Photograph by MANDERSSON & MASSAUX

the Interview:

At what point did you recognize that you were a visual artist?
When I was told by an elementary school teacher that I was a “a fresh little boy” when during a word problem exercise, you know… a car is traveling to the nearest city that is 26 miles away… at 35 mph how long would it take to arrive? and I raised my hand and wanted to know the make, model and color of the car.  Everyone laughed. I wasn’t kidding. Knowing that detail would have helped me figure out the problem. I needed a clear visual. I’d gotten into a lot trouble because of this natural approach I had to figuring out riddles of all sorts.

When did you notice that you were seeing the world in a different manner from other people?
Well, variably, I guess the first signal, a very early memory of mine, was being upset by the story of the Three Little Pigs. I interpreted the story as the pigs being the bad guys picking on the wolf. It was a numbers deduction…three of them, one of him. The wolf didn’t seem so bad. Creatively, any noticeable difference doesn’t surface right off, rather it’s simply part of an authenticity in oneself. If one can see it then one doesn’t have it.

How would you characterize your writing?
Truthful and American in its accessibility. Writing is mystifying. I tend to edit as I write, so it’s rare that I pick it apart to any great extent once it’s on the paper. To be an effective writer in any sense one must be interested in a genuine way in human beings. I’m fascinated by language and how people use it. Some of the most interesting ways I’ve heard the language used comes from the least expected sources. There’s no pecking order to interesting in my reality. It’s very democratic. Highly educated folks think they own the market….they don’t.  I take in a lot. On the street, where I spend more time than I do in my apartment, and often on my bike, I’m like a human net, capturing bits of conversations, phrases, arguments, words, all in an audible drive-by at 15 mph. I absorb these things and somehow a percentage of this stuff assimilates, I becomes its host….and it magically spills from me when I write.

Explain how your sense of identity has affected your outlook on art and life.
My self-identity is portable in some ways. I don’t know really where I came from and who my biological parents are. I’m not the guy who gets on a cheesy talk show and cries about this stuff. If it sounds more like a scene in a David Lynch movie, and then it might interest me. I’ve never belonged to anyone by blood, so my idea of loyalties and love and family are made up as I went along. I made myself. I saw ideals I was drawn to and adopted them. It’s a great approach to art as well. I never liked art that I was told was “important.”  In fact, if my first reaction to art is perplexing, it’s a good indication. The responsibility of art isn’t to make you feel good, or spurn a reaction in any way.

Describe the artists to whom you have been close, and how they have helped influence your thinking.
I became friends with Ross Bleckner years back. I had never been to an artist’s painting studio. I remember the first time I went to his studio, the smell of paint and the feeling that something serious was happening. It felt like church. I worked for Cindy Sherman for a year back in the 90′s. I was a personal assistant. I never worked with her in her studio, no one does. Cindy’s wonderful. A good person. Very compassionate. Smart, generous, attractive for sure. She’s really stylish. But, my favorite artist whom I’m friends with is, Ed Ruscha. I once saw a sign in a Poughkeepsie diner that read, ‘Serve Spaghetti Nights.’ The We had faded, and I went into a Ruscha haze.  I finished the spaghetti and walked outside with these words in my head, a glazed look in my eye, until the sound of a car horn blasting alerted me to my approaching death! Ha. Ed has that affect on me. I nearly died for Ruscha! That’s funny.

What books, films, television shows have most shaped you?
I don’t watch television. David Cronenberg is my favorite living director. He’s a rare example of a man with a vision, a unique style of making movies and a good storyteller. But I see a fairly wide range of film genres.

How does your personal style reflect your sensibility as an artist and writer?
Style obviously is about how you conduct your life. I hope it would include being gentle, intelligent and compassionate….with a great moth bitten sweater…that the moths are leasing to me by the week.

What has kept you going as an artist, even when recognition has been elusive?
Being an artist is a compulsion, not an ambition. I’ve always had the good fortune of drawing and being drawn to people who have been wonderful to me. I feel as if I’ve had the greatest life here in New York, a very unique experience for which I’m grateful, all on negative bank balance.

On which side of the camera are you most comfortable?
Hmm, that’s tough. I like being photographed and have been in that spot many times. I like being in movies. I also like the relationship between photographer and subject. A bond, even momentarily holds them together for as long as the image exists and perhaps further. It’s psychological, it feels sexual in some ways, as it’s tense, a certain dance, and then it’s over. Though I’m about to embark on a journey of people portraits, so I’ll have to get back to you on this topic.

What impelled you to turn your voyage into a book?
I’ve always liked books, how they look, the decisions that go into the design and font and so forth, so it seemed like a natural goal once I developed the film.

Above, The Book Cover of Michael Scalisi’s “Follow Me”

What did you discover about yourself?  about America?
After a month on the road, I discovered that I’m good at reading maps and keeping notes. I’ve got a fairly good sense of direction and know how to prepare for the unforeseen. It’s astonishing in some ways that America is one country. In many ways it feels like small countries with vast amounts of land between them. Yet, people everywhere have a common thread, a sense of self-determination and a distaste for being governed. I relate.

Why did you reject commercial publishers for your book?
There weren’t any.  If there were any they certainly had the wrong number. I faced many closed doors. I didn’t take most of it personally. It’s the climate we are in, and it may be here to stay.

You were told you would never publish your book.  Why would someone say that to you?
Well now where getting into slamming doors…that’s the nature of having an uncompromising personal vision. Most people are supportive. All one really needs is vision and drive and a solid dose of self-reliance.

Tell us how you found the printer for Follow Me.
I had no idea how to approach this. I did know that I didn’t want to print overseas. I wanted to be hands-on throughout the entire process. A printer within a hundred miles or so was ideal. I wanted to also learn about printing. The bottom line for me is… beautifully done. I simply found the books I most thought were nicely done. Bruce Weber’s books are made beautifully. I contacted the company that makes his All American books. The company is called Finlay. I had the good fortune of working with David Lorczak, a wonderful guy who took great pleasure in schooling me on the printing process. It was fascinating for me.

Before RRL came along, what was your plan for selling Follow Me?
I didn’t have a plan beyond maybe contacting a few small book stores I like. I thought about offering it in hardware stores, ones I like, or simply any sort of shop that I felt had an honesty to it. It sounds crazy, but I like that approach. Then for a moment I decided I might load up my car and take all of the books to a small town in a state that doesn’t support gay people or planned parenthood, or some cause or people that might benefit from attention and help. I would sell the books in a friendly little shop or out of the trunk of my car, in a strange little town and give the money to a much-needed group of folks under attack.  I’d still like to help a cause in the future with another book or project.

How did you finance the printing of Follow Me?
When I came back to New York after rambling all over the place, I went back to work on a sign-installing job. My good buddy Johnny Rivera owns a company that has a wide variety of light construction, sometimes heavy work, a bunch of manual labor tasks, painting, plastering, sign installation… I didn’t have much skill in these areas, but I learned and did my best to assist the guys who knew a whole lot more about this line of work. It helped that the boss is good friend. Johnny, is also a furniture designer and a photographer, a creative guy, so he was an ally for sure. I saved money from this job to pay for the printing. At the same time, my best friend, Jose, has a skill for finding and selling important vintage Chanel and Hermes handbags. It’s an amazing skill actually. He’s very much a guy’s guy, masculine and with no indication he would know about such a high-end delicate line of women’s fashion. It’s the coolest hidden trait I’ve ever come across.  He started this small business and he does very well. He contributed to a large part of the printing costs of Follow Me. I dedicated the book to him. I like that a book that has so many trucks, tires and road kill, was funded by recycled Chanel and Hermes…I also like that I’m talking about this with you, Amy, who most folks would never imagine has been on any road but Madison Avenue. I say that lovingly. These seemingly polar attractions are truly and completely a New York story! New York is never what any of us thought it would be, and so it continues that way. Gratefully.

What images did you edit out of the book and why?
It was a very natural selection process. It took me about an hour each day for 3 or 4 days. I shuffle things around with actual photographs on the floor of my apartment. I would take one or two images away. Sometimes I would place them back in. But the story seemed to be dictating itself to me. I just listened carefully.  I would then bring the negatives to a friend I hired, Marcus Andersson. He scanned the images and put together the book according to the order I wanted the images to flow. He also brought a lot of cool ideas to the design, alternating black pages as well as some other details. Collaborations only work when the vision of the artist is supported by the people who are participating. I like the idea of something starting as a strong vision but allowing another person to add their ideas to it.

What essays did you edit out of the book and why?
I left in the more personal excerpts because I wanted to be brave and talk about things I mostly don’t talk about. These more personal thoughts seem to lend themselves in a more cohesive way to the images I selected, and created a strangely yet familiar solitary mood.

Why does Ed Ruscha appear at the end of the journey and the end of the book?
Ed was the only familiar face at the end of the journey. I hadn’t thought of a book when I photographed him. I simply figured hey, I might as well document the only person who knows me after a month of being the stranger everywhere.  Symbolically Ed represents a lot of western ideas for me, for a lot of folks. Particularly a California ideal that comes through in some of his work. Ed Ruscha-California  Jack Kerouac-Massachusetts, seemed the perfect book ends. Ed and Jack, restless explorers, a unique writer and a unique artist, two cool guys and two of my favorite Americans.

What does the Michael Heizer earthwork, Double Negative, featured in two Follow Me photographs, mean to you?
I had long been fascinated by land sculpture, so I made a special detour and it was the only pre-planned location to visit on the entire cross -country trip. Finding Double Negative was hard work and worth it.  His commitment to his work is humbling. His diligence in creating massive earthworks can easily make the most dedicated guy feel like a slacker or a poser by comparison.

Why did Double RL choose to sell Follow Me in an exclusive arrangement?  What would you hope would come about as a result of this partnership?
Alfredo Paredes at Ralph Lauren, saw the book and liked it. He brought it into the company, where many of the people who worked there also liked it. He wanted to do something with it. A book event through the RRL division was offered to me. They were thrilled when I told them that I had no other distribution deal in place. So, they asked if they could fill that role and I happily agreed.  I was really pleased by this because I like the brand. I wear the clothes. The people there have been a true pleasure to work with. The book and the brand compliment each other in magical ways. The perfect outcome?… Well since marriage is on everyone’s mind these days, The Nuptials should read, Follow Me-RRL. I guess I’m just a lucky American guy, hitched for the perfect American marriage.

