Interview articles from September 2008

Interview archives from September 2008

View September '08: Interview's editorial directors discussed the latest issue and new format, blackberry to blackberry.
September 1, 2008... GLENN O'BRIEN: So we're making a new magazine out of a magazine that has quite a history.. What do you think about that process? FABIEN BARON: There's nothing more exhilarating-- GO: Or tiring. FB: I've redone magazines before,...

Heart stopper. (LETTERS).(Letter to the editor)
September 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] It was very surprising to see there was no Letters page at all in the June/July issue. Are you trying to give me a coronary? JOHN GRAY Chicago, IL Thank you for your letter, John. As reassurance that we're...

Eva-va-voom.(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
September 1, 2008... I just got the Eva Mendes issue [August]. Oh, my God! That is the most beautiful cover I have seen in a long time! It's like going back to the incredible covers and fab issues of the late '90s, but it feels so 2008. What a turnover. Thank you...

Freak show.(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
September 1, 2008... Eva Mendes is a freak, and I don't mean that in a good way. In the August issue of Interview, David Colman makes a quite humorous reference to "Alcoholics Unanimous," and Eva chides him for his insensitivity? Then she goes on to talk about how...

Sweet Lou.(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
September 1, 2008... The whole quadruple moniker of "model-actress-singer-designer" always strikes me as suspiciously dilettante-y. But Lou Doillon [August] and her friend Milla Jovovich aren't stupid. In fact, they're pretty right-on. When Lou Doillon talked...

Cat people.(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
September 1, 2008... I clearly knew who Cat Power was before reading your August issue. I'm a big fan. But I'd never heard of Appaloosa before. I checked it out and it's really something people need to hear. It's great of Chan [Marshall] to take the time out to...

Our honey-do list.(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
September 1, 2008... Over the past few years I have become a huge fan of Andy Warhol. I've acquired quite a collection of books on him, autographs, et cetera, and I'm always looking for articles about him. This was the reason I subscribed to Interview in the first...

An open letter.(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
September 1, 2008... First, I want to say your Warhol issue may well be the best single issue of your magazine ever. Its words, images and photos are so insightful, funny, beautiful, enjoyable. So clever. "Andy's Girls" is a perfect example, with one picture of the...

Worldwide Warhol.(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
September 1, 2008... Bravo! As a former intern at the Andy Warhol Museum, I loved this tribute to Warhol. I have declared myself an amateur Warhol historian, and this issue certainly praises and increases awareness of Warhol's impact on the art world, fashion,...

Oh, joy!(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
September 1, 2008... Harmony Korine and Richard Prince both in one issue? Thank you for mentioning the magnificent Korine on your May 2008 cover. I was so excited to see Mr Lonely, I could barely fathom it. Also, I am totally digging the magazine's new layout. It's...

Jennifer Lawrence.(View GIRL)(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Unlike many indie starlets who come m the screen after a few stints in life's darker comers, 18-year-old Jennifer Lawrence has never hit rock bottom. In fact, she's getting a pedicure during the course of this...

Gemma Arterton.(View GIRL)(Interview)(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "I left drama school last year," says 22-year-old actress Gemma Arterton. "And since then it's been insane." Arterton's definition of insanity is the numerous roles she's landed since graduation. One of them happens...

Cam Gigandet.(View Guy)(Interview)(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] So far, the life of actor Cam Gigandet has been dictated mostly by fear. The 26-year-old Auburn, Washington, native admits, "It's the fear that everybody has, be it fear of failure or whatever. It drives me." Fear...

Luke Grimes.(View Guy)(Interview)(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Twenty-four-year-old actor Luke Grimes grew up believing in God and Bruce Willis. Eventually his faith in both changed. The son of a Pentecostal pastor in Dayton, Ohio, Grimes spent his childhood summers at a church...

Luke Rathborne.(DISCOVERY)(Interview)(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] AGE: 21. OCCUPATION: Musician. HOMETOWN: Brunswick, Maine. CURRENTLY LIVES IN: Williamsburg, Brooklyn. DAY JOB: Almost any work, really. I work in bars. It would be nice to say I bartend, but I do sort of the...

Capture.(Brief article)(Photograph)
September 1, 2008... WE ASKED SOME OF FOUR FAVORITE FOLKS TO SHOOT THE WORLD FROM THEIR CELL PHONES AND SEND IT TO US [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "A pose-inspiration drawing on the sidewalk in my New York neighborhood." RAQUEL ZIMMERMANN, model ...

Gardar Eide Einarsson: he may be the most unpopular young artist in Norway, but he's one of the sharpest critics of macho American youth culture is this the land of liberty or what?(ART)(Interview)
September 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] At first, Gardar Eide Einarsson's work could be mistaken for the kind of art made by a lot of young, white New York guys these days. There's plenty of graffiti, references to gangs, skateboarders, the police, a...

