Create

Darling M,

I am so sorry I have abandoned you for so long. I am going to plead not-entirely-to-blame due to having been consistently blighted with tenacious illness, and an ever-increasing imbalance in my eternal quest for a “work/life balance”. My friends claim I have gone rather M.I.A, and living with Bear doesn’t seem to aid opportunity for regular heart-to-heart communication either. It is all rather ho-hum and causing some serious reassessment of lifestyle (or lack thereof) and circumstances. My biggest downfall is that I am still keen on being Master of My Own Destiny (read: owning my own business), and so continue to plug along accompanied by a vague hope that I have made the right call (desperately hoping that I haven’t turned left, when the sign clearly said right). We all live and learn though, and such is the journey.

To aid in fixing these sad and sorry worn-out workaholic circumstances, I have hit upon a new love. Creative Outlet. It’s where it’s at. Being creative for the pure sake of being creative is soul-food – it is yoga for my spirit. Goodness me, it is why I started writing to you in the first place. I needed to stretch my metaphysical legs. As an extension of this, I have discovered I need more creative license in my life. This is where baking, cooking, designing and sewing comes in. Yep, that’s right, I am finding comfort in creative domesticity. Who would have thought that was possible of me. 

After the fall

My M,

What is it about the post-apocalyptic world that fascinates human kind? Is it wondering what comes after the destruction of the very fabric that binds us as a global society? Would social mores uphold? Anarchy ravage the streets? Without the persistent sprawl, would the world slowly transform into a verdant megalithic garden? Wild and untamable and no friend to the species, who through greed and blind self-entitlement set out to bleed the very life from the planet for their own furtherment. Perhaps we won’t see the return of any of our conjured vengeful gods. There is every possibility that we will end our own diseased crawl across the earth with the very things that crowned our kind among animals.

I love watching post-apocalyptic movies. I love that post-modern, tribal yet futuristic take on costuming. Practicality meets individuality – forging an identity for self against a backdrop of crumbling ideals and metropolises. Think Mad Max’s leather jacket, Waterworld’s world worn blanket-stitching and braids, Planet Terror’s machine gun replacement for an unfortunate amputation. All very cool, yet perennial. 

It’s all good in the hood

Darling M,

I must tell you about something so wonderous, so profound that it will surely change your life for the better! Such positive occurences happen around these things that all of a sudden, you’ll find yourself believing that miracles do, indeed, occur in everyday life to everyday people.

I am talking about Spirithoods - a fantastic company based in L.A that designs and creates animal fashion accessories in the form of hoods. These fabulous hoods are made of environmentally-kind faux fur – have snuggly mittens with adorable paw prints and come in all types of animal great and small with lovely furry ears and pattern to match. BUT the part that I love the most is that the company donates a portion of their proceeds to animal charities around the world, who work tirelessly to protect, conserve and build the numbers of these endangered species. If the hoods don’t give you a lovely snuggly feeling – this fact in itself is sure to imbue a sense of the warm fuzzies.  

Pretty Ponies

Sweetest M,

Inspiration can come for the most unexpected of places.

Lately, I have been hooked on certain ideas. As mentioned in a previous post, I have an enduring fascination with Spring. I also adore Rococo styling and My Little Ponies.

Due to a passion for anything pretty and ornate, it follows that I would adore anything even slightly Rococo. Thinking about it, it is likely that this adoration began during infancy, when was borne a most ardent fascination and adoration of My Little Ponies. This happened when I was gifted my first little pony – Lickety Split, who came on many adventures with me and stood patiently through many hours of dressing, hairstyling and general playing.

These candy-coloured ponies are most certainly ambassadors of the Rococco – pretty pastels tempered with coloured neutrals. Their innocent expressions, overriding feminine design and sweet auras would leave them very much at home in the apartments of Marie Antoinette – that most vocal supporter of this particular school of style.
 

Nature's child

My dearest M,

Spring has well and truly sprung, the days suddenly filled with yawning azure sky, and a sun so warm your skin feels alive with the season change.

Winter was spent inside, industriously submerged in technology and career pursuits. Every day now, the warmth and new joy beckons just outside the window. Thoughts of mile long beaches, sun shining through trees and daydreams of laying in the grass, making pretty pictures in the clouds interrupts industrious labour.  

As I develop a stronger dependence on technology, and all the convenience and possibility it brings, I find myself moving my living back outside to reconnect with my innate, natural self. Long afternoons spent picnicking under sighing trees, climbing out of bed and into bathers to rush into winter-cold waves. All these things conspire to calm my being, and bloom my creativity.

This little light of mine

Darling M,

It takes a lot of energy continuing through life with the innate confidence to carry out your convictions in everything you do.  And I mean in absolutely everything. How you respect yourself, how you treat your friends. How you treat your family, how you love and cherish your partner.

From time to time, people will see it as their right to get out the candle snuffer and have a right go at suffocating your light. It is at this point you must shine your brightest. How punishing for those weak, negative souls to see you lit up and brilliant! They say the greatest revenge is just to live your life. Do this with a set of fiery fireworks I say.

