Girl Who Would be KING on Life, Style and INSPIRATION.

Style: Alexander the Great!

“WHEN I AM DEAD AND GONE, “PEOPLE WILL KNOW THE 21ST CENTURY WAS STARTED BY ME.”

Truthfully and spookily spoken by designer Alexander McQueen. Ever since taking his own very untimely life in 2010 at the age of 40, no one can deny that McQueen has given more life to the fashion industry than we’ve known in years. A true fashion artist!This statement is now written on a gallery wall at the Victoria & Albert Museum, in London, where the recently opened exhibition “Savage Beauty” showcases the design genius’s unsurpassed creations. (The show runs through August 2, 2015) If you’re in London and are a fashion fiend you must run to see it. A fashion designer friend raved about it.

For some people, Fashion is a Game! — For some people, **Fashion is a Game!**

The original “Savage Beauty” was held in New York, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute, in 2011. It debuted there to glowing reviews – visitors thought it was brilliant. More than 660,000 people attended the show, making it the Met’s eighth most popular exhibition ever.It is not surprising, then, that upon hearing about the V&A’s plans to re-stage “Savage Beauty,” many fashion insiders found it hard to imagine how a second outing — or the enthusiasm greeting it — could match what the Met achieved. But, as it turns out, Claire Wilcox, the London museum’s senior curator of fashion, has showcased McQueen’s prodigious talent in such a dramatic manner that even second-time viewers will be awed and moved. Without a doubt, “Savage Beauty” is the best fashion exhibition the V&A has put on in recent memory.

Creations by the late British designer Alexander McQueen are displayed during a preview at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, May 2, 2011. An exhibition of McQueen's creations titled Savage Beauty will be on display at the museum from May 4-July 31, 2011. REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly (UNITED STATES - Tags: FASHION SOCIETY) - RTR2LWR6 — Creations by the late British designer Alexander McQueen are displayed during a preview at the **Metropolitan Museum of Art** in New York, May 2, 2011. REUTERS/Finbarr O’Reilly

Wilcox has put more focus on McQueen’s London roots. Most of his degree show from Central Saint Martins is displayed along with original runway samples. (Missing in New York, many of these outfits were purchased by Isabella Blow, the fashion editor and McQueen mentor/muse who also committed suicide, in 2007.) Overall, this show displays many more designs than were seen at the Met, which is surprising since the U.K. usually proclaims small is beautiful and the U.S. big is best.The section labeled “Cabinet of Curiosities” is now twice as large, a vast black cavern where flickering videos of runway shows are interspersed with fantastical accessories against an auditory backdrop of hallucinatory music. One could spend hours in this room alone — especially if under the influence of a hallucinatory substance (and apparently that might be the case according to some of the fellow show-goers looking around the space).

As writer Clair Watson said after having departed from the Met’s “Savage Beauty” emotionally wrung-out: “I staggered out of this version completely overwhelmed — how much brilliance can a person take?” Which begs the question: How much more agonized brilliance could McQueen have lived with? Five years after his death, there is enough distance to acknowledge that, just as he said, he indeed make an indelible artistic mark that we can now see, more clearly.

Source: Clair Watson – “The Unbearable Beauty of McQueen” Photos: google images unless otherwise stated

Food + Drink

Food board: feeling Blue

Full-bodied, Rich, Rustic, Strong, Sweet, Nutty, Complex, Spicy, Dense, Creamy….Hmmmmm. Just some of the words that best describe “the Blues.”

If Roquefort is the assertive “King of the Blues“, then even-tempered Blue d’Auvergne is the Prince. A rustic treasure hailing from Central France, this rich cow’s milk is strong and meaty, the perfect companion to a nice *Sauterne.

Of all the cheese selections out there, blue cheese is still a favourite. Be it your everyday Danish blue, Cambazola, Roquefort, Gorgonzola or Stilton, it will always make its way onto my cheese board.

Named after rivers, barbeques and appliances. Maytag Blue is from the washing machine family. Known to make the best blue cheese dressing of all time! — Blues named after rivers, barbeques and appliances. **Maytag Blue** is from the famous washing machine family – known to make the best blue cheese dressing of all time! Now you know.

