I have been long wanting to try out my 1920s makeup and styling skills and today I had the freedom to do just this. I have a lovely sparkly black skirt with fringe on the bottom, a white faux fur coat, some beads and a little vintage hat. When all this is put together with some dramatic make up this is what happens.
Ahhh yes the time of the year that people seem to never stop talking about! All year everyone seems to be working to reach perfection A.K.A. a summer body. Vogue has quite "helpfully" made a swimwear 2013 list entitled "Dive In: Vogue's Guide of 45+ Swimsuits for Summer". You can read this posthere!
This article is full of bikinis that are the same cut with different patterns and they did feature a high wasted swim shorts but don't worry about being to covered up in this piece because apparently the top is optional.
If none these are catching your eye you can opt for the ever so complimenting Lady GaGa/Katy Perry style of swimwear.
The point of showing you these "trends" is to simply reinforce the fact that we all know is true, eighty nine percent of us will never wear these summer trends and for some reason eighty five percent of us will feel terrible about our bodies. I'm not saying we should all wear bikinis just because we can, what I'm saying is weather you think "modest is hottest" or you want to show some skin this summer, do it. Not because Vogue or anyone else tells you what is trendy this summer do it because it makes you feel good. After all summer is suppose to be all about good times.
Vogue does offer a fun article on 31 Ways to Make the Most of Summer. If you are worried about being "trendy" and in style just remember that much like history, fashion repeats itself.
Here is a lovely post of swimwear through the ages posted on LuLu's Blog, you can read it here!
My summer song is Folding Chair by Regina Spektor, I choose this song because it is beautiful and I love the line where she says " I've got a perfect body 'cause my eyelashes catch my sweat." So as we embark to ever dreaded pools and beaches let us remember the small but ever so important perfections we all have.
Well if I were to sum up this week in a word that word would be anxious. But this is not twitter and we need not sum things up, which is why I love blogs you can be as tedious and imperious as you wish. This week has been full of long days with many things coming to an end and many unexpected things beginning(none of which are wonderful…). Aside from important things in life I happened to stumble upon an interview with Michael Cera, and it was fantastic, it was Michael Cera interviewing Michael Cera and it definitely made my week a bit better knowing that something of this nature existed. You can read it here, and I highly suggest you do. This leads me straight into something that made my week absolutely wonderful! There is a website called BulletMedia.com and they have a magazine as well, it has become one of my favorite sites. They have articles on pretty much anything you can think of and they conduct wonderful interviews. Bullet, for me, has been a preferred source of enjoyment for some time and they never cease to impress with their eclectic abundance of material. Bullet magazine is also responsible for providing with a fantastic moment, they posted a simply wonderful article about a women who sued IMDB for revealing her real age. All I am going to say is that it makes me so (*insert sarcasm here*)proud to know that we live in place and time where this actually happens. Yes someone actually sued someone and thought "Hey they just told everyone my real age I think I will sue them and draw more attention to the fact that I am older than I said." and to make more wonderful she lost. You can read the article here!I also watched Wayne’s World this week and was pretty surprised that I enjoyed it. I actually don’t like Mike Meyers; yes I know what you’re thinking, “I can’t believe she doesn’t like something! I thought she loved everyone!” Well no, I don’t love everyone, and I’m sorry you had to find out this way. Back to Wayne’s World, I enjoyed it, but not because of Mike Meyers*insert thumb pointing down here*, but I instead enjoyed it because of Dana Carvey who I found to be very funny.
I also have quit enjoy writing little insertions this week *insert little smiley face*
The song of the week is Valerie by Amy Winehouse. Valerie was originally by British indie rock band The Zutons back in '06 but I absolutely adore the Amy Winehouse version.
Now you may be asking yourselves "Hey what do you think of Amy Winehouse?" my reply would of course be "I'm glad you asked. Ahem... I view Amy Winehouse as our modern Billie Holiday (Which is quit a compliment coming from me because I consider Billie Holiday to be one of the most legendary women to grace this world with her beaming and dominant presence.) she had one of the most powerful voices and strength that most cant even begin to dream of having. I also see Amy Winehouse as beginning a pathway and introducing the mainstream public into the soul and jazz style of music so that women such as Adele and Paloma Faith can now come in and really make soul and jazz not only popular in modern culture but make it a desirable genre to listen to for people who may never have been exposed to it before. Which makes Adele our modern day Ella Fitzgerald and Paloma Faith our modern Etta James, all these women deserve a major round of applause for there breathtaking abilities *Pause and Applaud*." and that is a simple summary of how I feel about Amy Winehouse and her continuing influence on music. I proceed to rank Miss Winehouse on my scale of R-E-S-P-E-C-T.
Amy Winehouse ranks in just above Joan Crawford, the reason is she is rough around the edges and by no stretch of the imagination a perfect person but she embodies an idea and a passion that few have and for this reason she has my complete and unreserved respect.
