So I'm checking out who was wearing what at the Grammy's (didn't watch) and came across this pic and I said to myself, "Self, this looks familiar; didn't Givenchy show THIS little number in Paris just last week?"
Well, sometimes what looks simply interesting (perplexing?) on the runway can look pretty much tragic in real life. Even if you are a "somebody".
Sorry Ciara, this is a big ol' glamour don't...
Blechh.
"TheFunTheoryDotCom is dedicated to the thought that something as simple as fun is the easiest way to change people’s behavior for the better. Be it for yourself, for the environment, or for something entirely different, the only thing that matters is that it’s change for the better."
So simple - so amazing!
The World's Deepest Bin...
Piano Staircase...
Bottle Bank Arcade Machine...
Thanks to my dear friend, Alice, for bringing The Fun Theory to my attention; this is just cool! (Now, if they could only design something to get me to give up sugar...)
Official Press ReleaseLOUIS VUITTON
ANNIE LEIBOVITZ WITH MIKHAIL BARYSHNIKOV:
A UNIQUE SELF-PORTRAIT FOR LOUIS VUITTON
As Louis Vuitton’s Core Values advertising campaign enters 2010, Annie Leibovitz, the photographer whose remarkable portraits have greatly contributed to its success, turns her lens upon herself in the company of her long-time friend, the legendary dancer and choreographer Mikhail Baryshnikov.
Never before has an Annie Leibovitz self-portrait appeared in the context of an advertising campaign, and the story behind it is almost as fascinating as the image itself. Over the course of their three-year collaboration on the Core Values campaign, Louis Vuitton and Annie Leibovitz have forged a relationship of mutual trust and respect. Given the photographer’s recent personal and financial troubles, Louis Vuitton wished to offer support in the most positive way possible, and suggested that she become the next exceptional personality to feature in the Core Values campaign. Annie Leibovitz was touched and flattered, and accepted on the condition that the self-portrait should show her alongside one of the stars she has spent her life photographing – her close friend Mikhail Baryshnikov.
One of the foremost dancers of the 20th century, Mikhail Baryshnikov defected from the Soviet Union at the height of the Cold War and went on, in the course of an exceptionally long career, to grace the world’s greatest stages, before breaking new ground as an artistic director and choreographer. For Louis Vuitton, he is photographed in Annie Leibovitz’s New York studio, standing on a box in his dancer’s uniform of black T-shirt and trousers, with a subtle spotlight falling on his uniquely gifted feet. Annie Leibovitz sits on the floor nearby. Next to her is her camera, from which she is rarely parted, and a Louis Vuitton Neverfull holdall in Monogram canvas packed with books on dance. The tagline reads: “The journey of a star captured in a flash”.
Antoine Arnault, Head of Communications at Louis Vuitton, comments: “We have the greatest respect and admiration for Annie Leibovitz, both as a person and as a professional. We were delighted to be able to offer her our support in troubled times, and she has responded like the consummate artist she is, with a truly exceptional image which – with its association of photography and dance – once again broadens the scope of our Core Values campaign.”
The new Core Values visual will appear in the February 2010 issues of international titles. A film evoking the encounter between Annie Leibovitz and Mikhail Baryshnikov will go on line from 11th February at louisvuittonjourneys.com, preceded by an exclusive press preview from 1st February (louisvuittonjourneyspress.com). The film can also be accessed via the Louis Vuitton corporate website louisvuitton.com.
My favorite photographer and the first love of my life (I think I stared at this photograph for a full 10 minutes without moving). Good on you, LV.
Dior has ruined me for anyone else. Sigh.
Here are a few of the Givenchy designs from Ricardo Tisci. While I'm not super-crazy about the pieces, I do believe that these are some of the more complicated I've seen this week - they're absolutely sewn to perfection and fit/fall beautifully. But I still. Don't. Get it.
Gotta love a girl who brings her own lampshade to the party...
I'm not angry at this one - but *some* shoulders, please?
Noooo.
Getting better...
Ah - j'adore! 
Photos: Monica Feudi / Gorunway.com
Yet another disappointment from le maison de Chanel.
What's that color again? Oh, yes - a painful shade of hideous.
Looks like someone is a Gaga fan...
I actually kind of like these - tres Chanel...
The lace is truly extraordinary - too bad it was wasted on a nightgown. 
