Strange Love : KUBRICK + LACMA = ♥

Matthew Modine, Gold Wire Rimmed P3 eyeglasses, Full Metal Jacket (1987)

The Stanley Kubrick Retrospective at LACMA covers the breadth of his practice, beginning with his early photographs for Look magazine, taken in the 1940s, and continuing with his groundbreaking directorial achievements of the 1950s through the 1990s.

Costume and props from A Clockwork Orange at the Stanley Kubrick Retrospective at LACMA (Photo from GALLIVANT)

His films are represented through a selection of annotated scripts, production photography, lenses and cameras, set models, costumes, and props. In addition, the exhibition explores Napoleon and The Aryan Papers, two projects that Kubrick never completed, as well as the technological advances developed and utilized by Kubrick and his team.

Sue Lyon bespectacled and bowtied in Lolita (1962)

By featuring this legendary film auteur and his oeuvre as the focus of his first retrospective in the context of an art museum, the exhibition reevaluates how we define the artist in the 21st century, and simultaneously expands upon LACMA’s commitment to exploring the intersection of art and film.

Sue Lyon photographed by Bert Stern in Lolita glasses (1960)

Ghost twins costume from The Shining (1980) at Los Angeles County Museum of Art

The exhibition highlights scenes in his movies that were directly influenced by works of art — the spectral twins in "The Shining" that were inspired by the photographs of Diane Arbus, and numerous shots in "Barry Lyndon" that were based directly on 18th century paintings by Thomas Gainsborough, William Hogarth, George Stubbs and others. - L.A. Times

Star Baby embryo from 2001 Space Odyssey (1968)

Strangelove's War Room also is re-created as one of several highly detailed, miniature models in the exhibit, many of them from the innovative production of 2001, including the Discovery spaceship and the museumlike Baroque Room of the finale, with its unnerving light emanating from the floor. 

Seeing the physical models allows the viewer to move back and forth and study these movie spaces in three shifting dimensions. The most fascinating is a model of 2001's spacecraft centrifuge, a rotating stage with trap doors that allowed Kubrick to film from strategic vantage points.  - L.A. Weekly

 STANLEY KUBRICK + LACMA is open through June 30, 2013

Venetian Mask from Eyes Wide Shut (1999)

Mysterious Mina Mazzini Medley : Eyewear, Italian Style

Love, Italian Style...Click Here

Mina Mazzini, Italian 20th Century Pop Icon

Mina Mazzini : It's not what she says, but how she says it

MINA

They Called Him Sparky : Charles Schulz

The poetry of Schulz’s life began two days after he was born when an uncle nicknamed him “Sparky” after the horse Spark Plug from the Barney Google comic strip.  Sparky was fascinated with strips like Skippy, Mickey Mouse, and Popeye.  

In his deepest desires, he always knew he wanted to be a cartoonist, and seeing the 1937 publication of his drawing of Spike, the family dog, in the nationally-syndicated Ripley’s Believe it or Not newspaper feature was a proud moment in the young teen’s life.

He took his artistic studies to a new level when, as a senior in high school and with the encouragement of his mother, he completed a correspondence cartoon course with the Federal School of Applied Cartooning (now Art Instruction Schools).

CHARLES M. SCHULZ MUSEUM

In The Sun I Feel As One : Kurt Cobain Sunglass Fashion Parade

Seasonal Aesthetics with Naomi Campbell

Naomi Campbell for Vogue Italia, 1995

Beyond the Sheltering Sky : Minimalists in Metal from the Hotel De Ville Vintage Collection

Vintage Neostyle

Antique P3 Gold Wire Sunglasses

Vintage Christian Dior Sunglasses

Vintage Christian Dior Sunglasses

Art Director:  Hassan Rahim
Photographer:  John Michael Fulton
Model:  Blair Bradford (Whitehouse Models)
Stylist: Jessica Willis
Hair: Ryan Richman
Make Up: Amy Strozzi
First Assistant: Moriah Zagalia

Nathanael East : Greek Drama with Elena the Enchantress

Greek Actress Elena Nathanael

Queen of the Greek Mellow-Drama. Enjoy these clips of the Greek film Anazitsis, full of 1970s Athens lifestyle: rotary phones, Op-Art, big hair and smoking, beach house furniture, and sensual montages.

Lunch Break in Shades of Black with Ines de la Fressange

Ines de la Fressange at a Brasserie in Paris

Op Art - Pop Art : James Rosenquist at the Billboard Factory by Dennis Hopper 1964

James Rosenquist at the Billboard Factory photograph by Dennis Hopper, 1964.

Imagine an Apple Eaten by James Rosenquist, 1990

Painting for the American Negro by James Rosenquist, 1962

James Rosenquist Official Website

The Lost Prints of Dennis Hopper

Imitation is the Sincerest form of Flattery : Tom Ford Eyewear Hearts Christian Dior Lunettes

The Christian Dior Sunglasses model 2056 is the predecessor to the Tom Ford "Signature" Sunglasses for women.  The Tom Ford "Pablo" is also looking a bit repetitive? 

