For Hire

Saturday, August 9, 2008

time to move to beijing?


The opening ceremony of the Olympic Games 2008 in China definitely makes one think about moving on out of the increasingly frustrating and difficult life in the US and trade it for a modern, hopeful future such as the one portrayed in China tonight! A true sign of the time, I think. But this needs to be thought over first.

I always knew that in China it's not about "me!", "me!", "me!" - unlike here in the US - in China it's about the whole of the people all together as one.



To the outside world this is primarily shown on the occasion of those scary looking Chinese military shows (makes one think there is definitely no chance anyone could win against these guys, they would just simply stomp you to the ground). But frankly, who would have thought that they can mobilize many thousands at a time, to an absolutely synchronized performance, such as this lengthy ceremony? WOW! Impressive, and frankly, I don't think any other country could have topped that at this point in time, or ever.



So this evening, we have seen a good face of China. I was thinking about boycotting these games because I recently saw the PBS documentary about the man who stood against tanks on Tiananmen Square, in the Spring of 1989 when the demonstration of the individual against the State took place. The famous, infamous square was by the way closed down tonight.

Anyway, when I saw the striking graphic images on the TV screen, I could no longer look away and the show took me in....

fashionable impressions: Beijing, China 8/8/2008


Thursday, August 7, 2008

secret celebrity kyla eman



I am here to tell you about 16 year old Kyla Eman. A Manhattan socialite who's blog Miss Teenage Socialite is getting more and more popular by the day. This young cutie is serving her fellow youngster the best of the trendiest in NYC fashion, food and entertainment. There's never a dull moment as she writes about gossip, celebs, hot spots and more!


Kyla with fellow teenage socialites in Manhattan.

It's good to be in Manhatten! It's where everything happens first. Wanna know about what teenagers do and how they live the life of a Manhattan socialite? Check back with Kyla!

Kyla is cute!

Not surprisingly, Kyla's trend antennas didn't miss the waves signaling Idil Vice Fashion Rocks is a hot trend in Manhattan! Check out the post.


We Love NYC!

Well, Kyla, you and me, we'll be in touch and keep telling the world about what's hot and what's not!

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

too many ideas for posts...

Heya!

What should I post about next? I took some time off blogging... now, the ideas have been adding up in line and I frankly don't know which one to put first...

Following posts are in line:

- Black Issue of Vogue Italia Magazine
- Oakland, the Bay Area and their stylish inhabitants
- Michael Economy, star fashion illustrator and mentor
- Hot Love: Swiss Punk & Wave 1976-1980
- Helmut Lang, Alles Gleich Schwer
- Ian Curtis, Joy Division
- Being your own ad agency (e-commerce)
- Emo in Mexico
- Current NY styles

...any preferences?


Friday, July 11, 2008

day glow feet


Have you realized that the toes around town are glowing? In day light? Well, that's right, because nowadays not only do the colors of our clothing pop in your face, in fact our pretty toes do too. How refreshing, ain't it?



I am going lime green next!

Thursday, July 3, 2008

lady bunny and kaiser karl

Karl Lagerfeld is one of my top friends on my space. I adore his character and so do I love Lady Bunny.
She has been an inspiration to me since I moved to this darn town in 1992 and I remember she was already a huge star in the early nineties, when I was a proud witness of the Wigstock Festival which was then still held at the Tomkins Square Park, around the corner of my East Village studio (things were different then!). It was the time when Ru Paul sung "Supermodel", Linda Simpson came up and Dee Lite was performing and my goodness! - Groove was in the Heart!!

Innocent? Lady Bunny. Wigstock poster.


...for old times sake: me and friend at the Wigstock Festival in 1992...



To see them both, Bunny and Karl, side by side at the Visionaire hosted party aboard a yacht on the Seine, in Paris, the night before last, was mind buggeling! They make a great couple and even had a common sparkly fashion sense going on... Ahoi, to these immense trend setters!

They both have white hair too! FYI, in the back peeking through is YSL's Stefano Pilati.


Wednesday, July 2, 2008

patch trader


Hey - hopefully you are having a wonderful Summer so far :-)
I am just setting my mind to what's going to be in the shops this Fall and wanted to give a bit of a heads up of what's coming... it's hard, because I am also working on Spring Summer '09 and keeping track of late productions of this Fall's stuff - sounds crazy? Well, IT IS! - which should be available late August, beginning of September, is close to nuts! But, I've been here before and I should know what it takes, which gives me hope.

O.K. so, I have been talking to you previously about how I get all focused on collecting things that strike me at one time or another. You can't acquire everything - you don't want to be called a hoarder or a person out of touch, someone that is ignorant about the fact that one day he has got to depart this wonderful earth and therefore should be mindful not leave a whole lotta crap behind for the family to clean up and dispose of! The excuse that you are stacking up, invest in your family's future and that they will sell this stuff for 100 x more than what you've paid for, is poor...
So there is very little, only specific storing to be done and I suggest it be temporary too. By this I mean that, at one point, one should take the leap into the ice cold water and use the collection for something meaningful... there are many ways to do that and - yeap - it depends what your line consist of, dummsy!

