GARDEN PUNK BY ORI PAUL LEVI

Vintage Giorgio Armani Jacket, Christopher Kane Chiffon Bow Shirt, Marc Jacobs Boxer Short, Adidas Socks, Doc Martin Boots, Vintage Hat

 

Photography: Ori Paul Levi @oriocreams

Styling: Patrick Lopaze @ihavepatrick_

Grooming: Ty Marie Frost @mercytobel

Model: Brock Walters @Photogenics @brock.walters

Special Thanks: Paumé Los Angeles @paumelosangeles

 

Vintage Giorgio Armani Jacket, Christopher Kane Chiffon Bow Shirt, Vintage Hat

 

Maison Martin Margiela Coat, Ann Demeulemeester Sheer Shift Dress, Vintage Black Veil, Calvin Klein Briefs, Adidas Socks, Doc Martin Boots

 

Marc Jacobs Blazer, Comme des Garçons Grey Kilt, Cruize Necklace, Eddie Borgo Padlock Necklace

 

Yohji Yamamoto Double Collar Jacket, Vintage Sailor Beret, Vintage Spike Collar Necklace, Doc Martin Boots

 

Vintage Feather and Vinyl Cape, Marc Jacobs Boxer Short, Junya Watanabe Denim Pants, Doc Martin Boots

 

Helmut Lang Holster Tank Top, Ann Demeulemeester Sleeves, Comme des Garçons Black Satin Wide Leg Trouser

 

Maison Martin Margiela Exaggerated Shoulder Coat, Ann Demeulemeester Sheer Shift Dress, Vintage Black Veil Calvin Klein Briefs, Adidas Socks, Doc Martin Boots

GREECE DREAM BY GREG SWALES

John wears Sèfr blue jacket from Neighbour, Gentle Monster x Moncler sunglasses from Roden Gray. 

 

GREECE DREAM

Photographer: Greg Swales

Stylist: Leila Bani

Makeup & Grooming: Maria Walton @ Nobasura

Photo Assist: Alex Guiry

Stylist assist: Hana Pesut

Models: Anastasia & Akoy with Family Management 

Claire Ross with Key Models

John Deng with Liz Bell Agency

 

John wears Sèfr blue jacket from Neighbour, Song For The Mute black knit pants and Gentle Monster x Moncler sunglasses from Roden Gray. 

Akoy wears sage bustier top by Ganni from One Of A Few, vintage black Alexander McQueen pants, white Margiela shoes, Patou collar from Bacci’s

Anastasia wears Ganni dress from One Of A Few, X9 swimsuit (worn over), models own jewellery, Dries Van Noten boots from Bacci’s

Claire wears vintage knit Prada bralette, Shyfuck Originals shorts, X9 bikinis string bikini bottoms, Sacai boots, Haider Ackerman jacket

John wears Song For The Mute green jacket from Roden Gray.

Akoy wears Ganni multi colour knit bottoms from One Of A Few, Good Night Day taupe sweater from One Of A Few

Claire wears Old Fashioned Standards hat, Dries Van Noten belt, Deta brown knit bra & briefs from One Of A Few

Akoy wear Maryam Nassir Zaden blue track pants and Deta blue knit bra & briefs from One Of A Few

John wears multicolor mohair sweater and jeans by Marni from Roden Gray, model’s own Crocs, Paloma Wool necklace from One Of A Few

Anastasia wears Blazer and blouse by Ganni from One Of A Few, Eckhaus Latta x UGG sandals 

Akoy wears Alicia Grunert feathered skirt, stylist’s own metal bra, Shyfuck Originals long sleeve sheer top, model’s own shoes

Claire wears Clyde cowboy hat from One Of A Few, Shyfuck Originals polo tee, Eckhaus Latta dress (worn underneath)

John wears ERL floral pink shirt and Marni jeans from Roden Gray, rus x maar hats grey cap from One Of A Few

John by Jil Sander vest, OAMC black pants, and Asics x COMME des GARCONS sneakers from Roden Gray

Akoy wears Shyfuck Originals bra, Christina Sabaiduc robe, Utility Palace bleach dyed pants from One Of A Few, Y3 slides

John wears Namesake JiyongKim knit hat, windbreaker and shorts from Roden Gray

Akoy wears Ganni multi colour knit tie bottoms from One Of A Few, Good Night Day taupe sweater from One Of A Few, oxblood Marni sneakers

Anastasia wears ARQ taupe bikesuit from One Of A Few, Y3 desert boots , models own sweater

Claire wears Ganni multi colour knit tank from One Of A Few, William Okpo hat, Paloma Wool knit shorts from One Of A Few, Sacai platform hiking boot

ADOT BY GREG SWALES

Courrèges dress from Albright fashion library, Sunglasses – Miu Miu, Boots – Marc Jacobs

 

 

Photography GREG SWALES @gregswalesart

Styling LEILA BANI @leilareira

Model ADOT GAK @adotthegreatt

 

 

Courrèges coat from Albright fashion library 

 

 

Courrèges dress from Albright fashion library

 

 

Lace bodysuit by Haus Zuk, Eyewear by Sara Armstrong , Tube top by Yard666Sale, Beaded briefs from Albright fashion library 

 

 

Evan Clayton hood, Earrings from Lara Koleji 

 

 

Jacquemus belt, Vintage comme des garcons jacket from Lara Koleji, Leather shorts from Albright Fashion Library

 

 

Y3 bustier custom painted by Shyfuck, vintage D&G bike shorts from Albright fashion library, 

