Sofia Coppola

I haven't watched The Bling Ring yet, but I read this interview with Sofia Coppola (about the movie and other stuff) and I couldn't help but 100% agree with her point of view about how our generation/current times have been ruled and that contributed to her last movie, The Bling Ring that is.
I've kinda wrote about this issue, my personal viewpoint of course, here & here, and that's why this specifically quote of her stopped me: 

It is almost as if your experiences don’t count unless you have an audience watching them.

(...)

Coppola: When I read the Vanity Fair article about these kids, it summed up everything that I think is declining in our culture. And it just doesn’t feel like anyone is talking about it. Kids are inundated with reality TV and tabloid culture so much that this just seems normal. When I go to a concert, everyone is filming and photographing themselves and then posting the pictures right away. It is almost as if your experiences don’t count unless you have an audience watching them. There are even videos of kids having their sweet-16 birthdays and they want a red-carpet V.I.P. theme. This movie [The Bling Ring] was about an extreme version of this. 

Radziwill: Does that fascinate you or frighten you or bewilder you? 

Coppola: It frightens me, and it just seems like this trash culture is becoming acceptable as mainstream culture.

(...)

Source: NY Times

The bittersweet feeling

I fall in love with everything. 
I also hate everything. 
It’s very hard to be a misanthrope and a romantic.

Marilyn Manson

Emerson Fry

(...)
Q: Emerson, where do you get your inspiration? 
A: E: Typically we work in looks, and find that a lot of our buyers buy our pieces in looks. so thinking about what she needs from top to bottom to get out the door in the morning, to be prepared for her day and feel polished in a relatively easy, uncomplicated way. Our pieces are built to reinforce her natural, innate confidence - so they're not overly trend oriented and/or distracting from the woman wearing them. they're really made to be direct, confident pieces that last. as the years go by i'm getting to know her more and more and find that not only is our woman typically standing apart from the crowd in terms of buying things of quality, she's a leader in her sense of where she's going. she's got to get out the door and feel polished and prepared enough, she's got to love what she's wearing enough each morning to then forget about what she's wearing and live her life. she's got a full life, a lot of responsibilities, goals and desires, a lot of things to acquire and accomplish. this is the century of women, and this woman is profound. and she is not fucking around. so that’s what inspires me on a daily basis.

(...)
Q: What advice would you give to young aspiring business leaders/women?
E: I would say get comfortable with risk and the reward that goes with that. and that there is never failure until you stop. so just keep going. preferably in stilettos.

Photos: Emerson Fry

Why not...take a walk?

Clear Your Head

...walking remains the ultimate time for freedom of thought. It’s when I feel my tensions liberated...as the promenade of the mind follows that of the body.

 Mireille Guiliano

Had a stressful day, week or event? Get outside. Let your body take in the fresh air and release some of your built up negative energy. While the walk itself won’t solve the problems, it will allow some distance from them. Often times this separation allows you to calm down and think things through with a clear mind.

Always At The Ready

Unlike many outdoor activities that rely on the weather to cooperate, walking can be done in the rain (throw on your wellies), in the snow (don a warm scarf), or during the warmth of summer (don’t forget your sunscreen!). The luxury of knowing that a walk can take place at anytime, anywhere is calming in itself. By taking a walk, you’re often forced to slow down, ponder and take in the reality that is around you whether it be a city street or the beauty of nature.

It can be a special kind of indulgence, these moments when one becomes aware of really existing, as the images, information and the other sensations the world tries to press upon us all recede. Learning to be comfortable in that space, when it is just you, takes practice. But doing so diminishes the impulse to lie to yourself or run away. You won’t want to.

Mireille Guiliano

  

 Photo: Fash n Chips 

Chat With A Friend

 

Something I thoroughly enjoy doing with my closest girlfriends, and mother as well, is walking with them.  Despite our busy schedules, locale or time of day, we can always find time to walk, which ultimately is an excuse to chat.  But by walking, there’s an added benefit – two therapies in one!

See the Sights

  

Walking is walking no matter where it takes place, so why not take a tour of that museum or Japanese Garden you’ve been curious about? Walking really allows you to do two things at once, take in sights and burn a few calories, or enjoy someone’s company and burn calories, or as you will see next, one of my all time favorites, window shop and burn a few calories!

Retail Therapy

Shopping is a sport in and of itself. And while the exhaustion at the end of such a day is somewhat emotional, it is also very physically exhausting due to what else? All of the walking from one fabulous store to the next.

While I’m sure many of you already use this excuse, never be afraid to say you’re embarking on your exercise routine as you swiftly grab your keys, your wallet, all the while dressed in comfortable, yet stylish ballet flats and a fantastic outfit. No questions need to be asked.

Find Time To Dream

All truly great thoughts are conceived while walking.

Nietzsche

I couldn’t agree more. Since walking does allow me to clear my head, I’m able to discover things lost in my subconscious and bring them to the forefront of my to do list. All of those things you want to do, that you dream to do, – I’ll bet you’ll be able to find them on a nice leisurely stroll.

Photo: Christine

Reason For Reward 

On weekdays during my first two student years in Paris, I used to walk between the Eiffel Tower and the Sorbonne, a different route going and coming.  On the weekends, my roommate and I, both provincial girls discovering Paris with very wide eyes, would spend Saturdays walking six to eight miles, stopping only for lunch and a five o’clock ice cream – that little weekly reward.