Bummer. I keep hoping that Chanel will be fabulous again, but this long stretch of bizarreness is showing no sign of ending. I think what bothers me the most is Karl's self-indulgent infusion of himself into these designs. Methinks Coco would not approve.
So far, space-age cuts, shorts, pantsuits, metallics and flesh-colored pastels appear to be the salient ingredients coming from the couturiers for spring.
Not diggin' it.
Armani demonstrated yesterday why women "of a certain age" choose to wear his designs on the Red Carpet. Of the 45 designs for his SS show, these were the only ones that had a pulse...
I didn't say it was a strong pulse...
Space-agey pantsuits were the theme o' the day...
Overall, the whole collection was flat, tired and lifeless - one big meh sandwich.
Love. Love. L.O.V.E.
Everything Galliano did for SS 2010 is brilliant crop-wielding, corset-wearing magic.
Haute Couture Week kicked off in Paris yesterday with men's collections from some of my favorite designers.
Lanvin (Flashdance meets The Road)...
Hermes (two thumbs way up)...
Dunhill (No. No. God, no.)...
Galliano (_____________)...
Photos: Monica Feudi; Andrew Thomas
I'm just warming up with menswear - Chanel, Dior and Givenchy are showing today; I'm giddy with antici. Pation.
Disclaimer: Don't watch the bloopers during the last couple of minutes of the vid if you have a problem with the F-bomb (NSFW).
The original (to truly appreciate what these kids did)...
I kind of like the image of Madge as a more voluptuous mamacita preparing a meal for her famiglia grande on some undulating Italian countryside: It's infinitely more sexy than the pint-sized man-eating terminator that she's evolved into (aye - and her bubbies look amace-ing!).
Bravo, D&G, these designs are magically delizioso!
So, a lot of crazy stuff went down during the last 10 years. No, I'm not talking about the pandemonium surrounding Y2K, the terrorist attacks on US soil, the Bush years, or even Sarah Palin. Freaking Sarah Palin.
I'm talking about certain trends that never quite took off, ones that have outstayed their welcome and a couple that were never, ever welcome in the first place.
Under the WTF category...
Subtle Butt...
"This pack of 5 saving graces effectively filters the odor caused by flatulence; Simply stick it in the right place and you're ready for a chili cook-off. Each 3.25" square filter is made of soft fabric with an antimicrobial treatment, on the side touching the skin. The fabric is impregnated with activated carbon, which faces the underwear or the pants and has a vast surface area for bad odors to adhere to and get neutralized. Two adhesive strips are strategically placed so you know which side is which. And at around 1/32" thick, you will never know it's there."
Saving graces? Impregnated?
Moving on.
The Hood Thong... 
It's a hood. It's a thong. Tawk amongst yourselves.
The Kush Pillow
"Kush is uniquely designed to fit between the breasts to maintain a more natural shape while resting on your side. No straps, no underwires, no constraints, no adhesives and no garments needed - the slip-resistant surface and contoured shape help keep Kush in place as a woman rolls from one side to the other during sleep."
Sexy.
Winkers...
These are just a bucketful of awesome, aren't they?
"Winkers is a privately owned business that specializes in decorating pants, usually jeans. We decorate pants in such a manner that they WINK as you walk. Your WINK is the crease between your buttock and the top of your leg."
Trends that should have died long, long ago...
Tops that make you look pregnant even though you aren't...
The name pretty much says it all...
"Team" clothing. Really, people?
Ruching - when you want to look like the leg of an elephant...
The fanny pack. What is there to say about the fanny pack? Oh yes. Burn it.
Women wearing big, flapping, labia-like appendages on their chests is always a good idea...
Guys - you've looked ridiculous for, like, 15 years. Pull your damn pants up, ya fool...
For the love of of Gucci, slap these horrific things back before they gain any more momentum...
Bumpits - because why? Oh, yeah, so you can look like Snooki from The Jersey Shore...
Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo...
The hair style. The woman. Please, please make it go away. It scares me.
Me.
I am.
Right here.
Don't be jealous.
"Throw your dreams into space like a kite, and you do not know what it will bring back, a new life, a new friend, a new love, a new country." - Anais Nin
Paris.
Paris.
Paris.
I'm not alone, I've found. It turns out that there are many women who feel as I do about Paris. We have similar reactions to what it feels and smells like; the way it quickens the pulse - heightens emotions. All emotions to their vast depths and breadths.
And more.
So very much more.
This video is beautiful and mesmersizing and will surely put a smile on the sourest of pusses...
