Loeffler Randall

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I was recently out in Brooklyn visiting with a girlfriend who works in fashion PR. These girls always know what’s cool and true to form she walked in the door and I obsessed over her shoes and bag. “Where are they from?” I asked, “Loeffler Randall“. Of course they are.

It seems almost every time I love a New York girlfriend’s shoes they are Loeffler Randall. I myself am a fan girl… I’ve worn them to the beach, at southern mansion cocktail parties, and over coffee in L.A. They are easy and cool. Quality and comfortable. Or, as the founder and designer Jessie Randall puts it, “understated, elegant, effortless.” I stopped by their Soho studio to see what’s new this summer, what I will be lusting after like those red strappy heels above… UGH sooo good. And to talk with the beautiful designer herself only to realize, the products are good because the soul of the designer is too…

10 Questions with LOEFFLER RANDALL‘s President and Creative Director Jessie Randall 

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If you could give advise to yourself 10 years ago when you started Loeffler Randall, what would it be?

JR: Hire a merchandiser. Stop being so hard on yourself!

Above, Jessie wears Arbella Platform Sandal with Drawstring Tote in her Soho office. 

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Where do you find inspiration? 

JRI find it everywhere – especially in craft techniques and doing crafts myself, art, furniture and I love love love ceramics. 

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What one famous person has worn your shoe where you had a holy-cow moment? 

JRRoz Chast

Above, Drawstring Tote & Flap Bucket bag // Below, Bo Tassel Wrap sandal

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Zac Posen & Ecco Domani

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In a collaboration that launched last month, fashion designer Zac Posen dressed a limited edition Ecco Domani Pinot Grigio bottle in a whimsical floral design as bright and festive as the wine itself.

I sat down with the famous couture designer recently to get the story on how the collaboration came to be and the inspiration behind the design.

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What is the idea behind the new label design for Ecco Domani’s Pinot Grigio?

“I wanted to work with the FLAVORS, play with the brightness and floral notes, something that would work in a more modern and decorative decor and something that says “party-time”. I also incorporated the actual Ecco logo into the design of the flowers and wanted to bring out the sparkling quality of it, the lightness and the flowers, something that picked up on metallic and something transparent to see the beautiful green color of the wine.”

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Where did the design inspiration for the flowers come from?

“When I was at a flea market in Japan I found a beautiful floral obi textile I later redeveloped into a pattern we used in a collection a few years ago (see jacket below). The flowers are little reminders of the wild imagination and creation of nature. There is nothing more inspiring than the natural form. It is abstract and wild in terms of construction and as beautiful as it gets.”

Continue reading “Zac Posen & Ecco Domani”

Men in This Town

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I met Giuseppe Santamaria, a men’s street style photographer, back in 2011 covering NYFW together. Since I’ve watched Giuseppe’s career and photography really grow into something very special in the men’s style realm. So special, in fact, that a book of his photographs was published this September called “Men in This Town“.  Giuseppe’s approach to photography, men’s fashion, and street style is quite romantic and not at all trendy or concerned with the “who’s who”. He really shoots from his heart. We sat down at our studio last week to catch up and ask him all about his first book~

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Above, a portrait of the photographer photographed on 4×5 black & white film

How did Men in this Town begin?

It started with a tweet. I had photographed my friend’s cookbook cover, and then I started following his publisher on Twitter. One day he said, “Done for 2013 books. Onto next year. Any ideas?” I jokingly tweeted back, “How about a Men in This Town book?” And a year later, it came out.

When did you first start photographing?

By trade I’m a graphic designer. I’ve been working with photos and amazing photographers my entire career. That’s where my eye was trained – not conventionally at all.

How did you learn photography?

Continue reading “Men in This Town”

Tibi Takes Charleston

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When I got the invitation to Tibi‘s pre-fall fashion show in Charleston’s historic Library Society Hall hosted by Hampden Clothing Store (more on that little gem tomorrow), I RSVP’d right away. Two of my loves coming together – fashion and the South!

I was first introduced to the fashion brand Tibi last year and lived in her pieces all of fall. Tibi is a brand that doesn’t take fashion too seriously, but instead allows you to play in interesting ways…the kind of way that makes people notice something special about you even though you’re still the girl next door…. even if you’re twirling around in RIO (!!!)

Down in Charleston I was able to meet the creator of Tibi, designer Amy Smilovic (who was born on St. Simons Island!) and ask her where it all came from, how it went from selling pieces out of suitcase to the runways of New York and now back home for the women who have seen you through it all…

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So first, what’s the connection between Tibi and Charleston?
“The first connection is that Stacy just has an amazing boutique. I don’t think her boutique defines Charleston, I think it would be a great boutique anywhere. But we do have a big southern following and I’m sure that’s because it’s where I’m from, St. Simons Island, Georgia.”

