the purpose of art is brushing the dust of daily life off our souls

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yes, please. its like a culture search... sculpture, paintings, books... strategic clutter.

quote by picasso, photograph by todd selby.

wheres philo when you need her..

i need a good outfit for sunday. simple and strong, for a fashion event of sorts.

au secours (advice is welcome)! i think a statement jacket is a promising idea.. perhaps fur comme ca, obv over an all black ensemble.

twists of the imagination

alright, ago. you cant call my cell phone when im at work and leave no message. not when ive applied for a bunch of jobs with your organization and now im imagining that i have missed my window. maybe it has to do with my membership, but i always get automated messages for that. maybe i should call back, but there was no extension and so i will be more of an annoyance than anything. "hey uh, someone called me from this number?" nope.

sans toi, les émotions d'aujourd'hui ne seraient que la peau morte des émotions d'autrefois

i once quoted the movie amelie, c'est l'angoisse du temps qui passe qui nous fait tant parler du temps qu'il fait, it is the anguish of passing time that makes us speak of the weather.. more or less. but in french theres a lovely repetition since temps refers to both time and weather.

anyway. since at work today there was much angloise du temps, can i ask, soo whats with the cold? today i was walking around in fur, mittens, three types of wool, and numb legs. too much!

portraits in motion

if you are in new york, let me live vicariously through you and please go see andy warhol:motion pictures at the moma. i feel like warhol was so ahead of the game with his screen test portraits, and saw a few on a larger scale when i was in seattle at the exhibit love fear pleasure lust pain glamour death that i mentioned, here.

to me, the screen test portrait captures (one of) the only things that a photographic portrait cant fully convey, which is gesture, and the character one brings to their appearance through an individual style of motion. this is what is so enamouring and hypnotic about the screen tests. as i wrote on june 19, the sense of immediacy you feel looking into the eyes of a young edie sedgwick, for example, is so sharply contrasted by the realization that it is not immediacy you are feeling... its just that you are seeing what the still image cannot capture: life, movement, gesture, as it happens.

guess that makes me an impressionist

i know ive posted this image before, but i felt it just fit again today. never enough black clothing for this girl.

title is from the sleeve of the white stripes album icky thump. i saw an image of someone I once knew today and it made me write down my first impressions. i dont normally tend to do that. guess that makes me an impressionist

que lisez-vous?

im open for book recommendations. ive moved from rhinoceros (and other ionesco plays) to the biography of anne boleyn by eric ives that my sister bought me. i have had a very strong interest in boleyn since i first studied the tudors in my undergrad (seriously, sometimes i think i knew her/was her in a past life), and from what i can tell this is the most thorough biography to date. so far, im not finding it as dense as other historical biographies i have read and gives a good sense of a context. ah context. what are you reading?

ps i took this photograph from the fitting room of a boutique in vancouvers gastown (i cant remember the name, or even the street, i was blinded by the amazing clothes and, of course, this wall of books.

the change of decor is of no importance

the isabel marant woman doesnt sport a full face of makeup, or even brush her hair. she wears heels, but only the kind that can be danced in all night, and when shes at home, she’ll most likely be barefoot. theres an air of insouciance about her wardrobe—her clothes look as if she picked them up on a trip to some exotic, far-flung destination, or pilfered them from her grandfather or maybe her boyfriend. marant herself just happens to be such a woman. her effortless brand owes more to serge gainsbourg, and her regular collaborator, paris vogue fashion director emmanuelle alt, than it does to any fantasy femme or hollywood starlet.
— natalie shukur via nylon mag

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title - more from ionesco and the theatre of the absurd. the future is in eggs is a play that continues the story from jacques or obedience. ionesco notes that "the change of decor is of no importance"; facades are of no importance.

if you are not too long, i will wait here for you all my life

on the sunday of a nondescript gallivant, melissa and i happened across this hotel on rue des beaux arts. the first thing that caught my eye was the ram head hanging over the front door and i noted how much i loved it.

then, of course, my eye was drawn to the plaque to the left stating that oscar wilde had died in this hotel, in which he lived for the last bit of his life. as you know, i am quite the wilde admirer so this was quite the accident. as a side, 13 is my favorite number.

i am saving this as a blueprint for the future ram head that will hang over my front door.

who is that?

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oh, just the new editor in chief of vogue paris. no big deal.

i look forward to seeing how emanuelle progresses the magazine into a new era. congrats ms alt!

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the nonstop dialogue

i travel not to go anywhere, but to go. i travel for travel's sake. the great affair is the move.

paish recently made me the most amazingly creative travel journal for christmas that contained my souvenirs (tickets, cards, chanel ribbons) and quotes about travelling, including this one (thats a whole other topic, because really, its already one of my most treasured objects).

toronto still feels new to me, im not taking any trips anytime soon, but i think the affair of the move can be applied to life as well. meaning im going to get back into old habits of doing new things every week and taking photographs.

image from jak&jil, title from karl lagerfeld, fashion keeps me designing: the love of change, the idea that the next one will be the right one, the nonstop dialogue.

is that a....?

an hermès rhinoceros made of ostrich skin. i saw this at the musée des arts décoratifs in paris and spent some time with it.

the intersection of decorative arts, fashion, culture, collecting, and luxury is so unique in this object. i may have also been more fascinated because of the curating: this was in the animal-themed section with other furs, feathers, and skins, rather than functional focus (furniture, clothing, vases, etc).

the museum did a great job of conveying that art surrounds us in many forms and functions, and that culture and ideas are the common thread that run through everything.

btw, that is an ostrich skin margiela coat to the right of it, with a matching helmet. possibly from the 60s... i cant remember.