Ne Me Quitte Pas

One of my pet hates is when people make assumptions regarding your personal life. They base their opinions on age, appearance, occupation, material possessions and how you act in public while you're in a relationship. The fact is, nobody knows what exactly occurs after you've discreetly closed your bedroom door, stripped naked and watch late night SBS films with your loved one. Ofcourse I'm guilty of this contemptuous sin myself, but if you think of your own relationships with your parents, siblings, friends and partners, then I'm sure the reality is entirely at odds to what you imagine other people see when they attempt to meddle.

It must be difficult to live your life in the public eye, so to speak, as many "celebrities" do. Even despite this, there are still some people that manage to retain a sense of mystery, and consequently intrigue us all to no end.

Exhibit A

Briefly married couple, Marilyn Monroe and Arthur Miller. Sexy screen starlet meets brooding playwright, resume tempetuous relationship and eventually divorce - girl dies tragically, boy fails to produce the striking works of his past.

Exhibit B

Drug-fuelled three-year relationship between Marianne Faithful and Mick Jagger. Ends dramatically as girl overdoses on sleeping pills in Australia, lapsing into a one-week coma.

Exhibit C

Bohemian, sexually overt and controversial French song-writing duo, Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg, were together throughout the 60's and 70's, until girl falls pregnant to other man and leaves moody, eccentric, chain-smoking boy.

Exhibit D

Peace-loving, song-writing pop star John Lennon latches on to obscure performance artist Yoko Ono and shocks the world with their nudist antics.

Exhibit E

Modern papparazzi favourite, couple Kate Moss and Pete Doherty have so far survived girl's ubiquitous presence in tabloids and boy's amazing ability to get arrested.

Can anyone else think of any famous couples? Put your hands up, don't all talk at once! Yes, you in the corner?

*Post inspired (brazenly stolen) by Robert Greenfield's article on Style Radar.

I'm Ready-To-Wear It

Now I've never professed to be a Style Academic or Fashion Intellectual, so don't expect me to provide some kind of iconic po-mo analysis of the following designs. I just wish to share with you, dear Readers, the eye candy from the latest Spring Ready-To-Wear 2007 collections that I happen to be fond of.

Proenza Schouler: I'm mad about the muted colours, as well as the pop-tastic candy hues of these garments. The ironic socks-with-sandals and musky, pink-lipped accessories turn me on to no end. And those high-waist skirts, bustier tops and skinny-bones-jones cuts are just so sporty and wearable!

Maison Martin Margiela: Sombre, heavy-fringed rock star goes to Marianne Faithful's concert after-party, which turns out to be a huge Eyes Wide Shut-esque orgy. I deeply resented the star theme that emerged around the middle of the show.

Christopher Kane: These dresses were fucking Beautiful! Marie Antoinnette on acid, having sex with Azzedine Alaia while watching a George Michael video clip.

And ofcourse, the amazing decades-encompassing mechanical dresses at Hussein Chalayan (you really have to see this!):

Found Objects

A wonderful site, much like Post Secret (although less contrived and emotionally imposing), where photographs, love notes, poetry on ticket stubs and drawings on napkins are sent in and posted as Find Of The Day on Found Magazine's website.

Some are eerie, amusing or even completely incomprehensible. There are even cases where people recognise objects posted as their own!

I found these particularly amusing:

And this one was found beneath a man's windscreen wiper after he went shopping - wouldn't you love to discover this for yourself! (HINT)

18th Century Swingers

Everyone recognises this painting from the Rococo Era (1767, to be exact), by French artist Jean-Honore Fragonard, non? It's a charming, gleefully laughing young lady rollicking on her swing, surrounded by a glittering fairy-tale garden, some onlooking cherubs and two suave admirers. Oh how the sun illuminates her rouged cheeks and brigtens her pretty lace dress - it's a picture of loveliness, personifying romance and happiness and all that wonderful shit!

Well, perhaps I'm the only dim-witted thick head in all of the universe, because I had never noticed that the man spasming in the grass at her feet is in fact looking up her dress! To add more obscenity to this image, it was customary at the time for aristocratic French women to wear no underwear! The shame!

According to evadyne on Everything2.com (a shaky source, I do realise, but who could be bothered researching for the few unappreciative readers I have),

"The Swing was petitioned by a French aristocrat, who needed something for his cabinet (A Cabinet Painting was usually something equivalent to pornography). Most cabinet paintings contained nude or semi-nude women ... [but] The Swing's main component was intrigue.

You see, the woman on the swing is the aristocrat's mistress. The man pushing the swing is a bishop, and the man hiding in the bushes is none other than the patron himself.

The fear of getting caught was somewhat of a turn-on for him, which is thought to be why he wanted her shoe to be kicked off. When the shoe falls off, who is to go find it but the bishop, walking right in the direction of the patron, who is positioned quite strategically, looking directly up her skirt."

How delightfully naughty!