I wanted to write this post for quiet some time already, worried I wouldn’t do right to Patti Smith I kept postponing it. But it’s time I’ll give it a try. Not being a book reviewer, I dug up some reviews on ‘Just Kids’, a book by Patti Smith about the years she spent with Robert Mapplethorpe and it occurred to me, there a different ways to clarify the contents. I was mostly moved by the innocence and deep love they felt for each other, even after they went their own separate ways.

For years Patti Smith embodied poetry, bohemian lifestyle and music to me, but after seeing the film ‘Patti Smith, Dream of Life’ by Steven Sebring I noticed other things about her…, her great sence of humor and the fact she is very aware of her style. It may look like her outfits are just accidentally damn stylish, but they are not. She is very aware of the clothes she puts on for which occasion but doesn’t look like it : that’s her style. She is so good at this, you hardly notice. I got a huge smile on my face, when in ‘Dream of Life’, she starts to explain what she is wearing, pointing at her shoes, pants and shirt saying: “Prada, Prada, Comme Des Garçons….’ In another chapter a friend walks into her hotel room carrying a Prada bag and starts reading what is written on the duty free-paper that’s tacked onto the bag. He went shopping for her, but she’s not allowed to open the bag till she’s left the country and seems very disappointed not being able to look at the new Prada purchase.

In an interview Patti Smith told she was very aware of the way she put the jacket over her shoulder, for the famous photograph Robert Mapplethorpe took of her for the album ‘Horses’…, it had to be in a Frank Sinatra-ish way.

New York Times , Ruth La Ferla, march 19, 2010

So it was surprising to learn that her roomy gray jacket, with cuffs that unfasten at the wrist, was designed by Ann Demeulenmeester, a high priestess of Parisian vanguard chic. Her jeans were Ralph Lauren, prized by Ms. Smith for their racy lines. Her boots, a gift from Johnny Depp, who wore them as the Mad Hatter in “Alice in Wonderland”, were the perfect fit, Ms. Smith exulted, “like when the magic cobbler made your shoes.”

She has a rarefied feel for that kind of evocative detail — no stray seam escaping her scrutiny. That might stun her fans, who think of Ms. Smith as a gnarly rocker, thrashing and howling soulfully on stage. But style-world insiders embrace her as a kindred spirit whose discerning eye and sensitive fashion antennas might be the envy of a veteran stylist. Ms. Smith’s look, after all, is nothing if not rehearsed.

“She is very aware of her style and she controls it,” said Ms. Demeulenmeester, a longtime friend and fashion collaborator. (Ms. Smith favors the designer’s mannish white shirts, inspired by the one she wore on the cover of her debut album, “Horses.”) “It’s about being conscious of who you are and using all the strength you have to communicate that.”

Patti Smith, Style Icon

Great books to read:

.

‘Just Kids’ is about a moment in the lifes of Patti Smith and Robert Mapplethorpe, when they were  young and inseparable. It was pure fate that introduced them to each other and they became roommates, friends, lovers and muses. Its tells a story of innocence, ambition and  their shared transit from obscurity to stardom.

They went together to museums able to afford only one ticket (the one who saw the exhibition would describe it to the one who waited outside). They went to Coney Island, able to afford only one hot dog and she got the sauerkraut. They valued the same things, though in a different way. They were both praying for Robert’s soul: he to sell it and she to save it. Finally his prayers were the ones to be answered.

.

Patti Smith tells the story of the beginning of the end of Manhattan’s last great bohemian age, when a couple with dreams of artistic glory could live on day-old bread, cigarettes and paint fumes so precisely it feels like you’ve been there living it with them. When she writes about the time Robert started doubting his sexuality, you can feel his confusion and her pain

.

‘Just Kids’ is also a story about becoming an artist, not the race for online celebrity and corporate sponsorship that often passes for artistic success these days, but the powerful, often difficult journey towards the ecstatic experience of capturing radiance of imagination on a page or stage or photographic paper. Mapplethorpe iconic image of Patti for the cover of ‘Horses’, serves as a  symbol of both their collaborative relationship (Patti Smith:”When I look at it now, I never see me, I see us’) and  the separate paths they took thereafter; he as one of the last century’s most heralded and controversial photographers, she as a performer whose influence still extends through poetry, contemporary music, fashion and visual arts.

The book is written so vividly yet sensitive, I could hardly put it down. I bought another copy for a friend and gave mine to others to read.

.

 ‘He is the artist of my life’

Patti Smith on Robert Mapplethorpe

.

Documentary

.

