Hard to understand.

"Lately i was sooo upset cos somebody finished this cereal my mom dhl-ed me
like i really really like this cereal called hyun mi o gok
and its like sugar free and my favourite favourite and i was really eating it slowly
cos i wanted it to last and i always hug the cereal box when i watch tv
cos i kinda feel like close to my mom when i do that
i came back from paris yesterday and it was totally FINISHED
and someone even put the box next to the trash can so i cant hug it now.

i was really sad so its making me feel bit depressed
i think its worse nowadays cos i really didnt miss home when i was like 13 and travelling,
but im still 17 and maybe some ppl think im old enough but really all these years
travelling and missing school and missing real home time is affecting me now
i dont have much memories from school cos i quited school when i was 15 going on 16
and i home schooled. but even when i was 13 i didnt really have friends my age
and i had like 3 friends from highschool and i still dont have friends my age.
it made me more mature but at the same time sometimes i feel sad and i just hope
i dont become like michael jackson and build neverland when im like 30 something
and be crazy and get plastic surgery and molest children.

so i put 80's music on and danced in my room
and it felt much better. i think im really easy going." (Photo and text - Daul Kim, april 2007).

The chaotic typing, the apparently innocent and comic self portraits, every little thing.... suddenly makes sense, but still... It's hard to understand. Like everyone who suffers from depression should do, I wish she had seeked help and fought the pain. Once it was Ruslana, now, it was Daul's turn. Sad events that remind me, these beautiful flawless girls whose pictures we see in glowy magazine pages are no more happier than us, than anyone.

Pretty Baby

Oh, the mid 1980s and the 1990s. If Claudia Schiffer was a teen these days, would she succeed in becoming Claudia? After all, we live in times where a model like Ali Michael might be considered "too fat to model"...

Photos: Claudia's first professional shoot.

Guinevere by Meisel + Westwood plastic shoes + cute animals charms + current dream coats

I'm in love with these Guinevere van Seenus images on the current edition of italian Vogue. Photographed by Steven Meisel, the american model with dutch roots does what she always did best, which is sensuality without a drop of vulgarity. Pay attention to the 1930s inspired sheer blue dress she wears in one of the pictures (the entire shot can be seen here). Read more on Guinevere on a previous post of mine.

Plastic Mary Janes by Vivienne Westwood

I don't really like the idea of wearing plastic shoes, not even if they have the signature of Westwood, though I did wore plastic shoes during my childhood in the 1980s, oh well. The british designer was in São Paulo yesterday for the launching of classic Mary Janes reproduction plus some other shoe design. She said she's always wanted to work with plastic, but never accomplished it, and only recently in Brazil she found the right technology to work with the material. In the words of its own creator, these shoes are "modern, possess quality and above all, are democratic". The shoes will be available at brazilian stores in march, and in july in the rest of the world, including Westwood own stores. More interesting than buying those shoes though, is attending the "Vivienne Westwood Shoes - 1973-2006" exhibition, that takes place during the current SP Fashion Week, in São Paulo. The exhibition includes 147 shoes, including those infamous platforms that made Naomi Campbell fall down in the middle of the catwalk in the 1990s.

Cute animal jewelry

Last sunday at a museum I saw this girl all in black wearing a huge golden necklace with a quite noticeable bear pendant on. Grizzly bears are so cute, and even cuter are teddy bears pendant charms. I have a little silvered one I never wear (I might start to soon), but I'd also love to have something of the sort:

I'm going through this weird phase of liking cute and kitsch things, even while decorating my place, I don't know what's going on with me, maybe after one year in Denmark, the whole kitsch house like thing has brainwashed me somehow. Well, it's only a little, so it must be harmless. Anyway... A bambi or a bunny pendant charm are so cute as well.. (I hope it's not only me that thinks that).

Three winter coats I'd love to purchase right now:

(1) Purple by Marc Jacobs
(2) Red by Miu Miu
(3) Black by Alexander McQueen

P.S.: The bears were photographed by me last fall.

Christy Turlington + The Rockin' Girl Blogger Award

Ever since i posted about the 1990s supermodels, i promised i'd try to post more about them now and them. The american supermodel Christy Turlington seems to be the fav 90s model for many of you who remember that decade, so for those of you who love her classic elegance and flawless face, enjoy those pictures taken for Strenesse catalogue back in 1992 (The photos look like they could have been shot recently!). Christy, who was born in 1969 in Walnut Creek, California has appeared on over 500 magazine covers and has been married to actor Edward Burns since 2003. They have two children.

