Today's Daily Candy posting of Le Whif chocolate and coffee inhalers reminded me of my visit to Le Labo Shop in the center of Paris last month. I happened upon the tiny storefront on Le Bouloi by accident that afternoon, and, weary and rain-damp, I was immediately energized by the concept of it all. For all the talk of concept shops these days, after all, very, very few hit the mark.
Le Labo is the retail, street-level front of the think tank Le Laboratoire. Founded by scientist-Harvard prof David Edwards, it is literally, a collaborative space for scientists, designers, architects and artists to create and present new tangible ideas exploring culture, humanitarian, economic and educations considerations. David, in fact, is behind the artscience movement, which considers contemporary methods of human creativity via multiple channels and the intersection of art and science.
Among the creative minds on work and on view here are product and furnishings designer Mathieu Lehanneur (who also designed the interior), sound and electronic aritst Ryoji Ikeda and manga artist Junko Murata.
Below ground (entered not through the bright blue stairwell that leads there from the inside of the store, but via an outside door near the entrance) is the real hub of it all, Le Laboratoire. There a kitchen and dining acts as mad culinary lab. It's aptly called Cafe ArtScience. Here is where Le Whif products were apparently conceived, or at least enjoyed. They are coffee and chocolate-based inhalers and sprays designed to provide the satisfaction of the real thing. Something out of the future, indeed, but, like virtual sex or traveling, not sure it's the way I want to enjoy two other of life's greatest pleasures.
There is a mini library of architectural and design books. And beyond doors I almost didn't dare open there is a cavernous space which showcases highly conceptual projects.
The show on view when I was there was out of this world, and I'll post about it next.

Works by more than 170 artists take on the civil rights fight that continues to dog the land of the free, most specifically the situation in California where the honeymoon legalizing marriage between same-sex couples was quickly outlawed when Prop 8 passed in 2008.

During a week when much of this town's focus is on Team Hollywood's craft and what the marketing machines behind those works will reap at the Kodak Theater Sunday night, down the road on Vine, south of Sunset (that most storied spot of broken dreams), the most honest of collaborative art experiences fills a gaping storefront, most recently home to the discount chain Big Lots! (Exclamation the store's, not mine, thrilling as that graveyard to consumerism could be.)

In its wake, the high price of legislating love and marriage is considered through photography, paintings and multimedia assemblages, some of it presented on the fractured sections of a white-clapboard house by Jed Lind. A portrait of Abraham Lincoln there by Scotlund Haisley brings to mind a declaration by that most cherished of civil rights advocates: "A house divided against itself cannot stand."
Case in point why this cause is not limited to homosexuals. This is an equal rights, equal access issue. When we take into account there are fellow citizens who are regarded as a subclass because of some barbaric, anachronistic notions of what is right...well, it's nothing short of wrong. Exceptions are un-American, inhuman.
Unfortunately, even well-meaning supporters continue to frame this as a "gay" issue.

Elaborating that thought is at the heart of Manifest Equality, according to founder Yosi Sergant, who sought to enlist artists who are straight and gay, and artwork that is as much about civil rights as it is about the LBGT community. The 33-year-old Yosi was part of the Manifest Hope movement and art shows in Denver and Washington D.C., which supported Barack Obama's presidential campaign. His enthusiasm got the better of him last fall when he was communications director at the National Endowment for the Arts, and after resigning, rather than sticking his head under a pillow, he decided to continue his activism through cultural engagement.
Yosi, along with event producer Apple Via and publicist Jennifer Gross, engaged collaborators Shepard Fairey, Aaron Rose and the creative crew at Commune Design (including Roman Alonso who designed the inevitably iconic logo), among many, many others, to stage this first Manifest Equality event.
There are some incredible pieces here, many which had already sold by opening night Wednesday.
But the real impact here is the sum of its parts. Why simply viewing the work on the (incomplete) online gallery is not enough. From the heart-shaped string installation outside to the heart-shaped shallow pool installation in a private room (both by the gifted Mike Murphy), it's all about being present.
All proceeds from sales of the artwork and the gems in the pop-up shop benefit Courage Campaign.
Go by day. Or hit tonight's closing night party, featuring performances by Modest Mouse's Isaac Brock, Sea Wolf and Sam Sparro, as well as DJ sets by the Crystal Method. (Hit the ME site to rsvp). Entrance is free. Just don't miss it.


"Manifest Equality," 1341 Vine Street, Hollywood. Open 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. Closes Sunday, March 7 at 6 p.m. FREE.

