Private Lives

"I don’t know how the rest of my story will go. 

I don’t know who I’ll be in it. 

All I know is I feel like this is just the beginning."

from "The Private Lives of Pippa Lee" 

The last few weekends have been a combination of movies, reading and, well, church. My heart feels good about being open about my faith but in my worldly mind I know it sounds a bit uncool too. As the character Mitchell thought to himself in Jeffrey Eugenides "The Marriage Plot":  "The worst thing about religion was religious people". 
But I'd rather not tie back my faith to religion so much as viewing it as a living breathing church that heals and houses me and keeps me on the right road. 


So, getting back to my other loves... movies and books... I've swayed from The Private Lives of Pippa Lee (the movie version of the novel by Rebecca Miller) to "Cosmos, Life, and Liturgy in a Greek Orthodox Village" (...I know, what a title!). 

There is something about the word "cosmos" that completely drags me in. It's a word of the world but it's also an internal word.  It's a reminder of nature and spirit - that there is time ticking in the background and that I must remember to look up and out. It's that little whisper in the trees and the "dock dock" of the tennis ball I used to whack repeatedly against the garage wall when I was young and present - a sound like the tick tock of the clock. 

The temperature's dropped, the pinot's poured...

The temperatures dropped, the pinot’s poured and the heater is emitting that faint burning smell that wafts from it when it hasn’t been used for a year.

So I am thinking "sweaters" as I sit here in my Uggs, American Apparel leggings and vintage “Ski-Vail” wind-cheater. (“Cheating the Wind” - sounds like a line from a John Denver song...suitably wintery). Aside from the itchiness that sometimes ensues from pure wool, a sweater is the ultimate “comfort” fashion item.

I have fond memories of a Kookai jumper picked up in Covent Garden, London, in 1994. It was quite collegiate looking – raspberry red with a diamond pattern and deep v-neck. I remember walking home one evening from my waitressing job at the Famous 3 Kings pub, past the kebab shop (which was rumoured to have been frequented by Simon Lebon) to my share flat with the red door and soggy floors and I just felt on top of the world. I was poor but full of hope.

Although my wardrobe was sparse one of my roommates commented that I was one of the best-dressed backpackers she’d ever met! In conjunction with my sweater I also purchased black wool pants and a blazer from Kookai (remember it was quite très chic in the mid nineties!). I would pair this with a Versace-style patterned silk scarf from a northern Italian street stall tied at my neck. It all sounds pretty diabolical now but I felt quite smart at the time catching the tube to Saville Rowe where I worked as a receptionist for a modelling agency. I spent most of the day measuring people's height and showing them the door. The owner occasionally called me a “miserable little trollop” as I bounded up the stairs each morning. (I’ve since checked the definition of “trollop” and can confirm that I was neither vulgar nor disreputable!).

I'll sign off with a favourite photo of Marilyn Monroe in her Mexican sweater taken by George Barris in 1962 on Santa Monica Beach.

image from http://missingmarilyn.tumblr.com/

In contrast, the beautiful Daria Werbowy modeled a modern take on this for the Stefanel Fall 2010 campaign, shot by Mario Testino:

More sweater love is on the way - I'm thinking Jenny Kee eighties knits and Lisa Bonet buffalo girl style cardigans!

Advanced Style Film: trailer

"I am dressed up for the theatre of my life everyday"... 
"There is no substitute for life experience"...


I just saw this trailer on Tavi Gevinson's blog "Style Rookie". I feel inspired and am ready to plan my outfit for tomorrow, even though I have no plans! It's nice to feel light and joyous and creative and I hope I still feel like that when I am ninety!


I hope you enjoy watching it:)