Image: © Nick Knight

Appearing in the pages of W Magazine, Haute Death is a whimsical homage to the shadowy, sinister illustrations of children’s literature. Using his trademark exploration into contrasts, Knight juxtaposes the delicate beauty of model Karlie Kloss into the eerie sketch of a Brothers Grimm fairytale. The result is an avante garde photo-shoot that mixes fashion and children’s fantasy. Kloss was styled by Edward Enninful into the couture designs of Dior, Givenchy, Chanel, and Iris Van Herpen to name a few. Haute Death is another example of Knight’s continuing challenge against the conventions of beauty and the re-imagining of fashion.

It is very tricky now to really, honestly call yourself a photographer because a lot of what I do doesn’t adhere to the rules of photography. For example, with the introduction of digital technology and the more frequent use of that in the creation of the image, you are really not following the rules of photography any more.

Image: © Nick Knight

Image: © Nick Knight

Image: © Nick Knight

Image: © Nick Knight

Image: © Nick Knight

Image: © Nick Knight

Image: © Nick Knight

Image: © Nick Knight

Image: © Nick Knight

Image: © Nick Knight

Image: © Nick Knight

Images: © Nick Knight

Image: © Viviane Sassen

In And Out Of Fashion is the summation of 17 years worth of work for some of fashion’s most honoured brands. Sassen’s images brush through the shelves of powerhouses like Stella McCartney, Adidas and Levi’s and onto the pages of Pop, AnOther Magazine, Purple, and Dazed & Confused. The book illustrates the visual aesthetic of Sassen’s photography as her models transform into fine art sculptures and their fashions become the threads of colour covering an artwork. Sassen portraits her subjects in unusual poses that simultaneously induce movement and the statuesque ambience of moulded sculptural art. Landscapes play as much a role in Sassen’s photography as her models, as she juxtaposes the colours and motion of her models against the shapes and hues of the backdrop. Ultimately Sassen’s work is an invigorating peek into the way in which art can re-envision fashion. Although she claims that fashion and art belong to different ends of the creative world, Sassen has seamlessly pieced together the parts of her fantastical puzzle:

Art photography doesn’t have to serve any purpose, fashion photography does, and that makes a difference. It’s a kind of puzzle that has to be solved

Image: © Viviane Sassen

Image: © Viviane Sassen

Image: © Viviane Sassen

Image: © Viviane Sassen

Image: © Viviane Sassen

Image: © Viviane Sassen

Image: © Viviane Sassen

Image: © Viviane Sassen

Image: © Viviane Sassen

Image: © Viviane Sassen

Image: © Viviane Sassen

Image: © Viviane Sassen

Image: © Viviane Sassen

Image: © Viviane Sassen

Images: ©Viviane Sassen

Janis Joplin – The Impossible Cool

William S. Burroughs – The Impossible Cool

Keith Richards – The Impossible Cool

Audrey Hepburn – The Impossible Cool

Jim Morrison – The Impossible Cool

Jane Birkin – The Impossible Cool

Martin Luther King

Joe Strummer – The Impossible Cool

Tom Waits – The Impossible Cool

Sixto Rodriguez – The Impossible Cool

Photos taken from theimpossiblecool.tumblr.com/

Image: Broaden A New Sound

The Great Gatsby — published in 1925 — is one of literature’s most prized legacies, and it has since become a cultural icon that has helped define the candescent charm, fashion and music of the 1920s. Now, in 2013, this literary masterpiece is being revitalised through the cinematic direction of Baz Luhrman with a stellar cast of Leonardo DiCaprio (Jay Gatsby), Tobey Maguire (Nick Carraway) and Carey Mulligan (Daisy) backing up the credits. The movie will keep audiences captivated for just over two hours, but the experience doesn’t have to stop there. F. Scott Fitzgerald said it best in the words of the novel:

And I like large parties. They’re so intimate. At small parties there isn’t any privacy

and IT DON’T MEAN A THING IF IT AIN’T GOT THAT SWING — A Throwback to Baz Luhrman‘s The Great Gatsby will be a party you don’t want to miss! Shikisha is the perfect vista for this roaring affair with wooden floors, an overlooking balcony and plenty of space to mingle — all of which sets the scene for this electrifying event!

