"Today it's brains, tomorrow, pierced tongues. Then the next day, pierced brains"

There is an episode of Daria that i remember from years ago, where Quinn, Daria's dim and popular sister gets a neck pimple. She decides to hide it under a black turtle neck and thus becomes thought of as a beatnik, therefore an existentialist, therefore deep.
it's all very silly and funny, but not far from the truth.
Dressed in black; Quinn tells us,
"I'm putting together an outfit. For your information, this is how deep people dress."

image from here

We all make assumptions about people based on what they are wearing. That's obvious. But don't we also become what we wear? Is it difficult to be sunny dressed as a goth?
Put on yellow patent leather mary-janes and you're going to skip!
Slip into a silk cocktail dress and you're going to wiggle!

What you choose to wear affects to way people perceive you and how you feel about yourself....like my mother and french beautician say;
"you wear too much black"
So, unless I feel like I want to be a goth or a beatnik, I'll try to wear more colour.
Grass-green!
Cornflower Blue!
Cherry Red!

"In his new boots, Joe Buck was six-foot-one and life was different".
That Midnight Cowboy built an amour of western-cut shirts, slacks and silk handkerchiefs which transformed him into the thing he needed to be.
To be brave, I too require the correct and perfect outfit; a uniform that will signify for me. When you re not sure of what you re doing, of who you are exactly; the perfect outfit can give you the courage to set forth regardless.
To learn to swim; I bought a silver- blue digital print speedo; fractured jewel shapes which look like scales of a fish. To learn to fly, perhaps I need something feathery?

Alexander Mcqueen spring 2008 RTW

Wearing a turtleneck to be smart isn't so silly. It's just the first step on the road to smart, perhaps.

*I seem to have remembered this episode all wrong. Quinn apparently writes a good essay. I cant find any mention of neck pimples. Go figure.

addictive personalities; a public service announcement

Should I be worried?

Florrie Fisher is the inspiration behind Jerri Blank;
Amy Sedaris' character from Strangers With Candy.....

In this public service announcement, Florrie describes how she can't stop at one of anything, 'she cant take one snort of horse...' because of her addictive personality. 
If she likes a dress she has to have it in every colour........cue my furrowed brow....I have been known to buy multiples in garments.
When I buy a tee shirt; its usually in both black and in white. And if they have it in cherry red and french blue, then I want those too.
I have some dresses in all available colour-ways. Don't ask me how many black dresses I own, because I couldn't say for sure. A lot I guess.
When I like something, I must own it, possess it in all its possible guises. Does that make me an addict?

fun-loving gal seeks soul-mate

The search continues.....for the perfect pair of shoes.
I particularly like to wear a garment that is kind of inappropriate for the occasion; a vintage cocktail dress to get milk for instance. The trick is that I must be wearing the right shoes; the shoes need to counter-balance the outfit perfectly.
With the crimson velvet silk dress; flip flops.
With the plain white tee shirt from the boys department; pointy-toe sling backs.
With the floral watercolour shirtdress: first day at kindergarten sandals. And socks.
In my opinion, an incongruous outfit thus becomes a winner. A little bit of wrong makes it all right.

Anyway; what I need to casualise a silk dress is a pair of boots. I cannot bring myself to buy them; I just feel that they are too mumsy-making-an-effort. I used to wear black knee high leather boots all the time, in all seasons. But that was before I was a mother who was trying to make an effort.

Whats the answer then? Perhaps a brown pair of boots? I had a pair of those too. I bought them while drunk (what a night and morning after that was!) along with another strange pair of platform sandals. Those boots were five kinds of bad and I never did wear them.


These boots however....these Ann Demeulemeester Open Front Sandal Boots (in beige for chrissakes!) are a walking disagreement, they contradict themselves and would therefore work perfectly with absolutely anything.




bad jeans amnesia

Most mornings I put on a pair of jeans. They are comfortable, practical and anything will co ordinate with them, more or less....
I get dressed in the dark and a black tee shirt and jeans are my uniform.
Easy. Done. Dressed.

