Light Luggage - Paris for a Week, Perhaps.

Mais Oui.

 Hey everyone. I came across an article on Oh Happy Day - How to Pack for 2 Weeks to France in a Carry-On. It inspired me.

It's a pretty good, informative article. I'm a light packer too. Although my last Paris trip (2010, sigh) was only for a week, I think even Jordan has packed too much. Pack whatever floats your boat, but for my comfort a lighter suitcase is a better suitcase.

I would never pack 4 pairs of shoes. One extremely comfortable pair of boots or shoes on your feet should do. Two at a pinch. Shoes are heaviest, most clumbersome things to pack. Alegria shoes are the most comfortable thing I travel in. They are hell to pack though (and no backwoods hiking!) so I wear them on the plane. Security loves their huge soles!

If going in autumn  I would pack my most flattering, comfortable dress and a stand-out tunic or sweater dress for colour. Black tights and leggings, a black double-knit mini (or 2), a black turtleneck, a white shirt,  and a pair of black pants can be mixed and matched. Pick whatever colour,  but it's easier if its monochrome.  I would pack a heavy-knit wrap-around top and a light jersey cardi. A graphic t-shirt dress to sleep in. ( I will explain)  Everything can be dressed up with a colourful scarf or some chunky jewelry.

Things I would change from my last trip. I would add is a good pair of jeans and to switch the shoes for knee boots. I have to admit that no women I saw in Paris looked overly dynamic - Just jeans, leather boots, scarves galore and a good hair cut. I saw one really great coat on someone in the 4th Arrondisement, but all the craziness that one sees on the Sartorialist for example, must have been reserved for some other time and place because I saw none of it.

I would also tone down the stand-out tunic. I wore an orange sweater-dress from IVKO and I know that I was the only person in Paris wearing orange that day. It was obvious I was an out-of-towner,  Parisians still prefer dark colours. But if you want to stand out, go right ahead. I still might. I did wear a somewhat bright dress from Boden and was mistaken (from the back) for a French women's friend!

No PJs I just slept in a  long t-shirt dress. If you want to go to the disco. Wash it in the sink, dress it up with jewelry and accessories. I took a Roots Test Pattern T-shirt dress to sleep in (not the expensive Stella McCartney above). Needless to say (because I'm shy) I did not wear it out to a disco.

I've can come up with at least eight outfits from the above. Good luck if you are traveling this autumn. Bon Voyage.

 

I created the top collage on Polyvore. I haven't quite got the hang of it yet.

When I Grow Up I Want To Be Like Tziporah!

This woman is fantastic! A walking work of art. When I grow old(er) I want to dress like this and act like a character from a Woody Allen film. Maybe I can start today.
I found Tziporah and other ladies with an equally great attitude at the blog Advanced Style.
She has her own website at Tziporah Salamon.com
Thanks Sandra Leigh for introducing me.

If You're Young at Heart

For it's hard, you will find, to be narrow of mind, if you're young at heart.

 

A dozen fantastic 40+ women in my neighbourhood meet Spring and Fall to exchange our gently used clothes. We have such a laugh trying out looks that we may never have thought of before, or snapping up that coveted coat from a friend. It's always a positive, warm and mind-opening evening. November will be our 8th go-round. In another 40+ years we can only hope to be as wonderful as the women included in this video. My mum would have been 85 today and she fooled people about her age until the end.

  thanks Laurie, for passing this on to me. 

Undone

An intimate warmth predominates James Tissot’s The Shop Girl (1883-1885). The shaded interior makes the viewer feel like an elite insider. The black-clad girl opening the shop’s door onto a lively Paris street is the focus of the work. Inside, a hushed serenity is achieved through the muted light and the gentle shadows on the girl’s face. The world outside the shop is hustling and bustling and is depicted as such through Tissot’s slapdash brush strokes, whereas his work on the young lady is barely decipherable.

