On Planning a Wedding

I am getting married in the fall! My sweets asked me to marry him on a desolate walkway in Venice next to the the Canale della Giudecca last November. Tears of joy ran down my cheeks and a soft ‘of course’ crossed my lips.

But people are starting to spook me and I am almost getting afraid that tears of frustration will run down my cheeks with all the wedding planning that has to take place. If their predictions are right, I will be fretting about the thickness of ribbons on the wedding invitations in two months’ time and turn into a total bridezilla in three. I doubt it. Really. But who knows, I might have hidden depths I didn’t know about :)

I just keep ‘zen’ with two pictures in my mind! My wedding mood board consists of exactly two pictures, and they revolve around people, not things. So as long as I focus on that, all other material elements will be fine. 

Except for the wedding dress, that needs to be perfect ;) , oh and the photography of course because that stays with you forever, oh and the food – as a total foodie I could not bear bad food, oh and the music – I want a blast of a party so I need the perfect DJ, oh and the flowers!! They need to be colourful and abundant….Oh nooooo, there we go…the transformation to bridezilla is starting… 

Just kidding, I have the essence captured in my mood board pictures. It’s enough to guide me.

I’m really dreaming of a small wedding, a wedding where we are surrounded by the people closest to us - the people we love and love us back. I imagine our wedding as a celebration of us being together and of our promise to each other; the promise that we will build a life together as a team and that we will love each other through the good and the bad moments. I am picturing a wonderful day with lots of smiling people, lots of hugs, lots of dancing and laughing, plenty of jokes and the making of many memories! Us, friends and family dancing a sparkling night away! It would make me so happy to see everyone having a good time! So that at the end of the evening I can kiss my love and scream with happiness while looking at some fireworks :)

In any case, since so many of our friends are coming from abroad, I will make sure they will have a good time - and that requires some planning - so back to work and my lovely timeline that will help me through this as efficiently as possible :)

Alber Elbaz + Lancôme

I am buzzing with excitement to see the cosmetics line that will be conceived by Lancome and Alber Elbaz, Lanvin's artistic director! For now I will have to do with Elbaz's cute teaser video and I will be couting down the days until the 15th of June when the limited-edition color cosmetics collection is out in stores worldwide.

I am of course curious about the colours of the make-up line and I am dreaming of sweet pastels and soft textures, but even more so I am dying to see the packaging design and the campaign! Will they use spokesperson Emma Watson?  I believe she would be a good pick and I think if she had the chance the collaborate with Elbaz on the campaign, that we could see some joyous and fun results! I really hope the campaign will reflect Elbaz' humour, joy and lightness - his joie de vivre that twinkles in his eye! And that it will be that bit more than just a headshot of a beautifully made up model (even if it is the lovely Miss Watson)

Alber Elbaz self portrait

I love Alber Elbaz' vision on beauty and I really hope it will be reflected in this limited edition cosmetics collection! 

Alber Elbaz on beauty: 'It seems as though every time you want to be a modernist you have to make something a little bit ugly. And if you make it really ugly then it's really modern and really cool. But beauty is never démodé. Beauty is the one thing I think everyone is seeking. That's it — to touch beautiful things, to make women feel beautiful. And this is power, you know, to feel beautiful. I always say that women are very strong and men are powerful. But beauty gives you both strength and power. I never think of it. It's just one of those natural things. It's the only thing I know how to do ' from Julia Reed's interview with Alber Elbaz - original article here

Alber Elbaz playing hide and seek

Bunnies

I came across this video ‘Chocolate Bunny’ by Dutch artists Lernert & Sander and I just had to share it with you!

Still from the Chocolate Bunny video by Lernert and Sander

I really like the use of one soft and sweet pastel colour for all décor elements as it enhances the contrast with the poor brown melting bunny. I also love the music by Nathan Larson underscoring the whole melting process, it makes the scenes that extra haunting and for some reason gives it a bit of humorous twist because it underlines the absurdity of the whole. What do you think of it?

They not only make videos and commercials, but also create installations - always with a humorous twist. If you were already living in London in 2010, you might remember the sculptural installations they created for the Selfdridges window displays drawing attention to the launch of the new Selfridges Shoe Galleries. Mundane household appliances were given a glamorous make-over!

Dustbuster Stilettos

Iron Stilettos

The video of these chocolate bunnies melting also reminded me of the dark humour cartoons that I really liked when I was studying for exams at university. I used to have a copy of The Book of Bunny Suicides by Andy Riley next to me for giggles when I needed a break from the dry formulas in the study books.

