Eye-dentity -- Francoise Hardy

For as long as I have had hair, I have had straight across bangs. It has become a part of my identity that I can't even imagine living without (especially considering how pale my forehead is after 21 years of being covered up). Naturally because of my own comfort with the look of straight bangs, I tend to be drawn to/identify with style icons who also share this same look. While contemporary hair heroes come and go with the fickle wind of changing fads and the weird invention of hair extentions, there was a time when a hairstyle was a statement.



1960's French film and ye-ye music icon Francoise Hardy is one of my favorite examples of the straight hair & straight bang combo. Always stylish and elegant, Hardy mixed in the influential circles of British rock royalty (by being personal friends with The Rolling Stones), and the American folk scene (seen as a muse for Dylan in the early stages of his career).



Beyond her ability to rekindle my love affair with my own haircut, I love Francoise because of her ability to look great with minimal amounts of makeup or styling. Of course she was dressed beautifully (always looking sharp with straight leg pants, pull over sweaters, button up shirts, and successfully being able to pull off a leather jacket), but she never looked artificial. Mixing class with comfortability is something that I strive to achieve in the same vein of Hardy's classic looks.



Clean lines, solid colors, and minimalism is something that Hardy embodies beyond her garment choices. In a decade defined by large dark eyes and multiple layers of eye shadow and fake eyelashes, Hardy's fresh face and less is more approach to eyeliner allows her to continue to be considered worthy of fashion and style worship even while mod / sixties fashion seems to flux in and out of date (it seems to recycle every three years if you really pay attention).


Sometimes the times gets the best of all of us...

Crazy For You

Today is yet another beautiful day in Los Angeles. Therefore I will be blasting Best Coast and singing along to all of Crazy For You at the top of my lungs pretty much all day.



 Also, this video pretty much sums up my entire life and everything I love.

HOLD. UP.

STOP WHATEVER YOU ARE DOING BECAUSE YOU NEED TO BUY THESE SHOES.

Furry, fun AND flirty? And they come in black? I'll take both! (Even though there is clearly a severe lack of patent leather here.)

Pair these babies with one of their vag-grazing "dresses" and you've got yourself a SATURDAY NIGHT.

Thank you Forever 21, for continuing to make the baby prostitute look so accessible.

Reel Talk: Sunset Blvd

"All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up." Haven't you always wondered where that iconic phrase came from? Billy Wilder's Sunset Boulevard is the answer to that question (remember it for a pub quiz), but it should be remembered for so much more than that. Aesthetically stunning with the help of classic film noir cinematography, Sunset Blvd tells the story of a faded silent film superstar who can't grasp the harsh realities of talkies and the world that comes with it.



While I do believe that the film relies an awful lot on the use of voice over which is never a good sign, the sheer acting capability of Gloria Swanson as Norma Desmond is so captivating that you never want the film to end. This is an especially powerful statement considering how creepy this film is from the beginning. The film starts with the audience meeting Joe Gillis (William Holden) who is running from debt collectors as an out of work screenwriter in the tough world of Hollywood. Yes, I too thought that I saw where it was going and how boring it was going to be, but I was completely wrong. In his car chase and resulting flat tire, Gillis wanders into an old Hollywood estate up on Sunset which seems to be falling apart. Desmond mistakes him for another visitor she is expecting and brings him up to help pick out the specifics for a monkey coffin. I really wish that I could tell you that this was the weirdest that it gets...

What follows is almost two hours of a terrible man playing with the heart of an addled old woman who acts as the original cougar/sugar mama, while he basically does nothing with his life. To be fair without giving anything away, Norma Desmond's actions would make me want to cut and run as well. Beyond the central love and loss story of Desmond and Gillis, Sunset Blvd brilliantly shows the agonizing climb back to stardom that Norma Desmond so desperately desires through personal meetings with C.B. DeMille and a scary realistic montage of trying to maintain ageless beauty. In the end we watch all the pieces of both Gillis' and Desmond's lives fall apart with chills running up and down our spines.



