Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: advertising, Amsterdam, fashion, NYC, photography, Venice
If it weren’t for the StumbleUpon toolbar and my unbelievable boredom I never would have came across Rinze van Brug’s portfolio/website. He’s a photographer now living in NYC, but originally from Amsterdam. Rinze van Brug went to school for art/design and then broke into the advertising world. He worked with several different clients as an art director at Ogilvy. Photography was often part of the client work he produced, and before long he realized that it was his true calling. Browsing his portfolio, there are fashion photography pieces that easily look like they could have come out of an issue of Vogue, and others from a designer’s website or catalogue. I’m dying to know what designers he’s worked with because I really like some of the clothing featured in his work.
I probably wouldn’t be writing about vanBrug if I had not seen the photos at the end of his portfolio. He’s done some really beautiful portraits, and what I think is his best work are the shots taken of cities like Amsterdam, NYC, Florence, and Venice. There are a series images from each city, and what I particularly like is how the images are grouped together. van Brug has done this in a spectacular way, and has created a whole that is greater than the sum if its parts, which is not to say that each individual photo can’t speak for itself. van Brug’s photos truly capture the essence of each different city he photographed. He has managed to do this by using iconic symbols from each city in a subtle way. In the photos of Venice vanBrug skips the gondolas, but rather shows a clothesline hanging across a canal. In Amsterdam you see two people kissing in front of a store window lit up in red.
All images and background information: Rinze van Brug Photography.
Someone at American Apparel wants 1992 to come back REAL bad. Scrunchies? High-cut one-piece bathing suits à la Baywatch? Berets? People, this is not moving forward. How the fuck are we supposed to make it through these difficult economic times if people are wearing and buying scrunchies? Seriously! I want to be open to new ideas and styles and giving old trends a fresh twist, but this one is not a winner. I will be very disappointed if this catches on.
Excessive scrunchie glorification. And high-cut one piece swimsuit.
Looking back at the scrunchie’s first rise to popularity in the late eighties, things were going fairly well. Bringing back inconsequential trends from that era is not going to solve our problems! If anything, the excessive, materialistic attitude we developed around that time is part of the reason why there are no jobs and why capitalism in this country as we knew it is now royally fucked! Scrunchie it is YOUR fault that I have no job, money, or car so FUCK YOU! You never properly restrained my hair anyways. I always had to use a hairtie too.
Likin' this...just wish I could pull off yellow
Anyone know who Yoana Baraschi is? Well, she’s a fashion designer and I just found out about her last night when I applied to an internship opening posted by her company. NOTICE: I reserve the right to spite anyone who finds, and applies to this internship because of me. She’s pretty deeply rooted in the European persuasion: born in Romania, started her career in Paris, but now has her own line based in New York, and at her boutiques she’s pushing the fact that most of her pieces are made by legitimate (hopefully) people right there in the Garment District. Definitely an interesting selling point to push, and one that has been working out pretty well for her.
Moving on…Yoana Baraschi was born into a family that was well-known and respected within the Romanian art world. Following in her father’s footseps, Yoana studied drawing and sculpture from a young age but it wasn’t until she left communist Romania for Paris that she got her start in the fashion industry. Since then she’s travelled textile markets the world over, and done everything from shoe design for Valentino to Creative Director for Betsey Johnson. Yoana finally started her own collection in 2002, and has been pretty successful. She has a couple of U.S. boutiques and young Hollywood biddies like Rachel Bilson and Lauren Conrad have worn some of her pieces as well as people I respect more such as Heidi Klum and Sienna Miller.
The style? Well, check out the website: www.yoanabaraschi.com. I have to use the words feminine and flirty to describe her pieces, but there is a little bit of boho influence, and every now and then a little vintage-y mod. Betsey Johnson majorly encouraged this woman to start her own line, and Baraschi spent a fair amount of time in India where she developed an appreciation for color, embroidery and hand-made techniques. In my opinion both of these influences are pretty evident in her collections. If you’re looking for something super-edgy and avant garde you’re going to wish you never started reading this, but that’s not my problem. I’m loving the yellow dress pictured at the top, and I’m also a fan of the pieces below.
Black Jewl Grace Jones Dress - Holiday 2008
70's Glam Blow-up Dress - Summer 2009
Amelie Knit& Taffeta Dress - Resort 2008