Still of the Lernert and Sander "Chocolate Bunny" video and the

photos of the artists'Selfridges installations by Lex Kembery taken from Lernert and Sander's website

Cartoons of Bunny Suicides from Andy Riley's website

Cloud Imagination (2)

A while back in my first Cloud Imagination article, I wrote about clouds and how they can spark your imaginiation through the forms that it can take. I mentioned two creative "Cloud" pieces - the "Cloud - Made of More" advertisement for Guinness by AMV BBDO UK  and the photographs by Christopher Jonassen

Now I would like to add another artist to this "Cloud" repertoire! Dutch artist Berndnaut Smilde invites clouds into indoor spaces and takes their picture before they mysteriously vanish. You can go see his work at the Ronchini Gallery in London where he is featured in the exhibition The Uncanny: Adeline de Monseignat and Berndnaut Smilde that opens to the public on the 16th of January.

Berndnaut Smilde's Nimbus II

‘Dutch artist, Berndnaut Smilde produces striking images of ‘real’ Nimbus clouds suspended within empty rooms. Using a fog machine, he carefully adjusts the temperature and humidity to produce clouds just long enough to be photographed. There is a unique ephemeral aspect to the work where the photograph captures a very brief moment before the cloud dissipates and disappears again as mysteriously as it was formed. His choice of lighting and viewing aspect enables him to create a representation of the cloud’s physicality. Smilde’s work looks at transience and challenges the physicality of space.’ –text from the website of the Ronchini Gallery

The following video show's the artist at work (the video is in Dutch)

  

Go see:

The Uncanny: Adeline de Monseignat and Berndnaut Smilde

@ The Ronchini Gallery in London

Exhibition Dates: 16 January – 16 February 2013

Opening Hours: Monday – Friday 10am–6pm, Saturday 10am – 5pm Location: 22 Dering Street, London, W1S 1AN

George The Poet

Yesterday evening, after a long day and another channel train trip, I came home to London and turned on the tv to wind down. Not really watching and more focused on the relay of the day with my fiancé, the warmth and rhythm of a man’s voice (but not my fiance’s this time) caught my attention. I heard a poem rhythmically spoken and saw simple but beautifully shot and chosen images and a great visual highlight at the end! Thank goodness for digital tv where you can rewind instantly and as often as you want. I watched this short film three times over!

This short film ‘Impossible’ is the result of collaboration between George The Poet who wrote and performed ‘Impossible’, Robert Ryan who directed and edited the film, Jeremy Hewson who was responsible for photography, Tom Rafferty who did graphics and Naughty Boy who managed sound production.

‘Impossible’ was George The Poet’s  third poem featured on Channel 4’s Random Acts. He is an up and coming act from North-West London and only twenty-one years old. Through his poems he offers politically conscious and often humorous social commentary. He draws from his life in London's inner-city as well as the Politics, Psychology and Sociology course he studies at Cambridge University. You can follow him through his blog or on twitter.

Random Acts is a short-form daily arts strand on Channel 4. Short films are chosen for their bold and creative expressions of creativity. Random Acts features both established artists and emerging talent and allows them to create their own pieces, unmediated by presenters and unfettered by the conventions of conservative arts television. Content includes, but is not restricted to, spoken word, dance, animation, video art and music. Visit http://randomacts.channel4.com/#home to see more short films.

George The Poet’s other Random Acts all of which – like ‘Impossible’- were produced by Duece Films and include 'My City' and 'Passion Fruit':

‘My City’
'My City' highlights a part of London that is often forgotten; the gap between the rich and poor, street crime, the rich melting pot of cultures, rundown urban spaces and how expensive it is to really enjoy our capital... at least while the city celebrates the world's largest sporting event.

 

‘Passion Fruit’

Against the backdrop of Europe's largest carnival, George the Poet celebrates the vibrancy and creativity that emanates from London.

 

(I would want to share it with you the short film ‘Impossible’ but am guessing that copyright law doesn’t really allow me to do so legally, so you will have to wait until it comes onto Channel 4’s website)

Golden Santigold!

The first album I bought this year - i.e. 2013 ;) - is Santigold's 'Master of My Make-Believe' . It's Sanitgolds second album and was released in May 2012, 4 years after her great debut 'Santogold'(she changed the o in an i now)

I am completely obsessed, love almost every song on it! Exciting sexy pop with notes of punk and electro and some very very good beats and percussion!

