Fashion | Prada does a bit of Geisha

Never shying away from peppering in something unusual ("beauty by itself is too easy"), Miuccia plays with traditional notions of femininity and the added power. The report by Nicole Phelps at style.com on Prada’s Spring 2013 Ready-to-Wear collection (just shown at the Milan Fashion Week) is an interesting read about what was, as usual, an interesting presentation:

SEPTEMBER 20, 2012 | MILAN | By Nicole Phelps  "Dream is forbidden, nostalgia is forbidden, to be too sweet is not good. Everything we used to feel historically, now you can't enjoy. The clothes are the expression of this impossible dream." Miuccia Prada was in existential mode backstage tonight, talking about sentiment and feeling—both our yearnings for a more innocent state and the futility of those yearnings. No wonder there was a lot to unpack on the runway. The flowers, the pervasive Japonisme—here we had Prada embracing traditional tropes of femininity and womanhood, a geisha's servitude, even. And yet in her signature way, she couldn't help turning those notions inside out.       She opened with a short black dress in stiff satin, a panel print of two flowers stitched to the torso. There were only a handful of looks that followed that didn't have some sort of florals blooming on them: A white fur coat (for Spring!) was inset with Andy Warhol's Pop art daisies in red (adding to the sixties feeling was the collection's whiff of Courrèges). A black satin coat, meanwhile, was embroidered with papery origami blossoms. Still, the clothes had a spareness that worked like a balm after seasons of endless prints.       The collection moved from dark to light. By the end, Prada was manipulating, folding, and wrapping duchesse satin in palest pink and green to evoke the ritual of kimono dressing. (Both the runway and the columns in the show space were decadently lined with that satin.) Prada explained that the Japanese element came late in the design process. "I wanted it to be tough and serious," she said. "All the folding was a consequence." Duchesse satin tough? Again there was that duality.      There was poetry to these clothes, but walking the runway in either towering Harajuku girl platforms or leather judo socks bound with patent leather bows—flats in both cases, Prada pointed out—the models exuded power too. Leave it to Miuccia to tweak nostalgia into something that felt modern and new.

The video is currently shown at prada.com.

Beauty | Sleep for Sale

From fastcompany.com

Random | FOMO

Fear Of Missing Out. Guilty?

See full image with other stats at fomo.timerazor.com

Coded Candy | Big Buck Bunny

Alright, alright, I know, not that new. So?! … … … That’s why it’s slotted under “Coded Candy” – to serve as a reminder what can be done using free software. Blender in this case. “Big Buck Bunny” was released in 2008 and is a visual brain child of Dutch dudes “Sago” and Ton, with music by German Jan. 

Here it is just 3 seconds shy of 10 minutes. OK, glass half full glass half full glass half full… J

At Home | Stylescope

La Dolce Vita pointed me at a HomeGoods website new feature – Stylescope. “Just as your horoscope determines your personality, your Stylescope determines your personal décor style. Authored by Interior Designer and HGTV Host Taniya Nayak on behalf of HomeGoods, the new Stylescope is a unique one question quiz that will reveal your design mood with 12 Stylescope personalities. Your style today may fit perfectly in to one of the 12 distinct style personalities – Boho, Classic, Metro Modern, Socialite, Farmhouse Glam, New Country, Spa Life, Set Sail, Vegas Baby, Sassy, World Traveler, or Urban Chic – or you may be on the cusp, pulling in design elements from more than one personality!” Gave it a whirl and I am all about Spa with a smidgen of Boho for good measure – LOL – a wish? J What is your style?

Fashion | Posthumous Alexander McQueen collection, slowly

Typically fashion shows are full of prancing ponies galloping down the runway. Not so in this posthumous Alexander McQueen Autumn/Winter 2010-2011 (Angels & Dæmons) collection inspired by Flemish painters and the Romantic Gothic. Pour yourself a glass of your favorite wine and savor it.

Fashion | Atsuko Kudo’s dressing for pleasure at SHOWstudio

Surreal. Curious. Fascinating. Ha?! Funny. Something else. For sure.

“Latex doyenne Atsuko Kudo provides a lesson in dressing for pleasure. Slowly enveloping a nude model in layers of rubbery fabric live on camera, Kudo offers a unique, and subversively fetishistic, exploration of the dialogue between clothing and empowerment.”

– from SHOWstudio’s “Selling Sex” exhibition

Indulge in more at May 18 2012 | Selling Sex:Atsuko Kudo
Or see Atsuko Kudo’s debut runway show, NYC 2010

Movies | Shakki (2012)

SHAKKI, a short film by Julien Landais | Starring Daphne Guinness, Laura Eastwood, Andrea Ferreol, Julien Landais, Dragan Nikolic, Emily Caillon, Christophe de Choisy, Clémentine Landais, Gerhard Freidl and Sarah Biasini | Music Where Safety Ends/Revolte | Who hasn't dreamt of being someone else? Martin has the power to enter other people's bodies and dominate their souls thanks to Judith, with whom he made a Faustian deal. Judith abandoned him. He will persist tirelessly to conquer her again under different shapes. | ©FLAGSHIP 2012

Animation | Lovable insects of Minuscule

Minuscule (2006)

Cuteness! Minuscule – the private life of insects could make the spiders and ants appealing in this French-made series of short films. Production of a feature film was commenced in March 2012.

Fashion | “Who is Daphne Guinness?”

“I wouldn’t presume to call myself an artist. What is my art? I try to look neat and tidy.”

– Daphne Guinness

Rare, but it happens. Back in April, May and June I developed a mini-obsession with a muse and an icon of the fashion set – Daphne Guinness.  She was friends with the late Alexander McQueen and chosen by Tom Ford to close his comeback show in 2011. Works for me. She is quite striking in her presentation and futuristic even though some of that couture is from years gone by. All the more credit to the designers. Snappy dresser she has not always been. In the eighties, she was, well, quite eighties – poufy fringe and all – and even in early 2000s, she looked just like an average socialite. Then she evolved into the
	creature she is admired as now. See “The Incredible Evolution of Daphne Guinness” at Fashionista.com. Although Daphne said back in February 2011 that “[She is] completely unemployable!”, her introversion and need to protect oneself propelled her towards designing armour inspired jewelry. Self-employment, I guess. Fabulous indeed. I do not have an opinion about her as a person one might actually know and possibly hang out with, or her pedigree, personal life and philosophy, but she is interesting to watch. Geisha like, she practices the art of being the art – no matter how unusual or uncomfortable it may look. But such is the price of aesthetic.
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