What's it like to be the subject instead of behind the scenes? That was the question every inquiring mind posed during the two-fer openings for the "The Stylist Project," Kimberly Brooks' new series of portraits of those toiling behind the scenes in the world of style. The fest started with the one-night affair Monday at LeadApron in West Hollywood, preceded Saturday by the gallery opening at Taylor de Cordoba in Culver City, where the show runs through April 3.

Notwithstanding the portrait of actress Ginnifer Goodwin, who played host to Monday's teeming, Oscar-week kick-off along with Dior and Vanity Fair, the dozen women and two men in the series are a motley crew of individuals who have a hand in shaping the fashion scene here, from the red carpet to the silver screen to street style and pop culture. And starry pals came out to chant their praises, among them Christina Hendricks, Lisa Edelstein, Abbie Cornish, Marisa Tomei, Rosanna Arquette, Nia Vardalos, Ariana Huffington and (my fave) Norman Lear.
Most of Kimberly's portrait subjects, in fact, would be hard to pick out in a crowd, since they are little known by name or face. But you likely know their work: Costume designer Nancy Steiner ("The Lovely Bones," "Little Miss Sunshine," "Lost in Translation"); Janie Bryant, the award-winning costume designer behind "Mad Men;" stylists Jeanne Yang (who also designs Holmes & Yang with Katie Holmes) and Andrea Leiberman (who also has her own fashion line, besides consulting on Gwen Stefani's L.A.M.B.).
Jessica Paster is among the pioneers of the celebrity stylists, with an A-list clientele year after year; she bared it all for Kimberly, a show of bravura and wag given what she does for a living.
Others are better known: creative director and fashion plate Liz Goldwyn; stylist-mogul-in-the-making Rachel Zoe, and designer-creative director Jeremy Scott (clad for the portrait in a baroque matador jacket I so covet). Ditto Cameron Silver, known as a trailblazer in making vintage haute, but less so as a consultant to heritage luxury brands and best dressed-list women.
To the fashion-following set, there are certainly the secret celebrities, those who we regard with awe for their consistent skill and artistry: Arianne Phillips, a multi-threat who costume designed Tom Ford's "A Single Man" (he let her do her job folks!), got an Oscar nom for "Walk the Line," and continues her long-time collaboration with Madonna on tour, in editorials and in projects such as the future film on the Windsors.
Or even Katherine Ross, consultant for LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton and, along with her mister, LACMA head Michael Govan, a champion of fledgling fashion and art talent.

Kimberly encouraged everyone to choose the location and clothes they'd be most at home in, giving the project a sense of collaboration (and control for her subjects who are so used to having a bit of it in their own work!). I especially love what she's done with Grace Coddington, who is the first in her second phase of style makers on the east coast.
Kimberly also partnered with designer Clare Vivier on a trio of leather bags benefiting P.S. Arts and featuring fragments of the paintings with Rachel, Jeremy and Janie.

Of course, the most surreal aspect of this all wasn't simply standing inside a gallery looking at the portraits of individuals whom I've known and written about forever. It was being among them, both in the flesh and on canvas. This whole craziness of a project began right after my 40th birthday two years ago, when Kimberly finally convinced me to sit for her. I did so in my treasured Magda Berliner bridal dress. I was uneasy being in front of Kimberly's lens, and not in the least due to the blazing hot August day. Like most of those eventually featured in her series, I'm just more at home behind the scenes.










“Kimberly Brooks: The Stylist Project” runs through April 3 at Taylor de Cordoba, 2660 South La Cienega Boulevard., Culver City.

We've always had a mad crush on L.A. Eyeworks and the visionary crew behind the brand. That whole "visionary" thing is no pun either--they really fit the bill as one of the few fashion-related brands with a truly design perspective. I'm always a wee reluctant to attach the f-word to them, in fact, because despite the edgy insight, L.A. Eyeworks transcends 5-minute trends with frames that are, for lack of a better term, modern classics.

We met with fab co-founder Gai Gherardi and her equally fantastic cohorts Angela Gee and Brent Zerger at company HQ yesterday to talk shop, literally: L.A. Eyeworks will be part of the marvelous new lines we will be introducing at the super-sized A+R store in Venice that we are aiming to open in the next month or so.
With the guidance of Gai and the team, Andy and I put together two capsule collections that are very A+R. Among our selections were frames made with a breakthrough acetate treatment--the surface is scored to look and feel like wood grain. I love the off-white version because it looks a bit like bone.
Can't wait for you to see them.

On my adventures last night (which I will get to posting some time today!), Cameron Silver snapped this pic of us. We'd been chatting about how much we adore Dita Von Teese's manager, Melissa Dishell, and were suddenly inspired to send her a snapshot via Mr. Silver's Blackberry...from the heart of Hollywood to the pulse of Paris. Ah technology...