THE KEY IS IN THE LIGHT, THE KEY IS IN THE WINDOW

The Beautiful Deluge of Alice Palmer AW11, photos by Rosie Allt, www.rosieallt.com (click to enlarge)

The Stage

The Audience

The Dress

[Title is an excerpt of a letter Allen Ginsberg's mother wrote to him in a letter after reading HOWL]

IN MY DREAMS YOU WALK DRIPPING FROM A SEA-JOURNEY ON THE HIGHWAY ACROSS AMERICA IN TEARS TO THE DOOR OF MY COTTAGE IN THE WESTERN NIGHT

I'm not the most buttoned down person in the world, so at first it was a struggle for me to relate to the super-coiffed, slickly manicured looks from Jasper Garvida AW11. The tailoring looked too heavy, the cutouts and thigh-high slits dated, and the hardware and knotted accents seemed like they belonged on a cabinet, or wrapped around my great aunt's winter curtains. I sat there grumbling to myself, "Scarlett O'Hara only wore curtains because of the WAR, today we have more CHOICES..."

Then he started in with the graphic prints and keyhole cutouts... and I pretty much shut up.

And as for dowdy embellishments, LOOK AT THIS KEY BELT! I MEAN LOOK AT IT. I can't comment because my mouth is full of humble pie/crow.

So, I found some things to love. The way Jasper worked with the ligher fabrics REALLY worked to me, I suppose because a silk or a light jersey just can't sustain heavy accents and willy nilly cutouts that looked like some 10 year old's construction papered art project. Anyhow, by the end, he really got his point across. And won a cynic over.

[This post's title is the last stanza of HOWL by Allen Ginsberg]
[All photos by Rosie Allt, www.rosieallt.com]

WHY DOES ANYONE DO THE THINGS THEY DO?

Just when I feel jaded with the whole fashion scene, I get invited to a show like Hynes and Steele, where I had to hold myself back from storming the runway and snatching the clothes right off the models. I do like style that is a little eccentric - for example, the other day I walked into a vintage shop to do some browsing and caught my reflection in the changing room mirror - I was wearing a silk paisley print blouse, velvet blazer, blue leopard print headwrap and bright turquoise rimmed sunglasses. All in a day's work for the Crazy Cat Lady. :D All photos by the incomparable Rosie Allt.

NO, I DON'T KNOW WHAT THEY SAY

Zed Eye was in a more sombre mood this season, but her clothes are still superlative. I'm not going to ruin this with a lot of words so I'll just show you the pictures (taken by the super talented Rosie Allt), and try and recreate the experience by including some of the Adele songs playing while the girls walked the runway.

The designer


And more Adele - !

LOLA EAT WORLD

A million (late) apologies for my extended absence from the blogosphere. Inexcusable really, so I won't make excuses. Instead I'll get right back into it and share - my philosophy of life. It ain't complicated people (anything but) - just make yourself happy. 


I may be the Queen of obscure quotes, cult indie movies and random cultural references, but some of the things that make me happiest are good old fashioned singing and dancing. 


Let's pause for a moment and illustrate this with an example from The Jungle Book. Disney gets it right. Baloo the Bear definitely gets it right. If you want to see my exactly how, just skip to 4:10. It's soooo cute.








Let's top that up with the incomparable combination of Mozart, Lauryn Hill, Whoopi Goldberg, and the celebration of being Joyful. 








I just have to smile. Coming up: Fashion Week! 

FOLLOW ME

Something about designers at Copenhagen Fashion Week really attracts me. The best of them have a laid back yet put together elegance that works because of a strong sense of proportion and colour. Here are my favourite pieces from the labels Bitte Kai Rand, and Baum und Pferdgarten:

REAL COOL HOLY BUDDHA

In a Temple's Main Hall
  -written by Ko Un
  -translated by Brother Anthony


Down with Buddha!
Down with handsome, well-fed Buddha!
What's he doing up there with that oh so casually elegant wispy beard?
Next, break down that painted whore of a crossbeam!
A dragon's head? What use is that, a dragon's head?
Tear down that temple, drive out the monks,
turn it all into dust and maggots!
Phaw!


