The pace of the first-ever Berlin Art Week was frenetic to say the least: Never has Berlin had quite so much art packed into a two week period, from the 7th to the 16th: openings, fairs, awards, performances, dinners, and parties all converged to make it nearly as unmanageable as it was exciting. In addition to this program of events, which could benefit from some more coordination this year, the week's action centered on the hip Art Berlin Contemporary (ABC), which many in attendance said was one of the more pleasant fairs they had ever been too, though sales — as usual for the German capital — were not exactly rip-roaring. Still, it was truly a step in the right direction for Berlin, as it moves to parlay its status as a capital of art production to being a captial of art commerce.

To read a full report on the inaugural Berlin Art Week and Art Berlin Contemporary 2012, see Berlin Art Brief.

To see photos of some of the highlights of Berlin Art Week and Art Berlin Contemporary, click on the slide show.

Seventeen years ago this month, I interviewed Joaquin Phoenix, then a scrawny 21, whose unwillingness to talk indicated an understandable mistrust of the media in the wake of his elder brother River’s death two years before. In one way, it’s difficult to reconcile that fidgety kid, as knowing as he was guarded, with the actor whose performance in Paul Thomas Anderson’s “The Master” is one of the greatest of the century so far – up there with Daniel Day-Lewis’s in Anderson’s “There Will Be Blood.” And yet Phoenix’s incoherent, self-conscious Freddie Quell, who manifests his psychic damage in sex and violence, which amount to a heroic stand against the repressive control of Philip Seymour Hoffman’s Lancaster Dodd, is completely in keeping with the role Phoenix had just played when I met him.

His sniggering urchin, who is seduced by Nicole Kidman’s wannabe TV personality into murdering her dumb Guido husband (Matt Dillon) in Gus Van Sant’s “To Die For,” was a revelatory portrait of youthful white-trash atavism and Oedipal acting-out – Phoenix made Jimmy Emmett the most sympathetic character in the movie. For all of her manipulation of him – blowjobs come at a price – Kidman’s Suzanne Stone is clearly turned on by him, hence her spontaneous sexual dance in front of her car’s headlights.

Strungout World War II naval vet and department store photographer Freddie is marginally more cultured than Jimmy, but he could be the punk’s grandfather. Both need the love of a tender woman, but Suzanne is a monster, and the teenage sweetheart Freddie leaves at home, thinking she’ll wait for him, becomes his ghost. It’s the unassuageable loss of her, far more than his war trauma, that drives him into Dodd’s sinister embrace. His fealty to Dodd is, of course, prompted by father-figure worship. His rebellion against him, however haphazard, is the act of a man who has regressed into a teenager – and it's essential to his liberation.

Phoenix denounced rote Hollywood fare when we talked – “I’m not desperate to do shit” – and is having an atypical career that bravely eschews likeability. He was relishably repulsive as the Roman emperor in “Gladiator,” convincingly venal as a black-marketeering American serviceman in 1989 Berlin in “Buffalo Soldiers,” deeply unpleasant – and very understandable – as the enraged, grieving father in the hit-and-run drama “Reservation Road.” In "Walk the Line," he made sense of Johnny Cash's inner commotion, attributable to guilt over the early sawmill death of his brother. Phoenix must have identified with that role.

He has also been responsible for a formidable, career-jeopardizing piece of hoodwinking performance art – as the sullen, incommunicative “Joaquin Phoenix” on “Letterman” and in “I’m Still Here.” Should his “Master” work bring him a deserved Oscar, it would almost be a case of rising from the ashes. But who knows if he gives a fuck?

Irish milliner Philip Treacy, whose hats are loved by Daphne Guinness and Sarah Jessica Parker, is back from his 12-year runway hiatus — and it was well worth the wait. Lady Gaga, one of the designer's most vocal champions, emceed his show earlier this week, as an all-black cast of models dressed in Michael Jackson's tour costumes paraded down the catwalk under the weight of Treacy's outrageous toppers. Highlights included feathered headdresses with three-foot wingspans, metallic sunburst latticework crowns, and a ship hat — no, head sculpture — at full mast. 

Click through the slide show to see highlights from Philip Treacy's spring 2013 collection. 