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What does Charleston mean to you? 
“All weekend we’ve been talking about things that are real and authentic, and this town is the real deal, you know? There’s so much authenticity here between the homes and the streets and the communal feel and the shopping. It’s really a thriving real town, which is so great to see especially when so many towns are struggling.”

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Miss Amy Keller

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With her porcelain skin and manicured lip, Miss Amy Keller is such a lady to me. One of my favorite secrets about Amy is that she doesn’t have Internet service at her apartment, opting to actually disconnect from work and the world when she goes home at night, choosing instead to read books of poetry. How lovely is that?!

When prepping for this shoot, I began by referencing paintings from the Edwardian era with its nods to society, social standings, fashion and luxury, taking inspiration from works like Giovanni Boldini’s “Portrait of Princess Marthe Bibesco” and John Singer Sargent’s “Lady Agnew of Lochnaw“. Amy reminds me of King Edward VII, a leader of the fashionable elite and style-setter across Europe – as director of digital strategy at Linda Gaunt Communications in fashion public relations, she has her hand in creating the image and vibes of fashion brands like Hunter, LL BEAN, Trina Turk, Talbot Runhof, & Stila Cosmetics. She’s often emailing with ManRepeller or Into the Gloss, pitching story ideas or helping them with product information. Amy has dressed me for unforgettable events and took us up to Maine to learn about the iconic American brand L.L. Bean Signature. Aside from fashion and beauty, she even influences language trends – I learn all of my “fashion girl lingo” from her… “Totes”, “That’s my jam”, “Break it down”, and “Obvi” to name a few.

So here is my portrait of a lady, floating on a painter’s canvas, poised and beautiful, lovely as ever, just the way I imagine her in those Madison Avenue power meetings.

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Perfect day in New York?
Open the curtains, matcha, run through Prospect Park, head to my City + walk North, bump into friends I love, take pictures of things I’ll post nowhere and window shop everything!

Favorite trait of New Yorkers?
Resilience.

Favorite NYC secret?
Does this city still have secrets?

*above Amy wears Lela Rose // below in Talbot Runhof*

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Fashion is…
Costumes.

Women are…
beautiful works of art.

Favorite poem?
“He who binds to himself a joy
Does the winged life destroy;
But he who kisses the joy as it flies
Lives in eternity’s sun rise.”
– William Blake

Continue reading “Miss Amy Keller”

NOVIS

NOVIS__01This week, we’ve been talking to the three winning designers of the Ecco Domani Fashion Foundation award, exploring various fashion ideas from just hanging out with friends with Timo Weiland to the extremes of nature and knitwear with DEGEN.

All of these designers have been wonderful, but one of them captured our hearts right off the bat with her traditional silhouettes and re-interpreted vintage prints: Jordana Warmflash of NOVIS.

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What is your favorite piece that you’ve designed?

There are different aspects to each piece that I love. Right now I’m really into this blue coat that’s going to come out in fall 2014. It’s fairly simple but the fit is amazing…it’s a great piece.

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DEGEN

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Yesterday we had the chance to hang out with the designers behind Timo Weiland, and today we venture further into the world of knits with fellow Ecco Domani Fashion Foundation award winner, Lindsay Degen of DEGEN.

Lindsay admitted to us that she was thrilled and surprised by the call that she had won, as her aesthetic is “kind of crazy”…working solely in knitwear, her past collections have explored and delved into various topics surrounding the body, ranging from cultural anxieties to microscopic views of DNA and bacteria.

Her presentation this season featured live knitters in addition to male and female models, Crocs, and LED lights as well as various new materials knitted into the funky pieces she is known for.

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To start off…how excited are you to be a winner of the Ecco Domani Fashion Foundation award?

I’m super excited about it. I thought there was no way I would ever get it, because – if you look at the list of designers, they’re all incredible well-known designers, and none of them really have a really crazy, out-there aesthetic. They all look different, but my line aesthetically doesn’t really fit in with the bunch. So I was super excited that they chose me, because it’s a real honor to be lumped in with those other designers. Additionally there’s only one other knitwear designer – Tom Scott – who has won it, and while he has mostly knitwear he also has some woven, so I was really glad to hold down the knitwear niche.

[The grant money] is allowing me to make a 20-foot interactive LED rainbow for my presentation. I really wanted to do it this season anyway, but it allowed me to do it in a less makeshift way. It looks so good, I can’t wait.