Sleeve is stylist’s own

 

 

Custom bustier by Shyfuck, Gareth Pugh skirt and Marc Jacobs platform shoes from Albright fashion library

 

 

Comme Des Garçons top and leather shorts from Albright fashion library, Pink leg straps are stylist’s own, Dries Van Noten sandals

JOHNNY SIBILLY STAR OF THE HBO MAX SERIES ‘HACKS’

Tank – COMME DES GARÇONS SHIRT, Shorts – BCALLA / Tank – COURRÈGES, Boxers – ERL

Photos and Grooming by Michael J. Fernandez using Glossier and Oribe

Styled by Dustin Ellis

Interview by Adnan Qiblawi

Between his near omnipresence on social media platforms and his full-throttle work ethic, Johnny Sibilly has formulated his own secret recipe for stardom, and he cooks it all up with a limp wrist. Sibilly first gained attention by doing hilarious character impressions on Instagram with his iconic persona Julissa, a loud, opinionated Latina who could have grown up down the block from Cardi B. He soon played the somber, important role of Billy Porter’s boyfriend and AIDS patient, Costas, on the iconic, queer-101 show, “Pose.” Last month, he landed at the Emmys thanks to his role alongside Jean Smart in HBO’s “Hacks,” where he plays Wilson, local water inspector and neighborhood babe. The show won three Emmys for best lead actress, outstanding writing and outstanding directing in a comedy series, three wins of its fifteen Emmy nominations in its first season. Earlier this month, it was announced that Sibilly would be joining the cast for Peacock TV’s reimagining of “Queer As Folk.” Adnan Qiblawi sat down with Sibilly to talk about Hollywood, his future, and staying true to himself. 

 

 Suit – Acne Studios, Tank – Comme des Garcons, Ring by Spinelli Kilcollin

From Instagram to Tiktok to Twitter, you’re pretty much everywhere on social media, sharing a quip, a sultry selfie, or a clip of you voguing. How do you keep up with it all?

Yeah, I love it! From a very early age being online was my safe haven. I wasn’t a fan of going outside and playing with the neighborhood kids because I’d get made fun of or feel inadequate. Whereas online, I could create my own experience of who I wanted to be in the world and how I wanted to navigate that, which I feel is a very queer thing to do. You can’t be yourself in the real world so you escape to the Internet.

I was a scared, shy kid, and it wasn’t until I joined drama that I opened up. When I do videos as myself these days, I’m cringing. But when I get to do it as a character, I’m more confident. Doing characters really opens things up. So many of the things I say as Julissa I’m celebrated for, but if I said them as myself, people would be like, “Oh shut up.” 

This reminds me of a RuPaulism: “The power you can access in drag is also available to you out of drag.”

 I’ve grown to feel powerful in who I am without any bells and whistles. But for me, as a gay man, feminine energy is strong energy. When I have the hair or the nails or the lash or even the lipstick, I feel empowered. When I first started doing Julissa, I got a lot of flak like, “Why are you making fun of women?”. I’m not making fun of women, this is actually just a part of who I am, and Julissa is a vessel for that. Also, there’s nothing wrong with how Julissa is. Sure, she’s hyper and loud and in your face, but there are a lot of women who are like that and they deserve to be represented too. The haters are revealing their own judgement.

Shirt – Collina Strada

Growing up, and even today, we always hear about actors having to stay in the closet for fear of being blocked out of straight roles. Is this ever a concern for you?

So many queer people try to fit in boxes to book a job, but one thing I’m not willing to compromise is my queerness. It took me so long to love it and feel comfortable with it. And you know when we talk about white supremacy and the patriarchy, there’s this expectation that we want to play what other people consider valuable. People say things like, “But what if you only get gay parts?” And honestly, I’m only really interested in playing gay people. No shade, I would play straight parts, I did it for a very long time. Straight roles don’t interest me as much because they’ve been told, whereas our stories haven’t been told.

I worked on “Pose” two years ago and now I’m in “Hacks.” Those roles are so impactful and important to me, and they’re stories I want to see put out in the world. I’d rather play parts that speak to me whenever I can. It’s important for me to not compromise on who I am essentially, because the more I am myself, the more I give others the courage to be themselves. While I was growing up, there were a handful of actors who didn’t hide that they were gay, but lots of others did and still do. I’ve been out since I was 14, I wasn’t going to go back into the closet for this career. I had to decide on the cost I was willing to pay for it.

And would you say your decision has held you back at all?

Frankly, I feel my queerness has helped me in my journey. It sets me apart. The world is moving away from trying to fit a mold. All the greats from the showbiz industry have something undeniable about them. I’m not saying that’s what I am, but that’s how people should look at it. Why try and be Beyonce? Or J-Lo? I look at J-Lo and I admire and model myself after her work ethic, but I don’t try to be her. I can’t be anyone but me. I didn’t have a choice.

Tank and shorts – Acne Studios, Shoes – Celine

So it’s not just that Hollywood is changing, it’s the world that’s changing.

It still happens in Hollywood here and there. I auditioned recently for a role to play a straight part and I turned it down because I wasn’t interested in it. If I had a choice, I’d play interesting queer characters until the end of time.

So in that sense your own personality comes through in your role as Wilson on Hacks? Just like him, you have your values and you’re not willing to compromise them.

