The Rake Magazine

Tag: cliche

  • Off to Mexico

    Sick of winter much? Can you bear another cold day of having
    to bulk up? Me either! That’s why I’m checking out for Mexico, yo. Feast
    your eyes on this: the adorable, but nonetheless scanty, romper I procured for
    the occasion (as modeled by the much thinner-than-me office floor).

     

    The romper is by Michele Henry, originator of House of Henry
    line (check the website if you care to see the above on an actual person). Here’s another of her warm-weather rompers, which is made from the same stretch
    cotton and modeled by a lovely size-eight dress form.

     

    I’ll mark my return in early March with coverage of three
    local fashion shows:

    MARCH 8: A TWOFER
    Methinks it’s marginally interesting that the all-new
    Envision fashion show, which promises to parade looks from the Cliché and Local
    Motion boutiques across the IDS Center’s fiftieth floor, is going head to head
    with the stalwart DIVA MN show. Among the DIVA designers, by the
    way, will be Ms. Henry, mastermind of the rompers above.

    MARCH 9: BREAK-THE-BANK BEAUTIES
    The brand-new "Runway Luxury" show will feature unattainable
    clothes by Monique Lhuillier (whose only local connection, really, is that she
    keeps an Edina
    boutique) and Joynoëlle (a certified Twin Citian) at the soon-to-open Ivy boutique
    hotel.

    In the meanwhile, stay reasonably warm, will you?

  • An Economic Stimulus of the Mind

    So, am I right on this? The government wants to send me six-hundred
    bucks? Well, that’s the sort of policy I can get behind, friends … But at first, when I
    heard the news, I thought: Now, g’on ahead and feed that to your wee, pup of an investment portfolio. But that sort of defeats the purpose
    of an economic stimulus, right? So then, I realized, it is my duty to
    blow this dough–and guilt free, too!

    Understand me on this: I do not advocate Keynesian economics, especially when it comes to personal spending. Still, sadly,
    I couldn’t resist outlining, in my head, a lefty little plan for how I might help with the economy: clothes, shoes, locally-owned retailers as much as possible, oh, and if I can
    support a local craftsperson or two all the better. The conclusion of this thought process: What’s the harm in procuring the threads I
    want now, and then paying them off later–when I’ve got the coin?

    This has all been a roundabout way of explaining my mindset
    when, last night, I hauled over to La Bodega to enjoy the
    Avoid The Gray fashion show, sponsored by the local boutique Cliché.

    And Avoid The Gray they certainly did! To be quite honest, I
    wasn’t keen on some of the paisley and floral satins that marched down the
    aisle. But I was inspired by a few of the runway looks:

    As always, my sincerest apologies for the lack of photographic prowess. Still, I thought this blue trench was very dramatic and, somehow, romantic. Bravo to the designer … I think it was Belle.
    The chunky scarf is sexy as hell, don’t you think? I’m not sure, but I think this look was from Amanda Christine Designs.
    Meet my favorite model of the night: spunky, sassy, sexy as hell, and–halleluiah–curvy. (Girl crush! Swoon!) Lookit. A little later on, she struck a pose for me, too:
    The above comes from Mafiusi. Don’t know ’em, but I dug the use of Superman-style tights!
    And here are a few of the other looks I enjoyed–all of which are available, for your deficit-spending pleasure, at Cliché as of TODAY:

  • My First Rake Mea Culpa

    More like a mea maxima culpa. 

    In my very first guest post here, I used the Rachel Bliss show at Cliché as
    an illustration of art works on display in places other than galleries,
    something that happens more and more here in Minneapolis.

    And then I posted the work of the wrong Bliss.

    The artwork I posted — and have removed from this blog — came from

    Rachel Bliss in Pennsylvania
    and did not appear at Cliché.  We were informed that the images on the
    site, like many pieces on artist sites, are copyrighted and require
    permission to use. 

    I meant to use some pictures from the Minneapolis Rachael Bliss, who did in fact have an opening at the clothing store in Uptown.   You can now see her images in the original post. 

    My apologies to Rachel and Rachael and to Cliché for the confusion.

  • Rachel Bliss at Cliché

    Minneapolis-St.Paul is a Midwestern oasis for the visual arts. In fact, we here in the Twin Cities have visual arts all over the place, damn near everywhere you look… or where you aren’t looking, as is often the case.

    The visual arts don’t just hang at big name institutions like MIA or le Walker and hot small spots around town like Rogue Buddha or First Amendent. They’re at rock shows, in the corners of coffee shops, on the sidewalks, in people’s clothing, and on and on.

    This week, while I’m guest bloggin’ over here, we’ll hopefully take a look at this strong visual culture in the Twin Towns.

    First, let’s start with something conventionally unconventional, but still pretty great. These pictures from painter Rachel Bliss, whose exhibit from a few weeks ago wasn’t on some stardard white walls of a gallery, but rather hanging up in the Uptown clothing store Cliché.

    Pretty fantastic stuff for a small show at a boutique, and a perfect example of how high grade art can show up at spaces alternative to galleries.

     

     

    You can check out more of Bliss’s work at Cliche and Bliss’s mnartists page.