Sunday, April 25, 2010
AND THINE EFFECT SO LIVES IN ME
From Le Love
A woman found this photo amongst her grandmother's things.
She has no idea who the man is.
The back reads:
Since we deserved the name of friends,
And thine effect so lives in me,
A part of mine may live in thee
And move thee on to noble ends.
Should my shadow cross thy thoughts,
Too sadly for their peace,
So put it back for calmer hours,
In memory's darkest hold.
SEXY IN THE CITY
One of the designers that my office represents is known as "charming and artsy, an eclectic mix of bohemian chic" that is "funky but sweet, never too sexy" (Style.com). Still, the collections can be quite enticing, just in a different way than what is conventionally considered "sexy". This point was brought up during a meeting we had at work this week to discuss custom creations for the Met Ball. One guest of the house, a movie star whose hourglass figure knocks the cameras dead on the red carpet, made it abundantly clear that she wanted to look "sexy". My boss lamented that if the star wanted a body-con cocktail number, she had gone to the wrong house, because it just wasn't going to happen with this designer. As I scanned the sketches of different dress options, I thought that although the looks didn't convey va-va-voom, they were heavily sensual, with a sheer drape grazing here and an alluringly exposed part there. I asked my boss, "Does sexy have to mean cleavage and thigh? She said sexy, but I think we can accomplish that, even if we aren't offering something tight and plunging." It got us thinking, what did she mean by sexy? And what does sexy mean in general?
Some traditional examples of what we conventionally think of as sexy are:
Some traditional examples of what we conventionally think of as sexy are:
Marilyn Monroe, the ultimate sex symbol
Bond girls: Assassins never looked so good
Then there's this genre...
Pamela Anderson: Putting the sex in sexy
The smoldering Angelina Jolie re-creates
Bruce Springsteen's famously sexy album cover
Versace is a house known for Italian va-va-voom
B. Spears makes no bones about overt sexiness
Glamazons in black patent over-the-knee boots...
and nothing else
Giselle brings Brazilian heat in a
down-to-there up-to-here sparkly mini dress
Victoria's Secret Angel... need we say more?
Film noir still inspires our inner femme fatale
The inimitable Doutzen for Calvin Klein
Some less conventional, but just as sensual, examples of sexy are:
Sunday, April 18, 2010
IT'S BEEN A LONG TiME
It has been soo soo long since I have written!
This is mostly due to work, as there are two big events coming up that keep us at the office / on our Blackberries 18 hours a day: the the Met Ball and Cannes. These are two glorious and fantastic events that I have looked forward to happening every year since I was a little girl, so I find very much joy in the exhausting hours-- even though it has taken me away from ESS!
Tired... but happy.
This year, annual host American Vogue is joined by Oprah Winfrey and the Gap's Patrick Robinson to celebrate the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute's exhibition, "American Woman". At work, we have mostly been busy arranging what our designers' guests will wear to the Ball, mostly custom-made. Our office has been inundated with FedEx boxes as if it were our own personal Christmas, bringing huge leather portfolios brimming with sketches, swatches of silver fox fur, filmy organza, rich velvet, and never-before-seen samples of gowns in contention. But of course, the purpose of the Met Ball is to honor the brilliant history of fashion in keeping with the year's theme. This year, the gala honors the American Woman. Here is more on the Met Ball from Vogue:
REBEL,
REBEL
We have always been revolutionary. As "American Woman," the latest Costume Institute blockbuster at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, demonstrates so beautifully, when we decide to rattle the fashion cage, the clang-clang of change can be heard even centuries later. The GIBSON GIRL rode out toward independence on her liberation vehicle of choice, the bicycle, way back in the 1890s-- and her image of vitality reverberates today in the broad and confident shoulders of, for instance, a Ralph Lauren cashmere sweater. During World War I, the PATRIOT pushed the envelope again, unhobbling herself by raising hemlines above the ankle-- and that embrace of utilitarianism remains the core value of military-inspired looks in 2010. A "Diamond as Big as the Ritz" frock by Vera Wang shouts "Party time!" as charmingly as it did when the corset-mocking FLAPPER kicked up her daringly exposed legs. Carolina Herrera's strapless ball dresses still sing of the luxe life (though they aren't nearly as eyebrow-raising as they were when worn by Brenda Frazier, HEIRESS extraordinaire of the Depression era). Mixing multiculti bangles, shawls and head wraps, the iconoclastic midcentury BOHEMIAN pioneered the cultural mash-up that's one of the hottest trends off fall runways. And a glamour formula perfected by the Hollywood SCREEN SIREN during the heyday of the studio system still blows out the flashbulbs on the red carpet when Donna Karan et all let it rip. From the bra to the bob, if it blazed trails and broke rules,
chances are it was born in the U.S.A.
Be sure to check out Vogue's look back at the last ten years of the Met Ball here.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Saturday, April 3, 2010
WHAT IS BEAUTY?
The concept of beauty is one of endless fascination to me. What does it mean? How is it defined? Endless poets, philosophers, scientists, theologians, mathematicians, and artists have contemplated "beauty". Here is one provocative article I found which analyzes examples of beauty found in the Bible and what it means in its various spiritual and cultural contexts: You Are Beauty
Other ESS musings on beauty:
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