Wilson doesn’t really care about work, he found his job online, but he’s got strong interpersonal boundaries. When he’s on a date with Marcus, who plays Jean Smart’s character’s manager, he realizes how Marcus’ dedication to his job means he has no room for a romantic relationship and so he walks out. While doing read throughs I was like, “Werk, I need to channel this more.” When it comes to career, in many respects Johnny the person is more like Marcus than Wilson. I have Marcus’ drive to keep going and make things happen. I don’t want to be the biggest star in the world, but I want to be able to look back at my life and say wow I gave that my all. I already feel that way in some respects, even when I look back at my career from five years ago starting on social media, my journey’s been different from everyone else’s. All the advice I’ve been given, it hasn’t really worked for me the way they said it would.

Top – Xander Zhou, Pants – Prada, Boots – Gucci, Ring by Spinelli Kilcollin

Everyone’s got their own journey, and some people’s journey has them making a sound-bite on TikTok that goes viral. Your “Hit It” sound on there is universally loved.

Ha! Honestly, that was just me being a gay boy gassing up another gay boy! And it really is universal. Straight guys come up to me telling me their girlfriends play it while they’re getting ready for dinner. These DJs, Moodshift, picked up the sound and turned it into a song. The day after it was released, it made it to number 12 on the iTunes dance chart. At first I was like, “Oh yeah, this will be cute,” but then when it was actually making the charts I was like, “What?” It was channeling that ballroom energy from “Pose” or “Legendary,” so it had all the elements people love but it literally was just me vibing in bed.

So what’s the next stop on the ride? What can we expect?

Well, “Hacks” is coming back for Season 2. I don’t know what’s happening with my character so I can’t really say much about that. I also just wrapped season 2 of my show for Logo. I’d never hosted anything before. There are so many industry rules if you’re an actor. They say you can’t be on reality tv, you can’t be a host, and whatever. Whereas now in the social media world I feel like you can do anything and have a successful career.

Sweater – Acne Studios, Shirt – Troy Dylan Allen, Shorts – JW Anderson

I feel like this question is the modern-day equivalent of asking a woman her age but, what is your screen time like?

 My screen time is wild. I’m always on my phone. The other day I was wishing I could get off social media for two months. Even when I take a break for a week, I come back to it so differently. I approach it differently and enjoy it until I slip back into my old habits. I do take breaks every now and then until a friend texts me worried about me and then I’m back. Take breaks, you should! I promise you won’t miss too much. My best friend and I are always joking about going the way of the old Hollywood ladies and becoming recluses but I don’t see that happening.

MIGRATING EQUINOX BY MELISSA BERRIOS

Top by ça va de soi

 

Photographer: Melissa Berrios @mberrigraphy

Model: Joseph Gelpi @chicojoseph @spiritmodels

Wardrobe Stylist: Randa Eid @randaeidstylist

Hair Stylist: Ledora Francis @ledora

Makeup Artist: Will Metivier @willmetiviermua

Photo Assistant: Sam Kugler @bbsammi

Wardrobe stylist assistant: Sara Steel @saravsteel

 

Cardigan – Hugo Boss , Trousers – Ahluwalia , vintage necklace

 

Top – Telfar , Trousers – BODE , Rings – Lucas Plus

 

Coat – Brave Gentleman , Jumper – Junya Watanabe , Turtleneck ASOS , Coat – Brave Gentleman , Pant – Bershka

Sweater – Wood Wood , Pants – Pronounce , necklace stylist’s own

 

Jacket – Wood Wood , Hat – Missoni

 

R: Skirt – Commes des Garçons, Bracelet – Lucas Plus  L: Shirt – Hugo Boss , vintage necklace

 

Shirt – Story MFG , Sunglasses – AJ Morgan , Necklace – Ralph Lauren

 

 

 

 

 

EXCLUSIVE: LAURIE ANDERSON BY ANOHNI

Shirt and Jacket  by Comme des Garçons Comme des Garçons

Photography by Jason Rodgers | Styling by Shala Rothenberg | Interview by Anohni

Famed artist, musician, director, and visual/sonic pioneer Laurie Anderson releases a new book and discusses her decades-long career with other-worldly talent Anohni.

Laurie Anderson’s retrospective book, All the Things I Lost in the Flood published by Rizzoli, chronicles her lengthy career in the world of art and music, marriage and collaborative career with the inimitable Lou Reed, and the power of books and language. Anderson’s artistry encompasses composing music, performance art, fiction writing, and filmmaking. A true polymath, her interest in new media made her an early pioneer of harnessing technology for artistic purposes long before the tech boom. Two years ago Anderson began looking through her archive of nearly forty years of work, which includes scores of documentation, notebooks, and sketchbooks.

In this exclusive interview for Iris Covet Book, Anderson speaks with a fellow pioneer. singer, composer, and visual artist Anohni, about art, VR (Virtual Reality), American culture, and the edge.

Hi Laurie, shall we begin? Going back and looking at the accumulated works of your long career, how did working on this book cast new light on your life’s work?

It cast a lot of light! I thought I was doing new projects one after another. As it turns out, I’m doing the same ideas. I can’t believe it. It wasn’t like psychoanalysis, but it was something close to it. I found a lot of things that were really shallow, too, that I put in the book anyway because I had thought at the time, as a young artist, that they were what art was about.

