Pixie Dollhouse

Pearl Ring

2010-05-22T08:11:00.000-07:00

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I have a lovely new pearl ring! I've been looking for something to go with my pearl necklaces for a while, and I've found some nice earrings but never the right ring - till this one. Sarah from JewelryArtDesigns.com (which also sells other things, such as pendants) was kind enough to mail me this beautiful piece of jewellery that I have fallen in love with.

It's currently stored in a giant clam shell on my dressing table, along with my other pearly things.

R e v i e w

When it comes to jewellery, I'm a fan of large, statement pieces. Smaller, delicate designs don't usually do it for me.

My philosophy: go large or go bare.

The Branch Wrapped Shell Pearl ring looks far prettier in person than it does on the website. Up close, the quality and craftsmanship are apparent, and I especially love how the pearl is embraced with graceful branches instead of traditional metal jewellery claws to keep it in place. It lends the design a more natural and organic feel while remaining a classic. If this were a fairy tale, the silver probably wrapped itself around your finger and sprouted branches with leaves like diamonds, within which a pearl bloomed.

W o r n

...

Claude Lorrain

2010-03-21T02:44:00.000-07:00

~~~

...

Julianne Moore for Bvlgari

2010-03-18T11:06:00.000-07:00

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I'm really in love with the new Bvlgari ads shot by Mert & Marcus.
Their old ads with Jessica Stam were beautiful, but Julianne Moore
lends a very different quality to the brand. In Bvlgari's previous ads,
I always felt like Stam's icy look had a very upper class, "don't touch
me" air - as if the ads were saying: "we're Bvlgari and we're probably
too expensive for you". Beautiful but wintry, aloof and distant; as if we
were not meant to connect with the product. It was just something to
be admired from afar. Nothing unusual for a luxury brand, of course.

Julianne's ads have a whole other feel. 'Feel' being the key word, I
think, because I actually feel something when I look at them. They
aren't cold and estranged. They have a mystique that tempts and
teases, and invites you in. The colours are richer, more exotic and
more luxuriant - jewel tones and lustre, textured with embroidery,
velvet and feathers. A friend of mine hated the birds. Apparently,
cockatoos are abundant where she lives, but I think it's all about
context. Her country is not one that luxury brand advertisements
target, and to its intended audience, these cockatoos allude to
an exotic tropical paradise. I just like them coz they're cute. Here,
Julianne has this otherworldly elegance. The class she exudes
is less WASP-ish and more effortless than Stam's - and also more
sensual. She's like a modern day Eve lounging around some luxury
version of paradise where the only woman ever created spends
her days befriending silky-feathered avians on beds of satin and
velvet. Instead of fig leaves, she's dripping in jewels.

...

Follow the yellow brick road...

2010-03-09T00:15:00.000-08:00

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Lara Jade Photography

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Raise/Walk
By Chadwick Tyler

Chadwick's assistant, Delilah, was lovely enough to send over some pictures from a story he shot for GREY Magazine, featuring Constance Jablonski and styled by Valentina Illardi Martin.

"The series is gentle, yet edgy, exploring the often delicate boundary between feminine innocence and monstrosity. Constance embraces a role that is at once playful, dark, and even grotesque, intertwining the gracefulness and exploratory nature of youth with a piercing glare that suggests something far more ominous. The shoot draws upon Contance’s versatility and her willingness to defy conventions. The series also fuses seamlessly with Chadwick’s personal style, embracing bodily contortion and avant garde composition, while highlighting the destructive nature of beauty. The styling follows the same juxtapositions visible in Contance’s poses, contrasting the effervescence of light, flowing fabrics with Contance’s biting, yet vulnerable stare."

The last shot is my favourite.
I love how the entire series is at once fierce and delicate.

In April last year, I blogged about Chadwick's Tiberius exhibition, which I found incredibly haunting. He's quite the master of effortlessly finding the beauty in the gritty and grotesque.

More of his work can be found at chadwicktyler.com

Red Ribbons

2010-03-04T11:20:00.000-08:00

~~~

DRESS - Vintage
TIGHTS - Topshop
HAIR BOW - Toxic
SHOES - Balenciaga

So... apparently, getting a good
picture with one's dog is
MUCH harder than it looks.

Finally! Success!

RIP Alexander McQueen

2010-02-17T08:39:00.000-08:00

~~~

My Macbook Pro has been resurrected and almost all its data was recovered.
Pixie Dollhouse lives again! Sorry for the extended absence.
I'm back, back, back and blogging.

It really saddens me to learn that on the 11th February 2010, my favourite fashion designer of the past decade, Alexander McQueen, passed on. According to the Associated Press, he left a note and hung himself on the eve of his mother's funeral. It feels utterly surreal to be blogging about this so soon after my post about Daul Kim's suicide.

I'm not usually one to be deeply affected by the deaths of famous people. They're only human, after all, and life is fragile. If it is someone I admire, I am certainly dispirited by the news, but I don't weep. As I did not know them personally, perhaps any grief might be described as shallow - mostly born of regret that we've lost another great mind or talent, and that no more works of theirs may be produced. But there was something so sudden and shocking about Alexander McQueen's death, and something more... I don't know what it was. I sat there crying as I read the news, feeling very depressed indeed.

It is very difficult for me to express the impact his work and designs had on me. When the seasonal fashion weeks rolled along, his runway was the one I looked forward to the most. I am an actress, a theatre graduate, a writer of children's stories set in impossible worlds, and someone who never did outgrow my childhood fairy tales. And so, there is nothing like an Alexander McQueen show for me - a theatre of fashion filled with fantastical designs that wouldn't feel out of place in the worlds I write about, and that inhabit my head. His artistry is haunting. I often find myself going back to his designs over the years, and picking out various pieces as the 'ultimate' of something. "If I get married some day, that's what my wedding evening gown is going to look like," I'd tell a friend. Or even, "If I could only have one dress for the rest of my life, this would be it." When I write, I find many a fictitious character in my mind inevitably garbed in what suspiciously resembles a McQueen design, and I've had recurring dreams set in a surrealistic parallel universe, in which the world looks as if McQueen, Gaultier, Recuenco, Ghesquière and the Mulleavy sisters conspired to design it. In these dreams, I'm trapped in a bizarre carnival theme park with water(fall) rides that go over the edge of misty mountain cliffs, and a monstrous creature dwells in a cave, preventing anyone from leaving.

Where most other fashion designers are concerned, their clothes end for me when the season is over - when the pages of Vogue and Numéro no longer feature the dresses and shoes splashed across every editorial. But Alexander McQueen designs have a habit of staying with me.

His runway shows weren't simply walkways with living clothes hangars parading trendy garments in a line. Many of them were complete experiences. Two that immediately come to mind are:

1. Alexander McQueen Autumn/Winter 2006
The show ended with Kate Moss - a holographic apparition - floating in a glass pyramid. This video is a thing of pure beauty.

Hologram on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York:

Hologram live at the Alexander McQueen show at
Paris Fashion Week in Spring 2006:

2. Alexander McQueen Spring/Summer 2004
This entire show was was a giant dance extravaganza.
I believe the full show can be found if you sniff around the internet. Youtube has it all chopped up in clips uploaded by various members.

RUNWAY FAVOURITES
From the most recent (2007 - 2010)
Alexander McQueen collections.

Spring/Summer 2007

Autumn/Winter 2008

Spring/Summer 2008

Alexander McQueen with Philip Treacy (the man behind the hats).

Autumn/Winter 2007

Resort 2009

Spring/Summer 2009

There are many, many better and more flattering pictures
of this dress I've seen but Style.com chose a rather terrible
one. Poor Abbey Lee looks extremely awkward there.

How amazing would the outfit above look in a science fiction movie?

Pre-Fall 2009

Amazing silhouette.
It looks like it could be in a Lotte Reiniger silhouette animation film.

From Lotte Reiniger's 'Die Abenteuer des Prinzen Achmed' (1926)

Autumn/Winter 2009

If Ursula the Sea Witch were remotely real,
this is pretty much what she would wear, no?

Resort 2010

Spring/Summer 2010

I kind of really want these.
No joke.

On a random note...
I remember being quite amused by Alexander McQueen's take on celebrity quite a while back... Amused enough to actually save this quote, which must have been from 2008, during his Los Angeles store opening.

"If she [Paris Hilton] comes past the shop, hopefully she'll just keep walking. I don't really covet that sort of thing. I'm not too fond of these openings, I find them quite superficial," said McQueen. "The people who wear McQueen wear it because they want to wear it, not because it's the new thing in town."

This isn't the first time the designer has made known his aversion to celebrity. Last year he told US Harper's Bazaar: "I can't get sucked into that celebrity thing because I think it's just crass. I work with people who I admire and respect. It's never because of who they are."

"It's not about celebrity; that would show a lack of respect for the work, for everyone working on the shows, because when the pictures come out it's all about who's in the front row. What you see in the work is the person itself. And my heart is in my work."

- Los Angeles Times

Rest In Peace,
Lee Alexander McQueen

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Quote Of The Week

ME: "Man, those photos from the Percy Jackson movie make it look like he defeats Medusa with an iPhone."
AMANDA DE WITT: "There's an app for that."

Quintessential Boutique 5th Anniversary

2010-01-05T02:21:00.000-08:00

~~~

This was my attempt at doing the quintessential hippie-boho Gucci girl look, for the sole purpose of throwing together an outfit to go with my bag, which isn't something I would ordinarily buy for myself. Monograms are not quite up my alley. However, it was a gift, so I figured I should get some use out of it. For inspiration, I looked at the outfits in the Gucci Cruise 2007 and Gucci Spring/Summer 2007 ad campaigns, then did my own spin on the look to make it fit my usual style a little more.

BAG - Gucci
DRESS - Bysi
LACE HAIR FLOWER - Accessorize
GLADIATOR HEELS - Steve Madden
LEATHER BELT - Vintage (this was a really cute
find from a thrift store in New Zealand some years ago.)

Recently, I was invited to Quintessential boutique's 5th anniversary party by the very awesome Fashion Director, Marie (check out her website at http://www.marieng.com), who worked on the recent Quintessential ad campaign which you might have noticed blanketing the giant Pacific Plaza columns.

The boutique, which ranks very highly on my list of accessories stores, is like a buffet of arm, neck, finger, wrist, ankle, and hair candy. It stocks jewellery, bags, shoes and hair accessories by cult designers like Rachel Leigh and CC Skye, as well as many independent and up-and-coming labels that you'd be hard-pressed to find anywhere else on the island - Keira, Alkemie, Lara Bohinc, Arosha Twists, Adia Kibur, Revamp Productions, Sibilia, Firehorse Cosa Bella, What's Pink, Rebound Designs, etc. Prices, based on the majority of items I checked out, tend to hover within the $50 - $400 range, give or take.

What I have always loved about visiting Quintessential over the years is that in Singapore, where you cannot walk ten steps without coming face to face with yet another Charles & Keith, Quintessential feels like it has its own unique personality. It is home to so many conversation pieces that tickle the quirky bone, and since all their items come in such limited quantities, the chances of running into twenty other people on the street with the same bag or necklace is slim to none. This is particularly noteworthy, as we live in a country where the chain store is king, and everyone seems to gravitate towards the exact same designer products. (Ugly Louis Vuitton "Neverfull" tote, I'm looking at you.) But I digress.

It was really lovely to finally meet the boutique's three delightful owners - Theresa Yong, Sharon Foo and Bina Maniar-Goh, who are a real hands-on presence in the running of their shop. You'll probably find one of them behind the counter whenever you step in. According to Theresa, Quintessential never stocks the same designer for more than two seasons, keeping things fresh, unpredictable and interesting.

I decided to make a list of my favourite things in the store...

MY PERSONAL PICK

This leather bow wrist cuff by Keira is what I wound up buying.
It's dramatic without being overly flamboyant, and adds instant
drama to any outfit. Although the leather is buttery soft, it's
wrapped around a stiffer skeleton within to give it structure and
keep its jaunty bow shape. I think it's definitely something I can
see becoming a signature wardrobe staple from now on, especially
since the colour makes it incredibly versatile. In particular, I love
how the black leather adds a slightly tougher edge to the femininity
of the bow.

My leather bow wrist cuff's designer, Keira Thorley, hails from Scotland. Born in Glasgow, based in Edinburgh, and educated at Central Saint Martin's College of Art and Design, she specialises in bow designs - be it wrist cuffs, anklets or clutch bags (see the next picture, taken from the Quintessential blog, for a couple of her other designs). The bow wrist cuff was literally the last piece in Quintessential - which I snapped up at once - and I was told that the bow anklet had just sold out. That was a bit disappointing as I'd have very much liked to check it out. I never wear anklets but when they look like the one below, I am more than ready to make an exception.

