"...please airmail me some scotch tape"

Today I'm going to Wellington to meet my sisters for a combined birthday weekend; my parents' idiosyncratic reproductivity means that the three of us have our birthdays in July and are exactly five years apart (ten between me and my big sister). I have been looking forward to to trip since its inception, and when unable to sleep have planned and revised what I'll wear. It's very sad, but if you ever find yourself being at home in warm jumpers all the time, you'll understand. There'll be a lot of eating, and drinking, and gallery visits, and being mean to each other and about people we know. I can't wait.

Although what I'm taking bears only the slightest resemblance to her wardrobe, something has made me think about Audrey Hepburn in Sabrina. Maybe it's all the black I'm taking. Maybe it's my subconscious telling me I should go to a hairdresser because the haircut I gave myself a month ago is growing out HORRIBLY. I don't know. Maybe it's just because there's a packing scene in the movie.

All images from here. Have a good weekend!

a beautiful dress, and a song for friday

First, the dress, from astro vintage. It makes me want to put on a fluffy blue suit and stumble towards it saying me want cookie; it's THAT beautiful. Don't you think you would be more assertive and competent dressed in this? And ready for anything? I do. The description mentions Joan Harris (nee Holloway). I LOVE Joan. The woman, the wardrobe...

I'd wear this dress with emerald green pumps, green earrings, and a great deal of sass. "What's that now?" etc. Or maybe just let my eyes do the talking, like Joan... No, I'll never be that woman. Better work on my sassy conversation.

And the song. I've been a fan of this song since I was a kid; it's so infectious, and so celebratory of life, and the simple act of dancing. It makes me think of women in '60s dresses and bare feet, or young girls in full skirts and flats, twisting around a bar or a summer camp hall with the same abandon. It's one of those songs that is all about the present, and that's just how a Friday afternoon should be. Week's done. Let's twist!

Taylor

Not many words today. I think this picture is enough.

icon: Alison Mosshart

First, play THIS.

The thing is, fur coats have been around, in some form or another, since the Neanderthals. Black jeans, while not quite as old, are hardly new. People have been wearing tshirts since late nineteenth century. They've been worn together by many men and women over the years. Many have swapped the fur for leather, and the tshirt for plaid. Many have let their hair live its own life.

So why does the look belong to Alison Mosshart?

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I don't know. What I do know is that when I wear my black jeans, my new fur (which I'm not supposed to have until next month), a tshirt (preferably Jimmy's Sabbath one), and ankle boots, I feel as if I'm dressed for anything; work, dinner, pub, library, wedding, funeral, school play, beach (in Dunedin). And I don't command a stage, or write excellent songs, or play the guitar like a pro. And my side project is not a band that has Jack White in it. Is it her talent? The cigarettes? Will I ever know?!

Alison Mosshart. Enigma. Style champion.

icon: Slim Keith

What I'd like to say about Slim Keith, as a person, has already been said too well by someone else for me to bother, so if you'd like to know a little bit about a woman who used everything she had to get (almost) everything she wanted, may I direct you to this very good article written for the New York Times back in 1990, when her memoir "Memories of a rich and imperfect life" was published. While I'm not entirely comfortable with it, there's something kind of democratic (in the American sense) about her rise to fame and fortune, when viewed as a result of her noted intelligence, wit, taste, and style (rather than solely her looks, or the fact that, while still at the disadvantage of being a woman in the '30s, she had the distinct and usually overlooked advantages of being a white, heterosexual woman in the '30s).

What I'd like to say about Slim Keith, as a style icon, is this. Lady had it up the wazoo. Her style was defined by its simplicity and California sensibility; middle-partings and pony-tails, practicality, and length. Like that of Lauren Bacall, the "discovery" of whom Slim is credited, Slim's style makes you wonder what's going on in her head, and assume that it's something worth knowing. Trousers never looked so good.

''It was about good looks, brains, taste, and style. . . . The only ingredient I brought to this recipe was the recognition that, while you have to be natural, you also have to be different. . . . In my day, different meant not having your hair done in a pompadour and adorning it with a snood, or not trying to hide your intelligence behind a sea of frills. I somehow knew there was a glut in that market. I opted for a scrubbed-clean, polished look. I thought it was more important to have an intelligence that showed, a humor that never failed, and a healthy interest in men.''

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