Fashion / Art

February 24th, 2010Blog0 comments

Art. Fashion. Two worlds that I don’t understand very well — although I’m trying my best to open my mind to them both.

As far as art goes, I know what I like: Art with boobs. Jeff Koons, for instance. That guy sure loves boobs.

And as far as fashion goes, I’m slowly becoming more fashion-conscious. I check The Sartorialist daily. I think I look fairly cool.

Anyway, I’ve got two pretty fun documentaries on art and fashion that I’d like to share with you:

Herb and Dorothy is about a retired postal worker and his wife, a retired librarian, who over the decades amassed an incredible collection of minimalist and conceptual art utilizing their very limited personal funding. The documentary details how they purchased over four thousand individual pieces of art from early-career artists before they became famous. One particularly interesting segment shows how Christo and Jeanne-Claude, creators of The Gates, traded them a piece of art in exchange for a summer of cat-sitting.

It made me realize that art can be highly accessible for anyone as long as they’re willing to put in the legwork to seek it out. If these folks can stuff a New York apartment full of art that they like, anyone should be able to go out there and find at least one thing that they really dig. It makes me want to start collecting, although I think I too would get carried away.

The September Issue is about Anna Wintour and the September issue of Vogue. I had no idea that this particular issue was so important. But to put it into terms I understand, this issue is the equivalent of an Apple new product announcement, and Anna Wintour is the equivalent of El Jobso.

A LOT of work goes into the September issue. It’s amazing how much money and energy is spent on the incredible photography and design work. It makes me miss doing graphic design — it seems like the very best stuff gets done for fashion magazines and car manufacturers’ websites.

Plus seeing Anna Wintour in action is pretty impressive. The people that made The Devil Wears Prada got her down pretty good — even down to the layout of her office. Did they shoot in there or something?