Posts from — January 2010

I am oh so loving this photoshoot by the fabulous Tim Walker
for Vogue Italia called “The Fantasy and the Fashion”:

Isn’t it amazing? And check these shots of the fab Lily Cole for…
The french edition of Playboy, Sacre Bleu! Tres chic non?

And I can’t help but love this story called “Make Love not War”
by the genious Steven Meisel for Vogue Italia, isn’t it to die for?

Fantasies are still a taboo subject in our society, something
that we hide, that we don’t talk about for fear of being judged.

I was watching 9 1/2 weeks again recently, after years of first
watching it – or shall I say peeking through my little fingers – as
mum would shout: “Now cover your eyes, this bit is for grown
up people only” and since the movie has countless of such
scenes, I obviously missed out on most of it.

I watched the film later on in life and though it to be a movie
about sexual fantasies. I re-visited the movie again recently
and what I saw was completely different this time around.
Suddenly, there was something else besides the sex, there
was so much poetry hidden in between the lines of the story
of John and Elizabeth.

I couldn’t help but notice the incredibly deep symbolism which
appears all the way throughout the movie, from the beginning
to the end… especially that surrounding the image of the fish.

The fish appears at all times, but it is only when Elizabeth goes
to visit the house of Fransworth, the artist, looking for him, when
it starts making sense. She finds him holding a fish on his hands.
The fish looks in anguish -as it is out of the water- unable to live
for much longer or so it seems.

Later, it re-appears at the gallery openning, where a fish is served
in a platter as food, with it’s stomach open and its pink flesh exposed
for people to feast on.

Although the Art opening at the gallery is all about Fransworth and
his work, he – like many other artists I know – appears to feel completely
out of place there, surrounded by his own art, at his very own opening…
just like a fish out of water. And so does Elizabeth in that scene, who
turns exactly into that, into a fish out of water, unable to breath or survive
the relationship with John any longer.

I love the way in which this film was shot. It is an interesting way
to explore human limits and how, often in life, we are faced with
situations that force us to step out side our comfort zones. Be that
by engaging on a new sexual act or simply by learning to open our
heart again, to let someone in…

XO
Nona

Tweet This!

“The most extreme fools are people whose age should have made them wiser”

“The first time you hurt me I thought I’d died
The second time it happened I cried all night
They say a heart can stand just so much grief and pain
But a fool in love keeps lovin’ they never change
There’s no fool like an old fool
That’s loved and lost at least a hundred times
There’s no fool like an old fool that keeps on falling for the same old line”

Robert Burns is my absolute favourite poet. Here is a lovely little
story that surrounds his famous song “Ae fond kiss”:

Robert Burns and Edinburgh beauty, Agnes (Nancy) McLehose conducted a passionate
love affair that gave rise to a famous series of letters written under the pen names
Clarinda and Sylvander.

At the age of 72, in her journal, under the date 6th December 1831 – 40 years to the day
after they last met – she wrote: ”This day I never can forget. Parted with Burns, in the year
1791, never more to meet in this world, Oh may we meet in Heaven.”

Here is the song, as written in three verses of eight lines in Burns’ Original setting to the
tune Rory Dalls’ Port Scots Musical Museum, 1787…

Ae Fond Kiss

Ae fond kiss, and then we sever;
Ae fareweel, alas, for ever!
Deep in heart-wrung tears I’ll pledge thee,
Warring sighs and groans I’ll wage thee.
Who shall say that Fortune grieves him,
While the star of hope she leaves him?
Me, nae cheerful twinkle lights me;
Dark despair around benights me.

I’ll ne’er blame my partial fancy,
Naething could resist my Nancy:
But to see her was to love her;
Love but her, and love for ever.
Had we never lov’d sae kindly,
Had we never lov’d sae blindly,
Never met-or never parted,
We had ne’er been broken-hearted.

Fare-thee-weel, thou first and fairest!
Fare-thee-weel, thou best and dearest!
Thine be ilka joy and treasure,
Peace, Enjoyment, Love and Pleasure!
Ae fond kiss, and then we sever!
Ae fareweeli alas, for ever!
Deep in heart-wrung tears I’ll pledge thee,
Warring sighs and groans I’ll wage thee!

