the happiest day of my life: 2011 edition

There's just something about wedding gown photography. The dark eye makeup? The facial expressions hovering somewhere between fear and loathing? The decrepit locations? Is there something about weddings that just causes our minds to linger on evil spirits? Dress like your bridesmaids to confuse evil spirits. Carry the bride across the threshold to ward off evil spirits. Marry on the right day of the week to avoid evil spirits. Tie cans to the car to scare away evil spirits. Wear a veil to disguise yourself from evil spirits. And so on. There is a virtually bottomless well of evil spirits waiting to set upon you on your special day.

A while ago I showed some 1967 takes on the wedding dress. Christo's concept (a woman lashed to an immense object using white silk ropes) in particular seemed a tad political. The dresses from 2011 below, on the other hand, look a lot like little girl fantasy fairytale wedding gowns. Notably, fairy tales are getting back to their gruesome roots these days. Please enjoy.







Consider the evil spirits confused.



I'm not saying that this photo shoot for Vogue Italia by Paolo Roversi is intended for a wedding spread, but there are really only just so many events in a lady's life where she's going to be wearing a white, jewel-crusted, floor length gown with a lacy headpiece.

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Besos! -Skyler

http://www.theseearthltbodies.com/

meditation on shadows

Power resides only where men believe it resides... A shadow on the wall, yet shadows can kill.”
― George R.R. Martin, A Clash of Kings

I do admit to reading all 5,000+ pages of the A Song of Fire and Ice Series, but I'm not looking to get into it here. Check out these beautifully haunting images from Vogue Italia of Laura Stone being menaced by shadows of monsters, poisons, and prickly plants. Simultaneously fairy tale, sci-fi, and high fashion, I approve.

Vogue Italia Couture Magazine, Spring/Summer 2010

Photographer: Paolo Roversi

Model: Laura Stone

Makeup: Peter Philips

Hair: Julien D'ys

Check below for further meditations on shadows.

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Besos! -Skyler
http://www.theseearthlybodies.com/

 

does this make you feel like going shopping?

So I just wanted to point out that this photography is a thing that is happening somewhere on earth. Specifically it seems to be coming out of Eugenio Recuenco, a Madrid-based photographer.

Eugenio reportedly does most of his work commercially and for advertisements. I'm having a hard time imagining the products. Life insurance? Breakfast cereal?

"The first meal of the day is the most important!"

I'm not complaining though. Really, I'm not. These photos are dreamy, twisted, and macabre.

The panoramics are worth a click through if you want a better look at how sexy cannibalism can really be.

Suffice to say that Mr. Recuenco probably had a look or two at the collected works of Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio.

More or less sombre?

- Judith Beheading Holofernes 1598–1599

**

Besos! -Skyler

www.theseearthlybodies.com

         

emblazoned

More UK trend watch from my trip to Oxford. Now up: patterned blazers. I saw some really amazing things on the streets. Looking for inspiration, I found this great ad campaign from D & G f/w 2009.

It's several years later, but the layers of rich texture on rich texture on rich texture is still perfect. Since I love eBay, I checked, and found a few of these blazers kicking around in the 2-3k USD range offered by Exquisite Finds.

Dolce and Gabbana began in the 1980s in Milan with the union of Italian designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana. They presented their first women's line in Milan in 1985. D & G is their younger, more casual line.

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Besos! -Skyler

not dead, only sleeping: lace dress

Hi! My next installation in my Back From the UK series: lace dresses.

Yes, we are doing them here. Are the British just a little bit more into them? I can't help but think yes. UK and lace dresses: call them kindred spirits.

Another place that's really into lace dresses is eBay. I love eBay and I'm dedicating this post to all of the beautiful clothes that are not dead, only sleeping. Enjoy.

Hanae Mori Silk Lace Dress

 

Hanae Mori opened her fashion house in Japan in 1951. She presented her first line in New York in 1965 and opened an haute couture showroom in Paris in 1967. She designed movie costumes as well. She has been honored by both the French president and the Emperor of Japan for her work. She is a fashion icon.

This dress is presented for sale by American Archive at 348 USD. It measures 37-28-36.



Bill Blass Lace and Swiss Dot Dress

Born in Wayne Indiana, Bill Blass began his fashion career in New York in 1946. He worked under Baron de Gunzburg, before launching his own line in 1959. Bill Blass worked for almost 20 years with Ford Motors on signature car lines and in WWII worked making and camouflaging dummy targets to fool the Germans. The Bill Blass line is known for wearability and clean styling.

This dress is available from VIP Consignment at 850 USD. It measures 34-25-open.

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Besos! -Skyler
http://www.theseearthlybodies.com/

Back from the UK: please do this.

Sorry for the break. Just back from a week or two checking out Oxford, looking at colleges, etc.
British style: please do this. More to come but here's a quick list of areas where I think the UK excels:

1. Coats. This is not really fair. Obviously they have a lot more experience than we do at wearing coats, weather being such as it is. I was there in April. It rained every day. This is typical. At first I'm thinking, "What's the big deal? The English countryside is so beautiful!"  Day 10 I'm thinking, "Where is the nearest suicide prevention center?" Nice coats, though. Seriously.


This guy is in "Migration Studies." Everyone is.

- from Trussardi's f/w 2012-13. Buy it. Buy all of it.



2. Leather Goods. Yes, here too, the British seem fantastic. Greater cow to human ratio? I'm not sure what it is, but the abundance of rich looking leather goods boggled my mind. As everywhere, neons, fluorescents, and gem tones are huge.


- Mulberry's Holiday Bayswater 895 GBP from Harrod's



- from Etro s/s 2012




3. Manor Homes. This kind of thing happening all the time: people stomping around on their estates, in their 18th century converted church schools, on their farm manors, all the time wearing tweedy blazers, corduroys, linen vests and sensible waterproof boots. Are they for real? Initial research suggests that yes, they are for real.

Will you have a tea? I believe we met in the Migration Studies lecture last week.

- from Scapa s/s 2012




4. Mixed Patterns. I know, I know. Everyone is doing this everywhere all the time now. A J. Crew catalog last week informed me that "stripes were the new solids." We can do much better than that, though.


Attention America: please wear this to class.

- from Etro a/w 2012



5. Socks. So simple. So ubiquitous. So much better there. Why?


Socks: both critical and superfluous. It rained like 89" while I was there. My feet were never dry. This is why everyone else is wearing sensible waterproof boots.

- Bergdorf Goodman, Spring 2009


That's all for now. More to come on Oxford's morbid campus and ruminations on the lace dress. Stay tuned!

**

Besos! - Skyler

http://www.theseearthlybodies.com/





nearing sightedness



Bad ideas and eyewear

Douglas Friedman photographs for Vogue Italia via Bernstein & Andriulli

Big gold glasses. I want them. I want them as sunglasses, reading glasses, with funny embellishments. I want them as bi-focals, for nearsightedness, in case my Lasic doesn't take, in plastic or metal. I want them in Dior or Gucci, from Etsy or eBay, in vintage Turla. Gold, yellow, metallic taupe. Get me these glasses, stat.

exactly like these.