Mapplethorpe x 7
"With a smattering of leather and studded garb heading into stores this spring, no serious punk revivalist--or more modern-day, pared-down follower--should be without a copy of Mapplethorpe X7. Published by teNeues, the timely tome features the provocative, iconic imagery of cult photographer Robert Mapplethorpe (on-off lover and lifelong confidant of godmother of punk Patti Smith), as selected by Hedi Slimane, Cindy Sherman, David Hockney, Sterling Ruby, Vik Muniz, Catherine Opie, and Robert Wilson. Each of the seven artists curated an exhibition of Mapplethorpe's work in the years following his death in 1989, and the vivid results have now been bound together for the first time in this largely black-and-white volume.  Think of it as a pictorial companion to Smith's National Book Award-winning memoir, Just Kids--a captivating tale chronicling the creative ascent of two kindred bohemian spirits. Or simply as an alternative means of interpreting the anarchic mood of the sartorial season. Either way, its arresting photographs of New York's virtuosos of the seventies and eighties--among them, William Burroughs, Debbie Harry, Andy Warhol, and of course, Smith--resonate no less vehemently today, and offer a rare and intimate look at one of the city's most unbridled artistic eras." ~Vogue