He Said She Said

"I think I will write about bedrooms, of which I have had quite a number in my long life. It is the room to which I'm the most attached - offering repose, sleep, privacy, or receiving of friends, clustered or singly, round a bed in which I weightless lie." - Lady Diana Cooper

Weekend Reading List

I can't say that looking at the recent New York fashions hasn't had its effect: I've decided to take out my books by the great fashion illustrator Antonio to have a look. Antonio Lopez (1943 – 1987), possibly the definitive fashion illustrator, whose drawings appeared frequently in all the top glossies, ads and whose works were exhibited in galleries all over the world, died tragically of AIDS, aged 44. P, my friend in ACS, introduced him to me when I was in my teens, and I really learnt water colour from copying his drawings. I still have scads of these sketches somewhere. In fact, P gave me Antonio's Girls. Yes, it's that old, and so is the friendship.Later I bought Antonio's People. I tend to think it could have been from Asia Books in Bangkok, but I can't be sure anymore - possibly in 2005 or thereabouts. One did run out of things to buy in Bangkok.
Most precious of all is the beautiful book Antonio's Tales from The Thousand And One Nights that comes slip-covered in blue a royal blue fabric and gold-stamped with stars. I count it as one of my favourite possessions, and if I had to rescue one book from the proverbial burning building, this one might just be it."In the world of illustration, his contribution is superior to the efforts of all other fashion artists of his era." —Karl Lagerfeld
Read an interesting essay on Antonio's work at this link: http://latino.si.edu/virtualgallery/antonio/bodyessay.htm

New Yuck Spring 2011: Calvin Klein Collection

The wonderful Francisco Costa delivered a confident and focused collection for Calvin Klein. Unpretentious, unadorned and dignified without being pompous or difficult, the dresses, monastic, yes, stood out for me. Knife-pleat dress down tied with a string looked serene but bouyant at the same time. The volume, and the way things moved, made the looks sensous, not severe.

Marilyn and the Two Greatest Mannequins

“The two greatest mannequins of the century were Gertrude Stein and Edith Sitwell- unquestionably. You just couldn't take a bad picture of those two old girls.” - Diana Vreeland

The true beauty and the two literary dames. What was she saying to them? What were they thinking of her?

He Said She Said

"The great danger for an American woman married to a Frenchman is to become too French. To assimilate too much of another nationality weakens you. Though on the surface I might not seem to be 100 percent American, I have tried to remain as shaggy inside as possible." - Pauline de Rothschild (1908-1976), style iconIn the 1950s, Mrs de Rothschild purchased a set of antique Chinese wallpaper from a cash-strapped young widow. She papered her Paris bedroom with it - her husband lived across town throughout their nearly 22-year marriage - and its verdant exoticism dominated an iconic photo of the baroness by Horst.
Reclining was Mrs de Rothschild's favored position.

When not greeting guests from bed, she rested her lanky 5-foot-9 frame on Billy Baldwin's ground-hugging slipper chair, reportedly developed with her shapely extremities in mind. Philippe de Rothschild once called his wife ''a glorious piece of woman, long-legged, deep-breasted.''Her personal tastes were quite simple. On her floors, for example, she liked the peppery scent of wax mixed with a bit of turpentine. On her person, she often wore a man's cologne - West Indian Extract of Limes.

Precious!

I like. Gabourey Sidibe is one of four celebrities to appear on Elle's October covers. They are celebrating their 25th anniversary. However, the magazine is drawing criticism for digitally retouching Ms Sidibe so that her skin looks several shades lighter than it is. What do you think?
It's still the most interesting cover of the four anyhow. I don't know, nor care, who the other three are.

New Yuck Fashion Week: Snooze 2011

The just-concluded New York Fashion Week (Amen!) unveiled some very patchy collections. Very copy and paste, I mean. And I'm not talking patchwork here, even though there was a lot of patchwork going on. Designers of every strata got busy clicking and pasting. Most unapologetically, Marc Jacobs paid an obvious tribute to Yves Saint Laurent, Halston, and Sonia Rykiel, with bales of Missoni’s signature patterned knits thrown in (pictured). So literal was this 'copying' even his champions like Cathy Horyn and Suzy Menkes scrambled for polite metaphors to defend his 'work' (this was fun to read, I must say). We can just about forget about objective fashion reporting. No such thing.
Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez of Proenza Schouler (can you imagine having to type this long list of names? Some one spell check this!) was 'inspired' by Prada and Chanel, right? And further down (much further down) the food chain, Marchesa a patchwork of the Dior’s greatest hits by John Galliano. There's much more. And if I'm very good, I shall put it up although I shudder at the thought of having to trawl through those pictures again. Today’s “copy and paste” click click click culture, enabled by the readily available fashion archive on the internet, the readiness and abundance of information, engenders a new generation of lazy, uninspired fashion practitioners.Instead of leading to design breakthroughs and originality, the fashion information overload, the endless and immediate availability of this and every other fashion collection simply leads to a fashion maze where every tired idea is recycled in ever quicker succession. Endlessly. It makes for mind-numbing, brain dead fashion that is New Yuck Fashion Week. It's thankfully over.
(A much longer version of this rant will be in Saturday's Business Times)

i-D Covers

Prince

Andrea Albert Pierre Casiraghi (born 8 June 1984) is the first of three children born to Princess Caroline of Monaco, The Princess of Hanover and her second husband, the late Stefano Casiraghi, an heir to an Italian oil fortune. He is currently second in line to the throne after his mother, meaning that if the currently reigning Prince Albert dies without legitimate children, then Casiraghi is likely to adopt the surname Grimaldi and someday be the Prince of Monaco. His maternal grandparents were Prince Rainier III of Monaco and Grace Kelly. Andrea was six years old when his father died in a boating accident.

