Regarding Tumblr.

What follows could be fairly classified as a rant, and I must admit that Tumblr tends to elicit a disproportionately passionate response from me. I have four main emotional stages of Tumblr.

1) Awestruckity                

The world is saturated with an almost impossible amount of extraordinarily beautiful images

Tumblr has enabled me to see an array of wonderful things (like the submerged room, above) that I may never have seen otherwise. HOWEVER...

2) Annoyance

Who took that photo? Where is it from? I have absolutely no idea because Tumblr is entirely shithouse when it comes to referencing, labeling or any kind of accreditation really.

3) Shock

Why do so many fashion gurls pepper their Tumblrs with super-explicit sex GIFs? Is it meant to be edgy?

4) Bewilderment

Yes that is Justin Bieber's gleaming visage sitting alongside a Helmut Newton photograph. I just... I don't get it.

but we love graven images...

I guess network TV was in biblical mode on account of it being Easter and stuff. The Ten Commandments was on and my parents and I watched the whole thing even though an intermission was sorely in need. Observation the first; regardless of what you thought of his (awful) politics, Charlton Heston was one fine piece of tail:

Secondly, this is one thoroughly gorgeous movie. The colours!

Bee tee dubs, these are blu-ray screencaps. I've never watched a blu-ray thingo but have heard the criticism that the image and sound become almost too perfect - I still don't know quite what that means but, yeah, these pics look a tad overripe.

boy germs

Excerpt from an interview with Edward von Bertouch and James St Johnson of the Sydney fashion label Beat Poet:

What place does colour have in your ideal wardrobe?
James: I believe the only colours that should be present in modern menswear wardrobe are neutral colours. The focus should always be on cut, fabric and texture, in that order. Colour is an unnecessary and distracting element. It has its place in art, not on the body. I feel the same about graphic prints; save them for the gallery.

Oh My God. Have you ever heard anyone in Australian fashion talk like that?

As a rule, I don't care about men's fashion...
but in this instance I might have to make an exception.

planets and stars

Oh wow. I've just watched the trailer for Lars von Trier's latest movay Melancholia, and... wow. It looks as visually beautiful, if not more so, than both Dogville and Antichrist - no small feat in my book.
And how's about this promo image:

The first reference that floats to mind is John Everett Millais' Ophelia:

But I think the hardness of Dunst's expression make von Trier's image roughly one million times more interesting. My mum has pointed out to me that the image of Dunst owes something to the shot of Cecilia in the bathtub in The Virgin Suicides:


It looks like Charlotte Gainsbourg is one of the few actresses who has returned to do a second film with the von Trier. I am keen to know how Dunst got on with the director during filming. If you are interested in von Trier's work, I highly recommend Dogville Confessions, a very candid behind-the-scenes short.


There is one amazing moment in which we see Dogville's star Nicole Kidman, chastising von Trier for his immature behaviour during the filming of a rape scene. Von Trier comes off as being the most terrible shit - but isn't that always just the way.

pining

Great googa mooga, look at this necklace I just found on Etsy:

I'll die without it, really I will.

Annie are you Oakley/ will you tell us that you're Oakley

A hoedown-themed shindig I've got coming up has led me to have a pretty serious revelation.

There are few things cooler than a cowboy, and there is nothing cooler than cowboygirlboy.

ageless

Last week I had the pleasure of meeting the Australian fashion stalwart Carla Zampatti, when we both attended (what was for me) a fairly swanky dinner. I've been pondering the sartorial elements of this little episode ever since.

To set the scene, I was dished up and feeling pretty sweet in this 1960s lilac sheath dress:

And then in glided (glid?) Carla. She was wearing this dress from her Autumn/ Winter 2011 collection:

It is a singular type of woman who, in her late-sixties can dress in such a way, that the only appropriate reaction is, 'dayum son'. And so -can you blame me- I began to feel a little fuddy-duddy standing next to this woman who put the you-know-what in sexagenarian. Her whole look brought to mind the dangerous glamour of Michelle Pfeiffer's Elvira in Scarface.

And then, all in a flash I remembered a 1976 Sydney Morning Herald article I had come across while researching an essay on Australian fashion of the era:

I find the contrast between the Carla I met and the mini-skirt opposing Zampatti totally fascinating in its incongruity. I'd love to know whether she ever came around to mini-skirts. Certainly I warm to the idea of one's taste in fashion becoming more liberal with age.

the last straw

Confession: I don't actually know the difference between raffia, rattan and wicker. I'm pretty sure I love em all, however, so what does it matter?

I get more compliments for this Estilo bag than anything else in my wardrobe. This doesn't stop my dad from referring to it as 'the picnic basket'. Philistine. 

Steven Meisel's photos for Prada's S/S 2011 campaign are all so beautiful, but the image of the raffia shoes is the best:

And how incredible is this dress?:

I suspect you would get a fair bit of chafe wearing it, so maybe this trend is best left to accessories. 

Uh Oh It Girls #∞

What an excellent babe Jesse Jo Stark is:

I don't understand What She Is and I don't really care but her whole vibe made me start humming 'Los Angeles' by Frank Black:

And that's such a good thing.

Oh, but none of us will see it.

If you haven't watched the TV series Downton Abbey yet, for the love of God, do. The show's creator Julian Fellows wrote the script for Gosford Park, and if that's not enough to reel you in, the clothes are gorgeous:

It kicks off with the sinking of the Titanic, and though I used to think of the years 1910-14 as being an awkward little Edwardian-hangover period, there are some really cool moments fashion-wise. There is such a high standard of costumes when it comes to Brit period dramas, and Downton Abbey is no exception.

Funny girls.

As if everyone doesn't have a crush on Gillian Jacobs.

I would definitely turn lesbian and have a longterm romantic relationship with her.

No homo.

ghost clusters

How fitting that with Jane Eyre about to be released, Vogue Italia's March 2011 issue included the Tim Walker editorial, 'Dreaming of another world':

Of course Jane Eyre isn't really a ghost story, and neither is Rebecca, another novel this shoot brings to mind. Still there's something so creepily beautiful about the spectre of the (other?) woman, in all three instances.

And don't let's forget Blithe Spirit:

Same deco-green and all, though I think I'd hang out with Elvira over Walker's mopey apparition.