Phi: in math, phi means the golden ratio in fashion it's come to mean insanely sexy womenswear from an independent New York label what could designer Andreas Melbostad be thinking? About the '80s, of course.(FASHION)(Interview)
September 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Andreas Melbostad was a bit unfairly nicknamed "goth-father" in 2005 when, as recently crowned creative director of New York independent label Phi, he accessorized his fall show with black leather crepe-wedge boots....

Stephen Jones nominates Justin Smith.(NOMINATIONS)(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "It is very refreshing to see a different point of view in millinery at last," says master British hatmaker Stephen Jones of nominee Justin Smith. "Justin's hats have culture, and they are original." It's surprising...

Attack of the clones.(BEAUTY)(Brief article)(Photograph)
September 1, 2008... SUPERMODELS? GONE. NOW DESIGNERS WANT JUST ANOTHER PRETTY SLATE COSMETICS: MAKE UP FOR EVER. HAIR PRODUCTS: JOE GROOMING. HAIR: LAURA DE LEON. HAIR ASSISTANT: SHINICHI ARIMA. MAKEUP: RYAN McKNIGHT. [ILLUSTRATIONS OMITTED]

Lapo Elkann: the fast-living flat heir, fashionable bachelor, business tycoon, and all-around hyperactive nice guy is really a family man at heart.(LIFESTYLE)
September 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] I am 17, and my friend Lapo Elkann is 30. I call him an array of names, from Laps and The Freak to Lap-dance, plus the interesting combination of my unfortunate nickname, Chuck, and Lapo: Chapo. I met Lapo when I was...

Meredyth Sparks show.(AGENDA)(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Meredyth Sparks makes collages as though she were flipping through a vintage record collection. The New York artist covers icons like the Who, Brian Eno, Bob Dylan, Blondie, and Patti Smith--in a way no cover band...

Migration, Doug Aitken.(AGENDA)(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] In Doug Aitken's 2007 sleepwalkers, Donald Sutherland, Tilda Swinton and Chan Marshall were projected across eight drive-in-size screens, migration, opening September 20 at New York's 303 Gallery, has a slightly...

Lee "Scratch" Perry's recording studio.(AGENDA)(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Never mind his age (72) or his album count (last month's Repentance, co-produced by Andrew W.K., makes 54). Lee "Scratch" Perry's biggest achievement of late is still under construction: The reggae godfather is...

Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains.(AGENDA)(Brief article)(Video recording review)
September 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Riot grrrls everywhere will smile this month with the DVD release of the 1981 rock flick Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains (Rhino). The film is a cult classic--it is rumored that Nirvana wanted to remake the...

Patrick Demarchelier retrospective.(AGENDA)(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] New York City may claim Patrick Demarchelier as one of its own, but his work is going home to Paris. Starting September 26, the French fashion photographer will take over the entire Petit Palais for a photographic...

Colette X Gap pop-up store.(AGENDA)(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Is there a store in the world more beloved than the Parisian style shop Colette? From September 6 to October 5, Colette opens a pop-up store in New York with a little help from the Gap flagship on 54th Street and...

Bob Nickas's record label.(AGENDA)(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... New York art critic Bob Nickas has "no interest in making money" with his newly launched record label, From the Nursery, and that's good because his tastes might just be too smart for the marketplace. Nickas's picks pair artists with the music...

Palms album.(AGENDA)(Sound recording review)(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Palms is the musical collaboration between a documentary filmmaker from Germany, Nadja Korinth, and a plant-loving New Yorker, Ryan Schaefer, who first met in London. Their debut, It's Midnight in Honolulu, is an...

David Yurman sunglasses.(AGENDA)(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... Ultraluxe David Yurman is branching out from jewelry and watch design (including son Evan Yurman's men's collection) to sunglasses. As expected, it's a strictly five-star, spare-no-expense, everything-but-the-kitchen-sink affair well, as far as...

New photography 2008: Josephine Meckseper and Mikhael Subotzky.(AGENDA)(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Josephine Meckseper takes the bad and the overboard and makes it all so much better. Known for her installations of faux shop windows, the German native, who works out of NYC, now turns to photography to editorialize...

Spike Lee: on the eve of his latest film, about Black soldiers fighting in World War II, the radical New York filmmaker waxes wise on the miracle of Barack Obama.(BEHIND THE SCENES)(Interview)
September 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] For more than 30 years, the American Dream has been refracted through the prism of a Spike Lee Joint. Be it Nola Darling turning bed-hopping into a feminist power trip in She's Gotta Have It (1986), a pizza parlor in...

