Made of Scarves

All the Pretty Clotheshorses

2011-01-26T22:21:00.000-08:00

I've often wondered about the particular sort of media magic that conspires to create style stars out of rising actresses. The phenomenon often results in a new career for the anointed girl: suddenly she is no longer expected to act or in some other faculty appear in films, but instead she just graces red carpets and perches on the front row at every international fashion week for the style blogosphere and glossy press to photograph and gawk at. Her calling card is What She's Wearing, and the most coveted poll positions seem to go to the fashion 'it' girls who ostensibly don't employ a stylist.

The trajectory of said girl's career is usually quite formulaic and can be traced through simple repeatable steps, the order of which can vary:

1. Appear in B or C list film, usually aimed toward a youthful, female demographic.
2. Date young, rakish male costar/actor/musician or combo of all three.
3. (Optional) Appear in subsequent forgettable films.
4. Start wearing really killer designer clothes and perfectly curated 'street style' ensembles.
5. Hang out with Karl Lagerfeld.
6. Be photographed as Karl Lagerfeld arm candy.
7. Launch some sort of clothing line/design collaboration/branding effort that doesn't really seem in line with your personal style, but we all sort of shrug and forgive the transgression. You've got to pay for all of those wardrobe changes, after all, and acting ain't doing it.

Eventually her identity as a clotheshorse totally obscures the B or C list film that shot her into the limelight from obscurity to begin with: she is just there, an established character on the scene -- her presence is anticipated because her sole role has become wearing clothes well. However, I'm always left with a vague distaste, the wool has been pulled over my eyes by fashion publicists: I search in vain to recall why I started caring to begin with.

Of course, there is the odd exception: the gal who the fashion flocks adore whose career happens to be humming along:

And then there's the freshly-anointed:

Emma Stone seems to be the newest object of affection for the image-makers. Will be muy interesante to see if she transcends her 'bro' and teen movie origins to become more than just a pretty clothes hangar.

In the mood...

2011-01-16T20:24:00.000-08:00

I've lately revisited a favorite film: Wong Kar-Wei's In the Mood for Love:

The film is notable for the storytelling, pace, romantic tension...and the clothes.

Maggie Cheung's cheong sam are the film's visual signature. My mom had an orange silk cheong sam, slit scandalously high, in a florid '70s pattern. I would kill to still have that dress.

Also, his time-traveling follow-up, 2047: Same saturated palette, 1960's, vaguely Palm Springs motif, and the high-collared cheong sam costume. Love a film with a great wardrobe!

Carey Mulligan's Deeply Resonating Nothingness

2010-09-20T18:00:00.000-07:00

I wasn't hugely shocked to see Carey Mulligan was on the cover of Vogue, since she's fallen into Anna Wintour's Brit starlets hall of fame (these girls land Vogue covers irrespective of their career trajectory; Sienna Miller and Keira Knightley have like 10 covers between 'em). Still, it was a curious profile. The writer, Joan Juliet Buck, paints a portrait of a very simple, plainspoken gal with simple, plain pop tastes and a 'tude so unpretentious it's practically flat. Said her costar in "Never Let Me Go," Andrew Garfield: “We were asked to name our favorite films, and everyone was showing off about which Michael Haneke they loved the most. Carey said, ‘Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade,’ and I woke up.”

Comments on her acting describe the exact opposite and this is precisely what is so fascinating about Carey: she can convey such profound emotional depth while having very little emotional depth personally. Even as she says she has almost no heartbreak/failure/drama to draw on, she had some brilliant turn as world-weary in Chekhov's The Seagull that was described as "almost unbearably affecting." From whence comes the power of her style? Mark Romanek, who directed her in the aforementioned "Never Let Me Go," described her essential talent as a "deeply resonant minimalism." OK, now we're getting somewhere!

The photos contribute to this theory significantly: Mulligan is pretty and yet sort of nondescript or blank. You take nary one look at her curious little face before moving right over to the clothes or the costume. This beauty that's easily overwritten by other things seems like it could be really useful for an actress, if you consider the inverse: when I saw the trailer for "The Tourist" yesterday, I found, at this point, the effect of Angelina Jolie's glamour and celebrity so overwhelming as to be unnavigable. As the viewer, it's enough to make you want to throw in the towel.

Blog to brand

2010-09-02T13:44:00.000-07:00

Watch out GOOP...seems that lifestyle sites named with memorable, if not lyrically-pleasing acronyms are the new brand-building bling of choice. Welcome NAAG. Naaagggg. Named for model Agyness Deyn and her friend Fiona Byrne. One thinks they could have synthesized the more lovely 'Fioness' or even 'Agna'. A double 'A' to me recalls professional associations or affinity groups.

NAAG is no doubt the brainchild of some big city PR agency and should serve as the first step toward the personal-brand-building of its model founder. Not that there's anything wrong with that. 'est scooped that GOOP was produced by a PR agency. We were disillusioned yes, but maintain the blind conviction that Gwyn is heavily involved (except for the San Francisco bucket list which killed the suspension of disbelief by having Gwyneth recommend the Clift Hotel...ewww).

I like NAAG's rough photo collages and the kooky downtown kid vibe is cute, but not something I'd readily identify with. Stuff is 'off the shizzle' and the claim that 'So there's a couple things we think you should do once in your lifetime. Eat a meatball...' is just befuddling. Since when did meatballs become a singular life experience? A few posts read like flat-out advertorials and I doubt Agyness has much to do with what is going on here besides lending her considerable hipster/cool kid currency (which I assume the lingo is meant to recall??), and maybe she passes a cursory glance over the selection of smoking slippers.

Conclusion: Might not earn a spot in my Bookmarks menu but I'll check back in a few to see if the content starts to hit its stride.

Freedom ain't free!

2010-09-02T08:47:00.000-07:00

Jonathan Franzen and JPMorgan Chase's "Sapphire" in the September issue of Vogue:

The best bit:

Romance might seem like an odd—even dangerous—word for a male author to use with regard to his female protagonist. But writing full-blooded women of complexity and fallibility has never been a problem for the 51-year-old author, whose deliberate manner, salt-and-pepper hair, and classic tortoiseshell glasses belie a certain essential boyishness.

This is what is so lovable about Vogue: you'll never catch 'em straying too far from their basic duty -- to find the romance in a subject's looks.

Go Tavi go!

2010-08-25T13:20:00.000-07:00

The baby stylist the world has been waiting for! Watching the behind the scenes of Tavi's first pro gig on a shoot for BlackBook magazine that stars the Real Housewives of New Jersey's Christine Staub. The use of Native American blankets throughout is inspired indeed.

Swan Song

2010-08-25T09:11:00.000-07:00

Very excited for Darren Aronofsky's new film, Black Swan:

Ballet costumes by the Mulleavy sisters!

More digital ramblin'

2010-08-15T19:18:00.000-07:00

Come September 2, you will be able to shop Zara online. Despite my pledge to do '6 items or less' in September, this development could be destructive to the minimalism I am trying to cultivate. (Also, perhaps purchasing new all 6 of said items negates the anti-consumerism principles of such a campaign...)

I don't particularly enjoy the process of shopping in retail chains, so I welcome Zara's foray into the online space. I only wonder why it took them so long. Zara is a Spanish company and when I lived in Madrid I remember that they seemed as ubiquitous as Starbucks does here. You couldn't walk a block without running into a Zara, or one of it's spinoff brands - Home, Kids, Homme...and so forth. Also the look turnover is unprecedented -- every week brings seeming truckloads of new wares.

Some other online retail sites I've enjoyed:

-Madewell (all over the retail zeitgeist lately)

-Agent Provocateur (not very sfw, but the best "is-it-swimwear-or-actually-lingerie??" swimwear - comment provocateur!

-Archive Vintage (expensive but very well curated)

(Editor's note**: Though she doesn't wear much black, I picture 'est in this number.)

-Azalea SF: (a Hayes Valley boutique with an eCommerce arm)

J'aime mon carré (part deux)

2010-08-11T19:43:00.000-07:00

Just discovered the knot tutorials on jaimemoncarre.com and subsequently had a manic episode of doin' 'em all.
Fruits here:

J'aime mon carré (I love my scarf)

2010-08-11T17:11:00.000-07:00

Hermes has launched such a hip homage to scarf-dom with http://www.jaimemoncarre.com, which marks its collaboration with Colette in Paris. Interestingly, some of the most traditional brands -- most notably, Burberry -- have been first to experiment with bringing the playfulness and creativity of clothes online. Unlike other, static forms of marketing, websites make fashion fantasies interactive (e.g. when Joscelin was lured into branding herself with a Uniqlo puffcoat). Plus it's always a treat to see It Girls wearing scarves without abandon!

Cool dad update!

2010-08-05T14:12:00.001-07:00

How did I miss this? Not only has Liam Gallagher's menswear line, Pretty Green, launched, but it's wildly successful?! Just took a gander at the look book and it is as gloriously nondescript as anticipated. Liam's modeling the absolute hell out of it, though!

Thankfully his sights are set beyond this corner of the camo parka/graphic tee market: "A lot of girls are asking if we will be doing a range for them and the answer to that is yes, once we have got rid of all the lads' stuff." Additionally, he said his new album will be “the best record you’ll hear for the next 50 years.” God bless 'im!

Liam, thank you for giving me so much to LIVE for.

Made of Hungry Scarves

2010-08-05T11:41:00.001-07:00

via Jak & Jil

American Pastoral

2010-07-31T17:23:00.000-07:00

Ah, farm living.

I'm housesitting a lovely cottage and farm, post grad-school dress rehearsal, and part of the package involves the care of a herd of sheep, two horses, two dogs, and about 15 chickens. For an urban-dweller reared in the suburbs, taking eggs from laying hens is quite exotic - also strangely guilt-inducing. (Note: Chickens may have tiny brains but they look at you with a knowing resentment and semi-hostile capitulation when you take their eggs.)

Why the strong resurgence in interest in farming, urban agriculture, and living a provincial, organic, back-to-nature lifestyle? Karl Lagerfeld (now famously) affected the 'farm chic' sensibility with his 2010 spring show, staged in a faux barn. Models in deconstructed 'rustic' Chanel tweeds and (horrible) heeled clogs is quasi-parodic, which I guess could be the point:

Very Petite Trianon. Of course, M. Antoinette was the original city-girl-gone-country:

I suppose the fetishization of all that is natural could be evidence of a larger societal move back to the essentials. With our bubbles burst, recession un-surmounted and finally coming to terms with the consequences of decades of excess, city dwellers are finding solace in the trappings of simpler times. This trend has had sartorial reverberations too:

Trendy, yes -- especially if you are a British model attending the Glastonbury music festival ('wellies' tag). But mostly practical.

The boyfriend jean makes great work-wear.

And who knew that 'plaid button-down' is its own category on ShopBop?

Rabbit Rabbit

2010-07-30T10:36:00.000-07:00

A new month's bout to dawn, which means a new installment of "Today I'm Wearing" on the UK Vogue site. It's a simple enough concept: they pick a girl with compelling style to chronicle her outfit every day.

It's everything I want in a blog: consistency, scopophilia, a cute lil' It Girl, mind-numbing personal style details, etc. In theory, I find vanity blogging to be the pitiable offering of an overindulged and narcissistic generation, but in practice, I rather enjoy it!

UPDATE: the greatest espadrille of our time

2010-07-28T12:00:00.000-07:00

Somewhere between distressed and delighted to discover that MYMU espadrilles (which I'd previously called the greatest 'drille of our time) were on GILT sale today for a fraction of the cost.

