Alexander Cavaluzzo

Post image for The Impossible Curation of Schiaparelli and Prada

It’s inevitable not to compare the new show at the Metropolitan Museum’s Costume Institute to last year’s blockbuster, Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty, however unfair that might be. But it doesn’t matter, because Schiaparelli and Prada: Impossible Conversations, a pairing of two disparate designers that gives far too much precedence to the latter, falls flat, regardless of what preceded it.

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Post image for Hell Hath No Fury Like a Pandemic Scorned

The slogan “Silence=Death” remains one of the most recognizable images from the art produced during the AIDS crisis in America. Created by the activist art collective Gran Fury, it complemented a movement of creativity that held social change as its core. Now, over 30 years since the term “AIDS” was first recognized, the collective’s retrospective Gran Fury: Read My Lips at NYU captivates this tumultuous time in American history and shows us that, perhaps, we haven’t progressed much.

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Post image for She Gives Good Window Display

January usually sees the dismantling of lavish holiday windows on Fifth Avenue, a dissipation of arresting tableaux that engaged pedestrians. But the eminent Paris department store Le Printemps refused to wait until next year to showcase another extravagant display, hosting fashion icon’s Daphne Guinness’s second foray into performance art housed in their windows.

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Post image for It’s the Political Economy, Stupid

“Artists do not necessarily have the solutions, but they ask the great questions” says Andreas Stadler, director of the Austrian Cultural Forum in regards to their new convention-questioning show It’s the Political Economy, Stupid, a devastatingly harsh look at our political realities in the times of this financial crisis.

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Articles

Fashioning a Medium

by Alexander Cavaluzzo on February 6, 2012

Post image for Fashioning a Medium

Painting, sculpture and drawing have dominated the means of artistic expression since the dawn of time. Of course now everything in between has been used as a medium, but since the big three have remained a staple, it’s been incredible to see a recent resurgence of using fashion objects as the raw materials for art.

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Post image for Get This Season's It Bag, Courtesy of Leonardo da Vinci

Based upon sketches drawn round the time he worked on “The Last Supper” (15th C.), an Italian fashion house is introducing a new bag designed by the original Renaissance man himself.

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Reactor

Occupy Dolce & Gabbana

by Alexander Cavaluzzo on January 18, 2012

Post image for Occupy Dolce & Gabbana

The internet was atwitter this past month when reports broke of protests at Dolce & Gabbana’s Hong Kong flagship over alleged discrimination.

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Post image for Commercialism Fears Plague Colosseum Restoration

Rome wasn’t built in a day and it’s taking even longer to restore. Marred by age, pollution and a poorly placed subway line, the Roman Colosseum’s restoration was supposed to be funded by Diego Della Valle, the president and chief executive of the Italian shoe firm Tod’s, but legal troubles and protests may force the shoe designer to rescind his €25 million offer.

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Post image for Louis Vuitton Spots New Japanese Artist, Same Old Accessories Expected

I find it exciting when fine art fuses with fashion, and Louis Vuitton’s recently announced collaboration with Yayoi Kusama may produce some spectacularly spotted goods. Interestingly, this pairing coincided with former LV collaborator Takashi Murakami’s newly unveiled installation at Qatar Museums Authority, which witnessed a departure from the Japanese artist’s signature Superflat subject matter.

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Post image for Who Owns the Color Red?

Can a person own a color? Yves Klein may say yes, but Yves Saint Laurent begs to differ.

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