Excuse us while we gush! In addition to our usual lineup of cool, arty antics, this weekend includes a VERY special event indeed. l'étoile founder/creative director Beth Hammarlund and l'étoile advertising guru Brian Gioielli are tying the knot this Saturday and we couldn't be happier. Two of the most adorable, hilarious and good-natured peeps we've ever had the pleasure of knowing, Beth and Brian have set the bar of cute coupledom so high, the rest of us are surely doomed. Congrats B&B, we love you long time!
xo-l'étoile
Photo by Rhea Pappas
ALSO THIS WEEK ON L'ETOILE
LOL/OMG! Kate and Jahna party with Pete Campbell from Mad Men
Beth Hammarlund reviews the Pale Rider Fashion Show
Susannah Dodge snaps pix at Cliche's Crosswalk event
Jahna Peloquin reviews Joynoelle's Spring/Summer 2011 Show
Jahna Peloquin and Lauren Gantner update our Sales & Shopping Guide
THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 30TH (THROUGH SATURDAY)
Twin Cities Film Festival
@ Various Locations
Twin Cities
Chilly weather is officially here (sigh), but what better way to avoid it than geeking out with some of the year's best indie films in a cozy theater? That’s right, the first Twin Cities Film Festival is upon us, which means that you have through Saturday to catch some of the biggest fall studio films (Fair Game, Waiting for Superman, Secretariat) in advance, as well as several international and Minnesota-made independent films under most audiences’ radars. Highlights include Phasma ex Machina, Minnesota director Matt Osterman’s exploration of how far one will go to bring someone back; Mexican thriller Sin Retorno (No Turning Back), the story of to lifelong friends given the opportunity to have “everything” overnight; and Nowhere Boy, a portrait of John Lennon’s childhood and rise to fame. Tonight, among other things, head to the Fine Line Music Cafe for Music in Motion, a fun filmy party that includes live bands and a smattering of Minnesota-made music videos. An added bonus: several directors will be present at screenings throughout the weekend!
Click HERE for the full schedule, locations and more
Phasma Ex Machina Trailer from Phasma Ex Machina on Vimeo.
THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 29TH (THROUGH SUNDAY)8th Annual Spark: Festival of Electronic Music and Arts
@ Various venues
West Bank
Minneapolis
4:30 p.m. to 2 a.m. / Free
The creators behind MPLS' experimental-driven Spark Festival know that a beat isn't always just a series of sounds and tones and that a light board is more than just visually pleasing; they are the elements of an art-tastic revolution. This weekend, join a plethora of multi-talented, local and international new media artists for a celebration as organic and it is improv-friendly. Now in it's 8th year, the festival showcases freaky, beautiful and groundbreaking works of dance, music, theater and art. One of the venues – known simply as the Love Power Church – boasts 3 converted levels of art and sound installations. Feast your eyes and ears on artbots, trippy videos, electroacoustic performances and theatrical choreography all weekend long, not to mention get down and electronic-y with danceable sets from DJs and tons of noise & industrial concerts that will carry attendees well into the night hours. With guests Furt, the Talea Ensemble, The Friction Brothers, Acid Circus, Vultures, performances from the recipients of the 2010 Art(ists) on the Verge 2 commission and oh-so-much more!
Click HERE for the full schedule and more info
Interactive installation from Spark Festival 2009
Building Music at Spark Festival 09 from Play the Magic on Vimeo.
FRIDAY ART PICK: THE COOL HUNTER
What's l'etoile looking at this week?
An oldie but goodie! When it comes to tracking down all things eye-poppingly hip, the team of sharpshooters at The Cool Hunter are the best of the best. Particularly savvy art, architecture, design, gadgets, ads, transportation, bars, fashion, and more are highlighted on this site, founded in 2004 by the original Cool Hunter, Bill Tikos. The site even has a section called "Treelife," a massive photo montage of live-in tree houses all over the world (We want one!). We also recommend you check out the new Audi billboard they hunted down this week. Like everything else on the site, it's so cool you just might freeze.