I didn't buy them, nor had I ever really planned to, but I've uncharacteristically plotted their brief career -- from appearing in the Wren lookbook (after which I emailed the Wren designer to ask for their name) to following the birth of their website (dutifully checking back til their launch) and becoming crestfallen at their absurd price (somewhere in the $150 range, originally, if I remember correctly). The reason for my distress over their slashed cost at Gilt is that it confirms the sad meditation of consumers today: what are things really worth? Certainly not what they say it is. It's a burden and an opportunity.

I should probably embrace a less consumerist mindset, though, like Jos: she just started the "six items or less" project!

Gender Trouble

2010-07-22T17:44:00.000-07:00

If I had said anything of the kind I should have been prying and searching into the secret economies of a house which to the stranger wears so fine a front of gaiety and courage. - Woolf

Amazingly sparse Jil Sander ad. Looks like the architect uniform.

Bonne fete de la Bastille!

2010-07-14T22:15:00.000-07:00

How better to celebrate the birth of modern France than through pics of its cinematic threesomes? Vive la France!

I had a jukebox graduate for first mate

2010-07-12T19:08:00.000-07:00

She couldn’t sail but she sure could sing
I pushed the b-52 and bombed em with the blues
With my gear set stubborn on standing
I broke all the rules, strafed my old high school
Never once gave thought to landing
I hid in the clouded wrath of the crowd
But when they said come down I threw up
Ooh-ooh growin’ up

Celebrating AMERICA at Cordarounds.

BREAKING NEWS*

2010-07-08T08:20:00.001-07:00

* This might not be breaking news at all.

Today, I noticed a momentous thing at the bottom of the weekly GOOP mail: "GOOP is made by Reindeer at 30 Vandam Street, New York, NY, 10013." Noooooo! Say it ain't so, Gwyneth. I love faux first person as much as the next, but this shattering of the fourth wall is devastating.

Reindeer is a branding agency. Their tagline is something about connecting your brand with your heart and your business model with your brain. Sounds all well and good but will they be able to capture the contradictions and idiosyncrasies of dear Gwyn? For example, she did a couple of things up until her first pregnancy: followed a strict macrobiotic diet and yoga regimen; smoked a pack a day. She has seriously studied meditation and kindness-based mindfulness for years; she recently called herself "the queen of passive aggression" and also said she's mean and knows how to "ice people out."

GOOP was the fruit of this delightful mix of things! E.g. one week, she'd talk about how to help in the Gulf and the next, an account of a more or less unnecessary renovation of a space in Nashville into a luxury loft on an "independent film budget" for her brief stay there. Those were the days!

Sigh, Gwyn. We hardly knew ye. Here are some pics of her in the Talented Mr. Ripley :(

That shrewd and knavish sprite

2010-07-07T17:46:00.001-07:00

Are not you he
That frights the maidens of the villagery,
Skim milk, and sometimes labour in the quern,
And bootless make the breathless housewife churn,
And sometime make the drink to bear no barm,
Mislead night-wanders, laughing at their harm?
Those that Hobgoblin call you, and sweet Puck,
You do their work, and they shall have good luck.
Are you not he?

God bless you, Stam! You are truly a glorious lil' sprite.

Tie Dye at the De Young

2010-07-01T11:51:00.000-07:00

Ahoy! Finally - a fashion exhibition befitting of San Francisco! "To Die For: A World Saturated in Color" is opening at the De Young Museum at the end of the month. Looking forward to seeing some funky textiles of yesteryear. Good color therapy for me :(

The architect uniform

2010-06-25T21:25:00.000-07:00

Tribes use symbols and markings to identify themselves, project their beliefs and value systems and as a means for creative self-expression. In the world that most of us inhabit these days, tribal allegiances may be more fluid and less visible, but alas, they still exist. I've identified tribe Architect, and have been fascinated by the very faithful allegiance to a signature style. This tribe shares some visual cues with tribe Graphic designer. As I've blogged, signature style, and having a uniform, are good things! What's remarkable about architects, is how little they deviate from the standard uniform. Yes there is variation on a central theme, but generally a style is strongly adhered to. I credit this standardization in dress to long work hours in close contact with other architects. Observe -- you too can identify the architects in your midst from their signature markings:

1. Architects wear black -- either one statement piece in black, or uniform black:

2. If an architect needs glasses, he or she invariably wears these glasses:

Exceptions are extremely rare but Le Corbusier's owl glasses are a brave statement departure:

3. Architects are fashion-forward but demure. They use color strategically. Accessories are minimal. They are notably more minimalist and less on-trend then the fashion crowd:

(suggestions for architect wear from Net-a-Porter's 'Workwear' boutique section)

Felines of a Feather

2010-06-24T17:25:00.000-07:00

Stumbled up on this stunning gem while poking through openingceremony.us: an outfit simultaneously modeled by woman and cat! Life isn't half bad.

New Hedonism

2010-06-24T16:42:00.000-07:00

"If this girl can give a soul to those who have lived without one, if she can create the sense of beauty in people whose lives have been sordid and ugly, if she can strip them of their selfishness and lend them tears for sorrows that are not their own, she is worthy of all your adoration, worthy of the adoration of the world. This marriage is quite right. I did not think so at first, but I admit it now. The gods made Sibyl Vane for you. Without her you are incomplete."

'Disco' at the GSD

2010-06-20T20:27:00.000-07:00

I'm one week into a summer program at Harvard's Graduate School of Design (career disco). My brain is a bit frayed from 14 hour days attempting to resolve design problems in foam board. However, despite the lack of sleep, the degree of immersion that the program requires has kept me abuzz.

(from The View on Harvard GSD, Vol 1)

The 6 week program is designed to provide an introduction to architecture, urban planning, urban design or landscape architecture. The core of the program is the design studio, where we're given assignments of increasing complexity. After completion of each assignment we pin up our work for an informal critique with our instructor, fellow students and guest critics. The experience mimics the structure of an architecture graduate program, which is centered around the studio environment as well.

Most of the participants are quite young (still in college), though some, like me, are here to contemplate a career change.

(The View on Harvard GSD, published by Tank Magazine.)

First off, some background: My undergraduate degree is in Comparative Literature and Spanish Literature. I have no design background, aside from some light Adobe Creative Suite dabbling and a passable ability to draw and paint. As evidenced from this blog, I am a typography geek, obsessive about interior design and fashion, and possibly, a future architect.

Initial impressions:

- I'd heard legends of studio culture - sleeping 'feet to head' with one's studio mates, all-nighters, frantic deadlines and the like, but nothing really prepares you for the actual experience. When on day 1 I found myself in the studio till 10:30 or so, obsessing over a simple intro project, I began to understand studio culture on a visceral level. Another pleasant revelation: I love the work!

-The complexity of the problems posited by architectural study, the layers of metaphor and meaning, the divergent reasoning required to arrive at your personal solution are what drew me to architecture. AND (I think) that although a good deal of hubris can get wrapped into this process, the beauty of architecture is that the opus is ultimately about making a solution that works for people, that is determined by program, and that hopefully makes life better and easier for the inhabitants and visitors to that space.

Responses to the Curriculum and Lectures:

-Leland Cott was our first lecturer. Mr. Cott teaches at the urban design school and is a principal in the firm Bruner/Cott. Since a core component of design school is the pin-up and presentation of one's work, he shared invaluable tips on how to present well. The information was applicable to anyone who has to speak publicly -- generally one shouldn't turn one's back on the audience, or gesture awkwardly, or speak too quickly, ect. However, I would have liked that he spend more time talking about his work.

His firm's body of work includes much restoration or renovation. He told us the story of how he received permission from the George W. Bush to take on the restoration of Hemingway's house in Cuba. Approval finally came after Senator McCain recalled his fondness for Hemingway's characters, despite earlier resistance because the Cubans had been his interrogators in Vietnam. (And also, due to the obvious political reasons and the economic embargo, of course.)

Cott's renovation work engages in very clear dialog with its surroundings. He shared several projects in which he was asked to design within or around and on an existing, older structure. The resulting projects take their visual cue from the surroundings, paying a particular attention to the tectonics and allowing the history of the buildings to show through.

I particularly liked how the original brick was showcased in the interior architecture of the Mass MOCA conversion project:

I'm curious about how one balances designing within the existing vernacular and adding more contemporary elements when creating a converted or repurposed space. Also, working in Boston, a city with such a distinctive visual signature, presents numerous opportunities for newer building to reinterpret traditional uses of materials such as red brick, and riff on the city's more classic aesthetic.

I also attended John McConnell's lecture on American architectural history and the walking tour of Harvard Square. His lecture provided a refresher on some art and cultural history that I hadn't touched since college and also provided some vocabulary and context to a current reading - Robert Venturi's Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture. I found Venturi's text at times difficult to get through because I wasn't familiar with all of the building terms (triglyphes, metopes, pediments...), so reviewing the major epochs of European architectural history was useful.

Harvard Memorial Hall

(American 'gothic' - the Swedenborg chapel)

The walking tour around Harvard square included a look at buildings from several time periods, but most were from the late 18th and 19th century. I wasn't as familiar with the Gothic and Classical revivals in American architecture and how those movements aligned with political activity and the larger framework of art and literature of the time period.

Queen Anne 'stick style' house

What I'm reading:

I haven't had too much time to do extracurricular reading, but here is a sampling of what I am perusing:

Informal, Cecil Balmond -- "...chaos is a mix of several states of order. What is an improvisation is in fact a kernal of stability, which in turn sets sequences that reach equilibrium."

Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture -- Robert Venturi

A View on Harvard GSD, Vol 2

Design Drawing -- Francis DK Ching

Tilda Kingdom Come

2010-06-14T18:20:00.000-07:00

Tilda Swinton looks like Grace Kelly in the "I am Love" trailer -- that is to say so classic, glamourous, HUMAN. I truly didn't know she had it in her because looking non-human has been her calling card over the years. Thought I'd seek out some of her most severe and extraterrestrial looks.

That last one is just her face morphed with Thom Yorke's. I also found this vid of triple Tilda doing a joyful Cyborg dance:

God bless you, Tilda.

Life in a Beige House

2010-06-14T17:41:00.000-07:00

Just bought this dress. To some it may seem a veritable cornucopia of earth tones, but for me, this is going out on a major color limb.

I don't know where my neutral roots come from, but for many years my life has been a humble paean to beige. Some have suggested this is a psychological issue (thanks Lisa Bubbers), but I think it was inherited/reinforced by my mostly colorless family -- we have a (sad) inside joke that the greatest Stapleton fashion challenge is how many shades of brown one can fit into a single outfit...and I think almost every fall my mom has assured me that "nudes are back and/or the new black" :(

Beige through the ages...

I Googled colorphobia to find others like me. This is what I found (thanks Benton Shoe Co, owners of arguably the most lo-fi website I have ever seen):

Colorphobia -Fear of wearing a color other than beige ,black ,brown or navy

The above statement may sound kind of funny to you- but think of your closet.Is it filled with neutrals? I love classics and basic colors; however day after day it can get very dull and depressing.
Here is a short list of ways to gently add color to your wardrobe "diet"
1) Wear a colored t shirt or camisole under a basic jacket.
2) Wear a colored piece of jewelry.(pin, earrings, necklace etc)
3) Try a colored shoe with a monochromatic outfit.
4) Buy a handbag in a new color (no grey is not too "out of the box").-And NO -your bag and shoes do not have to match.

I found myself nodding emphatically throughout! Perhaps I will try to gently add color back into my wardrobe diet (nice turn of phrase there Benton).

The thing is, it wasn't always so. The image below is from my sixth birthday (also pictured: my first half-Asian friend). So perhaps there's hope for me yet. Perhaps someday I'll find..my true colors.

