Tuesday, June 30, 2009

tilly: assume

Loren: A boot to boot all blues



The boot! The strappy lace up thigh high boots.....could you be the one to heal the wound left in my heart?

Saturday, June 27, 2009

tilly: logic doesn't seem to mind that i'm fascinated by the love affair

Yoon Eun Hye in Cosmo Korea - From Princess Hours and Coffee Prince fame.










Baby Im A Fool - Melody Gardot

tilly: catching up on entertainment

Loren is making dinner and has left me with these words..

"Update the blog!!!"

"Orh..." says me with my mind going into a spin, trying to come up with something substantial.

And whilst catching up on entertainment news, I came across this.


It is a teaser picture of the new LV campaign. I love the colours used. And more than ever, I love that rich, chocolatey leather...

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Loren: Forehoppingsight.


(Karen Walker "She Cracked" Collection)

Guess what will be making their way into my wardrobe in the next month or so?
Yessssss. Crumpled leatherette jacket. Pearl print dress.




Guess what I will be eating in the next few months or so?


Friday, June 19, 2009

Loren:I am going to kill two budgies.

cause there can there never be enough.
cause black and white photography is beautiful and lonely.
cause after last night's horrible sleep, I need something to calm myself down before I commit murder.











Loren: The crack that was felt only within myself.


This is how I felt when I checked on ASSIN for my daily gaze at my Ann Demeulemeester boots.
Only to find them gone.
Sold.
Kapoof.
Out of my reach. Not even in my most fanciful of imaginings will I be able to reach them.
They have left my sight, my grasp, and onto the UNAPPRECIATIVE FEET OF SOME TWINKIE WHO WILL NEVER LOVE THEM AS MUCH AS I DO.
NEVER, EVER!

*keels over to dry heave*

The best part of this?
I'm not joking about how much it hurts.
Over a pair of boots.
Good to know that my heart isn't dead.
Its just been hiding in my shoe closet.


Thursday, June 18, 2009

Loren: In my crystal ball, I see my eyeball.

For the (absent) Tilly, because one day in the future, I know this will come in handy.



To be discreetly a tourist, openly a fashionista.

tilly: why can't you be female???

So while getting ready to put on the work face and hair this morning. It dawned on me that the all the office people that I was once close to have all suddenly become distant after they get close to Matt.

So Matt, why can't you be female? So I can have an all out bitch fight with you!!!

It's a bit sad really considering how close we were when we started. But it could have all been a ploy to get the trust only to crush slowly as he watch me sink into oblivion!

In other news - today is a bad bad day. Browns goes on sale. The End.

Loren: Woody Allen moments.

Open jar of moisturizer.
Dab fingers into jar.
Apply moisturizer to face.
Use any leftover to smooth over hands to prevent wastage.
Wipe hands on pjs.



Who can identify what is wrong with this picture?
You will get a fresh raspberry from me.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Loren: I am Loren, hear me Loreroar.

Contrary to popular opinion, I am not a bra-burning, cut-off-my-right-breast feminist.

I am an equal opportunity pessimist. Men suck, yes, and women suck as well. I merely like to point out, regardless of whichever side the diss-er is spewing, that the other side sucks as well. Just so happens, that I have the company of males who like to suckify females, so in the end I come out to be a feminist. Brother Dick and I once had a conversation that went along the lines of this:

BD: You're a sexist.
L: And so are you.
BD: But I don't defend men! I defend women against men! I openly proclaim men as scum! How does that make me sexist?!
L: *thinks: It could just mean that you are sexist against your own sex, dumbass.* If you say so.
BD: You see, you are sexist because you are against men, and defend women.
L: *thinks: Then aren't I exactly like you? Then what makes me a sexist is simply because I am a female? Brilliant logic, BD.* If you believe it to be as such.

The older I get, the theory that I was picked up at a dumpster gets increasingly appealing.

Honestly, in this day and age, I am not sure what it means to be a feminist. I'm not certain that most feminists can define it either. Generally, we can tell the differences between the 1st Wave and 2nd Wave Feminist Movement, but mention 3rd Wave and we're left delicately scratching our coiffures and tapping our Manolos in puzzlement. Do I support women rights? Yep. Do I support paid maternity leave? Do I snarl at physical/emotional/psychological abuse of women? You betcha. But does that make me a feminist?

Hell if I know.

One thing is for sure, when I came across these images of well-known fairy tale princesses in modern day scenarios taken by Dina Goldstein, something deep and dark inside stirred, and emitted a high pitch cackle.

Cinderella, who lost her Prince to her ugly stepsister, is left trawling dark pubs for men and company...

Snow White goes from taking care of seven little men to caring for seven beings. (The Prince counts as two.)

Rapunzel loses her hair in her fight against a disease...and loses her Pantene career as well...