Click HERE for the Cool Hunter site
FRIDAY OCTOBER 1ST (THROUGH HALLOWEEN)
The Haunted Basement
@ Soap Factory
514 2nd St NE
Minneapolis
6 p.m. to Midnight / Thursdays-Sundays / 18+ / $20
Back for its fourth annual installment, the Soap Factory's Haunted Basement is, as always, the can't-miss event of the Halloween season. More psychological and mind-bending than your typical guy-in-a-monster-mask haunted tour, the Soap pulls out all the most disturbing stops to scare the living daylights out of those who dare enter. You'll explore the expanse of the sprawling art gallery's dark, dank underbelly through sensory deprived passageways, equilibrium-bending whirlygigs and creepy artist-crafted vignettes. Each twist and turn seems to uncover a new mind-fuck, specifically designed to inspire the most epic of nightmares. But keep your wits about you and bring your puzzle-solving skills along--this labyrinth of terror becomes increasingly difficult to traverse towards the end. 20 people stuck single-file in a dead end maze is a recipe for trampling if we've ever heard one. Our personal advice? Wear comfortable shoes and an adult diaper, you'll thank us later. The Haunted Basement runs Thursdays-Sundays now through Halloween and advance tix are highly recommended, as this event sells out every year.
Click HERE for the Soap Factory site
FRIDAY OCTOBER 1ST
Jon Langford and Mark Davison
@ Rogue Buddha
357 13th Avenue Northeast
Minneapolis
7 p.m. / Free
In the hands of ceramicist Mark Davis, found and discarded objects are given a surprising and inventive after-life, literally and figuratively. Intricate and precious, each piece reflects the artists’ thoughts and feelings of illness (he’s been HIV positive for 23 years), religion and death, as well as a creative process abetted and inspired by his studies of urns, reliquaries, shrines and burial masks across many cultures. Jon Langford’s “song-paintings” also express notions of death; publicity-shot portraiture and imagery from folk art, Dutch still life, classic Western wear, and the cold war are fused together in commentary of the death-dealing tendencies of American culture (the embrace of capital punishment, the death of authentic music at the hands of mass-market drivel). Muse with the two of them Friday, when their collaborative exhibit opens at Rogue Buddha.
Click HERE for this art event and more at mplsart.com
FRIDAY OCTOBER 1ST
When Tru$t is the New Money
@ XyandZ Gallery
3258 Minnehaha Ave S
Minneapolis
7 p.m. / Free
Known for their colorful, large-scale murals masterfully splattered across walls and architectural structures across Minneapolis, local artists John Grider and Mike Fitzsimmons (aka Broken Crow) are back with a new ambitious challenge – condensing their immense imagery to the confines of an intimate gallery space. For When Tru$t is the New Money, the duo's aggresso-style painting and hyper-detailed stencil work blends with reoccurring themes of anthropomorphic humanoids and animals for a vivid showcase that explores a futuristic world where money is obsolete and trust is the new currency. These boys never disappoint!
Click HERE for this art event and more at mplsart.com
Check out a sneak peek of the show below...intense!
FRIDAY OCTOBER 1ST
2009-2010 MCAD/Jerome Fellowship Exhibition
@ MCAD Gallery
2501 Stevens Ave
Minneapolis
6 p.m. to 9 p.m. / Free
Every year, five fortunate and talented Minnesota artists are chosen to receive the generous Jerome Fellowship for Emerging Artists. The promising, edgy batch of artists granted the 2009-2010 fellowships will put the fruits of their labors on display tonight at MCAD Gallery. Witness Steven Accola's ambiguously lyrical acrylic works, Caroline Kent’s vast mixed media pieces, Tony Sunder’s creatively altered objects, and collaborative painters Tynan Kerr’s and Andrew Mazorol’s figurative pieces.
Click HERE for this art event and more at mplsart.com
Art by Caroline Kent
FRIDAY OCTOBER 1ST
Get Cryphy
@ Record Room
701 1st Ave. N
Minneapolis
10 p.m. / 18+ / $5
We know, we know. The amazing assortment of dance parties in this city is almost overwhelming. It takes just as much brain power to figure out which one to go to as it does to pick out your outfit for the evening (a very important component!). Tonight's edition of Get Cryphy features the kick-ass sounds of Plain Ole Bill, Fundo, and Last Word, hosted by Prof.
