Hot Child in the City: Summer Shoes

"No one knows who she is or what her name is." But they will know she's "running 'round and looking pretty." And wearing a fabulous pair of shoes. Hot Child in the City.

Christian Dior. Miss Dior Mesh Sandal. 

Louis Vuitton. Platform Sandal. 

 

Giambattista Valli. Leather Cutout Peep-Toe Platform with Black Piping. 

Marni. Leather Sandal.

Yann Tiersen and Elizabeth Fraser "Kala"

{I can't believe I didn't know this duet existed until tonight, but I'm happy it found me.} 

There are nights when the chords hum right, and the light from the building next door falls slanted into my room -- pivoting around a midnight moon as shadows of cars pass on the street. A gentle song swathes me to sleep. And oh how I sleep. Until gravity feels safe again and the city sings softly and I slip into something of myself by morning.  

I wish I wish

I wish I could call her voice my own. 

The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit

In their lifetime, these four little girls saw more of the world than any other little girls could have possibly hoped. American princesses collecting shell tiaras from their Rhode Island vacation home, the daughters of Edward Darley Boit lived lives of uninhibited wealth and travel. The blue and white vases, standing tall in their portrait, traveled with the family -- packed and unpacked like familiar faces in crowded rooms of people speaking languages foreign to the girls' well cleaned ears.  

If you visit the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, you'll find John Singer Sargent's portrait of family and youth humbly hung, but powerfully flanked by the actual vases standing like old friends in Sargent's painting. Gallery whispers tell us that when the MFA acquired the vases, they tipped them about for a good cleaning, spilling out a few long-lost toys the younger girls had tossed into the vases' open mouths. 

It's a beautiful intersection of history and family and art -- leaving us to wonder where one begins and the other ends. And if at the end of it all, when hung on the quiet wall of a museum, the boundaries we've drawn between the intersections of our segmented lives mean anything at all. 

Cravings

One of my newest obsessions is Etsy -- "your place to buy & sell all things handmade."Every day I find something new and beautiful. It's like the best neighborhood flea market that ever was. Here are a few of my favorite favorites:

Peacock Feather Clutch. $70

Organic Cotton Gathered Shawl. $65  

Typewriter Rings. $10

Aged Brass Blue Bird Charm. $3.50

Yelle "A Cause De Garcon" TEPR remix.

I have watched this video a million billion times, and it is still an instant good mood. Thank GOD for Tectonic.

Early Spring in Photos

My words aren't working tonight. Here are some pictures instead:

Mike Lombardo Trio at TT the Bear's in Central Square. 

Lindt in the park with Laura. 

Brookline Booksmith. (I wish I bought this.)

MFA. European Old Master Paintings.

Somewhere in Harvard Square. 

Marni: The Modern Day Diary of Princess Margarita Theresa of Spain?

Perhaps it is because I was studying into the wee hours of the morning for my Art History exam during Fashion Week, or perhaps it is because my brain tends to organize fashion and art in the same pile of creative cultural records in my head, but I cannot help but notice the uncanny, yet delightful, similarities between the Fall 2009 Marni collection, and the elaborate wardrobe of Princess Margarita Theresa of Spain. 

Our visual record of Princess Margarita is almost entirely through Spanish Baroque artist Diego Velazquez's work. In the mid-1620s, Spain's King Philip IV named Velazquez the official court painter. Princess Margarita, Philip's favorite daughter, quickly became the focus of Velazquez's efforts. When she was born, the Princess was promised to her cousin, a member of the Austrian royal family. In a grand romantic gesture of arranged marriage, King Philip arranged for Margarita's portrait to be painted as gifts for her young Austrian fiancé.

The Baroque period in Spain was a time of drama and ornate details -- the fabrics heavy, the colors rich. The Spanish Empire was almost unbelievably powerful. Pockets were deep and elaborate clothing was becoming increasingly more accessible. Dresses made of metallic thread, heavy tapestry-like cloth, and jeweled details were the prize of royal closets. 

It is without question that pieces from the Marni collection are strikingly similar to some of Velazquez's most famous portraits of Princess Margarita Theresa. I'm not yet sure what the similarity means, if anything at all, but I do know that there's something antique, something lavish, and something opulent about it all. 

Infanta Margarita Theresa in a pink dress, Velaquez. 1654.

Marni Fall 2009

Queen Margarita on horseback, Velazquez. 1634-35.

Marni Fall 2009

Noise

I've been working on a series of short memoirs and snippets of stories and poems and lyrics and things - you can find my earlier pieces here. Sometimes weeks go by and I'm wordless. Tonight, I'm happily pouring words like thick water. 

--- --- --- 

The world was silent until she threw her shoe against the wall. Gashing a gash shaped like a wry half smile, it coughed and cried and spilled the sounds that had been waiting between the two by fours. Cutting through the once disruptive silent static, vowels flew into sharp stings and the ground swelled until it nearly burst. And when the noise found in itself a friend, it spread calmly through her world that was never again too quiet.