http://parismorningsnewyorknights.blogspot.com/2015/12/an-ode-to-san-francisco.html Wild Young Minds: February 2012

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Names North Sea Jazz 2012

Something I can look forward to while studying for my exams.. What I will do a lot I guess up and until May. But thank god for an incredible summer to come, which includes my third trip to North Sea. This year I planned to go all 3 days. Why not, right? It's not like I have too much money (I will never have) but music is so worth it.

Anyway, the first names are a-ma-zing and I'm gonna tell you right now which names I'm talking about.

.................................

Van the Man!

Macy Gray

Janelle Monae

Tony Bennett
You may know him from the duet 'Body and Soul' with Amy Winehouse or 'The Lady is a Tramp' (both covers of course) with Lady Gaga.

Gregory Porter
Great beginning soul singer, love his ballad 'Be good'.

And many, many more names to come.

Monday, February 27, 2012

''In order to be irreplaceable one must always be different.''

A few years ago I bought a biography of Coco Chanel but I never actually made time to read it. I have this thing with books - certain books I've got to have and I read all the books that are in my shelve. So it'll probably take a few years 'till I've read them all! And when I have, I've probably bought many, many more again.

Anyway, the person Coco Chanel always intrigued me a lot. She came off very strong and severe (I even heard she had contact with the nazis) but what she made was like, pure elegance.

The biography learned me a lot more about her. How she never told anyone about her youth and family (she was very poor), how there was only one man she had ever really loved - that was Boy Capel, and how he died in a car accident, how she had contact with German soldiers in the second world war indeed, how she disliked gays though she was believed to have feelings for her (female) models herself as well.

Coco Chanel was a woman of different sides. She could be cold as ice, to her friends and family, to her models (who had to stand straight, while she perfectionized the dresses they wore, for hours - she never painted her designs, she always made them on the body) and to herself as well. No real marriage for her, she died alone and famous.

During her life she had some very interesting friendships, among who Winston Churchill, Igor Stravinsky (that was her love interest at one moment in time) and the Duke of Westminster.

And what to say about the clothes she made? I think every girl would wish to have a real Chanel item in their closet. A dress, a bag, a lipstick or a perfume. Coco always looked define. Simple (perhaps too simple for a few among us) but always classy. And very extraordinary at that time. She wore boys' clothes, while women usely looked very feminine. But Coco wore hats, wide pantalons and (fake!) jewelry.

Her most succesful period (though that's hard to say, cause nowadays the house of Chanel is still very succesful) was during the Roaring Twenties. Those were the days, my friend ;) Really, women were standing up for theirselves (as Coco said: 'The most courageous act is still to think for yourself. Aloud.') and they were called flappers. They drank, they smoked, they listened to jazz and they wore Chanel. Of course.

There's no woman in fashion who is as controversial as Chanel was. Some things she said... But that couldn't be different with such an amazing fashion brand. The film 'Coco avant Chanel' - with a fabulous Audrey Tautou as Coco - confirmed my thoughts about her. A poor woman who made her way to the top. So much power and strength, which live on in the heritage she left us all. For a few it is real and touchable but for the most of us it's desirable - extremely desirable that is. Just like Coco wanted to be herself.

Sunday, February 26, 2012

Day dreaming and I'm thinking of you

I want-to be what he wants
When he wants it and whenever he needs it
And when he's lonesome and feelin' love starved
I'll be there to feed it
I'm lovin him a little bit more each day
Turns me right on when I hear him say
Hey, baby, let's get away,
Let's go somewhere far

---------Aretha Franklin, 'Day Dreaming'

Monday, February 20, 2012

Saturday, February 18, 2012

Opening 'Blij dat ik Rij' 125 years of car advertising

A few months ago I posted about the exhibition my dad was working on.
Now, about 2 months and a lot of hard work later, the result was finally there.
'Blij dat ik Rij' was going to open. It was really great to see all those advertisements in real, in the middle of the Louwman Museum (a museum in Den Haag which has an incredible amount of old cars - from about 1850 until now - but I'll show you a few later).



My dad speeched at the opening, next to the director of the museum and the director of the ANWB. They had a fabulous opening act planned. First we saw an old short movie about the Ford Edsel that featured stars like Frank Sinatra, Louis Armstrong and Bill Crosby. But something went wrong, the commercial played twice and what was supposed to happen, didn't happen. Later on we heard that a Ford Edsel was supposed to come up on the main stage with the model you see on the billboard and adds of the exhibition, in it.



She was an old lady - sorry, woman of noble birth. Yes, she belonged to the nobility. And she had once stayed at Frank Sinatra's place. Awesome, right?

After the opening we all got a glass of champagne and lots of snacks. As I had checked all my dad's texts, I already knew most of what I was going to see. But still, it was nice to walk over the exhibition and make photos. Apparently, there were some very important people in advertising, but I only knew the one I didn't photograph: Maarten Spanjer.








Later on, my brother, my dad's nephew and me went upstairs to see the car collection of the museum. Really marvellous but as I already said, I'll show you more later.


When we left, I grabbed a goodie bag of course, with the catalogue of 'Blij dat ik Rij' in it. Why did I want one so desperately? Because my name was in it! In the list of people who were thanked. One step closer to fame ;)

Friday, February 17, 2012

WISHLIST


1) Urban Outfitters
2) Net-a-porter.com
3) Miss selfridge
4) Chanel
5) Topshop
6) Zara
7) Topshop
8) Net-a-porter.com