"Oh I used to be disgusted, but now I try to be amused. But since their wings have got rusted, you know, the angels wanna wear my red shoes." -Elvis Costello

YSL Rive Gauche, Fall 2003Not one single woman I know would turn her nose up at the ruby slippers, for instance. Talk about the shoes that launched a thousand ships! From the moment the Wicked Witch of the East's striped legs curled up and her shoes found their way onto Dorothy's feet, we all sat up and paid attention to our shoe wardrobes. Sadly, our own collections do not transmit in such technicolor glory, but every pair of red shoes we own lends itself to this fantasy. By the way, did you know that the magical slippers in the Wizard of Oz were meant to be silver, like in the book? The legend goes that Louis B. Mayer paid a visit to the set and realizing the power of the new technicolor format, he made the slippers ruby instead. Mr. Mayer, if you only knew...

Jim Fixx's Onitsuka TigersOf course there's blue suede and black patent, but the most iconic shoes are the red ones. It makes sense since most every culture in the world uses red for celebrations and as a symbol of luck and happiness. It is thought that as humans, the color red encourages us to action and confidence, while it protects us from fears and anxiety. Add all of this to the power and confidence inherent in a well-made, beautifully-designed pair of shoes and you come up with a heady cocktail indeed.

But it's not just "fashion" shoes that are iconic; Jim Fixx launched an athletic revolution with his cherry red Onitsuka Tigers on the cover of The Complete Book of Running - a seminal work in the world of personal fitness. Think about it, without those sleek red beauties, would there have been Jazzercise or Jane Fonda Workout or spin class or bootcamp? I grant you it's a reach, but I'd be willing to bet that a lot of the world's current health and well-being is owed to a pair of red sneakers from 1977. 

And then there's The Red Shoes. This stunning Powell and Pressburger film from 1948 has probably inspired most of today's professional dancers and performing artists. Based upon a Hans Christian Andersen story about a girl who sees some red shoes in a shop window and has to have them, only to learn too late that the shoes are possessed and she will never be able to take them off again. Or, as Boris Lermontov explains in the film:

""The Ballet of The Red Shoes" is from a fairy tale by Hans Andersen. It is the story of a young girl who is devoured with an ambition to attend a dance in a pair of Red Shoes. She gets the shoes and goes to the dance. For a time, all goes well and she is very happy. At the end of the evening she is tired and wants to go home, but the Red Shoes are not tired. In fact, the Red Shoes are never tired. They dance her out into the street, they dance her over the mountains and valleys, through fields and forests, through night and day. Time rushes by, love rushes by, life rushes by, but the Red Shoes go on."

Christian Louboutin Feather Ankle-Wrap D'Orsay for Fall 2008So what is a girl to do? On the one foot, red shoes are powerful and glamorous while on the other foot they're troubling and leading the wearer into mischief. The beauty of this connundrum is that red shoes carry both messages; they're beauty and beast in one. Totally intrepid and not for the passive wearer, they demand attention, action, and daring, even if that daring can cause some problems. Above all they require a certain amount of commitment to oneself and one's fashion prowess. You want to wear the red shoes - you don't want them to wear you.

Red shoes make me happy. It's all of the messaging and metaphor of innocence, sex, art, glamor, and life rolled into a single pair of shoes. But more than that, they seem to just smile at you from the shoe box as if to say "you know when you put me on you're going to have a fabulous day..." A box of promise just waiting to happen. Isn't it nice to know you own a pair?

I mentioned this book a few posts ago in the Lit Tag, but now that I've read the entire book I have to say that I'm really haunted. I cannot tell if I even like the Marchesa as a person, but I am completely enthralled by her ceaseless devotion to art and creativity - both in herself and others. So, the whole snakes and monkeys thing sort of creeped me out, but how shockingly fabulous would it be to wear a little coiled snake as a dramatic necklace at a dinner party? Or to walk a pet cheetah or alligator like they were the family Jack Russell? As the authors did state, the Marchesa's quest to always out-do herself got a bit stale over the years; her profligate lifestyle becoming almost insulting during political and economic crises, while her overbearing eccentricity hid an ever-growing personal insecurity. As a quote from Maurice Druon said in the book: "Eccentricity is tolerable only in its first freshness. Cherished until it has gone stale, it becomes unbearably pathetic and at the same time alarming."

