Vicissitudes of the Damned 2

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Mon, 20 May 2013 10:55:58 -0500

Katie Litteral’s Mouth Erik R. Peterson

Mon, 20 May 2013 10:50:08 -0500

Katie Litteral’s Mouth

Erik R. Peterson

cotonblanc: Mode 2001 Landed–Geland, Dirk Van Saene (Antwerp,...

Sun, 19 May 2013 18:53:14 -0500

cotonblanc:

Mode 2001 Landed–Geland, Dirk Van Saene (Antwerp, 2001)
photography ronald stoops make-up inge grognard

INGE GROGNARD/RONALD STOOPS, Ludion

cotonblanc: Boxy Flat Fur Strap Sandal In Black Calfskin And...

Sun, 19 May 2013 18:52:16 -0500

cotonblanc:

Boxy Flat Fur Strap Sandal In Black Calfskin And Black Fur, Summer 2013, Céline

cotonblanc: Summer 2013, Céline by Phoebe Philo

Sun, 19 May 2013 17:30:02 -0500

cotonblanc:

Summer 2013, Céline by Phoebe Philo

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Sun, 19 May 2013 10:55:39 -0500

Today Ben Copperwheat launches his brand and first collection of extraordinary prints for clothing...

Sun, 19 May 2013 10:54:52 -0500

Today Ben Copperwheat launches his brand and first collection of extraordinary prints for clothing and interiors. Alongside his prints, Ben will also be working on fine art pieces, collaborations and specially commissioned projects.

Coinciding with the launch, Ben Copperwheat is holding an exclusive product sale on Sunday May 19, 12–6pm, at Lady Fag’s Pop Souk event (www.popsouk.com, Standard Hotel, Meatpacking District, NYC).
In 2009 Ben established the radical menswear label Copperwheat with cousin and tailor Lee Copperwheat. Copperwheat quickly generated excitement with its unusual combination of Ben’s distinctive print designs – all of which were handprinted – and Lee’s sharp tailoring.

Copperwheat produced five collections. The last – SMASH IT UP! – was launched in September 2011 with a heady and vibrant presentation at SoHo’s Capellini showroom.

In 2001 Ben graduated from the Royal College of Art, London, with a Masters Degree in Printed Textiles. Ben’s fine art and printed textile background means he works with multiple media – drawing, photography, collage and silkscreen printing.

Ben moved to NYC in 2003 and since then has produced exciting print collections for a wide range of designers including: Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger, Peter Som, Edun, Pret A Surf, Victorinox Swiss Army, Peter Som, Stephen Burrows and Daryl K.

For more information, look out for the forthcoming Ben Copperwheat website at www.bencopperwheat.com

Top image: Margo Howard-Howard. Bottom image: Margo...

Sat, 18 May 2013 11:33:38 -0500

Top image: Margo Howard-Howard.

Bottom image: Margo Howard-Howard in rehearsal with Penny Arcade.

Margo Howard-Howard
(from Wikipedia)

Margo Howard-Howard (1935 – September 3, 1988) was a New York City drag queen who wrote memoirs titled I Was a White Slave in Harlem shortly before his death. With a preface by Quentin Crisp, the memoirs, co-written with Abbe Michaels, describe Howard-Howard’s privileged childhood in Singapore under his given name of “Robert Hesse,” his rape aboard a British Navy vessel escaping the Japanese at the start of World War II, and lifestyle as a drag queen prostitute in the 1950s and 1960s in Manhattan. In these years, he supported a drug habit though prostitution, theft, and the exploitation of a wealthy but mentally ill old woman. He claims to have had encounters with James Dean, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, and Truman Capote during this time as well. In 1964, he met Leroy “Nicky” Barnes, the most prolific heroin dealer in New York City, and claims to have been “kept” by him, not leaving his apartment in the Lenox Terrace co-op in Harlem for four years.
Howard-Howard claims to have ultimately escaped Barnes and recovered from his heroin addiction with the help of a methadone program run by the Handmaids of Mary convent on West 124th Street. Thereafter he achieved some kind of prominence with a cabaret act and tributes to Mary Stuart. In his post-Harlem years, he claims to have met Judy Garland, and Martha Raye, Andy Warhol, Jackie Curtis, Brooke Astor, Tallulah Bankhead, Madonna, and Queen Elizabeth II, among others.
Reviewing these memoirs in 1988, the New York Times wrote: “His life was a breathless walk on the wild side. Stories were for embellishing, rules for breaking and people either fools or toys - or, less often, mythical figures of the sort that Howard-Howard, the grand drag queen, manifestly considered himself to be. For decades, until his death in September, he breezed through a slick New York scene of transvestites and tricksters.” There is apparently a movie being developed based on Howard-Howard’s memoirs.

Truth or Fiction?

Howard-Howard is known primarily though these memoirs, and no evidence supports most of his stories. Though the memoirs contain some photographs, none date to earlier than 1988 or validate any of the remarkable episodes he claims from his past. His publisher added an Afterword to I Was a White Slave in Harlem stating that “much, if not most” of the stories in the autobiography were false. The Afterword specifically disavows Howard-Howard’s stories about his childhood.
In 1988 and 1989, the New York Times published articles stating that Susana Ventura (the performance artist Penny Arcade) had created a character named Margo Howard-Howard, a 50-year-old drag queen with a scandalous past, for her performances. The Times specifically refers to the Howard-Howard character as “patently unbelievable.” A later article in the Times specifies that Arcade’s monologue was “based on real Lower East Side residents,” and Howard-Howard did receive an obituary in The Village Voice. Arcade has based performances on other real people, such as Andrea “Whips” Feldman.

Note: The Village Voice claims Howard-Howard was born in 1937; in his autobiography he claims 1935.

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Sat, 18 May 2013 11:20:17 -0500

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Sat, 18 May 2013 10:41:56 -0500

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Sat, 18 May 2013 10:09:16 -0500

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Sat, 18 May 2013 00:24:36 -0500

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Sat, 18 May 2013 00:22:08 -0500

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Sat, 18 May 2013 00:21:14 -0500

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Mon, 13 May 2013 11:27:04 -0500

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Mon, 13 May 2013 11:25:17 -0500

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Mon, 13 May 2013 11:22:46 -0500

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Sun, 05 May 2013 18:23:26 -0500

fernsandmoss: Zangaki, Sphinx and Pyramid of Khafre, 1934

Sun, 05 May 2013 17:36:51 -0500

fernsandmoss:

Zangaki, Sphinx and Pyramid of Khafre, 1934

…(Thek’s nomadic existence later included periods living...

Sun, 05 May 2013 16:17:00 -0500

…(Thek’s nomadic existence later included periods living in Amsterdam, Paris, and Rome, in addition to New York, where he always kept his studio on East 3rd Street. He frequently retreated to the secluded island of Ponza, off Italy, and to Oakleyville, a remote section of Fire Island.) After returning to New York in 1959, his circle included, in addition to [Peter] Hujar and Raffaele, the artists Eva Hesse and Ann Wilson, the critic Gene Swenson, and the writer Susan Sontag, who became his great friend. Sontag later dedicated to Thek the American edition of her landmark book of essays Against Interpretation (1966). The relationship between Thek and Hujar developed into one of the most important in both their lives. They spent the summer of 1963 in Sicily and visited the Capuchin catacombs near Palermo, where Hujar took unforgettable photographs, and where the rows of human remains in glass boxes had a profound impact on Thek’s work.

(from the Whitney press release)