r.i.p. lou reed

rolling stone has reported that lou reed is dead at the age of 71.

r.i.p. deborah turbeville

victoria guinness, 1983

the staircase,  commes des garçons, passage vivienne, paris, 1980

valentino collection, 1977

from the russian years, 1995-2005

untitled

from the bath house series, 1975

rosima in comme des garçons at vaux le vicomte, france, for parco, 1985

untitled

unseen versailles, 1980

russian series, 1987 

russian series, 1995-2005

untitled

the immensely & brilliantly talented photographer deborah turbeville died yesterday after an eight month battle with lung cancer.  she was 76.  just such an amazing & beautiful eye.  her agent marek milewicz said she was listening to rachmaninoff on her ipod when she passed away.

goodbye, my love

yesterday my best friend for the past 19-20 years left me.  i am beyond devastated.  i realized that she had been with me longer than the time i had with my mom.  i remember the day i got her - it was the first time i had ever purchased a pet from a pet store (and by accident).  i went with a friend to pick up his dogs from the groomer & there she was. this skinny, freaky thing in the middle of two beautiful, fat fluffy kittens.  since the two beauties were already sold, i was assured that a new litter was coming in.  'just feel her fur' the man said, 'she's so soft'.  by then, a small group of people had gathered & as he opened the cage she burst out & jumped into my arms & started purring madly.  when someone tried to pet her & i turned away i knew i was in trouble.  i had to borrow money & put some on a check, some on a credit card - it was ridiculous - but i truly got the deal of a lifetime.

i had two dachshunds & a huge rescued tom cat at the time & that little runt came in & just took over.  it was hysterical to see her straddling this 20 pound tom cat - she was maybe 4 pounds at the time. soon after bringing her home i had a huge crisis & ended up in a hospital - i stopped breathing twice.  when i came home i had lost everything - my business, my friends - it was a super stressful & chaotic time.  my family (t&j) who had been with me since i came to california & had been there when my mom died were suddenly leaving for japan.  it was all happening so fast.  a day before they were to leave t asked me if i wanted him to take misha & sasha with him.  although i loved them immensely, i knew that he was always the better caretaker & in my current situation wasn't sure if they would be safe with me.  it was one of the hardest decisions i ever had to make.  & suddenly i found myself completely alone, family & noise & life gone - just me and kimba. and we settled in.

she moved cross country with me & back. i put her in a little soft case & carried her on the plane with me to new york. upon landing, i unzipped the case maybe a 1/2 inch & boom - she was gone.  i think i literally climbed on top of people, my heart beating at the thought of her getting off the plane, when a man held her up by the scruff asking "looking for this?" of course, she was the star of the plane after that.

we had a health scare a few years back that cost me $6,000.  i had to lie to the vet & say she was younger so they would do the surgery & even though they were reluctant they operated & she was great again.  we moved into a house with a yard so i trained her to walk on a leash & we sat outside quite often watching the butterflies & sunning.  when she was younger we played hide & seek - a holdover from my dogs.  i would hide in the shower & call out & she would run to all the spots she knew i would be - crying out - until i would jump out & yell boo & she would run away.

no matter what i looked like, what i felt like, how happy or sad i was, she was there.  i'm not sure how to go on without her.  i used to joke that if she died, i'd kill her. but, now that it's happened, i'm utterly lost. goodbye my love.

r.i.p. bert stern

self-portrait with marilyn monroe, the last sitting, 1962

sue lyon as lolita for look magazine, 1960

twiggy

jane birkin & serge gainsbourg,  ca. 1970

elizabeth taylor as cleopatra, 1962

cary grant as charlie chaplin for life magazine, december 1963

jean shrimpton for vogue, 1965

iconic photographer bert stern died wednesday at the age of 83.  known for his intimate & raw portraits of marilyn monroe, stern was a pioneer of advertising photography as well as photographing fashion & celebrity. in 1959 stern told a panel of commercial artists that "i like to put my feelings into my photographs." a statement that was considered provocative in its day.  a legendary photographer.

r.i.p. wayne miller

musicians, chicago, 1946-1948

pabst, chicago, 1946-1948

enchanted hills camp for the blind (and these are stars), 1950

pacific theater, WWII, uss saratoga, 1943-1945

girl holding toddler, naples, italy, 1944

walking through alley, chicago, 1946-1948

father & son at lake michigan, 1946-1948

franklin delano roosevelt's funeral, 1945

swimmers, lake michigan, 1947

pacific theater, WWII, uss saratoga, 1943-1945

legendary photographer wayne f. miller, who created a ground-breaking series of portraits chronicling the lives of black americans in chicago & produced indelible comat images of world war II, died wednesday at the age of 94. 

r.i.p. ottavio missoni

ottavio (tai) missoni, who founded the iconic missoni fashion brand with his wife rosita, died this morning at his home in sumirago. he was 92.  wwd has more of this iconic designer.

r.i.p. george jones

with tammy wynette, 1980

george jones, the king of broken hearts, died friday in nashville at the age of 81. r.i.p. possum.

r.i.p. andrée putman

andrée putman in her paris office

doorhandles, hotel particulier, paris, 2003

bathroom of the morgan's hotel, new york, 1984

le concorde

bouches du rhône, lecture hall

ministère de l'éducation, paris, 2002

andrée putman, gap ad

azzedine alaia, boutique, paris, 1985-86

anne fontaine store, staircase

french interior & product designer andrée putman has died at the age of 87. 

she began working in the 1960s for the magazine l'oeil & les cahiers de elle. in the 1980s she was instrumental in rediscovering the work of designers eileen gray, mallet-stevens, pierre chareau, mariano fortuny, rene herbst, jean-michel frank & others, launching ecart international to manufacture these forgotten modern classics.

1984 she designed the interior for ian schrager's morgans hotel in new new york & is credited with designing the first "boutique hotel".  putman has designed the interior of shops for yves saint laurent, karl lagerfeld, theirry mugler, azzedine alaia, cartier, ebel and others. she has worked on projects ranging from movie sets for peter greenaway's pillow book to revamping the concorde interiors for air france.

r.i.p. - oscar niemeyer

contemporary art museum, niterói

metropolitan cathedral

brazilian national congress

museu socar niemeyer

the niemeyer center in aviles, spain

ministry of foreign affairs

palácio do planalto

brazilian architect oscar niemeyer has died at the age of 104.  niemeyer started his career in the 1930s. a student of le corbusier, he developed a distinctive style defined by stark concrete & sweeping curves. he famously once said the stylized swoops in his buildings were inspired by the curves of brazilian women.  "i once wrote a poem about the curve. the curve i find in the mountains of my country, in the sinuousness of its rivers, in the waves of the ocean and on the body of the beloved woman."niemeyer created more than 600 buildings around the world.  i think some of the most beautiful as well.