bloggers and friends to loiter onstage while the British producer duo turned out tunes. This left my midget ass at the back, elbows propped on the bar behind me, straining on tiptoes. No matter. I could still make 'em out, even with superfans hoisted up on shoulders.

Also absent from the stage? All of the several guest stars from their recent record, Temporary Pleasure. Though they played "Audacity of Huge," a heavily digitized ditty featuring Yeasayer's Chris Keating, they skipped tracks featuring Hot Chip's Alexis Taylor ("Bad Blood") and Telepathe ("Pinball"). They did, however, drop "Cruel Intentions," featuring Beth Ditto of the Gossip. At this, SMD hopped up and down onstage and a nearby group tossed a heap of paper napkins in the air. They fluttered delicately to the ground like oversized confetti.

]]> Attack Decay Sustain Release. I was especially happy to hear "Hustler" (nothing more liberating than shouting "I'm a hustler, baby!" at the top of your lungs) as well as the standout song of the evening, "I Believe." The extended version SMD played lasted from 1:45 a.m. to the end of their set at 2 a.m. Towards the close we listened to what, according to my notes, sounded to me like an oddly enjoyable 500 motorcycles idling in heavy traffic. Arms flew in the air. The rave-worthy, frenzied, flashing lights stopped dead and silence overtook the room.

Photos by THE CULTURE OF ME

The Daily Obsession: Rihanna's Halloween Costume

2009-11-02T23:59:26Z

After I finished gagging over Marc Jacobs' costume (his hot body shrink-wrapped in Sprouse/Vuitton from neck to toe topped by a platinum blond wig was too much for my nerves) I scoured the web for other costumes to rival Jacobs' fabulosity. I think Rihanna comes close -- but Rihanna with the sex goddess known as CoCo-T (rapper Ice-T's wife, naturally) blows Jacobs' costume out the water. J'die over the cartoon characters mauled to nakedness by a wild coyote (that was the look right?).

Photo via Getty Images

Mount Eerie Haunts the Market Hotel

2009-11-02T23:14:41Z

Halloween in New York is a circus. Like any typical weekend in the city, people are loud, drunk, high, invasive of your personal space, and looking to get laid. But unlike most weekends, those people are dressed like zombies or chickens or dead Michael Jacksons, on the hunt for even more gratuitous sex. No one's safe on these Bacchanalian streets, and don't even think of getting out of a Halloween party, dignity intact. So what better way to spend the holiday hulled up away from it all in Bushwick's Market Hotel, listening to black metal? Mount Eerie provided the perfect creepy soundtrack to the most fucked up day of the year.

The ever-reclusive Phil Elverum, the brains behind Mount Eerie, has traded his solitary acoustic creations for bombast: onstage, two drummers (one pounded on a gong) and two keyboardists helped Elverum recreate the surprising heaviness of Mount Eerie's 2009 album, Wind's Poem. The set began in the same way the album does: with several minutes of purely static noise. Elverum arched his neck upwards toward the broken plaster of Market Hotel's ceiling, his eyes closed as the distortion from his guitar filled the space. "Oh, the voice of wind," he sang. "I see flames in common life/I hear the wind's dark poem." The room trembled with the sound.

]]>
The only thing lazy about Mount Eerie's performance was the costumes. The Twin Peaks theme throughout Wind's Poem gave us high expectations: would Elverum dress up as Agent Cooper or Bob? Neither. He wore a black shirt with a fake arrow sticking out of his chest. Still, when the the band began playing "Between Two Mysteries," one of the best songs of 2009, which borrows its melody directly from "Laura Palmer's Theme Music" off of the Twin Peaks soundtrack, they may as well have been dressed like the series' cast.

"And the songs fade," Elverum sang, "and the singers die. But my heart will not stop thumping. The shapes in the dark still look convincing." It was the creepiest moment of the evening--and its cleverly lifted tune only added to its affect. The venue no longer feltl like a refuge. It was time to go back to the unsafe streets anyway, every person fending for himself, in costume.