An architect who graduated from MIT in 1952, John R. Myer was awarded a Fullbright scholarship to study in Italy. While there he worked with Gino Valle at Studio Valle in Udine. Valle is widely recognized for his public buildings and the flap display Cifra 3 clock, considered a masterpiece of industrial design. Returning to the US, Myer taught at MIT, becoming head of the architecture department in the 1980’s, meanwhile continuing to practice and focusing on public buildings like the Massachusetts State Archive Building in his private practice.

the interview:

You and Kevin A. Lynch are responsible for an entire urban trend as a result of the success of the 1961 Downtown Waterfront Faneuil Hall Renewal Plan sponsored by the Boston Redevelopment Authority–a proposal to renew the run-down waterfront district by reconnecting the port to the city, building a residential base and developing a tourist/shopping hub that incorporated historic buildings around Faneuil Hall. Prior to your plan, as a result of losing manufacturing jobs the waterfront was disintegrating. Had you worked with Kevin Lynch prior to being engaged as architect for the Boston waterfront?
“My contact with Kevin Lynch began while I was a student and became important when we both left for Italy [Myer had a Fulbright grant] in the summer of 1952. We lived near each other in Fiesole overlooking Florence. I was there to study Italian Squares and Kevin was searching for a way to describe the whole ‘city by studying the mental image of that city……..concentrating on one particular visual quality: The apparent clarity or “legibility” of the cityscape.’ We and another couple went out into Florence to report back to Kevin where we felt oriented and why. in 1954 we returned to Boston and then in 1958 Anderson and Fred Adams hired Kevin and myself to make a a plan for Scollay Square and the surrounding area which would be called the Boston Government Center.”

I understand the Boston Government Center was a difficult experience. Could you describe what happened?
“The original master plan for Boston Government Center had significance [much of the design was based on Myer and Lynch’s study of public spaces in Florence and the architecture
designed for the Center reflected the forms of nearby Central Business District’s skyscrapers]. Sadly a struggle occurred when Ed Logue became the director of the new Boston Redevelopment Authority. Logue introduced I.M. Pei into the process, who did not agree with the original design of the Center created by me, Kevin Lynch, Lawrence Anderson and Fred Adams. Logue insisted I.M. Pei contribute to the work that we had all but completed, and ultimately, much of our design was jettisoned, creating a vast uncontained space that continues to be problematic because it does not have a sense of containment or intimacy. As a result of our research in Italy, we understood the importance of these qualities in public spaces, concepts which Pei rejected.”

Working with Lynch, you two transformed the entire paradigm of urban planning. What was the allure of urban design for you as an architect?
“It was wonderful to design something of this scale and particularly with an open minded and friendly collaborator such as Kevin Lynch. He was focused on giving form to our city and knew the elements that would contribute to it. We worked well together and complimented each other. Our goal with the plan were: Open the city to the sea by creating a viable waterfront that preserved the architectural jewels and enhanced the city’s economy.

“Kevin was focused on what makes a city a clear, livable and beautiful place. We did the design for the Government Center just at the time his book, The Image of the City was published, It was exciting to get a chance to do this urban planning – urban designing in collaboration with Kevin being cognizant of the points he made in his fine book”

“The 60s and the 70s were an exciting time at MIT. What stood out for me was the presence of Gyorgy Kepes, an artist, Kevin Lynch, urban designer, and Lawrence Anderson, architect. They came to MIT through William Wurster who became Dean of Architecture in 1944. [Wurster incidentally was the subject of harassment by the Tenney Committee investigating UnAmerican activities.] They were less in the Bauhaus tradition and more in the American tradition of architecture in the landscape. Anderson became Head of Architecture in 1947 and became its Dean from 1965 until 1972. Kevin Lynch began his teaching career in 1948. During the 1950‘s I worked on several projects with him. I began teaching at MIT in 1958 and had close contact with him professionally and socially.

“[Unlike the Boston Government Center ] the 1964 Boston Waterfront Plan, however, was highly successful. What was once a decaying and abandoned area, little used and without definition, became an attractive clear area, connecting the city to the downtown waterfront and the Harbor, representing Boston’s connection to shipping and the sea. It gave clarity to the edge of the city and became an important destination site for the city’s population and visitors. The business community made use of its amenities and residents moved to the area, so its renovation was an economic boon to the whole city.

Urban planner Christopher Kiley has described your Downtown Waterfront – Faneuil Hall Renewal Plan, “The Downtown Waterfront Faneuil Hall Renewal Plan utilized two models: Le Corbusier’s innovative (and non- contextual) Modern City model manifested throughout the areas of new development, but it was tempered with Lynch and Myer’s very innovative (yet contextual) model of an American city that celebrates its past by acknowledging and preserving important and significant buildings.” Did you have any idea of the juggernaut this concept would become?
“Actually, we were just doing work we believed in, we had no idea that this waterfront project would instigate a new direction in urban design.”

The use of cinematography to study the city, especially the spatial relation to a moving landscape was first introduced in 1964 by Donald Appleyard, Kevin Lynch and your book, The View from the Road, published by M.I.T. Press in 1964. This book, which by the way ,is now so rare copies range from $1100.00 to $750.00 contributed to this new urban philosophy. How did this correspond with your personal ethics and interests?
“I’ve always been interested in public spaces so The View from the Road demonstrated how the techniques we used to study Florence and elsewhere could be applied to illustrate why and how we feel oriented along our roads and pathways. This was a vital understanding of the urban fabric and affected all my design work.”

You were the recipient of a Grunsfeld Grant in 1968 to visit Japanese gardens, what impact did this have on your work?
“The Japanese gardens I studied had a profound impact on my design work. It showed me what gardens could be: intense expression of various qualities simply using vegetal and rock forms. In general, I’ve been quite influenced by all Japanese design, such as the cabinetry in Pasture House which alludes to Shoji screens.”

Who worked with you in the original staff of the Arrowstreet architectural firm? Was this practice primarily devoted to civic architecture?
“There were several members of Ashley, Myer, Smith, 1958-1960, which became Arrowstreet Inc. (1960-1987), who were involved with civic design although we had various types of projects. Richard Krauss and Steve Carr come to mind. Krauss and I started the Environmental Design Group, a non profit affiliate of Ashley Myer & Smith and Arrowstreet. Steve Carr while working with Ashley, Myer & Smith wrote City signs and lights, a policy study prepared for the Boston Redevelopment Authority and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, published by MIT in 1973. He later worked with me on the Washington DC project “Streets for People.” Our practice was a mixture of civic design and architecture.”

Your Pasture House in Tamworth, New Hampshire was prescient, being sustainable, and attentive to the landscape. Were you building other sustainable projects in the 1980’s?
“I became keenly aware for the need for ” sustainable architecture” in the late 1970’s when oil prices escalated and I re-insulated our house in Cambridge, as well as installed solar hot water at the time. As early as 1963 I was thinking about sustainability, although we didn’t call it this at the time, and this dominated the design of the Butcher House in Brooklyn, Maine and other houses. The Butcher summer house faced the south east. The pool used salt water, and the rear of the house is imbedded into the land to keep it cool.”

What is sustainable about Pasture House?
“It is important that the house faces the south and is imbedded in the hillside. The living area has a cement floor. There is no basement under the house except in the kitchen. The solid floor absorbs and retains the sun’s radiant energy. The sun enters the south facing glass of the Living Room which also reveals a great view of the Ossipee Mountains to the south. The glass is double glazed to insulate the room from the winter cold on the outside. It also has a “Low E Film” to reflect the warmth back into the Living Room. This film is in a way magical in that it reflects warmth back into the Living Room while it admits the suns rays which heats the room. The Living Room is heated not only by the sun, but also two heating elements: 1) the Fire Place which is a pleasure on winter days, and 2) A wood stove embedded in the masonry. The stove is fed through its stove door which faces the front door and the adjacent wood storage in the carport. We use about a cord a year. There is also an electric panel in the ceiling which turns on if the house temperature drops below 40 deg. Farenheight, thus protecting the house from freezing up.”

“Our supply of electricity is from the local power company which has a network of power lines throughout the country roads of the state. Because storms and downed trees falling on the power lines can interrupt power supply, we installed a stand-by generator which will supplies electricity in event of failure in the grid.”

Could you describe your work in Pakistan during the 1990’s?
“Based at Harvard and MIT, the Aga Kahn’s Foundation for Islamic Architecture engaged a group of us to propose a plan to preserve the terraced farmlands of Karimabad, Pakistan and work with the community to incorporate sustainable architecture into their vernacular building tradition. Karimbad is located at an elevation of 9,000 feet, K2, the second highest point on earth, is only a couple of valleys away. Traditionally, dwellings in Karimbad are masonry and mortar with rough wood roofs, with no insulation and in the winter are quite cold and often filled with smoke from cooking. The Karimbad Urban and Housing Project offered technical suggestions such as various materials to better insulate and protect homes from seismic activity.”

Your most recent publication, People & Places is a collaboration with your wife Margaret H. Myer, a psychologist who lectured at Harvard. How did this evolve?
“Well I am an architect who has thought about places all the time! And it interested me very much how my wife, Marty [Margaret H. Myer, graduated from Wellesley and after graduate school lectured on psychology at Harvard) thought about places in the context of how people related to them! I was teaching architecture to MIT students. I wanted them to have a different relation to architecture and places from my own education where the master teacher told us how to see places, instead I wanted them to talk about their own feelings about places they cared about.”

“On the first evening for the students to make their presentations about the place they had selected, often in or about their own home, I asked Marty to join us. The presentations were very strong and clear. The students had really done good work. So much so that no one could say anything about them including Mart and myself. I found myself asking “Why is this so difficult to talk about?”

“Mart answered ‘It is difficult because we are talking about early unconscious thoughts and needs.’ Following this evening we began to explore the relationship between our early needs and our reactions to places. We decided to write about our findings.”

Could you synopsize People & Places?
“The book has basically 3 sections. In the first section we explore are early infant needs and describe how these affect our reactions to places. We chose as a model Erikson’s 8 ages of man to describe the development of a person. The second section demonstrates how these early needs affect or should affect design. The third section deals with historical continuities and how this contributes to the making of places. We start in the book with what makes a person and move on to what makes a place.”

You have had a fascinating career, is it possible to summarize it in one word?

“Not really.”

Chef PAUL PRUDHOMME may have brought the flavors of the New Orleans Vieux Carré to presidents and a king, but his deepest satisfaction comes from the food itself.

With a soft Cajun accent and a laugh like the sturdy intricacies of French Quarter ironwork, Prudhomme is at home talking about cooking. He effortlessly weaves his love for freshness, for the perfect spices and seasoning, together with glimpses into his own life. Only glimpses, though—he doesn’t delve too deeply into himself. He is not eager to quantify his achievements, or to rattle off a laundry list of celebrities he has cooked for. He would much rather discuss how not owning a freezer is a way of life.

The youngest of thirteen children on a farm outside of Opelousas, Louisiana, Prudhomme was born into the homespun flavors of Cajun country. He began helping his mother in the kitchen as a boy, eagerly absorbing her ingredients and the way she prepared them. With few words from Prudhomme the scene unfurls—an imaginative and meticulous child brimming over with dreams.

Prudhomme chased those dreams with gusto, cutting his teeth in steaming kitchens across the country. While drawing inspiration from the cuisines he dabbled in, he developed a clear image of the quality of food he would someday serve.

The mother who first sparked his love affair with cooking ultimately drew Prudhomme back to the sultry heat of his home state. In 1979, he and his late wife, K, opened his eighth restaurant.

Nestled in the historic New Orleans French Quarter, K-Paul’s Louisiana Kitchen was the first Cajun restaurant in the city, and arguably the best known today.