Lighting obsession

2010-06-13T13:36:00.000-07:00

Perusing Hive Modern late last night on the way to Boston, I discovered le Klint lamps:

The lamps were designed in 1969 (note the groovy curves) by architect Poul Christiensen and have been in continuous production by Danish firm le Klint. I've filed these in the mental interior decorating rolodex for placement in the dining room or as a central fixture in the living area. Love!

My own lamp is coming along (photos soon). Last week I cast the plaster mold and look forward to laying in paper or fabric to create the actual shade.

Behance

2010-06-12T09:26:00.000-07:00

Behance wants to make creative professionals more productive. To this end they've built a professional network that allows artists to upload a portfolio (Behance.net). The aim is to match artists with recruiters, editors or marketers looking for talent. Tis a fun browse.

Behance also offers productivity tools, job boards and an online magazine, the 99% percent.

My Best Fiend

2010-06-11T18:22:00.000-07:00

One of the problems with Twitter is that it profoundly confuses my understanding of celebrity. There are way too many levels of it, for one. And these followable people are so much more regularly on one's radar that it's so hard to suss how objectively famous they really are. Case in point A: when I saw Julia Allison at a party in LA, I was hoping someone could share in my perverse thrill, but really no one knew who she was. It was a deeply depressing moment (sigh, to be one those happy people who have never heard of her!). But she's not not famous; there's a whole sub-universe devoted to lambasting her every move!

Twitter also profligates a sense of intimacy with these minor celebs. Take models, for instance! I vaguely knew who Jessica Stam was a year ago but now she has carte blanche to share all sorts of prosaic goings-on and inside jokes with her It Girl-type posse. Her fame is quite puffed up by Twitter, allowing her to be flattered by hip fashion gays for her every move (see above, via logandoesntweet) and just generally be the mistress of her modelly domain. Anyway, she's so cute. Carry on, Stam!

I remember when Twitter was born and a friend refused to follow any individual he didn't know in real life. I scoffed at it then but he might have had the right idea. The bonds of Twitter can be lonely indeed!

Inventory

2010-06-09T07:50:00.001-07:00

Things I need:
- High waisted jeans
- Cramps tee
- Suspenders

Things I have:
- Clogs

You See Your Gypsy

2010-06-08T20:54:00.000-07:00

These Harper's Bazaar photos remind me so much of the Agnes Varda film Vagabond (Sans Toit ni Loi). The structural gist of both is that a chic female hobo is tracked walking right to left (which is noticeable on film because in the Western world, we read left to right). I think there's an allegory about freedom and counter-culture in there somewhere!

I recognize the model in this shoot, Kim Noorda, because she kept a diary for Vogue earlier this year chronicling a year of treatment for anorexia in New York. Her agony over the program -- having to gain a pound a week or whatever -- objectively seems so silly, but it wasn't, really. She's so frank about it, and also lonely, and working so hard to get to the point where she can, like, eat a piece of pizza. On the whole, it was a good reminder that sometimes the cutest people are the most clobbered upon by humanity.

In other news, little Joscelin is eschewing humanity in her own way in the hinterland of Washington state. She described her run-in with some sheep as such: "shorn, they resemble little hooved and bleaty devils." There's always a life lesson to be learned from Jos, who is a consummate city girl but also a wanderer: you never know where you're going to have to confront your bleaty devils!

Lamp making

2010-05-25T16:24:00.000-07:00

I'm spending the summer on Vashon island, off the coast of West Seattle. Vashon will be our tranquil northwestern landing pad and transitional home after over a year in Buenos Aires. Vashon is more than the idealized, provincial island community. Happily it is home to many artists, (some of a very high calibre) aging hippies, organic farmers and many stripes of the Teva-wearing, Kombucha-making, wacky, warm, lovely people that make the west coast the best coast.

I have the privilege of working with local lighting designer and sculptor Elaine Hanowell this summer to design a lamp. I had no idea how much work my idea pendant lamp could entail:

First we build an armature with wood and nails. Hammering is hard work! I lack hand-eye coordination.

Then, we sketch out the base's outline and start building up the form of the lamp with clay.

Is there anything more zen than playing with clay?

The day's work on the form -- far from done. And below: My early smudgy sketchs.

I'd like the lamp to have an organic, bilaterally symmetric shape and a geometric (maybe honeycomb-like asymmetric) frame.

After I finish the clay form we cover it in plaster and then crack open the complete mold. I will lay in strips of paper to create the lamp, maybe leaving or cutting vertical slats for the light to filter through.

I LOVE this process and hope to create more complex lamps throughout the summer.

All men dream, but not equally

2010-05-17T09:37:00.000-07:00

I had a dream that the Mulleavys were selling tea-stained parchment paper for $1600.

Typography Art

2010-05-15T17:58:00.000-07:00

As a type and font geek, I immediately loved Tauba Auerbach's work:

Her paintings were featured at this year's Whitney Biennial. She and I were born the same year - a sad reminder of the differential in my age versus my worldly accomplishments.

On the sartorial side, a recent show titled Here and Now/And Nowhere featured the artist playing a two-person pipe organ of her design in platforms and dresses by Ida Falck Oeien:

Short Authority

2010-05-11T08:37:00.000-07:00

Solid promotional vid from AllSaints, the Goth-y Brit high-street brand. I'm all for little kids looking COOL (previous MoS kids- and pretweens-wear coverage here) but who is this for, exactly? Frazzled young moms hardly seem to have their fingers on the proverbial pulse of memes and it's also a relatively boring video for someone under 10. Is it more likely marketed at my demographic: twentysomething females with a vague enthusiasm for doll clothes/well-dressed tiny people? This *might* explain why it has less than 1000 views.

**GRATUITOUS CREWCUTS IMAGERY**

Cat Power

2010-05-09T21:09:00.000-07:00

Nothing like a pair of kittens to make you feel ALIVE! I spent the weekend at my parents's with the newest Stapletons, Pondicherry (foreground) and Sari. They spend about 40% of their time bounding around, scampering between rooms, sniffin' stuff, and tussling while high on catnip. The other 60% they look like this:

Here's some other stuff they've done. Exhibited a propensity for all-American weaves:

Hit the gym.

Acted less than impressed by David Lipsky's jaunty road-trip portrait of David Foster Wallace.

And advised me as I wrote a letter to Jitendra, my mom's Indian child pen pal!

They're impossibly tiny! Just three pounds each.

Here's a sultry shot of me and one of the little Simbas.

Rock on, little kittens! I wish you many happy returns.

A la Recherce du Temps Perdu

2010-05-09T10:54:00.000-07:00

Meant to post these pics of m'mum ages ago...
They're from travels in the early 80s.
She's such a California girl! So tailored, a little boyish, very casual. Can't help but be impressed by her perma-tan -- I respect it.
Happy Mother's Day!

P.S. Pops wasn't so bad himself! Nor was that comely feline on the right:

Bright Star

2010-05-01T18:01:00.000-07:00

The takeaway message of Jane Campion's Bright Star seems to be that falling in love with a tubercular, romantic poet is ill-advised. John Keats dedicated the title poem to his lady love, Fanny Brawne:

Bright star, would I were steadfast as thou art —
Not in lone splendour hung aloft the night
And watching, with eternal lids apart,
Like Nature's patient, sleepless Eremite...and on in that vein.

Sigh...

Jane Campion's film follows the doomed lover's romance from flirtation to tragic denoument. The film is subtly erotic but bursting with (dare I say it) romance! The heady,unconsumated, thrilling kind.

Also, Fanny is something of an sartorial rebel who makes her own clothes. This fact draws snickers and accusations of vanity -- seems that an interest in fashion was and still is read as a verdict of superficiality.

Costume designer Janet Patterson manages to make the empire dresses of the era less like the unsubstantial, Grecian-style flimsy frocks that one associates with film adaptations of Jane Austen novels, and more as structural and substantial. Fabrics and textures are apparent: Campion builds the character of Fanny and brings the era to life through attention to such detail. I've seen few films in which I am as conscious of the pattern, cut and construction of what its lead characters wear.

Needless to say, I adored Campion's film, and it had me reduced to embarrassing tears in my coach seat on a Buenos Aires-Mexico City flight.

Spring to One's Feet

2010-04-28T17:35:00.000-07:00

Spring's here, so time to get some shoes I can really frolic in. There are so many upmarket sneaker choices these days.

Stacy Bendet of Alice & Olivia has designed a rather innovative Ked...

Meanwhile, MYMU has gone ahead and made what some (me) are calling The Greatest Espadrille of Our Time. They are so comely! If only only they weren't $148. And if only the whole concept behind espadrilles wasn't that you paid a dollar for them in an impoverished nation!

TOMS has out-charmed even himself with these Yellow Portsmouth Cordones (even the name has a ring of whimsy and New England exoticism to it)

The Comme de Garcons Converses would probably be the "coolest" option. They're cartoonish and 90s...maybe even a little macabre? Good stuff.

See ya!

Designer Food

2010-04-13T13:49:00.000-07:00

These days, food is as much a commodity and taste signifier as a carefully chosen accessory.

Foulard by 'Forget me Not'.

A few months back I read the Omnivore's Dilemma while camped out on the snowy mountainside of Aconcagua, and resolved to eat better, to purchase responsibly and organically and seek out only local butchers and farmers. After summitting, I descended, a newly self-righteous foodie, and scarfed a microwaveable pizza with chalky cheese that was anything but local. But after 13 hours of climbing, my was it delicious. I won't go into the whole socio-economical-geo-political argument about food and the fact that eating healthfully, locally and organically is a luxury of the upper tiers of the economic strata...instead, let us consider the Karl Lagerfeld Coca Cola bottle:

There are parallels between a Karl Coca-Cola and shopping at Berkeley Bowl. Both choices make a statement about the consumer; yet sometimes that statement entails choosing food and drink that are more iconic than nourishing.

This is not new, of course. We've been creating culture and community through food for ages. What interests me is the haute food category which spans the spectrum from the silly (Cavalli vodka, stupid designer waters) to the truly delectable (designer salt!).

French retailer Colette even has a small food section that sells covetable items like Keith Haring cookies, and the aforementioned Karl Coca-Cola. I have to admit to having a fetish for food gifts and welcome other fancy food retailer suggestions (socially and ecologically responsible ones, of course) via comments.

The Pursuit of David Brookiness

2010-04-01T13:29:00.000-07:00

Happiness is a journey and not a destination, as the old saying goes. Not so fast, spake Zara(david brooks)thustra! According to recent research on the subject and Mr. Brooks's column this week, happiness is determined by pretty much one thing: meaningful relationships. With your partner, friends, neighbors, whoever. That's it. You don't even need worldly success!

I consume so much glossy imagery (I owe it all to you, the fashion/style/model/pretty girl blogs clogging up my Google Reader!) that my ideas on 'fulfillment' feel a little skewed in one way or the other recently.

What is happiness if not an 'up for anything' personality and unlimited access to cute outfits and a little boater hat?

And couldn't one argue that happiness is just a lazy day of sailing with friends who are not only related to celebrities but also share a love of fine literature and film?

I've also considered that an exotic trip could be the tipping point into deeper levels of enlightenment.

Well anyway, I'm all straightened out now. Thanks, Mr. Brooks.

In related philosophical ponderings, can animals be gay?

Mexico City Style

2010-03-25T22:26:00.000-07:00

Mexico City is an underhyped gem. Today I found TEAMO, a boutique and artist's collective:

Am very much in love with these mesh silk-screened T-shirts that they carry.

www.somoseme.com

Interior Life

2010-03-25T22:19:00.000-07:00

'est and I became fast fans of Unhappy Hipsters. Oh the bourgeois angst simmering beneath the cool, unfussy facade of modern interior decor! 'It's lonely in the modern world' the tagline explains. Lonely, yes, but smartly furnished. One might as well lead an examined life with ample counter space and minimalist, vaguely-Scandinavian home furnishings.

