Sunday , June 13, 2010
We're Obsessed: Tina Chow, The Darjeeling Limited + life-as-diorama, Wiener Werkstatte
Tina Chow
I was going to do a Random Picture Entry on Tina Chow, but what the heck -- I'll do it now, because this is nogoodforme.com and it's like the Wild West out here in We're Obsessedville. Lately I am obsessed with pictures of Tina Chow, the model and wife of restauranteur Michael Chow, and a famed fashionista and jewelry designer in her own right. Tina Chow actually was the first "professional fashion person" I ever became aware of: I used to page through Vogue at the public library as a pre-teen (we were pre-teens back then, not tweens) and see pictures of her in the society pages hanging out with the Warhol crowd or twirling on some balcony wearing an amazing Fortuny dress. I took heart in the fact of an Asian woman who wasn't a doctor, a violinist or really conventional in any way. (Sadly, Tina Chow has the distinction of being the first woman in the media I was aware of who also died of AIDS, in 1992.)
I'll never possess Tina's androgynous yet soigne quality, nor will I ever be able to assemble the collection of couture she became famous for. (It was the subject of a book, Flair, which, if you ever stumble upon it in some dusty bookstore, you should get it -- it's a beautiful book, very hard to find now, and worth a minor fortune.) My aesthetic is pretty much the opposite of Tina's, except for the pared-down quality -- and I really do think she was a huge, if unconscious, influence on the tide of minimalism that began to sweep fashion after her death. Tina's style -- and her exquisite jewelry, now collector's items -- emphasized a purity of design, but in such a quiet, unique, non-haughty way. She was famous for her sleek, cropped hair, for her day uniform of Kenzo black pants and men's cardigans, and for her penchant for wearing exquisite couture at night. I look at pictures and I oddly miss her, because compared to the over-styled swans that leap out of fashion bible pages these days, there's no one who is of the same graceful, calm tenor. A proverbial breath of fresh air, sadly and strangely missed. (Kat)
The Darjeeling Limited + trying to turn my apartment into a whimsical diorama
I've watched The Darjeeling Limited three times in the past week. To be fair, one time was while doing my photo for Beautifully Worn and another was while cleaning my house, but during the first viewing I was completely tuned in (and even drank darjeeling tea throughout! Because I'm such a nerd!). So, I've now seen The Darjeeling Limited a total of five times in my life, and I'm still not sure if I get the point. But I also don't really care if I don't get the point: It's so pretty! I want my whole life to look like The Darjeeling Limited. I wish I could paint the outside of my house exactly like the exterior of the train.
My favorite moment remains that little traincar-as-diorama sequence toward the end, like when you see fresh-from-the-bath Natalie Portman drinking a Bloody Mary in her Hotel Chevalier robe and Adrien Brody's character's wife hugely pregnant and surrounded by her little claypots and all that. And since I can't really paint the outside of my house exactly like the exterior of the train, I've been experimenting in making the inside slightly diorama-esque, specifically by filling it with lots of whimsical little objects (many of which I've purchased at Cost Plus, aka the most magical place on Earth). Such objects include packages of Korovka tea biscuits (chosen for the pretty, floral-wreath-wearing cow on the front), spherical candle holders made of lavender-tinted disco-ball glass, the owl-adorned bottles of Pacifica's new Avalon Juniper perfume (scent = grapefruity heaven, by the way), butterfly string lights, red wine with jack-o-lanterns on the label, and those HomArt boxes of giant matches. This could potentially clash with my recent longing to declutter my whole world like some kind of Real Simple maniac zombie, but I'm sure we'll make it all work out.
P.S. Although I will never ever be a character in a Wes Anderson movie - I am not an achingly serene female, so therefore Wes would have no use for me - I probably relate more to Francis Whitman (Owen!) than any other Wes Anderson character ever. I am so the type to schedule something like "be awed at natural beauty" from 11 a.m. to 11:25 a.m. in my day planner.
