Just a quick flashback while were on the topic of Givenchy… when Blud Sisters, Maya and Carri, expressed an interest in Givenchy couture the SB BK 24/7 studio wasted no time in contacting this old house to do our part to assist M.I.A. in fulfilling her Persian Princess fantasy. After all, Mama M.I.A. and Maestro Tisci are driving some parallel politics that stand well with the sub script which Sang Bleu and crew are marching to. Props to them for steering them thru the wall of the mainstream . Riccardo’s couture presentation, featuring M/M Paris and the photography of Willy Vanderperre, is coming up Tuesday and while our brother never stops working we thank him and his team for taking the time to dig in the archives. Maya pictured here in Givenchy Fall 2009 couture mixed with a Cassette Playa hoody and some dirty ol’ black t-shirt (That Tom, most likely, found waded up in Maya’s suitcase or under her bed). Couture with a hardcore world beat, no time like the present for the house that Hubert built and Ricky remodeled.

Homegirl’s album drops on the 13th and if Teqkilla’s any indication, we’re shakin’ in our boots.

We are proud to announce the launch of
Novembre, a magazine about Fashion & Contemporary Art for Switzerland.
Published by Sang Bleu éditeurs, Florence Tétier & Florian Joye,
it features (amongst over 130 contributors):

Aaron Schuster
Adeena Mey
Adrian Wilson
Angelo Cirimele
Ariana Reines
Catherine Baba
Damián Navarro
Daniel Baumann
Denis Pernet
Diane Pernet
Elisabeth Llach
Emmanuelle Antille
Estelle Hanania
Frédéric Chapon
Graham Tabor
Guillaume Pilet
Henrik Vibskov
Koudlam
Kris van Assche
Luc Andrié
Matthieu Lavanchy
Mauricio Nardi
Olaf Breuning
Paloma Presents
Piers Atkinson
Sybille Walter
Théo Mercier
Vikash Dhorasoo

(see the facebook event)

This past Monday I was invited by our friend Nicholas at Project no. 08 to see the collection of Canadian designer Arielle De Pinto. To my surprise, I was not only treated to a lesson in MIT science applied to jewelry and metal clothing, I was engaged in a conversational detour about customs procedures and shared musical interests with our new friend Mary-Catherine Anderson that set this one hour rendez-vous way off course from the average “market appointment”. Diamanda Galas led to Anna Wintour’s low tolerance for bass and the next thing I know, this lands in my e-mail. Thanks MCAT. I look forward to more in Paris.

Natalia Brilli uses the tactile appeal of organic surfaces to transform everyday objects into seductive talismans. Leather, stone and hand-wrought metal finishes lend her chains, pendants, and soft accessories a harder edge. For her latest project the Paris-based designer created a collection of leather-covered animal skulls, updating the concept of hunting trophies with a new sense of morbid beauty. Sang Bleu caught up with her to discuss the dark driving force behind her work.

Sang Bleu: How did you get to where you are now?

Natalia Brilli: I didn’t decide to be an accessories designer. In fact I used to be a scenographer, and then by chance and by meeting people I started to work in fashion. Wanting to deepen my knowledge of the industry I enrolled in the master’s degree program at Institut Français de la Mode (IFM), a school founded by Pierre Bergé. After graduating I spent 4 years alongside Olivier Theyskens at Rochas and at the same time created my own accessories line.

SB: Can you describe the aesthetic of your brand?

NB: My aesthetic is a mix of two cultures as I am half Belgian and half Italian. From the North I inherited a dark, ghostly and surrealist spirit, associated with a mix of glamour and a sort of cultivated and aesthete elegance, inherited from the South.

SB: Can you talk us through the thinking behind your latest collection?

NB: The still lifes of the 17th century associated with Irina Ionesco’s photography. I wanted flowers and an extreme feminity which embodies mystery, moral and physical ambiguity, and danger.

SB: What is it that attracts you to the darker side of human nature?

NB: What attracts me to the darker side of human nature (I mean on a aesthetic level) is the desire to avoid boredom and to feel new and unknown sensations as well as a kind of surrender towards dark and irrational forces. The ugly, the horrible, the morbid are to me aesthetic values as much as is beauty.

SB: Do you have favourite materials to work with?

NB: There’s obviously leather, but also some unusual materials such as burnt wood, horse hair, hair, real insects and raw stones.

SB: Can you describe the appeal of working with natural products?

NB: Leather has a complex personality, it is a noble and sensual material, and it also allows incredible technical possibilities.

SB: How important is it to you to maintain a traditional artisan approach to your work?

