November 2007
Our New Craft Project: This Anthropologie Sweater
Inappropriate confidence: This is a feeling we are well acquainted with, and one which afflicts us particularly in the arena of crafts. This sweater, for example: We see it and think: $128! Ha! We could totally buy that sweater at a Goodwill, and then applique those little flower things in like fifteen minutes. We can pretty much guarantee that this project will never come to fruition. We are going to give it a go, however. Fingers crossed!
Here is a close-up:
All we need is our used sweater, and:
Nicky Epstein’s Knitted Embellishments: 350 Appliques, Borders, Cords and More!, $21.09
Or, for when we come to our senses, the original: the Blossom House cardigan, $128
Source: Our New Craft Project: This Anthropologie Sweater
“if you were a drug addict or alc hoholkic make you amends and dont be contrite or feel defective because your not you just got the sensitive briliant gene” [Holes]
Courtney Love, folks. No really! She’s gotten a tad incoherent in her old age. You may be dismayed to find upon reading her latest Myspace missive that Courtney doesn’t seem to think her brilliance is shared by Madonna, or the editors at any of the major hipster magazines, of which she’s currently pissed off at BlackBook and, like us, bored by Nylon — “read nylon - yep theres rilo dammed kiley- and a new bag designer jsut what the world needs!” Also, she seems concerned about her hair: is it too Michelle Pfeiffer circa Scarface? Whatever man, she has a new album coming out, and Linda Perry is sorta sometimes paying attention to it, and also she’s got a tip for your inflamed brilliant-alcoholic pores:
sulferous yeast cow piss baby veal sick sick sick- but zero pores after wards- Bioloquie recherche hust say “le stinky one”
Okay, what now?
Thanks, Makeupalley, for clearing that up:
This is my first review for great products that work, but smell horrible, cost a fortune and take up a lot of time to put on (if you use the masque. I would never have found these products but for a tip with a friend with amazing, crystal clear olive skin. I have used b.r. products for five weeks, as recommended by my aesthetician, Aida Bicaj, and they are the only things that have reduced the bumpiness and/or appearance of milia on my eyelids and under eye area; adult acne (from age thirty to present time) and discoloration and broken capillaries on my left cheek; and soothed and smoothed out on my combination confused medium-olive complexion.
So anyway, here’s the discussion question: if, over the course of one’s life, one has come on the basis of anecdotal first-person evidence, Paul Westerberg obsession etc., to associate addictive behavior with creativity, but simultaneously, as one has fallen further prey to one’s own addictive tendencies than one might have hoped, to harbor grave skepticism for that association, as, you know, it’s obviously a lot of bullshit lazy writer types use as an excuse to do more drugs, how is one supposed to react to Courtney Love’s INSANE blog posts? Is one like, “Ha! Too bad I’m not that ‘brilliant’!!” Or just Holy mother of god did I just read that ENTIRE THING AND GOOGLE THE REFERENCES??”
Oh shit the inspartion fairy sprinkeld her glitter
Courtney Love Disses Madonna, Starts Poorly-Spelled War Of Words
[Rolling Stone]
Five Can’t-miss perfume presents (for her) [The Scented Life: All about fragrance]
It’s just now November, but soon it will be the holidays and you eventually have that one person to buy for that you can’t figure out. Here’s five hints that would really put something sweet in her stocking:
- The Healing Garden Fig & Lavender Body Mist, $7.95 @ Drugstore.com
I’ve been hit or miss on Healing Garden since it came out, but their newest “organics” line (this product is 72% organic) is lovely. This is sweet fig mingled with relaxing lavender. If your giftee isn’t into putting it straight on her person, it also makes a great pillow spray for sweet dreams.
2. Victoria’s Secret Supermodel Eau de Parfum, $39. This launched recently and is one of my favorite VS scents to do so in a very long time. Berry, Blossom, and Sandalwood…stylish. If your friend loves having the ‘it’ bag, clubbing, and is more fashionable than you, she’ll love this.
Versace Bright Crystal, $48. A perfect complement to the AbFab boxed set she wants.
Aquolina Blue Sugar, $35. It’s technically for men, but smells DIVINE on me as well. I love the bottle and it’s sweet and gourmet without being overly sugary. The star anise really gives it depth and uniqueness.
Marc Jacobs Modern Gardenia bottle, $65. If you’re shopping for yours truly (and shouldn’t you be?), nothing would make me squeal with joy louder than finding this in my stocking.
Christmas, gifts, Hanukkah, lists, perfume, Santa, shopping, stocking
Source: Five Can’t-miss perfume presents (for her) [The Scented Life: All about fragrance]
Health Benefits To Being Slightly Heavy [Burning The Scale]
An article at MSNBC made my head spin - Could there be some health benefits to being slightly heavy, i.e. around 25 pounds overweight? Apparently overweight (not obese) folks are more likely to survive illnesses such as pneumonia and emphysema. However, they are still more likely to die from kidney disease and diabetes.