As the poet Dylan Thomas so wisely said, “Do not go gentle into that good night/…Rage, rage against the dying of the light.” In this context, I encourage to use your spirit, your right to the good fight to light up your soul and let your true colours shine through, in the face of enemies and adversity. Then those whose souls are sullied with self-hatred, greed, jealousy, anger and insecurity cannot feed on the misery they so desperately seek to vindicate their own sense of self-loathing and self-entitlement.

Once were children

My darling M,

Do you ever look out the window, on a normal workaday and think what you would be doing on a day like this back when you were young, and the world was simple? Remember laying in the grass, imagining pictures into the clouds. Remember when nighttime was exciting, staying up late something to be savoured like each precious chocolate. A time when the imagination was a toy, a friend for adventures.I think it is my connection to my childhood that fans the flames of attraction to the Japanese Harajuku style genre. The bright colours, incorporation of animal elements and joyful revelling in the possibility of pushing fashion to its boundaries – wearing those very high heels with a ratty old  sweater round the corner for errands because “I want to”, clashing prints, clashing styles, clashing the acceptable with the very challenging. Why not? Why not challenge the accepted and the norm? It is this spirit alive and burning in Harajuku that I find entirely enthralling. How exciting to be empowered with a “devil may care” attitude towards that which others deem appropriate. How fabulous to throw caution to the wind and maybe even win a few smiles for your bravery along the way!While in Kuala Lumpur, I was seized with such a mood, and piled on old and new for a photographic flight of fancy. Enjoy, and hopefully I raise a few little smiles along the way … 

Boy Wonder

Oh my goodness, M!

I am in love. I am in love with the designs of Kermit Tesoro. Even the designer’s name is rocking.

Kermit hails from the Philippines and brings a mind-blowingly fresh perspective on avant-garde design. His aesthetic is faultless.  Of course, his full-bodied education at the University of The Philippines Diliman (College of Fine Arts), Fashion Institute of the Philippines (Fashion Design) and School of Fashion and the Arts (Fashion Marketing) would make for a great foundation upon which to build the tendrils of artistic genius.

Kermit’s latest collection, FW 2011, is heart-breakingly awesome, with its surreal biological and terrestrial references. Heeless boots rise archly from the floor, while dresses executed in slinky nude and black, are electrified by panels of blood orange and pastel pink. The heels of pumps and booties are reimagined, with grinning skulls and life-like hearts carved into them. 

An Ode to Bunnies Everywhere

Sweetest M,

My interests of late have focused on the significance of fashion within society. How women (and indeed men) utilise clothing and accessories to present a certain message, and chosen image of themselves.

It is no surprise then, that my research led me to that most impressive and significant of costumes and representations – the Playboy Bunny. Whilst it can be argued the Bunny is an image of a woman being sexually objectified – in reality the position presented an opportunity for emancipation for women of all backgrounds.  This has been detailed in a very amusing collection of accounts in the book “The Bunny Years”, by Kathryn Leigh Scott. The opportunity presented has been evidenced by Debbie Harry and Lauren Hutton, who both got their big breaks through their time wearing the satin ears and fluffy tail.

Sick with renewed travel lust

To my dearest darling M,

I so very much enjoyed mine and Bear’s trip to Phuket and Kuala Lumpur. Phuket is a beautiful corner of the world, perfect for lolling on the beach, engaging a love of retro holiday glamour and deliciously potent cocktails. The people are very sweet, and the food is manna from heaven.

I have decided there is a real art to packing for a holiday. Every item that makes it into the sacred suitcase space must at first prove its worth by careful consideration - whether it be a multipurpose toiletry product or clothing item with a good few possible incarnations.

Of course, the part of the packing process that always causes me the most consternation is what shoes make the cut! The choices, some would argue, appear endless. There is just so much to take into consideration – what will we be doing during the day? What will we be doing during the night? Can I really avoid trekking at all possible cost, or is a little acquiescence required to ensure Bear is happy? Just how high can my heels be before I get told by him that “they are too ridiculous, and all heels should stay home in the interests of harm minimisation”. Personally, I’m always sure I can secret in at least a few pairs. Anyway, I maintain the fun of holidays is having the decadence of dressing up. It makes for prettier holiday snaps, and a sunnier disposition all round.

Pen to Paper

Dear M.

Finally as promised, my letter to you. I have taken that one big breath, and braved putting pen to paper, one word in front of the other.

What to write about? Well, as always, the options are endless. These are after all my tales – shared with you in the strictest confidence.

While we are on the subject of sharing confidences, I did a bad thing. I broke my “no new shoes” policy in grand style. Let us all admit, it was always going to be tough keeping a bonafide shoe fiend on such a tight financial leash. I think I did rather well holding out for well … we’ll say 2 months to be kind to my self-respect.

To be fair though, I have been thinking about (obsessing over) this particular pair of booties (beauties?) for ages!  As luck would have it, I emailed Los Angeles and I got the LAST PAIR in the colour and size I so desperately sought. Well, I took this as an omen from the shoe gods – especially when said lovelies come with a very respectable discount. I had no choice, I was possessed by a fiending shoe demon! I mean, as you can see below, who wouldn’t? They are to die for.
  

Pinkie Pie and the Purple Ponies enjoying my Fluevog Mini Lovers in Lavender