Happy Birthday To Meeeeeeeeee....

Or to my blog, anyway- it's been exactly a year since I kick-started this operation! To be frank, the decision back in 2007 was made after several months of nailbiting and one highly involved conversation with a very close friend, because I had no idea of what to say before that. I'm very definitely not the savviest, or particularly bothered about the things typically associated with Indian fashion - I'll only post about stuff if I really love it- and I'm too stupid to even figure out basic tech stuff for the blog template, but then that was never the point. Blogging is fun, irrespective of just how much C and K say this one sucks (but I miss you both rottenly, irrespective of how much you say that). That might be the understatement of the year...

Phones And Suchlike..

I'm not really all that much of a gadget geek. Super-high-technology is a little scary to me, not least because so much of it is so hard to use and I'm scared of ruining it- but I'd be the first one to admit that I've never been able to level that charge against the things I really can't do without, the first among those being my phone.

I've used Nokia phones for nearly seven years now, and I can pretty much testify to the fact that they are God's gift to the technologically challenged. Not only are they incredibly user-friendly (props must be given to whoever designs the interfaces- and I love playing Snake), they're incredibly resilient (getting dropped on the floor a million times a day and still having a battery life of over 3 days is proof enough of that- I've heard enough of my classmates complaining about fancy phones getting ruined the same way), and they have, in the past, had features that are sheer brilliance as far as design is concerned (like a flashlight...sadly, those got phased out with the Nokia 1100 models). In short, if I have to buy a phone, chances are that I will insist on it being a Nokia.

Therefore, getting news of their collaboration with Frédérique Daubal to bring out the Nokia 7900 Crystal Prism was definitely something that set all the 'want' buttons connected to my inner art geek pinging, even if my unfortunate tendency to lose phones and the € 375 price tag on this one means that my owning it won't happen (it's going to be available in Asia though, so yay for that). Still, from what I can see, it's a stunning piece of work, and I'm certainly happy to be introduced to the work of a very talented designer (graphics as well as fashion- the lady is versatile!). And if my experience of Nokia products in the past is anything to go by, it'll probably be a joy to use.

Pics #1 and 2: works by Frédérique Daubal

Pic #3: wallpaper for the Nokia 7900, designed by Frédérique Daubal

Pic #4: the phone itself (the etchings are gorgeous)

Image sources: http://www.daubal.com/# and email attachments sent to me.

Question(s) Of The Day

...before I conk out, why on earth is the Vogue India cover for next month so...off? Katrina Kaif looks stiff, and I like the background, but not the simpery pose, hair or expression. And why on earth do Vogue Korea's covers always look amazing even if they're reprints from US Vogue editorials? I love those juicy pop lips on Natalia..maybe I should just take lessons in Korean or Japanese so I can read one of their Vogues instead..
Image source: The Fashion Spot (here and here)

Spreading The Love..

*makes huge efforts to stop blushing*...Oh my...Dreamecho has passed me on the You Make My Day award, as (I'm paraphrasing her words) one of ten blogs that make her feel happy about blogland- and it is an honour indeed. It's also a tough task to pick out just ten of all the brilliant blogs I read, but I'm passing the award (which, in a real-life world, would be one of those squeezy yellow smiley-face balls) on to:
1. Susie of Style Bubble: It's been nearly two years since the day I first stumbled on Style Bubble, bookmarking it in my head as 'that nice Brit girl who'll ship stuff over if you fix up the PayPalling' (sadly, it's an offer I never took up), but it just gets more brilliant with time.
2. The Clothes Horse: The Clothes Horse absolutely rules when it comes to wearing, posing and writing - this is one of my daily 'go to' sites, and a joy to read or even just look at. :)
3. Elisabeth of Wine Glass Logistics: I'm thrilled she's back from her holiday at last, her blog is a bit like getting one chapter of a (very good) book to read every day, and I was starting to miss it.
4. Blushing Apples: My favourite place for a look at anything sweet and whimsical, whether it's the trinkets she posts about or her dogs, Snow and Sushi. The after-effects of browsing usually consist of the urge to cuddle something...
5. Selina of Flying Saucer: I'm definitely not the only person who's seen her blog and coveted her wonderful pre-Raphaelite hair, or laughed about whatever crazy thing's been happening in her uni life (a pineapple in the courtyard was the last one)....
6. LibertyLondonGirl: LLG would be one of the coolest girls in cyberspace even if she wasn't a fashion editor living in New York. I can't think of too many other people who'd be as willing to tell us the truth about fake eyelashes (among other things), with as much of a sense of humour.
7. WendyB of Wendy Brandes Jewelry and this blog: Why, why, why won't Google unlock her main blog? 'Tis a brilliant blog, in fact both of them are. Who else will tell me about fish feet and murderous empresses with tombstones just waiting to be defaced by red lipstick?
8. Masala Chai: I love the art that Pav (the genius behind the site) showcases- it's often on the bright, kitsch side of things and such a pick-me-up to look at. It's also an education in itself, getting to know about the artists and photographers featured...
9. Romeika of A Room of One's Own: Romeika's blog (which I sometimes feed into Babelfish to understand all the comments) is one of my favourite places to discuss movies and random cuteness-loving impulses. Her posts are always amazingly well-constructed and thought-out, and it's all an amazing read.
10: Dreamecho: I can't think of too many other people who'd actually investigate the origins of a meme- so the fact that she approaches blogging in a spirit of equal parts inquiry and fun, is no surprise.
I'm really sleepy right now, so I'm going to tell my taggees about it tomorrow. Good night, everyone..

