Tahiti Fashion Week for i-D

“Yellow represents the sun and is the color of life, or the ora. The colors must link with a story, an idea, a concept, a legend of the land.”

tahiti fashion week pays homage to the island's rich culture

After almost having their entire culture erased, these South Pacific Islanders are reviving the folklore in unapologetic celebration of their traditions. The rise of traditional tattoos and world renown Polynesian dance groups have pushed the culture. But more recently, Tahitian designers have resurged the use of the materials that characterized the traditional costume to create modern, culturally-charged pieces, and these pieces rule the runways of Tahiti Fashion Week.

read the full story at i-d.vice.com >>

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credits

Creative Director/Stylist: Alexander-Julian Gibbson
Photographer: Emmanuel Monsalve
Assistants: Lina Palacios // Teani Liu
Production: Manu de Schoenburg of Filmin’ Tahiti
Make-up: Nadia Hilal
Hair: Mareva David
Models: Tia Wan + Hinaniui Campello BRAVE Models
Dancers: NONAHERE Dance Group

Rwanda's Finest for Travel and Leisure

“Rwanda’s creative golden age is upon us — here are the artists that are ready to take the world by storm.” 

read the full story at TravelandLeisure.com >>

Cedric Mizero AT THE UNIVERSITY OF RWANDA SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE

From filmmakers in Nigeria to fashion designers in Senegal, Africa’s creative scene is bursting at the seams. And Rwanda, whose inspiring postwar transformation has ushered in a new wave of inventiveness, has a global influence that cannot be denied. So what is the picture of Rwanda that this new generation is painting? And how are these young talents building a creative community from the ground-up? To find out, I hit the streets of the capital city Kigali in search of the creatives that are writing the country’s next chapter.

read the full story at TravelandLeisure.com >>

ELVIS NGABO IN NYAMIRAMBO WEARING HOUSE OF TAYO, MOSHIONS, AND KTSOBE JEWELRY

“Rwanda’s culture has inspired my art work immeasurably. Our country's story is one that I reflect on constantly.”

—Mackson Maxmillian (left)

“As a model, I've witnessed the creative community evolving and growing every day, in large part thanks to the efforts of the government. With their help, we’re working to make Rwanda’s creative industry an economic powerhouse.”

—Rachel Neza (right)

WINNIE KALISSA in kimiranko market wearing moshions

“At the speed that the country is innovating, these young pioneers are poised to join the pantheon of Africa’s creative exports.”

Space Cowboy for VOGUE Italia

Space Cowboy (2019)

for Vogue Italia

by

Alexander-Julian

Emmanuel Monsalve

SPACE COWBOY (2019)

by Alexander-Julian and Emmanuel Monsalve

A story of love and acceptance. We often view new cultures and foreign entities as threats to what we know, but when given the opportunity these new cultures can enhance our outlook and open us to a greater existence.

The female subject in this story represents a beautiful otherworldly being that finds itself in a new surrounding where she’s immediately detained and seen as a threat. The two male subjects represent the opposite realities that exist in that environment. In the end, the realities converge and only one is able to accept and love the new foreign being. Together they enjoy a new enhanced reality.

I chose Western-wear and Space Obsession to portray this story because these two timeless trends represent different mindsets and philosophies in America. Being a native born Texan, I consider Western-wear an homage to pride and classic Americana, while the Space Obsession represents the world’s curiosity for a new world as an escape. The themes were visually inspired by Kozaburo a Japanese-American menswear brand and MM6 Maison Margiela’s 2018 collection.

(full story at Vogue.it)

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Creative Direction & Styling: Alexander-Julian

Photographer: Emmanuel Monsalve

Make-Up: Sandy Nicha (@sandy_nicha)

Hair: David Kemp

Fashion Assistant: Camille Camejo

Models: Yousseff Bamba , DNA Models Kendall Harrison, DNA Models Tricia Akello, Muse Models

World of WearableArt for L'Officiel USA

photography by Marissa Findlay.

World of WearableArt for L’Officiel USA

Every year New Zealand hosts the World of WearableArt (WOW) Fashion/Art Exhibition, where designers from all over the world create intricately designed garments for the chance to win the Supreme WOW Award at the exhibition’s extravagant Awards Night ceremony.

This year WOW celebrated 30 years of “taking art off the wall and onto the human form” and in celebration of 30 years, I made it down to Wellington to catch the Awards Night ceremony and watch the eccentrically awesome display. I then worked with the WOW team to select and shoot some of my favorite pieces from the show.

The amount of time and work put into each garment, to me, was reminiscent of the attention and detail put in by the famous ateliers of Paris and Milan to couture garments. So, I wanted to shoot these pieces as such, bold, avant-garde, and bare––a true welding of the worlds of art and fashion.

check out the full story at lofficielusa.com >>

Echoplex - Goddess of Reverb​ by Natalie Hutton (Melbourne, Australia) // Winner: Avant-garde Section

Spirit Bone​ by Guo Xiao Tong (Beijing, China) // Winner: Weta Workshop Emerging Designer Award

Ernst Haeckel’s Bride​ by Nika Danielska (Wroclaw, Poland) // Runner Up: Supreme WOW Award // Winner: Under the Microscope Section

Chinese Opera by Chan Wai Tung (Hong Kong, China)