niedziela, 16 listopada 2014

Yves Saint Laurent



Yves Saint Laurent photographed by Jeanloup Sieff (
for the brand’s first male fragrance, Pour Homme. Ironically, the provocative ad did not cause much of a stir initially, as the photo was hardly published   http://www.vogue.com/slideshow/3765489/fall-fashion-prints-shoes-patterns-personality)


Last weekend I saw the biograpahy film about Yves Saint Laurent who was a french fashion designer born 1936 in Oran and died 2008 in Paris. He started his carea in the  Dior's Fashion House in which after the death of Christian Dior become the headmaster of the fashion design. More information about biography of Laurent:  http://www.vogue.com/slideshow/3765489/fall-fashion-prints-shoes-patterns-personality/
 What intrests me the most in the film is the way as I could get to know the designing way of Laurent.  His life was hard and complicated because he had to struggle with psychical and personal problems( some of them connected with his sexuality) but all this time he never resign from searching and designig new ideas.

 He was bringing art and music into his designs. There were homages to his art buddies, Andy Warhol, Picasso, Jean Cocteau and Marcel Proust whose works were reinterpreted in the form of elegant dresses and jackets. Op-art, pop-art and even the French impressionists became beautifully embroidered, wearable works of art worn by the world's fashion plates from the late Jackie Kennedy to muse Catherine Deneuve, Jane Fonda to Paloma Picasso.


Monndrian


 Once of the most recognizable collection designed by Yves was the one inspired by Moundrian's paintings. He made a simple dress with straight black lines and composition of basic colours such as red, yellow and blue. It become one of his most famous proyects, copied in all over the world.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The African influences

In 1967 Saint Laurent presented collection of "african" dresses made with the wooden corals, shells and rafii. This way he show us an example of fusion the elegant french haute couture with primitivness inspired by egzotic sourcess.












However , Yves Saint Laurent collections were not only be inspired but also were and still are inspiring. We still wear clothes (not even realize that) designed by him or have some connotations with his ideas.
Personally , during a film I found Saint Laurent a very modest and shy men with great genious. Which we can also noticed after his speech upon his retiremnt in 2002 :

"I participated in the transformation of my era. I did it with clothes, which is surely less important than music, architecture, painting ... but whatever it's worth I did it," 


środa, 5 listopada 2014

The First Lady Of Song


One of my favourite jazz singers is Ella Fitzgerald by many called The First Lady Of Song.She was born on 25th April 1917 in Newport News and died on 15 th June 1996 in Beverly Hills. Ella Fitzgerald became famous shortly after her first performence ( when she was only 17!).She entered the famous amateur show competition at the Apollo Theater, which led to her being hired as a singer for Chick Webb's orchestra. She soon became a popular attraction at the Savoy, and  recorded her first song, "Love and Kisses," with Webb in June 1935.

Scat-singing

For me the voice of Ella Fitzgerald have something electrizing and captivating. She had got a impressive improvazing abilitis especially in her scat- singing which is singing melody and rhytms using voice as an instrument). By many people Ella Fitzgerald is thought to be one of the greates scat singers in history.


Herman Leonard and his jazz photographs 



Ella Fitzgerald with Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman and Richard Rogers, Downbeat, New York 1948 (ELF03)


Once of the most famous jazz photographer made a photo of Ella during her performence at her birthday party at New York's Down Beat. What's interesting for me in this photo that Herman Leonard manage to show me the thrill of those times and ... looking at the expression of  Duke Ellington's face amazing talent of the singer.

interview with Herman about jazz photography