Wotcha, lads. Since my empty bank account has forced me to abandon my hope and social life, I haven't had many weekly WTF experiences to report. However, my internet connection is mercifully still intact, so allow me to introduce my new "series" which I can comfortably author from the confines of my living room...Berlinspiration!
This week, I'm a wee bit addicted to the enviable wardrobe of model/designer/Audrey Hepburn doppelganger Nicole Roscher, which is conveniently showcased in Berlin-based artist Gabriel Shalom's 'audio-visual EP' Faces of N. The concept is pretty straightforward; pretty girl with great style dresses up, artist samples and synthesizes the sounds made by said pretty girl and her clothes as she dresses, everything gets cut up and mashed around in the edit to create the flickering equivalent of a fashion strobe light.
I'll admit, I'm not quite sure what, if any, deep artistic merit Faces of N holds, and the hyper-minimal, glitchy breakbeats pain my techno-hostile ears. But despite clawing desperately for the volume control, I'm transfixed every time I play it. Everything about Roscher's look - her Winona in Girl Interrupted pixie crop, pearls and peach 30's girl about town get-up, faux (I hope) fur ponytail and what looks suspiciously like a Jacobean ruff poking out of her diamante skull sweater - screams uncompromisingly of Berlin.
Roscher plays with high fashion, nu-goth, trad vintage and punk twists on sport lux which, teamed with her signature micro fringe and lashings of kohl, creates looks that stare you straight in the eyes and state flatly in a Teutonic monotone 'I don't give a fuck what you think. I'll do, wear and say what I want, and look beyond fabulous in the process." Her style is abrasive, unconventional and just a tiny bit polished around the edges - much like the spirit of the city itself.
The Faces of N series can be seen in full here. Be warned; the rapid-flash nature of the video and hardcore buzzing/bleeping is a potentially headache inducing experience. Best to watch it on mute, just in case.
Bis bald,
Betti Baudelaire xxx