Prudhomme has appeared everywhere from Good Morning America to Larry King Live. He’s authored cookbooks, and owns a popular seasoning brand. He was the first American–born chef to receive France’s coveted Ordre National du Mérite Agricole.

Prudhomme may have prepared invitational dinners for Reagan and Clinton, but the presidents’ names didn’t come to him as quickly as one might expect. The king of Jordan once dined at K-Paul’s, Prudhomme says casually enough for the memory to seem an afterthought.

Doubtlessly, though, the chef could recall each intimate detail of the meals he cooked for them.

Cajun cooking is often considered rustic—its ingredients locally grown and relatively simple to prepare. Although it doesn’t fit the traditional concept of haute cuisine, bringing Cajun to the culinary world stage didn’t seem to daunt Prudhomme. His faith in its straightforward essence, in the joie de vivre it embodies, is unshakable. Something of an aesthetic, he takes great pride in the picture his food paints, in the tastes and aromas that so readily evoke passion.

Prudhomme speaks affectionately of the New Orleans he knows, and seems as much a part of the landscape as the long, slow notes of tarnished saxophones in Jackson Square.

Although you’ll never hear it from him, this chef has added more than a little flavor to the fabrics of culinary history. You could call him an icon merely because of his achievements—but Prudhomme would much rather you taste his gumbo and allow your senses to be the judge.

the interview:

What was life like growing up on a farm in Opelousas, Louisiana, in the midst of Cajun country?
I began helping my mother in the kitchen as a very young child, and I continued on for many years with her. I learned from her an enormous amount of great food because she was a great cook.

What made you gravitate towards making your living as a chef?
When I got out of high school, I was absolutely enthralled with the idea of having my own restaurant. The restaurant in New Orleans was my eighth restaurant. I had one in Opelousas, then three more around the country. I was traveling, and I ended up in Colorado and did a restaurant there. The first four failed, but I was learning. And so I decided that I would continue on doing that, and I got a restaurant in Denver, Colorado, and it went really well for the first time. Then I did a second one there and a third one there, so I had three in Denver. Then my mom and dad were sick; they had gotten to a late age, in their 70s. I’d come home maybe twice a year and be with them for a week, week and a half, and when I realized that Mom and Dad were both sick I decided I ought to come home. When you’re the last child and you’re not married, you really feel strongly about your mom and dad—at least I did. So I got rid of the restaurants in Colorado and came back to Opelousas.

You and your late wife Kay first opened K-Paul’s Louisiana Kitchen in 1979. What was the influence of Cajun cooking in New Orleans at the time?
They had never heard of [a Cajun restaurant] before. I was the first one to do that. It’s what I’d learned from Mamma, and from having restaurants until they failed and I kept trying, kept trying. This restaurant with my wife was a very successful restaurant.

You’re known for your insistence on only the freshest and finest of ingredients. Why is this so essential to who you are as a chef?
When I was a kid, we had great food. I would work with Mother with it, and it was so good. When I started traveling around the country and seeing things that were frozen I couldn’t believe it, because it was awful. And so when decided to have a restaurant I decided to never have a freezer in it, and I still don’t today. It had to be fresh. We have a refrigerator, but not a freezer.

Over the years you’ve done a lot of traveling to bring the tastes and traditions of Louisiana to the rest of the world. In many ways you’ve become a larger-than-life figure, transcending the space of any one restaurant to embody Louisiana cooking. How would you describe the relationship between your culture and the food you cook?
What really got me was who I am, my culture, and I knew that we had the best food.

Who is the most interesting person you’ve ever encountered dining at K-Paul’s?
I was just thinking about him today and I’m trying to remember his name, but there was a king. I don’t know what country he was from, but he came to Louisiana and they had a night at the restaurant that was very exciting. We had security on every ledge. He had probably about 80, 90 people with him. It was a fun event.

What is your favorite dish to serve to family and friends?
I’m very particular—I want fresh food. The best thing I have is what’s fresh and in front of me. If you cook it right and you deliver it right, it’s just absolutely wonderful. I still get food that me and Lori eat from the restaurant, because everything is fresh. We have gumbo all the time—I think we have two containers of it in the fridge right now. It’s a wonderful thing to have it, it really is.

Before opening K-Paul’s, you cooked in many kitchens across America. Which cuisines most influenced your own traditional Cajun style?
When I was traveling and being a cook, I had to do what that particular restaurant did, and I always did that because it was the right thing to do. I’ve always said the best food I’ve ever had in my life was with my mother on the farm, and at K-Paul’s.

What is the most powerful and passionate ingredient a chef can use?
I think freshness for cooking is the most important thing, and having the right kind of seasoning to finish it—it’s wonderful.

Visual and aromatic appeal—the colors, the aroma of a dish—are widely considered essential to fine dining. How important is this to you?
It’s been my life. I think having great food is the fact that I had—for a long time—580 pounds of body. And so I did the same kind of food and I took it down to less than 200 pounds. It’s just understanding food and understanding how much you should eat.

So you think it’s important to not give up what you love?
Absolutely. There’s no reason to, if you think about it.

Which dish do you think best captures the spirit of the New Orleans Vieux Carré region that you know?
I think the rest of the world would say gumbo. It’s one of the things that once people taste it—and I’ve seen this so many times at the restaurant—it’s the best thing they’ve ever tasted.

Outside of the kitchen, what is something you enjoy?
Probably the most important thing in my life is my wife. We got married a year and a half ago, but we’ve known each other for probably 38 years, 35 years, and we’ve always cared for each other. And it’s more than ever now.

Was it a challenge to bring such a heavily regional cuisine to the culinary world stage while staying faithful to its Louisiana origins?
If we have an event somewhere, whether it’s in the country or out of the country or whatever it is, if we’re doing an event with food it comes from the restaurant.

What is New Orleans’ best-kept secret?
There’s so much here—so many great restaurants, casinos. There’s so much in New Orleans that’s very entertaining and that people enjoy. It’s a great city to come and be for a couple of days.

Is there a famous person you would like to prepare a special dinner for?
Anybody that’s nearby and hungry, I’ll be happy to cook for.

Helen Jennings is at the helm of fashion’s next big wave—Africa.  For the past three years, the editor of Arise magazine (the quarterly title dedicated to African style and culture) has had a front row seat to the African fashion scene, observing and documenting a tinderbox of talented designers now taking to the world stage. The self-described ‘English Rose’ began her fashionable journey in the British countryside, where her eccentric outfits led to schoolyard teasing. Unfazed, she took her inimitable flair to London, where she studied English at Kings College, then embarked on a journalism career, editing and styling at The Fader, Time Out, i-D, Trace and more. Her first book, New African Fashion (Prestel, 2011), highlights the continent’s preeminent designers, models and photographers. aRUDE editor, artist, Iké Udé provides its foreword.

the interview:

Why did you decide to write New African Fashion, and why now?
My editorship at Arise has allowed me to fully explore African fashion and meet the scene’s movers and the shakers. I’ve seen how the industry works and been able to watch it grow. In recent years, more African fashion magazines and blogs have sprouted up, and fashion weeks flourished. The interest in African fashion just keeps getting bigger and it’s crossing over now, so it seemed to me it was time for a definitive book on the subject.

Tell me about the process of writing and researching New African Fashion.
The whole project took a year from conceptualizing the idea to getting a deal and seeing it through to the printed page. I spent a lot of time researching, interviewing and delving into the history of African fashion design, models, textiles and studio photographers. Securing rights to pictures also took considerable man-hours too. I’m grateful to Iké Uké for his foreword, which likens Pablo Picasso’s ‘African moment’ to the ray of light shining on African fashion now.

How did you choose the designers featured in the book?
There were some that I just loved such as Maki Oh and Stiaan Louw, some that are big names such as Duro Olowu and Ozwald Boateng, and some I hadn’t heard of until I got digging, such as Omer Asim. Overall, I wanted to make sure I included designers from all over Africa, not just sub Saharan, and showcase a wide range of aesthetics. Some designers are Afro centric in their approach, while others you couldn’t tell were African simply by looking at their collections. I hope that anyone can pick up the book and get a feel for the scene.

 Above, the author with Shingai Shoniwa of Noisettes during London launch

You are not of African descent. Have you ever experienced adversity or resistance in your journalist practice on African fashion?
Not really, no. I’m a trained fashion journalist with over a decade of experience. I’m not pretending to be African; I’m just passionate about promoting Africa and its creative industries. And as an outsider, I can be impartial too. No one would say you have to be European to write about European fashion, so it’s narrow minded to suggest you have to be African to write about African fashion, or wear it for that matter. We have to move beyond divisive arguments and treat the subject in an international context.

Arise has made a splash in the industry by representing African fashion with award winning editorials. In 2010 artist Mario Epanya suggested the idea of a Vogue Africa, imagining several covers for fictional editions. What do you think of this idea?
I applaud it. There are a lot of people with significant wealth in Africa, and there’s certainly a market for a quality editorial about African fashion, as the success of Arise has proved. When it comes down to it though, it’s a question of advertising for Condé Nast. The title won’t go ahead if it can’t float financially. We’ll see how the market develops though. It might be an idea that gets revisited seriously, especially in light of Franca Sozzani’s recent UN visit to West Africa to meet with local designers.

You mention in your book about the proliferation of African fashion weeks and events around the globe. Do you think there will one day be one definitive African fashion week on par with fashion weeks in Paris, London, Milan, and New York?
There already is – Arise Magazine Fashion Week! It’s now an annual event bringing together 50 designers in Lagos, the second event happening this March. There’s also Africa Fashion Week in Johannesburg, which is in its third year. There’s certainly too many smaller fashion weeks happening in the name of African fashion right now but I salute any initiative that brings the business of fashion to different parts of the continent. As time goes on, the best will rise. What is needed though is some sort of pan-African fashion body, which could encourage communication, investment and marketing of designers across African and international borders.

www.newafricanfashion.com

www.ariselive.com

Since it first opened in 2005 in accordance with its sister show Art Basel, Design Miami has become my favorite design fair, where I visit every first week of December almost religiously. It is Design Miami that showcases the most intriguing directions and materials in design, juxtaposes the vintage and the contemporary and has since become a “must” for discerning collectors. Design Miami showcases designs, which are conceptual, unexpected, of experimental materials, and unique vocabularies. The show is held bi-annually in December in Miami and in June in Basel, Switzerland.

The year 2011 marked the seventh anniversary of Design Miami as a global forum for design, and this time it took place in a temporary structure, erected adjacent to Art Basel. On show were some important mid-century French design, Brazilian and California Modern, Scandinavian mid-century design, Postmodern Italian, French work of the 60s and 70s, Korean craft/design, Artists-designed jewelry and mainly contemporary design by established and by emerging designers. This year is also marked by the appointment of a new director, Marianne Goebl. I have met her to discuss the current state of collectible design, the mission of Design Miami, its new directions, and to chat on design.

