Neon Yellow Crinoline

Last night I was lucky enough to see Mozart L'Opera Rock! It was tres fantastic.  Loved the costumes and makeup.  The sets were great.  I want to know all the words to the songs and dress in a neon yellow crinoline with the extra large hair piece shaped like a bow. 

Think Amadeus and Good Charlotte.  Enjoy the videos to the right.  I know I am:) 

Full stomach. Full cup.

Thanks to my friend Gabriella and her fantastic Auntie Maro for being such warm people. Auntie Mauro cooked for Nina, Gab, and myself in Gab's closet of a studio.  A home cooked meal and girl talk is always good for the soul especially if you get expert brassiere advice, too.  

Auntie has been working in lingerie for over 30+ years.  I told her my interest in designing lingerie and she gave me the biggest dilemma in lingerie retail.  She states and poses that "the products are designed for the young, not for the old, and who is willing to spend the money?" I reply, "the less young ladies?" "Of course," Auntie declares!   

She is also the top lady to go to in DC area (Nordstrom) for assistance with prosthetics--this field is soo fascinating and emotional.  She is a wonder of a woman providing the service of a licenced expert in brassiere prosthesis (health insurance paperwork included).  

I would like to design for the dilemma and would love to design for survivors.  

But I thought I was getting a pink nano!?!?

First, thanks Sherry for letting me use your camera.  Mine is having a bad couple of days--the lens won't retract.  Is there a camera god?  

So let's examine this ad.  

It makes perfect sense to associate a chicken tortilla wrap with the brilliant merchandising/marketing of Apple.  Much like the fantastic i-pod nano, this food product comes in bright color encasings.  And of course is titled with the ubiquitous i.  The fonts are an interesting choice.  I have yet to see an ad with floral Gumby avec serifs, .  What is this EXOTIC font, too?  Is it spray paint or chicken bone?  Are they also catering to girls with the color choice, or is there less of a gender specification in advertising in France?  Well whatever the advertising think tank behind this one, it must apart of Kernel's secret recipe for attracting the i-pod youth.  

It's a Beautiful Day in My Neighborhood

(this is my roomie Sherry, by the way:)

Like my new friend Natalia says"get off a metro stop before your own and walk around and people watch; get to know the color of your neighborhood."  I like doing this, well love doing this.  My friends here joke about doing the Stephanie and just get lost--they actually look up, opened mouth and look around when saying doing the Stephanie.    

Today my roomates and I took a different tangent and found simply, a SIMPLY.  Simply is much like a Safeway, but replacing American standard isles of Doritos with cheeses and desserts.  They even have a larger selection of wines than discount wine shops.  So, it is only fitting to have a large ballooned grapes to emphasize this fact.  Viva la vin and tacky displays!

Stravinsky Fountain

 My friend Natalia and I sat around the Stravinsky Fountain as we ate our lunch today. 

Prelle? No thanks, I just washed my hands.

Actually, Prelle is a 5th generation furnishing textile company.  Prelle started in 1752 and had has such patrons like Josephine Bonaparte, Versaille, and even the residences of the Vanderbilt's.  Our tour guide was super enthusiastic and gave a great history of loom/silk/textile industry of France.  Here is the link: Prelle  I really loved, loved, loved the works of Philippe De LaSalle.  Prelle had quite a few Marie Antoinette fabric archives, so Versaille ordered reproductions which currently outfit the palace.  (So if you watch Marie Antoinette, the movie by Sofia Coppola you will see Prelle fabrics). 

Politeness now. Friends, possibly later.

The lady to the left is Emilie Johnson, she is one of the teachers at my school.  She lead a discussion on cultural differences and stereotypes of what we have faced while living here, and added her her own personal experiences, too.  She is an American married to a Frenchman and has lived here for three years. 

Points made+ Interesting info for Americans living in Paris:

"culture is taking yourself out of context"

Food is always enjoyed with people.  For little kids "a la goutte" is snack time around 4

In Paris you may never have a driver's license

let people have their personal space, in the streets, on the metro as a sign of respect

Maybe the Americans are just that clean and the French are really not that unhygienic?

French conversations at parties involve politics and philosophy, they will deal later with your name and your blood type

they don't baby talk to their children

Our humor is very different--guess we like physical comedy more

The metro is not a place to meet people

Smile only when you are interested in someone

Lunch is at 1:00.  Dinner is at 9:00.  You should feel hunger in life!

check out Emilie's blog

Panoramic views of the Louvre

As I am studying for my quiz tomorrow, I looked up the paintings, one in which I showed you earlier and came across the cool panoramic view of the Louvre.  Check it out!!! Wonder what else you can see?!?  

click here!