‘Patti Smith,Dream of Life’ a film by Steven Sebring

.

www.dreamoflifethemovie.com

.

The first time I noticed Iris Apfel was in Vogue Italia a couple of years ago. I saw this beautiful elderly lady wearing lots of exotic jewelery and interesting clothes, too bad I couldn’t read her story…

At the time I was in a ‘exotic necklaces’ period myself. I gained a lot of weight because of my illnesses and medication and didn’t know how to dress any longer. I only had one dress-pattern left I thought looked good on me and I decided I would only wear the one dress with lots of beautiful necklaces, high-heeled shoes and a variety of  handbags. This way I could still play around with my look. I already owned some nice exotic folklore jewelery, but I started collecting more on my journeys to the Far East.

Last december I was invited to a launching party for a new magazine and wore a simple red velvet dress, I wanted to spike up a little. That evening I wore a bunch of my exotic necklaces and told everyone it was my tribute to Iris Apfel…. I hope they understood I was joking!

Mrs. Apfel is 90 years old now and thinks her sudden cult status is very funny. She was just minding her own business, when the Costume Institute wanted to borrow some of her accessories and then thought they could perhaps borrow some of her clothes to put them in context. Iris liked the idea and asked: “What would you like?” Then Pandora’s box opened, her closets, drawers, boxes and armoires contained so many treasures, the museum decided to do an exhibition exclusively about her and her wardrobe. The exhibition was called  ‘Iris Apfel: Rare Bird of Fashion’.

Iris Apfel and her husband Carl founded their own textile firm ‘Old World Weavers’ in 1952. It all began when Iris was looking for a certain fabric she couldn’t find, then designed it herself after an old sample and had it woven. She got an offer by the textile company to design more and Carl became the company’s first salesman.

They traveled all over the world to find designs and then the fabricators, asking them to use their original looms. Their business developed without a master plan. The fabrics were expensive, but crafted by hand and not meant for mass production anyway. They started doing custom-made, because there was no money for stocking up. Iris recreated patterns she hunted down from old books, museums, second-hand shops and flea markets. Her limited audience contained some very loyal clientele, like Estee Lauder, Marjorie Merriweather Post, Jacqueline Onassis and Greta Garbo. Iris and Carl were called by the White House through nine presidential administrations, to produce exact reproductions of fabrics for furniture, walls and draperies.

They sold their Old World Weavers company 17 years ago to the prestigious Stark Carpet Company, after they refused many other offers to sell. The Apfel’s were kept on as working hands, consulting to Stark.

During all her travels with Carl, Iris found the most beautiful objects. Not only fabrics, jewelery and clothes, but also art and antiques. In clothes she doesn’t make a difference if it comes from junk or couture. She also shops at Topshop and loves a bargain. She habitually finds clothes so cheap, she doesn’t bother to try them on. ‘What the hell, if they don’t fit, I’ll turn them into pillows.’

‘In the old days, designers didn’t care about archives and you could buy their one-off samples. And in Tunisia you could buy jeans directly from the people who were making them for Pierre Cardin. Also the souks and flea markets were great places for good finds. Nowadays they’re all picked over.’

Being unconventional has had lasting benefits. ‘If you can’t be pretty, you have to learn to make yourself attractive. I found that all pretty girls I went to highschool with came to middle age as frumps, because they just got by with their pretty faces, so  they never developed anything. They never learned how to be interesting. But if you are bereft of certain things, you have to make up for them in certain ways.’

Iris’ look has been described as “controlled flamboyance”‘by Lisa Koeningsberg, President of Initiatives in Art and Culture. “To dress this way, there has to be an educated visual sence. It requires courage.”

What appeals to me the most about Iris Apfel  is her originality and free spirit. She is not dictated by fashion, but solely by her own exquisite taste. Mrs. Apfel is ‘street deluxe’.

In the short time since her sudden fame Iris has designed a jewelry collection for www.yoox.com and a make up collection for Mac. And she did a smashing  job at both of them! Rumour says she is going to design a jewel collection under her own name….

Here is a quotation from our fashion Icon regarding accessories : “For me the key to personal style lies in accessories. My friends tell me that my oversized glasses and my pairs of bracelets have become my unwritten signature. I have amassed an enormous ‘collection’ of bags, belts, bangles and beads without which I would be lost. One can change the entire look of an outfit by substituting one accessory for another. I love objects from different worlds, different eras, combined my way. Never uptight, achieving – hopefully – a kind of throwaway chic.” Iris Apfel.

Watch this video of Iris Apfel for the Rare Bird of Fashion exhibition: http://www.youtube.com/embed/yzf_WPqsmTM