I love interior decor. So much that I considered shifting my recent-grad-school-applying energies to focus on interiors rather than architecture. During savasana I like to mentally decorate imaginary apartments. I find furnishing and appropriating spaces soothing.

Next chair by de la Espada

Rug by Flocks

Tray by Freedom of Expression

My goal this summer is to build a table and a lighting fixture!

Spring is here!

2010-03-25T17:32:00.000-07:00

Release the hounds!

Jessica Stam & Heidi Mount in Harper's Bazaar, April 2010 (via Fashion Gone Rogue)

A (restaurant) of one's own

2010-03-16T18:08:00.000-07:00

In the past year I've consumed more grass-fed beef and Malbec than I'll probably be able to afford in the next five years' stateside food budget. Despite the lack of culinary diversity here in las pampas, there have been a few stand out meals.

One of the my favorite Buenos Aires experiences has been eating at the local puertas cerradas, or closed door restaurants. (Read this NYTimes piece, written coincidentally by my neighbor and friend, Ian, of Good Airs). These 'restaurants' are actually a few tables in a private home. One has to reserve in advance and is treated to an intimate dinner where the chef is your host, sommelier and sometimes, waiter. In a city where the solution to any culinary quandary is to grill it, bread it, or cover it in cheese and fry it (or sometimes all of the above), a little subtlety and a little art, please, is a welcome alternative.

One particularly memorable locale is Casa Felix. Felix specializes in pescatarian haute Latin American cuisine. The meal include 5 courses served on Felix and his wife Sanra's garden terrace, with an apertif in the herb garden. Some of the courses were refreshingly vegan (I like my steaks vuelta y vuelta, but every now and then vegan is a welcome alternative). The experience was the perfect counterpoint to typical porteno dining: light, varied, subtle, diverse. The highlight was a causa in a gorgeous deep green pesto-y herb sauce served with edible flowers from the garden, and the pea puree served with the fish main course almost trumped the protein. It takes a really amazingly-prepared flora to outshine the fauna, imho.

Casa Coupage, which to my surprise is right around the corner from my apartment (unmarked door, obvi.) , is another one to bookmark. The owners are sommeliers and the wine pairings were spot on. The boyfriend and I had a different glass for each course so we were able to try four different wines. A Mendozan pinot noir was surprisingly floral (violets!) and then gradually revealed chocolately/coffee notes. We also had a nice mineral-y sauvignon blanc, a big Cab (tannins!) and a spicy Merlot with our perfectly cooked filets.

Neighbor Ian (of the aforementioned NY Times review) has it right when he identifies the allure of the puerta cerrada. In a city of conspicuous dining where every restaurant has floor-to-roof windows and is guaranteed to serve a menu that is only a slight variation on 85% of the other city eateries, it's nice to retreat to someone's private home (it helps when that home is a really sweet Palermo Viejo mansion) for a custom dinner.

A gorgeous piano room of one's own

2010-03-12T18:10:00.000-08:00

The only [fashion editorials] for me are the mad ones...like this one from Miles Aldridge in this month's Vogue Italia. It's reminiscent of more or less everything I read senior year in college (side note: was everything by women in the 19th/early 20th century about suffocating within one's social circumstances??). This genre is ripe for illustration, as in this choice Edith Wharton line: "She was so evidently the victim of the civilization which had produced her that the links of her bracelet seemed like manacles chaining her to her fate." Manacles chaining her to her fate!

Anyway, if I've learned anything, it's that a woman always looks her loveliest right before plunging herself into the briny abyss.

The Polyvore's Dilemna

2010-03-01T22:47:00.000-08:00

Followed Jos down the Polyvore rabbit hole! This site is genius. The collage function stoked the fires of my inner tween (see the fruits below), but better yet are its search, browse, and explore off'rings. I might go so far as to say it's the most useful e-commercial aggregator I've seen to date.

Find me on Polyvore

Friday YouTube dosage

2010-02-26T19:21:00.000-08:00

I haven't taken a good gander a Prada's recent showing but I've read Fashionista's commentary on 'zaftig' models and evaluations of overall dowdiness...has Prada fallen behind the curve?? However, this ad is a well art-directed little video essay. Enjoy!

Polyvorous

2010-02-19T18:51:00.000-08:00

The blissfully fashion-un-conscious bf had an idea a year back for a virtual closet/e-commerce site. He had the idea developed down to a T--it would be a cross between a social network for categorizing one's armoire online and an online shop, the point being to share looks and cyber-identity build. Target audience: tween to whatever. He could have acted on said idea, but the Polyvore folks did instead.

Headed up by some former Yahoos, Polyvore is my boyfriend's startup dream, plus more. I find that the most apt description is that it makes you the market editor for those fun, claustrophobic pages in fashion magazines that are basically an amalgam of loosely-themed items--the shopper's wet dream page modeled after a trend.

The polyvores call them 'sets', and they appeal to my (somewhat small rodent-like) tendency to horde and collect, and the inner art director with delusions of decoupage grandeur:

My first 'set':

I didn't immediately have the patience to make more sets, probably because, as my recent birthday solemnly reminded me, I am firmly out of the 'tween/young adult' target demo. But it was fun nonetheless. My profile.

Green with Envie.

2010-02-02T08:35:00.000-08:00

I see this T Magazine cover every day. I had it on my desk for weeks - nay, months - after its publication in '08, and after a certain point, propped up it and put it on a kind of display. What ever happened to little Vesper Lynd? She looks so ethereal - and yet, like she has sharp teeth. A nice wood nymphian combo. I find it comforting, in its way.

Green Porn

2010-01-07T17:50:00.000-08:00

I've read about Isabella Rosellini's collaboration with the Sundance channel but I've not previewed her educational videos of animal reproductive habits until tonight. Wow, this deserves sharing:

This is absolutely the type of project that I would choose if I were an established model/actress of old world cinematic pedigree. I say that without irony. I think these videos are entirely delightful in ways that escape my ability for cogent and articulate written analysis. I also love Isabella Rosellini a hell of a lot more for them. Check out the Sundance Channel's page.

For an alliterative introduction to green porn I recommend learning about the reproductive habits of shrimp, squid and snails:

Made of (Hermès) Scarves

2010-01-07T08:36:00.000-08:00

This brand-new Hermés ad is the pinnacle of serene scarf-itude:

Check out that scarved-up braid! But Hermès ads are predictably good. They have a Narnian quality with respect to luxe, whimsicality, general sportsmanship between humans and animals...They are often set in magical, snowy lands (I saw one this year in which a yak had his own Hermés scarf tucked 'neath the chin).

And who can forget Lakshmi Menon and the painted elephants?!

A scarf is a small thing but it can conjure so much, including but not limited to a leisurely trot across a mythical town square with your main steed.

Fashion 2.0?

2010-01-02T16:06:00.000-08:00

A recent NYT article gently admonishes high fashion brands for not fully investing in the digital media/'web 2.0' sea change. Fashion companies, the article reasons, are typically at the forefront in terms of innovation and dictating future trends--even beyond just the sartorial sphere. So why aren't they doing more online?

Good question. Mme. Cathy Hornes points to Burberry's The Art of the Trench as a salient example of said web 2.0 fashion marketing.

She also points to Uniqlo's delightfully interactive website. Even my boyfriend was charmed. I was tempted to buy one of their puffy jackets--the whole gamut of colors reminds me of ipods. Ah the possibilities for personal branding through the simple election of one, telling primary color!

I decided to check up on some of my fave, oft-Googled brands to see what they were doing to be sociable, Twitter-able and accesible via the webs:

Isabel Marant

Elusive as usual, Isabel Marant's site allows you to watch, but not embed, a video of the recent collection. However, she does have a Facebook page.

Balmain

Balmain was the first luxury brand that had me actually contemplating spending $1500+ on a pair of boots.

boot...

Balmain's site does not offer much in the way of interactivity either. A few snaps from recent shows, publicity stills, and text entirely available in French (a language I wish I spoke, but nonetheless...) means that I get more info on the brand from net-a-porter and Wikipedia.

There is some logic behind the luxury brand's hesitance to allow the internet swarms to create conversation about them. It is scary not controlling the dialog, and of course, a luxury fashion brand thrives on a carefully cultivated image. Expensive goods draw much of their allure from the aura that surrounds them...I have to admit that if Isabel Marant's brand weren't painted as so quintessentially French, so under-the-radar chic, and so very much on a pedestal of unavailability, I might loose a bit of interest. The Lindsey Lohan tabloid ubiquity of much high end fashion does slightly diminish the appeal of the goods for me.

However, casual browsers (read: thrifty me) don't 'convert' (to use the annoying webby biz school lingo) to actual buyers until they begin to covet the goods in question. We can't covet what we can't relate to, what doesn't seem to fit into the fabric of our day-to-day lives. Maybe with the downturn in luxury goods sales, marketers will start to consider the value of allowing the nameless browsing throngs to actually relate to and interact with their brands.

Zuzu, my little gingersnap!

2009-12-25T12:29:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas, you wonderful old building and loan.

Style Rookies

2009-11-10T21:16:00.000-08:00

Between Stella McCartney's GapKids line and J.Crew's consistently gangbusters crewcuts (above), it's clear that kids today are playing in a whole different sartorial ballgame. It's a curious business, though, because getting dressed is inherently somewhat out of a rugrat's control (e.g., what kind of 8 year old is saving up upwards of a hundred quid for Stella's military-inspired waistcoat, replete w/ tassels?). And on top of that, the tininess and portability of kids make them natural accessories -- extensions of their parents's likes and taste.

Similarly, there's no way high-fashion "mode enfantine" magazines like MilK are intended for kids -- which is maybe my own rationalization since I find the idea of a little Capucine studying interior design or fellow kids's "looks de rue" completely terrifying. It's adults that really delight in this stuff; Bruce Weber said last year that Germany's Kid's Wear is "the most beautiful magazine in the world."

But what of the fashionable little tots themselves? Arlo Weiner and Tavi are genuine (if extreme) proof of junior fashion POV (cf: Arlo Weiner quoted in GQ, "There was a period last year where I had an urge to wear neckties every day. A necktie is cleaner and more simple but a bowtie you can match with more outfits."). Both Tavi and Arlo's sartorial inclinations seem at least somewhat self-realized (cf: Arlo's brother!). It's possible that one's basic sartorial attractions -- and the idea of "expressing yourself" in general -- might be purer and less tainted pre-adolescence. By that logic, it makes sense that cute kids in cute outfits would be equally joyful for kids and adults.

Knowing that I was both meticulously styled as a youth and highly opinionated about it, I dipped into my parents files for some of the sartorial highlights of my own youth! There are strong continuities to my adulthood, including but not limited to an affinity for headbands.

A sweet nautical inspired coat:

Feeling cool on my 5th bday:

A nod to Coco Chanel with a bateau tee:

With my still favorite accessory, a 15+ lb. cat:

Rem Koolhaas' Brain

2009-10-02T19:20:00.000-07:00

I'm in the thick of a lot of classes and extracurricular work so 'est is holding down the fort until all calms down in December. However wanted to share this little gem of a short clip from Good magazine. They don't have embed code for the video, which is annoyingly Web 1.94, so I'm leaving you a link:

http://www.good.is/post/inventions-brain-sharing/

I found this charming and sort of brilliant because I just read this New Yorker article on synthetic biology. After slogging through the academic bit there are some really keen Brave New World-esque future suppositions that make the idea of renting Rem Koolhaas' brain seem theoretically possible in the near-term. Assuming Rem is cool with that, of course.

