Twins 双子のあんじ

Published in Japan's Zipper Magazine. November 1998. (via)

These magazine scans are from the Japanese magazine Zipper, which dedicatedly chronicled the fashions coming out of the 1990s' street-fashion "Shangri-La": the Harajuku district in Tokyo, Japan. I am not sure who did the clothes in this editorial, but I think that the brand BA-TSU may be the feature designers. I wish that I could read the details in the footer of the layout.

BA-TSU is famous for their gothic lolita creations and costume design for the film Battle Royale (2000). I can't really find any huge source of their work. A translation of the characters in the title of the editorial reads: "twin anshi" -Anshi, perhaps, being a Japanese girl's name?

(Also check out Shoichi Aoki's magazine FRUiTS and Fresh FRUiTS photo books for awesome 90's Harajuku fashion)!

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ANYWAYS. These pictures are awesome and the clothes are too.

The thing that sticks with me is that everything looks so durable. The details of exposed skin feel perfectly functional for the very specific mission that these twins are on. If you wore these clothes it would be impossible not to pretend you were on a similar mission.  

"We're infiltrating the robot dragon library and it is imperative that I keep my right knee cool".

 I see some materials that look like neoprene SCUBA suit fabric and others that look like flannel, fleece and leather. I love the little flags of color sewn in the seams at the bottom of the gaiters and the zipper that also parts from the bottom of the jacket in the top photo.

Most of all, I really like the shape of both hoodie jackets. This presentation is so cool because it feels like the twins are inseparable in life and expert in their mission because of the way each outfit is similar but with its own unique shaping, details and colors!

Kriss Kross Girls

"Jump, Jump! Kriss Kross Girls." Photographed by Jeff Hahn for MTV UK

This editorial is so badass. I am so sick of fashion trying to sell stuff using dead fish and a deeply exclusive sense of self-importance. I want to experience stories and ideas told by people who are using fashions as a medium. Even when I am in a state of 'fashion disgust'. I will never stop exploring. Discovering something that feels original, passionate, and honest is like hitting a way-point when I thought I was hopelessly lost. Maybe, because fashion magazines were my most accessible window into culture growing up, I am still deeply interested in the work within their pages. I revered the presentations that spoke the loudest and felt the realest. This particular one would be a good example. Nowadays I appreciate fashion advertising and editorials as cultural compasses. I like to see how the interests of designers trickle their way into society. All things start somewhere, and the process of wearing things starts with a designer. So, whether you like it or not, sometimes flared pants will be the freshest thing in the supermarket.

OK

Models:  Sienna King Tiara Young Photographer:  Jeff Hahn Styling:   Madeleine Østlie Hair: Nicole Kahlani Makeup:  Danielle Kahlani

CAT workboots, for example, are being showcased in this shoot. I recognize them as Timberlands at first. I don't see this as an advertisement for these boots, even if whoever was culling these pieces for this story had them placed in their hands. Timberland boots are one of your few options for footwear if you are in prison. Since their design, these work boots have now acquired the power of a million stories. (Interestingly, Timberland boots used to carry a lifetime warranty for any consumer, though the offer has recently been revoked to incarcerated peoples.) These boots are being applied to this project like a texture; they were picked to tell, not sell. This texture shows me two girls owning a massive male street swagger. The fashion in this shoot is acting as a foil to highlight both the status of black men and the flex of women.

If you ever do see an advertisement for Timberland they will show you either 1) a proud and massive workman with a jackhammer or 2) Nordic guy with a rugged leather satchel full of important documents and ice-climbing gear walking briskly along a cobbled city street.

Paper glossies are obsolete now, I am grown up. It's time to get real.
Fashion is made by gigantic threshing machines threaded by the commonwealth as their uber wealthy and self-absorbed multi-national overseers Instagram pictures of manicured fingers clutching pastel-colored French macroons #tru. I am not interested in fashion that sounds like a little klipp of heels in an alley.

I haven't outgrown fashion, not in the slightest! The clothes are finally starting to fit. If I want things done my way, maybe I should just start doing them myself.

Put me in, Coach

Kirsten Owen in 'Sportswear', Marie Claire Germany Nov. 1993 (via)

 
Who says you need to wear "exercise clothes" to work out? Theoretically, if you're exercising in something it then becomes exercise clothes? I really like this outfit because it's got the appropriate Boijer 2/3 ratio; two things one way, one thing the other. In this case, you've raided a huge football player's duffel, stolen his underwear and track bottoms, and replaced them with your own skirt and stockings. He will be so surprised when he goes to get dressed for practice. You can watch his reaction via military binoculars from a mossy hillside .4 km away.

Plein Sud, 1997

 Photographs by Stephane Sendaoui (via)

Milla Jovovich photographed by Stephane Sendaoui for Plein Sud, 1997.

Morgan le Fay

Clad in chain-mail, structured armor, leather, and lace, Kristen McMenamy broods like a hellion in W Magazine's September 2012 editorial "The Dame of Thrones".

I love how barbed wire and a conical Philip Treacy transparent head-piece (#4) give this medieval Britain thing a whole seam-in-time feel. I remember hearing an interview with Monty Python's Michael Palin that a lot of the chain-mail worn in The Holy Grail was actually just knitted creations spray painted silver (sounds soggy). Craig Lawrence's metallic yarn chain mail shirt and pants (#3) are very convincing and wearable... something maybe Daphne Guinness would don to check out a litter of dalmatian puppies (or whatever it is that she does with herself). Her inspired silver glove by Shaun Leane (#8) certainly seems useful for glancing blows from little doggie paws.

mmm

Photography:  Tim Walker Styled by:  Jacob K Hair and Headpieces:  Julien d'Ys Makeup:    Val Garlande