Any blue cheese is tasty to me, especially hand-crafted kinds, but lately I’ve been seeing more and more varieties pop up at the deli section of many grocery stores & specialty cheese shops. Some I’m not so familiar with. They all taste slightly different and are from various locations. Thought I’d research some of them for those who are interested on the link below.

Blue Cheese for newbies:

http://cheeseonthegreen.com/cheeses/blue

*Sauternes, 40 miles (65km) south of Bordeaux city, is a village famous for its high-quality sweet wines – perfect pairings to go with a good strong blue.

Do you have a favourite?

Photos: d king

Art & Culture

The Art of Food: “Dinner with Jackson Pollock”

Aside from leaving a legacy of astonishing abstract art, Jackson Pollock has a cookbook. And why should that come across as strange. He was no starving artist and even so, everyone has to eat and cook something for themselves sometimes right? But I must admit my first thought was…really?? It’s interesting how we see people as one dimensional when we only know one thing about them. But this man not only painted, he enjoyed gardening, entertaining and making food – everything from starters and entrees to side dishes, breads, and desserts.

Seems the lines are becoming more and more blurred between fashion and art, makeup and art and now food and art?

What do you know about Jackson Pollock, the famous American artist? That he was considered rather wild, and struggled with alcoholism? All of this is true, but it’s not the full picture of the artist and his life. He was also an avid cook, and a lover of good food, which shades in some fresh nuances to his life and work, explains Robyn Lea, the author of a new book about Pollock and his cooking, Dinner with Jackson Pollock.

Like his canvases, I would imagine my dinner plate to be splattered with a colorful and chaotic assortment of food.

Convergence, 1952 by Jackson Pollock

Robyn Lea is an Australian photographer and writer who became fascinated by Pollock and his relationship with food. She was doing a story for an Australian magazine and photographed the pantry at Pollock House in East Hampton, NY. “I started to wonder about their food,” she told me. “They had beautiful objects in there that said these people were really interested in food, like Eva Zeisel china, and an expensive, complete collection of Le Creuset pieces.”

She wondered what the artist’s dinner parties were like, and then she discovered his own hand-written recipe books — with dozens of recipes clearly made and loved by the artist. “I started a series of Jackson Pollock dinner parties,” Lea told me. The discovery process took over from there, and through it she not only cooked quite a lot of good food from Pollock’s cookbooks, but discovered a less-well-known side of the man as well.

“I thought he was the genius wild man throwing paint in the air and drinking too much,” Lea said, confirming a caricature of Pollock that is perhaps the most widely known. “And then the great surprise was that he was the baker, which is an art and science that requires precision. That was a great shock to me — he’s a baker but his artwork is not like that.”

But, in a twist, Pollock’s precision with food casts fresh light on the current scholarship of his work: “But then, he denied the accidental in his work,” Lea told me. “He said he knew exactly where the splats of paint would land. Scientific studies now actually show an incredible amount of design and structure to that work.” It’s very contrary, she said, to how the average person sees the work of Jackson Pollock. “If you look at his cooking from this perspective there’s a great connection to how he painted.”

Perhaps the most poignant food connection in Pollock’s story, however, is the diet Lea discovered in her research that was intended to cure his alcoholism. “There were very valid attempts to assist him in these cures,” she told me. “Very poignant and showed this side of him that was not so egocentric but tried very hard to overcome alcoholism, with therapy and diet, from the 1930s on. There’s a sadness there to find these things out.”

The book itself is a beautiful, lively melding of Pollock’s work and his recipes, drawn together with Lea’s photography, writing, and interviews with his family. She tells many stories, like that of the Cross-Country Johnny Cakes, which Pollock and his brother lived off of on their cross-country road trip to visit their mother in California. There are stories of happy times and many images of Pollock’s work, and photographs of him in the studio. It’s a rare cookbook — one that doesn’t simply offer the novelty of a famous artist’s recipes and cooking, but offers fascinating insight on his life as a human being as well.

And that is exactly why it would have been so amazing to actually have had dinner with this rare man.