Along with Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista, Tatjana Patitz, Linda Evangelista and Cindy Crawford, Christy appeared on the unforgettable George Michael's music video Freedom. I adore this video! Watch it here.

I'm very happy and thankful for receiving the Rockin' Girl Blogger award by Jennifer from Mahalo Fashion and Coco from Coco's Tea party, two of my fav style blogs. Sometimes i feel like giving up blogging, but the fact other bloggers actually come here to read my posts and give feedback on them motivates me to never stop writing, and getting some unexpected recognition prompts me to write better posts or at least keep on the same level. Pressure! hehehe ^^ Now i'm going to pass down the award to five other of my fav blogs:

1. Cotton Candy from Whimsical Delights - The photos she takes of the city and of herself are so creative and inspiring. She always comes out with some very personal touch for her every day life posts.
2. Kamila from Cinéfila por Natureza - If you can read portuguese, bookmark this page. Kamila constantly updates her blog with substantial reviews about the last movies she watched; books she read and music cds she has been listening to.
3. Blushing Apples - If you appreciate interior design or general beauty, this is one of the best blogs of the genre i know. All the photographs of objects and pieces she shares with us are just so fabulous.
4. Kat from She's in Vogue - I've known her blog for not even a couple of weeks, but ever since the first time i read one of her posts, i couldn't stop coming back to check out the new ones. I like how she writes about the latest fashion trends with a touch of criticism.
5. Seraphine from Encore Seraphine - Her web comics are so fun to read, especially when fashion is involved. She has been one of my first and most loyal readers, and i really enjoy reading her feedback here.

*SIGH* This was hard! There are so many other great blogs i enjoy reading (both in english and portuguese, written by girls or boys), i hope you know who you are.

A tribute to the original supermodels

Stephanie Seymour, Cindy Crawford, Christy Turlington,Tatjana Patitz and Naomi Campbell by Herb Ritts

Naomi, Linda, Tatjana, Christy and Cindy. British Vogue, january 1990

Helena, Claudia, Naomi, Christy and Stephanie


Cindy & Claudia: my all times favourite tops

Versace on his show's backstage surrounded by Naomi, Stephanie, Nadja, Claudia and Shalom

Stephanie, Karen, Helena, Linda, Cindy and Claudia: the 90s phenomenon fell as fast as it rose

Big hair, big smile, and long toned legs in a curvaceous body. That's how models used to be when the "supermodels" term was first created in the 1990s: They looked healthy. The birth of the supermodels was the decade's phenomenon, as the girls achieved celebrity status and were insanely highly-paid. I'm quite sure it was the first time ever that women were far better paid than men working in the same business, and that's how things still are these days. Some claims that the phenomen gave its first signs when canadian Linda Evangelista stated in 1991: "Christy and i wouldn't get out of bed for less than 10.000 dollars".

Others say that italian designer Gianni Versace was the great sponsor of the rise of the supermodels, as he wanted not only one amazon girl, he wanted all of them for himself. And to achieve this, he promised to pay each model a bonus fee if they agreed to work exclusively for him during Milan Fashion Week. And they did. And then there was Claudia, Christy, Naomi, Cindy, Linda and many others on a single catwalk, and nevertheless, the catwalk fees soon achieved $20.000 for a 30-minute show.

Versace was willing to pay this fee and i doubt he ever regreted. The same thing followed his season campaigns, and not later, cosmetic companies started doing the same. It's hard to forget Christy Turlington's ads for Calvin Klein's perfumes, as well as those of Cindy Crawford for Revlon. Women all over the world were inspired to be just like them, and I think it was perfectly acceptable, unlike these days where young girls starve to death willing to look like what's stated to be "beauty" in fashion.

According to Charlotte Seeling, the supermodels helped to hide the fact that at those times fashion were in crisis, keeping its glamour alive. She says: "It was not only the designers who supported them in this. Photographers like Steven Meisel and Peter Lindbergh, and the editors and stylists of international fashion magazines, contributed heavily to the transformation of models into icons of the outgoing millennium". But fashion people had created a monster, and that already mentioned Linda's quote was just the beggining of the arrogance attacks that was about to come. Naomi Campbell was the one who was most likely to infuriate photographers and magazine editors, with her bad moods and perpetual tardiness. Besides, designers were sick of how ridiculous high were the girls' fees and the fact that most of the times they called more attention than their creations.

