defineus twelve

JEREMY SCOTT FALL 2012 READY-TO-WEAR COLLECTION

Faulkner famously said, "The past isn't dead. It isn't even past." Today, in his own way, Jeremy Scott said it, too. He was thinking of the persistence of the past in the perma-present culture of the Internet, when anything and everything is just a Google search away. "Things don't ever go away now," he said backstage. "Deleting history isn't really possible."
There were sweat suits, stretch dresses, and leggings printed with computer screen shots and instant-message emoticons. "We use them to communicate our emotions," Scott explained. "I'm angry, I'm happy, I'm horny, I feel kind of flirty. That's now a legitimate answer." He sounded a little rueful, actually, as he mimed pressing a button. "Boop!"

ILOVE IT

Justin Mortimer

Born 1970

Lives and works in London

Justin Mortimer's darkly enigmatic paintings are infused with an unsettling disquietude. His heavily worked, technically adroit canvases depict sinister and foreboding landscapes, often populated by fragmented figures and lurking, truncated body parts. These ambiguous and eccentric narratives embody potent psychological states, addressing issues of alienation, ontological solitude and the fragility of the human body. Locations that have borne witness to conflict, or moments of extreme human vulnerability are Mortimer's primary inspiration; images of battle sites, derelict wastelands, military graveyards and other places of heightened emotion provide the starting points from which his extraordinary paintings evolve.

However, before pigment touches canvas, each work is prefaced by a digital collage – a working drawing composed in Photoshop, built from the artist's extensive archive of imagery. Holiday snaps, photographs torn from magazines, found medical photographs and internet-scavenged images all find their way into these primary montages, which are created rapidly and spontaneously. Yet Mortimer has no interest in critiquing the role of digital imaging in the construction of private and public memory, rather the procedure is a pragmatic shorthand intended to expedite the creative process. These digital sketches are then transposed to the canvas, after which the physical painting process takes over until, returning to his computer, more collages are created to aid the advancing composition. As the canvas is repeatedly overpainted and redrafted, this to-ing and fro-ing between digital and analogue can often result in up to fifteen collages being created for a single painting. It's an unconventional approach, yet draws out unanticipated visual collisions that amplify Mortimer's underlying themes and emotive content.

define us eleven

defineus TEN

Maarten van der Horst

From I-D Magazine May 5, 2011

Texture, colour and bold prints were paramount to 28-year-old van der Horst’s Central Saint Martins graduate collection. Models emerged wearing bright nylon petticoats layered over Hawaiian shirts to form skirts, shorts and cape-like jackets. The prints themselves were something of a masterpiece; making Hawaiian sophisticated is no small feat but van der Horst pulled it off in clean, streamlined silhouettes. Unlike many of the summer resort collections, he approached the collection with a sense of humor and a desire to rescue the audience with sartorial escapism. 

Where did you study prior to Central Saint Martins?I did my BA in Arnhem, in the Netherlands. It was great because it is a secluded little city in the middle of a national forest and there is absolutely nothing to do besides the fun things you get to do when you’re an art student.

What was the inspiration for your MA collection?The central idea of the collection was taking an archetypical garment and dragifying it on a very low budget. Inspired by The Cockettes and the drag queen Divine, I came up with the idea of using second-hand nylon petticoats and appliquéing them onto Hawaiian shirts, Bermuda shorts and Capri trousers. It is all part of a ‘holiday wardrobe’, which together with the transvestitism echoes the theme of escapism.

What were the references for the prints and the use of layered fabrics? The use of Hawaiian shirts and its prints is a reference to escapism, exoticism and going on holiday. Also, I like the sexual ambiguity of Hawaiian Shirts. It’s a play on the so-called ‘Boyfriend jacket’ that has been so fashionable. Yet, this version is more a ‘Big fat Western tourist in Bangkok’ jacket. The print itself is based on original Hawaiian prints from the 1940s.

The nylon petticoats reminded me of Tao or Comme des Garçons, are you influenced by these Japanese designers? Obviously as a young fashion designer I am influenced by the anti-establishment spirit that Comme des Garçons has always represented. I also think it’s the duty of any young designer to at least try to be subversive. The use of second-hand nylon petticoats were inspired by John Waters and the Dreamlanders and how they used to steal from San Francisco’s vintage shops to create their outfits on a very low budget. Needless to say, I’m a huge John Waters fan and I am always on a very, very low budget.

What inspires you? I always spend a lot of time in the library researching, for my own work, but also for other labels. My own ideas develop by making, doing, trying and testing. I’m very hands-on and I hate thinking about stuff too much. Even though there are a lot of references that I use to explain the choices I’ve made, most of all I want my clothes to be light-hearted and fun, but straightforward.

What else are you working on at the moment? I’m starting my own studio, developing prints, fabrics. I am also starting on making furniture, so that’s very exciting!

i also find an interview of him, 

how ""TRUE"" he is!

SCHOOL IS SUCH A  NIGHTMARE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Come to his website ""'www.maartenvanderhorst.com"""for more surprise, his tumblr is great too. 

Defineus NINE

Farhad Moshiri

1963 born in Shiraz, Iran.

Lives and works in Tehran. 

“Text became a shortcut for me to reach a certain emotional level. I noticed that text had an effect on people that an image never could,” 

“I’m sure my subjects come from some childhood hang-ups that I might not have worked through. A psychologist could explain this better than me.” 

“They are my paint. They’re even more valid than paint.” 

“It makes it easier for people to understand a work when you give it human characteristics,” 

“Things were adventurous, my imagination was running wild. The energy was incredible. To imagine an aesthetic that is completely run out of this world. Nothing was held back. Everything was unchained.” 

“An artificial make-believe lifestyle fascinates me. I use fake diamonds in paintings, and that’s somehow related to the fact that some people want to believe that they’re real diamonds. Art is about illusion. It’s a manufactured idea in order to reach a certain illusion and expression via artificial methods… so suddenly the whole thing makes sense. We’re all in the same boat.”