Eccentricities aside, the Marchesa did accomplish exactly what she set out to do: become a living work of art. Her personal style of medusa-like curls dyed bright red, large black-rimmed eyes, sleek gowns, and hats swathed in veils have influenced many fashion designers, writers, and film directors. Even toward the end of the Marchesa's life when she was forced to live in poverty, her tattered elegance recalls everyone from Dickens' Miss Havisham through to Big and Little Edie from Grey Gardens. While one cannot help but feel sorry for one of Europe's former glitterati in her late-life squalor, looking at the reach of her influence you can see this is not how she is remembered.

In 1998, John Galliano for Christian Dior Haute Couture created a masterpiece of runway theatre when he presented an entire collection honoring the Marchesa Casati. Shown at the Paris Opera Garnier, the show was said to be surreal, haunting, and overwhelmingly elaborate. After trolling through the internet, I was able to find this news clip covering the show from so long ago...

The Marchesa Casati by Augustus John
La Marchesa Luisa Casati with a Grehound by Giovanni BoldiniFollowing-up on some of Luisa Casati's portraits, I learnt more about Augustus John and Giovanni Boldini, both of whom painted significant images of the enigmatic woman. In 2003, London's Royal Academy of Arts held an exhibition Pre-Raphaelite and Other Masters: The Andrew Lloyd Webber Collection, which included Boldini's 1908 portrait of the Marchesa with her Greyhound. Art historian Christopher Wood stated: "The staggering Boldini portrait of the legendary Marchesa Casati is surely the greatest portrait of the Belle Epoque." Augustus John's 1919 portrait is considered a twentieth-century masterpiece, and was purchased by the Art Gallery of Ontario in 1934, while the tripe-eye photograph of the Marchesa taken by Man Ray in her hotel suite at the Paris Ritz is considered the first and most important of Surrealist photographs. Even the Marchesa's famous ruin of a home in Venice, the Palazzo Venier dei Leoni on the Grand Canal, was purchased in 1949 by Peggy Guggenheim and now houses the prestigious Guggenheim Museum.

Thought to be lost, another major portrait by Romaine Brooks has recently been recovered and is in a private collection. Hopefully an image will become available sometime soon! Having never seen any of Brooks' work, (now impossible to believe) I have enjoyed looking at her paintings, finding them incredibly odd, yet beautiful, and certainly very modern for their time. Likewise, the work of Giovanni Boldini is now among my favorites for its romantic yet impressionistic style. I've learnt that a handful of Boldini's pieces even reside in San Francisco!  

Her influence is not limited to art and fashion, however. Vosges Haut Chocolat created a special collection of Marchesa Truffles which are available only in December. "Black sea salt caramel ensconced in 85% bittersweet dark chocolate and real freshwater pearl dust." A very fitting tribute.

My friend Michael Mattis wrote a piece about this book and La Casati on Dandyism.net a few years ago, wondering if the Marchesa could be considered "a dandy"; if she were a man then no doubt the term would apply, but as a woman? According to Mr. Mattis, even if the Marchesa were a dandy, being androgynous, masculine, and beautifully dressed as she was, she wasn't elegant enough for the term to apply. True, the Marchesa was heavy-handed with everything from eyeliner to pearls to gold lamé, but I would hold off on the dandy label anyway. To me, the Marchesa's androgyny and aggressive extravagances set off her distinct womanhood, I don't find her masculine at all. This, like Marlene Dietrich or an Yves Saint Laurent Smoking, make the true woman. The Marchesa's style was all about NOT being manly, but being every bit the independent, entitled woman that she was born to be in this world.

As another fashion designer, Elsa Schiaparelli, stated about La Casati: "Tall and gaunt with heavily made-up eyes, she represented a past age of splendor when a few beautiful and wealthy women adopted an almost brutally individualistic way of living and presenting themselves to the public."

The rest of us should be so brave... 

Portriat of Marchesa Casati, Man Ray 1922

The Marchesa Casati, Augustus John 1919, Art Gallery of Ontario 

The Marchesa Luisa Casati with a Greyhound, Giovanni Boldini 1908, collection of Sir Andrew Lloyd Weber

Before I get into my favorites, I must say that the two main trends that stuck out to me were the continuing influence of letterpressed stationery, and the increasing usage of natural woods in jewelry and accessories. I wouldn't have thought of wood jewelry beyond the odd bangle here and there, but there is a growing group of artisans who design and craft incredibly professional, modern pieces of wood. No hippy-dippy trinkets here! Pieces are very finished, smooth, shaped and polished to beautiful shapes and rich grains. Clearly this is the influence of all things organic and eco-chic, but leave that image of undyed-cottons and lumpy hemps out of your mind. This is a trend even fashionistas can get behind!

