direct sunlight

Today's weather called for shorts. And for that, I am thankful.

Scan from American Denim: A New Folk Art by Peter Beagle, 1975.
Found on: Wary Meyers

judging a book by its cover

La Canne de Jaspe, Pierre Legrain, 1925


Carmen, Rose Adler, 1928


Trois Contes Cruels, Rose Adler, 1928


Quelques fables de la Fontaine, Pierre Legrain, 1928


Lediadé me de Flore, Pierre Legrain, 1925

Book bindings from the Art Deco period via Grabink

creeeak

Tell me, Mr. Wind-Up Bird, do you ever get obsessed with these delusions? Not to boast or anything, but I do. All the time. Sometimes, when they're really bad, I'll spend the whole workday wrapped up in a cloud of delusion. Of course, I'm just performing these simple operations, so it doesn't get in the way of my work, but the other girls sometimes give me strange looks. Or maybe I say crazy things to myself out loud. I hate that, but it doesn't do any good to try and fight it. When a delusion wants to come, it comes, like a period. And you can't just meet it at the front door and say, "Sorry, I'm busy today, try me later."

...

Please don't worry about me. I'm good at doing all kinds of things even when I'm in the middle of a delusion.

From The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami

poring over

For the past two Tuesdays, I've spent a good amount of time in two different used bookstores and walked away with these books.


From The Book Cellar at the Webster Library: Robert Wilson: The theater of images and Man Ray in Fashion


From Mast Bookshop: The Makioka Sisters and The Key, both by Junichirō Tanizaki.

Becoming engrossed in a book is one of the simplest of pleasures that I'm getting back in touch with. I'm used to seeing information fly before my eyes, whether holding down the space bar on Google Reader or scrolling to the bottom of the article to get the summarizing paragraph. Setting aside a few hours to sit in a coffee shop or lie in the park just to read a book seems absurd to me when I really think about it. No more just reading on the bus or subway!

knot even

The plaiting section of this book excites me. I'm definitely going to be incorporating some of the techniques into my bracelets. Oh, and I'm completely redoing+remaking the chain bracelet I made earlier. I don't like that the way I have to finish it ruins the whole look and is something I would never attempt again. So instead of giving Sasha my janky prototype, I'm going back to square one and banging something incredible out. Still need to find some cheap thick ass gangster chains and more leather and cotton cord.

What Color Are You

This simple, yet stunning, book was in the waiting room at my mom's workplace. I can't remember the title or author of the book, but it's from Hawaii and was published in the eighties.

P.S. Please vote for my scarecrow! #9 The Seasonal Store

Use Your Local Libraries!

Does anyone still use their local libraries?

When I was in elementary and middle school we would go to the library almost every weekend and spend hours in there. We'd just sit in the air conditioned library reading and discovering while my mom read the paper. When we left, our canvas bag would be filled with all sorts of books. Aahh, the days when I would finish a novel in just one day and my mom read bedtime stories (she's really good at doing all the voices!).

Those days were also when you would actually have to go in the library to do research from books. While I never used card catalogs before, I do remember using those ancient computers with the black screen and green words. Internet was a new thing and really slow (ugh, dial up!!), so books were always your first choice. Now, I can do all my research on the internet and just e-mail my professors my paper. Oh, and I can't forget about online classes and e-books! I've taken a few online classes and liked it because I didn't have to travel to class and I could take tests from my bed! E-books are pretty rad too because they're cheaper and save trees. But, uh, this is pretty much all about making things easier and more convenient for us lazy humans, myself included. But that's a whole nother thing I don't want to delve into.

So in Hawai'i, our libraries are struggling. Maybe it's more of a nostalgic thing, but I love local libraries and fully support what they do. I mean, come on, you get to borrow books for free and rent DVDs for ONE freaking dollar! And their DVDs are new and old, mainstream and independent. I rent DVDs from the library once a week and always find something interesting!

And as that Honolulu Advertiser article pointed out, what better time to make use of your library (and your tax dollars) then now! Everyone's broke, in need of entertainment, and hot from the nasty muggy weather/vog. The Hawai'i state library should really use this incentive to draw more people in. I miss their old "We are Hawaiian, use your library!" commercials. I tried searching on YouTube for them, but got nothing. They were so cute, trust me.

Okay, now go to your library and borrow something! :)

Photo from Nylon Magazine via fotodecadent

Reading Material

Stop looking at all the clothes and let your brain refocus on some words! :)

The Shape of Things to Come - WSJ Magazine
Roland Mouret, maker of beautifully tailored dresses, talks about the direction of the fashion industry. I enjoyed reading his insights and found myself agreeing with a lot of what he had to say. Highly recommended!

The Sun Never Sets on the Runway - Eric Wilson, NY Times
I knew there were other fashion weeks besides the big four (NY, London, Milan, Paris), but I had no idea that there was at least one every month. But I guess when you do start to think about it, it would make sense that there were so many fashion weeks going on because it's such a great way for a smaller city or country to showcase local talent and establish themselves in the fashion world. Can you imagine a few years (or even next year) when other fashion weeks become more established and buyers and editors have to start going to more to keep up? Eek, fashion week is every week!

Asian Models Blog
This blog is keeping an unofficial count on the number of Asian models making an appearance during fashion week. They also frequently post editorials and advertisements featuring Asian models.