Who says orange is dangerous?

 Why are certain colours considered more dangerous than others? Why are some colours genuinely more dangerous than others? There is no doubt that, in the animal kingdom, certain colours will be a warning. Take the wasp (vile things which should be eliminated, or at least controlled/domesticated because I know they get rid of parasites. One landed on my upper lip today while I was eating outside and it wouldn't go away. I almost cried) which is striped yellow and black, as a warning to potential predators. On the one hand, this is where nature genuinely proves it can highlight danger. On the other hand, this yellow and black striped shell (metaphorically) is also favoured by the generally less foul tempered Bee and those flies you always think are wasps, as a way to trick potential predators.
Above all other colours, I think orange must be a dangerous colour, though we'd often consider black or red more so. By that, I do not mean that that orange can be a risky style choice that doesn't suit everyone, which is true. There is something about Orange that does not entirely feel quite right, something vibrant and eye-catching and unwilling to blend. If you've ever seen a field of Oranges or a house painted orange, you might understand what I mean. It is not mellow but bright like yellow. Or as popular as red. Or a timeless as black

Anyway, today (or rather yesterday, but *shrugs*) I am wearing orange, with black. Yippee! In line with the current fashion for crop tops and a high-waist black skirt.

With this, my lovely (if I do say so myself) union jack heels, orange bag, necklace and orange ribbon.

 

I really wish this were longer and, if I can, I will edit it tonight to make it longer and it should have been longer if I'd been less flippant with time, but this is me literally leaving right now for Carcassonne and I don't think they have internet in that part of France (fine, fine, in the house we're renting) Apparently, with a deep sigh, this is one of the busiest weekends of the year for road traffic... which should be fun.

 

 

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Is Fashion self-destructive?

Is Fashion self-destructive? Oddly enough, it is a phrase that has never much been used much in conjunction with Style and Creation, but is arguably fitting. Anything else which completely broke itself down to its core every season, or every couple of seasons, for no apparent straight-forward reason would be considered unhealthy and non-viable for good business. In any other field, when something works, you push it until sales stop dwindling to a economically unsure level. Somehow, fashion is a bubble which has missed out on this area of good business in a most spectacular way for, in Fashion, if you don't re-create yourself constantly, you don't sell. In some ways, it is an anomaly.

It isn't so much the fact that the Chanel Resort 2012 plastic shoes made even the most experienced model's feet bleed, that Sisley scrawled 'Fashion Junkie' (In other words, fashion victim) across their clothing adverts or that openly provocative practises are linked with fashion in self-made adverts.

 Fashion has a funny way of embracing those who actively, whether ironically or not, seek to destroy it. It is a sort of dark glamour that the fashion crowd keep begging for - Punk and anti-fashion taken to the forefront. Take, for example, Moschino. His designs were very innovative and unusual, parroting things such as a quilted black denim miniskirt with plastic fried eggs decorating the hemline, quilted jacket decorated with bottle tops, plug-socket drop earrings, and bodices made out of safety pins. He was dubbed the Jean-Paul Gaultier of Italian fashion but their styles are different; while Gaultier experiments with different fabrics and shapes, Moschino used basic forms and traditional methods. What makes his rise to prominence in Fashion interesting is his apparent disregard for it. He spoofed high fashion lines through his clothes. For example, "Expensive Jacket" was embroidered in gold across the back of a cashmere jacket, and "Bull Chic" on a matador-styled outfit. He also mocked the fashion classics such as the Chanel jacket with garish trimmings and details. Ironically, many rushed to wear his clothes, thus becoming successful and famous in the industry he satirized.

On the other hand, it's possible that, quite the opposite, IT IS JUST IRONY. Let's not forget that Moschino was made rich on the back of fashion. Let's not forget either that disturbing or even counter-productive advertising (Shockvertising) is a very effective way of selling clothing. After all, United Colours of Benetton is famous for it and Sisley is rather prone to using it too. If Jean Paul Gaultier made him name as an 'enfant terrible', it was not by sitting around, calmly accepting fashion. It was by getting up, wanting to change it and, yes, maybe throwing in a few inflammatory and paradoxical phrases on the subject of fashion now and then.

