The concept is dead, and there's nothing death should interrupt.

There was a time when magazines filled with spring forecasts in January and full-on spring trends in March really irritated me. The idea of short floral dresses in the weather given, full-on snow and wind forecasts, was really alienating. And what spring? That belle who seems too busy and is always fashionably late, when in reality she's stuck in the traffic disabled by her cold cousin winter, only to arrive to the stage and realize that her sister summer has stolen the spotlight. It's so unfair.

Yet for me, it's starting to make sense. See, cousin winter is depressed right now. Her usually bright mind is filled with rain that she uses as her artificial tears and toughts. She's not going to be ok for a while. No one cares anyway, there are more exciting things to think about. Cruise. Resort. Pre-Fall. Spring. Summer. Autumn. Pre-Spring. You know. No one cares about the seasons anymore.

You can put a spring dress on a winter cover, it's all about connections. Show them primavera frocks on December issue, and not to mention the magazines are late. Fashion blogs and websites start the trend machine right away. But still, every time I'm amazed that even though it's all in pieces, there are still certain looks that are the it-thing for a while. For a season. Things that sell and people buy. It's kinda sick that chain stores can put out the trendy stuff way earlier than the houses who present them. And the chain stores, they have an impact that is certainly harder, better, faster, stronger.

Globalization. It's everywhere, two countries with McDonald's can't go on a war and things like that. People need more. To quote Herr Lagerfeld, it's like a "feast to a bulimic person". A global brand needs to do that. Climate change. I wrote the beginnings of this on New Years Eve. Later on, the snow surfaced, only to vanish, while "last" autumns and winters things are 50% OFF. We're supposed to start shopping for spring soon, and were supposed to get staying snow soon too. The weather is so different all over the world, when we have winter some people have summer, and it's changing. We are finally seeing some changes, Mr. Shakur. We have seen articles on how all the coat makers are pissed because the super warm coats don't sell no more. There will soon be no seasonal coats. Middle-season coat is the thing to covet in 2018.

I think the shops are in trouble. In future, their sales will start when the season starts. That's bad for business. Then again, the shops have fooled us for so long that it's safe to assume that they are smart people who can come up with new tricks. What I'm trying to say that fashion world's seasons are creating false needs because the real seasons don't follow. Atleast in Finland.

What's the solution? I don't know. Was there ever really a problem, or is it ever really coming? I don't know that either. It's all stranger than fiction.

NOTHING EVER REALLY TOUCHES ME

Some other pictures for my photography course, gone through photoshop. Jewellery by Aito Kopio, fabric done by me.

my love, we need, a cupboard of guns and sunday on speed

Querelle by Massimo Pamparana for Slurp magazine, issue 2.

I've decided to buy nada, nothing, ingenting for 30 days. I'm on day 3 now and so far, so good. I have some exeptions though...traffic card thing is vital, and this weekend I needed to buy some fruits (read: Ben&Jerry's sorbet...not buying again because it has some nasty ingredients though it tastes good, whoever eats ice cream these days..) too because my mom is somewhere. I think my friends are bit annoyed because I eat over them all the time.

But I'm cheating, in a good way. I have no money; how could I spend it anyways? My last pennies go to course fees and that damn communal traffic card, and I need to pay back what I owe to my friend. That leaves me to 90 cents plus. You can get a packet of raisins with that. I love raisins. I just run out of them.

I'm so scared what I'll miss from all the charity shops. You know that Lil'Wayne song I feel like dying? Charity shops are my illegal drugs. Without random pop-ins during lunch hour I wouldn't have found authentic Hermes scarf, without excessive rounds I wouldn't own a YSL knit, without going through the vinyls section I wouldn't have heard the music of Pet Shop Boys and so on. Only once the drugs are done, then I feel like dying, I feel like dying...

And you know what? I forgot to order Elle Milano's second single. Now it's sold out. I had the first one and everything. That's what you get without buying, unperfect collections. I feel like buying and if my dealer don't have no more, then I feel like dying...

now I need you to breathe because this is going to hurt, pretend these words mean something when we all know they don't.