Check out these songs!

For some slow sexy solo dancing:
Disparate Youth (the first single from the album --> video below)
God from the Machine

For really shakin' that ass:
Big Mouth (you can get a free download on Santigold's website)

For after the party when you come home and you lie in the couch reminiscing on the evening:
This isn't Our Parade
The Riot's Gone

Brilliant Funny Face

Watching old movies on a cold winter afternoon covered in blankets and with some sugary treats in reach, is one of my favourite things to do – and even more so if I am recovering from a New Years Eve celebration ;)

So last Tuesday I watched ‘Funny Face’ (1957) starring Audrey Hepburn, Fred Astaire and Kay Thompson. And although it is not my favourite Hepburn movie - ‘Sabrina’ is – it is definitely worth watching for all the references made to the world of fashion magazines, for Richard Avedon’s opening title sequence and of course for the classically beautiful Hepburn equally stunning in Hubert de Givenchy’s designs as well as the most simple black pants and tops.

 

In the movie Astaire plays fashion photographer Dick Avery who works for the fashion magazine ‘Quality’ run by Maggie Prescott – played by Kay Thompson. At an on location fashion shoot in a bookstore in Greenwich Village, they meet the intellectual Jo Stockton - played by Hepburn. Avery is convinced that the freshness and character of Jo’s face is what ‘Quality’ magazine needs because Prescott had expressed that she wanted a model who can think as well as she looks. They both decide to turn Jo into a supermodel and they take her to romantic Paris on a fashion shoot and of course Avery falls in love with her.

 

A super sweet story and very endearing, but what really attracted me was the depiction of the world of fashion magazines . I am an avid collector – already since I was a little girl. It all started with the Cosmogirl I received from my family in the US when I was about 10. I soon switched to reading the French Vogue, Elle and Marie Claire my mom bought, and already a good 10 years now my collection has exploded in every direction from UK’s I-D, US’s Nylon, Harper’s Bazaar and Vanity Fair to France’s Jalouse and Officiel …

So I love when the movie starts out with the scene in which the fashion magazine publisher and editor Maggie Prescott explains the essence of what makes a good magazine: “A magazine must be like a human being. If it comes into a home, it must contribute. It cannot just lie there… it must have blood and brains and bozaaz!”

This movie also reminded me of two other must-see fashion magazine references: The September Issue – a documentary on US Vogue’s famous September Issue and The Devil Wears Prada – a movie that could almost be considered as a modern take on Funny Face albeit without the singing and dancing, it is the story of an intellectual journalist starting to work for a fashion magazine’s most demanding and powerful editor-in-chief.

A second reason to watch the movie is Richard Avedon’s involvement as ‘Special Visual Consultant.’ He worked with director Stanley Donen to create one of the film's centerpieces, a five-minute montage of Hepburn posing all over Paris for a fashion layout, as well as the witty fashion sequence in the "Think Pink" number. He also produced the amazing opening title sequence photographs. The most famous single image from the film is the intentionally overexposed close-up of Hepburn's face in which only her facial features—her eyes, eyebrows, nose and mouth—are visible.  

Still by Richard Avedon from the opening credits of Funny Face

Avedon is a fashion photographer pioneer. He started out after World War II and was soon picked up by Harper’s Bazaar’s strong triumvirate Carmel Snow (Editor-in-Chief) , Diana Vreeland (Fashion Editor) and Alexey Brodovitch (Art Director). When Harper’s Bazaar covered the Paris spring and fall fashion collections, Avedon's task was to stage photographs of models wearing the new fashions out in the city itself. Throughout the late 1940s and early 1950s he created elegant black-and-white photographs showcasing the latest fashions in real-life settings such as Paris's picturesque cafes, cabarets and streetcars. Something he did as well for the movie Funny Face (and the character of Fred Astaire is also based on Avedon).  His fashion photography is so new because he was so strong in capturing movement. His models are not static, they move in the clothes as he “dances” with them to take the shot. Avedon worked as a fashion photographer at Harper’s Bazaar for 20 years (1945 – 1965) and then another 24 years at Vogue (1966 – 1990). Besides his fashion photography, Avedon is also known for his portraits and his photojournalism (he became the first staff photographer for The New Yorker)

In 1995 a great documentary on his life and work was made and you should really watch it if you are at all interested in photography! See the link below: