Brown Girl Caressa Cameron Wins Miss America 2010!

[Pictured above] Miss Virginia Caressa Cameron winning the 2010 Miss America crown!

A broadcast journalism student at Virginia Commonwealth University, this fabulous 22-year-old African-American Brown Girl from Fredericksburg, Viriginia won a $50,000 scholarship and the crown in Las Vegas on January 30, 2010.  When asked during the interview portion of the competition her thoughts on fighting childhood obesity, Cameron said parents should curb television and video games.  "We need to get our kids back outside, playing with sticks in the street like I did when I was little," she said. "Expand your mind, go outside and get to see what this world is like."  Amen, Brown Girl.  Amen.  [Source: MSNBC.com]

I'm Blushing Go give Talitha some love

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from the TALITHA LOVE blog-
just starting out-
she says:
"Never overestimate the good it does to support another, one never knows or understands the importance in which it matters in another's life. It can be HUGE!!"

& I agree.

lenor finis

RAISON d'ETRE.....  

  " I don't want to be reasonable -- there's plenty of time for that in the grave. 
                                   What I want is adventure,  innovation,  foolishness and discovery."                                                                  Mirabel Osler
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which magazine were you? & now?

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HOUSE & GARDEN Louis Oliver Gropp (1980-1987)

 HG Anna Wintour (1987-1988)

HG HOUSE & GARDEN Nancy Novogrod (1988- 1993)

HOUSE & GARDEN Dominique Browning (1995-2007)

DOMINO (2005-2009)

& NOW?

 OR

or is there something else ?
& No great UK or French or International magazines count because everyone would be WORLD OF INTERIORS)
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Davos

“Improve the State of the World: Rethink, Redesign, Rebuild” is the theme of this year’s World Economic Forum, currently taking place in Davos, Switzerland.

I think that anyone who has ever worked at a publication might understand why the thought of 2,000 business leaders and politicians getting the directive to “redesign” has me feeling a bit queasy.

Anyway, I figure it’s as good an excuse as any for showing some vintage Swiss design.

L. Gensetter, c. 1970
Charles Kuhn, 1941
Clockwise, starting upper left: Martin Peikert; Anonymous, c. 1960; Kurtz, c. 1940; Herbert Leupin, 1956; Herbert Leupin 1958; Otto Morach, 1929


These travel brochures for Davos are from the 1930s. They are mostly from David Levine’s wonderful site, filled with travel ephemera. I can so relate to how he describes the origin of his collecting habit; “I took the red pill, fell down the rabbit hole, and got stuck in Wonderland, and started collecting travel ephemera….”

The brochure with the angled, red block type on the blue and gray background from 1933 (right, of the trio below), is from the terrific site of Felix Wiedler.

Nowhere have I seen any mention of the script writing of “Davos” which recurs fairly consistently throughout almost like a logo.

Click on the links to see info and scans of each brochure in its entirety.

Left to right: c. 1936 (details), c. 1937 (details), c. 1933 (details)
c. 1933 uncredited design is very Herbert Matter.

details for the two pages above, here

Loved this little infographic inside the above brochure, comparing amount of sunshine in Davos to London and Berlin.

diddle diddle

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Hey! diddle, diddle,
The cat and the fiddle,
The cow jumped over the moon;
The little dog laughed
To see such sport,
And the dish ran away with the spoon.

That explains it.

(image from the 2010 haute couture collection)

H

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should honesty always be the best policy?

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Fur Friendly III?

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forecast here is for a foot of snow
we shall see.

Natalie Barney-one of the devestating Beauties from the series, painted by her mother artist Alice Pike Barney.

The One Brown Girl Challenge

A message from OBG creator, Tracey Friley

Of course you don't need me to tell you that Haiti needs our help.  I have personally committed to collecting gently worn shoes in the community I live in to help Soles4Souls on their quest to send 1,000,000 pairs of shoes to Haiti and I would like to challenge you to do the same.  Please.  Go into your closet and select at least one pair of gently worn shoes (in any size, including children's, men's, etc.) and take them to your local Finish Line before February 20, 2010 (dates may be different at different store locations).  As a bonus, if you email a picture of yourself donating at least 10 pair shoes (at a Finish Line store only), I will personally send you a small gift of appreciation! 

Here is an excerpt of an email I received from a lovely woman who took me up on the challenge.  She is a true testament to the power of giving.  (Warning: Get out your box of tissue.)  "When I learned of [OneBrownGirl.com®'s] shoe drive [challenge], I thought what better way to give back and help others in need. What’s more it inspired me to have the strength to begin cleaning out my Mother’s belongings [who recently passed away]. While it was very painful to pack up her brand new and gently worn shoes, I realized that at least 50 women would be walking in her shoes. So even though she is in Heaven, I know she would have been proud to donate shoes to help those in need. Indeed my Mother’s legacy of community service will live on through those few blessed in Haiti to receive shoes from [OBG's] shoe drive [challenge].  God Bless your organization for your endeavors and bringing attention to this wonderful cause."

With dedication, commitment & love,

Tracey

What I Didn't Blog This Month

I sometimes find myself not blogging something visually interesting, cool, or even infographics-related, because absolutely every other visual blog has covered it.