Mireille Guiliano

And one of the benefits of engaging in a walk is the treat at the end of the journey – a reward of sorts. Whether it be sitting in one of the many les jardins in Paris or stopping by your favorite coffee shop, take a moment and savor what your eyes, ears and mind have been engaged in during your luxurious walk.

in The Simply Luxurious Life

See "Why not...ride a bike?".

Hurts so bad

One bended knee is no way to be free
Lifting up an empty cup, I ask silently
All my destinations will accept the one that's me,
So I can breathe

Circles they grow and they swallow people whole
Half their lives they say goodnight to wives they'll never know
A mind full of questions, and a teacher in my soul
And so it goes

Don't come closer or I'll have to go
Holding me like gravity are places that pull
If ever there was someone to keep me at home
It would be you

Everyone I come across, in cages they bought
They think of me and my wondering, but I'm never what they thought
I've got my indignation, but I'm pure in all my thoughts
I'm alive

Wind in my hair, I feel part of everywhere
Underneath my being is a road that disappeared
Late at night I hear the trees, they're singing with the dead
Overhead

Leave it to me as I find a way to be
Consider me a satellite, forever orbiting
I knew all the rules, but the rules did not know me
Guaranteed.

Eddie Vedder - Guaranteed (Into the Wild)

December feelings

This is what December has been meaning to me for some years in a row. This year's countdown has officially started and I'm feeling quite happy about it already. Lucky girl!...

Autumn days

Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Amstrong - Autumn in New York 

Autumn comes on fiery wing 

of flaming leaves

and redbirds sing. 

And twirling leaves fall to the ground

igniting magic all around. 

So Winter waits, and Summer sleeps,

And Autumn, in the middle, keeps.

Belle Whittington

Photo: Ann Street Studio 

Dear Lisbon (again...)

After a long and unpleasant month, I packed my things and, for some reasons, I went to Lisbon for a week. Didn't went far, true, but far enough to have a blast of fresh air. 

Lisbon is such a city and as cities are my biggest source of inspiration I came home with all the batteries charged. During these days completely off of my daily environment, the quote below was the most important realization. Nothing that I hadn't realized before, but there are real moments when we are reminded of it.

People think being alone makes you lonely, but I don't think that's true. 
Being surrounded by the wrong people is the loneliest thing in the world.

Kim Culbertson

More here & here.

Who actually made your clothes?

And just after my last post, here comes another one related to the subject with a pertinent question: who actually made your clothes?

Last week Mary Nighy debuted with her short film “Handprint” at the International New York Times Luxury conference. In the film, starring the model and actress Elettra Wiedemann, we find her in a roomy apartment littered with designer clothing. When she is about to put on her dress, suddenly there’s different hands all over her – helping her slipping on her shoes and zipping up the dress. When she looks at herself in the mirror suddenly she sees a bunch of people– the people who helped her getting dressed. 
In what way are these people involved in the making of our everyday wear? 
The film is directed by Mary Nighy and commissioned by Livia Firth, the Green Carpet Challenge founder. 
According to Vogue Elettra Wiedemann, who is starring in the film, said she is a huge fan of Livia Firth. “I loved the idea of making people pause and think about all the different hands their garment has passed through – from “farm to hanger”, so to speak”.

 
Handprint by Mary Nighy from White Lodge on Vimeo.

Source: Freshnet

Life detox

It's been a long time since I started to invest in good, classic and fair-trade pieces of clothes. I look at the clothing tags before I buy and, if nothing more, good materials usually prevail. Consequently, the "less is more" motto started to rule my world.
I believe that the beggining of this process is to start questioning our actions, habits, our needs (including clothes, food, objects, etc.) and believe me, as we are beings of habits, that's also the hardest step as it could take long years - or never - until we, our own selves, realize we could perhaps live with less, much less, or at least a more eco-friendly and sustainable lifestyle (the way we commute included). There's no need to go to the 60s or converting to a hippie style, the thing is nowadays everything come to our hands and life without we even realize why and how, we just assume we need them (technology, computers, tv, cars, clothes, etc.) without questioning.
On the other hand, the so called bobo ("bourgeois-bohème") is a good thing to call the beggining of this new lifestyle, although I don't think we need more "labelling" I hope you get the point: being cool and stylish but conscious and when it comes to buying, above all, products bio and eco-friendly. In a nutshell, we need to act in a more concious way and realize that every choice we made is probably connected to cruel processes, fabrics, industries, etc. we have no idea about and/or most of the times don't care and/or ignore.
This year was a year of changes in my life and little by little I'm trying to change some habits, including car dependency (less), food (more healthy and local food and less meat) and clothes (less, much less!). And so, I want to share this video: "Detox: how people power in cleaning up fashion" with most of my thoughts here in the way they unfortunately happen. As a clothes and accessories now-more-proudly-concious-lover, this is something I do care about.

Margaret Mead was right on the money: Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. In just over 24 months, the combined efforts of Greenpeace campaigners, activists, bloggers, and shoppers across the globe have resulted in unprecedented commitments from 18 major clothing companies who have pledged to eliminate toxic chemicals from their products and supply chains by 2020. The work is far from over, however. “Major brands are influenced by public perception and global action, and your role in putting this issue firmly on the agenda of global fashion brands and suppliers, and forcing them to respond with the urgency the situation demands has been critical in the Detox campaign’s ongoing success,” writes Ilze Smit, detox campaigner at Greenpeace International, in a blog post. “There is still a long way to go, but our successes so far prove that when we work together, big brands are forced to stand up and deliver.”

Source: Ecouterre