Dalliant & Dainty

Dressing the Golden Globe Nominees: Actress, TV Comedy or Musical Series Edition

2012-01-06T07:00:00.000-05:00

Dressing the Golden Globe Nominees is a week-long series devoted to seeking out the best dresses for all the nominated females in both television and film leading up to the awards on Sunday, January 15. Each day we'll look at a new category and a new batch of actresses because they totally haven't already had their outfits chosen by paid professionals already for like months now. All of the dresses are from the Spring 2012 RTW collections.

Zooey Deschanel, New Girl (Fox)

Hehe. Just kidding.

But I'm deadly serious about this Temperley London. I know Zooey's look is her thing. But...new year, new single life, new chance to embrace a colorless dropped waist dress.

Laura Dern, Enlightened (HBO)

Laura Dern is one tall, bony woman. Theoretically it should be easier to slap a runway dress on her frame than say, little Natalie Portman, but for some reason tall women on the red carpet just look a little out of place in any old gown. We've seen it with Jane Lynch, Geena Davis, and the other three tall ladies in the existence of television and movies too. So, as a remedy, she should consciously choose a dress that a shorter person CAN'T pull off, which is why I love this blue, sequined, Elie Saab. It was made for a Katherine Hepburn/Laura Dern type: the curve-less statue with collarbones for miles.

Tina Fey, 30 Rock (NBC)

Does anyone else get the impression that Tina Fey is just generally uncomfortable in evening wear? Yeah, I know in the photo above she's holding her own freaking umbrella (because the Globes event staff couldn't get their act together to rent a damn tent even though it had totally been raining for more than 10 minutes prior to the red carpet) and is probably just feeling awkward because she didn't practice her holding an umbrella while posing in a frou frou dress. But beyond all that, she still doesn't look like she can breathe in that bodice, which is why I think she'd appreciate this flowy, color-blocked Salvatore Ferragamo.

Laura Linney, The Big C (Showtime)

Laura Linney is a red carpet rock star. She sticks to a great blowout, solid colors, and classic prom queen silhouettes. I seriously have no complaints. This Zac Posen will be a little more difficult to walk in, but no one really WALKS down the red carpet, right? It's more of a shuffle.

Amy Poehler, Parks and Recreation (NBC)

What can I say? You look good in blue, kid. Also this will be easy to walk around in...you know...to the bathroom...and the stage when they call your name to win this category because seriously if they don't I'll just swear off awards shows not really everyone knows they're stupid anyway and I not so secretly love them if you haven't been able to tell already so you get my point, right?

Things will resume on Monday with Best Actress in a Drama Series.

Archive: Part 1 // Part 2 // Part 3

Dressing the Golden Globe Nominees: Supporting Actress, TV Edition

2012-01-05T07:00:00.000-05:00

Jessica Lange, American Horror Story (FX)

Knowing very little about Jessica Lange in general, somehow I am aware of the fact that she carried on long domestic partnerships with both Mikhail Baryshnikov and Sam Shepard and I will be forever envious of both of those relationships. BUT, on a more related note, girl has also gotten 12 Golden Globe nominations over the course of her career so at this point she's probably just going to show up to see some friends. Could she really still care all that much? So go kind of gothic with this sheer sleeved Valentino. Ryan Murphy will probably write an episode around it.

Kelly Macdonald, Boardwalk Empire (HBO)

Kelly MacDonald is so cute, but it's really hard to get past her desire to slouch on the red carpet. Maybe she's self conscious because she just wants to ACT and is just kind of bemused/annoyed by her celebrity responsibilities like dressing up and going to awards show. "OH. THIS OLD GAME AGAIN? SIGH, SNOOZE, SOMEONE FIND ME A DRESS AND A COMB, I'D LIKE TO BLEND IN WITH THE SIGNAGE IF AT ALL POSSIBLE."

Well Kelly. This IS seriously business. You get to DRESS UP AND GO TO AWARDS SHOWS and that is FREAKING AWESOME. So listen, this Bottega Veneta dress here? It's perfect for you. Jewel tones will go great with your hair, you can probably eat dinner and still manage to breathe, it won't wrinkle in the car ride over, and you can wear an almost proper bra with it. EVERYONE WINS. Smile, stand up straight, and don't make me call your mother.

Maggie Smith, Downton Abbey (PBS)

OMFG. HOW CUTE IS SHE?

Maggie Smith seems to mostly keep away from the red carpet these days (or the photogs are just too preoccupied with Emma Watson to notice that she's there), but she's 77-years-old so as long as she keeps charming us in television shows and movies, she can do whatever she damn well pleases. But...if she does decide to make an appearance, wouldn't this be charming?

You know, with a camisole underneath.

Sofia Vergara, Modern Family (ABC)

Oh Sofia, with the boobs, and the Barbie proportions, and the mermaid hair, and the hit television show. I'd like to see you take it down a notch with this understated Carolina Herrera. Maybe pull your hair back in a sleek ponytail or bun like the model's?

Alas, loud is kind of your thing. So if you want to show up in this Versace, well, no one is stopping you.

Evan Rachel Wood, Mildred Pierce (HBO)

Evan Rachel Wood is still trying to find her look. Right now she's sort of still recovering from her Marilyn Manson inspired burlesque and heavy make-up act, which works only some of the time. I loved her in the black Elie Saab she wore to the Golden Globes in 2010, but her pale skin needs a color, and unfortunately ERW favors the extremes of black and cream. I think this year she should go full period piece with Zac Posen's gorgeous 40s frock and Veronica Lake waves. The steely blue is kind of a compromise, right?

Come back tomorrow for Part 3: Best Actress in a TV Comedy (NOT MUSICAL BECAUSE NONE OF THESE ARE MUSICALS), with Zooey, Tina, Amy, and the blonde Lauras.

Archive: Part 1 // Part 2

Dressing the Golden Globe Nominees: Actress, Miniseries or TV Movie Edition

2012-01-04T09:42:00.001-05:00

Romola Garai, The Hour (BBC America)

Romola Garai rocked the late 50s, early 60s apparel in The Hour, and we've seen her primly dressed as a World War II era nurse in Atonement, but for the Globes I'd love to see her sport this beachy 40s-style Roland Mouret. Since she has breasts where most of her peers have bones, this shape would be extremely flattering, and the hint of skin keeps it from looking too demure or business-like.

Diane Lane, Cinema Verité (HBO)

Diane Lane, you saucy minx, I see you in this Carolina Herrera. The cross-neck strap will show off your toned shoulders, the light color (I seriously thought this was white but now it's coming across as minty green...but my decision still holds) will accentuate your perpetually sun-kissed skin tone, and the belt will make it look younger than your usual red carpet dress. You don't need to pull out the satin and brooch combination till you're 90, dear, and even then, let's talk - I'm sure there are other options to explore.

Elizabeth McGovern, Downton Abbey (PBS)

Elizabeth McGovern also has a fabulous body, so I hate to even suggest something as covered up as this Prabal Gurung, but you look so damn elegant in your Downton frocks that I thought a modern take on the long sleeve would be appropriate. Plus, few of us in this world can look like anything other than an encased sausage in sleeves and silhouettes this slim, so do us a favor and be the person to pull it off. Also, purple is totally your color. Just make sure to take a few flash photos before leaving the house in case this thing is secretly see-through. But maybe you wouldn't care since there are kind of a shocking number of nude photos of you that come up with a simple "Elizabeth McGovern" search.

Emily Watson, Appropriate Adult (ITV)

Oh, Google. You're so accidentally judgmental sometimes. A simple search for "Emily Watson Red Carpet" was returned with a "Did You Mean EMMA WATSON?" So yes, I can see why Emily Watson might have some sartorial self-consciousness. But if people are paying that little attention anyway, why don't you take a risk with this innocently provocative navy Nina Ricci? It's covered up without being matronly, and form-fitting without being too restricting. Frumpy and loose clothes are fine sometimes, but this is an evening event, so have some fun with it.

Kate Winslet, Mildred Pierce (HBO)

Kate Winslet has been sporting the body conscious looks ever since she went all blonde and tan on us. We know you're into the tight bodice and the illusion coloring, so change it up a little bit and show some leg with this drape-y Elie Saab?

Tomorrow we'll look at Supporting Actress, Television, with Maggie Smith, Evan Rachel Wood, Sofia Vergara, and others.

New Girl, Again

2011-09-29T14:19:00.002-04:00

I've adapted my original review of New Girl for The Junior Varsity and also taken a stab at reviewing the 2nd episode of the pretty dismal show. I had wanted to make this a weekly review, but I think I'm going to sit back and see where the show is going before jumping in with critiques and suggestions for improvement.

Episode 1
Episode 2

Will be back with a New Girl status report mid-season.

Notes on New Girl

2011-09-07T12:21:00.001-04:00

FOX has quietly made the pilot of their new Zooey Deschanel sitcom New Girl available to watch on VOD and iTunes prior to the September 20th premier.

So, here's what I found out the hard way.

1) No one is real: Nope, not a single character on this show is believable as a person. Not Coach, not Schmidt, not Nick, not the model, and no, not even Jess. Perhaps this is just because it’s the pilot and everyone is playing it big so we audience members don’t mix up the main characters. Or perhaps it’s a warning of things to come.

I’m willing to accept absurdity in the name of comedy (obviously?).

I’m not watching this show because I want to see if someone has finally captured the voice of stunningly beautiful girls with perfectly styled hair that manages to maintain bouncy barrel curls even in the midst of a devastating breakup and who bring up super obvious sitcom-friendly nerd references like Gandalf, and Smigel so that they can finally be accepted in society.

In spite of the absurdity and the inevitable lame jokes and the requisite bigness of the acting, sitcoms usually give the audience something to relate to. A personality trait. A truism about x stage in life. Anything really. And the more specific the better. With New Girl, we get nothing. The writers, unfortunately, have painted the characters as broadly and dully as possible. We get lame debates about the pros and cons of living with women, we get the “Douchebag Jar*” and what must be the most unbelievable mash up of craigslist roommates ever.**

I do think this is salvageable. If it’s going to be unbelievable, campy, and corny, at least make it funny. Take a Neil Patrick Harris/Barney Stinson master class. Use the ham judiciously.

*Incidentally, if the Douchebag Jar is ever used as an effective joke somewhere down the road, I owe all five of you a beer.

**I’ve lived with my fair share of craigslist roommates, and I’m not sure anyone would have noticed had I disappeared for a month, let alone cared enough to run to the rescue if I got stood up on a date.

