Thanks, Diane Arbus...

...for my new shoes. And for the bizarrely fetching photographs. I won a Diane Arbus-related bet with my boyfriend and now he owes me a pair of shoes. yay.

Celeb portraits

young Anderson Cooper

young Mia Farrow

Arbus was more known for her oddball subjects. She especially liked little people and tranvestites.

 

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OUT OF FOCUS

Meet Han Solo, a gift from my darling boyfriend. (I bet he finally got tired of lending me his camera. So, there, he got me one) I've never seriously messed around with a Canon DSLR before so I don't exactly know what all the buttons and the dials are for. I've sat-in on the basic photography lectures my boyfriend gives, but that was last year and I've forgotten. I'm partial  to manula focus. It reminds me of my dad's Nikon SLR that he gave me many, many years ago.

I hate the autofocus function! It wont, well, focus!!! For awhile I thought Hans (that's his nickname) was defective. Until my boyfriend showed me the secret of the little red dot. Everything's clear now. In more ways than one. I ought to start reading the manual.

I need a remote for this baby!

January so far

We're past the month's halfway mark so technically, this is old news. But still, I thought this was worth a post

I want to get my hands on a Taiwan Vogue! Leftmost guy looks interesting.

Russian Vogue gets my vote as est cover though. I love Natasha Poly.

Anja & Sasha

The talented Miss Camilla Akran captures models (and real life lovers) Anja Rubik and Sasha Knezevic in a playful romp for Man About Town F/W 2009

This is one of the most sexually charged editorials I've ever seen. It's risque and raunchy, yet oddly sweet. Doesn't it make you wish you were wildly and utterly in love? (If you aren't already, that is)

I specifically like the first three photos.

Source: AnjaRubik.com

WTF is a Disco Stick?

I love dolls. And I love Lady Gaga. Naturally, I had to post this.
Take a look at the work of Veik, a Beijing-based doll afficionado.
I used to make clothes for my Barbies to but I was nowhere this good.

More here and here.

1990, a tribute

Can you believe it's been 2 decades? I have very little memory of that year. But my mom did keep all her old Vogues. Christy, Linda and Naomi everywhere, much like this Vogue January 1990 cover.

(Clockwise from left: Naomi, Tatjana Patitz, Christy, Cindy, Linda)

My favorite Supermodel would have to be Stephanie Seymour (It's such a shame she wasn't included in the shot). But Christy is "the perfect vision of the 90s," or so says Calvin Klein.

Scene at the Couture

Photographed by ARthur Elgort

American Vogue, April 1990

Source

Here's another one of the Supermodels. This time, with Stephanie Seymour.

I've had this photo a long time and I don't remember where I got it. Sorry!

A Fine Vintage

At 24, she's barely vintage herself but I don't know anyone who can rock vintage glam better than this girl, with her trademark nails and lips painted in shades of red.

I should've taken a better shot of her outfit. Will you take my word for it when I tell you it was enviable?

Her name is Patty, artist, future barrister and best friend. Her blog: http://www.pa3cia.tumblr.com/

Amazing Grace

Without a doubt, the most exquisite woman to ever walk the face of the earth. A pretty face is a dime a dozen (at least in Hollywood) but I don't think anyone has ever come close to eclipsing the the late Princess Grace (née Kelly) in not only beauty, but refinement and class.

Photos by Howell Conant, first published in Collier's Magazine.

Source: starbucksandjane.blogspot.com

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H&M and Wal-mart are greedy capitalists

I've been hoping, wishing, praying for H&M to find its way to our sun-kissed shores. Once in awhile there'd be rumors of a branch opening up somewhere and I'd get really excited. Needless to say, none of those rumors saw the light of day. This Yahoo News pretty much killed all possible excitment I can ever have for H&M. I've always been a little socialist.

This week the New York Times reported a disheartening story about two of the largest retail chains. You see, instead of taking unsold items to sample sales or donating them to people in need, H&M and Wal-Mart have been throwing them out in giant trash bags. And in the case that someone may stumble on these bags and try to keep or re-sell the items, these companies have gone ahead and slashed up garments, cut off the sleeves of coats, and sliced holes in shoes so they are unwearable.

This unsettling discovery was made by graduate student Cynthia Magnus outside the back entrance of H&M on 35th street in New York City. Just a few doors down, she also found hundreds of Wal-Mart tagged items with holes made in them that were dumped by a contractor. On December 7, she spotted 20 bags of clothing outside of H&M including, "gloves with the fingers cut off, warm socks, cute patent leather Mary Jane school shoes, maybe for fourth graders, with the instep cut up with a scissor, men’s jackets, slashed across the body and the arms. The puffy fiber fill was coming out in big white cotton balls.”

The New York Times points out that one-third of the city's population is poor, which makes this behavior not only wasteful and sad, but downright irresponsible. Wal-Mart spokeswoman, Melissa Hill, acted surprised that these items were found, claiming they typically donate all unworn merchandise to charity. When reporters went around the corner from H&M to a collections drop-off for charity organization New York Cares, spokesperson Colleen Farrell said, “We’d be glad to take unworn coats, and companies often send them to us."
After several days of no response from H&M, the company made a statement today, promising to stop destroying the garments at the midtown Manhattan location. They said they will donate the items to charity. H&M spokeswoman Nicole Christie said, "It will not happen again," and that the company would make sure none of the other locations would do so either. Hopefully that's the final word.

Tabula Rasa

Happy New Year everyone.

In an attemt to start the year right, I spent the first day of 2010 recovering my circa 2006 curls. I am very, very familiar with the momentary sense of panic that sets in right after the stylist takes out the curling rods to reveal tight, Shirley Temple curls. Usually the curls loosen up after the first shower and I'd be fine with it. This time I wasn't so fortunate. Three days later, I still gasp whenever I catch sight of my reflection. Maybe I should've waited until I got back to Manila and made an appointment in one of them Korean salons instead of insisting on getting a perm in Ilocos Norte's first franchise of this salon that will hereby remain unnamed.

So my hair's wild and crazy, but not in the way I hoped it would be. I'll live. It's just hair. It'll get better. I may not have great hair, yet, but I will be optimistic. Its the begining of the year, after all. A new day, a new dawn, a new life.

What really I wanted was Emmy Rossum's big, Botticelli-esque locks. Remember her? She was the next big thing way back in 2004 when, at the age of 18, she landed the role of the chanteuse Christine Dae in Phantom. I've been in love with her since. I don't know who drove her movie career to the ground. The last project she was in was Dragon Ball, which I watched for the sole purpose of seeing her. I still love you, Emmy!