Fashion Magazines 2.0

Considering how much I like to spend lazy hours with a good magazine, it's frustrating not to have access to the international ones most of the times. And well, I have a home loan to pay so I (sadly) can't waste all my money in expensive eye candies...!

I'm not sure if I'm the last one to heard of it, if it's one of the best kept secrets of the internet, but when a couple of days ago a friend sent me a link to Mygazines.com and I read their About page, I almost faint:

"Mygazines is your free place to browse, share, archive and customize unlimited magazine articles uploaded by you"

It works in a way similar to Foto Decadent, but here you have the entire magazine or selected articles instead of the photo editorials to browse.
I searched trough the categories of the magazines section - the classic Women's and Men's interests, Arts&Culture, HobbyCrafts, Sports, Travel, etc. - and I found all the latest issues of US and British most popular fashion mags...it's too good to be true!


You can't download or print them, but you can create a personal archive, saving your favorite articles and pages. In a while you can have your ideal issue of everything and I think it's not a too bad compromise!

I hope other international editions will be added soon. For now, with a good pair of glasses, eye drops for computer eyes, a comfy armchair and some pillows, I'm ready for these magazines in version 2.0 (or 2.1??).

Jumping On The Bandwagon

Lazy weekend...but at least I finally joined Modepass today. I uploaded only a few pictures for now, but hopefully I'll add more soon.
Just click on the (cute!) button below to visit my page :-)



Waiting for a more articulated post, this is what I wore today :a 50s inspired silhouette and my favorite color combo (black/white/red)


I've totally forgotten this skirt I bought last year from Asos. I'm usually the girl who wears only full skirts, but I admit I like this one too...it's fun to look (just a bit!) like a "little naughty secretary" sometimes ;-)
And, oh, isn't my new vintage bag/case lovely?

Lucy In The Sky

It was years ago, when I used to spend all my day watching, analyzing, studying and writing about movies that I understood that beyond all the classifications and the film genre theories, basically for me there are only two kind of movies. The ones I watch - liking a lot or disliking them - that can catch my attention for a while but that can also become only just another dvd on the shelf, and the ones I love. And I'm talking about true love. Movies of my heart, just a few titles I "collected" trought the years.

We heart certain movies for unpredictable reasons, often they're not perfect films, not necessarily masterworks, but there is something about them... It's the power of memories I suppose: we love a movie because it reminds us of something...a place, a person, something we felt or we wish we had felt. It's always so, so personal! In the end, we adore a specific film because of who we are.

Since the first time I watched it, I knew Stealing Beauty (by Bernardo Bertolucci, 1996) would become one of "my movies".


A girl (played by a so young and so beautiful Liv Tyler), a summer spent in Tuscany (but it's not a stereotypical italian holiday...), an old house, a secret. Searching for a missing father through the pages of a cryptic diary, growing up a little...





I don't want to reveal anything more, I'm just hoping you'll watch (and enjoy) this movie. I'd love to hear your impressions...

Disco Revenge

I always talk about my love for 50s clothes, but only a few people know my addiction to Disco Era...
Something weird and unpredictable indeed: I don't like to dance and I didn't like clubs even when I was younger, but movies like Saturday Night Fever make me want to dress like a vintage disco queen...

Actually, the biggest part of the dresses in my wardrobe are from 50s or 50s inspired but another good percentage is from late 70s/early 80s, as well. A party or a night out are always good occasions for wearing one of my bold, sparkling Studio 54dresses.









Studio 54, on 254 West 54th Street, Manhattan was the place for the most outrageous, thrilling, unsafe nightlife ever. The 90% of the stories about the uber-famous disco are not legends but facts...

Although I'm a super safe girl in real life, I love to watch old Studio 54 videos and "collages of pictures" on You Tube:





And I admit, like Bianca Jagger on her birthday party, I'd like a spectacular entrance on a white horse...

Hyper Shopping

We all have our personal mythologies. In this crazy world full of too skinny/too fat people, I proudly go on with my food obsession. Better, my visual obsession for food.

Looking at pictures posted on Wardrobe_Remix and on various blogs, I realized I'm probably not the only one who like taking and looking at pictures taken in grocery stores and supermarkets...

Nitrolicious


Dance With Me Forever


and my favorite, from The Clothes Horse


There's something appealing in those colored too full shelves...all those food, that guilty consumistic pleasure is the perfect background for a picture in wich you "spy" on people's cute outfits!

The latest series of the French photographer Denis Darzacq, Hyper, works in a similar manner.



In this case, the loss of gravity, with bodies floating in mid air in an hyper structured space, is sort of a collision between primal and superfluous. It looks like they float in reaction to their everyday life or like they're so mesmerized by the subliminal - comsumerist - meanings of that space (a Non-Place, as Marc Augé would call it) that start floating, loosing the control of their body, like a somnambulist.



On a side note, it's also really interesting that none of the pictures above is photoshopped or digitally reworked. All the models are professional dancers and sportsmen.
...A complete control of the body is needed when you have to look like you're loosing it!

Hunting The Hunter

My obsession for jewelry in form of animals (or "animal jewelry" as I usually call it) is still strong and my collection needs some new pieces.

There are animals that attract me a lot for their symbolism and their cultural/popular references. This summer I'm loving my fish charms, but surely the crow, the firefly, the peacock and the deer are my favorites animals when I'm looking for something new to add to my jewelry box.

So, when I discovered the work of Digby & Iona, the jewelry line created by Aaron Ruff, I loved almost every single piece.
Grew up in rural Maine, he's currently living in Brooklyn. He became a jewelry designer without ever having any kind of education on it, "approaching jewelry-making with the mentality of a woodworker".

