Princess 4/11/12 Princess 4/11/12

The Secret is Out

The secret is out
three ugly hours
and so-called leisure
can be devil’s horns on the inside.
Obsessions shine bright
perfectly sultry and seductive –
everyone’s more beautiful
free.

Princess 2/11/12 Princess 2/11/12

Postcards from Paris

Amelia-Jane, another graphic designer colleague from work, has been on holiday in the south of France for the past three weeks. Not that anyone in the department is jealous or anything like that. She’s due back on Monday, but her postcards have beaten her by a mere few days.

She sent a lenticular postcard designed by Marion Billet of Dragonart to the marketing department, which is super cute, and also a special 1950s Paris edition for me and the other graphic designer who was filling in for her. The photograph is by the famous Robert Doisneau, and was taken for Vogue in June 1951. The cover was reproduced in a new book on vintage Vogue covers published in 2009.

Ah, Paris, je t’aime.

Princess 1/11/12 Princess 1/11/12

Remember Movember

Piano Concerto in A Minor, Edvard Grieg, Columbia Masterworks, 1945Poor old November gets a bad rap from writers born in the northern hemisphere. Alexander Pushkin, in Eugene Onegin, writes: A tedious season they await/Who hear November at the gate.

It’s certainly a windy picture that’s been chosen for my November calendar page. We’ve had a very windy October here in Melbourne – we’re hoping for some improvement as we near to summer. I like the notion here though, sailing away on the breeze of a piano concerto (although let’s hope it doesn’t bring as much hayfever as October has). Or, even better, dancing away the blues with some boogie-woogie.

Boogie Woogie, Various, Columbia Masterworks, 1942Happy November folks. Or, if you’re here in Australia, remember it’s Movember. (I can’t believe it’s not listed on the Wikipedia entry on November – how remiss.) I’m looking forward to seeing some enormous moustaches on the street this month.

Please to Remember Movember :: Big Up // Watts // No flash

Princess 31/10/12 Princess 31/10/12

A Fashionable Hallowe’en

OH! How much do I adore these vintage 1920s Hallowe’en costumes? So many of my favourite stripes and pompoms are featured. The designs are rather interesting with their Oriental flavour too – Chinoiserie was popular during the Art Deco period. I find them so much more interesting than modern costumes, which tend to be a bit garish for my taste. Amazingly, these 1920s costumes were intended to be made from crepe paper.

The illustrations, by Barbara Crews, are pretty delicious too. Now here is a party I would love to go to.

Illustrations found via RetroGypsy.

Princess 30/10/12 Princess 30/10/12

Knit Wit

Knitting gets a twenty-first century makeover when crafty folk take to wrapping the streets with their handiwork. No object, stationary or not, is too small or too large, from trees to cars to park benches – a yarn bomber will knit with wit.

We are so used to seeing graffiti sprayed on walls, we’ve become blasé, but we can’t do that with yarn bombing just yet. It’s not flat, it’s three-dimensional and that is what’s so wonderful about it. It’s surprising, makes us laugh with astonishment, and feel all warm and fuzzy on the inside to think that we can add to the beauty of nature – or beautify the ugliness of our urban environment – with something that is colourful yet harmless. Thank you all you crazy and dedicated knitters out there!