Before joining the Fair, Marianne Goebl held a position as Head of International Public Relations and Partner a role in which she was responsible for Vitra’s international public relations strategy, brand collaborations and partnerships. At Vitra, she was responsible for the exhibition concept, execution, and media relations campaign for “VitraHaus,” along with the brand collaborations and communications strategy for “Vitra Campus.” As Director for “Vitra Edition,” Goebl worked closely alongside world-renowned designers including Ron Arad, Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec, Konstantin Grcic, Hella Jongerius, and Jasper Morrison, among others.

the interview:

When did you first develop a passion for design?
I have been interested in objects and in the way they are made since the time I remember myself. While I started my career in the art world, working in art museums, I can clearly recall that one single event that came to shape my love for design. I was in my early 20s, when I had first visited the Salone Internazionale del Mobile, the annual furniture fair in Milan. This visit had definitely marked a turning point in my life, and had made a great introduction to the world of objects. It was direct and tangible, thus in Milan I came across the relationship between the conceptual and aesthetic characters of design. This led me to my job at Vitra.

Tell me about working with Greg Lynn, whose remarkable Ravioli Chair Vitra has produced since 2005.
Greg’s approach of computer-based design and manufacturing methods are almost utopian. The Ravioli Chair was designed in computer simulation that came to expand the flat square surface into three-dimensional form. It can be manufactured only in a semi-mass production, and it was challenging to translate the form into mass production in a factory environment.

This year marks the seventh anniversary of Design Miami. It is the second year that the fair in its Miami edition is taking place in a temporary structure erected adjacent to the Art Basel Miami Beach Fair, rather than in Miami’s design district. What is the mission statement of Design Miami?
Design Miami is a global forum for design. It is dedicated to presenting the best collectible of modern and contemporary design in the world; it seeks to provide a platform to the world’s best design galleries. I believe that the medium of collectible design is still in its infancy and to a certain extent, it is a field yet to be uncovered and discovered. It is the role of Design Miami to give this territory a platform, a showcase on the highest level that it deserves.

What are the boundaries of the design displayed at Design Miami in chronological terms?
We show design produced from the early twentieth century to this day.

But I see that the majority of material presented here is dated from the postwar period onward, and that contemporary design is taking the primary place. I have not seen objects dating back to early modernism, Art Deco, or to the interwar era, and personally, I think that lacking that type of material is taking away from the ambition of showcasing the story of modern design. When you open auction catalogues by the major auction houses Phillips de Pury, Wright, or Sotheyb’s, I find that it is the juxtaposition of all periods that gives a sense of depth and broad aesthetic personalities, which is exactly what characterizes design collections today.
You are absolutely right in your observation. One of our main efforts is dedicated to bringing early material to Design Miami. Six month ago, at the edition of Design Miami in Basel, Switzerland, we had French Art Deco and work done at the Bauhaus School shown. It is strictly the strategic decision of the galleries that comes to determine the final choice and selection of work at the Fair.

Design Miami has expanded tremendously this year, with a 50% increase in participating galleries, with satellite exhibitions and many off-site exhibitions and events. It seems that the fair is also moving beyond the object design boundary into the territory of architecture. I particularly liked the restored Buckminster Fuller Fly’s Eye Dome and the reconstructed Dymaxion Car that are shown together at the design district. The opportunity to see an architectural structure by this visionary is a fresh addition to the vast contemporary design we see at the show. Can you illuminate on the new directions that Design Miami has been taking since you have taken the role of its Director, and where are you looking to further expand?
I believe that Design Miami has an educational role. Its mission is to offer our visitors the opportunity to view the entire picture of design. By showing vintage along with contemporary design, we create the link between the historical and the current, and that link is central and important to us. In contemporary design we are showing what I call “contemporary antiques,” meaning the antiques of the future, the design that in the future will be looked at as reflecting out time.

Can you give me an example of what you consider a “contemporary antiques”?
The work of Studio Job is an example of such.

I assume that it is the desire of many design galleries worldwide to take part in Design Miami. What are the guidelines for galleries to be eligible to participate? Can you tell me about the process of selection?
Design Miami established clear guideline, which is undertaken by a committee that oversees the selection of participating galleries. Every gallery represented in the Fair has to submit a detailed proposal, which includes not only a description of the pieces it plans to show, but also the program of the gallery, list of exhibitions, publications, and other details that illuminate the professional stand of the gallery. Whether the gallery collaborates with art museums is essential to this process. The members of the committee then make the selection and decision based on that proposal.

Who are the members of that committee?
The committee is composed of representatives of the participating galleries who bring their expertise to the selecting process. Just to give me an example, Galerie Patrick Seguin’s specialty is in French Postwar design;  Kreo, in contemporary design; Demish Danant brings expertise in design of the 60s and 70s, and so on.

Isn’t this a conflict of interest?
Not really. We have modeled this system on the process undertaken at the Art Basel Fair. But the selection of the galleries marks just one step in the entire process. Once the galleries set their booths before the opening night, the vetting begins. We bring experts from museums and auction houses, specialists who are dealers, curators, and collectors and they go through the show to make sure that all objects on display are up to the level of integrity that we require. So we are having two committees at Design Miami. The first determines the curatorial strategy and the second affirms the ultimate quality of the pieces on display.

I remember that a couple of years ago, a gallery from Japan brought new editions of furniture by Shiro Kuramata that have been recently issued by his widow. All of these pieces were taken off the floor on the night of the opening.
We have a clear policy when it comes to the original work versus reproduction, and here, at Design Miami we strictly show only what falls under the category of “original” design. We only show original work. Re-editions, even when done legally, are not accepted.

Could you make a clear definition of what would be considered reproduction or re-edition? Would a piece of ceramic by Ettore Sottsass, which he designed in the 1980s and produced in 2005, be acceptable?
When a production is interrupted and objects go back to reproduction, we will not allow showing them at Design Miami. We are aiming for historic value and we wish not to confuse the audience and the collectors. What Ettore Sottsass produced during his lifetime would be accepted.

When Design Miami first opened seven years ago, it showed a large portion of modern twentieth-century design. This was quickly changing, and contemporary design became the dominant material at Design Miami. Now, with new participating galleries, we see that you are moving to that balance again. What is the portion of contemporary design within the fair that you are looking to achieve?
We are looking for a balanced dialogue between vintage and contemporary. This contextualization that we want to achieve is essential to us. We want to offer the visitor a chance to understand the story of modern design.

Talking about contemporary design, in your work as the Head of International Public Relations & Partnerships at Vitra, you had worked closely with some of the designers that have a strong presence in Design Miami, such as Konstantic Grcic, Hella Jongerius, and Jaspar Morrison. Sometimes it seems that it is a very small community of key designers whose work in the limited edition arena is shown at Miami and that their industrial design work is particularly celebrated. These individuals came to be known as “design stars.” Who determines who is in and who is out and how is it possible to break into this elitist list? Can you give an advice to young designers?
In our world, most designers are wearing at least two hats, that of the industrial designer and that of the designer working in the collectible design, limited edition arena. Whereas their mass-produced design is shown in shops and department stores, their later work belongs to galleries and museum exhibitions. Designing an object for mass production is a complex process, which often takes years to develop. And if we consider the fact that there are not that many great manufacturers who are willing to allow emerging designers the opportunity to substantiate their visions, creating collectible design, either one of a kind objects or limited editions is a way to experiment. Those galleries that are engaged in production, allow the designers they represent to try, to experiment without having the long list of restrictions that define the work at the factory. On the other hand, there are designers who don’t need a presence at the collectible design arena. Jonathan Ives, for example, doesn’t have the urge to develop an experimental piece of furniture. But Hella Jongerius needs the work in collectible design. She is at her best in that arena. As a designer of products, Zaha Hadid is mainly active in the collectible design territory, but she has done a couple of projects for Alessi, while Konstantin Grcic is first and foremost an industrial designer, who also creates collectible design; the Bouroullec Brothers do both.

Design Miami is a young venture that in a relatively short time has secured its position as the leading fair for contemporary design, a trendsetter. Why? What makes Design Miami more significant than other fairs?
First of all, we focus on design. We don’t show any other form of art, but design. Second, we are dedicated to quality. We grow slowly as long as we show the best design by the world’s best galleries. Quality is our message, it’s our philosophy, and we will not compromise.

It seems like the same galleries are showing here year after year. Do new galleries have chance to enter Design Miami?
This year we have introduced a section called Design on Sties, a new format which provides platform for new galleries to show contemporary design. These galleries are permitted to bring solo shows by contemporary designers in small booths of 30 square maters size. This time we are having a gallery from South Africa for the first time.

What should we expect to see next year in Design Miami that we have not seen this time? How do you plan to further enrich the fair?
I cannot tell yet, but it is a work in process. I would like to bring more historical material in order to tell the story of modern design.

Valerie Steele hardly needs introduction. The Director and Chief Curator of The Museum at the Fashion Institute of technology (MFIT), I’d last interviewed the prolific, doyenne of fashion in 1999. She’d guest-edited, then, the “Desire issue” of aRUDE, in print. As her current exhibition, Daphne Guinness draws to a close; I trust that this will be a reminder, a last-call of sorts for those of you who haven’t seen the exhibition, to go see it. It is a spectacular show indeed. Moreover, this all encompassing interview charts Dr Steele’s curatorial practice, philosophy, strategies, passion, vision and style.

the interview:
What is the name of your current exhibition and how did it come about?
I began working on the Daphne Guinness show about two years ago. When I met Daphne, I immediately asked if she’s willing to co-curate a show with me about her personal style.

The idea came to me because there are so many exhibitions about great fashion designers from Yves Saint Laurent to Alexander McQueen but very few exhibitions about individual women of style. And yet these are the people that make clothes come alive off the runway, in the real world.

In planning the exhibition, what role did Ms. Guinness play?
I think that Daphne Guinness is today’s most inspiring fashion icon. She was very much co-curator of the exhibition. My colleague, senior curator Fred Dennis, and I chose most of the objects, but Daphne also suggested particular garments, and she styled each and every outfit.  How did you flesh out the framework of the exhibition?
Daphne is very well organized. Her clothes are all on a computer database. The first thing she did was to send me a disk with thumbnail pictures of her collection—about 2500 images — that we printed out. So Fred and I made a selection from these. Then Daphne came into the office and reviewed them and said that it was all fine.

Ultimately we finally chose about a 100 looks for the exhibition. I decided how to organize them based on two years of looking at Daphne’s clothes and interviewing her to get a sense of her style, because I did not want to organize them by designers—McQueen, Chanel, Alaïa, etc.  Instead I wanted to show aspects of her style.

Thus, one platform was Dandy, the influence of men’s clothes; another platform was dedicated for her love of armor, etc. 

In planning the exhibition, what role did Daphne play?
Daphne let us borrow whatever we wanted. And she made additional suggestions of things that we should include. When I chose a single item, such as an Azzedine Alaïa jacket, I asked her how she would wear it,with what shirt, skirt or trousers or leggings, etc. She chose the other clothing components and accessories. She personally styled every look in the show. She asked if I wanted it the way she first wore it or the way she’d wear it today, and I said the way she would wear it today.

She styled the whole show, with her costume jewelry and accessories. The only thing I had to insist on is that there be no real diamonds, no rubies in the show. 

