New York Mag’s Spring Fashion issue is on newsstands now with the iconic Joni Mitchell on the cover.
I first heard of Joni Mitchell the way most people have but refuse to admit, throughLove/Actually. That very scene where Emma Thompson wipes away the tears as “Both Sides Now” sings from the CD player. If that scene was a color it would be a deep blue. Actually, if Joni Mitchell were a color, I think she’d be a deep blue. She’s one of those figures that you can’t describe in adjectives. She’s too ethereal for that. A lot like the way she’s captured on New York Mag’s cover and feature… Lots of movement and feeling, but nothing more. You never really get a sense of what she’s trying to tell you. You have to think and ponder the answer. Sort of like my mum. My mum is what I call a proverbial talker. Though you asked her if she wanted chicken or fish, she answers, but nowhere in the seven minute soliloquy was chicken or fish mentioned again. It could be a generational attribute. I just think it’s the perfect example of “with age comes wisdom”.
Surprisingly, as strong as my admiration for Madame Mitchell is, the article that really took me was Hood by Air. First let me say, I unashamedly knew very little to nothing about them. I knew that Riri, Ye, and A$AP wore their clothes. They were very gender neutral, but most importantly they are (or seemed to be) real. I’m not going to give much away, because I’m that person who can’t give a summary without spoiling the end, but I’ll do my best.
We live in a world today where we fight for the last spot. We fight for this imaginary last spot while there are other spots all lined up next to each other for similar ideas, crafts, services, but inherently different enough that our ideas are all still sought after. Yet for some reason, rather than working harmoniously together we create mental monsters that don’t exist so much that they become real. Hood by Air didn’t fight. They didn’t believe in that tactic of dog eat dog. They believed in being “aggressively inclusive”. Their brand doesn’t have a preferred gender, sexual orientation, religious belief, or style code – it literally is what it is. If that’s a concept you can’t grasp than it’s not a brand that’s for you. And that doesn’t make them exclusive, that makes honest and true to their intended message.