Willem Dafoe's rubber house: we get a personal tour of some of the wildest places people call home. Make yourself comfortable.(HOME)(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "The Rubber House was built in 1981 for choreographer Eugene Loring, though he died shortly after the project was completed. It was designed by Tom Pritchard, a landscape architect. It's covered with a gray-black...

Soled out.(FASHION)(Brief article)(Photograph)
September 1, 2008... PART ARCHITECTURE, PART SCULPTURE, AND A GREAT BIG STROLL THROUGH A FANTASY AMUSEMENT PARK RUN BY CHIC ELVES, HEELS ARE GOING ALL-OUT EXTREME THIS SEASON [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] SHOES: TOP ROW (FROM LEFT): CHLOE, ALEXANDRE HERCHCOVITCH,...

Next wave New York: New York's music scene didn't die after the strokes, it only went underground. The new sound being played in art spaces and concert halls is harder, rawer, and, in some cases, just plain more computer-geek digital than ever. Here are four bands waving the rock flag for New York City. If they sound like the future, that's because they are.(MUSIC)(I.U.D., Battles, Ratatat, and Telepathe)
September 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] I.U.D. Let's just say it: Lizzi Bougatsos is the hardest-working woman in New York. Aside from being a central figure in the city's downtown social scene, she's also the lead vocalist of art-rock ensemble Gang...

Zevs.(ART)(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Chanel. Nike. McDonald's. Louis Vuitton. If graffiti took over the sight waves of the inner city in the '80s, corporate logos have become the ubiquitous tags for the '00s. Enter Zevs, a 30-year-old artist in Paris...

Make it up.(BEAUTY)(Brief article)(Photograph)
September 1, 2008... MAKEUP ARTIST EXTRAORDINAIRE PAT McGRATH TAKES US THROUGH EVERY FALSE LASH, ASYMMETRICAL LIP LINE, AND CHEEK-SPANNING GLITTERED-OUT "NO" AT THE FALL/WINTER 2008 FASHION SHOWS. THE CLOTHES MAY BE THE REASON FOR THE SEASON, BUT McGRATH'S MAGIC IS...

Lord Whimsy: the aristocrat of the Internet.(BLOGS)(Interview)
September 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] A lot of the most interesting reading today is produced spontaneously by civilians and available gratis on the Internet. A favorite blogue (my variant spelling) is The Affected Provincial's Almanack (a Journal of...

Keri Hilson.(MUSIC)(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] "Unless you're a reader of liner notes, I'm unknown," says singer Keri Hilson. The 25-year-old Atlanta native does have a point. Her list of credits as a songwriter to the stars is considerable: Mary J. Blige, Diddy,...

Chazz Palminteri: wiseguys, witness-protection-program members, and theater fans all over America have reason to rejoice: A Bronx Tale is coming to a playhouse near you.(THEATER)(Interview)
September 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Good father fights bad father for son's soul? It's a story that has had legs from the Bible through Star Wars to A Bronx Tale, Chazz Palminteri's semi-autobiographical wiseguy aria, which sports some stems of its...

Damian Loeb: an accomplished painter who never followed the crowd and played against his perceived chic, he doesn't paint from life, but from LEGO and Star Wars.(ART)(Interview)
September 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Before this decade even got started, painter Damian Loeb was being heralded as the new bad-boy downtown art star of the 21st century. Painting was making a comeback on the gallery scene, and the handsome young artist...

Bag check.(FASHION)(Brief article)(Photograph)
September 1, 2008... IN THE RIGHT DESIGNER'S HANDS, EVEN THE LITTLE BLACK BAG CAN PACK A SERIOUS THREAT [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: BAG: PRADA. COMPACT: LES 4 OMBRES BY CHANEL. BRACELET: STEPHEN DWECK. IPOD NANO: APPLE,. BAG: JEAN PAUL...

The non-conformists.(Photograph)
September 1, 2008... Fashion is a flow. It's connected to time, and it seems to flow out of the future and into the past. But fashion is a peculiar, contagious, ephemeral, almost mystical thing. It's often about something that's in the air. It's a mood that falls...

Kate Moss: the last of the supermodels. She ended an era. And then started another one. There's something really special about Kate. She is a casual philosopher. She knows everybody. And if she doesn't know everything, she knows a lot--about a lot of things. She's bewitching and witchy-wise. Here's some of the wisdom. And some of the wit.(Interview)
September 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATIONS OMITTED] Kate Moss is the last of the supermodels. After Kate, they really weren't super anymore. So what happened? Was it something she did? Was it Kate that killed the supermodel? She broke the mold, anyway. Before...