The viewer’s eye first alights to the central shop girl and the pink package she holds and is then drawn to the recurring black figure on the left. This repetitive design element bounces us back from the edge of the frame to the busyness in the window and the pile of ribbon on the counter. The open door seems less important than what has just transpired in the shop.

This nineteenth century slice of life is as accurately detailed as a photograph. However, Tissot used a palette of oil paints to subtly blend colours necessary for warm skin and ribbons. Slow-drying oil paint was a necessity for Tissot, who took two years to complete this work. Unlike a photo, the painting is large, about 1x1.5 metres. From the perspective of a gallery goer standing about a metre away,  Tissot’s  shop girl seems almost life-sized.

Tissot places the viewer into the shoes of a male who has just purchased something for a woman.  Men are gazing at the shop girls through the window, as if they too were commodities or confections. A woman from a higher place in society passes with her eyes demurely averted. There is a lot of masculine attention going on. The central girl has met the male gaze of the viewer and is intensely maintaining it. She’s about to hand the gentleman shopper his package as he joins his chauffeur and horses outside. 

The somberly-clad shop girl contrasts with the tumble of pink ribbons on the countertop revealing, perhaps, that the high-buttoned girl could just as easily become “undone” as the pink mess left on the counter. Tissot’s painting contains other elements that could allude to hidden pleasures: the cupped “V” of the rosy package pointing to the girl’s lap where there lays a barely decipherable pocket; the wooden gargoyle lasciviously pointing his tongue; and the ribbon artfully fallen into a heart shape on the floor. 

To me, The Shop Girl is reminiscent of Manet’s A Bar at the Folies Bergere (1882). In both, a black clad server with something to offer locks eyes with the viewer. Each contains a disconcerting back view of another in black: in Tissot’s, an identically-dressed assistant; in Manet’s, a skewed reflection. These strange dopplegangers may be alluding to the fact that even though these working girls give the illusion that they are of the same class as the men they are serving, in reality, they are removed from it. Here the similarity with Manet’s Impressionistic style ends as Tissot’s small, mannered brush strokes realistically portray the shop girl’s face and the shop’s interior. Although completed at the height of Impressionism, Tissot’s work does not reflect the style of the day.

Copyright Hazel Smith, 2011

Proviso -FAH 245 should probably not copy this.

Find Your Inner Phileas Fogg

If you feel like giving into your Steampunk whims - and who doesn't every now and then - I recommend visiting Steampunk Emporium. The creative people that curate steampunkemporium.com have invented characters whose outfits satisfy your alter ego.

Barnaby Clifton (above) is an intrepid driver who's infamous for owning the first horseless carriage in the district. His costume comprises a linen duster, a plaid vest, mid-calf boots, a cap, brass googles and to top it off, a debonair stage mustache.

Bryson Feldspar, researcher in Alternative Sciences, totes a piece of fictitious steampunk artillery called the Big Daddy. He's sporting railhead pants, silk sleeve garters, and a felt derby hat.

Besides displaying his "Oil Can Harry" moustache and leather aviator cap, Baron von Frohman, manufacturer of steam powered dirigibles, demonstrates his  fantastic Gunner's Canvas Trench Coat.

Hazel Barret , my namesake, is an Egyptian Expeditonist who holds her own among the most learned of gentleman  (how did they know?) As part of her costume Hazel wears a brushed twill convertible riding skirt, a green suede vest  and glacier goggles.

You don't have to stick with these ensembles as the site offers a vast collection of just about everything. And by example I mean over 120 waistcoats that would suit your inner Phileas Fogg, your Jim West or your Oliver Wendell Douglas. The Ladies Emporium offers a good selection of corsets. If you're putting together a costume the site offers fake moustaches, plus monacles, goggles, specatacles, bathing costumes and a wide range of hats.

Most of these clothes, or costumes can be adapted to Victorian, Edwardian or Wild West scenarios. Be it one for Gentlemen, Ladies or fans of Steampunk these "emporia" are simply fantastic. My husband now owns two of the striped vest/trousers combinations. Made of a good quality twill and canvas, the seem to be cut from an authentic pattern. I find their prices quite reasonable and they ship quickly. They are definitely unique.