A 20 foot rainbow??

This collection, I’m introducing some bizarre things, including fishing line and reflective yarn…because I was inspired by all these materials I’d never used before, I was having all these moments of “Wow, I’ve never had these moments before, I never knew knitting could be like this.” I wanted the viewers to have a similar experience, but they wouldn’t have that by watching someone knit. I thought, “What makes people go wow, what are we amazed by as children?” And the answer was rainbows. It’s the craziest thing nature does.

Continue reading “DEGEN”

Timo Weiland

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Good taste never goes out of style…

I’m all about having a great drink, and as you all know, I live for a beautiful fashion moment. So I was thrilled to hear about the Ecco Domani Fashion Foundation, a marriage of great taste between Italian wines and awards for emerging fashion designers.

The EDFF and their elite panel of judges works hard to select the best of the best, and their choice of three emerging designers receive a grant to go toward their presentations at New York Fashion Week. In their 13 seasons, the EDFF has given $1.8 million to designers, many of whom now have flourishing careers such as Joseph Altuzarra and Derek Lam.

This week, we’re featuring the three winners of the EDFF award. Being able to talk to up and coming designers about all aspects of their work – personal style, inspiration, and dreams for the future – is so wonderful and eye-opening for me. As a photographer I love beautiful moments and being able to tell stories, so hearing the tales behind stunning collections makes the experience even better.

For our first interview, we got to talk to the three designers behind menswear winner Timo Weiland – Timo, Alan Eckstein, and Donna Kang. They were so lovely to talk to, it felt like friends just hanging out…which is exactly what their collection is about.

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Who ideally wears Timo Weiland?

Alan: For menswear, it’s classic with a twist. It’s a very wearable collection but it has signs of care, great tailoring, and personality to it.

Timo: Everything we do is classic with a twist, I think. There’s definitely a New York feel and inspiration. And we’re constantly inspired by our circle of friends and their personalities.

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How do you think winning the Ecco Domani Fashion Foundation award will affect your business?

A: It’s incredible. It’s pretty much our greatest honor to date. Every designer needs some sort of validation, and this is definitely a really great thing for us. It’s a great community, it’s a great award. We respect so many past winners – we look up to people like Proenza, Alexander Wang, Rag+Bone. And it’s a really good year – we love Degen and NOVIS too!

It also gives us the chance to show. We may not have been able to show men’s this year for budgetary reasons, but now we’re able to.

Continue reading “Timo Weiland”

20 Questions

We got such a wonderful response to our original 20 Questions post that we’re continuing it into a series! Thank you again for your curiosity, your kindness, and most of all your support. Hope you enjoy this next round of questions and answers…

1. How did you get to where you are now in your career?
My path has come full circle from where I started. When I was 13 and got my first Mac I started creating digital art and animation, but through school I pursued traditional mediums of art, then graphic design which I did professionally for a few years. My real passion has always been animation so it’s not a surprise that I’m doing that as my career, but the path there wasn’t direct.
2. Where do you find inspiration?
I’m inspired when I see something that gives me a deep visceral feeling that I wished I had created it. I recently felt that with Starshift by Santiago and Mauricio. Inspiration comes in waves, but for me personally it’s not something I can just decide to go do, it happens when it happens and it may be from an art book or the dog eared corner of a subway ad blowing in the breeze. It’s also from free association. (Note: as I was writing this answer on our back patio a butterfly flew by and I caught it in a bell jar, and Jamie and I shot this.)
3. How has your life changed since the Cinemagraph?

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For the past few years, we have been incredibly lucky to not only do what we love, but also to have such wonderful peers here to share our work with. We appreciate so deeply all the sweet things that are sent to us, whether it’s a comment on the site, a message via our social media pages, or art inspired by what we do.

With that in mind, today’s post is about you! We rounded up some of the most popular questions asked and attempted to answer as truthfully and eloquently as possible. Hope you enjoy…

 

1. How did you get to where you are now in your career?

Shooting as much as possible. After I graduated from college, I worked for almost two years for free, shooting non-stop, building up my contacts and clients. Eventually the clients and opportunities became a career where I could sustain a living and start investing back into my work by buying new equipment and things like that. It is also really important to get your work out there. Everything changed when I started my tumblr back in 2009 as a place to share old photographs I had taken.

2. How did your education prepare you for the future?

I studied fashion photography at the Fashion Institute of Technology back when it was all on film. College taught me a lot about lighting, producing shoots, and how to execute your vision, which I was already doing naturally since I started shooting at an early age. Mostly, college got me to New York City, which was where I wanted to be and around the people I wanted to be working with.

