Lust Icon : Beyoncé

Who runs the world? Well, who's runnin' the fashion world in this month's W Magazine? Mrs. Beyoncé Carter [that is her name now, right?]. Scantily clad in all the latest Louis Vuitton, Givenchy, and a little Gucci. I'm a little bummed she didn't show her fierceness with the Givenchy Panther Hat, but we do see the Louis Vuitton Masks showed up to the party [mulitple times].

We all know the back story to Beyoncé; puttin' on a show since the day she was born at beauty shops in Houston, establishing herself in Destiny's Child, and a phenomenol solo career in music, fashion, film, and playing wifey to Jay-Z. All the aspects of a Lust Icon.

Beyoncé recently dropped her fourth studio album, 4, and it's yet another classic. Rolling Stone reviews, "Beyoncé has made a career of setting trends, and on 4, she leaves fashionable production styles behind. There's no Eurodisco thump; live instruments take the place of digital beats on many tracks. Half the songs are ballads, but all kinds of sounds filter through the mix - vintage soul, hard rock, reggae, adult contemporary." Has she ever put out a bad album? or video? or performance? 4 stars in my book.

Download these : I Care, Love on Top, Countdown, Run the World [Girls]

Gucci FW12 Sunglasses

I can never get enough of luxury sunglasses. The bolder the better. These babies were featured on the FW12 Gucci runway in Milan and are no exception. I'm in love with the smoke lenses [my favorite lens], the gradient frame, and the strip of metal across the brow. They were also shown in two other colors. Similar to my Balenciaga summer obsession, but it's a square frame vs. the aviator style of the Balenciaga ones. So, it's totally justifiable, right? Keep your eyes glued to the Gucci stores to get your hands on them.

YSL Nappa Leather Biker Jacket

Get your Tom of Finland on in Yves Saint Laurent's Nappa Leather Biker Jacket. The biker jacket in any texture is a staple for every 'Rock Star', even the warm blooded ones like me who rarely wear or splurge on outerwear.


Black nappa leather biker jacket with an asymmetric zip closure, large collar with press stud fastenings, zipped sleeves and three zipped external pockets. Made from supple leather, this tough jacket will age well to become a uniquely personal wardrobe staple. You can scoop this bad boy up on mrporter.com for $5,750.

Or you can lead the gang in trendsetting and go brown, like the two featured below. I like the versatility behind the brown versions. You can roll in the hay with a dirty western look, or keep it rock and roll with a music tee and distressed denim.

Left: Gucci Quilted Leather Biker Jacket. Brown quilted leather biker jacket with front zip, three front pockets, snap fastening collar and underarm and side ribbing. A design classic, Gucci has updated its leather biker jacket as a refined, slim fit piece with hints of '70s retro. $4,200.

Right: Bottega Veneta Leather Biker Jacket. Light brown leather biker jacket with an asymmetric zip closure, three zipped external pockets, press stud closures at the collar and press stud tabs at the hem, collar and cuffs. This lightweight jacket has a slim cut for sharp city cool; team with dark jeans and heavy duty boots for effortless style. $4,700. Both available at Mr. Porter as well.

Givenchy Suede Shoes

Came across these suede beauties on ssense.com. They're already on sale, so probably from a previous season, but I fell in love with the cork soles.

Givenchy Suede shoes in beige with round tapered toe and lace-up closure. Seam detail at heel and cork midsole. $395

Rolex 16220 Oyster Perpetual in Stainless Steel with Roman Markers

Whenever I'm wearing a watch someone is bound to ask me what time it is. Unfortunately for them, I only wear a watch for decoration so it's usually never set to the right time. I'm not a huge watch fan [except for Nick Lachey's Jacob & Co. watch he received from then wife Jessica Simpson] but I can appreciate the luxury behind a Rolex. That, and a friend has harassed me to the point that I've decided to learn more.

Rolex is a Swiss manufacturer of high-quality, luxury wristwatches. They are also the largest single luxury watch brand in the world, producing about two thousand watches per day.

In 1905, Hans Wilsdorf and his brother-in-law Alfred Davis founded "Wilsdorf and Davis" in London. Their main business at the time was importing Hermann Aegler's Swiss movements to England and placing them in quality watch cases made by Dennison and others. These early wristwatches were sold to jewellers, who then put their own names on the dial. The earliest watches from Wilsdorf and Davis were usually hallmarked "W&D" inside the caseback.

