"Some people are ok, mostly I just feel like poisoning everybody."

I've been meaning to do this one for so long; seriously I've had the pictures saved on my computer for months I just never have time to update. This weekend I'm studying hardcore for a philosophy midterm on Monday (we have to reach total enlightenment. No, just kidding, we have to analyse a bunch of arguments) and I'm trying to sleep early so I can get up early and study but of course I can't sleep so I'm here updating. Whew, I never used to talk so much about myself here, blame my other blog for bringing that part out in me. I'm done with the rambling now; look how happy Enid and Rebecca are:


Ghost World is, alongside Persepolis and Watchmen, one of the few graphic novels I've actually read. The movie came out in 2001, and while it was written by the same guy who did the graphic novel (Daniel Clowes - an anagram of Enid Coleslaw, the main character's name), the plot was quite different (which is understandable with different formats. I liked most of the changes, especially with Seymour because I adore Steve Buscemi, but I always imagined Enid to be more deadpan. Wow, rambling again).


Fun fact: this was the first movie to be nominated for an adapted screenplay Oscar that was based on a graphic novel.



The character of Enid, as played by Thora Birch, is nothing new; she's quirky, cynical, artistic, and likes non-mainstream music, not unlike, say, Daria or a much cooler Juno. But we can all agree that Enid has by far the best wardrobe:





Another fun fact: Thora Birch gained 20 pounds to play this role, alongside a much curvier Scarlett Johannsen (back when she was actually curvy, not just curvy by Hollywood's standards for having boobs).



What makes Enid so awesome is that she truly has fun getting dressed every day; rather than typical "outfits" she dons costumes, going so far as to Manic Panic her hair green for a day to achieve a "1977 original punk rock look."






I am not alone in recognising Miss Coleslaw's awesomeness. Here she is gettin' some love in Lula issue 7:


alongside Violet Baudelaire, a 15 year old known for wearing fishnets on her arms. I approve.

The Queen of Gay Discos

It seems that the word “Fierce” is used for everything nowadays – from Tyra describing a photoshoot on America’s Next Top Model to tv bloggers recapping Blair’s escapades on last night’s Gossip Girl. Few actually embody the word the way Grace Jones does:


Everything this woman did (from being a regular at studio 54 in the 70’s to bring Andy Warhol as her date Arnold Schwarzenegger’s wedding in the 80’s) she did it with style. She never conformed to the traditional rules of beauty or fashion or gender stereotypes. And, well, she was talented. The woman could sing.



Jones was born in Jamaica on May 19, 1948, and moved to Syracuse in the mid 60’s. She worked as a model, finding fame first overseas in Paris and then at home in New York. In 1977 she landed her first record deal, and found success in the disco and New Wave Genres.


She was a muse to Andy Warhol (and the subject of many of his photographs). In the mid 80s, she collaborated with photographer Jean-Paul Goude (whom she also has a child with) on several album covers. With him she reinvented herself with a very androgynous look, making popular the flat top hairstyle.



She also starred in a couple of movies, including a stint as the lethal Bond Girl May Day in A View To Kill:



She just released her first album in almost 20 years last year, pushing her back in the spotlight:


They played a remix of her “La Vie en Rose” cover at the Dolce and Gabbana S/S 09 show (Here’s the vid, so you can hear her amazing voice and see pretty clothes):



Like I even need to use the word Fierce.

"Everyone has the right to make an ass out of themselves. You just can't let the world judge you too much. "

It's about time I did this one.




I remember the first time I saw Harold and Maude, Hal Ashby's 1971 masterpiece. I was on the waiting list to get it from my library (because I'm cheap) for months. I had it out for almost a week but was too busy to watch it. The day it was due back, I was home sick, put it in my dvd player, watched it till the end, and then started it over and watched it again.
I have since seen it about a million times; I have the super limited edition soundtrack on vinyl, I have the poster in Japanese. To say this is one of my favourite movies would be an understatement.

But let me stop gushing and let's get to the clothes, mk?