Good Morning Brocante

A few from outside my kitchen window as I make coffee.

Broccoli, Brocante, Bibliotheque, Brancusi, Baubles

Groceries at the open-air market on Charonne by my apartment--a little less vivacious as some of the others, but did buy a Rhubard nectar.  

The Brocante is like an open-air flea market.  Great for antiques, but I was over having to bump my way for groceries, and now dirty dishes?  I did buy a tres jolie jade rose ring for five euro--need to work on my numbers so I can haggle!  This did provide an opportune time to sketch people for FAS.  

Pompidou center may get crowded with people but maintains a level of quite for getting work done:)

Had to check out at least one museum during the Heritage Festival: Brancusi.  The visual memory of Brancusi for art history slide tests made my eyes do a triple take--no, they don't look at all the same.  I forgot that he took photos and provided backdrops for his works (in addition to the years already spent in creation) to ensure the compleat compostion of his pieces.   

  

 Brancusi's works are so precise and emotive while looking flawless, but I forget the level of      difficulty.  I am jaded because I see intresting factory produced metals at Design Within Reach,    but truly nothing like Brancusi.  His works were innovative in the 20's and 30's and are still  breathtakingly remarkble today.  

I attended TMode, an exhibition for 90 designers and artists.  The works were good, but I think I saw more innovate works at the Maker Fair.  

okay so the Hotel de Ville was not on the alliteration list, but it was a pretty day:)

Basquiat+Wild Style= !

NE DANS LA RUE: GRAFFITI

This is walking towards the show





Inside 

Behind the building.  The snack shack transformed.

Can you even see the bathroom door?

They graffitied everything!

The show was fanstastic.  

I am a huge Basquiat fan and saw the largest 2D piece of his.  I did a quick drawing of it with my crayons on the back of tea carton flap.  I was only missing my white crayon to go over my mistakes.  I was a happy happy camper.  I sat down with the hip hop standoff from Wild Style

playing on my left and the Basquiat in front of me.  With my blue pointed flats dangling over the bench I felt like a little girl armed with my crayons ready to draw(observe/love).  

Not all of the show was graffiti in terms of spray paint, but mix media arts and stencils. 

Some of the artists to look up that I really liked: JonOne,West,Ghost,Wane,LADYPINK,Barry McGee (Sf artist--sis has some of his stuff:)&Evan Roth.

Jean Michel

Do you mind not blocking my view, it's for homework. Thanks.

On the 17th, Raena and I went to Louvre to sketch Venus de Milo for our Fashion Illustration class. Challenging.  We first plopped right down in front of Venus de Milo.  That worked for a little while, but found it difficult to have our view continually obstructed and our hands bumped; and we were told not to sit down--oops!  

We even had people taking photographs of us while we were sketching.  Somewhere there are photos of Venus de Milo and top design Parian students (us), next to a photo of a couple eating baguettes in their scrapbook of Paris 2009.  

We got three sketches done in about two and half hours.  Challenging on some many levels.  We also took the ever popular photo pose in front of the Venus de Milo.  

What to do, what to do?

This weekend is the European wide Heritage Culture Event!  In Paris alone, museums, government buildings, and other private and public cultural places of note are open to the public for libre(free).  But where do I want to go?  For sure I am going to the brocante, a flea market, and maybe to the open-air market for some groceries, but where, oh where to spend the rest of the day?  

   Culture 2009

Looking at the site for Paris activities, it looks like there will be music in the streets and masses out and about.  I would like to go to the Military Acadamie.  It only opens once a year to the public for viewing.  My french teacher noted that the line is two hours long.

Today I attended a tour given by my fantastic and dramatic History of Couture professor, Monsieur Constant, at the Musee Cognacq-Jay.  Besides learning about 18th c. fashions, Monsieur Constant spoke about the architecture.  The building has the oldest wooden(chestnut) ceilings in Paris.  The ceiling is actually made out of the hull of a ship--he claimed that this is where we get vaulted ceilings from.  

   musees.paris.fr

Will you take these topiaries home? Saw them on my home from the musee and couldn't help but love the sculpted foliage. Adori! as my friend Alisa would say

Croquis

It's official. I am a design student studying my craft in Paris.  Today for Fashion Illustration, we attended the Academie de la Grande Chaumiere to sketch a nude model.  The model looked like woman out of a Gauguin painting.  Sketching for three hours is exhausting but exhilarating! I was starving afterwords but did not feel like food was going to satisfy me--I am reminded of how easy it is to be feed by art and minimal food.  

