Botany of Desire
By T MAGAZINE
Handfuls of delightfully whimsical floral jewels as exquisitely alluring as a summer bouquet.
BEAUTY 2015
T’s latest issue celebrates beauty in its many forms. To that end, we’ve rounded up 11 of the most striking models working today — from the youthful Amilna Estevao to the 44-year-old fashion icon Stella Tennant — who epitomize what’s beautiful now. Ashley Brokaw already knows this. As the fashion industry’s leading casting director, she is largely responsible for the latest trend of unusual, unconventional beauties. As on the runway, so in architecture: In a special portfolio, seven leading architects tell us why maligned buildings from Paris to upstate New York are deserving of a second look. Elsewhere, the writer Dan Chiasson sorts through the rusted bicycles and myriad neckties of Robert Rauschenberg, whose archive-in-progress in Mount Vernon, N.Y., is a colorful manifestation of the late artist’s penchant for turning ephemera into art; a trip to Havana, Cuba opens the door to a grand home and cultural meeting place 15 years in the making; Christine Smallwood extols the introduction of so-called outsider artists into major institutions; the novelist and horticulturist Umberto Pasti pens a rumination on the art of gardening; and Natasha Lyonne and John Baldessari cast a critical eye on a zombie gnome and soap made from nightingale droppings. See all stories from this issue >>
HIGHLIGHTS
Robert Rauschenberg’s Endless Combinations
By DAN CHIASSON
A railroad crossing sign and 300 neckties. Dozens of bicycles and a stash of Polaroids. Robert Rauschenberg lived surrounded by the everyday objects he might have turned into art. His archive contains worlds of creative possibility — and is virtually impossible to categorize.
Outside In
By CHRISTINE SMALLWOOD
‘Outsider’ work is finally being welcomed into major institutions, but the sense of difference with which we used to approach it might offer valuable lessons in how to look at all art.
Duro Olowu, Inspired by the World
By EVIANA HARTMAN
The Nigerian-born, British-educated lawyer-turned-fashion-designer merges riotous prints with daring shapes for collections that transcend trends — and global boundaries.
A Dual Review of What’s New Starring Natasha Lyonne and John Baldessari
By T MAGAZINE
Natasha Lyonne and John Baldessari snack on chocolate while assessing a ghastly gnome and gnarly soap.
Gardener, to Thine Own Self Be True
By UMBERTO PASTI
The writer and horticulturist Umberto Pasti believes that to make a garden, you must abandon yourself not only to your surroundings, but to your deepest desires.
An Eye for Color
By T MAGAZINE
Bold strokes of pigment for an avant-garde look fresh from the runway.
Cuba Libre
By JOE DOLCE
For one couple, realizing their dream house as a cultural salon in Havana has been more than a labor of love. It’s been a lesson in patience, perseverance and wild invention.
Seven Leading Architects Defend the World’s Most Hated Buildings
As told to ALEXANDRA LANGE
Can the field’s top minds change the way we think about a doomed housing project in Naples or the most abhorred skyscraper in Paris? Allow them to try.
Julio Le Parc’s Kinetic Energy
By DANA THOMAS
The 86-year-old Op Art legend brings his kaleidoscopic vision to a collection of one-of-a-kind silk scarves for Hermès.
The Misery and Magic of Childhood
By T MAGAZINE
In a cacophony of crisscrossing lines, the artist Janaina Tschäpe finds expression for Stephen Burt’s reflection on the wonderful, terrible weirdness of being a kid.
Ashley Brokaw: Fashion’s Most Unlikely Power Player
By ALICE GREGORY
The odd, unconventional beauty of today’s most successful models is largely the result of the vision of one woman. Meet Ashley Brokaw, fashion’s most unlikely power player.