Buddha with nothing, that's real Buddha!
Our foul-mouthed Seoul street-market mother, she's real Buddha!
We're all of us Buddhabuddhabuddha real!
Living Buddha? One single cigarette, now there's real cool Holy buddha!


No, not that either.
For even supposing this world were a piece of cake, 
with everyone living it up and living well,
in gorgeous high-class gear, with lots of goods produced
thanks to Korean-American technological collaboration,
each one able to live freely, with no robbing of rights,
Paradise, even!
Paradise, even!
utter Eden unequalled, plastered with jewels, still even then,
day after day people would have to change the world.
Why, of course, in any case,
day after day this world must all be overturned
and renewed to become a newly blooming lotus flower.
And that is Buddha.


Down for sure with those fifteen hundred years
rolling on foolish, rumbling along:
time fast asleep like stagnant water that stinks and stinks.

STAND AND DELIVER

Amazing video art fashion film from Minimarket for Stockholm Fashion week A/W 11.

HOW WILL I KNOW IF IT'S WORKING?

Very quickly done FOTD from last weekend. Recently I quite like wearing stuff I'm not sure works. Open toed clogs and tights? 70s prairie dress to a post-Christmas Christmas party? Something to amuse myself thinking about. (Sorry about the white balance! I got GIMP and I'm working on it, I swear.)

Randomly reminds me a lot of This dress from Ida Sjöstedt A/W 11. I'm on trend baby yeah.

[Image from elle.se]

[For today's music, I started listening to Computers and Blues by The Streets. So far, so good. Here's "Outside, Inside"]

A SWEET NATURAL EYE TO THE NEW HIP MOON

I realised I don't have any opera on my blog, though I studied it for a while. I took voice lessons, travelled around performing like some teenage minstrel, and even went to those camps in the mountains where you sing for 7 hours a day. Completely hardcore. So it made me really love classical and opera music.


[Music: Sumi Jo singing "Oh! Quante Volte" from the opera I Capuletti ed I Montecchi by Vincenzo Bellini. The opera is basically the story of Romeo and Juliet, and this song is about how sad Juliet is and how much she misses Romeo, etc.]


Also, although the words Lola Re, Stockholm and February do not belong in the same sentence, I am still excited about Stockholm Fashion Week A/W 11 (I'll probably go again in August like last year).


So don't worry. There's nothing more exciting in this world than Swedish clothes and Allen Ginsberg quotes and baby, that's what you'll be getting from me over the next few weeks. And Copenhagen too.


[Title is taken from a line in the poem "Sunflower Sutra" by Allen Ginsberg]

GEORGE HARRISON IS MY FAVOURITE BEATLE

I even read his biography... If I could have a dinner party, comprised of all kinds of people living or dead (but not fictional), he'd definitely be there, along with Daniel Johns, Nuryev, Corrine Bailey Rae, Madam CJ Walker, River Phoenix, Oprah, Janis Joplin, Leonardo DiCaprio, James Lipton, Robert DeNiro, a bunch of my friends from all different times and places, and my entire family. What about you?

[song: Here Comes the Moon by George Harrison]
[title: The truth]

THE OVERALL SHOW WAS CONSIDERED FAIRLY HUMOROUS, BUT DESPITE THE SLICE-OF-LIFE APPROACH, THE PROGRAM WAS CONSIDERED ONLY MILDLY REALISTIC AND BELIEVABLE, AND MANY DID NOT IDENTIFY WITH IT. NEGATIVELY RECEIVED.

[This post's title is an excerpt from the network testing results for Seinfeld's pilot show, which aired on 5th July, 1989. They were wrong. Ha.]