In the evening I take a look at myself in a full length mirror and am disappointed to see that the jeans are just wrong! Not long enough, too tapered, not low enough. Or so mumsy bootcut.

But you know what? The next morning I still put on the same pair of jeans which I deemed wrong only hours before.

I saw this post about photographing the outfit you're wearing everyday for evaluation purposes (not to show off how college-cute you are, although some of those blogs are great too. some.) and it occurred to me that I should be doing this. To get some perspective.
I appreciate plays on proportion, interestingly balanced outfits, volume and slenderness, angular versus drapey.....but it hardly ever translates to what I myself wear.



from indigo&alison via dear ada

I love colour, but like a painter who looks longingly at her rainbow colour palette but continues to use black and white, I want to experiment with silhouette and texture before I think about experimenting with colour.
Please note that I am not a painter. In fact I held my breathe the whole way through the mandatory painting classes at uni.

Maybe jeans are not the answer to my Perfect uniform question, I wonder?

These pants- "The Sherman" might be the answer to every single question I have ever asked.
Including What shall I make for dinner? and Is there really a God?

Smith Jacket, Rib Sleeve Shirt, The Sherman Therese Rawsthorne

I could put this outfit on while its dark and not be baffled by my choice in the light of the day; I reckon.

i blame masterchef

I've had my absolute fill of cooking shows on tv. even the good ones.
I feel my youth seeping out of me as I watch people preparing food;
life passing me by as some one performs a task for an audience, following a recipe in real time.
It is base and boring.
we all know that meat must rest and eggplant must sweat.
I cant stand it any longer!
On top of all that tedium, every meal now must be a feast for the senses!
A production of extraordinary proportions!
New! Exciting! An excursion to far off lands!

I say blergh to that...

B R Myers wrote an awesome article which really made me turn a corner with all this Food-as-Entertainment stuff. He says that putting aside the Food Books liberates you; so I am turning off the food shows, slamming shut the recipe books and adjusting my awareness of food down to a simple
Food is Fuel level.
Do you really want to watch someone chopping onions on tv? Is that good viewing? I have a much better idea. How about someone eating an onion?

marina abramovic 

the onion 1996

any of this performance artist's work would be great to see of an evening on regular tv...Endurance Art, weeknights at 6pm. You'd watch it, wouldn't you?

now is the winter of my discontent

A few posts ago, i renounced knitwear and declared that i wanted a really great jacket...Well, i can tell you now; ask the universe and duck for cover!
Since then, I have collected several jackets.
A light handmade coral jacket, sweet and bright
A dark burgundy cotton velvet blazer with navy lining, a little bit goth
A black linen blend 50s style wrap jacket, sophisticated
A red wool double breasted coat, magnificent in its drama
A teal blue velvet jacket with a great big portrait collar

mostly discovered at the charity shop, one given, all apparently "so me"

but....none of them are quite right. I didn't really choose any of them. They didn't really choose me either, these jackets and I just fell together in a sort of lets-be-acquaintances kind of way.

That's the nature of my clothing. What i should do is plan and save for a major purchase such as a jacket, to be sure it's really love.
This Rick Owens Jacket; I love. At least for this week....

Fitted Leather Jacket

punk beauty

pretty punk girls; tough but cute.

 punkettes

happy place

take a little break from google-ing the symptoms of your godforsaken life and look at these glorious images.
you can't really covet mountains but you can covet a first class plane ticket to here.

Aagau



Jungfrau Region

Aargau

Liechtenstein



Goms



awesome stuff right now!