Wood pieces from TweeThe first (and favorite) wood crafter I saw was Twee - a design pair of two ladies from our norther neighbor, Canada. Twee crafts beautiful buttons, earrings, brooches and other odds and ends from natural wood. They even offer a few knit pieces with wood embellishments. "Our Moms do our knitting," one of the designers told me. Now that's twee if I ever heard it.

Don't Quilt Your Day Job offered fantastic quilted "bags of bags" - the annoying plastic bags handed out at grocery and mass-market stores are patchworked together into reduced and reused grocery and lunch bags. These are light enough to be stashed in your big handbag and whipped out for any use, but also eye-catching; the many logos of the mass-market retailers put in sneak appearances. Very cheeky! 

I indulged in a small notebook from Vinyl Frontier - they make different sizes of journals covered in vintage album covers. Cropped to showcase the best part of the album art, I had a very difficult time deciding between Thriller, Tower of Power's Back to Oakland, The Beatles' Revolver, and any number from Frank Sinatra. In the end I went with The Beat of the Brass from Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass...'cause, you know, Herb's my guy. So now I have a gorgeous book covered by a field of yellow flowers and some dudes in tuxedos. Love.  

Pie Bird PressI was very happy to see one of my favorite stationery lines, Pie Bird Press, and their many colorful and elegant cards presented in such an adorable way. It's only appropriate to put them into candy dishes since that's just how appealing they are...

Another stationery line that absolutely wowed me was the San Francisco line of Hearts & Anchors - modern but slightly Victorian and very witty, and all letterpress. The website is beautiful too! I love getting a history of any craft technique and then tying it back into the product line - very smart!

Ted Lights from Domestic ConstructionAs soon as I spied the "Ted" light fixture from Domestic Construction, I ran across the room to take a closer look. Made from vintage teacups, these lights are available as singles, or as a full cluster made to your customization. This brand also creates surface designs and a few other things, but they are moving into light fixtures full-time, hoping to launch a collection of vintage glass lights sometime in the very near future. Could not help but be impressed!

There was an amazing amount of note-worthy jewelry, as there always is at any craft fair, but only a few really jumped out at me... First, the Lucymachine line of metal pieces is just incredible. Modern, technical, faceted - looking much more professional and finished than mere "craft". I loved the interesting shapes and lines created by the designers - they look industrial and a little tough, but they also have a lightness that is difficult to come by when a young brand.

Like a Fox's original merchandising...Like a Fox jewelry comes from vintage findings, put together to create bold, unsual pieces. Colorful and a little bit odd, these are the kind of pieces you wish you were clever enough to have put together yourself. I also loved the way their booth was merchandised - ornate frames painted black used to showcase the jewelry - sweet, yet unexpected.

I absolutely LOVED the Jessica(fied) line of jewelry. Also made from found elements, these pieces group unusual mixes of beads and charms with vintage statement elements.  I really have to get one of these, but I was too perplexed about which to choose! Maybe I'll request one just for me...

Finally, the haunting artwork of Michelle Caplan was wonderful to see in person. A mixture of collage, vintage images, text, and vivid colors, the pieces look simple on the surface but are difficult to leave behind due to their deep richness. The artist will make individual comissioned work for very reasonable rates too - a perfect gift for birthdays and big anniversaries.

Overall, I sincerely hope the Renegade group will bring the craft fair back to SF again - maybe in time for Christmas? I can hardly wait to see the next gathering of good stuff...

Etsy Shops:

Twee - natural wood necklaces, earrings, buttons, etc... 

Vinyl Frontier - notebooks covered in vintage album art... 

Lucymachine - metal jewelry from Seattle, WA... 

Jessica(fied) - charm jewelry made from found and vintage elements... 

Michelle Caplan - collage art made from vintage photos and text... 

Not to be too clever, propitious, keen, learned, sparkling, and effulgent or anything, but I now have to name my own 7 recipients to keep the award-love flowing...

Cuffington - Catie's style is a daily treat! Most of the fashion blogs that feature self-portraiture make me want to scratch myself - do people really pose like that? really? who? - but her pairings are creative, elegant, and poised. Not janky thrift-store unflatteringness here!