A is for androgyny. Man and/or woman. What's the difference? A hormone here, a bulge there. These futuristic looks remind us that we all start out and end up in the same place.(Brief article)(Photograph)
September 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATIONS OMITTED] DRESS: RALPH LAUREN COLLECTION. CAPS: PRADA SPORT. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] DRESS AND BODYSUITS: MIU MIU. CAPS: PRADA SPORT. TIGHTS: FALKE. SHOES: CHURCH'S, CUSTOMIZED BY EAST VILLAGE SHOE REPAIR. OPPOSITE:...

M: Maison Martin Margiela: since 1988, Maison Martin Margiela has been exacting its own intelligent revenge on the ordinary inseams of high fashion. Celebrating 20 years this fall, the Maison is still light-years ahead of its time. Who better to talk with the mysterious conceptual design house than the originator of conceptual art, Joseph Kosuth? Maison, meet Studio.(Interview)
September 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATIONS OMITTED] Twenty years ago, when Martin Margiela started his own womenswear label (his menswear arrived 10 years later), it was as though the Belgian designer counted the brain as part of the human figure. Ever since, the...

Stefano Pilati: Yves Saint Laurent's death last summer ended an extraordinary era in fashion but Yves Saint Laurent the brand lives on splendidly, thanks to creative director Stefano Pilati, whose brilliant eye is unerringly tuned to the future. In the new world off YSL, beauty still intoxicates, but you'll respect her in the morning.(Interview)
September 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATIONS OMITTED] Almost one year ago, Italian model Mariacarla Boscono stalked out alone into the clean, well-lit space of Paris's Grand Palais to open the Spring/Summer 2008 collection for YSL. The slender beauty--wearing a plain,...

Citizens of the (fashion) world: consider them passport shots of the fast and the beautiful. Photographer Anna Bauer reveals the faces behind the scenes in the fashion industry.(Brief article)
September 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATIONS OMITTED] "It was addictive. Getting more people, connecting them all. It was a hunt," photographer Anna Bauer says about shooting backstage at London's fall 2007 Fashion Week. Bauer, now age 32 and living in New York City,...

James Narres: filmmaker, musician, performer, painter, amateur engineer, and self-taught brush-maker James Nares is one of the art world's preeminent polymaths. But no matter the medium, he's always a big-canvas guy.(Interview)
September 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATIONS OMITTED] James Nares did not immediately rocket to the top of the New York painting scene. The Englishman turned New Yorker had to go through many phases to get there. He practically had to shoot himself in the foot....

Ben Barnes: he conquered the land of children's fantasy. Now Narnia actor Ben Barnes grows up--at least a little--to play Dorian Gray. Barnes has the youth part down. It's eternity he's still working on.(Interview)
September 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATIONS OMITTED] It's hard to believe when looking at him, but Ben Barnes's first stab at fame came in front of a microphone, and not a movie camera. Barnes was 17 and living with his folks in Wimbledon, England, when Pop Idol...

Modernists are sleek, strong and fast. and the radical exo-skeletal shapes and aerodynamic silhouettes from today's most architectural designers are perfect for ladies who mean "don't bug me.".(Brief article)(Photograph)
September 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATIONS OMITTED] DRESS: VERSACE. NECKLACE: FENTON. HELMET: "PHOBIA D2." TROY LEE DESIGNS. FRAGRANCE: VERSACE BRIGHT CRYSTAL. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] JACKET, DRESS, NECKLACE, AND BRACELET: BALENCIAGA BY NICOLAS GHESQUIRE,...

Woody Allen: four years ago, the Bard of New York nebbishes hightailed it to Europe and began a new chapter in his career. Here, the legendary writer and director opens up about his latest film, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, his seduction by Scarlett Johansson, his return to the big apple, and how he got his modernist Manhattanite mojo back.(Interview)
September 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Woody Allen started his career in show business as a teenager. He would send in jokes to the popular newspaper columnists of the day--men like Earl Wilson and Walter Winchell--who would print the ones they liked and...

The beautiful people.(SOCIETY)
September 1, 2008... BEAUTIES KNOW THAT MOST PEOPLE WILL WAIT FOR THEM, SO THEY'RE NOT PANICKED WHEN THEY'RE LATE, SO THEY GET EVEN LATER. BUT BY THE TIME THEY ARRIVE, THEY'VE USUALLY GOTTEN TO FEEL GUILTY, SO THEN TO MAKE UP FOR BEING LATE, THEY GET REALLY SWEET,...

August 1987: Christy Turlington.(BACK PAGE)(Brief article)(Photograph)
September 1, 2008... SHE WAS ONLY 18 YEARS OLD WHEN SHE WAS PHOTOGRAPHED BY ARTHUR ELGORT FOR INTERVIEW, BUT WE KNEW THIS BRAINY BEAUTY WAS A NATURAL [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]