Just three years later, Wilsdorf registered the trademark "Rolex" and opened an office in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland. The word "Rolex" was made up, but its origin is obscure. Wilsdorf was said to want his watch brand's name to be easily pronounceable in any language. He also thought that the name "Rolex" sounded like a watch being wound and short enough to fit on the face of a watch. One story, never confirmed by Wilsdorf, is that the name came from the French phrase horlogerie exquise, meaning "exquisite clockwork". In 1919, Wilsdorf moved the company to Geneva, Switzerland where it was established as the Rolex Watch Company. Its name was later changed to Montres Rolex, SA and finally Rolex, SA.

Upon the death of his wife in 1944, Wilsdorf established the Hans Wilsdorf Foundation in which he left all of his Rolex shares, making sure that some of the company's income would go to charity. The company is still owned by a private trust and shares are not traded on any stock exchange.

The company has paved the way for many innovations in watchmaking; automatic and quartz movements, water resistant cases [up to 11,000 metres under water], and the first watch to show two time zones at once.

Probably the coolest piece of history for the company was its involvement in criminal activity in 1996. In a famous murder case, the Rolex on Ronald Platt's wrist eventually led to the arrest of his murderer, Albert Johnson Walker [a financial planner who had fled from Canada when he was charged with 18 counts of fraud, theft, and money laundering]. When Platt's body was found in the English Channel, a Rolex wristwatch was the only identifiable object on the body. Since the Rolex movement had a serial number and was engraved with special markings every time it was serviced, British police traced the service records from Rolex and Platt was identified as the owner of the watch and the victim of the murder. In addition British police were able to determine the date of death by examining the date on the watch calendar and since the Rolex movement had a reserve of two to three days of operation when inactive and was fully waterproof, they were able to determine the time of death within a small margin of error.

The company designs three major lines; Professional, Cellini, and the Oyster Perpetual [pictured in stainless steel with a silver dial and bold Roman markers]. And if Jacob & Co. is more your style, you can find a Rolex adorned with precious jewels, but with far more history and luxury behind it.

Tom of Finland

Touko Laaksonen, best known by his pseudonym Tom of Finland, was a Finnish artist notable for his stylized androerotic and fetish art. He has been called the "most influential creator of gay pornographic images" by cultural historian Joseph W. Slade.

Over the course of four decades he produced some 3500 illustrations, mostly featuring men with exaggerated primary and secondary sex traits: heavily muscled torsos, limbs, buttocks, and large penises. Tight or partially removed clothing showed off these traits, with the penis often visible as a bulge in tight trousers or prominently displayed for the viewer. His drawings frequently feature two or more men either immediately preceding or during explicit sexual activity.

His career began in 1956 when Laaksonen submitted drawings to the influential American magazine Physique Pictorial who later premiered them in the Spring of 1957. The editor of the magazine credited them to Tom of Finland.

Post World War II saw the rise of the biker culture as rejecting "the organization and normalization of life after the war, with its conformist, settled lifestyle." Laaksonen was heavily influenced by images of bikers as well as artwork of George Quaintance and Etienne, among others, that he cited as his precursors. His drawings of bikers and leathermen capitalized on the leather and denim outfits which differentiated those men from mainstream culture and suggested they were untamed, physical, and self-empowered. This is contrasted with the mainstream, medical and psychological sad and sensitive young gay man who is passive.

Laaksonen's drawings of this time "can be seen as consolidating an array of factors, styles and discourses already existing in the 1950s gay subcultures," which may have led to them being widely distributed and popularized in gay culture.

Laaksonen's work had predominantly been segmented to private collectors and collections seen only by consumers who sought out the underground gay pornography industry. With the decriminalization of male nudity, gay pornography became more mainstream in gay cultures. Laaksonen's drawings also came to the attention of mainstream gay communities, and by 1973, he was both publishing erotic comic books and making inroads to the mainstream art world with exhibitions.

By the mid-1970's he was also emphasizing a photorealism style making aspects of the drawings appear more photographic. Many of his drawings are based on photographs, but none are exact reproductions of them. The photographic inspiration is used to create lifelike, almost moving images with convincing and active postures and gestures, while Laaksonen exaggerates physical features and presents his ideal of masculine beauty and sexual allure, combining realism with fantasy.

In the late 1970s, clothes designer Vivienne Westwood appropriated Laaksonen's art for t-shirts which were featured at SEX, the store run by Westwood and partner Malcolm McLaren. The t-shirts were modeled by Sex Pistols bassist Sid Vicious, and became an iconic part of punk history in the process.