Spaghetti Sauce — One of the photos in the book – a spaghetti sauce with mushrooms and pork.

Source for cookbook info: thekitchn.com

To purchase: http://www.assouline.com/dinner-with-jackson-pollock.html – $50

Film Reviews

Contemplating what’s Real

“No chaos, damn it.” – Jackson Pollock.Hey, you never know…

Netflix: When trailer park resident Teri Horton bought a painting for five bucks that she was unable to fit through the doorway of her friends home, she tries to sell it in a garage sale. Little did she know it could be a genuine Jackson Pollock worth millions.

To get an idea of the art world’s opinion of Teri’s painting, the filmmakers showed it to Thomas Hoving, the legendary former director of New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art.

This film documents her dealings with the art world’s elitist establishment to authenticate the piece. Throughout the brash woman’s 15-year endeavor to validate the painting, the clash between stuffy art dealers and the cussin’, beer-drinkin’ Horton is funny, eye-opening and utterly unforgettable.

quotes by JP

Abstract painting is abstract. It confronts you. There was a reviewer a while back who wrote that my pictures didn’t have any beginning or any end. He didn’t mean it as a compliment, but it was. – Jackson Pollock

It doesn’t make much difference how the paint is put on as long as something has been said. Technique is just a means of arriving at a statement. – Jackson Pollock

He had a lot to say

FUN

health MATTERS: a shot in the arm – B12

Guess I was feeling a bit mentally drained from recent life events.

On Thursday I was invited to a special beauty event held at a wellness clinic (called a wellness boutique – not really a boutique as we know it) in Yaletown. I’ll tell you more about the evening later. An allopathic practitioner administered my very first B12 injection. I’ve always hated needles but at least it was quick. It was a dosage of 1000 mcg by Hydroxocobalamin form which is the preferred form to use because its effects are long lasting and it does not contain the cyanide component of Cyanocobalamin (which I had no idea about). This is the required dosage per month which is given intramuscularly. The rationale being that B12 is stored in the liver allowing for potential overdose. Vitamin B12 is a water soluble vitamin. There is a very low incidence of B12 toxicity even with large amounts up to 1000mcg daily.

So the very next day which was yesterday, I had energy to spare from 7:00 am to 7:00 pm non-stop. Of course my day didn’t end at 7:00pm but I got to relax after that. It began with yoga, then a run, cleaned the house ~~strenuous physical exercise by itself~~ made a pie, planted geraniums, packaged up some skincare products, shopped for groceries and gave the dog his usual 3 walks before putting together some munchies for my visitors.

Why B12?

People have been getting B12 shots regularly. Here are some of the Benefits:

Helps to boost the immune system and increase energy

Helps with Stress

Depression

Digestive disturbances

Treats some kinds of nerve damage

Treats diabetic and peripheral neuropathy

Treats restless or weak and tingling arms & legs, pernicious anemia, allergies, skin problems, fatigue, mental symptoms

Prevents B12 deficiency in vegan vegetarians and persons with absorption difficulties

Improves memory and teaming ability

I know people who have been getting these shots for a long time and swear by them.

The IV Wellness Boutique is Vancouver’s first ever wellness boutique specializing in intravenous vitamin therapy – a treatment which delivers high doses of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and amino acids intravenously. They’ll hook you up!

The IV’s approach to health care incorporates IV vitamin therapy with a multitude of health care services including:

Naturopathic Medicine

Registered Acupuncture

Medical Esthetics

Registered Massage Therapy

Address:1060 Homer Street

www.theIV.ca

FUN

Feel-good Friday: Girls Night IN

Speaking of fun Fridays, last Friday four female friends and I got together for a little potluck, lots of wine and a much hyped about movie that’s been out for months now, adapted from a bestselling book that none of us were ever planning to read and now we won’t bother for sure. I have to preface this by saying that we are all fairly sophisticated women, well travelled, adventurous and at least three out of the group are intellectuals ~~but not me.~~

Okay, we were all curious to watch a less than satisfying movie (that’s putting it kindly) because we all wanted to find out (let’s be honest) what kind of kinky sex scenes would play out. All five of us really had no idea what to expect because that was all we knew of this movie. And of course that was all we cared about but we were hoping for a little more of an in depth storyline other than that of a young handsome (but bland) successful billionaire (with a secret and a well stocked secret play room) who preys on inexperienced vulnerable young women, one of who works part time in a hardware store and is not so sure she wants to sign the contract he puts forth before her……oh, hope I don’t ruin any of this for you.