Jello on Springs - First of all, the name derived from one of my favorite lines from Some Like it Hot has always fascinated me, (I shoulda thought of that!) but the site content is just fantastic. A mix of personal style shots (likewise low-key and natural) and other spots, and always interesting!

The Luxe Chronicles - My darling Helene...keeping things elevated, sophisticated, and complex in a blogosphere that is all-too-often flooded with dumbed-down mediocrity.

Just My Cup of Tea - Keeping things airy, light, fun, but still worldly...that's Beth who's been my favorite cup of tea each day for many months now...

Muni Manners - Here's to both SFMuniLady01 & 02 - you two and all your etiquette wisdom are a breath of fresh air in the weird world of public transportation. Thanks so much for putting a voice to the quiet majority of nice people just trying to get to work on time and not piss anyone off.

Circle A Line - All things Alice...Charming, quirky, funny, and otherwise out-there. At any rate, this is one of my favorite spots for a very brilliant diversion.

Platinum Blonde Life - Melanie in NYC keeps me in the loop on all things fashionable and popular. (I've told you all I can't do it myself!) Which makes me wonder: just how does SHE do it?

Doing some quick research and jotting down some of my own favorite things related to two, I came up with the following:

Position #2 on a baseball team is the catcher, my favorite position. The catcher is like a drummer in a band - keep the rhythm going and everyone working together...

Helium has an atomic number of 2, and I love how my voice sounds when I start inhaling baloons.

Led Zeppelin 2 is my favorite album from that band - for some reason I love playing it when I'm cooking...hmmm. 

While two connotes heroes & sidekicks, dynamic duos, and the like, you cannot escape that the square root of two is one - the first irrational number. So, the cheese stands alone, which is great because I like being a one-woman show for now. Yup, I'm the partridge and I suppose P&C is the pear tree, or whatever...

Thanks to all of my fabulous fans and readers! Thanks for visiting, reading, subscribing, commenting... You're the best audience a simple gal from SF could have!

Happy Bastille Day everyone! To commemorate the date I've posted one of my favorite Paris images: the room in the Louvre that holds La Joconde on a summer afternoon. Yes, in high tourist season you can't even get close. 

I took this the last time I was in Paris a few years ago and thought the scene was utterly hilarious. It always makes me wonder, why take a picture of a painting behind bullet-proof glass when you can go to the gift shop and buy a postcard reproduction?

At any rate, the Mona Lisa is such an ubiquitous symbol of France that I thought it appropriate for the day.

I'm not a huge fan of the painting, but she does have an intriguing history, which most people overlook. Leonardo da Vinci completed the portrait of Lisa del Giocondo while living in France toward the end of his life. François I invited him to France and da Vinci was only too happy to accept since it is believe he was being run out of Italy due to rumours of his homosexuality. François I purchased the painting and kept it at Fontainebleau, until it was given to Louis XIV. Louis XIV moved it to Versailles, where it remained until after the Revolution, when it was moved to the Louvre for a short time. Napoleon I quickly appropriated it for his bedroom in the Tuileries Palace, but it was eventually returned to the Louvre once again. Apart from being hidden during many conflicts and wars, and one notable case of theft during the early 20th Century, La Joconde has remained at the Louvre for all these years. Now that she has such a nice, climate-controlled chamber, I sincerely doubt she'll ever leave.

Vive la France! 

We all know that PR is due to go to the Lifetime Network after this season, and that production is moving to Los Angeles - tragic and double-tragic! So, I found it interesting that for season 1 it was still co-produced by Project Greenlight. I remember being attracted to the cache of indie-filmmaking that the Project Greenlight title lent this project, thinking that with the Weinsteins involved it would probably have some smarts to it. It did, and Project Runway is still smart...let's see what happens when Lifetime bleeps out the rest of the dialogue.

To complete the post, I've added images of the jackets that I brought to the audition - the same ones that Tim Gunn thought were unsophisticated... I think he'd love me if he really got to know me!