All you need is LOVE

2009-09-25T16:07:00.000-07:00

I picked up Issue 2 of Love Magazine (Issue 1 of which Jos covered) and true to promise, it was so edgy for my watered-down American reader taste that I almost felt nauseous (might have been helped along, though, by the phenomenal 17 bone pricetag).

The theme of the issue seems to be 21-&-under deviants, and it's chock full of provocative pics of:
- Fucked up-looking celebrities's kids (Pixie Geldof, Coco Sumner, the Willis sisters)
- Haunting up and comers (Taylor Momsen, Evan Rachel Wood, Tavi, Sasha Grey)
- Professional toughs (boxers, street dancers)
- Waifish Swedes strewn on sidewalks in luxury knitwear (see bottom image)
- Two kids Bruce Weber met at a diner in the Everglades
- And the most troubling of all tween genres, gender-ambiguous "children of the night" (see aspiring fashion designer, Charles Guislan, above)

All this raw EDGE is offset by a decidedly low-brow element, though. There's an odd interlude about Abercrombie sister label, Hollister and they even had the gall to throw in a Jonii-focused "Disney dream" spread. Even Miley Cyrus petting a horse gets a featurette!

On the whole, a mind-numbingly confusing magazine reading experience. Highly recommend.

Literally Ready for the Catwalk

2009-08-21T18:15:00.000-07:00

Hands down best use of a professional cat model goes to Lanvin's ad campaign for F/W 09. Look at that arrogant feline show Kristin McMenamy who's boss! Extra points for Kristin being as blanched and helpless as an anemic Victorian. Brilliant!

Vampires and ponies

2009-07-30T20:03:00.000-07:00

'I know what boys want' goes the song. I know what guys like. The answer to that age-old riddle is the same one your dad cautioned you against in the 9th grade. But what do girls like? We just might be more dimensional in that sense. To oversimplify, vampires. Well, vampires and ponies. Strange bedfellows indeed. However, the testament to this hypothesis is none but my own: between ages 9-12 I was an ardent equestrian and then immediately after, I read Anne Rice's entire Vampire Series in a breathless span of a few months. For a 13-year old this was racey stuff. My twin pre-teen obsessions were showjumping and the undead.

Girls like vampires. Can we apply the pop-Freudian analysis for a second here and ask ourselves why, pray tell? One doesn't have to venture far to pick up on the erotic undercurrents. This is the turned-table of the auto-erotic--it's all about complete possession, the stuff of romance novels and mythologized female submission.

I'm pretty obsessed with True Bood. Most of the other fans, I've noticed, are the females of the species. We go all squealy for vampires. Joan Acocella analyzes this ongoing fascination (and recent trendiness--um Twilight?) in an article in the New Yorker. She quotes Stoker's quoting of Dracula addressing the post-possessed Mina as 'my bountiful wine-press.' Hmmm...

What about True Blood? HBO's campy vampire horror show has allegories a plenty and a style all its own. The vampires of past were associated with a typically 'gothic' aesthetic, here we get 'southern gothic'. As a gal from Georgia, I'm partial to the subgenre. Anna Paquin plays the telepathic barmaid Sookie Stackhouse with a parodied down-home earnestness married to a little post-fem ain't-takin'-no-shit-from-no-man sauciness. Her female counterparts follow suit with similarly caricatured traites. The best is Anna Camp as Sarah Newlin, the minister's wife. Something about her corn flax and sunshine sincerity and the way she drawls 'Praise his Liiiiiieeeegggghhhtt' triggers a scary, scary flashback to a real life stock character--the youth group evangelist and homecoming queen--that was too familiar from my high school days in the G.A.

Quirky Girl Crush: Alexa Chung

2009-07-29T18:35:00.000-07:00

I haven't detailed my deep-rooted appreciation of Alexa Chung on Scarves, mostly because her TRL-replacement show on MTV has surrendered her to widespread tween worship. Still, she's clever in a way that's supported and enhanced by her Britishness; styled in a way that makes her an evergreen point of interest. The sum of her aesthetic parts (crucially, she's half-Asian) lends her likeness nicely to consumption.

It's precisely the opposite effect inspired by a banal looker like Lauren Conrad.

Found a great homage to her relationship with Arctic Monkeys frontman Alex Turner whilst trolling for fan vids. NB the guy who is self-proclaimed too ugly even to look at them in a magazine. Ah, Blighty!

Do Androids Dream of Oscar de la Renta?

2009-07-21T16:57:00.000-07:00

The juxtaposition of a beautiful human and the looming structures of technology is not an un-stimulating one. Accordingly, Vogue's profile of Google's most photogenic employee, Marissa Mayer, gives a useful shorthand of these eye-pleasing oppositions: classic vs. modern, man vs. machine, geek vs. chic. The article itself has a predictable element of incredulousness towards a world so coolly focused on the future and yet so full of earthly luxury goods -- that's one way of quantifying technology's POWER. There's a particularly choice anecdote in which Marissa admits to buying 24 Oscar de la Renta cardigans last year, followed by a quote from Mr. de la Renta himself: "She is one of our biggest customers."

But graphically speaking, the humanity-technology binary is surprisingly difficult to represent. The task is vast. As sexy as it sounds to throw a model in front of a massive tangle of server-wires, computer science is an almost monastic pursuit and certainly an abstract one. 'Innovation' generally happens within the tiny confines of a screen or in cyberspace, which everyone knows is invisible!

The tension is probably best represented through a campy nod to science fiction. In Duncan Jones's Moon, an icy spaceship is home to a literally bleeding Sam Rockwell and his tough-but-sensitive clone. The sharp contrast of these struggling humans and their sci-fi setting does wonders to produce something as artful as it is perilous. Truly the sexiest of all antagonistic pairs!

The uniform project

2009-07-12T11:46:00.000-07:00

Sheena Matheiken has decided to wear the same dress for a year, documenting the various accesorizations of a simple, convertible black frock at theuniformproject.com. (Thanks NYT for the scoop.) This isn't just a cute whim either. The project is intended to attract donations for the Akanksha School Project, which supports children's education in India.

Because of my fondness for uniform dressing and buying used rather than disposable clothing, I love this project. You can donate accessories to Sheena and thus far, most of the donations have had a Ready Made, crafty feel. I predict opportunities for unique product placement should her project gain traction. Thus far, she looks sort of Amelie-esque and gamine in most of the pics...I'd like to see someone donate some Louboutin for Rodarte spiked platform heels and an armload of heavy metal bracelets.

How do you pick a dress to wear for 365 days? I guess versatility is key. This dress is reversible, the shape is easily changeable with a belt - it makes a nice empty canvas. I like how the dress becomes a base layer for other dresses in some outfits:

I'm curious to see how this all unfolds. Since she is still only two months into the project, there is plenty of time to watch the project evolve. If I ever get into graduate school I'll probably launch a uniform project of my own...but inspired more by financial necessity than anything else.

(Wo)man in the Mirror

2009-07-08T17:46:00.000-07:00

I've been noticing lots of self-gaze -- in both the vein of a sad, "Who am I?" waif (above, a promotional still from the upcoming Coco Chanel biopic) and the beguiling femme fatale (below, the new Dior ad featuring aforementioned Marion Cotillard).

As pretty as it looks, you can't take the mirror too lightly -- its relationship with visual pleasure has deep roots (miss u, psychoanalysis). Lacan's "mirror stage" is the moment when the child recognizes himself in the mirror, and the 'pleasure' is in imaging the mirror image as "more complete, more perfect than their own body" (cf. Laura Mulvey). Extending the theory a little, psychologically-charged film criticism seems founded upon a comparison between the moviegoer and the child at the mirror: enamored with the self-recognition (even if a gross mis-representation) of looking in the mirror (at the film screen).

Anyway, leave it to female auteurs (Coco Avant Chanel's director, Anne Fontaine, and dykon Annie Leibovitz, who photographed the Dior ad) to make a conscious play on the perfect mirror image and the implications therein for the gazed-upon woman. You can't even take marketing campaigns for granted these days!

The jumpsuit: talk amongst yourselves...

2009-06-30T18:40:00.000-07:00

I wrote an email to myself as a reminder of some recent post ideas whose entire contents read "Mexican blogs, jumpsuits.'

Needless to say I've found a few fashion-type blogs from Mexico that I'd like to share (post soon) and I've also somewhat of a late-blooming jumpsuit fixation. The jumpsuit is arguably last season's trend that few had the guts to own until lately. Next thing you know it, GAP will have it's own version.

I'm having a hard time applying my critical shopper's skills when it comes to this Alice+Olivia number? It could be horribly wrong (note slightly harem-y pants) but there is something so beguiling about a one-piece pants outfit...I'm sure this justification has led to many a sartorial regret.

This, however, is something else. I imagine Diana von Furstenberg wearing this number. If I were a deeply tanned, be-bangled lady-of-leisure I would probably wear nothing but Missoni jumpsuits...and turbans!

Late-breaking editor's update to post:

I f***ing love this...by Freemont, from RareChic.com.

Flip Book

2009-06-24T16:02:00.000-07:00

Had to share Architect Online's fab flip book that lets you page through their entire paper edition online. Love it. I'm a total advocate of a (mostly) paperless world.

Buenos Aires Hits and Misses

2009-06-14T19:20:00.000-07:00

I've lived in Buenos Aires for nearly 5 months now and though my orbit is still somewhat constrained to greater Palermo and parts of Puerto Madero near my work, I've found a few places and experiences that I love and endorse.

So, without further ado, I bring you the hit list:

1. For a trago: Le Bar

This beautiful French expat-owned bar and restaurant has three floors, each with a distinct interior that has been painstakingly curated. The second-floor lounge is definitely the most desirable seating area: saturated color, sunken, Japanese-style seating, decent pedestrian bar art...vodka martinis and a tiny picada of a grilled calamari appetizer that was delish. (I had two orders:)).

2. For a second trago, Bar Uriate

I go exclusively for a cocktail with muddled berries, vodka and Tabasco. Nice outdoor space for brunch.

3. Club Eros

Steak: $4.50
Half a grilled squash: $.75
Half bottle of decent Malbec: $1.50

Men's locker room ambience, florescent overhead lighting, raucous fútbol crowd and adjoining indoor soccer court: free!

4. Neighborhood jaunts: Chinatown in Belgrano

My people are prolific colonizers of urban real estate, bringing their identical Chinese tschotskies, cuisine of questionable authenticity and encyclopedia supermarkets EVERYWHERE. And thank god for that. After many months of grilled everything, I was sorely in want of spices, nuanced flavors, sauces and curries. Arribeño street is an American expat's dream. Every spice, sauce, grain, dried mushroom, paste and powder you can dream up is available in one of the multiple, bustling Asian markets.

Mythes debunked:

Argentina is not impossibly cheap:

For a spend-happy vacationer, sure. And don't be fooled with the rare culinary score at Club Eros--this is an international city with an unofficial 20% inflation rate. It's not cheap. Electronics and clothing are easily two times the price as in the states. Whenever anyone at my work catches wind of someone making a trip back to the states, ears perk up and people start competetively hustling to get goods trafficked back.

Buenos Aires is not a style capital:

Lovely, laid back and wholeheartedly friendly, yes, but this isn't a city with inspiring street style, or one that is even close to the avant-garde of fashion. Buenos Aires, is, however, a city of beautifully and carefully designed eating, drinking and social spaces. People like to go out and enjoy life, and they like to do so in thoughtfully designed and well-appointed spaces. Even the run-of-the mill cafès and pizzerias will boast sultry lighting, soaring ceilings and well-plotted decor.