2) Jake Kasdan hasn’t figured out the best way to shoot the actors: Say what you will about Bad Teacher, but Kasdan-directed shows and movies like Freaks & Geeks and Orange County prove that he is certainly capable of directing comedy effectively. This could be a format issue. A few scenes that would have worked really well in a multi-cam sitcom were botched by unnecessary cuts that interrupted the rhythm more than a laugh track could ever dream of doing. In one scene Jess goes to talk to a cute guy at a bar, shouts “hello sailor” like a theater brat and pauses as if waiting for the audience to start laughing. I cringed. It’s a bad thing when you start feeling badly for the actors and not their characters.

Another issue could be that because it’s a pilot, and because it’s supposed to set the stage for something (what, exactly, I’m not sure...we weren’t given any hints at future conflicts or tensions which makes me nervous for what the season holds) it doesn’t follow the classic sitcom format. If a show is done well, who cares if we have a recognizable A, B, and C story? But it wasn’t and perhaps the episode would have benefited from some tried and true limitations.

3) It’s not funny (yet): I’m not going to give up hope, but the promos really managed to spoil the entire batch of jokes in the first episode.

4) The men are written especially poorly: In order for this show to work, we need to want to hang out with these guys, but that’s not going to happen if they don’t even seem amused by each other. The lack of chemistry could be attributable to a combination of too much Jess (I get that she just moved in and that’s super exciting, but not every interaction needs to be Jess related), sloppy cuts (see point 2), and the fact that at this point they are all charmless, personality-less dolts. (Coach likes to come home and sit around naked and Schmidt LOVES models...LAWLZ).

In some ways, this last point makes me want to run around shouting “reverse discrimination, bitches!” Alas, Zooey’s “Jess” needs some work too. Which brings me to my final point:

5) Zooey Deschanel IS adorable, but only when she’s not acting like what she thinks a nerd is supposed to act like: Zooey, darling, I like you. I do. You’re incredibly beautiful, and can manage to be terrific in vile movies like Failure to Launch. Your voice is lovely. I covet your clothes. And on top of everything you do come across as a really good person. But this “adorkable” role is not doing you any favors. Elizabeth Meriwether is capable of writing lovable nerds who are incidentally adorable. (e.g. Lake Bell’s character in No Strings Attached. She was bumbling, and awkward, and insecure, and assertive at the wrong times. She had no idea how attractive she was. She was used in limited doses, and it worked.)

Jess is trying too hard. We as the audience have to be convinced that you’re cute and when we’re getting 20 examples of your CRAZYNERDINESS a minute, it actually makes me less willing to accept that. It doesn’t have to be that hard. You could just act like a normal person who does dorky things sometimes. “Geesh” might have worked better if you hadn’t looked so aware that you were saying something that was supposed to be SO CUTE because OMG it’s like not even a word. Also don’t tell me that the girl with perfect hair who wears impeccably fitted sundresses would try to wear overalls on a first date. It’s insulting.

As I mentioned above, the hamming could just be a product of the pilot and the fact that all the funny has been stripped out of the jokes thanks to excessive and excessively self-aware promos. Jess’s saving moments happen when she not trying so hard to be Jess - when she’s giving advice, when she’s genuinely laughing at her roommates bursting out into song in the middle of a restaurant. So once again, I just hope that we get a little bit of restraint in future episode. Who knows, “geesh” might become the new “legen - wait for it - dary.”

Now Playing: Camera Obscura's "If Looks Could Kill"

2011-04-15T10:03:00.000-04:00

For today's Friday song and video here is a promotional video for Camera Obscura's 2006 album Let's Get Out of This Country, set to the upbeat song "If Looks Could Kill."

It's pretty perfect for this chilly April Chicago day. It makes me crave the dead heat of August, a cross country road trip with no air-conditioning, some vintage dresses and striped tees, midwestern lightening storms (3:08), and a kaleidoscope-ed home video of the whole thing.

Melancholia and The Tree of Life

2011-04-11T14:25:00.001-04:00

Late last week, the trailer for Lars Von Trier's latest film Melancholia was released.

Looking at the outset like a regular old "rich folks trapped on a lavish estate with their caviar and their problems" movie, we quickly discover that it's an end of the world movie too. With dreamy images of a planet headed towards earth and Kirsten Dunst's weepy declaration that "life is only on earth, and not for long," it reminded me of the trailer for Terrence Malick's highly anticipated The Tree of Life.

Even though in the Tree of Life trailer the connection to the images of space aren't rooted in any immediate, physical explanation (like, a planet is coming to destroy us), the scenes of the working class suburban childhood manage to convey that same sense of captivity that we get with the sprawling and isolated Melancholia manor. The scope of both look incredible, pitting the smallness of the family and the home against the vastness of the universe, thus allowing the films to pose big questions about existence, love, and mortality.

Please Hear Me Ohio

2011-04-07T07:45:00.011-04:00

I had the occasion to first listen to Damien Jurado's song "Ohio" at a particularly lonely moment in time - living alone in Columbus in a sterile high rise studio apartment the fall after graduation, feeling that overwhelming anxiety that everyone does when the weather starts to turn and you begin to realize, as lame as it sounds, that this is a new indeterminate phase in life (that feeling does end, folks).

I'm not particularly diligent in consuming recommended songs, but once I get around to it, I generally fall in love. Between my 25 minute drive to and from work and time in an apartment without internet or television, I listened to a lot of mixes that were any combination of months or years old. They were filled with melancholy songs like "Ohio," Yo La Tengo's "I Feel Like Going Home," and Bonnie 'Prince' Billy's "A Strange Form of Life." It wasn't that I only liked sad songs, either. I also just desperately needed to decompress after a full day of Abercrombie & Fitch music blasting through the speakers of the corporate offices. If it was playing in the store, it was also playing in my cubicle, and aside from a pretty great remix of Rihanna's "Umbrella," every song was soul crushingly annoying.

I think I would have loved the song even if it weren't called "Ohio," but, as it happened, I started listening to it in a time of isolation and sadness living there. Of course it's not really about Ohio the place at all. It's about* a sad guy meeting a sad girl who is longing to return to Ohio to see her mother who she hasn't seen in ages. Even though I was personally longing for some other place, the slow guitar, persistent harmonica, and aching narrative combined with Jurado's mournful voice seemed to capture everything about that moment for me. And the best part is that the song is meaningful just because of that. I never searched Pitchfork to see if it had been deemed cool, I never looked up when the song was from, and I never listened another Damien Jurado song. It exists solely for that version of myself who lived in Ohio for nine months.

Some time after that, a friend directed me to a CocoRosie cover of the song.

Thanks to a voice that is somehow appealing even though the only way I can think to describe it is a 3-year-old shouting, the song is fundamentally altered, but the emotional resonance stays the same. I think it might be the addition of the lyrical "oooohhh seeeee you sometimes" in the background and the consistency of the harmonica.

This week TwentyFourBit linked a cover of "Ohio" by the new-to-me band Strand of Oaks, so of course I had to listen.

Strand of Oaks - "Ohio" (Damien Jurado Cover) by TwentyFourBit.com

I am all for a good cover song, no matter how drastically the original is altered, whether it's only slightly like Camera Obscura covering Bruce Springsteen or massively with Frente! covering New Order. But, this? I just don't like it. I get that it's nice sounding and that it's essentially the same song, but the vocals and the instrumentals are too pretty, too polished, like Ryan Adams crossed with Rufus Wainwright. I find myself yearning for the grittiness of the harmonica, Jurado's wobbly voice, and CocoRosie's crackly whine. There's no urgency in this version, no sense of loss.

Perhaps it's for the better. I don't have the capacity to love three versions of a song after "Tougher Than The Rest." Also, as a result of the news, I got to revisit a song that I loved dearly but had cycled out of my playlist over the past few years.

*I mean, I think that's what it's about. That line about "you see I was taken while I lay sleeping by my father's hired men" confuses me.Were they movers? Henchmen? Was she kidnapped?

The Met Gala Rules

2011-04-06T10:14:00.003-04:00

Anna Dello Russo, Editor-at-Large for Japanese Vogue and eccentric girl about town issued 10 Rules for those attending the annual Met Gala, with unfathomable standards, lousy but amusing English ("the Giselle's body" and HELLS for HEELS), and inexplicable usage of all caps.

Anna Dello Russo

1. It's Prohibited choose the wrong OUTFIT.

Look and look again hundred thousand times

all the shows on Vogue.com.

2. Opt for the HAUTE COUTURE.

You only live once!

3. For at least a month before, prepare your

BODY with an iron DETOX discipline and

a daily TRAINING.

You must be radiant!

4. Choose a long evening GOWN.

Unless you don't have the Giselle's body

not wear a short dress!

5. Put some beautiful SHOES with which

walk straight and FIERCE.

Your legs cannot wobbling over

HELLS exceeding 11 cm.

6. MAKEUP and HAIR:

Here you can exaggerate!

You have to invent a character,

you'll transform into another woman,

give her another name

and you'll feel more SECURE.

7. Strictly: JEWEL-CLUTCH in hand.

8. Leave your WATCH at home, even if precious,

cause it may be unkind to those who invited you.

9. Rigorously forbidden to take iPhone pics

at VIP'S and CELEBS!

10. When you get to that very long,

dreadful RED CARPET,

take a deep breath and SMILE."

Anna

Thanks, Anna, for insider tips, like "wear a nice dress and shoes you can walk in" and "try to avoid deep dish pizza the month before." I want the real stuff! Like don't UNPLUG Katy Perry's Dress, avoid spilling red wine ON Diane Kruger's Calvin Klein, and try to refrain from asking Andre Leon Talley how many CHILDREN are stashed under his cape."

Anyway, for all the normals out there, I'll see you on NYMag.com on May 3 to browse the 2011 slideshows, deal?

Cannes International Film Festival: The Posters

2011-04-05T08:00:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, the official poster of the 2011 Cannes Film Festival was released online, featuring a repurposed Jerry Schatzberg photo of Faye Dunaway circa 1970.

If you have some time to kill, it is kind of fun to go through the poster archives, which go back to 1946. I'd just recommend that you skip the '70s. They're truly horrible, and not even in a souglyitscool kind of way.

Here are some of my favorites.

Rick Deckard's Apartment Woes

2011-04-04T15:43:00.001-04:00

Frank Lloyd Wright's 1924 Ennis-Brown House is having a rough time. Fresh off of a costly renovation to repair the eroding structure thanks to a 2006 FEMA grant and a $4.5 million loan, the Ennis House Foundation decided that the famous Los Feliz structure would be best served by a private owner's care and resources (the Los Angeles Times estimated an additional investment of $5-$7 million would be needed to restore the house complete) - and not as a public access tourist destination. Thus in mid-2009, the house officially went on the market at an asking price of $15 million. Since then it's been slashed a number of times, and on Friday, CurbedLA reported that the price had dropped once more to $5.999 million.

