Dress, Christopher Kane. Images by Benedict Brink. Styling by Clare Byrne.

Name: Anja Konstantinova
Age: 21
Occupation: Model
Hometown: I was born in Russia and lived in St. Petersburg. When I was 12 years old, my whole family and I moved to Melbourne, Australia because my mum got offered a job. Now I live in Sydney, but if I were to answer this question with my heart and say where I feel the most at home, it would be Melbourne.

Where are you staying in New York?
When I come to New York, I stay with my good friend Zippy Seven in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. I love it there—the place has so much character, good bars and a good atmosphere….

What is your funniest New York memory?
This memory is not really that funny; it was more of a culture shock. In Australia, we don’t have to tip. So when I first went out in America and I had to tip, I couldn’t really get my head around it. My boyfriend and I decided to go out for a romantic dinner to a Japanese restaurant. Our meal and service were incredible. When it was time to pay, my boyfriend left me in charge. That was probably the worst idea he ever had because I had no idea how much I was suppose to tip and, as you would guess, I didn’t tip enough. The waiter couldn’t speak any English and started yelling at my boyfriend in Japanese. Things got heated and in the end my boyfriend had to give the waiter the rest of his cash so the waiter would stop crying. It was the most stressful romantic dinner I’ve ever been to, but I’ve learnt from my mistakes.

Tell us a crazy modeling story:
My first time working with animals, I was on a shoot for Vogue Australia in New Zealand and I had to work with a very cheeky baby goat. He kept trying to be the center of attention by head butting me out of the way and stepping all over me and the beautiful clothes. It was a little bit painful but at least it made everyone else forget about the cold weather and have a little giggle.

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Walking into Greg Lauren’s installation Barracks feels like the physical counterpart to reading The Things They Carried. The air hangs heavy with ghosts of military’s past, which are embodied by 30 one-of-a-kind garments—all available for purchase—that Greg has constructed from re-purposed military fabrics taken from vintage Army duffle bags, tents, parkas and sweaters. Though many of the pieces are also featured in his seasonal men’s and women’s collections, for the installation Greg has brought his fascination with uniforms and forgotten materials full circle by donating a portion of the proceeds from Barracks to the Operation Mend veteran’s charity. While the installation closes today, November 20, Greg’s work can be found online and at Barneys New York.

Barracks will be on view through November 20 at 125-127 Grand Street, NYC.

Photography by Bek Andersen. Styling by Angela Barrow.

Erika Spring, a member of the Brooklyn pop trio Au Revoir Simone just released a single from her first solo record, which can be purchased here. We met at her Greenpoint apartment to chat about and document her style, influences, where she’s been and where she’s going.

Bek Andersen: After being on tour for most of the last five years, how do you feel about living and working in New York?

Erika Spring: I am so in love with my friends here; they are unpredictable. I feel very lucky to be living in a village. There’s always a friend to bike with to the after-party or to council me on anything from drum machines to spray glue to raw foods, bad TV, perfume, crock-pots and daytrips!

Bek: Your apartment is lovely. You have a few very precious pieces of art and vintage records peppered around the house. Where did the David Bowie collage come from?

Erika: That is from eBay. I have spent equal time looking on eBay for vintage keyboards as I have looking for posters of David Bowie. In both cases I have to ask myself: “How much is too much?” But you can’t put a price on happiness, right?

Bek: I love the photograph of the couple passed out in Central Park. Who took the picture and how did you acquire it?

Erika: That was a gift from my mom. Her photographer friend Jerry Downs took it in 1976. They look like total hipsters but you can tell it’s old because of the packaging design on the pack of Marlboros.

Bek: Also, the Debbie Harry seven-inch that you have on your wall stands out. Is she a style icon for you? Does her look have anything to do with stylistic changes you have made over the last year, like going platinum blonde?

Erika: Yes, I love Debbie Harry. Her look and essence are extremely cool. And she probably helps motivate every girl who decides to experiment with bleach… I actually saw her recently in the audience at a show at PS1. She was with a friend and they brought their own beach chairs and sat in the back of the gallery. My other favorite blonde is Olivia Newton-John. She had an impressive array of hairstyles through the years.

Bek: You have such a feminine and timeless sense of style. Where do you like to shop?

Erika: I am a collector so I’m always picking things up here and there. Last year a friend took me to a wonderful second-hand shop in Copenhagen that sells clothes by the kilo. I grabbed an armful of silk—men’s short sleeved shirts in solids, faded washes and geometric prints, and silk négligés—so my pile weighed practically nothing. I got so much good use out of it all, tying the tops off to crop them or wearing them as jackets. This summer I got a beautiful long silk skirt from Madewell. I love the flow, the easiness of wearing all silk, plus the forbidden quality like, ‘Oh, I should really save that for a special day, sometime that I wont be in danger of ruining it,’ which never happens.

