Images by Brandie Raasch

Boater hats, flapper fashion and back-beats—not to mention Bill Cunningham—brought some roaring style to last weekend’s Jazz Age Lawn Party on Governors Island.

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Photographer Bill Cunningham

Danish designer Henrik Vibskov’s unconventional shows in Paris are always a highlight of fashion week, a wild deviation from traditional French fashion. His collections—imbued with elements of film, music, art and per this summer’s Circular Series Section 4, “human rituals, the constructions we build, and social isolation”—bridge that ambiguous space between artistic mediums.

The Circular Series is a collaborative site-specific performance from Vibskov and fellow Central St. Martins graduate Andreas Emenius, and is part of the greater Interwoven series at the Textile Museum in Washington D.C., which involves a diverse group of international artists presenting textile-focused performances and film screenings. The goal of the series, according to Interwoven Director Lucid Olason, was to both create a visually striking event as well as explore how contemporary art is often reduced to a fashion statement. As he explained while discussing Vibskov & Emenius’ performance piece, “It is not a coincidence that some of our featured artists have ties to commercial fashion, but [they are] are by no means bound by it.” Reiterating this sentiment, he noted, “It was encouraging to be thanked by guests for bringing an event like this to D.C. A few people compared the [Vibskov & Emenius] performance to Yves Klein. However, one woman scolded me for wasting her evening with something that she didn’t consider art. We were all sad that she did not say this during the Q&A; I would have loved to have heard Henrik’s response.”

Pieces from the The Museum of Bags and Purses permanent collection

Bags are intimate objects that both conceal and reveal. They tote our daily necessities and the individual effects that disclose our personalities, insecurities and plans. They are purchased out of neeed, the desire for status or the pure appreciation of design. For Hendrijke Ivo, the founder of The Museum of Bags and Purses in Amsterdam, the motivation to collect over 4,000 bags came from a lifelong love of curiosities, artifacts and rarities.

Always in search of antiques with which to decorate her home, Hendrijke was on a trip with her husband Heinz in the English countryside when she came upon a small antique shop. Inside the pair found a tortoise shell bag inlaid with mother-of-pearl. Intrigued by the bag’s beauty, the Ivos dug into its provenance, discovering that it was made in Germany around 1820. This was just the beginning; over a period of 35 years, the couple amassed an impressive anthology. Heinz, an international business man, sourced items during his trips abroad while Hendrijke refined and researched. In April 1996, the Ivos opened a museum for their finds in Amstelveen, moving it to central Amsterdam in 2007 when the collection outgrew its original area.

Like the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice or the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, where part of the intrigue is imagining the eccentric past residents inhabiting the spaces, The Museum of Bags and Purses is housed in the former home of Pieter de Graeff—one of the 250 richest individuals of the Dutch Golden Age (the 17th century)—who embellished the building with ornate paintings and decorative finishes by artists and artisans. Numerous original details along with notable ceiling paintings by Paulus de Fouchier remain, contextualizing the bags with an additional historical layer.

Beginning in the 16th century with a man’s goatskin sack—a predecessor to the fanny pack—the museum walks visitors through the evolution of the 17th century chatelaine: a chain on a hook, which held a purse, smelling ball, thimble holder, needle-case, pin cushion and knife sheath. There are also wedding purses from the 1800s that took over two weeks and 50,000 beads to create. The chronological compilation displays not only what women carried but also notable artistic and historical landmarks. Gossamer and Art Deco styles debut along with references to the SS Normandie and Madonna. Arriving in the 20th century, iconic Prada, Chanel and Fendi collections symbolize the designer craze prompted by Sex and the City while a kitsch telephone tote and champagne bucket-shaped carryall provide flights of pure fantasy. This tremendous range speaks to the individual nature of style and recalls an old quote by the comedian Billy Connolly: “A woman’s mind is as complex as the contents of her handbag…there is always something at the bottom to surprise you.”

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The interior of the museum

20th-century bags

Images and interview by Paolo Simi

I met Selale at a friend’s place in Berlin, where I was taking a little holiday. She’s just started modeling, has a two-year-old daughter and her touchstone is God. Selale has a beautiful mix of Turkish and German features, and from the very beginning she showed confidence and a strong point-of-view. I just thought she was amazing and wanted to get to know her a little bit better.