Here is what I am, like, totally digging lately

  

library/ wide leg/ Fry/ Rake/ necklace/ knitting kitty

• Knitting- this is my foray into the world of CRAFT.
  Not since Catriona Rowntree's  Crappy Craft segment on the cartoon show, have I been so interested in Crafting. Are blogs craft?
  Anyway, I've started knitting by looking closely at a child's How To book. I know that some people are fanatics when it comes to knitting. I am not about to get a knitting tattoo or anything, but it is relaxing. Once the calluses form, I guess.
• Libraries- it's where I borrowed the How To book.
• Rake on abc tv
• Wide Leg Jeans- with RM Williams boots; hello 70s revival
• Autumn; breezy and sunny. I even go outside most days
• Resin Jewellery- handmade from recycled material.
  But you had me at 'looks like lollies'
• Philip J. Fry- so stupid, but sensitive and courageous. He loves Leela. Most episodes leave me with an aching heavy heart, i almost cry. So melancholy, so much longing. If you listen to it and don't watch the screen, Fry is Stimpy. Billy West is so excellent; how does a cartoon make you feel so much?
• Dandelion Tea



internet connect

the internet has finally started to make sense to me just recently. I dont mean that i'm a scared little bunny when it comes to getting around the www, just that previously I hadn't seen anything truly remarkable in it.


When I saw this art work; it all made sense!

Value Restored- Mitchel Cumming
thanks to miss moss where I saw it
The internet is all about connections (der)
An artist can use the 'stuff' that already exists in the world to make a comment or bring our attention to a concept. Our shared history, our access to anything we want, anything that exists is the new medium.
Images and information are just like paint or clay; they can be used to create art.
Putting famous flowers into famous vases. Why bother painting flowers in a vase that are sitting in your lounge room, what good is that? Cummings says alot using masking tape and our shared knowledge, however basic it is.


The 24 hour film installation by Christian Marclay, The Clock takes moments from films showing the time passing in the human loops which we all endure.
I didnt see this film, how i wish i could have, but reading and knowing about it is (almost) enough. It is the connection of all of these moments which already existed in other contexts, other works, that make this artwork so amazing and inspiring. Concepts of time are illustrated here using stuff that existed already, that we are all educated in already.

So that's what the internet is all about for me. It's post-modernism but with everything available and downloadable. It has levelled the field completely and it has made anything, any concept possible. Creating is easy. Exhibiting is easy. Discovering is easy too.

awarenessness

For my money, Ferris Bueller is not the most interesting character in that film. He is the kind of guy who coasts on his charms; making friends easily. He is cute, yes, but he doesn't grow, change, realise anything interesting.
Cameron on the other hand learns tough lessons about risking it all and taking control of his life. But its Jeannie- Ferris' sister, who I like best.
She spends the day trying to punish Ferris for having it so easy. At every turn she attempts to foil his great day; hoping to expose him to the world for the fraud he is.
"Look at this guy everybody! He doesn't play by the rules!"
Jeannie has a bad case of the 'shoulds' and it makes her miserable. While Ferris is having an awesome day doing as he pleases, Jeannie gets all bunched up. Jeannie's brain tells her that because Ferris is having fun, there is less fun for her. It's not so much that she wishes ill upon her brother; it's that there is a finite amount of 'good' to be had. If Ferris has alot of it, Jeannie will have less of it.

and then,
Jeannie meets a young Charlie Sheen in the police station. She tells him that she is pissed off that Ferris can ditch school and not get caught. That would piss me off too. He SHOULD go to school and if he doesn't, then he SHOULD be punished. Her problem is her, as Charlie tells her.
Jeannie, not unlike me, lives inside her brain too much.

So gentle reader, tell your brain to shut the hell up and start asking your body what it wants more often.
A glass of hot ginger tea? A licorice all-sort? To walk barefoot on the grass?
To wear an over -sized washed-out floaty silk shirt on a windy day? To play a game of squash?
To listen to a slightly scratched record by Muddy Waters? To suck face with a young Charlie Sheen?
All good ideas. All good ways of connecting with your self.
Remember, your brain will most likely lead you astray and make you miserable so never listen to it.

He Had No Business Being Out There! No Business!

I love this bit in Parenthood where Lou the Horrible over-reacts at a kids game. Me and Lou are kindred spirits, in a way. We sweat the small stuff and ask who moved our cheese.