Bits and Pieces

Buh Bye YSL→ The wonderful Yves Saint Laurent died yesterday from a brain tumour/prolonged illness at 71. He began his career with an award for a cocktail dress design which landed him the job as Haute Couture designer for Dior. After a stint in the French Army, YSL suffered a mental breakdown and was placed in a mental institution where he recieved electric shock therapy (it amazes me that he maintained such brilliance after something so horrific). He created the Le Smoking tuxedo suit, a streamlined suit for woman. Hilary Alexander wrote a great article about the Le Smoking suit that you can read here.
He also dressed Catherine Deneuve for Belle De Jour, Bianca Jagger, Lauren Bacall, Paloma Picasso and Talitha Getty of whom he said was "lying on a starlit terrace in Marrakesh, beautiful and damned and a whole generation assembled as if for eternity where the curtain of the past seemed to lift before an extraordinary future". I can't help but love him ever more for having such a way with words.

I Love You Sleep!→ I wish we had Urban Outfitters in Australia, these pillowcases are adorable! Joined together, they read 'I (heart) U'. I imagine that seeing the words 'I Love You' right before you climb into bed would be a very positive, warm thing.

Scared Straight! Part 1,Part 2,Part 3,Part 4, Part 5,Part 6→ A documentary filmed in 1978 about a group of juvenile delinquents who are sent to prison to meet a group of prisoners (meet in the sense that there is a lot of swearing, yelling and the prisoners take their shoes at one point). It's like a much more disturbing version of Maury's boot camps for wild teens. This version is hosted by Danny Glover, and after the majority of the footage from the original documentary they reinterview the older, wiser teens and criminals. Fascinating stuff, and lots of swearing! Read the comments in part 6 to find out what happened to one of the teens. Very worrying.


Buying Frames on Ebay→ Honestly, it's expensive being a geek. Having terrible vision comes with a ridiculous price tag, there's the disposable contacts for when you want to wear sunnies, the ever changing prescription lenses and then the ridiculously expensive frames. And then I discovered that $250 for the cheapest, ugliest frames in the entire optomotrist is daylight robbery (to quote my Grandmother!). A year ago I bought a pair of $10 frames on ebay, got my lenses put in and ta-daaaa, $150 glasses! The frames are cheap and I love change, the frames in the picture are on their precious little way to me as I write. Now I just have to decide whether I want to get my prescription in the black or the brown frames. Decisions decisions!