Paolo Simi: Where are you from?

Selale: I am from Berlin; I was born here but my family’s from Turkey—my mother from Antalya and my father from Izmir.

Paolo: What do you like about Berlin?

Selale: What I like about this city is that everything is possible, especially in Kreuzberg, the part of Berlin where I live. There are so many different people from many different “social-classes,” but it’s possible to live as neighbors—even if it’s not easy sometimes. I like the fact that people are so mixed up here. When you walk down the Oranienstrasse, you will find everything. There is always life on the streets; the city is alive. Yes, I love that. At same time, it’s also a very crazy city. You have to be strong if you want to resist.

Paolo: Do you drink a lot of beer, like everyone else in Berlin?

Selale: No, I don’t drink any alcohol. I don’t like the taste of it. I’ve tried it several times, but beer has always been something that I didn’t like.

Paolo: Is there anything you miss about Turkey?

Selale: I miss everything about Turkey, but most of all I miss the people. I hadn’t been to Turkey for almost 11 years, but I was there for 18 days and it was wonderful. I never thought that I had such a strong connection with my roots; I’ve always seen myself as a German—I live in Germany…I think in German… Everything about me is German. But when I got back to Turkey, I couldn’t believe [there was] such a great connection. I remembered the places. Immediately I started speaking better Turkish. I met my people, who I hadn’t seen for such a long time, and it was like I never left them.

Paolo: What is a typical day with your two-year-old daughter [Emylia]?

Selale: You know, the situation is not so easy now… Normally she gets up at 8am and her daddy brings her to kind of a day-nurse—in German you call her “Tagesmutter,” like a “day mother.” She’s there with four other children, and at 3pm Papa picks her up again.

Paolo: What’s special about having a daughter at the age of 21?

Selale: I think the question should be: What is special about having a daughter? Everything is special about being mother but being a young mother means also being a young grandmother, I hope.

Paolo: Can you tell us about your “complicated” relationship status?

Selale: I could write a book [about my relationship]. The only thing I can say is that I am looking for a flat because I am separating from my husband.

Paolo: What do you usually do at night? [Do you go to] clubs or bars?

Selale: During the week, I don’t do so much. I’ve started working at an cocktail bar [Molotow-Cocktail] as a waitress, so I have to work. On the weekends I often go to the KitKatClub. It’s a fetish club and it has its own club culture, a very special atmosphere. The thing I like there is that you can do whatever you want, wear what you want and be with whomever you want. Nobody cares; everybody’s there to enjoy his or herself or better, themselves. I go there because I can be free and nobody is nervous. No means no—everybody understands that.

Paolo: You’re a very religious girl, a Catholic one. How did you become Catholic, coming from an Orthodox Muslim family?

Selale: Oh, where should I start…? At 18 years old, I had my first direct contact with Jesus, through my best girlfriend Cathy. We where at a chill party and a friend of ours, Alex, told me: “I know a girl. She was a model and she’s about to come.” I always wanted to become a model, but God’s plan was different than mine. Anyway, I immediately had a super connection with Cathy. When I look back today, I can say Jesus was always with me. My favorite [television] series was Eine Himmlische Familie, in English, A Heavenly Family. It saved me because I saw people with faith, without any violence or pressure—totally different from my family. Later when I was 11, I went to a grammar school, where I met my spiritual mother. Her name was Maria, like our heavenly mother—what a fluke. She was teaching art. She became my mother and the granny of my daughter. When I became 16, I decided to move out because everything was too much for me; I got to know my husband and then I moved. At the beginning I had a hard time, but then with Maciano [my husband] it seemed to be working. The Lord came to save me through my husband. I believe that God appears through others. At least the Lord came to me in a time when I was nearly losing myself. I was taking lots of drugs and I couldn’t be mother anymore. I was the lost sheep. That one who Jesus is carrying over his shoulders.

Paolo: Can you explain how you practice your faith?