But my favourite ever Poem of ‘The Bard of Scotland’ is: “My love is like a red,
red Rose”. Here is a lovely song and video of the poem, featuring illustrations
of the most beautiful 18th and 19th century Scottish paintings and etchings:

O my Luve’s like a red, red rose
That’s newly sprung in June:
O my Luve’s like the melodie
That’s sweetly play’d in tune.

As fair art thou, my bonnie lass,
So deep in luve am I:
And I will luve thee still, my dear,
Till a’ the seas gang dry:

Till a’ the seas gang dry, my dear,
And the rocks melt wi’ the sun;
I will luve thee still, my dear,
While the sands o’ life shall run.

And fare thee weel, my only Luve
And fare thee weel, a while!
And I will come again, my Luve,
Tho’ it were ten thousand mile.

XO
Nona

Tweet This!

Did you know that animals react to the changing seasons by registering changes
in their mood, their metabolism and even in their behaviour? and did you know that
humans do so too? Well, for some of those humans the symptoms are so severe
that they can actually disrupt their lives, causing considerable distress. So yup,
unfortunately, I happen to be one of those humans. I am a S.A.D. one.

So, come the worst of the winter (like say RIGHT NOW for example) I can’t help but
think about S.A.D. things, like:

S.A.D. songs – I chose a good one this year though, I can’t stop playing it:

S.A.D. movies – I revisited “Girl interrupted” and quite enjoyed watching it again
whilst I am S.A.D.

S.A.D. photography – I stumbled upon a recently published, amazing photography book
by Christopher Payne called “Asylum: Inside the Closed World of State Mental Hospitals”.

As opposed to featuring the people in these institutions, like Richard Avedon did, Payne’s focus is on the architecture of the Hospitals – which is rather stunning.

Buffalo State Hospital by Christopher Payne.

Studies indicated that crazy people apparently seemed to respond well in beautiful settings.

The grandeur and beauty within the architecture of these places is incredible.

Asylums were fairly common state-supported institutions during the first three quarters
of the 20th century.

They all suddenly disappeared after the invention of Prozac and after the heads
of State decided that crazy people were better of homeless, or on the streets rather
than in state-supported hospitals.

Their demise happenned rather quickly, as the majority of us today are unable to
point out where the nearest psychiatric hospital is, but we all know where to go
to be prescribed anti-depresant drugs.

Then I got to thinking about death, but not just any old death… death around the Victorian
times in England. During the Victorian era, death was very much a part of everyday life.
Hence death taking a more familiar and more human form – that of the skeleton – as opposed
to the figure of the Devil homed and cloven hoofed, forcing the sinful into the mouth of hell.

I came across these brilliant BBC series called: “What the Victorians did for us”.
They are fantastic! Here is part one:

And part two:

Then, of course there were the fabulous victorian mourning dresses which are
amazing:

And the incredible Victorian mourning jewellery. Locks of hair were sentimental gifts from
the living, becoming powerful keepsakes after their death during these period.

Death in the victorian times also led me to think about Memento Mori and of course
about taxidermy jewellery – which instead of being S.A.D is more kinda FAB.

I wrote a whole post about it for the Model Management Blog, you can read it HERE
You will find the most amazing taxidermy fashion pieces from the fabulous Julia deVille
and Reid Peppard. I am oh so looking for dead animals round London from now on.

So… in order to cheer myself up and not let S.A.D ruin my mood for yet another winter,
I decided to face it this year, to grab it by the horns and look at it in the eyes and say:
“Fuck off S.A.D cause guess what? I am going to make myself laugh everyday even
if I don’t feel like it”. And besides the fact that I am unable to laugh at or tell jokes,
I seem to have found something that does the trick: Drunken text messages. Yup.

I received a quality one from my ex-boyfriend, which was sent at about 3 in the morning
and read:

“Nona, I fcking Saynsbury’s you so much baby” – (Sainsbury’s as in the British supermarket).
Yes, he was drunk and the dumb ass uses the predictive text function but it did make me laugh.

So, here is a fine selection of my favourite drunken text messages to cheer me -and any other
fellow S.A.D sufferers -up (NOTE: I found these other ones, promise, not all of my acquaintances
are lost drunks Mkay?