'Little' Red Riding Hood succumbs to the siren call of fast food...like all other kids...

Sleeping Beauty would rather sleep than awake to the Prince's kiss...(wise choice, if you ask me)

Jasmine picks up weapons to defend her kingdom against terrorists.(..and probably Americans as well.)

Belle, is under pressure to retain her 'Beauty' status - undergoes a process that is beastly.
(photos by Dina Goldstein, www.jpgmag.com)

Cheap puns and thin jokes aside, I love these photos. Since young, we've grown used to the idea of these Fairy Tale princesses who possess the qualities that we are supposed to cultivate in ourselves. Beauty, honor, courage, integrity.....and waiting around for the Prince aka The One, to save us. I've always wondered what it would have been like if they were placed in our world today, how long would they be able to maintain their colgate smile and never-say-die attitude, before ultimately calling a Pest Buster to get rid of the singing birds and insects, or enrolling into college because they grew tired of the Prince's constant "Like you would know..." snarky remarks.

Or as how Dina put it,

"The project was inspired by my observation of three-year-old girls, who were developing an interest in Disney's Fairy tales. As a new mother I have been able to get a close up look at the phenomenon of young girls fascinated with Princesses and their desire to dress up like them. The Disney versions almost always have sad beginning, with an overbearing female villain, and the end is predictably a happy one. The Prince usually saves the day and makes the victimized young beauty into a Princess."

To be honest, the first fairy tales I was exposed to was from an old book of Grimm's Fairy Tales, which if you don't know, have the original sinister versions. Cinderella's sisters cut off their toes to try to fit their feet into the shoe, causing it to be filled with blood, and afterwards the evil villains are thrown into a barrel with stakes driven into them, and tied to the back of a horse.

Grisly.

I can actually remember the first time I caught the Disney version of Cinderella.....and wondering where was the cutting off of toes that I had been eagerly anticipating for. And then getting horrified looks from fellow kindergarten students and my teacher when I asked outloud about it. And then getting sent to the Quiet Corner. Ah, great memories.

Its a charming coincidence that I came across this song by Sara Bareilles, 'Fairy Tales', which is also in the same vein of reworked fairy tales. Listen for a giggle. "The tall blonde lets out a cry of despair says, Would have cut it myself if I knew men could climb hair. I'll have to find another tower somewhere and keep away from the windows."
My final thought to you is this: If the fairy tale princesses were our ideals.....to them, we're all villains of some kind - for drinking, for having failed relationships, for not wanting to get married and having children at the age of 21, for competing with men for jobs, for not looking beautiful 24/7 - and since deep down inside, we recognise that we are villains....perhaps that accounts for why we constantly feel bad about ourselves, the Fallen Princesses.

(for the full article, go here)

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Loren: My (not so anymore) secret wish.

In a world of stick thin blondes, elegant redheads and waif like brunettes - the idea of physical beauty is varied and based on ideals, rather than realistic functionality. That being said, I am very much one who is heavily influenced by it, to the point of....being annoying. Being aware of something does not necessarily mean that you are effective against its allure....it just means that you're even sillier than those who aren't conscious of the forces behind the choices they make.

I've been given my fair share of compliments some by the people who look at me through love-goggles, some by nice people, some by strangers, some by weirdos. Its all nice, of course, though I chafe at quite a few of them, guffaw at several and snort in disagreement at most of them....but to date, no one has given me the compliment I deem the highest.

"Your imperfections and flaws come together to form an honest beauty that is unique and unforgettable."

Sounds strange? Which is probably why I'll never hear it from anyone. But I like it, because it indicates that the viewer sees your flaws, instead of whitewashing them, and sees your face as your own, an individual. And makes you memorable. How many run-of-the-mill pretty asian girls do I know, whose features just kind of blend into each other to form one blob?

I can't even remember, which further proves my point.

The one actress that I know of, who fits the compliment above to perfect imperfection, is the daughter of Jane Birkin, Charlotte Gainsbourgh.

She isn't classically pretty, nor is she girl-next-door cute. If she had to be the girl-next-door, she'd be more of the the girl-next-provincial-farm. She has that special Parisian air, you know the kind where their hair always looks sexily tousled, and though without a trace of makeup, they can look unbearably smouldering dressed in a man's shirt and jeans? There is a slight androgyny, almost drag queen quality to her, long limbs, large hands. Her features are individually strong - large eyes, large nose, wide mouth - and place them on an angular face, and though you expect them to clash, they accent each other well to form an unforgettable face. Or, at least, to me.








(scans by diorettescans.blogspot.com, photographed by Jean-Baptiste Mondino for French ELLE Nov 2007)

Ah, one day, to look like that...at ease within my own skin, and embracing every imperfection for what it is and not wishing it to be something else.

Someday.