Idling..

Black Puffa Winter

Crazy profusion of black down jackets in London this winter, every size & length, and every possible variety of stitching. 

From My Make-Up Bag

So.. could there be a better use for all those sad items languishing in the corners of my make-up bag? Those brushes, blushers and colours that seemed persuasive in the store, but turn out to be less so in the harsh light of the bathroom at home? Given a chance out in the big, wide world, could they start afresh in some brave new context?
How about these ideas for starters..

Harry Clarke

I do love a lot of black in an illustration. The images above by Harry Clarke (1881-1931), for Edgar Allan Poe's 'Tales of Mystery and Imagination', first published in 1919 and reprinted by the Folio Society in 2007, seem to owe something- perhaps rather a lot- to Aubrey Beardsley, morbid and phantasmagorical and mannered as both artists were. Great use of black, though.

Exercises in Style

Sometimes I buy a book on the basis of its cover. Well, in this case the book was also well larded with little illustrations that lived up to the promise of the cover. I loved these right away: spontaneous, witty & a nice ink line. Plus, they remind me of Alexander Calder. In fact they're by Stefan Themerson, of whom I had not heard prior to this purchase a Polish poet, composer & novelist who was married to the equally interesting Franciszka Weinles. The two made experimental films together & founded 'Gaberbocchus Press', a publishing company whose authors included Raymond Queneau, Stevie Smith, Alfred Jarry, and Bertrand Russell. 
The book makes quite a good read, too, even if the idea behind it becomes a little wearing by variation 163 or so. 

A Little History

Some delightful insights here into the fashions of other times. Plus ça change. My apologies for the quality of some of these images, and also for the imperfect credits- they were just too good to pass up.

One use for the new-style skirts, by Honore Daumier in Le Charivari April16, 1856

More unorthodox but charming use of an item of wear; these bonnets were apparently equally useful for a clandestine embrace, or for rendering the lady unobtainable.

Fashion caricature from Punch, 1870. Punch printed a lot of this sort of thing, and beautifully rendered.

             This was apparently a Victorian invention, from 1887, rather than a joke, or perhaps both.

                   

The London Charivari, 1871. The Burdens of Fashion: 'What we must come to before Love!'

Regrettably, I have no idea where these came from, but they're very much to my taste. Note the matching headgear.

More Arabian Nights

Back after a long break. Almost two years after I first wrote about Helen Stratton, more of her illustrations from the same book. Her work is not in the same league as Edmund Dulac or Arthur Rackham, but sentimentality wins out every time for me. I look at these and I'm right back on the steps of the porch of my grandparents'  house, all cool tiles, deep shade and loitering lizards. More fabulous costumes and decor. More exotic names (Noureddin, Camaralzaman and Badouri, Beder and Giauhara, Princess Parizade). More rather bad printing. I would like to know how much of this (both stories and pictures) is based on original sources and how much is Victorian/Edwardian fantasy. Time to re-read the original book, perhaps, over the summer.

Ladies Must Wear Heels

No surprise to read that women have apparently been banned from parading on the 'red carpet' at Cannes because they were not wearing Birkenstocks. Sorry- that should have read, banned because they were not wearing high heels, and preferably, very high heels. 

Plus ca change. Above is a little illustration accompanying a 70's catalogue ad for an escape ladder that can be tipped out of a window for use in emergencies- such as unforeseen fires. But ladies should note, high heels must be donned before embarking on evacuation. Women will be banned from rescue if they do not follow the proscribed dress code. 

Manicure

Another drawing that hasn't quite worked out as I hoped. Enough time wasted; nailing my colours to the mast, so to speak.

Cut Along Dotted Line

Hill Fold, Valley Fold

One of my sons just started a job that involves wearing a suit. He is not exactly happy about it, but I, on the other hand, can see that the possibilities of a pinstripe are endless.

Feeling the Pinch

Another picture from my files. This one accompanied an article about weight loss for the summer. The wariness with which both weighing scales and crabs are generally approached makes up, I think, for the tenuous visual link between the two.
I'm currently feeling the pinch in more ways than one, so preparations for the summer and possible holidays aren't high on my 'to-do' list at the moment. 

Infringement of Dress Code

Such a lot of fringes around at the moment. I counted more than eight fringed items in this month's Vogue US- bags, boots, sandals, dresses, vests, jackets, sunglasses. I am almost tempted, but I have not a flower petal of boho in my character. Fringes, especially the really long ones, are exactly the sort of habit my mother used to warn me against- just the kind of thing that might get caught in the closing doors of a subway train, and thus lead to the loss an arm or a leg, or worse. Quite a lot of these designs do look like the result of an accident with a paper shredder in the studio.