In 1979, Laaksonen with businessman and friend Durk Dehner co-founded the Tom of Finland Company, which became the Tom of Finland Foundation dedicated to collecting, preserving, and exhibiting homoerotic artwork. The scope of the organization eventually expanded to erotic works of all types; sponsored contests, exhibits and started the groundwork for a museum of erotic art.

In the late 1990s, the company introduced a fashion line based on his works, which covers a wide array of looks besides the typified cutoff-jeans-and-jacket style of his drawings. The fashion line balances the original homoeroticism of the drawings with mainstream fashion culture, and their runway shows occur in many of the venues during the same times as other fashion companies.

Today you can purchase his book, Tom of Finland XXL,which contains over one thousand images covering six decades of the artists career. The work was gathered from collections across the US and Europe with the help of the Tom of Finland Foundation, and features many drawings, paintings and sketches never previously reproduced. Other images have only been seen out of context and are presented here in the sequential order Laaksonen intended for full artistic appreciation and erotic impact. This elegant oversized volume showcases the full range of Laaksonen's talent, from sensitive portraits to frank sexual pleasure to tender expressions of love and haunting tributes to young men struck down by AIDS.

Completing this collector's edition of the book are eight specially commissioned essays on Laaksonen's social and personal impact by Camille Paglia, John Waters, Armistead Maupin, Todd Oldham, and others, plus a scholarly analysis of individual drawings by art historian Edward Lucie-Smith.

Lust on Film : Milk

Gus Van Sant's 2008 biographical film Milk is the story of gay rights activist and politician Harvey Milk. Milk was the first openly gay person to be elected to public office in California as a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Sadly, Milk was later assassinated in 1978 by fellow City Supervisor Dan White.

Sean Penn gives an amazing performance in the film as Harvey Milk, alongside other amazing performances by James Franco, Emile Hirsch, Josh Brolin, and Diego Luna.

Filmmakers researched San Francisco's history in the city's Gay and Lesbian Archives and talked to people who knew Milk to shape their approach to the era. They also revisited the location of Milk's camera shop on Castro Street and dressed the street to match the film's 1970s setting. The camera shop, which has become a gift shop, was bought out by filmmakers for a couple of months to use in production. Production on Castro Street also revitalized the Castro Theatre, whose facade was repainted and whose neon marquee was redone.

The film received eight Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, Best Actor in a Leading Role, and Best Original Screenplay.

David Gandy by Dolce & Gabbana

Model Lust David Gandy is the feature of a new book in celebration of his career with Dolce & Gabbana. This makes Gandy the first male model to solely star in one of the label's books. A compilation of images from campaigns, shoots, runway shows, calendars, press, and editorials from his career at Dolce & Gabbana that spans back to his discovery by the label in 2005.

I can't wait to get my hands on this and set it on the bookshelf next to my copy of Uomini, a previous celebration of beauty from Dolce & Gabbana that also features Gandy. I've shared some images of the stunning Gandy below. Enjoy!

D&G SS12

Domenico and Stefano bring more color to SS12! The printed silks were a huge part of the collection and I am in definite lust. Model Lust's David Gandy and Noah Mills were on hand as they showed off all the variations of prints presented in multiple structures and paired back to distressed denim [my favorite variation of denim], suede baseball jackets, and bright moccasins. Bello!

DSquared SS12

I'm a big fan of DSquared, clearly, and SS12 was no exception for my boys Dean and Dan. I love the blend of colors, prints, and structures. The entire collection is like a colorful Tom of Finland meets Italian Riviera playboy meets New York's BCBG. Here are a few of my favorite looks from the collection. Plus, it looks like Model Lust Noah Mills was part of the show which is just a sexy bonus.



 

Louis Vuitton Mask

Another favorite accessory from FW12 from our friend Marc at Louis Vuitton. These little masks, shown in white, black, and bronze that adorned the captain's hats on the runway. A welcome little 'edge' to the lace cut outs and tailored blouses.

DSquared Ice Skate Boots

Another amazing accessory from the FW12 shows in Milan. DSquared put their spin on the ice skate with this patent leather stiletto booty. Pretty much amazing. Check out the little wing at the back and the engraved logo along the 'blade'. They also did a knee high boot in white. The black is now available for pre-order at only $1,825 if you want to hit the ice in style. These babies are so hot though, you might fall through melting the ice.

Givenchy Patent Pather Hat

Fresh off the runways of Paris for the FW12 shows, I give you Givenchy's Patent Pather Hat. There isn't a lot of details, since it's not yet available on the market, but it's pretty amazing. I hope I can get my paws on one this fall and that it's big enough to fit my head.