Julius Shulman Photograph

As one of only four FLW textile block houses and the site of Rick Deckard's apartment, it must be surprising that it hasn't been scooped up yet by some architecture fanatic or Blade Runner fanboy.

Blade Runner (1982, Ridley Scott)

Thom Anderson chronicles the pop history of the Ennis House in Los Angeles Plays Itself. It has played "a 19th century house, a contemporary mansion, a 21st century apartment building, and a 26th century science lab." Blade Runner and The Rocketeer aside, my favorite use of the house is as a location in David Lynch's absurd "Author Series" ads for Calvin Klein's Obsession perfume.

The Ennis House goes well with melodramatic readings of D.H. Lawrence's Women in Love.

But regardless of the low and highbrow interpretations of the house and its place on the pop culture register, the fact remains that it has yet to sell. After almost two years on the market, continued price cutting, rumors of being moved to Japan, wtf suggestions by Diane Keaton that perhaps Brad Pitt should buy it, I wonder why they can't revisit the concept of making the iconic house a museum like the Hollyhock House. At what point is it just embarrassing to leave it up for sale?

Now Playing: Marianne Faithfull's "As Tears Go By"

2011-03-04T08:00:00.001-05:00

One Day: A Tale of Bad Timing and Indecisiveness

2011-02-15T13:09:00.001-05:00

Yesterday, Focus Features released the poster* for Lone Scherfig's upcoming movie One Day, based on the David Nicholls book of the same title.

Nice passion, but IS IT LOVE?
(via The Playlist)

Though the tagline ("twenty years, two people...one day") makes it sound like Blue Valentine lite, One Day promises to obey a more classically appealing Hollywood structure. The story checks in with Emma and Dex (Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess) every July 15th for 20 years, starting with college graduation and ending in middle age. According to a New York Times book review, it's a long "will they/won't they" saga leading to infuriating encounters like July 15th #11 when Emma confesses that she has thought about Dex every day since they met, Dex shares that he has done the same, and then informs Emma that he is engaged to someone else. Without knowing much more about the story, the gimmick strikes me as incredibly vapid and dangerously neglectful of the depth and complexities of the other 7,280 days in these characters' lives. So kind of When Harry Met Sally meets Serendipity. Ugh.

Anyway, even though I wasn't the biggest fan of Scherfig's adaptation of An Education, and One Day has the potential to be little more than a precocious tale of an indecisive generation, I'm still interested to see what she does with this concept and her two very likable leads. Release a trailer now, please, so I can judge the music choices that they choose to represent 1988 through 2007....

*Assumed inspirations for One Day's poster include:

and

-fin-

From Gaza to Galliano

2011-02-14T17:20:00.000-05:00

I have a new post up over at The Junior Varsity on Queen Rania and why her lavish lifestyle might prove problematic for peace in Jordan.

What's A Girl to Do?

2011-02-01T00:31:00.000-05:00

THE CONTROVERSY

Dalliant: Can you believe this CONTROVERSY?

Dainty: What CONTROVERSY?

Dalliant: Don't play coy with me, Dainty. It's everywhere. Literally everyone is talking about it.

Dainty: Um, Egypt?

Dalliant: Have you even read this blog?

Dainty: I mean, I don't know, maybe we're taking a more serious approach to the world in 2011.

Dalliant: *shrug*

Dainty: So do tell me, what blog appropriate CONTROVERSY are we talking about?

Dalliant: Black Swan. Costumes. Please tell me you're with me.

Dainty: Oh a hint! Um, how audiences are asked to perceive the garishly condescending color choices as some sort of poetic depth?

Dalliant: Well yes, but that's not what I'm talking about.

Dainty: How Natalie Portman kept losing weight so they had to keep redesigning the costumes to fit her wilting frame?

Dalliant: I thought we made a rule not to discuss the NaPo Swan Diet anymore?

Dainty: Ugh. Whatever. Ok, well maybe it's how Vanity Fair, Vogue, Refinery 29, Elle, and The New York Times have all turned into salivating fan boys just because Kate and Laura Mulleavy were involved?

Dalliant: You're very close.

Dainty: How Natalie Portman confused us all when she pronounced their line's name Row-Dahr-Tey, even though I guess if she's saying it like that it must be the real pronunciation and not Row-Dart?

Dalliant: What?

Dainty: The feathers they used? For the tutu? Something animal rights related?

Dalliant: No.

Dainty: Was Natalie forced to wear non-Vegan shoes?

Dalliant: You're not even trying anymore.

Dainty: I'm bored.

Dalliant: Well if you must know you uninformed fool, the Mulleavy sisters have launched a two woman press campaign on the costumes they designed for Black Swan. You'd think Rodarte was responsible for the whole freaking film.

Dainty: Right, yeah, I just mentioned that. Are you about to break the news that Natalie Portman is engaged and pregnant here too?

Dalliant: Ha. Funny.

Dainty: Sorry. Please proceed.

Dalliant: So Kate and Laura have been out and about, darlings of the fashion world and the blogging set that they are, launching a "poor us" campaign because they didn't get enough credit for their contribution to the film and realized too late the very well known restrictions surrounding Oscar nominations and Union membership requirements. Meanwhile, the actual Costume Designer, Amy Westcott, is all "what the hell, this is my movie, I thought we were friends" and decided to call their bluff in a fairly aggressive way during an interview with Clothes on Film.

Dainty: But this is kind of normal right? Don't designers collaborate with film costume designers all the time?

Dalliant: Sure, but they usually aren't happy in the end. Edith Head famously won an Oscar for Best Costume Design for Sabrina (1954) and didn't even mention Hubert de Givenchy in her remarks.

Dainty: And he designed most of the iconic looks in Sabrina, right?

Dalliant: Right, but he certainly wasn't responsible for everything. The award is for Costume Design overall. Not just the flashy outfits that everyone remembers.

Dainty: But we probably wouldn't even be talking about these films if it weren't for the so-called flashy outfits.

Dalliant: And yet someone has to be in charge, and sometimes that includes bringing on collaborators and even making sure the less glamorous costumes make sense. Besides, only the top billed can be nominated for an Oscar and that's Amy Westcott.

Dainty: So, essentially if Amy Westcott wins the Oscar she just needs to thank the sisters and all will be fine, right?

Dalliant: Well, sure, I guess. But that won't be happening.

Dainty: Why the hell not?

Dalliant: Black Swan wasn't nominated for Best Costume Design.

Dainty: So WHAT exactly is the controversy?

Dalliant: I have no idea.

Dainty: I hate you.

The Golden Globes: Runway to "Reality"

2011-01-17T15:10:00.000-05:00

The 2011 Golden Globes were, all in all, an uncomfortable experience. From Alexa "I'm a LOT cooler than all of you" Chung's dead-eyed red carpet interviews and Ricky Gervais's strange brand of occasionally successful humor (cruelty defended as brave honesty), to Robert DeNiro's Megan Fox at the TSA joke and Aaron Sorkin's strange "elite is an aspirational word, smart girls have more fun" message to his daughter, it was a weird evening. There were moments of brilliance from Tina Fey, Robert Downey, Jr., and Tom Hanks, but something just seemed a little sloppy and poorly timed about the entire evening - presenters were not announced unless the host on high had a joke to go with it (thanks Gervais, I'd be able to ID Tim Allen, but what about Kaley Cuoco? Sure, whatever, The Big Bang Theory is like the number 1 or number 2 show on television, but that doesn't mean I'm able to just spot the generic looking hot blonde female lead in the absence of her co-stars), and the audience reaction crew spent too much time on Angelina and Brad (who looked bored the whole time) and Lea Michele (who seems to be working on a campaign to rectify her diva reputation with over-emotive "I'm just SO HAPPY FOR EVERYONE" faces).

But of course that's all beside the point, right? The awards are a sham (see: nomination of The Tourist for Best Musical or Comedy) and we all know that it's just sort of the unloved middle child with a superiority complex of awards shows. So why do we watch? The dresses of course.

Though beautiful, thin celebrities aren't really all that different from beautiful, thin runway models, I like to see the dresses side by side where possible. Enjoy. But keep in mind: most of these clowns had their gowns custom made, so pickings look a little slight.

Anne Hathaway and Karlie Kloss in Armani Privé (Fall 2010)

Catherine Zeta-Jones and NAMELESS MODEL in Monique Lhuillier (Pre-Fall 2011)

Jennifer Lawrence and Lara Stone in versions of Louis Vuitton (Fall 2010 RTW)

Piper Perabo and Anja Rubik in Oscar de la Renta (Spring 2011 RTW)

January Jones and Jac in Versace (Spring 2011 RTW)

Tina Fey and Marike Le Roux in L'Wren Scott (Spring 2011 RTW)

No photos yet of Alexa Chung in Valentino, but this Julia Saner in the look (Spring 2011 RTW)

(ALL PHOTOS FROM STYLE.COM)

The Pretty Face

2011-01-14T15:10:00.000-05:00

Ladies and gentleman, Rooney Mara as Lisbeth Salander.

Photographs by Jean-Baptiste Mondino

(via W)

Don't ever let anyone tell you that eyebrows don't make a difference.

Photograph by Platon

Now Playing: Arcade Fire's "The Suburbs"

2010-11-18T21:56:00.001-05:00

A new video by Spike Jonze for Arcade Fire's "The Suburbs" was released this evening on the band's blog, which has featured links to annotated versions of T.S. Eliot's The Wasteland alongside memorable articles from the past few years on the death of the suburb and Hollywood's antagonistic views towards suburban life.

The beginning was quite slow and I feared the entire video would be nothing but a look at teenage boredom. As the song changes its tone and mood from apathetic to anxious fear, so do the images. Jonze has taken the mention of bombs literally and transported these teenagers into some sort of military state. People are being arrested, homes evacuated, and those who are the age where you're aware and yet still helpless just sit and wait in fear. And yet life continues normally, with bikes, and parties, and romance, and jealousy. I often wondered what the image would be for the final moments of the song would be. As Win Butler is belting out "In my dreams we're still screaming" over and over again, it became clear that the sudden and relentless beating couldn't have captured the anxiety of the final part of the song any better.

Watching this video, Spike Jonze has managed to convey that whole "harrowing life of a teenager" concept more effectively in 5 minutes and 15 seconds than James Franco could in the entire 196 pages of Palo Alto.

Practicality

2010-11-16T13:55:00.000-05:00

I too go tree shopping in the snow in heels and socks with bare legs and an unbuttoned coat.

