Refashioned, Contextualized

Steven Klein for Arena Homme + Spring/Summer 1996

When leopard and lace were part of a different kind of masculinity and manhood. Images that recall another cultural phenomenon. MTV, Green Day, Silverchair. Men that play with roughness, sensitivity. And leave the last shirt button open.
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Deadlines

Before

Andy Warhol & Keith Haring Untitled (Madonna, I'm Not Ashamed), 1985

After

New York Post February 23, 1987

The irony in an artist's body of work. When media reactions to the creation of pop are quoted by pop art and the result itself is eventually being echoed by the original media again. A case of intertextual reflection on 'the moment' in communication.
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Warhol: Headlines, February 11 – May 13 2012, MMK Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt Am Main, Germany

Girl Panic

Duran Duran - Girl Panic! 2011

Fashion with a capital F. Hardcore product placement. Schizophrenic supermodels. Jonas Åkerlund has combined the über-kitsch and mega-decadent. Pop. And everything is alright.
/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.
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Authentic Attire

Lederhosen Trachtenmoden Riehl

Munich tonight. A weekend dedicated to sausage and beer. Willing to live the Bavarian lifestyle to the full extent. Needless to say that I will hunt for an original pair of embroidered lederhosen.
/HORST

Mutant Engineering II

Photos Viviane Sassen, Marcelo Capizzano

One day, aliens will save the human race from extinction. They will collect and exhibit our precious relicts of art and culture. And put us in cute little outdoor parks. Women will collect solar energy and men will filter the water.
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Mutant Engineering

1. Mark Borthwick for Purple Magazine vs. Lars Englund
2. Comme des Garçons Spring/Summer 1997 vs. Cocky Eek Folkert
3. Comme des Garçons Fall/Winter 2010 vs. Cocky Eek Folkert

We know life will be transformed. And things change rapidly. Futurism's most drastic misconception is its projection upon another time, another dimension. Unfortunately, it's already 2011.
/HORST

Other Landscapes

Artworks David Schnell

Global warming and geoengineering. Today left me with doubt and fear. Glaciers are melting. And with them knowledge and culture will be eliminated. Please re-evaluate your actions. Right now. Not in ten years, not in thirty.
/HORST

A Short History Of Twins In Popular Culture III

1. Hellen van Meene
2. Unknown
3. Unknown
4. Teenage Wasteland by Ben Weller for Dansk
5. DSquared Spring/Summer 2011 by Mert & Marcus

Scary schoolgirls, sexy schoolboys, plastic raincoats and an apple. When twins are metaphorically attached to sin. When brothers become lovers. The sweet becomes viscous. And our voyeurism is satisfied.
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See also Part I & Part II.

Fox Tales

Jeremy Scott Fall/Winter 2011 vs. Prada Spring/Summer 2011

When the idea of pop is completely understood. When references are sucked in, chewed up and spit out again. When copying is allowed. Then, we don't have another scandal, we just witness a postmodern quote.
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The Doomed

Cheap Monday Fall/Winter 2011

We are already living in a cyber world. We have digital avatars on Facebook, supposedly representing ourselves. We do live a post-apocalyptic life. And don't even need an Armageddon. So let's dress if there was no tomorrow. For god's sake!
/HORST

Image credits MBFW Stockholm, MMCIII

Ritual

Walter van Beirendonck Fall/Winter 2011

Fashion's only true Bärchen surprised us with a tailored and quite conservative approach. Picturing the modern shaman. Whose suit is gradually conquered by colour and absurdity. The dichotomy of the tamed and feral perfectly summarized by hair sculptures - an aesthetic topic also discussed here.
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Image credits Catwalking, Dazed Digital