So, she was a sort of co-curator?
From the beginning I wanted Daphne to be a co-curator of the show, because I wanted the exhibition to be about her personal style – and who could do that better than she?

If you can clarify again, in what order was the exhibition arranged?
The exhibition was arranged in seven categories: the first was the introductory gallery, which featured an iconic catsuit and cape by McQueen. This was surrounded by about a dozen pairs of shoes and other accessories, together with a lot of images, such as a video interview with Italian Vogue and her film, Phenomenology of the Body.

In the big room, there are six categories: dandy, armor, daytime chic, evening chic, sparkle and exotic. In addition we have two films—one that Daphne directed, another that she starred in. And finally we have a para hologram that we made with Daphne especially for the exhibition, which is projected on a life-size scrim that hangs from the ceiling.

Would you say that Daphne is a passive consumer, in collaboration with the designers or she buys what she likes or even commission dresses?
Daphne says—and I think that she’s right—that she’s not a muse, that she isn’t associated with any one designer — although she was particularly close to McQueen. She says she more like “a bee that flies from flower to flower”. So she will buy things from different designers. Sometimes she will buy things off the runway because she’s a sample size. Sometimes she will commission a piece. She will also buy things from a store. She never felt that it was necessary to know the designers to appreciate their work.

She’s far from being just a consumer. She collects fashion the way one would collect art or stamps from the point of view of connoisseur who knows the important things in fashion.

What is the oldest and latest pieces from her collection that are in the exhibition?
Everything in the exhibition is from the last 15 years or so. We didn’t include anything from her earlier life.

[watch unabridged interview in video format]

What happens to the clothes after the exhibition?
After the exhibition the clothes will go back to Daphne’s closets.

Is she going to donate some of her collections to your institution?
I don’t know. I certainly hope that we can get something from the show for the museum. She has donated some pieces in the past. I think that she’s talking about doing an auction at some point in order to start a Foundation to protect and explore how Isabella Blow’s collection can best be shared with the world.

How does this exhibition compare or contrast with your usual Museum program?
The exhibitions that we do at FIT vary a lot. Many of our shows are thematic: on subjects such as The Corset or Gothic: Dark Glamour. Sometimes we do an exhibition on an individual designer, like Madame Grès or Ralph Rucci. Many years ago, Richard and Harold Koda did a show on Tina Chow who was also a collector of haute couture and a woman of tremendous style. So, I will say that this exhibition fits in very well with our program of exhibitions.

What are the general and particular objectives of fashion Museum for the contemporary audience?
The Museum’s mission is to advance knowledge of fashion through exhibitions, publications, and public programs.

How have you gone about fulfilling these objectives and how successfully?
In order to advance knowledge of fashion, to get fashion taken seriously as a real cultural force, we collect, conserve, document, exhibit and interpret fashion. We focus on fashion that I think that is artistically and historically significant—particularly fashion that is directional, i.e. that points fashion in new directions and influences other designers.

Interesting term that you’ve employed here, “directional fashion.” How would you define directional fashion?
Directional fashion is fashion that sets the course of where fashion will be going. It is fashion that other designers look at and by which they are inspired.

For example?
Well it could be…for example the work of designers like Jean Paul Gaultier, especially his gender-bending designs, such as skirts for men… or it could be something like the romantic dark glamour of McQueen’s work. We try to identify who the important designers are – and we also look for designers that we think may be important in the future. This is true of Daphne as well; in addition to getting things from blue-chip, top-of-the-line haute couture, she also works with younger designers who she thinks are especially creative, like Gareth Pugh. He has a very small company, but she believes in his vision. We’ve also being buying things from Gareth Pugh and from Rodarte and other young designers whom we think are going to be important.

And when you say important, how do you measure a designer’s importance? Is it from the press they get, from their sales, workmanship…how do you gauge importance in a designer? Please explain.
When we look at which designer to collect, we are looking at those whom other designers admire and watch, people like Rei Kawakubo. And we look for the collections of theirs which have the greatest influence on other designers, and/or on the course of fashion history. So it doesn’t matter if their sales are negligible. In fact, many avant-garde designers are so far ahead of their time that they don’t sell very much and they don’t make very much money. For example, in the early-to-mid-1980s Vivienne Westwood did collections with bras on top of shirts. Her pioneering version of Underwear as Outerwear didn’t make much money, but a few years later many people were copying that. So we made the effort to get some of those original pieces by Westwood that launched the trend for underwear as outwear.

What is the disparity or gap between the Museum program and popular magazines?
There are many different venues and many media that are devoted to fashion. Of course there is the fashion media—the magazines, websites, newspaper articles, blogs, etc.; there are also the retail stores, which provide another way to experience fashion. Increasingly people experience fashion via the Internet by watching videos of fashion shows or by buying clothes from Ebay. The museum is just another medium whereby people can exposed to fashion, but it’s one that looks at fashion from a somewhat different angle. It is not as overtly commercial, it is not trying to sell you something and it can get you to look beyond that particular season’s trend and maybe get you look at other bigger themes in fashion.

There is a general public perception that the institution of the museum intimidates with its scholarly and academic aura. Is this something that you are keenly aware of and is it necessarily true that one need to possess a certain degree of education in order to appreciate your exhibitions?
I think that for museum directors, bringing in a large and relatively unsophisticated public is a big issue. You want to bring in visitors who are not necessarily those who go to museums. What’s nice about running a fashion museum is that everybody thinks that they know something about fashion. And, indeed, I think that members of the public are surprisingly knowledgeable about fashion, so they don’t find it threatening.

By contrast, with contemporary art, many people think, “I don’t know what it is,” or “I have never seen that.” But people are keen to see and talk about contemporary fashion. So I think there is none of the intimidating factor that you have with contemporary art museums. People just love to go to fashion exhibitions.

If the public perception of the museum intimidates, how do you assuage this anxiety and win them over?
I don’t think that people are intimidated by fashion exhibitions. I think that they come in quite happily. I think that what’s more of a challenge is getting people to think that a fashion exhibition is more than thinking a bunch of pretty frocks. So you try to provide context for them, by giving information. You try to pitch the exhibition labels so they will appeal to the members of the general public, as well as to designers and fashion connoisseurs, so that everyone, no matter their  level of knowledge, can get something from the exhibition.

For example, one can argue that live fashion shows are more popular than fashion museums in terms of the public excitement with the former.
Live fashion shows are obviously very accessible to people, at least emotionally, but they are inaccessible to people in as much as fashion shows are not open to the public. So most people cannot attend fashion shows, and the only way they can get close to those clothes is to go to an expensive store and see them.

So it is a “live factor” then.
One difference between a live fashion show and a museum exhibition is that clothes at a museum are not worn on living, moving bodies—they are worn on static fiberglass mannequins. Some people have a problem with that. Fashion is a part of life and when it is in the museum, it is slightly removed from that. But I don’t think it is a significant problem, because the museum provides you with another way to look at the clothes.

What have been your five most popular exhibitions whereby, the audience were considerable broader in range in relation to socio-economic, class, education or lack thereof, social backgrounds, etc.?
The Ruben and Isabel Toledo exhibition was very popular. Because we had Michelle Obama’s inaugural dress, which was designed by Isabel, that exhibition attracted an extremely large number of African-Americans and Latinos. What was very cool about it was that they came in, initially, to see Michelle Obama’s dress and they stayed to see all of Isabel and Ruben’s things and were very enthusiastic about the show.  Another exhibition they attracted a large and diverse public was Gothic: Dark Glamour. That brought in lots and lots of young people and sub-culture people. Many of the visitors said that they were enthusiastic, because we respected Goth style. London Fashion also brought in a lot of young people because we had Punk clothes and all kinds of outrageous clothes. That was very cool. The Corset brought in a lot of people, because the corset is the most controversial garment in the history of fashion –and corsetry is about the body. And of course if there is an exhibition which has a celebrity factor, like when we did the Bob Mackie show that brought in a lot of people because they had seen Cher’s clothes and Carol Burnett’s clothes on television.

Returning back to the issue of live fashions, is it possible to use life models in an exhibition?
You really cannot use live models in an exhibition with clothes that are part of a museum collection. It is completely unacceptable by international museum standards. You can do a  sort of live fashion show, where you borrow clothes from a designer and then have models parade through the galleries of the museum; the Victoria and Albert Museum has done this, so that people can view a kind of mini fashion show, which they call “Fashion in Motion.”.

Do you think that the phenomenal popularity of Alexander McQueen’s exhibition will help lure the general public to attend/participate en masse, fashion exhibitions at institutions such as yours?
The extreme popularity of McQueen’s show certainly helps any museum, which is putting on fashion exhibitions. But you should also recognize that even before McQueen, there have already been many blockbuster fashion exhibitions. McQueen is so far the biggest. But there were hundreds of thousands of people who went to the Armani show at the Guggenheim; who went to the Chanel show, etc. There was the Yves Laurent’s show in Paris that drew enormous numbers of people.

How many exhibitions do typically execute in a year and how long doe it take you to plan the average show?
We put on two special exhibitions per year — like Daphne Guiness; we also mount two exhibitions in the Fashion History gallery; so these are four major fashion shows per year. We also work on a small show with the graduate students at FIT, so that’s five. And then we do another dozen student and faculty exhibitions around the campus or in Gallery FIT. With the large special exhibitions, we tend to work at least two years in advance, the Fashion History exhibitions require about one year of work. We do two Fashion History exhibitions a year, and each of these stays up for six months. The special exhibitions last for about four months.

You are VERY busy then.
Yes we are VERY busy. It is an INSANE exhibition schedule.

For the future, what kinds of exhibitions are we to expect from your museum?
After Daphne’s show, the next exhibition is IMPACT: Fifty Years of Fashion Council of America. Patricia Mears will be curating that. It was the idea of Diane von Furstenberg to showcase the great American designers who belong to the CFDA—those are still living and those like Halston who are deceased. Then in the fall, Patricia will be doing one on Ivy Style, which is about Ivy League or preppy style. And in the fall 2013 Fred and I will be doing a big exhibition on Queer Style— about the influence of gays and lesbians on fashion for the past hundred years.

In addition, in the fashion history gallery, our upcoming exhibition is The Great Designers. It is in two sections, beginning in November 2011 with Part One and continuing with Part Two in May 2012. We will be featuring a selection of masterpieces from the museum’s permanent collection in conjunction with a publication of big book by Taschen called The Great Designers.

What would your ideal show—if you have the financial means to pull it off?
Before McQueen died, Daphne and I were talking about the idea of doing a McQueen show, but he said to her, “Isn’t it a little early for a retrospective?” Now the one that I’m working and focusing on is the one on queer style. It seems like a no-brainer. I can’t believe no one has done this show!

Click to watch ‘Music & Revolution’ on YouTube

Mahatma Gandhi‘s passive resistance was rooted in the idea that the greatest revolutionary act is borne in the quiet of one’s mind. Resistance manifests itself in manifold ways, sometimes with anger and aggression and other times in stillness and silence. What all revolutions have in common is the resolute mindset of each participant: to resist and remain standing. Standing up against tyranny and oppression is  a rebellious act, an irreverent, irrepressible act.