If Moschino campaigned to "Stop the Fashion System." Vivienne Westwood promoted Punk, essentially anti-fashion. How strange that these should both become recognised and beloved brands!

PUNK?

"A style or movement characterized by the adoption of aggressively unconventional and often bizarre or shocking clothing, hairstyles, makeup, etc., and the defiance of social norms of behaviour, usually associated with punk rock musicians and fans."

FASHION?
 

"Conventional usage in dress, manners, etc., especially of polite society, or conformity to it: the dictates of fashion; to be out of fashion."


 

PARADOX? You'd think so... What if Fashion adopts that which seeks to destroy it as a means of neutralising it, and any danger it may cause the system? If that be the case, I must apologise to Punk because Fashion would then have won one over it. Punk has been assimilated and turned into another branch of high end and high street fashion. Trying to destroy fashion has been turned into a part of fashion... and if any more proof of this is needed, take the way that at the London 2012 Olympics closing ceremony, a tribute to British Fashion involving Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell was paired with David Bowie's song 'Fashion', which is far from reverential on the subject of 'La Mode'. Take a listen if you don't remember.

"It's loud and tasteless
And I've heard it before."

(Or was it the other way around? Did Punk win by forcing its way into the mainstream and thus changing it? Ideas, anyone?)

 

 

THANK YOU FOR READING! IF YOU ENJOYED, WHY NOT FOLLOW? ;)

 

Oh, and I know there are many other areas of this subject which I could have explored and didn't when constructing a conclusive argument. However, there are too many of them right now. I might re-do this argument from a different perspective on a future post.

 

The Bubblegum Clan

Those who know my blog and its contents prior to this post may think that it has taken a decidedly taken a turn for the 'sweet' so to speak. This was not completely consciously done and I can assure readers that I have plenty of fashion grit and dirt ready to dish up. Consequently, my new design (fresh look, fresh start - by the way, if you have trouble reading the font with the background, be sure to tell me and I'll do something about it) choice clashes with my desire to comment on the latest Agatha Ruiz de la Prada collection and perhaps briefly introduce this Spanish designer to those who know but little of her.

Noting my recent disappearance from the blogging world, and not able to say that it was purely down to procrastination and schoolwork and a passing disillusionment, I will blame that which is still on my list of suitable alibis - the weather. Like Mary Poppins before me, I base a lot of my comings and goings upon the wind changing. I am very much the sort one might find attached to a long piece of string going up into the clouds, instead of one's kite, though on the other hand, you would not catch me bursting out of fireworks (Loud and dangerous things at close proximity) What I mean to say is that, I told myself I'd start blogging again when the wind changes... well, when the winter snow finally melts away until next year, which is more than a little bit determined by the wind since all the snow we have had was coming from a strong wind from Russia. Usually, this would ensure me a sabbatical of maybe a couple of weeks at best but the snow went on and on going from a joy and a treat to an absolute nightmare. End of March and I never wanted to see snow again. Whatever people might say about our weather, in Britain, it is generally mild and, until recently, it hardly ever snowed. Now, all I want is the sun. I have so many lovely clothes for warmer weather and grey skies are starting to depress me.

Agatha Ruiz de la Prada, 12th Marquise of Castelldosrius, is well-known in Spain but less so elsewhere in the world. She presented her first women's collection in Madrid in 1981, simultaneous with and promoting La Movida Madrileña, a Spanish counter-cultural movement which emerged after the death of Franco (see footnote for further details)

• 1986 - Agatha took part in a collective fashion show in France and began designing accessories. 
• 1987 - She came out with a line of bed sheets and linens. She likewise took part in the exhibition, "A tribute to Balenciaga".
• 1988 - Her collection "Pasarela Cibeles" launched in Madrid while "Fiera Della Moda." at Milan Fashion Week. She published her book "La moda cómoda".
• 1990 - Agatha presented a collection of unfinished dresses in Berlin and Madrid. Put on a show of kimonos in Osaka, Japan, entitled "Lady from Spain.".
• 1991 - Started licensing her brand name with a new kitchenware line.
• 1992 - Signed an agreement for a new fragrance with Gal. Designed a collection of "Dress Watches" for Swatch and met Tintoretto, which led her to a new line of work in 1995. Began designing several lines of clothing for El Corte Ingles.
• 1994 - Agatha Ruiz de la Prada presented her collection at the Museum of Modern Art in Paris.
• 1995 - Organised the road show "Absolut Ruiz de la Prada" with Absolut Vodka and exhibited her work "A tribute to Chillida" at the Reina Sofia Museum.