Images used with permission from www.gentlemansemporium.com

On Order

I've ordered these dresses from the English company Boden. Their stuff is just quirky enough for me and it fits. It's so nice to be able to order a 16 or an 18 and still look fashionably smart and interesting. I've decided to order them now and not wait for the sale. Boden's fabric has a certain quality to it that I'm just not seeing at the "mall", and independent boutiques never carry my size (I'm top-heavy). I get many compliments on the dresses and tunics I've bought from them before so I have a good feeling about these two lovelies. When I was wearing a similar cord dress in Paris last autumn, someone chased me down thinking I was a friend. Nice to be mistaken for a Parisian.

I ordered this dress in purple.

Wow Meow!

Toronto has an incredible street-style photographer and blogger named Nigel Hamid. His blog TorontoVerve features fashionable people on the streets of Toronto and he makes Toronto look gooood.

Although from Vancouver here's a couple of photos of Sam channeling her inner Cat Woman.The scale of prints and the monochrome of the leopard upon leopard upon leopard makes this ensemble work. She's mature and dresses with confidence and a sense of humour. I love this and I'm threatening to get my vintage 50s leopard coat from out of the cupboard.

Photos: Nigel Hamid/TorontoVerve

Courage My Love - Men's Style

I’m a big proponent of men dressing better, with more creativity, more flair and more colour. Jimi Hendrix’ drum major’s coat fills me with delight. Bob Dylan’s polka-dotted shirts are spot-on.

Casual Friday doesn’t have to mean “dress” pants and golf shirts. That’s just gruesome. So when I read that portraits of Mick Jagger from the 1960s would be on display at London’s National Gallery, I just had to get on my bandwagon again.

The exhibition will include portraits of Jagger by Gered Mankowitz, which will highlight the effect of pop art and psychedelia on Jagger’s clothes. Gered Mankowitz (who was just 18 when he became the Rolling Stone’s official photographer) is also responsible for an iconic photo of Jimi Hendrix wearing the military jacket he bought at the boutique I Was Lord Kitchener’s Valet, in London’s mod Carnaby Street. The store specialized in movie costumes and military gear. The designer of the Beatles Sgt. Pepper’s album cover was inspired while walking past the shop.

Again the Beatles circa 1968 demonstrate a male style of dressing that exhibits originality, a sense of confidence and above all, a sense of humour. Known as The Mad Day Out, Don McCullin’s photo session of July 68 show the Beatles as colourful as the flowers surrounding them. Love it!

I see a profound lack of confidence and of humour in clothes both male and female now that I’m back at school. The thousands of university students I pass everyday are as colourless and uniform as a swarm of black ants.

So turn off your mind, relax and flow downstream. Add a little velvet to your life. Dress like the Beatles, not beetles. Start with striped socks, or a bow tie. You’ll feel better too.

Courage My Love, refers to a vintage shop in Toronto’s Kensington Market. Maybe one could pick up a nice striped waistcoat there.

Mick Jagger: Young in the 60s will be at London’s National Portrait Gallery starting May 3. npg.org.uk.


Photo 1 and 3: Gered Mankowitz
Photo 2: Colin Jones
Photo 4 and 5: Don McCullin

Polka-Dots

My husband likes Bob Dylan very much. I think he’s got everything ever recorded by him, legit or not. Together we’ve seen Dylan about 5 times.
Always one to break the mold, he asked me if I would keep my eye out for an iconic Bob Dylan-style polka-dot shirt for him. I looked for years but I’ve had no luck except to find 3 for myself.
In my neighbourhood lives a man who looks a little like Dylan; shortish with a mop of curly graying hair plus bushy sideburns and a predominant nose. He’s aware of the resemblance because every day he dresses like Dylan circa 1964 - wearing men’s boots with Spanish heels, the ubiquitous Ray-Bans, and tight little black blazers over top of a selection of Dylanesque polka-dot shirts. So that’s where all the polka-dot shirts went! He's been one step ahead of me all the way!
He’s always in costume. When he’s not in Dylan polka-dots, he and his girlfriend dress up like the cover of Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan.