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Odette New York's recycled sterling silver rib ring may be delicate enough to stack with our everyday baubles, but it still packs a punch. Brooklyn-based jewelry designer Jennifer Sarkilahti casts each piece from hand-carved wax molds, for a textured look that evokes the ancient artifacts that inspire her. Up the shine even more by offsetting the design, which also comes in bronze, with one of fall's deep wine nail lacquers. 

Odette New York Sterling Silver Rib Ring, $198 at odetteny.com. 

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In collaboration with Studio Ghibli, The Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo presents a celebration of Japan's famed visual effects, TOKUSATSU.

Performing artists from Korea, as well as 12 other countries will participate in the genre-defying Seoul Performing Arts Festival 2012. This year's festival concentrates on the brain, and the interactions taking place in the brain as it experiences, creates, and participates in artistic endeavors. The festival takes place in venues throughout Seoul.

The Look: Sunny English girl thrown into the ’40s. The Makeup: “We knew it had to be a different kind of red,” said the makeup artist and Burberry Beauty artistic consultant Wendy Rowe of the lip this season. “It couldn’t be classic, that wasn’t our woman...

Louise Gray is London’s resident rebel. She’s the poster child for the city’s contemporary punk spirit, and this shone through in her fearless spring 2013 collection. Models with messy, ’90s-tinged bouffants stomped to hip hop house beats in graphic printed shifts, A-line and shirt dresses, and layered separates – like boxy jackets or sweaters – that came in every color of the psychedelic rainbow. Her clothes, often crafted from a mish-mash of materials – like mirrored sequins, thick shiny silks, or delicate chiffons – felt at once handmade and commercial. Drawn-on eyebrows, geometric mirrored earrings, and cartoonish rectangular plastic headpieces with bow cut outs added to Gray’s techno-tribal vibe.

It’s also worth noting that this season, the designer was sponsored by Barbie. Gray subtly incorporated the brand into a series of black and white ensembles (each of which was paired with tights that seemingly melted into chunky-heel houndstooth shoes) with abstracted graffiti versions of the logo. While this could have turned cheesy quickly, Gray’s use of the brand was terribly clever and, in fact, spawned some of the strongest looks in the collection.  

Michael van der Ham also turned out a strong collection full of color and texture. This season, the designer’s prints resembled graffiti flowers — soft and dreamy but with a cool, modern edge. His girls wore flattering dresses, often nipped at the waist. Their demure white headbands and boudoir-ready Christian Louboutin heels, shown in electric blue, black, and neutral, were garnished with fur pom-poms and were a playful take on naughty and nice.

Richard Nicoll’s sporty spring outing was clean, crisp, and feminine, featuring grey sweaters, slit tennis skirts, and simple short frocks that looked as though they had been sponge-painted with a shocking turquoise. He repeated the effect in yellow or blue on a series of easy dresses (one of which had a smart, subtle peplum) and summer jackets. The collection closed with punches of orange and yellow neon. Three short frocks with billowing parachute trains (one of which was paired with a windbreaker) were a clever spin on youthful, modern-day glamour.

Over at Burberry, Christopher Bailey fused the brand’s English heritage with a touch of East End cool. His theme, “corsets and capes,” was clear from the first look, which featured a metallic pink bathing suit under a three quarter length white cape. Neon plastic stoles and second skin metallic frocks and jackets in light raspberry, gold, and orange were a mix of Dalston club kid and Mayfair chic, and a printed purple skirt and solid polo shirt, which looked as though they were crafted out of foil, gave off a futuristic disco vibe.

Giles Deacon’s Pegasus-focused collection was all about fantasy. However, while there were indeed some standout looks – particularly a leather corset bodice ball gown whose bubbling skirt was printed with the mythical horse; a few crystal-embellished frocks, one of which was masterfully crafted out of stiff icy blue tulle; and an ostrich feather column gown that looked like a fabulous slinky – Deacon’s spring 2013 collection felt oddly like his spring 2012 collection. We saw the same digital printing technique and the same laser cut leathers, all in a palette that closely mimicked his previous one (though he subbed spring 2012’s red with blue and a fantastic champagne). The collection’s day-appropriate looks, like a short silk skirt and mini dress splashed with the designer’s black and white broken glass print, lacked that special something. And one must ask, what happened to the irreverent, playful Deacon of earlier days? It’s hard to believe that this is the same designer that turned out the famed dinosaur bag. What a shame to think that, just because Deacon is now more seasoned, he’s gone and grown up altogether. However, the stripe-soled satin Tabitha Simmons wedges shown with the collection will undoubtedly be a hot item come spring. 