And now I leave you with a trailer for Francis Ford Coppola's newest flick, Tetro, set in Buenos Aires, for a closer look at my newest adopted home:

Sasha Grey, "Visual Artist"

2009-06-06T09:19:00.000-07:00

Borrowing from the Times Review of Soderbergh's new film, "the Girlfriend Experience," what has distinguished Sasha Grey's career as a 'porn star' is both "the extremity of what she is willing to do and an unusual degree of intellectual seriousness about doing it." Nicely put, A.O.! Undoubtedly what makes her so fascinating is the meeting of a high-concept approach (e.g. borrowing her name from Oscar Wilde and the Kinsey scale; shopping her pop-psychological thoughts on commodity, brand, and sex all over town...) with down-and-dirty praxis (in this case, extremely candid pornography). Prudishness aside, this is more than just a "porn star with a brain" story -- it seems to me she's aware of one of the more surprising/interesting responses to feminism: the power of plasticity, or the quality of being all things to all men.

Her YouTube channel (youtube.com/misssashagrey) is a particularly ripe frontier of the Sasha Grey experience. Her hyper-consciously produced "Grey on..." videos, like the below in which she gives remarks on her recent porn industry awards, truly seem like they could take any shape in the eye of the beholder.

The completely fascinating and all over the map comments section on these are proof pudding of the infinite number of ways she can provoke: from porn super fans with the "Go Sasha! You rock and please do more bukkake scenes!" to the virulently feminist-against-porn crowd to those who hook right into the David Lynch quality of the 'film.' On the other side of the aisle, as it were, check out the charming Current TV interview she lent last week in which she steps through her 5 favorite films (among them, Catherine Breillat's "Fat Girl" and Godard's "Pierrot le Fou"). Naturally, she calls out what makes each ever so slightly PROVOCATIVE.

In any event, this lil' auteur is 'one to watch.'

Highlights from the Times Magazine

2009-05-22T09:04:00.000-07:00

The Times magazine online version is for me the first virtual accompaniment to a paper publication to become a more-anticipated sensory experience than the handheld copy. It is also one of the first online magazines to get me sort of excited about the possibilities of web design. Here is a sexy web experience, all without annoying flash openings, or gradually unfolding graphics that I have no patience for.

This last Sunday the summer travel issue debuted. Here, I present my virtual walk through the notable bits:

1. People travel for culture-surprise!

I wouldn't characterize the typical Times reader as the culturally blind sensualist whose travel itineraries revolve around 5 star hotels and pockets of luxury and hedonism, but apparently traveling as a motive to see culturally important landmarks is a new trend born of recession-induced guilt. Um, OK, I don't think I've ever traveled without a cultural itinerary.

However, I'm intrigued by Pinacoteca, a 'curated art travel' company, who also happens to have a visually arresting, though not entirely useful, website. (Despite the annoying flash intro.)

screengrab from a page titled 'things we adore'

2. Bvlgari spends a pretty penny on ads:

Anyone else notice that online ads for Bvlgari are suddenly ubiqu? Speaks much to the supposed decline of luxury consumerism. I say 'supposed' because not being a consumer of luxury goods, I can only take the word of the pundits.

Whatever they're doing, it's working because I a'Googled and...Bvlgari has hotels and resorts! Who knew?

3. Glasgow gets compared to Portland:

I haven't been to either city but the Times seems to have a love affair with Portland, as evidenced by multiple recent travel pieces. The piece on Glasgow names the city as a punky, anti-London with an art scene to watch for. My friend Celeste is a student at the Glasgow School of Art, which is mentioned a few times.

Celeste, in her studio

4. Everyone's a Hotelier:

Bvlgari, and also, Brice Marden? The artist, whose work T mag aptly describes as 'squiggly', and his wife, are running a hotel in the Caribbean. Clairest and I were talking the other day about a friend who professed as a lifetime goal the desire to run a boutique hotel. There certainly is something magical about a hotel-hell, I even get excited about the hokiest roadside motels (I miss my Americana in Argentina.)

The beauty of reading the Times mag, or any other pub, online, is the loop of references that reading on the Internets triggers. Your impressions of an article are not only determined by the actual content, but by the digital ramble inspired when you follow a link or search for something that piques your curiosity. Really, this is just a nice justification for the fact that I spend too much time staring at my compu.

What's old is new again...and again

2009-05-15T17:49:00.000-07:00

I remember SO DISTINCTLY reading the Teen Vogue that featured this little tween Ferragamo intern. Her description of the experience was particularly memorable:

"On my last day, they asked me to do a presentation about my generation's view on brands...It went on for nearly an hour longer than it was supposed to because they had so many questions. I almost started crying afterward."

She almost started crying, y'all! In all seriousness though, this was genius PR for Ferragamie, as there's truly a sexy old-meets-new quality when you have a little tween saying, "I'm obsessed with the Varina flats. I wear them with Earnest Sewn skinny jeans/Philip Lim/the rest of my Gossip Girl-inspired wardrobe."

In France, the "rajeunissement de la marque" (interpreted literally, the re-youngification of the brand) seems like an even more vital part of business. Kinda makes sense that this phenomenon is French. Parisians have both a tremendous sense of pride in tradition and an obsession with the new, so reconciling the two seems like an appropriate preoccupation. Fashion houses like Chanel and Dior are considered to be genius at pushing their brands back into consciousness in a way that resonates as iconic/fresh. As with anything, there's probably a whole science behind doing this -- it's not difficult, for example, to I.D. the tastemaker components behind having Sofia Coppola direct a perfume commercial (I found this pretty WHIMSICAL, I must admit):

Truly one of the most interesting rajeunissement projects is credited to Ramdane Touhami, the mastermind behind CIRE TRUDON. He turned the world's oldest surviving candle works (former clients include Louis XIV and MARIE ANTOINETTE) into an amazing concept store and a line of scents inspired by places (the moon, cloisters, Versailles, Indian apothecary, etc.). All while being quoted saying cryptic things like: “Cire Trudon does not make perfumes, but creates smells.” Tres jeune!

Model as Muse

2009-05-06T16:55:00.000-07:00

I know that you're thinking that it was a only a matter of time before Clairest or I posted something on the Met's new exhibit 'The Model as Muse.' 'est is more of the model connoisseur, but I've been scrolling through photos of stars all pulled and plucked for the Costume Institute Gala, so I couldn't resist commentary. What is it about this event that brings out the fashion adventuress in normally boringly-clothed celebrities? I deeply appreciate even the 'worst dressed list.' (Or maybe I most appreciate the worst dressed list...)

While we are considering the model as muse, how about the model as blogger? Jezebel breaks down the more palatable model blogs in a recentish post. I'm a fan of Cameron Russel's Funny and Interesting for being casually academic and political, with the good taste and blithe humor of a mixed bag blog.

So does the 'model as blogger' reconcile with the 'model as muse' archetype? Some have said that Kate Moss' success is owed to how much of her career she remained a speechless objet d'art and lovely projector screen for the material desires of her public.

Stella Vine's 'Holy water cannot help you now'

And on to fall

2009-04-26T17:20:00.000-07:00

Both Clairest and I have turning seasons in mind, but in the southern hemisphere, it's fall, not spring, that approaches. I prefer the winter months for the greater variety of sartorial choices. (When its 90 degrees, layering is obvi not an option.)

Lately I've been pining for a new pair of boots to complete what I've decided will be the Fall/Winter uniform: leggings+boots+tunic+blazer+scarf. Thank you Gwyneth, and your post on uniform dressing that inspired my new wardrobe philosophy:

My picks:

Mike+Chris top

Vena Cava blazer

Robert Rodriguez legging (that is delightfully closer to a pant than a legging...)

Costume Nacional boot

Virginia Johnson scarf

This combination invites endless mediations on the same concept.

Out of uniform, I do aspire to emulate Isabel Marant's vision for Fall:

But thigh-high boots, though appealing in theory, are near impossible unless you have a hyper-attenuated supermodel physique.

The one thing that ties together all possible fall/winter looks is the perfect pair of boots. (Recommendations welcome.)

There is a proper equestrian bootmaker in my part of Palermo that I've been meaning to check out. This place has no fashion pretensions-it's just rows of boots with pictures of horses on the wall. I think I'll go on an exploratory mission tomorrow. More soon...

Endless Summer: Gidget 'n Moondoggie

2009-04-24T19:20:00.000-07:00

All the HOT weather in SF is enough to inspire sweet dreamz of Gidget and Moondoggie, 50s/60s/70s style icons (they're kinda forever young).

The zany adventures of Gidget were made into a film in 1959, but she starred in an incroyable set of novels starting a couple of years earlier. According to the Gidget wiki, "The name Gidget is a portmanteau word of 'girl and midget.'" What's not to love? Seriously though, she's a woman who wore a lot of hats: student/waitress (Cher Papa), teacher (Gidget in Love and Gidget Gets Married), fashion model (Gidget Goes Parisienne), tour guide (Gidget Goes New York and Gidget Grows Up) and travel agent (Gidget's Summer Reunion and The New Gidget).

Anyway, in the movie starring Sandra Dee, Gidget connects up with a gangly pack of surfer bros. Moondoggie plays it cool all summer but in the stunning crescendo at the end of the film, he asks her to wear his class pin. Not sure how it turned out considering there were about a dozen sequels and an off-Broadway spoof called PSYCHO BEACH PARTY, but what a comely pair they did once make.

Garota de Ipanema

2009-04-20T04:50:00.000-07:00

Remember those early travel experiences that left you light-headed and hopelessly enamored with a new locale? For me this was walking the rainy streets of Florence with a friendly young Florentine suitor who held an umbrella and chatted amiably in Italian that I didn't understand. Or, an illicit cocktail and cigarette at the rooftop bar of some swish Hong Kong hotel when I was 17.

This is how I feel about Rio de Janeiro. From the moment I arrived I've been swoony for Rio. Rio has provided enough memorable travel moments to more than make up for the past few jaded and underwhelming travel experiences. During my beachy jaunts around Copacabana and Leblon, I've been unable to quit one song from my mental soundtrack. Yes, The Girl from Ipanema haunts all of my Brazilian travel impressions. Today I spent the day at Ipanema beaches with Jobim's lyrics sing-songing in my ear.

Curious, I Google 'Girl from Ipanema.' Turns out, said girl is real! Heloìsa Eneida Menezes Paes Pinto was an Ipanema teenager who would stroll by a bar frequented by lyricist Vinícius de Moraes, on her way to the beach.

In an unromantic turn-of-events, 'Helô ' later became a Playmate in the 80's, in a team effort with her daughter, Ticiane.

'Tween Vogue and Teen Vogue

2009-04-16T09:00:00.000-07:00

I've always liked Teen Vogue -- it has a certain whimsical and ethereal quality that Big People's Vogue can't really pull off. Undoubtedly this has something to do with Amy Astley, who, as editor-in-chief since 2000, has pulled in some RLY interesting photogs, editors, and stylists, like Arthur Elgort (who photographed the above spread), Havana Lafitte, Tom Munro, Gucci Westman, Nick Haymes...

One particularly apropos collaborator is Bruce Weber (responsible for the above image) -- he did, after all, write a book called BRANDED YOUTH. He's done some profound work photographing free-spirited tweens and tween idols for the magazine, notably the ZEfron and Natalie Portman covers from last year.

I was first introduced to Bruce's work through my cousin-in-law, Theo Stanley, who became his photo assistant after being cast as a young Bruce in a spread back in '98. Theo is now a cinematographer and has since done some cool collaborations with B. I love these "Summer Camp" videos with Kate Moss, Lara Stone, and the Mulleavys. Party sweet!

