eyesing

Bemusing Landscape Tradition - Natasha Kissell

So I'm kinda in love with Natasha Kissell's landscapes. Not only are they beautifully executed oil paintings but they come with a nice side serving of weird, due to the odd combinations of location, modernist archictecture and random additions like elephants trudging through snow or birds perched atop speakers. I'm not the only one who has noticed her talent, Charles Saatchi reportely bought her entire graduate show in 2003.

Elephant Escaping

 

Buidling Castles in the Snow

The Green Hour

Everglade

The Magic Hour

The Small Hour

More information
natashakissell.com
Big ups to Eleven Fine Art, London for actually including comprehensive and comprehensible information about their artists on their website.
The Chambers Gallery
Guardian Arts feature

Pecha Kucha

So last night I did a talk thingie at the Sydney Pecha Kucha, which is an event where "creative people talk about creative things. Each presenter is allowed 20 images, each shown for 20 seconds each." Almost all of the other speakers were architects so my presentation about fashion blogs stuck out like a sore thumb/was a nice change, depending on your interest level.

I decided to do it because I haven't done that much public speaking and I thought it would be a good challenge. I was kinda nervous but a glass of $5 sav blanc quelled the butterflies. I was somewhat bemused because people were laughing during my speech, which isn't such an undesirable response, but I hadn't intended it to be funny. My support crew told me afterwards people were laughing at the pictures, which kind of surprised me because I think they're really beautiful and I'm inspired by what these blogs people create. I guess I'm used to all the exuberant styling. All in all it was a fun experience, I got some nice feedback from a few of the attendees and I'm really glad I did it.

Aaaanyhoodle, there are potentially people reading this who want links to the blogs I talked about, so here goes...

Wardrobe Remix

The Snail and the Cyclops

Hermsprong, Softspoken, coquelicot-sleep

Coco73, becktress, cmt2779

lorimarsha, kasmeneo, bettyjack

Trish Royal who started Wardrobe Remix has her own blog, bitsandbobbins.com

Style Bytes

Kingdom of Style

Stylebubble

And here are some other fashion blogs I heart muchly

Le Blog de Betty
Fashion Toast
Fashionista
Emma's Closet
Fashion Fillers
Only Shallow
Flying Saucer
Liberty London Girl
Fashion is Spinach
Disney Rollergirl

This is hardly the Oscars but I do want to say thank you to the lovely Liz and Kevin for helping me with the jpgs and my sweetheart, Chris for his presentation tips. Sonya x

The Conclusion Of Pat McGrath Week

This is it the final Pat McGrath Christian Dior post... are you excited? I am.

Christian Dior Spring Ready to Wear 2007

I wonder if all the models and makeup artists are all, "Thank f#@k I won't walk out after this job covered in tiny triangles of glittery adhesive paper" when they do a natural look.

Christian Dior Spring Couture 2007

So John was up to his old clash of the cultural titans (Madame Butterfly and Dior) trick again... I've talked about this masterpiece of a collection here

Christian Dior Fall Ready to Wear 2007

Brows and lips fit for a Hollywood diva.

Christian Dior Fall Couture 2007

This collection celebrated the 60th anniversary of Christian Dior at Versailles. For clothing that meant lots of references to the wasp-waisted New Look. For makeup that meant an unbelievable array of individual looks. And the hats such glorious hats... Reminds me of the Christian Dior turban I almost owned.

Christian Dior Spring Ready to Wear 2008

Meh... although how can you top the Fall Couture collection?

Christian Dior Spring Couture 2008

Colour! Colour! Colour! Sequins! Sequins! Sequins! Feathers! Feathers! Feathers! All stuck to the models faces.

Christian Dior Fall Ready to Wear 2008

Dior does Valley of the Dolls. Green dress means green shoes, green handbag, green eyeshadow and great thumping big falsies. Blue dress means blue shoes, blue handbag, blue alice band, blue eyeshadow and you know the rest. Repeat.

And that brings us to the conclusion of our Pat MGrath for Christian Dior retrospective. I hope you've enjoyed the show.

Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah. That's the sound of me taking a bit deep exhalation.

More Pat McGrath 2005 - 2006

Spring 2005 Ready to Wear

Instead of the usual ethnic hypercolour on crack garb, Galliano produced a collection of "wearable" clothing this season.

Christian Dior Spring Couture 2005

Say goodbye to global crazy and hello to tasteful Edie Sedgwick and Josephine does dinner with her hubby Napoleon.

Christian Dior Fall Ready to Wear 2005

More tasteful, wearable fashion means almost wearable makeup...

Christian Dior Fall Couture 2005

Galliano's tour through the Christian Dior archives led Pat McGrath on a historical makeup journey.

Christian Dior Spring Ready to Wear 2006

Veeery simple, pretty faces to go with a softer look for Dior.

Christian Dior Spring Couture 2006

It's all a bit Marie Antoinette after a few months widow capet.

Christian Dior Fall Ready to Wear 2006

Now it's Marie Antoinette as a rock chick.

Christian Dior Fall Couture 2006

Hello plundering French history for well-dressed women of note. This time it's Joan of Arc.

