Play me some

Debussy.

Rêverie

when i am swept away by a deluge of fear and uncertainty i close my eyes and find myself serene and submerged in your lucid dreams.

*Come in

After a rather large hiatus (?writer's block) I decide to come back to visit, to roam, to lurk around from time to time, as much as I can.

We shall see :)

orientation, followed by disorientation, now what?

*from Sebastiaan Bremer

When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

- 1 Corinthians 13:11

The conversation we had over tea left me thinking - mmm, I should start living the way I want life to be. Painting it with brilliant colours, with caring touches and smiles. Organising life into little manageable packets. Pondering over more important things in life. Reading those books that I always meant to read. Writing. Swimming in the glistening sea. Kissing certain silly thoughts goodbye. Seeing the world with new, bright wide eyes.

And that living in style does not involve obsession nor consumption, but exploration of the essence within; To cherish, embrace and nourish it with all you have - be at ease with who you are.

So, perhaps we will say au revoir for now, but I will be back somehow : )

With enlightenment and showers of blessing, see you on the flip side,

x

The dreams of my ukulele.

The Aristocrats from lonelysandwich on Vimeo.

A Certain Inner Music

the trouble at home is, i can only listen to shostavkovich or joy division quietly as my own little guilty pleasure and cannot go out as much as i want; but the good thing is, i got to do something really worthwhile this summer, drench myself in the scent of the rain, and stop drooling over some certain miu miu shoes. the other day i read the whole marc jacobs advertising book by juergen teller discreetly in the corner of a MJ store, and this has constituted an ethereal part of my really great day.

and even the day goes bad, i can always play a certain music in my head .

Phoebe Philo x Faye Wong

so now my two favourite women are shooting for the Céline winter/fall 2010 and spring/summer 2011 campaign!

Marc's Models

From AnOther mag. There is something about them that mesmerises me.

Perhaps,

'The thing we most desire dances forever before our eyes, yet forever beyond our grasp.'

Dear Kate,

I vow to come to see your retrospective exhibition at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris next spring.

Girl of my dreams VII

When she plays, the piano melts away.
Martha Argerich.

Philo, Philo

image from here;

The first issue of Gentlewoman = ♥

Cadenzas

US Vogue 2005, Hot Town, Gemma Ward, photographed by Mario Testino.

For the complete editorial see here.

Classical music may be old-fashioned, but is never out of style.

Girl of my Dreams VI

Marc Jacobs' Muse, and also one of the brightest directors and script writers of our times; from Virgins Suicide, Marie Antoinette to Lost in Translation, Sofia Coppola transformed her films into an aesthetic feast and deep rumination on urban tales and fantasies.

Here is an NY Times article on Sofia Coppola's Paris, and her flickr photo pool.

Gone;

1. above is my new acquisition:)

2. since exams finished i travelled, took photographs, visited numerous galleries, ate around town, walked and read. the more i go out and experience different things - the less eager i readily write about these wonderful encounters.

3. i guess the reason behind is that i would need to time to settle down, let memories and thoughts sink in, and perhaps then i will write?

Collage

From my flickr favourites it is obvious that i like curious animals, big flowers, pastel colours (at times) and light leak.

Drawing similarities;

*miu miu ss 2010 collection & henry matisse's cut outs (gouaches découpés)

Vast in scale (though not always in size), lush and rigorous in color, his cutouts are among the most admired and influential works of Matisse's entire career. They belong with the grandest affirmations of the élan vital in Western art... for a great introduction to Matisse's cut outs see here.

He is one of the greatest artists of our times.

Tilda

*from here

i am back; and more photos and blog posts are on their way.

Book List

The weight of the book sinking in your palms as you read, cold lemonade, breeze.

To be finished by August:

All books by Oliver Sacks

All books by Francoise Sagan

Virginia Woolf's diaries

Madness and Civilization: A History of Insanity in the Age of Reason - Michael Foucault

Anything on Philosophy of Science

The Selfish Gene

The Middlesex - Jeffrey Eugenides

Poetry by Philip Larkin, Ted Hughes, Charles Bukowski (!), Auden

The Real Van Gogh: The Artist and His Letters

Such lavish joy of savouring the remnants of trees and ink, of absorbing past knowledge and intellect and emotions and milieux.

Counting down;

*from our trip to Paris last year, olympus trip 35

But Paris was a very old city and we were young and nothing was simple there, not even poverty, nor sudden money, nor the moonlight, nor right and wrong nor the breathing of someone who lay beside you in the moonlight.

- Ernest Hemingway

less than 48 hours until the grand finale, and then our spring escape to the great city again. My heart is leaping with joy and full anticipation, and the imaginary suitcase is already filled with rolls of films, LBDs and books to read. But we will be there to get lost in les rues et boulevards, see Paris in its sunshine and mist, visit small shops and galleries and retreat into the night with an abundance of jazz and wine. As always my mind is overwhelmed, overwhelmed, in marche a petit pas.