1997 - Launched her first line of pyjamas for women and men at the Salón Gaudí Show. Launched her second fragrance and designed a line of ceramics and furniture. Took part in Casa Decor and in a collective fashion show in Washington.

1998 - Presented her collection "Canary Islands, the Flowers of Paradise", in Paris. Presented a wedding dress made out of porcelain at the IVAM in Valencia. Launched her first and very successful line of stationary products.

1999 - Opened her first store in Paris and designed her first home clothing and bathing line, including socks, glasses... even radiators and light-switches!

2001 - Agatha participated in the Children's fashion show, Pitti Imagine Bimbo in Florence, and has continuously done so, the only foreign designer to present her fashion show there. Launched a layette and baby toys line.

2002 - Launched her collection of baby, girls and women's shoes and a line of aromatic candles.

2003 - Presented her first two men's collections at the "Pasarela Gaudí" catwalk. Designed a bathroom supplies line, paddle racquet collection, computer games, pet-accessorises and jewellery. Opened a new store in Oporto (Portugal), followed by new store openings in Milan, Madrid and Santiago de Chile. Expanded her distribution to the United States, South America and Korea.

2004 - Agatha Ruiz de la Prada is awarded the Fashion Oscar in Italy, for best foreign designer. Launched her women's perfumes in Moscow and exhibited several of her outfits in a Moscow art gallery. Exhibited one of her picture catalogues at the IVAM in homage to several great artists.

2005 - Presented new collections such as a cosmetic line produced by Gal, teenage furniture, mobile phone accessories and launched her fragrance "Corazón" in France and the United States. Presented her fashion collection in Madrid, Barcelona, Milan, and Florence.

2006 - Agatha Ruiz de la Prada expanded her licenses to paints, mattresses, a collection of children's furniture and children's playgrounds. Presented her collection of bridal gowns at the Reina Sofia Museum in Madrid. Designed a mobile phone for Vodafone and collaborated with renowned companies such as Osborne, UNICEF and Greenpeace.

2007 - Presented a collection of ski clothes and accessories in Madrid and Milan. Launched a new line of bathroom items. Received an homage for her 25 years in the fashion industry (in Burgos, Spain) in the presence of 25 of the most relevant Spanish designers. Still in Burgos, she inaugurated an exhibition of objects designed by her throughout the last 25 years.

During the NY fashion week 2007, and for the first time in her career, Agatha presented her own show room for her new S/S 2008 collection. Agatha launched a new line of technological items which included an MP3, MP4 and digital frames. She also included a new fragrance, "Beso", to her line of personalized perfumes. Awarded "Colombia es Pasion", for her support of young Colombian designers. Awarded "Prix de la Moda" by Marie Claire for the best professional trajectory. Awarded "Top Glamour" by Glamour magazine for the best designer of the year and the "New Yorker" Award by the Spain US Chamber of Commerce.

• 2008 - Agatha designed a doll to be auctioned to raise funds for UNICEF. Great brands such as Carolina Herrera, Chanel, Christian Dior, Christian Lacroix, Dolce & Gabbana, Giorgio Armani, Gucci, Hugo Boss, Jean-Paul Gaultier and Louis Vuitton did likewise. At the initiative of Pret a Porter Paris, Agatha Ruiz de la Prada also designed a suit for a themed exhibition that combined High Tech and Fashion. This exhibition was displayed in the windows of Galeries Lafayette until the 26th of December.
• 2009 - Awarded the Gold Medal for Merit in Fine Arts 2008. Named an Ambassador of Fashion. Presented her new perfume "Oh la la!" in a Vogue event. Awarded the medal of merit in Fine Arts by King Juan Carlos.
• 2010 - Agatha Ruiz de la Prada received the Spanish nobility titles, Marchioness of Castelldosríus, Grandee of Spain as well as Baroness of Santa Pau after the death of her Uncle (She has been responsible for a proposed law that men and women be equal in succession to titles of nobility)

