The best word we can think of to describe this year’s Seersucker Social is: flawless. Dandies and Quaintrelles founder Eric Brewer made the whole thing look easy from the 12 mile bike ride through the city streets to the lawn party at Hillwood Mansion where guests lounged throughout the beautiful grounds and enjoyed a live band, refreshing cocktails, and lawn games. The women knocked it out of the park this year with their outfits, which included plenty of straw hats, fans, and parasols. Scroll down to see images of the vintage-inspired fun, and if you took pictures there yourself, don’t forget to upload them to the D&Q flickr pool.

Read the rest of this entry »

We’ve been keeping tabs on Patrick McDonough, one of the DC-based artists we featured in issue three of the magazine. Patrick’s every exhibition is a surprise, a new angle, a new project – from a full-scale, immersive rec room experience to the chance to be a post-mortem recipient of the artist’s tattooed skin. Regardless of these seemingly radical differences, there are common themes to be found in Patrick’s repertoire – most prominently, the existence of artwork that falls on a boundary, such as the meeting of high and low, the meeting of play and do-not-touch fine art, and, in this case, the meeting between interior and exterior, gentrification and its opposite, and more.

We met with Patrick to talk shop about Awning Studies: Florida Ave NE, his latest exhibition that is currently on view in four neighboring art spaces – Conner Contemporary Art, G Fine Art, Industry Gallery, and Open Studio DC – in the H Street NE corridor.

For an in-depth discussion between Patrick and fellow visual artist Kenny George, pick up issue three. Our interview starts below.

Read the rest of this entry »

Svetlana Legetic, Founder of Brightest Young Things

Opening Friday, May 20 from 6pm-2am and running through June 17th, Art Whino’s G40 Art Summit has taken over a decaying television studio on 14th Street and turned it into a 25,000 square foot labyrinth of creative expression.  Hundreds of artists have hung everything from greek-themed wheatpastes to a spraypainted skateboards; three-dimensional woodwork to painted murals; and another hauled in bags of dirt to create an organic garden of electrical wiring.  Our buddies DC51, Albus Cavus, the No Kings Collective, Brightest Young Things–who’s curating special events during G40′s four weeks of life, and many others are all here.  It’s a short time to see a lotta art, but you can do it!

Plus vitaminwater® has nearly 25,000 bottles of their stuff in the parking garage, just waiting to hydrate thirsty art buyers.  If you get a chance, bring your electrolytes to the 2nd and 3rd floors to see my three instant print collages.  While sweating out installations over the past two weeks I took some pictures of G40′s evolution that are the focus of today’s post.  Hope to see you tonight.

Read the rest of this entry »

In preparation for her Hamiltonian Gallery exhibition opening on Saturday, Jessica van Brakle climbed a 13-story high tower crane and hugged its jib. The bonds of affection between woman and steel are evident in her paintings and drawings, which pair natural landscapes with construction cranes that roam the countryside like Brontosaurus. (Make sure to read a Kriston Capps piece about Jessica’s work appearing at Hamiltonian.)

I wonder if she’s jealous of this crane’s operator, 53-year-old Scotty Hankins, who’s worked atop these for nearly two decades. (The Baltimore Sun did a story on him in 1997 during construction of the Ravens Stadium.) What I envy is their fearlessness, as neither Jessica nor the crane commander seemed fazed by the fact we’re dangling 280 feet above wet concrete in a gigantic steel erector set that’s swaying in the wind. Scotty tells me this is the safest place to be in a lightening storm, as the structure is grounded into the Earth below, yet it’s a bright sunny day and everyone can clearly see my knees shaking.  Regardless, even after I kissed the ground (well, plywood on the second floor) my nerves calmed and I couldn’t wait to go up again. It’s a thrilling place to work and I’m just beginning to understand this artist’s obsession with construction cranes.

Read the rest of this entry »

On April 29th, the annual Running of the Brides at Filene’s Basement took place at Mazza Gallerie. This is the second year in a row that Worn has covered this event, and every year we feel a combination of fear and exhilaration at the thought of putting ourselves at risk of bodily injury by attempting to photograph hundreds of brides going after discounted wedding dresses. For anyone that’s ever attended the Running of the Brides, one lesson you quickly learn is: do not get between a bride and her wedding dress. You will go down.