2009 was good, bad and ugly. It was life. It was death. It was exhilarating and exhausting. In two days, we can close the books on 2009 and I, for one, am glad.
It's interesting that we have this innate wiring that renders us unwaveringly hopeful for all the possibilities that lie in the promise of a new year. We vow to eat better, exercise more, drink less, find a better job, find "the one", write that book, be kinder to one another, volunteer at a charity, finish that remodeling job, quit smoking, blobbity blah, blah, blah.
It's good, I suppose that we set goals for ourselves and that we raise the standards by which we live our lives. But it also sets a daunting tone and, of course, we inevitably set ourselves up for failure. One slip up at the top of the new year leads to an avalanche of poor decisions, bad behaviors and, by the end of the year - well, you know the routine.
Maybe we should instead resolve to be slovenly, over-indulgent, selfish, rude, chain-smoking alcoholics with sex, gambling and chocolate addictions.
Then again, maybe not.
Ah, well. I'll make the same resolution I've made each year since 1992 - to drink more water and let the rest work itself out.
Speaking of milestones... "Venus" turns two today. When I started this blog, I had an idea of what I wanted it to be but I wasn't sure how it would develop. It's morphed into something a bit more tangential than I thought it would, but I'm okay with that for the most part. I've pretty much cracked myself open here and exposed some very personal aspects of my life. At the same time, I've come to learn some retraint and, as a result, have had some incredibly Zen moments (whether I wanted them or not).
While it's easy to share the happy and positive goings-on, there've been many occasions in which I've wanted unleash an unholy fury of hell. But I didn't. Or, if I did, I removed it because negative energy fuels negative energy and we all know that nothing good can come of that nonsense. It's really just not ever worth the stress a body endures to get all worked up about something.
Stress is bad. Stress kills.
I believe there's a good deal of social responsibility to this whole business of blogging. Even if there are no monetary rewards attached and I'm beholden to no one, I still feel compelled to present my thoughts in a particular manner and at a certain level of writing (i.e. acceptable grammar, accurate fact-checking, limited use of profanities, etc.). I'm sure I've made lots of mistakes, but the past is the past and I'm not wont to go back and dwell. Instead, I just try to do better the next time.
Anyhoo...
Here's to peace, love, and just being cool; may you discover wonderful new things about yourself in the coming year and may you find the courage to share and celebrate those wonderful things with those whom you care most about.
Bonne année à tous!
This video is an interview with Julie Andrews discussing her upcoming performance at London's O2 Arena.
Julie Andrews melts my heart. I was watching "The Sound of Music" for the gazillionth time last night and fell in love with her all over again.
Love. Love. Love.
On Christmas Eve day at the shop, I added a Julie Andrews station to Pandora and it put me in the best mood ever. As customers were coming in to finish up their last bits of Christmas shopping, I wondered if they might think our music selection odd, but my worries were unfounded. I saw them tapping their toes and getting into it and nearly everyone said, "Oh, I love this song!" or "I love this movie!" when they checked out. It took every ounce of restraint not to bounce around the shop when "Do Re Mi" played. Oh snap, I should have just done it anyway.
I was beyond thrilled to hear that Julie Andrews was going to be performing again (at the tender age of 74) in spite of a botched vocal-chord surgery 12 years ago (that doctor should be tarred and feathered). She'll be at London's O2 Arena on May 8, 2010. Oh, what a show that's going to be!
Speaking of Julie Andrews...
Last week, I received a box in the mail from my uncle. Inside was a package wrapped in red paper with a gold cord tied around it and the words, "Open Christmas morning" - or something to that effect. Truthfully, when I saw it, my heart sank and I felt ill. I figured it was the video of my grandmother's funeral and I wasn't ready to add that to the awful mix of emotions already clogging my head and heart.
I didn't want to open it. I tossed it on a pile of papers on the kitchen counter - far away from the other gifts. No way I'm opening that on Christmas. I cried. I cry almost every day. Grieving, grieving - my heart must surely weigh 90 tons...
On Christmas morning, I decided that I should open it after all. I held the wrapped CD case in my hands for a moment - the whole of her funeral playing through my head like I could somehow dilute what I was about to see.
As I gingerly unwrapped the paper, I saw an image of my young grandmother and began to realize that it wasn't of her funeral - it was of her singing. Apparently, in 1995, my uncle recorded her singing the five songs on this CD - she was 73 at the time. I don't think any of us, except for my uncle, have a recording of her singing (she was a magnificent soprano - not unlike you-know-who) so - wow. WOW!