(via J.Crew)

Dressing in Dodecahedra

2010-11-09T16:22:00.000-05:00

SWINTON would be all over this dress.

Geometry fashion!

(via Amelia Hrustic and Make)

The Music Video

2010-11-08T13:07:00.000-05:00

MTV wants to bring back the music video with a new series called Supervideo, according to Vulture, which would pair a famous director with a popular musician in hopes of creating something great.

Sound familiar? It should. As much as people like to joke about the lack of music videos on MTV and VH1, MTV's Making the Video was on air from 1999 till 2007 and kind of did exactly this. The goal of Supervideo seems to have artistic ambitions that are loftier than merely observing the mediocre videos that 'Nsync or Jennifer Lopez were going to make anyway, but I have my doubts.

MTV is claiming that they want to give a voice and a lift to new directors in the way that earlier in the decade, music videos really did help to launch the careers of Spike Jonze, Mark Romanek, and Michel Gondry, but at the same time, they clearly want to get more established directors and artists in order to make the series enticing. Their first attempt was released late last week (and hyped for weeks in advance on Pitchfork): LCD Soundsystem's "Pow Wow" directed by Training Day writer David Ayer starring pretty young Oscar nominated starlet Anna Kendrick.

MTV Shows

Sure it's cool and expensive-looking, but I think the way we consume music videos has fundamentally changed, and for the better. Music videos are thriving on YouTube and Vimeo thanks to both artist-funded productions and the success of talented amateurs and their fan videos. MTV is trying to recreate a world that only existed in the absence of MP3s and video sharing sites, and I think will just come across as some antiquated albeit well-funded bully trying to reestablish their old hierarchy of distribution. Unless they somehow manage to get some really unbelievable pairings (Martin Scorcese and Yeasayer? Sofia Coppola and Lady Gaga??), I fear that it'll only be a matter of time before the show turns into another vehicle for Miley Cyrus, Justin Bieber, McG, and those other Twilight media whores.

Now Playing: "Just Like Anyone"

2010-11-05T00:08:00.001-04:00

Because I'm suddenly feeling nostalgic for middle school here is a My So-Called Life era Claire Danes starring in Soul Asylum's video for "Just Like Anyone."

I also felt the need to remind that Natalie Portman was not the first girl to grow wings...

Having Tea with Graham Greene

2010-11-03T14:19:00.000-04:00

Women Reading should be the kind of site that I love. And yet, after spending some time there, my enchantment quickly turned to annoyed rage.

The images in and of themselves are indeed lovely and are pulled from a wide variety of sources like paintings, magazine spreads, and flickr. But looking at shot after shot of extremely styled waifs half-reading in the middle of various sun-soaked fields starts to get both tiring and comical after the third page. They all look so SERIOUS and SELF-CONGRATULATORY, and really are kind of funny when you start to realize that they all kind of fit into a few categories.

Women Reading The Little Prince

(ugh)

Women Reading in Fields

Women Reading in the Woods

Women Reading Scripts

(because they are actresses)

Women Not Really Reading

(but just happen to be near lots of books)

Women Reading in Pastel

Women Peeking Coyly Over the Book that they're Probably Not Reading

HIMYM: The Comedy Problem

2010-11-02T11:21:00.000-04:00

My review of last night's episode of How I Met Your Mother is up on TheAtlantic.com. It is a corny show, and clearly not the best comedy on television, and yes sometimes the best characters on the show (Jason Segel and Neil Patrick Harris) just seem like they're being held back by their own dialogue, but in spite of the flaws, I find it oddly compelling. The characters are endearing, the comedy is goofy, and the writers make sincere efforts to address the real lives of twenty and thirtysomethings living in a city (in the hyper-reality world of a sitcom). They just seem to choose all the wrong moments to try to promote the show...

Songs and Clothes

2010-11-01T12:25:00.000-04:00

A friend recently sent me Joanna Newsom's "Does Not Suffice," a mournful song about a relationship dissolving and the methodical, sentimental act of packing and moving out. In the song, Newsom uses lovely and specific words ("coats of boucle, jacquard and cashmere") to describe the materials and adornments that she is packing away, adding an easy poetry to a type of song that we've heard many times before.

Clothes are not an uncommon subject for songs - they can add an immediate sense of context and specificity to stories made intentionally bland to uphold some sense of universality. What this song gets so right is the reliance on fabrics names that are fundamentally pretty words, and the consequence of adding a level of reality to the emotions she is trying to convey. Newsom could have made the song vulgar as many modern singers do by adding brand names and associations with specific styles. But she doesn't - we just get glimpses of of the "gilded buttons" she is tucking away, and the generic silks that she is binding in shapeless bales and wrapping in reams of tissue.

So what other songs get clothes right? (And not in the Kanye West, "Material Girl" kind of way...)

The Movie Map: The Sequel

2010-10-29T10:18:00.008-04:00

Yesterday, The Daily What published a map of the United States from Redditor subtonix, with film titles instead of state names. The goal was to find movies that best represent US states. Ambitious? Yep. Really vague? That too.

What are we really going for here? A sense of place? Movies that were shot in that state or just based there? And what the heck are we supposed to do with states like California and New York that have libraries far too extensive to narrow it down to one iconic film. Plus, I just didn't really like this list. Fast Times at Ridgemont High for California? Jesus Camp for North Dakota AND Missouri? The Shawshank Redemption for Maine?

So instead of getting all CAPSY in the comments section...my friends and I made a new map.

It's not perfect. Some states just really don't have any good options. I refuse to put Jesus Camp in North Dakota so that's just blank. So is Delaware. Seriously, look at their wikipedia pages, the choices are slim. Also, even though I committed to titles for some states, I'm still not thrilled with them (127 Hours for Utah, Sling Blade for Arkansas) and I'm open to suggestions. Finally, some states just have too many good options that I just couldn't choose.

What do you think?

Special thanks to @smitty4657 and @mcslaven.

Here Comes My Baby

2010-10-26T13:58:00.001-04:00

When nothing you do is original, and everything even vaguely twee, hipster, or precious can be mocked mercilessly (and sometimes deservedly), and categorized and stereotyped immediately, any attempts at pop culture homage seem destined to fail. Now that the brilliant Alex Blagg has parodied the insidious alternative wedding trend, we're all kind of doomed to be conventional if only to save ourselves from the embarrassment of this painfully accurate parody of the folks who fancy themselves unique. If it's vanilla and if you're not trying too hard, who can really judge it? This is especially true after finding out from an excerpted N+1 article that apparently the real modern hipster movement only lasted till about 2003...and everything since has been derivative.

And yet, there are some brave souls out there still. Consider "Sean and Hayden." Instead of mailing a normal save the date, they created a short film in the style of...WES ANDERSON. Yes, Wes, the twee-est of all the twee directors destined, I think, for some sort of Burton-esque backlash in the next few years. Proof? The preppies covet Margot Tenenbaum.

Anyway, Sean and Hayden's save the date is a love letter to Rushmore and they got it all right, from the font, to the music, to the images. And you know what? It's actually kind of charming.

She Just Likes to Fight

2010-10-25T10:05:00.001-04:00

Carey Mulligan is just getting cooler by the day. Proof? She's broken up with the slimy seeming Shia LaBoeuf and is living at a $69/night Best Western in Los Angeles.

photo by Mikael Jansson for Interview

But not all Best Westerns were created equal. This particular branch is home to the super hip/not hip at all/isn't that the point late night diner the 101, where I've seen my fair share of 20-something celebs picking at sweet potato fries in the early morning hours, and I don't even live in Los Angeles.

(via New York Magazine)

Now Playing: The National's "Guest Room"

2010-10-22T12:56:00.002-04:00

What's old is worth watching again. A testament to the quality of fan videos, here's The National's "Guest Room" shot in a hazy Los Angeles. We miss being deviants, indeed.

The Trailer Series

2010-10-20T07:00:00.004-04:00

In a bout of nostalgia for the Gia Coppola directed Opening Ceremony short "Non Plus One", I realized that I failed to really consider her co-director, Tracy Antonopoulos. Little exists about her online besides an uninspiring twitter account, a random blog post claiming she's a film student at NYU, and a series of Vimeos from about 8 months ago that includes a series of trailers for fake movies. They're charming, pretty fantastically (but forgivably) unoriginal, and just make me hope that Ms. Antonopoulos continues making more fun shorts. She's friends with a Coppola for goodness sakes. Couldn't be that hard...

The Corner (Trailer Series) from Tracy ANTONOPOULOS on Vimeo.

Girls (Trailer Series) from Tracy ANTONOPOULOS on Vimeo.

runAWAY (Trailer Series) from Tracy ANTONOPOULOS on Vimeo.

Vast Carelessness and Boats Against the Current

2010-10-19T14:08:00.001-04:00

This week in on again, off again rumors, it looks as though Baz Luhrmann's plan to direct a new version of The Great Gatsby is back on, according to Vulture. The all-too ubiquitous F. Scott Fitzgerald novel has been adapted for the screen four times, beginning with a silent version in 1926 (a lost film...no prints exist). Of course the most famous adaptation at this point is the generally despised 1974 attempt, directed by Jack Clayton, and featuring Mia Farrow and Robert Redford. I wish I could have found some of the original reviews to cite as well, but none were easily findable. Upon the release of the DVD in 2004, however, Roger Ebert took the occasion to write a scathing review, lambasting the movie for being too faithful to the book and failing to actually capture the spirit of it.

Like it or not, The Great Gatsby has a fan base that is vast and devoted. It's a terribly resonant tale and has become so common in pop culture that sometimes it seems more in fashion to proclaim that the book is actually lacking as a work of great art. And to commit something so popular to film? A dangerous venture to say the least. It's no surprise to anyone that people judge adaptations of favorite novels in a much harsher light than new stories. And rightly so. Remember Bogdonavich's Daisy Miller? Scorsese's The Age of Innocence? Wright's Pride and Prejudice?

Then again, Luhrmann was the reason most of my peers began to like Shakespeare. Our 7th grade English teacher was elated, to say the least.

The word is that Luhrmann would like to cast Rebecca Hall or Natalie Portman as Daisy, Leonardo DiCaprio as Jay, and Tobey Maguire as Nick. I'm hopeful that Ms. Hall will be better than Ms. Farrow at capturing Daisy. Although the lovely and waifish Mia Farrow might always be what I see when I picture Daisy, her performance, according to Ebert, was "all squeaks and narcissism and empty sophistication."