OTHER TOP PICKS

The next few pieces were my favourites after the bow cuff.

This bag is literally made from a genuine old book - lovingly worn and used, then gutted of its pages and transformed into a purse with a vintage button clasp. I think it's the perfect way to recycle a novel that might have been trashed otherwise. This piece was the last in the store, and I missed out on getting the one I actually wanted - a bag made from an old Nancy Drew hardcover edition that I'd owned when I was a little girl. It would have made a lovely present to myself - one with sentimental value. Alas. I eyed this one quite hungrily but decided not to get it as it doesn't have the same meaning to me as the other one did. I'm not sure if it's still for sale, but if so, hopeful owners may purchase it for about $280, I believe.

I would actually love to have one made from one of the fairy tales I adored as a child - Little Red Riding Hood, The Little Mermaid or Alice In Wonderland, perhaps. Or even an Enid Blyton book I grew up on, like The Enchanted Wood, The Magic Faraway Tree or The Wishing Chair. The designer, Caitlin Phillips (of Rebound Designs) has her own website that I'm considering custom ordering something from. Check it out here: http://www.rebound-designs.com. The catalog is full of books with beautiful cover art work that she's turned into bags - most of them already sold. However, there is a link you can click to inform her that you'd like one just like it.

Usually, I am not a fan of snake or alligator prints and the like (basically, if it's printed like an animal, I am disinterested). However, these signature bow chokers by Rachel Leigh were too cute not to include in my list. The line is designed by Rachel Blumenthal - the former Yves Saint Laurent publicist. I like the way the bow clasp of her chokers fastens, in particular. She also makes those 'Audrey' bow bangles (pictured below) that the celebrity circuit seems to love.

When I saw these Rachel Leigh bow enamel bangles in magazines, I was ambivalent, but in person, they are really very lovely, simple and well-designed. There's just something about them that makes your wrist feel special once you click the bangle shut around it. Many people have noted in the past that they never see me wearing bangles or bracelets. I'm not one for wrist jewellery aside from the occasional leather wrist cuff - of which I own a few, mostly because I don't like having clunky things clattering around my hands and arms. More importantly, I have tiny wrists and most bangles in stores don't fit. I'll put my arm down and the bangle will fall right off, on to the floor. I was therefore pleasantly surprised that the Rachel Leigh bangles fit so snugly. They're also shaped in a way that keeps the bow in position at the top, so that it doesn't fall prey to gravity and twist underneath your wrist.

There were a couple of belly dancers at the launch party. One of them taught me how to belly dance for a couple of minutes and this act of embarrassing myself won me a nice hair hamper with a new ceramic hair straightener, curling iron and blowdryer. Clearly, it pays to be shameless. It made a nice addition to the lovely gift bag at the door, stuffed full of luxurious goodies, including Guerlain make-up, spa vouchers, organic hair conditioner and such.

Aren't these luggage bags adorable?
I would like to be a child again and own the pig.

The statuesque lady in the column dress next to me is Sharon Foo, one of Quintessential's owners. In the course of our conversation, she mentioned that Tiger Woods had eight mistresses, and I misheard, thinking she said she had eight children, and choked on my Perrier. Fortunately, I was promptly corrected of my bad hearing. In actual fact, she has a young son, but you'd never know it, looking at her. The lady looks like a supermodel! What a gorgeous mother.

Sogno D'Inverno by Signe Vilstrup

2010-01-01T01:10:00.000-08:00

~~~

EDITORIAL: Sogno D'Inverno
MAGAZINE: Grazia Italy
PHOTOGRAPHER: Signe Vilstrup
MODELS: Quinn Cooper & Masha Novoselova

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After 3 and a half years of robust health and longevity, Apple Parfait, my Macbook Pro, decided to spring a surprise death upon me - right on New Year's Eve because computers are always inconsiderate little twats. All these years - not a crash, not a Trojan, not a whimper. And then all of a sudden... BLUE SCREEN OF DOOM. I am unimpressed.

She is now in the ICU of the Apple hospital awaiting resurrection.

I had a whole bunch of photos to post from Quintessential boutique's 5th Year Anniversary party but they will have to wait as I am currently getting by on my old miniscule Mac Powerbook, circa 2004, which has an operating system supported by nothing and no one. The latest versions of everything don't even want to be friends.

So till I get Apple Parfait back from the shop (with luck, around the 9th January), Pixie Dollhouse will have to suffer. Here are some old photos instead:

I am unable to upload a 2010 New Year photo, so clearly, one from 2004 will have to do. My father bought me those sunglasses from Vegas. True story.

Christmas 2006

And then some REALLY old photos:

Almost did a Britney. But good job on the undies, self.

Great Grandma Mary
RIP

HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE!
.

Love Of A Lifetime

2009-12-28T10:35:00.000-08:00

~~~

This editorial is incredibly gorgeous - like a Renaissance painting. Coco Rocha stars as Juliet, and Italian ballet dancer, Roberto Bolle, plays Romeo. Let it be known that I loathe Romeo and Juliet, but I do love these pictures. My shrunken images don't do them justice, so I've included larger versions at the bottom of this post.

EDITORIAL : Love Of A Lifetime
MAGAZINE: Vogue US
PHOTOGRAPHER: Annie Leibovitz
MODELS: Coco Rocha & Roberto Bolle

LARGER VERSIONS
{Click thumbnails to enlarge.}

Back in May, I blogged about Alix Malka's underwater photography, and her editorial for Numero Tokyo featuring Marcelina Sowa and a plethora of breathtaking gowns by Alexander McQueen, Roberto Cavalli and Lanvin. I'm fascinated by how ethereal dresses look underwater - like alien flower petals in motion.

Today, I found another great underwater shot by Alan Amato, featuring actress, Bella Thorne.

I kind of want to watch The Little Mermaid now...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Orla Kiely

Orla Kiely's Autumn/Winter 09 collection is love.

Some favourite pieces...

.

Christmas 2009

2009-12-25T23:11:00.000-08:00

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Christmas Eve Celebration Outfit
GOLD BROCADE DRESS - 1950s Vintage
BLACK CARDIGAN - Thrifted
PEARL BROOCH - Vintage
LACE FLOWER BROOCH - Accessorize
BLACK HAIR BOW - A little shop in Paris
BLACK BOW PUMPS - Vintage
BAG - (Vintage) Chanel

When I first purchased my gold
brocade vintage dress, it looked like this:

It was cute but the narrow bottom skirt layer made it look
very stuffy and dated on anyone under the age of 40, so
I brought it to the tailor, removed it, and altered the
hemline to make it a bit shorter.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Christmas Day Outfit
SEERSUCKER SAILOR DRESS - 1970s Vintage
HEART CLUTCH - Topshop
MARY JANE SHOES - River Island
PEARL EARRINGS - David Yurman
PLATINUM & DIAMOND NECKLACE - Gift from Grandmother

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Because the choir there is spectacular, we attended the Archbishop's Christmas Eve mass at the Cathedral of the Good Shepherd. It's the oldest Catholic church in Singapore, and I'm fond of its architecture despite the fact that there are currently (worrying!) cracks along the walls. Restoration work is possibly due before the congregation is brought closer to God... when the roof falls on top of their heads. I kid. Anyway, the cathedral is also home to two gorgeous pipe organs. It is apparently the only church here with two pipe organs within the same space. The Gallery Organ (pictured below) is the oldest playable organ in the country.

Below is the 9-rank Choir Organ built by Robert Navaratnam,
utilising old pipework from various other organs.

LISTENING TO:

I hope everyone had a very lovely Christmas!
xo

Talie & Yony In Sin City

2009-12-22T01:49:00.000-08:00

~~~

BAG - (Vintage) Chanel
DRESS - Zara (Little Girls' Section)

Here's a quick tip for the vertically challenged. If, like me, you're 5'3" and petite in size, next time you pop into the flagship Zara store at Liat Towers (or wherever it can be found in your country), check out the little girl's section. The adult range is pretty delicious, depending on the season, but the little girls' line also contains a number of adorable gems. I often see kids in dresses I wish they made in adult sizes, so I was pretty thrilled to discover that Zara makes both adult and children's wear that fits my frame.

For reference, I usually wear an XS (American size 0 to 2, UK size 6) when it comes to Zara's adult range, and I've found that I fit very comfortably in their children's clothes labelled "Aged 11 - 12". So I guess I either have the body of a twelve year old, or little girls these days are extremely large and overgrown. Anyway, the girls' sizes run up to "Aged 13 - 14", which is too big for me, so by my estimate, if you're between an adult size XS to a small M, and about 5'4" in height and below, you'd be able to wriggle into the cute clothes at the girls' section. Any taller and the dresses would probably be too short for you.

Anyway, here are some pictures from the last time Bryony and I hung out in Sin City. We explored Ion on Orchard Road for the first time, then had yummy cakes for tea at Canelé.

Canelé Pâtisserie Chocolaterie

Macaroons, Strawberry Shortcake and Jupiter.

Al fresco.

Pretty cake boxes.

Meringues.

ION

There are plenty of nice shops in Ion, including the new Marc Jacobs boutique, Louis Vuitton's new space and a fantastic tea house, but I thought Miu Miu and Prada were worth mentioning because the service was a step up from their other stores. Bryony and I have always found the Sales Associates at Chanel (the one at Ngee Ann City) to be the most lovely - just so friendly and genuinely helpful without trailing you everywhere around the store like a pesky tail. They seem to have achieved the perfect balance between giving a customer space, and being of service when actually required. On the other end of the scale, we've found the old Prada and Miu Miu staff a bit stand-offish, even fake. Sometimes, you get the feeling they'd rather be anywhere else than in the store fetching you shoes in a different size (which let's face it, is probably true, but a good Sales Associate never lets you know this). We were therefore quite pleased to visit the new Prada and Miu Miu stores in Ion, and find the service a marked improvement. Our SAs at both stores did not bug us incessantly before we required assistance, but were eager to help when approached. Thumbs up.

Doesn't this escalator remind you of something in The Jetsons? Ok, if this were The Jetsons, we'd probably have hover-plates jetting us to different floors and hired robots to carry our shopping but you know what I mean. It looks even more towering and massive in person.

Our passionfruit strawberry drinks from the food court.

NAUTICAL SWEATER - Topshop
RED SUNGLASSES - Rayban
MARY JANES - River Island
SHORTS - Ralph Lauren
BAG - (Vintage) Chanel

Ali Michael - Like A Fairy Tale

2009-12-16T11:43:00.000-08:00

~~~

The second picture is by Paolo Roversi for Vogue Italia.
The last was possibly from her Sportmax campaign.
I can't remember where the rest were from.

~~~~~~~~~~

Larger versions (click to enlarge):

Cafe Brio & Jamming

2009-12-15T07:18:00.000-08:00

~~~

CAFE BRIO

My mum and I.

SHOES - Marc Jacobs
DRESS - Kate Moss for Topshop
BAG - (Vintage) Chanel... hiding behind dress.
LACE STOCKINGS - Random boutique in Melbourne

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

JAM #1

Nate and I, demonstrating our healthy lifestyle.

Harlequin Tricks jams at the most craptacular studio known to bandkind.
NEGATIVES: Everything.
POSITIVES: It's free.

CARDIGAN - Thrifted
GOLD BROOCH - Vintage
SHORTS - Topshop
SHIRT - South Haven
HAIR BOW - Not sure...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

JAM #2

Sometimes, we jam at studios less disgraceful...

Of Anthropologie & Other Adorable Coats

2009-12-07T08:42:00.000-08:00

~~~

We don't have an Anthropologie in my country but occasionally, I pop by their website to have a gander. Their current collection is rather delicious.

Wish List

Snowscape Tank

Rosalie Tank (in 'Sky')

Eastlake Top

Cascading Tulle Cardigan

Gumshoe Sweatercoat

Lean Lines Tunic

Fields Of Gold Dress

Sweeping Frills Sweater

Always A Lady Skirt

Scalloped Clouds Skirt

Havana Sweatercoat

Country Fair Dress

Letizia Cardigan

Cabled Sweater Cape

Wrapped-In-Ruffles Cardigan

Arras Sweatercoat

Settling Petals Cardi

Flower Patch Wrap

Glittering Dusk Vest

Decimal Point Tights

Decor Tights

Full Bloom Tights

Zigzag Maillot

Lake Ripples One-Piece

Gilda Bikini

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Coats

I think I miss autumn and winter.
I always do till I'm actually in the middle of it,
freezing my tropical arse off and realising that
the pretty winter coats aren't worth months of
dying a little every time I step out of the bath.

Some coats I've either procured, or been admiring lately:

Meghan just sent this pink one to me in the mail from Canada.
Super excited.

PPQ

Vintage

Jac backstage at Alexander Wang

Jil Sander

Rick Owens

J.Crew (Astrid Boucle Jacket)

Valentine Fillol-Cordier

Unsure where her coat was from.

Kimchi & Blue

Vintage Geoffrey Beene

Zooey Deschanel in Yes Man

1960s Vintage

Celine Fall 2009

R.I.P. Daul Kim

2009-11-20T05:07:00.000-08:00

~~~
R.I.P. Daul Kim

Like many others on the internet, I used to read Daul Kim's blog (I Like To Fork Myself) - arguable one of the most interesting model blogs on the world wide web. She was funny, insightful, original and a fountain of quirky observations about the world around her. The first time I visited her website, she had just blogged about returning to South Korea, only to learn that her beloved guinea pig, Jamong, had died. Being Daul, she managed to turn its death into something simultaneously tragic, sweetly touching and vividly humorous.