While it has become an accepted Truth that ‘The Personal is Political’, the reverse also holds true; ‘The Political is Personal’, and nothing is more personal than the music one chooses to live by, to be inspired by, and be guided by. Music and revolution walk hand in hand, and while each Revolution aspires to its own unique ideals, music is one thing they all have in common.  Whether RiotGrrl or RudeBoy, singing “We Shall Overcome” or “Occupy D.C.”, all Revolutions are fueled by words that are poetic, raw, and real – whether they’re scrawled on walls or carefully articulated in Mantras and Manifestos. Throughout history, protesters have marched to songs that speak to their individual as well as collective pain, purpose and philosophy.

In today’s virtual landscape of crowd-sourced revolution, we’ve become used to the images of ‘Revolution’, the ones that typically make the headlines: photos of protesters pressing together en masse, compressed in their fury and urgency. Our collective histories tell the visual tales: The French Revolution, The American Revolution, The Industrial Revolution, The Egyptian Revolution, The New Feminist Revolution – Great throngs that have gathered to stand up against tyranny, oppression, ideology, regime.

On a macro scale, from a bird’s eye perspective, all Revolutions look the same. They move in amorphous waves of peo ple ebbing and flowing, armed with their hand-drawn banners, flags and fists waving, all heading toward and away from some symbolic place: a central square, government building, a scene of terror, tragedy or toppled monument. By virtue of the intense force of their cause and action, people who take part in protests become physically and psychically connected, unified in their resistance, forsaking their uniqueness to assemble and become part of the group of people who’ve gathered in revolt and rebellion.

On a micro scale, when the camera zooms in, the crowd disappears from our view. Close up we are able to glean the emotions on individual faces, their anger, terror and their fury. Revealed is the individual protester: the enraged citizen, the empowered union worker, the marginalized, the victimized, the disaffected, the disenfranchised. This close-up view reminds us that at its root, every Revolution begins as a unique and intensely private experience. It is at this micro level of the individual that the light of every revolution is ignited, when at some moment in time, a person makes that decision to take a leap into the unknown: that great leap which, beautifully or terrifyingly, leaves them no choice.

As Gil Scott Heron poetically and prophetically stated, The Revolution Will Not be Televised: it will, however, be hash tagged, texted and uploaded. The Revolution will be poeticized, memorialized, internalized, personalized, and will forever take its place somewhere hidden in the heart and mind, in a place so private no camera can penetrate and no pundit can analyze.

For my own, personal Revolution, I would choose ‘Seven Nation Army’ by The White Stripes

I asked friends, fans, and colleagues, those from the fields of Science, the Arts, Technology and Politics, to select one song that would lead their own personal revolution. Along with their words, here are their choices.

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Jonathan Bewley, President, SnapShots Foundation

I would choose the first movement of “Don Juan” op. 20 by Richard Strauss, as my song to lead a revolution. The piece is just brilliant. It speaks to the human condition through struggle and the will to triumph and to fight a new day. Strauss had such humanity in his writing; he must have known something of life’s challenges to write such music.

“Don Juan” op. 20 by Richard Strauss | YouTube

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Paul Burston, Author

I’ll have to say ‘Talkin’ Bout a Revolution’ by Tracy Chapman. I saw her perform it live at the concert for Mandela at Wembley in 1988, and it captured the mood perfectly. After Live Aid, there was a lot of cynicism about pop and politics. Nobody really wanted to hear Bob Geldof sing ‘I Don’t Like Mondays’ again, even if it was for a good cause. And people knew that it would take a lot more than a concert to “feed the world”. But the Mandela concert was different. There was a clear message, embodied in this extraordinary man who stood for a principle everyone could identify with. It wasn’t only about the appalling injustice of apartheid in South Africa, it was also about the right of political prisoners to have a voice, and the responsibility we each have to fight against injustice and oppression. Change was in the air, and when Tracy Chapman sang that song, it felt as if everyone in that stadium was part of it.

‘Talkin’ Bout a Revolution’, Tracy Chapman | YouTube

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Greta Byrum, Poet, Thinker

Poly Styrene showed people (girls especially) how to be powerful and smart and scary and yet beautiful, and to have fun while doing it. She was an amazing poet. This video to me shows how the revolution begins: “We presume our power, not our powerlessness.” (as a friend of mine likes to say) http://alliedmedia.org/amc2011/principles-allied-media-projects-network – on every level, starting from deep within. In “Identity/It’s the crisis you can’t see” Poly Styrene is breaking through the mirror. As brash and bright as possible, she is telling us that she isn’t afraid of anyone, not even of herself. And yet her more revolutionary song may be the most literal one of all: “Some people think little girls should be seen and not heard./ But I think…/ Oh Bondage Up Yours!”

‘x ray spex identity’, Poly Styrene | YouTube

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Neil Charney, General Manager, PGSI at Microsoft

At first the phrase “personal revolution” sounds like an oxymoron. But given that every revolution starts with a movement, and every movement starts with an individual who does something that may first appear entirely irrational –almost non-sensical –going against the norms, the expectations, the status quo, the question makes perfect sense and the answer can be somewhat surprising. If you want to lead a movement, consider what makes people dance. Dancing always struck me as an amazingly dissonant thing to see –spontaneous, irrational, unlike so much of everything else in our day to day lives. A vestige of some “primitive” past? Consider that first moment when the music comes on and the dance floor is empty or perhaps filled by 1 or 2 brave souls. The first thought may be to judge, dismiss, laugh. Somehow 4 hours later you’re covered in sweat, euphorically holding your hands in the air, moving against a hundred souls equally ecstatic and lost in their dance –the movement. Tomorrow they’ll all be back behind the desk, pushing the paper, the broom, the electrons but tonight they’re dancing like some tribal, communal ritual. There’s an energy and a passion that comes from such collective experiences –a celebration and expression of the human spirit.  And that’s what revolutions can be –a yearning and expression of the human spirit –a cry against the norm where the norm somehow diminishes or denies that which we can truly be.

‘Can’t Hold Us’, Macklemore | YouTube

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Bruno Galindo, Poet, Performer

“Nothing’s gonna change my world”. Can’t think of anything stronger, more beautiful and powerful than that Lennon/McCartney line. Well, maybe the music. That one always made me cry. And always will.

‘Across the Universe’, The Beatles | You Tube

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Collin Kelley, Novelist, Poet, Playwright

In the summer of 1995, I was in London and Paris for the first time. My head was filled with new sights and sounds, but the sound that kept repeating was Bjork’s “Army of Me.” The song seemed to be playing in every cab, on every sound system and even in the shopping arcade under the Louvre. I was undergoing a personal transformation and this trip would revolutionize my writing. A book of poetry and two novels had their genesis in 1995 and every time I think about that summer, I hear Bjork singing “self-sufficient, please, and get to work.” It’s still my mantra.

‘Army of Me’, Bjork | YouTube

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John Marsh, Vocalist & Founder, The Beloved

As an unreconstructed believer in the power of love and mutual respect my revolutionary anthem has to be one that espouses those ideals …

Many songs fit the bill but this is one I especially love.

Garnett Silk ‘Love Is The Answer’

A simple message, beautifully expressed by an incredible voice

“I will always do the good I can for an hatred I can’t stand
And I hope you feel the same way too
The goodness of your works will carry you through
Do good unto others and Jah will do the same for you
Give it a try my friend and you will prove what I m saying is true”

personally I don’t feel the need to allign my moral compass with Jah, or any other god, but the values are universal and will hopefully spur on a Velvet Revolution….

‘Love Is The Answer’, Garnett Silk | YouTube

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Donna Masini, Poet, Novelist

When I heard your question the first thing I thought of was John Lennon’s “Imagine” and then, as Blake’s words from “The Marriage of Heaven and Hell” came to me — “What is now proved was once only imagined.” – I knew why I’d chosen that song. Because of John Lennon of course. But also because it’s through an act of imagination – being able to imagine the other, a new life, a new way of being — that we truly change.

‘Imagine’, John Lennon | YouTube

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Thomas Leo McGrath, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Database/Web Developer

The song in question is The Dog Days are Over by Florence and the Machine. A line in this song that spoke to me was:

And I never wanted anything from you
Except everything you had
And what was left after that too. oh.

It sounds somewhat negative doesn’t it? Yet it relates to what I need. I drive myself hard, and I need a lot from the people who are close to me. I need passion, intensity, drive and joy around me. I need to push myself to exhaustion, and push again when I wake up.

In this life, you are either growing or you are diminishing. If you are growing, then part of what gives you your drive is your hunger, your thirst, your aching to be more than what you are. When you act on those appetites in a positive way, it creates in you greater needs and longings. The challenge is to answer these passions in a positive way and share what you have. It also is a question of recognizing that you are never a “complete” person and that this is a good thing. Once you start moving towards the answering of your hunger, then eventually you will come to realize that the Dog Days are truly over, and that the days that will follow will be filled with wonder, power and joy.

‘Dog Days Are Over’, Florence and the Machine | YouTube

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John Siddique, Poet, Author

There is only one revolution worth having, that is a revolution of the self. To be radically honest about our own greed, hatred and delusion. Be honest about what really moves us, what we find to be beautiful, to say that we don’t know something when we don’t instead of spin doctoring. To not wear the anger, justification and false pride of the victim, deciding by a process of practical radical honesty with oneself to find ways to make small steps each day. We need to stop being seen to do the right thing and learn to do them, anything else leaves both ourselves and the world shallow, empty and governed by mediocrity.

The track I have chosen to accompany my personal revolution is The Carpet Crawlers by Genesis from The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway record. This was the tune that first woke me up to a need for personal responsibility when I was young. We do not have to move with the mass, our lives can be beautiful and worth something, and yes there is a cost in that, there is risk and uncomfortableness often. Perhaps we can train ourselves a little bit each day with a small amount of risk so that we can do something radical like love someone else, or bake some bread, or read a poem and not defend our own lies by spinning them into law.

‘the Carpet Crawlers live’, Genesis | YouTube

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Josh Warner, president and founder of Feed Company

“The Call-Up” by the Clash is a great theme song for my personal revolution. It came out in 1980 and starts with a US Marines marching chant. The song has a dark, ominous groove that makes it danceable but is a cautionary tale against blind patriotism. It’s an anti-war song seeped in the colors and contradictions of a Sergio Leone spaghetti western. The lyrics, by Joe Strummer, are a specific plea :”It’s up to you not to heed the call-up. You must not act the way you were brought up.” But the song is wistfully ambiguous at the same time: “There is a rose that I want to live for. Although, God knows, I may not have met her.” It matched the mood of the country. Ronald Reagan just got elected, John Lennon was killed, and the US failed to free hostages in Iran. Times seemed bleak but you had the Clash questioning authority and pointing out injustice as a counterpoint to a general toe-the-line malaise. It reminded me to pay attention to other parts of the world and not just worry about what I was paying for gas.