Happy Yé-Yé Veterans Day from Les Idoles

This psychedelic musical satire serves as both a critique and inadvertently a celebration of French pop music and yé-yé culture in the sixties, which seemed to fuel the revolutionary spirit in French youth while also offering up easy escapism.  Watch the American Flag Freakout Dance below:

Les Idoles apparently received a warm reception in France when it debuted in 1968, but for one reason or another the movie was never released in the United States.  More Les Idoles film stills and info at Cinebeats.

Donayle Luna in Peacock Attire 1975

Donayle Luna in heart shaped sunglasses and peacock feather accessories, 1975.

Distinct and Unusual Oliver Goldsmith Eyeglasses from the Victoria & Albert Museum Collections

Oliver Goldsmith created 'Horses' using the outline of two horse heads. The frame was one of a series of animal-inspired shapes the company produced around this time, which also included dogs and ducks. This dramatic design reflects the company's promotion of glasses not as a medical necessity, but as a fashionable accessory.

These spectacles date from the mid-1930s. They are made from tortoiseshell, a rare and difficult material to work with. Tortoises are now an endangered species but at the time these glasses were made, their shells were very popular for spectacles. The frames were cut from a single piece of shell. For manufacture, the plates of which a tortoise's shell is made up are removed, then laminated together to get a block to cut from. This block is then boiled in cottonseed oil to make the material pliable, and then stretched out onto dowels. When set, the tortoiseshell can be cut into a desired shape. 

Oliver Goldsmith created the "Ruanda" frame in 1965. Imitation tortoiseshell became very popular at this time. As an alternative to real tortoiseshell (which by the late 1960s became scarce, expensive and then illegal to buy and sell) plastic imitation tortoiseshell quickly became a style statement.

Charles Oliver Goldsmith designed this frame, "The Little Serpent", in 1955 when the plastic for eyeglasses was still cut and shaped by hand. This frame was likely created for press purposes and is typical of Goldsmith's whimsical post-war designs.

Oliver Goldsmith created this glasses frame, titled 'Miss Dexter' in the mid-1960s. He designed it with a Vogue fashion editor of that name in mind. The Vogue offices were just around the corner from the Oliver Goldsmith workshop; its editors would often come by to select glasses for photo shoots. At the time this frame was designed, Oliver Goldsmith had started to make lighter frames and experiment with new veneer techniques. This design gains its vibrant color from a thin layer of plastic veneer applied to the frame.

Oliver Goldsmith created this glasses frame, titled ‘Polygon’, in 1971, the year that Britain converted its currency to the decimal system. The company registered the design, and received much publicity for its unusual and timely 50-pence shape.

"Noseguard" by Oliver Goldsmith, 1970. 

All text and images sourced from the Victoria & Albert Museum in London.

Ferdinand Alexander Porsche's Exclusive Specatcles

Click Here for Porsche Design

Ferdinand Alexander Porsche’s very first sketch of the so-called “exclusive spectacles” with its revolutionary lens replacement mechanism (1977).

Ferdinand Porsche and Count Alexander von Kolovrat at the Austro-Daimler automaker company in 1922.

These sporty, 80s style shield sunglasses were made famous by Yoko Ono. The artist wore them for the first time at a press conference in 1979. After that, Ono was seen in the Porsche Design glasses so often that the P´8479 is now primarily known as the Yoko Ono sunglasses.

Among other appearances, the singer was pictured wearing them on the cover of “Rolling Stone” magazine as well as on the record sleeves of “Yes, I’m a witch” (2007) and “It’s alright” (1982). In addition, Yoko Ono wore the sunglasses on a photo shoot for the fashion magazine, “New York”.

From Porsche-Design.com

The Halston Eyewear Looks

For New York City Discotheque, Halston prefers black sunglasses with matching turtleneck and white blazer.

For business meetings, Halston prefers to look over top of black sunglasses in white button up dress shirt and black blazer.

Halston through the eyes of Andy Warhol

For Acapulco, Halston and the "Haltonettes" opts for slippers, no pants, black crewneck tee with mirrored sunglasses.

Above, Halston with bottles of his eponymous perfume released in 1975. Halston fought to maintain control over every aspect of his original fragrance, which was complicated since Halston had sold the licensing rights to his name two years earlier in 1973. Max Factor, the controlling company he was paired with; wanted to put the scent in a square bottle 'Halston Nights'. He insisted on using the now famous 'bean' bottle designed by his friend Elsa Peretti and called the scent Halston. It went on to become a juggernaut known as Halston Classic. According to some it is the number two selling fragrance of all time, right behind Chanel No 5.