And perhaps it may rain, but

I can always wear my trench coat, drenched in summer rain.

Sweet as Candy Floss

*from inside-out: topshop blog

Finished the first/toughest exam, still one week to go until freedom! Last week in the midst of heated revision, my flatmate told me that topshop was going free delivery in UK inland, so I quickly logged in, and ordered one of these lovely felt-pen eyeliners from the new Topshop Makeup collection. The beauty arrived the very next day morning, and it is just so smooth, easy to use. Now I can finally do that flick without smudging or getting it all over my face.

Hmm, perhaps I can write with it too...

He has bestowed us the greatest strength;

*from here

'Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it.'

Goethe

oh, to be free

*from tsilli; featuring her most amazing dog tommy

16 days until the end of this all-jumbled-up turmoil. from psychology to statistics to physiology to the randomest facts of life! I most enjoy reading up on neurological conditions and the mechanism of how ions flow in/outside the cell bores me to the core. All these may seem mundane at the moment, one day the knowledge will prove itself to be immensely useful, illuminating and worthwhile.

And doesn't that mean mere 18 days later i will be jumping on the earliest eurostar train with my beau, heading for the city of light?

x

Danser

'We're fools whether we dance or not, so we might as well dance. '

Japanese Proverb

i like my body when it is with your

body. It is so quite new a thing.

Muscles better and nerves more.

i like your body. i like what it does,

i like its hows. i like to feel the spine

of your body and its bones, and the trembling

-firm-smooth ness and which i will

again and again and again

kiss, i like kissing this and that of you,

i like, slowly stroking the, shocking fuzz

of your electric fur, and what-is-it comes

over parting flesh ... And eyes big love-crumbs,

and possibly i like the thrill

of under me you so quite new

- e e cummings

Girl of my Dreams V

She is so hot; Hot in colour and cool in black and white. And sometimes you cannot help wonder what is behind that mesmerising flick of her eyeliner.
Brigitte Bardot.

La Garconne

*from La Garconne

1. To be effortlessly stylish - it is not about what you wear, but the attitude, talent, charisma that makes what you are wearing extra special.

2. In fact, who would not want to wander in busy streets to shop for some scallop trimmed shorts, trench coat, paired with ballerina flats, straw boater and a striped or lace or linen shirt? Sometimes I easily get overwhelmed by material desires; but when I reside in silence again, nothing indeed satisfies me more than a priceless moment; a good book, nice company, a warm cup of tea, a cat curling in my lap, and cherry blossoms and trees and the smell of toasted marshmallow suffusing the air; then I become une garçonne once all my senses are alive, and enjoying life in its rawness and fullness again.

Dreaming of Old Covent Garden

Van Gogh

Romans Parisiens (Les Livres Jaunes) 1887, Vincent Van Gogh

My friend and I queued for 2 hours trying to get into The Real Van Gogh: The Artist and His Letters exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts; but the queue was stagnant for a good while, plus the gallery would probably be so crowded that we could only have a glimpse of each painting from afar - after tossing the coin, we left and got the exhibition catalogue instead (for £10.50 - Even cheaper than a single ticket!) Then we went to the National Gallery to see some other Van Gogh paintings instead.

Above is one of my favourite drawings of his.

Nadinoo at work

Tommy from This is Naive had an interview with Nadia Izruna, the lovely girl behind the brand Nadinoo (which I started getting obsessed about a week ago!) Fleur, Lula and Pixie are the three imaginary muses she designs for, after which most pieces in each collection are named. And to work with vintage pattern and liberty print fabric, to add her own personal touch and to hand-make a dress from start to finish - such is a joyful vocation!

You can read the whole article *here

Persephone Books

'Persephone prints mainly neglected fiction and non-fiction by women, for women and about women. The titles are chosen to appeal to busy women who rarely have time to spend in ever-larger bookshops and who would like to have access to a list of books designed to be neither too literary nor too commercial. The books are guaranteed to be readable, thought-provoking and impossible to forget.'

'Our books look beautiful because we believe that, whether they are on an office desk, by the Aga, or hanging in a bag over the handles of a buggy, it is important to get pleasure from how they look and feel. With their distinctive plain grey jackets and cream 'labels' for the title wording, all our books look the same from the outside. Inside, each is different, with the endpapers chosen especially to match the date and mood of the book.

Fabrics are as much a part of our daily lives as furnishing and dress materials, yet we rarely see them used in any other context. However, fabric design should be celebrated for its own sake; and because it is a field in which women designers have been particularly prominent we would like to use their work whenever possible.'

An incredibly beautiful bookshop, with many interesting titles written by many women who have lived. With words interwoven with vintage fabric, we are back to the women's times where they wandered, wrote and weeped.

59 Lamb's Conduit Street

WC1N 3NB

Like mother, like daughter

*jak and jil blog

Style cannot get better than this.