This collection is more than a little typical of Agatha Ruiz de la Prada (I think, from now on, it shall be referred to ARDLP - we have reached the point where I would believe it impossible that you did not know what I was going on about) Prime example of la Movida Espanol, ARDLP is a beam of sunshine in international design. Eccentric, confident and innovative, the designer deploys all her originality into brightly coloured confections, non-conforming to traditional aspects of clothing.
Her recurring motifs include crescent moons, suns, stars and, of course, hearts. Her collections are testament to the dynamic and seemingly optimistic world which she presents to her public. With her originality, style and involvement in every element of design, she is one of the great personalities of La Movida espagnole. The designer who defines herself as being of an "independent, creative and idealistic" character, evolves apparently obliviously to the diktats of international fashion. Nothing stops her, she paints a vividly coloured world into every field of creative design!

If it is not already apparent, then I shall explain my reasoning for calling this 'The Bubblegum Clan'. Although there are clothes of more sobre colours like navy and burgundy, there is overall a great use of pretty pastels (so maybe she isn't completely oblivious to the rest of the fashion world) and the lovely masks on the models faces reminded me of animated children's films I used to watch where the bubblegum would pop in somebody's face, covering them in a thin sheet of pink rubber stuff. Yes, the artistry here is clearly greater, and less spontaneous, but one cannot deny that it bears a strong likeness to those images. 








I really cannot help really lusting after the big burgundy coat. Not really the style I generally go for... but it's so big and burgundy and plush-y and it looks so comfortable and warm! (And I thought comfort would never be high on my list of requirements)

 Thank you for reading. This is more something to ease me back into posting, but there should be a few personal style posts and cutting wit and fashion analysis coming up.

 

(I may also, in passing, introduce you to one of my new procrastination obsessions.)

 

Do comment and Please Follow!

 

I may do a few more tit-bits of Agatha Ruiz de la Prada collections in the future, so if you want to see more outfits of this type, stayed tuned.

Footnote: La Movida Madrileña is personified by well-known figures in music, film, design, graphics and cartoon, but it is also felt in other aspects of culture as well as social mores. It represented the emergence of the post-Franco Spanish identity and the resurgence of the economy, from 1975 onwards but most noticeably in the 1980s. Although begotten in the Spanish capital, it emerged likewise in Barcelona and most other Spanish cities. It was characterised by an appearance of hedonism, freedom of expression, defiance of taboos which had been forcibly imposed by the Franco Regime, use of recreational drugs and a new spirit of freedom in the streets. The director, Almodovar is considered one of the figureheads of the movement.

Icon of the Month - Anna May Wong

I'm Anna May Wong. I come from old Hong Kong.

But now I'm a Hollywood star.

 

 

Few people have heard of Anna May Wong. Indeed, I only heard of her for the first time in 2005, on occasion of the hundredth anniversary of her birth, and did not follow up on this new knowledge for six years. I could have told you she was the first Chinese American Film Star but it was not until 2011, when I was researching Hollywood's anti-miscegenation laws as a follow up to my History GCSE classes on civil rights, that I genuinely took an interest. In relative terms, this woman was amazing and heavily under acknowledged.  Today is the fifty second anniversary of her death and, I thought, an ideal day to make her known to a few more people who might otherwise never have heard of her (also, this means I have more of a deadline so I will not keep putting this post off) She managed to have a substantial career during a deeply racist time when the taboo against miscegenation meant that Caucasian actresses were cast as "Oriental" women in leading roles.

At the time, she was known as one of the world's best-dressed woman (With the loveliest hands in cinema) 

• A little known fact is that 'These Foolish Things' was written about her.

