Luar Fall 2025: A Life Lived Unapologetically
The first look was a white crocodile embossed suit, the blazer with a single strong shoulder while the other side exposed a bare shoulder, almost as if it had been thrown on backward. It was nipped at the waist and worn with skinny pants, heels and a feathered scarf on the head. A look that said, 'I am unapologetically me and I don't care what you think.' From there, Lopez pumped up the volume of the message with one look after another, a celebration of queer joy. A gray knit catsuit with webbed arms that held the hands like a limp wrist — a tongue in cheek take on a gesture many gay boys were made fun of for. There were opulent textures, particularly feathers, with one coat covered in black feathers that had been made in collaboration with the same atelier that works with Schiaparelli.
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That doesn't mean there weren't pieces for his growing customer base to covet. Deep dark barrel jeans, cropped jackets with full sleeves, top coats with square shoulders almost brushing the floor, cocooning suits. Wool was another defining texture — he is a Woolmark Prize finalist for 2025 and he used the fabric in unexpected ways, like a gray quilted jacket that looked sporty and tech-driven, with pants to match.
Toward the end of the lineup, New York ballroom icon Stephanie Milan came out carrying a new plush handbag shape — the runway birthed many new versions of Luar's hit Ana bag — in a luscious gray and white fur. It was belted with an 'L' logo belt with feathers that cascaded off her bosom. 'She's a legend, the story of her life,' he said bluntly. Milan is transgender, came from Colombia and married a rich man from uptown; she lived with him for 30 years only to lose it all when he died and his family took it away. The TV show 'Pose' is thought to be based on her.
It's the type of grit that Lopez imbues into his clothing: Uber cool and take no BS, like the 'I talk s–t about you in Spanish' black T-shirt he paired with a massive white feather headpiece and knee-high boot.
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San Francisco Chronicle
24 minutes ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Flaco Jimenez, Texas accordionist who expanded popularity of conjunto and Tejano music, dies at 86
HOUSTON (AP) — Flaco Jimenez, the legendary accordionist from San Antonio who won multiple Grammys and helped expand the popularity of conjunto, Tejano and Tex-Mex music, died Thursday. He was 86. Jimenez's death was announced Thursday evening by his family on social media. 'It is with great sadness that we share tonight the loss of our father, Flaco Jimenez. He was surrounded by his loved ones and will be missed immensely. Thank you to all of his fans and friends—those who cherished his music. And a big thank you for all of the memories. His legacy will live on through his music and all of his fans,' Jimenez's family said in a statement. His family did not disclose a cause of death. Jimenez's family had announced in January that he had been hospitalized and had been 'facing a medical hurdle.' His family did not provide any other information on his medical condition at the time. Born Leonardo Jimenez in 1939, he was known to his fans by his nickname of Flaco, which means skinny in Spanish. He was the son of conjunto pioneer Santiago Jimenez. Conjunto is a musical genre that originated in South Texas and blends different genres and cultural influences. According to the Butler School of Music at the University of Texas at Austin, the development of conjunto 'began more than a century ago when Texans of Mexican heritage (Tejanos) took an interest in the accordion music of German, Polish, and Czech immigrants. The ensuing Tejano accordion music, accompanied by the bajo sexto (replacing the European tuba) soon came to represent the Tejano way of life, which was closely associated with working in the agricultural fields. The music remains unchanged and serves as a symbol that binds many Tejano communities in South and Central Texas.' Jimenez refined his conjunto musical skills by playing in San Antonio saloons and dance halls. He began performing in the 1960s with fellow San Antonio native Douglas Sahm, the founding member of the Sir Douglas Quintet. Jimenez also played with Bob Dylan, Dr. John and Ry Cooder. Throughout his career, Jimenez added other influences into conjunto music, including from country, rock and jazz. In the 1990s, Jimenez was part of the Tejano supergroup the Texas Tornados, which included Sahm, Augie Meyers and Freddy Fender. The group won a Grammy in 1991 for the song, 'Soy de San Luis.' Jimenez also won another Grammy in 1999 as part of another supergroup, Los Super Seven. Jimenez earned five Grammys and was awarded a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2015. He was also inducted into the National Hispanic Hall of Fame and NYC International Latin Music Hall of Fame and was named a Texas State Musician in 2014. When Jimenez was named a 2022 National Medal of Arts recipient, the White House said he was being honored for 'harnessing heritage to enrich American music' and that by 'blending Norteño, Tex Mex, and Tejano music with the Blues, Rock n' Roll, and Pop Music, he sings the soul of America's Southwest.' 'Flaco, your legacy will forever be remembered with fond memories. We appreciate the gift of your musical talent, which brought joy to countless fans. Your passing leaves a void in our hearts,' the Texas Conjunto Music Hall of Fame and Museum said in a post on social media. Kyle Young, the CEO of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville, Tennessee, said Jimenez 'was a paragon of Tejano conjunto music.' 'Whether he was recording with Bob Dylan, Linda Ronstadt or the Rolling Stones, or working with his own supergroup, the Texas Tornados, Flaco drew millions of listeners into a rich musical world they might not have discovered on their own,' Young said.