I’m wondering if it’s simply an issue of having extra nutrients to feed on during illness. It’s not exactly clear at this point in time.
I’d say that the health benefits of being a normal, healthy weight outweigh (no pun intended) those of being slightly overweight. Think of all the things you are better able to do at a normal weight - such as climb stairs more easily, walk longer distances, keep up with your kids without getting winded. Being overweight puts a huge strain on your joints, which can lead to arthritis, even at a young age.
Do you think it’s possible to be fit and overweight? Let me know in the comments.
Claire
(Image from jonbarron.org)
emphysema, fitness, health, obesity, overweight, pneumonia, weight
Source: Health Benefits To Being Slightly Heavy [Burning The Scale]
Hairless Bodies, Stankless Pits: An American Story [Peer Pressure]
Today, The New York Times examines the history of the American desire to eliminate armpit stank, and whether the $2.3 billion (!!!) a year that Americans spend trying to eliminate the possibility of smelling like, well, themselves, is money well-spent. The consensus among armpit scientists: probably not, but we’re all too scared of what other people think to stop!
Just to back that up, writer Anna Jane Grossman also got 3 guinea pigs to try to stop using it to check if people would notice. Nobody did, but only one person (an artist, of course) made it more than a couple of days without caving to the overwhelming sense that using these products (and being nearly sweatless and odorless) is expected of us. She tracks this all back to the turn of the last century, when advertisers convinced immigrants to start using it to smell more homogenous to fit into American society — because what America needs today is obviously more homogeneity.
Great job, advertisers!
As anyone who has ever lived or studied abroad in Europe might have noticed, they’ve not as overwhelmingly bought into this whole idea. In fact, many of them think the main component in antiperspirants (aluminum) might cause cancer (although, our National Cancer Institute, an arm of the FDA, says it doesn’t, so I feel better). Of course, they’re also generally more comfortable with body hair and the natural aging process and stuff — this insistence that we all look, feel and smell as close to Barbie and Ken as possible seems to be a uniquely American fetish.
(Speaking of fetishes, I strongly recommend no one Google image search “armpit” or “smelly armpit” with the Safe Search function off. Apparently the social stigma against hairy, smelly pits… well, you can probably imagine for yourself what kind of kink that inspires).
As for me, some days I am either too tired or too hung over to remember to use deodorant and (as long as I’m not additionally too hung over to shower and have relatively recently shaved) it isn’t the sort of thing I remember because I catch a whiff, because there’s no whiff to catch. On the other hand, I currently have no less than 5 antiperspirants on my dresser (they all smell differently people!), so I’m obviously a slave to the advertising gods’ will, too. I’ve also noticed that using really strong ones have on the rare occasion yellowed my pits (I have very fair skin, so it’s really obvious) and that freaked me out a bunch. I can’t say that I’m not sure my European friends are right on this — a little soap, a little powder and a little perfume and I might be just as well off in terms of B.O. And maybe better off in terms of letting my body do what it’s supposed to do. But, now that I’ve written all that, I’m suppressing the urge to sniff my own pits because that’s why peer pressure sucks.
(Yes, I just caved. They smell fine.)
Cast Aside Underarm Protection, if You Dare [NY Times]
Putting the Shower to the Test (and the Nose on Alert) [NY Times]
Antiperspirants/Deodorants and Breast Cancer: Questions and Answers [National Cancer Institute]
Source: Hairless Bodies, Stankless Pits: An American Story [Peer Pressure]
Dell rolls out Precision M2300 laptop
It looks like Dell recently expanded its line of Precision “mobile workstations” a bit further, with its new 14-inch M2300 model squeezing in just under the larger M4300 and M6300 models. That 14-inch display is of the WXGA+ variety (or 1440 x 900), which gets complemented by some pretty decent specs across the board, including a choice of four Core 2 Duo processors between 2.0 and 2.6GHz, up to 4GB of RAM, a max 200GB hard drive, and NVIDIA Quadro FX 360M graphics. Those looking to join the SSD crowd can also opt for a speedy 32GB drive, although you’ll have to pay a hefty $550+ premium for that pleasure. On the other hand, those slightly less demanding can snag one with the base configuration right now for $1,439.
[Via Notebook Italia]
Source: Dell rolls out Precision M2300 laptop
Bunnyshop Hearts: Caroline Hwang
Oh! It’s the latest thing we love from the Shiny Squirrel. And we love so much of it. Anyway: Caroline Hwang. This is a 4.25″ X 6″ gocco print (”with handpainted sections”) and by the time this post goes up we will, we hope and pray, own it.
