Create enough criminal energy to do what you want
Creative lessons from Werner Herzog, deep recs from Quil Lemons, a sick Japanese brand spreads further onto U.S. shores & more
The B.L.I.S.S. List — our comprehensive guide to Beautiful Life-Improving Spyplane Staples — is here.
The Global Intel Travel Chat Room is here, featuring earth-spanning GOAT-locale recommendations.
Peep our list of the world’s 35 slappiest shops, where Spyfriends have added a ton of gems in the comments.
Our Profound Essays, Mindsets and “Unbeatably Spicy Takes” are all here.
— Jonah & Erin
Welcome to Blackbird Spyplane.
In today’s sletter we’ve got
Excellent men’s & women’s clothes from Japan, beloved by Mach 3+ jawnnoisseurs, that just got easier to find in the U.S.
Wisdom from Werner Herzog about the artistic necessity of “criminal energy.”
But first—
It’s time for the intel-rich recurring BBSP feature known as “V.I.P. R.A.D.A.R.,” where Vibey Illustrious People come through with tight bursts of Rare And Dope A** Recon.
Quil Lemons is a Philadelphia-born, NYC-based photographer. You might have seen his work on IG, billboards and magazine covers (like Vanity Fair’s, where he was the youngest person to ever shoot one) not to mention Spyfriend Antwaun Sargent’s landmark book The New Black Vanguard…
And from now until November 4 you can catch Quiladelphia, his first solo show at the Hannah Traore gallery in downtown Manhattan.
A recent NYT profile placed Quil’s work in the tradition of Robert Mapplethorpe and Nan Goldin, and Quil told the writer that “his portraits, paradoxically raw and refined, were meant to dissolve calcified notions of Black masculinity, family, queerness, race and beauty.”
We love a raw and refined calcified-notion dissolver. So we were stoked for Quil to put us on to 3 off-the-beaten-path slappers:
Reflections in Real Time by Kilo Kish
“The debut studio album by Kilo Kish. Kish accurately describes what it’s like being an artist in the maze of the industry in such an eloquently, semi-nihilistic, theatrical way. I love where she takes the idea of being a rapper. My favorite song on the project is ‘The Fears of a Dilettante.’”
The Dreamers by Bernardo Bertolucci
“The Dreamers reminds me of Paris. It reminds me of love. There is this extraordinary moment, two acts into the film, in which Matthew, Isabelle, and Theo acknowledge their love and lust. It’s so pure. When the film concludes, their love crumbles to nothing, making you appreciate the intensity of act two before the love is lost.”
Bernard James
“The best jewelry designer in NYC. Enough said!”
Quil Lemons is on IG here. Quiladelphia, his show at Hannah Traore Gallery, on New York’s Lower East Side, is up til November 4th.
Meanwhile —
It just got easier to find clothes from one of Earth’s sickest deep-cut unisex Japanese lines…