We’re working on a book of Lou’s early poems called Do Angels Need Haircuts?  There was one night in 1972 on St. Mark’s, he was reading his poems, and I realized that I was a couple of blocks away that night with my friend Lucy Lippard, the art critic. We talked endlessly about ‘the edge.’ That was really important to us. We’ve done too many images, too many colors and too many lines. What art is about now is how we see things. That’s what we felt. We were making things that called attention to the fact that we were paying attention. So this all was very meaningful at the time. You could write long, long essays on ‘the edge’, the edge between this reality and the other.

For me, it meant doing minimal sculptures. I was making things. And they looked pretty much like something you would see at any construction site, a piece of sheetrock leaning against a wall, or a line bisecting the room. And that’s what we talked about and that’s what gave meaning to our work. Now if you try to talk about that now, people don’t have the slightest idea what you’re talking about.

Was that conversation a foundation for what we’re talking about now? In terms of seeing multiple points of view? Intersectional thinking, spectral thinking… you were pioneering that.

John Cage was pioneering it when he said, “Everything is music.” Robert Morris was pioneering it when he said this cube is a work of art, this plywood cube, because it forces you to look at the edge and your displacement and your position versus it. It forces you to use your eyes.

Eventually I began to use images again, and I thought, “Am I going backwards?” But then I wasn’t bothered by it anymore. I no longer see my life as progress. I just see it as trying different things at different times. One art form isn’t truly more advanced than the other. I just came from a conversation about how sound works in virtual reality. How can you make music and sound that doesn’t have a beginning and an end? What does that stuff look like? That’s the way we’ve always made music through history… with a beginning, a middle, and an end. But our lives don’t work that way so much either. Mine doesn’t have a beginning, middle and an end. I was born at one point and I’ll die at one point. The stories of our lives just don’t have any plots. Mine doesn’t really have a plot.

The only thing I’m pretty sure of is that we are evolving towards complexity. We are not sliding back down the evolutionary scale, slowly becoming toads and single cell creatures.

Jacket by Issey Miyake, Shirt by Comme des Garçons, and Laurie’s own Morgan Le Fay Trousers.

Shirt by Comme des Garçons, and Laurie’s own Morgan Le Fay Trousers.

The series of drawings you did about the life and death of your terrier Lolabelle in the film you created Heart of a Dog are so beautifully illustrated. There was a strong sense of the space itself in those drawings, supporting the figures and objects. I loved that you brought the aesthetic of your hand drawings into VR. It’s markedly different from every other experience of VR that I’ve had.

It’s because it has dust in it and smudges, and also because we made the atmosphere out of tiny little letters, so you would be able to see the air. It was full of infinitely small, dust mote letters. Most VR is airless. It’s like going into this really sterile boardroom. Like there’s no atmosphere whatsoever.

In the new book, you refer to your work as a combination of narrative and visual language. How have your stories changed over time? What stories are you interested in telling today?

They haven’t changed that much. That’s another thing I realized. I’m a short story teller, and a short story can be a two-sentence story. And if you can get it done in two sentences, then just do that, because who has time?

It’s vivid, and our mind can wrap around it without moving through much time. I think it’s harder for 21st century people now to read, to sit down with Crime and Punishment and absorb all those atmospheres, all those characters, all those days, all those roads, and all those moods, stringing them together. We’re more visual than that now.

You were saying to me recently that you feel like film will soon be relegated to museums… and the future of popular storytelling will be in VR.

VR and MR.

What’s MR?

Mixed reality. I don’t know how to do MR, but I’m really interested in learning. These are lighter weight viewing devices, and of course everything will get lighter until there’s no weight to it at all and it’ll just be retinal. In MR you will have a glass on this table, exactly like this real glass, with the reflections from your computer and of your shirt in there, and it will move, but it won’t be there. It’ll be a virtual glass that is beyond real.

It’s really wonderful for disembodiment, which has always been my personal goal as an artist. To have no body, to fall into a work of art and not be able to get out, ever. Just fall into it. And you can fall into a book, too, identifying so much with the character.

You mentioned in the introduction that the book is about language in live performances, the difference between spoken and written words, the influence of the audience, the use of the first, second and third person voices, metaphor, politics, the story of dreams, songs, misunderstandings and the new meanings that are created when languages are translated. How do you think language can change the world?

I think it might be one of the only things that can change the world, that can really let you see it in another light. Like the wall we’re building between the U.S. and Mexico. It’s actually not a wall. The wall doesn’t exist yet, but the wall is so real in our minds and it’s such a contentious thing that it’s more than real. And you have to remember, the wall is just somebody’s idea. It’s a wall of words. People react to it as if it were a real wall. We’re already living in a virtual world, you know? It’s not there yet. We haven’t even collected the money to build it. So you have to remind yourself that we live in a fantasy world, a dream world, where half the things that we’re talking about don’t actually exist.

I think it’s supported by contemporary technologies and media. It’s almost a tenet of fascist propaganda, that if you say something five times it becomes real. And I think that’s very much what Trump did with the wall. He said it so often that it became a specter in our minds and imaginations. And that leads me to a question about mythology and storytelling. Do we have a moral responsibility to write other stories besides the ones that seem most likely to happen?

I think we have a moral imperative to tell stories that turn out better than we think they might.

Last December, the Sag Harbor Theater burned down. They asked a bunch of people to pick the film that they think best embodies American values. I picked American Psycho, and we screened it on Sunday. It was a little beyond the veil for people in South Hampton. Even after the Valentine’s Day massacre, they don’t want to tell the story of a white psycho-killer who wants to kill people because he just doesn’t have enough stuff. He doesn’t have it the way he wants it. Frankly, I find the most frightening part of that story was the way the guy treated women, the cartoony-ness.