Image: Broaden A New Sound

Music

The event will be starring an explosive line-up of DJs:

MICHAEL LESAR(Let’s Swing It)
CHARLES LEONARD & MARC LATILLA (Reform!)
PLAAT JAPIE (Kitchener’s)
WAZ (NOT WAS)

This soundtrack will pay homage to the 1920s and Baz Luhrman’s trademark musical dedication to his films, in the sounds of:

20s / Swing / Electro Swing / Indie / Pop / Hip Hop
 

Fashion

To cap off the theme, party-goers will get to swank up their style with the dress code entry:

>> “Crazy In Love”
Dress to The Great Gatsby theme and get in for half price (R50)

>>”Over The Love”
Don’t dress up and get in for R100
 

Drinks

IT DON’T MEAN A THING IF IT AIN’T GOT THAT SWING — A Throwback to Baz Luhrman’s The Great Gatsby will also give revellers a taste of the 1920s with an authentic 20s cocktail menu that includes three distinctly 20s cocktails:

THE BRONX
Gin, Dry Vermouth, Sweet Vermouth, Orange Juice

PLANTER’S PUNCH
Dark Rum, Grenadine, Sour Mix, Orange Juice, Club Soda

CLASSIC G&T
Gin, Tonic Water
 

Image: Broaden A New Sound

THE COMPETITION

We have five double tickets for the event happening at Shikisha in Johannesburg to give away! Here’s what you need to do to win:

1. Share our Facebook status of this competition on Facebook. (This is very important. You must go onto our Facebook page and share the status we’ve created.)

2. Tweet a link to this post, a mention of @onesmallseedSA, Broaden A New Sound and the #ThrowbacktoGreatGatsby hashtag.

3. Like both one small seed Magazine & TV and Broaden A New Sound on Facebook.
 

The five winners will be announced on Friday, 24 May, at 5pm. Each winner will be allowed a plus one to invite to the event. Check our Facebook, Twitter, and this post to find out if you’re one of the lucky five. So get sharing, Tweeting and commenting guys and girls!
 

Important information:

IT DON’T MEAN A THING IF IT AIN’T GOT THAT SWING — A Throwback to Baz Luhrman’s The Great Gatsby will be happening in JHB, so only enter if you are based in JHB or plan on going to JHB.

Date: 25 May 2013

Time: Doors open 20:00

Venue: Shikisha (the old Horror Cafe), Newtown, Johannesburg
 

Image: Facebook

Images: Broaden A New Sound, Facebook

Water Balance

Image: The Mag

Image: Design Milk

It’s easy to forget to water your plants, but product design outfit Design Soil is making it easier for plant-owners to remember to feed their plants. Water Balance is a vase structure created by Japanese designer Risako Matsumoto for Design Soil. The shelf-like structure lends a new form of intelligence to plant-life, allowing the green shrubs to communicate with their owners. When the plant is perfectly hydrated Water Balance maintains even balance, but once the water has evaporated from the vase the structure tips to one side. The wooden piece is simple and and minimalist, making it an easy fixture to fit in any setting.
 
 

Grater Card

Image: PSFK

Business cards play a crucial role in attracting new clients. A boring business card could land in the trash, effectively pushing your company closer to the bottom, but a creative business card could help develop a brand’s success. Ad agency JWT Brazil tapped into this thought-process and created a business card that both reflects the business’s purpose and is usable to clients beyond being a generic piece of paper with contact details.

Bon Vivant is a Brazilian store that specialises in cheese. The shop teamed up with JWT to create the Grater Card — a light metal business card that can grate all kinds of cheese while giving important contact information for Bon Vivant. The clever card has become a viral hit in Brazil to the extent where the cheese connoisseurs have required customers to wait two to three days before asking for a new card. The handy card comes with a protective sleeve so that the grater remains as clean as possible before use.
 
