Happy 2015!

wearing American Apparel dress, MADE (via ASOS) necklace, vintage Moroccan duster, belt/wtach-gift

Happy 2015 everyone! Hope you had a great NYE party - I know I had fun with friends, fireworks sparklers and disco music.

In retrospect, 2014 has been a really good year - apart from a few hiccups, I finally got my MFA from Beaux Arts, had a lot of art projects and happenings, refined the store aesthetic, got on a healthy exercise routine (hello swimming pool and yoga studio) and of course my DJ career has been booming.

On the lows I would say being a lazy blogger, still working on a healthier diet/sleeping schedule, procrastinating too much (don't we all?) and gaining weight. Well, last one is really not that bad since I've been mostly putting on some much needed muscle. Thoughts?

This is an older photo from my last gig at Glass, one of the coolest Pigalle bars with a mini dancefloor, open all night.

Funny thing is it turned out to be more festive than my actual NYE outfit.

2015 resolutions? Make everything bigger, better, faster, brighter. Basically do more art projects, record an album, expand the shop, tour Europe djing and try and get closer to my dream job in fashion.

What do you guys have in mind for the coming year?

Disposable Diary : Villa Savoye (and an outfit. sort of)

I first heard about Villa Savoye reading Alain de Botton's Architecture of Happiness; to my great shame, I have to admit my knowledge of architecture are fairly limited. Maybe that's why I respect architects so much.

By the time our class trip to Le desert de Retz was planned, I had completely forgotten what Villa Savoye standed for - I was convinced it must be some boring old-ass bourge building.

Then I remembered it was this beautiful modernist building with a tragic story; Le Corbusier imagined it as this extremely minimalist, functional, clean space.

The story says that the family who commissioned it couldn't live in it because the roof was leaking ; at the time, construction materials weren't developed to build flattop roofs and this was the first of its kind.

And, of course, I was among sculptors who were pretty smitten with it. Personally, I was quite confused by this living space that is not a living space. But I loved the details- the sinks, the armchairs...

It's pretty amazing to think how popular this kind of design is nowadays and pretty impossible to imagine how much of a shock it was back in 1929 when it was designed. Just think Victorian houses. Exactly.

I guess it's also less impressive for someone familiar with the aberrations of Corbusier-inspired architecture, like all the Romanian housing complexes I grew up in. It was quite eerie to see how much the kids' rooms looked like trashy Communist student dorms.

Now I regret not having taken more photos, but in the end it's such a well-documented building it seemed almost redundant.

There should be a shop update next week, I've been crazy busy with exams and school deadlines lately...

Monday Musings : Les coquettes sales

A friend once introduced me to a very specific term used for a certain breed of artsy French girls - les coquettes sales. His definition was - ''well, you know, like the girls who would change their stockings but not their underwear''. Such a French thing to do!

As much as this may apply to les filles de Beaux Arts, I think that just having a term which literally means dirty chic chicks says a lot about French culture.

I'm not trying to make this into a bad thing - I actually enjoy the generally accepted sloppiness. I still am shocked by the mix of Vuitton bags and runs in stockings, dirty fingernails and a little bit of too much BO coming from the guys, but it feels a little bit more real than the plastic perfect American/English norm.

I have to admit I feel somewhat less out of place here than in Romania, who seems to conform to the Anglo-Saxon canon of beauty and style; I mean, you can't go out to take the trash without wearing make up, are you crazy or something?!

Even when I go back to visit now, most of the time I do feel like the poorest/worst dressed person in most hip places. I don't think that has anything to do with my style or clothes choice as much as with the often excessive make up/hair styling embraced by the majority of the female population (that's another reason why discovering Daria's blog was such a refreshing change).

Besides their eternal cigarette in hand (thank God they banned smoking in bars here! when is it going to happen for public places too? Finland style anyone? hint hint ), the French girl's statement accessory are her red lips.

I barely wear any make up for year now, although I have to admit that I started wearing dramatic red lips since I moved here. When it comes down to it, a touch of red lipstick can elevate any outfit and excuse any bad hair or wrinkly dress. Sure, I need to check my pocket mirror every 5 minutes and look at my teeth and if I have to eat something I just wipe it off and rarely apply it again, but for the time it stays on it feels great.

But their ultimate accessory is probably the attitude - the smutty pout, the superiority, the whole je n'en fou. As terribly annoying as it may be, it's a large part of what makes the French so attractive and stylish and, ultimately, lets them get away with pretty much any sartorial faux pas.

And that, my friends can't be learned or bought.



PS - don't forget about our  GIVEAWAY and the new look book on Wednesday! 

Disposable Diary : blossoms and florals

... I know I shouldn't recycle last year's snapshots, but looking through my old tumblr (and considering how long it takes me to get my films developed) this little ensemble seemed to capture the mood of this season perfectly: gloomy summer.

Above is a lovely pink magnolia found in the Marais, the sunset over the Asnieres bridge overlooking Nanterre, my bedroom curtain ( and bruised legs from carrying gear), one of those amazing floral chandeliers during a concert at Henri's amazing apartment and another beautiful magnolia in this little park by INHA.

I can't wait to see what treasures I'll uncover in the new batch I'm finally taking to the lab next week!

Disposable Diary

Hello darlings!

 Yesterday I finally got my negatives back from the lab! I love carrying a disposable around and more than often I get to have others take my picture with it...

In this one I was walking to school on my usual route through the famous Pont des arts (you know, where lovers put a lock on the fence w their names on and through the keys in the Seine so their love will last forever? I've heard that the Mairie has to constantly take them down as there are just too fucking many of 'em!)  when it started POURING rain right as I got out! 

It was just so ridiculous that I asked a passing asian tourist to snap my photo. Like ''Oh look at me! I'm in Paris and it's raining but I'm loving it!". Too good to turn down ;)

I was planning on working on the sound studio, but by the time I got there, about 5 minutes after, I was already soaking wet. Luckily I had a change off clothes as I previously left stuff for the shop to photograph in a suitcase there.

And, bien sur, in typical Parisian fashion, next time I went out half hour later it was almost nice and nice. Just almost. That means pretty much grey.  Below there's a couple more shots from my walk from Pont Neuf to Pont des arts; do notice the closed bouquinistes stands!

As for the weather... A British girl told me today that Paris is way nicer than London in this respect, but it's still like London in terms of grey, wind, rain only...milder; sooo... go Paris? 

  

 

 

  bisoux,
Sandra