It was really disconcerting. You tell the story that you feel like telling. To me, American Psycho is very representative of what people love in this country: status and beautiful things and power and lording it over other people, and men being these absolute creeps. The prostitution was the thing that bothered me most. That was much more horrifying than the cartoony, meat-chopper stuff. People reacted to the chainsaw stuff because it’s horrible. He grabs a woman’s leg and tries to eat it. But the truly scary stuff were the things that were very real to me, which is the dismissive way that these hedge funders were talking about women, saying, “Have you ever seen an intelligent woman? I haven’t.” But people didn’t see that part of the film, because that’s so much a part of the culture.

Is this kind of storytelling the same thing as myth? In one way, it’s a discourse talking metaphorically about what’s happening. But does it reach even deeper than that?

Think of the Greeks – —Medea, Electra…all about hacking the head off your mother and eating the bones. I mean, horror movies are Greek. They’re really Greek. They’re about the hatred and rage we feel towards each other, particularly the rage towards mothers and fathers. So those are our DNA stories. But then you have these stories about heaven and particularly the ones that are trying to convince you to behave in a certain way. I don’t think they’re so much about morality or rules. I think they’re about time, ways to explain time to people, where you came from. Where are you going to go after you die? You’re going to go to heaven or you’re going to go to Nirvana or you’re going to stay in the cycle of suffering, or you’re going to be with a bunch of virgins. Time is the biggest mystery to us.

When the Christians concocted the ascent to heaven and the final coming and fire and brimstone, that was all a projection into the future.

I think it’s not very clear, because they disguised a story as something that is about human personality, and then distorted it to punish people for being bad people, because that’s the other important part of the myth. There’s something very wrong with you, and you were born with something wrong with you, and you’re going to be punished unless you do this. And that gets various shadings, like the King James Bible, for example. Jesus had always been in the Christian Bible referred to as Master or Teacher. King James wrote his Bible, and he paid for this Bible. It was the first time Jesus was called King of Kings, Lord of Lords. He became a secular, powerful person, not a teacher.

So everyone is using these structures and these stories for their own ends to get what they want, particularly power. That’s what religion mostly has come down to. It’s about control.

 

Shirt, Jacket and Trousers by Comme des Garçons Comme des Garçons

Shirt, Jacket and Trousers by Comme des Garçons Comme des Garçons

Did it work? Did they get that control through the use of story? Or did the story tell of the power that they had already acquired? Is there a power in storytelling that can define the future, or even form the future?

Sure. That’s why I think women telling different stories is fantastic. Even in American Psycho, some of the greatest shots were the reaction shots of the women. Everyone is focusing on the men. But these cameras pan over to the women and they’re going, “What? Can you believe this asshole?” They’re not saying anything, but you can see it, it’s fantastic. This silent language of this woman filmmaker is telling a very different story. She’s telling it on a bunch of different levels. It’s a really complicated film.

Today, marginalized groups are sharing their narratives to ever increasing and attentive audiences. How has this recent cultural phenomena affected your work and your outlook on the work you’ve done?

When I was a young artist in the early ‘70s, I was part of a group of women artists. I joined it because I thought “OK, finally a group of people are joining together because we have different things to say than men,” and we do. But what was the focus of it? How to get into galleries. And I understand that on a professional level, but that’s not what I was there for. I was trying to find commonality with this group and be part of something.

And this was at the same time as separatist inclinations in various self-advocacy groups nationally. But you’re sort of describing a scene downtown that was more utopian.

I hope I’m not painting it as something it wasn’t, but I have some great memories of how much we did help each other. We saw ourselves as workers, somehow. That was the main thing. There were a lot of things that had opened people up in ways that were pretty wild. A lot of drugs around, a lot of sex, a lot of fun. Helping each other on every level. As soon as money came into it, things changed. We never thought we would make a dime from our work. That was the furthest thing from our minds. We all had little jobs, and you didn’t need that much money either. That’s another very important point. You needed almost nothing. You didn’t think about it.

I’m thinking about a photo of you in the book, standing in a crowd playing the violin. You’re talking about not really aspiring to get into galleries, as much, and there you were sort of just outdoors being scrutinized by these gangs of passersby. That image just reminded me of some of the stories you’ve told me of things you’ve done over the years, hitchhiking to the North Pole, just being out there in the wind.

Yeah. I did always want to get out, that’s for sure. I wanted to be part of an art world. But not one that was chummy, more that was supportive. So I was lucky enough to hit that NYC wave at the right moment.

For young artists, where do we go from there? How do we move forward?

To a young artist today, I would say “Don’t listen to me.” That would be number one. Each person finds it for themselves, and that’s the whole great thing about this. No one can tell you what it is. It’s your responsibility to find it. We have a million roads out from here, as many roads as there are artists to follow them. So question all sorts of things, even the idea of progress itself.  One of the things I’m interested in, as you are as well, is the ends of stories and what happens. So I asked my meditation teacher, “What happens to karma when there’s no one to embody your karma, and the whole system, the great dharma wheel, crashes?” It’s built on continuity and giant eons of time, the big wheels of time. So when that wheel stops and we’re not on it anymore, what happens? And he said that’s why the Buddha talked about other universes. I just loved that so much. It was so freeing to me.

It’s a kind of independence.

It’s your freedom to go anywhere and to realize that the rules are idiotic. I mean, maybe that’s one thing I would say, is that there are no rules, so don’t worry about that part. There are zero rules. It’s hard to be free.

