The Girl in the Red Coat

At lunchtime today I was flicking through the August 2012 issue of Australian Vogue, and was most astonished when I turned the page and was confronted by a replica of my vintage red cashmere coat! It was featured in a Planinsek ad. As soon as I returned to my desk I went to the website and tracked it down to the wraps and shawls category.

Planinsek ad from Australian Vogue, August 2012; click through to siteIt was not a coat after all, but it does bear a remarkable similarity to mine. My swing coat came from Germany; is longer and closes with buttons; and is actually 50% wool and 50% cashmere. But there was another distinct difference: the price. I paid only $300 for mine, and the Planinsek wrap is $1,695. Still this wrap is almost as dramatic as my coat, and it would certainly keep you very warm and cosy in winter.

If you choose to purchase and wear it, particularly at Christmastime, be prepared for all sorts of insidious comparisons to the jolly fat man.

You can see a full shot of my coat here.

I Am Not Amuse.d

Story by Wendy Squires, from Melbourne’s The Age newspaper, Nov 3, 2012I am thankful that I have never hankered to be a fashion model. I have always been much more interested in what goes on behind the camera, or in art direction or styling – the ideas. I’ve never wanted to personify someone else’s vision, or be someone else’s muse. Not only because that is such a transient status, and the daunting pressure to meet high expectations, but because it is so much more interesting to be the creator.

Of course here on SNAP I can exorcise any latent fantasies and personify my own stories … but the truth is I can’t afford to be paying models every other day anyway. I’m the one who’s available, on call any time.

Today I was clearing out some household stuff that had overstayed its welcome by a year or three – crockery I never used, bits and bobs in the storage room in the garage that had not seen the light of day for years – and I was wrapping the glassware in old newspapers I had cadged from MTC’s Publicity department last Friday.

Not very attractive working conditions, are they? Body fur? Stinky breath?

This story caught my eye, and I paused in my wrapping of a set of rose-coloured wine glasses to read it. Of course I had heard all the horror stories about the modelling industry, but this tale told by journalist/editor/author Wendy Squires early this month was an eye-opener. It was simply appalling to read how magazine staff spoke about the models on a casting call as though they were sub-human. There are too many horrifying paragraphs to quote, but here are a few:

I was open-mouthed with admiration and awe. Never had I seen girls so stunning, so flawless, so otherworldly exquisite. Then, I heard the comments from the team as each girl left. “Did you see her ankles?” “She was just awful. Who sent her?” … “Did you see what she was wearing? Was it Katies?” “All I know is I hatie.” “Fat.” “Haggard.” “Old.” Giggles all round.

Catwalk models are different to photographic models … their hips stick out like bony door handles, … you could grate cheese on their collarbones and how many are covered in a downy layer of hair – nature’s way of keeping the body warm when it’s starved.

I told her how I watched models ingest nothing but black coffee and Marlboros for days on end; how their breath smelt and they would routinely faint.

Not very attractive working conditions, are they? Body fur? Stinky breath? Of course there is a glamorous side to modelling, but there is much more to life than looking merely beautiful. Plus you get to eat.

Click the image for a larger version to read. 

Cherry-Ripe

Lots of favourite things here: red, red and white together, stripes, hats … and cherries. Who doesn’t love a cherry motif? There would be just something wrong with you if you could reject a cherry. Retro, yet never out of fashion. There are a zillion cherry earrings on Etsy, and I wonder how many lipsticks have been named after cherries? And let’s not forget black forest cake.

I found this cute little cherry printed tank in a charity shop. You can’t really see it in the photos, but the dark shading on the cherry print has been done in an enlarged halftone (that is the dot pattern you see on all printed material). That little detail is just the cherry on top.

I remembered a quaint old poem I read somewhere once upon a time about a girl so deliciously sweet Thomas Campion compared her to a bunch of cherries. Here it is:

Cherry-Ripe

There is a garden in her face 
  Where roses and white lilies blow; 
A heavenly paradise is that place, 
  Wherein all pleasant fruits do flow: 
  There cherries grow which none may buy 
  Till ‘Cherry-ripe’ themselves do cry. 