Selale: Without my faith, I would be nobody. Without my faith, I couldn’t forgive because I never got forgiveness [from my family]. I never knew that there was somebody who gave his life for all mankind, just because he loves us so much, just to save us. How cool. He is the best friend I could ever imagine, my homey. Practicing is praying, the rosary, attending mass and listening to the word of God—and always trying to follow in the footsteps of Jesus. The main thing is, he who is without sin casts the first stone.

Paolo:Is there anything you reject from Catholicism?

Selale: No, not really. I think real freedom is freedom in faith. Every river ends at the ocean. People who say something against others don’t understand the scriptures.

Paolo: Catholicism doesn’t accept gay relationships. How can you deal with that?

Selale: Everyone has his or her own relationship with God. God knows me and my heart and that’s why he will always understand me. I know that many religious people from many religions don’t accept that, but I’ve experienced something else. My priests didn’t say a word about my sexuality. They accept me like I am, like God would do. I don’t care what people say, I never did. Many people, even some of my friends, say, “How can you be really religious and have a life like this?” The answer is: Everybody has his own sins.

Image by Brandie Raasch

As summer turns to fall, sandals become brogues and seersucker parlays into formal pinstripes.

Catherine Deneuve in The Umbrellas of Cherbourg

Style inspiration (and a great activity) for a rainy summer day.

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From their chapan (robes) to their ikat dresses to their head scarves, these little dolls are so cute they almost make me want to play chess.

Gucci 1996 by Mario Testino

Sometimes, seldom, a collection, image or item so perfectly embodies a cultural moment that the most appropriate descriptor is the overused “iconic.” Tom Ford’s velvet tuxedo for Gucci (F/W 1996) was one such rarity. A culmination of the designer’s tenure at the Italian house, with two traditional garments and one familiar fabric Ford contextualized ’80s power dressing, postmodern grunge and ’90s minimalism, giving rise to an overtness that would rule the decade to come. The suit was authoritative and unfussy, and ostentatious only in its unabashed sexiness – it revealed just enough and left us wanting more.

Gucci’s new women’s fragrance, Guilty, taps into this provocative heritage. Though the geometric bottle and austere use of the house’s signature interlocking Gs carry the distinct stamp of current creative director Frida Giannini, the ample skin revealed in the corresponding print campaign harkens back to the raw sensuality evoked by Ford’s tuxedo. Appropriately then, the brand describes the fragrance as “about breaking social conventions and the feeling that you can attain whatever you want.”

The Guilty video—directed by Frank Miller and starring Evan Rachel Wood—promises to be equally seductive, capturing the zeitgeist of an entirely different era. Due for release on September 12th at the MTV Video Music Awards, a preview is currently available on YouTube, running concurrent with a competition offering a Gucci shopping spree and trip to the awards.

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Images by Giancarlo Salvador

The fashion world’s most eminent concept shops embody their location, offering a snapshot of their respective city and its particular creative universe: Colette’s carefully cultivated selection—ranging from one-off watches by André to ripped creations from Rodarte—is nestled among the storied facades and museums of Rue Saint-Honoré. Meanwhile in London brick portals and townhouses lead to Dover Street Market’s Comme des Garçons and Mark Fast creations. And just as 10 Corso Como’s courtyard and unrivaled perfume collection are unmistakably Italian, RA, Antwerp’s newest concept shop, proposes a patently Belgian vision.

Unlike the multiple levels of Colette or Dover Street, RA is a single-floor 300-square-meter store with various inventive spaces, which make it particularly accessible and adapted to the Antwerp’s smaller size. Its offerings, curated by owners and founders Romain Brau and Anna Kushnerova (the R and A of RA), are similarly reflective of the city’s more creative than commercial reputation. In the foyer, images from last season’s renowned Royal Academy of Fine Arts graduation show line the walls. Inside, the shop radiates an ingratiating calm—even on a Saturday afternoon—with friendly sales assistants eager to explain the provenance of the vintage Dior glasses displayed on a string. To the right, a rustic café is populated with small groups chatting over cappuccinos, and in the book and magazine nook Purple magazine shares shelf space with a Helmut Newton tome. At the back of the store, sliding glass doors open to a grassy fenced space from which to admire the tip of Antwerp’s Gothic cathedral.