Click HERE for the Facebook event
FRIDAY OCTOBER 1ST
Hotel
@ Kitty Cat Klub
14th & 4th
Dinkytown
10 p.m. / 21+ / Free
The Hotel is open! Head down to the Kitty Cat Klub tonight for this monthly dance off featuring DJs Famuel and Slamdunkapher along with host with the most, Jonathan Ackerman. Sip some dranks, shake your stuff and enjoy while killer DJs throw down some viciously hot jams for just you. Drink specials, sexy peeps and good times await.
Click HERE for the Facebook event
COOL LINK: TAVI GEVINSON
If you haven't yet discovered fashion prodigy/culture mini-hound that is 14-year-old Tavi Gevinson, read ahead! As one of fashion's most refreshingly real and excitingly keen bloggers, Gevinson breathes an unpretentious Addie Loggins flavor into her poetic style reviews, designer spotlights and fashion party coverage. Littering her posts with whip-smart additives, a highly impressive vernacular, a veteran's eye of couture and so many obscure references to 60's fashion ads, mythology, 90's TV shows and pop culture esoterics that readers can't help but endlessly speculate on how the pint-sized critic got so incredibly cool. When she's not hanging with eccentric designers and models and being gifted Rodarte tights (eek!), Gevinson can be found bobbing to the beat of eccentricity herself, sporting capes, granny cardigans and oversized hats exclusively ripped from the racks at the Salvation Army – her shopping boutique of choice – or making a hilarious “ode to” rap video about one of her favorite designers, Rei Kawakubo and carrying on social life that varies between “a Daria mind-set and Atticus Finch” in her Chicago suburb. Her blog, The Style Rookie, is one of our daily stops, not to mention an awesome window into the psyche of a young culture junkie. To hell with her tween-y age; Tavi Gevinson, be our BFF!
Click HERE for the Style Rookie site
SATURDAY OCT 2ND
Cirque du SoGAY II
@ Minnesota AIDS Project
1400 Park Avenue South
Minneapolis
2 p.m. / $5
Get your bikes and spandex ready: Cirque du SoGay is back, and this year promises to be even harder, faster, and more satisfying (prize-wise, that is) than ever. Queer Bike Gang, the group that brought you beach rides, queer breakfasts, and safe sex kits is behind this bicycle scavenger hunt, launching Saturday from Minnesota AIDS Project. Win prizes from Surly, Freewheel, The Hub, Fireroast Mountain Café, and be jazzed about free gifts from Pizza Luce, Peace Coffee, Red Stag, and Bike Porn (including a copy of Luke Woodward’s bike porn, Tour du Pants). An awards ceremony, queerformances, and a after/dance party will follow. So, sign up (duh). In the gang’s own, perfectly-put words: Cirque is “the most wonderful time of the Queer.”
Click HERE for the Facebook event
SATURDAY OCTOBER 2ND
Threshold: Tara Costello
@ Rosalux
1224 NE 2nd St
Minneapolis
7 p.m. / Free
Plaster, raw pigments, wax, graphite and oil swirl and collide in Tara Costello’s latest collection of paintings, opening Saturday at Rosalux. Titled Threshold, the exhibit features quite the continuum of canvasses, from the most enigmatic of minimalist paintings to full-blown, multi-layered landscapes. Lush with spontaneous textures, each piece reflects an emotional experience, and compellingly so; the reactions between materials are as curious and evocative as the image itself. Go and be sucked in; even if the aesthetics don’t get you, the heart of Costello’s work will. Seeking to find beauty in the unexpected!
Click HERE for this art event and more at mplsart.com
SATURDAY OCTOBER 2ND
DULUTH! A Love Story
@ Cult Status Gallery
2913 Harriet Ave S
Minneapolis
8 p.m. / Free
When gallery own Erin Sayer lived in Duluth during her Grad school days, she ran an art co-op in the Norshor Theatre called The Duluth Artists' Guild, where she met tons of fantastic Duluth artists and innovative creators. Tonight, don't miss as Sayer and Cult Status play gracious host to a few of the old Duluth art guild cronies including artists Sarah Heimer, Max Moen, Chris Monroe, Jim Richardson and Eris Vafias. The exhibit is a charming love letter from Sayer to Duluth's flourishing art scene and is a steady reminder that Minnesota visionaries expand far beyond our pretty little bubble in Minneapolis proper.
