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Entries from February 2010
Postcard From California
Thrifted this week: '50s style black shawl-collar cardigan, '70s style cream shawl-collar sweater coat, oatmeal men's t-shirt style sweater, '70s Gucci navy logo-print, duffel-style purse; assorted lacy slips and things, including Christian Dior black silk men's pajamas; silver tea cup, records: Baby Doll soundtrack, Frank Sinatra; books: John Gregory Dunne's The Studio and Lesley Blanch's The Wilder Shores of Love. Provenance: Toluca Lake (LA), Joshua Tree, Palm Springs. Total: about $75, or a little less.
Postcard From California
Last night I invented the "stardust manicure" –– three coats of milky white with silver glitter on top. It shimmers like it should...
Coast-to-coast telegram
An urgent and utterly exquisite request from my sister, phoned-in & verbatim: "Look up Sunset Boulevard New Year's Eve images, it's her and a dude on a couch... if you happen to find a bracelet and think that's so Gloria Swanson, I need it. Rhinestone, Hollywood glamour; if you put five tennis bracelets together, that's what I want."
Postcard From California
Last night I sat on a rock & watched the sunset in Joshua Tree. It was magic. Been thrifting all over. And bowling, too. Currently/lately: poolside, making plans in the moment, playing What Would Ava Gardner Do? And doing it.
Previously at Lux Lotus: A Reason to Read "Love is Nothing".
That Thing You Do
The other night before bed I read Gloria Vanderbilt's "romance memoir," It Seemed Important at the Time. The best part by far is early on when she escapes from frosty Aunt Gertrude's Long Island estate and runs off to Hollywood. She shacks up with her ostracized mother, gets a fast wardrobe, dates Howard Hughes, has a one-night stand with Marlon Brando, and generally wreaks havoc while following her lone dream of becoming an actress. Eventually she has to come on "home," but always wonders what might have been. There's a lesson in there. About a billion. With that, I'm off on a little break, back the week after next. Xx, doves.
Grace Coddington in Person
Many facets of The September Issue, an enchanting documentary about one issue in the life of Vogue, shine, but none more so than Grace Coddington. It's sort of impossible not to fall in love with this Welsh country girl turned model turned creative director, who fights for art in the face of commerce and completely revamps Anna Wintour's image in my eyes. Anna created the position for Grace when she came to America and they make a charmingly natural team with all of the highs and lows one would expect from such a long and solid partnership. Grace will be appearing in person at Barnes & Noble, Union Square on February 25th with her Vogue colleague André Leon Talley
and The September Issue director R.J. Cutler. There aren't many people I would geek out over seeing in person, but she's one of them.
IMAGE: DEER DANA (shirt, $45).
Previously: Starting the Day.
Lux Lotus 'Round Midnight Poetry Hour
HEROINE BY EVE ALEXANDRA
sickle. Work, work, work. She has three sisters. At dusk she drinks tea.
From the silver belly of a samovar. In the dark she drinks vodka. She
takes a lover who smells of fresh meat and the pines. The hunt is on
him, like his tongue on the crest of her sex. Like the little forest of
white down on her breasts. On the nape of her neck. A hunger
grows. Grows inside her. Note: She is not hungry for him. He is a
symptom of that hunger. An empty cup she could keep replenishing. A
clue: bread crust, apple core, chicken bone. Wishbone. Knowing three
languages is a useless luxury in this town. A sort of unwanted
appendage. A sixth finger. She can’t remember the Italian for
window. She climbs the ceilings. The water spouts. She eats
strawberries, using her lips like a blind girl uses her fingers. Little
match girl. Little lamb. Little shoe. Black boot. Achoo. A little red
wine? Red Riding Hood. All the better to see you with. To read you
with, my dear. Follow. Over the river. Through the woods. To the sea.
Knees deep in the salty water. To the island of Crete. To Tunis. To
Florence. To Russia. To Moscow. Finally. Finally, you say, to Moscow.
She will arrive on that page. That splendid stage of trajectory. Of
destiny. Destination. She is splendid. Sexy. Oh baby. She is Little
Miss Adjective. She will wear her best black dress..."
[...Read the rest]
IMAGE: VOGUE PARIS.