wordle

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Have you been to Wordle? Type in a bunch of text and it creates a word cloud, it gives greater prominence to more frequently used words. You can then change colour and text. Fun. It would be a great tool to type in your resolutions or dreams and see which words are most prominent. This is the word cloud for this page of this blog.

Sarah Moon

Even her name is dreamy. The work of photographer Sarah Moon is captivating and fantastical. From her earlier works printed on sepia paper, a process from the 1920's.

For Dior

To her 2002 series "Circus"

 

 

Sarah Moon CIRCUS 2002

She manages to capture the everlasting in the new. Each image has a timeless and fairytale quality and in the "Circus" series she captures the theatrics of that life but also a feeling of remoteness, bleakness and all with a beauty and a dignity.

But, it is her color images that really grab my soul.

 For Comme des garcons

 

For Hussein Chalayan

 

La robe a pois

 

Le parfum

 

 For Issey Miyake

 

For Madame Figaro

The saturation of colour, softness, the blurry edges, it is a testament to how far Fashion photography has come. 

To read a great article by Susannah Frankel called 'Frocks and Fantasy' go to The Independent Newspaper website. 

All photo's courtesy of Michael Hoppen Gallery

Bright Star

All Images from imbd.com

I am really looking forward to the new film "Bright Star" by Jane Campion. Chronicling the 19thC love affair of Poet John Keats and Fanny Browne the whole thing looks so beautiful.
This has to be the coolest site for a forthcoming film I've ever seen.  Jane Campion refers to it as her "scrapbook"

You get to see little stories from the set

Notes and items from the Art department including this invitation to a Ball

 

A collection of photo's from the director of photography

Photographs of the houses where they filmed

and much more, it is a small window into the world of film making, in particular Jane Campion's film making and is fascinating.  The little details we don't usually get to see. The attention and care that goes into the momentary components that are noticed barely and usually only if they are wrong. It is so nice to give them a space to be appreciated. I only wish there was more about the costumes.

To find out more and view the trailer go here Bright Star

All Images courtesy of Brightstarthemovie.com

Albert Einstein

How strange is the lot of us mortals! Each of us is here for a brief sojourn; for what purpose he knows not, though he sometimes thinks he senses it. But without deeper reflection one knows from daily life that one exists for other people -- first of all for those upon whose smiles and well-being our own happiness is wholly dependent, and then for the many, unknown to us, to whose destinies we are bound by the ties of sympathy. A hundred times every day I remind myself that my inner and outer life are based on the labors of other men, living and dead, and that I must exert myself in order to give in the same measure as I have received and am still receiving... 

excerpt from "The worls as I see it" An Essay by Albert Einstein

PHOTO SHOOT

It has been a very busy week, what with meeting The Sartorialist, going to The Peter O'Brien for A-Wear fashion show, ( a beautiful final collection, head to A-Wear soon so as not to be dissapointed, The black coat with ruffle detail is a personal favourite, only €200 ) The David La Chapelle exhibition at The Sebastian Guiness Gallery, The Theatre to see The Blue Dragon and doing a new photo shoot! Life is busy with culture. Here is a little taster of the concept for the shoot.

I took inspiration  from 15th and 16th century portraits such as..

Lady with an Ermine by Leonardo Da Vinci

 Laura Battiferri by Bronzino

We shot in the basement of Turbotstown House in Westmeath, big Thank you to Cha cha and Peter.

The Stairs

Downstairs Kitchen

Vaulted Cellar

The hair and make up was masterfully applied by Ivey Sullivan from Morgan The Agency

Starting to apply the make-up 

more make-up

The model was Vanessa from Morgan The Agency

E J and daughter Chloe

All captured artfully by Photographer E J Carr

A touch up during the shoot

I'll Let you know when the images are first published and then I will post them here for you all to see. 

The Sartorialist, Dublin

Today I went to Dublin and met Scott Schuman, aka The Sartorialist.

 

He gave a brief talk and then did a book signing.

 

What struck me listening to him was his humility and  genuine interest in humanity. He spoke about photographing people all over the world and differences and similarities between them, of walking down the street and seeing someone interesting and trying to figure out what it is that interests him, not if it is "fashionable" or "of the moment", but that somewhere there is a detail, shape, colour combination that speaks to him and urges him to photograph it. I think that is one of the things that separates his blog from many of the other "fashion on the street"  blogs, his interest in interesting people and characters not people who are wearing the trendiest outfit or best labels. Although many of his pictures do feature high end characters in expensive clothes, this seems secondary to the way they have put those items together.

When I first heard that 'The Sartorialist' was producing a book, I expected it to be a coffee table tome, a $90 investment. When I read this post on Garance Dore about why he chose Penguin to publish it and his reasoning in  producing a small book that could be thrown in your bag, my admiration for him skyrocketed. He is truly someone who has found his own unique path and I wish him all the success he deserves.

If you don't own a copy of the book, buy it, truly a record of these times.

Chanel S/S 2010

photo by Jacky Naegelen/Reuters from New York Times

God Bless You Karl Lagerfeld, in a season where everyone seems to be "cutting back" and "paring down" Mr Lagerfeld creates a show based on Marie Antoinette's Haybarn!

With models cavorting, cajoling and skipping amongst the dust and hay in their finery.

Escapism, fantasy, luxury, playfulness.

Isn't that what we need from fashion in these times

You can view the  Chanel S/S 2010 show  by clicking on the link.

Dries S/S 2010

 
Speaking of wishlists...............................

Dries Van Noten posted on Style.com today and back to his ethnic best.

I'll have one of each of these please.

Hermes pour Liberty

 

So you are probably aware of the Hermes and Liberty collaboration. If not then basically from Sept 7th to Oct 18th there is an Hermes pop up store at Liberty in London. The two houses have collaborated and Bali Barrett, creative director of Hermes, created special edition scarves for the event.

 Photo from Liberty

She used liberty Tana Lawn cottons and placed the iconic "Ex Libris" hermes print on top to create a new and collectable item for a limited time.

Liberty have set aside what was the jewelry room as a scarf haven showcasing the 2009 collection with stylists at the ready to help you tie your Hermes masterpiece and a monogramming service from 1-5pm daily.

I think an Hermes scarf is on most ladies "wishlist", it is an iconic item and an heirloom, so yes I was tempted to purchase one but, that will have to wait until another day to be crossed off.

BUT what I would have loved to have taken home under my enthusiastic arm was this!

A scale model of Liberty made out of Hermes orange boxes! I can't believe they didn't release pictures of this in their press releases! Isn't it fantastic. For those of you who don't know Liberty looks like this.

Photo from New York Times

So pretty great job! 

It is hard to see (iphone picture blown up) but on the little orange canopy Hermes is written and there are pictures of ladies in Hermes scarves in all the windows, the attention to detail on the beams and lattice work is incredible.

I think they should have made these available to buy ! Iconic, yes! Whimsical, Yes! On my mantelpiece Yes Please!

Thanks for the mention from new blog dandelion daydreamer.