Cabinet of curiosities & Inspirations since 2009

Cabinet of curiosities & Inspirations since 2009
*I Don’t Own the Rights to These Photos*

30 juin 2008

Out in Paris: The Demolition Party





In Paris, A demolition-party with 1500 guests took place at the Royal Monceau Palace.
Guests where invited to smash the walls with pecks
and to destroyed symbolickly some room of the hotel.
This party "was sold"as an artistic performance - it's just have been some childhish
and vulgar nightclubbers that behaved madly and ridiculously.
The palace owner already think that when the hotel will be reopened it will become the trendiest place in Paris.
Millionnaires wants to have fun, the prices would be high and they will party in the Palace.
The owner is choosing to make the Royal Monceau a decadent night clubbing over priced Hotel.The Royal luxury hotel Pile, in Paris, was the theatre of an artistic experience
on Thursday, June 26th consisting of the destruction of certain parties of the place by hundreds of VIP and under looks and encouraging acclamations of the public."
It is of the bourgeois punkitude.
It is very funny of middle-class persons who slum it by attacking blows of peckers in the symbols of the middle classes ", explains Eric Mitchell,
an American artist who regrets that all rooms are not used by the artists.

In a separate room, two concierges of the hotel : " we are all a bit sad to see this. we are a bit bitter... But we are of the small personnel, we do not have our word to be said. "
What had to remain a happening in mildly destructive madness is going to earn both lower floors where several rooms are decorated by contemporary artists.

Now we are in "Fight club" : the party-goers dissect the furniture of suites, shred mattresses, pulverize mirrors and bathrooms. Chain saws resound.
Some people make wee on the moquette while of other one hang in chandelier.
the DJ set began, some guests are making sex in the rooms.

Just depressing and vain ......
It is ironic ? Are they taking us for fulls ? What happen to Luxury ?
I invite you to boycoot this new Palace, that has just the name but
not the elegance and "savoir- vivre" of this kind of Palace.

This make me want to listen to Madame Hollywood from Felix Da Housecat Feat. Miss Kittin,
about the vanity of vips.And for me, those fake trendy hotels and party: "It's over
I decide it's over".



Everybody wants to be Hollywood
The fame, the vanity, the glitz, the stories
One day I'll become a great big star
You know, like the Big Dipper
and maybe one day you can visit my condo
On a big hill you know, like 9 0 2 1 0

Just imagine my face in the magazine
People analyzing my look, my body or any plastic surgery
You know like the Big Dipper
and maybe one day you can shake my hand
on the planet Hollywood

You say I'm not underground
I'm rich
I'm famous, I'm vanish, I'm glitz
I am the story, I am the the star
You know like the Big Dipper
Sex, Drugs & Rock n Roll
It's over
It's over
I decide it's over

Everybody wants to be Hollywood
Maybe one day you can visit my condo
On a big hill you know
Like 9-0-2-1-0


19 juin 2008

Show People

I saw my first musical" Singin' in the rain" on  french T.V. 
Cyd Charisse was the first dancer who ever caught my eyes.
 My mother told me that she was known as "the legs" 
- the most beautiful legs of all Hollywood.

When i made my first Art video "Show People", i decided to work on musicals.
I try to create a story with movies scenes that were belonging to differents musicals.
My video is 30 min long. In this 2nd part,
 i use the famous Broadway Melody ballet with Cyd Charisse 
in her wonderful green sparkling dress.

I hope you will enjoy this tribute to HollywoodMusicals.
If you want to see the video click on the fallowing links.
I know sometimes you can't all see videos on blogger.

SHOW PEOPLE links:




Cyd Charisse was born Tula Ellice Finklea on March 8, 1922, in Amarillo, Texas. Hollywood's greatest dancer of all times first studied classical dancing. She was in the Russian Ballet in Monte-Carlo and worked with David Lichine and Leonid Massine, using the names Felia Sidorova and Maria Istomina. She married her ex-dance teacher, Nico Charisse, in 1939. 
In 1943, David Lichine asked her to appear in her first movie ballet, in "Something to shout about", in which she is credited as Lily Norwood. The same year, she played a Bolchoï dancer in "Mission to Moscow", by Michael Curtiz. Choreographer Robert Alton and producer Arthur Freed hired her, to dance with Fred Astaire in "Ziegfeld Follies", directed by Vincente Minnelli, and Cyd Charisse then signed a seven year deal with the MGM. 
In the next few years, she appeared regularly in dancing acts of several musicals, with Judy Garland, Esther Williams, and Kathryn Grayson. It is also the time when she married her second husband, singer Tony Martin (1948). 


