Japanese Street Style: Fairy-Kei - by Guest Columnist Ana

If you’re around 20-ish or even 30-ish … and missing youth and the 1980´s cartoons, such as Popples, My Little Pony and Vintage Barbie, remember listening to Cyndi Lauper on the radio while the “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” hit reached the top #5 parade? Well,now you can revive all those special moments and even find stores in Tokyo to get dress in pink, purple, yellow and mint again!

Tavuchi, a Japanese fashion enthusiastic, opened her own store – called - SPANK! In 2004, starting the Fairy-Kei movement – which she don’t want credit for – selling used itens and her own creations based on the Disco and 1980´s culture, arguing that there wasn’t anywhere she could find clothing tasteful enough for her fashion needs.

Fairy-Kei is nowadays a popular style - thanks to Tavuchi and her brand – which mixes cute icons from the 80´s, toys, bright colors, head-eating bows and lots and lots of accessories.

There’s lots and lots of stores dedicated to this fashion, especially in Harajuku, they look like children’s store, but dedicated to youngsters and – Of course - adults. Another dedicated brands: SBY Happy Room and 6% DOKI DOKI.

You can check nice links here:

Tavuchi: That´s Her! Tavuchi (click!)

Lots of Pics : http://spankgirls.tumblr.com/
Official Website SPANK!: http://www.spankworld.jp/
Official Website 6% DOKI DOKI: http://www.dokidoki6.com
SBY Store: http://www.lacarmina.com/blogpics/091001_fk1.jpg


* This post was written by Guest Columnist Ana, 23 years, Fashion Designer who ABSOLUTELY loves japanese street fashion and it´s a Brazilian Lolita, living in Brasília for a while... Check out Ana´s blog here!

From Me to You - Jamie Beck

               

If you like photography, a great photo-blog is From Me to You by Jamie Beck. The blog was carefully designed by Kevin Burg to look like a pin board displaying memorable pictures. The photos are whimsical with strong colors and a well defined area focus. You will be delighted (and hungry!) with the food pictures and amazed by the city shots. Jamie can extract the perfect angles and add an artful pallete to her work. You know those pictures that incite you to visit the place, eat the food, to live? Those are Jamie's pics. It is worth checking out and have fun!

     

 

Jamie takes lots of pictures of herself. They are superb!

Thanks, Jamie, continue on your path!

Blank!

When I am in front of a white canvas or I am on stage or in front of the oven or a blank paper...asking basic questions to myself:
black or blue?
 to be or not to be?
       curry or coentro?
                  ink or pencil?
I always think about bare feet running on a wet and fresh green grass. Don't ask me why. I have no idea, but it works.
What does work for you?

Rio Etc - Street Wear Blog by Columnist Daniela Lanna

Zen-Beach

Soccer-Beach (watch out for balls season)

Preparing to be mermaids

 
  beach-talk

sand volleyball world winners playing

and it is winter in Rio...

There is a really nice Brazilian blog about the street wear in Rio de Janeiro called Rio Etc. It brings pictures of passer-by people in the streets of the "Cidade Maravilhosa", or "the wonderful city"of Rio de Janeiro.

Another famous street wear blog is The Satorialist that brings the every day fashion from New York, Milan and Paris. The fotoblog exists since September 2005 and was refered by the Time Manazine as the Top 100 Design Influencers.

* This post was written by Fashion Columnist Daniela Lanna

Banksy - street artist

This is one artist I totally love. His art is controvertial, political and critical. Acording to Wikipedia, Banksy is a pseudonymous British graffiti artist. He is believed to be a native of Yate, South Gloucestershire, near Bristol and to have been born in 1974, but his identity is unknown. Some people asserts that Banksy's work is simply vandalism. In 2004, Banksy hung a painting of the Monalisa with a yellow smiley face at Louvre.

    

   

   

   

   

Banksy has several books and, recently, he released his first film, Exit Through The Gift Shop, at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival.

Ever since I saw a book of his works, I feel in love with his street art. I think is uneasy and funny!

Lives of the Artists - Calvin Tomkins

This is a great book if you want to find out more about  the contemporary art world. The artists portrayed here are all modern (and living) conceptual and/or abstract artists. Calvin lets us know particular things about the artists life, career, atelie, ideology. You feel compeled to search more as the life of an artist is totally relevant to an understanding of his or her work.

There are 10 artists which include: Damien Hirst, Cindy Sherman, Julian Schnabel, Richard Serra, James Turrell, Matthew Barney, Maurizio Cattelan, Jasper Johns, Jeff Koons and John Currin.

I read this book really fast during my traffic hours. This is a rich and resourceful book. I liked it!

How to stand out from the clutter?

How to get the attention of your consumers? Nowadays, there are so many ad interruptions and product/service choices, that it is really hard to make YOURSELF or your product stand out from the crowd.

