the world according to sherimaven

Good morning, Tuesday. You a steamy one today. Dang.

This weekend I was browsing my favorite local book store- Books and Books in Coral Gables. It's an absolute dream of a bookstore- love strolling through it and checking out all the new titles- they've got fab art and design and photography books in addition to everything else. I for one am very happy they are so close to home- I am not sure I could live without a good bookstore nearby, and that's that.

I really was not planning on buying anything, but could not pass up Judi Linn's photo book of Patti Smith, entitled "Patti Smith 1969-1977". Though I have never been a huge Patti fan, after reading "Just Kids" I became more than vaguely obsessed with her eerie and androgynous beauty and prose. I have always, however, recognized her style as completely fantastic and have always loved her rumpled take on womanhood. I do adore her iconic cover photo for the album "Horses"- a perfect case in point for an undone male/female thing that is altogether sexy and raw and cooler than me, you, and anyone else put together.

 

But the photos of Patti in this book are simply transcendent. I never quite realized how beautiful she really is- and these photos serve as proof to her atypical beauty. Loving the whole look captured in these shots, and though I spoke of dresses yesterday, Patti has inspired me to embrace the masculine side of feminity as well. And that hair is kind of genius, no? I simply love the era these photos capture- Patti is a style icon and love this glimpse into her world.

Not to mention this gorgeous portrait of a young Robert Mapplethorpe, whose dark, yet cherubic beauty is a force. I would love to own this photo, actually, and may hunt it down so I can hang it in my home. Adore the necklaces too. I have a real thing with skulls, naturally.

If you have a chance, page through this very cool book to get up to speed with both sides of our uniquely human conditions-  the male, the female, and everything in between. Cause that's what's up this zygote of a Tuesday in the MIA. Whoever and wherever you are, celebrate your sense of self- it belongs to you and only you, after all.  XO

UPDATE: There's a show of all of this work in New York at Feature Gallery through the 10th. If you live in NYC, you should go to there...thanks to my husband we now know where to see these...