‘The Call-Up’, The Clash | YouTube

Dappled by sunlight filtering through sycamores and cypress, a circuitous road in the hills of Los Feliz near Hollywood suddenly reveals the 1922 Taggart House, dominating a corner covered with succulents and wildflowers. Sprawling over hills near Griffith Observatory, the Los Feliz neighborhood is considered congenial, yet because of the topography, intensely private, appealing to various actors and musicians–Casey Affleck, Leonardo DiCaprio, Madonna. Although an adult when her parents bought their home in Los Feliz, Tina Chow, model, designer, and style icon was no less luminous than the Taggart House where her parents lived and she placed her own imprint.

Architect for film stars in the 1920‘s and 1930‘s, Lloyd Wright designed the Taggart House which has a complicated genealogy. Built in 1922 by the son of Frank Lloyd Wright (FLW), the architect was confusingly named Frank Lloyd Wright Jr. but known as Lloyd Wright. An eminent architect, he trained as a draftsman in his father’s Oak Park Studio in Illinois and studied engineering at the University of Wisconsin. Lloyd and his brother John moved to L.A. in 1912 or 1913 where Lloyd began working with an early proponent of modernism, Irving Gill. Following his employment with Gill, Lloyd worked at Paramount Studios as a production designer, and as a landscape architect with Olmstead & Olmstead, of New York City Central Park acclaim. Lloyd worked with his overbearing, ultra egotistical father on the Hollyhock House. To understand how self absorbed FLW was, it’s worth noting that when he wrote letters to his sons, he always signed them, not father or papa, but Frank Lloyd Wright!

At the turn of the twentieth century, Los Angeles was incredibly exciting for an architect. R. M. Schindler and Richard Neutra had moved to California from Vienna and American architects Irving Gill and FLW were building brilliantly modern residences. FLW worked with textile block modules, designing houses for the wealthy, including oil heiress Aline Barnsdall.

Lloyd Wright also worked with textile block, but in 1922, designing a home for Helen Taggart’s mother, Martha Taggart, he worked with cast concrete using board and batten detailing, and an open plan. Having produced many of the renderings of FLW prairie houses for the Wasmuth Portfolio published in Berlin, Lloyd absorbed the principles of this total design concept. Bookshelves and light fixtures are built in. While the interior seems inspired by Japanese architecture, the exterior utilizes stepped pyramid motifs associated with Mesoamerican architecture. The Taggart House was perfect for Walter E. Lutz and his wife, Mona Miwako Furuki, parents of Bettina, Tina, and Adelle, or Bonny, Lutz when they moved to LA. Hardwood floors and unusual detailing plus a dramatic two story living/dining space were enhanced by their collection of Frank Lloyd Wright furniture. Tina and her husband Michael Chow, originally an architect and designer before becoming a restaurateur, collected the FLW furniture as they avidly collected art deco. Korean porcelain, and of course the Lutz bamboo collection complemented the austere interiors.

Walter Lutz, trained as a minister, met his wife when he was stationed in Japan after World War II. They married in Kobe but were forced to return to the United States so Mona could retain American citizenship. Discomfited by the Midwest, specifically Cleveland, Ohio where their daughters were born, they returned to Japan in the late 1960’s. From the moment they met, they had shared a passion for bamboo, and began collecting during the 1940’s when Asian antiques were widely available due to the chaos of war.

Tina’s parents filled the storage spaces and outer buildings of the Taggart house with a spectacular bamboo collection. Clearly, Chow’s interest in bamboo stemmed from her childhood, during which her father became so enamored with the material he became a prominent purveyor of bamboo window shades and other items in the U.S. During the 1980‘s Bergdorf Goodman’s Tina Chow boutique featured quartz crystals and amethyst pendants encased in bamboo, a spare and elegant line of jewelry.

The Lutz collection is one of the finest in the U. S. and a portion of their collection is now displayed at the Denver Art Museum. Their love of the material is evident–cherishing even broken and cracked bamboo vessels that had been repaired according to Japanese aesthetics (the repair is evident rather than concealed). Adelle remembers embarrassment about her parents’ preoccupation; it was an oddity in the 1960s in Ohio where she grew up. Adelle, and probably Tina as well, began to appreciate the collection only after they traveled to Japan and experiencing bamboo in its cultural context.

In the early 20th century numerous architects were influenced by Japanese architecture, which was extremely minimal. FLW even designed a hotel in Tokyo, characterized by typical surprise elements found in Japanese architecture. By the time Tina Chow’s family purchased the Taggart house, it was a classic, and more importantly, it had never been modified.

A fusion of east and west, Bettina “Tina” Chow was an icon of beauty, sleek and talented, Chow and her sister popularized the use of Eurasian models in the 1960’s, initially appearing in Shiseido advertisements while living in Tokyo with their parents. Tina met and married Michael Chow in 1972, and they moved to LA where he opened Mr. Chow LA. Tina continued to be a muse for designers such as Issey Miyake and Yves St. Laurent. Her life changed after Mr. Chow’s restaurant opened in New York City and she developed friendships with artists Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat.

Chow’s spare elegant personal style was the result of absorbing Japanese aesthetics via her parents and her own experiences. She began designing jewelry in the 1980‘s. Crystal, quartz and bamboo were her preferred materials. She worked with artist Kosuge Shochikudo, who produced baskets used in tea ceremonies. Enveloping the stones in black bamboo, Chow’s jewelry was an authentic expression of her Eurasian heritage. She probably met Shochikudo through her parents, who collected his baskets as well as those made by his father, Chikudo Shochikudo.

Vogue US, August 1987 quoted Tina, “I like the idea of wearing very personal jewelry and not so much decoration,” Working with raw crystals and other stones, Tina remarked, “Uncut stones are so wonderful, why muddle about with them?” Her jewelry was packaged in small pouches wrapped in Japanese mulberry paper cartons.

The Taggart house, while the Lutz’s lived there, was the perfect expression of their unique vision, the bamboo collection, the natural landscape, and jewel-like interior spaces. The same could be said for Tina Chow’s work.

Stephen Jones is a milliner extraordinaire. His finely wrought hats are wildly imaginative and exceptional in form and sheer virtuosity. Even a relatively standard issue Stephen Jones hat embodies that je ne sais quoi.

He designs a broad array of hats for various occasions—ranging from ones for Ascot, weddings, picnics to wedding hats and headdresses.

Born in the Wirral Peninsula in Cheshire, England, Jones was educated Liverpool College and attended the famed Central St. Martins. He was a habitué of Blitz nightclub, then London’s heady hothouse of creativity. Talents such as Jean Paul Gaultier, Isabella Blow, Boy George, and members of such musical groups as Spandau Ballet, Duran Duran, frequented the Blitz and would become some of his early clients who bought his hats. Indeed, it was none other than the Blitz owner, Steve Strange who championed his first millinery salon, which met with resounding success.

By the 80s, Diana, Princess of Wales had become a regular client and Victoria & Albert Museum commissioned him to execute hats expressly for the newly refurbished Museum’s Costume Court. He’d collaborated and designed hats expressly for the likes of Dior, Commes des Garcons, Thierry Mugler and Marc Jacobs, in addition to designing hats for Madonna; Mick Jagger; Nicole Kidman; Boy George; Christina Aguilera; Usher; Marilyn Manson; and Dita Von Teese. He also exclusively designed Kylie Minogue’s “Showgirl” tour.

The Antwerp, Belgium based Mode Museum is now home for largest collections of Jone’s exquisite hat collections. He’s been the recipient of numerous awards, including Outstanding Achievement Award by the British Fashion “Oscars” ceremony. And to be sure, his radically impressive work earned him the royal appointment, Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2010.

Above, Stephen Jones, portrait by iké udé

the interview:

Your hat pieces are obviously not for the masses or for quotidian purposes. How would you characterize your particular type of practice as a milliner?
In fact all my hats are for daily use, it just depends what sort of day you are having. Obviously a haute couture hat is for a couture occasion, but even among those, I make hats for the beach or après ski. But it is true that most of my handmade hats are worn for special events. My diffusion collections, Miss Jones and Jonesboy, do have a simpler aesthetic though and absolutely are made for everyday, days of style and chic.

How do dream up or realize your literally FANTASTIC headpieces or hats?
My design process is quite lengthy and actually my greatest pleasure. Most seasons start with a theme which is somewhat autobiographical. For example this winter’s collection is called Topsy- Turvy which is based on a Comme des Garcons bag I bought. It’s made all inside out, and I though why? Then I realized in Rei’s mind, why not? And at the time I felt very topsy-turvy too! So the hats were upside down and inside out. A Russian fur hat made in transparent fabric with orchid embroidery, an outline of a hat in rhinestones, a felt fedora using straw plaiting techniques. I research, sketch, toile and then my workrooms make the final hat.

Is there a methodology or philosophical framework within which you work?
Yes there is in making of collections. Fashion by its very nature is exclusive, but I try to make my collections as inclusive as possible. Nevertheless, my hat’s ultimate and simple purpose is to make people look and feel good and enable them to be the person they want to be.

It’s as if suddenly you discovered the poetics of hats for our present age. Considering that beautiful hats were relatively ubiquitous, once as important as beautiful clothes and shoes, what explains the long absence and decline of hats such as yours until you entered the picture?
Hats experienced a big decline in the fifties and sixties. Post war freedom expressed itself in more casual clothes and hats seemed to represent conservatism and etiquette. Of course there were fashion hats too but even they were less ubiquitous. I think in the early eighties there was a sea-change in hats. Vivienne Westwood started to create hats for young people, Diana, Princess of Wales was a hat-wearing modern icon and I started to make statement hats for young fashionable club goers. My hats were playful and told a story, an adventure in design I hoped!

Do you sometimes alternate between working from a sketch and working directly from memory?
I never really work from memory, I sketch or toile directly in muslin.

What are your favorite materials for your designs?
Sometimes new fabrics, sometimes old. Plastics and metals, electronic and novelty fabrics are fascinating and make a wonderful effect but the traditional ones like white cotton or black velvet are totally relevant too. What is more charming as a straw in summer and as appropriate as a fur in winter?

And when you employ mixed media what are some of the winning combinations that you use?
There is a hat in the Hats exhibition called Tourist Trap, which has straw, glass, shells, wood, feathers, silk and glass on it. Is that enough?

How did Geert Bruloot, by far, the biggest collector of your work—having more than 200 of your hats—became passionately so interested in your work?
He owned a shop called Louis in the eighties in Antwerp, where he promoted the Belgian designers he had discovered: the Antwerp 6. In 1985 we were introduced by Vicki Sarge from the jewelers Erickson Beamon and he started to stock my hats. Unfortunately Belgians don’t really wear hats, but he loved them as objects in themselves and proceeded to buy them as a collector instead.

How often does he buy from you and are there comparable collectors such as him who collect your work with such zeal and dedication?
He buys maybe five from each model millinery collection twice a year. I have other extremely local clients. Sueyoshi Nishimura in Japan, Deborah Quinn in Australia, Julia Muggenburg in London, and of course Anna Piaggi in Italy. But Geert really is the ultimate.