Oh Joy! Aw Derr! The Highs And Lows Of Op Shopping In Cremorne

For the past year or so I've had a job that I'm not entirely loving, in an office located in a very affluent suburb. Added to that, there are a number of op shops or thrift stores within lunch-hour-walking distance of my desk. The haze of work-induced depression invariably makes a perusal of the rails of St Vincent de Paul in search of a vintage "pick me up" seem like an excellent idea... almost every day.

Excellent for wardrobe choice, terrible for the bank balance. Yes, you can shop yourself onto Struggle Street by purchasing from charitable organisations.

Take yesterday for example.

I started the day with a jog on the beach, which meant I was able to justify the trolley loads of fat and sugar that come with Small Bondi Meal from Oporto. The route to the aforementioned fast food chain passed the Neutral Bay branch of Vinnies. I barely have two pennies to rub together at the moment, but of course I had to go and just check... you know...

Hark!
What is that I see?
Do my eyes deceive me?
Can it be?
No!
Yes!
A Chanel suit!
For the measly sum of $80!
!!!

I reminded myself I had no money. I was strong. I walked away. I told myself it just wasn't meant to be.

Then of course, over my Small Bondi Meal, I strategised about how I would juggle my finances and in fact purchase that suit. And purchase I did.

Now I just have to wait for colder weather to wear it.

So, those are the highs of op shopping in Cremorne. The lows? The person who manages the Mosman branch of Vinnies is a total ninny and has "cleaned up" and "winterised" the store. This involves stripping back all the clutter that does make a fabulous op shop and taking away all the dresses, with the exception of those that can be described as "winter dresses."

We live in Sydney. It's not that cold. People will still be interested in shirtdresses in April and May and all the way through to September.

Grrr.

I suppose it doesn't matter really... I am finishing up at this serotonin-depleting job on Friday and departing for lands less fertile in charity shops. Hopefully this means more room in the closet and more money in the bank!

Pat McGrath Month - Installment 4

Christian Dior Spring Couture 2004

I've yapped about this breathtaking collection before.

Christian Dior Fall Ready-to-Wear 2004

Galliano's mode melange for this season? According to style.com "illustrated Vogue covers from the 1900s, using them as a route through to the Edwardiana/teddy boy revival of the 1950s." And fashion scribe, Sarah Mower gave him a rap over the knuckles for being predictable...

Christian Dior Fall Couture 2004

With the Austro-Hungarian Empire as inspiration for zee clozzez, the make-up was more Marie Antoinette than kabuki-player-goes-krazy-with-krayola. Still got the exaggerated eyebrows, but no glitter explosions or cardboard stuck on faces.

Everything new is ancient again

I'm getting a sixties feeling from the monochromatic palette Emi Avora's uses for her opulent interiors.

Rusted

No End

Luna

New But Ancient

Green Deco

Lanterns

Big Screen

Mecca

Ribbons

More info
Comment Art profile
Greenberg Van Doren Gallery, NY
NY Times Style magazine "Whirl of Interiors" feature

Pat McGrath Month - Installment 3

There's a pattern here...

Christian Dior Fall 2003

Descriptions of Christian Dior and resultant Pat McGrath makeup consist of a stream of unrelated ethnic or historical references with a "multicoloured" or "technicoloured" thrown in... Example A, style.com review of the 2003 Fall Ready to Wear "fetish queens in Kabuki face paint, going crazy in multicolor Asian-slash-18th-century clothes."

Christian Dior Fall Couture 2003

Flamenco showgirls in bedazzled hats perform hypercolour kabuki lunacy

Christian Dior Spring 2004

An exhibition of Marlene Dietrich's clothing inspired this collection. "It was Marlene," explained the designer. "But then I thought, who would she be today? Marianne Faithfull, Janis Joplin, Courtney Love, Patti Smith!"

What do champagne and laser prints have in common?

Amanda Henderson of Gloss Creative that's what...

Love a spectacle and wherever smarty pants, Emma Jane Pilkington goes, a spectacle seems to follow. As the director of an "interdisciplinary agency that designs ultra-stylish environments for major global brands" (Thanks Vogue Living), she has been behind the marvelous Moet & Chandon marquees and the Melbourne Cup for a few years.

For 2007 it was Le Chapiteau Merveilleux, featuring swathes of green silk and Bill Henson portraits.

2006 she collaborated with NY designer, Emma Jane Pilkington, to recreate a laser-printed version of the Hall of Mirrors in Versailles.

It was champagne bubbles, bubbles, bubbles all around with the Beijing Olympics National Aquatics Centre-inspired 2005 marquee

More pics

Lots more info and pictures on glosscreative.com.au

Pat McGrath Month - Installment 2

Christian Dior Fall Couture 2002

John Galliano's road trip around the US inspired this collection. After ransacking Hollywood movie studio archives the designer asked himself, "How would Kate Moss wear this? To me, she’s today’s equivalent of the great Hollywood glamour icons." For makeup that meant Tinseltown sequins, Marlene Dietrich lips and fight-scene smoky eyes

Christian Dior Spring Ready to Wear 2003

The makeup for this collection is all about glamour glamour glamour... sound familiar? Magnificent none the less, and the exaggerated eyebrows, sequins and feathers are starting to feel like signatures.

Christian Dior Spring Couture 2003

Research trip to China and Japan this time, which meant Chinese circus performers opened the show, there was a run on turquoise brocade in Paris and the make up was Betty Boop geisha on acid.