Seth Godin makes a point in his speech at the Business of Software conference:

1. Most professionals are solving a problem that people don't think they have, so they are not looking for a solution, for your solution. Therefore, you are invisible.
2. We are in a hiper-clutter momment. Where it used to be 3 options of drinks, now there are 3.000. Cullter is not your friend, principally, for small companies.
3. People are too busy with ads they get wether they want it or not.
4. You or your product should be worth make a remark about.
5. You or your product should matter, you should make yourself or your product worth talking about.
6. Explore the direct communication.
7. Create a direct users business because every interaction with your customer is a "change for a up or down."
8. Give people something to talk about, for that you should build the story, live the story, bring up the story. All types of sellers are story tellers.
9. When you give people lots of choices, they take it. They want personalized services or products that fullfills their needs.
10. Consumers are connected to consumer. Users are connected to users. The model of connecting users to eachother is how you are going to grow.
11. Your effort should not be in "how many" people you ad to, but "who" you reach.
12. Share of wallet is way easier than share of market. Go for the share of wallet.
13. The people who is failluring are the ones who do not acknowledge that commitment comes before success.
14. Make it easier for people to integrate to your tribe.
15. A tribe is an identity that stands for something that matters.

Resume Cicle:

Be remarkable > Integrate and connect deeply with customers > Tell a story to your sneezers > Provide tools for the story to be told > Customers connect to eachother through tribes > Customers connect to customers > Customers spread the word > They persuade others > You get permission to tell another story

* These insights were collect from Seth Godin´s speach in the link above.

Music Alley

Find the best tracks to put for free in your podcast or to just enjoy listening online! Some of the greatests podcasters use this resource and some good musicians find in the Music Alley a great way to advertise and show their work. So it works for them and us, the listeners!

The most played band is the Brother Love from New York city with the song "Summertime". This song was played 780 times already. And the top rated band is the Uncle Seth from Ontario, Canada. Their most listened music is "To be an angel".

Walking Art

Yesterday was a holiday, but of course I had to dress in my social outfit and go to the cold twin-building where I work. On my way to work, I encountered three walking artists. As you can see in the picture, it's clear they somewhat paint (canvas strapped to one of their backpacks), they play instruments (wooden drum attached to the backpack) and they perform fire juggling (check out the fire sticks). That's freedom!

Culture, art or marketing?

So last Sunday, I decided to exercise on Ipanema beach and came across some interesting culture, art and religion manifestation. In one side there were Amazon indians selling their handmade souveniers. And in the other side there were Harekrishnas singing their mantra and distributing flyers and love! It was incredible how they were all prepared for the event. Costumes, songs, goodies, bargain planning, snecarium, tents, different specialties. I felt I were in a Latin Epcot Center. Indians, Harekrishnas, surfers. Culture, religion, life style. At least, here at the beach, is that all real? Are they the real culture, religion, art or is it the real art of marketing?

 

And, let's buy!

Make up: False Eyelashes by Paperself - by Columnist Daniela Lanna

Launched at September 2009, PAPERSELF is an initiative of Chunwei Liao dedicated to designs constructed from paper. A group of designers engineers and manufactures work as a team to create furniture, products accessories and art by exploring paper possibilities.

Yu Ting Wang is the designer of the intriguing paper eyelashes you see in this post. Inspired by the Chinese paper-cutting art, they are sexy but, at the same time, delicate as lace.

            

Available in designs of peonies (representative of happiness), horses (representative of success), and peach blossoms (representative of romance), the paper eyelashes will give a stunning effect on your make up!

* This post was written by Fashion Columnist Daniela Lanna.

Amy Tan

Amy Tan on creativity at TED! Amazing. Enjoy!

Patsy Rodenburg: Acting and voice coach

One reason I love theater is because it is intimately connected to the human inner gut. When I listened to Patsy Rodenburg´s talk at Michael Howard Studios in NY (hosted online by TED), I was really touched when she told that in a book-talk in Australia a man said to her that he didnt like theater and continued, in a Greek play, "there was an actress that lost her young son and made a sound that was really embarassing. (...) A year ago a policeman came and told me that my daughter had been rapped and murdered and I made that same sound.Whoever that actress was, I bless her." She played the truth.

For more Michael Howard Studios videos, click here!

Patsy´s BIO on TED: "Patsy Rodenburg is the Director of Voice at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and is recognized as one of the world's leading voice and acting coaches. She was in residence with the Royal Shakespeare Company for nine years and also works with The Royal Court Theater, Donmar Warehouse Theatre and Almeida Theatre. She has also worked extensively with many of the great world theaters, including the Moscow Art Theater. Rodenburg has also been a major voice for penal reform in the UK. She has staged Shakespeare in maximum-security prison and worked with the criminally insane for over 25 years. She has spent months traveling and teaching in India's most poverty-stricken areas."

The Levy Flight Theory

Mathematician Clay Shirky taught Seth Godin who taught me the Lévy flight concept. The main concept is that "an animal that forages will hang out in a small area, looking for nuts or berries, then will realize it has used up all the likely sources in this spot. It will then head off in a random direction, walk many paces, and start foraging again."

In marketing or social analysis, the concept translates like this: someone discovers your site (your website, bar, restaurant, hotel, product, etc); they poke it; they love it; they return with friends; they hang out and become regulars for a while. Then they get bored and start browsing again. This kind of thinking is much more effective if you apply to your consumer behavior understanding and strategies other than brand fidelity or random web surfing. I count with your constant visit though :)

This concept can also be applied to Jackson Pollock´s paintings. Check out the interesting article "Fractal Expressionism" by Richard Taylor, Adam Micolich and David Jonas.

Dear Deer or Querido Venado!

There is a great Guadalajara (Mexico) independent and self suficient community of art, music fashion and workshops that encourage all forms of creative thinking between contemporary artists and designers. You can kind great artists, mainly mexicans here!