This is nothing that hasn't been said before, but Sofia Coppola just has a weird knack for understanding girls and dissociation...and for choosing the perfect background music (I have never yet failed to have a slight moment of heart stoppage at what, in this clip, is the 1:48 mark).

The Big Four: Not Just An Agatha Christie Novel.

Mercibeaucoup, Japan Fashion Week SS08Mercibeaucoup, Japan Fashion Week SS08

Mercibeaucoup, Japan Fashion Week SS08

garçonshinois, Japan Fashion Week SS08

garçonshinois, Japan Fashion Week SS08

Everlasting Sprout, Japan Fashion Week SS08

Dresscamp, Japan Fashion Week SS08Dresscamp, Japan Fashion Week SS08

The recent splashings of florals over the SS08 runways (Balenciaga and Dolce and Gabbana notwithstanding) mostly did nothing for me. I'm all for dreamy floatiness and a slightly off-kilter approach to things, but wishy-washiness is not a route I'd really like to go down in the pursuit of 'femininity'. A few of the most recent Couture Week presentations are also leaving me with a bit of a case of colour fatigue, with the exception of Givenchy and Chanel - I'm rather loving the fierce sharpness of the former and the deliberate, awkward softness of the latter- a new thing for Chanel.
The natural progression of things when I decide I don't like ____ idea, is that I move on to loving its polar opposite- and indeed I do like all things muted and attitudinal right now. However, considering the possibility that what I didn't like wasn't the ideas themselves but their execution at the Big Four Fashion Weeks, I decided to investigate a few others and promptly fell in love with the offerings at Japan Fashion Week SS08 (selected pics from some shows above).
I've often wondered on what basis London, Milan, Paris and New York are given such a high status as THE main centres of fashion design worldwide, ad infinitum. It's not that the output from these cities isn't often great. And it certainly isn't that I don't love to click through style.com or vogue.co.uk to look through pictures of whatever's been put out in those cities- but I do wish fashion reportage was a little more inclusive of information about what's happening in other places, especially when those places happen to have produced some of the most creative, forward-thinking designers of the late 20th century (including one of my personal heroines- Rei Kawakubo) and have a long history of excellence when it comes to the making of modern clothing. I'm not sure whether the exclusion of Fashion Weeks in other countries from wider public notice is a result of the fact that the designers stick to operating in one country and don't have a worldwide business model (which means they might not cater to international buyers). The local media might be doing a bang-up job of telling the wider public in that country what's going on there, but it often means a lot of us are left wondering what happens in fashion weeks outside the Big Four. I've spotted interesting things in pictures from Madrid, Hong Kong, Copenhagen and Tokyo among other places, in the past...definitely enough to make one wish that the world of fashion revolved around more than four axes, and to see that it doesn't have to.

Anyone who wishes to look at AW07-08 pics of Japan Fashion Week should go here. And many thanks to Japanese Streets for all the pics above.

Courage And Liking?

In a college inhabited by frequently sleepless and frantic beings, it shouldn't be such a surprise that we love reading books about people on drugs- one of the campus favourites is Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, a book whose illustrations by Ralph Steadman are as indelibly linked to the story in my mind, as Quentin Blake's sketches to Roald Dahl's kid books.
"Crazy" is a tame word to describe what I thought of them when I was fifteen but 'pleased' is definitely on the cards given that I've just stumbled across Ralph Steadman's online shop. It's full of Gonzo art and shoppables which are not only downright covetable, but brilliantly funny too- the page for wine prints is making me giggle, despite the rather manic-looking jester who is the subject of the first print (shown in Picture 2 above). I'm dead scared of clown faces but bell-tipped hats are a breeze to deal with. And the jute bag retailing for £5.50 is a good bit less poncey (I'm borrowing a Spike-from-Buffy word here) than those 'I'm Not A Plastic Bag' objects from last year, methinks...
Sadly, shipping is only to the UK, Europe and the US/Canada, but I'm ok with just looking for now. Anyone who is a Fear and Loathing fan, fancies things in the shop (which include an umbrella, tie, lighter, cufflinks, t-shirts, and artwork) or simply wants a good laugh somewhere along the way should definitely go on here.
All images from ralphsteadman.com.