- awoke with 47 plastic lawn flamingos in my bed and on surrounding floor. explanation? …
(rec’d): you said they were your minions of evil that protected you from ferrets.

- Why is there a hole in my wall? (recvd): Last night, after 8 shots, you had a dance contest
with your dog, got mad cause you thought you lost, and punched the wall.

- Last night my friend sent me: “Whatch ot 4 kidnapur aleens. Thay r pink an thay hav a
spas ship. Thay willlllllllll git @u”

-Hey baby, wanna come to myspace and twitter my yahoo ’til i google all over your facebook?

-you were about to get laid, but on your way to the bedroom you saw a Burger King paper
crown. you ditched the girl and pranced around my house yelling:
“I AM FOOFY, KING OF THE SEALS!”

(Anonymous): Last night, “I ran into a ditch, dodged a mailbox, jumped a driveway
completely airborne, landed, and drifted around a 90 degree curve. Everyone in the car
just about shit except me. I said ‘remember that shortcut’ and kept driving.”

(Anonymous): “so I was just driving drunk ‘I know…’ and I stopped 2 let a pinecone cross the
road because I thought it was a hedgehog.”

-omg bring my wallet when you come get me tonight. i’m buying a fucking giraffe.

-You sent me 45 texts saying “meow“.

Hahahahahha! That last one is my favourite one.

Feel free to contribute with yours if you have received/sent any lately, this way
you will help cheer up this S.A.D. chick who will love you so much for doing so!

XO
Nona

PS – You can also read about fab fashion masks HERE and about my pretty shit morning HERE.

Tweet This!

I’ve been watching tons of films lately (to cold to go anywhere) and I absolutely
loved the surreality and photographic beauty of “Blue Velvet”.

Here is a clip of the candy coloured clown, one of my favourite moments:

A candy-colored clown they call the sandman
Tiptoes to my room every night
Just to sprinkle stardust and to whisper
Go to sleep. everything is all right.

Its too bad that all these things, can only happen in my dreams
Only in dreams in beautiful dreams.

So, totally inspired by the movie, I thought I’d “window screen shop”
for some fab velvet pieces and these where the ones I imaginarily bought:

These Blue Velvet Louboutins sum up the movie so incredibly well that I wouldn’t
mind a pair either:

But the top blue velvet beauty was this vintage cobalt coat, property of the doll from
the Glamourai. She did an incredible DIY job to it and transformed it into a
lush piece that had me searching Ebay right, left and centre for a blue velvet coat to
have a go at making myself one too. No luck though. But I am not known for giving up.
(The search shall continue ’til I get one – or until I am obsessed with something else…)

Here is what she did: she got the coat…

Had it fabulously re-lined with a vintage silk flower print lining…

Got a fab vintage red fox fur stole…

Added it to the coat…

Et voila! Fabulousness all round.

The perfect antidote to this dreary weather, don’t you think?

I want one!!!!

“Love me, I love you!”

XO
Nona

Tweet This!

I’m not asleep… but that doesn’t mean I’m awake.

Consciousness: that annoying time between naps.

All men whilst they are awake are in one common world: but each of them, when he is asleep, is in a world of his own. ~Plutarch

Life is something that happens when you can’t get to sleep.

Sleep… Oh! how I loathe those little slices of death.

Even thus last night, and two nights more I lay,
And could not win thee, Sleep, by any stealth:
So do not let me wear to-night away.
Without thee what is all the morning’s wealth?
Come, blessed barrier between day and day,
Dear mother of fresh thoughts and joyous health!

~William Wordsworth, “To Sleep”

Sleep is a symptom of caffeine deprivation.

And if tonight my soul may find her peace
in sleep, and sink in good oblivion,
and in the morning wake like a new-opened flower
then I have been dipped again in God, and new-created.
~D.H. Lawrence

XO
Nona

Tweet This!

These rings are so fab that I can’t help screaming the words: “I DO!”
everytime I look at them.

The above lovely is by Jessica Kagan Cushman. I am still obsessing
about the fabulous Hannah Martin collection at Matches by the way,
but the prices are so out of my league that it really isn’t funny. I am not
saying that they are not worth the price – ’cause of course, they are as
they are so fantastic and unique – I am just saying that the price is not
funny.