Those cherries fairly do enclose 
  Of orient pearl a double row, 
Which when her lovely laughter shows, 
  They look like rose-buds fill’d with snow; 
  Yet them nor peer nor prince can buy 
  Till ‘Cherry-ripe’ themselves do cry. 

Her eyes like angels watch them still; 
  Her brows like bended bows do stand, 
Threat’ning with piercing frowns to kill 
  All that attempt with eye or hand 
  Those sacred cherries to come nigh, 
  Till ‘Cherry-ripe’ themselves do cry.

There are a couple of extra images on the SNAP Facebook page – it was hard to decide which background I liked best.

Haunted Hallowe’en

Hallowe’en is not a holiday that is hugely celebrated in Australia, and I actually have no tradition of celebrating it. I know a few people here or there that hold parties, but it seems a pretty rare occurrence. So while I had not planned any costume, I did have some pictures up my sleeve that were rather haunting.

From time to time I like to play with the multiple exposure effect on my camera. There is actually a function to merge two existing photos for a similar effect, but I much prefer the random results of the real double exposure – the shutter is set to go off in a single burst, so I have to move quickly. After a few attempts I have more of a sense of the timing and can plan for the results a little better.

A while back I did a photoshoot of an Italian widow, and at the end took a series of multiple exposures. The house is one I photographed last year in Sintra, Portugal. Here are a few ghostly images that I was quite happy with.

Hope your Halloewe’en is hilarious, not harrowing!

The original double exposure used in the image aboveDouble exposure + addition of third image in Photoshop Single exposureDouble exposureTwo single exposures merged in Photoshop

Thoroughly Modern Filly

CELEBRATING THE ROARING TWENTIES IN A SPECIAL SERIES

Clara Bow modelling as the well-dressed flapper

Those of us who love vintage clothing and shop for it today will probably have a fair idea of how much garments cost according to their age and quality. But have we thought about how much these same clothes cost back in the day? 

Here is a breakdown of a well-dressed flapper’s ensemble, and what a pretty penny it cost: $346.50 to be exact. Doesn’t sound like much to us, does it? That silk faille coat trimmed in ermine fur on collar and cuffs cost $150 then; today it would fetch many hundreds of dollars or even thousands, depending upon where you did your shopping. On The Frock, a 1920s black silk evening cape in excellent condition fetches $1150 – which is really not that much compared with the cost of a similar modern designer coat, let alone haute couture. (Do browse through The Frock website – there are some truly amazing pieces there.)

… That puts the cost of Clara’s outfit at nearly three months’ wages!

To give you some perspective, the average yearly income of the American worker (across all industries) in the 1920s was $1407. That puts the cost of Clara’s outfit at nearly three months’ wages! Back then, a new-fangled electric washing machine cost $85; a bicycle $43, and a dozen eggs set you back just 78¢.

So Mr Pierce is not joking when he writes: ‘As a matter of fact, it costs about as much to dress a modern girl in a genuinely modish flapper outfit as it does to equip completely a reasonably well-furnished three-room flat.’

Image from Australian Grazia magazine, Oct 22, 2012; photographed by Harold David and styled by Virginia Van Heythuysen

Above is my comparison with the well-dressed flapper: a well-dressed filly, taken from the current issue of Australian Grazia magazine, in a fashion editorial aimed at young ladies attending the Spring Racing Carnival. The total cost of this outfit is $4,684.96. That’s not including the cost of the Chanel makeup used in the shoot. Suddenly I can visualise the scoffing exclamations an average 1920s flapper lass must have made when she flipped through the magazine that page was torn from.

Suddenly I can visualise the scoffing exclamations an average 1920s flapper lass must have made when she flipped through the magazine …

The average Australian female salary (excluding overtime) is around $61,760 – and that before tax. Take that out, and this outfit costs nearly two months’ wages. A dozen free-range organic eggs, by the way, (which is probably what that flapper girl was paying 78¢ for) costs around $8. 

So, beautiful clothes have become a little cheaper, and ‘quite nice’ clothes from high street brands are within the reach of most of us, but it’s worth remembering that there are still some true vintage bargains to be had out there. And I’m not talking about The Frock prices – I mean thrift shops where you could strike gold and find an amazing garment for $5 or $10. Thrifting, op-shopping, flea-market shopping, whatever you call it – that’s thoroughly modern, and thoroughly kind to the earth.