A Navy Ensemble and Le Boléro

Salutations People! I am afraid this shall not be a very fashion/style orientated post - do not worry though! I shall be back to my usual  raving on the subject of clothes by my next post, where I promise sincerely to post the second half of my Dior Retrospective. Cross my heart and hope (not) to die.

Today, I'm sporting my understated colour of choice, Navy! I spent half of the more formal side of my childhood wearing Navy. There are many lovely photos of a three year old moi wearing little sailor dresses, the likes of which I cannot find to suit an adolescent moi. I'd have to order some sort of japanese schoolgirl uniform, which is not really what I want... but I shall not give up on the idea of eventually finding 'mon idealle' and when I do find the perfect sailor dress, or top, then you shall be the first to know!

You can take a glance at the two looks - One is Kenzo Spring 2006, the other is Sonia by Sonia Rykiel.

 

So, my ensemble is a navy coat, with a striped lining, a navy wrap dress with gold buttons borrowed from my Mother, my platform heeled iron fist shoes with flowers, my red radley handbag, a couple of necklaces - one longer than the other, one golden coloured and the other silver - and a golden wristband bracelet from Ruby Loves. It's a very laidback and simple ensemble, as in it doesn't shout, "Look at me!" if I'm going out. It just feels sort of elegant. :)

(FEEL FREE TO SKIP THIS ORANGE SECTION OF WRITING IF YOU ARE NOT REMOTELY INTERESTED IN BOOKS)

• So now, with so much free time, what have I been devoting myself to? Well, the creation of a couple of regency-style dresses, one for myself and one for a friend, watching film upon glorious film (Only the culturally significant and works which are frankly a credit to the genius of all concerned - I do not really watch ten-a-penny Romantic Comedies like my sister, who must have the largest collection of ten-a-penny RomComs I've ever come across in my life) and of course, I have finally finished "Moll Flanders" by Daniel Defoe (Robinson Crusoe) which was so incredibly full-on, I had to express my reaction to it somehow. It may help to understand why if I tell you its full name is: The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders, &c. Who was Born in Newgate, and during a Life of continu'd Variety for Threescore Years, besides her Childhood, was Twelve Year a Whore, five times a Wife (whereof once to her own Brother), Twelve Year a Thief, Eight Year a Transported Felon in Virginia, at last grew Rich, liv'd Honest, and died a Penitent. Written from her own Memorandums....
• Damn! That's putting it lightly - this is pure Soap Opera (Not that I ever watch Soap Opera, which may explain why the level of action in it terrified me) if Soap Opera was strangely charming, with an acute representation of the art of cultivated conversation, found in the moments when the many characters are expressing their honest feelings and thoughts... without it ever feeling stilted, rather more natural and refined. I do not think I've ever read a book before when a page on from the heroine getting married, she discovers her new husband is her brother whom she has already had two children by, since the marriage. It may be considered a picaresque novel but, in my personal opinion, it lacks the sense of religious redemption of delinquency that was considered important in Spanish and German novels of the picaresque style. The triumph of Moll Flanders is an economic one rather than a moral one, which I think I preferred anyway.
• Defoe presents "Moll Flanders" in the guise of an autobiography, written by an elderly woman. To be honest, the female persona created is so realistic that the reader would willingly truste that the book was written by a woman, if the book was published with an "Anonymous" tag. I also find it any interesting social study of the patriarchal 17th century society in which it is set; Moll often moves in a caste of society, in which a woman's station in life and fortune is her ultimate asset, leading her to attempt to rise above her initial poverty in any way she finds it possible to do so. In retrospect, she admits to her own hypocrisy and scheming, realizing that she sacrificed her personal virtue to achieve her goals. 
• However, there was a side to the character I really did not like. The big-hearted Whore, I can deal with, but there is a mild harshness and incredible selfishness to the character all the way through, which I think is portrayed in the way she has so little in the way of motherly instincts. Throughout the course of the book, she has ten children - four of which die during childbirth or in their infancy - and they take a backseat to her ambitions. There are six of them still alive throughout the book and, once she moves on, they are never mentioned again, if they were even mentioned at all. However, I suppose she has a multitude of excuses to justify actions, and the way the reader is with her every step of the journey serves to create the likeability. 
• Anywho, great book and a really easy read - there is nothing very challenging here in comparison to some books which I had to wade determinedly through the first chapters of before my interest was sparked. 

I have also, of course, spent a great deal of time surfing the internet and, more specifically, Youtube where I have had the time to find some real gems, from fantastic music videos for music I had never heard before and pieces of documentaries, to clips from films which are now on my 'MUST WATCH' list. I have chosen one of these impressive videos to share with you, chosen because of its artistic merit, the simplicity of colouring to create a very striking effect and the beautiful choreography by Maurice Béjart, to the tune of 'Boléro' by Ravel. It is worth taking a few minutes to really watch. The dancer is Jorge Donn, an internationally-known argentinean ballet dancer born in 1947, best known for his work with the aformetnioned Maurice Béjart's Ballet company, and his participation as lead dancer in Claude Lelouch's film Les Uns et les Autres. He died of AIDS on 30 November 1992 in Lausanne, Switzerland.

If you do watch it, do turn the quality up to 1080p - it's not perfect imaging, but it is worth doing.

Thank you for reading, do comment and please follow!