Classic boot brand celebrates with video of The Noisettes recording a Buzzcocks cover and a DM documentary.
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Aerodromes
When I came upon these images in the Smithsonian archive, I didn’t know if they were sculptures or experimental musical instruments. I did love their insect-like delicacy and the ethereal blue of the cyanotype. How was I supposed to know that they were meant to fly?
The Smithsonian houses an extensive archive of material relating to turn-of-the-century flight pioneer Samuel P. Langley and his sometimes-flying aerodromes. Langley, a renowned scientist, was affiliated with the Smithsonian for many years. His research received government funding and much public attention. The Smithsonian, in biographical material about Langley, states that he “almost succeeded with inventing the airplane before the Wright brothers.” But as the Smithsonian had much at stake in Langley’s success or failure, be sure to read elsewhere about the feud with the Wright Brothers and how even the Smithsonian didn’t succeed in rewriting history.
A houseboat in the Potomac served as a launching site for a number of doomed flight attempts.
Read more here, here, and here. Listen to an NPR piece here.
a Grand Room:Carolina Irving
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Often there are rooms that hold my attention for years. Case in point-this lofty space decorated by Carolina Irving. Most readers of design blogs, and its publications are familiar with Carolina Irving's current home- it has been in magazines, emags and blogs galore. She is not a decorator- she has an eye- as it were. She is a woman of style. I wrote about that room in New York here- saying-'The Carolina Irving home is what Rose Tarlow calls "the essence of intimacy." It is a space that exudes that certain intimacy that I admire and aspire to. We will be watching this room appear over and over again in years to come.' I was right. The fabric designer, writer,collector,fashion designer, mother's living room will grace the upcoming book-Rooms to Inspire in the City by Annie Kelly.
Often there are rooms that hold my attention for years. Case in point-this lofty space decorated by Carolina Irving. Most readers of design blogs, and its publications are familiar with Carolina Irving's current home- it has been in magazines, emags and blogs galore. She is not a decorator- she has an eye- as it were. She is a woman of style. I wrote about that room in New York here- saying-'The Carolina Irving home is what Rose Tarlow calls "the essence of intimacy." It is a space that exudes that certain intimacy that I admire and aspire to. We will be watching this room appear over and over again in years to come.' I was right. The fabric designer, writer,collector,fashion designer, mother's living room will grace the upcoming book-Rooms to Inspire in the City by Annie Kelly.
(photograph - Ivan Terestchenko)
a French wallhanging ,c 1730, is mounted above the fireplace
This grand room - is Grand- and timeless. There are many facets to Irving's decoration -the strong architectural details, the vibrant use of colour-but it is the casual nonchalance that instantly invites one to linger. To stay and examine each corner for each treasure it holds. Textiles, a love evident in her current apartment, appear throughout the room : a French brocade hanging on the wall -another French brocade draping a table, a scarf covering a lamp, a Chinese rug covering an ottoman. Works of art are propped up along the walls and a few personal photographs are displayed on a small table-maintaining a personal intimacy that is unique for such a Grand room. A porcelain collection decorates the large skirted table in the center of the room. Irving's serious textile collection is accompanied by sturdy traditional English stripes on a chaise, an ottoman and a deep divan divine sofa.
Irving described the space she decorated as 'heaven on earth.'
The angels agree.
the NeverEnding Story
.
in perusing blogs today, I could not help but be charmed by these two-
in perusing blogs today, I could not help but be charmed by these two-
PARIS ORIGINALS
Suggestions for Transvestites here
&
BLACK WATCH
Fashion Slave from the Cradle to the Grave here
&
sometime ago-
at
POST APOCALYPTIC BOHEMIAN
BORN ON THIS DAY- January 14 here
(Beaton image from the Bohemian- Beaton photographing Keith Richards)
Sir Cecil Beaton- a NeverEnding wealth of Stories for all and forEver.
What about you? Have you written about Beaton lately-it is only a matter of time.
.
a bit more Sitwell
.
The Sitwells by John Singer Sargent, 1900
Edith Sitwell
Sir George Sitwell
Lady Ida Sitwell
Sacheverell Sitwell, the Spare
Osbert Sitwell, the Heir
(interior of Renishaw)
in the Drawing Room at Renishaw
photographed by Bill Brandt, 1945
Edith Sitwell
Osbert Sitwell
-
below the Sargent, an 18th c. silhoutte
of the Sitwell and Warnerford families
by Francis Torond
the Drawing Room photograph accompanied a series in Lilliput, Nov, 1949- "An Odd Lot"- text by Alan Pryce-Jones here:
'In a plain age, they have always maintained coloured standards. Large houses and large imaginings; good prose and good food; movement and vision; warm friendship and blood rows- in public and in private their roles are as remote from the Century of the Common Man as the Aztecs.'