She really became famous in 1952, with her fantastic appearance in the Broadway Melody Ballet scene, with Gene Kelly, in the most famous musical ever : "Singin' in the rain", by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen. In Vincente Minnelli "The Band Wagon", where she starred with Fred Astaire was a real consecration. "Singin' in the rain" and "The band wagon" are Cyd Charisse's most important movies, and acts like the Broadway Melody Ballet, and, in the second movie, Dancing in the dark and The Girl Hunt Ballet, 
are forever in the Hollywood Musicals Hall of Fame. 


Cyd Charisse died on June 17, 2008 in Los Angeles, California.

17 juin 2008

Just for the pleasure

Dear readers,
Sorry for my late posting this week.
I won't stopped this blog.

I would like to share with you my last wish list.
I have been tagged this week and one of the question was:
What are 5 things you would do if you were a Billionaire?
One of my answer would be:
 Buy what i want, when i wish it and without really needing it.

I decided to share with you, the things i will buy this week if i could.
I will call those posts: Just for the pleasure.
In a way to write on my blog about something is a way to make it mine.

Today It’s about geek stuff, an artist photography, a painting, a design chair and a Headpiece.

Enjoy this first unreal shopping:

This customized ipod leather case by Vaja.


 This Louis Mariette amazing headpiece called « Fleur ».




This new chair from the Tropicalia collection by Patricia Urquiola.



This « Intrecciato » leather Bottega Veneta bag.

The painting « No me amenaces » by Catalina Estrada.




This photography of JeongMee Yoon: SeoWoo and her Pink Things.


And finally "just for the pleasure" few minutes of one of my favorite movie :
 Laura (1944) by Otto Preminger with Gene tierney. 

8 juin 2008

All about Fair Trade and Eco-Fashion in 2008

Dear readers,

I picked for you the best Fair Trade, eco and "Green" Fashion of all this summer 2008.

But before buying, few informations.

All the informations here are my personnal research on eco-fashion.


Are you ready: Just say " VIVA ECO-CHIC"!


Organic today is everywhere. The multinational Brands are launching organic labels. 

It's 'hip to be green' and people are starting to use this as an angle to make money. 

If you are not into organic, you will soon have a problem withyour consumers concerns. Consumers have the power to change things .

Shops and manufacturers are just meeting the demand from shoppers.

Organic food, Hybrid cars, ecological cleaners, bio beauty products....


Beeing "Green" is no more a intelligentsia post hippie trend .

 It's now a global and vital economical concern.

We all know that we have to turn to a new green economy. 

But we also know that the green idea will be slow to be effective.

Think about the petrol prices . Consumers are ready for hybrid cars but

 hybrids aren't produced enough , there prices are still too expensive.

It's of course the same, when you want to eat only organic food- it's also a luxury.

However, rather than running to the shops tomorrow and buying a new pair of jeans,

Consumers could create their own eco wardrobe by recycling and reusing old clothes - 

getting creative with last season's jeans rather thanthrowing them out.

I know that the most environmentally thing to do should  not go shopping.

But beeing a shopping addict i rather inform you about good ethical fashion shopping ways.

It's about standing up for what you believe in.

 


My best Fashion pics for this summer 2008:

 

First Katherine Hammet slogan tee-shirt is the trendy pic 

for this summer 2008 (check my post on those slogan tees) 

and read theVery magazine interview. 

 

People Tree  is a japanese compagny launched in 1997. 

The brand launch Fair Trade on the UK high street in 2006 with

 a concession in Topshop's flagship Oxford Circus store in London.



Other organic pioneers brand Stewart and Brown.



 Mociun based in New York is a fashion must have.

the zig zag print swimsuit and the dress.



 Organic By John Patrick Romper, Skirt & Blouse:



 Recycling and customisation with the Hip Parisian brand Andrea Crews. 

I am not a big fan of the brand but check yourself.

Gabriella gold dress at Fashion Conscience online store.

 About the Not-so-green jeans.


Just over a year ago, Levi Strauss & Co., the top jeans retailer in America, launched Eco jeans, made with 100 percent organic cotton.Levi's explains that the move to organic was a simple response to consumer demand. Retail sales of organic cotton increased 238 percent between 2005 and 2007, and sales are expected to reach more than $2 billion by the end of this year, according to Organic Exchange, a nonprofit trade association.

