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.

**

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.

**

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.

**

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.

**

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.

idyll & ennui

What could be more perfect and perfectly horrifying than a bunch of unsupervised rich kids? Obviously, they are up to no good. This is a classic horror storyline and a designer favorite. I heart overlap.

Here are eight terrible possible activities for kids that have too much time and not enough after school work on their hands.

 #8 Road Trips

 Every bored kid can relate to this. When there's nothing to do, just have your driver take you and your eight friends for a spin around the neighborhood. 

Bergdorf Goodman h/r 2008


#7 Smashing Everything
For a sweet real life example, see "Psycho Scions Rampage," a not-even-New-York-Post headline taken from the news of 1963. Basically, Fernanda Wanamaker Wetherill's pink-themed debutante ball in Southampton turned into a no-holds-barred smashfest at a rented mansion. Windows, chandeliers, crystal goblets, diamond earrings- everything ruined! See, they got bored at their rented mansion after the party at the mansion that they owned. It was a whole thing. You understand.



#6  Theme Parties


Looks like it's probably the entrance to a mansion. They are so dead. They don't even see it coming.

Tommy Hilfiger via the skinny beep

 #5 Poisoning & Murder
Rich kids travel to mansion in Mexico. It's safe to say that no good will come of this one.

Here's a description of Christopher Pike's sophomore YA horror novel, Weekend,

The sun is out. The beach is beautiful. And for nine friends this weekend in Mexico is a dream holiday. But the dream turns into a nightmare when they are poisoned and trapped in a snake-filled room - someone seems to be out to spoil their fun - but surely it couldn't be one of the group?

Everything I ever knew about what happens to four guys and five girls ( I know, right? Perfect.) who travel to Mexico to stay unsupervised at a wealthy friend's vacation home, I learned from this book.

This one is totally different than Slumber Party, where a bunch of rich kids go on a ski trip together and get all murdered. For more information on the 18 plot devices that CP managed to turn into 70 horror novels, see Forever Young Adult.

#4 Eccentricity

Vanity Fair's article celebrating British eccentrics paints a chilling picture of what generations of ennui does to a country of landed gentry.


Among them, this sort of thing. "Otis Ferry poses, in pinks, with foxhounds at the keeper’s cottage in the village of Eaton Mascott."

 #3 Pranking & Murder
April Fool's Day came out in 1986 and had a lot to add to the "rich kids go to remote mansion to die" trope.

IMDB explains,

A group of nine college students staying at a friend's remote island mansion begin to fall victim to an unseen murderer over the April Fool's day weekend.

Nine friends! They should have known! More:

A group of eight college friends gather together at an island mansion belonging to heiress Muffy St. John to celebrate their final year of school. They soon discover that each has a hidden secret from their past which is revealed, and soon after, they turn up dead. Yet, are they really dead? Or is it just part of some very real and cruel April Fool's jokes? The hostess, Muffy, is the only one who apparently knows what's going on. But then again, is it really her doing the killing?

Contains gems such as "welcome to lifestyles of the rich and undeserving" as well as teenagers drowning, stabbing, decomposing, etc. Why have you not seen this movie if you have not seen this movie?

#2 Pool Parties

  

Okay, then what?

Tommy Hilfiger 2011 via MM Scene



#1 Bonfires & Skinny Dipping

This is naturally going to happen with a bunch of bored teenagers at a resort town in New England. I think we all know that it isn't going to end well for poor Chrissy.



Or any of the people of Amity.

Jaws directed by Steven Spielberg, Universal Pictures, 1975 via Dan McGuigan

**

Besos! -Skyler

http://www.theseearthlybodies.com/

 



the crazy vegetation of the springtime

Spring is here!



- Skyler, 2012

For Steven Meisel and Vogue Italia, spring brings with it all of the magic and wonder of the Everdeen household on Reaping Day. I'm guessing that he has terrible seasonal allergies.

 

Okay, yes. I see ugly bonnets, a couple bolts of calico Pa brought back from the county store last week, some livestock what needs plucking. BTW I spent $800 on this cardigan.

February 2008, via a mad tea party with alis



Alis is patient with these images. Claiming that most people don't know how to dress comfortably for the countryside, she thinks that these loose layers are a real breath of fresh air. The colors are natural and calm.

I am skeptical. I am reminded of a certain other someone's treatment of springtime colors. Or colours as it were.

For this strange beam of ghastly miasma was to him of no unfamiliar hue. He had seen that colour before, and feared to think what it might mean. He had seen it in the nasty brittle globule in that aerolite two summers ago, had seen it in the crazy vegetation of the springtime, and had thought he had seen it for an instant that very morning against the small barred window of that terrible attic room where nameless things had happened. It had flashed there a second, and a clammy and hateful current of vapour had brushed past him - and then poor Nahum had been taken by something of that colour. He had said so at the last - said it was like the globule and the plants. After that had come the runaway in the yard and the splash in the well-and now that well was belching forth to the night a pale insidious beam of the same demoniac tint.

  - h.p. lovecreft, the colour out of space, via dragonbytes

 


Plenty more work to be done, ladies. These beans ain't poling themselves or whatever. So...who does your arm waxing?

February 2008, via a mad tea party with alis

 

Maybe it's because I come from the land of no seasons, but I am a little excited about all of this.

**

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

survival techniques: duck and cover

Duck and cover

This 1951 sci-fi / sci-reality informational film is as iconic as the matchstick women of fashion who have been perfecting its look for decades. Why are we so obsessed with the imagery of things falling from the sky?

Classic Sci Fi has a good analysis of the impact of atomic age angst on science fiction movie making.

The notion of mankind surviving a nuclear war -- even if mutated or diminished, etc. -- shows up in a great many sci-fi plots. From Arch Oboler's Five ('51) to Planet of the Apes ('68) and beyond, there is the background optimism that despite the terrible destruction, somehow, a remnant of mankind would live through it all. Apocalypse Survived is one of the most common sci-fi themes. Yet, a parallel theme is that of imminent danger from the skies. Compare D&C's warnings with that of Scotty's in The Thing from Another World ('51) "Watch the skies. Keep watching the skies!". It's not hard to see the Cold War playing out in sci-fi.

The images are pervasive. Frail looking women shielding their heads from disaster is a fashion classic.



Just pull inside your shell!





 Remember, the flash of an atomic bomb can come at anytime, no matter where you may be.

Bergdorf Goodman resort /holiday 2008

 




Go to the safe place your mom and dad have set up for you. Turks and Caicos?

Vogue Nippon

.


I get it. Long lines, stretching out the body. Every designer is envisioning their latest on a Chicken Little. And certainly no one feels particularly compelled to shy away from images of damage or danger to women. It makes for good photos! Because edgy. Because provocative. Right? See how much more valid our point is when we illustrate it with female bodies? You didn't get it otherwise.

But seriously, it does make your arms look less fat. Like certain annihilation, this is a valid concern.

**

Besos! -Skyler

http://www.theseearthlybodies.com/

classic horror bangs

They're big. They're a little trashy. They really open up the face, allowing more big eyes, wide with terror. Okay, they're a lot trashy.

Making the runway-



Vogue Paris showing Naeem Khan
The trucker walk is not making these ladies look any less trashy.



Imaxtree showing Carolina Hererra

and in the classics-  



Lives; dies. Bangs do not seem to help one way or the other.

Grace Kelly in Rear Window via Sew Indigo "What?!? It's right off of the Paris runway and I don't see any problems either gardening OR breaking and entering in this;" and Lee Remick in The Omen getting a good additional 4" of height on her "Oh no, I'm raising the devil!" face.

 

**

Besos! -Skyler