3. What person has been your inspiration in life? Who is your hero?

On a personal level, I think we all know how important my Grandmother is to me. On a professional level I idolize Annie Leibovitz, Bruce Weber, Peter Lindbergh, Patrick Demarchelier, Herb Ritts, Irving Penn, and Richard Avedon.

4. Do you feel like you’ve met your goals and are successful?

Of course not! Every day I’m looking toward the future: the next photograph I will take. How I can make my images stronger. Who I want to shoot for. I’m constantly setting new goals and the only way I relate to success is if I feel a photograph has achieved what I was trying to create. And then I start the process all over again.

5. How have things changed for you since the invention of the Cinemagraph?

Continue reading “20 Questions”

In the Studio With…

Tell me about your jewelry line BRVTVS, what’s the story?

I originally started it as a total selfish endeavour because I couldn’t find anything I wanted to wear so I just decided to teach myself how to make pieces I liked.

What does BRVTVS stand for?

The line is named after Marcus Brutus who killed his best friend Julius Caesar. When the line first started I had a line of fancy friendship bracelet so I thought it would be fun to name the line after someone who is notorious for stabbing his friend in the back…. I’m also obsessed with Roman history.

Do you make all your pieces by hand?

Yep.

What are some your favorite projects that have come about since starting your own line?

The most recent project I did was designing a series of ear cuffs and rings for designer Jason Wu’s Spring collection which showed this past September at NYFW.

What is a perfect day in NYC to you?

The perfect day involves being on a blanket somewhere. No shoes. A good book… and a cup of coffee.

Your personal style is always amazing, where do you shop?

I find a lot of stuff on eBay! In the above photograph those are vintage men’s Levi’s 517 that I tailored with a seam up the back to be a high waisted worn in skinny jean.

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PBS is Curious

On the otherside of the camera!

Kevin and I were thrilled to talk about what the GIF format means to us and how it is the vehicle for THESE to be shared all over the world…

Thanks to PBSArts for taking an interest in this medium and putting together such a cool video and great community interview of artists!

pbsarts: Off Book – Animated GIFs: The Birth of a Medium

 

The Other Half~

Behind every great man there’s a great woman“… or vica versa.  

Some of you know, many of you don’t, that what started out as a photography blog of my film archive turned into a place where the bodies of work created by my partner Kevin Burg and I live. Sometimes we create specifically for the blog stories and cinemagraphs and sometimes it’s our outside client work that we want to share like proud parents. Whatever it may be the work is a collaboration of two artists. We feel incredibly lucky that we get to spend a lifetime together making art and imagery, that of which we are most passionate about.


Yesterday, Kevin talked to Mashable about our work- a great insight into my other half:

How Tumblr and Cinemagraphs Became the New Web Design Chic

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The Leaders in Design Series is supported by Volvo.


Cinemagraphs — or still photographs with moving elements — exploded in popularity in 2011.

The trend — and the term — was coined by visual graphics artist Kevin Burg and his partner, photographer Jamie Beck. The GIF files, which maintain elements of photography and cinema (hence the name), gained prominence, thanks to Beck’s wildly popular Tumblr blog, From Me To You.

The fashion industry immediately embraced the pair, including brands as far ranging as Ralph Lauren and Juicy Couture. Popular iOS app Flipboard jumped on too — featuring a Cinemagraph on its front page.

Burg has a strong background in design. He started playing around with the GIF format in 2009 — looking at ways to make the modern animated-image more artistic and more relevant. The magic behind Cinemagraphs was born out of his collaboration with Jamie Beck for New York Fashion Week.

The aesthetic caught on, with myriad others joining in and trying their hand at the craze.

But Burg is also a well-known Tumblr theme designer. We don’t think it’s unfair to say that the success of From Me To You and the virality of Cinemagraphs was aided by his well-crafted and artistically detailed design of the site.

We spoke with Kevin about Cinemagraphs, Tumblr and what it feels like to create a new aesthetic.

Q&A With Kevin Burg

Cinemagraphs really took off in a big way in 2011, popping up everywhere from Fashion Week to Flipboard, is there any one thing you attribute to the rise of the aesthetic?

Technically speaking, we believe there’s a very recent intersection of technology, bandwidth and equipment that’s made Cinemagraphs possible.

Photography has always been technology-driven, and Cinemagraphs are part of that. Creatively, the visual world is at levels of saturation that necessitated a new medium which takes strengths from both still photography and video, while being consumed quickly.

Digital SLRs make high-quality photography accessible to almost anyone, and online video is in a transitional but maturing state, so an in-between format makes sense in order to differentiate our work.