Are there instances when he’d specifically commissioned hats from you or does he always buy whatever is available?
Normally from the collection, but sometimes I develop certain themes for him. He has a shoe shop now so I made him a series of shoe hats based on modern interpretations of Schiaparelli’s shoe hat

Are there hierarchical scales in the quality and artistry of your hats?
Not really but the diffusion ranges have a simpler aesthetic.

You also work in the fine tradition of a fashion couturier designing commissioned pieces for specific clients. In this context, how much input do the clients—if at all—contribute to the overall result?
It’s normally a happy compromise. The clients will always contribute—that is a fascinating aspect of the creative process. In any case, they probably have an outfit with which the hats must coordinate.

Would you say that first and foremost, you design to please your artistic temperament or the market?
Definitely my temperament, but I always think a hat is not finished until it is worn….

Hats: An Anthology is an exhibition that originated in London—collaboration between you and the Victoria and Albert Museum. How did you come to work with the museum in the capacity of a co-curator?
We had been talking for a long time about collaboration, and they approached me to research their archive and create some hats based on this work. The whole thing snowballed with my co-curator Oriole Cullen, but really we just made it up as we went along. The idea that it would become a major touring exhibition only happened quite late it in the process.

Considering the awe inspiring headpieces/hats collections that the Victoria and Albert Museum must have, what momentous discoveries did you make in the process of selecting all the magnificent headpieces—more than 250–for the exhibition?
Some are not the most obvious: a fantastic Tudor serf’s knitted beret is such a fine knit that Marc Jacobs would be proud of; a second world war bridal hat; an extravaganzas like the Queen Mother’s tulle hat from 1938. And of course the most iconic hat in the show, is Gala Dali’s Schiaparelli shoe hat purchased specially for the exhibition.

Given all the great hats in the Victoria and Albert museum, what was the “elimination process” like? How did you and the museum decide what ended up in the exhibition and what didn’t?
Maybe it told a story, maybe it was particularly beautiful or represented a theme but often it was just my personal taste. Alternatively, sometimes they didn’t make it because of lack of space, sometimes they were too fragile, but it was very difficult to decide!

Going forward—in spite of your brilliant accomplishments and exquisite reputation, as it were—what other newer avenues do you desire to chart in order to keep things as exciting, as fresh and as extraordinary?
How kind! Well, I have to say just making the next collection is a huge challenge and I never get used to it. However, my career in millinery has been evolved into other facets like curating this exhibition. From that came another venture, which is called Headonism in association with the British Fashion Council, where I mentor and promote young milliners, some of whom are shown in the exhibition.

Since we all come in different shapes/forms, what is the secret for choosing “the right hat” for each individual’s head and face?
Take a hand mirror so you can see the back but my recommendations are as such:

Round face: broad hat makes your face look slimmer
Long face: asymmetric hat, adds rhythm
Square face: soft textures
Short: tall hat
Tall: knitted or draped hat
Oval face: you’re lucky!

What historical personages would you love to have designed a hat for?
Elizabeth the first. I did hats for Kate Blanchett in the film ‘Elizabeth the Golden Age’ but to have designed it for the real Elizabeth would have been amazing too. Maybe a veiled feathered number for Marlene Dietrich and a simple felt for Garbo.

Who are your favorite contemporary personages that you are immensely pleased when you see your work on their heads?
I think Dita von Teese always looks amazing, and Carla Bruni too. But Katy Perry at the recent MTV awards looked amazing in the resin cube I did for Christian Dior Haute Couture.

What makes for an extraordinary—as opposed to—ordinary hat?
The way it’s worn

How would you redesign the ubiquitous baseball hat if asked to?
I couldn’t, it’s perfect. It’s the crown of America!

the interview:
In your own words, how would you describe yourself as an actress?
I’m not sure how to answer that.  I’m not sure that who I am as a person is different from who I am as an actress.  For me it’s all the different sides of me, that aren’t always expressed on a daily basis, coming out to play.

I’m always curious about an actors’ path into the industry. When did you know this was the career for you and how did you get going?
I knew when I was about 3.  I just always knew.  But knowing you want to do something and having the conviction to actually head out and pursue it as a career are two different things.  I was a double major in college.  Theater and Chinese.  The semester that I was going to study abroad in China  I was offered the role of May in the Sam Shepard play “Fool for Love” at Middlebury on the mainstage.  It’s such a great part and the professors said to me that if I didn’t do it they weren’t doing it at all because they felt I was the one for that part.  It was a very hard decision at the time.  My parents weren’t supportive of their well educated daughter being a starving actress when I could have had  a very high paying job using my Chinese right out of school.  And I was scared of it too.  So I chose to go to china.  That 6 months in china is what made up my mind to be an actress.  I had friends, who living in a communist country, were told what work they would have for their lives.  Here I had the freedom to choose and I wasn’t taking it.  So I decided to become an actress.  I always say now, “sometimes you find your destiny on the path you choose to avoid it.”

It is a dream for a lot of actors to book a national TV commercial campaign – especially one as funny and engaging as the Orbit ads. How has that experience informed your career?
Well, I didn’t really even audition for commercials when I booked that.  It was kind of just luck.  It was incredibly fun to help create a character that has become so iconic, so engrained in pop culture.  Everyone who ever watches TV knows my face, more so than most actors on TV shows,  but in real life no one ever knows its me.  So that has been a real blessing because it has afforded me the opportunity to have two very separate careers, my film and TV work and the commercial one.

I read that you were born in London but that you studied in the US. It seems like you’ve moved around a lot. This can be quite a hard but handy experience for an actor. Would you agree?
I LOVED moving around. In fact I can’t stay put now.  I’m rarely in one place for longer than two weeks.  And as for acting it’s amazing in many ways.  Mostly because I have the ability to truly see that life can be completely different, and I mean COMPLETELY, depending on where you are living.  Rules that we have here, don’t apply elsewhere.  It’s very freeing and as an actor you incorporate in your body the absolute knowledge of something different, not just the imagining of it.  And of course it has helped greatly with accents and languages.

Does all the work you do come from your agent/manager directly or do you find material independently sometimes?
No sometimes it has been through other avenues.  Direct offers, people I have worked with before and all my work in China has come through word of mouth.

What draws you to the characters you play?
That’s a very esoteric answer I am afraid.  I love playing CHARACTERS.  People who are VERY different from me, who are more extreme, that physically you wouldn’t picture me playing. Not always but most of the time.  It’s a kind of thing that happens when I read a part I just know if it sparks in me.  I either feel kind of bored or extremely excited and that’s when I know that I respond to it and want to play it.

There’s an idea that the difference between an English actor and an American one is that the English work from the outside in – using physicality to inform emotion – and the American’s work from the inside out – creating an emotional life and allowing it to imbue the physicality of their characters. Being an actor who works cross-continentally would you agree with this observation?
Actually yes i would.  It’s a good observation.  I use the American version but I notice my English friends doing just that.

Lee Strasburg is often credited for the American/inside-out approach to acting. Have you had any experience with the “Method” and other forms of Stanislavsky training? Or do you come from a completely different school of thought?
I studied Strasburg, Stanislavsky, Hagen, all of it when I was in school.  I don’t know if I follow any one school or really ever did.  I learned from them all and then kind of do a mishmash approach of my own.

There are many schools of thought that say acting is a god-given talent and that it cannot be learnt. What is your opinion of this? Do you agree? If not, what would you say makes a great actor?
I believe that actors can become better for sure.  But I do believe that it is a talent and something you are born with.  That’s the same with anything though.  You can go to see many doctors, some may be good and others great, or financiers, anything you can learn but some people are born with specific gifts.

How do you feel, personally, about your own abilities as an actor? Do you see room for improvement? If so, how does a busy, working actor like yourself continue to work on your craft?
I actually have been feeling recently that I am nowhere near reaching my own potential.  That I have not worked hard enough at examining what can be better. SO I am in the process of doing a lot of that right now.  I am not in any class currently, but I was in NYC doing a play reading for the theatre associated with my college and many alums and my wonderful professor Cheryl Faroane and it was so reinspiring to remember how much I love language and the true drama of the stage.  Helps to keep my mind and passion for it fresh.  I also tape myself a lot and watch it to really learn what works and what doesn’t.

The style of acting on camera has changed quite remarkably over the past fifty years or so. What would you say has been the biggest shift in technique?
That we no longer use the mid atlantic accent. Dead movie star speech.  I want to bring it back.  I do it sometimes with my friends.

Something that interests actors and non-actors alike is how to cry on cue. Have you ever been asked to do this? If so, how did you approach it? Do you have any tips/tricks?
Yeah, I have to do it a lot.  It’s misery for me.  I have to conjure up all the worst things and then I feel miserable for like two hours afterwards.  You have to find your own way in.  But don’t be afraid on set to take the time you need.  Ask how long it will be till you will be needed to being that place and prepare.  You can actually use up all the emotion too or I can and so I pay attention to which are the master shots and which the close ups so I can be in it deeply when needed.

Is there anything you have been asked to do as an actress that you flat-out said “no!” to? What was it? And, do you regret it?
Yes.  His name was George.  I deeply regret it.  No actually.  I’m a yes girl.  The riskier the better as far as I’m concerned.

I read that in addition to speaking fluent French that you also speak fluent Mandarin Chinese. There are some amazing, Chinese filmmakers today, have you had any opportunities to meet/work with any of them?
I have done three films in China with some great filmmakers and one long time kungfu master.  Working in china is an extraordinary and grueling experience.  I’m not sure it’s for everyone.  But for me it was amazing. I’ve worked in the middle of nowhere where filming stops for a goat herder and his goats.  I’ve crept out of a car over a 2000-foot drop with no safety restraints to get a shot.  It’s always an experience.

Who are the actors that most inspire you – those whose films/plays you will always see without necessarily knowing anything about the productions?
Judi Dench, Micheal Caine, Meryll Streep, Helen Mirren, Anthony Hopkins, Jessica Chastain, Ryan gosling.

What’s the best business advice you’ve been given as an actor?
To learn how to see myself as a product, and learn how to sell that product.

What’s the best craft advice you’ve been given as an actor?
Micheal Caine’s book on film acting.  It’s wonderful.

What are your aspirations as an actor?
To be happy. My aspiration in everything.

Being in the industry, we can be surrounded by a lot of unsung talent. Are there any up-and-comers that you’re aware of that you’d love to see get more opportunities?
Not really an up and comer but I saw Jessica Chastain in the Help the other day and she is truly the next Meryl Streep.  Unbelievable.

If you ran into a young you who was about to embark on this career, what advice would you give her about acting? The industry? And her/yourself?
I would tell her to be a dancer first and then go into acting.  I would have loved to be a dancer.  Never took any classes but I know it now.  And I would tell her that so many fun amazing things were going to happen.  More than she imagined, in so many ways.  I would also tell her to take her own ideas about what she could and couldn’t accomplish away at a younger age.  I held onto too many for too long, and I think it held me back a great deal.  Until recently, even.  And then just enjoy the ride.

And finally, to channel Proust, “What is your favorite motto/quote?”
“When I was young and naive, I used to admire clever people.  Now that I am older and more clever, I admire kind people.”