June 2004

Alright Sportsfans...here's the low-down on what transpired at The Standard Hotel in downtown LA yesterday....If I didn't tell you before...I went to LA for an open call audition for an upcoming Reality TV show being produced by Bravo. I know what you're thinking, but no, I wouldn't do it unless it was appropriate. This one is going to be called "Project Runway" and is being put on by Miramax, Project Greenlight, Elle magazine, etc., and is meant to showcase up-and-coming fashion designers. You can read about it here:http://www.bravotv.com/Project_Runway/ I found out about this only on Friday afternoon, but after much encouragment from most everyone I know, and after getting the go-ahead from my wonderful boss, Audrey...I took off for LA in Betty Beetle on Monday afternoon. I stayed with my friend Joanne in Westwood on Monday night and left for The Standard at around 6:30 yesterday morning.

I was in line by 7:15, and there was your typical array of crazy designer types there. (A lot of BAD outfits, and a lot of BAD Vuitton counterfeits... ;-) GenArt was the company organizing the whole thing, and they didn't get their act together to give out applications, etc. until about 8:45. (Everything was supposed to start at 8...) First there was the headshot - a quick polaroid, and then the 10-page questionnaire. It included your basic job application hoo-hah, but also things about fashion & whatnot: Can you sew?, Can you make your own patterns?, Who are your favorite/least favorite designers?, What is your design philosophy?, What are your favorite movies?, What TV shows do you watch?, What is your most embarassing moment?, What are your best & worst characteristics?....Yes, it was a cross between a job application and an online dating questionnaire.

So, I'm standing there in line reading my book (Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides...) and the production people are moving through giving out pages, taking pictures, and then there's a cameraman & interviewer doing short spot-interviews with everyone in line. So I get interviewed: "Just look at me, not at the camera, and answer all of my questions with complete sentences." Then this gal goes on to explain to me what complete sentences are...Then, she goes on to ask me what I'm reading, and wether or not I'm actually a reader or if I'm "just reading to look smart." (Honestly - she said that.)This little interview was something like, your name, your line, why are you here, who are your influences, etc... nothing special. But everyone's running around with headsets on and talking to each other and being FABulous.

So I'm application #23...At around 9:45 I get asked to enter the hotel lobby, where I wait with numbers 6 - 22...If you've never sat in the lobby of The Standard on a Tuesday morning, well, it's not as hot as it would like to be. In that space, it's Friday night all the time. I have to say the fuschia mohair couches we were sitting on provided some doleur exquise, and the bass was sufficiently bumpin' for that hour of the day. I don't know about you, but if you're heading into the most nerve-wracking moment of your life, and you've barely been able to keep down that Cafe Americano you had three hours ago, you probably don't want to be hanging out in a trendy hotel lobby cum nightclub where again, everyone is running around with headsets on and talking to each other and being FABulous. I keep trying to tell myself "Fortune Favors the Bold" while really I'm asking myself "What am I doing here?" What on earth posessed me to get in my car and drive to LA and think this was something I wanted to do? It's then that I realize I need to start thinking about controlling my oxygen intake. While waiting there, the gal next to me gets an instant message from her friend, who is still outside in line with the other 200-odd people saying that someone had just been chosen. "Can you believe it -they picked some guy. Isn't that great - his life just completely changed!" I guess she thought I'd be excited...?

So, finally my number gets called and the PA (one of the ones with a headset being terribly important) takes me up to the fourth floor to what is entitled "The Holding Room." A basic hotel room crowded with 3PAs and about 5 contestants and their designs. Of course, this is The Standard, so the beds are perched on low platforms on the floor, and the bass is bumpin' in here too...The tension is palpable and you can hear the empty, nervous, laughter ringing around the room. One person goes out to the hall with a PA to wait (like they're on deck) while the person before them gives their presentation. I'm doing my best to keep breathing and give off an overall impression of insousiance - I'm not sure how well it worked. They bring up the next designer to the holding room - a young gal who was in line behind me, who seems to travel only with her hipster boyfriend who is also her own personal photographer. The minute they arrive in the room, they toss themselves onto the bed and cuddle up in the pillows. It's basically controlled chaos, until one of the more-senior PAs comes to call my number. She's cool in that she actually smiles and has nice words of encouragement too. You can tell she's one of those successful assistant-director types with her cute heels, jeans skirt and...(talk about insouciance)...lemon yellow Marc Jacobs tweed jacket from last spring. Head to toe, I'd say she was wearing about $2000 worth of clothes, but had a sweet, ditsy air about herself: Who me? Designer clothes? No way! Honestly, she looked like the type that simply had rumpled Marc Jacobs jackets scattered all over the floor of her room, picked up *this* one, gave it a sniff test and decided to go with it.

