We Love You So – Where The Wild Things Are – Spike Jonze

In a refreshing departure from both contrived celebrity fashion shoots and impersonal street safari style sites, Backyard Bill is a blog that showcases the personal predilictions of regular ol’ chic people. Choosing one subject for each post and then shooting them in beautiful real-world environments wearing their own clothes, photographer William Gentle creates delicate, naturalistic images that elevate to an art the seemingly simple genre of fashion portraiture.

Following each beguiling photo essay with a brief interview, Gentle’s work teases us with brief, yet somehow intimately revealing glimpses into the lives of these dapper New York denizens. Backyard Bill draws easy comparisons to stunning interior decoration documentary blog The Selby, whose eponymous creator, Todd Selby, has his own photo shoot on Backyard Bill.

When I spotted Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner at the Hollywood Farmer’s Market, I couldn’t help but notice that one of the four kids with him was randomly dressed in a tuxedo. “Maybe he just came from church,” a friend suggested, but then why would he be the only one dressed so dapper? The only plausible explanation was that this precocious boy was just constantly stylish, channeling the effortless suavity of Don Draper himself. My hopes were confirmed upon the discovery of GQ’s profile of eight-year-old Arlo Weiner, complete with Arlo’s satorial commentary on mixed patterns, ascots, turning bathrobe belts into neckties, and the juxtaposition of red against black. He’s got his old man’s eye for detail!

This weird little gem of an image was unearthed in a stack of old Interview magazines that were headed for the recycle bin. Part of a 2004 children’s lit-themed spread called “Once Upon a Time in Fashion,” which also pays tribute to Madeline, Eloise and The Hardy Boys, the photo was shot by Cleo Sullivan with set design from rad illustrators Yuko Shimizu and Sam Weber. The caption reads:

Who’d have thought that this season’s fashion wild card would remind one of Maurice Sendak’s wild things? Clothes by Jean Paul Gaultier. Shoes by Cesare Paciotti.

Just another testament to Where the Wild Things Are’s insanely far cultural reach, to say nothing of its tendency to illicit widely varied, incongruous tributes.

And one more thing: this behind the scenes photo from Yuko Shimizu’s site. Posting without comment.

Hartmann Nordenholz is a German-Austrian fashion label founded by boy-girl duo Filip Fiska and Agnes Schorer in Vienna. How to describe their aesthetic? Fluid, to start. The collections shift hugely from season to season, from futuristic tea frocks to funereal poof dresses.

Autumn/Winter 2009/10 brings cozy layered knits in undulating shapes, splattered and sprayed with a palette that’s pure Blade Runner. These are clothes for romping, going to the moon, scaling dangerous surfaces or appearing on Sesame Street.

For those who can’t make it to the Paris collections, it’s all documented on the Hartmann Nordenholz website.

The hardest part of writing a blog post about multimedia artist Carl Kleiner is choosing which pictures to share. Since nearly everything he makes is stunningly beautiful, it’s difficult to determine which images best highlight his genius. Should I post his photographs of everyday objects arranged to produce mind-melting geometric shapes? What about his graceful and stirring series of paper airplane photos? And then there’s the creepy life-size Barbie dolls haunting the uncanny valley with their human faces, and the cute series of self-portraits that features Kleiner trimming his Parent Trap-style imaginary twin’s moustache. And his playfully odd yet classy fashion photography! It’s all so brilliant– so stop reading my gushing hyperbole and go see for yourself.

I came across divine t-shirt designer Milton Carter’s site through an interview he conducted with The Fiery Furnaces’ graphic designer, Mike Reddy (Reddy’s work is rad too– especially his illustrated interpertation of the aforementioned band’s Blueberry Boat record). Carter’s t-shirts and bags are explicitly nautical, tropical, mellow and beachy, exuding an air of respect towards the natural world. With Ed Hardy T-shirts littering the fashion landscape, graphic T’s in general have become increasingly scrutinized– but luckily Carter’s work never crosses over into cheaply ironic or needlessly ostentatious territory, favoring simplicity in design over pointless rococco flair.

Hello, Brute is the brainchild of Portland-based designer Jon Knox. Employing a cast of adorably droopy-eyed pseudo-anthropomorphic fashion-forward young fellas, Knox has constructed a veritable universe of saccharine saturated sherbet-colored cuteness. Through pencil drawings, paintings, skate decks, t-shirts and limited edition toys, Knox’s characters are poised to take over the world, Takashi Murakami-style. Hello, Brute is like the hipster Precious Moments, minus the greeting card platitudes and creationist undertones. Check out this rad recent Hello, Brute release: a pair of wild thing-esque custom toys sculpted by Toronto creature-makers We Kill You.