Wednesday 28 April 2010

Tuesday 27 April 2010

Thank you

Thanks to the most fantastic Madonna website ever!
Click on the photo to go to it <3

"I wanna kiss you in Paris...I wanna hold your hand in Rome"

The My Fair Lady hommage outfit - Girlie Show 1993
Designed by Dolce & Gabbana
Photo from here




























To be honest, I don't really like this outfit. It's pure 90's dyke and It's just horrid. From the sunglasses, to the tophat, going through the corset it just screams FAUX-PAS to me. It's like every lesbian's worse nightmare is, a scary butch woman who can check you out without you noticing behind those awful sunglasses... I'm sure the intentions were great (what am i talking about??) but it just looks awful, that shade of grey, those sleeves...

Then again, maybe that was the intention. Create a threatening androgynous look that made you think "that's not okay for a woman to wear" then if it isn't

why isn't it?

What's so bad about not looking womanly? Men always think it's degrading for men to look like women, but why is it so threatening to see a woman dressed like a man? Is it the authority it exhudes? The unclear sexuality? Maybe it's because its something we can't understand, someone we can't pinpoint, someone we can't label. A

And what we don't understand scares us, so we shun it.

"I made it through the wilderness...somehow I made it through"

The golden coned bra corset - Blond Ambition Tour 1990
Designed by Jean Paul Gaultier
Photo from here




































This is one of, if not THE, most memorable Madonna outfit. Why do I like it so much? It jumps at you with something most people tiptoe'd around in the eighties, the word SEX.

It's so vulgar, yet sexy. It embodies women's strength perfectly whilst still being delicate in places. The gold, the cylinders and Madonna's hair and make-up remind me very much of cleopatra and her strength. This piece is just so perfect of Madonna, no one could have designer it better than JPG.

It just speaks for itself.







Monday 26 April 2010

Go-To Designer

Travis Banton

"Back in the day, an actress' public persona was molded by her on-screen appearance, and Banton was the man with the magic scissors—a costumer, yes, but an image-maker and celebrity stylist before the term existed. Credited with masterminding Marlene Dietrich's sexy-androgynous look, Banton shaped starlets from Carol Lombard to Mae West. The curve-hugging, dragon-embroidered cheongsam he poured Wong into for Limehouse Blues was over-the-top sexy and a guaranteed scene-stealer. "

Photo: John Kobal Foundation / Getty Images

Text from Style.com

The Screen Siren

Megan Fox

"She's only made a handful of movies, but Megan Fox is everywhere. Realistic about her assets—"If I weren't attractive I wouldn't be working at all," she told Esquire in June 2009—Fox personifies a new breed of super-celebrity. She's famous for her uncouth bons mots, steamy magazine spreads, and, ironically or not, her lack of acting talent. At a time when the mantra of "all press is good press" has never been more true, her ability to generate a thousand re-tweets by simply opening her mouth makes her extremely bankable. And yes, smart. "

Photo: John Sciulli / BEImages / RexUSA

Text from Style.com

The Flapper

Louise Brooks

"At last, knees! With hemlines and haircuts significantly shorter than sanctioned, a troupe of skinny, dance-crazed girls set the tone for the freewheeling 1920's. At the top was Louise Brooks, the Ziegfeld Follies dancer who went on to make 24 movies in 13 years and earn this tribute from film fanzine Photoplay: "She is so very Manhattan. Very young. Exquisitely hard-boiled. Her black eyes and sleek black hair are brilliant as Chinese lacquer. Her skin is white as a camellia. Her legs are lyric."

Photo: Eugene Robert Richee / John Kobal Foundation / Getty Images
Text from Style.com

The Bohemian

Rita Lydig
"In 1905, not wearing a bustle was considered fashion suicide. And pants? Please. There were, however, a few dedicated individuals doing their part to change the restrictive trends. Take Rita Lydig, a clotheshorse so devoted to shopping that she sometimes bought up to 20 examples of the same garment. Thanks to her snazzy sister Mercedes, who had the sense to donate several of Rita's prized possessions to the Met—thus prompting the creation of the Costume Institute—those silk Callot Soeurs pantaloons live on to inspire today's fashion innovators. "
Text from style.com
Photo: Edward Steichen / Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Sunday 25 April 2010

Misguided Ghosts




















Cleopatra



















Harlequine





















Photos from here

My Love for Stephane Marais Will Never Die

Stephane Marais has to be one of my favorite make-up artists of all-time (probably cause he's the only one i REALLY know... but still, the love is there!). I find his creations so crushingly beautiful and haunting I find it hard to look away. Here are a few I've come across and liked, a lot. These were created and taken especially for Interview Magazine (you can read the full article here) All of them were created using Dior cosmetics.