As the co-creator of Cinemagraphs, what do you think of the sub-movement of artists or would-be-artists who are trying to recreate the form and the overall movement? Did you anticipate Cinemagraphs becoming an influential part of digital design?

As with any artistic expression, we feel that different points of view make the world a more interesting place. I’d hate to imagine a world where there was one painter or one sculptor.

From the beginning, we felt strongly about Cinemagraphs and if anyone else was half as excited about it as we were, it was bound to influence someone. We’re excited to see other people exploring the in-between medium and new ways of expression.

What tools do you use when creating Cinemagraphs, and what is your workflow like?

We shoot on both still and video equipment and use Adobe After Effects and Photoshop for editing. Jamie and I are highly collaborative throughout the whole process, while still promoting each other’s strengths. Shooting resembles both a photo and video shoot.

Using GIF for Cinemagraphs seems like it was a technical choice as much as an artistic challenge (working within the confines of the spec), with the rapid adoption of HTML5 support and the decline of Flash — do you see yourself evolving into using HTML5 or other technologies alongside GIF when creating Cinemagraphs? Would utilizing JavaScript or parts of the Canvas elements open up any creative opportunities that currently hold you back?

We think of the GIF format as a delivery method not so different as a still photographer might think of a JPG. Depending on where their work goes, it might end up as many formats — JPG, TIFF or ink dots on paper.

GIF makes a lot of sense for social media and for Tumblr in particular, but we began using HTML5 video to display Cinemagraphs very early on. GIF is a really fun format, and we love how it’s used for distilling big ideas into a bite sized chunk that can be shared in a dead-simple way. HTML5 has other advantages, which make the most sense in a commercial setting, such as for main website graphics. Adding other layers that HTML5 offers is also exciting and is something we’re eager to experiment with.

From Me to You is a real success story — both for social media and for Tumblr. How did you decide to use Tumblr for this project and knowing what you know now, could you ever imagine using a different platform, like WordPress or Facebook?

Jamie is the reason behind that. She’s poured so much energy into the blog over the past couple of years. I was on Tumblr already with a personal blog, so when we talked about starting a blog for her I convinced her to use Tumblr despite most notable bloggers using other platforms.

Tumblr has been extremely supportive and influential in our work and we’ve met great friends from it. There are arguments to use Blogger or WordPress if you want to be a full-time blogger, but for our purposes we love Tumblr.

Tumblr was also instrumental in spawning Cinemagraphs because of its highly social nature and ability to share GIFs easily.

You are a well-known Tumblr theme designer, with offerings in the Theme Garden and premium themes. What makes a good Tumblr theme?

A good theme is a marriage of beauty and functionality. Tumblr’s platform provides a nice limitation of capabilities that forces designers to create visually stunning themes that still keep that Tumblr-esque style and the result is an amazing set of themes from designers like Peter Vidani and teams like Pixel Union. The prices are great too — $49 (or less) for work by world-class designers like those is a steal.

How does designing for Tumblr and Tumblr users differ from standard web design?

Typically there is a continuity from theme to theme that designers usually stick with. In art classes, professors will force limitations on you as a way to elicit creative solutions to visual challenges, and this plays in to Tumblr design by forcing designers to ask, “What can I do with this basic layout?”

Making a Premium Theme is an extra limitation because you want to please users so they’ll really love the theme.

What inspires you?

I’m inspired most by people I meet who are doing interesting things and working really hard at it. Those people inspire me to work harder, and in most respects, that’s more important than talent.

Jamie and I have a saying that goes, “If Rachel Ray can have five shows, we can do this.” It’s a bit random, but the point is that many people do superhuman things, and when you feel something is overwhelming, it’s helpful to see it in perspective like that.

What is your advice to aspiring artists, visual designers and photographers who want to make a splash?

The most important thing is to find the thing you’re passionate and focus on it. Passion gives you endless energy to work hard and focus will help you become the best at what you’re doing.

We’re big believers in the 10,000 hours rule, and it’s impossible to get there without focus. In regards to making splash, focusing on your own work and your own vision will lead you to what you should be doing rather than looking for a flash-in-the-pan solution or going after what’s popular.

What’s next? Do you have any other projects in the works?

In 2011, we were exploring what Cinemagraphs could be, and in 2012 we’ll really be able to show the next evolution. I don’t want to give anything away, but we’ve have a lot of exciting interest in our work and it’s going to be a fun year! Better cameras, cool projects and some world traveling — it’s going to be a good ride.

Cinemagraphs™ is a trademark of Jamie Beck & Kevin Burg

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Thank you so much !