(Fascinating)
(from THE SITWELLS, Bradford,Clerk,Fryer,Gibson,Pearson)
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Parenting Around the World
~Don Herold
If you know anything about OneBrownGirl.com® (OBG), you know that one of the goals I have is to find a unique way to document the lives of Brown Girls across the globe. So when I was flipping through a magazine and saw a little blurb about French documentarian Thomas Balmès’ new film Babies (opening in theatres May 7, 2010), I saved the article just so that I would remember to write this post. I was instantly intrigued by Balmès attempt to "follow the vastly different first year of four infants from Mongolia, Namibia, Tokyo and San Francisco" because (1) I absolutely adore little honey buckets of baby joy and their honest and simple no-nonsense approach to life, and (2) because I find it terribly fascinating that someone is putting together a really cool piece about how parents from different cultures around the world raise their children. "It's disturbing, it's funny, it's entertaining," says [Balmès]. "I didn't want the film to be cute," he explains. I wanted to offer a reflection of the different ways of parenting around the world." To view the trailer, click here. [Source: Entertainment Weekly]
the Sitwell Equation
.
how could it be otherwise?
image 1- the 18th century Sitwell children,John Singleton Copley 1787
+
+
=
image 2- the Sitwell family estate Renishaw's Entrance to the Wilderness, photograph by Bill Brandt,1945, the images (the Wilderness-also known as Brockhill Wood, the statues are a warrior and an amazon.
image 3- Lady Ida Sitwell, the Sitwell's mother, painted by Sir William Blake Richmond, before marriage the Honourable Ida Denison,descended from the Plantagenet kings
image 4- Osbert (35), ( Edith (age 40) Sacheverell (30) 1927 by Cecil Beaton
Renishaw HERE
.
.
This is your cat. This is your cat on drugs.
Tell me this isn't an ad for ketamine.
This starts with a dog but ends up with cats in a psychedelic cosmos.
I love the feline face-melt here, when the cats get too high and start chasing imaginary mice.
This starts with a dog but ends up with cats in a psychedelic cosmos.
I love the feline face-melt here, when the cats get too high and start chasing imaginary mice.
Birds Head Revisited
Tonight is the first night of Passover and Jews worldwide, will be participating in a Seder. There are basically three components to a Seder—a story, wine (you are supposed to drink four glasses), and food. The ratio of storytelling, drinking, and eating, varies greatly from household to household.
For those not familiar with the Haggadah, it is the book that contains the story of how the Jews, after being enslaved in Egypt were liberated by God. Traditional Jewish law has it that it is incumbent upon parents to convey that story to their children as if they themselves experienced God taking them from slavery to freedom. There are numerous interactive components to the Seder in order to keep the children’s attention until the food is served.
I’m guessing that keeping children involved is what prompted illustration of the Haggadah. On account of the commandment forbidding graven images, traditional Jewish texts contain no images whatsoever. In fact, it seems that first illustrated Haggadah c. 1300, was from Germany and didn’t even show human faces. It was called the Birds' Head Haggadah since the characters where shown with heads of birds and other animals. The angels had blank faces.
The actual book resides in the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.
It's Passover!
Pictured above: Box of Matzo crackers. Matza (also Matzah, Matzoh, or Matsah) is a cracker-like unleavened bread made of white plain flour and water. It is similar in preparation to the Southwest Asian lavash and the Indian chapati. Matza is also the substitute for bread during the Jewish holiday of Passover, when eating chametz—bread and leavened products—is not allowed. [Source: Wiki] QUICK FACT: My mother is a matzo cracker addict and definitely recognizes this box.
What Angelenos call the "Pico-Fairfax" area of Los Angeles is now referred to as Little Ethiopia, but when I was a kid, it was the Jewish neighborhood where I lived, grew up and even started pre-school. In fact, the first song I ever learned from Mr.& Mrs. Fine - owners of Kiddie Park Pre-School - is a song I still hum to myself from time to time: "I have a little dreydl, I made it out of clay, And when it’s dry and ready With my top I’ll play. Dreydl, dreydl, dreydl, I made it out of clay, O my little top, Now with you I will play. It has a lovely body With a leg so short and thin; And when it’s very tired It drops – and then I win!" Even after all of these years, it never fails to make me smile when I hear that song. My neighborhood bestfriends were sisters Tina and Susan Leisner and my best (ballet) friend was Leah Klein. In fact, it was while visiting Leah's grandmother's house that I heard someone call me Shvartzer for the very first time. Leah and I just shrugged our shoulders at the epithet and jeté-ed giggling down the street.
