The Rake Magazine

Author: Christy DeSmith

  • Come here often?

    There was a lot of, ahem, visual stimulation at last night’s Collage Fashion Show. But I must admit that after doing the MNfashion Weekend circuit last weekend (not to mention staying tuned to the various global fashion weeks), I find I’m a bit tired of looking at clothes. Sure, the threads looked awfully pretty last night but so too did the fellows (both on and off the runway), and I found myself admiring their beauty.

    Here we have two of the male models (smiling and being all-around friendly after the show). Meee-ow.
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    Below: I often see this guy strutting about the warehouse district. He’s a realtor, from what I understand. He also happened to be the date of one of the editors from Mpls./St. Paul Magazine last night. (jealous much?)
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    Below: The one on the right is Chris Schauf, frontman for the local band Catchpenny. And his bandmates dress just as well, if you must know. They even have an exclusive deal with the very fabulous Trovata, an Orange County, California-based clothing label.
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    If you (or a loved one) want to look as polished as those above, then you might consider swinging into Ivy Men’s + Design this Saturday between three and seven p.m. for a DJ-ed shopping event with free beer. Ladies, if you heretofore have been unsuccessful at convincing your bedraggled boyfriend to upgrade his wardrobe, then you might be able to lure him in with free beer.

  • My bumble and shoot!

    How could I have forgotten? Wayzata’s Bumbershute boutique is pitching in THIS VERY EVENING at the first-ever Wayzata Runway Show + Shopping event at the Northcoast restaurant (7 p.m.), where fall fashions from Valentino Red, John Galliano, and Just Cavailli will parade down the runway. For more information, call Kathryn at Bumbershute, 952-475-2685.

    And, Alexis from Lola Red PR just reminded me that there’s also a fashion-friendly happy hour at Gaviidae this afternoon between 4 and 7 p.m., which includes valiidated [sic] parking. Hardy-har!

  • How I spent MNfashion Weekend

    Well, first of all, I missed the first couple days. My boyfriend was sick, and contagious as all get out; so, I found myself nursing a sore throat and a serious case of fatigue, not to mention a general malaise. Then, I got stuck in a hail storm on my way back home last Thursday night–which doesn’t go over well when you’re suffering one of those onset headaches. When I finally made it home, I took a shot of Brandy and called it a night.

    But I jumped right in on Friday at the Loves Labourers: Art as Fashion, Fashion as Art event. Three artists – Jennifer Davis, Adam Garcia, Eric Inkala – and three clothing designers – Annie Larson, Ra’Mon-Lawrence Coleman, Crystal Quinn – joined forces to make wearable art from ordinary American Apparel tees. It all unfolded right before mine very eyes, and in a party atmosphere (with gratis tuna-stuffed cherry tomatoes, no less). Slacker that I am, I failed to purchase my very own Art-as-Fashion tee before the actual date; I arrived only to find each of the tees had been spoken for, but of course. Pre-purchasers, however, we not allowed to pre-select a shirt that was, say, ANYTHING BUT CANARY YELLOW. And so, from what I hear, I might yet have the chance to procure one of these spiffs. Here are the outtakes, in any case. It was quite a happening scene, as I’m sure you can image:
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    Washability is a problem, dahlings … You must only spot clean.

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    On Saturday evening, I stopped by clecticoiffeur‘s invite-only fashion show, where the latest from Katherine Gerdes, George Moskal, Red Shoe Clothing Co., Laura Fulk, and Kjurek Couture was shown. I dug Gerdes’s new jersey dresses with satin details:

    She was up until 3 a.m. that morning, slaving away on last-minute details. Therefore, she isn’t sure when – or how – these dresses will ever become available for purchase. I say you email her with inquiries.
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    But I ESPECIALLY admired this dress from George Moskal, who is probs my favorite designer in all the Minnie Apple. I adore his use of upholstery and vintage fabrics in creating striking, glamorous effects. Swoon!
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  • The Tease

    Unfortunately, I forgot my digital camera at home today – it holds all the substandard pics I snapped during MNfashion Weekend. I’ll report more on the affair (and my associated quest for commerce) tomorrow, perhaps in the p.m. But, in the meanwhile, check out this week’s big fashion event, which you can still buy tickets for:

    Collage Fashion Show
    Thursday, September 27 at Nicollet Island Pavilion
    Two of my favorite local boutiques are participating in this three-way of a runway affair: the refined, and yet funky, Ivy and super-girly Stephanie’s. The third boutique, Bluebird, isn’t a fave, but I have found fabulous vintage jewelry there in the past. However, I’m probably most excited about Bluebird’s contribution to this year’s (the third annual) Collage. They’re planning to show clothes by Loeffler Randall, the shoe designer – a favorite of the shop’s owners – who only recently introduced a line of apparel.

  • Men with Baggage

    In the past hundred years, women have successfully appropriated menswear, from slacks and dungarees to business suits—but the exchange hasn’t exactly gone in the other direction. But lookit! Finally it has at least become socially permissible for men of all stripes to carry purses—or satchels, if you will, or just plain old bags. It’s only fair, after all: What guy doesn’t have a BlackBerry to pack, or a bottle of prescription drugs to tuck away until lunchtime? Trailblazing toters may have endured teasing, their attachés being branded with insulting names (“murse”? “man bag”? ugh!), even as their cohorts made do with slovenly JanSports.

