=WAR PAINT= By Stevie Crowne

Lily Donaldson in "Warrior Stance" by Steven Klein for W Magazine, March 2014

A number of gowns in Alexander McQueen’s “Transitions” collection of spring/summer 2003 appear to be poetic renderings of a disaster at sea. While a similar dress appeared colored like the plumage of a tropical bird, this gown of sand-colored organza recalls the mille-feuille ridging on the surface of a shell. The hem of the skirt, like the wavy lip of a giant mollusk, further emphasizes the seashell quality of the gown. But unlike Aphrodite, who was born in the foam of the sea and borne to shore on a scallop, McQueen’s beauty is a bruised pearl encased in a deconstructing oyster, the tumbled survivor of the violent action of waves. 

Photo by Ellen Von Unwerth/ Art & Commerce 

Paintings by Charmaine Olivia, which were featured in her first solo Show entitled ‘Ritual’ displayed at the Shooting Gallery in San Francisco. Ritual explores the themes of magic and earth energies within a series of imagined females from a mythology of the artist’s own creation.

Nataliia Ivanova and Gemma Janes by Millicent Hailes for C-Heads Magazine, December 2013

 Takaki Hashimoto