Needless to say, I have a respect for Jewish tradition and culture (among others); so when I read Jodi Kantor's New York Times article about Passover Seder at the White House, I thought it was pretty cool that President Obama continues to show the world what I perceive to be his genuine interest in culture. I imagine that some presidential critics might think the Obama Seder is strictly a political strategy, but I prefer to believe otherwise and opt instead to shrug my shoulders and jeté giggling down the street - before sundown, of course. ;-)
decorating Edith with diamonds and rhubarb
.
have you ever looked at many portraits, photography or paintings of Edith Sitwell?
what strikes you?
The woman, yes-She was extraordinary. Her features were captivating, perhaps not beautiful, perhaps not even close. Miss Sitwell did manage to make the list of DEVASTATING BEAUTIES compiled by little augury from a field of blogging aesthetes earlier in the year. After looking at photographs inching over the Sitwell profile, the deep set eyes draped by the shadow of a brow-penetrating her observer's gaze-
-what else is there? After getting past that stare- It's the jewelry, Darling!
Debra Healy of the blog-Diamonds and Rhubarb- and little augury are taking a look at the Dame's jewels. No one better than Debra to collaborate with; she is an expert- a Paris resident, she pens a second blog called Paris Originals. There is little doubt that the 6 foot frame of Edith Sitwell adorned with the exotic stones and simple loosely fitting gowns must have been arresting. She 'wore extravagant clothes and jewels; usually the clothes did not fit at all they just hung. She did it exactly her own way and got away with it.' (Horst)
One of the England's privileged- bright young things, Allanah Harper- observed:
'Here was the beauty of a Piero della Francesca. Her flat fair hair was like that of a naiad, her hands as white as alabaster. On her long gothic fingers she wore huge rings, lumps of topaz and turquoise, on her wrist were coral and jet bracelets.' (1925)
Edith's hands were her face-(Not my words the Dame's). 'I am not beautiful, but I wouldn't look any other way.'
'My hands are my face!'
Edith's beautiful jewelry achieved its own fame- she penned articles about them, along with her clothes, for Harper's Bazaar (Feb 1939, Precious Stones and Metals), My Clothes and I, (Harper's Bazaar October 1959 & The Observer, May 1959). 'I feel undressed without my rings. These aquamarines I love, but I’ve got a beautiful topaz like a sunflower--and when I’ve worn these too much I feel it’s being neglected….I’ve got red and green and black amber bracelets, and a ring I call tiger into grape. Its yellow, veined with blue and red, but when it snows it turns blue.' In "Precious Stones and Metals,Harper's Bazaar (London), Edith recommends mixing semi-precious and precious stones 'to revive the rich an variegated palette of ancient jewelry...'
Debra adds, the tiger into grape stone she is describing could be ametrine a cross between citrine and amethyst- both are quartz and could be the same crystal, or an alexandrite.
One of the many portraits of Edith Sitwell painted by Pavel Tchelitchew. Edith and Pavel began a deep & complicated friendship- she his muse and his champion. Edith wrote a friend that she was 'frightfully pleased,' with the Sibyl portrait. Tchelitchew's biographer says the artist wanted 'to pay a signal tribute to Edith Sitwell.' Edith wears no rings in the portrait-instead- a monumental brooch that appears to be weighing down her very simple dress.
Dame Edith seldom completed an interview without referring to her huge aquamarine rings( why not?)
from the 1959 article My Clothes and I -"She is wearing four enormous chunks of Aquamarine on her famous hands and her nails were enameled a deep brown red. Her plain black satin dress was cut with a low U neck, and the brooch pinned there was a Blue stone set in engraved gold that her brother Osbert brought her from China."
"I take very great care of my hands and put cream on them--Peggy Sage and other things." edith sitwell-
Edith Sitwell photographed by Terry Fincher
The Brooches-from the Chinese Box- likely were a gift from Osbert, Edith's brother, brought back from a 1934 trip to China. Debra adds- the Chines box seems to be mountings in gold or silver gilt on white jade. The stones look like rubies, sapphires, jades, and cats-eyes (chrysoberyl).
massive brooches
Edith with Osbert in 1948
Debra adds- the jewelry Dame Edith is wearing (above) looks ethnic, the bracelets could be from India or Yemen. The necklace looks like a belt. She must have been very large boned, to be able to wear two rings on one finger, and those bracelets were originally ankle bracelets for much smaller women .The necklace (belt) looks Malaysian.