Pants by Issey Miyake, T-Shirt by Tai Chi, and Laurie’s own gloves and jewelry.

Hair by Elsa Canedo Using Kerastase, Makeup by Kento Utsubo, Photo Assistant Jordan James, Special Thanks to Rizzoli. Laurie Anderson: All the Things I Lost in the Flood, Available on rizzolibookstore.com

HEAVENLY BODIES: FASHION AND THE CATHOLIC IMAGINATION

Costume Institute Benefit on May 7 with Co-Chairs Amal Clooney, Rihanna, Donatella Versace, and Anna Wintour, and Honorary Chairs Christine and Stephen A. Schwarzman

(New York, November 8, 2017)—The Metropolitan Museum of Art announced today that The Costume Institute’s spring 2018 exhibition will be Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination, on view from May 10 through October 8, 2018 (preceded on May 7 by The Costume Institute Benefit). Presented at The Met Fifth Avenue in both the medieval galleries and the Anna Wintour Costume Center, the show will also occupy The Met Cloisters, creating a trio of distinct gallery locations. The thematic exhibition will feature a dialogue between fashion and masterworks of religious art in The Met collection to examine fashion’s ongoing engagement with the devotional practices and traditions of Catholicism. A group of papal robes and accessories from the Vatican will travel to the United States to serve as the cornerstone of the exhibition, highlighting the enduring influence of liturgical vestments on designers.

“The Catholic imagination is rooted in and sustained by artistic practice, and fashion’s embrace of sacred images, objects, and customs continues the ever-evolving relationship between art and religion,” said Daniel H. Weiss, President and CEO of The Met. “The Museum’s collection of religious art, in combination with the architecture of the medieval galleries and The Cloisters, provides the perfect context for these remarkable fashions.”

In celebration of the opening, the Museum’s Costume Institute Benefit, also known as The Met Gala, will take place on Monday, May 7, 2018. The evening’s co-chairs will be Amal Clooney, Rihanna, Donatella Versace, and Anna Wintour. Christine and Stephen A. Schwarzman will serve as Honorary Chairs. The event is The Costume Institute’s main source of annual funding for exhibitions, publications, acquisitions, and capital improvements.

“Fashion and religion have long been intertwined, mutually inspiring and informing one another,” said Andrew Bolton, Curator in Charge of The Costume Institute. “Although this relationship has been complex and sometimes contested, it has produced some of the most inventive and innovative creations in the history of fashion.”

Exhibition Overview
The exhibition will feature approximately 50 ecclesiastical masterworks from the Sistine Chapel sacristy, many of which have never been seen outside the Vatican. These will be on view in the Anna Wintour Costume Center galleries and will include papal vestments and accessories, such as rings and tiaras, from the 18th to the early 21st century, encompassing more than 15 papacies. The last time the Vatican sent a loan of this magnitude to The Met was in 1983, for The Vatican Collections exhibition, which is the Museum’s third most-visited show.

In addition, approximately 150 ensembles, primarily womenswear, from the early 20th century to the present will be shown in the medieval galleries and The Met Cloisters alongside religious art from The Met collection, providing an interpretative context for fashion’s engagement with Catholicism. The presentation situates these designs within the broader context of religious artistic production to analyze their connection to the historiography of material Christianity and their contribution to the perceptual construction of the Catholic imagination.

Designers in the exhibition will include Azzedine Alaïa, Cristobal Balenciaga, Geoffrey Beene, Marc Bohan (for House of Dior), Thom Browne, Roberto Capucci, Callot Soeurs, Jean Charles de Castelbajac, Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel, Maria Grazia Chiuri (for House of Dior), Domenico Dolce & Stefano Gabbana (for Dolce & Gabbana), John Galliano (for House of Dior), Jean Paul Gaultier, Givenchy, Craig Green, Madame Grès (Alix Barton), Rei Kawakubo (for Comme des Garçons), Christian Lacroix, Karl Lagerfeld (for House of Chanel), Jeanne Lanvin, Shaun Leane, Claire McCardell, Laura and Kate Mulleavy (for Rodarte), Thierry Mugler, Norman Norell, Guo Pei, Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli (for Valentino), Pierpaolo Piccioli (for Valentino), Elsa Schiaparelli, Raf Simons (for his own label and House of Dior), Riccardo Tisci (for Givenchy), Jun Takahashi (for Undercover), Isabel Toledo, Philip Treacy, Donatella Versace (for Versace), Gianni Versace, Valentina, A.F. Vandevorst, Madeleine Vionnet, and Vivienne Westwood.

Exhibition Credits
The exhibition—a collaboration between The Costume Institute and the Department of Medieval Art and The Cloisters—is organized by Andrew Bolton, Curator in Charge of The Costume Institute, working together with colleagues in The Met’s Medieval department: C. Griffith Mann, Michel David-Weill Curator in Charge of the Department of Medieval Art and The Cloisters; Barbara Drake Boehm, Paul and Jill Ruddock Senior Curator for The Met Cloisters; Helen C. Evans, Mary and Michael Jaharis Curator of Byzantine Art; and Melanie Holcomb, Curator.

Diller Scofidio + Renfro (DS+R), the interdisciplinary architecture and design firm, will create the exhibition design with The Met’s Design Department. Raul Avila will produce the gala décor, which he has done since 2007.

Related Content
A publication by Andrew Bolton will accompany the exhibition and will include texts by authors David Morgan and David Tracy in addition to new photography by Katerina Jebb. It will be published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art and distributed by Yale University Press.