 

Anna May Wong was born on January 3rd 1905, just outside of Chinatown, in a community of Chinese, Irish, German, and Japanese. Anna May Wong's parents were second-generation Chinese-Americans, her grandfather from a village near Taishan, Guangdong Province. Anna May's father spent his youth traveling between the U.S. and China, where he married his first wife and fathered a son in 1890. He returned to the U.S. in the late 1890s, and in 1901, he married Anna May's mother. Anna May was the second child, born in 1905, and was followed by five more children.

In 1910, they moved to Figueroa Street where they were the only Chinese in the area, living among mostly Eastern Europeans and Mexicans, helping Wong adopt American culture. She attended a public school with her elder sister, but they then moved to a Chinese school when they became the target of racial taunts from fellow students.

 

At that same time, film production began to relocate from the east coast to the LA area. Movies were shot constantly around Wong's neighbourhood, and she took a strong interest, spending all her pocket money on going to the Cinema, sometimes to the detriment of her education, explaining why her father was not happy with her interest in films. Wong wished to pursue a film career anyhow and at the age of nine, constantly begged filmmakers to give her roles, earning herself the nickname of "Curious Chinese Child", and by the age of 11, Wong had come up with her stage name of Anna May Wong. This started paying off when, in 1919, she appeared as an extra in the Red Lantern and dropped out of school in 1921 to pursue her career full-time.

"I was so young when I began that I knew I still had youth if I failed, so I determined to give myself 10 years to succeed as an actress."

The first film for which Wong received screen credits was Bits of Life, in which she played the wife of Lon Chaney's character. Aged seventeen, she had her first leading role in 'The Toll of the Sea' loosely based on Madam Butterfly.

 "Miss Wong stirs in the spectator all the sympathy her part calls for, and she never repels one by an excess of theatrical 'feeling'. She has a difficult role, a role that is botched nine times out of ten, but hers is the tenth performance. Completely unconscious of the camera, with a fine sense of proportion and remarkable pantomimic accuracy ... She should be seen again and often on the screen."

Unfortunately, due to her being Chinese, she was not able to receive the roles she would undoubtedly have acquired otherwise.  Conscious that Americans saw her as a foreigner although she had been born and raised in California, Wong began developing her image as a flapper. This, however, did not help her find more varied parts in Hollywood and she was consistently assigned supporting roles tending towards two stereotypes: the innocent, self-sacrificing "Butterfly" and the scheming, deceitful "Dragon Lady". Her career was further restricted by the anti-miscegenation laws of Cinema at the time, which barred her from sharing an on-screen kiss with any person of another colour... even if it was an Asian character portrayed by a white actor.

A cigarette that bears a lipstick's traces

An airline ticket to romantic places

And still my heart has wings

These foolish things remind me of you

A tinkling piano in the next apartment

Those stumbling words that told you what my heart meant

A fairground's painted swings

These foolish things remind me of you

 

 

 

Portrait in Black (1960)

Impact (1949)

Lady from Chungking (1942)

Bombs Over Burma (1942)

Ellery Queen's Penthouse Mystery (1941)

Island of Lost Men (1939

King of Chinatown (1939)

When Were You Born (1938)

Dangerous to Know (1938)

Daughter of the Orient (1937)

Limehouse Blues (1934)

Java Head (1934)

Chu Chin Chow (1934)

Tiger Bay (1934)

A Study in Scarlet (1933)

Shanghai Express (1932)

Daughter of the Dragon (1931)

Flame of Love (1930)

Road to Dishonour (1930)  

Pavement Butterfly (1929)

Piccadilly (1929)

Song (1928)

Chinatown Charlie (1928)

The Crimson City (1928)

Across to Singapore (1928)

Streets of Shanghai (1927)

The Devil Dancer (1927)

The Chinese Parrot (1927)

Why Girls Love Sailors (1927)

Old San Francisco (1927)

The Honourable Mr Buggs (1927)

Mr Wu (1927)

Driven from Home (1927)

The Desert's Toll (1926)

The Silk Bouquet (1926)

A Trip to Chinatown (1926)

Fifth Avenue (1926)

His Supreme Moment (1925)

Forty Winks (1925)

Peter Pan (1924)

The Alaskan (1924)

The Fortieth Door (1924)

The Thief of Bagdad (1924)

Lilies of the Field (1924)

Thundering Dawn (1923)

Drifting (1923)

The Toll of the Sea (1922)

Bits of Life (1921)

Shame (1921)

The First Born (1921)

Outside the Law (1920)

Dinty (1920)

 In 1928, Wong left for Europe in the hopes of finding better roles than she had had in Hollywood.

