Like many New Yorkers, as the cliche goes, I wear a of of black. I’ve also noticed I tend to shoot a lot of other people wearing black. Like red lipstick, it will always be a classic. Black creates drama while remaining understated. Its slimming, and no matter how many people in the room are dressed in it, it lends the wearer an air of individualism. Though ”_____ is the new black” has become a rather banal catch phrase for seasonal color trends, nothing will ever replace the original.
I spotted this woman on Madison Avenue last week and I was fascinated by the way she created contrast, not with color, but with texture, which is one way to add interest to wearing black head-to-toe. In this photograph, the chunkiness of her jewelry and handbag stands out in relief to her beautifully cut dress and adds a lot of dimension. I knew it all reminded me of something familiar, but I couldn’t recall just what. It soon became clear that what was nagging at me was how (most likely unintentionally) derivative this woman’s combination of textural elements was of the artist Louise Nevelson’s wonderful black sculptures. I think this proves that despite fashion being considered frivolous by many, in the right hands it has the potential to be a witty, even cerebral representation of the “self”.
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There is something so California/retro/beach-y about this that I love.
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I surreptitiously snapped a photo of this young woman yesterday as I followed her up Second Avenue. Besides the detail in her dress and accessories, there was something about photographing her from behind that made a really interesting shot, especially when there was so much movement. The blurring of bodies in motion in this still photo has a film-like quality that likely appeals to me because of my background in documentaries, but there’s also something so beautiful about capturing people before they become aware of the camera. A lot of the photos I’ve taken of people who look really great when caught unawares have been unusable because of the peculiar habit we humans have of presenting such an unnatural persona when we become alert to a camera being pointed at us (and I’m not excluding myself here). I’ve noticed this phenomenon in both my still and motion camera work, but ironically, the vulnerablity that we all try so hard to hide is often the thing that makes a photograph or a film so compelling. Later, I asked the young woman to stop and pose (below). I think she looks great in both shots, but I find the obvious contrast between them intriguing.
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Exiting the subway station this morning, I came across this MTA Arts For Transit lightbox exhibition featuring the photography of Travis Ruse. The photos pictured here at the 6th Avenue & 42nd St. station reminded me so much of Bruce Davidson’s dark and wonderful 1986 book, Subway, which documented the lives of New York City straphangers at around the time I first arrived here. Although the Davidson photos are rawer, partly owing to the blighted condition of the city at the time, both photographers seem to possess the same keen perception, a prodigious eye for detail, and the ability to render humanity in places where it may not readily be apparent. I’d like to see more public installments like this that actually demonstrate artistic merit, unlike a lot of the typical rubbish we’re usually subjected to in this city. It was certainly a much needed relief from those insufferable Diesel Be Stupid ads that were plastered all over the same station a few months ago.
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Anyone who has used a self tanner knows that most of them are messy, smelly and tend to be streaky no matter how carefully they’re applied. St. Tropez sent me this months ago, and until now its been sitting in my product closet untouched. With the advent of the hot weather, I’ve been exposing a lot of leg and like many people in the northeast my pasty gams need a little help. As I found out, this product thankfully will not give you one of those deep orange Jersey Shore tans, but it will beautifully even out the skin and give it a warm natural color when used regularly. Another plus is that it has the texture of a moisturizer, and somehow the people at St. Tropez have managed to minimize that obnoxious smell that all self tanners have. Note: I have very pale olive skin, and the Medium Dark worked really well, and without any streaking. Available at Sephora, and the St. Tropez online store. $30.
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Very simply, a gorgeous woman with deceptively easy, unpretentious style. This is someone who embraces who she is. A inspiring example for women of any age, but particularly for me as my fiftieth birthday approaches.
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I thought posting this old photograph of my mother would be appropriate on this hot July weekend. I spoke to her today about the story behind it, and although the facts are a little sketchy, she told me that it was taken when she was twenty-one, while on a beach trip with her youngest sister, Mary. She doesn’t remember who snapped the photo (she hadn’t met my father yet) but it created quite a scandal when it was published in The Moore News, the company paper of Moore Business Forms, where she was employed as a secretary. Ironically, she tells me that it was a young female editor who decided to publish it, though its not clear now how it came into her possession. I thought about the repercussions of such a scenario today, where a similar situation would rightly constitute an egregious breach of proprietary conduct and most certainly result in a lawsuit. Maybe the human race has made some progress. I think its really interesting how things are perceived and understood within different contexts, and how viewed nearly sixty years later, and outside the corporate environment, all I see in this photograph is a beautiful young Italian-American woman enjoying a day at the beach.
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