Click on the slide show to see spring/summer 2013 looks from London Fashion Week. 

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Simone Rocha launched her line in 2010 with Fashion East. She held her first solo show, a cozy outing in one of the Somerset House’s small galleries, last February. This season, she reached the big British Fashion Council tent. And yesterday, the designer turned out one of the most exciting collections not only of her career, but of the season thus far. Rocha’s fresh spring clothes marched out to the Stone Roses’s “I Wanna Be Adored.” It wasn’t hard to love her plastic neon or white daisy lace looks, which came in the form of loose, girly dresses or boxy separates. We’ve seen Rocha experiment with fabric – particularly lace trapped in plastic — in seasons past. But this time around, it didn’t seem like she was pushing to discover her aesthetic; in fact, it was apparent that she had figured it out. Yes, Rocha is finally comfortable in her own signature Perspex-soled shoes (which, it should be noted, were shown in camel, gold metallic, black, and white for spring).

Her clothes, inspired by schoolgirl uniforms, embodied a punk-tinged innocence – both rebellious and sweet. White bouclé dresses with sheer inserts were particularly angelic, as were the spiked white or black halos that models wore atop their messy, pulled back hair. And her bouncy, voluminous drop-waist silhouettes and demure ruffle details were packed with romance.

On the trend front, London gave us a barrage of sporty fashions, which isn’t surprising, really, considering the city just hosted the 2012 Olympic games. Richard Nicoll’s grey and neon skirts, frocks, and windbreakers were among the best athletic looks we’ve seen. Youngster Thomas Tait, one of the city’s most promising up-and-comers, also turned out a collection with active-wear influences, which he appropriately showed in a graffitied skate park yesterday morning. Like Rocha’s collection, Tait’s thick silk shorts, collared vests, neon yellow sweaters, and T-shirts had a school uniform sensibility. But certain elements, like white pants, shocking blue silk jackets, and some striped sweaters and collars, had a strong gym-wear feel.   

London Fashion Week closed out with a show by Meadham Kirchhoff. Comprised of Edward Meadham and Benjamin Kirchhoff, the duo, who are angst-y in attitude but immaculate in their designs, have become known for quirky, intricate collections that transcend trend and reason. Per usual, their spring show was like nothing we’d seen yet this season.

Meadham Kirchhoff always craft an elaborate stage for their sartorial visions. Last season, it was a flashing disco club. For spring, the pair set up small scenes of French velvet chairs, cakes, and flowers in the center of the catwalk. Models came out dripping in finery, like crystal-embellished gloves and stockings, a floor-length red and white polka dot chiffon frock, heavily embroidered short-sleeved peplum jackets, ornate bloomers, and thigh-high boots garnished with bows. “It’s actually called ‘Meadham Kirchhoff, A Cautionary Tale,’” said Meadham backstage in his signature indifferent tone. “It started with this concept of boredom and loneliness, actually. All that lace and all them jewels and all that fucking couture, did [the models] seem happy to you?” he asked.

Whether Meadham’s backstage etiquette is an act or genuine artistic frustration is yet to be determined. But the clothes themselves, like a gold embroidered hat, a voluminous French-inspired white overcoat, or a red lace jumpsuit, were exceptional. There were notes of Marie Antoinette in the lavish looks, and the stage had a certain Sun King era Versailles quality. Some models, layered in silk and glamour, would pick up cupcakes and hold them to their lips as they sauntered about the catwalk. Others would snatch up a flower and scatter its petals on the ground, perhaps out of ennui. The girls were acting, of course, so it’s hard to say if the exquisite clothes made them happy. But the audience, in particular one little girl who was sat on Vogue editor Hamish Bowles’s knee, seemed thrilled to bits. When asked about their impeccable, albeit cautionary collection, Meadham said, “It’s part selfishness that we want to make something like that. But partly, we do it for you guys.” Us guys appreciate it. 

Click on the slide show to see spring/summer 2013 looks from London Fashion Week.  

Visit Artinfo.com/fashion for more fashion and style news.

