Luxe, Calme, et Volupté: February 2010

Sunday, February 28, 2010

Botchan by Natsume Soseki

Writing a response paper on "Botchan" by Soseki. The story is about a young man who moves from Tokyo to teach at a middle school in the country. Botchan was a reckless, bad kid so it's ironic that he's become a school teacher himself. The whole novel is rather blunt with hyperbolized text, but it has some interesting points about morality. Botchan is pretty bitter in general because his family didn't love him and now has no faith in the human race, really.

"Now that I thought about it, though, I realized that most people actually encourage you to turn bad. They seem to think that if you don't, you'll never get anywhere in the world. And then on those rare occasions when they encounter somebody who's honest and pure-hearted, they look down on him and say he's nothing but a kid, a Botchan. If that's the way it is, it would be better if they didn't have those ethics classes in elementary school and middle school where the teacher is always telling you to be honest and not to lie. The schools might as well just go ahead and teach you how to tell lies, how to mistrust everybody, and how to take advantage of people. Wouldn't their students, and the world at large, be better off that way?..."

Friday, February 26, 2010

D&G (blows up my spot)

Good thing I bought those ski goggles, I've been ready for Fall 2010 since Winter '09- '10. D&G needs to catch up with me.

Oh and my ski helmet. I'm blowin' up the runway!

Ahh but this is so sick, actually. Why can't I dress like this all the time??

Fendi

I really like the top half of the dress, but mostly check out these shoes! Interesting...

Adore this shirt, and it's styled well for the runway too with the belt and a prairie dress (that I'd never wear).

Oi perfect outerwear.

Blumarine

Love the shirt & makeup (not the bag or embellishments on the pants though).

Racy and undeniably sexy.

What do you think of these dresses? Either way, so cool paired with the boots.

Alberta Ferretti (Milan Fashion Week)

Ahh the sleeve! Need an event to wear this to... omgz sorority formal?

Moschino

This jacket! Rock on.

Boots, trousers(!), motocycle helmet: all good. These trousers are so sexy.

Ferré

I really, really need this for ________ occasion. No, but really.

Listening to Coldplay

@now

Hipster Puppies

Greatest idea: cute puppies+fucking hipsters=book deal.

Check it out here:

http://hipsterpuppies.tumblr.com/

Hilarious (photoshoppppp):

"axel organizes his criterion dvds by catalog number and will snap at you if you get them out of order"

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Acrobats of God

These look kind of comfortable...

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Another one

Elizabeth and James Mason, $350

Platform heels in my favorite color.

Have

Have have have have:

7 For All Mankind Roxanne Skinny Jeans, $155

Just spotted these jeans while browsing online. These are the best jeans I've ever owned, and I've owned many, many pairs of jeans. I wear these all the time, and they've proved to be one of the best (most useful) purchases I've ever made. The grain, the color, the pocket, the stitching, the weight and composition of the denim are all just perfect. I love the subtle tone-on-tone back pocket stitching. They're super versatile, but in terms of shoes I usually like to wear this pair cuffed with flats, boat shoes or flat boots. I don't think I've ever worn them with heels. Although I didn't pay retail price when I bought these, I definitely think premium denim is worth the price premium, because you're actually buying a much better product. There's a lot of R&D that goes into it!*

*Admittedly, you pay a premium for the brand as well. But you already knew that.

Want

Want want want want:

Moschino Cheap & Chic Henry Oxford, $300.00

You know how long these beige suede shoes would last at Dartmouth, between the weather and lack of consistent pavement? That, along with the price, is why they're aspirational shoes for now. ^_^

(Dartmouth) Olympics

We are all over the Olympics, so sick. I love being part of Dartmouth, it's such a community -- I feel proud of Dartmouth alumni and their achievements.

"The U.S. Olympic Committee has hired Scott Blackmun '79 as its CEO. He previously served the committee as acting CEO and as general counsel." (New York Times, 1/10)

"Nine Dartmouth students and alumni named to Olympic teams [this year]... Dartmouth has sent representatives to every winter Olympics since the Games’ founding in 1924.

Outside the competition venues at Vancouver is another group of alumni supporting the Games, including Scott Blackmun '79, chief executive of the U.S. Olympic Committee; Gordon Campbell '70, premier of British Columbia; Max Cobb '87, executive director of US Biathlon; Dr. Edward Merrens '88, DMS '94, a USA team physician; Max Saenger '88, sport director for biathlon for the Vancouver Olympic Committee; and Stephen Wilson '55, an Olympic official for biathlon." (Dartmouth News Release 01/27)

Monday, February 22, 2010

Vivienne Westwood

One of my favorite designers. Go England.

Westwood, along with former husband Malcolm McLaren, has been called the creator of the punk aesthetic, starting at their store "Sex" in London and carried through their relationship with the Sex Pistols. Westwood took off as a designer who pushes the envelope and breathes excitement, insecurity and discomfort into fashion. Combining S&M, British history (tartans) and romanticism into her collections (see Anglomania), Westwood has intriguing vision and never bores. She makes a great show. Basically, Britain wins in terms of designers (Westwood, Galliano, McQueen...) Her shoes are stunning, too; one pair caused Naomi Campbell to fall in the 90's (12" platforms, nbd).

Check out her newest collection here.