[First and third images are screenshots from the Pedro Almadovar film Dark Habits. Second Pic is one I took of Stonehenge, and last pic is a random tiger from here]

THE MOVIE WAS VERY DIFFERENT FROM THE BOOK IN THAT THERE WAS NOTHING FROM THE BOOK IN THE MOVIE

Today I'm reviewing Lancome's hero serum, which is called Genifique. Basically, it's supposed to give you younger looking skin. How? By supplying your skin with some patented protein formula. Apparently, it makes your skin replicate proteins it made when it was younger, therefore making your skin look younger.

First I'll say that it seems to work. Your skin looks smoother, softer, plumper and younger after using the serum. I'd say I saw results in around 2 weeks.

HOWEVER, it's really expensive and, correct me if I'm wrong but... I don't think the bottle was full. It's hard to say because the packaging is completely opaque, and the bottle is made of glass which is weighted on the bottom to make it seem heavier. Also, the serum is dispensed using a sort of dropper that's attached inside the cap, so you don't really have a good idea of how much product is in there....

But I swear, the bottle was only half to 3/4 full.

WE'RE NOT STUPID LANCOME! I don't think I'll repurchase, even though it works, because I've used other creams/serums that work just as well, where my money is going into my face instead of some spokesmodel's pocket (DHC, take me back I'm sorry). Anyways, 3.5 checks because the serum does get some results.



[Today's title is a quote from Bret Easton Ellis' new novel, Imperial Bedrooms. I'm only on page 17 and already there's been a movie premiere, the brutal murder of a heroin addict, a trip from NYC to LA, and several vacuous entertainment industry parties. It's good to have you back, Bret.]

DON'T STOP TILL YOU GET ENOUGH

I reckon if I ever tried out for American Idol (or X-factor if you're in the UK), I'd sing "I Wanna Be Where You Are" by the Jackson 5. It's the perfect audition song because:

1. It reminds you of adorable little MJ, so everyone feels warm and fuzzy. 
2. It requires musicality - it's got some difficult intervals so you can show off. 
3. His signature style wasn't so formed then, so you can put your own spin on it and make it yours. 
4. Love those throwback dance moves.

Now... could I pull off the 60s fringed leather jacket while belting a classic Jackson 5? Would it be a special moment? I don't mind telling you, I'd like to find out....
  

NB: I don't intend to ever audition for either X-Factor or American Idol.

AN ISOCELES TRIANGLE IN A CUMULUS CLOUD

Louis Roederer Champagne / À la Recherche de l'Œuvre from Maxime Boizel on Vimeo.

IT MAY BE THE COLDEST DAY OF WINTER. WHAT DOES HE THINK OF THAT? I MEAN, WHAT DO I? AND IF I DO, PERHAPS I AM MYSELF AGAIN.

I grew up listening to jazz; my mother would play Billie Holiday on lazy Sunday afternoons as she cleaned the house, and there was always an Ella Fitzgerald tape somewhere. I studied vocal jazz for a couple of years, and even got to travel around performing with an ensemble. I felt like, if this was my music, an indigenous American music, then I should know about it. I still think jazz guitar is some of the most beautiful music in the world and for me, glamour is epitomised by the clean, sharp way people dressed in the height of the Jazz Era - Billie Holiday with red lips and a gardenia in her hair.





[Title comes from a quote from the book Meditations in an Emergency, which was read in the series Mad Men which also knows a thing or two about glamour.]

[Music is jazz guitarist Wes Montgomery (who influenced Jimi Hendrix) playing "Round Midnight" live. It was written by jazz pianist Thelonious Monk] 

THE AFTERNOON OF EXTRAVAGANT DELIGHT

After editing these What I Wore photos, I realised, I am really just giving an impression of what I wore and how I felt that day, rather than an actual representation of what the clothes were, what they cost, and what labels are inside them. I think it's better this way, no? It's more like the editorials which inspired me to write about fashion in the first place.

[This post's title was the title of a painting featured in the Australian film Candy, directed by Neil Armfield starring Heath Ledger, Geoffrey Rush and Abbie Cornish. The most amazing song on the soundtrack was Sugar Man by Rodriguez]