The Brown photograph accompanied Edith's Observer article. According to Edith the necklace became known as her 'Aztec' necklace. She writes-
' This gold collar was made for me by an American woman called Millicent Rogers. She was one of my greatest friends, though I only met her once. She sent it to me, and the British Museum kept it four days and thought it was pre-Columban[sic], undoubtedly from the tomb of an Inca-though they couldn't make out how the gold could be stiffened in a way that wasn't in existence in those days. But I have to be careful of the clanking when I am reciting and don't often wear it for that.'
Debra adds, Millicent Rogers may have had Fulco di Verdura put the necklace together for Dame Edith, because it has been attributed to him in Victoria Glendinning’s book.(Edith Sitwell A Unicorn Among Lions, Weidenfeld and Nicolson,1981, London.) Glendinning also mentions that Dame Edith wore “ The Aztec” collar to a nearly disastrous reading at the Edinburgh Festival in August of 1959. It was reported that the necklace made so much noise, and combined with a malfunctioning microphone made it practically impossible for the audience the hear her. This must be the reason she mentions the noise issue in the interview in Harper's Bazaar. She was after all very concerned about her image, and her (readings) performances.
The 1959 Harper's Bazaar cover likely honoured Edith on her 75th birthday with the peacock eye cover. This is the issue with Edith's article- My Clothes and I. There is not a dedication referencing the cover -but it can not be a coincidence; as a child Edith had befriended a peacock on the grounds of her family estate Renishaw. (see the little augury post here)
Cecil Beaton photographed the great lady in dramatically studied poses only a woman of confidence could evoke in
1962. The Dame adorned with her rings and brooches- and feathers.
A peacock? Indeed.
.
have you ever looked at many portraits, photography or paintings of Edith Sitwell?
what strikes you?
Edith 1918, by Roger Fry
The woman, yes-She was extraordinary. Her features were captivating, perhaps not beautiful, perhaps not even close. Miss Sitwell did manage to make the list of DEVASTATING BEAUTIES compiled by little augury from a field of blogging aesthetes earlier in the year. After looking at photographs inching over the Sitwell profile, the deep set eyes draped by the shadow of a brow-penetrating her observer's gaze-
photograph by Jane Brown
-what else is there? After getting past that stare- It's the jewelry, Darling!
Debra Healy of the blog-Diamonds and Rhubarb- and little augury are taking a look at the Dame's jewels. No one better than Debra to collaborate with; she is an expert- a Paris resident, she pens a second blog called Paris Originals. There is little doubt that the 6 foot frame of Edith Sitwell adorned with the exotic stones and simple loosely fitting gowns must have been arresting. She 'wore extravagant clothes and jewels; usually the clothes did not fit at all they just hung. She did it exactly her own way and got away with it.' (Horst)
Some of Edith's jewels-
a pair of French gold-plated expanding bracelets
two aquamarine rings-one with rubies on the shoulders
(Michael Gosschalk of Motocombe Street, Belgravia-supplied these)
an amethyst ring
a fluorite ring,carved in the shape of two bears, 19th c. Chinese
( image from The Sitwells)
One of the England's privileged- bright young things, Allanah Harper- observed:
'Here was the beauty of a Piero della Francesca. Her flat fair hair was like that of a naiad, her hands as white as alabaster. On her long gothic fingers she wore huge rings, lumps of topaz and turquoise, on her wrist were coral and jet bracelets.' (1925)
Edith by Cecil Beaton, 1926
Edith's hands were her face-(Not my words the Dame's). 'I am not beautiful, but I wouldn't look any other way.'
'My hands are my face!'
(1959)
Edith's beautiful jewelry achieved its own fame- she penned articles about them, along with her clothes, for Harper's Bazaar (Feb 1939, Precious Stones and Metals), My Clothes and I, (Harper's Bazaar October 1959 & The Observer, May 1959). 'I feel undressed without my rings. These aquamarines I love, but I’ve got a beautiful topaz like a sunflower--and when I’ve worn these too much I feel it’s being neglected….I’ve got red and green and black amber bracelets, and a ring I call tiger into grape. Its yellow, veined with blue and red, but when it snows it turns blue.' In "Precious Stones and Metals,Harper's Bazaar (London), Edith recommends mixing semi-precious and precious stones 'to revive the rich an variegated palette of ancient jewelry...'
Debra adds, the tiger into grape stone she is describing could be ametrine a cross between citrine and amethyst- both are quartz and could be the same crystal, or an alexandrite.