In the meantime, I’ve changed my mind about buying my husband a polka-dot shirt. After all, one can’t stay forever young.




Thanks to new-pony.com for the pictures.

Vivienne Westwood's London

I watched the first installment of Vivienne Westwood's London on CTV on Saturday. Really, who has the TV at 7 on a Saturday? I had to rearrange my dinner schedule. Any way the show garnered a "nudity warning" and it made me wonder.

The aim of the program was to  persuade visitors to London to eschew the tourist route of Madame Tussaud's, Buckingham Palace and Big Ben/Westminster Abbey.

It was great fun as slightly-barmy Westwood dragged us around to her favourite London haunts. She showed us incredibly famous art at a couple of less well-known institutes;The Wallace Collection and the Cortauld. At the Wallace she showed us one of her favourites whose name I've forgotten. Very dark, she said, but it contained all the colours in the world. It also contained a nipple. Was this the reason for the nudity warning at every ad break. She focused on Fragonard's The Swing, and said that the joke was that the girl didn't have her knickers on. Vivienne Westwood frequently goes about without her knickers on. Is this the nudity?

Then Westwood took us to the Cortauld where she waxed poetic about Renoir's La Loge.

Other places Westwood introduced us to were an outdoor market underneath the railway arches. It reminded me very much of Toronto's St. Lawrence Market. With the aid of her former muse and model, Sarah Stockbridge, we visited notorious White Chapel and walked down Brixton's Electric Avenue.

Vivienne Westwood loves the Barbican and carried on a bit about how important live theatre is. She loves Henry the VIII's Hampton Court and the authentic kitchen. Me too. She was also intrigued by one of the historical interpreter's cod piece. That must have been the annoying nudity even though he was covered in layers of red felt.

For somebody who is known as one of the architects of  the punk movement, her being so enamoured with the past is strange. Over lunch at the Wallace Collection she said to the Globe and Mail's Elizabeth Renzetti,

"The 20th century was a mistake,” she says. “There was nothing produced in the 20th century, no ideas. There’s not one person alive who could paint one flower on that porcelain” – again, the hand flutters toward the Wallace galleries – “or anything that’s in there.”

Wow, that sort of negates punk, and grunge and the way clothing, music and art have evolved over the past 35 years. Hmm.

I never had much time for Westwood, being much too much of a flake. She has always been too outre for me. But watching this programme I grew to really like her. She had boundless energy for someone about to turn 70. She bikes all over London.  Although I was mentally combing her bright red hair through most of the show I really admired her nutty, eccentric style.

Vivienne Westwood's had a major impact on the 20th Century despite that she now says "no ideas were produced in the 20th Century."  She and her spouse of the time, Malcom McLaren made the Punk movement happen. Doc Marten owes her a debt of gratitude. Now I know that she loves good art makes me like Vivienne Westwood even more. Maybe she's one of my red-headed muses - Although with Vivienne I don't think the red hair will last.

I was able to find this video of VW at the Wallace. In this video she is actually much more subdued than the one I watched thanks to FashionTelevision.

Flattering Dress

I don't usually do "fashion" posts, but I bought this dress for my Paris trip from the Boden UK website and it was the most comfortable, flattering dress I've bought in a very long time. I love Boden. I just don't like paying duty.

I bought this colour

I wore this dress on the plane and on my subsequent jet-lag day and later to the Musee D'Orsay with tights and my 12-hour-shoes. (See the left sidebar on the Clever Pup's Paris Notebook for more information on those beauties)

I was mistaken for a Parisian in this dress - somebody chased me down, thinking I was her friend. I think that's a good recommendation.

Another dress from Boden that I really love is this stripey one. I've got to lose another 15 pounds and then I'll buy it too.