A special feature on the Museum’s website, www.metmuseum.org/HeavenlyBodies, provides further information about the exhibition.

The exhibition is made possible by Christine and Stephen A. Schwarzman, and Versace. Additional support is provided by Condé Nast.

BLONDIE

On the brink of a summer tour promoting the release of her 11th studio album with Blondie, the punk/new-wave/rock goddess, Debbie Harry,
shows no signs of slowing down.

Blazer by Vivienne Westwood | Fox Fur Leopard Print Boa by Georgine | Sunglasses by Le Specs Luxe

Photography by Nicolas Kern | Styling by Britt McCamey | Interview by Roger Padilha

Ever since she injected New York City’s ground-breaking, underground music scene with her infectious presence, Debbie Harry found her rightful place as Queen of Cool, and for the past 41 years has reigned as a trailblazing pioneer within the realms of pop culture, fine art, high fashion, and music. Arriving at Splashlight studios with an entourage of one, the low key Harry informs us there is no need for the more discreet side entrance. Instead she prefers to stand in line and check in with the front desk security like everyone else. This drama free attitude seems in line with her polite demeanor upon entering the set with a shopping bag full of past Blondie tour t-shirts and introducing herself to everyone on the crew. “Hi, I’m Debbie. Would anyone like a t-shirt?”

At the age of 71, Harry and her world-famous, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame band, Blondie, have released their eleventh studio album entitled Pollinator. Since their debut album in 1976, through the band’s signature look and pioneering new wave/punk music, Blondie has become an internationally recognized and praised band. With her photogenic face, two-toned hair, and punk style Harry quickly rose to the level of fashion and pop culture icon. Debbie quickly became a muse for Andy Warhol, the late fashion designer Stephen Sprouse, and famed fashion photographer Steven Meisel, to name a few. She was and remains very influential across music genres, and Blondie’s song Rapture became the first #1 song in the US to feature rap, thanks to her influence by friends Fab Five Freddy, and hip- hop pioneer, Grandmaster Flash.

Frontwoman Harry and guitarist/conceptual mastermind Chris Stein were the founding members of Blondie, along with drummer Clem Burke, whose powerhouse playing always distinguished Blondie’s sound. Their newest project, Pollinator, is a fusion of pop and disco with that ineffable Blondie sound. The newly released album is mostly comprised of collaborations with outside performers and songwriters. The list of collaborators include Dev Hynes of Blood Orange, Johnny Marr of the Smiths, Charlie XCX, Sia, Laurie Anderson, Joan Jett, The Strokes’ Nick Valensi, comedian John Roberts, and Dave Sitek from TV on the Radio. The album’s first single, “Fun”, sets the tone for the album, with a music video that features technicolor footage of an astronaut flying to Mars cut with scenes of the band performing at a psychedelic rave in space.

The album title, Pollinator, refers to Blondie’s creative cross-pollination over the years with many other icons in the industry. With the fabulous collaborations between Blondie and other artists throughout the studio album, Pollinator is a veritable hive of delicious tracks and beats to enjoy. The Rage and Rapture Tour kicks off on July 5th and features the acclaimed alternative rock band Garbage.

Though the tunes were culled from disparate sources, the feel of the album is impressively unified, with a playful nod to 1978’s groundbreaking Parallel Lines. Harry, Stein, Burke, and company took this raw material and deftly transformed it in the studio into an album that’s quintessentially Blondie. The emphasis is on arrangements that are fast and fun, lyrics that are romantic and teasing, and synth-stoked hooks that evoke the New Wave era. It was Grammy-winning producer John Congleton (Franz Ferdinand, St. Vincent, Sigur Ros, David Byrne, War on Drugs) that brought the late 70’s attitude out of Blondie again. He found himself having breakfast with Debbie and Chris in the summer of 2015. “We hung out for an hour, talked about music, about where they were as people and what they thought a Blondie record should sound like these days. We were simpatico on that.”

“I had more of a deliberate agenda than they did,” says John. “Their agenda was the best agenda: they still love each other; they like playing music, so let’s have fun. At the end of the day Blondie doesn’t have anything to prove. My agenda was more dogmatic. I didn’t want to make a pastiche lifestyle record or a modern pop record that sounded like Blondie being influenced by what’s happening now. I wanted to know what it’s like to be Blondie at this age.” Debbie, Chris, and Clem joined by band members bassist Leigh Foxx, guitarist Tommy Kessler and keyboardist Matt Katz-Bohen have embarked on a new Blondie summer tour.

Leather Trench by Georgine | Bloomers by Miu Miu | Tights by Falke | Patent Pumps by Laurence Dacade | Earrings by Orchid & Art Deco

We were fortunate enough to chat with the legendary rockstar at Splashlight Studios in Manhattan during her exclusive Iris Covet Book photoshoot.

How have you managed fame as an artist? Do you find that the commercial aspect of making music gets in the way of artistry?

Being a more private type, fame has sometimes been disturbing. But as a commercial artist, it is the goal isn’t it? To become known and get your music out into the world market.

I feel like I see your face and image every day on t-shirts and instagram. Are you ever overwhelmed by the global impact of the band and the image you played a definitive part in creating?

If I stop to think about it, yes it is overwhelming. That’s all part of the game though, isn’t it?

You’ve always seemed to be very reserved and a bit of an introvert in person, but yet you have been able to get onstage and perform in huge venues in front of millions throughout your career. What is the process you undergo to change into that onstage, larger-than-life persona?