Fashion does play an important role in this movie, as far as distinguishing the characters. There's Harold, who drives a hearse, fakes his death, and crashes funerals for fun. During the movie he goes from darker shades to lighter colours, indicative of the decade he lives in:




Then there's Maude, the zesty 80 year old who lives in a boxcar overflowing with instruments and knick knacks, wears bright colours to funerals, and has hair accessories to rival Blair Waldorfs:









And then there are Harold's dates, a series of young women that his mother tries to set him up with of the course of the movie. We only meet each one briefly, but it's enough to get a sense of their style:

There's Candy Gulf, the ditzy and bubbly sorority girl:


Edith Phern, Harold's wide eyed and intoverted second date:



And of course, Sunshine Dore, the incredibly obnoxious and over the top actress (with nice boots):




What with the whole seventies throwback thing going on recently, you don't have to look far to see Harold and Maude inspired clothing (hell, just go to Urban Outfitters or Anthroplogie). Pretty much any designer has some sort of collection out reminiscient of this movie, but here are two that stuck in my mind:

The knits, tweeds and ridiculous hair accessories of Alexander McQueen's F/W 2006 show:



And while this would definitely be an updated version of the look, I saw traces of the kitschy, mix-and-matching patterns in Marc Jacobs S/S 09 show:




Lula Mag #5 (the one with KDunst on the cover) actually did a feature on braids that included Maude's hairstyle:

(the original)



(the editorial)
Not only did the accompanying article directly reference the movie, but in the same issue there was an interview with Bud Cort, the actor who played Harold.

So really, at this point if you haven't seen the movie, you'd better get on that.

Who's that girl?

When I started this blog, I wanted to focus on two different types of people:
1. People who aren't usually considered to be style icons, but still had some influence in fashion.
2. People who totally influenced fashion in every what way possible, but are always overlooked.

This next lady definitely fits into category number 2.

Meet Veruschka, the real top model:



Vera Gräfin von Lehndorff-Steinort was born in 1939 in East Prussia and the daughter of a member of the German resistance who was sentenced to death after attempting to assassinate Hitler in 1944 forcing his family to live the rest of World War Two in a labour camp.
Doesn't she look pretty on the cover of Vogue?



Now you're all going, "well Anna, she's cute and all and her dad seems interesting, but all I see is a plain old model. Is this really what you're giving us after Bowie, Isabella Blow and Max Fisher?"

I should also point out that Veruschka herself is one bad ass motherf***er who was so bored with the modelling world that she would paint herself and take pictures looking like this:


and this:


oh, and this:


and this:


and there's the zebra:



Veruschka started off as an art student before she was discovered by a photographer and decided to become a model. Among her posse you'll find Eileen Ford (yes, the same Ford of the modelling agency) and Salvador Dali (please tell me your familiar with the melty clocks). She was never a film star, but she did have a cameo in Michelangelo Antonioni's film Blow Up playing, well, a sexy model:






Let's see your precious Kate Moss do that!

New Prim issue

http://primmagazine.com/

It's more beautiful than I ever thought possible.

Godard's Girls

My new blog (http://ifthesokfitz.blogspot.com/) is still my top priority (please - check it out if you haven't already), but I thought it would be fun to update this one once in a while.

I'm sure every teenage girl with a style blog has some infatuation with Paris. We've all seen Amelie, or at the very least Sofia Coppola's Dior Cherie commercial. As a film nerd I have always been taken with French New Wave film, particularly the work of director Jean-Luc Godard.

What I especially like about Godard's works is that they are very intimate portrayals of Paris without following all the traditional rules of filmmaking - filters on the light tinting the screen different colours in Contempt, the random song and dance scene inserted into A Woman is a Woman or choppy cuts disorienting the car ride scene in Breathless. Each of these movies featured a different iconic actress playing a different iconic role - although all the female leads were bold, a bit unorthodox, and always well dressed:

Jean Seberg as Patricia Franchini in Breathless/A Bout de Souffle (1960)

This movie served to be the breakout for both Seberg and Godard. Seberg was actually just a small town girl from Iowa who ended up becoming a huge star - before getting entangled within a radical political group and eventually committing suicide (but that's another story).

In Breathless, she played Patricia Franchini, an aspiring journalist caught in a Film Noir-esque tangle involving a car theif. She was simple but very chic, with horizontal stripes, full skirts, and making famous the pixie cut (well, alongside Mia Farrow. And Audrey Hepburn).

Anna Karina as Angela in Une Femme est une Femme / A Woman is a Woman (1961)

Danish born actress Anna Karina was Godard's biggest muse; not only did she star in 8 of his films, but the two were married for six years.

In a Woman is a Woman, she plays Angela, a dancer who will stop at nothing to have a baby.

Throughout the movie she dressed in Frances's national colours - Red, Blue and White. She even managed to pull off blue eye shadow without looking like an 80's Madonna.

Brigitte Bardot as Camille Javal in Contempt/Le Mepris (1963)

It's so hard to see Ms. Bardot as an iconic nowadays since she's shown her less attractive racist side. So I will just post some pictures of her in her prime and say nothing else.

I'm taking a break from this blog (again).

Get your rootie patooties down to http://www.ifthesokfitz.blogspot.com/. It's an outfit blog that I co-started with my good friend Sok. She dresses much better than I do.

Good times all around!

Xox,
Anna Fitz.