P.P.S. Marissa (I think) was the one to point out the diorama-ness of the traincar bit - I didn't come up with the clever wording of that on my own. Go gaze at her adorable blog. (Liz)
Arts & Crafts by the Wiener Werkstatte
There are a lot of things I Love and Like and think Rule or Are Cool. These are the things I normally write about in our "We're Obsessed" column, which is fine: we're a facetious bunch, we are! But beyond a) the Beatles, b) the Ultimate Fashion Challenge, c) doing everything in my earthly power to prevent winter from happening this year, and d) attempting to progress as a human being, I am obsessed with nothing. This is most likely a good thing, and my Wednesday-specific inclination to yell at myself for not being more obsessed with things should probably just serve at proof that Obsession D is a smart one.
There is, however, a small but diverse group of Thises and Thats in my life that fall somewhere in between Obsessions and Loves. This elite coterie of maxxximum fabulosity includes (but is not limited to): 1) wordplay; 2) scrappiness; 3) Ray Davies; 4) Jeremy Piven as Ari Gold; 5) "Psychotic Reaction" by Count Five; 6) nogoodforme.com; 7) some other things, and 8) the art and design of the Vienna Secession/, particularly that of the Wiener Werkstatte (which, not surprisingly, means "Vienna Workshop"). I am not one to get hung up on the details; if you want to know a precise history of, say, the cultural/political climate in turn of the century Austria, feel free to peruse the Wikipedia entries for the VS and the WW that I linked to in the paragraph above. This is nogoodforme.com; in the nogoodforme.com-iverse, you get hot pix and bon mots.
The work of the Wiener Werkstatte is, in my opinion, perfect. It is the "Hey Jude" of design. After the Wiener Werkstatte crafted all of their gorgeous wares, the need for designers should have been eradicated from existence, and, one hundred years later, we would all be drinking tea and eating dinner off our cheapo plastic Moser reproductions. Wait- that doesn't sound very good at all! I suppose this matter is more subjective than I just made it out to be. The industrial/graphic design produced by the Vienna Secession (I call it "V-sec" for short) is the apex of design for me- it so flawlessly nails the balance between function and aesthetic beauty that it ends up positioning aesthetic beauty as a valid function, if that makes any sense.
The images seen below are taken from Yearning for Beauty: The Wiener Werkstatte and the Stoclet House, one of the few possessions I'd think to grab if my house was burning down, along with I Me Mine by George Harrison and, I don't know, some shirts or pants or something. When I see these things, I think to myself, "They made it for me!" which I suppose means I really love it. One day I will live in my haunted ivy-covered mansion in Savannah, Georgia eating Klassy Grown-Up Food like squash risotto or whatever-the-hell with my Hoffmann cutlery set with fabric flowers in my hair 'neath the muted golden light of my Josef Frank lamp. Which is highly preferable to buying V-sec knock-offs at Wal-Mart, that's for diggity-damn sure.
Clockwise from upper left: Pearl bag by Maria Likarz-Straub, 1919; fabric flowers by Anna Schmedes, 1920 (Whoa! I think they're selling these at J.Crew this season!);
"Traumland" silk bag by Dagobert Peche, 1919; vase and jardiniere by Hilde Jesser, 1921; coffee service by Dagobert Peche, 1923; selection from a 106-piece cutlery set by Josef Hoffmann; 1904-1908 (FEATURING ALMOST MY EXACT INITIALS!)
Clockwise from upper left: Book binding by Josef Hoffmann, 1917; rocket ship-esque vases by Bertold Loffler; 1906; dress made of "Falte" fabric by Dagobert Peche; 1923 (can I wear this to my wedding please?); lamp by Josef Frank; 1919 (I've never seen such a good-humoured lamp before!!) (Laura Jane)
Tags: Ari Gold, Cost Plus, dioramas, I hate winter, Laura loves The Beatles, obsessions, Owen Wilson, Pacifica, The Kinks, Tina Chow, Vienna Secession, Wes Anderson, Wiener Werkstatte
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2 Comments!!
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I have that book "Der Preis der Schönheit" right next to me on my shelf. i went to the 100 years of WW exhibition and it was glorious. i especially liked Erna Kopriva's ceramics. so fun!
man, vienna in the 1900-1920s was something else (at least i think so!)
By melanie on September 25, 2008 1:33 PM
People deserve good life time and loans or just short term loan can make it much better. Because people's freedom is grounded on money state.
By DonaldsonKerry19 on June 10, 2010 10:22 PM