To help our readers pick a path through the dizzying maze of events each week, ARTINFO offers a few choice selections — one neighborhood per night — complete with a handy map for orientation. Happy trails! (Click here for more event listings.) 

Wednesday 9/19: Soho/Lower East Side

Haroon Mirza: “Preoccupied Waveforms” and Come Closer: “Art Around the Bowery, 1969-1989” at the New Museum, 11 am – 6 pm
235 Bowery, through January 6, 2013
“Get doses of nostalgia for the way things used to be in these two exhibitions, one looking at artists who lived and worked on the Bowery before the metal tower of the New Museum was even a gleam in a developer’s eye, and the other featuring a transformation of space through Mirza’s noisy landscape of obsolescent audiovisual technologies.” —Allison Meier

Del LaGrace Volcano: A Mid-Career Retrospective at the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art, 6 - 8 pm
26 Wooster Street, through November 11

Peter Scott: “Pardon Our Disappearance Part Two” at Sometimes (works of art), 6 - 8 pm
83 Canal Street # 610, through November 2

Performance: “Patrick Coyle delivers a script originating from the titles of Kate Stecw’s work” at Toomer Labzda, 7 pm
100a Forsyth Street

View ARTINFO Itinerary Wednesday 9/19: Soho/Lower East Side in a larger map
 

Thursday 9/20: Uptown

Peter Coffin: “A, E, I, O, U” at Venus Over Manhattan, 8 - 10 pm
980 Madison Avenue, through November 2
“Merry prankster Peter Coffin, who is perhaps most famous for dressing tree trunks in blue jeans, doesn’t get nearly enough play in New York, so this show at the increasingly well-programmed Venus Over Manhattan gallery is a welcome surprise.”— Julia Halperin (from ARTINFO's 40 Most Anticipated New York Fall Gallery Shows)

Tatzu Nishi: “Discovering Columbus” at Columbus Circle, 10 am - 9 pm
59th Street and Central Park West, through November 18. Get a free pass online.

Ferdinand Hodler: “View to Infinity” at the Neue Galerie, 11 am - 6 pm
1048 Fifth Avenue, through January 7

A Tribute to FIFA: The International Festival of Films on Art: “Ai Weiwei: Without Fear or Favour” at the Film Society at Lincoln Center, 8:30 pm
144 West 65th Street, $13

View ARTINFO Itinerary Thursday 9/20: Uptown in a larger map

Friday 9/21: Williamsburg/Bushwick

Shantell Martin: “Continuous Line” at Black & White Gallery/Project Space, 7 - 10 pm
483 Driggs Avenue, through October 28
“Shantall Martin brings her internationally acclaimed large-scale line drawings to Brooklyn’s Black & White Gallery, where she has been in residence, employing the indoor and outdoor walls of the gallery as her canvas.” —Sara Roffino

“Colliding Complexities: Extreme Feats of the New York-New Aesthetic” at Storefront Bushwick, 7 - 10 pm
16 Wilson Avenue, through October 7

“Selections from the Hoggard/Wagner Collection” at English Kills Art Gallery, 7 - 10 pm
114 Forrest Street, through October 28

Chelsea Knight: “Frame” at Agape Enterprise, 7 - 9 pm
56 Bogart Street, 1Q, through October 14

View ARTINFO Itinerary Friday 9/21: Williamsburg/Bushwick in a larger map
 

Saturday 9/22: Chelsea

Walid Raad & David Diao, Paula Cooper Gallery, 10 am - 6 pm
534 West 21st Street, through October 27
“Two established artists extend their conversations as friends into a visual discourse between Raad's ‘Scratching on Things I Could Disavow: A History of Art in the Arab World’ project and Diao's exploration of the life of Konstantin Melnikov through the structure of the Russian architect's studio.” —Allison Meier

“Petrochemical America” at Aperture Foundation, 10 am - 6 pm
547 West 27th Street, 4th Floor, through October 6

Jenny Scobel: “Women” at Thomas Erben Gallery, 10 am - 6 pm
526 West 26th Street, through October 27

Locating the Sacred Festival: Momenta Quartet at the Rubin Museum of Art, 4 pm
150 West 17th Street, $12

View ARTINFO Itinerary Saturday 9/22: Chelsea in a larger map
 

Sunday 9/23: Soho/Lower East Side

Habit at Essex Street Market, 1 - 9 pm
130 Essex Street, through September 30
“The set for David Levine’s ‘Habit’ is a house with windows through which the audience observes the actors living out their dramas in a performance that runs on loop for eight hours straight. Each run of the show is about an hour and a half, but depending on the actors improvisation and the windows through which one chooses to peer, each performance is distinct.”  —Sara Roffino

Takeshi Murata: “Synthesizers” at Salon 94 Bowery, 11 am - 6 pm
243 Bowery, through October 20

Van Neistat: “The Golden Word” at Museum
Cortlandt Alley, through October 3. Purchase an appointment online.