From my Files

Failing all else, here is an old picture from a period when I drew much less self-consciously, and artwork was always submitted as a piece of paper, scratched, pasted together, hand-coloured, imperfect. These days I rarely manage anything close to such spontaneity- pictures are often pinned down (to death) at the rough stage, and even after you've submitted the artwork, the implied ease & speed enabled by technology (photoshop, illustrator et al) means that alterations can be requested, almost ad infinitum, by the art editor, the editor, the designer, the journalist, the tea lady, the cleaner and any old passer-by.

Dental Break

Surprised and delighted yesterday to see an advert on my screen that read:
'Dental Holidays Bulgaria. New teeth in one week, save 70%. Request free information here: ask.dentaprime.com'
Such a great idea for a relaxing break! I'm booking immediately. Photos of new Bulgarian teeth to be posted later in the year.

Bulletproof Bra

I was cheered over the weekend by the widely-reported story from Brazil, about a woman who was caught in robbery crossfire, and who afterwards found a bullet lodged in the undercarriage of her bra. 'Lingerie Saves Life' claimed at least one headline, although the woman herself (a shopkeeper named Ivete Medeiros) preferred to credit divine intervention. 

I felt duty-bound to show my own triple-strength underwired brassiere a bit of respect this morning, before strapping it on and pacing the mean streets of London. 

Periodic Table

Christmas is over. I know this because I have eaten the last chocolate in the house. Chocolate has been so ubiquitous this season, I feel it deserves its own periodic table. Restricted to solid or liquid form as yet, the variations might be broadly sorted into:

Dark, amongst which can be found the original C(1) dark chocolate, as well as B(27) Belgian dark, Sd(28) Swiss dark, Di(40) diabetic chocolate, and Pu(52) a pure, sugar-free type used only in cooking.

Milk, including M(2) common milk chocolate, Ms(6), made with semi-skimmed milk, Mf(7) made with full-fat milk, Bm(12) Belgian milk, and so on. 

White: Cannot strictly be considered 'real' chocolate as it contains no cocoa solids, but is made using cocoa butter, milk solids and sugar. The variations here are largely in the proportions of the constituent ingredients. Su(35), for instance, consists of over 80% sugar, while Ww(59) is 'whiter than white', with a very high proportion of milk derivatives.

Corrupted: All of the above chocolates, dark, milk and white, are often 'contaminated' with flavourings, fillings and additions, leading to a great many modifications, such as: Gi(46) ginger, Cg(29) cognac, Ki(42) kirsch, Bu(61) bubbles, Ca(45) caramel, Mn(17) mint, Or(18) orange, Fn(48) fruit-and-nut, Pr(32) praline, and so on. In fact, the table can be considered to be almost infinitely expandable.

Lastly, the 'Heavy' chocolates, which are theoretically possible, but which are as yet undiscovered. Au(63) and Ag(64) chocolate made with gold and silver,  M(69) marijuana, Mu(72) music, and V(68) vinegar all fall within this category. Never say never.

Chocolate Box

Tired of being 'pear' or 'apple' shaped? Try one of these exciting new variations. From top to bottom, and left to right:

Globe: Well-rounded, or even spherical? This is you!

American Footballer: Shoulders like a bull, tapering towards some sort of waist.

Mature Globe: As for Globe, but wrinkly. Dark colours suit this shape. (Hah!)

Torpedo: Shape developed by lying prone for too long before a television.

Square: Solid rectangular English brick. Stout-hearted. Try a girdle.

Mature Torpedo: As for Torpedo, but over fifty five.

Ovoid: Substantial fatty deposits around the waist result in this characteristic form. In males, this shape may be termed the 'Beer Belly'.

Lozenge: A more angular version of the Ovoid.

Crescent: Shape developed by older women who have carried too many heavy burdens over the years.     

This message is gluten-and-nut free.            

Shoe of the Season

Marc by Marc Jacobs, according to The Fashion supplement that appeared with my Saturday Guardian (September 2014): 'Now in the hands of Brit pair Luella Bartley and Katie Hillier, the label has regained serious momentum. The first collection was a statement of intent..', and nothing was more intentional than the blatant homage to market forces within the fashion industry made concrete with this in-your-face trainer. Times are a little rocky, but the intention is that profits should go up, and up, and up.

Heavy Goods

A quickie. Fat, again. It has come to my attention that the British are now top of the European league table in fatness. 'We're eating our way to disaster', and so on, say the newspapers. Apparently 67% of men and 57% of women in the UK are either overweight or obese, according to the Global Burden of Disease Study. ('What this?', you ask. I've no idea, but it's published in the Lancet Medical Journal, so it must be True) Still, it's nice to be top of something, isn't it? And a little bit of fat makes it easier to stay warm in winter.

I have a tendency to colour things up to see if they look more 'important'. I suspect I nearly always prefer them in plain old black and white. I leave the choice up to you.