Green Party! Eco Fashion Site Ecouterre.com Celebrates Its Launch

2009-11-02T22:59:22Z

Eco-fashion site Ecouterre.com had all the green bases covered at their launch party last week, from the setting at cozy Lower East Side boutique, Kaight, which carries environmentally friendly brands, to the name tags guests were asked to put on their glasses. "This way, you'll remember to re-use your glass," the bartender in the corner assured wary attendees waiting in line for organic huckleberry vodka cocktails. Partygoers snacked on vegan raspberry jam cookies that were apparently delicious -- the tray needed to be re-filled an hour into the party -- and milled among cases displaying recycled metal earrings and hand-painted lockets. Some guests prepped for winter, perusing the store's coats, chunky Alpacan scarves and hats, and cute, wool 60s-inspired shift dresses from Feral Childe (Ecouterre.com founder Jill Fehrenbacher and editor Jasmin Malik Chua also recommend winter items from Stewart & Brown and Rebe ). Less practical partygoers, however, were pre-occupied with a handmade Andean Collection necklace made from ivory palm that was up for grabs in a raffle. "I don't need that, but I want it" one guest assured her friend in line for a second round of Huckleberry lemonades.

Photos via Tanveer Badal Photography.

Whore's Mascara: Friends with (Monogamous) Benefits.

2009-11-02T22:29:28Z

This past Thursday, Chaz Kourday, Lonni Bahls and Georgia Haege -- the downtown synth-pop band trio Whore's Mascara -- held a release party for their new single "Monogamous." The video, featuring the band's friends, friends-of-friends, hairstylists, and even roommates-of-hairstylists, was directed by fashion photographer Patrik Andersson, who has shot the likes of Kate Moss, Gwyneth Paltrow and Mick Jagger.

"The idea was to have a wedding party gone mad, the evolution from proper to decadent. I knew that my goal was to push the decadence," said Andersson of the shoot.

While the video's casting might evoke the song, "That's what friends are for," Burt Bacharach and Carole Bayer Sager they are not. With musical roots in 1980s electro-pop, Whore's Mascara's live acts feature darkly comedic riffs on everything from political figures to Manhattan club culture - with enough puns and double entendres to make a whore blush.

Download "Monogamous" here.

Henry Holland and Brown's Get Tricky for Halloween

2009-11-02T22:14:52Z

Henry Holland hosted the high holy day of Halloween for Brown's department store Saturday and the London fashion set turned up to celebrate with plenty of blood and bruises.

Shepherd's Bush Pavillion, an unused 1920s theater space in London's East End, seemed like an unlikely setting for the party, but the sufficiently creaky space was the perfect backdrop for a night of debauchery. Guests entered through a defunct escalator, and there were projections of ghoulish images and jack-o-lanterns as far as the eye could see (someone said there were 1,000 of them). And there was blood. Lots and lots of blood. Londoners don't like cutsie Halloween get ups, and most costumes featured copious amounts of the good old red stuff, gore, bruises, and ghostly pale skin.

There were little scenes set up all over the venue by designers and the LP. BG booth was a fiasco -- fashion people go crazy for a good set, and it was hard to miss the impromptu bondage shoot that erupted in the bloodbath.

Photos by Cynthia Zichy Thyssen

About Last Night... Allison Sarofim's Annual Halloween Party

2009-11-02T21:29:01Z

WHAT: Allison Sarofim's '80s-themed Halloween party.
WHERE: Allison's Greenwich Village townhouse
WHEN: Friday, Oct. 30, 2009
WHO: Valentino, Gloria Von Thurn und Taxis, Marc Jacobs, Lorenzo Martone, Bai Ling, Theoodra Richards, Yvonne Force Villareal, Nicole Miller, Marjorie Gubelman, Cynthia Rowley.
OVERHEARD: "I thought that was a Valentino impersonator over there on the couch. What an OMG moment I had when I realized it was actually Valentino!"

Lynn Yaeger Is the Hot Halloween Look for 2009

2009-11-02T20:59:30Z

You know you've really made it when someone dresses up as you for Halloween, and that seems to be the case with my dear friend Lynn Yaeger, the red-cheeked fashion icon. The lovely lady in the image is Ginny Branch Stelling who has a blog called My Favorite Color is Shiny (Uh, hello! Me too!). That's where she posted this pic of her dressed as Baby Lynnie. Pretty cute likeness, huh?