While psycho-thrillers about fame and the mental price you pay for it continue to be churned out (a la Black Swan), I think that it is necessary that we look back and admire the original film about pathetic egos and horrifying actions; it absolutely holds up to this day.

Overheard: Written Edition

As I was changing in the womens gym bathroom for yoga this afternoon I noticed all of the graffiti on the stall.
One choice conversation:

Girl one: My ex-boyfriend is moving back to my old hometown. If I ever see him over break it's going to be awful. I wish someone would throw a pie in his face
Girl two: Where he at? I've got a pie. lemme at him!
Girl three: You are both idiots, why waste a perfectly good pie on a jerk!

I think the man vs. pie dilemma really is something to ponder over.

In Good Company

[8:01:53 PM] Julia: did you know if you click next blog
[8:02:03 PM] Julia: it is a blog about transformers
[8:02:05 PM] Bailey: hahahah
[8:02:10 PM] Julia: their "civil war"
[8:02:28 PM] Julia: http://thatsjustprime.blogspot.com/?expref=next-blog
[8:02:50 PM] Bailey: HAHA OMG

Decor Roar: Postcard Obsession

I may have or may not mentioned that I am in my senior year of College on this blog, either way it is true. With this tidbit of information people usually ask me the usual questions of my impending doom as I step off of the ivory tower cliff and plunge into the real world: Any thoughts about a career? (yes), know where you are going to end up? (no), grad school next? (don't think so yet), are you excited? (yes).

While I do agree that all of these questions are important and should be answered with some real thought at some point in the next two months (yikes), I am much more inclined and excited to plan and think about my first real apartment. It's not that I'm incredibly materialistic, its more that I like planning rooms out and always have; just ask my father about how many times I reorganized my room over the last 21 years (double yikes).
I am a planner and naturally don't want to have to go out and buy things to put up in a rush, I'd rather have a collection of things that represent me on my walls. The BP Life Collection sure does have a nice ring to it...

While many of my friends can tell you that I am wizard when it comes to picking stuff up on the side of the road, I have been branching out from the "trash collection" aspect of my hypothetical apartment and moving into the framing zone. My most recent obsession is framing postcards. I believe that postcards, especially from the 40s, 50s, and 60s, have an artistic value and spark that a picture or poster does not. They are small which makes them intimate, but they are also of very specific things and very cheap allowing you to collect to your heart's content!

On a whim in an independent bookstore a couple of weeks ago I purchased Postcards from Penguin which is a collection of as they put it "One Hundred Book Covers in One Box". I highly recommend it because the cover designs for Penguin books are classic and they are harder cardstock which makes them much sturdier.

Of course there were many covers for books I haven't read and some that I probably will never read, but that doesn't mean that they aren't beautiful little artifacts on their own. My plan is to frame a few on their own, but to also group certain covers together that are related and frame them as tryptics. I love walls with different sized pieces on the walls and using postcards in the way that you want to really makes an impact on the way you look at your home.
Some examples of the Penguin postcards:




Naturally my walls aren't just going to be covered in book postcards because that would be boring! It is great to also check out thrift stores and warehouse sales such as the Oakland White Elephant Sale in order to find old gems and pay cents for memories and fun decor. Some of the postcards had writing on them from being sent, others were just blank. It's especially great when you find a postcard of a place that you have been:


Amsterdam Centraal Station


The White House (Written on the back-- Dear Nonnie, Thanks to your money I have been having a wonderful time. The buildings are beautiful and I have been taking lots of pictures. When I get home I will show you them. Love, Butch (1963))

Others are just so fun as little painted images that you can't turn them away:

Bern.Zeitglockenturm.


In the end though, it is the postcards that you pick up yourself that make the most impact. If you can find older postcards at your desired destination pay the extra quarter or 50p and use them to create a home in your house or tiny apartment...like I assume I will be in because I will be an unemployed bum.