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

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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.

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Besos! -Skyler

http://www.theseearthlybodies.com/

a carnival should be all growls

Not since I read Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes in middle school, have I stopped worrying about carnivals.

lo-fi via mjcphotoblog
by the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes - that scottish play

An unnatural preoccupation with youth and aging? Fantasy, horror, glamor, the macabre? Sounds like a fashion ready story. Here's three SWTWC style inspirations.

#1 smells like cotton candy in town?

When this happens, you know things are about to get very weird.

john galliano at Paris Fashion Week via lala london; oscar de la renta spring 2012 via changing room; marc jacobs http://prettycoveted.blogspot.com/2011_02_01_archive.htmlspring 2011 via pretty coveted

Rei Kawakubo, Comme des Garcons, Paris Spring Summer 1996 via monsieur j

#2 Cooger & Dark's Pandemonium Shadow Show

Cue the random photo montage. Alexy Titarenko's long exposure photo series "City of Shadows" is pandemonium and dark.

via Alexy Titarenko

Death doesn't exist. It never did, it never will. But we've drawn so many pictures of it, so many years, trying to pin it down, comprehend it, we've got to thinking of it as an entity, strangely alive and greedy. All it is, however, is a stopped watch, a loss, an end, a darkness. Nothing. -SWTWC

#3 Illustrated (wo)man

The runways favor a slightly less permanent vision of painted skin, be it in marker, eyeliner, or lace.

via elements magazine; marchesa f/w 2012 via thevoguevibes; rodarte spring 2010 via trendhunter and secondtimearound

The stuff of nightmare is their plain bread. They butter it with pain. They set their clocks by deathwatch beetles, and thrive the centuries. They were the men with the leather-ribbon whips who sweated up the Pyramids seasoning it with other people's salt and other people's cracked hearts. They coursed Europe on the White Horses of the Plague. They whispered to Caesar that he was mortal, then sold daggers at half-price in the grand March sale. Some must have been lazing clowns, foot props for emperors, princes, and epileptic popes. Then out on the road, Gypsies in time, their populations grew as the world grew, spread, and there was more delicious variety of pain to thrive on. The train put wheels under them and here they run down the log road out of the Gothic and baroque; look at their wagons and coaches, the carving like medieval shrines, all of it stuff once drawn by horses, mules, or, maybe, men. Something Wicked This Way Comes, for sale here

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Besos! -Skyler

http://www.theseearthlybodies.com/

gifts to bury yourself in: global warming edition!

Hey Haven Seekers, what do you get for the friend who has everything, in light of the end of the world? Global Warming Edition!

Alexander McQueen galoshes for starters! Expect a combination of heavy rains and rising sea levels but these babies will keep his feet more than just dry.

via

Don't be such a whiny priss, ladies. The City Slipper by Swims give you a lift in waterproof footware. $95.

via