One of the many portraits of Edith Sitwell painted by Pavel Tchelitchew. Edith and Pavel began a deep & complicated friendship- she his muse and his champion. Edith wrote a friend that she was 'frightfully pleased,' with the Sibyl portrait. Tchelitchew's biographer says the artist wanted 'to pay a signal tribute to Edith Sitwell.' Edith wears no rings in the portrait-instead- a monumental brooch that appears to be weighing down her very simple dress.
the Sibyl portrait, 1937
Dame Edith seldom completed an interview without referring to her huge aquamarine rings( why not?)
from the 1959 article My Clothes and I -"She is wearing four enormous chunks of Aquamarine on her famous hands and her nails were enameled a deep brown red. Her plain black satin dress was cut with a low U neck, and the brooch pinned there was a Blue stone set in engraved gold that her brother Osbert brought her from China."
"I take very great care of my hands and put cream on them--Peggy Sage and other things." edith sitwell-
Edith Sitwell,by Norman Parkinson, 1939
Edith wears a Queen Anne bracelet and ring of pearls and mauve pink topaz in the portrait
Horst photographed Edith in 1948 for Vogue in New York. Here-along with her aquamarines-Edith wears two massive brooches. Horst says “Edith Sitwell wore extravagant clothes and Jewels; usually the clothes did not fit at all they just hung. She did it exactly her own way and got away with it.” "She was considered an Improbable and anachronistic fashion icon frequently photographed bristling with gigantic aquamarine rings-- at least two to a finger, and plastered with vast brooches of semi-precious stones" (from Verdura: the life work of a master jeweler, by Patricia Corbett)
The Brooches-from the Chinese Box- likely were a gift from Osbert, Edith's brother, brought back from a 1934 trip to China. Debra adds- the Chines box seems to be mountings in gold or silver gilt on white jade. The stones look like rubies, sapphires, jades, and cats-eyes (chrysoberyl).
massive brooches
nestled in the Chinese box
Edith with Osbert in 1948
an ankle ornament of traditional silverwork, Yemen
Debra adds- the jewelry Dame Edith is wearing (above) looks ethnic, the bracelets could be from India or Yemen. The necklace looks like a belt. She must have been very large boned, to be able to wear two rings on one finger, and those bracelets were originally ankle bracelets for much smaller women .The necklace (belt) looks Malaysian.
Edith photographed by Jane Brown
from My Clothes and I
from My Clothes and I
The Brown photograph accompanied Edith's Observer article. According to Edith the necklace became known as her 'Aztec' necklace. She writes-
' This gold collar was made for me by an American woman called Millicent Rogers. She was one of my greatest friends, though I only met her once. She sent it to me, and the British Museum kept it four days and thought it was pre-Columban[sic], undoubtedly from the tomb of an Inca-though they couldn't make out how the gold could be stiffened in a way that wasn't in existence in those days. But I have to be careful of the clanking when I am reciting and don't often wear it for that.'
Debra adds, Millicent Rogers may have had Fulco di Verdura put the necklace together for Dame Edith, because it has been attributed to him in Victoria Glendinning’s book.(Edith Sitwell A Unicorn Among Lions, Weidenfeld and Nicolson,1981, London.) Glendinning also mentions that Dame Edith wore “ The Aztec” collar to a nearly disastrous reading at the Edinburgh Festival in August of 1959. It was reported that the necklace made so much noise, and combined with a malfunctioning microphone made it practically impossible for the audience the hear her. This must be the reason she mentions the noise issue in the interview in Harper's Bazaar. She was after all very concerned about her image, and her (readings) performances.
a 1962 Beaton photograph
The 1959 Harper's Bazaar cover likely honoured Edith on her 75th birthday with the peacock eye cover. This is the issue with Edith's article- My Clothes and I. There is not a dedication referencing the cover -but it can not be a coincidence; as a child Edith had befriended a peacock on the grounds of her family estate Renishaw. (see the little augury post here)
( cover image-Diamonds and Rhubarb)
Cecil Beaton photographed the great lady in dramatically studied poses only a woman of confidence could evoke in
1962. The Dame adorned with her rings and brooches- and feathers.
.
Watching the River Flow
You know those amazing National Geographic poster-sized maps that explain everything about Ethnoliguistic Africa or The Ocean Floor? This map of the Colorado River Basin by 5W Infographics, is a recent addition to the NG online map collection.
What’s so cool about this map, is that overlaying the river, is a chart, where the width at any point corresponds to the amount of flow at that point in the river—the wide band shows averages for wet years, the narrower darker blue band shows the amount for dry years. You will also find out, in incredible detail, everything else you might want to know about this river basin that supplies more water than any other river basin in the world. The maps are all zoomable and high-res, but sometimes take a bit of time to render.
Yet another incredible resource from National Geographic.
Here are a few others from the collection
1987 Pinnipeds Around the World Map, 1964 Shakespeare's Britain Map, The Universe Map
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