SKAGGS

An interview with NYC’s self-titled Mexican Socialite, Set Designer and style guru Manuel (Manny) Norena. From his colorful upbringing in Mexico (think bodyguards and palatial digs) to the calm of Salt Lake City, Manny tells us about his work, his loves, and his sizzling-hot tips on doing Summer Manny Style. Plus, he dishes the dirt on working with SKAGGS. Yes, we’re brave enough to publish it. Just remember, you heard it here first!

Manuel Norena AKA Manny AKA The Most Remarkable Set Designer in New York City — tell us about yourself!
My name is Manuel Norena and I’m located in Downtown Chinatown in beautiful New York City. I love the craziness of China Town and how nobody speaks English and the fact that I can actually leave my house and not get recognized. [We forgot to add Manny also moonlights as a celebrity about town—Ed.]
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I’m all about random designer luxury goods. Not so much the handbags, umbrellas and cell phone cases. More like KVD’s Chanel Surfboard and my Mark Jacobs Bean Bags (courtesy of Cara). I see them not as luxury goods - but more like works of fashion art. When I came across Peter Gronquist’s latest exhibition at the Gallery 1998 in LA, I positively leapt out of my chair with glee. Weapons aren’t really my thing BUT I will make an exception for the Chanel Rocket Launcher, The Prada AK47 and of course the Louis Vuitton Chainsaw.

Just when I thought that the video game world couldn’t get any better, it was announced this week that Karl Lagerfeld, hater of children, lover of fish and creator of some of the most beautiful pieces today, will be playing a role in the much anticipated Grand Theft Auto 4. He’ll DJ on air at the game’s K109 The Studio station. Rockstar Games has produced a Lagerfeld animation and players will be able to listen to him spin as they play the game.

Players can pick from multiple radio stations for the soundtrack, ranging from licensed songs to new ones. Lagerfeld picked his favorite electronica and dance music and peppered the selection with some of his rapid-fire commentary.
“They had written a politically incorrect dialogue,” the designer said. “I loved it, [particularly] in a time when everybody wants to be so politically correct when they talk.”He didn’t have to dig too deep to find his music selection. “Music is part of the life of fashion, too,” he said. “Through the famous sound stylist Michel Gaubert, I’m very much ‘au courant’ and know what’s going on.”

[Source]

Anybody that’s played GTA4 knows that the radio station ads and commentary are absolutely hilarious at times. Couple that with “Uncle Politically Incorrect” and you’ve got one hell of a soundtrack for running wild on the streets of Liberty City.
Absolutely.Can’t.Wait.

From designer divas and celebrity stylists to snooty editors and glamazon models, fashion photography in New York City is a notoriously cut-throat business. So what sorts the men from the boys? We straightened our shoulders, sucked in our paunch, and struck our best pose to ask RICK HAYLOR about life in the fashion fast lane, what it’s like backstage at Mercedes-Benz NYC Fashion Week, and how to pull off the perfect pout.

Rick Haylor… the man, the myth, the legend – tell us about yourself!
Well you can start by calling me Grant. Unbeknownst to many that’s my real name…Grant Ricky Haylor but everyone calls me Rick… even my parents! (eds note: Noway!) Seriously! It’s on my passport and birth certificate. I was born in Kent, lived in London and I’ve lived in Soho, NYC for the last 10 years.

How did it all begin?
Well I was born first of all, yes my mother gave birth to me. Just kidding…
The honest truth is that I was very close to becoming a pro golfer. From a young age I loved sports and started playing golf with my Dad (also an avid golfer). I actually ended up doing very well on the junior circuit but broke my wrist playing football (soccer) and had to pack it in. At the same time it was getting very close to Christmas and I needed extra cash to buy gifts. A friend said I could earn money working at a hair salon, sweeping the floor and helping out. Can you imagine?! I went from being sports mad and getting up at the crack of dawn to play football with the lads, to fashion, hair and beauty, it was a whole new world. The Christmas job worked out great and they offered me a position full time.
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I came across Visionaire’s latest must have, a little late for Xmas but it’s a very cool gift for anybody that loves music. It’s basically a portable record player with over 100 minutes of sound on five 12” vinyl record picture discs and 2 CDs

Visionaire 53. SOUND will consist of five 12-inch vinyl records, imprinted with images (picture discs), containing approximately 100 minutes of sound content featuring audio experiments, unreleased songs, samples, and spoken word pieces. The 5 records are packaged inside a domed case that also houses a custom-made MINI Clubman “Vinyl Killer” Record Player: a battery-operated toy car containing speakers and a needle.

It’s also got a stellar contributers list made up of those in music, art and fashion: David Byrne, U2, Courtney Love, Cat Power, Yoko Ono, Helmut Lang, Christian Marclay, Doug Aitken, Carl Michael Von Hausswolff; Hiroshi Fujiwara; Karl Lagerfeld, Alexander McQueen, Stefano Pilati and many more.

Ok, I promise that is my last Kate Moss post of 2007. The SHOWstudio website and blog always have amazing fashion footage and I think their whole concept of “fashion live” is fantastic.

Their latest project was Flowers For Kate, a (literally) fresh perspective on fashion.
In a nutshell, Kate Moss was due to be shot for a story in V Magazine, SHOWstudio offered a unique chance to be part of the shoot - by sending flowers and floral greetings to Kate. (Some of the deliveries and messages were recorded and documented here) The flowers were then used to create a three-dimensional photo sculpture around which Mossy posed.
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The NY Times on Sunday had an interesting article about retailers making their bags “cooler” more luxurious and durable, so that consumers would use them again and again, thus the consumer becoming a walking billboard for the stores. Scoop and Lord and Taylor both have new bags whilst Bloomies and Bergdorf Goodman both have extensive “top secret” redesigns underway.
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I’m a self confessed model fan — Kate, Lily, Gemma, Chanel, Irina and of course Agyness Deyn.
She’s my absolute favorite and not just because she won Model of the Year.…She’s feisty, pixie and punk yet sophisticated and she’s from my home town of Manchester…her infamous cover on POP magazine came with the tagline - “Agyness - The world’s most Mancunian super supermodel.” Nice one lass!
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Karl Lagerfeld is one of the most influential fashion designers of our time. He’s on my list of fashion obsessions, alongside Kate Moss, Hedi Slimane, Steven Meisel, Carine Roitfeld and Agyness Deyn. He’s mysterious, notoriously aloof and has that “Anna Wintour” sunglasses type thing going on. He was also one of the most popular Halloween costumes this year (next to Amy Winehouse). On Saturday I decided to see the much talked about Lagerfeld Confidentiel. Like many others I was hoping to get a behind the scenes glimpse of the self proclaimed “Apparition” and I wasn’t disappointed.
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Dazed and Confused rekindled my childhood memories with their remake shoot of The Never Ending Story for their October Issue.(Hurrah for Falcor!)
Shot by Daniel Sannwald, you can see more about the Dazed + Confused shoot here and even watch a short film produced during the shoot. Rumor has it - they bumped this cover for an amazing Bjork shoot (it’s brilliant). I think it’s absolutely fantastic that people still remember and love this film! I loved it as a child (cried at the end) and still do…there’s nothing wrong with good old fashioned magical adventures and mystery.