Bek: I know that you like to really chill out and also like to party. How to do you maintain a balance?

Erika: I started meditating regularly and practicing Reiki in February. Those two things really require me to stay connected as much as possible.

Bek: When did you decide to make a solo record?

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Erika: Au Revoir Simone was on an “Annie’s pregnancy/Heather’s school” hiatus and I had been working on some new songs. I wanted to do something with producer Jorge Elbrecht of the band Violens for a while and this was the perfect opportunity. I really enjoy working with him. He is amazing at translating my song ideas, helping create an environment for them and bringing them into the outer world.

Bek: What’s next for you?

Erika: I had a lot of fun with this project and learned so much. I’m hoping to keep recording solo, and I’m also excited to bring my new sensibility to the next Au Revoir Simone album.

Bek: Are you going to tour this record?

Erika: Yes! I’m playing shows with my rad new band that includes Jorge on drums and Will Berman on bass.

Bek: When do we get to see you play?

Erika: It’s all very spontaneous right now but there will definitely be some shows in the coming months.

Looks from Fall 2011

Dana Lee definitively designs menswear for men. But she also designs menswear for women. Yes, every so often the petite designer appropriates a few items from her collection, or the females in her clients’ lives swipe a rag-knit cardigan or supple shearling coat. More often, however, Dana designs the clothing that these women want their boyfriend, husband or brother to wear—clothing that is tactile and grown-up, but effortless. Though she is from the Pacific Northwest, her collections read more Bloomsbury than Birkenstock. Wide wale corduroy pants are paired with a saturated violet hopsack “workshirt” or smoky polka dot “pajama” shirt, combining to vaguely evoke the painterly hues and interiors of Dana’s fall inspiration, the early 20th century painter Jean-Édouard Vuillard, but furthermore present a pretension-free, put-together modern man.

Erin Dixon: Your first fashion experience was very hands-on, cutting samples in a factory, how did that affect your production choices as a designer?

Dana Lee: Working in an assemblage setting taught me about the art of manufacturing. Understanding manufacturing changes the way you design. Like going from understanding the world as flat to round, your belief system changes and you begin to see that everything is integral. When I design clothing, I often first explore and gain inspiration from the industrial processes available, then from the fabric, then finally begin my sketches. Working in manufacturing has also influenced me to produce locally in the USA and Canada.

Erin: You’ve lived and traveled all over the world (from London to Helsinki, etc.) do you think your clothing or style can be attributed to a country, or is there one aesthetic that informs it more than others?

Dana: Living in different places provides the chance to experience other states of mind that exist in fashion and also experience your own state of mind in that other place. Traveling influenced my style—not in the sense of one country, aesthetic or state of mind shaping it, but more in that it provided a chance to question things, isolate impressions and realize my own perspective. The more places I spent time in, the more I understood my love for simple, casual clothing.

Erin: In the past, many top womenswear designers have been men. To reverse that, what do you think a woman brings to menswear, that is different from a man designing menswear?

Dana: I don’t know what it’s like for a man to be designing menswear. I think it would be different between a straight man and a gay man. I imagine we all have different perspectives of who the so-called ideal modern man is and how he expresses himself.

Erin: What menswear designers (men or women) do you admire?

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Dana: Henrik Vibskov for bringing lightheartedness back into fashion; Nigel Cabourn for the substantial distinctiveness of his pieces. Margaret Howell for the lasting value of her clothing.

Erin: Do you consider your designs unisex? Do you wear them?

Dana: I more consider them men’s clothes for men, and men’s clothes for women. I find that the women who wear my clothes (myself included) embrace the fact they are wearing a man’s piece, and [they] like that it is not intentionally stylized for a women.

Erin: You’ve said in the past that early on you were very influenced by men’s workwear and uniforms—you bought deadstock to create your first collections… Do you design Dana Lee to be a sort of “uniform” for modern men?

Dana: I always loved deadstock clothing, simply because the pieces that I found were perfectly generic, had no logos and were well-made with authentic feeling fabrics—clothes that could be mixed up and worn in personal ways. Clothes that could be worn frequently and transcend trends.

Erin: What role does fashion play in our modern world and how do the “uniforms” we create communicate our identity?

Dana: Well it is just that: The role of fashion largely is to provide uniforms that we can use to communicate our identity.