Argyle, Frills, and Tights: The Carefree Girls of Seventeen in the 60s

2010-10-18T07:45:00.001-04:00

Seventeen magazine put together a wonderful slide show of vintage covers alongside some dated advice from each issue. (For example, in 1945, a section advised girls that boyfriends in the navy overseas would appreciate care packages of "foot powder, saddle soap, and sun lotion.") I'd be really interested to read some of these articles, if only to find out what a "Pancake Party" is.

Alas, all we have are the covers and what the Seventeen editors with access to all of the archives chose to convey. That said, it is fun to take a look at what the teens were wearing, or at least aspired to wear, in the 60s. Things definitely seemed to get better for the outfits as the decade went on. My personal favorite is the turtleneck dress from the 1968 cover.

1960

1961

1962

1963

1964

1965

1966

1967

1968

1969

The Junior Varsity on The Social Network

2010-10-15T12:27:00.002-04:00

The Junior Varsity rolled out a brilliant series on The Social Network this week. Some really thoughtful and funny writing.

Mike on Class, the "So What?", and Our Generation

Kyle on The Future of American Cinema

Joe on The Critic as the Subject

Sarah on The Winklevi

Rick on Fact versus Fiction

New Robyn!

2010-10-14T12:56:00.000-04:00

Though it won't be officially released till November 22nd, Robyn has released 5 versions of "Indestructible" on her Songcloud account.

Indestructible by robyn

(via Discopop)

Belle and Sebastian and Nostalgia

2010-10-14T11:23:00.001-04:00

Tonight Belle and Sebastian are playing at the Daughters of the American Revolution, Constitution Hall (oh, DC, you make me laugh sometimes). I expect every 25 to 35 year-old in the audience to be overcome with soul crushing nostalgia and wistful joy.

Getting Kicked Out of the Igloo

2010-10-13T07:00:00.000-04:00

Girls are getting meaner, younger, according to The New York Times. It's probably the fault of Hanna Montana. Or the mother. It's almost definitely a class thing. And certainly a cleanliness thing (kids totally notice when you're too poor to have your private school outfit laundered daily).

But of course this shocking trend is also based on about four case studies. Anyone who actually experienced childhood knows that no matter what the child psychologists say, bullying amongst girls did not begin after the 5th grade in some bygone era. It begins, and has always begun, pretty much as soon as kids start interacting with each other.

At this point I've come to accept the very particular case of Times "trend" stories, if only because they seem to be written in some sort of vacuum void of relevant cultural references and general life experiences and therefore are always kind of amusing. But let's assume for a moment that there is something real happening here. That somehow bullying is beginning earlier. What should we do? Having gotten too caught up in anecdotes about Strawberry Shortcake t-shirts and vague statements from Arne Duncan, the Times seems to have forgotten to offer up a larger point.

Basically the only piece of cautionary advice the article gives is that singing along to Beyonce, Alicia Keys, and Jay-Z ("Single Ladies" is called out by name...they're talking about you Arianna) at age 2 will only lead to cellphone requests and Lady Gaga at age 8. It also makes sure to remind that none of the cool kids actually like The Jonas Brothers or Miley Cyrus. And just in case you were wondering, parents are usually powerless to regulate.

Blue Valentine: The ACTUAL Trailer

2010-10-12T15:30:00.001-04:00

Ok, before I turn into the official tracker of all things Blue Valentine, this past week was an exciting one - a true, teaser trailer was released and the MPAA decided that the film would carry an NC-17 rating.

The Internet is in a semi rage over the harsh rating. As the folks over at The Playlist point out, this sort of rating will definitely impact distribution, thus those who don't live in Los Angeles or New York will probably have a pretty slim chance of actually seeing the film in theaters on December 31st.

For now, though, please enjoy the sweet and heartbreaking teaser set to Ryan Gosling's goofy rendition of "You Always Hurt The One You Love."

A Very Stella Evening

2010-10-12T12:55:00.001-04:00

Because commercials are quick, easy, and probably very lucrative, Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola have teamed up to direct a jazzy one-minute spot for Stella Artois.

Silly girl, trying to play with technology! She's little more than a cute prize, after all.

Blue Valentine

2010-09-16T10:56:00.004-04:00

Why, oh why does it take a film that premiered in January 2010 to great critical success almost an entire year to become widely distributed? IT IS SO UNFAIR.

Even Nathan Rabin was moved:

Watching Derek Cianfrance’s excruciatingly intimate drama Blue Valentine felt like reliving the most agonizing moments of every romantic relationship I’ve ever had, but in a good way.

Anyway, the release date is sort of, almost around the corner (well, December, but whatever), meaning we finally have a trailer....

BLUE VALENTINE: Movie Trailer. Watch more top selected videos about: John Doman, Blue Valentine

...and a beautiful magazine cover....

...and awkwardly delightful quotes about the, er, intimate scenes.

9/16/2010 UPDATE (1:36PM): FINE, IT'S NOT A TRAILER.

Did You Make The List?

2010-08-12T10:37:00.001-04:00

I have a complicated relationship with the Vanity Fair International Best-Dressed List. It represents lifestyle lusting at its worst. It always features the same people (princes, princesses, queens, actors, actresses, ladies and gents about town). And of course, it is completely ridiculous. Is looking halfway decent really all that difficult when you have all the resources (time, money, shoppers, personal brand consultants, assistants, nannies...) to do so?

And yet...I still look at it every year. Because where else am I going to find out that Javier Bardem favors a four-button tuxedo jacket, or that Bruce Weber still wears his dad's Timex, or that Helena Bonham Carter considers Marie Antoinette a style icon? It's all good, absurd fun.

Normally these "best-dressed" are treated with the utmost reverence. But, after browsing through this year's slideshow I began to wonder if, when they show people looking like this,

By Stephanie Cardinale/People Avenue/Corbis

(via)

...and this,

From WWD

(via)

...and this,

By Olivier Douliery/Abacausa.com

(via)

...some VF staffer hates Carey Mulligan?

By Christopher Peterson/BuzzFoto/FilmMagic

(via)

Mimsy-Mumsy Eliza Doolittle

2010-08-10T08:30:00.004-04:00

The other day in The Telegraph, the occasionally too blunt actress Emma Thompson was interviewed about an upcoming remake of My Fair Lady that she's been asked to write. She took this as an opportunity to offer her take on the 1964 version of the musical.

I was thrilled to be asked to do it because, having a look at it, I thought that there needs to be a new version. I'm not hugely fond of the film. I find Audrey Hepburn fantastically twee. Twee is whimsy without wit. It's mimsy-mumsy sweetness without any kind of bite. And that's not for me. She can't sing and she can't really act, I'm afraid. I'm sure she was a delightful woman - and perhaps if I had known her I would have enjoyed her acting more, but I don't and I didn't, so that's all there is to it, really.

The internet consensus so far seems to be a collective "yeeesh." It's no secret that Audrey Hepburn struggled with the role from the outset. The young, bankable, glamorous actress was given the part of Eliza Doolittle over Julie Andrews who originated the role on broadwasy with Rex Harrison for a then-absurd paycheck of $1 million. Then, about halfway into production, the decision was made that the world would not be hearing Audrey Heburn's voice in any of the musical numbers. (Audrey was rumored to have stormed off the set when she heard the news. She came back sheepishly the next day with cookies for all to apologize for her behavior, though.) The final version of the film shows Audrey Hepburn lip synching to Marni Nixon's voice. If that wasn't insult enough My Fair Lady ended up winning 8 Academy Awards (Picture, Director, Actor, Cinematography, Sound, Original Score, Art Direction, and Costume Design). Best Actress that year went to Julie Andrews who took on the role of Mary Poppins after being passed over for Eliza Doolittle. Audrey wasn't even nominated.*

This is all to say that we all kind of already knew that Audrey hadn't done the best job as Eliza, but we just don't like to bring it up all that often because she was so freaking beautiful, and she died sort of young, and she always just seemed like such a good person, and obviously, 8 Academy Awards later, My Fair Lady wasn't completely ruined by a less than perfect lead. She even criticized her own performances (“I probably hold the distinction of being one movie star who, by all laws of logic, should never have made it. At each stage of my career, I lacked the experience”), and Humphrey Bogart often felt the need to tell the press how much of an amateur she was. Both Audrey and the world seemed painfully aware of her shortcomings.

So was Emma Thompson's remark unfair? Probably not, but it's also not the most becoming thing to say about a film that many remember quite fondly. If you are going to do a remake of a cherished (though flawed) classic, it's probably best not to alienate your built-in audience.

*All of this information comes to you from an unhealthy 6th, 7th, and 8th grade obsession with Audrey Hepburn.

The Junior Varsity: Inception

2010-08-09T14:00:00.001-04:00

Check out The Junior Varsity's terrific 7-part series on Inception. I am not the least bit biased here.

Back in Action

2010-08-09T08:35:00.000-04:00

Dalliant & Dainty is open for business. Or something.

Sorry for the 2 1/2 months of silence.

xoxo,
Lindsey

Sulks and Silences

2010-05-24T10:30:00.000-04:00

Dear Readers,

I'm taking a break for travel and work this week. I'll return in June with new posts.

Love,

Lindsey

Pretty Girls and their Delusions

2010-05-11T03:15:00.001-04:00

This week in horrifying Lindsay Lohan news, in addition to possibly signing on to play Deep Throat star Linda Lovelace (alliteration twins, heh), Lohan has expressed her desire to play Kate Moss as well. This news inspires a number of questions. Here are five:

1. Huh?

2. Since when is Kate Moss' life worthy of a bio-pic?

3. Isn't it truly bizarre to want to portray someone only ten years your senior who happens to still be quite alive and relevant (possibly even more so than you)?

4. Is there any way that this is anything other than an exercise in delusional vanity?

5. Do we think that this might actually happen?

Rodarte and Breathless

2010-05-10T05:00:00.004-04:00

In honor of the 50th anniversary of the release of Jean-Luc Godard's film Breathless, the Mulleavy sisters (collectively known as Rodarte) are releasing two commemorative t-shirts to be sold at Barney's, Colette, and Dover Street Market. No word yet on the price or release date, but apparently one of the shirts will recreate the iconic New York Herald Tribune tee that Jean Seberg sported.

Anyone with a logo file and a credit card can have a knock off made fairly easily, and cheaply for that matter. This website also sells versions in ever concievable style (long sleeve, short sleeve, ringer, baby doll) and color, all for under $20. And I'm actually shocked that Urban Outfitters hasn't done this yet.

I suppose we're to believe that this Rodarte/Rialto/Barneys version is special, but I'm not convinced. It IS just a t-shirt after all, and possibly too iconic to even attempt to pull off. Jean Seberg did it quite well and I'm not going to pretend like I'd be anything other than a disservice to the look.