Click HERE for this art event and more at mplsart.com
SATURDAY OCTOBER 2ND
Dark Dark Dark / Roma di Luna CD Release Parties
@First Avenue
701 First Ave
Minneapolis
6 p.m. / 18+ / $10
Dark Dark Dark and Roma di Luna, two of the scene's best indie-folkers, come together for a dual CD-release show at First Avenue on Saturday night. All that talent bundled up in one place is truly gonna blow minds and hearts. As Roma di Luna's press kit states "Love is a friendship set to music." It is obvious that that love is too big not to share - from their humble beginnings as street musicians in downtown Minneapolis, to captivating a packed mainroom with perfectly timed arrangements and pipes that make the hair on the back of your neck stand up, Alexei and Channy Moon Casselle are poised for a major breakthrough. And Dark Dark Dark...we've got such a band crush on them that we can use a myriad of descriptors - haunting, cinematic, stunning...but what is most fascinating about them is that all the words in the world wouldn't be able to grab the feeling you get from listening to their music. Their live shows have everybody in the house transfixed, swaying, and always wanting more. Up and comer Caroline Smith and the Goodnight Sleeps opens.
Click HERE for the First Ave site
City of Music: Roma di Luna from MPLS.TV on Vimeo.
SATURDAY OCTOBER 2ND
The Playa Unwind
@ Honey
205 E Hennepin Ave
Minneapolis
8 p.m. / 21+ / Free
Didn't get to satiate your burner's desires this year? Don't despair! Tonight, Minneapolis collective The Flared Bass brings the theatrical spirits of the Burning Man Festival to NE's neck of the woods for a night of epic proportions: The Playa Unwind. If you just got back from Burning Man, don't pack up your costumes just yet; if you didn't go, dust something zany off. Tonight's affair is the perfect opportunity to relax, decompress and let flashbacks (or fantasies) of crazy BM adventures and giant insect art sculptures fill the air. Enjoy action painting by Ha Na and Linnea, body painting a la Brant Kingman, interactive photography and video art and – because it wouldn't be a mock Burning Man celebration without them – DJs, DJs and more DJs spinning decadent chilled out tunes. Fur and LED-laced costumes welcome!
Click HERE for the Facebook Event
Editor in Chief: Kate Iverson // Contributors: Juleana Enright, Tara Sloane, Lauren Gantner, Natalie Gallagher, Kate Iverson, Robyn Lewis, Jahna Peloquin
Up first, Everine's collection boasted a wealth of separates. Though the full looks were wearable, the coats, vests, blouses, ponchos, skirts and trousers will be sure to generate consumer interest as individual items. She opened her collection with a sheer floaty shirtdress in a pale paisley - a look that was both unconventional and accessible. The dress would satisfy tomboys and girly girls alike, paired with either vintage T-strap heels or broken-in cowboy boots.
A cropped drop-crotch pant in a slim cut and a fringed side seam led the transition to a modern take on traditional western wear. In this part of the collection, fur and leather details accented flirty, feminine looks and tailored women's suiting.
The finale look, a show-stopping quilted suit with exaggerated shoulders and wide-leg trousers accessorized with a fur ushanka-style hat, echoed both Julie Christie and Katharine Hepburn. The result made the impending Minnesota winter seem positively appealing.
Raul Osorio, known for his impeccable menswear, presented an equally successful dive into womenswear. Romantic lace blouses were paired with neatly cut shorts and skirts, upholding the evening's trend of sellable separates. A clever black bolero jacket and matching high-waisted skirt would satisfy a wide range of consumers without requiring the designer to compromise his trademark aesthetic.
An antique gold lace shirtdress with cascading ruffles was one of the evening's stand-out pieces. Interestingly, instead of pairing the piece with a coordinating slipdress, the styling team layered the dress over a pair of black biker shorts. Although it wasn't immediately noticeable, the choice referenced current ambitious runway trends.
The finale piece, a high-collared pink lace gown with tiered ruffles echoed American designers such as Ralph Lauren, renowned for his ability to reference the Old West in contemporary gowns. Osorio's interpretation was stunning.
Osorio seems to possess an innate understanding of silhouette. He can take a little black dress and turn it into a statement piece without sacrificing versatility. His challenge lies in his trousers. One look which paired tight white high-waisted pants with a bustier top was particularly unforgiving. Though beautifully made, the cuts and fabrics can be difficult to wear. It would be interesting to see him play with a wider variety of cuts in the future.
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