While I was in France I tweeted "neon nails good idea, or not?" A little bit of a debate raged and while some weighed in that neon nails were a bad idea...I couldn't resist! I have a strange love for neon yellow...always have from my neon fleece to a dream prom dress that I could never find. This polish doesn't have a brand; I bought it from a street vendor in Paris.
A classic film and pefect example of the story-within-a-story writing style, is The Red Shoes. The film follows the life of a young ballerina who climbs from the corps de ballet at an established company to become the lead in the ballet The Red Shoes. The ballet (within the film) is based off the rather grisly, but redemptive fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen. Life reflects art and the viewer is swept between the fantasy of the stage and the backstage realism. The plot for the film found inspiration in the real life drama surrounding Diaghilev's Ballet Russe and the famous scandal of 1913 when Diaghilev's star, Vaslav Nijinsky, married the Hungarian ballerina Romola de Pulszky. (Diaghilev fired them both.) While the leads in this film could easily have fallen into stereotypes of ballet ingenue and overbearing manager, the actors (Moira Shearer and Anoton Walbrook, respectively) bring a depth and emotion to their characters that is rarely seen. Immersing yourself in the film you cannot cast one as villian and victim when their motives aren't so simple: a passion for art and ballet drives both to the brink of sanity. Yet, what is genius but the tip-toeing of that line? Can one achieve true greatness without certain sacrifices?
Whenever I have too much time on my hands I like to browse the online NYPL archives. There is a plethora of great vintage photos, artwork, and even music sheets available for inquiring minds. These illustrations are from the Gazette du Bon Ton and are all by Pierre Brissaud. The Gazette was a leading fashion magazine that was published between 1912 and 1925. It was a very elist (and expensive) magazine; I find it ironic how many pages from it we can now access online for free...
all artwork by Pierre Brissaud via NYPL
I enjoy trying out styles of clothes or accessories that are outside of my norm. The last thing I want is to get into a style rut and even pieces dissimilar to my usual ones can be worn in a way I find comfortable. So, when I saw this very 80s denim vest I knew I had to play around with it. Pairing it with very familiar items like a vintage dress, dark palette, and lace-up heels kept the look from being a total departure.
The illustrations in Matou en Peluche almost feel like pages trapped in time. Her characters are reminiscent of silent film stars, but are delicately brought out of that black and white world by delicate smudges of pastel. To understand some of the story behind the drawings I asked the artist a few questions.Most of your illustrations are of women (or mermaids), what kind of
women do you draw? I think all the women I draw are very independent and smart and have very large and vivid interior worlds. They have their own characters and individual personalities that are unique to them. I don’t think there’s any commonality to them other than they are interesting and thoughtful about their own world and the world’s of people they interact with.
Many of your drawings are reminiscent of the 1920s, is that your
A number of your illustrations seem like pages from a story book (like the blue rabbit), are they inspired by tales? They aren’t really inspired by tales but rather by the whole whimsy and magic of fairy tales and children’s books. They are a slice of a story I’ve yet to complete perhaps! I wasn’t really into fairy tales when I was young. I think Fairy tales were a little too dark for me! I was more into Golden Books – particularly those by Margaret Wise Brown and illustrated by Garth Williams. I also adored and still adore Orlando the Marmalade Cat books by Kathleen Hale. Rudyard Kipling’s Just So stories and Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild things are also some special faves.
It's early October...do you have your Halloween costume planned yet? My dream Halloween costume is a full panda bear suit! I did wear one once – it was a brand new one from a hire shop but I would like to own my own! Perhaps I should investigate that further!
1. 
1. 