Oh well. I've been shopping. And let me tell you, it's really hard to navigate in shopping centers and chain stores. Charitys and the like are much more accessible for me, in every way. Anyways, I've been shopping for 2008 - I actually don't want any new clothes before summer. I've bought tons of amazing things that I want to take the time to wear, like the YSL-knit, dark blue merino wool, from a charity that left me three euros poorer but in exchange fed my merino wool addiction. I love merino wool. I LOVE merino wool. The feeling...I love to touch merino wool. That's how I found the knit, just putting my hands into the pile and then my fingertips touched something that felt like home.

The favorite thing I got from sales is this Marimekko by Samu Jussi Koski skirt, 38 euros, originally 69 euros.

marimekko.com

This garment is something that also gives me a wonderful feeling but only in person. When I saw this print in pictures and the skirt and other pieces from the collection in editorials, it seemed like another whatever. But when I saw it in person it felt like dancing to Patrick Wolf and my Bernhard Willhelm shoes, which can't be a bad combination. So even when the skirt is too small, I had to get it. Nevermind if I don't ever fit into it but I can still adore it forever. I think it doesn't photograph that good - the material and the print come off as much more vibrant in person.

And then I also got this Marimekko by Ritva Falla skirt, it's black and drape-y and basically doubles my wardrobe. It was 58 euros, reduced from 105 euros.

marimekko.com

Oh and hey Marimekko, thanks for the amazing detailed pictures and everything. The only thing missing from this black shiz is a black background. Imagine that.

And I was about to say something clever...to change the world forever...I got two pairs of shoes too, from KappAhl, ha ha. One pair of basic glittery red ballet flats and then black jazz shoes, in a style that has been very hip for a long time. I wasn't going to get the latter, but when I went to get the glitter ones, I saw a really nice pair of shoes. The price was 7,95 , not that bad I guess, even for the crappy quality. Though they were really, really nice and comfortable (I've spent the last week on blister band-aids, don't ask), I still hesitated because a) everything about the shoes makes you wonder... b) the materials were synthetic, but then again I've got this wonderful new card. The I'm-a-vegan card. But my desicion was more shaped by the 50% off from the already reduced prices -signs, so I left with 7,95 euros out of my pocket. Yes, I'm a terrible person.

I also picked up some books I ordered from pre-sale. I'm about to start my own personal Jack Kerouac library and the first books are On The Road and Finnish translation of Lonesome Traveler. Besides the Kerouacs, I got Neil Macmillan's An A-Z Of Type Designers (Typography <3)and a book about Marja Suna's work and life.

And just to let you know, I'll be living on porridge and pasta for a month. That's sick, but...but...atleast I get to see Rufus Wainwright. I wonder if he's any good. Atleast my friends really like him....and my friends also like Antony C. from IMG, so they can't be wrong.

Notes to the future

Tyttö ja Kitara (The Girl and The Guitar), drawing by Ellen Thesleff, 1891
from fng.fi


Potrait of Querelle Jansen by Inez&Vinhood for V magazine circa 2004
from livejournal.com/community/querellejansen

When I first saw Finnish artist Ellen Thesleff's drawing Tyttö ja Kitara I felt home. I knew that face, or better still, that attitude. It reminded me of my favorite model Querelle, of course and I couldn't believe the year, 1891. The reason behind me stumbling into this drawing was that I was supposed to to a relief for my art class and I really liked Ellen Thesleff's self portraits but as I scrolled fng's pages, this was far more intresting. The relief (I'm not even sure what you call it in English..) never became true but the image was stuck in my head, right after images taken of Querelle Jansen, the dutch model who I have adored since I was 14. This portrait taken by the Dutch photographer duo Inez & Vinhood whom I'm also very fond of.

The attitude...you could pin it down by saying it's rock and roll. They ooze rebellousness and not giving a fuck, but in a very silent way...and that's called cool. With chin up and eyes looking down, they look confident than anything, ready to conquer the world if the world was only that much intresting. They have been photographed and drawn from the frog perspective which makes them look powerful and in charge. The frog perspective is usually the perspective that is used with males. Thesleff's choice to not draw the breasts of the model hints us that she doesn't see the model as a young woman but an invidual. The hair is left undone, pulled away from her face. Have the conventional roles abandoned her or has she abandoned the conventional roles? She certainly has abandoned the traditional way of life.