In addition to the curtain of spectacles, thatched hut and vintage clothing, RA houses hard-to-find, up-and-coming and yet-to-be-discovered designers, like Meadham Kirchhoff, David Szeto, Charles Anastase, Maison Martin Margiela and Elise Gettliffe. Together, the inventive displays and atypical assortment promote a rare sense of discovery. As Romain explained, “Shopping is fun, but so what!!!??”

Erin Dixon: You and Anna met at the Royal Academy, yes?

Romain Brau: Yes, I met Anna when I was in my graduation year and she was finishing her second year.

Erin: Where did the idea of RA come from—what was your motivation in opening the shop?

Romain: We never had the idea to do RA! It was something that came naturally between [us]. We wanted to start something small and simple, and with time it became this big RA—even now we are still growing. Every week we wake up with a new idea! Our main motivation was to bring something new in general. Shopping is fun but so what!!!? We wanted to guide the client and the visitors through a new experience—a cultural experience. Being commercial was something to avoid for us. We put all of our energy into producing events that help present the artists’ real inspirations.

Erin: There are strains of other concept shops in RA, yet it is distinct in both its aesthetic and its mix of products…What were your guiding forces in designing the space?

Romain: We took time to travel and personally meet all of the designers that we are presenting! We’ve been following our personal taste and intuition. All you can find in RA: lines, objects, items, clothes…whatever you put your finger on was selected or created by Anna and me. Of course, you will be able to find the same Stephen Jones couture hat in Corso Como in Korea or the same Bless coat in Opening Ceremony in New York and so on…but when you get inside of RA, you arrive in a place where you feel cozy and where everything is personal. [There are] prices for everyone, items for every taste, clothes for all ages… Everyone is welcome to discover what’s up in Belgium. We want to educate our costumers—to [help them] discover new designers and new ways to dress.

Erin: What are your criteria in selecting items for RA?

Romain: It’s simple. If we are touched by something, we go for it! We just received this air purifier from Mathieu Lehanneur, which is amazing. Now we are busy opening all the new deliveries…. [It’s] so exiting!

Erin: How will the space change from season to season?

Romain: We are terrible! [We have] too much energy; the shop changes every two weeks!

Erin: Which is your favorite space in the store?

Romain: Hmm… It’s difficult! I love the restaurant to share good moments and a great meal with friends, as well as our garden…. When the sun is shining, I pet my dog and talk with customers…

Erin: How would you like RA to evolve over the years?

Romain: For us, it’s important to become a reference in scouting young talent! We need to be followed by the press and other buyers to be able to help young artists. A few other [shops] in the world, like [in] Paris, Tokyo and L.A would be great…but for the moment it’s just a dream!

Erin: What are your top five items currently in RA?

Romain: We just received this beautiful leather jacket from Meadham Kirchhoff. It’s all pink with glitter and paint. (We are the only one in the world to have it!) I love the little monster teddy from Longoland and the entire collection from Elise Gettliffe is to die for! And I like a wool and leather coat from Junn J.

Erin: What item are you anxiously awaiting?

Romain: I’m looking forward to receive the new collection of Louise Grey. She has an amazing gray and blue fur coat! And the leather treatment dress from Narelle Dore is so beautiful—the collection was only made for RA!

Erin: How does Antwerp stand apart, in a fashion or creative sense, from other cities?

Romain: Antwerp has this underground, daring, elegant and creative side of things. Here you meet really crazy freaks! They all paint or photograph or design for a living. This is unique in Antwerp; it’s a small city so we all meet and talk and share. It’s nice to see that people travel to visit Antwerp. It’s a very beautiful city!

Erin: What are some of the challenges and advantages for designers in Antwerp?

Romain: The lifestyle and the comfort [are advantages]. You can afford way more than if you were in Paris. This is critical for a young designer.

Erin: Do you and Anna still do design work?

Romain: Well, we were very busy in the beginning with the construction of the space and all the traveling, but now during our limited free time we try to built our own collections.

A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and gets to bed at night, and in between he does what he wants to do. - Bob Dylan