A Short History Of Manga In Popular Culture

1. Dripping Lazers Graduate Collection
2. La Blue Girl
3. Self Service Magazine

I strongly believe in the comeback of Manga and will further explore its use in contemporary art and fashion. Most probably, 'sexualization' will become a core motif. In the first instance, I'd like to draw your attention to the reanimation of Anime by Dripping Lazers.
/HORST

A Short History Of Stripes In Popular Culture IV

1. Danielle Scutt Fall/Winter 2010 by Willem Jaspert
2. Vanessa Beecroft
3. Jil Sander Spring/Summer 2011

The semi-sheer black and white stripe: Allowing a severely graphic and therefore tamed, restricted form of nudity. Showing and hiding everything and anything at once. Inbetween feminity.
/HORST

A Short History Of The Bandeau Top In Popular Culture

1. Prada Lookbook Spring/Summer 2009
2. Salvador Dali Venus de Milo with drawers, 1916
3. Tamara de Lempicka La Chemise Rose, 1933
4. Prada Spring/Summer 2001, Fall/Winter 2006, Spring/Summer 2009 & Spring/Summer 2012

An embrace of the feminine figure, the voluptuous form. Just like a Petrarchan sonnet, Miuccia's bandeau caresses the woman's firm breasts, articulating admiration for the sensitive and untouched. A signature idea that secretely strives for mainstream acceptance.
/HORST

A Short History Of Stripes In Popular Culture III

1. Véronique Branquinho Spring/Summer 2004
2. João Figueiredo Sensual Hollow
3. Frida Kahlo The Broken Column

The masochistic atripe: A darker and more vague addition to our series based on the idea of anatomic fragmentation. Here, the stripe becomes a subtle reference to self-abandonment.
/HORST

A Short History Of Stripes In Popular Culture II

1. Yohji Yamamoto
2. Cocky Eek Folkert
3. COD by Rami Tareef
4. Wayne Spring/Summer 2012
5. Pierre Soulages

The dynamic stripe: Placed in various directions, this typology creates three-dimensional movement out of the plain surface. The irregularity creates intricate meanders. Calculated chaos as the principle of mathematic composition.
/HORST

A Short History Of Dilettantism In Popular Culture

1. Jonathan Meese All works, 1998-2011
2. Kelly Rowland Solo career, 2002-2011
3. The Real Housewives of New York City All episodes, 2008-2011
4. German Vogue All issues, 2003-2011
5. Michael Kors All collections, 1981-2011

Banality, dysfunction, rubbish. Low quality productions, loaded with calculated pretentiousness. The manqué product, as part of a continuous cycle called 'culture', will quickly be replaced and forgotten. A quick last view at the flux of failure.
/HORST

A Short History Of Stripes In Popular Culture

fig 1. Macaulay Culkin
fig 2. Kim Thome Wardrobe in a Suitcase
fig 3. Jil Sander Spring/Summer 2011
fig 4. Oskar Schlemmer
fig 5. Yves Saint Laurent by Hedi Slimane Fall/Winter 1999

The narrow black and white prison stripe: Although an iconic pattern, the regular, almost mathematic formation seems underrepresented and undocumented. Most probably due to its restrictions in optical reproduction. I'd like to propose it as eternal substitute for plaid.
/HORST

See also Stripes in the L&H Archive

A Short History Of Twins In Popular Culture IV

1. Martin Szekely, Sam and AA (2005)
2. Kelley Walker, Andy Warhol and Sonny Liston Fly Braniff (2006)
3. Yoan Capote, Migrant (2010)
4. Jonathan Schipper, To Dust (2009)
5. Michael Elmgreen & Ingar Dragset, Powerless Structures (2000)

We cordially invite you to the Twin Art Project. The pairing of the seemingly identical as a poetic, post-pop act. Duplication as an ironic critique towards mass production becomes the cipher for alienation and solitude. Duplication today means subtraction.
/HORST

A Short History Of The Plastic Raincoat In Popular Culture III

1. Maison Martin Margiela by Mark Borthwick
2. Raf Simons Fall/Winter 2002
3. Benicio Del Toro by Nadav Kander
4. Jil Sander Spring/Summer 2007
5. Tush Magazine by Diego Fuga

All good things must come to an end. But we'll cry no single tear, we'll walk in the rain. Well prepared, armoured in Margiela, Raf Simons or Jil Sander. As I said: All good things must come to an end.
/HORST

A Short History Of Twins In Popular Culture II

1. Comme des Garçons
2. Issey Miyake
3. Carla Bruni & Kate Moss
4. Pamela Anderson, her twin boobs & Vivienne Westwood
5. Twin Towers
6. Jose & Juan Areco, Brian & Travis Davenport by Thom Browne, Dean & Dan Caten
7. “Chanel Liquidated” by Zevs

There is a striking yet explosive resemblance between the Vivienne Westwood SS09 campaign image and the photographic documentation of the 9/11 incident. I'm not gonna compare Pamela's boobs with planes now... Anyway, what's your favourite twin?
/HORST