According to cultural scholar Remy Saisselin: "A dress may be at some moment of its existence, a poem of form, color and motion, and that at such a privileged instant the dress may transform the wearer into a poetic apparition." With the buzz of the Spring 2008 Fashionweek upon us, Poets.org is showcasing essays & poems that explore the ways poetry and fashion intersect...from the functional to the extravagant. They are even celebrating with a limited edition tee emblazoned with And our visions, the visions of poets, the most solid announcements of any - the wisdom of the uber-fabulous Walt Whitman (for a 20% discount, at checkout use the code newsletter), or a Cynthia Rowley-designed We Real Cool tee inspired by a Gwendolyn Brooks poem.
"The insights into clothing that I came across while reading made a lasting impression," muses Stan Tymorek, a fashion copywriter and creative director, discussing the diverse approaches to clothing in poems by Thom Gunn, Anne Carson, and Charles Simic. "This much is true: you cannot deny the power of the shoe," explains Meghan Cleary, author of The Perfect Fit: What Your Shoes Say about You, and host of Shoe Therapy on the Home Shopping Network, musing on poems dedicated to shoes, - including Red Slippers by Amy Lowell, My Shoes by Charles Simic, The Broken Sandal by Denise Levertov, and Honor Moore's New Shoes & Red Shoes - along with her thoughts on how poetry demonstrates the grandeur and power of a great pair of shoes.
To impress fellow literary-minded fashionistas, take fun Poets' Fashion Quiz! Who said:
a) "...I had just gone hog-wild and bought myself a pair or thirty-dollar shoes—French, with buckles, very something-or-other and possibly a mistake."
b) "I'm sorry, I can't go east now, in spite of your generous invitation. Reasons: 1. People will like me the better if they don't meet me; I have nothing to say to anyone and don't really like to listen, and can't bear to answer questions. 2. I haven't owned a hat since 1918, nor worn one since 1912."
c) "When anyone speaks of a knit dress, I think of the cumbrous, knap-sack-like rolls of hammock-like yarn that people stuff into knitting-bags in the subway, before hastily getting out, and this delicate zephyr of a thing stirs us to the soul."
d) "...I was wearing a horrible (yet somehow magnificent!) ancient baggy overcoat that my father gave me years ago, a coat which (before I retired it formally some months ago) possessed that weird old-fashioned virtue of resisting all fraying of elbows, sleeves, collar, etc."
e) "And sometimes when I arrived on a cold winter evening dressed in a conventional way, I would be greeted by 'Elizabeth, silk stockings!' as if I were reckless or prone to suicide."
f) "I shall now crawl into my pyjamas + be meditative, if I can."
Quiz Answers:a) Amy Clampitt, May 1966; b) Robinson Jeffers, March 27, 1927; c) Marianne Moore, August, 1943; d) James Wright, March or April, 1965; e) Elizabeth Bishop on Marianne Moore, written between 1969 and 1979; f) Wallace Stevens, December 31, 1900.
Find some cultural justification for your incurable fashion habit at Poets.org.
If a home is one's castle, it deserves a proper key. Inspired by the ornate details & magical appeal of skeleton keys she discovered as a child antiquing with her grandmother - by train or in her very large Cadillac (she was four foot ten inches tall and had to sit on a pillow to see over the steering wheel) - designer Michele' Lilley now makes ordinary keys extraordinary with her unusual keys to my castle line. "It was at the bottom of boxes at the end of the day I would find my treasures," reminisces Lilley. "I remember so clearly as a little girl looking through my box of skeleton keys, holding them and imagining the enchanting castle that they surely must have opened at some point in their existence (Although I must admit I was also quite sure that I was a princess stolen at birth.) Anyway, the keys fascinated me and I loved the whole idea of the beautiful places that they could take me…the secret doors that they could open."
In an era of mass-produced sameness and our use-it-and-toss-it mentality, these keys are a fun and charmingly quixotic antidote. "I remember once asking her why the keys that we used to open our doors now were so plain…not at all beautiful and certainly nothing like the enchanting keys that I kept in my jewelry box. Her response was so typical of her, she said 'honey, people throw away tiffany shades and beautiful china to read by bright lights and eat off paper…I’m afraid the magic of rare and wonderful things has faded'. Well I believe we need more rare and wonderful in this world…. I like china, I love tiffany’s and I want my special key to open the door to the most sacred place I know…my home, so I created my own magical keys."