Toronto Street Fashion

Move over Sart, welcome TorontoVerve. Photographer/Banker Nigel Hamid does a great job making Toronto and its inhabitants look good - if not interesting.

TorontoVerve showcases the unique style evident throughout  Toronto's diverse population. Fashion is an attitude and Nigel succeeds in revealing that Toronto has a good one.

Check it out.

Jimi's Coat of Many Colours

Goodness - another Jimi Hendrix post. Jimi's on my mind  lately as I have a burgeoning left-handed guitar player in the house. Susan at Bricolage brought my attention to this article at the Washington Post.

Now I knew that James Marshall Hendrix had spent a lot of time in Vancouver with his grandmother Nora. And that his Canadian cousins found him so obnoxious that they buried him up to his neck at the beach and left him there ( I heard that on CBC Radio). I didn't know that his grandmother Nora was of Native descent - her mother was half Cherokee. Zenora (her full name) and her sister, whose stage name was Belle Lamar, toured the U.S. in a traveling vaudeville group and were known for their extravagant costumes.

Could Jimi have developed his love for brightly coloured clothing at his Grandmother's knee? Could her native heritage have had an influence on her style? The National Museum of the Native Indian seems to think so. Half-sister Janie Hendrix has donated Jimi's patchwork coat for an exhibit opening in July entitled " Up Where We Belong: Native Musicians in Popular Culture." I'm guessing from the title that Buffy Sainte-Marie will be included too.

Here's a lovely picture of Jimi's grandparents found at www.blackpast.org. Can you see the family resemblance? I can.

The top picture was taken by Katherine Fogden for the Smithsonian

Mix and Match Made in Heaven - Gudrun Sjödén

I've recently made some on-line purchases from Sweden. Designer Gudrun Sjödén strives to make colourful clothes in natural materials with an emphasis on Scandinavian design. Designed to be versatile, her pieces can be mixed and matched now and with future collections for all woman of ages, shapes and sizes. Sounds good.

Gudrun's all-encompassing manifesto is revealed in the pages of her web-catalogue where models span the ages from 20 to 60 with a remarkable model who is 98! Gudrun models occasionally too - demonstrating that one does not have to be thin to fit into her clothes.

Gudrun Sjödén Design has been around since 1976. Her contribution to a greener world is to create timeless designs with a long life-span. That's a good way to look at especially since her products are a little more than I usually like to pay. Landscapes, fruits and flowers are Gudrun's inpirations. I find her designs to be folkloric much like the sweaters I recently purchased from the Serbian tricoteuses IVKO - but that's for another time.

I've bought the selections shown above. (minus the boots, but I know a Kat that would probably like them!) I let you know how they work out. I'm sure that Canadian Customs will practically cripple me with duty.

La Dee Dah, La Dee Dah...

Is it time to try this again, I wonder. I carried it off very successfully in 1982. Could it translate today? Am I too plump and old? Annie's outfit in this scene always jumps out at me; it always impresses. I love it.

Annie Hall is on my  list of all-time-favourite movies. Jr Teen Pup loves it too. We got it for him for Christmas. I catch him watching it alone sometimes. He's a big softie at heart.

I Went to a Party

Last week I went to a party here.

I ate in here.

I wore this.

And these.






And I got my husband to dance with me.






1. Liberty Grand 2. Renaissance Room 3. Ivko 4. Groundhog

Sherlock Holmes - 2009

I went to see Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law in Sherlock Holmes last night at the local rep theatre. Once I resigned myself that this wasn't going to be anything Jeremy Brett would be proud of,  I relaxed and enjoyed the ride.

I thought the film was very good, but being a 47-year-old mum, too violent. The dialogue was a little hard to hear at points. Although not a Conan Doyle story, the plot was exciting. The bad guy, Lord Blackwood, looks like a cross between Dracula and Andy Garcia and has a really gnarly pointed eye-tooth. He wants to retake America.

