Philip Jackson

A while ago I discovered these amazing sculptures that just took my breath away! It turned out they were made by a man named Philip Jackson, and here I will show you my favorites. He does small scale work too, but it was his big, monumental works that caught my eye. They all look so mysterious, almost intimidating, behind their masks or hoods. I wouldn't want to meet one of them in a garden in the middle of the night - if I didn't already knew it was there - in that case I wouldn't mind having a few of them in my own backyard...

Reading Chaucer. Height 180 cm/71''

Guided Missal. Height 185 cm/73''

Dangerous Liaison. Height 176 cm/79''

Moonstruck. Height 198 cm/78''

The Sentinels. Height 364 cm/143''

The Magistrate. Height 185 cm/87''

Pas de Basque. Height 109 cm/75''

The Dogerina's Progress. Hight 213 cm/84''

Cloister Conspiracy. Height 185 cm/73''

Chanting Cimarosa. Height 185 cm/73''

Sleeping Beauty

The second character in my sister's fairy tale photo series is now done! The first one was Snow White. This time it's Sleeping Beauty's turn. If you consider how you look after sleeping one night, you can imagine what you would look like after sleeping 100 years! You probably wouldn't be a sleeping "beauty" anymore. When I did the makeup I tried make myself look bleak, with dark circles around my eyes. It looked pretty "good" in the mirror, but after seeing the pictures I realized I should have gone a bit wilder with the black eye shadow...We found a good location up on the attic in my ant's cottage out in the country. The chaise lounge and the spinning wheel were already up there, so we just have to move everything around, arrange the spiderweb, scatter some dried roses, and powder me with flour - to resemble dust. Then we started shooting. The dress I'm wearing is the one I call the "Ghost Dress". I wrote about it in an earlier post.

40s evacuation shoot

The photographer John Paul Bichard is currently working on a series of photos based on the evacuation of civilians during WWII - which his grandparents, amongst many others, had to go through. For these shoots he needs people dressed in 40s clothes to participate. Since I both loved the idea behind the shoot, vintage clothes, standing in front of a camera, and what I've seen of Bichard's earlier work, I of course wanted to be part of this photographed story.

I put on a dress I've made myself, after a pattern from the 40s.

If you're being evacuated, a hat and a coat are obligatory! The coat is actually from the 70s, but looks like it could have been made in the 40s or 50s, so I thought it fit the occasion. It used to belong to my mother. Now it belongs to me!!! The hat is 40s though.

We gathered in Gamla Stan (The Old Town) in Stockholm, where we then spent the day walking back and forth amongst the alleys, trying not to trip on the cobble stones, stopping now and then when the photographer found a good location.

There are a lot of tourists in Gamla Stan. Today I think our little group was the main attraction. I wonder how many people have pictures of five girls dressed in 40s clothes after today?...

It was a lovely day, and after a few hours John said he was satisfied with what he had in his camera and went home. At that time all of us girls started getting real withdrawal symptoms from not having drunk coffee for too long, so we went to Statsmissionen and got high on caffeine again!

The Inflatable Bra

Hello my dear readers! I'm back from NYC, and while waiting to get most of the pictures from that little trip from my sister, I will instead show you The Inflatable Bra! In the 50's the ideal measurements was when the waist was 10'' (24,5 cm) smaller than the breast measurement. This is obviously not normal, and needed some help to be achieved. The waist could be cinched in with a corsett. But what did you do if you didn't want to fill your bra with tissues? Well, I guess you could have used The Inflatable Bra!

Très Secrèt bra, about 1952

In each cup lies a small plastic pouch that can be blown up to the wanted size with the help of the straw that comes with it.

Très Secrèt

Frederick's of Hollywood Holiday, 1960

It's from these inflatable boob enhancers that the urban legend about the exploding bra stems. Like these two for example:

The national sales manager for an inflatable bra - created for the girls that nature had short-changed - apparently was flying from Los Angeles to San Francisco with his most popular model. She was, of course, loyally wearing one of the boss's products. It turned out that the plane had a nonpressurized cabin, and the higher they flew the more inflated the brassiere became. It was so nerve-racking for the other passengers that she finally had to retreat to the pilot's compartment. She finished the flight there, gradually deflating.