"after months of being away from home, i got back to seoul

and dad's like "so i have good news and bad news"

i was like "wat my guineapig died?"

"YEAH."

"whats the good news?"

"the other one's still alive"

SO CRUEL. but life is cruel.

my guineapig jamong has passed away on feburary 24th.

i am so sad

mother said it died because it was so fat and it died randomly while sleeping

im super sad i cried in the bath tub and went to sleep for 2 days.

but i feel thankful and lucky to have had jamong for my guineapig for the past 5 years

she was suppose to be snake food .....we rescued her and i feel sorry for not being there

for her cos of work and im so super sad because jamong made me so happy all the time...

she will be missed dearly...."

- DAUL KIM
1st March 2009

I bookmarked her blog that day - the 1st of March - and have been an avid reader since. I was therefore shocked and incredibly saddened to learn that she killed herself in her Parisian apartment. Not only was she a great model; she was also a funny and likeable blogger, and a fashion inspiration off the runway, with distinctive personal style and a penchant for experimental, avant garde clothing that she pulled off with aplomb. No matter what she wore, whether I personally liked it or not, it was always unique, always fearless, always Daul.

MAGAZINE: Vogue Girl Korea, August 2006
PHOTOGRAPHER: Kim Han Jun
MODEL: Daul Kim, of course.
EDITORIAL: Fallen Angel

MAGAZINE: Tank Magazine #10
PHOTOGRAPHER: Cameron Smith
MODEL: Daul Kim
EDITORIAL: Daul's World Issue 2

This is a great editorial peppered with quotes from I Like To Fork Myself - Daul's actual blog.

"I dressed as a brain today." Classic.

The Daul Monster lives.

Suicide is something that hits very close to home for me. I stayed over at a friend's home once, and while I slept, she killed herself in the next room. I woke up the next day to find her almost dead, but managed to get an ambulance in time. On another occasion, a friend rang me and attempted suicide by overdosing on pills while on the phone, telling me that if I hung up on her and called an ambulance, I would be a lousy friend and she would never forgive me. These are just two incidents out of many.

Often, I tell my friends: "If you're drunk out of your skull, don't call me. If you plan to call and tell me you're about to kill yourself, don't call me."

My reasons are simple. I don't get drunk. Ever. And getting smashed out of one's mind is no accident - it's a calculated choice based on personal knowledge of one's alcohol tolerance, and I'm not going to travel to some godforsaken club 45 minutes away at five o'clock in the morning to haul anyone's drunken arse back home just because they experienced a paucity of common sense. Being considerate enough not to inflict this sort of chore upon any of my friends, I expect the favour to be returned.

As for calling me to tell me they are going to commit suicide, that's just reason enough for me not to believe them. Anyone with a genuine intention to die would get up and do it - not broadcast it so that others might have a chance to stop them. I recognise a cry for attention when I see one, and I'm not willing to get sucked into someone's melodrama when they so blatantly abuse my concern for them.

But I do want all my dearest and closest to know that while I have no patience for fake suicide declarations and other such histrionics, I will always have time to listen to you when you feel like you are teetering on the edge, and even when you are not. You don't need to tell me you want to end it - I don't need to know because I will never convince you otherwise by telling you not to... but I can try to help in any capacity within my means, and instead of just words, perhaps I can do something to change your mind. I want you to never feel like you are alone with no one to reach out to because I will listen for as long as you need,
and I will never judge you.

Halloween 2009

2009-11-03T01:15:00.000-08:00

~~~

Small Halloween party at Karen's house.

My Minnie Mouse Costume
BLACK TURTLENECK - American Apparel
RED SKIRT - Thrifted
MOUSE TAIL - Ribbon from another dress.
TIGHTS - Topshop
RED SHOES - Boutique in Japan
MOUSE EARS - Can't remember. Possibly one of the Disneylands years ago?

Our band, Harlequin Tricks, had an impromptu jam session. Karen had no drums, so she used plastic pails, heh.

Halloween guest features...

Playing a seriously out-of-tune piano (which somewhat added to the creepiness).

Mad bad photoshop skills...

Tim Burton's Trick & Treats

2009-10-31T03:33:00.000-07:00

~~~

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

EDITORIAL: Tim Burton's Trick & Treats
PHOTOGRAPHER: Tim Walker
MODELS: Malgosia Bela, Evelina Mambetova and Sophie Srej

LARGER IMAGES
{Click thumbnails to enlarge.}

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Curiouser And Curiouser

2009-10-28T08:40:00.000-07:00

~~~

EDITORIAL: Curiouser And Curiouser
MAGAZINE: Vogue UK (Feb 2007)
PHOTOGRAPHER: Tim Walker
MODEL: Coco Rocha

The above is my favourite Alexander McQueen dress of all time, worn by my favourite model, in one of my favourite Vogue editorials (named after a line from one of my favourite books), photographed by one of my favourite photographers. So... it's pretty damn epic.

Here's the gown's original debut on
Alexander McQueen's Spring 2007 runway:

It reminds me of a goddess of sorts, rising from the fluffy clouds,
like some Venus on a half shell. Peter Ustinov once said that if
Botticelli were alive today, he'd be working for Vogue.

And here are a few other amazing pictures from the editorial:

THE ENTIRE EDITORIAL:

{Click on thumbnails to enlarge.}

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On a random, entirely unrelated note, I just watched the Beverly Hills 90210 theme song from the original series in the 90s, and marvelled at how I used to think these characters were the best dressed humans to grace the good earth. Once upon a time, long before I looked to Jane Birkin, Françoise Hardy and Audrey Hepburn for hair inspiration, the holy trinity consisted of Daphne from Scooby Doo, Ariel the Little Mermaid and Brenda Walsh of Beverly Hills 90210 - my paragons of good hair (I was very, very young at this time, as you might have gathered). Because of this, I think I've always carried a soft spot for Shannen Doherty, regardless of her professional or tabloid failings. She was Brenda bloody Walsh! There was an era, long, long ago, in a distant land, far, far away, when I wanted to BE Brenda Walsh and date Dylan McKay. How embarrassing. Anyway...

Even now, I still catch myself punching the air twice at the beginning, when Jason Priestley does it. How catchy is that theme song? How bad are those clothes? Which brings me back to my original point. Upon observing just how dreadful the wardrobe choices were, and remembering exactly how they looked through my 1990s-coloured glasses (Brilliant! Stylish! Amazing! En pointe!), it doesn't make me question my past fashion sense as much as it makes me consider how much taste is subconsciously shaped by popular culture, even when we don't actively seek to imitate. I didn't like those 90210 duds because they were trendy; I was probably too young to even understand what trends meant. In all honesty, my young mind believed that those clothes were fetching, and even flattering to the figure (I now see that in most cases, I was mistaken). But of course, it's all subjective. What I consider flattering to the figure now might very well change in a decade's time, not just because fashion changes, but because popular opinion about a woman's figure and what should be concealed and emphasised will also evolve. Few of us make the conscious shift of personal opinion to mirror the popular one, but even the most rebellious of us eventually do, and will come to sit at their blogs like I am right now, wondering when and how the hell it happened - half feeling grateful it did, and half like a brainwashed bot, swept away (or drowned under) a riptide of change with little choice in the matter... because it all seemed to happen like we were Rip Van Winkle, suddenly awakening in a new era after a deep night's sleep, when it was really a hundred years. Or a decade.

People speak of 'objective beauty' or of being 'objectively stylish', but how can either of those things exist, unless governed by the zeitgeist of a particular era? I remember when amazonian bombshells were all the rage when I was growing up - Cindy Crawford, Claudia Schiffer, Naomi Campbell and anyone who was ever in a cheesy Guess ad, with their face splashed across the paper bags. Then, the time for models was over, and the profession was reduced to little more than a line of obscure, walking clothes hangers, validated only by a handful of die-hard fashion fanatics (perhaps am guilty as charged). Now, we live in an era of Jessica Albas, Jessica Biels, Scarlett Johanssons, Rihannas and Megan Foxes. THE CURRENT IDEAL: 5'5" to 5'8" in height, a pretty face with a modicum of sex appeal, a toned figure but not too muscular, very very slim, yet miraculously possessed of sizable breasts, and a pert butt achievable only with the aid of a personal trainer and/or an unholy workout regime. What is judged 'flattering' to a woman by way of their garments is usually measured by the clothing's ability to transport the woman closer to the 'ideal' of that era, whether it's a Hervé Léger dress that gives the impression of impressive mammaries, maxi skirts that conceal wobbly thighs that haven't seen the light of a gym, 5-inch Givenchy heels that propel a petite girl into the ideal height range and saves her trousers from grazing the floor, Lanvin flats for the tall girl who exceeds the ideal height and risks appearing mannish or a giant, slimming colours for the obese, loosely figure-skimming blouses for the excessively thin and bony, etc.

Sometimes, I look at a few of the more classic fashion designs from the current decade (say, bits and bobs from Chanel, Lanvin or Burberry Prorsum, as opposed to something trendy that dropped from Balmain), and find it nearly impossible to imagine how they could be cast in an embarrassing light... say, 20 years from now. But the 'ideal woman' will have changed, and so clothing will aspire to transform its wearer into something quite different from what is ideal now. Perhaps that will render unappealing what we currently find attractive about certain garments, more so than any other factor, and through no fault of the design.

Shopping For Halloween Decorations

2009-10-27T00:24:00.000-07:00

~~~

Nate, Karen and I went shopping for Halloween decorations (with a few personal shopping detours) at Arab Street, Muscat Street and Haji Lane. Karen's pretty crafty - in the artsy sense of the word, so we mostly bought yards of cloth and crepe paper for her to construct our party decor. I have no idea what they'll look like...

On Haji Lane, we encountered the Google Street View cameras, mounted on a bike. I thought it made a striking image - something as monumentally modern as Google Street View cams staged upon a humble bicycle, and juxtaposed with the old, kitschy shophouses along the street. I suppose somewhere out there in the future, images of us traipsing along Haji Lane might pop up on Google Street View. Mildly creepy?

Yes, that's right.
A halal Swedish cafe and bistro.
Curiosity got the better of us, so of course, we had to go in and sample some of their homemade peach tea and swedish pancakes with jam and cream.

Our waiter - the man in black - was not Swedish at all (he was Australian) but a very Swedish-looking blonde haired, blue eyed child was playing on a wooden rocking horse when we entered.

Later, a bunch of women, one of whom was definitely a Swede, came into the cafe and sat at the next table. She told us that 'Fika' - the name of the cafe - is a Swedish word that means 'to drink coffee'.

Bonus Picture

The 'Talk Cock Sing Song' karaoke pub along Upper Thomson Road.
I took a picture of it on my way home.

