Wednesday, December 16, 2009

A definition

Romanticism is the primitive, the untutored, it is youth, life, the exuberant sense of life of the natural man, but it is also pallor, fever, disease, decadence, the maladie de siècle, La Belle Dame Sans Merci, the Dance of Death, indeed Death itself. It is Shelley's dome of many-coloured glass, and it is also his white radiance of eternity. It is the confused teeming fullness and richness of life, Fülle des Lebens, inexhaustible multiplicity, turbulence, violence, conflict, chaos, but also it is peace, oneness with the great `I Am', harmony with the natural order, the music of the spheres, dissolution in the eternal all-containing spirit. It is the strange, the exotic, the grotesque, the mysterious, the supernatural, ruins, moonlight, enchanted castles, hunting horns, elves, giants, griffins, falling water, the old mill on the Floss, darkness and the powers of darkness, phantoms, vampires, nameless terror, the irrational, the unutterable. Also it is the familiar, the sense of one's unique tradition, joy in the smiling aspect of everyday nature, and the accustomed sights and sounds of contented, simple, rural folk — the sane and happy wisdom of rosy-checked sons of the soil. It is the ancient, the historic, it is Gothic cathedrals, mists of antiquity, ancient roots and the old order with its unanalysable qualities, its profound but inexpressible loyalties, the impalpable, the imponderable. Also it is the pursuit of novelty, revolutionary change, concern with the fleeting present, desire to live in the moment, rejection of knowledge, past and future, the pastoral idyll of happy innocence, joy in the passing instant, a sense of timelessness. It is nostalgia, it is reverie, it is intoxicating dreams, it is sweet melancholy and bitter melancholy, solitude, the sufferings of exile, the sense of alienation, roaming in remote places, especially the East, and in remote times, especially the Middle Ages. But also it is happy co-operation in a common creative effort, the sense of forming part of a Church, a class, a party, a tradition, a great and all-containing symmetrical hierarchy, knights and retainers, the ranks of the Church, organic social ties, mystic unity, one faith, one land, one blood, `la terre et les morts', as Barrès said, the great society of the dead and the living and the yet unborn.

*This is a part of Isaiah Berlin's first chapter in the book "The Roots of Romanticism". Although it refers to the historical definition of Romanticism as a movement, I just thought it is beautifully written, and somehow fits in this little blog.

Please sir, may I have some more?


You can't beat Repetto's ballet flats. I want them in every color.

Thursday, November 26, 2009

Mille Feuilles














Have a great rest of the week guys!
(click on the photos for credits)

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Friday, November 13, 2009

A BUN







I always try to do the perfectly messed bun, but years of ballet training have left me incapable of messing the perfectly neat bun.
Here are cute and helpful instructions from experience parisienne, via a cup of jo to all of those who struggle, like me, to look like they have just rolled out of bed... hmmm

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Night Drive























(Matteo Ferrari via knight cat; ?;Marie Claire Italy; Balmain via KC; tigerlace; via sabino;?;Backyard Bill; ?; ?; Aurora;)
Sadly I lost many of my credits and links to these gorgeous photos. If you might know the credits for them, please let me know.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Fall/Winter Wishlist















United Bamboo Fishtail Parka; A.P.C. Wedge Corkie; A.P.C. Trench; Maison Martin Margiela Ligne 22Short Boot with Suede Heel; Opening Ceremony Suede Lattice Wedge;Daphne & Vera Correll Knit Mittens; (all from totokaelo)

Most of all I just wish it will be fall already.

Sunday, October 18, 2009



A new and exciting band, with a very 70's ABBA feel to it. I love their kitschy video and their so awful-that-it's-kinda-pretty dresses. They remind me of the vintage dress I just bought when I was in Cambridge Mass, where I imagine a Harvard professor's wife wore it in the seventies for a cocktail party (or more likely a swingers party...)

Monday, October 12, 2009

Into the Wild



































Some of the beautiful places I've been to this past month.
I feel like I've missed on all of the exciting things that happened on fashion weeks. I must start catching up!