She takes me to the hall where I'm told to wait once again. I have my four samples and my portfolio...meanwhile, a door down the hall opens and a cool Alicia Keys look-alike comes out beaming. She's the second designer to be chosen to go to the next cut phase. Immediately, a director, cameraman, and sound tech follow her with the camera light on...the director starts staging the shot: "Okay, pretend you just got out of the audtion, you aced it, and you're siked....tell us how you feel!" So, while I'm standing there waiting, Alicia Keys look-alike is telling the camera that this is the best day of her life...(You may see me in the background in episode one...) Apparently the judges need a break, so I'm kept waiting in the hall for a few more minutes. I think that during this time the four judges (fashion experts whom I've never heard of before with the exception of Sue Wong - whose stuff I've only ever seen on Bluefly or at Loehmann's - expert what?) are told that there are still about 200 people outside and they need to speed things along. I'm invited in the room, and as my coats are put on the rolling rack, my portfolio is whisked out of my hands and flipped through rather callously. All the while I'm being told to pay attention to the camera that's filming me on my left, and to ignore the roomful of producers & directors who are behind me. After about twenty seconds of perusing my portfolio (without context or presentation from me,) the man expert (Tim something...no one really introduced themselves...) told me very quickly that: "I'm just going to be frank Annie, what we're seeing of your designs is not going to be SOPHISTICATED enough to COMPETE with what we've already chosen..." At this I can't really muster a response, so the panel of four continue with a patronizing babe-in-the-woods talk..."Maybe you could get an internship with a designer," and "Don't worry - you'll be able to find a job..." At which point I realize that none of them have read the application that's in front of them, and know absolutely nothing about me...I reply with: "Well - I HAVE a job..." And when I tell them my employer, they all shriek with delight: "Why, that's WON-DER-FUL!!!" And then, for as long as I was waiting to see them, I am just as quickly excused from their presence with nothing more than the idea that I'm not sophisticated enough to compete. Never mind the fact that my resume and 10-page profile state that I've costumed five plays, have a bachelor's, have gone to night school in fashion for 2 1/2 years, AND work for the benchmark brand of fashion and luxury goods...Hmmm. I guess I'm just not sophisticated, and certainly not sophisticated enough to stand there and alert them to their oversight.

And so begins my drive back up the I-5...All is well I realize. They are probably looking for a bunch of over-the-top boat-rockers that have barely any work ethic so that they can create DRAMA DRAMA DRAMA. I also realize that they don't know shit about me or what I'm capable of, and even more so, that I'll one day be able to say that I was cut from "Project Runway..." Writing up that application was good too - I learned about myself and my design style just by having to write it down and think it over...something I hadn't really done before. Truth be told - I'm about as American as apple pie. I listed "The Philadelphia Story" and "Meet Me in Louis" as two of my favorite films, mostly cooking and home improvement shows as TV programs I watch, and with the exception of Catherine Malandrino and John Galliano, I picked all American designers as my favorites... Yes, exotic stuff, but it's me. So...in case you were ever wondering about reality TV, you've got the real skinny.

Photos by Robert Schroeder, 2005 

Heirloom tomatoes... I LOVE these summertime gems of culinary delight. Their odd shapes, striped colorations in every shade from deep plum to ochre, and the intense tomato flavor. Just a dusting of Kosher salt and a teensy bit of extra virgin olive oil and...pure bliss!

I Survived a Japanese Game Show... Okay, so forget Wipeout which precedes this show on ABC and transport yourself directly to the madcap mayhem of a Japanese game show called "Majide" or "You've Got to be Crazy!" Anything on major-network primetime in an Asian language with subtitles is risky programming, and this is good shit. Velcro walls? penguins versus moneys? tricycle dunk tanks? wind tunnels? a Mama-san in the group house? "Big Splash!" Oh, and there's "Judge Bob" too - let's just say that as far as emoting big words goes, Bob Barker has a new competitor...

Chanel Couture for Fall 2008... Wow, what a collection! Gorgeous, wearable, tailored, chic... Kaiser Karl brought it home big-time with this collection and I cannot stop going back to look at the runway pics again and again. Coats, sheaths, tweeds, little kicks of fur, and incredible evening gowns. The promise of Fall...if only it came with the promise of couture in my closet.