This one is very similar to a John Galliano campaign from a few years back. It's slightly geisha-ish and I really like the dark red lips and golden eyes. The messy hair works well and contrast well with the sharp lip liner on the model's face. The eye make-up reminds me of a morning after kind of look, tired and worn. Yet the eyebrows are very sharp and precise. This picture is full of contrasts and layers. It reminds me of something very classy, elegant yet drug induced for some reason. Maybe it is the "morning after" make-up that gives me that impression. It reminds me of victorian england in a strange way, very rich ladies, meant to look nice all the time, they become sick of their lives and what they've become.... if you get my drift. I like it.

This is one is so statue-esque and beautiful, it's almost too beautiful to be human. A creature from a different land, perfection at its best. Innocence and no sense of fear, shame or guilt.






"a gold Cocteau-esque punk" according to Interview Magazine.






These two are also very striking. The first one on the left reminds me of african tribes whilst the second one has a similar style to the first image. Just beautiful, beautiful creatures.








Some Sketchbook research I did last year on
bold make-up and Stephane Marais

Breton - The Wall


Kick Ass


So, I went to see Kick-Ass today. Completely belated as its been out for like months. Based on what i'd heard I'd expected a funny, feel-good, action packed movie with lots of thrills and spills. Instead of that I was faced with this crude, painfully realistic teenager, too much blood and not enough for it to be funny.






Not saying that it wasn't good, because I enjoyed it. But the twists were too painful to be funny, like the dad being burned alive pretty much, wtf? thats hardly funny, and hitgirl is truly amazing but still kinds Scary as she's like twelve. Major crush on dave though! yeh well thats unavoidable... All that action has made me want to pick up my trainers, and start kicking some ass! However I know that won't happen. We can't all be Hit-Girl but we can dream about it!

Saturday 24 April 2010

Displays

MASH

Self-Portrait


Friday 23 April 2010

Cowgirl Chic

based on femine ruffles, denim waistcoats and leather boots
comes Cowgirl Chic. inspired by cowgirls and seeking to add
feminity to a masculine side of life, this trend is full of fun and frills
whilst still being edgy. the colour palette consists of plue, pink and baby blue.
these tones, although subtle, can be very striking
worn in the right way.


Thursday 22 April 2010

how did we get here?


Music



Wednesday 21 April 2010

He Wrote

Forgive me Dear, I cannot stay. He cut out my tongue, there is nothing to say.
Love me? oh no, he threw me away, he laughed at my sins, in his arms i must stay.

He wrote, I'm broke. Please send for me. I'm broken too, and spoken for. Do not, tempt me. Her skin is fun, and I'm light as the sun, so holy light shines, on the things, you have done.

So I asked him, how he became this man? How that he learned, to hold fruit in his hands? and where is the lamb, that gave you your name? He had to leave, though i begged HIM to stay.

Left you alone, when you needed the light. Fell to your knees, and you wept for your life!

If he had of stayed, you might understand. If he had of stayed, you never would've
taken my hand. He wrote, I'm alone. Please send for me. but I'm broken too, and spoken for. Do not, tempt me.

and where is the lamb, that gave you your name? He had to flee, though I begged him to stay.

Begged him to stay, in my cold wooden grip.Begged him to stay, by the light of my
ship. Me fighting him, fighting light, fighting dawn. The waves came, and stole him, and took him toward.

He wrote, I'm broke. Please send for me. but I'm broken too, and spoken for. Do not, tempt me. Forgive me, dear, I cannot stay. He cut out my tongue, there is nothing to say. Love me or not, he threw me away. He laughed at my sins, in his arms i must
stay.

We write. That's alright. I miss his smell.

and we speak, when spoken to. That suits us well. We write. and that's alright. but I miss his smell. and i speak, when spoken to, 'cause that suits me well.

That suits me well.