1. For a literary woman
2. For an engaged woman
3. For aCcountess of Posh
4. For a General's wife
5. For a lady of the night
6. For a great lover
7. For a messanger girl
8. For a showgirl
From the book La Vie Parisienne Victor Arwas (that I got for Christmas)
The blog Needles and Sins had a great post a few weeks ago about the way tattoo fashion comes and goes. The article goes into depth about when it was fashionable for aristocrats got tattooed and how the tattoo parlors were during that period. I've always insisted that tattoos are and have always been for all walks of society. The king of Denmark was tattooed for gosh sakes!
I have this book, The Tattooed Countess which the main character was tattooed on the wrist. It was set during the victorian era. She was a countess by marriage, an american living an exotic lifestyle in Europe. She gets a rude awakening when she goes back home for a visit and the small town is shocked by her tattoo and her freewheeling european ways. You can read the book here.But at least go read the first short article and let me know what you think!
For Christmas my husband got me this book. It was my idea and it was a little hard to get started but I knew that on my birthday I could convince him. So we went on a 5 1/2 hour walk! The book lays out 30 walks that encircle Paris and that you can get to and from by train. It was hard towards the end our legs were giving out! I brought along nuts and dried fruit and water which was a good thing because we didn't come across any businesses until the very end. The area was really beautiful.
I found this book about a woman fashion illustrator from Japan. I wish I could tell you more about her but it's all in Japanese! From what I see she was sometimes modeling herself and most of these fashions seem to date from the 1930's. I'm pretty sure I spied a photo of her old, head shaved like she became a nun! Anyhow a little mystery is always fun. Please enjoy the lovely images.
I found these magazines at an antique store in Shimokitazawa. A clothing catalog and a kntting book. These prints are so fantastic and the kids adorable! I can't help but imagine adult versions. Why do I always want to dress in children's clothes!?
Oh how I wish I had the outfit below! I don't knit. I made a decision never to start because I already do so much with my hands, but I do sometimes wish it were a possibility.
A little DIY on how to dress up a cartigan with cuffs, collar and center piece.
I love the image below as it seems to be a link between traditonal clothing and occidental influence.
I want to add peacock feathers to a dress! I'm putting this one in a folder of things-to-do-one-day.
there's a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I'm too tough for him,
I say, stay in there, I'm not going
to let anybody see
you.
there's a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I pour whiskey on him and inhale
cigarette smoke
and the whores and the bartenders
and the grocery clerks
never know that
he's
in there.
there's a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I'm too tough for him,
I say,
stay down, do you want to mess
me up?
you want to screw up the
works?
you want to blow my book sales in
Europe?
there's a bluebird in my heart that
wants to get out
but I'm too clever, I only let him out
at night sometimes
when everybody's asleep.
I say, I know that you're there,
so don't be
sad.
then I put him back,
but he's singing a little
in there, I haven't quite let him
die
and we sleep together like
that
with our
secret pact
and it's nice enough to
make a man
weep, but I don't
weep, do
you?
My client came to me with that poem as the base for her tattoo. I'm such a lucky girl! I love it when people have an intelligent concept, it makes my work so much richer, I think.
I've had this book for ages. I bought it mostly for the cover art by Ronald McRae. The story is light and funny about a clumbsy NY writer who finds himself Hollywood's darling. Inside in the list of other books by Carl Van Vechten, I found that he wrote The Tattooed Countess. I found a copy, but was disappointed that the cover didn't look like this one. Maybe I'll do a tribute image of how I image Ronald McRae would do.
Another magic moment on the first of January was going to see the new Scorcese film, Hugo Cabret. I was delighted to discover they had made a film from this graphic novel that I enjoyed so much. I found the book, written by Brian Selznick while searching for George Melies DVDs on Amazon. The story is based on a lot of real events and people from the era I adore in Paris "La Belle Epoque". The old Gare d'Orleans which is now the Musée d'Orsey. The huge clock that is still there. The train accident where a train crashed through the walls and landed outside the building. The sad destiny of George Melies, an artistic genius who lost everything and ended selling toys out of a stand at said station. All weaved together to tell a fictional story about romantic but demoded, abandoned marvels.
That was probably the best day of 2012 (already!) and now that I survived last thursday which will probably go down as the worst day of 2012, I think I can look forward to a mild rest of the year!
Please go see the film, it is really swell!
Books I bought:
“De La Foire au Pain d’Epice” by Agnès Rosolen and Lionel Mouraux
Les 100 Plus Beaux Images: de Pierrot
du Papier à Rouler
du Chat
by Editions Dabecom
Interesting Points:
“Saltimbanque” (which comes from saute sur un banc “jump up on bench” to perform) Outdoor performer.
Steeple chase: the game’s name comes from Steeplechase Park in Coney Island created by George C. Tilyou. After his visit to the Chicago World’s Fair, he decided to build an amusement park back home. One of the things he added was a mechanical horse race which the fairground was later named after.
Cinema Forain: Georges Melies first discovered what we know today as “film” as it was first presented at a fête foraine. As a magician and performer he instantly recognised the potential of this medium. Later his films were shown at fêtes foraines before cinemas and theatres for film were built. His films can be considered Cinema Forain because the fête foraine was intristically linked both in inspiration and where it was presented.
I learned that the term for the Side show in french is “entresort”. Although nobody I know seems to have heard this term, maybe because they are so out of fashion. At the fête foraine you could pay to see deformed babies in jars of formaldahyde, the fat lady, and the leopard or snake ladies. The term for “Freaks” in french is “monstres”.“Entresort” means to go in look and leave as opposed to staying to see a whole act.