NB: The artisanal aspect is very important in my work because the leather-covering technique I use is a time-consuming and meticulous process, everything is done entirely by hand: no machine can do it… For instance, it takes a minimum of one hour to make a pearl necklace, and some of the more complex pieces can take one, even two days to complete. Only human hands are involved in making the pieces, which makes each one of them unique.

SB: Do you use any found objects?

NB: It depends on the pieces: for my limited edition objects, I often work with real elements (animal skeletons, drum set, guitar). But for the Bambaataa exhibition in Brussels, I made a series of monkey heads, for which the bases were of course resin casts. For the jewellery it’s the same, sometimes there are real elements (watches, keys, shells, etc.) and sometimes I draw objects which are then sculpted and cast in resin.

SB: How important is symbolism in your work?

NB: It’s an art movement that I like very much for the mystery which it embodies and also for all it reveals, the ambiguities of man with his faith, his sexuality, his neuroses. The symbolist author Mallarmé wrote: “Paint, not the thing, but the effect it produces.” This is what I try to achieve with this fine leather skin which sometimes gives to the object both a fragile and a ’sacred’ dimension, but there is also a lot of humour and surrealism in my work as humour is part of my nature and I think of my culture too. Belgians have an absurd and nonsensical sense of humour akin to that of the British. And after all it’s only accessories, sometimes it’s healthy not to take oneself too seriously…

WB: What are your biggest sources of inspiration?

SB: People that I know, that are close to me, but also women such as Edith Sitwell, Nancy Cunard or Charlotte Rampling for their timeless beauty and their typically British spirit, their troubled and ghostly auras, the mystery that shrouds them. The poetic and surrealistic movies of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. The “film noir” of Jacques Tourneur. Midnight Movies”, from Dario Argento to Alejandro Jodorowsky. 20’s and 30’s decorative arts, such as decorators Janine Janet and Tony Duquette. Italian architects Carlo Mollino and Gio Ponti. The Northern school of painting (Belgian, British and Scandinavian painters). Contemporary art. Travels. “Curiosity cabinets”, natural sciences and gardens. Nick Cave. The list is very long…

SB: Do you think the concept of fetish is communicated in the pieces you make?

NB: Yes, fetishism in the proper sense of worshipping objects: I cover with leather keys, credit cards… Because I see all those objects as fetishes of everyday life, gris-gris, lucky charms. Nowadays, a credit card has the same importance to some people as a watch or a piece of jewellery.

SB: Do you have a favourite piece?

NB: Not really. As soon as I finish a piece I’ve already moved on to the next.

SB: What is the biggest hurdle you have had to overcome to get to where you are?

NB: Banks.

SB: What are you working on right now?

NB: The Summer 2011 collection. A collaboration with the american artist Frank Stella. An important project with the department store Printemps (I can’t say more right now). A new piece for the Aliceday gallery that represents me in Belgium. A collaboration with the designer Pierre Gonalons www.ascete.com

SB: Where do you want to take the brand in the future?

NB: For the brand I’d like to develop a global image, with jewellery, bags and shoes, and at the same time continue my work as an artist making limited edition objects and unique pieces, all of this with a total freedom of expression.

www.nataliabrilli.fr

images from Anatomy of the Self and Stil in Berlin

The Elsa Peretti-style gloves have been my long-time lust objects, but Anna-Sara Dåvik’s silver and gold fingernails are the last word in why-has-no-one-tried-this-before jewelry innovation.

The play has a strong opening: a crash, followed by swearing, insult and scorn. He and she have come home after a long evening at a party and, although it is three A.M. and neither is entirely sober, it is not unreasonable to take their apparently random German conversation as being indicative of their typical attitudes towards life and each other. She, like the heroine of the movie she probably talks about, is “discontent.” She dislikes her house, she is dissatisfied with her husband’s sedentary ways and generally passive orientation toward life.
He never does anything (although it is not yet clear what, exactly, doing would entail). However, he is wearing Lanvin’s “Graffiti Necklace”.

That image got stuck on my mind.

even a handsome man, and he deserved more than that.
He said to her, not leaving: I’m strong, and I have a good sense of humor. You will see that if you will only spend one evening with me. I can give you whatever you desire. I will make you very happy.
She said: I have said all I have to say and I’m not going to say any more. I am not happy to talk to you. And she turned her head and picked up from the grass a shiny metal foil, and blocked his view of her with it.
He said: All right for now, but I’m coming back!
She didn’t say anything in response.

JEWELRY: http://www.homeroomstore.com/