Curator’s Perspective: Mami Kataoka at the New Museum, 3 pm
235 Bowery, through January 6, 2013

Peter Lamborn Wilson: “Vanish Artworks & Hoodoo Metaphysics” at 1:1, 4 - 7 pm
121 Essex Street, Second Floor, through October 20

View ARTINFO Itinerary Sunday 9/23: Soho/Lower East Side in a larger map

Let them eat cupcakes! That’s what some of the models did at Meadham Kirchhoff as they sauntered along the catwalk. The whimsical rococo stylings of the London Fashion Week show, titled “A Cautionary Tale,” provided more than just a collection of clothes; the runway was decorated with a theatrical set adorned with fruit, 18th-century style furnishings, and lush Chinioserie floral panels that would have made Marie Antoinette proud. Benjamin Kirchhoff and Edward Meadham presented a fantasy-filled collection of satin bows, playful patterns, and ruffles. Minnie Mouse even made a cameo appearance on a T-shirt. Whispers of John Galliano could be heard after the show, and we understood exactly what they meant — the over-the-top decadence and flamboyant silhouettes explained it all.

Who It’s For: 21st-century Marie Antoinettes
Color Palette: Red, royal blue, yellow, white, black
Silhouettes: Poofy skirts and sleeves, corseted tops
Materials: Brocade, satin, lace, denim, tulle, taffeta
Inspirations: “But it was just about pretty things,” Meadham told Elle U.K. “I wanted beauty, basically. Nothing but beauty.”
Front Row Notables: Diane Pernet, Hamish Bowles

Click on the slide show to see looks from the spring/summer 2013 Meadham Kirchhoff collection.  

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FLORENCE, Italy — A group of journalists and members of the perfume industry gathered at Restaurant Etichetta in the grand St. Regis Florence last Friday night for a Scent Dinner hosted by Chandler Burr, fragrance expert and the curator of olfactory art at the Museum of Arts and Design in New York. “This is a way of looking at perfume differently,” he explained to the guests.

Now what is a Scent Dinner? Burr created the concept as an interactive gastronomic experience comprised of two journeys — one excites the olfactory senses, while the other stimulates the taste buds. He passes out blotters that were dipped in an essence of a gourmand perfumery raw material and guests sniff the mystery ingredient before taking a guess at what it is. The process is repeated until an entire fragrance is unveiled by Burr, who then educates his audience about the scent. Then diners are served a course comprised of the same components developed by a chef — that night it was Michele Griglio, Restaurant Etichetta’s executive chef — and Burr.

At Friday’s event, Burr paid tribute to the legendary perfumer (or nose in industry speak) of Hermès, Jean-Claude Ellena, who was also the subject of a talk by Burr at Pitti Fragranze the next day. Guests smelled something citrusy on the first blotter and shouted out their guesses. It was orange. Lemon and lime followed. The fresh citrus scent was Concentrée d’Orange Verte, the 2004 reprise of Hermès’s first fragrance, Eau d’Orange Verte. “It reminds you of the original and transcends it,” said Burr. Then the first course arrived: Norwegian scallops marinated in lemon and Campari with orange caramel. Six courses were served and noses and tastebuds were overwhelmed until the finale: chamomile, gentian flowers, and absinthe – the notes of Eau de Gentiane Blanche – accompanied by an aperitif of absinthe.

Curious about this interactive olfactory fine dining experience? Burr will have a dinner on Thursday at Hotel Danieli in Venice, and on November 12 in New York for the opening of his MAD exhibition, “The Art of Scent 1889–2011.” Or, you can book Burr for a Scent Dinner of your very own.

For more information, visit chandlerburr.com.

Click on the slide show to see images from the recent Scent Dinner hosted by Chandler Burr.