Los Angeles Times
an hour ago
- Los Angeles Times
Anaheim finally has a bookstore that ‘feels like home'
The crowd inside the Untold Story in Anaheim was ready for open mic night to begin last week, but there was no way it would start on time. Whenever owner Lizzette Barrios Gracián tried to approach the podium, someone pulled her away for a hug. A congrats. A recommendation. A thanks. The bookstore opened last year in an industrial part of the city so isolated that 911 dispatchers couldn't find it when Barrios Gracián called about a medical emergency. Though it quickly earned a loyal following for focusing on BIPOC books and allowing activists to meet there without having to buy anything, the location wasn't working, and Barrios Gracián was ready to close what had been a longtime dream. Then she found a better, if smaller, place in a strip mall near downtown, within walking distance of her home. The Untold Story reopened a few weeks ago, and this was the first open mic night at the new spot. 'Oh my god, what a difference location makes,' Barrios Gracián told me as people kept filing in on July 25. 'They're coming to hang out, they're coming to buy, they're coming to organize, they're coming from across the country.' Among the customers she talked to that day: Toby from Florida. Nick from Kentucky who lives in Utah. A group of teenage girls in town for a water polo tournament. Anton Diubenko of Ukraine, who was in Orange County to see a friend and told me he visits bookstores around the world. 'This one's really nice,' Diubenko said. 'If I was a local, I'd come here every week.' Barrios Gracián finally reached the podium. She was 20 minutes late. No one cared. 'Thank you muchachos!' the 52-year-old said in a loud, warm tone that hinted at her day job as a history teacher at Gilbert High in Anaheim. 'Bienvenidos to our new location of the Untold Story, Chapter 2! Your job tonight is to support, clap and give lots of love.' Over the next two hours, the audience snapped their fingers, applauded, hooted in approval or nodded as speakers poured out their proverbial hearts in English, Spanish and Nahuatl. Local political blogger Vern Nelson tickled out on his electric keyboard the Mexican children's tune 'El Ratón Vaquero' as adults and teens alike sang and clapped along. Every time someone went up to perform, Barrios Gracián sat in their seat, because all the others were occupied. 'The greatest success of this bookstore,' she said in closing, flashing a smile as bright as her gunmetal gray hair, 'is uniting all of you.' Although the night was officially over, no one left. They wanted to exult in the moment. Vivian Lee, who organizes board game get-togethers at the bookstore through her role as community engagement coordinator for the Orange County Asian and Pacific Islander Community Alliance, said that 'welcoming spaces' can be hard to find in her native city. 'People like Liz are just so incredible,' said Lee, 30. 'She's game for anything that helps community.' Paola Gutierrez teaches monthly bilingual poetry classes at the Untold Story. 'When I first asked if she could sell my book, she said not just 'Yes' but 'We will promote you and help you,'' the 47-year-old said. 'How can I not say I'm free for whatever you need?' She pointed at a massive couch and laughed. 'Liz needs me to move this freakin' thing again? Let's do it!' I visited Barrios Gracián the following day when things were chiller. The Untold Story's design is bohemian Latinx. All the fixtures and artwork are donated, including bookshelves, massive mirrors and a bust of the Egyptian goddess Isis as well as a replica of the Titanic above the used fiction section. Insulation peeks out from sagging ceiling tiles. A stand next to the gift section offers free toiletries and canned and dried food. 'We're going through hard times,' Barrios Gracián said as Argentine rock gods Soda Stereo played lightly from speakers. 'I can't give a lot, but I can give.' How did she think open mic night went? 'It was very successful for our first time here,' she responded. 'You never know if people will follow you when you move.' A customer walked in. 'Hi, welcome!' Barrios Gracián exclaimed, the first of many times she would do that during our chat. 'Don't shy away, you don't have to buy!' Born in Guadalajara, Barrios Gracián came to Anaheim with her parents in the 1980s without papers, eventually legalizing through the 1986 amnesty. A bookworm from a young age, she found her 'safe space' as a teen and young adult in long-gone bookstores such as Book Baron in Anaheim ('I loved how disorganized it was') and the bilingual Librería Martínez in Santa Ana. When the latter closed in 2016, Barrios Gracián vowed to open a version of it when her daughters were older. In 2021, she launched the Untold Story as a website and a pop-up, aiming to eventually open a storefront in her hometown. 'Anaheim is nothing but breweries,' she said. 'That's the teacher in me. There's nothing cultural for our youth — they have to go to Santa Ana to find it, while [Anaheim] lets gentrification go crazy.' Rent proved prohibitive at most spaces. At others, prospective landlords would offer a lease only if the Untold Story dropped its books on critical race theory, which she refused to do. 'Those are the untold stories,' Barrios Gracián said. 