Sometimes a girl - or a woman of a certain age - just needs a new perspective on things.
Did you know that the average American gets two weeks' vacation per year, and the average Australian gets six? As does the average Swiss and average German, and probably the average Frenchman and Italian. Jean and I took stock of our year, and discovered, to our great surprise, that in two weeks the Idiosyncratic Fashionistas blog will have its first anniversary, and we have yet to take a vacation from this enterprise! Geez! Even monthly magazines combine two issues annually so they only have to publish eleven, and not the twelve you might think they do. The Idiosyncratic Fashionistas need to take a good look at the six week model, and not the two week American model or our very own no week model. So today, in the spirit of il dolce far niente (the sweet doing nothing), while Jean is on a literal vacation with her Sweetie, I'm going to put up some stuff I like, but stuff I don't have to think too much about. A busman's - or rather an e-publisher's - holiday.
If a picture is really worth a thousand words, I figured a headstand would make a nice start to the entry. By the way, all, I just had my vkxmzphlth birthday a few weeks ago, so if you think you're too old for this or that, maybe a different perspective is just what you need. (Actually, right about now, with the economy down the loo and a third of the Gulf of Mexico gone from blue to brown, we might all need a change in perspective.)
All pictures taken by Jean who, it should be noted, came close to trying a headstand herself, but decided against it with good reason. When my skirt goes up (um - down), it reveals nothing; Jean, not having been a boy scout, was not prepared for the occasion (because she had grave doubts about it, and was not planning to join me), AND was not prepared to show - well - if YOUR skirt went up (or down) around YOUR head, what would YOU not be prepared to show?
THE PROCESS:
I mug it up for the camera. Nothing up my sleeve, as you can see.
Starting position. Does this butt make my backdrop look big?
Ready for lift off.
Mission accomplished, albeit under cover.
Safe landing. I only held the pose for a few minutes, so Jean could be sure to get a few good shots, but I felt comfortable for as long as I was up there. (Oodles of years ago, I took yoga from a fabulous Indian teacher, whom I knew only as Datu, and his second in command, Norman Sjoman.)
Skeptics will say 'Yeah, but is it HER under that thing, or did she hire a body double?' (Yes, I hired Nicole Kidman's body double.) Just kidding. So I did it one more time, but without the skirt. (Remember the old U.S. policy vis-a-vis Russia? 'Trust, but verify'?)
Mission accomplished again. When surfers say "Tubular!", they mean awesome. When I say tubular, I mean Hey, wait, where's my waist? To be a bit fair, I'm wearing one of my favorite outfits, cotton and lycra leggings under a cotton and lycra dress. They're a bit bulky when worn together. Anyway, that's my story, and I'm sticking to it.(Skirt by Luna Luz, by the way; sleeveless dress and leggings by H&M.)
BRAVE NEW MATERIAL
Second thing I want to do is introduce you to Lara Knutson, whom Jean and I met at Cooper Hewitt's garden party last week. Lara was wearing a FABULOUS matching gray necklace and bracelet. To me it looked like knitted featherweight paper, but when I inquired about it admiringly, Lara informed me that it was glass, and her own design. This is a recent picture by Lara of her friend Kathleen Scully wearing the necklace (or several necklaces together???) and bracelet. Lara told me both are now available at the Museum of Modern Art, so when I stopped in yesterday (to buy a new make-up carrier, as my poor little Le Sportsac bag, spotlighted in our earlier posting, Old Bags' Old Bags, is rapidly going to object heaven), I looked for them and tried them on. Lara has made tiny magnetic clasps for them, and the entire effect is wonderful. They're not on MOMA's website, alas, but if you're in New York City, stop in and check them out. I guarantee you've never felt anything like this - at least, not in the glass family. It feels like wispy cotton cord! Better still, as Lara showed us in the dusk at Cooper Hewitt, the material reflects light, which must make it absolutely stunning by candle light. (And perhaps a good thing to wear while cycling at night?) Both are VERY reasonably priced, too, and look great - just like in the picture. Early Christmas shoppers, take heed! For more information, have a look at the June 19, 2010 entry of Lara’s blog; click on the photo above for a better view. (No full disclosure necessary here, by the way. The Idiosyncratic Fashionistas are not being paid for this. We just like Lara's creations, and wish her much success with her great product designs.)BRAVE NEW UNDERGROUND
Lastly, I thought you should see this video, which was sent to me by Greer. It opens on St. Stephen's Basilica, a church in Budapest with a grand, sweeping plaza, blissfully free of cars (image from Google Images). Then it shows a cutaway of the plaza, and an incredible automated parking garage hidden underneath, with capacity for some 700 automobiles, ingeniously stacked. Wouldn't it be great if we could have something like that here in the United States, to leave our streets free and open? Have a look! The whole video is about five minutes, with voice-over in English. (This has not been verified with Snopes.com. Remember, it's our vacation, and we get to be lazy.)
nice
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