12 Hour Layover? Sure!

                                          

Gawd Dangit. They just want you to shop everywhere. The newest retail assault is unfolding in Heathrow's airport spanking new Terminal 5. Aside from being packed with the usual suspects of Tie Rack, WH Smith, Accessorize and World Duty Free, new additions to the Bond Street Pack include the first airport terminal Tiffany & Co. shop, and a specially designed Paul Smith 'Globe' store. 

But nevermind THAT. What gets the blood rushing and the stomach acids pumping is Gordan Ramsay's first airport venture, Plane Food. For the gastronome nomad, you can also opt for Krispy Kreme (who created a special Terminal 5 doughnut - I wonder if it tastes like lost baggage?) or the perennial student favourite, Wagamama (which incidentally means brat in Japanese - my grandmother used it on my little sister when we were tots) 

Terminal 5 will also house travel spas by Elemis, who pioneered a similar formula for Bergdorf Goodmans, Harvey Nichols and Nordstroms. What I want to know is why they wasted such efforts on BA snobs. Spoken like a true blue Virgin fan. Hey, they give you rubber duckies on board. 

(Picture from WGSN)

La Jaconde better watch her back...

A bit off topic, but THIS (points to picture above) is the sort of crowd Banksy draws in Hong Kong. According to hongkonghustle.com, the guests " were a mixture of neophyte collectors, bankers and a smattering of local artists and scene-sters." Bankers admiring Banksy, who's laughing all the way to bank in light because his work is extremely bankable these days. The IRONY kills me. 

Love Art, the modern art exhibition headlined by Banksy, Hirst, Mel Ramos and Keith Haring et al, opened on Wednesday night at the Hong Kong Art Centre in Wan Chai. 

I don't know how I feel about Bansky in an art gallery, I mean an artist has got to be rewarded for his ideas, but what I admire most about Banksy, aside from the obvious reasons of why everyone else loves him, is the questions he raises about art ownership. When you attach commerce to public art - who owns it? The public? The artist? The city council?  Does ownership even apply? I would like to see a Bank-mobile that ferries people around the city showing his work within the context that was originally intended. And then at the end of the tour you can have a go at 'Spot the real Banksy', where you have to identify the real artist amidst a crowd of lookalikes. And if you get it right, you get to ravish him. Or ambush an unsuspecting wall with him. Or ravish him against an unsuspecting wall. Or ravish an unsuspecting wall. 

Peace Out.

Fashionably Sound?

Fashion dilettantes would have probably at one point earnestly dabbled in a bit of fashion anthropology, which unearths a lot of fun juicy information, like how Coco Chanel popularised the tan in the 1960s when she accidently got sunburnt on a holiday in the Riviera. 

This week, Jonathan Glancey skims the relationship between fashion and architecture accompanied by a picture of Zaha Hadid dressed like Big Bird, who really wants to be an ostrich, in mourning. He draws very interesting, but obvious parallels between the evolution of architecture and fashion. What is interesting is that the past 10 years or so have been architectually very important years for us, with countries out-racing each other to build the world's tallest building, Gehry's Disney Concert Hall, Koolhaas' Dubai Death Star & CCTV building. Yet much of that have not translated into fashion, with much of it focusing on either the far flung future (Balenciaga SS07) or rehashing the past (every Ralph Lauren collection. Puke) But what about the present? What it reiterates is the cyclical nature of art, fashion & culture - when innovation trumps invention, and when ideas run dry, the look into the ARCHIVES. But when ideas run dry, cross-dissemination of ideas happen, which is always exciting. (Remember Cy Twombly on Proenza Schuler?)

Now, Piss Christ pendant anyonre? 

Marhaba, H&M.

Following my last post about Rei Kawakubo for H&M, Egypt has announced its first H&M store, slated to open on June 5. Why is H&M expanding everywhere but here? Ya, habibi. Death to Forever 21. 

A Penny for your Thoughts.....

Having been buried in work for the last few days coupled with a bad case of Oatmeal Brains. Here are some quick snippets. Wham, Bam thank you Ma'am.

Coin Rennovation, Milan, Italy

One of Milan's largest department stores, Coin has revealed its new look with a nine storey video exterior wall. Say what! For the fashionable mathematicians out there - that's 12,000 LED lights wrapped around an 11,840 sq ft inset with a video wall measuring 1,528 sq ft. I eyeball 4 ft as 25 ft, so I guess that just means it's BIG.

Karl Lagerfeld for Grand Theft Auto IV

No, you don't get to (virtually) raid a Chanel store. (damn.) Monsieur Lagerfeld...I mean DJ Karl has created music for latest installation of the game. You can hear his disco beats here, as well as listen zu ah very very aneemated dhee-zhey Karlll and ees frrensch accent. 

GQ India.

Fresh off the success of Vogue India, Condé Nast has announced the launch of GQ India on its way to world domination. 

Pix to follow later. Internet going all 3rd world on me. 

Why....

....doesn't KL have an H&M? Already underwhelmed by Kate Moss for Topshop, Jovovich-Hawk and the pouty spanish sisters for MNG, things get worse when you hear that H&M's follow up to Cavalli, Lagerfeld and Viktor & Rolf is none other than Rei Kawakubo. 

The founder of Comme des Garçon, she is just plain cool. Ok, so maybe her clothes are a little tricky to pull off - one false move and you might end up looking like you're draped in a deflated balloon or used condom, but you can't help but feel a deep rooted sense of awe for the dark horse of fashion. Everything they do is swathed in cool - a windowless 3 storey white building in Hong Kong? Cool. Being 1/3rd of the coolest 21st century animated character (Edna Mode from The Incredibles)? Cool. Not available in Kuala Lumpur? Not-so-cool.

I bet she's going to have a gorgeous jacket. *whine*