Whereas print is a scarcity model of the finite page and limited shelf space (for which everyone competes), the Web is an abundance model. It’s a newsstand that is infinite, and you never run out of ink or paper. In fact, the only way anything gets noticed is by getting attention in lots of places—which in turn generates even more attention, in even more places. So repeated coverage is, in a sense, how the Web/blogosphere works.

My prehistoric brain, however, which was encoded during the “print era”, still turns away--either by habit or reflex--from blogging what everyone else has covered. After all, who needs me to show them what they have surely seen somewhere else.

But I know how we all “miss class” certain days. So for anyone who may have slept through the month of January, here are a few items I didn’t post.

Charting the Beatles
Michael Deal's exhaustive tracking of Beatles songwriting and recording. Very beautiful.



The 2009 Feltron Annual Report
An exhaustive tracking of the events in the life of Nicholas Feltron, by Nicholas Feltron, during 2009. Also very beautiful.
Reports from previous years



iPad ... and The Jokes
See more at Jezebel.

monique "fleurrier" : having a dress up moment

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fashion mimics design, fashion mimics the times, fashion mimics nature-
& likewise I am sure.

designer Monique LHUILLIER blooms in her prefall 2010 collections

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all Monique Lhuillier photos are from style.com
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TASTE: Sir Joshua Reynolds

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Could we teach taste or genius by rules, 

they would no longer be taste and genius.

-Sir Joshua Reynolds

detail of Reynolds portrait of Miss Elizabeth Ingram
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Canovas Reprise

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Manuel Canovas fabric -Marie Amelie-

from the little augury post Curtain Call HERE

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Ulla's Own-what about haute couture?

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I often mention Ulla's model's own blog- well, because I love it. Her profile says she is just the curator-she does it well. Her recent post is thought provoking-Go see what she is thinking about today. MODEL'S OWN.

Weigh in-it is an topic WOMEN should have an opinion about.
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India's Brown Girls are a Bankable Asset

Photo credit: Pankaj Nangia/Bloomberg

Chanda Kochhar, [pictured] above, is the chief executive of Icici Bank,

where women make up 40 percent of the senior management.

From the New York Times:  "In New York and London, women remain scarce among top bankers despite decades of struggle to climb the corporate ladder. But in India’s relatively young financial industry, women not only are some of the top deal makers, they are often running the show."  Read the article in its entirety here.

State of the Union?

I guess we'll find out tonight.

A New Map of America
Dissected for the Instruction of Youth in Geography, 1814


Dissected outline map, United States of America, 1880

Clemens' Silent Teacher
Dissected Map of the United States
and of Each State in Counties, 1893

Sources: BibliOdyssey, David Rumsey Collection

Mrs Jack: a new chapter

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always-I love to find a new resource for inspiration- from the Corinthian Column- I discovered a new blog called Alberti's Window: An Art History Blog. 

Do go and read the story and the discussion- topic- the expansion of the ISABELLA STEWART GARDNER MUSEUM in Boston. There are many reasons to know the museum and perhaps more not to-The Museum is about as idiosyncratic and fascinating as the lady whose name its bears.

 Vermeer's the Concert

-STOLEN-

Such a story. the Woman- the Art Collection- the Museum-the Robbery.
Now- another chapter in the Gardner story-the expansion.

 interior courtyard of the Palazzo

the Fenway

 an older Gardner

painted by  friend Sargent

Mrs. Jack Gardner- known as Donna Isabella- the doted on wife of Jack Gardner of Boston Society. Her antics were scandalous, salacious even- for staid Boston as the 19th century was looking to turn. Her very long strand of pearls were as legend as her eccentricities. She was known for her passion as an art collector with unlimited funds- was sought after by the likes of Henry James who was inspired by Isabella and her magnificent pearls for his novel The Wings of the Dove. John Signer Sargent was a good friend. Mrs. Gardner began amassing her art collections in her travels abroad with her husband and her trips to Venice would ultimately inspire her own version of Venice's Palazzo Barbaro - now the Isabella Gardner Museum.

1894 in Venice

painted by Anders Zorn

The Museum feels ancient when entering-it truly draws you in to the era-the stunning collection Gardner collected with the expertise of Bernard Berenson. Botticelli, Titian, Raphael- all reside in the Museum today.

Her museum was her home-and she stipulated that after her death, each painting and each object in the collection was to remain as she placed it. Thieves did not take this into account.

 The 1990 robbery of  Vermeer's The Concert was a shock to the art world-lax security, priceless works of art, the frustrations of an unsolved case still hover over the Dutch Room at the Gardner. Gilt frames hang empty-awaiting the return of Mrs. Gardner's property.

the Gardner's Dutch Room

read the Times story- The Gardner March 2009 here

Again- Mrs. Jack is in the news- The new expansion of the Gardner. The 70,000 square foot space-said somewhere to be the as the young nephew that reveres and idolizes the grand old aunt. We shall see how kind the wiley nephew behaves. He is jangling the nerves and pearls of the Gardner right now-

Read this from the GLOBE here

Isabella

by Sargent

They are still talking about MRS JACK, DONNA ISABELLA in BOSTON

-I think they will be for some time.

This, I think would thrill the lady.

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