“Dear Friend” by Caroline Hwang, $25
Source: Bunnyshop Hearts: Caroline Hwang
Perfume of the Day - Aqaba by Aqaba [The Scented Life: All about fragrance]
Another one of my new samples, I wore this very interesting scent today. It is immediately quite soapy on me, but wore down into a spicy, sweet, and slightly floral melange. Liz Taylor, before she wore White Diamonds, could have worn this in her role as Cleopatra.
Luckyscent has this to say about it:
“”Brighter than spiced wine
Sweeter than midnight
More secret than the rose””
- Michael Hornyansky “”The Queen of Sheba””
Aqaba- a jeweled city on an ancient caravan route, through which camels laden with luxurious cargoes of incense, gold and gemstones passed as the Queen of Sheba traveled to meet King Solomon. An encounter that sparked a legendary passion. This tantalizing fragrance inspired by the charismatic queen uses ingredients from the traditional art of Arabian perfumery. It opens with a deep, powerful rose blended with warm spices and precious frankincense. It mellows into a beguiling spicy sweetness with amazing lasting power. Thrillingly seductive we think it would have suited the queen perfectly.
Aqaba notes
Eqyptian jasmine, Bulgarian rose, cinnamon, clove, cardamom, damask rose, frankincense, peach, tea leaves, white cedarwood, oak moss
Aqaba, Luckyscent, perfume, reviews
Source: Perfume of the Day - Aqaba by Aqaba [The Scented Life: All about fragrance]
Revive to Survive
Labels being brought back from the dead is something of a popular bandwagon that sparks major news flashes on all of the WWD/Vogue/FWD etc saying ‘XXX is back!’ with us bloggers following up with a SHOCK SHOCK HORROR HORROR post at the news. I’ll summarise with a Newsround-like factsheet….
Biba - Michael Pearce bought the global license for Biba and launched shoes and handbag for AW07-8. Then the clothes were revived for SS07 by Bella Freud who followed up with another collection of disappointing stuff before handing over the reins to a creative team of five headed up by Hector Castro and includes Fashion East designer Louise Goldin for the SS08 collection. No rave reviews as yet… and sales are still quite shaky…
Vionnet - Bought by Arnaud de Lummen back in 1988, Sophia Kokosalaki took on the task of reviving this 20’s Parisian house for SS07 but after the next season bid farewell despite getting praise from the press for her collections. Marc Audibet is now the artistic advisor for Vionnet and presented a small collection for SS08 in Paris. Supremely select stockists (just Barney’s and its own store in Paris)
Celia Birtwell - Commercial success in reviving a designer came by way of former print designer for Ossie Clark, Celia Birtwell who has been in collaboration with Topshop for three collections now and looks to continue doing so. Major crowd pleaser…
Halston - Millionnaire Harvey Weinstein bought Halston in 2006 and is preparing the resurrection of this legendary name having appointed Marco Zanini (was head designer of womenswear at Versace) to be the creative director. Rachel Zoe is also on the creative team. The collection will be presented at New York Fashion Week in Feb 2008.
Schiaparelli - The rights for the label was bought by Diego Della Valle earlier this year but it is unknown as to when it will launch and who the creative director will be. Talks with Roland Mouret fell through and now it is rumoured that Giles Deacon may be taking this on…
Ossie Clarke - The latest in the label revival game has been instigated by WGSN founder Marc Worth who will be relaunching Ossie Clarke at London Fashion Week in Feb 2008. The creative team includes Avsh Alom Gur who has previously worked at Chloe and Roberto Cavalli and has his own label as well.
Facts over but surely the doubts must creep in. There’s a few issues attached to revivals of labels that I have to ponder…
Can they surpass the original? If they do surpass the original (which hasn’t happened yet…), is that a disrespect to the original designer?
If the aim is to re-interpret the original for the 21st century, then how much of an homage do you pay to the original? Or do you go for a completely different direction instead to avoid people accusing you of watering down the original? Biba seems to have gone for the watered down version with sky-high prices.
With houses and labels having a very rich history how much should the creative teams of today use the archives as points of reference? When Kokosalaki came onboard for Vionnet, I was punching the air with my fists but was then sorely disappointed because I thought it was a wasted opportunity with an archive like Vionnet’s.
Then other questions arise… who exactly are these revivals aimed at? The people who originally bought the labels back in their heyday? To introduce these labels to a whole new generation? In the case of Vionnet and Schiaparelli, there is definite room for redefinition and revamp as the labels are that much older. However, with the 60’s-70’s labels, will everyone fall into the trap of making comparisons with the original?
These thoughts all spring to mind when I hear of labels being revived yet at the same time, I get all excited about the prospect of seeing a Schiaparelli 2008 collection or I was dying to see Vionnet’s collection in person (alas…. no UK stockists…). Perhaps they need to be looking at the turnaround fortunes of the likes of Balenciaga, Balmain or Lanvin as they have set that ‘revival&#