Name: Alex

Bio: I´m Alex Bohn. I´ve had a thing for fashion ever since I spent my pocket money on Vogue – and candy – back in elementary school. Today I´m fashion director at Musikexpress magazine, as well as a writer for Süddeutsche Zeitung, Die Welt, Maxi and American Nylon magazine. I like anything fashion from high brow to low brow as a fashion director at Spex magazine, fashion features editor at Liebling magazine as well as a style editor at German Vanity Fair have seen my share of both worlds. I live and work in Berlin.

Posts by alexbohn:

A Tom Ford Documentary on OWN

Last Sunday saw the premiere of a documentary on Tom Ford on OWN, the Oprah Winfrey Network. It had been promised since summer already but the delay wasn’t due to last minute changes the perfectionist designer had in mind. Reportedly he was happy with the first edit he saw. This isn’t too much of a surprise as director Michael Bonfiglio has come up with a portray of Tom Ford that’s utterly respectful and oftentimes seems taken from the perspective of an admiring bystander. Some of Tom Fords musings are on point, for example the one on the double standards on nudity. Unfortunately this is one of the scenes deleted from the documentary. Nevertheless ‘Visionaries – Inside The Creative Mind’ offers an interesting insight into the cosmos of Tom Ford. It meets all expectations as Tom Ford’s world seems both seamlessly stylish and a tad hollow in all its aesthetic complaisance.

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Karl at a glance

Recently Saint Tropez offered a rare sight: Karl Lagerfeld sans glasses! It´s been over ten years since Karl went without his shades – in the documentary “Lagerfeld Confidential”. Now he´s been seen “in the nude” with bodyguard Sebastien Jondeau at a Saint Tropez café. The immaculately dressed designer always proofs to be quite a sight (note how his polkadot-tie is right on point with the Zeitgeist) but in this case he´s the sight of the day!

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All new: Dover Street Market does a Tachiagari

January is one of the busiest shopping times of the year. Fall/winter sales are on and most store owners wouldn´t dream of closing their doors just now. Adrian Joffe and Rei Kawakubo, founders of Dover Street Market, opted to do just that – for a whole four days. Dover Street Market underwent one of its biannual Tachiagaris,  the japanese expression for refurbishment. After a grand reopening on January 15th it ´s now set for the new season. And not only does it look all new, but all installation spaces are in tune with the collections they display.

Designer Alber Elbaz, for example, curated the design of his space. The new Lanvin collection sits amidst red laquered, lifesize chessmen and is displayed on dummies looking like queen and king.

Rei Kawakubo herself has designed two new spaces. One called „Instruction Interupted“ on the second floor and a redesign for the Black collection by Comme des Garcons in the basement. „Instruction Interrupted“ is an open wooden-framed structure that creates separate spaces for different collections. Made to look like work in progress this design offers an open and airy solution for separate displays in one large space.

Renowned artist Michael Samuels has designed the new DSM sneaker area and those familiar with his work will recognize it at first sight.

There´s plenty more to discover at the Dover Street Market: Namely a new window for the launch of Paco Rabannes´s iconic le69 bag, egg added to the designers list, a new Hussein Chalayan space inspired by traditional Japanese puppet theatre Bunraku on the third floor and much more. Even if you´re not planning to spend, Dover Street Market is worth the visit: Retail design doesn´t get more creative than here!

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Turnaround on street style blogging

Tired of seeing the fashion-conscious masses assume the same old poses time after time? While street style blogs have democratized fashion and spread its call to the farthest corners of the global village, they´ve also reached a tipping point. Seeing well thought-out outfits on girls (or boys) with their toes pointing inwards, slumped shoulders and their heads tilted slightly just isn´t fresh anymore. New York Photographer Bridget Fleming puts a spin on the genre with her newly-launched site “Downtown From Behind”.

Showcasing back views of bicycle riders on the streets of downtown Manhattan she creates what she calls “an environmental portrait for each street and its subject”. Her cast is another reason to keep an eye on the blog. Bridget Fleming portrays an eclectic mix ranging from local architects and designers to stylists, decorators, musicians, artists, hoteliers, chefs— anyone who has an impact on their specific downtown neighborhood, be it through their profession or just by living in the area, Fleming notes.

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Richard Chai is „foamidable“!

New York fashion designer Richard Chai is known for his clothes that are the image of smart urban chic. That very label is a fit description for his latest project: A temporary store set under the High Line 23 in New York city.

Richard Chai is part of the Building Fashion project presented by BOFFO and Spilio Gianakopoulos. Building Fashion pairs fashion designers with architects in an installation series exploring the intersection of architecture and fashion through integrated store and exhibition design. For Richard Chai Daniel Arsham and Alex Mustonen of Snarkitecture have come up with a pop-up store that looks like a simple black box from the outside. The inside, though, is a different story: Stepping in feels like entering a glacial cavern with neat displays of Richard Chai´s clothes set in the various niches. The „cave“ is a wall construction made of white foam – cut into desired shape with a tool any student of architecture is familiar with from his first term on – a hot wire cutter. Sadly enough when you read these lines Richard Chai´s space will be history already, as it closed on Oct. 31st. Check back on November 5th for the opening of the last in line for Building Fashion: Cologne born fashion designer Siki Im!