Halloween Costumes & Recent Vintage Finds

2009-10-08T11:59:00.000-07:00

~~~

Nate, Karen and I are throwing a Halloween party this year, and I was attempting to dream up a costume earlier on - one that wouldn't be too much trouble to put together, as I don't really have the time (or energy) right now to scamper around town, hunting down costume pieces. I had narrowed it down to the following choices:

1. Karl Lagerfeld
2. Anna Wintour
3. Dorothy (Wizard of Oz)
4. Margot Tenenbaum (The Royal Tenenbaums)
5. Maggie Cheung (in In The Mood For Love)
6. Bonnie (Bonnie & Clyde)
7. Betty Draper or Joan Holloway (Mad Men)
8. Daphne (Scooby Doo)
9. Minnie Mouse
10. She-Ra Princess of Power
11. Mona Lisa
12. A Tim Tam
13. Miss Scarlet (from the board game, Clue - murderously clutching a candlestick or a revolver, of course.)

I was most enthusiastic about being Karl Lagerfeld, and had even considered where I could possibly procure fingerless leather gloves (they are as native to Singapore as a fat model on Hedi Slimane's runway), to go with my Dior Homme-esque black blazer jacket, skinny black pants, Karl's trademark black sunglasses and token can of Pepsi Max in one hand. Aside from the fingerless leather glove issue, there was also the hassle of procuring a white wig styled in Karl's hairdo, and a bevy of supermodels drowning in Chanel to flank me.

Then, I looked in my wardrobe and promptly decided to be Minnie Mouse instead. Since I'm going for fuss-free and low-hassle this year, it just so happens that the Minnie costume will be the easiest to put together. I don't know if I should be worried that of all the aforementioned costume ideas, Minnie Mouse was the one I already had all the requisite pieces for in my closet. This includes the black mouse ears and red polka dotted bow.

I may have to re-evaluate my wardrobe at some point.

Part of me almost wishes I could go as Miss Scarlet, if only so I can wear something like this 1950s red and black lace swing dress:

Heyjetaime on Polyvore put together an awesome
Miss Scarlet ensemble using the dress above):

Anumagine also used it in a lovely Polyvore collage:

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There aren't many good vintage boutiques in Singapore, so I usually resort to trawling Ebay for my fix. Below are some of my favourite internet finds from the past year:

MEREDITH: Apathy kills, Hank.
HANK: I don't care...

.

Addison Gill for Under.ligne by Doo.ri + Vintage Car Editorial

2009-10-05T05:46:00.000-07:00

~~~

ADDISON GILL
for Under.ligne by Doo.ri

I like the fresh simplicity of these pictures.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

THE CHIC AND THE CARS
Editorial

MAGAZINE: Vogue Gioiello (Sept-Oct 09)
PHOTOGRAPHERS: Sofia Sanchez & Mauro Mongiello

I think Frida Gustavsson stole the show from the other two models.
It's not an epic editorial but I do love the styling and the cars.
I have to say, the pictures also look a whole lot better when enlarged!

{Click on pictures to enlarge.}

Vintage Flight Attendants & Old Travel Log

2009-10-03T09:39:00.000-07:00

~~~

I love looking at vintage pictures of flight attendants in the 50s, 60s and 70s. Okay... maybe not so much the 70s (it is clear that designers then were on an assortment of psychedelic drugs). But in those decades of aviation, flight attendant uniforms had a distinctive charm lacking in a lot of the ones used by airlines today - most of which make modern day cabin crews look like corporate minions working at a bank. I like how a lot of the vintage uniforms had a sense of playfulness that made flying look like fun... even though it really isn't. Good lord, I hate flying.

Zooey Deschanel as a flight attendant in Almost Famous.

This oedipal advertisement is hilarious and disturbing all at the same time. I love how they have the slogan, "think of her as your mother", juxtaposed with a mature lady striking a kittenish, come-hither pose. Yes, do fly American Airlines, and stand a chance to meet the mother you always wanted to shag. The best part? The text finishes off with, "That's the American Way."

This ad was for a Russian airline. Clearly, it was popular to hitch rides on airplanes in which flight attendants brandish what looks like a gun.

Yet another hilarious ad.
Everyone wants to fly an airline with pilots that tuck you into bed
instead of say... sitting in the cockpit and FLYING THE PLANE?

Air Pornstache.

Airline Passenger Certificates were issued by early
airline companies for crossing the ocean in a plane.

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Old Travel Log

I was skimming though entries in my old Livejournal earlier today and chanced upon my blogging of a trip to Canada I made while I was still living in Melbourne, Australia. More accurately, I was blogging about my flights to Vancouver - a journey that took me nearly 2 days in flight time and transits. First, I flew from Melbourne to Singapore, followed by a 6 hour transit (during which I popped back home to say hello to my dog and grandma before rushing back to the airport for my next flight). Then, I flew from Singapore to Hong Kong, and had another 3 hour transit. Finally, I flew from Hong Kong to Vancouver... and had to wait 10 hours for the rest of my family to join me at the airport. They were flying there from Colorado, USA, on a different flight, during which the airline managed to lose all their luggage.

Anyway, the Livejournal posts I made while in transit and mid-flight (this trip was taken during the period Singapore Airlines had wireless internet on board their planes) amused me quite a bit in a semi-nostalgic way, so I decided to re-post them.

December 16, 2005 • 7:56 pm
Am currently a hundred miles up in the air, en route to Singapore from Melbourne, and I just flew past Ayers Rock. Now I can claim to have actually seen it. Yes, that is correct. I am in an airplane, surfing the internet, updating Livejournal on my laptop, drinking chardonnay and checking out famous geological wonders in the middle of the Australian desert below me. Aside from the fact that I am a claustrophobic stuck in an airborne death capsule with no parachute and the Dharma Initiative on my mind, life sort of rules right now. Not going to lie.

Wireless satellite internet! When did our planes get so swish? No one is on AIM right now, which is mildly depressing, but I'm lining up movies on my KrisWorld TV set. Let's see... Les Temps Qui Changent, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and Je Préfère Qu'on Reste Amis. Also, might I add that they finally installed rewind and fast forwarding buttons on the remote controls.

God bless Singapore Airlines.

December 17, 2005 • 12:21 am
Just landed in Singapore. Have discovered house still has internet. Have also discovered existance of black feather boa I have no recollection of owning. Why do I own a feather boa? Cannot remember ever having been drag queen. Seriously beginning to doubt either memory or past fashion sense.

My dog still loves me. I like that he hasn't seen me in a year and still remembers me, but fails to remember anything he learned in puppy obedience school. The weather here is death. I feel like I'm in the crater of a Hawaiian volcano, drowning in molten lava. Have already taken 2 showers in the 2.5 hours I've been here. Beginning to suspect that my lack of vertical growth in childhood was due to having spent life here melting away critical body mass that could have possibly contributed to greater height.

Earlier, I was screened by airport security officials who were picking on anyone who looked under the age of 50 as we are all obviously a generation of drug traffickers and/or terrorists, whereas grey hairs and gravity-bound breasts denote an inability to commit crimes. Conveniently, I forgot to traffic any heroin or nuclear warheads, so I was let off the hook after two male officers molested my luggage and rummaged through my tampons. No, not embarrassing at all.

I mean, really. While I do understand how certain feminine hygiene products might be mistaken for Taliban missiles when baggage goes through the X-Ray scan... no wait, I don't.

Now that I've cuddled my dog and said hello to Grandma, a nap on my own bed sounds delightful but I must dash back to the airport in couple of hours to catch my plane to Hong Kong, then yet another plane to Vancouver. Will not be surprised if I end up spending more of my holiday on planes than in actual countries.

December 17, 2005 • 2:23 pm
Suspect entire planet, except city of Melbourne, has been hooked up with free wireless internet access for all and sundry. Either that or have been living under large rock for past year.

Am currently in Hong Kong at the airport (which has wireless internet EVERYWHERE. Come on, Melbourne. Pick up the slack.), waiting in transit for my plane to Canada. Have just visited the duty free Chanel and Gucci, only to buy large box of gourmet chocolate kisses from the chocolatier, as have decided that expensive though they be, I will still have more money for shopping in Vancouver than if I had bought any product from aforementioned shops. Plus, am jet-lagged and tired, and need the sweet love and comfort only quality confectionary can give.

My Idiot's Guide to 48-Hour Non-Stop Travelling:

1. Have sunglasses the size of mother Russia for the sole purpose of covering eyebags, bloodshot eyes, tired skin, badly applied make-up during turbulance on airplane, and as much of one's sleepy face as humanly possible. Would suggest balaclava instead, but being mistaken for a hijacker might potentially ruin travel plans and result in three-star prison tours.

2. Pretend to be someone important - preferably a movie star, jet-setting socialite, owner of oil field (or daughter, if look young), minor aristocrat or President of small country. Declaration of aforementioned false occupation not necessary, as one's main goal is to simply look important. Smile benevolently at all airport personnel and aircraft crew, and speak as if raised by the BBC. Service instantly better, customs officials deem it unnecessary to search for hidden biological weapons in purse, and get upgraded to higher class of airplane seats when minor complaint about current seat is politely lodged (while it is important to dress comfortably for one's flight, it is more important to note that one never gets upgraded when dressed like a homeless person. Remember, Business Class and First Class is comfortable no matter what you are wearing.).

3. Have laptop. Wireless internet will travel.

4. Always, always, ALWAYS secure emergency exit seats. In the event of an emergency, not only will you be the first to exit... in the event of no emergencies, you will also have more leg room than the average passenger seated behind you, contracting Economy Class Syndrome and dying of blood clots. These exit seats are extremely hard to secure, as they are desirable to everyone except the oil sheiks already travelling in First Class. But these days, most airlines have a website where you can check-in early, up to 48 hours beforehand. Do not leave it up to fate. Lie in wait on the internet 49 hours beforehand, and pray that your high-speed DSL connection is faster than the shmucks lurking behind their computer monitors, conspiring to steal your emergency seats from under your very nose.

Am currently perched opposite the strangest airport smoking lounge I've ever encountered. Smokers sit on barstools along swanky marble-top bar counters equipped with what appears to be in-built silver champagne buckets in front of each person. This makes little sense as there are no drinks being sold or served but upon closer examination, the champagne buckets are actually ash trays. Businessmen in suits also lounge in office chairs around a large conference table in another corner of the room, which is made entirely of glass walls. The conference table is laden with silver dishes (also secretly ashtrays), and from a distance, one could be forgiven for thinking the men were dining on cheese platters while discussing their stock market portfolios.

Amazing.

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It seems that by the time I actually reached Vancouver, nearly 48 hours after I'd departed Melbourne, I was too tired to make a final blog post about the final leg of my journey. But I did make another entry while up in Whistler...

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December 23, 2005 • 6:49 pm
Here is a bad Christmas joke:

Darth Vader: Luke, I know what you are getting for Christmas this year.
Luke Skywalker: How do you know, Darth Vader?
Darth Vader: I have felt your presents in the force.

Dad gave me my Christmas present today. Am now the proud owner of a sleek, feather-light, matte black snowboarding helmet, a pair of raspberry-coloured waterproof Helly Hansen ski pants, and a white Helly Hansen ski jacket with raspberry zips and lining, plush satin inner quilting in ruby red, and an inner-jacket compartment for an iPod. Am ecstatic as my current Sierra Tek ski suit, as much as j'adore it, is five years old and its waterproofing is shot to hell. Have been drenched like a sewer rat every time it rained or snowed on the slopes this trip. Waterproof, my arse.

Am currently up in Whistler in our ski lodge, surrounded by snow. It is very Christmasy and all I want to do is drink hot chocolate by the fireplace while listening to Louis Armstrong and Nat King Cole sing carols. Weather is shit. It's been raining cats, dogs and Canadian elks all week long. Needless to say, this is awful for skiing/snowboarding as the snow on slopes turns to slush. What I'd give for some fresh powder...

Have not skiied at all so far, as I've been meaning to pick up snowboarding for years, but have only managed to ride for two lousy, stinking days thanks to l'abominable weather. I've never snowboarded before, so my brother and I hired an instructor named Pete Goodman (whom we renamed Pete Good Times). Am still rubbish at snowboarding but I like it almost as much as skiing now. Picked it up semi-quickly coz I've wakeboarded for years and the concept is similar. Like wakeboarding, my starting foot is goofy, not regular. Can now do fakies, reverts and ollies but that's about it hahah. Oh, self. How much do you suck? It will probably be another 900 years before I get anywhere near a half-pipe.

Am also suffering from INTENSE ski envy. Everytime we hit a treacherous slope, I spend half my time doing faceplants (which I wish was some nifty snowboarding stunt, so I'd be able to claim I am fantastic at it. Because I am.). And while I was faceplanting, biting the dust, wiping out, eating snow (insert other words that sound like snowboarding tricks but that actually mean I fell down alot) and so forth, skiiers would zoom past easy-peasy and I'd wish I had a trusty pair of old Salomon X-Scream skis strapped to my back so I could ditch the snowboard and whizz down slopes that would have been a breeze for me on skis, but might as well have been a vertical incline with a snowboard on my feet. My arse hurts from falling on it every five minutes.

Soon, we'll be off to Hong Kong for Christmas.

Kate Moss by Ellen von Unwerth (Glamour Italia 1992), and Mad Men Charleston Dancing

2009-10-02T12:56:00.000-07:00

~~~

MAGAZINE: Glamour Italia, 1992
EDITORIAL: Charming Lolita
PHOTOGRAPHER: Ellen von Unwerth
MODEL: Kate Moss

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I meant to include this video in my last Mad Men post but completely forgot. This has to be one of my favourite Pete Campbell scenes: Pete and Trudy dancing the Charleston.