While certified organic cotton makes up only an estimated 1 percent of the total cotton grown worldwide, the demand for organic cotton is so great that suppliers report escalating prices across the world. However,Organic textiles aren't like organic apples; they don't roll off the farm ready to wear. There are no laws that regulate how a garment made from organic fiber must be processed -- that is, dyed, washed and sewed. The Fair Trade Commission regulates textiles but has no specific laws for organic labeling; manufacturers are expected to make truthful claims. But "truthful" can lead to some surprising omissions.

Another misleading aspect of the lack of product standards is that a garment labeled "made with organic cotton" could contain minuscule amounts, say 3 percent, of organic cotton.denim is dyed with petroleum-based dyes and soften with toxic bleaches. Jeans marketed as eco and organic might use any of these processes.

For now, until textile processing gets an organic certification standard, those concerned with their environmental impact should buy darker jeans, which generally are made with many fewer chemicals.Del Forte reports that it reduces the use of chemicals by hand-sanding its denim for that weathered look. For its fancy Capital E 501 jeans, which retail for around $250, Levi's insists it uses nonpetroleum, plant-based dye (patato starch,mimosa flower) and few or no finishing agents (Marseille soap). Patagonia claims that it uses minimal finishers in its organic cotton jeans.

So far, however, there's no label to identify the standard or a Web site to list companies that adopt the Global Organic Textile Standard.

 

  You can find Elsom, Serfontaine and Delforte “not-so-green“jeans 

at Adili and Fashion-conscience online stores.


 

Accessories:


Wood sunglasses by Iwood



 

Manimal Moccasins made by hand in Rhode Island, USA.



 

Polka Tote & Swing Bag By Hau Hauz Made by hand in Finland, Scandinavia.



Veja launched the first fair trade trainers


 

Even famous wear Green labels; Natalie Portman wears

 Sui Generis by Beyond Skin for the Oscars.

This summer choose the lovely  Bella Wedge Heel.



 I. Ronni Kappos Rainbow Multi Disk & Black Bead Necklaces

The glass comes from the famed, but long-defunct 

German glassworks in the Sudetenland region of Bohemia.

Since these beads were made in the 1920’s and 1930’s, 

they are rare and highly collectable.



 

And at Ndeur shoes you can send the Canadian Mathieu Missiaen 

your own shoes and they will custumize and recycle them for you.


 

 

My fav summer shoes are the Toms shoe espadrilles in gold and silver.


The official "Stop Global Warming" Ecoist bracelets ;

Handmade from recycled candy wrappers, soda labels, and food packages,

repurposed glass, vinyl records, and misprinted candy wrappers.

Cool and inexpensive.

 

All Made jewels are designed by influential designers, 

then sourced and created within disadvantaged communities across East Africa.

Very affordable.

This amazing Kenya Beaded bag by members of the Maasai community.


 

What should be an Ethical Fashion industry ?


1. Organic standards - Organic clothing is made without the use of toxic chemicals. See article on organic and eco fashion for more details.

2. Fair trade standards - Fair trade means paying a fair wage to workers and making sure they get a fair deal.Using Traditional skills,beeing locally sourced, can participate to a charitable project, having an environmental impact

and respect working conditions and labour standarts.

3. Recycling and customisation - Many designers and companies are now making clothes from recycled clothing or fabrics. You could also consider transforming your own clothes by customising them. See article on recycling and customisation for more details.

4. should use Fair trade cotton, Hemp, Linen, Bamboo, Organic Wool, and natural dyes 

(from plants,vegetable and roots).

5. It's better if the brand belongs to The Fair Trade Association (IFAT,Soil or FLO).

 

The trade associations:


IFAT is an internationally recognised organisation that aims to improve the livelihoods of disadvantaged producers, by linking and promoting Fair Trade organisations and speaking out for greater justice in World Trade. IFAT members take part in regular reviews to ensure that they meet IFAT standards.

IFAT is one way of ensuring that the profits from the sales of goods are going directly to the people who make them, and that workers are paid well and treated fairly.

Other fashion businesses may call themselves 'fair trade' without really having a clear understanding of what this means. If you are buying fair trade fashion, always ask how fair trade standards are guaranteed by the company in question.

 

 


The Soil Association organic symbol is the UK's largest and most recognisable trademark for organic produce.

