The Swelle Life

Merry, Chanel-wearing Puppets at Printemps

One of the best things about the holidays is the fantastical, magical shop window displays. Imagine what Chanel might conjure for the Paris department store Printemps: articulated puppets geared up in quilted, metallic outfits à la the 2.55 bag, dancing in a garden of golden flowers, perhaps? Love the matching fringed bobs. And they answer to the name of 'Coco'. Of course.

Here's a man who is famous for his magnificent window displays, the lovely Simon Doonan, creative director at Barneys. Below, he talks about his Andy Warhol installation and how he approaches the creation of his displays (watch for a snippet of the Saks window with a doll that looks as if it's about to throw up):

Barney's Andy Warhol Window Display
by rocketboom

Karl Lagerfeld Paints a 'Secret Ball'

Continuing on with features from British Vogue's Fantastic Fashion Fantasy issue, Karl Lagerfeld treats us to a series of paintings in which he imagines events (with the Batman movies in mind, it would seem) at the most exclusive party of the year - a ball hosted by an unnamed Russian woman in honour of her billionaire husband. There was no press, no red carpet, no charities involved, and the guest list remains a mystery.

"Hairstylist Katsuya Kamo has designed a veiled headpiece similar
to those he has made for Junya Watanabe. The guest has topped
this with a vintage diamond headpiece, believed to be set with
emeralds from the treasury of Tsar Alexander II"


"The male guests are all in Tom Ford tails, though these two
gentlemen have added Batman-style masks. Their leather gloves are by
Causse. She is in a Marios Schwab jacket, a Louis Vuitton headpiece
and carries an Alexander McQueen Faberge bag from this season"


"A masked guest dressed in colourful Tao"


"She is in gold Givenchy with another Kamo headpiece.
The Asian gentleman wears a vintage Cartier headpiece
of emerald, diamonds and feathers in his turban"




"This guest accessorises her pink Giles ensemble with Chanel lace
gloves and a 1912 Cartier bandeau with a huge sapphire. Her Cartier
necklace of the same year was bought at the Paris Biennale in
September 2008. Her companion is a distinguished gentleman with a
black monocle, who reminds Lagerfeld of someone now dead"




"The youngest boy in the room is claimed by this guest,
in Alexander McQueen"


"This Gareth Pugh-clad woman is accompanied by a man
disguised as Heath Ledger's malevolent Joker"

A Moving, Global Tribute to a Bag - Yes, a Bag

Photo: Todd Eberle for Vanity Fair

What do you think it would take to warrant a celebration hosted by the world's greatest cities, inspire artists to create works in tribute of you, and see thousands turn up to join in the collective praise being showered upon you? Significant contributions to reducing poverty? Hunger? Slavery? No. How about simply being the Chanel 2.55 handbag as it turns 50 years old?

This is the most coveted handbag in the world, mostly because it is the most famous handbag in the world. Sure, I would love one. Because of its beauty? It's chicness? No, because it's a Chanel 2.55, if I'm being honest. It's the must-have piece of any fashion-loving girl's collection, simply for its reputation alone. It's a part of fashion history. Some clever marketing combined with genuine adoration of the quilted, gold-chained, and somewhat matronly shoulder bag have ensured it is the one that all the others aspire to become, and all the ladies desire to carry, and it will remain that way for a long, long time.

The entrance to the pavillion

The flying saucer-shaped exhibition space is hugely impressive, a design that pushes technology to its limits (and surely eclipses the guest of honour). It's a moving, nomadic art pavillion designed by renowned architect Zaha Hadid, who Karl Lagerfeld handpicked for the project which is meant to bring together art and architecture. There's far too much detail to go into here - it's an astounding structure made of materials never used for buildings before - but you can read about it at the Zara Hadid blog.

It's in New York's central park now, and is coming to London, but I'm hearing both November and May, so we'll just have to see which it is. If it coincides with the Frock Me vintage fair I'm there! (Are you with me, Julie?)

Here's a look at the interior seating areas:

Photo: Todd Eberle for Vanity Fair

Fabrice Hayber’s Comfortable, an assembly of pieces by the artist inspired by Chanel products (that teddy bear looks like a gimp and really creeps me out. Awesome swings, though):

Photo: Todd Eberle for Vanity Fair

An aerial view of the pavillion:

Is Haute Couture in Danger of Losing its Feathers?

