Sol(idão)

Olhar de frente o Sol Assim se aprendem

As letras iniciais da Solidão

David Mourão-Ferreira

Un Amour de Jeunesse

This is not just "another french movie" to add to my list... This is in fact a french movie too good to be true.

If someone had told me about this movie, its story specially, I wouldn't probably believe. Me, myself, even think I'm silly for the "been there, done that" feeling felt throughout the movie... The love, the architecture, the music - "Gracias A La Vida" song -, the photography - and the very good photography of the movie - and, as this wasn't all good, hurtful and beautiful enough, there's the time. Of course.

"The rest, of course, is open to interpretation."

Un Amour de Jeunesse

Morning walks...

It is quite possible to leave your home for a walk in the early morning air and return a different person – beguiled, enchanted.

Mary Ellen Chase 

La Délicatesse

Photo: Garance Doré

O nunca ter tido...

Dizer que tenho saudades tuas, agora
é uma espécie de mentira coberta com um pano de linho
Tenho somente saudades do que era antes de Ti
E isso é a cruz que carrego
Vincada e afiada que se pôs as minhas costas
E se me mexo me corta em dois
Como carne fina do talho gourmet
Comparação inadequada, eu sei
Mas a única que penso agora, que sou estreita.
Por vezes olho para o relógio, e já nem contando as horas
Reparo nas datas, extensas
Dou por mim a ver um mês
E no momento a seguir, o olho
E vejo dois meses, a correr
Pergunto-me se estou louca ou simplesmente
Exausta
O tempo deixa de ter nexo e o Mundo fica pequeno
Os dias passam como se não tivessem vida
E em vez de correr, existo
Durmo ao Luar e ao Sol
Como se tudo se tratasse do mesmo
Do sonho
Do sono
Explicar-te porque sinto saudades tuas, agora
é uma espécie de firmamento do caminho insano que percorro
Tenho somente saudades do Tempo que parava
Quando nos teus braços respirava
Sossegava
E agora não tenho sangue suficiente para estancar a ferida
Dura, profunda, dolorosa
Como os pés que piso
Que não são meus.

Sara da Costa Oliveira

Expressing yourself freely

Forwardness and audacity, always strike me and I find those qualities very alluring. Not necessarily as an example to follow, more as a way of expressing yourself freely.

So many women think they have to correspond to an ideal, that they absolutely have to want children, that they absolutely have to work, that they absolutely have to love fashion and share their life with someone... [...]*

 Garance Doré

*More here.

Mini city portraits

Found this selection a lovely glimpse for what it's to come anytime soon in a normal-size-pictures-"City portraits"-post.

Porto.
More here.

Coco Chanel on love and companionship

It’s probably not just by chance that I’m alone.
It would be very hard for a man to live with me, unless he’s terribly strong. And if he’s stronger than I, I’m the one who can’t live with him. I’m neither smart nor stupid, but I don’t think I’m a run-of-the-mill person.

I’ve been in business without being a businesswoman, I’ve loved without being a woman made only for love. The two men I’ve loved, I think, will remember me, on earth or in heaven, because men always remember a woman who caused them concern and uneasiness. I’ve done my best, in regard to people and to life, without precepts, but with a taste for justice.

Coco Chanel

La parisienne/Frenchism &other stories

My big crush on the french style, La Parisienne, the french cinema, the city of Paris and all, it's already public and well known.

But, who else, better than a (bunch of) true french, could describe it? I found Garance Doré posts about Frenchism, Things Parisians Do and La Parisienne génial!

If you want to have a little fun too, go and have a look.

I'd just share some of the passages I've found interesting:

"We’ve talked about the Parisian style over and over, but the thing that has made the strongest impression on me is actually the Parisian state of mind. One doesn’t go without the other, after all.
The Parisian “esprit” is a sort of bourgeoise insolence, an unapologetic frankness, sometimes to the point of being slightly provocative. It’s a self-deprecating sense of humor that comes from being deeply confident in yourself and in your class."

*
"[...] I’d sum up her style as carefully curated to look absolutely effortless!"

*
“I feel like the myth of “The Parisian” comes from the fact that France is pretty old school in a lot of ways.

[I totally agree and wonder if the whole fashion legacy here is some of the reason. Paris is home to some of the most important fashion houses that have defined chic for decades. Which can be pretty intimidating…]

In London and Berlin, you can try anything, from blue hair to a tattoo on your arm, mix sneakers and formal dresses. But in Paris, you take the time you need to make a new trend yours and you keep the things that work well on you, well-cut basics that work for sure.

Maybe this is where the myth of the “simple and chic Parisienne” comes from?”

*

“The French don’t follow fashion blindly. I mean, really, because the French think they are the ones making the trends! She doesn’t follow trends, she just allows a few in her life.

She’ll never show up at a party looking like a Christmas tree. She chucked her ballet slippers for some pumps, but kept her jeans on. Actually, she only stopped by the party because she had a little bit of free time.”

*

“She’s natural and sophisticated at the same time. It means, for example, shiny hair but never blown out. Red lipstick, but very little make up. Very natural hair color too. Even if there is a color, you shouldn’t see she had one done.

She is the definition of studied effortlessness. Everything is super thought about, but she looks like she just woke up in the morning exactly the way she appears in front of you.”

Illustrations: Garance Doré

Pretty Women - walking down the street!

Mais uma vez (ver mais aqui), acho este texto escrito pela Irina uma arma poderosa na descrição da Mulher. Pensei em partilhá-lo com fotos ilustrativas das mulheres que me vieram LOGO à mente quando penso em mulheres inspiradoras, mas acho que o texto é importante para todas nós, mulheres do século XXI, e deve funcionar por si só, servindo ele mesmo como inspiração sem figuras associadas.

Há mulheres e mulheres. Há as que param o trânsito, as que prendem olhares, as que viram cabeças.
As que se vestem para eles. As que se vestem para elas. Mas as Mulheres com “M” maiúsculo – aquelas sobre as quais se escrevem epopeias – são as que se vestem para elas próprias. As que andam para elas próprias. As que pintam os lábios para elas próprias. As que, quando saem de casa, não planeiam ser as mais bonitas da sala; mas são. As que, quando se penteiam, não pensam estar a criar uma tendência; mas estão. As que nem sequer tentam ter uma presença estonteante, mas têm. Há mulheres e mulheres.

E embora a arte de bem vestir possa ser a arma, a confiança é sempre a munição.

Irina Chitas