Friday, January 23, 2009

Bits and Pieces

goteam Blog Kittens! Scottish Folds! Sweet fuzzy little cat faces that melt my little ice heart. Some people think you need to start the day with breakfast, I think fawning over kittens is far more substantial.
The Orwell Prize George Orwell's diaries, blogged since August 2008. Perfect to start reading now as the diaries begin in 1938 and run until 1942 which means George Orwell will be blogging from beyond the grave until 2012. Orwell religiously documented the eggs laid by his hens and it sounds ridiculous but you'll find yourself anticipating what the number will be everyday. Read the comments people leave, pure nerdy hilarity.
100 Illustrated Horror Film Posters → Hilarious stuff, would you go and see a horror film called "Forbidden Planet"? How about "Robinson Crusoe On Mars"? "The Little Girl Who Lives Down The Lane"? Actually, that last one looks really creepy. Why is it that horror movies with evil children are always so intensely scary? There's a second part to the list.
Movie Costumers Guide to Marie Antoinette → Apparently Kirsten Dunst wore 60 different gowns throughout the movie and this guide to the gowns as well as some very brave people who have actually made replica's is pure eye candy.
And finally, a super quick flick through my favourite Christmas present, the Olsen twin's book Influence.

Friday, January 16, 2009

Cecilia's Wedding Dress

Reading "The Virgin Suicides" → The movie was great, it was visually gorgeous, the music was dreamy and haunting, the actresses were as blonde and melancholic as the characters in the book but the movie didn't fulfill me, story wise. The book is magnificent. I'm not going to book bash (like bible bashing only way less hell/crucifixions/leprosy) but it's only 250 pages so you can devour it in a night and it will melt your heart like candle wax. It's brilliant.

There are some lovely passages about Cecilia, the youngest daughter, flitting around wearing a dirty wedding dress in the listless, tired and soft manner of the terribly depressed.

"In the following days we saw Cecilia a lot. She would sit on her front steps, picking red berries off the bushes and eating them, or staining her palms with the juice. She always wore the wedding dress and her bare feet were dirty. In the afternoons, when sun lit the front yard, she would watch ants swarming in sidewalk cracks or lie on her back in fertilized grass staring up at the clouds. One of her sisters always accompanied her. Therese brought science books onto the front steps, studying photographs of deep space and looking up whenever Cecilia strayed to the edge of the yard. Lux spread out beach towels and lay suntanning while Cecilia scratched Arabic designs on her own leg with a stick. At other times Cecilia would accost her guard, hugging her neck and whispering in her ear."

"Cecilia was wearing, as usual, the wedding dress with the shorn hem. The dress was vintage 1920s. It had sequins on the bust she didn't fill out, and someone, either Cecilia herself or the owner of the used clothing store, had cut off the bottom of the dress with a jagged stroke so that it ended above Cecilia's chafed knees. She sat on the barstool, staring into her punch glass, and the shapeless bag of a dress fell over her. She had coloured her lips with red crayon, which gave her face a deranged harlot look, but she acted as though no one was there."







Pics from TFS & style.com

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Post WWII Fashion...sort of


While I'm incredibly sick of hearing the word 'recession' and think it should be stricken to one of the outer rings of hell I can't ignore the fact that designers seem to be creating simple, classic and dignified war time pieces, veering towards something altogether...uh oh....recession friendly.
Now, I obviously don't mean bank account friendly because a beautifully made piece of clothing will always cost more than throw away fashion but I see investment pieces springing out from the pages of style.com in a way that makes me want to cull my wardrobe to an elegant minimum. It reminds me very much of the post WWII utility clothing when fabrics were in limited supply, wardrobes were simple and new items were only added when it was absolutely neccessary and affordable (no whacking things on credit!). It might have been hard but those women knew how to mend their clothes and how to spend their money wisely.
Of course it's the height of summer here and the last thing anybody wants to do is layer or wear a coat or even think about pulling on a pair of stockings but I know that this winter my focus will be on finding the perfect rationed, Phi-esque pieces. 1 structured jacket, 2 long cardigans in utilitarian colours, 1 pair of long leather gloves, 1 statement dress, 1 pair of excessively high platforms and 2 broken ankles.
Liebemarlene blogs about WWII fashion
WWII Fashion on fashion-era.com

Thursday, January 1, 2009

51 Things In My Bedroom

Ahhh, 2008 has ended.
This year I promise not to use any harsh dye on the brittle mop that is my hair. Only henna for me! I've lopped off a fair bit of hair so it's about chin length now and all the split ends are gone.
And I'm going to read more. First on my list, this amazing looking copy of "Tales of The Grotesque and Arabesque" by Edgar Allan Poe.

And also, 51 things in my bedroom....