    Now, thanks to an assortment of over-the-shoulder carryalls in leather and distressed canvas, the man-with-bag look is as fashionable as it is practical. And not just for lawyerly or Wall Street types. In fact, we wonder whether the proliferation of technological gadgetry didn’t seed this trend among our nation’s youth. In any case, Prince Charming ferries his own car keys these days; he feels naked without that rugged Jack Spade file case (above)—the one with heavy-metal hardware, a pinstriped interior, and enough room for everything he used to shove inside his companion’s purse. Our roaming photographer also met up with handsome heirloom leather bags outfitted with elaborate enclosures and a seductively sleek, bowling bag-inspired duffel by Ben Sherman. To these handy accessories we say: Carry on, fellows.

     

     

  • 3 Parts Dead

    The Old Testament’s most difficult book, the Book of Job, planted the seed of this new play. From the “unknowable nature of God” therein, which local playwright Alan Berks described as “one of the scariest things I can think of,” a new ghost story was born. Berks (who wrote the 2006 Fringe Festival hit, How To Cheat) also drew from more contemporary influences, such as the 1999 horror flick The Sixth Sense. But what makes this production doubly interesting is his collaboration with The Burning House Group. This foursome of physical performers is more often seen doing slapstick and nonlinear forms of movement theater. In this instance, both parties vow to combine old-fashioned narrative with clowning and choreography to create, from scratch, a frightful tale of a house with a mysterious, potentially haunted past.

    Minneapolis Theater Garage, 711 W. Franklin Ave., Minneapolis; 612-623-9396.

  • The Clean House

    This is the first time a Sarah Ruhl play has been produced in the Twin Cities since the thirty-something hotshot’s Eurydice became the hit of Off-Broadway this summer. The Clean House is an earlier product of Ruhl’s fantastical imagination, and one with an important distinction from Eurydice: Even though it was a Pulitzer finalist in 2005, it drew divided criticism.

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    The New York Times raved raved, but The New Yorker’s theater critic smelled a stereotype in the play’s heroine, Matilde, a depressive Brazilian maid who loves wisecracking but doesn’t particularly relish housework. What follows, no matter what your thoughts on the Latina character, is a robust satire on labor relations: Matilde’s employer, a successful American doctor named Lane, goes so far as to feed her servant antidepressants. But Matilde despairs whenever distracted from her quest to form the perfect joke.

    Mixed Blood Theater, 1501 S. Fourth St., Minneapolis; 612-338-6131.

  • Ugly

    Contemporary dance seems an unlikely vehicle for exploring our culture’s obsession with physical perfection, what with all the buff beauties prancing about. But that didn’t stop local choreographer Matthew Janczewski from assembling an impressive cast of collaborators to help realize his heartfelt, movement-based rebuke of superficiality—in fact, it’s his most ambitious project to date. The evening is set to the dissonant sounds of pioneering electronic music composer Morton Subotnick.

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    Direction is by Peter Rothstein, founder of Theatre Latte Da and director of the Guthrie’s recent production of Noël Coward’s Private Lives. The result is a dance in three acts. The first is a baroque, very formal piece about keeping up appearances. The second, a dystopian vision called “Disco Technology,” deals in the false identities created for romantic pursuits (playwright Kira Obolensky lends a bogus online dating profile). And in the deconstructionist third act, the façade comes tumbling down.

    Walker Art Center, 612-375-7600.

  • Style AND substance, with any luck

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    I’m ducking out early this week, lasses. Must recharge my batteries, sleep in, be still in an emptied apartment, bleach the teeth, and maybe go for a long, late-morning run. But before I check out, lookit this most promising of MNfashion Weekend events: Loves Labourers, where a six-some of designers and artists take paint brushes and seem rippers to your pre-purchased hoodies. Is it art, or it is fashion? It’s both, I suppose. And so hopefully when it’s all said and done, the thing still fits.

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  • MNfashion Weekend

    The week’s big event is MNfashion Weekend, starting Wednesday (well, sort of) and lasting through Sunday. I made a guest appearance in yesterday’s Strib to talk about the lineup, and to recommend some of the happenings. But, of course, there has been at least one update since I wrote the piece: I’ve since learned that the only invite-only event at MNfashion Weekend, an Eclecticoiffeur launch party and runway show, will star my two favorite local designers: Katherine Gerdes and George Moskal (lust!). If you didn’t already know, Eclecticoiffeur (I always spell it wrong … ) is a hair-makeup-fashion styling consortium. And, as these bookings indicate, the group has impeccable taste. In fact, one of their stylists, Jahna, has been featured on this blog at least twice. (She’s quite the classy lady … ) If you weren’t lucky enough to procure an invitation, you can always check out the after-party. But know that this is the wave of the future, folks. If ever anyone is going to take MNfashion Weekend seriously, then we’ve got to drop the Minnesota Nice and inject the thing with an air of clubbishness.