On a different note 8 Out Of 10 Cats has come to the end of their 15th series, which has deeply depressed me for the simple reason that I wont get to see Jimmy Carr, Sean Lock and Jon Richardson every week. Glorious were the days when I knew however bad my week may go that there would an episode of 8 Out Of 10 Cats to console my despair. Anyway I have also been getting excited by the news that we should all be expecting a second season of Bad Education! This news came as a surprise me, it was on there wiki page but I apparently hadn't bothered to read this and evidently gave up on the show until Jack Whitehall tweeted about it and said:
Bad Education is a great little quirky show with great characters and delightfully light hearted comedy, the thought of Jack Whitehall as an immature teacher in funny enough and than add in a humorous cast and you have won me over. Also youtube needs to lighten up on its copyright laws, some of us don't live in the U.K. and we can only access certain British shows on youtube so please give us break and leave British shows up for longer than ten hours. Also a big thanks to people who upload them, seriously you are doing America a great service!
No week is complete with out a good hearty laugh somewhere amidst all the stress and frantic confusion. This week there was a certain someone who had me laughing and this person would be Jon Richardson(I know what you're thinking and yes he is the one from 8 Out Of 10 Cats I was talking about, I applaud you're enthusiasm and interest!). So here is my laugh of the week
My weekly accomplishment this week was the finished shoe-shelf/vanity that is now on lovely display in my corridors.
I also am going to include this video of classic female film stars having a smoke, because I can.
Most of us can only dream of having the ideal relationship that Lily and Herman had. Mr. and Mrs. Munster are my favorite couple because never have I seen a couple as well suited and as simply adorable as Lily and Herman. They are both wonderfully wacky and yet never try to change the absolutely endearing quirks of the other. They are best friends and they are completely in love, Herman and Lily are a couple that people can only aspire to imitate.
While at the Pasadena flea market this weekend I was confronted by a phobia of mine, yes I am a self diagnosed top-of-the-head-bunaphobic. Please let us leave this fad far behind and never return to this "style", if you can even call it that. Now I think it is perfectly fine to wear a bun on the back of you're head, it is a quick, easy and clean hair style. But please do not torment us any longer with your, and lets be honest, laziness. Top of the head buns drive me mental and I cannot support or even condone them any more. If you can't think of another hair style use GOOGLE! We live in a time where we can easily and quickly access information about anything, just find another less irritating hair style. I was going to post an example of this ever so popular top of the head bun but unfortunately my brain vomits every time I see this done, so I decided to spare my brain from having to endure that.
Velvet, need I say more? Probably not but I will anyway. I have been so in love with all things velvet, most of my life I have associated velvet with tacky 80's prom stuff. Oh but how wrong I was, velvet has the capability to be, in my opinion, one of the most elegant fabrics to wear. Now here are some velvet item that I am widely attracted too
These are Alexander McQueen bee embroidered velvet shoes that I love! I always feel like a poor child from the 1920s looking through a candy shop window when I go on Alexander McQueen's website... Let us just look once more at these heavenly slippers
Moving on, I have obtained a few velvety items myself but have yet be inspired to make them into anything truly wonderful. Now we have come to my favorite part! We shall break out our Scale of Class and rank velvet!
Ahhh yes... The all so lovely Kate Middleton provides us with the rank of velvet. Kate herself has been seen in velvet looking lovely.
So when you find yourself wondering what fabric is truly fantastic, you now know that it is velvet.
Maila Nurmi, who also went by Vampira, shall always be remembered and celebrated as a beautiful and daring women, but I think she was so much more. Maila has been noted most for her extremely small waist, which I believe was 17", and her remarkably morbid attire.
I believe Maila to be so much more than a tiny wasted women with long dark locks and skin tight dresses. Maila was truly the first punk rocker.
All these photos were taken in 1950s, the 1950s I tell you! She is so punk rock it hurts. All I can do is marvel at this women who was so wildly ahead of her time. I am literally speechless so I will leave you now with more exquisite pictures of one of the most amazing women to grace this planet we call earth with her existence.
If you have not heard the name of this highly talented
musician than I feel that I must urge you to listen to his work. Justin Townes
Earle’s latest album is entitled Nothing’s
Gonna Change the Way You Feel About Me Now, this record is bursting
with astounding emotion that combines an old school style of blues and country.
Justin Townes Earle has recaptured a time and place that the modern world seems
to have left behind. In an interview with Weld for Birmingham he was asked
“What is there about Southern music that needs to be preserved?” to which he
gave the most suitable answer, he said “Well, I think, if you really want to
get down to it, it’s all Southern music.”. Justin Townes Earle is a true artist
and his, already extensive, body of work proves this. Even if your taste in
music is narrow I urge you to listen to gifted musician and the beautifully
fluent sounds that he creates.
I have long been bewitched by any sort of head wear and with summer approaching at a rapid speed summer hats will now once again be broken free from the top the closet and sported around with pride. With this in mind we shall now embark on a picture show of simply awe inspiring vintage hats!
Now that you have seen some fantastic hats I encourage you to begin the hunt and begin building your own collection of unique vintage head wear. With that said I myself have been shopping around and recently found two very fun hats that I will be, without a doubt, sporting this summer.
I was actually very excited about this hounds tooth floppy hat because of this picture I found from the 1960s!
This hat was a fun find, it is a Parkhurst hat but it captures a time that past us long ago.
I have been obsessing over 1960s mod helmets ever since a saw Jean Shrimpton in this photo
And I have done a bit of scouring the internet and found some more absolutely awe-inspiring headgear.
If anyone reads this and knows of a place where someone could acquire a vintage head piece of this style please let me know! I have done my share of research and simply can not find anything...
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