(I'm on a roll with this subject, stay with me...) Haute couture begins with an extraordinary design, but it is nothing without the skilled artisans who employ their centuries-old techniques to create an object of spectacular beauty. And as the number of couture houses have shrunk over the decades, so has the number of these rarified talents on whom the designers rely so heavily to bring their grand ideas to life. In 1946 there were 277 plumassiers, or feather makers, in Paris. Today, there is only one in all of France.

If this sounds depressing to you, imagine how it sat with the people at Chanel. To suffer in a world with fewer and fewer superbly crafted and fantastically embellished and gloriously feather-trained dresses? NEV-AIR! So, several years ago they did what a good couture house would and they bought Lemarie, the last remaining Paris plumassier, and four other struggling couture ateliers in order to preserve and nurture these endangered arts. (The other four are Michel for millinery, Desrues for costume jewellery, Massaro for shoemaking, and Lesage for embroidery.) Keep in mind, Chanel needs them just as much to survive as a brand as they need the backing to continue. Chanel without haute couture is like Anna Wintour with a mullet: it's just not right.

However, Chanel does allow the ateliers to supply other fashion houses - the artisans are not chained to their work tables with only baguettes and wine to sustain them.

Lemarie, founded over a century ago, also makes Chanel's camellias - the beautiful silk or feather flowers that adorn their hats and clothing. The first were ordered by Coco Chanel in 1960, and since  then over 40,000 have been made for the fashion house. That's a lot of tired hands and sore eyes.

There's a great article at The Guardian if you want to get a glimpse inside the ateliers.

What Goes Into Making a Chanel Haute Couture Coat?

Haute couture is the crème de la crème of luxury fashion. Made to order by a mere handful of approved design houses that adhere to the rigid requirements as defined by the Syndical Chamber for Haute Couture in Paris, the garments can cost upwards of $100,000. There are about 2,000 haute couture clients in the world, and of them only 200 or so are considered to be regular buyers (the rest just wait for the sales. Ha.). Of course, Chanel is one of the makers of these coveted works of art that so few are fortunate enough to own.

So, what goes into making an haute couture garment? To start, it's the uniqueness of design, the expert workmanship and the materials are of the highest quality. They are sewn, embroidered and beaded by hand, and several hundred hours can be required to complete one piece (not including smoke breaks. I joke - I imagine there's a daily sniff-inspection to keep the garments smelling like a cloud in paradise).

Chanel offered a glimpse into how one of the coats from their Fall 2008 Haute Couture collection was created (the final runway look pictured above). This exquisite piece of art-as-outerware took specially-skilled artisans three hundred painstaking hours to make. Here's what happened after Karl Lagerfeld handed his sketch of the herringbone coat to the premier of the atelier:

                      Step 1: The herringbone patterns are drawn on muslin

Step 2: The herringbone patterns are reproduced on fabric


  Step 3: For the sleeves, the tweed herringbone designs

                     are placed on satin.                                       

Step 4: The sleeves are then transferred to a wooden form

                              

                    Step 5: The tweed herringbone is placed by hand on the
                    satin to ensure a perfect fit.

                     Step 6: Rigorous checking is carried out during the
                     mounting of the pieces, to ensure the proportions are
                     true to the design.

Step 7: The lining is affixed inside the coat.

         Step 8: Shoes are selected to go with the coat. The shoes are handmade
         in Massaro ateliers.

Step 9: The all-important fittings, during which final tiny but

                sometimes crucial alterations are made.

   Step 10: The look is ready and the model (lucky Kim Noorda) is prepped backstage at the Grand Palais in Paris before Chanel’s haute couture Fall 2008 show

Here are a few of my favourite pieces from the show:

Production photos via The Star Malaysia

Tate Merchandise: Is Rothko Rolling in His Grave?

Before Mark Rothko offed himself in a hideous way in 1970, he made it clear to gallery curators that a particular collection of his iconic "pictures" as he called them, were to be displayed with specific parameters in mind: he wanted the gallery walls to be painted "off-white with umber and warmed by a little red", hung "as close to the floor as possible, ideally no more than six inches above it", in a room with ordinary daylight, since it was in daylight that they were painted. And don't even entertain the notion of framing any of them.