.

Mad Men Fashion

2009-09-29T22:22:00.000-07:00

~~~

I thought I'd do a blog post on the wonderful early 1960s clothing worn by the characters in Mad Men. Not going to lie - the wardrobe eye candy was one of the primary things that galvanised me into watching every episode of the show some time ago (that and the concept, which is just the sort of thing that fascinates me). Jon Hamm, Vincent Kartheiser, Elisabeth Moss and Christina Hendricks are also wonderfully magnetic on screen. I can never tire of watching them, despite what a slimey sleazeball Vincent's character is.

Anyway, on to the costumes, starting with the women...

Betty Draper
Betty is probably one of my least favourite characters. After watching both Dexter and Mad Men, I've come to the conclusion that if a show's protagonist is an emotionally disconnected man with a secret past, I will inevitably come to loathe his blonde, suburban, needy wife. However, January Jones is really beautiful woman with a very Grace Kelly-esque vibe, and her wardrobe on Mad Men is the one I love the most.

Betty's blue dress isn't really vintage as it was designed and created by the show's Costume Designer for this particular episode. I think in real life, it would be too much, but it worked in the context of the scene, and added a really striking pop of colour.

I love this shade of blue and in general, I still think it's a great style of coat, but it only works on taller women who won't drown in the baggy shapelessness.

The great thing about this look - the cashmere coat, sweater, pearls, Hermes-esque scarf (it isn't actually Hermes but looks it) - is that it's so classic that many of the women who wore this style in the 60s still dress like that now. Stylish grandmas you hope to one day be.

Janie Bryant, the Costume Designer, calls this dress Betty's 'Sad Clown Dress', which I think is quite adorable.

Bobbie Barrett
She's such a larger-than-life character and her style always has a sense of drama that mirrors that. Although she isn't part of the main cast, I enjoyed a lot of what she wore during her limited screen time... except maybe the leopard prints, which I always find tacky and cheap looking (though they did suit her character extremely well). I left those out of this post.

Her clothes here - the hat and furry collar - create a beautiful, dramatic silhouette, so even though the details aren't apparent, I felt like I had to include this image.

Joan Holloway
Unfortunately, we usually see Joan in her Sterling Cooper office environment, so what she wears is rather corporate. The costume department managed to squeeze in a number of very stylish outfits anyway, and Christina Hendricks - who I think is one of the most beautiful women on television right now - has the perfect hourglass figure to pull off a lot of these early 60s cuts and silhouettes, which tend to be more mature and womanly than the characters' actual ages.

The harlequin-print handbag is probably my favourite part of this outfit, along with the brooch.

The way the purple set off her fair skin and red hair was perfect. I wish they had more outfits of this colour for Joan.

Not a great dress, but a great blue, nonetheless.

Although I'm not the biggest fan of prints, I'm a fan of how they worked the print of the dress with the print of Joan's scarf here. Her gold brooches seem to be one of her trademarks and it really completes this outfit.

The black bow headband seemed unusually girlish for Joan, but I thought it was cute.

Peggy Olson
Peggy is not the biggest fashion plate on Mad Men. A lot of what she wears is awful, in keeping with her character, who seems entirely unaware of how to dress in a flattering manner. Peggy is the overgrown schoolgirl to Joan's womanly woman - a schoolgirl possibly dressed by a blind nun. But she's had a few decent pieces here and there - even if it's just a cute detail on an otherwise undesirable outfit. Her third season wardrobe has probably been the best thus far.

I think both Peggy and Kurt look great here. He's the show's resident stylish out-and-proud gay man. His jacket, set off by his neutral sweater and pants, is perfect, and I like how their outfits compliment one another, with Peggy's dress lending a sprinkle of red to liven the picture.

This isn't so much a style picture as it is a funny one. It's my favourite still from the scene where Kurt gives Peggy a makeover and snips off her entire ponytail after she permits him to cut off only a little. The look on their faces is priceless.

This is one of my favourite Peggy dresses. It's very sombre and grey but I thought it was significant in its context - a reflection of Peggy rising up the corporate ladder and dressing more like her male colleagues who favour suits in grey and other dark colours.

I liked the heart-shaped buttons on that sweater even
though the fit wasn't perfect.

The three female leads: Peggy, Joan and Betty.

Other Women

Anna Draper, wearing my favourite dress of hers.

Betty and her Junior League friend, who's wearing an amazing green dress with a floral print.

Jennifer Crane and Harry Crane

Trudy Campbell

Peggy, Pete Campbell and Trudy Campbell

Trudy and Pete Campbell

Paul Kinsey and Sheila

Paul Kinsey, Sheila and Joan Holloway

Midge and Roy

1960s Air Stewardesses

Voiceover Actresses

Kitty Romano with Sal and Ken.

The men of Mad Men also have fantastic, if less varied, wardrobes.

Don Draper

Roger Sterling and Don Draper

I love that the men of the early 60s all wore hats.

Roger Sterling

Am liking Roger's tie - a textured, subtle shade of silver against his white shirt.

Roger with Eleanor and Mirabelle - twins wearing matching but not identical dresses.

Pete Campbell

The Office Crew

Harry Crane, Paul Kinsey, Pete Campbell, Ken Cosgrove and Salvatore Romano

Sal is always impeccably attired.

Aside from Don, it's rare to see the Mad Men outside their office setting, so I love how Sal and Ken aren't in their corporate garb for once. Their suits here are two of my favourites - especially Ken's.

Smitty

Jeffrey the drug dealer.

Valentino Haute Couture 2009

2009-09-23T02:16:00.000-07:00

~~~

I'm a bit late blogging about this, and I blame it on my extreme laziness between July and August. However, browsing through The Fashion Spot, I chanced upon a picture of Frida Gustavsson in a gorgeous black Valentino from the 2009 Haute Couture collection, and was reminded once again how much I love it. All of it. The whole damn collection.

This Valentino show received so much hate, if I remember. Ever since Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pier Paolo Piccioli took over the design house from Valentino himself, they've been verbally abused on every fashion forum I've visited on the internet, and this collection was no exception. People said it 'wasn't Valentino enough'. It was too Alexander McQueen, too Lanvin, too Prada, or a sorry amalgamation of all the above. I care not.

Blasphemous as this might sound, the 'real' Valentino (not to imply that Chiuri and Piccioli are 'fake' Valentinos, you understand) never did all that much for me. I didn't dislike his couture confections, but they didn't send me over the moon either. Every runway show - haute couture or prêt-à-porter - just felt like a pleasantly pretty parade with lots of build-up and no culmination. On the other hand, I adore McQueen, Lanvin and Prada, so even if this collection felt like a rip-off of other designers, it wasn't the usual, predictable Valentino fare, nor was it a re-hash of the entire Valentino archive, like the last ready-to-wear show was. After taking away the word 'Valentino' and the naff comparisons, and just looking at the clothes for what they were... well, I liked what I saw.

The designers said they wanted to create 'a new shade of black', and although that's quite impossible, literally speaking, their approach to colour produced a collection that was extremely dark without being so black that it's boring. It wasn't flat. The fabrics were layered - sheer black over nude tones - to spawn shadowy webs and ripples. Lace, tulle, ruffles and feather-light sheer panels were draped so effectively that they never felt heavy (a trap black clothing tends to fall into).

I really loved how the whole collection read like a dark masquerade romance - very pretty but not cloying; floaty yet intense. The masks were a nice touch.

Up close, in some of the HQ photographs I found (far too large to post on this blog, as each image is several megabytes in size), the workmanship was so exquisite, precise and impeccable that I think pictures alone don't do the dresses much justice. One would probably have to view them in person to fully appreciate the subtle craftsmanship that went into all the pieces.

Vogue Italia featured the Valentino Haute Couture
dresses in their September 2009 issue:

(Click thumbnails to enlarge.)

PHOTOGRAPHERS: Sofia and Mauro
MODELS: Gwen Loos, Hanna Rundlof and
Frida Gustavsson (who also opened the runway show)

Here are more pictures from the runway:

The shoes remind me a little of Hermes (the Greek God with winged feet, not the brand).

Hosting at Vivo City

2009-09-22T04:23:00.000-07:00

~~~

Some photographs from a Nokia and Starhub show I hosted for a week in August...

This was basically a computer shaped like a giant Nokia phone.

Looking really attractive.
That eyes-half-closed pose is always fetching.

Sometimes, I don't understand why people tell me I need to get a tan. Then I see the evidence...

It was the birthday of this dude, whose name I don't know, and who I will probably never see again. He and his friends were going around Vivo City with the goal to get photographs of him with 25 girls.

I... don't know why.
Anyway, I tried to evade him but then wound up having to interview/question him because he was an unsuspecting victim (slash easy target) and I had about 180 prizes to give away. So he wound up getting the picture but I maintain this was cheating.

This man is obviously really keen on winning a prize.
Love that enthusiasm.

That's MJ, the show's DJ.

Lunch breaks at Coffee Bean, just chatting on AIM with Meghan.

Another lunch break with my caramel macchiato cake.

Fooling around on Photobooth with MJ during yet another break...

The sun through the skylight was brutal.
Wish I was kidding.
I thought I was going to get burnt.
The sun rays make for a pretty sweet photo, though.

Chocolate lava cake.

Dear Starbucks,
When I order a Caramel Frappucino with Extra, Extra, Extra, Extra, Extra Caramel Drizzle at the top, THIS is what I mean. Praise to the one man who actually got it right.

Love,
Natalie

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lunch at a Chinese restaurant with the extended paternal family.

Mum, Brother and I.

Brother, Aunt Carol, Me and Mum.

Aunt Carol, Grandma Suzie, Brother and I.

Recent Outfits

2009-09-21T03:37:00.000-07:00

~~~
Random photos of recent outfits...

PETER PAN COLLAR NAUTICAL SHIRT - Vintage
CASHMERE CARDIGAN - J.Crew
BLACK SHORTS - Ralph Lauren
TIGHTS - Marks & Spencer
BUCKET HAT - Vintage
BAG - Chanel (vintage, circa 1980s)

HAIR FLOWERS - Boutique in Brunswick Street (Melbourne, Australia)
TOP - Paul & Joe
The top actually has an interesting pin-up girl print.
I'll need to take better pictures of it another day.

Parker Posey as Jackie-O (The House of Yes)

2009-09-20T12:05:00.000-07:00

~~~

I've been watching Mad Men seasons back-to-back like one ridiculously long movie - the best way to watch any television show. Yesterday, I put on the first episode of Season 2, where they showed Don, Betty, Joan and Sal watching Jackie Kennedy give a tour of the White House on television after John F. Kennedy beat Nixon in the presidential elections.

Entirely by coincidence, I wound up watching The House of Yes today - a 1997 movie starring Parker Posey and Josh Hamilton. And well, well, what do you know? It ALSO featured old clips of Jackie Kennedy giving the White House tour. I'm not American, so I can only assume this must've been some sort of... significant event. It's just rather odd that I've never seen the Jackie Kennedy White House tour in my life, and somehow, in the span of two days, managed to see it twice.

Anyway, The House of Yes is possibly one of the most creepy and darkly funny films I've ever watched. I highly recommend it to anyone who likes their humour black, and isn't squeamish/offended by entertainment that depicts all manner of social taboos without any contrived Hollywood ending to show the sinners the error of their ways. There is really no moral of the story here.

The film was based on a play of the same name by Wendy McLeod, and usually, I find that most attempts to adapt plays into movies fall flat on their faces, but this is not the case here. The story is very character and dialogue-driven, and the cast never drops the ball - especially the inimitable Parker Posey, who practically redefined 'batshit crazy' in this movie. She played a wealthy, murderous loon who thinks she's Jackie Kennedy Onassis, and is thereby called Jackie-O by her entire crazed family (which includes an equally insane mother, and a lying younger brother who is possibly autistic). Jackie-O is involved in an incestuous relationship with her twin brother, Marty (played by Josh Hamilton), and when he brings his bright eyed and bushy tailed fiancé (played by Tori Spelling) home for Thanksgiving, all hell - and literally, a hurricane - breaks lose. Freddie Prinze Jr. and Geneviève Bujold play the younger brother and psychotic mother, respectively. When I first saw the cast list, my expectations weren't that high. Parker Posey is brilliant but Tori Spelling and Freddie Prinze Jr. do not usually appear in the same sentence as the words 'good actors'... unless the sentence is 'Tori Spelling and Freddie Prinze Jr. are not good actors'. Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised to find them both believable and effective in their roles. I only wish we'd seen more of Geneviève Bujold as the mother. She made so much of the little screen time she had, and was really quite perfect.

Parker Posey
Aside from her films (also highly recommended: Party Girl, Clockwatchers, Waiting For Guffman and Henry Fool), she has pretty sweet clothing sometimes.

I think her vintage telephone bag (pictured below) is particularly endearing, despite the hate it receives. Poor bag. But I think it's a great example of the good kind of tacky - so long as its owner has the style and attitude to pull it off. I, personally, find it delightfully kitsch... and also functional. Believe it or not, you can actually plug the bag into a socket and use it as a telephone to call someone, should you find yourself in a dire emergency within a room bereft of a phone or mobile reception (but that is conveniently equipped with a telephone socket). It happens, I'm sure. Sometimes. Once in a never.

**Image by Luckyklover on Polyvore

Vintage Telephone Bags

Other Ridiculous Bags
...that I love

I am unashamed (ok, maybe slightly ashamed) to admit that I own the green and orange watering cans. They're true conversation pieces. Every time I take one of them out with me, at least three people on the street stop to chat with me about it... usually to find out where they can procure one themselves. Everyone should have something completely ridiculous and funny in their wardrobes. I like to think it spreads joy and good cheer. I'm sure it also causes you to be ridiculed behind your back - or to your face - but really, who cares?

Models

2009-09-19T22:37:00.000-07:00

