J. Mendicino, Trunkt
My heart aches for simpler, purer times: I remember playing in the kitchen when I was eight, making lattes, minimalist menages of milk mingling with espresso. Now, I find myself paying six bucks for eight-ounces of a half-caf-double-shot-extra-foam-vanilla-soy cappuccino. I remember costuming myself as a flapper one Halloween, teetering in my mom’s pumps and quickly ruining her heels. Now I run to the shoe repairman every other week, taking off a couple of insensible platforms for five seconds so I’ll be able to jog another twenty blocks without demolishing my beloveds’ soles. I remember –
– That I’ve got about a billion other things to do today besides reminisce. And who am I kidding? Like any transplant Manhattanite isn’t crazy in love with being crazy-busy. But one glance at the clean, organic lines of J.Mendicino’s functional sculpture, at the pure, white shapes, and I fondly remember naps in some postmodern cottage, enjoying easy sleep. I remember fresh sunshine and the bluest air, I remember –
– That I grew up in smoggy LA. There’s something subtly seductive about the Zen-like simplicity of J. Mendicino; maybe it has to do with “the white glaze on simple forms, which gives me a strong sense of focus,” says designer Joanna Mendicino, “which has really helped me in developing my line over the past few years.”
And J. Mendicino’s essence is what helps me when I need an escape from my Manhattan marathon of meetings and soy mochaccinos — when I remember I need to just forget for a couple of moments.
27.Feb.2006, 08:01 pm
[...] Blame a Los Angelena childhood, but I refuse to put away my summer dresses even in the middle of Manhattan winter. Still, I’m not all insensibility — picture this American Apparel sheer jersey dress with a pair of (painted on) jeans, a (ridiculously large cashmere) scarf, (thigh-high) boots, and a (chocolate mink) peacoat. [...]