 

Finger Paint Artworks

Image: Iris Scott

Iris Scott is a 28-year-old who creates fine art oil paintings with the tools of oil paint, surgical gloves, and her fingers. Scott began experimenting with fine art and finger painting while in Taiwan. The artist explains that during her stay in Southern Taiwan she struggled to captures her vision of flowers using brush techniques and started using her fingers instead, developing an entirely new aesthetic. As a result, Scott’s works have been commended for the hypnotic movement, sensory texture, and vivacious colours.
 
 

Selfridges Drive-Thru Shopping

Image: Julian Castle

Image: Facebook

Online shopping has been a rage for many years now with the advent of online stores like Amazon conveniently helping shoppers to purchase their goods from the comfort of their homes. Selfridges plays host to some of fashion’s most exclusive upmarket brands, and the luxury department store is now opening its doors to online customers. The new service is dubbed ‘Click and Collect’ and it allows clients to purchase their sophisticated pieces online and then collect their items at a drive-thru reception area. Selfridges has been on of the UK’s premier fashion retailers for over 100 years and their deep seated heritage ensures both quality and loyalty to customer satisfaction. However, like many well-established historical brands, Selfridges needs to adapt to the online marketplace and the developing world of new technologies. As such ‘Click an Collect’ is Selfridges’s attempt to occupy more space in the cyberworld. Although customers can buy clothing and accessories online, their purchase will be finalised once they have fitted their outfits and are satisfied with the results.
 
 

Tea Calendar

Image: PSFK

Image: PSFK

Some people love to start their day off with a cup of coffee, but others prefer a soothing cup of tea. If you belong to the latter group then you’ll enjoy Hälssen & Lyon‘s newly created calendar which is almost entirely comprised of tea leaves. Each day is a new bag of tea, and the leaves have been pressed down into wafer-thin tear-off strips that can easily be separated from the calendar and splashed into a cup of steamy goodness. The currently available calendars are being distributed as gifts for Hälssen & Lyon’s business partners and it is uncertain as to whether or not the calendars will be available for public purchase.
 
 

Waveskate

Image: PSFK

Living near the ocean is a definite benefit for people who love to surf, but for people who a crave a surfboard experience and are at the disadvantage of having limited or no ocean access there is little chance their craving will be satisfied. However, in an era where people are doing incredibly innovative and imaginative things, the lines between possible and impossible seem to be dissipating. Waveskate allows a surfer to ride the streets or waves as it transforms from surfboard to skateboard and vice versa in seconds. The Kickstarter project aims to create a high quality sporting equipment that serves dual purposes and combines the disciplines of surfing and skating to encourage more interaction between the sports as well as wider participation.
 
 

Louis Vuitton Shanghai Store

Image: Design Boom

Image: Design Boom

Louis Vuitton Shanghai has opened a new store in a commercial building called L’Avenue. The 24-storey building houses a basement, retail podium and offices, yet most impressively it resembles a giant shoe — a fit to Louis Vuitton’s presence in the building as L’Avenue is now the destination for Louis Vuitton’s largest flagship store. Jun Aoki teamed up with Leigh & Orange architects to create the structure which will feature as a landmark site in Shanghai. Environmental architecture is becoming an increasingly rising phenomenon and Aoki and Leigh & Orange have looked into previous works to develop L’Avenue with the ability to recycle rainwater for irrigation, reduced water consumption and incoporate green areas.
 
 

Images: Facebook, Design Boom, PSFK, The Mag, Design Milk, Iris Scott

Biting Elbows – ‘Bad Motherfucker’ Official Music Video from Ilya Naishuller on Vimeo.

Screenshot

Screenshot

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Enjoy our selection for May and take a look at previous month’s top images, here!

