I Just Want It to Be, You and Me
A laundry list of things that have been on my mind
The world feels quite noisy currently, so, as always, I’ll be sharing sharing some items, stream of consciousness style, that are some positive lights in my life. Top of mind is an upcoming trip at the beginning of March to Madrid for a flurry of art fairs, namely Arco, Art Madrid, Just Mad, and UVNT. Kyle and The Trend Report will be hosting a cocktail party in the city as we’re excited to grow our network of likeminded individuals there, and of course, TFIB readers are always invited along. We’ll be sharing more details about that soon. A new OÍR mixtape will be headed your way this Saturday, an homage to the R&B jams I grew up with in the 90s. I’m listening to it as I write this and it’s an unapologetically horny mix. In hindsight, I find it hysterical that I was listening to these songs as a 13 year old boy, completely unaware of the deeper meanings.
I went to a supper club on Saturday and ended up having a fantastic time. The party was thrown by foodxforms, aka fofo, in an old manor 30 minutes outside of Barcelona, tucked into the hillside. The dinner was focused around the idea of warmth, and all the different ways you can cook food through heat. Roast, boil, confit, steam, char, stew, and bake. The food was delicious and the wine flowed and I ended up meeting a bunch of really fantastic folks from all over the place. A trio of Venezuelans who run an art gallery, BETA Contemporary, a space we just happened to visit earlier in the day, a lifestyle photographer from St. Petersburg, a young guy on vacation from Cologne, and a Colombian pastry artist. Such an interesting group of people from all over, all of sat at a long table, dozens of candles lighting the dinner, it was magical. Also starting to learn just how small Barcelona is and how everyone knows everyone.
Paris Fashion Week happened last week and there were definitely some standouts. Willy Chavvaria yet again made a splash with his collection “Tarantula,” which combined ideas of romance and rebellion. Over at Dries van Noten, we saw a peak at what upcoming creative director Julian Klausner might be up to, a very Galliano-esque affair, and again, quite romantic in nature. There was a ton of talk about Dior and Kim Jones remarkable showing, where he pulled inspiration from Monsieur Dior’s classic “H Line” from the namesake visionary’s Fall 1954 haute couture collection. Walter van Beirendonck came in peace with his alien filled collection, Issey Miyake keeps making incredible silhouettes, and Lemaire continues to create the perfect clothes for my dream wardrobe.
In the area of trend forecasting, the new year brings out new perspectives, a resounding trend is for things to feel more authentic and an emotional connection. Dezeen spoke to a number of creatives across disciplines and there were a lot of interesting points. Smita Thomas, founder of Bengaluru studio Multitude of Sins, said, "Reality is super tough all around the world… we might need to go back to dreaming! I am wondering if we will be back to grandiose and bigger-than-reality. A bit out of scale, revisited baroque – old-school interiors twisted." Paris collaborators Samantha Hauvette and Lucas Madani spoke about the ills of social trends, “Some trends are in danger of disappearing rapidly because of the speed with which social networks spread fashions, and the responsiveness of manufacturers to produce cheap copies.”
Over on Vogue, they also spoke to 11 top interior designers who rated what they felt was “in and out.” The Ins were items like drapery, brown furniture, and velvets, a return to art deco and jewel tones, as well as mixing different wood and metals together to create a contrast. Out is all white-interiors (which never should have been In in the first place), black kitchens, and Christine Gachot’s spot on take, over-curation. I see so many creators trying to “curate” these perfect spaces with designers furniture and Tom Ford books and it’s boring and tired. Have a point of view! Be personally interesting!
Musically, I’ve been listening to mostly mixes. There’s a new Visible Cloaks mix that’s great, Jacques Greene on Rinse, and Ethel Cain over on NTS. There’s an amazing compilation called Staying: Leaving Records Aid to Artists Impacted by the Los Angeles Wildfires which features 98 tracks by a ton of amazing artists, definitely give some money if you’re able to support. There’s also a new Shinichi Atobe record called Discipline that came out last year which I missed. Haven’t listend to it yet but excited to dig into it.
Hopefully this gives you a snapshot into my brain this week. A little more loose because things are weird lately. Hope your week is great, and look out for OÍR on Saturday, it’s going to be a good one 💙