Looking at two lovers

2009-04-09T05:34:00.000-07:00

Photographing your girl is age-old, as is the idea of the gaze in film (how men look at women, how women look at women, how women look at themselves). In Two Lovers, Joaquin Phoenix has two women in his orbit, played by Vinessa Shaw and Gwyneth Paltrow. He's cuckoo bananas over Gwyneth and less inspired by Vinessa, and the intensity of his feelings for them is largely communicated through the way he looks at them -- duhh, he's an amateur photographer!

I read a review of Mysteries of Pittsburgh in which Sienna Miller was called a "charmless beauty." Gwynnie's character in Two Lovers is actually a useful counterpoint to that because there's something so charming about her -- it smoothes over the moments where she seems way too old for the role and others when you're thinking WTF is going on. I've actually never thought of Gwyn as radiant -- more like, as she's described in Sliding Doors, "pretty in a British, horsey sort of way," if slightly augmented by being blonde. But there is something quite luminous to her character here that you do really just want to look at her.

The other thing is that I'm obsessed with GOOP.

Below: Taking photos of Gwyn, naturally

Below: Vinessa says, take a picture of ME!

Culinary Stylings

2009-04-04T17:38:00.000-07:00

On Saturday mornings I like to cook.

Upon rising at the luxurious hour of half-past-ten, I sometimes make pancakes. After a half-decade where Friday night meant an obligatory social outing, I have found that one's late-twenties can be blissfully hangover free, leaving much time for domestic activities. I fancy myself the type of cook who can throw a bit of this and a scoop of that into a big mixing bowl, free of the bonds imposed by restrictive measuring receptacles, and somehow whip up something palatable.

I say 'palatable' because my pancakes are something akin to what Gwyneth would post on her lifestyle blog-every possible fat or simple sugar has been replaced by something macrobiotic or somehow healthful. Ah, guilt-free breakfast carbs!

My pancake recipe:

3/4 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 oatmeal (pulverized to oatmeal dust in a coffee bean grinder, if you prefer)

1 tbsp honey

1/2 teaspoon baking powder or soda (the charmingly haphazard chef doesn't know the difference)

1 egg

1/2 cup or so of soy milk, or real milk, if that's how you roll

generous sprinkle of cinnamon

olive oil or butter for the pan

walnuts, Trader Joe's frozen berry mix or sliced bananas to throw into the batter side once you've made pancake-sized dollops in the skillet

Assemble. Enjoy with maple syrup.

Since some of these ingredients aren't available in Buenos Aires, I suggest using low-sugar jam in lieu of maple syrup (a poor substitute, I know) and salvado de arena. Delicious.

Like most people who enjoy food, I have a near obsession with the Food Network (I watch the substitutes down here, but crave the Real Thing.) The ladies of the Food Network are assembled into an imbalanced trinity of sorts: Nigella, Giada, and yes, Rachel Ray. With the notable exception of RR, the food network ladies have a mysteriously beguiling sex appeal: the never-fail mother/nurturer+sexually viable demure flirt personae delivers again. I can watch Nigella eat about anything.

What is it about people who look good eating? They are like people who look good crying...or smoking. It ruins it for the rest of us. And something about Giada lulls me into a hypnotic calm (maybe in response to her sincere exuberance about things like rosemary and mozzarella). Yet simultaneously, I am bewitched by the prospect of cooking hearty Italian fare, eating voraciously while maintaining an impossible girlish figure and...Giada herself:

What does this have to do with Made of Scarves? Well cooking is chic, of course. I think so many have become dabblers in the culinary arts because cooking is creative yet practical-one's efforts yield edible results! Also, entertaining holds myriad opportunities for art direction (setting the scene...) and expression of one's personal brand:

Jackie hosts the French Minister of Cultural Affairs in Dior.

Let's hope Jackie didn't serve her esteemed guests typical 60's dinner party fare:

'Frank Stuffed Cabbage'

[From the truly hilarious 'Do What Now.' ] Read it and thank the culinary gods that times have changed, and that we have Alice Waters instead of Fanny Farmer, and that hot dogs no longer constitute a proper food group.

I have a 1969 vintage Playboy as a coffee table book with a photo spread of a dinner party that features pitch-perfect 1960's gag-inducing party fare at it's finest. The event was billed as 'a galaxy of avant-garde food, drink, costumes and decor for hosting a way-out wingding.' Image search is not surfacing any illustrative images, but this Ike and Tina Turner clip did show up as part of 'Playboy After Dark', which is thematically similar, yet maybe isn't a 'wingding'...but nonetheless is still cool:

Having digressed entirely, I will now leave you with my Saturday morning recipe for a leek tart. Buen provecho!

3 eggs

milk (maybe around a quarter cup?)

1 large clove of garlic, diced

parsley (as much as looks nice)

1 large leek, chopped up

2 medium-sized mushrooms, chopped

a bit of hard, sharp cheese (Pecorino Romano, Parmigiano, ect.)

one whole wheat pastry shell

a bit of dry white wine

salt and pepper

Sautè leeks, mushrooms, garlic, wine, parsley and salt and pepper (to taste). Beat eggs with milk. Combine, add to pie crust, grate cheese on top, bake. (Around 15 minutes for a 7 inch pie crust.) Remove from oven, cool and consume voraciously!

Miss you, Prada Marfa

2009-04-03T17:08:00.000-07:00

Prada Marfa, in all its brute grandiosity, still stands. Tip c/o Elaine at Feed the Yak, Street View PR and a Prada Marf enthusiast. Take a gander.

View Larger Map

Pocket belles de jour

2009-04-01T08:49:00.000-07:00

Regarding J's last post, it is true: homegirl loves heels. Despite our shared love for showin' legz, on this point we diverge quite drastically. I have one (1) pair of heels that I got as a gift two years ago that I wear approximately 2x/year and have a boyish penchant for things like driving shoes, topsiders, converse, equestrian-wear, and elvish boots. But true to most girls who came of tweenhood in the late 90s, I mostly wear ballet flats -- this is most likely because I consider the Lonely Doll a significant life/style icon:

Also in Lonely Doll news, Suri Cruise has custom tiny Roger Vivier flats (originally made famous by Catherine Deneuve in Belle de Jour).

For more information about pocket girls, plz. see urban dictionary (tip via Danish Aziz).

Great Heights

2009-03-30T17:41:00.000-07:00

I´m enamored with Aimee Mullins. Anyone who can serve as a muse to both Matthew Barney and Alexander McQueen merits my reverence. Watch the video and you'll likely agree. (I'm also really into the Ted Talks, but lectures about militant atheism and marine biology are more than an aside to this blog about style...)

Her talk explores the presumptions we have about disability, and how the artificial limbs that have enabled her to become a world-class athlete and also a subject for an artist's meditation on form are in many ways no different than the alterations that many people choose to undergo.

As a girl who is about 5 foot 4 in her stockinged feet, I can certainly appreciate changable height. In a sense, Aimee's ability to alter her stature depending on the legs she chooses is enviable. Ah to be tall and willowy!

I spent most of my twenties-in stubborn denial of my height deficit-tottering around on platforms or heels. I surprise people on how far I can walk comfortably in heels. I keep expecting to come to terms with flats and accept my relative stubbiness...but no...

Balmain

Louboutin

Instead I chose to hobble myself in the name of added inches, which makes walking on Buenos Aires' shoddily paved sidewalks and rutted cobbles imposible.

Marni

Short and to the point.

2009-03-26T17:52:00.000-07:00

Little known fact: way back in '07, baby J and I first bonded after trying to get away with wearing identical men's shirtdresses to the workplace. The dress looked like this, but SHORTER:

[via rarechic]

We failed, but our passion for extremely short dresses endures. And there's truly nothing like spring to inspire one to push the limits on the exposed leg/skirt ratio. They make you feel crazy!:

And ZANY:

But also kind of precious and childlike (nb: this is actually a romper):

My picks for spring*:

*Please note these are not for the workplace. In the new economy, you won't get away with showing any leg at all. I'm condoning these only for intimate social gatherings, muzik festivals, Dolores Park, tennis matches, and sitting on stoops in > 80 degree heat.

[stewart+brown crochet poolside dress]

[stella mccartney for adidas tennis dress]

[insight lightsaber dress]

On second thought...

2009-03-22T11:30:00.000-07:00

Don't want to judge the Jeunet/Tautou Chanel No.5 venture too prematurely; marketing is powerful. If, for example, the commercial is nearly as good as this clip from Amelie, I will buy a gallon. "LA PINCE, BRETODEAU!"

J-P Jeunet, Take Me Away

2009-03-21T22:59:00.000-07:00

Chanel is making ANOTHER No.5 mini-movie (you might recall the Baz Lurhmann chef d'oeuvre starring Nicole Kidman, reportedly the most expensive commercial of all time). This go-around Jean-Pierre Jeunet is directing his Amelie muse, Audrey Tautou. The first stills were just released, and it looks plus ou moins like the perfume fantasy version of the Darjeeling Limited.

You might be asking what Chanel is doing making such a costly advert in the new economy! Well, the WWD article goes right to the heart of the issue: "Jeunet’s vision of an old-time luxury voyage is very much in sync with the mind-sets of today’s shoppers." Apart from the general value of escapism, says a beauty analyst (yess), "Despite the economy, consumers’ primary purchasing motivation isn’t price but how products make them feel." That is true. I read the NYT article about the "lipstick indicator," and believed it. However, Chanel No.5 is such an old lady scent that if you are buying it to feel sexy, marketing is doing a number on you.

[photos from women's wear daily]

Cool Dad: Liam Gallagher

2009-03-18T20:07:00.000-07:00

Sometimes what you say about something is more important than the something. That is so true for Liam Gallagher! When he announced this week that he's launching his own clothing line, he said, "I'm doing it cuz [sic] there's a lack of stuff out there of the things I would wear." He's always seemed, style-wise, like a pretty nondescript 60's-inspired 90's bro, but still -- he's such a quotable/incendiary that we can't help but be curious. What will all these parkas, tracksuits, and denim (dunno really what the line will contain, just guessing) look like? Perhaps what he's saying here is that he's filling a void. A void of clothes marketed at COOL DADS.

I'm curious about fatherhood, but Liam Gallagher's in particular. He's got 3 kids via 3 different women and a relatively tangled mass of affairs and marriages. His daughter with Lisa Moorish, for example, was conceived 2 months after he married Patsy Kensit. Patsy later said she cried every day of their marriage and she also changed her tattoo of Liam's name to Lennon, her son by him.

I saw an amazing Hello Magazine spread of Lisa Moorish at her country home with her two kids (Molly, by Gallagher, and Astile, by PETE DOHERTY, why not?!) which was so awkward, showcased how ADD and developmentally challenged these kids are, and featured quotes like, "I'm so mad I have a reputation for being a party girl; I've been sober for 3 years [Molly's 11, Astile's 6]." Here's lil' Astile with his dad:

That's not to say Liam isn't a good father. He's said a lot of great things about it, like:
- "I'm the bullocks at being a dad. I'm top."
- "I didn't always want to be a dad. Just wanted to get off my tits and do music but once you get your missus pregnant, you've got to step up to the plate."
- "The kids are just the bullocks. I enjoy their company more than some idiot in a band or some actor. That's how I've changed."

Gonna predict his next quote. "Here's my clothes line, like it or f**k off." Cool dads have something to teach us. This is an attitude we can live by.

Cora Groppo

2009-03-18T17:43:00.000-07:00

On a recent shopping outing to the boutiques of Palermo Soho I discovered Argentine designer Cora Groppo. She specializes in lovely, drapey things, all in earth tones. Also, she has the talent to make harem pants appealing, which could be either frightful or oh-so-right. I walked away with this number:

A three-piece translucent frock with a removable cloth 'necklace.'

