today i want...

yet another bag:

this one's by Jillian, whose shop on etsy, JohnMetBetty is etsy's featured seller at the moment. i'm not in the habit of actually buying things on etsy, cos although i love handmade clothes and bags, and though i adore anything vintage, the prices with shipping added always stun me a little. BUT that doesn't stop me from browsing and drooling over stuff on etsy, so i decided i'd put the picture of this lovely red robin clutch on my blog and see if i can exorcise any demons (demons that insist, gently yet firmly, that of course i need to treat myself to a nice bag this month) that way... so far it's not working, though.

must... have... new... bag

i know i'm supposed to save money, and god knows i'm trying... but arrgggh how am i supposed to resist all the luxe, lovely leather things that fate flings into my path? fling something else for a change, bitch! (something i can resist, like a cocktail ring, or sunglasses, or a scarf, a jacket, or even shoes!)

i blame my mother; my love for bags is entirely her fault... growing up, i was obsessed with clothes (and often driven to despair because in the late 1990s there really weren't so many untacky things a girl could wear without looking twice her age) but bags really weren't my thing. my mother, on the other hand, was (still is, still is) an absolute bag nut. and so, to cut this predictable story short, my sister and i have grown up and the apples have fallen right underneath the tree.

anyway. i was browsing through the Flannel sale online and fell head over heart over (sob sob) wallet over this delish Dolce and Gabbana number:




za would scream.... she hates checks and similar patterns.... i really love checks and gingham and all that, and the harlequin-esque patching on this bag is to die for.... as i write this i am trying to figure out how (HOW HOW HOW) to buy this without ruining myself financially. looks like i'll be buying lottery tickets later yea?

and this Fendi nubuck secret code bag (wow, what a name):




there is another bag my heart hopes for, but i won't put it up here. i'm going to lick this one wound in private. *sulks*

christian lacroix exhibit at the national museum

i was reading a fashion magazine a couple of weeks ago (i read so many, so can't actually remember which one) and there was a short bit about the christian lacroix exhibit at the national museum. so last sunday i dragged my sweetheart off to see it, though to give him credit, he didn't exactly protest.

there were exhibits of clothes he'd designed for various theatrical productions... Carmen, Othello, a version of Cinderella... everything beautiful and absolutely inspiring... suddenly i felt the urge to buy a dress with a full skirt, suddenly i wanted to wear lace bustier dresses in all sorts of colours.



the picture below is of a costume lacroix designed for the title character in the opera Eliogabalo... can you believe it's made entirely out of paper?



three of these (below) are from Cosi Fan Tutte. i love the colour of the dress, and the organza crinkled to look like a skirt in the suit-like outfit is really quite inspiring... i'm sure it could translate into ready-to-wear in a second!







oh what a dress!



another section of the exhibition featured mobiles... dresses hanging from the air, other heftier costumes on slowly spinning platforms... all against a background of projected film clips of ballets and other theatrical performances. very very surreal. photos don't do this display any justice!







here are some of my favourite sketches from the exhibit.. when i saw them , i felt so terribly ashamed of the pitifully bland sketches i've been making for my sewing class... (clearly, though, one can hardly expect to rival lacroix!)

the first three here are for the costumes in Gaite Parisienne, a production by the American Ballet Theatre in 1988. Love those colours! My personal favourite is the red gown in the second picture... and i'd love to be able to wear those headpieces when i go shopping. fierce!







this is from the production of Cendrillon (Cinderella) by the Opera Comique, Paris... the sketches are for the costumes for the stepsisters' ballgowns... i think it's wonderful how lacroix manages to use all these grays and blacks and bland little browns and still come up with sketches so riveting.



here's a sketch of costumes from Arsa y Toma, a flamenco performance recounting the history of the dance from the 1950s til today. lacroix used small frills of real cloth to create these caricature-like sketches in the style of postcards.



lastly, here's one from Othello (the faces are so nicely done!)and another from Le Femme sans Ombre...

extremely outdated london post: jo and za see buckingham palace and the great big topshop

now i know why i've never been able to keep a blog... i'm not someone who can constantly write write write about her life... far too busy buying and reading books, poring over magazines, tutoring teenagers, fussing over my clothes and hair.

anyway. i thought i'd write up my trip to london. love the city to death... i know everyone says it's rather grey and dreary and IT IS, but i love how there are a million things to see and do and things to lust over in stores. i spent a lot of time in the british museuem, the tate and the national gallery as well... i was so excited to see van gogh's sunflowers at the national gallery that i leaned too close and got told off by an attendant. ("MISS, please step back. there should be SOME distance between you and the painting.") oops.

the flight there was awful. i couldn't sleep the night before so i felt like a zombie version of myself even before i hopped aboard the plane (i use 'hopped' in the loosest sense of the word) and then couldn't sleep throughout the 12-hour flight because the headrest was so poorly designed. (here's a note to anyone at SQ who cares: the headrests in most buses that travel between singapore and malaysia, even the ugly old ones with stuffing popping out, are better designed for the comfort of the human head than the headrests on the A380. so much for technology.)i was so glad i was travelling with za, and we watched movies in sync on our separate viewing panels and kept ordering wine in order to keep from feeling the keen discomfort of the seat.

anyhow, our first experience on the tube (to our friend ratna's place at holloway rd) was uneventful but we felt the entire time like we had come from the first world to the third world, and not the other way around. now i know where the malaysian railway authority did their precedent studies in the eighties.

after a moderately good night's sleep, we consulted one of the two guidebooks za had brought along and decided to walk towards the palace, see the changing of the guard, walk to trafalqar square and then head to oxford street to shop and meet our friend andee for lunch.