I thought the acting and relationship between the actors was good. I suspect Robert Downey is rather clever in real life. Maybe he's perfect to play Holmes - easily bored and ready for chemical stimulation. Jude Law is believable as Watson. He's handsome where Downey is splendidly debauched - like a party animal coming home barefoot in his tuxedo at the break of dawn.

The sets - the parts that were not CGI - were a feast for the eye - well-designed, detailed, and layered. Just keep the camera still for a second, Guy Ritchie, let me look. The art direction was stunning - right down to the titles. London was made to look oh-so-grimy. Not the antiseptic Victoriana we are sometimes exposed to on Masterpiece Theatre.

Some of the shots featured a half-finished Tower Bridge. Because I have an inquiring mind I found out that Tower Bridge opened in 1894. Like the Eiffel Tower, I forget sometimes that these structures haven't been around forever. Anyway here's a picture of Tower Bridge under construction. It's completely feasible that this building project would have been a feature of Conan Doyle's London.

Another technicality: My son was put out that the actress playing Irene Adler didn't even try to hide her American accent. I had to remind him that Adler, the only woman that Holmes had ever admired, was from America.

And Holmes' costumes. I had to keep my husband still in his seat. Lots of layers of corduroy and tweed, check and stripe. I imagine that the G-pup will have his waistcoat on this morning, ( Here he comes. Yes. Waistcoat and checked trousers. You rock the casbah!).

Has anybody else noticed that with the rapidly-edited modern action movies that there are no scenes to actually sink your teeth into. I find this with the X-men movies, Iron Man and Batman that the next day I can hardly remember a single scene. Is this because of all the quick takes I wonder? Where as with Jeremy Brett's Holmes I can still see the action unfolding in my mind 20 years later.

Despite my complaints the family as a whole gave Sherlock Holmes an 8 out of 10. The movie ended  primed and ready for a sequel which I believe is going to happen in 2011. In the meantime, I'll rent the DVD and catch the dialogue I missed.

I Was So Much Older Then; I'm Younger Than That Now

Why, oh why didn't I have money when I was younger. I surely wished I was 20-something when I walked into Original, a super-funky dress/shoe/gift emporium at 515 Queen Street West in Toronto.

I was having a very productive Christmas-shopping day and wandered into Original. Wow! What drew me in originally was the Earth Shoes. (I'm a fan) but this was just a tiny fraction of their crazy selection. Flats to high-heeled pumps to serious 8-inch high platform clogs. Glamour wigs of every colour, bright stockings and enough multi-coloured crinolines to make Cyndi Lauper drool.



Up the circular staircase (you really have to check out their site) is a virtual Aladdin's Cave - a gypsy caravan of party dresses. Apparently it's a favourite of young and old alike, with little girls revelling in the closet of princess dresses.

I did read a comment that this store was for grown-up girls, so maybe that's me. But I remember crinolines in the 80s when girls just wanted to have fun at places like Courage My Love in Kensington Market. I did come away however with rainbow-striped stockings for myself and slippers for my sister-in-law.

♫I wish that I knew what I know now, when I was younger. ♫

Image 1 and 2: www.originaltoronto.com
Image 3 : www.blogto.com/listings/fashion/upload/2009/07/20090517-original.jpg

Recent Acquisitions

An overcast Thursday found G-pup and me in Mrs. Huizenga's - an eponymously-named vintage mecca on Roncesvalles here in Toronto.

Not intending to buy anything, let alone clothes in this second-hand shop, my eyes fell upon a turquoise-blue pea jacket and after deciding to buy that (it was $28) I found a vintage velvet coat in the most amazing shade of red. So here I am like a plump bird ready for winter.






A couple of years ago I bought this saucy jug from Mrs. Huizenga's.

If it had had a lid and a dolphin spigot, it would have been worth hundreds. I paid $38. It's a dutch chocolate pot from the 18th century. It has a lovely patina and an attitude that goes for miles. I love its anthropomorphic posture.