Magnificent Obsession

One of the best classes I've had when I was at the university was about Hollywood melodramas. Actually I didn't have to follow those lessons, but the subject was so intriguing I did it anyway as an extra class.

I've always loved melodramas, expecially the 50s ones with their mix of high and low issues packed in a "luxurious wrap".

The king of this genre certainly was Douglas Sirk ; he was able to combine cheesy sentimentalism and irony like no one else. His colorful, sophisticated and vibrant Technicolor, the wild criticism below banality and the strong symbolism of each of his movies make of him not only a greatly representative director, but a real icon for a lot of others, from Godard to Almodovar, from Fassbinder to Haynes.

In Sirk's movies there are recurring symbols, like staircases - where characters live, love and die - and mirrors which, sort of Dorian Gray's portrait, reflect the real inner of people and at the same time show what is seen and unseen to characters.


But there are also lots of other little details, like all the masculine "naughty and phallic" ones scattered in Written On The Wind : big cars, aeroplanes, guns and, of course, oil wells!


Written On The Wind is my favorite of Sirk movies and it's really over the top: a trashy thing on the surface - "Sort of tacky 'fifties version of Dallas", like said in Jonathan Coe's The House Of Sleep - but dark, satyrical and funny in the deep.


A Freudian story of jealousy, misunderstandings and tons of sexual frustration in the torrid Texas of oil tycoons. A great piece of fascinating cinema, where "the style conceals the message".


(Side note: I love the hat below...!)


Read this interview with Douglas Sirk and I'm sure you'll soon would watch all his classics. Written On The Wind, Imitation Of Life , Magnificent Obsession , All That Heaven Hallows , There's Always Tomorrow and The Tarnished Angels - Italian title Il trapezio della vita , that sounds like "the trapeze of life" - same cast of Written On The Wind minus Lauren Bacall.


A movie I adore just because Roger (Robert Stack) literally wins his wife LaVerne (Dorothy Malone) at dice...!

Floaty & Bubbly

Hot & sunny again, finally! Actually so hot I'm looking at rompers and floating mini skirts on Etsy...
I'm still obsessed with knee lenghts, but the two sellers below really have beautiful things.

Lulufinder has gorgeous little rompers and short dresses. All handmade, they make me think at summer fields or pool parties, ice cream and colorful balloons.





Fabulous Fashion Finds is the store to visit if you're looking for revamped vintage and handmade clothes from vintage fabrics. Adorable rompers here too and amazing bubble skirts. I'm loving the purple one!

Retro Fun

Say summer, think pin up... and nothing is more playful and fun than the 50s style pin up shots of Vanity Fair. Since September 2006 this has been a regular monthly feature of up and coming young hollywood actresses and the photos are so nice!

















All pictures courtesy of Vanity Fair . See the whole gallery here .

Fashion Goes Manga

This month, Vogue Nippon reaches its 10th anniversary celebrating with an issue entirely dedicated to Manga.


Not just a clever dissertation about the fine art and its (strong) relationship with fashion, but something that goes beyond and it's fun and enjoyable even if you, like me, can't read it!

My favorite part is certainly the Manga about Anna Dello Russo (fashion director at large for Vogue Nippon) and other familiar fashion faces. Another way to have a look (or to stalk...) Dello Russo's style after her famous street portraits from The Sartorialist .



(Due to my poor deadly computer, the scans aabove are from Café Mode , click to enlarge).

And because I'm here talking about Japan, Manga and all the related paraphernalia, here's the latest video by Murakami for Louis Vuitton. It's called Superflat First Love and it's a short film celecrating six years of collaboration between Takashi Murakami and Vuitton.



Last but not least, to complete this virtual journey to Far East, don't forget to follow Jane Aldridge's adventures in Japan with Sea Of Shoes live from Tokyo!

Oh Diana

Truth be told, I'm addicted to Hot Chocolate and Mint. No, it's not a food addiction (I actually hate that mix...) but a blog addiction.


I adore Diana Rikasari! She's cute, always fun and I love each and every of her colorful outfits and pictures. Her style is playful and "juicy", she's not afraid to take some risks and, last but not least, she's also a DIY queen.

This is just a small selection of my favorite looks of her...






If you're looking for a pair of Ugg Boots like the ones Diana's wearing below, you should check Whooga Boots . Entering the code THECUPCAKE you'll have an immediate discount of $30 USD :-)














Really, if you've never looked at Diana's blog , you have to check it NOW!

Melon, Mint And All That's In Between

As much as I don't like nail polish on my fingernails, I adore and I can't live without it on my toenails.

Not surpringly these are my favorite film titles...


By the way, lately I'm spending a lot of time in the beauty section of Asos, looking at all those cool brands and beautiful shades, developing a little obsession for ultra-hot-hot pink, sherbet tones and mint green





Mint green/jade nail polish, which is apparently the next big thing, will also be launched as a limited edition by Chanel, from October.

Unfortunately my searches on Asos always end with me angry in front of my pc screen: why some brands - and I mean just some brands, including of course the ones above, that stock my favorite shades - are shipped to UK only...?!?

Out Of My League, Into My Heart

Erwin Olaf is strange. He's one of the few contemporary photographs who can successufully work for the fashion industry maintaining a strong artistic vision.

Even when his shots are thought for a commercial purpose, he is able to balance things adding his personal surreal touch like in these pictures below, published on The New York Times magazine, where I can't decide if the girls - and their Versace & Co. dresses - are melting into the surrounding space or are just popped out of it...





Usually when I like an artist I like the whole of his world. This doesn't happens with Olaf and this probably justify the fact that the better word I can find to describe him is "strange", when other people use "versatile" and "eclectic" instead. Actually I really dislike some of his series, but at the same time there are some that totally won me over, like Grief (below).




The most obvious reasons for my estatic adoration for Grief could be the 60s setting and the figurative representation of the - broken - American Dream, but I believe it's more than this. There's something in those shots...the figures seem to be trapped in, lost in desolation and despair and looking for a new start and a pinch of consolation. It's a story behind a mere atmosphere, something that clearly reminds me of my beloved Edward Hopper and of Gregory Crewdson work (which I love, by the way).
But all this realism, this cold light and this loss of shadows, suggest it's all fake. Despite this, you still spend hours contemplating the pictures and looking for the movie that is going on into/behind/below them and this curiously makes me think of Mulholland Drive by David Lynch...

Same thing with his previous series, Hope and Rain (see below) which, with Grief, form a trilogy and are definitely the most conteplative works of Olaf. So far from his immediately shocking photos but still - and in my opinion way more - creepy.