The Junior Varsity: Faux Naturale

2010-05-08T20:15:00.000-04:00

My first post is up at The Junior Varsity's newly launched art, fashion, and advertising channel Arriviste. It's about the disingenuous no-makeup trend in model and celebrity land, that has since expanded to the red carpet. Your move, overdone fame whores.

Heidi Klum in People magazine (via Huffington Post)

How I Met Your Mother: Twin Beds

2010-05-04T13:03:00.000-04:00

This week How I Met Your Mother finally addresses the fact that Robin has been in serious relationships with two out of her four best friends - one of whom is her totally platonic roomie now. Weird, right? Anyway, read my full post here.

Robert Downey, Jr.

2010-05-04T06:45:00.002-04:00

“I think a hero is someone who, if abroad or traveling, they go to the GOOP website to see what shops to go to, what restaurants to eat at, what clothes to buy, and they do that not fearlessly but in spite of their fear."

-Robert Downey, Jr. at the Iron Man 2 press conference

(via Movieline)

I realize that this might be a little...er...controversial...but now that Robert Downey, Jr.is a certified a-list, super successful, widely recognized talent and celebrity, does his arrogant, sarcastic, jerk persona just come across as a bit much? Now don't get me wrong, I have loved him since Less Than Zero, and will basically watch any movie or television show that he appears in (except, probably for his stint on Saturday Night Live). Also, I can't wait for Iron Man 2, and agree that GOOP pretty much exists to be made fun of....but perhaps he shouldn't be saying things like this in front of his co-star who pours her heart, soul, and years of high end consumer experience into the site when promoting a movie with her. Or maybe it's just all in good fun. Ultimately, if this is what we must tolerate to continue watching him in the movies, so be it.

Anyway, let's forget this unpleasantness and reflect upon the ridiculousness that is the movie adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis' Less Than Zero.

Ethereal Photography

2010-05-03T11:02:00.000-04:00

From Canadian photographer Lissy Laricchia, please enjoy some pictures that just made my Monday morning.

Get Back in Your Book, Alice

A New Friend

Amazing Grace

Calm Before the Storm

Now Screening: Spike Jonze's "How They Get There"

2010-04-30T10:05:00.000-04:00

Thanks for the tip, Cros.

Leather Shorts

2010-04-28T00:15:00.000-04:00

Intellectualize it all you want Wall Street Journal, but leather shorts will never be anything but hot, sticky, uncomfortable, and unflattering. Try again.

On Remakes

2010-04-27T00:45:00.004-04:00

Whether we like it or not, the classics are fair game for new artists to repeat. In some cases, a reimagining of an iconic scene or work is an inspired act. Consider a good cover song - when you hear it, you feel a rush of nostalgia and affection for the original, combined with an immense appreciation of and amazement at the reinvention of the song (Nirvana's cover of David Bowie's "The Man Who Sold the World"). And of course in other cases, things can go disasterously wrong - at its least harmful, we laugh off the poor imitation, at its worst, the final product ends up being viscerally offensive to the original and anyone who loved it (Britney Spears' cover of Joan Jett's "I Love Rock 'N Roll").

Photographs and films are harder to recreate than songs - or at least few have figured out how to do it effectively. After all, what's the point? Someone must either think that they can do it better, or that they are somehow paying homage to the original. In most cases, the audience just wishes they were seeing the original. Need I bring up Gus Van Sant's Psycho, or the 2006 version of The Pink Panther? Aside from film, magazines have gotten a lot of flak for borrowing from classic shoots, with New York Magazine being the main offender - from recreating classic George Lois covers "accidentally," to purposefully giving Lindsay Lohan more significance than she deserves by allowing her to reenact Marilyn Monroe's last photo shoot.

So in the lastest cultural installment of "nice try, but not quite" Mario Testino attempts to recreate a classic photo shoot with Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin from 1974, shot by Francis Giacobetti. Here's Testino's version with Francesco Vezzoli and Daria Werbowy, featured in this month's Vogue Paris.

And here's the original.

So what went wrong? Why is the 1974 version worlds better? Very simply, Testino made his shoot too pristine. The models look far more perfect than Gainsbourg and Birkin. Jane Birkin, a waifish beauty herself, looks more real than Werbowy. Consider the look of the thigh above the garter - Birkin's leg looks like flesh, Werbowy's looks like plastic. The surroundings are also dramatically altered, with Birkin sitting in a dingy room on a rickety metal table, and Werbowy lounging in a posh apartment of black lucite and studio lighting. Even the poses of the women are dramatically different when you begin to analyze their expressions, the "believability" factor, and the way that Birkin clearly isn't concerned about the fact that her arm is squished up next to her side, making it appear larger than it actually is.

The two men, of course, are strikingly different as well. Gainsbourg is older, clothed in wrinkled khakis, and gripping Birkin's leg aggressively. Vezzoli, however, boasts lovely, styled hair, a pressed and tailored suit, and appears to be holding Werbowy's leg ever so gently - as if only to help remove a heel.

Now, it is sometimes too easy to want to just claim that the grittier choice is the more effective piece of art. And although that's my conclusion, I like to think that I came to it in a more justified manner. When looking at the photos, I tried to concentrate on my emotional response to both. The Birkin/Gainsbourg/Giacobetti photo left me feeling uncomfotable. The Werbowy/Vezzoli/Testino version left me feeling nothing. Winner: Birkin/Gainsbourg/Giacobetti.

Graceless Ms. Mitchell

2010-04-26T00:15:00.012-04:00

Late last week, Joni Mitchell participated in a Los Angeles Times Q&A and somehow ended up insulting some of the most famous performers of our time.

Joni on Bob Dylan: "Bob is not authentic at all. He's a plagiarist, and his name and voice are fake. Everything about Bob is a deception. We are like night and day, he and I.."

PLAGIARIST

Joni on Madonna: "My work is set against the stupid, destructive way we live on this planet. Americans have decided to be stupid and shallow since 1980. Madonna is like Nero; she marks the turning point."

NERO

Joni on Grace Slick and Janis Joplin: "Grace [Slick] and Janis Joplin were [sleeping with] their whole bands and falling down drunk, and nobody came after them"

SLUT

DRUNK

Joni on the singers who cite her as an influence, or are compared to Joni (Joanna Newsom, Chan Marshall, Rufus Wainwright): "Those are theatrical voices, which is a whole other thing."

Ms. Mitchell also appeared defensive, negative, arrogant, and just this side of insane, proclaiming that she intended to quit music to "battle for Morgellons* sufferers to receive the credibility that's owed to them." The answers that she gave seemed short, choppy, and unstructured. I wonder if the editor was just being unkind here or if this is what she really sounded like.

I've read the interview a few times at this point and still have no idea why she thought this might be remotely appropriate or meaningful. Now I don't think will have any influence on my ability to listen to and enjoy her music, but my goodness, you'd think at this point in a highly successful performers' life she could take the graceful high road and avoid disparaging her peers and heirs.

While the internet may be abuzz about such incendiary statements, do we think anyone will care enough to issue direct responses?

*According to the wikipedia page, a Washington Post Magazine cover story, and the interview itself, the existence of an actual medical condition that supports the existence of Morgellons is questionable. Many believe it is merely delusional parasitosis "a form of psychosis whose victims acquire a strong delusional belief that they are infested with parasites, whereas in reality no such parasites are present."

Now Playing: "Running Out of Fools"

2010-04-23T00:40:00.001-04:00

Here are two versions of "Running Out of Fools" performed by Neko Case and Aretha Franklin. Athough Ms. Franklin originated the song, I think I might prefer the Neko Case cover - it's more desperate, more longing. Aretha's is strangely chipper for such a somber topic.

What do you think?

Anna Karina in Los Angeles

2010-04-22T14:02:00.007-04:00

Los Angeles is spoiled, the District of Columbia is starved. The latest enviable event? Anna Karina, Danish actress and star of the New Wave movement, is attending a screening of the newly restored Godard (also a former spouse) film Pierre le Fou, as part of the annual City of Lights, City of Angels festival.

Le sigh. I would have really liked to have listened to one of the original manic pixie dream girls talk about...well...anything really. Instead I'll just sit here and mope and read some of David Eherenstein's excellent interviews with her.

Not enough? Here's one of her more famous scenes from Godard's 1964 classic Bande à part.

[via Criterion]

This Week's Party People: Milan Store Opening

2010-04-22T00:35:00.001-04:00

A few crazies taking themselves far too seriously came out to play at Stella McCartney's recent Milan Store opening.

Paola Maugeri (or something like that)

doing her best mash up of Sandy from Grease and Victorian Prostitute

Giambattista Valli in harem pants for men

Photos: Max Montingelli / Guindani SGP via Style.com

My new goal in life is to get invited to (crash) one of these things to find out what these people are really like. Anyone want to help me out with that one?

How I Met Your Mother: Home Wrecker

2010-04-20T13:07:00.000-04:00

Man, I'm sappy sometimes...I really enjoyed this week's How I Met Your Mother. Read my full write up here.

Pop Songs in Film: The Virgin Suicides

2010-04-19T10:36:00.010-04:00

Sofia Coppola’s sublimely wonderful adaptation of The Virgin Suicides is full of great moments in pop music. Like The Great Four [Wes Anderson, Cameron Crowe, Paul Thomas Anderson, Hal Ashby] Ms. Coppola takes her music selection very seriously, and it shows – her soundtracks become choice pieces of pop culture art in and of themselves.

The Virgin Suicides tells the story of the Lisbon sisters and the months leading up to their suicides. Shot in a hazy, sun soaked light, the audience sees events through the eyes and memories of four boys who were (and remain into adulthood) fascinated and endlessly frustrated by the girls. The Lisbon sisters are beautiful, ethereal, and withdrawn from reality, each carrying out their alluring jadedness in different ways. So the scenes move from the normal, to the whimsical, to the surreal, to the campy with incredible ease, aided by the tonal score provided by Air.

Kirsten Dunst’s Lux ends up being the only sister who to get close to Lisbon family outsiders – although it’s only through meaningless and frequent encounters with guys. She is aloof, yet vulnerable and needy, and is altogether unprepared for Josh Hartnett’s Trip Fontaine, who the audience meets in a brilliant montage set to Heart’s “Magic Man.”

