A germinal figure in the history of fashion, Issey Miyake’s generous and influential contribution to the industry is impossible to overlook. The designer, who sadly passed away from liver cancer at the end of last week, was instrumental in shaping fashion today, championing an approach that celebrates the beauty of the unconventional. Miyake relentlessly expanded…
An instrumental figure of postwar American painting, throughout his illustrious seven-decade career, Sam Gilliam, who passed away aged 88 earlier this week, reinvented and consistently reimagined abstract painting and sculpture. Thoughtfully combining rich amalgamations of form, texture, and material to forge his inventive compositions, his work has had a powerful influence on generations of contemporary…
On a chilly winter’s morning in 1983, beside various other street vendors in New York’s East Village, artist David Hammons peddled snowballs of various sizes to curious passers by. He carefully arranged the icy spheres out on a woven rug in graduated rows and spent the day acting as a salesman. He dubbed the short-lived…
Upon crossing the threshold from the street into the courtyard workshop of Doña Viviana Alávez, the first thing that strikes you is the inviting aroma of beeswax, filling the air with a warm scent akin to that of sweet honey. Alávez tells Something Curated, “The smell of beeswax still makes me smile today after all…
Though Black fashion designers have consistently pushed the industry’s barriers, expanding sartorial paradigms through diverse and critically engaged practices, Patrick Kelly was undoubtedly a true pioneer. His confident and vivid creations stood out on the streets, in nightclubs, and particularly on the runways of the 1980s. His uninhibited vision resulted in Kelly becoming the first…
While the notion of cave dwelling may ordinarily invoke images of the dark and dingy, one extraordinarily dedicated desert sculptor has created a series of spaces that challenge expectations of underground living through meticulous craftsmanship and architectural beauty. Ra Paulette, a New Mexico-based artist and subject of the 2014 Oscar-nominated short documentary Cavedigger, has been…
American fashion journalist, stylist, creative director, and former Editor-at-Large of Vogue magazine, André Leon Talley was an exceptional Black figure in an industry that was notoriously elitist and often times discriminatory. Celebrated as a truly singular style icon, he is widely credited for his advocating of diversity in the world of fashion. Earlier today, aged…
African American scholar and activist, bell hooks’ wide-ranging works examine the connections between race, gender, and class. One of the most impactful crossover academics of the late twentieth century, hooks published more than 30 books and numerous scholarly articles, appeared in documentary films, and participated in public lectures. The ground-breaking thinker passed away last week,…