Tomboy Style

Yves Saint Laurent and his "twin sister" and YSL muse Betty Catroux from Tomboy Style

Women who dress boldly, androgynously – sometimes mixing in men's styles – will resurface and recede as an iconic and oft referenced trend, but never does it go out of style. A new book by journalist Lizzie Garrett Mettler entitled Tomboy: Beyond the Boundaries of Fashion is a "visual history that chronicles the past eighty years of women who blur the line between masculinity and femininity [and] explores the evolution of the style and its icons."

Agnès Varda in China

Agnès Varda is displaying her works at the Hubei Museum of Fine Arts  and the Museum of Fine Arts of Wuhan until May 6 2012. She is displaying several installations, including a portico in bright red in which she has installed her photographs. Agnès Varda is a visual artist and film-maker famous for films such as Cléo from 5 to 7 which made her a burgeoning member of the Nouvelle Vague film movement. However, in the eyes of the Chinese, where she is above all else is a photographer, the same photographer who travelled through the country under Mao, in 1957. The result of this trip is a collection of photographs which have never before been displayed: smiling families wearing Mao suits, female dockers bent under their burdens. The snapshots depict China before the repression.

Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk

Dubbed fashion’s enfant terrible, Jean Paul Gaultier launched his first prêt-à-porter collection in 1976 and founded his own couture house in 1997. Emerging as a designer in the 1970s, he developed his own dress codes that reflected the changing world around him. This dynamic, multimedia exhibition will include 140 haute couture and prêt-à-porter designs created between the mid-1970s and 2010, along with numerous sketches, archival documents, fashion photographs, and video clips that spotlight Gaultier’s collaborations with filmmakers, choreographers, and musicians, most notably Madonna. Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalkwill be on view until August 19, 2012. Photography by Oliver Maxwell Kupper. 

Gered Mankowitz Retrospective

Prolific music photographer and documentarian Gered Mankowitz is to be the subject of a major retrospective exhibition at the Snap Gallery in London. The exhibition features over 100 photographs from Gered’s entire career, spanning four decades of music photography. This is the largest collection of photographs Gered has ever exhibited, and it is his first career retrospective. Gered is best known for his 1960s photographs of The Rolling Stones and Jimi Hendrix, and both subjects feature in this exhibition. During the 60s he also photographed Marianne Faithfull, Georgie Fame, Chris Farlowe, The Yardbirds, Eric Clapton, Small Faces, Donovan, Spencer Davies group and PP Arnold to name a few, before moving into the progressive end of the decade with Free, Soft Machine, Traffic and The Nice. Gered Mankowitz: A Retrospective will be on view until June 16 at the Snap Gallery, 12 Piccadilly Arcade, London.

Schiaparelli and Prada

An amazing, rare pair of vintage Elsa Schiaparelli sunglasses will be on sale May 2 as part of a vintage jewelry sale timed to the opening of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's opening of Schiaparelli and Prada: Impossible Conversations explores the striking affinities between Elsa Schiaparelli and Miuccia Prada, two Italian designers from different eras. Sunglasses like the ones above were made in 1957 for American Optical bear a resemblance to Prada's Spring 2012 collection which also includes pieces decorated with enamel roses. Schiaparelli and Prada: Impossible Conversations will be on view starting May 10 at the Met in NYC.

Helen Shumaker @ The DeYoung

The tremendously talented actress and performance artist Helen Shumaker performing at the DeYoung Museum as part of a series of events called Our People curated by Monique Jenkinson (aka Fauxnique) with a group of performers, most of whom she knows through the queer club scene, to create a dance/installation inspired by the work of Jean Paul Gaultier—"his icons, his fetishes, and a light-hearted, humanistic irreverence." Photograph by Oliver Maxwell Kupper for Pas Un Autre. 

Takashi Murakami Opens Berlin Gallery

takashi_mirakami_gallery_berlin_manga_painting_event_Mahomi_Kunikata

Takashi Murakami opens a gallery in Berlin. The Japanese artist and his company Kaikai Kiki are calling the gallery Hidari Zingaro (named after the Edo period sculptor). The gallery opens in June, but is previewing the space tomorrow to coincide with Berlin's Gallery Weekend and will be marked by an all-day live Manga painting event by Mahomi Kunikata (picture above), known for her explorations of "the otaku culture of sexually explicit manga." Dieffenbachstraße 15, 10967 Kreuzberg, Germany

Liberatum Hong Kong

Liberatum Hong Kong International Festival of Culture opens today and runs through the weekedend. Participants include Khalil Fong, Daniel Wu, Rossy de Palma, Wing Shya, Nobel Laureate Sir VS Naipaul, Paul Schrader, Rosey Chan, Terence Koh, Pharrell Williams, Hong Kong New Music Ensemble, Mike Figgis, OMA Partner – Architect, David Gianotten and many others.