Erin: Tell us a bit about your seasonal design process.

Dana: I often start with some objects or a color combination that emanates a mood or thought that I want to explore. This is never something easily definable. Instead of scouring shows and magazines and taking inventory of what is forecasted, I collect the objects and palette that gravitate to me during the everyday. Recently I traveled to Mexico and found some great reference colors in the plastics and dishtowels available in a small town supermarket. Overall, I like to experiment with color and fabric character more than with seams and draping, so creating a palette is critical because it is what essentially defines each collection.

Erin: Give us your description of the Fall 2011 collection: What were your inspirations and what are some of your favorite pieces? Which fabrics have you enjoyed working with this season?

Dana:This season was inspired by the interiors and domestic spaces of Vuillard. I saw some of his paintings in person and loved the rich overlays of colors and patterns of household furnishings: floral wallpapers, dotted table linens, plaid drapery, velvety tasseled furniture and carpets. I wanted the collection to evoke the same warm jumbled feel and intimate glimpses of everyday life depicted in his works. Wide wale corduroy (in trousers) is a key part of the fall collection. There is a certain rich, upholstery feel and charming bookish quality about the wide wale that I wanted to present in a fashion context. I think my favorite piece is the custom-dyed hopsack workshirts, particularly the violet and orange colors, because I love the electricity of the colors and the groundedness of the style.

Erin: What are your summer plans?

Dana: Myself, a couple artists and a filmmaker have rented a large, semi–derelict turn-of-the-century warehouse as a creation space. Now’s that it’s warm we might actually use it! A film piece and a large-scale photography piece are slated. I also plan to travel to a cabin off the west coast of Vancouver Island next month and potentially to Hanoi later in the summer.

Makeup was the medium of choice this weekend at PS1′s Move! A two-day fusion of fashion and art, the event featured temporary installations, films and performances from creative pairs, including Rob Pruitt and Marc Jacobs, Tauba Auerbach and Ohne Titel, Ryan McNamara and Robert Geller, and more.

Untitled by Terence Koh and Italo Zucchelli (Calvin Klein Collection)

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Alice Lane’s Midas palms

Carrie by Olaf Breuning and Cynthia Rowley

The Makeover You Never Knew You Wanted by Cheryl and American Apparel

Images by Hatnim Lee

One has to do the work in order to find the freedom, a yogi once told me—meaning, one has to develop strength before they can fully express their desire to stretch.

Bibhu Mohapatra designed for nine years under J. Mendel before putting his own name on a label last year. Earlier this summer, I watched one of his sample-makers sew 13 bones into a bustier that would be enclosed between the lining and the outer bodice of a silk chiffon gown, invisible to the wearer.

At Bibhu’s presentation this week, a model stepped off the podium. As she walked across the small dark room, ghostly layers of ecru mousseline floated behind her, seemingly without weight. Handwoven swirls of cream-colored cord harnessed the tiniest pleats of a blush chiffon gown, and a bottle-green cap-sleeved column stunned  in its apparent simplicity—simpler than anything the designer has yet dared to do.

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DOSSIER JOURNAL: Carlos Miele – Spring 2011 from Jenni Avins on Vimeo.

Glamorous gowns, undone hair, shades of papaya flesh and butterfly wings and, Bebel. The best of Brazil.

Andy Warhol, Von Furstenberg and Monique van Vooren in 1974 © Getty Images

Diane Von Furstenberg turned up last night at the New York Times Center to talk about her leopard-spotted mannequin, part of the Fashion Center‘s Sidewalk Catwalk exhibition. As usual, she left us with a lovely little stack of one-liners.

On Twittering: “If you put the word ‘love’ in your Twitter,” she advised Prabal Gurung, “everyone will follow.”

On intuition: “You only know that bag is ‘it’ when it’s ‘it’.”

On perseverance: “There are little cracks. And if you’re a nice little weed, you’ll grow in the cracks.”

May this leopard never change her spots.

Images by Spela Kasal

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Bibhu Mohapatra was having a Mussolini moment. Haunted music piped through a gallery where models, pale-faced and red-lipped, presided like glamorous ghosts from 1930s Europe. A chocolate leather harness fastened across a masculine loden green shirt; silver fox fur lined the hood of a coated canvas parka. The gowns—shimmering, structured bodices that emerged from columns of cascading chiffon––evoked Art Deco architecture, and the print on a long-sleeved dress resembled Futurist facets of a gleaming cube. It’s clear that Mohapatra, former design director at J. Mendel, is a master of the art and science of fashion, but this season—his strongest yet—was all about control.

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