~~~

Lily Cole, Gemma Ward, Gisele Bundchen, Daria Werbowy and Karen Elson
"French Twists" by Annie Leibovitz
US Vogue, May 2004

It's been a long time since I've been excited about a new crop of interesting faces in the modelling world - the sort that captivate my attention in every editorial, breathe that 'something special' into every picture and leave an indelible impression on each designer's runway - enhancing the appeal, rather than detracting from the clothes, and never fading into the wallpaper as yet another nameless, adderall-popping clothes horse with an interchangable face and name that ends in 'ova'.

Outside the fashion bubble, no one but anorexics in search for their thinspiration du jour really cares about the mannequins hired to sell clothes and dreams to the masses through Vogue-tinted glasses (not unless they are in a Victoria's Secret flesh parade, anyway). But there's something I've always found fascinating about them, in the same manner I am intrigued by actors who lead elusive lives, away from the tabloid eye. The mystique lends them charm, and a certain transformative quality - the ability to be celluloid or editorial and runway chameleons, and sell a fantasy; fiction that suspends your disbelief because while Cate Blanchett is selling you Queen Elizabeth, and Sasha Pivovarova is selling you a flapper-era fairy tale illustrated in Giorgio Armani and Rodarte by Steven Meisel, you're not thinking about the last time you saw headlines about her sex tape with a washed up one-hit-wonder because all things given, outside the fashion world, she's still an anonymous model - these headlines and salacious stories don't exist. That anonymity lends so many good editorial models a transformative quality that sucks you into the pages of a spread like "Memoirs" by Peter Lindbergh for Vogue Italia. I loved Kate Moss in the 90s, when she was such a chameleon. But once her drug infamy and rock star boyfriends began to precede her actual work, that charm vanished.

Growing up in the 90s, it was Christy Turlington, Karen Mulder, Tasha Tilberg, Kristina Semenovskaya, Kirsty Hume, Ling Tan, Milla Jovovich, Linda Evangelista and early Kate Moss. I still have the magazine I shamelessly pilfered from my doctor's waiting room when I was 12 because my mother wouldn't let me spend $40 on an overpriced import periodical. Yet, I knew it had to be mine because within its glossy pages, Christy Turlington had just convinced me that the $25,000 Vera Wang she was swathed in was to be my wedding gown one day. The five-minute commercial breaks on television were only worth sitting through because of the Levi's 'Spaceman' ads with Kristina Semenovskaya as the ethereal black-haired alien - an exotic creature who propelled the product into a far more interesting sphere than it actually deserved. And Ling Tan - the Malaysian Chinese model who shot to fame in Paris and New York, hawked a strain of traditional Asian beauty that had fallen out of popularity within Asia itself, not unlike the Hye Parks and Daul Kims of today.

Christy Turlington

Karen Mulder

Kristina Semenovskaya

Kate Moss

Tasha Tilberg

Kirsty Hume

Linda Evangelista

Ling Tan

Milla Jovovich

Then, I discovered the old guard - the ones before 'my time': Twiggy, Penelope Tree, Veruschka von Lehndorff and Iman. I had a special affection for Twiggy, who was short and 'Asian-sized'. The West seemed to believe she was shockingly thin. Here, her size and stature were the norm, and far easier for an adolescent Asian girl, such as myself, to relate to, in contrast to the curvacious 90s bombshells (Cindy Crawford, Elle Macpherson and their ilk) plastered on the covers of magazines - an ideal attainable only through breast implants and stilts. Twiggy was petite. For once, I could say to myself, "That might be how that dress would sit on me." She sold me on the 1960s mod look - the cut of dresses, and the short hems that made the legs of tiny girls seem to stretch on forever; the Biba and Mary Quant aesthetic, and Yves Saint Laurent's Mondrian frocks.

Twiggy

Iman

Penelope Tree

Veruschka von Lehndorff

I think the last era of models I was truly intrigued by was the alien/elfin doll period that catapulted Gemma Ward, Jessica Stam, Sasha Pivovarova, Vlada Roslyakova, Lily Donaldson, Coco Rocha, Caroline Trentini, Lily Cole and Heather Marks to the top... some more so than others, I suppose. I also liked quite a few of those one step before them - Natalia Vodianova, Karen Elson and Polina Kouklina, in particular. Some said that they all looked too similar, but it was a whimsical aesthetic that I, personally, found pleasing, so I wasn't complaining. These days, once in a blue moon, someone interesting to me will pop up, like Ranya Mordanova or Nimue Smit. The girls like Addison Gill, Monika 'Jac' Jagaciak and Ginta Lapina also make me thankful that classic beauty isn't completely dead in high fashion, and Edita Vilkeviciute is great proof that it's not just 15-year-old waifs playing dress-up in $100,000 Balenciaga leggings who can sell luxury to the middle-aged women who can actually afford it. Aside from a few exceptions though, it's a shame that a lot of the new faces just blend into a sea of blank, charmless clothes hangers you wouldn't look twice at on the streets. I like the escapism, imagination and flights of fancy that separate the world of couture and high fashion from a commercial chain store catalogue, but at times, it's hard to be pulled into the world when the primary players in a story have less charisma than a scone. It almost seems that the failing economy has induced a depression-era gloom that has caused the industry to deprive itself of otherworldliness and transcendental beauty, and become overrun with dour-faced, unexceptional clones.

Some of my favourites from recent(ish) times:

Coco Rocha

Natalia Vodianova

Jessica Stam

Mona Johannesson

Sasha Pivovarova

Jeisa Chiminazzo

Caroline Trentini

Karen Elson

Miranda Kerr

Gemma Ward

Vlada Roslyakova

Bruna Tenorio

Viktoriya Sasonkina

Cintia Dicker

Ginta Lapina

Ranya Mordanova

Diana Moldovan

Inguna Butane

Ali Michael

Myf Shepherd

Martha Streck

Addison Gill

Ilze Bajare

Jac (Monika Jagaciak)

Erin Heatherton

Heather Marks

Anna Arendshorst

Andreea Diaconu

Anabela Belikova

Candice Swanepoel

Frida Gustavsson

Devon Aoki

Imogen Morris Clarke

I used to confuse Imogen with Angelika Kocheva and Daria Strokous all the time, but the above picture sold me.

Freja Beha Erichsen

Lily Donaldson

Du Juan

Lily Cole

Ymre Stiekema

Snejana Onopka

Iekeliene Stange

Doutzen Kroes

Katie Braatvedt

Rose Cordero

Mina Cvetkovic

Edita Vilkeviciute

Irina Kulikova

Lindsay Ellingson

Jourdan Dunn

Magdalena Frackowiak

Siri Tollerød

Eniko Mihalik

Diana Farkhullina

Mackenzie Hamilton

Skye Stracke

Ines Crnokrak

Behati Prinsloo

Sheila Marquez

Nimue Smit

Anna Selezneva

I'm a bit on the fence about Anna S. She has incredibly unique bone structure and works a lot of pictures, but I'm not a fan of the extreme orange tan she sports half the time.

Hyoni Kang

Sofi Berelidze

Hollis Wakeema

Taylor Warren

Daul Kim

Rachel Clark

Liya Kebede

Daria Werbowy

Polina Kouklina

Abbey Lee Kershaw

Family Portrait

2009-09-12T09:37:00.000-07:00

~~~

I have really, truly, honestly neglected this poor blog. But I shall try to mend my ways. I have a new Kawai NS-20 and am quite in love with it.

Her name is Black Dahlia.

We took some family portraits.
I realise I look exactly the same in every single picture.
Am unsure how that happened.

Me, my brother Andy, Mum, and our Bichon Frise pooch,
HRH Snowy Cheeselove Curlington McChicken Fluffles III, Esq.

.

The Tunnel & The Egg-Shaped Skirt

2009-08-02T06:24:00.000-07:00

~~~

I've yet to upload my photos from the filming of God's Pen (they're still in my camera and I've been too lazy to connect the device to my computer with a cable. Shameful, I know.). But I snapped some shots on my BlackBerry the other day and the colours came out beautifully, thanks to the amazing lighting in the tunnel we were shooting in.

Lawrence playing Nigel, the nerd who can't catch a lucky break.

As Lawrence was taking this picture, I was actually grimacing because it was 'SILENCE ON SET' and I'd accidentally let out a loud peep just moments before. I'm surprised the picture came out smiley instead.

That's the rickety car Nigel uses to pick my character up on a date. It broke down for real.

This is Wei Jing, my awesome make-up artist.

Recently, I've been obsessed with egg-shaped skirts. I think
it's because I have no hips to speak of and the egg silhouette
gives me some semblance of them, however exaggerated.

This picture is severely distorted for reasons I do not know but my face looks abnormally thin and long, and my legs look like toothpicks - as if the image was stretched. I blame it on the terrible BlackBerry camera failing to pick up accurate details in the poor lighting... coz I don't know how it happened! I think if my legs were THAT twiggy in real life, they'd snap just from the weight of my torso.

The skirt in better detail (and lighting!).

Eugenio Recuenco & Lotte Reiniger

2009-07-17T00:38:00.001-07:00

~~~

While revisiting fairy tale images from my old journal, I also came across these after the Alice In Wonderland series two posts ago. They're by Eugenio Recuenco, one of my favourite photographers who has done a fair amount of stunning, cinematographic editorials for Vogue, Vanity Fair and Madame Figaro, amongst others.

{Click on images for larger versions.}

Little Red Riding Hood

Beauty And The Beast

Snow White

The Princess And The Pea

Puss In Boots

The Pied Piper

Cinderella

Sleeping Beauty

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Recently, I also discovered Lotte Reiniger, a German silhouette animator I heard of in Cinema class at university, but never got around to checking out.

Inspired by shadow puppetry, all her animations are done using little more than black paper and backlighting. What's fascinating is how delicately articulated her animated characters are, and how nimbly they move. Some were constructed out of 25 to 50 separate pieces of paper held together by fine lead wire to facilitate more complex movements on camera. To add depth and dimension to the scenery, she also employed various shades of tissue paper and glass panes.

Lotte often likened filmmaking to ballet. "Film is movement. It’s the combination of curves and diagonals that gives ballet and animation their sweet tenderness and their striking directness."

Here are some of her short films from the 1950s.

Hansel and Gretel (1955)

Cinderella (1954)

The Little Chimney Sweep (1954)

The Three Wishes (1955)

Jack and the Beanstalk (1955)

The Art of Lotte Reiniger (Part 1)
This is a documentary about Lotte Reiniger and her animations.
Unfortunately, I can't find Part 2 on Youtube.
In this doco, you can see the amazing lightning precision of her hand
as she cuts her animated figures out of black paper.

"I believe in the truth of fairy tales more than
I believe in the truth in the newspaper."
- Lotte Reiniger

Fictional Bands

2009-07-15T05:21:00.000-07:00

~~

Yesterday, I got caught up in a conversational about fictitious bands and musicians in films and television shows. Here are some of the ones I love:

"Sugar High" by Renee Zellweger & Coyote Shivers
from Empire Records
This is probably my favourite character Renee Zellweger has played. Apparently, the Chicago producers chose her for Roxie Hart after seeing this performance.

"Uh-Huh" by Munchausen By Proxy
from Yes Man
Munchausen By Proxy was the fictional band formed by Zooey Deschanel and Von Iva for this film. Their lyrics kill me every time.

"Sweet Ballad" by Munchausen By Proxy
from Yes Man
More golden lyrics.

"Tumbling Down" by Jonathan Rhys Meyers
from Velvet Goldmine

"Baby's On Fire" by Jonathan Rhys Meyers
from Velvet Goldmine

"Smelly Cat" by Phoebe Buffay
from Friends
I think this was the second song I learned to play on the guitar haha.

The fake music video version of Smelly Cat:

"I Wanna Grow Old With You" by Adam Sandler
from The Wedding Singer

"Scotty Doesn't Know" by Matt Damon
from Euro Trip

"That Thing You Do" by The Wonders
from That Thing You Do
I'm actually rather sick of this song but I remember dancing to it in the 90s along the corridor of my high school and at parties, so it's somewhat nostalgic.

"Play That Funky Music White Boy" by Suburban Funk
from The New Guy
Not sure what it is with Zooey Deschanel and funny fake bands but here she is again, along with DJ Qualls. It's obviously not an original song, but ah well.

"Three Small Words" by Josie And The Pussycats
from Josie And The Pussycats
The movie was so incredibly bad and campy that it was actually good. Good in the godawful way.

"Pretend To Be Nice" by Josie And The Pussycats
from Josie And The Pussycats

Couldn't find the videos for 'Spin Around' and 'You Don't See Me', alas. But the fake boyband, Du Jour, also from the movie, is comedic gold. Seth Green and Breckin Meyer have always reminded me of each other for some reason, so I was amused to see them both in it.

"Sugar Sugar" by The Archies
from The Archie Show

I'd have included Spinal Tap but they became 'a real band' after film and performed shows, so I don't think they really count.

Revenge Of The Nerds

2009-07-14T00:00:00.000-07:00

~~~

Bryony and I had a merry time behaving like nerds.