Scroll down for the whole story told through a collection of quotes from brides-to-be, their teams, and even their fathers who sacrificed their sanity to help their daughters find the dress of their dreams.

(Merin Guthrie, Worn Style Editor, interviews a bride’s team waiting in line to run into Filene’s.)

Read the rest of this entry »

In May 2009, This American Life’s Ira Glass, who’s the source of one of my favorite quotes, aired a story about Florida Judge Peter Miller’s unorthodox practice of sentencing first offense misdemeanors to carry a sign that says “I Stole From This Store” at the scene of their crime. Driving through the city of Palatka last week I found 20-year-old Phil, who was about to wrap up a two-hour stint in front of the business he lifted from. Phil didn’t seem embarrassed and was happy to talk to me, plus stand for a (brief) portrait. Watching over him was Putnam County Probation Officer Kathy Pekrul, who’s been handling these cases since the program began in 1996. She’s out there 6-8 times a month and has accompanied hundreds of first-time offenders since Judge Miller started this style of rehabilitation. (In Phil’s case, he was given the choice of holding the sign and doing 20 hours of community service with nothing on his record, or six months probation. He took the sign deal.)

I’m not sure this preventative measure will work for Phil, but it hammered down a lesson for me: carry your camera(s) everywhere.

Read the rest of this entry »

Late Sunday night, President Obama announced the death of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. Minutes later, citizens of D.C., including students, reporters, military, tourists, and anyone awake to hear the news swarmed the White House to show their support for the United States of America and remember the victims of 911. American flags were the accessory of choice for this historic night where expressions of patriotism electrified the air. See the moments Worn captured. (Photography by Nicole Aguirre)

Read the rest of this entry »

The Easter Bunny was born again today in several forms, including a “Peepzilla” spray painted by 9-year-old Max and 11-year-old Laurence (who goes by the tag “eyez”), two students of Gaia‘s mural making class held at The Fridge, an art gallery and performance space nestled in an alley off Barracks Row near Eastern Market.  Gaia, an artist represented by Irvine Contemporary on 14th Street, is best known for his street work depicting hybrid animal and human characters.  I’ve written about him a few times and often cover exhibitions at The Fridge, so I was excited to attend this class, which is the first in a series of three all-ages mural making workshops organized by the Albus Cavus collective.

Like many street artists I’ve met, Gaia prefers not to have his face photographed and put into public domain.  As you can see on his website, he takes legal risks with his work.  So the images of him in this blog post are largely anonymous.  Other artists I’ve talked to in DC have a certain respect for Gaia because he’s known for going places where others might not.  I don’t mean illegal, I mean bad parts of town.

Read the rest of this entry »

This year’s competitors in the Des Alpes Chocolate Fashion Show, minus Scarlett O’Hara, who was still under works.  Among the many creations here are a wolf’s head made from a bike helmet covered in chocolate, a white chocolate pug with a rice krispy treat base and a dress assembled entirely with molded sugar jewelry held together by fishing line.  I also learned what choux buns are.  Can you spot them on King Arthur?  Photos: Joshua Yospyn

Sweet Charity proved once again to be the most delicious fashion show around. Photographing for Washingtonian this time, I checked into the Mandarin Oriental Hotel and chewed up cocoa style with my camera.  Of course I was privately cheering for team CoCo. Sala, who won last year’s competition and was a feature story of Worn Magazine’s second print edition, but the judges ruled for Gretel (model Caitlin Olson and pastry chef Shaun McCarty of the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center stand top right center).  Winning the Des Alpes Chocolate Fashion Show is no easy feat, it takes weeks of preparation and the judges rank competitors on their workmanship, originality and percent of edible parts, among other qualifications.  Most impressive was how everyone made it onto the runway without any major problems, although I did see a broken battle axe before stage time.  Hats off to all the chefs, their models and teams.  Hope to see you again next year.

Read the rest of this entry »

Kassie Rempel, Owner and Founder of Simply Soles | Photo: Joshua Yospyn

Last week I sat down with Kassie Rempel, Founder of Simply Soles, amid the wonderfully organized chaos of her Georgetown store/office. While we’ve featured interviews with artists and designers, Kassie is first and foremost a businesswomen, and one to learn from.

Worn: How did Simply Soles get started? You had the typical nine to five job and then said “well, I’m going to start a shoe catalog”?

Read the rest of this entry »