Like £1,358 for this awesome Hannah Martin Secret Stud ring.
I think it’s soooo romantic!!! In my eyes, this is the perfect
wedding ring. I love the fact that it has the little ’studs’ hidden
-Are they diamonds? I wonder. That would be awesome!

I can just picture the guy giving it to the girl after a romantic dinner,
over a glass of wine as he says: “I’ve heard people say that, too much
of anything is not good for you baby, but I don’t know about that.
There’s many times that we’ve loved, We’ve shared love and made love,
and it doesn’t seem to me like it’s enough. There’s just not enough for me,
there’s just not enough… Oh babe…” and he pulls out a little box
from his blazer. She opens it and goes: ***Huh? a plain gold ring how boring!***
and there they are, little diamonds in disguise! So then he goes (yes, in the
same Barry White voice): “Look inside babe…” and then she
goes: “OH! I DO, I DO, I DO!”

Awwww! Hey, after all, like they say, it is what’s inside that really counts no?

Hannah Martin – Gold Eagle ring £1,378 oh baby! come to mama:

Hannah Martin Claw shaped ring £328 I ADORE this ring. I can’t help but look at it
and picture myself wearing it and getting into a cat fight with Lady Gaga going:
“Yo beeeeitch, that ain’t your cup of tea!!!!! Miaooooooooowwwwwwwww!!!!”

And these gorgeous Dominic Jones rings are also figuring in my I DO! list.

The Double Claw ring:

And the Jack ring:

Now, I know what you are thinking… why keep looking at them if I can’t afford them?
Well… 1) Cause I am a masochist and 2) Because I need to practice on my visualization
technique, so as to align myself with the universe, so that the universe can get them for
me, Law of attraction remember? Eerrrrr…..what!? I really like them ok? and I happen not
to have any cash at the minute, so a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do. MMMkay?
Now where were we? Ah yes, so I was looking at them, whilst I looked at my pretty bare
little hands humbly dressed with only some red nail polish, as I picture myself in my head,
walking around, wearing: not one ring, or two, but all of them!!! yes, all of them and all at
the same time, going: “AAAAARRRRRRRRR!!!!!” So that everyone is dead scared
of me, as they fear that I will knuckle ‘em hard with ma bling! so I get to walk around going:
“ Heeeeeey??? What did you just sayyyyyy???? Are you talking to meeee???
A-R-E-Y-O-U-T-A-L-K-I-N-G-T-O-M-E?….”

Or more like:

Ohhhh! I can feel the power going all the way from my knuckles to my head.
Are they there yet?
Pah! it ain’t working is it!

Also, check out this gorgeous Alexander McQueen Skull ring also available at
Matches for the humble sum of £180.00 quid.WOT?. YES. ONLY £180.00
Why did I make it my New Year’s resolution to not buy myself A-N-Y-T-H-I-N-G
this year? Can anyone remind me? Oh, yes (that tiny detail) because I happen to
be broke or as I preffer to call it: “momentaneously financially challenged” that’s
why! Otherwise you would hear me going click…click…click… as we speak.

So, if unlike me, you are good at budgeting and therefore have a few extra
bucks to spare, then treat yourself to one of them, you can buy them HERE
and don’t forget to send me a picture of how awesome you look wearing it,
so that I can look at it and go: “See? This could have been you, if only you
knew the meaning of one at the time, you baaad, baaaad, girl” ****SLAP
IN THE HANDS AND ALL**** and then I could cut out your head from the
pic and replace it with mine so as to satisfy that evil feeling of wanting
them… oh so badly!

So here is the song of the day, dedicated to my beloved…

… rings.

XO
Nona

Tweet This!

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And auld lang syne?

For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne,
We’ll tak a cup of kindness yet,
For auld lang syne!

And surely ye’ll be your pint-stowp,
And surely I’ll be mine,
And we’ll tak a cup o kindness yet,
For auld lang syne!

We twa hae run about the braes,
And pou’d the gowans fine,
But we’ve wander’d monie a weary fit,
Sin auld lang syne.

We twa hae paidl’d in the burn
Frae morning sun till dine,
But seas between us braid hae roar’d
Sin auld lang syne.

And there’s a hand my trusty fiere,
And gie’s a hand o thine,
And we’ll tak a right guid-willie waught,
For auld lang syne.

XO
Nona

Tweet This!