'Anaheim needs to hear them. Everyone needs to hear them.' She greeted Benjamin Smith Jr. of Riverside, who had read the previous night and was returning now with his poetry books. 'I can sell them, but we should have an event just for you, because people like to meet the author of the book they might buy,' Barrios Gracián told Smith. He beamed. 'Liz gives people chances,' Smith, 68, told me. 'I'm no one famous, but look at me here now.' Barrios Gracián is keeping her job at Gilbert High, where she also heads the continuation school's teen parent support program. At the Untold Story, she wants to host more author signings and launch an oral history project for students to record the stories of Anaheim's Latino elders. 'We're in a crucial moment where our stories must be told from the past,' she said. 'Ellos sobrevivieron, también nosotros [They survived, we can as well]. It brings hope.' One thing I suggested she work on is the business side. The books are ridiculously affordable — used copies of a J. Robert Oppenheimer biography and a book about the rise of Nazism in L.A. before World War II set me back $11. Barrios Gracián's training consisted of a free entrepreneur course through the city of Anaheim, a video by the American Booksellers Assn., talking to other bookstore owners and Googling 'how to open a bookstore.' She laughed. 'I tell my students we learn by falling and then getting back up,' she said. 'If I can make money, it would be great, but that's not the point here. Might sound crazy for business people, right?' The numbers are thankfully going 'in the right direction,' said the Untold Story's manager, Magda Borbon. Barrios Gracián was one of her favorite teachers at Katella High School, 'so now it's time to pay it back' by working at the store, she said. Like me and too many other Anaheimers, Borbon moved to Santa Ana 'because I didn't see myself culturally in Anaheim. Now I do.' Barrios Gracián excused herself to greet more customers. I walked over to a table where a group of women were painting book covers as part of their book club. It was everyone's first time at the Untold Story. 'This is very much an extension of Liz,' said Angela Stecher, who has worked with Barrios Gracián before. 'She's been talking about doing something like this for years, and it's wonderful to see her do it.' 'This is like something that you'd see in San Francisco,' added Maria Zacarias, who grew up in Anaheim and now lives in Santa Ana. 'You go to a bookstore, you feel like you can't touch anything because everything is so neat,' said Liliana Mora. She waved around the room as more people streamed in. 'Here, it feels like home.'
Los Angeles Times
an hour ago
- Los Angeles Times
Bajo La Luna hopes music brings healing magic to L.A.
A new live music initiative hopes to unite Los Angeles through the healing power of music. Bajo La Luna, an experimental Latin music project, will launch its first concert series at the Ford Theatre in Hollywood on Aug. 31. The inaugural event hopes to honor music as a healing ritual for social change — lead by contemporary folk musicians Silvia Pérez Cruz, La Muchacha and Luz Elena Mendoza of Y La Bamba, who will be performing with a bolero-focused ensemble as Y La Madrigal. The program will also include a sound healing ritual facilitated by the Pasadena mother-daughter duo Botanica Melo and feature art installations by border-artist Tanya Aguiñiga. Organized by the L.A. Phil, in tandem with El Marchante (a project dedicated to the dissemination of Latin indie music) and event production collective Tumba La Casa, Bajo La Luna aims to create a much-needed moment of reprieve from the immigration raids that struck fear across Los Angeles earlier this summer. ' L.A. is so magical because it's a place made up of so many other cultures,' says Phoebe Smolin, founder of Tumba La Casa. 'I am pained by seeing my city [in terror].' Various celebratory events across Southern California have been canceled or postponed due to community fears over massive U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement sweeps, including at Levitt Pavilion's summer concert series at MacArthur Park, which resumed programming a week late. It strikes Smolin that now, more than ever, is a crucial time for the community to lean on the nurturing elements of music. 'We need everything we can to come together and create spaces that feel safe,' says Smolin. ' I hope that people are left with a sense of safety and inspiration and connection more than anything.' The evening is set to feature folk-flamenco extraordinaire Silvia Pérez Cruz, a Latin Grammy-nominated Spanish singer-songwriter, who has previously worked with Jorge Drexler, Silvana Estrada, Residente and more. La Muchacha, the Colombian singer best known for her riveting protest melodies, will also appear on stage. Her hypnotic chants and embolden lyrics, which have often brushed up against Colombia's politics, have played a crucial role in shaping the sonic landscape of activism in the country. Making a unique debut is Y La Madrigal, an offshoot project by the experimental Portland, Ore.-based indie act Y La Bamba, led by Mexican American singer Luz Elena Mendoza, whose mariachi-folk essence breathes life into every lyric. The innovative group will feature an eight-person choir, specially crafted for Bajo La Luna. Bajo La Luna begins at 7:30 p.m., and ticket prices start at $35.