If you have an appreciation for Rothko and have seen his pictures in person (the only way you really can appreciate him), you will understand why his requests were non-negotiable - standing before one of Rothko's huge, dramatic canvases can be an intense and emotional experience. (Dark sunglasses and a wig might be a good idea if you're not keen on being seen weeping in public.)

So, when I saw Tate Modern's Rothko merchandise collection, produced to coincide with their current exhibition of the artist's work (I'm guessing, as I haven't seen most of this stuff outside of the books, etc. before), my immediate reaction was "How could they? Don't they know better?" Well, they do. Their 'Rothko room' followed his exhibit guidelines to the last detail, after all. Considering how the collection arrived there in the first place, surely he would loathe the replication of his iconic elements to make bags, t-shirts, scarves, mugs and coasters? I feel awkward and guilty having a framed poster on my wall, but if I can't have an original....

Rest in peace, Mark Rothko, I wouldn't be caught dead with one of those bags.

Exclusive! That Song from the Marc by Marc Jacobs Show? Meet GoldieLocks

If you've seen the Marc by Marc Jacobs show video for NY fashion week (watch it now if you haven't seen it, bottom right video link), you are likely wondering 'What is that song? I must know! I can't get it out of my head! I'm dancing uncontrollably!'' That was my reaction after hearing the track Marc Jacobs used to open and close his show, it suited the spirit of the collection perfectly (well, maybe not the guys, they looked like eunuchs). After doing a few fruitless Google searches for 'English female rapper' and variations of, my light bulb went on (it's low watt). I recalled hearing '...and I'll be rockin' em in that Goldilocks way' and 'Goldlilocks hoodie' throughout the track and thought 'hmm....maybe that's a hint'. Bingo! The song is called Neek Chic by Croydon, South London vocalist/producer Sarah 'GoldieLocks' Akwisombe.

Amazingly, the 23 year-old beatmaker wasn't aware her work had figured so significantly in the show, until I contacted her and asked about it! How did she react to the news? Read the interview for some insight into this exciting new talent:

I won't pretend I know...what does 'Neek Chic' mean? And what is the song about?

It's loosely based on me and my mate making our own t shirts a few years ago. Neek is like a Croydon word for a geek, and we didn’t care that we were neeks, so we thought we were Neek Chic. The tees ended up having ‘Neek Chic’ on them. The chorus doesn’t actually make sense, I just thought it sounded cool. I made it up behind the bar at Starbucks when I used to work there. It was released back in May on the ‘Wasteman’ single as the B side.

How do you feel about your track being used for such a major NY Fashion week show? Hearing yourself while Marc Jacobs is taking his bow?!

Well I actually only found out cos you told me! It’s really weird actually. Really cool but weird. Seeing them all walking straight faced and taking such a stupid song so seriously. It’s funny, and I’m very honoured! Hopefully I can go to the show next time ;) The girls in my management office are working on blagging free clothes from Marc Jacobs as we speak...

What do you think of the collection?

I really like it actually! I need to watch it properly as I was so excited earlier I just watched the bits with my song. But I like it a lot.

Who or what do you like to wear right now? I sense of bit of a fashion rebellion in your tracks. I think I heard a diss on Topshop in Neek Chic? And then there's Mmm...Fashion "all you wanna do is talk about fashion, and I don't wanna hear it!"

I usually wear big baggy cool T shirts with printed leggings, or band T shirts. A lot of trainers, some heels on occasions but I usually end up taking them off.. Anything with colour! Topshop here is good, they have good pieces and good value for money but its just so ‘done’ here. You go out and everyone is wearing the same clothes cos they all bought their outfit in Topshop. ‘Mmm Fashion’ was more a diss at the people in London who try so hard to out do each other and look original that they all actually end up looking the same, and how seriously some people take fashion. 

Do you have any thoughts on Marc Jacobs using only female artists for his collection? Do you know any of the others?

Not really any thoughts, I guess it’s kinda cool! I didn’t recognise any of the other songs apart from M.I.A whom I love. They all sounded pretty fresh.

Listening to your voice in your tracks and how it works with the beats, you make it seem so easy. When did you realise you're a natural for rapping/singing and making beats?

Making beats I’ve been doing since forever, just in different ways, I used to play the drums but I never had a band to play with. I’m more of a producer than a writer but as time has gone on I’ve got better at singing hooks and writing melodies.