Week 04

‘Cape Towns Streets’ by Logan Lopata

‘Taboo’ by Riyahd Cassiem

‘Freeze’ by Julie Aarts

‘Construction’ by Happy Sonwabo Songelwa

Week 03

‘Wall Stitch’ by Joff Aztec

‘Van Coke Kartel’ by Lisa Stayt

‘The Forest’ by Ryan Roake

‘Meet the Springfields’ by Rich Mnisi

Week 02

‘POWERLINES’ by Sven Kristian

‘Vintage’ by Janelka Lubbinge

untitled by Mari Fourie

‘Change’ by Joff

Week 01

‘Dark Descent’ by Elani Jacobs

untitled by Justin Share

00∆2 by Andrew Brooke

untitled by Mari Fourie

The Danish singer’s debut single for Chess Club Records lets her affection-inspiring, highly melodic vocals hold their own over softly sliced bass-ey beats. Her name roughly meaning ‘unmarried’ or ‘virgin’, the electropop singer’s innocent quirkiness is much anticipated on her still-to-be-completed debut album. Watch out for it!
 
 
 
Standish/Carlyon – ‘Nono/Yoyo’

Formerly members of indie rock band The Devastations, Tom Carlyon and Conrad Standish are trying their hand at something more ‘now’ — with success. Labelled ‘futuristic dub pop’, their recently released debut album Deleted Scenes — some of which you can stream here — is one that’ll have you embrace the winter blues. Here’s the hauntingly chilled ‘Nono/Yoyo’.
 
 
 
Savages – ‘She Will’

All-female London-based post punk band Savages have the same post-revolution spirit that their late 1970s associates are famous for. Heralded ‘Joy Division’s younger sisters’, they unabashedly live up to this cliché with their awakened guitar-screeching single ‘She Will’ from their debut full-length Silence Yourself.
 
 
 
Daft Punk feat. Nile Rodgers and Pharrell Williams – ‘Get Lucky’

Already having sold 500 000 copies in the UK, this tune is bound to stick in many an eardrum for a fair amount of time. ‘We’re up all night ’til the sun. We’re up all night to get some, We’re up all night for good fun, We’re up all night to get lucky…’
 
 
 
The Editors – ‘A Ton of Love’

‘A Ton of Love’ from British alt rockers The Editors serves as a teaser to the band’s forthcoming album The Weight of Your Love. Much like the album it’s an uplifting rock melody ridden somewhat contradictorily but nonetheless effectively by Tom Smith’s steady but longing vocals.
 
 
 
Vampire Weekend – ‘Diane Young’

Taken from their recent third album Modern Vampires of the City, this song still demonstrates what the band is best at — combining catchy with unique and indie. What is more, Ezra Koenig’s exclusive voice will never bore, rendering every new release a relief that the band’s still producing music. We hope that it will never stop, here’s ‘Diane Young’.

Words by Christine Hogg

A Naughty Fairytale highlights the seductive appeal of von Unwerth’s work, as well as her ability to use her lens as a fictional narrator of her imagery. The series is set against the backdrop of the Victorian Era where prudent correctness and proper etiquette was a societal necessity. von Unwerth ruptures this mood by unleashing a voyeuristic visual into the intimate fairytale of a naughty princess. The innovative photographer created the piece with the help of models Dioni Tabbers, Julia Oleynik and Alice Aufray. von Unwerth has previously worked for magazines like Vogue, Vanity Fair, and Harper’s Bazaar. The famed visionary has also collaborated with artists like Duran Duran, Rihanna, All Saints and Janet Jackson to produce album covers for their work. Speaking on A Naughty Fairytale von Unwerth said:

I always love my own photography to tell a little story. When it looks like there’s something happening before and after. And my big influence is Jacques Henri Lartique– he’s a French photographer from the twenties. It was more reportage style, like photographs of elegant women wearing these amazing clothes with their funny dogs with lots of movement, and they’re very, very charming pictures

Image: © Ellen von Unwerth

Image: © Ellen von Unwerth

Image: © Ellen von Unwerth

Image: © Ellen von Unwerth

Image: © Ellen von Unwerth

Image: © Ellen von Unwerth

Image: © Ellen von Unwerth

Image: © Ellen von Unwerth

Image: © Ellen von Unwerth

Image: © Ellen von Unwerth