top of the props

soaking up all of lo's time before pee-wee herman has her all
to himself. somehow managed to smuggle this unique headpiece
she fancied for a past shoot.

feathered friends

i find asymmetry much more interesting than symmetry -
so when i found these feathered friends, i decided to
keep them together in one ear, rather them blemish
their souls with the misery of separation.

feathered friend earrings, h&m ($3.95)

indian summer rain

while california hits the 112 mark, i indulge in some east coast
rituals. you know, make tea + lounge in 5-inch platforms - the usual.


king of siam cardi, viceversa ($20)
lita platforms by jeffrey campbell (my unborn children)

disclaimer

no muppets were harmed during the creation of this coat.

no muppets were harmed during the creation of this coat-coat, viceversa ($20)

product placement

light is an idea.

style does not have a size.

style is not absolute.

multiple choice

ryann + i made a poem once.

i once fancied the thought of cobbling together strands of old paper
together in the form of a zine, but i think a lot of us over-educated
types fancy the thought of thinking so much, that hardly any of our
ideas ever make it past the concept stages, just because we love
thinking that much.



here i am, thinking.

rip it up

i ripped up my pb+jelly zipper top.
gonna dance 'til i drop at hard french.

today

my snow leopard spirit hood arrived. it is perfect.

text taken from its tag:

"[silent >> mindful >> independent]
the snow leopard has a presence unlike any animal. its spirit is full
of beauty + grace. always attentive + aware in its surrounding, people
with the snow leopard spirit tend to be empathetic + wise. it is a
solitary animal that still loves to play!"

check out their shop!

fire in my loins

jeffrey campbell + i are in love. it is serious.

never let me go

starring: carey mulligan, andrew garfield, keira knightley
director: mark romanek
art direction: paul cripps + denis schnegg
costumes: rachael fleming + steven noble


what's kept me from fashion + what's kept me in film is its essentially narrative potential. the art direction + costumes work for a very specific reason, that is, in hopes to develop a character of some sort - a person, a place, a thing. so often is fashion inhumane in this way - models are often merely human coat hangers. i'm not familiar with kazuo ishiguro's novel in which this film is based, but romanek's interpretation is a stunning inquiry of ethics + humanity.



the main trio (mulligan, garfield, + knightley) bleed into the english countryside. costumes are rustic + comfortably dated. shades are bold + autumnal. all is kindly antique + tenderly vague. nothing is loud, but gently aged, warm, + soft - no distinctive patterns, no bright monochrome combinations, but as reflective + natural as the wind. characters remain in modest school uniforms types with a hand-me-down quality. there are no establishing shots of the characters purchasing their clothing, so you're left with the impression that they make it all + share among themselves. besides an unfortunate wig (mulligan), these characters front a wonderfully frail, compassionate story of love + morality. it is a must see for this fall.





p.s. i've never cried in the movie theater so hard.

stripes series

i have work
you don't want to do
i have motions
you don't care to go through
keep in mind
that which has been said
far away
a broken record plays instead

something about the weather changing,
something about the fall,
the bad rhymes bleed out of me.
i am too lazy to write complete sentences,
i guess that is poetry?

frail shells like skin

in any other situation i'd nail this that dull
except that this knowledge isn't helpful
i float in disbelief with a heaviness i suspend
this summer wind is no relief
i long for the end

a love letter to criticism

urban ghosts, rhyannon joy (2010)


value systems are relative. there is no good, there is no bad. these constructs are flexible. all production, creation + destruction (+ the various combinations of such: destruction as creation, or creation as destruction) is valuable.

the quest for meaning is treacherous.

tangible + non-tangible: the physical manifestation of ideas + development of artistic endeavors tread troubled waters to the spectator, rarely coming out alive. there are mountains at stake: intentionality, causality, artistic vision as society at large, the creative process as a microcosm for the human condition, commentary on consumer culture - the possibilities are endless.

pop music is powerful.

the phrase, "but it's just pop," is a gravely, shallow oversight.

music is an arena that often incorporates many artistic arenas at the same time. music may include film (+ all visual arts), fashion, + sound. this is a unique type of potential exclusive to our time + this creative medium.