The new Spock and Chris Pine as Captain Kirk were fantastic. Am not really a Trekkie but I think this was the best Star Trek film I've seen yet. Admittedly, the only other one I can actually remember is the one with the creepy perfect borg beings, though I've been dragged to a number of others in the past... ones that clearly weren't too memorable.

SAURON

Yep, I was so excited to see this till every single person I know informed me what a disaster this movie was. I grew up idolising Optimus Prime and trying to turn my Transformers action figures into vehicles, but I think I'll wait for the DVD release and rent it.

Not a fan of doomsday movies or this franchise. Sam Worthington was excellent, though. Unsure why Christian Bale turned down the Marcus role to play John Connor. Honestly baffled.

The Yoda ass grab.
This was not... apparent till later.

A friend of mine calls these my 'kitty cat shoes' because, when paired with black tights, they make my legs look like they belong on a black cat with white feet.

Lawrence and I both wore kitty cat outfits to dinner. By accident.

B wearing a Batman shirt to go see Christian Bale in Terminator.

Alice In Wonderland by Annie Leibovitz

2009-07-13T22:27:00.000-07:00

~~~

'Alice In Wonderland' by Annie Leibovitz
for Vogue, December 2003.

I posted this once on my old Livejournal but I love to revisit these pictures from time to time. Natalia Vodianova plays Alice here, and wears various interpretations of Alice's iconic blue dress by assorted designers (who also play other characters from the book).

{Click on images for larger versions.}

CURIOUSER AND CURIOUSER
Olivier Theyskens playing Lewis Carroll (who had a passion for photography, and in particular, "photographing moody young beauties"). Natalia here is Alice Liddell, whom Alice in Wonderland was named after.
ALICE DRESS: Rochas by Olivier Theyskens

Karl Lagerfeld wears Chrome Hearts necklaces and belt.
ALICE DRESS: Chanel Haute Couture
(Actually, it's not a dress but an embroidered satin jacket with a draped satin skirt.)
"It was a queer-shaped little creature,
and held out its arms and legs in all directions, “just like a starfish.”"

WHO STOLE THE TARTS?
John Galliano as the Queen of Hearts and Alexis Roche as his King.
ALICE DRESS: Dior Haute Couture by John Galliano
QUEEN OF HEARTS: Dior Haute Couture coat
"“My name is Alice, so please Your Majesty,” the young girl said softly.
“ You make me giddy!” screamed the Queen."

DRINK ME

If you look closely, Helmut Lang is in the picture on the wall, watching her.

ALICE DRESS: Helmut Lang's made-to-measure studio
"How was Alice to know the innocent little bottle would make her grow to such a size? As Helmut Lang watched from the wall, she curled her legs up and hoped the designer's organza minidress wouldn't be crushed by her startling height."

ADVICE FROM A CATERPILLAR
Marc Jacobs as the caterpillar.
ALICE DRESS: Marc Jacobs
"Alice found herself engaged in an infuriatingly roundabout conversation with a mushroom-dweller. Where am I? she wondered... and how have I gotten here?"

THE MOCK TURTLE'S STORY
Donatella Versace is the Gryphon while Rupert Everett is the Mock Turtle (both wearing Versace).
ALICE DRESS: Atelier Versace
"“What is his sorrow?” Alice asked the Gryphon.
“Once,” sighed the Mock Turtle, “ I was a real turtle.”"

THE MAD TEA PARTY
Stephen Jones, as the Mad Hatter, wears a custom-made hat of his own design.
Christian Lacroix plays the March Hare.
ALICE DRESS: Christian Lacroix Haute Couture
"“No room!” The March Hare and Mad Hatter shouted. “No room!”
But Alice plunked down, desperate for some biscuits after a long day of living backward."

THE CHESHIRE CAT
Jean Paul Gaultier as the Cheshire Cat.
ALICE DRESS: Gaultier Paris
"“Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?” Alice asked sweetly of the cat with a grin as devilish as anything she had ever seen.
“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” replied the Cat."

DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE
Tom Ford as the White Rabbit (wearing a white suit from his Yves Saint Laurent men's collection).
ALICE DRESS: Tom Ford for Yves Saint Laurent Gauche
"Faster, faster, faster she fell!"

TWEEDLEDUM & TWEEDLEDEE
Rolf Snoeren and Viktor Horsting are Tweedledum and Tweedledee, wearing matching suits and bow ties that they designed themselves.
ALICE DRESS: Viktor & Rolf
"“If you think we're alive, you ought to speak,” said the one marked DEE. Alice stared as the Tweedle duo spouted nonsensical tongue twisters."

THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS
Nicolas Ghesquière sits on the armchair.
ALICE DRESS: Balenciaga by Nicolas Ghesquière
"Alice perched on the mantel, longing to escape into the shadow world, as her black kitty purred nearby."

Fashion Editor: Grace Coddington
Hair: Julien d'Ys/Island d'Ys
Makeup: Gucci Westman
Set Design: Mary Howard
Prop Fabrication: Jean Hugues de Chatillon.

Quotes: style.com/vogue

Evelyn Maria's Birthday 2009

2009-07-08T08:15:00.000-07:00

~~~

In lieu of birthday presents, Eve accepted donations for her adopted charity - Animal Lovers League.

The Couturettes by Steven Meisel

2009-07-07T09:42:00.000-07:00

~~~

{Click on images for larger versions.}

'The Couturettes' by Steven Meisel for Vogue Italia, September 2006

MODELS: Lily Donaldson, Agyness Deyn, Mimi Roch, Tayla Collins,
Ross Cassidy, Sean Knight and Stas Svetlichnyy.
One other model's name has been removed, as per his personal request.

Lay Down Lean & Diamonds And Rust

2009-07-06T00:39:00.000-07:00

~~~

Lay Down Lean is a short film based on an Edna St. Vincent Millay poem.

STARRING: Karen Elson, Zooey Deschanel and Sarah Sophie Flicker
DIRECTORS: Maximilla Lukacs and Sarah Sophie Flicker
CINEMATOGRAPHY & EDITING: Maximilla Lukacs
STYLING: Leith Clark
MAKE-UP: Jorgee Douglass
LIGHTING & SPECIAL EFFECTS: Dan Estabrook
TITLES: Christy-Claire Katien

Joan Baez singing Diamonds And Rust in 1975, and sounding absolutely amazing live. I adore the lyrics, which I believe are about her relationship with Bob Dylan. It's a song I'd really like to cover one day.

.

