bringing it back to 2007

the style of the Beales

The original 1975 version by Albert and David Maysles documented the fall from glory of Edith Bouvier Beale and "Little Edie" Beale, the cousins of the former first lady Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onnassis. Here, read the IMDb review


Grey Gardens was the name of their East Hamptons holiday home where the mother and daughter ended up living alone together with the house slowly falling into a state of disrepair, existing in a disabling co-dependent relationship with their lives haunted by memories of glamorous days as Manhattan socialites and unfulfilled dreams of happiness.


In 2009 a new movie was made about Grey Gardens, based on the original documentary. Drew Barrymore played Little Edie and Jessica Lange had the role of Big Edith. The situation was truly tragic, Little Edie had her life snatched from her by her controlling mother whose bitter resentment at her own unfulfilled life made her keep her daughter from the world... A complex relationship complicated by enormous loss.

Little Edie








Drew Barrymore as Little Edie












Big Edith and Little Edie (2009)











The family fell apart and the house was so dilapidated that they were eventually forced to live in only a few of the rooms as there was no heating, the roof was falling off and the windows falling out, the empty rooms were filled with stray cats and racoons, there was no money to pay the bills or to buy food.

Yet all the while they lived under an air of proud glamour from their upper class background. Despite their impoverished situation Little Edie is a style inspiration; many of her clothes were worn so she could move with ease and dance around and she had an ingenius way of wrapping scarves and items of clothing around her head to cover the fact that her hair had traumatically fallen out.

pink to make the boys wink

Five days in Paris showed me how a person's style can be emanated through simply dressing in black. It's simple, it's beautiful, but it's a little bit dark. I'm not saying dull, it's actually an inspiring achievement how they can look plain yet still interesting. Unfortunately my camera broke on my first day (what are the chances??!) booooo so I have next to no photographs, but I'll do a post on it next week when I get copies from people in my class.

Black looks good on Parisians. And black looks good on Swedes. It probably helps that nature is on their side giving them amazing genetic makeup, but what about the rest of us Joe Bloggs? In the gloom of the recession we are being advised to be smart about how we dress, sensible investment pieces and key wardrobe items that are versatile before they are anything else. And black is always a safe option, it’s timeless and it looks good day or night.

But like I said, it’s a little bit dark.

Our Celtic Tiger was like the Roaring Twenties, all round wealth, success, good times. Then in 1929 it came crashing to a halt with Black Thursday. Dun dun duhhhh... A day after which Elsa Schiaparelli sent shockwaves through the world of fashion with the launch of her extravagant fashion label, bringing eccentric designs into clothing of the time. It is she who we can thank for the colour 'hot' or 'shocking' pink as she called it; a colour “life-giving, like all the light and the birds and the fish in the world put together, a color of China and Peru but not of the West”. And with everybody weary of the pervading darkness the current economic situation is casting over society it's nice to see a bit of pink poking through the winter gloom.

Alexis Mabille

Marc Jacobs

Dolce and Gabbana

















There was one coat in this collection I really don't like. I mean really don't like it. The shape reminds me of Cousin Itt from the Aadams family. Plus I think if you're going to wear fur at least WEAR FUR.What's the point in taking the life of an animal if you're only going to drown it in chemicals so it no longer resembles what you killed it for in the first place??

















And we can look forward to springtime with rose tinted glasses, quite literally heehee. I love the Moschino cheap and chic collection. It's pink and features the word "shocking" on garments and a necklace, Schiaparelli would be chuffed:


I am ESPECIALLY in love with the henry oxfords, if only a prince charming would come along looking for his cinderella with a size five pair of these in his hands...

we'd live happily ever after, me and my shoes together. la la la

inter-library loan

This was my "i'm not really a nerd" outfit for today





the quality of these photos is abysmal

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listening to:

love through a lens

just because.







- all photos by Waldemar & Max -

kawaii

Kawaii: cuteness, in Japanese.

In relation to Japanese fashion the first association that always comes to mind are the Harajuku girls. I can appreciate their originality and the cultural resistance from which it formed, but it's simply not my cup of tea. I find their quirky, manga-inspired, colourful, patterned, somewhat gothic Lolita, style just a bit excessive.

So it was a pleasant surprise to find myself liking the designs of Eri Utsugi. She has taken the fun aspects of Japanese fashion and brought them to a (slightly) more mature level.



Yes there she is popping out of the stage. Heee

Her label, Mercibeaucoup, is run under the Issey Miyake company and yeah, it's cute.





really comfortable life sized dolls much?





and this is what I wore today; today being a day where I left the house only to go to the shop to buy milk and the rest of it spent feeling sorry for my hungover self



a cut-up flannelette nightdress from a charity shop over an american apparel dress with grey cable knit tights from topshop. Frilled with heart patterened lace: my very own cuteness.

Thumbs down

Occasionally I come across a thing or two I dislike.

This winter it was that Panda Hat from River Island. In theory it's a cute idea. Girls like teddy bears and panda bears are like huge teddy bears, so why not use the way you dress to express who you are: cuddly girly little sweetie pie.Or, like Katy Perry at whom the finger of blame could be pointed for this trend epidemic, showing that the leather clad chic has a soft side underneath her tough exterior. But it has reached the stage that walking down the street you could be forgiven for thinking you had encountered some sort of animal rights activation rally where all participants were dressed en-masse in light of their protest.



I also mentioned in an earlier post my dislike at the thought of the return of sportswear as everydaywear. Just as everyone was finishing burying their memories of the phat man pants and ugg boots ensembles that raged for so long, the track suit comes out to haunt us. Well, not exactly the track suit but elements of it. Designers like Proenza Schouler, Elie Tahari and Yigal Azrouel are amongst the designers where the 'Game Theory' features most strongly in their spring collections


But now Topshop is onboard so it looks like there's going to be no escaping it. Topshop Unique is embracing the style of American 1970's West Coast sportswear and aside from harem-style jersey cotton track pants the collection offers sportswear inspired details such as elasticated straps, plastic toggles and rubberised zips.

mc-ice-queen

With the country still in a state of pandemonium because of the weather I thought it a perfect day for creating a hullabaloo of my own with Alexander McQueen's ss2010 collection.






The designs are creatively amazing, they look like glacial ice queens! Glacial here perhaps being a word the importance of which I am underestimating, as the extremes of weather we are experiencing are but a reminder of the serious issue of the melting ice caps and global warming that the world seems to be ignoring

Well yes on the runway this collection is breathtaking, however, despite being "Ready To Wear" somehow I don't think it would keep you very warm... which is why it's good news his MCQ lookbook is now out, it's cool (but not cold) yes I am bad at making lame jokes

a pirate party

Last week on our trip to Mayo we went walking through the woods and came to the river, the closest I've come to seeing heaven

There was a concrete ship in the middle of the river which has been stuck there for years and years; spooky but eerily majestic

Just imagine how much fun it would be to have a party on board! A fancy dress party where guests dressed like new romantic pirates ooh or even better if the girls wore Vivienne Westwood dresses from the 1996 collection Les Femmes ne Connaissent pas toute leur Coquetterie