I don’t really think of myself as an introvert but I have been described as being very polite. I was encouraged growing up to be well mannered and able to listen to others. To not always have to be the center of attention when in social situations. On stage it’s a different story…….it’s MY stage.

On Debbie: Jacket by Marc Jacobs | Skirt (Worn as a dress) by Comme des Garçons from New York Vintage | Tights by Falke | Pumps by Laurence Dacade 
On Chris: His Own Clothing

Never satisfied to rest on your laurels, Blondie’s incessant need to fly the flag for cross-genre rock never relinquishes because your punk spirit never died. How do you keep your punk spirit alive?

Punk spirit…just stubborn I guess. Always have been. Independence has always been important to me. I grew up in a sheltered home and was always wanting to see more of the big bad world.

How was it collaborating with all of these amazing, boundary-pushing artists such as Sia, Dev Hynes of Blood Orange, and Joan Jett?

Collaboration has always been something I enjoy doing. It can be so much fun tossing ideas around. I loved working with Dev Hynes and Joan Jett, whom I’ve known for years. Sia actually wrote the song [on the new album] and I only met her briefly at a Saturday Night Live party. I’m happy the way it all came together. It was a different approach for us, to draw in all of these things. I feel like we did what we did back then, and we put out these sounds and ideas and now have come full circle. We are pulling it back in, continuing this ongoing chain of events, this circular motion.

You will be touring the country with the legendary rock band, Garbage, fronted by Shirley Manson. Tell us about how this tour collaboration came to be, have you worked together before?

I don’t think we ever worked together before, but I met Shirley many years ago in Scotland when she was singing with Goodbye Mr. Mackenzie. Years later we ran into each other at Gary Kurfirst’s office. We were both being managed by Gary at the time. Shirley and her band Garbage are one of my faves.

40 million album sales and countless accolades later (including a Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction in 2006 and NME Godlike Genius Award in 2014) has cemented the band’s importance. After all of the success, what inspires you to keep creating new music?

One of the most inspiring things to happen in the last year has been the David Bowie release after his death. I only hope that I can be one-tenth as creative as he has been, and to leave a parting gift of music or art is truly what art is about.

Jacket by Song Seoyoon | T-Shirt by Han københavn

Two of the original members of the band have been replaced with other musicians over the years, how has the new dynamic of Blondie shifted the energy of the band?

Good question. Blondie has always been, or tried to be, a true ensemble situation. Input by musicians or actors in a group is extremely valuable, but not always easy. We have one fucking great band now, and I can’t wait for everyone to hear us play the new material.

When you first moved to New York, it was a much more dangerous and rough city, but that energy also helped fuel many creatives at the time. Now that NYC has gone through so much gentrification and commercialism, do you think it’s possible for artists to make profound music and art in the “new” New York City?

Food for thought…that’s what cities and colleges supply. So why not, in spite of all the odds against it, why can’t a fresh, alert mind be creative in any circumstance. Although chaos is famous for being the founder of great creativity.

Which album or song are you most proud of? And beyond that, what are you most proud of in your life?

I don’t think I can limit myself to one album or song, they all seem connected to each other for me. As for my life, I’m amazed that I actually achieved my dreams and that I’m still at it.

You’ve done 11 albums with Blondie and 5 albums as a solo artist, not to mention compilations and collaborations on other artists’ albums. How do you stay inspired? Is there anything you feel you haven’t said through your art yet?

Knowing what you like and what excites you is the most important part and Blondie is really the only group I’ve ever been in with the exception of singing with the Jazz Passengers for about four years. Fortunately, now I’m on a collision course with environmental issues. As I’ve gotten older and climate, clean air and water have become more important issues for us, I want to do my part to draw attention to these problems and their solutions.

The world lost a great contributor to the arts recently with the passing of your friend Glenn O’Brien. Glenn was very supportive of Iris Covet Book and agreed to be interviewed for our first issue. He was always very generous to emerging creatives. Can you share a favorite memory you had with Glenn?

Oh yes, Glenn was a great writer and a keen observer of the arts. He had such a wonderful style: dry and funny, so sharp. I will miss him. Before he passed he gave me his newest book, LIKE ART which I have enjoyed thoroughly. I have had lots of good times hanging out with Glenn and Chris. Just talking and making fun of things like on TV Party when they were co-hosts. I feel lucky to have known him.

Blondie really incorporated so many different genres and types of music that it seems unfair to call you just a Punk pioneer as many people do. What would you like your music legacy to be?

A lot of the music that I’ve made over the years was never even recorded and maybe this is something special. Food for the spheres. Blondie albums and Deborah Harry albums have had a lot of different musical and cultural influences but this is the city we live in and the world of today. Let’s face it, we can know as much as we want about all the cultures of the world. What we need is time travel.

Patent Coat by Miu Miu | Earrings by Ana Khori

Buy Pollinator at http://www.blondie.net/ or stream on Spotify, Apple Music, or Amazon

Art Direction by Louis Liu | Editor Marc Sifuentes | Hair by Adam Markarian | Makeup by Yumi Lee @ Streeters | Manicure by Narina Chan @ Wilhelmina Artists for Chanel Le Vernis in Roubachka | Set Design by Mila Taylor Young @ D+V Management | Editor’s assistant Ben Price | Filming by Scott Keenan | Video editor/post production YaYa Xu | Special Thanks to Splashlight Studios NYC