The Stag Ring is actually my favorite piece,


but also the Buck Necklaces,


the Giant Hare, the Seppie and the Elephant Rings are so so beautiful...

The Awarded Day

I feel like a celebrity today cause the lovely Kater of All This Happiness awarded me...2 times! If you've never visited her blog you totally should, cause I'm sure you'll love it. Actually it's one of my favorites; her posts are always so deeply clever and so amazingly well written.

So, thank you so much Kater, it's an honour to receive a mention from someone you really admire :-)


The rules are:
1. when received, you may post the premio to your blog
2. link to the blogger you received it from
3. give it to 7 blogs (like Kater, I'll pass this one to 5 blogs)
4. link to those 7 blogs
5. and leave those 7 bloggers a comment about receiving the brilliant premio!


Take the prettiest button ever, pick five blogs, and let them know you love them!

Like in a Beauty Queen competition, it's time to proudly pass the crown to someone else. As Kater, I'll pick five of my favorite blogs and I'll give them both the awards :-)
The winners are:

The Clothes Horse
cause her posts, in a similar way to Kater's ones, are so well written, deep and marvellous. I always feel a beautiful sense of sweet melancholy and nostalgia in her writings. And a good pinch of healthy irony :-)

Sally Jane
cause she's a treasure huntress with excellent thrifting skills. She loves found objects and abandoned buildings as much as me and she's not scared of using a tripod in public :-)

The Apathist
cause Meg is the quintessential thinker fashionista, she can interestingly writes about bidding on vintage Lanvins and then write a magnificent post on an amazing artist. She also has a great music taste :-)

Auburn and Ivory
cause her blog is always inspirational and reading through it I often discover new artists and interesting links. Not to mention wonderful tutorials, like this one about paper flowers :-)

The Snail and The Cyclops
cause I strongly believe she owns a time machine so she can travels the time whenever she wants, bringing us marvellous pictures, objects and dreamy clothes from the good times gone by :-)

The Superlative Body

Like almost every little girl, when I was a child I was fascinated by the Superheroines like Wonder Woman. Like Carrie of SATC said in one episode, I think it was because of her costume and accessories...those cuffs, the tiara...I always loved the details! Still fascinated by the "superpowers of fashion", several years later, during a class of Semiotics of Cinema, I "met" again the Superheroes studying their aesthetic and linguistic power this time.

It's always interesting to think how much comics characters and Superheroes - despite their popular origins wich caused them to be considered as a low art form for so long - influence not only the artistic expression, but our society at all levels (they are a classic metaphor of reality, indeed). At the same time we must remember these characters are greatly influenced and redesigned around world's changes.
The inner feelings, the acts and above all the physical appearance of the Superheroes change according to what's happening around. The main body of these characters is a mutant body that change with decades and contemporary standards of beauty.


Thanks to the "Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy" exhibition
at The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York (from May 7 to September 1), during the last months the hundreds connections between Superheroes and fashion were investigate.
According to the runways and what's in the stores now, the current season and the upcoming ones will be a lot about comics characters inspiration:

Luella, Spring 2008


Gareth Pough, Fall 2008


Alexander McQueen, Resort 2009


Giles, Fall 2008


Proenza Schouler, Resort 2009


All from Style.com

From Elle USA, July 2008:



Not all of the classic Superheroes have superpowers (think of Iron Man and Batman) but they can built their body, filling the gap between human body and machine with specific elements: the clothes. Along with his inner nature, the cape, the unitard and all the fashionable paraphernalia Batman wears, make him stronger than his enemies. And must be noticed, protect him and his real identity from the world...

Fashion work in a very similar manner. Designers have always created clothes that can alterate the perception of the body, often in a flattering way but not always. Along with Postmodernism and Post-Postmodernism (abused terms, I know, sorry!), fashion shows started looking like art performances, transcending canons of beauty and limits in a radical and controversial way.








(The editorial above is from Vogue USA, May 2008.)

In an era where you can build your own body, don't forget Spiderman's warning: big powers brings big responsibilities.

Life Is Not Black & White

This month issue of Vogue Italy is entirely dedicated to black beauties. With its "4 ways cover" - featuring Naomi Campbell on the real front one and Jordan Dunn, Sessilee Lopez and Lyia Kebede, all photographed by Steven Meisel, on the other three hidden covers - it's the highly anticipated "black issue".


I don't buy Vogue every month, sometimes I feel it's a bit too pricey, expecially since you can take a look at the editorials trough communities like Foto Decadent... By the way, I don't miss the July issue (this one) and the August one that come with the wonderful separate magazine about shopping and new trends (but this is a different story...), so yesterday I spent a couple of relaxing hours with Vogue.
Well, in the end I'm not too sure they were "relaxing hours", cause in a certain way the whole thing irritate me a little, page after page.

I'm still not sure if I like or not this "black issue", if it is a smart idea or not. After all the recent talk about the lack of presence and discrimination of black models in fashion industry I'm not sure if Vogue's choice sounds like a clever one to me... A nice tribute, a sincere declaration of love to black women, a way to influence the industry in a positive way or only a too "cunning plan"...?

While I was reflecting on this issues, I stumbled upon the old editorial below, featuring Liya Kebede and André 3000. I found it here and I've no clues about where it was originally from. The only thing I know is that I love these pictures. They're beautiful shots of a wonderful black model (one of my favorite models indeed) and everything is so...natural!
When I look at these photos I enjoy the colors, the poses, the clothes and the vibe and I don't wonder if they're a cunning plan or only a good ed.

'Cause the answer is obvious...








In the end I only hope this controversial issue of Vogue will makes people talk and deeply reflect on discrimination and racial prejudice. All I hope is that it could be another step to give soon more consideration and respect to black models in the entire fashion industry.