Spring! *boing*

For a while now, I've been obsessed with cherry blossoms and plum blossoms.  I don't know why.  They aren't particularly large or showy, and they don't have very bright colors or a superb scent.  However, there is just something about the delicate shapes of the blossoms and the way they completely blanket  the trees with white, or the way they fill the air with a subtle sense of spring that gets to me.  The trees have been in bloom for a while now, but the past week has been rainy and cloudy, so I wasn't able to get decent pictures until now.

We usually have a Cherry Blossom Festival every year...maybe this year I missed it?  But for me, this truly means the arrival of spring...along with daffodils!

 Unfortunately for me, I'm leaving next week for a week-long school trip to a cold, wet, and snowy place...right when Jean Paul Gaultier for Target launches.  Oh well.

On a different note, all the Fashion Weeks seem to be against my schedule!  Just when I'm getting over a bout of SAD, the fall/winter collections come out!  However, this piece from Iodice's RTW collection is certainly ready for spring:

Wear this to somewhere warm...

Photo taken by John Aquino, image from wwd.com
Have a nice week!

China Fashion Week S/S 2010

This is freakishly late, but a commenter on a different blog reminded me about it.  And hey, it's going to be spring soon right?  (As soon as the rain stops)

 

So pretty.  It reminds me of peasant dresses/video game warriors/computer language/rick rack.

 

Swiss cheese shoes!  I guess theoretically, someone could take a picture through these.  Shiny, disco ball tights too.

 A bird in your hair...or on your shoulder.  The hair is kind of reminiscent of Chanel.  I like the peasant, it reflects the culture of the country.

Pictures from http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au

Overall, from the pictures I've seen, the looks were all over the place, some Gothic, some modern Japanese influences, some very eclectic and modern avant-garde-think geometric accessories and paper clocks, some traditional Chinese dance-inspired.  It was interesting, and different from other countries' Fashion Weeks, including a cosmetic show and looks for that.

What country's Fashion Week are you most interested in?

Spam Alert

Okay, I'm wasting the precious readers' time by posting this, but this is just a little bit important.  I don't like the word verification on the comment box, because it takes a little time and effort to squint and turn your head sideways to try and read the letters.  But it's also amusing if you find a word you recognize, or an interesting scramble of one .  I think more people will comment if you don't have them give their username for email or have to type in the verification, but I've been getting spam on my blog.  A lot.  Especially since I'm getting more traffic than one reader per week (I hope). 

I hope this verification will stop the spammers from coming back, but if anyone doesn't like the new verification box, let me know and I will change it back.

Just comment on this post.

For Fashion Skeptics

If you don't really understand/know/care about why fashion is such a prevalent theme in blogs and media or culture now, you should read this by good morning midnight: why fashion is worth blogging about.

Now, good night-after hyperventilating for five minutes.  I have work to do tomorrow.

Jean Paul Gaultier for Target

What is with these Target collections?!  One after another, I'm getting confused...Jean Paul Gaultier for Target is coming out on March 7, exactly when I leave for a school trip for 5 days (bad timing!).  However, Target was right to do so many collections with these designers.  Even though they may not translate directly from the designers' minds to the lower-end mass market, they still imbue some wonderful designs to the broke peoplez (like me).  I think this collection has some fun prints and some nicely structured pieces to last through the not-quite-spring phase. 

And, I still need a dress.  Preferably something semi-formal, for spring or summer.  Any ideas?

The Looks for Jean Paul Gaultier for Target can be found here: Fabsugar

Alexander McQueen.

I just saw the news...I still can't believe it.  Alexander McQueen was a name not just known by fashion journalists or bloggers.  He, in such a short period of time, influenced our culture.  Who doesn't know about his crazy shoes?  Even though I didn't know much about his work, I knew that his designs were always unique and kept with his idea of what he wanted to embody in his collections.  People like me look at his designs, and can find a deep sense of art and inspiration in them.  How did he do that?  Such a brilliant mind will be missed by the world and his family.  RIP, Lee Alexander McQueen.

Dead Poets Society (1989)

Okay, enough angsting for me.  I need to get back on track, with all this stuff to do.  Anyway, after you start a huge angst-fest, you usually regret acting so nasty afterward.  I decided to be more proactive about what I can do, and stop being so reactive to what people want me to be.  (I think that was from a self-help book.  Wow, I'm hopeless.)  Onward!

In class recently, we watched Dead Poets Society.  The main theme of the movie got through my mind and into the rant I did above, so I thought it would be good to post some of my thoughts on the movie.

Set in 1959, Welton Academy is a strict and traditionalist boarding school where many of the new students feel oppressed by the teachers' standards and the way the school is cut off from contemporary America.  Todd Anderson, a new student who's brother was a valedictorian, is shy and insecure.  Neil Perry is an active student, but with an authoritarian father who has planned every step of his future.  Charlie, Richard, and others form with Todd and Neil a close-knit group.
Compared with the other teachers however, John Keating the new English teacher is unusual and unconventional.  He tells his students to be free thinkers, and "carpe diem" (seize the day).  He shows the students old pictures of former Welton students, in an effort to show that you should make the most of your life while you can.  His teachings leave a great effect on his students, and many of them later do things to Carpe diem.

 

Mr. Keating and his class

When Neil looks up Keating's records, he finds that Keating was once part of the Dead Poets Society, a group of students who went to the Old Indian's Cave and read poetry.  Neil is inspired, and gets Todd nad the rest of his friend to join him to revive the Society.
Following this is a length of scenes featuring Mr. Keating's lessons and the boys' adventures.  However, soon things take an unexpected sorrowful turn, and brings Todd and the others a different view of their ideas.

I felt that this movie, though old, expresses to you in a way that allows the characters' feelings and emotions that leaves you thinking at the end.  The scenery was perfect for the story, and Keating's humorous lines really lightened the mood.  It didn't feel rushed, except the way they ended the movie.  (I though the last shot was awkward.)  The theme of this movie was very strong, and truely showed what it meant to "seize the day".

Picture and Summary (well, as a guideline) from faculty.frostburg.edu/phil/forum/deadpoetsalt