I'm also into her loopy, dimensional, layered party dresses:

They remind me of Eva Hesse sculptures:

Prada Marfa

2009-03-11T16:07:00.000-07:00

Most outrageous things I know about came from Kenny Goldsmith, whose conceptual art class I took many [2] years ago. Prada Marfa is no exception! It's basically a free-standing Prada store, installed as a permanent sculpture on a desolate strip of highway in West Texas. It has no working door, and it never opened.

Two Berlin artists, Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset, are responsible for the concept, but naturally it was heralded--and funded--by the New York art scene. According to the NYT article about it from '05, "The piece hints at subjects to which designers are sensitive: the unchecked growth of luxury brands, the temporal relevance of fashion, retail as tourism and a culture that is devoted to buying and selling." Don't think this needs to be over-intellectualized though; putting a mini Prada in the middle of nowhere is standalone amazingness.

It's worth noting that P.M. has recently come back into cultural consciousness since there's a "Prada Marfa" sign up in the Van der Woodsen household on Gossip Girl. This is 'cause the people brokering the show's contemporary art--the ladies at Art Production Fund--are the same that funded the original. Go fig.

Another man's treasure

2009-03-07T16:45:00.000-08:00

Buenos Aires is an antique lover's dream. A trip to the Mercado de Pulgas (flea market) in Palermo Viejo wasn't productive (in that I didn't find the cheap sub-tropical loungy patio furniture that I'd set out for) but it was indeed a vertible museum stroll through mountains of mostly Edwardian era furniture, and some very creepy odds and ends that resurrected themselves from someone's attic and the 1930's to become redundant and junky again:

This señor (below) is the autòr of the above pieces of decoupaged found objects. He was a sport and posed with a timepiece-encrusted helmet for the photo:

The mercado was spookily empty, and I have to say that I prefer the regular Sunday fair in San Telmo. Clustered around the Plaza de Dorrego you can find vendors hawking costume jewelry, furs, and 1970's sunglasses for mere pesos, and the antique vendors a few blocks away have more rarified finds. I like Bar Seddon for a post-amble cerveza.

"Well-worn tweeds and well-trained gun dogs"

2009-03-03T21:49:00.000-08:00

I bought the new Lord Snowdon biography as a gift, but I ended up skimming it--the caddish Tony Armstrong-Jones is too charming to resist. His life, apparently, has been completely defined by a) his aesthetic sensitivity, and b) his notorious womanizing...exactly what you want from your local fashion photographer! Marrying Princess Margaret in 1960 meant he had to trade in his leather jackets and chukka boots (not to mention his sexy ingenue girlfriend, Jacqui Chan), but the sensibility produced by the match is fascinating. Bridging quote-unquote Art and the Establishment, they brought their boheme circle--actors, novelists, theatre-people, etc.--along on hunting trips and spent most of the Swingin' Sixties with a royal rebel reputation.

Exhibit A: a short film made at Windsor for the Queen's 39th birthday (directed by Peter Sellers, starring Tony as the homosexual gangster/one-legged golfer):

Do rakish men of art & leisure still exist? His marriage to Margaret was, unsurprisingly, a total disaster, and Tony seems to have spent much of his golden years tallying up his love children, but the allure is real and undeniable. Though he might have been like 5'6''.

[pictures from vanityfair.com]

Rodarte...y hacerte una estrella

2009-02-28T16:07:00.000-08:00

For my money, New York Magazine has the best and most comprehensive fashion week coverage. One of the shows that provided an unexpected surprise was Rodarte. I didn't get the deconstructed punky knits from collections past, and the draping seemed haphazard and avant gard just for the sake of being so. However, Fall 2009 seems to pull together all of their signatures-varying textures, knits, eye-popping color-to stunning affect:

I'm also quite fond of how they've essentially created 36 versions of the same dress. I love the practicality of a 'uniform.'

M-m-m-my Missoni

2009-02-26T14:54:00.000-08:00

First in print, methinks, in the Women's Spring Fashion '09 NYT Style Magazine, this Missoni campaign shot by Steven Meisel is nothing short of perfection. So many textures, so many connotations of a lounge-y luxe lifestyle! It makes me want to lie around in a headscarf and be photographed from above. I'm even feeling the random dude! (Who knew Missoni even did menswear? Not sure how I'd feel about a guy wearing Missoni, unless it was like a sweet cravate or something, and even then, I'd probably just assume he was a distinguished gay man). Big score for a brand I already kinda feel can do no wrong.

Modern Luv

2009-02-22T16:56:00.000-08:00

Came to blog 'bout Agyness Deyn only to find her in Baby J's last post...twinz! Unfortunately, I'm also having to refer to OUT-OF-TOUCH Vogue USA. Aggy and her boyfriend Albert Hammond, Jr. of Strokes fame (aka GREEN AGGS AND HAM) are front and center in a lurve-themed photoshoot in the February issue.

I tend to think of them looking like this:

But they are so glam and lovely in this Vogue spread. I'm curious about their impulse to be so public with their relationship recently, though. While I was in London, the Guardian published Al's ramblin' ode to his woman; he also features prominently in Ag's recent NY Magazine interview. I'm sure they're kinda just personality narcissists/fame whores--but even still, these strongly-worded declarations seem kinda powerful and bold. Reservations about discreetness, overexposure, etc. aside, it at least succeeds in marking/capturing a moment. The desire to do so is not lost on many these dayz. Love in the modern age, y'all.

Love...is in the air?

2009-02-20T15:03:00.000-08:00

What do we think of the new LOVE magazine? Seems like the edgier anecdote to everything demure and out-of-touch that is Vogue USA. I´m not sure if I get the editorial decision to include Courtney Love in an above-the-fold lineup that features Iggy Pop, Lara Stone and Alber Ebaz-maybe as a nod to the destructive rock goddess personae that fashion is so fond of paying tribute to? Maybe for the shared moniker? A distressed leather jacket as a delicious elegy to a bygone era of drug-fueled excess is one thing...but Ms. Love is not the most eloquent of fashion analogies.

However, I am intrigued. AND they have a blog.

Porteña nomads

2009-02-15T13:06:00.000-08:00

Through mutual friends I met the lovely Victoria Chan, a fellow expat and all around ebullient, vivacious being, who also happens to be a jewelry and handbag designer. She's taking advantage of the surplus of quality leather (and like myself, also has a fondness for the related abundance of to-die-for steak) to build out her line -Nomaddicts - and start up a few side ventures.

One of her signature pieces is a fanny-pack type handbag-on-a-belt. No one has to make the case to me for a hands-free bag.

After having seen them 'in person', I´m also after a pair of her metal and leather earrings.

MixedUse for the next generation

2009-02-14T16:29:00.000-08:00

Expensive vintage can be really annoying if it doesn't have that special/hand-picked feeling. Hence the joy of shopping at mixedUse in SF, which, run by an old Hollywood stylist, was essentially a treasure chest of clothes, furniture, and other cool costumey stuff she collected over the years. *Tears*, it closed last year, but thankfully it named an SF heir: ANICA, which is literally my corner store.

I always speak glowingly of Anica's specialness--it carries just a couple of cool girls' brands (e.g. les prairies de paris, society for rational dress, opening ceremony) and, in the back, a rack of the best of the best mixedUse stuff for the Anica set: short dresses, belts, costume jewels and the like. Non-locals can check out their just-launched online vintage section. Locals can get drunk there, tonight (champagne on account o' V-Day). I kinda like this 'visual illusion' low back dress (would prob break the visual illusion by wearing a shirt under, though).

The bidness of street fashion: Paris and London

2009-02-09T17:45:00.000-08:00

Since I've last been to these cities (London in '07, Paris in '05), Europe's kinda been taken over by the diffuse concept of street style. It has brought along an obsession with quote-unquote accessible design, uniqueness, and an energy that a department store would be hard pressed to replicate, so I was very curious to see how high street (or in Paris, les grands magasins) has adapted. Unsurprisingly, they have uniformly picked up a STREET FASHION department.

The French iterations (called V.O.--version originale) at Galeries Lafayette and Au Printemps are, sadly, totally flat and listless--a bunch of cheap clothes in a basement accomp'ed by a Rihanna soundtrack. But with SPIRIT, Selfridge's on Oxford Street has executed something quite right. On its own ground floor wing, the department has a mix of high and low that feels intentional and cool (e.g. selected pieces like a Ted Baker bomber jacket, newish Brit designers like AllSaints, a small TopShop collection) with supreme random touches like a tattoo station and a wall of headbands. The result is something a little oontz-oontz that has at least taken stock of this newer, younger understanding of fashion. Way to stick it to the man...man!

More adventures in retail: Mango

2009-02-08T05:56:00.000-08:00

Says Fashionista: Julia Restoin-Roitfeld is to be the face of Mango for Spring 09. As far as celeb and non-model (but model-type) endorsements for fashion companies, this one strikes me as particularly interesting. When I lived in Spain, Mango (not to be mistaken for the less appealing exported line, MNG) was always a go-to for well-priced, inspired pieces.

Also, I just love Miss Roitfield and her mama; they have such a singular look and style:

Adventures in Retail

2009-02-04T13:48:00.000-08:00

I've ventured cautiously into the retail waters in Buenos Aires because so many friends and acquaintances have all characterized shopping in the 'Paris of South America' as some Dyonisian frolic through impossibly inexpensive and style-forward wares. Lest I hand over all my pesos in a frenzy of sartorial lust, I decided to remain calm, prepared and discerning. I am someone who enjoys clothes but despises the shopping experience. Retail centers make me feel nauseous. I'm waiting for the day an online portal can intuit my desires and nudge me with personally curated wardrobes. (I'd happily hand over my personal data, privacy implications aside). Despite the cheap thrill of the hunt, I could live without the placating lounge music or horrid lighting that so many shopping areas employ.

Chocolate

Two places where I've purchased something: Chocolate-a spare, whitewashed Club Monaco-esque chain. I'll have to post a photo of the dress-it evokes Gaultier. And most recently, Desiderata, where I got a pair of linen shorts to be better prepared for 90 degree heat.

You see a lot of color on the streets here; and gladiator sandals and silk hair flowers abound. More notes forthcoming. When my SF half returns from her adventures abroad, check back to hear about street style in wintry London and Paris. Besos!

Miles Aldridge: fetish and Roman Catholicism

2009-01-30T17:22:00.001-08:00

Our favorite tipster, Kat of SquareEyes blogging fame, sent us this wonderful/weird link to the world of Miles Aldridge. (Not safe for work.) I love the saturated tones and religious and kinky overtones. As a former Catholic, I am all-too-familiar with religion infused with erotica, and am thus a fan of the all-to-familiar references to that fun dichotomy.

Amour fou! Red berets!

2009-01-27T20:56:00.000-08:00

MoS (the SF branch) is off to Western Europe. Comme inspiration...the embodiment of art, raptus, and young dumbness (Eva Green in The Dreamers). Si charmante.

Co-de-pendant

2009-01-27T12:39:00.000-08:00

Just realized that I never wear a necklace anymore. Wouldn't be so weird, but I did have the Adina big circle for the better part of 4 years. Didn't realize how significant this relaishe was until I checked the records--it's party ubiquitous from '03-'07:

'Twas, perhaps, the only constant of the time. I think my mom has since thrown it out, but looking back, I couldn't help but feel a little...

So many different directions to go....not even sure what my personal brand is anymore. Wish I didn't have to tackle such existential q's over this.

Glass pearlz?

Inverted ruins on a chain?

To be continued.