View From My Apartment Bedroom + Moody Hotel

2009-07-05T00:56:00.000-07:00

~~~

As promised eons ago in a vlog, here are proper photos of my bedroom view. It is pretty damn near impossible to get something this spectacular in Singapore. There are usually other high-rise monstrosities and concrete lumps of bad architecture standing in the way, no matter how high up you live. I am extremely lucky that the forest you see is a reserve, and so nothing shall be erected there to obstruct my precious view.

This is what it looks like early on a misty morning,
with the fog obscuring the resevoir lake beyond the trees:

And here it is on an afternoon after the rain.
Clouds of steam rise from the rainforest - it's amazing.

From the right window, you can see the lake.

From the left window, you can see the city skyline.

Some random shots from a hotel room:

Beige & Pearls

2009-07-03T21:26:00.000-07:00

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BUCKET HAT - Vintage
TOP - Miu Miu

I found those pearls in an old, forgotten jewellery box last year as I was moving homes. It was a broken strand, and I can't quite remember to whom they previously belonged (being a pack rat, I assume I must have salvaged them years ago and forgotten about them). Anyway, I repaired the strand and added an antique rose clasp.

Filming STOP! ALLEN

2009-07-02T05:53:00.000-07:00

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Some shots from one of the three films I'm currently working on.

The four mob bosses.

Wilson as 'Dragon Son'.

Playing Chiasa Azumi (a.k.a. Madam X),
the Japanese Lady Boss of the mob.

Imaransan playing S. Nashamar ( a.k.a. The Shark),
the Gambling Boss of the mob.

Robert DeVoe playing Albert Coo,
the Drug Boss.

Wilson gets his make-up retouched.

Dragon Son and the SWAT Team.

Renier, our director.

Actors playing the SWAT team.

This villa was one of the locations we shot at.

Rachel, our make-up artist, coming out of the villa.

The make-up artist and I.

The amazing 1938 vintage BMW my character drove.

Robert's character was chauffeur driven in a Mercedes Benz.

Robert's car and mine.
Clearly, syndicate bosses must drive matching cars.

Robert getting out of his Benzo.

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Of Kitty Dresses, Hypnotherapy & Killer Shoots

2009-06-23T11:25:00.000-07:00

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New red Ray-Ban Wayfarers:

I've been trying out hypnotherapy with my friend, Gene - a naturopath, hypnotherapist and scent artist. We're trying to wean me off my evil neuralgia and bipolar meds because a lifetime of Lyrica, Seroquel, Lamictal and Epilim is a most unappealing prospect.

Gene's Clinic:
THE HAPPY NATUROPATH

My two sessions thus far have been rather productive. I feel a lot more light spirited and emotionally rejuvenated.

This week is killer.

Am shooting two films simultaneously - one, a romantic comedy, the other, a mob drama, which is resulting in work days that often start between 8 to 10 in the morning and end past midnight. I have to set five alarm clocks every morning just to fall out of bed on time.

Today's studio shoot was a hoot. We were filming a fantasy dream sequence for the romantic comedy - really campy, over the top, tongue-in-cheek and theatrical with retro costumes and smoke machines. I wore a red and white polka dotted dress, white shoes and a red bow in my hair - somehow managing to avoid resembling Minnie Mouse, while my co-actor had to dweeb it up with suspenders, a dress shirt tucked into his pants and giant glasses with thick black frames.

Tomorrow, there's a location shoot for the mob film in which my character drives a 1938 vintage BMW, which is pretty much the highlight of my entire week. Hell to the yessssuhh. I have never been so excited to meet an automobile.

Who knew my BlackBerry could take such cool motion photographs?

A Private World by Tim Walker

2009-06-21T07:45:00.000-07:00

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Sunniva Stordahl by Tim Walker for Vogue Italia November 2008

{Click images for larger versions.}

Want this mermaid costume, please.

There are quite a few more images from this editorial but these were just my favourite.

Beautiful Professional Space

2009-06-17T00:29:00.000-07:00

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I love going for castings here (it's a photography, digital imaging and television commercial production house) because it's such a gorgeous and functional space. Although the thought of ever working in an office kills me softly, I'd have to say that if ever forced at gunpoint to work in one, I would hope it looked like this.

My problem with most offices, and other professional/corporate environments, is that they tend to look cold and sterile even when they are well-decorated. I'm not a fan of excessive chrome, stark colours and that clean, minimal vibe that permeates everything from the standard issue desks to the white concrete walls and the shitty, token abstract art procured from a dealer keen to offload $5000 pieces that look like something you'd buy from a flea market for five bucks.

This production house, however, is more like a production home. It even comes with it's own spacious kitchen, laundry area and pool table. The last time I was there, some guy came out of a room with a guitar and began randomly playing along one of the corridors. In short, it is cozy, beautiful and perfect. I feel creatively stimulated just by stepping inside.

Reception/Waiting Area

Reception/Waiting Area (that's the couch I was sitting on).

Toilets (female and male).

Inside the toilet.

Sink.

Shower.

Entrance to female toilet.

Raw cement and black tiles juxtaposed.

Outer sink.

Kitchen and laundry.

Kitchen.

Kitchen and recreation area with pool table.

Studio for shoots.

Corridor.

Corridor.

Lounge area.

Corridor.

Entrance to one of the office rooms.

My... feet.

Desk behind the coffee table.

Desk.

Fountain.

Wooden spiral stairs.

Wooden spiral stairs.

Corridor that contained the aforementioned guitar player.

This is the last image but I only photographed a small portion of the place. It's much larger, with plenty more rooms.

NABIIA - ITALIAN ESCAPADE INSPIRATION BOARD #1 (Kenzo Spring 2009)

2009-06-14T03:21:00.000-07:00

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{Click images for larger versions.}

Magdalena Frackowiak and Guinevere Van Seenus for Kenzo Spring 2009

CURRENT ITALIAN SUMMER
ESCAPADE INSPIRATIONS

MUSIC
Frank Sinatra
Dean Martin
Nina Simone
Ella Fitzgerald
Billie Holiday
Astrud Gilberto
Edith Piaf
Marie Laforêt
Françoise Hardy
Brigitte Bardot
The Andrews Sisters
SPECIALLY FOR THE AMALFI COAST & CAPRI:
The Beach Boys
The Pixies
The Smiths
Coco Rosie
M. Ward (and She & Him)
Bob Dylan (Subterranean Homesick Blues era)

RUNWAY
Kenzo (Spring 2009 collection)
Chanel (Cruise 2010 collection)
Prada (Resort 2010 collection)
Balenciaga (Spring 2006 collection)
Louis Vuitton (Spring 2007 collection)
Miu Miu (Spring 2008 and the eveningwear from Fall 2006)
Erin Fetherston (in general)
Lanvin (in general)

STYLE
Flappers
Sailors
Ballerinas
Two-tone
Pearls
Full skirts
Puff sleeves/short butterfly sleeves
Anything that resembles the fabric on a grandmother's couch.

FILMS
Le Mépris (filmed entirely in Rome and Capri)
Sophia Loren movies
Monica Vitti movies
Antonioni movies
Bertolucci movies
50s and 60s new wave films (esp. anything with Brigitte Bardot or Jeanne Moreau)

As mentioned in my previous post, I'm starting my inspiration board for my coming Italian escapade with Bryony in September.

There are two ways I like to embark on a holiday. The first is the spontaneous haphazard route - throw together your luggage in 10 minutes, hop into a car on a whim and go on a week-long road trip that you only decided upon an hour ago, because what's life without those impulse decisions that change the entire colour of your immediate future?

The second kind of holiday is somewhat atmospheric and deeply personal. Often, when I have a theatre performance or a film shoot somewhere, I'll listen to specific music in the dressing room or in the car to get into the right frame of mind for the play or scene. Or I'll put on a certain perfume, because the smell triggers a specific feeling or memory. So it occurred to me, years back, to try setting the stage for my vacations - deciding upon an atmosphere I would attempt to create for myself (through mindset, music, clothing, special destinations within a country, etc.) and coming up with an overall purpose for the trip (e.g. once, I decided to try 'experiencing Japan from the point of view of an absolutely alien, and as a silent observer, standing back and looking in'. What transpired was an incredible feeling of isolation throughout the journey. I spoke as little as possible, and saw and heard things I would never have noticed if I'd been chattering my head off instead of shutting up and watching. It was lonely but inspirational. Not knowing things because I wasn't asking too many questions had an interesting effect on how my mind worked - I found my imagination working overtime to invent theories for why things were the way they were. Can't say I learned many facts about Japan on that trip but experiencing it through the eyes of a complete alien was an out-of-this-world experience, and oddly magical. I plan to take a second trip there and immerse myself in the culture - doing the exact opposite of what I did the first time. It will probably seem like a whole new country altogether, which is half the fun.).

NABIIA falls into the second category of holidays, so I guess this is the first of many Inspiration Board posts to come.

Kenzo Spring 2009 Collection

KEY PIECE
The dress (worn by Abbey Lee Kershaw below) is perfection.
It encapsulates everything I love about this collection.

ETC.
Some of the other looks I liked in the collection:

NABIIA: Lavender Beginnings

2009-06-12T23:55:00.000-07:00

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{Click images for larger versions.}

Kindly ignore the questionable expression on my face (Bryony snapped this photo while the bus was moving). Instead, focus on how I was awesome enough to match the bus.

Fear not. Bryony is wearing pants.
Her black shorts are obscured by the t-shirt.
Pfft. As if I would hang out with a pantsless wonder.
(Well actually, yes, I probably would but she is not one).

First the bus. Now Lavender MRT train station. What mode of public transportation will Bryony and Natalie pose in front of next? At this point, you are probably questioning the abundance of our mass rapid transit pictures. We were not, in fact, honouring the awesomeness of public transport in Singapore (though I can understand how you could've been mistaken. Spotlessly clean trains arriving every 2 to 5 minutes? Suck on that, Melbourne Metlink. Pah.).

This was our little attempt to document the start of NABIIA (Natalie And Bryony's Incredible Italian Adventure) - the Italian summer escapade we'll be dancing off to in September (by plane, not MRT). Our travel agent who's booking our tickets and hotels is located in Lavender, along Jalan Sultan, and because we were dismal failures and forgot to immortalise our actual start of NABIIA at the agent's office, we had to settle for pictures under giant Lavender signs at public transportation hubs. If our brains had been functional, we might also have remembered to take cheesy tourist shots holding up our Italy guidebooks and thumbs. Once again: FAIL.

Another attempt to capture a 'Lavender' sign underground as we waited for the train to arrive. Evidently, window reflections are not the best source of clarity.

Soon I shall be using this blog to post random inspirational pictures for NABIIA. Bryony and I are super psyched. The already-planning-our-luggage-content-and-Italian-wardrobes-and-Milan-shopping-lists-and-Florence-vintage-shop-stops-and-where-to-eat-sfogliatella-in-Naples kind of super psyched. I used to go travelling at least four times a year but lately, I've been neglecting my globetrotting ambitions, so this shall be a special treat.

DESTINATIONS:

- Rome (and Vatican City)
-Milan
- Venice
- Cinque Terre
- Florence
-Naples
- Pompeii
- Capri
- Amalfi Coast (Sorrento)

I'm oh so keen to try sfogliatella.

Sfogliatelle are shell or cone shaped filled pastries native to Italian cuisine. "Sfogliatelle" means "many leaves/layers," the pastry's texture resembling leaves stacked on each other. The sfogliatella Santa Rosa was created in the monastery of Santa Rosa in Conca dei Marini in the province of Salerno, Italy, in the 17th century. They are made from a dough similar to puff pastry or phyllo cut into discs and formed into a pocket to hold an orange-flavored ricotta filling, although almond paste or candied peel of citron are also used. The dough is sealed around the filling and the pastries baked till their characteristic ridges form as the layers of dough separate. In Naples, sfogliatelle is sometimes called "sfogliatella riccia" ("curly") to distinguish it from "sfogliatelle frolla", a less refined pastry which uses a shortcrust dough that does not form the more labor intensive authentic sfogliatelle dough's characteristic layers.
- WIKIPEDIA

Sfogliatella Santa Rosa

Scaturchio's sfogliatella
PICTURE CREDIT: Cathy DePropertis

Cathy is the sister of an old friend of mine from Melbourne. She's been living in Milan for some time and has been lovely enough to give us tips on where to go in Italy while we're there. According to her, Scaturchio in Naples is the best place to get sfogliatella. I'm getting hungry as I type.

Bryony putting on her make-up and getting ready.

Count the Bryonys (Bryonies?). HINT: there are five.

As you can see, she's a 6'0" giant, so standing on the toilet bowl is pretty much the only means of towering over her.

I am wearing one of my favourite purple tops. The colour is pure love, it comes with a cute matching belt, and it fits as if it were tailored specially for my body. I tend to dress it down with shorts, though, because trousers are dull and pencil skirts - which also go well with it - tend to make me resemble someone's secretary in the 1960s when paired with the blouse.

Solve Sundsbo for Vogue China April 2009

2009-06-11T21:04:00.000-07:00

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{Click images for larger versions.}

One of my favourite photographers, Solve Sundsbo, shot Magdalena Frackowiak for Vogue China's April 2009 issue, using lots and lots of balloons. The effect is very sculptural - like Jeff Koons for high fashion or something (or maybe I'm just saying that because the sheen of the balloons reminds me of his balloon dog sculptures).

These shoes are THE BEST.

What I love about Solve's work is that he doesn't rely too much on a whole lot of post-production. Plenty of what he does looks like it's been digitally photoshopped to death but he actually employs old fashioned techniques in his photography to achieve many of his images. He has been quoted saying, "Photography has become democratic – anyone with a digital camera can shoot something and alter it in Photoshop to make it look polished. For the past four or five years there's been a lot of dull, perfected work around, but there's an industry backlash going on now."

Mother's Day

2009-06-10T15:25:00.001-07:00

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Some long overdue pictures I meant to post after Mother's Day but completely forgot about...

Vintage 1960s dress with vintage leather belt (it was my mother's in
the late 70s and 80s).

My Grandma Margaret!

Three generations of women in my family: Mum, Grandma and I.
We're all the oldest female child of our generations.

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Older pictures, same outfit...
Evelyn and I at the launch of our friend's new spa, Kampong Fish Therapy.

Urban Jungle by Eric Frideen

2009-06-04T23:50:00.000-07:00

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I'm not usually a Jimmy Choo kind of girl but the shoes in the two pictures below (they're the same pair) aren't his usual style. I'm utterly in love with them - the sexy, skinny heels you could stab someone through the heart with are so modern, but it's the juxtaposition of those urban stilettos with the tough, tribeswoman leather 'shoeboot' that makes them perfect. Want a pair, right now!

{Click images for larger versions.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED for full appreciation of this divine footwear.}

I actually rather liked the whole editorial those pictures came from. Kaya Scodelario looks incredibly beautiful. Love her on Skins. She seems really girlish and giggly in person, but on the show and in her photoshoots, she has a dark, Jeisa Chiminazzo-esque aura that's quite magnetic. Also, even though I hate most animal prints and 'urban jungle' themed editorials (stereotypically tall, giraffe-ish model wears loud leopard print designer frocks and snake skin heels while carrying croc/ostrich handbags as she gallivants around New York City... again) this one is more subtle and has an old fashioned charm. I'm a fan of the hair and make-up.

Of Beige, Gold, Flappers, Lasalle Reunions and Life

2009-05-23T13:14:00.000-07:00

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So in love with this top. Alas, I accidentally yanked out two beads today and now I'm terrified the rest are going to fall out. Why do my garments always gravitate towards the nearest sharp, protruding object in the immediate vicinity? Am going to see if my seamstress can sew them back on. =(

I've been digging floaty, delicate beige and gold pieces lately, and flapper era-esque dresses. There's a dainty Chloé one I found that's very subtle, with light sprinklings of sequins and a hint of a flapper silhouette, and a Miu Miu top (also conveniently a golden beige) that has teeny tiny little pleats and gathers, a sheer chiffon panel at the top, and bead work.

Today, I attended a mini reunion with some old drama school classmates from Lasalle College of the Arts. It was interesting to say the least, as they weren't all necessarily the people I hung out with while we were at college, and I probably learnt more about a couple of them today than I did during all our college years combined. We went cafe and restaurant hopping from 2 or 3 in the afternoon till 10.30 at night, and midway, we realised it would be super to work together. So we wound up kickstarting a little film project that I hope takes off, as it sounds like a massive amount of fun, and a great creative outlet.

Am quite excited about a bunch of film and theatre projects I have lined up right now. Everything is falling into place quite quickly and I'm bathing in that lovely feeling of being inspired.

Pomegranate

2009-05-22T13:01:00.000-07:00

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{Click images for larger versions.}

Some photographs I took of a pomegranate I ate...

I find it interesting that in the Greek myth of Persephone, the pomegranate is called the fruit of the underworld. However, in the Muslim Koran, it's called the fruit of paradise.