My professor says that the studios have not changed since she was 11, and she is now 55.  The Academie was actually founded in 1904.  Curious to think of the other artists who have passed through those halls...http://www.grande-chaumiere.fr/page_ang/celebrites.html

You look better without a face

Encore d'art au metro

Scarves et Le Tour Eiffel

Yes, it is very French to wear scarves--they are everywhere.  I enjoy wearing scarves.  I like them as accents for a poor student like myself.  You can use a scarf to cover your head when it rains, as a blanket on the plane, and to stay warm in general. We do wear scarfs a lot in the states and I feel it has become a valued accent for street style in general.  My history of couture professor claims that it has been the custom to never leave the house in Paris without your scarf or an umbrella because the weather changes throughout the day from rain, to sunshine, or whatever in between.

Ici est le Tour Eiffel!!! This pic is from dancing saturday

night on a La Péniche.  The boat went once around the Seine and docked for the disco portion later in the evening.  The event was sponsored by Erasmus, a study abroad student group.  Super fun, lots of languages, and terrible dance music(--Britney Spears circa 2000, was not my idea of good dance music but everyone enjoyed it).  Also my fave, fave,fave Musée d'Orsay.

The Hunt for the Master!!!

This sweet lady got so excited for me to see and take pics of the Mayor of Paris. We chased through to follow the rock star, twice! I did eventually see the Master thanks to her.

This was a great way to say Bienvenue a Paris.  The event happens every year and people young and old come to have a good time and celebrate the harvest of this restaurant's wine grown from the grapes of the building.  The restaurant was only two blocks away from my apartment, so it felt like it was my neighborhood block party.  Everyone was so welcoming and nice.  Loved loved loved it!  I was smiles all day from the event.

ARe you sure u are a lady?

 

More pics from the from the Cite.

Forewarning you about the bathrooms.

This is what is behind those beautiful old ruins.

These famous design chairs might be in your price range?   

Pompidou, how I do love u

Studying at the Pompidou center was great.  I enjoyed the patient staff, the resources and the cafe with it's veranda for some fresh air (well with out the cig smoke).  

My friend Nathalia's History of Paris Architecture book had interesting translations.  

Today I bought my ticket to view the Graffiti Art Exhibit, for next Friday, and I can't help but think I am paying to see something that I can see everyday for free.   

Ugh. Do we have to go to the Louvre for homework?!?

Just kidding of course--LOve it!  For History of Couture, the homework was to compare and contrast certain styles of dress, colors, and atmosphere from a list of selected early French paintings. 

--(Portrait de Gabrielle d'Estrées et de la Duchesse de Villars)

Today I attended an orientation at Istituto Marangoni.  The school has three locations: Paris, Milan, and London.  If I were to master in fashion design, I would either attend London or Milan--Milan would be my choice.  The program is fantastic and prestigious and has top, top,top connections; we are talking Dolce, as in Dolce and Gabbana graduated from Marangoni.

  www.istitutomarangoni.com

After my orientation of the Paris branch IM, I went to Cite de L'Architecture & du Patrimoine.  I took in a free exhibit of LE GRAND PARI(S) Consultation internationale de recherche et développement--very cool.  Nicolas Sarkozy stated at his inauguration in 1997 that he wished for a "new comprehensive development project for Greater Paris," and the show exhibits what ten teams have come up with (citechaillot).  

I really enjoyed this exhibition because of the passion for solving the current problems affecting the city: space, housing, and commerce--just to name a few.  One architect wants to create a different area of centrality, something other than Les Halles which is "just a subway stop and a mall."  Different quotes from the architects: "building high rises amongst the ruins...cyberspace to real space...getting from A to B is complicated"(citechaillot).  Love that last one:)

http://www.citechaillot.fr/exposition/museum/museum_exhibitions.php?id=80

The really beneficial part of the exhibit are the copious displays of all the maps that the teams used to generate different points.  One map lit up with different streets and metro lines indicated by different colored capillaries, and then at the end a bunch purple A's illuminated indicating art locations:) (Beneficial to me.)    

I have been working on my design collection which will be inspired by maps.  But it was not just the street map that inspired me to chose this path, but maps that could indicate art locations, or bizarre locations of underage soldiers.  I got the message from the exhibit that maps are constellations.  I find this to be beautiful.  More of this map concept to come, but until then sit down with me at the cafe while we people watch and have a kir:)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBtE6zAyIkM