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Fashion meets film

A change of perspective can be refreshing. Right now two design houses have chosen to let their clothes star in a different setting. In “Modelgeddon” Italian brand Versace opts for an end-of-the-world-scenario: A glossy urban lanscape is shaken by an unknown force (vlg: earthquake) and shatters to pixels (not pieces, as the film´s highly animated). Only survivors are a threesome of Versace-clad supermodels sporting spiky heels and 1950ies quiffs. While the bottomline of this film project remains a little fuzzy (ranging from “I don´t let nothing between armageddon and my Versaces” to “We´d really like to do costumes in case of a Charlies Angels III”) it sure looks like  Director James Lima and and  Love magazines´ed-in-chief Katie Grand had fun.

If Versace and armageddon seemed an unlikely match, so do Proenza Schouler and Harmony Korine. Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez, the two designers behind New Yorker fashion label Proenza Schouler, are darlings of the upper east side, proteges of none other than Vogues´ed-in-chief Anna Wintour. Harmony Korine on the other hand is known as the playwright behind Larry Clarks film “Kids” and earned his merits with independent film productions such as “Brown Bunny”, “Gummo” and “Ken Park”. His oeuvre is more disturbing than plain pleasing. Yet teaming up Proenza Schoulers´ luxus leisure wear and a group of black models in a desolate suburban setting works quite well. “Act da fool” portrays a group of girls drinking, going wild, rambling, just spending their time. Much to the benefit of the film the girls are real girls rather than uber-models which makes them all the more beautiful. Here´s an interview with Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez explaining their take on the short film.

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No Make-Up Week

Motto-events are an American commodity. With toga-parties, hug-a-tree-day and casual friday there´s hardly any occasion that can´t be turned into a motto-event. Seems like photographer Greg Kessler has taken inspiration in one of the latest motto-somethings posted in blogosphere. Female blogger Rabbit Write recently called for a no-make-up-week. Who dared going out sans blush and concealer? How much decorative effort does it take for ones ego the comfortably face the world?

Photographer Greg Kessler has captured the entire range at Paris and Milan Fashionweek. See the Times blog for maximum effect http://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/tag/model-morphosis/

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LEGO meets Chanel

Chanel lipstick by Dee & Ricky

What comes to mind when you think of your childhood? Wax crayons, Pippi Longstocking, bruised knees and somewhere along the line – LEGO bricks. There´s basically nothing one couldn´t built from the little primary-hued building blocks! Chances are your inner child will love the latest invention of New York based designer duo Ricky and Dee: A limited edition LEGO Chanel lipstick. Just like the real thing its LEGO lookalike comes in shiny black and sultry red. It´s a little pricier than the Chanel original but with no expiration date its made to last. With their current work Ricky and Dee have set their minds entirely on the Danish building blocks. And they´ve lured others into the fun as well, doing collaborations with the likes of Casio, Marc Jacobs and Kanye West. Shop their collection or read their blog at http://www.deeandricky.com

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Swap & Shop at: La Lip

Definitely don’t miss Berlin-based La Lip showroom at Unlike Gallery and look forward to rich source of exclusive designer label items! This brand new curated boutique offers a selected range of new and vintage clothing, accessories, shoes, jewellery, music, dvd’s, cosmetics, books and design objects. New designer wear and collection pieces come from brands like Alexander Wang, Charlotte Olympia, Golden Goose, Helmut Lang, House of Harlow, Isabel Marant, Jasmine di Milo, Maison Michel, Opening Ceremony and Sabrina Dehoff. As Vintage design products from the 1960s-1970s mark the heart of La Lip, the boutique’s assortment also carries fine picks by Maison Martin Margiela, Yves Saint Laurent, Manolo Blahnik, Christian Dior, Christian Louboutin, Indian silk hippie dresses and more – added up by stylish imported products from all over Europe, USA, India and Africa. So clean your closet and make room for new!

PS: La Lip also serves as one of the Skyy Swap Spots to drop off your vintage clothes for upcoming Skyy Swap Market by Skyy Vodka and Designer Scouts, happening on Friday, August 27th at Stadtbad Oderberger Strasse in Prenzlauer Berg. The event, to debut last year, invites to trade your own clothes and accessories in exchange for garments given either by other people or in return for collection pieces by berlin fashion labels such as C.neeon or Julia & Ben.

La Lip Showroom at Unlike Gallery
Chausseestr. 116 Berlin – Mitte

Opening Hours in August:
Thursdays & Fridays 12 – 20h
Saturdays 12 – 16h

www.lalip.net

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The T-Shirt Issue

Bandshirts advances to precious collector’s items and fashion statements worldwide – the older, the better. „Ripped: Shirts from the Underground“, published by Universe in spring this year is the first book ever, to document the T-Shirt’s history, carefully selected from the archives of artist, musician and vintage fashion collector Cesar Padilla. The about 200 T-Shirts featured in this book are rare and limited shirts by the bands such as The Ramones, Sex Pistols to Sonic Youth,Talking Heads, Madonna and others. Ripped not only portraits the art- and musicscene in the 70s and 80s but also documents the T-Shirt as iconic symbol of resistance. The book, including memories of musicians. fashion designers and artists is a must flip through for any lover of music and fashion.

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