My favorites:

I love everything about this.

shoes and jacket

mixing everything. so whimsical

i want to wear this outfit

tie headband, jacket, tights, uneven skirt

LOVE THIS! shoes are so fun

i die. bananas.

Halston

When I think of Halston, images of vintage gowns from the 1970's come to mind:

But the fall RTW collecting is fascinating, modern and completely updated. Look at the revitalized draping; the silhouettes faithful to the designer's aesthetic. Playful textures highlight throwback colors. And the shoes! So sexy. And finally, I love the felt hats. Kind of like 1970's cartoon meets 21st century city-warrior-woman. The pieces are structured and intriguingly draped, bright colors are balanced with drab shoes, textures bounce off each other...perhaps these are the themes we are supposed to pick up on? Putting cohesion, vision and experimentation aside, some of these dresses and ensembles are simply cool. Don't some of these dresses remind you of dresses you could buy at Reiss? Same category, I suppose. Check out my favorites below and the rest of the collection here

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Givers

These are five traits that people who are givers usually exhibit:

1. A sense that you can make a difference in the world

2. Empathy that enables you to truly feel the suffering of others

3. Belief that you are someone who can get things done

4. Spiritual faith in the world – -either traditional religion or an eclectic altruism

5. A focus on doing good that endures beyond your lifetime

Excerpted from Brazen Careerist

Bulletproof Music Video

I've posted on La Roux quite a bit, but I just saw her music video for "Bulletproof" for the first time (I think it was just released this week), and it's a cool one. Her bar-across-the-face eye/face makeup in the music video reminds me of the makeup I had for a fashion show I walked in: huge black bar across the eyes fringed with blue and tinged with silver. It was not a normal fashion show, haha.

"Bulletproof"

And here's "I'm Not Your Toy," which I'd also never seen the music video for. Gosh is it creepy. She's great.

Ditto "Quicksand"

Ditto "In For The Kill"

She's a freak, and I love her, and she is just too cool.

imbroglio

Wow, I just learned a new word I've never seen before in my life and I will share it.

imbroglio (noun)

an extremely confused, complicated, or embarrassing situation : the Watergate imbroglio

Saturday, February 20, 2010

On Luck

I enjoyed reading this excerpt by Ben Casnocha. It's really amazing the amount of reading material that exists on the internet.

Excerpt 1: How to Maximize Luck

From Chapter 8

I made mistakes when we hired our interim CEO, but I also got unlucky. Sometimes that’s the way things go. In my view, luck is the single most underrated component of success. Fortunately, there are many things you can do to maximize your chances of being lucky.

1. Expose yourself to as much randomness as possible. Attend conferences no one else is attending. Read books no one else is reading. Talk to people no one else is talking to. Who would have thought that giving a speech at a funeral at age twelve would introduce me to a man who would introduce me to my first business contact who would introduce to several other important people in my life? That's luck. That's randomness.

A/N: I definitely think this is true -- some of the most amazing things that have happened to me have been largely luck-related and random. And they're even more amazing because of the randomness. I had a friend who told me that he was infamously jammy* (lucky, basically) amongst his friends ... dunno about the truth of that, but I recall that he really did love doing tons of random things.

2. Trust in probabilities of luck. I think life works in peaks and valleys. Every time luck doesn't go my way I believe a piece of good luck is right around the corner—you always bounce up after hitting rock bottom. Similarly, whenever I get lucky I prepare myself for weathering a dip. Knowing this, I can always mitigate a rough stretch and make the most of the good times.

A/N: Reminds me of religion, faith, spirituality, karma... and luck? I think they're all related, at least a little. Connected by some thread.

3. Trick yourself. Self-deception is essential for high self-esteem. It's OK to take more credit than you deserve, in your own mind, for successes. It's OK to think that you can outwork and outpassion anyone who competes with you. It's OK to attribute soaring victories to a tireless work ethic. It's OK if these are slight exaggerations. After all, how many people attribute "good luck" to their wins? Far fewer than those who attribute "bad luck" to their losses! Stay humble, especially on the outside, but consider yourself (privately) as unstoppable.

A/N: This is sweet. A sort of "believe in yourself the most!" missive.

This is kind of a different post than usual... feel free to leave feedback!

*British slang, I think. UrbanDictionary definition:

	jammy	177 up, 72 down
	flukey,lucky,defying probability with outrageous good fortune 'That was a jammy pool shot', said the guy playing pool in Geraldton.

Dissipating Confidence in the Runway

“Fashion today is an unstructured landscape in which ideas and trends exist concurrently,” said Simon Doonan, the creative director for Barneys New York. The notion, he added, of deconstructing and interpreting the runways for directions is stale, if not archaic. “It just doesn’t work anymore.”

- From a NYTimes article

This is exactly what I've been thinking recently -- re the majority of what I'm seeing on the runway in the past seasons (much less magazine editorials), I've had the feeling of "oh, that's pretty... but nothing I've never seen before."* Granted there must be plenty of designers doing new things, but they're not showing in the fashion tents to Hamish, Anna, Carine etc. I know I've logged quite a few posts on NY fashion week recently, but I don't feel like NY Fashion Week runways have conveyed anything new yet. I'm still waiting for something this season - something amazing, something fantasmical. Maybe next season...

*Exception: McQueen's amazing alien dresses last season. RIP.