Project Runway 5... Begins next Wednesday! Can you believe it? I'm blocking out the entire evening and popping a bottle. Who will be the next Hot Mess Ferocia Tranny? The suspense is so exciting... If you want to join me at my place, you're welcome but...no talking, bitch. 

Cinema Supper Club at the Legion of Honor Museum... The Legion reissues its Thursday night film series with a set of San Francisco films for the summer! I swear, someone in the museum world is totally in tune with my mind. Beginning this Thursday with a sold-out evening of Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo (period dress encouraged,) the series continues every Thursday until the end of August with other stalwart SF films such as The Conversation, Harold & Maude, and Bullitt. Of course, I would have thrown in Petulia and Dark Passage for good measure, but that's just me.

Mad Men... Another case of bottled promise: Mad Men returns this summer for season 2! Get your double-dose of mysogyny and mid-century modern in one place! People think that Gossip Girl is the most stylish show on television, but I would put GG at a close second to this fabulously designed and meticulously styled television masterpiece. After all of the broadcasting dreck this summer, this will be a sight for sore eyes! The costumes, the furniture, the upholstery on the furniture, the bar glasses, the booze bottles, the tie clips holding back the ever-so-thin neckties... Not only well-written, mysterious, sexy, masculine, rife with cigarette smoke and Brylcreme, this show is just a shight to behold. New episodes begin on July 27th - catch up on season 1 episodes On Demand!

Michelle Obama O-Rama... Lest we forget, this summer is promising a fall election and it's time we all brushed up on the issues! Remember how the style of Jackie Kennedy helped her husband to the White House? Well, a new blog is likewise devoted to the sartorial presence of one candidate's stylish wife: Michelle Obama. The site? Michelle Obama O-Rama, of course! This site is just getting going, but there's good stuff up there and surely more to come through November and beyond... 

Rules:

1. Pick up the nearest book
2. Open to page 123
3. Find the fifth sentence
4. Post the next three sentences
5. Tag 5 people, acknowledge who tagged you.

I'm currently reading three different books, but the one nearest at hand is entitled Infinite Variety about the Marchesa Luisa Casati. (After reading a mention of her in Simon Doonan's Eccentric Glamour, I had to learn more! So glad I did!) Her gothic style and rich-girl goes BoHo ways are right up my alley!

Apart from being completely eccentric, sexy, glamorous, a muse to many artists, and rich as Croesus, she lived in a ruin of a palazzo on the Grand Canal in Venice for a time, when she was known to walk her pet cheetas through the Piazza San Marco in the middle of the night wearing nothing more than a fur coat. One of her beauty secrets, along with a healthy dose of kohl around the eyes, was to use belladonna eyedrops - a method (now known to be extremely dangerous) for dilating the pupils and making the eyes look larger.

Can you tell I'm captivated?  

Here is from page 123 of Infinite Variety by Scot D. Ryersson & Michael Orlando Yaccarino: 

"Returning to the dining room, hung with black velvet and lit by innumerable black candles flicering from the chamber's silver chandeliers, the Marchesa invited Sorel to perform a selection of recitations. throughout the presentation, Luisa stood as rigidly as a statue in the far corner of the room, eerily illuminated by the candlelight, while, as Sorel noted, "drops continued to fall from her shoulders and gilded sides." The guests departed beneath cloud-ridden skies and punding rain. This disappointing baptismal fete for the Palais Rose would prove to be a harbinger of darker misfortunes to come."

I'm tagging:

Wendy Brandes
The Luxe Chronicles
Lola is Beauty
She's a Betty
Almost Girl 

The Marchesa Luisa Casati with a Greyhound by Giovanni Boldoni, 1908 

The whole thing has put me in mind of one of my favorite cartoons, though. Looney Tunes' Duck Amuck from 1951.I love the artistry of Chuck Jones, the voices of Mel Blanc, and the fabulous zingers that seem so quick to come to my own lips this week, such as: "Would it be too much to ask if we could make up our minds...hmmm?" or "Look Mac, just what's goin' on around here?" or "It isn't as though I haven't lived up to my end of the contract, goodness knows..." or "Brother...what a way to run a railroad!" or " Now look buster, let's have an understanding..." and finally..."Alright wise guy, where am I?" 

The whole thing would make so much more sense if I were, in fact, an animated duck. I wait in hope. Here's to the end of a nutty week!

So, without further ado, I bid you a very Happy Friday and an exceptionally bon weekend, and give you Looney Tunes' Duck Amuck... 

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