Giovanni Ribisi’s crackly, cynical voice tells us that “the only reliable boy who actually got to know Lux was Trip Fontaine, who only eight months before the suicides had emerged from baby fat to the delight of girls and mothers alike.” We see Trip in a school office, convincing the girl working the attendance desk to give him a pass for being late with only a smile and a whispered “come on.” As he swings around to triumphantly exit the office, the guitar starts. His tall, lanky body struts down the hallway, Ann Wilson begins to belt:

"Cold late night so long ago
When I was not so strong you know
A pretty man came to me
Never seen eyes so blue

You know I could not run away
It seemed we'd seen each other in a dream
It seemed like he knew me
He looked right through me, yeah"

Heart’s "Magic Man" is so perfect for this scene because it is self-consciously campy. The song is about an older man seducing a younger girl to the ignored disapproval of her mother. The girl singing is smart enough to know that this guy is a bad idea, but she can’t resist the him.

Trip is perfectly confident, and seems to have a celebrity like effect on the girls in the hall, who are all left to stare in awe at the handsome man passing by. Wilson continues “‘Come on home, girl’ he said with a smile, ‘You don't have to love me, yet let's get high awhile.’” We see eager girls sliding their homework to him in class with dumbly huge smiles and coming by his home with a plate of brownies and a report. Just like the woman in the song, these high school girls know that this isn’t love, this is lust, this is hero worship, and they are more than willing to compromise everything for this guy.

“But try to understand
Try to understand
Try try try to understand
I'm a magic man."

So Ribisi’s narrator tells us that “Every girl in school was in love with Trip. Every girl except for Lux.” In a hot-boxed induced haze, Trip stumbles into a nearby classroom and sees Lux for, what seems like, the first time. What better way to drive the “Magic Man” crazy than to exhibit no interest for him at all. He’s smitten, the song ends, and Trip’s infatuation and pursuit of Lux is ultimately to blame for the eventual downfall of the Lisbon sisters.

Take a look for yourself. The song and visuals pretty perfectly captures the charisma of the high school dream guy, helped by Ann Wilson's submissive intensity and world weariness.

Sorry, Gia Coppola (and well played)

2010-04-16T06:45:00.002-04:00

I should have looked around a little bit more before judging you solely on the Zac Posen for Target commercial/short film/chance to hang out with your girlfriends thing, because this short/music video/promotional whatever makes me completely reconsider your worth.

Created for Opening Ceremony's Spring/Summer 2010 line with the help of Tracy Antonopoulos and shot like a vintage home movie, this short captures Jason Schwartzman and Kirsten Dunst dancing, smiling, and playing to the Coconut Records song "Is This Sound OK?"

non plus one final from Tracy ANTONOPOULOS on Vimeo.

I'm obsessed.

Target and a Coppola

2010-04-15T23:08:00.001-04:00

In just a few weeks, designer Zac Posen's collection for Target will be released, much to the delight of cash strapped, Vogue reading girls everywhere. I've been following Target's designer collaborations since the beginning, always making sure to at least stop by a store the weekend of the debut (there was of course the embarrassing time when I made two college friends accompany me to a store with the intent of arriving when it opened because I was sure that the Skokie, Illinois Target would sell out of the Proenza Schouler line immediately, only to discover that we were in fact the only silly girls there.) And yet, in spite of my devotion, I'm pretty consistently disappointed with the inventory. It's as if the designers are tickled by the novelty of producing clothes on the cheap, and thus don't feel compelled to disguise the inexpensive look and feel. I wonder if they realize that all we want are afforable copies of their high end stuff.

Target has leaked a few images of the Zac Posen clothes, and they seem all over the place - from sweet, floral dresses, to punky, blood red club wear, and apparently they are alterable.

In an interview from Teen Vogue, via Yahoo, Posen said “We made the ruffles detachable, like a Judy Garland apron. You can wear it as a skirt over the dress; undo it and drape it over your shoulders à la Cristóbal Balenciaga; or if you don’t want any frou, take it off and you have a sexy date dress.” He failed to comment on whether or not the socks were optional.

And, in the spirit of selling a lifestyle, Posen asked his friend Gia Coppola (Francis Ford Coppola's grandaughter, niece of Sofia, cousin of Jason Schwartzman, etc, etc) to direct a promotional video for the line. Coppola asked her friends to star - a band called The Like. What beneficial friendships for all!

Anyway, I have no idea what this has to do with the clothes. The video shows the band goofing around in black and white in a hotel room, pretending like they're some important band from the 60s, right down to the eyeliner and hairstyles, and then jumps to a neon stage where we see them performing the forgettable, sometimes off key song "Fair Game." The singer with the Twiggy eyes and haircut keeps you watching, but in the end, you come out having seen hardly any clothes and wondering why these girls are people you'd want to emulate.

In spite of the video and my history with target collections, I'll be at the Columbia Heights target on April 25th, credit card in hand and expectations high. See you there.

How I Met Your Mother: "Zoo or False"

2010-04-13T17:43:00.000-04:00

My new How I Met Your Mother post is up over at TheAtlantic.com! You know...in case anyone was, uh, wondering.

Pop Songs in Film

2010-04-12T04:45:00.003-04:00

There are few things in life that excite me as much as a well used pop song in a movie, a television show, or a trailer. This is likely because there are so many abuses of the medium, so many lazy attempts at profundity, so many throwaways, so many overused tunes, that it's easy to spot great moments when they happen. Just think of how many times you've heard Van Morrison sing about finding "someoneeee exactly like youuuuu" while two attractive characters reconcile/meet/fall in love. Or how many times you've heard that "there's something happening here, what it is ain't exactly clear" in a scene about Vietnam or just general 60s/70s unrest.

Now, there is nothing wrong with using a classic, but at a certain point it just reeks of disinterest on the part of the filmmakers. In fact, in the case of Mr. Morrison, I am actually enraged everytime I hear "Someone Like You" in any movie. It's a great song. But it was used in seven films in a decade (Only the Lonely, Prelude to a Kiss, French Kiss, One Fine Day, Proof of Life, Someone Like You, Bridget Jones's Diary)...and yes, three of those were Meg Ryan films. I can't even pinpoint its use to a specific scene anymore, which is, I'm sure, the biggest insult one could levy against both the song and the scenes it was chosen for.

So, over the next few months, I'll be writing a recurring segment about great uses of pop songs in movies, with some failed attempts thrown in to keep things interesting. Some will be obvious, some, I hope, will not be so obvious. Many will be scene enhancers - aka, songs that the characters aren't aware of - and some will be songs that the characters themselves experience. Video clips are hard to come by on this project, but I'll do my best to describe and direct.

In no particular order, here's a preview of some of the moments I'll be covering:

Inglorious Basterds, "Putting Out Fire With Gasoline" by David Bowie

Rushmore, "I Am Waiting" by The Rolling Stones

Being There, "Basketball Jones" by Cheech Marin

The Royal Tennenbaums, "Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard" by Paul Simon

Almost Famous, "Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters" performed by Elton John

Reality Bites, "All I Want is You" by U2

The Virgin Suicides, "Magic Man" by Heart

Saving Private Ryan, "Tu Es Partout" by Edith Piaf

(500) Days of Summer, "Bookends" by Simon & Garfunkel

Magnolia, "Goodbye Stranger" by Supertramp AND "Wise Up" by Aimee Mann

Wall-E, "La Vie En Rose" performed by Louis Armstrong

Harold and Maude, "Don't be Shy" by Cat Stevens

Into the Wild, "Rise" by Eddie Vedder

Watchmen, "The Times They Are A Changin'" by Bob Dylan

And why not kick things off with one of the most famous pairings of song and scene? One that is so notable that there's really nothing I can say here to elaborate. Let's just watch and appreciate.

Stay tuned. Suggestions are always welcome.

A Guide for Fame

2010-04-09T13:13:00.001-04:00

Pretty reasonable advice on getting famous from the movie Basquait (Julian Schnabel, 1996), wouldn't you say?

BASQUIAT 
How long do you think it takes to get famous? 

BENNY
For a musician or a painter?

BASQUIAT
Whatever. Famous. 

BENNY
Four years. Six to get rich. 
First, you have to dress right.
Then, you have to hang out with famous people, you know, 
make friends with the right blonde people, go to the right parties. 
Socialite. 

Then you gotta do your work all the time when you're not doing that. 
The same kinda work, the same style so people recognize it and
don't get confused.
Then, once you're famous, airborne, you have to keep doing it the same
way, even after it's boring--unless you want people to really get mad at you--which
they will anyway.

[via Kelly Oxford]

Mainstream Grunge

2010-04-08T13:13:00.003-04:00

It happens with nearly every meaningful underground movement in fashion, art, and music...the counterculture inevitably becomes the mainstream culture. So, in honor of my recent discussion of J.Crew's style evolution through the years, and my series of tweets incorporating the faux grunge language a 25-year-old prankster invented to fool the New York Times, here is J.Crew's attempt at the grunge look from a 1994 catalogue.

A Single, Serious, Solitary Man

2010-04-07T11:45:00.008-04:00

Yes, there is a movie coming out next month called Solitary Man. It looks like a pretty standard flick about an aging man, his family, and his quest to sleep with barely legal girls, but with a "hey look at how hip we are" air of desperation. I love totally conventional plots that were no doubt written to shock people.

Also, Jesse Eisenberg plays his Squid and the Whale meets Adventureland self and gets more bad advice from a jerky father figure. I think we've all seen this movie before. Many, many times.

J.Crew and The High End

2010-04-06T23:27:00.003-04:00

On April 1, in a move of complete sincerity, J.Crew, the mall-based, mass retailer known for khakis and courderoys and catalogues, revlealed its Fall 2010 Ready to Wear Collection, thus signaling what may just be the beginning of the end for them. In the pursuit of serious fashion, J.Crew will alienate those who love them most - the 20something girls interested in fashion, but supporting themselves.

As with most of my peers, I discovered J.Crew in my pre-teens, sometime in the 1994-1995 calendar year, when internet shopping was limited and catalogues were like little treasures meant specifically for you. Tiffany's, Delia's, and J.Crew, were the ones I would eaglerly wait for and pretty much memorize on a monthly basis. J.Crew was a little mature for a 12-year-old, but they were reliable for standards - clean cut shorts in a variety of colors and three different lenths, well made t-shirts, feminine winter coats, and adorable bathing suits. Sound familiar? Well, jump to today and the J.Crew of standards and basics is all but unrecognizable. Of course mall stores have to evolve with the styles. J.Crew has gone from the basics of the Gap, to some combination of Floridian and northeastern preppy, to today's luxe, geek chic. But each reimagining of the brand has come with a higher price point for consumers, slowly morphing out of the 20something price range and into the range of hip 30 and 40something mothers and professionals who fancy themselves creative types at heart.