As being celebrities, journalists were far more interested in their personal life than in reviewing the outfit they were wearing in the catwalk. Cindy Crawford married actor Richard Gere, in a short union marked by the fact they both payed 25.000 british pounds to a newspaper in order to attest the sincerity of their union and to clear up the rumours that they were both gay. Naomi Campbell had affairs with actor Robert De Niro and boxer Mike Tyson, and Stephanie Seymour dated the Guns 'n' Roses singer Axl Rose, just to name a few examples. In most of the cases, it was said that the guy was the girl's boyfriend, and not the contrary, as "models became the rock stars, and their rock stars boyfriends mere hangers-on".

The fall of the supermodels didn't take long to happen. In the second half of the 1990s, things were already quite changed. Grunge was in the scene and fashion embraced the heroin chic look enthusiastically, as well as fashion's new darling, Kate Moss. Fortunately, this awful trend didn't last so long, but Kate would reign forever in a business where many girls can't work more than a single season. I remember how badly people first reacted to Kate's skinny body, pretty understandable, as compared to those times' models, Kate looked like a child.

But how can I find Kate Moss unhealthy-looking in times of russian model Vlada? Designers say they stopped hiring amazong-looking girls because they called more attention than the outfit. Then they decided to hire smaller and smaller girls. The fashion magazines did the same. But it must be something seriously wrong with these people to think the clothes are gaining more attention in a starving-looking body. Some models today are so sick looking it's impossible not to pay attention to them, instead of the outfit.

For a short second the healthy model look returned to the scene. It was during 1999-2000, with the rise of brazilian model Gisele Bundchen. Right after it, the weird looking girls, lacking curves and sensuality, took the scene, and shortly after, it was the rise of the eastern european models. Then there was the times of the porcelain doll-faced girls and the alien look, followed by Gemma Ward. Right now I'm not really sure what's going on. I think things are not as bad as a couple of years ago. I see different kind of girls working in the business, which is quite fair. And even better, I see many of the original supermodels working. Claudia Schiffer graced french Vogue's cover this month, and shared current german Vogue's cover with fellow supermodel Nadja Auermann and the not as old Julia Stegner.

I'd like to feature many 1990s models here on my blog from now on, I don't promise it will be a weekly post, but let's see. I don't pay much attention to today's models with a few exceptions, and the fact that many of them look like skeletons doesn't make it any better. And besides, they don't have the same appeal from nearly two decades ago, some of them are mere dolls for the designer's outfit. But yes, of course there are exceptions, though neither of them reached the iconic status the original supermodels did.

Lady Guinevere

I'm currently allured by the looks, class and style of the american model Guinevere van Seenus. I know the lady is in the business for quite a while and i don't recall seeing her in editorials or magazine covers lately, but i've seen photos of her previous jobs from early 2000's and she looks absolutely stunning. What first caught my attention was her curvy figure: she's thin, like models are supposed to be, but she doesn't have a skeleton aspect, something that in the fashion industry these days is not so usual and in my opnion, is always welcome. She also makes me think of the 30's Hollywood femme fatale figure.

Her long eyebrows, pale skin and iced blue eyes, plus the peculiar jawline and the self-contained attitude while posing make her so classy. She's one of those ladies that can pose wearing nothing but shoes without putting a drop of vulgarity in a shot and looking as glamourous as ever.

However, she doesn't seem to have a personality as admirable as her alluring looks. Searching about her modeling career i found a quote of hers on british magazine The Face back in 2000, about the Second World War's Holocaust: "Karma has lots of different explanations. I've been told that 'gay' is really that you've had so many lifetimes as a particular sex that, when you move into a new sex, you have trouble adjusting. One of the karmic explanations for the Jews that were massacred was that they were the Huns at one point. You know, they massacred, pillaged, and raped thousands of villages so . . . I mean, I dunno if I believe that, but if you're bad you're gonna have repercussions in another lifetime."

Yeah right. Tssskkkk. I hope she has changed her mind about such a stupid thought. Anyway, here are some of my fav works of hers:

Numero Magazine

In one of the Pirelli Calendar's edition