Or:

The Associated Press reported about a flight where a sudden depressurization in the cabin caused a bosomy stewardess's inflatable bra to begin expanding to, oh, about size 46, and climbing. Then a female passenger, seeing the stewardess's plight, handed her a hairpin that she used to stab herself repeatedly in the chest. A male passenger, mistaking the action for attempted hara-kiri, rushed forth and wrestled the stewardess to the floor. It took a while to restore order on the plane.

True or not? Hm...

To be on the safe side I think I will refrain from wearing an inflatable bra when I fly. Instead I might chose to wear the one in the add below, and stuff it with money instead!

I wonder if I could get my iPhone in there too?!...

Go west, life is peaceful there...Or is it?

Last year I celebrated my birthday - August 16th - on a plane to Los Angeles. This year I will celebrate my birthday on a plane to New York. If these birthday celebrations becomes tradition, I will probably be broke before I turn 36...

Packing is a bit difficult - as always. What should I wear? What shoes should I bring? Does it get chilly in the evenings? Etc, etc, etc...Will try to get Saga out of there before I close it though.

This is my first time in The Big Apple. I love apple pie though, so I imagine I'll love this city too! I heard the economy in the USA isn't the best right now, so I'm bringing my sister, Christine, and a friend named Sara with me. We will do all we can to help get this country back on track! Shopping is good for the economy you know. I just fear it might go a little bit out of hand...

And then there are a few other things to consider...

Will we get lost in this big city?

Is this how the restaurants work? Should I, in that case, bring a parachute?

Should I refrain from wearing anything red?

Who is this dove?

All this, my dear readers, means that I will be gone from this blog for a little while. But I'll be back!

Big Beat Loves Daisy Dapper Night

Last night I went to see a fashion show arranged by the 50s/pin-up shop Daisy Dapper. For this occasion I decided to wear a skirt I had sewn myself, after a pattern from the 50s. I just love the print on it! I even made a dress of the same fabric, but where the roses go in a black and grey scale.

While sipping some wine I then watched several babes enter the catwalk, all dressed in clothes from Daisy Dapper. There were bathing suits, beachwear and lovely dresses.

The models, and to the far right, miss Daisy Dapper herself!

After the fashion show Ragged Bones rocked the stage!

With me at the show I had my partner in crime, Fanny, looking gorgeous - as always - in a vintage dress. Here she is with Tifa DeLeone who was one of the models. Later this lovely lady also showed us the best way to remove your clothes, in a burlesque performance.

Full moon

Full moon time again! Hoping for a clear sky when I go home tonight after the Big Beat Loves Daisy Dapper party. I know that at least I will be searching the sky for that marvelous silvery globe...

...While listening to this...

Could it get more serene than that?...

Tomorrow!

I will be there. Hope to see ya'll there too!

Things I want right now

Fall hasn't arrived yet, but the trends have already been set. Looking through a few designers creations for this upcoming dark season I of course found a few things I want, like, right now!!!

Gucci

Look at that petrol green and the purple together! Sweet...

Miu Miu

Who wouldn't want a change purse in huge format?!!!

John Galliano

It's difficult to see in the picture, but the hat has a veil.

Jean Paul Gaultier

Wouldn't this be perfect to lounge around at home in!

Jean Paul Gaultier

At a burlesque party...

Christian Dior 

Maybe a little bit cold for the swedish fall, but still...

Louis Vuitton

Black fish scales. And the boots!!!!

Alexander McQueen

The McQueen is dead. Long live the McQueen...

Marc Jacobs

Lots of cool dots in this collection!

Victor & Rolf

If I go to Hell when I die. Or...

Victor & Rolf

...If I go to Heaven.

Zac Posen

This man knows how to dress the female body...

Zac Posen

...and if it gets a bit chilly, this jacket would go perfect with the dress above!

Lobra

This is a new swedish brand who's blog I just found. It's the shoes in the middle my feet want to walk around in right now...