production is an often slow, painful process fit for megalomaniacs + perfectionists.
there is room for spontaneity but there are no accidents. our documentation technology allows for endless rewriting opportunities. we can tweek + tweek + tweek forever.

people use pop music for different things. these containers are portable, accessible, compact products made for flexibility + durability. these sonic condiments are designed for immediate consumption + situational convenience. i have no right to impose preferential habits on another individual or pass judgment on another's preference.

camille paglia's latest portrait of lady gaga has its limits but it does what it is supposed to do + stirs the stew. much of the ammunition that is boldly critical of the pop star, speaks directly to my own preferences, as i have been a gaga non-believer for quite some time: she is a projection screen. it is obvious that gaga has the support of effective visual artists + her empty vessel personality, often mistaken for mystery, has worked to her advantage. i just wish that someone else would write for her.

paglia's concern is authenticity:

"although [gaga] presents herself as the clarion voice of all the freaks and misfits of life, there is little evidence that she ever was one."

just like perfection, authenticity is a referential battle not worth fighting. it is a philosophical black hole based on preference + personal standards. these ideas are not fixed, but flexible + fit to each individual who develops thoughts about them.

paglia's concern is sex:

"gaga isn’t sexy at all — she’s like a gangly marionette or plasticised android. how could a figure so calculated and artificial, so clinical and strangely antiseptic, so stripped of genuine eroticism have become the icon of her generation?[...]can it be that gaga represents the exhausted end of the sexual revolution? in gaga’s manic miming of persona after persona, over-conceptualized + claustrophobic, we may have reached the limit of an era."

thank goodness! the sexual revolution was yet another oppressive set of ideas disguised as "freedom."

our technology allows for instant appropriation + referential work. i.e., paglia's theoretical money shot:

"[gaga] is the diva of déjà vu."

paglia's work takes a turn for the unfashionable, when she starts to criticize our current access to specific technological tools:

"gaga’s fans are marooned in a global technocracy of fancy gadgets but emotional poverty."

paglia comes to the conclusion that our tools negatively blur the lines. i would argue that this not negative or disadvantageous. this is merely a noticeable societal value change:

"there are blurred borderlines between the sexes: gender is now alleged to be fabricated rather than biological; so everything is a pose. thus gaga welcomed the rumour about her being intersex and converted it into a fashion statement. casual 'hooking up' blends friends and lovers, with sex becoming merely an excuse for filial hugging. borderlines have blurred too between public and private: reality-tv shows multiply; cell-phone conversations blare everywhere; secrets are heedlessly blabbed on facebook and twitter. hence gaga gratuitously natters on about her vagina. in the sprawling anarchy of the web, the borderline between fact and fiction has melted away."

i find this most comedic.

i am sure that gaga's work is valuable, i am just not sure that it is musical.

surf babes

it is fashion week.
it was fashion week?

all i know is that there was a fashion party across super amazing yummytown jo's full of shiny. my attention was relentlessly bullied by such shimmy. i soothed my tears this morning with a hungry bear brunch at enids + an impromtu treasure hunt at fox + fawn.

best shirt ever, fox + fawn ($9)
mustard stripe scarf, fox + fawn ($7)
madeline mourns hat, fox + fawn ($14)

tsriF ssiK

my copy of first kiss arrived today.

yippeeee! it is darling.

confide in me kylie

beloved lo hand-picked this belly-dancer-meets-kylie-minogue
(c1994) number for me recently. as you might have guessed,
it is a bit risqué for me, as i'd rather drape myself
in black bedsheets than shake what my mama gave me.


"confide in me" kylie would definitely wear this.

precise, mobile, and empty

"the richness of the thing and the profundity of meaning are
discharged only at the price of a triple quality imposed on
all fabricated objects: that they be precise, mobile, and empty."

-roland barthes
empire of signs

i wish

hi tek alexander, 1980s frames of my dreams

mine octopus

i bought this charm as part of a necklace on etsy ages ago.
i've decided to put it on my ear today.