Jenna Lyons, Creative Director

They've been in the lifestyle industry for quite some time, but hadn't achieved anything of note till the brand decided to make a celebrity out of its Creative Director Jenna Lyons, the statuesque brunette embodiment of the J.Crew girl. Aside from her compelling looks, Ms. Lyons has proven to be a brilliant designer and brand savvy. She recognized that fashion girls in the know want the classics that her brand isn't old enough to claim, thus instead of reinventing the rainboot, they began selling Hunter boots. And it has only expanded from there - they've found the best of the preppy classics and given them new life next to the trendy florals, sequins, and mixed prints. Take a look around the site and you'll find Barbour coats, Selima glasses, Essie nailpolish, Timex watches, and Ray Ban aviators. She's made J.Crew a highly focused department store. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if all of a sudden the site started promoting Waterford brandy glasses.

So far, everything is working. Unlike the retail industry at large, J.Crew is thriving, posting $40 million in profits for 2009. Same store sales were up 4%, and gross margins were up as well (from 38.9% to 44.1%) meaning they've continued to raise price points, they're taking less markdowns, or they are making their clothes more cheaply than before. Why mess with the new forumla in the name of HIGH FASHION, whatever that is anyway?

J.Crew's Fall 2010 RTW Collection

(As if J.Crew wasn't always ready to wear)

photos courtesy of J.Crew, via Style.com

The fall collection in and of itself is lovely, and aside from the more styled models, is practically indistinguishable from what we might expect in the fall catalogues - chambray button ups, chukka boots, textured tights, unexpected belting and layering, plaid, piles of necklaces, natural denim, and shearling. The Style.com review says "the important point is that, following the lead of the company's cleverly curated catalogs, there was ample opportunity to deconstruct the looks and find plenty of gotta-have-them, affordable basics, along with some truly special pieces." To a certain extent, yes, mix the high and the low. But it's hard to do even that with J.Crew anymore when oxfords start at $69.50 and t-shirts at $29.50. By the time you get to the truly special pieces...the $200+ shoes, the quirky, chunky socks, the 5 necklaces ($118 each), the belt, the brocade jacket ($300+), you begin resenting J.Crew a little bit for pushing these "casual, accessible" styles that are unaffordable. This look alone costs $1896.50.

The problem here is that the market is saturated with mid level luxury. Saks, Nordstrom, Neimans, Bloomingdales...they've got em all. J.Crew doesn't need to become a high end boutique in order to stay profitable. If the rising prices keep going up, the hip ladies funding the $40million profit will begin to reevaluate its worth and go elsewhere. After all, J.Crew is popular. Very popular. And when something is this popular, there's a good chance on any given day you'll run into someone wearing the same thing you are. And where's the fun in that?

Now Playing: Blondie's "Sunday Girl"

2010-04-02T11:03:00.002-04:00

Off of Blondie's most popular record Parallel Lines, here is a 1979 performance of "Sunday Girl." Loving the suit and tie, Debbie.

The Fake Headlines?

2010-04-01T18:26:00.010-04:00

Would someone care to explain why Jezebel published the exact same critique of Lori Gottlieb's 2008 Atlantic article "Marry Him," two years and two months later under a different author's name?

So, is this just reiterating newsworthiness, a weird April Fools Day joke, or editorial laziness?

(Click on the photos to see the different dates, tags, and authors)

April 1, 2010 (by Anna)

February 8, 2008 (by Moe)

*UPDATE (6:42PM, 5/1/10): As I scrolled down in the comments (most of which were sincere responses to the post) I realized that this is likely an April Fools joke. And to that I say, Jezebel, I really enjoy your posts and humor, but come on, you can do something more clever than this! It's not funny or edgy. It's just annoying.

That Teenage Feeling

2010-03-30T16:22:00.005-04:00

Admit it, sometimes you kind of miss being an angsty teenager, cutting up computer print outs of your favorite mournful Fiona Apple lyrics, and pasting them on your bedroom wall. (Other people did that, right?)

Well, a Lithuanian company called The Love Agency has made this self-indulgent hobby more adult by creating a series of posters depicting quotes from various songs about love, with an obvious indie bent.

Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Bon Iver

Phoenix

All have been auctioned off, and apparently the company has made quite a profit.

My first thought: Make more! Make different ones! Design on commission!

My second thought: Is this legal? As we all know, lyrics websites are notoriously sketchy due to copyright and ownership rules. Did this Lithuanian company manage to get permission from all of these artists and labels before they designed them?

(via circle.square.triangle & flavorwire)

ColorForms at the Hirshhorn

2010-03-29T21:34:00.002-04:00

I don't know what the common Hirshhorn experience is for DC residents and visitors, but I've always been a bit let down. Entire floors were always closed, rooms blocked off, and strange installations seemed to take up too much space. In short, my expectations were low on this chilly Washington weekend. I was really wrong.

The current exhibit, ColorForms, was one of the cooler that I've ever seen. It was like visiting an entirely new museum. The works all seemed to fit with one another, every floor was open, and they had some ridiculously cool experimental films in different rooms, including this 1975 Paul Sharits piece called "Shutter Interface."

So, seriously, go to the Hirshhorn. And then tell me what you think of that 3 screen elephant film.

The Saul Bass Look

2010-03-26T22:52:00.008-04:00

Saul, who? Trust me, you know the look even if you don't know the name. Saul Bass was (and still is) the most (only) well-known graphic designer in the film industry. Responsible for posters and title sequences that came to define the weird, jazzy, angular spirit of the late 60s, his influence on our own modern nostalgia for the era is undeniable. He's designed the titles for over 40 films, including West Side Story, Vertigo, Casino, and It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.

Mr. Bass said:

My initial thoughts about what a title can do was to set mood and the prime underlying core of the film’s story, to express the story in some metaphorical way. I saw the title as a way of conditioning the audience, so that when the film actually began, viewers would already have an emotional resonance with it

Here's his poster and title sequence for North by Northwest.

North By Northwest - Title Sequence, Musical Score - Watch the best video clips here

So...uh...Mad Men. Homage or plagarism?

Anyway it seems to have become a popular past time to rip off his look in mainstream movies (Panic Room, Catch Me If You Can), and amateur online fan videos (Star Wars sesms to be a popular one). So why not create a Saul Bass-like title sequence for LOST, the show that popularized the minimalist title? As the A.V. Club says, "Great Job, Internet."

Lost vs. Saul Bass from Hexagonall on Vimeo.

The Elegant Protest

2010-03-25T15:18:00.004-04:00

If only Damien Hirst could design all protest signs.

Photo by Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images

(via Jezebel)

Spectacles Painted

2010-03-24T00:15:00.012-04:00

Excessively serious, adult imagined scenes of childhood play deserve excessively serious literary subtexts.

"He was obeyed, yet he inspired neither love nor fear, nor even respect. He inspired uneasiness. That was it!"

-Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness

"His own enjoyment, or his own ease, was, in every particular, his ruling principle."

-Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility

"To read between the lines was easier than to follow the text."

-Henry James, The Portrait of a Lady

"What loneliness is more lonely than distrust?"

-George Eliot, Middlemarch

-FIN-

Credits: Flavorwire for the link, Tim MacPherson for the concept.

How I Met Your Mother: "Say Cheese!"

2010-03-23T11:51:00.002-04:00

My new How I Met Your Mother recap is up on The Atlantic's Culture Channel. Lily has a birthday party, Ted brings a random date, all agonize over whether or not to include her in the group shot, and I choose my five favorite moments.

Photo: Courtesy of CBS

The Happy Song

2010-03-22T23:12:00.008-04:00

Call me a hipster, a culture snob, a tasteless charlatan, or a naive fool - I'll deny all of them (except for tasteless charlatan, because I kind of like that), but, man, do I like finding out what music people like to listen to. It's not even a judgment technique - I'm genuinely curious. Because more so than books, movies, magazines or televisions shows, music choices just seem so intensely personal. A catchy tune combined with sappy lyrics can reduce even my most jaded friends into piles of mushy sentiment and sincerity.

Just over a week ago, sports columnist Joe Posnanski decided he wanted to compile the 15 happiest songs ever. Songs that made him happy, regardless of whether or not they were objectively happy songs. Within three days he had 318 comments. Suggestions ranged from the cheesy/faux euphoric ("Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" and "Walking on Sunshine"), to the sentimental ("Over the Rainbow"), to the goddamn pretentious ("Books About UFOs"), to the quirky (The Ghostbuster's theme song), to the brilliant ("Spirit in the Sky"), to the unbearable ("Basket Case").

But honestly, who am I to judge? If "Don't Worry, Be Happy" seriously makes your day when it comes around on your playlist, well that's awesome. I mean, I have to agree with Joe, and am surprised that SO MANY PEOPLE requested it, but I guess that's beside the point. And in the end, he took what he wanted, discarded what he didn't, and published his fun list - it's up to 282. Read it!

So, I asked a group of friends to send me three of their happiest songs which I would publish here. Even though I don't completely agree with every selection, I love this list because I love the honesty and randomness of these songs that mean something to people I care about.

Lala is pretty good, but it's not perfect, and there are a few essentials missing that deserve special mention, first.

"I've Just Seen A Face" by The Beatles

Requested twice, this might just be one of the best songs I've ever heard. I can't believe I only learned about this song in 2010.

"Lake Shore Drive" by Aliotta, Haynes, and Jeremiah

Don't be fooled by the innocent sounding voices. This is ACTUALLY about LSD.

Here's the list. It's fantastically odd. Enjoy.

Happy Songs

Special thanks to my contributors: the director, the baroness, the public intellectual, the dark feeling, the barrister, the traveler, the student, the southern belle, captain ahab, starbuck, the russian princess, the senator, the triathlete, the reporter, and others. I hang with a terribly important crowd.

The Big To-Do: "Southern Gothic"

2010-03-16T23:29:00.010-04:00

Happy Drive-By Truckers new album day! Let's celebrate with one of my favorite songs of all time, "My Sweet Annette", off of their 2003 album Decoration Day.

My Sweet Annette - Drive-By Tr...

Here's the new stuff though. Joshua Love writes "The Big To-Do, finds Hood reconnecting with the macabre, with grim twists and booze-fueled mayhem, and with the dark corners of the American psyche."

The Big To-Do - Drive-By Truck...

March Fabulousness

2010-03-15T18:06:00.005-04:00

I don't participate in March Madness. I just don't care. Usually other people don't care that I don't care, or they care briefly and scowl at me for a moment before moving on to the next person willing to waste $5 and at least a few hours of their lives.

But yeah, I'm missing out on some big shared experience and lots of conversations as a result. So, last year this March Fabulousness bracket was made for me by someone who will remain anonymous.

Granted no one wanted to talk to me about this, and I certainly didn't have the opportunity to win $50, but still, it's pretty awesome.