La Vie en Rose

Edith Piaf

Hello world!

Welcome to WordPress.com. This is your first post. Edit or delete it and start blogging!

11 16 09 Poem of the Week

Yours & Mine Alice Fulton

Through your lens the sequoia swallowed me
like a dryad. The camera flashed & forgot.
I, on the other hand, must practice my
absentmindedness, memory being awkward as a touch
that goes unloved. Lately your eyes have shut
down to a shade more durable than skin’s. I know you
love distance, how it smooths. You choose an aerial view,
the city angled to abstraction, while I go for the close
exposures: poorly-mounted countenances along Broadway,
the pigweed cracking each hardscrabble backlot.
It’s a matter of perspective: yours is to love me
from a block away & mine is to praise the graininess
that weaves expressively: your face.

image: Helmut Newton

Maillol / Milo

11 09 09 Poem of the Week

Let thee be your Desires Khalil Gibran

Love has no other desire but to fulfill itself
But if your love and must needs have desires,
Let these be your desires:

To melt and be like a running brook
That sings its melody to the night.
To know the pain of too much tenderness.
To be wounded by your own understanding of love;
And to bleed willingly and joyfully.
To wake at dawn with a winged heart
And give thanks for another day of loving;
To rest at the noon hour and meditate love’s ecstasy;
To return home at eventide with gratitude;
And then to sleep with a prayer
For the beloved in your heart
And a song of praise upon your lips. 

Photo Credit: Cecil Beaton

Artchitecture in Pasadena

Fashion in Architecture: Architecture of Fashion

Wearstler’s Whimsy

With the designs of the Viceroy Santa Monica & Palm Springs, and numerous other fashionably influenced spaces, Wearstler ranks among the interior design industry’s top stylemaker.  Her own studio, House of KWID (Kelly Wearstler Interior Design) is well-known for colorful baroque interiors, such as those of the Viceroy hotels in Palm Springs, Miami and Santa Monica, the Avalon in Beverly Hills, and the Tides in Miami Beach. She was a design judge on the second season of Bravo reality television show Top Design.  Her recent book Hue, shows the power of color in her work and the endless possibilities of creating a vibrant space.  Her two other books include Domicilium Decoratus and Modern Glamour: The Art of Unexpected Style. 

Whether you are a professional designer or just looking to be inspired, Wearstler’s whimsy is sure to grab your attention and take you inside a space you could easily stay in for hours.

http://www.kellywearstler.com/

Captivating Coco

“A girl should be two things: classy and fabulous.” – Chanel

I spent last night watching the recently released movie, Coco avant Chanel (Coco before Chanel).  A great film with Audrey Tautou playing one of the most influential fashion icons of the 20th Century, this movie did an alluring job in giving the audience a glimpse into the darker side of Chanel’s life.  Left in an orphanage at the age of nine, Coco and her sister remained there for 15 years, later to star together as singers in a Parisian saloon.  There she met Mr. Balsan, a wealthy aristocrat who would give her a peek into the lifestyle she never had.  The story had a bit of irony to it: she was surrounded by wealth and wealthy people whose relations depended on only the rich, but she found them to be arrogant and displeasing.  But at the heart of it all, all she ever wanted while she stayed there was a way to find her own security, she wanted to be famous, well-known and was money-driven.  Eventually, she met Mr. Arthur “Boy” Capel, whom she had an affair with and over time became her one great love. He was to become the beginnings of her financial support for opening up her own clothing studio in Paris.  After his visit to the shop one day, he drove off only to return to see her in a couple of days where they would spend a whole three months together (without his wife in the way).  She couldn’t bear not seeing him for a couple days so she jumped into the car with him, later on deciding it was silly of her, she would wait.  He never came back as he was found dead in a car accident near the seaside.  In a twisted way, her destiny waited for her with that one unfortunate event.  She became even more dark and depressed and threw herself in her work.  The design of the infamous tweed, black skirt and black hats all came through her dark days of trying to move on from her one and only love.  As she said in the movie “I will belong to nobody, I will be no one’s wife.” She never married, never had to worry about changing her name for marriage.  And to her destiny, Chanel has remained as one of the most iconic names that still resonates with us for having the power to create her own luck, her own independence, her own life, to no one else’s rules but hers. 

“Elegance is not the prerogative of those who have just escaped from adolescence, but of those who have already taken possession of their future.” – Chanel

11 02 09 Poem of the Week

Phenomenal Woman by Maya Angelou

Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.
I’m not cute or built to suit a fashion model’s size
But when I start to tell them,
They think I’m telling lies.
I say,
It’s in the reach of my arms
The span of my hips,
The stride of my step,
The curl of my lips.
I’m a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That’s me.
I walk into a room
Just as cool as you please,
And to a man,
The fellows stand or
Fall down on their knees.
Then they swarm around me,
A hive of honey bees.
I say,
It’s the fire in my eyes,
And the flash of my teeth,
The swing in my waist,
And the joy in my feet.
I’m a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That’s me.
Men themselves have wondered
What they see in me.
They try so much
But they can’t touch
My inner mystery.
When I try to show them
They say they still can’t see.
I say,
It’s in the arch of my back,
The sun of my smile,
The ride of my breasts,
The grace of my style.
I’m a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That’s me.
Now you understand
Just why my head’s not bowed.
I don’t shout or jump about
Or have to talk real loud.
When you see me passing
It ought to make you proud.
I say,
It’s in the click of my heels,
The bend of my hair,
the palm of my hand,
The need of my care,
‘Cause I’m a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That’s me.