Considering that your lyrics represent your views on the world around you, your personal world, does it give you a kind of freedom to be able to express yourself this way?

It does and doesn’t. It means you can say your opinion but you still have to fit it into a 3 minute song that people can understand and doesn’t go way over their heads. Also, people often get your opinions twisted or think you are arrogant. One line can suddenly stop people listening to your music from that point on.

Is Wasteman about someone you know, or a broader frustration?

It was about a guy who messed my sister about. She was kinda pissed off about it so I was trying to cheer her up.

Where are you looking to go with your music? Do you see yourself as strictly an underground artist (referring to the electro and grime influences) or do you have aspirations to reach as wide an audience as possible and go stateside, or global?

I’d like to be world known, but still on an indie vibe, if that makes sense. Kinda like how M.I.A or Dizzee Rascal have done. I would like to be well known as a producer, as that’s more important to me than being an artist.

How is it that you're not on your way already? You're obviously a huge talent, your voice has style, you can write and produce and your tracks are immediately addictive. Never mind certain aesthetic qualities that make you a marketer's dream. Seriously!!

Because some people find my voice annoying! I think also I don’t fit into a box, which I like, but can be hard for people to make their mind up on. I think I make music like Marmite, you either love it or hate it. Most people are quite sheep-like when deciding if they like music, it’s easier to say a song is ok and save face than saying you love a tune and the person next to you hates it.

 Aside from collaborations, you produce all of your own music?

I mostly make my own beats, occasionally make songs with other producers and produce / remix for other artists a lot. (Ed. note: She's made beats/written for Kate Nash, Example, Neon Hitch, Cerebral Vortex, Tinchey Stryer, Jeeday Jaws, Frisco, Miss Odd Kidd, and Cock n Bull Kid, and done remixes for Mutya Buena, Example, Eliza Doolittle, The Mitchell Brothers, Master Shorty, and Envy.)

Is there anything else you'd like to add?

My new single is out NOW on itunes and as limited edition CD. Check out my merch shop at www.goldielocksmusic.bigcartel.com (Ed.note: you can buy the Wasteman / Neek Chic 7" vinyl here)

GoldieLocks will be performing live tonight at the launch party for her 2nd single 'Kids / Drug Dee-La'. It's a free event and begins at 6 pm at Puregroove Records at 6-7 West Smithfield, London, EC1A 9JX. RSVP asap to sarah@ATCmanagement.com to be added to the guestlist.

And if you're finding yourself loving GoldieLocks' music, spread the word!

This Artist Certainly Isn't Starving

These hilarious, incredible and tasty bento box creations are from Sakuraku Kitso, found via Trophy Horse, where I originally saw a few selections and was immediately curious about how they came to be.

Sakuraku is an avid bento box artist who does up these whimsical lunches for her lucky family and friends. She's taken the cookie-cutter sandwich shapes idea to a whole new level and created an art form. Seriously, next time I think I'm impressing my daughter by cooking an egg in a piece of bread with a heart-shape cut out of it, I'm going to feel somewhat ashamed and inferior. More so than usual.

Is it just me or is there a certain comfort in seeing food all tucked in this way? I think it reminds me of lunch time early in elementary school; I'd open my lunchbox with the matching thermos that my mom packed, usually branded with some TV series running at the time (did I have a Laverne & Shirley lunchpail?) and I'd see my sandwich wrapped up all nice, carrot sticks which I mostly ignored, the apple I never ate and hid in my room until it rotted, and the Hostess cupcake or some other packaged treat that was probably killing us. Hey, we're still here, right?

Modelled after the 60s poster, not an endorsement of drugs! says Sakuraku

Rothko Fans Must-See: Rothko Symposium at Tate Modern

I'm on the email list for Tate Modern's Events and Courses calendar, for curiosity's sake, which is pretty much a tease as I live in the north east of England and The Tate Modern is in London, about three hours on the train. Trains in the UK are very expensive, it's cheaper to fly (how's that helping offset our carbon footprint?) and then you'd have to get a hotel for the night before. Cost of one night in London would be about $500 including travel - and that's if done on the cheap.

However, this time there was an event that would make the trip and all of its sacrifices worthwhile. Rothko The Symposium is happening Saturday, September 27th, 2008 from 10:30 am to 5:30 pm:

This symposium brings together a stellar cast of international speakers to explore Mark Rothko's late work in the context of the 1960s, a time of historic turmoil when the practice of painting was under increasing attack. The speakers explore key issues such as series and seriality, and the existentialist endeavour of Rothko's late paintings against the rise of Pop art, minimalism and Conceptual art, offering new ways of thinking about one of the most significant artists of the last century.

If you 'get' Rothko, you are thinking this sounds so cool and you are really wanting to go. If you don't know who he is or you don't get Rothko, then you would likely rather eat a piece of gum off the street. I fall into the first category (obviously) and feel such an intense affinity for Rothko's later work that to describe it here would embarrass me, my family and the guy who delivers our groceries.

If you know what I mean, and haven't visited Tate Modern before, make a point of it if you find yourself in London. They boast a Rothko room that is home to nine of the murals he was commissioned to paint for the most exclusive room of the new restaurant at The Four Seasons in New York's Seagram Building. Rothko gave them to Tate Modern after returning his fee and refusing to hand them over to the luxury hotel chain, at odds with the lifestyle of excess that the once poor, Russian immigrant had come to despise.  

But it's not quite what you'd expect. From the fascinating 2002 Guardian article Feeding Fury: How Rothko's Seagram murals found their way to London:

This is what Rothko told John Fischer, a fellow tourist he bumped into in the bar of an ocean liner crossing the Atlantic in the early summer of 1959 after he had been working for several months on the paintings. Fischer was an editor of Harper's Magazine and their conversations over drinks have therefore been recorded - Fischer published Portrait Of The Artist As An Angry Man, a memoir of Rothko, in Harper's Magazine in July 1970. Some guardians of Rothko's memory prefer to think that he was playing up to the journalist, that he didn't mean what he said, because what he said is so incendiary. Rothko told Fischer he wanted to upset, offend and torture the diners at the Four Seasons, that his motivation was entirely subversive.

Fischer quotes Rothko describing the room in that very expensive restaurant in the Seagram Building as "a place where the richest bastards in New York will come to feed and show off".

Rothko didn't seem to Fischer in the least unworldly, let alone spiritual about his intentions. "I hope to ruin the appetite of every son of a bitch who ever eats in that room," he gloated, with paintings that will make those rich bastards "feel that they are trapped in a room where all the doors and windows are bricked up".

I've sat in that room on four occasions and found that despite his attempts to disturb the viewer (which he does succeed in doing), Rothko couldn't betray what seems to be an unstoppable propensity to create a beautiful experience (described by many as 'religious' or 'spiritual'). The shapes within, like those in the rest of his late pictures (as he liked to call them) do also float above the canvas. It's a profoundly confusing ordeal, and I highly recommend it.

Cecil Beaton: Beautiful Pictures, Beautiful Words

Have you ever read about someone whose body of work is so immense and so accomplished that you can feel the breath sucked out of you?

Cecil Beaton was best known as a photographer of theatrical, royal and societal luminaries, and he snapped a few models here and there. The Londoner also designed for the stage and film, winning Oscars for costume design for Gigi and My Fair Lady and for his art direction on the latter. In 1972 he was knighted, but so was Cliff Richard so it's not a big deal, really.

While the days of being able to view his fashion photographs with a simple flip through Vogue or Vanity Fair are long, long, gone, some of Beaton's most compelling work is immediately tangible - through his many fascinating books consisting largely of his diaries. Loaded with name dropping, juicy insider bits (he had an affair with Greta Garbo in the 40s) and bitchy observations, the gossip is countered by his voluminous heart-felt expressions (Garbo would fit here as well) - an example being his love of nature, particularly flowers.

The Glass of Fashion is considered by some to be his best writing. Described by Maria Bustillos, editor of Vintage Voice, as "a vivid book, sensual, rich, absurd, philosophical and prophetic", I was immediately intrigued and looked to see who was selling it. From what I gather it's out of print and if you want a used copy (albeit first edition, 1954) you can spend anywhere from $92 to $1035, depending on the condition. Hmm.....

The good news is you can get the more accessible title The Unexpurgated Beaton: The Cecil Beaton Diaries as He Wrote Them, 1970-1980 for $17.95 at Amazon.com. Written during Beaton's declining years, and being an unexpurgated diary (nothing has been removed) there is some detail that will be off-putting for some - though for most fans, likely not enough to spoil an otherwise enjoyable read (Andy Warhol and David Bailey make an appearance). Includes 40 photographs.

 
Matisse Series, 1952                          Marilyn Monroe's favourite portrait

  Marlene Dietrich, 1935
     

 The official coronation portrait of Queen Elizabeth, taken after the ceremony (Amazingly, this could be a Dali painting with the addition of a halved pomegranate and a reference to sodomy.)   

Telephone Boxes Can Be More Than Icky Germ Spreaders

When I was in Toronto last December doing some Christmas shopping, I found myself in need of a phone to let my husband and mother-in-law know that I was on my way home (I'd got caught up in long queues and missed dinner). Since I live in the UK I don't have a mobile here, and pay-as-you go phones aren't the cheap 'n easy option they are in the land of pubs o' plenty. So I found a quarter and searched for a pay phone, it wasn't easy, but alas, one appeared before me.

As I went to lift the receiver, I looked at what I was about to put to my ear and mouth. Now, I'm no germaphobe, I have the usual aversions but pretty realistic about what could hurt me and what's not a big deal. However, I was in the downtown core of a city where just about every woman I know has a story about some depraved, creepy guy, er, we'll just say 'exposing himself' in front of them, on the street, in broad daylight. And sometimes it didn't end there. It was a mute point in the end, the phone ate my last quarter.

On that note! A telephone box became a thing of beauty when transformed into an aquarium filled with colourful fish and sea plants (and they are still pretty cool in England, though many are filled with adverts for um, girlie 'chat' lines with X-rated photos. I have taken this post into the gutter.) Artists Benoit Deseille and Benedetto Bufalino created the aquarium for the Lyon Light Festival in Lyon, France. Bufalino explains:

“With the advent of the mobile telephone, telephone booths lie unused. We rediscover this glass cage transformed into an aquarium, full of exotically coloured fish; an invitation to escape and travel.”

I just hope no one does as my one brother did when he was six and gets the bright idea to 'free the fishies'. Those poor little guppies.

From Gizmodo UK. Posted in February. Yes, I've been slow on the uptake but it's so cool, is it not?

What a Wonderful Collage

Turns out that legendary trumpeter Louis Armstrong had a penchant for collage, as revealed by the Paris Review:

The story goes that he did a series of collages on paper and tacked them up on the wall of his den, but Lucille, who had supervised the purchase and interior decoration of their house in Corona, Queens, objected. Armstrong decided to use his extensive library of tapes as a canvas instead, and the result is a collection of some five hundred decorated reel-to-reel boxes, one thousand collages counting front and back.

The collages feature photographs of Armstrong with friends (like the snapshot captioned “Taken at Catherine and Count Basie’s swimming pool, at his birthday party, August 1969”) and with fans (Armstrong seems never to have refused a photo op or an autograph); congratulatory telegrams and clippings from reviews of his performances; a blessing from the Vatican (as reassembled by Louis, the first lines read: “Mr. and Mrs. Most Holy Father Louis Armstrong”); and cutouts from packages of Swiss Kriss herbal laxatives, which, judging from the label’s ubiquity in these pieces, were as much a staple of Armstrong’s daily life as playing the horn. Only occasionally do the collages indicate the musical content within; usually there is no correlation.

Armstrong made generous use of various kinds of adhesive tape not only to attach images to each box but also to laminate, frame, or highlight them. The works are untitled and undated, but he was making them as early as the 1950s; in a letter from 1953 he wrote, “Well, you know, my hobbie (one of them anyway) is using a lot of scotch tape . . . My hobbie is to pick out the different things during what I read and piece them together and [make] a little story of my own.”

See, sometimes the wife's hardnosed-ness ends up being for the greater good! Now, what can I get on about around here....

 

Source

Long Live the Mighty Pencil

          

          

                   

Unless you're an artist or recreational sketcher, you likely see the pencil as somewhat of an antiquity - that thing in the pen cup with the broken point and half-missing/chewed eraser that is useless to you, but for some reason you don't chuck it out year after year.