Querelle isn't a traditional model either, not the girl next door, even with a peroxide blonde hair. In a sea where the wave she was in was filled with alien-looking doll faces, she certainly stood out and made people notice her. Take Marc Jacobs for example, who got the inspiration for Louis Vuitton's s/s 05 show from Querelles ecletic style and eye make-up, the kind of liner-attack that Amy Winehouse is known of. He also used her in his advertisments, like Miuccia Prada used her for Miu Miu and Prada. The peroxide blonde hair, one of the first model-going-blondes, was a move that split opinions, like her looks in general. Just plain ugly or unique and intresting? Beautiful and sexy, I'd say. Atleast people who cast her to walk Versace tought so and people who cast models to L'Oreals salon hair-product advertisements certainly think that she sells, with the blonde hair of course, to the so called mainstream. Did the blonde hair take something away from her uniqueness? Certainly not. Hair colour can't change that. From quirky to sexy to school. Yes, this model will be a social worker and there is nothing uncool about that even when it's bit traditional. But to be honest, I secretly wish of her huge comeback.

His daughter is twenty years of snow falling
She's twenty years of strangers looking into each other's eyes
She's twenty years of clean
She never truly hated anyone or anything

She's a dying breed

SHE'S A DYING BREED

While you stare at your boots
And the words float out like holograms
And the words float out like holograms
And the words float out like holograms



They say, feel the waltz, feel the waltz
Come on, baby, baby, now feel the waltz



Feel the waltz, feel the waltz
Come on, baby, baby, now feel the waltz


BUT I GOT TO GET ME OUT OF HERE

This place is full of dirty old men
And the navigators with their mappy maps
And moldy heads and pissing on sugarcubes

.

I took these for school, and they have not gone trough photoshop yet, I just resized them and all are different size, heh. Anyways, I'm not sure did I even pick any of these, I wish I was that much better with camera settings...if I did I'm going to post the final versions, some of them might be made in black or white or whatever colours you use in art school.THAT'S MY FRIEND AND SHE IS THE BEST . After we were done, it started to snow fully....but like it wasn't cold before, you've got to give credit to her.

Place Pigalle, bring her away out of this temporary half holiday.

Okay so yesterday was happy. My mom woke me up and she had Vogue Italia for me, it had arrived on mail. Then I went through it and the travel section had something about Kuusamo and Lees ads featured Disco Ensemble and I was amused. This is Finland. Anyways, then I decided to go to the recycling center and I asked my friend to come with me. I got a call from the bookstore that said my Vogue Paris had arrived, with a calendar, happy happy happy. Before we went to pick it up we had great time in the recycling center. I took tons of clothes to try on and I think my friend got a little annoyed with me...anyways, I found wonderful things and I'm going to do a post later about my buys this holiday.

There was something that was even better than the clothes. The vinyls section!!! I found Francoise Hardy, Joan Baez, Elvis Presley, Manfred Mann...then something that you won't believe. Singing postcards! Ok not those dodgy ones....but really old postcards that can played like normal 7''!!! I bought one, it had Cole Porter. I'm so happy that mankind has come up with inventions like these! And that I could end my day listening to Hardy and reading Paris Vogue.

I love 2008 already! I've already decided what my major style buys are. New frames, Chanel ballerinas, vintage feather hairpiece and perfect leather jacket. Not those ugly ones that sold out from H&M. I also need some pants and black thights, I wore lot of grey tights in 2007 and they're all ripped out by now. My style icons for 2008 are all the Vogue Paris girls and other French belles like Clemence Poesy and Lou Doillon. When talking about decades, I'm going for the hip-hop from 80s and 90s and the swing from 20s and 30s.

In 2008 I want to visit London, Paris and Portland. Plus spend time in Sweden and Estonia. I want to study French! I'm really addicted to TV5Monde. They have all these amazing programs about Lesage and leather production where they show the ateliers of Massaro and how Hermes makes their bags and they show cute French movies where everything ends up ok. I need a French dictionary, and a Swedish version too, and Italian was easy compared to these, might take up that too. History! Economics! Social Politics! Happy 2008! Everyone, don't make your promises but just.....fulfill them?