Back In Black | the avant guardian

By paul boshears

This is going to seem like too great a stretch, but there is a very real connection between the New Orleans Saints, the Stoics of Ancient Greece, and Nina Simone. What brings them together? Compassion. Nina Simone’s short hymnal “Compassion” is actually Paul Laurence Dunbar’s poem “Compensation” set to music. Dunbar also wrote a vaudeville song... »

ricardo tisci’s return to reality \/\/ givenchy fall/winter 09

By avantorg

The Avant Guardian, like most women, is a fickle beast. Last week I hated Ricardo Tisci for ripping off my favorite dark mastermind, Tom Binns. This week I don’t care who he rips off, as long as he keeps doing what he’s doing. The Givenchy Fall ad campaign was just released, and it made me... »

faster faster \/\/ mark fast a/w 09

By avantorg

Mark Fast is a young upstart knitwear designer from Canada who is fast making a name for himself in the international fashion community. He grew up in some secluded forest fairytaleland outside of Winnipeg. The solemn quietude of his childhood pressed tightly against his growing genius, and he eventually found his way to London,... »

By avantorg

So, I neglected to mention that Gareth Pugh also released his first-ever menswear collection for A/W 09, and it is every bit as swoonworthy as the women’s collection. With baited breath, I wait for a world in which all men dress like this. This leather jacket on the right is so effing hot, it’s black,... »

oh my goth \/\/ rick owens f/w 09

By avantorg

Remember in 1992 when Marc Jacobs sent all those ripped apart, layered looks down the Perry Ellis runway? The ones that simultaneously spawned nearly a generation of plaid-clad youth and also got MJ fired? Well, back in those days my all black, leather and lace aesthetic was deeply influenced by that grunge runway, and... »