"I was so tired of the parts I had to play. There seems little for me in Hollywood, because, rather than real Chinese, producers prefer Hungarians, Mexicans, American Indians for Chinese roles...   

I was so tired of the parts I had to play. Why is it that the screen Chinese is always the villain? And so crude a villain, murderous, treacherous, a snake in the grass."

 

Wong made movies in the UK and Germany, making her debut on the London stage with Laurence Olivier in the play "The Circle of Chalk." After receiving negative criticism for her too-American voice from the London critics, she paid a Cambridge University tutor to improve her speech, acquiring the English accent of the social elite.

Directors in Europe applauded Wong's beauty and talent, and they used her in ways that the Americans, restricted by stereotypes, never did. Continuing her career in Germany, she became acquainted with German film personalities, including Marlene Dietrich. She learned German and French, developing a continental European attitude. In Europe, she was considered a star, and was surrounded by "An intellectual elite that included princes, playwrights, artists and photographers who clamoured to work with her."
 

 

 

In 1929, Wong starred in EA Dupont's film Piccadilly as a dish washer, fired from her job in a London nightclub after dancing on a table, then rehired as a dancer to give the club a needed dose of exotic glamour. Unfortunately, it all ends in tragedy when she and her and her Caucasian Boss fall in love. A year later, she filmed her first talkie - Road to Dishonour, released by British International Pictures. In the years before dubbing was an option and different versions of a single film had to be filmed in different languages, Wong played her part in the English, French, and German versions of the film.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You came, you saw

You conquered me

When you did that to me

I knew somehow this had to be

 

The winds of March that made my heart a dancer

A telephone that rings and who's to answer?

Oh, how the ghost of you clings

These foolish things remind me of you

Wong was offered a contract with Paramount Studios in 1930. Drawn by the promise of leading roles and top billing, she returned to the United States.
Having been promised a chance to appear in a prestigious film by the studio, Wong agreed to playing another stereotypical part - Fu Manchu's daughter in Daughter of the Dragon. This was the last "evil Chinese" role she played, and also her one starring appearance alongside Sessue Hayakawa.

Wong appeared alongside Marlene Dietrich as a courtesan in Shanghai Express, upstaging Dietrich who was favourably reviewed.

 

Wong was seen as a fashion icon. In 1934, the Mayfair Mannequin Society of New York voted her "The World's best-dressed woman"
In 1938 Look magazine named her "The World's most beautiful Chinese girl".

 

First daffodil and long excited cables

And candle lights on little corner tables

And still my heart has wings

These foolish things remind me of you

The park at evening when the bell has sounded

The 'Ile-De-France' with all the gulls around it

The beauty that is springs

These foolish things remind me of you

 

In 1935 Wong had the most dreadful disappointment of her career, when MGM refused to consider her for the leading role in The Good Earth.

Wong spent the next year touring China, studying Chinese culture and visiting her ancestral village.

In the late 1930s, she starred in several B movies for Paramount Pictures, portraying Chinese-Americans in a positive light. She paid less attention to her film career during World War II, when she devoted her time and money to helping the Chinese cause against Japan. Wong returned to the public eye in the 1950s in several television appearances as well as her own series in 1951, The Gallery of Madame Liu-Tsong, the first U.S. television show starring an Asian-American.

 

She had been planning to return to film in Flower Drum Song when she died in 1961, at the age of 56.

 

 

 

How strange, how sweet

To find you still

These things are dear to me

They seem to bring you near to me

The sigh of midnight trains in empty stations

Silk stockings thrown aside, dance invitations

Oh, how the ghost of you clings

These foolish things remind me of you

 

 

 

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