Do not pave your front yard with your old 45's and see them crashed within a couple of days and it has not served any purpose and it was not even fun! Nooo! And don't just sell off your carefully selected porcelaine groupings of salt and pepper shakers that one faithful day when you decided to have a garage sale!! ----- No!

Do something useful with your lines and save yourself from the harsh reality that this long and careful accumulation process did not serve any purpose except that you felt compelled and maybe insired by it, o.k. I admit, there is such a thing. But still, I stress that it would be more resourceful to write a book about your gatherings of original Punk history. Make it serve the next generations for many years to come or have an exhibition of your postcard line together with your fellow collectors... wouldn't that be a swell event for the general public? Once that's done you can happily get rid of it all! Free-your-self.

Don't just sit on your special stuff in your dark chambers where no light will ever hit it. Put it in the spotlight, for X-sake!

Heeeyy! Yes, and so I will tell you what I've been doing with my beloved embroidered patch collection (there are other collections I will come up with a way to ge rid of in a cool way :-O, so we will talk later).

Indeed, I have been a very enthusiastic patch collector and trader (my absolute favorite are the girls scout and boy scout patches) for years now and you'd want to know some of these, they are great!


They will be put on a limited edition of garments and sold starting this Fall. All will be one of a kinds due to the various one of a kind patches, yes, so see I found a way to use my collection in a nice way as I share it with the world again!



... as you see, I like to mix new with old, rare with generic, again, just like with the prints I use on clothing, I care about the graphics, colors shapes and context in the big picture.


... here is another jacket...


... there will be more, no sweat! But that another time ladies... have a great night!

Monday, June 30, 2008

mini etsy

...just figured out this mini etsy thing...



Thursday, June 12, 2008

making more waves and catching them


Since the very high temperature days (hitting over 100 F) have finally arrived I want to get back to the surfing theme as it is what I am thinking about in my - although thankfully air conditioned - crib while filling tons of orders and coming up with cool new designs, print combinations that is, but more about this on a later note... In case you wondered: yes, sewing machines do heat up a room, very much so. I am talking about home machines and industrial's....uuufhh!

As I have given away in a post before this one, I am a huge surf fan and I truly shiver when I watch movies like 1964's "Endless Summer", 1967's "Mondo Mod", 1970's "Pacific Vibrations" and so many more! It's similar with break dancing, it's something that's fascinating. I am a huge fish too - like LOVE the water - especially the ocean's salty kind, but any swimming pool with chlorine will do, of course...

...a fish, yeah!

... and posing in an idil vice bikini...

...posing with surf board on Margarita Island in Venezuela.

...these are Venezuelan surfers...


I never learned surfing though... heck, I grew up in the mountains with no ocean in sight for miles and miles... so I picked up all kinds of sports but the one that comes closest to the experience of surf is break dancing for me: The speed, the challenge, the unquestionable importance of athletisism and the seamingly lightness of being that comes with that and the fun! Oh boy!

...me doin' the breaks!

Then there is diving. The one experience I think everyone should have in their lifetime!! Come on, are you just going to accept that you have not seen the details of one of the biggest parts of this world?? It's truly inspiring and just seemingly out of this world. All you have to do is get persuaded (think I went down there without a hint of fear: this ain't gonna happen!?) No, it's tricky and one needs to be persuaded, but it's well worth it, probably the most incredible experience of my life.

...me about to hit the bottom of the ocean in Thailand :-0
one day I will retire there...


All these sports have inspired my collections and still do, a given, as I name life itself as one of my biggest inspiration for my clothing.


And so I am collecting all things surf and here are a few of my favorite surf postcards....



about IDILVICE

My photo
New York, NY, United States
Just like the rare Swiss mountain flower Edelweiss - a symbol of prestige and distinction - the clothing brand IDILVICE (pronouced "Edel-vice") was born in the mountains of Switzerland and since then it's flourishing on the concrete of Manhattan and recently even in the rolling hills of the San Francisco Bay Area. However as the spelling indicates, the label is not meant to be associated with too much folkloric alpine tradition, but rather and probably in the contrary, with unconventionality. The IDILVICE label was founded in 1995 by Swiss Native fashion designer Idil from the city of Saint Gallen, Switzerland, who's foundation dates back to the 7th Century and which became famous for their quality textile products, especially embroidery textiles, which are still popular with Parisian Haute Couture designers today. In search for something less traditional, Master Graphic Designer Idil ventured out to New York City where she fell in love with American Pop Culture.