There are currently 20 unique designs, with new ones being released each month at KeysToMyCastle.com.
Yoga, organic cuisine, and long walks on the beach with her fave four-legged pals Norman & Dolly - there's no denying the girl leads a healthy Cali lifestyle. She recently teamed up with smartwater, a biologically-smart bevvy, to market a limited edition smartwater in a print ad- & billboard-campaign shot by Mario Testino. “We were thrilled that Jennifer discovered smartwater and realized what a difference it makes to her healthy lifestyle,” notes Rohan Oza, smartwater's senior vice president of marketing. “To us, Jennifer truly embodies what smartwater is all about as she combines substance and style like nobody else”.
Attention Southern California Lifehouse fans!! Want to be a part of an exclusive major internet event with Lifehouse? Yahoo! Music and Geffen Records want you to join us when Lifehouse takes the stage for Nissan Live Sets in West Los Angeles, CA.
Though Kristopher Dukes has a like for lucite that borders Hollywood Blvd.
street chic, she's crystal on what’s clearly the stuff of stripper’s
shoes is served successfully in petite portions, a la these Davis by
Ruthie Davis shoes.
With poor little rich girl Paris Hilton facing the prospect of a stint
in jail, now is the time to take sides for or against the naughtiest
it-girl of them all in a pair of silk undies lovingly-embroidered with either Free Paris or Jail Paris. The lingerie geniuses at Mio Destino have created a special line of limited edition silk undies inspired by the great Paris debate, as well as a cute doggie dress in recognition of the most important pet in Paris’s life. Free Shipping is available on all purchases until her looming incarceration date of June 5th, and 50% of all profits to be donated to Ovarian Cancer Action.
Follow along on the rise & fall of Rachel Baum, a sheltered, career girl who moves to South Beach in pursuit of the life less ordinary. Against a backdrop of celebrity-studded nightclubs, exclusive after-hours parties, and over-the-top VIP rooms, Diary of a South Beacy Party Girlchronicles Rachel's exploits in SoBe’s glam party scene. From the humorous to the occasionally painful, Diary captures life among South Beach's coddled Beautiful People - where friends become enemies faster than highs become hangovers, and the life less ordinary turns into more than she bargained for.
“One of the reasons my attendance in high school was almost non existent was due to a man who I have always looked up to as a role model, Gene Simmons," muses Jason Dussault of Dussault Custom Ink - a unique high end urban street wear line from Vancouver, Canada which customizes gritty-but-luxe hoodies for red carpet fixtures like Pamela Anderson, Nelly Furtado, Carmelo Anthony, B.E.P., and Robyn Williams. "I spent hours a day dressing, singing and emulating my idol for an upcoming air band, or drawing Gene’s character as the Demon all over my notebooks. My teenage dreams became a reality when I got to meet the man himself and we hit it off, the result being the MoneyBag collaboration. It is my great honor to co-release the first products of our line.”
Dussault recently teamed up with Simmons to launch the MoneyBag line streetwear with a limited edition run of 500 tees, each hand-painted, -dyed & detailed for a one-of-a-kind custom feel. They are priced at $250, and individually signed by Simmons (the signature can be cut from the label). "I have owned the trademark MONEYBAG logo for over 25 years. I have used it on my magazines, book imprints, my record company and a few other areas," explains Simmons. "Until I met Jason Dussault, I held off on really going out into the marketplace in the street wear line. It has to do with finding a kindred spirit. And, Jason is it. He and I share a passion for only doing things in life that mean something. Together we are creating cutting edge, in-your-face fashions. The MoneyBag Line, at long last, has become a reality.”
White Trash Charms for Playboy Jewelry recently launched at an event at Hyde, hosted by Kelly Osbourne and the designer, Brooke Dulien, with guests including Enrique Inglesis, Hugh Hefner and The Girls Next Door, Kimberly Stewart and The Hilton sisters. The festivities included a live set by Balthazaar Getty's band Ringside, a screening of a Joaquin Phoenix-directed short film starring Osbourne, and a bunny photo shoot featuring the Playmate of the Year.