Wherever you see it you can be sure that the food you have purchased has been produced and processed to strict animal welfare and environmental standards. The Soil Association has probably the highest and most comprehensive standards for organic production and processing in the world.

Fairtrade is a strategy for poverty alleviation and sustainable development. Its purpose is to create opportunities for producers and workers who have been economically disadvantaged or marginalized by the conventional trading system. If fair access to markets under better trade conditions would help them to overcome barriers to development, they can join Fairtrade.”

Fairtrade Labelling was created in the Netherlands in the late 1980s. The Max Havelaar Foundation launched the first Fairtrade consumer guarantee label in 1988 on coffee sourced from Mexico.


 

Fairtrade Labelling Organisations International (FLO) is the international organisation responsible for setting and maintaining the Fairtrade standards that apply to producers and trading relationships. FLO is owned jointly by 20 national labelling initiatives covering 22 countries and producered networks representing certified producer organisations across Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean. This means that cotton farmers are paid fairly and have fair working conditions.However, growing cotton is only one stage in the process of making a garment, and fair trade cotton standards do not guarantee fair working conditions in the factory which makes this cotton into T-shirts or jeans.

          the Trade Standards:

•        Pay at least a price to producers that at least covers the costs of sustainable production:

          the Fairtrade minimum price.

•        Pay a premium that producers can invest in development: the Fairtrade Premium.

•        Partially pay in advance, when producers ask for it.

•        Sign contracts that allow for long-term planning and sustainable production practices.

The definition of Ethical trade here.



 It can be difficult for fashion companies to guarantee fair trade standards 

at every step in the chain, especially when the components of clothes

 may have been made in several different countries.

There are currently two ways in which fair trade can play

 a part in the way a piece of clothing is made.


 

 Why Organic cotton is different?

 

CONVENTIONAL

•  Typically treats seeds with fungicides or insecticides.

•  Uses GMO seeds for approximately 70% of US-grown cotton.

·  Applies synthetic fertilizers.

·  Loss of soil due to predominantly mono-crop culture.

·  Requires intensive irragation.

•  Uses insecticides heavily, accounting for approximately 25% of world consumption.

•  Uses pesticides: the nine most common are  highly toxic; five are probable carcinogens.

•  Frequently uses aerial spraying, with potential drift onto farm workers, neighboring wildlife and communities.

•  Applies herbicides to soil to inhibit weed germination.

•  Repeatedly uses herbicides to kill weeds that do grow.

 

ORGANIC

•  Uses untreated seeds.

• Never use GMO (genetically modified organism) seeds.

•  Maintains a balance between “pests” and their natural  predators through healthy soil.

•  Uses beneficial insects, biological and cultural practices to control pests.

•  May use trap crops, planted to lure insects away from the cotton

•  physical removal rather than chemical destruction.

•  Controls weeds through cultivation and hang hoeing.


 

 

 WHY CONVENTIONAL COTTON IS SUCH A KILLER ?

 

Conventional cotton represents 10% of world agriculture and uses 25% of the world's pesticides. 

100 million conventional cotton farmers, from Russia to South Africa, 

are living in conditions of abject poverty and near starvation.

Conventional cotton subsidies funded by American taxpayers are causing poverty

 in the developing world as they lower the world price for cotton. 

20,000 people die every year from accidental pesticide poisoning 

in conventional cotton agriculture (World Health Organisation). 

Death by starvation is alarmingly prevalent and 200,000 cotton farmers 

commit suicide annually due to spiralling debts incurred 

from buying pesticides. A further 1,000,000 people a year suffer 

from long-term pesticide poisoning .


However, if farmers grow cotton organically and can sell it as such, 

this dire situation is reversed.By growing organically, 

farmers get a 50% increase in their income - due to a 40% reduction in costs - 

and the 20% premium they receive for producing organic cotton allows them 

to feed, clothe, educate and provide healthcare for their children.

Organic cotton helps farmers trade their way out of poverty. 

It's the only formula for survival in the cotton sector in the developing world.

more informations about organic cotton on the website of organic exchange.


 Online eco-magazines:

style will save us  

Tree Hugger  

The ecologist  

ethical trading initiative  

 

Useful Links:

Organic exchange

The Soil Association

Ethical Trading Initiative

organic agriculture

 

After reading  this post, i hope you had found new informations.

Ethical and eco-fashion is now your concern.

If you know other Eco-Fashion brands, please tell me.