Sofia Coppola's Somewhere

Sofia Coppola’s Somewhere won the Golden Lion in Venice. This, her fourth feature, will be released in December. Somewhere marks a return to form for the writer-director:"I never get myself in a situation where I don’t have creative freedom. I learned that from my dad: you put your heart into something, you have to protect it, what you’re making. I always like to keep the budget as small as possible just to have the most freedom. You know you get left alone, you get to pick the actors you want to use. I like doing personal films, after doing a bigger movie, I enjoy doing smaller, intimate films."(Pictures: L'Uomo Vogue Oct)

Blue and White China

Six Blue and White Cola Bottles by Taikkun Li, 2010.
Underglazed porcelain, artist signed, 9" tallArtist Taikkun Yang Li (born in 1981), is from Guangzhou. His work crosses the boundaries of design, sculpture, ceramics, film, and photography. After graduating from the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing, he was granted the only Full Merit Trustee Scholarship to the MFA program at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

He Said She Said

"You know what charm is: a way of getting the answer "yes" without having asked any clear question." - Albert Camus (1913-1960)

Batik Print Shoe

Lemony

These shockingly hot days call for a strong dose of lemon's tart power. Nothing refreshes quite like a bracing sniff of lemon and I've arrayed my lemony things along one side of the bath. Shower with Bliss Lemon + Sage Soapy Sap Shower Gel. Take your time. Smooth body with a quick layer of Bliss Lemon + Sage Body Butter. On nails, rub Burt's Bees Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream into nail beds, even on those popsicle toes, since you're about to wear sandals. And then, slather Jurlique's Citrus Hand Cream all over your hands right up to your wrists - this rich protective hand cream has tangerine, mandarin and lemon oils. Lastly, a generous spray of Eau D'hadrien by Annick Goutal and you're all ready to sally forth to brave the wilting heat.

Weekend Reading List

Have you ever read The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn? I've read about this Mark Twain American classic so many times but never got round to it, and finally, this weekend, I shall, in a bout of virtue. It doesn't begin badly, if the territory isn't exactly familiar; Never mind, I shall press on - reading is discovery isn't it?

My dear friends, whom I've known for more than a decade, have also given me books which, in a way, represent who they think I am; but really, the choices are as much about the giver, aren't they? PH, the movie buff (and avid collector of movie posters) gave me Sam Wasson's Fifth Avenue, 5 AM: Audrey Hepburn, Breakfast at Tiffany's, and The Dawn of the Modern Woman, which the NYT says is "crammed with irresistibale tidbits..."
I do not at all mind the association with Ms Hepburn, the movie, or the novel.

JY, a teacher, gave me two books: Diana Darling's The Painted Alphabet: A Novel based on a Balinese Tale and Gao Xingjian's Soul Mountain. Mr Gao is the first Chinese author ever to win the prestigious Nobel Prize for Literature (with this book) about modern-day China.

For refreshment, I'm also skimming (daintily, yes, but still skimming) through Tea with Jane Austen, by Kim Wilson. This is a lightweight and diverting social history on the luxury item tea during Jane Austen's time.

The magazine covers: They haven't dropped yet at this point but initial thoughts are (top to bottom) W Michelle Williams has been photoshopped to look like what Nicole Kidman wants to look like. That man kissing her wig (poor thing!) is supposed to be Ryan Gosling, but could be anyone. Not that you know what Ryan Gosling looks like. I certainly don't. Fantastic Man I like this cover. Bryan Ferry looks quite jolly, does he not? And interesting.

The Gentlewoman I'm interested to read about Inez van Lamsweerde but I just think it's desperate sensationalism to call her "the world's best fashion photographer". I like Ms Van Lamsweerde's work as much as anyone else, but "world's best"? Let's check with Ms Meisel first, shall we? Vanity Fair Is that Michelle Pfeiffer? Vogue My goodness, they are determined to make Carey Mulligan into a fashion personage aren't they (Chanel couture!)? You know what? Ms Mulligan could very well be Michelle Williams on the W cover, or vice versa, and nobody would bet an eyelash. No one would know.

Virgo (August 23 to September 22)

August 23 River Phoenix
August 24 Friedrich Hegal
August 25 Blake Lively, Claudia Schiffer
August 26 Prince Albert of Monaco, Christopher Isherwood
August 27 Mother Teresa, Tom Ford
August 29 Ingrid Bergman, Michael Jackson, Nicholas Tze
August 30 Geoffrey Beene
August 31 Richard Gere
September 2 Mark Harmon, Keanu Reeves
September 5 Raquel Welch, Herzog Herzog
September 9 Hugh Grant, Leo Tolstoy
September 10 Ryan Phillipe, Karl Lagerfeld
September 11 D.H. Lawrence
September 12 Me, Linda Gray
September 13 Roald Dahl, Claudette Colbert, Jacqueline Bissett
September 15 Agatha Christie, Prince Harry
September 16 Lee Kuan Yew, Lousi XIV 'Sun King', Lauren Bacall
September 18 Greta Garbo
September 19 Jeremy Irons, Carine Roitfeld
September 19 Twiggy
September 20 King Chulalonghorn, Sophia Loren, Maggie Cheung

Damson in Distress

Kate, 36, has gone plum crazy for making JAM. She's been reportedly boiling damsons picked at her country estate in the Cotswolds. Kate has asked her billionaire Top Shop friend Sir Philip Green to help get her jars on shelves.
A source said: "Kate bought a load of expensive equipment because she's always been keen on the idea of making jam. Kate is being helped in the kitchen by daughter Lila Grace, 7."
(Source: The Moment Blog)
Pictures: No, those are not pictures of Kate Moss.