The first of the five songs? "The Sound of Music" - no kidding.
The hills are, indeed, alive and well...
A love affair renewed and heart fires all aglow...
Oh, Paris, I could eat you bite by bite by delicious bite.
Joyeux Noël à vous tous !
Merry Christmas to you all!
Feliz Navidad a todos! Buon Natale a tutti voi!
...Yup - on Etsy! I know - it's a lot of Etsy for one week, but the photographs really pulled me in.
Antique Satin Wedding Shoes...
Pair of Georgian 18th Century Silver Shoe Buckles...
Suede Heeled Shoes...
Vintage 1970s Platform Sandals...
Vintage 1980s Nike Canvas Blazer High Tops...
(Gulp - 1980s is considered vintage? Dang.)
Vintage 1980s Studded Oxford Lace-Up (again with the 80s!)...
Vintage Hermes Tri-Toned Wing-Tipped Oxford...
According to the Wiki:
Steampunk is a sub-genre of fantasy and speculative fiction that came into prominence in the 1980s and early 1990s. The term denotes works set in an era or world where steam power is still widely used—usually the 19th century, and often Victorian era England—but with prominent elements of either science fiction or fantasy, such as fictional technological inventions like those found in the works of H. G. Wells and Jules Verne, or real technological developments like the computer occurring at an earlier date. Other examples of steampunk contain alternate history-style presentations of "the path not taken" of such technology as dirigibles, analog computers, or digital mechanical computers (such as Charles Babbage's Analytical engine); these frequently are presented in an idealized light, or with a presumption of functionality.
Steampunk is often associated with cyberpunk and shares a similar fanbase and theme of rebellion, but developed as a separate movement (though both have considerable influence on each other). Apart from time period and level of technological development, the main difference between cyberpunk and steampunk is that steampunk settings usually tend to be less obviously dystopian than cyberpunk, or lack dystopian elements entirely.
Various modern utilitarian objects have been modded by individual artisans into a pseudo-Victorian mechanical "steampunk" style, and a number of visual and musical artists have been described as steampunk.
Vintage 1960s Large 360 Round Black Eyeglass Frames...
Antique 1840 Bone and Silver French Relic Rosary with Hallmarks...
Secret Garden French Vintage Small Furniture...
Vintage 1940s Souvenir of Paris Filigree Bracelet...
Old Plank Trestle Farm Table and Five Mismatched Rustic Chairs with Belgian Linen Down Cushions...
Purple and Lilac Bouquet - Antique French Beadwork...
Vintage Maud Frizon Paris White Cut-Out Pumps...
1850 Silk Tulle Net and Lace Embroidered Florals and Phoenix Birds Curtains...
French Antique Map of Europe Printed in Paris in 1837...
Scarves that make even a simple white t-shirt look amazing...
Tulle dresses with a French flair...
Delicious tributes to Marilyn Monroe...
Yummy cowls that keep the cold far, far, away...
Gorgeous wool trench coats as soft as bath robes...
An absolutely perfect pencil skirt...
Mosquito nets photographed with delightful flair...
Whimsical art work...
Comfy cotton jammies with delicate detail...
Pillows made of fine French linen...
This lovely fleur de lis necklace...
Sparkly baubles for the ear...
And, well, an elephant-shaped handbag...
I don't care how many movies come out about Coco Chanel, I'll want to see them all (though I still won't be satisified until Madame Chanel is played by Marion Cotillard).
"Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky" has just premiered in Paris.
Synopsis
Paris 1913, Coco Chanel is devoted to her work and madly in love with the handsome and very wealthy Arthur ‘Boy’ Capel. At the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Igor Stravinsky premieres his Rite of Spring. Coco attends the premiere and is mesmerised. But the revolutionary work is too modern, too radical: the enraged audience boos and jeers. A near-riot ensues. Stravinsky is inconsolable. 7 years later. Now rich, respected and successful, Coco is devastated by Boy Capel’s death. She meets Stravinsky again - now a penniless refugee living in exile in Paris after the Russian Revolution, The attraction between them is immediate and electric. Coco offers Stravinsky the use of her new villa in Garches, so that he will be able to work, and he moves in straight away, with his children and consumptive wife. And so a passionate, intense love affair between two creative giants begins.
Anna Mouglalis as Coco Chanel
Mads Mikkelsen as Stravinsky
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