Sentiments from childhood? Not ready to turn your back completely on the 'old ways' in favour of embracing the stylus? If you want to keep the graphite alive, you may like these sculptures made from the pencil lead in castings of calla lilies, pea pods, spindle shells, asparagus, oak leaf, and hands, among other things. And yes, you can draw with them.

San Francisco artist Agelio Batle offers three collections of the practical sculptures including a limited edition range that features a double-ended finger. (Not so sure I could hold it, I find it hard to even look at it. So, calla lily it is, then.)

Source

Be Careful What You Wish For

Here's a little something I found on Let Them Eat Cake that made me smile for its wonderful style. It's from Selina Steward, a London film director-on-the-verge who's taken inspiration from the silent films of the 1920s for this piece. (Great vanity and chair, too!)

A little Dali/Buñuel-esque as well, isn't it? Very exciting, I'd love to see a series. (Well, actually, there is a version on YouTube that includes another afterward where an unsuspecting lovely gets the 'bee stung' lips she's after, literally, but I posted this instead as the resolution is far better).

I wonder if it's simply a light-hearted poke at women's vanity or a stern satirical finger-shaking at the cosmetics industry for promising such outlandish things? ('Our breakthrough brush gives you lashes 40x thicker!') Or maybe both? It takes two to tango and we really don't learn, do we?

Since we're on the topic of mascara, what I found works best for lengthening and thickening without smudging is £6.95 Rimmel Magnif'Eyes. (When will they run out of clever names for mascaras? I think maybe they already have.) I do use it over primer (Stila makes a great one), but it's still far better than any of the $30+ tubes I've tried in the past (many of which use those awful 'extending fibres' - who wants to look in the mirror after getting home from a date and see LASH DANDRUFF all over your cheek??). 

Old Men Dress Cool and That Includes David Hockney

 

Britain's greatest living artist, David Hockney, made 10 magazine's Old Men Dress Cool article written by Paul Flynn (is this the same fellow who writes View from My Sofa for Grazia?). Cited alongside David Lynch and George Clooney, Hockney is a far less obvious yet worthy choice. I think everything he does is cool and that includes how he's put himself together over the decades.

Speaking of, last year Hockney was listed in GQ's 50 Most Stylish Men from the Past 50 Years:

The British artist David Hockney—master of one-point perspective and portraiture, the Polaroid collage and the California swimming pool—has spent a lifetime dressing more for comfort than for effect, with a mind more for color than for trend. “His fashion sense is gemütlich,” says the writer Lawrence Weschler (Ed. note: he means comfortable or relaxed). On occasion, Hockney, now 70, has appeared in a gray flannel Savile Row suit. But more frequently, he’s made the rounds in workman’s pants that reflect his painterly ethics (“He’s one of the hardest-working artists I know,” says Weschler). He has also favored brashly striped rugby jerseys and ties, aviator or Coke-bottle specs, and suspenders as thick as a firefighter’s. What the curator Henry Geldzahler called the artist’s “primitive craving for brightness” manifests itself right down to Hockney’s toes. “He wears different-color socks,” says Weschler. “It’s such a fantastic innovation. Why on earth do we wear same-color socks? The amount of time we spend matching them, it’s absurd!”

Photo: King Collection/Retna LTD

And all this time I've been laughing at and criticising one of my brothers for what I now recognise is a brilliant attempt to introduce 'innovation' into the routine of getting dressed. Pairing a red dot-patterned black dress sock with a knee high grey tube sock is indeed pure genious.

I freaking adore David Hockney, when I look at his paintings I feel so happy (maybe something to do with his rare, 'seeing music' form of synaesthesia, which said brother happens to also have, as well as Yours Truly. More on that in an upcoming post):

A Bigger Splash, 1967

 
Man taking a shower in Beverly Hills, 1964

 
Mr. and Mrs. Clark and Percy, 1970

Francoise Hardy: Looks and Style as Inspiring as Her Music

Let's go back about 40 years or so to the heyday of Francoise Hardy - 'The Yeh-Yeh Girl from Paris' - French singer, actress and muse. A strong yet beautiful voice (still) with looks and style to match (still), making her one of the most influential Francophone style icons to date. Her sideswept, eye-grazing fringe, well-defined features and Courreges wardrobe (Andre Courreges was apprentice to Balenciaga in 1950, while Hardy is muse to Nicolas Ghesquiere, current creative director of the Balenciaga brand) created the look that des