So we watched ~~embarrassing as it is to admit~~ Fifty Shades of Grey which we re-named Fifty Shades of Dull. We didn’t rent it for the acting ability ~~as if~~ but even the sex scenes were not the least bit exciting – pretty bland actually. That’s not to say that any of us find getting whipped or tied up to be exciting ~~not that any of us who may have ever tried it would ever admit to it, but I’m guessing not~~ but it was just plain boring.

Although it seemed like it could go somewhere

Put it this way, it was more of a comedy and we laughed the whole way through. The best part was giving our own commentary to the actors. We figured we’d re-write the script our way and change the dialogue so it would be more inspiring. Our version would not be “R” rated and the lead actor would be changed to someone else like Daniel Craig although we’d have to do a casting call just to make sure.

Then we wondered how many women actually found this movie to be stimulating? Best word that comes to mind. Also, how many women are experiencing less than satisfactory sex lives that they have to resort to watching movies like this for excitement – Anyone? ~~but not me~~.

I give this movie a whipping * out of ********** – but it was a fun evening all in all and it went to prove that 1,000 critics can’t be wrong!

How many of you have seen it? Ahh, all of you – just too afraid to admit it?

FUN

beauty – beautiful collaborations

Where fashion and beauty collide. Just like clothing giant H&M and Target department stores have collaborated with major designers for much hyped about limited edition pieces, the beauty industry has followed suit. We’re on the hunt for the exclusive.Since Kate Moss knows a thing or two about beauty, it makes sense that her name is on Rimmel long-lasting lipstick (by Kate Moss) with light-reflecting technology.

And take the incredible holographic packaging that proenza schouler (New York based womens wear and accessories designers) put into their limited edition makeup line for M.A.C. Cosmetics until they were sold old. I bought two lipsticks.

More recently Tony-nominated designer Isabel Toledo and her husband, renowned artist Ruben Toledo, join together with M·A·C for a collection of gorgeous hues packaged in black, white and red with limited-edition illustrations and graphic lines and faces by Ruben Toledo.

The makeup collaboration between Alber Elbaz and Lancôme gained quite a bit of buzz. Elbaz, as the designer for Lanvin, is well known for his quirky fashion illustrations and it’s these illustrations that were featured on the packaging of the Hypnôse Show collection. The collection included mascaras, eye shadow palettes, and false eyelashes.

While the influential artist is no longer around, the Andy Warhol Foundation collaborated with Nars for a limited edition makeup collection. There were makeup palettes dedicated to Factory it-girls, lip glosses housed in metal soup cans, and Pop Art prints a-plenty! Even if you’re not a die-hard Warhol fan, there’s a lot to like about this collection.

Karl Lagerfeld is no stranger to a collaboration. He’s done the clothing collaboration thing and last year he teamed up with cosmetics company Shu Uemura. The collection, called Mon Shu Uemura included eye shadow palettes, eyelash curlers, lipsticks, and nail stickers. All of the cosmetics featured quirky packaging designed by Lagerfeld. He even went so far as to photograph the collection himself!

Lagerfeld for Kiehl's — Lagerfeld for Shu Uemura

Cosmetic’s brand Kiehl’s teamed up with contemporary artist Kenny Scharf for their Holiday 2012 collection. He customized the packaging of several products for the brand as part of their annual philanthropic project where100% of the proceeds from the collaboration were donated to various associations around the world that help in protecting children.

Kenny for Kiehl's — Kenny Scharf for Kiehl’s

It’s fresh, it’s fun and it gives the artist an opportunity to create something different and open up another avenue, and the purchaser to obtain a little something special.

These are my favorite tweezers (the famous slant removes even the toughest hairs):

https://www.tweezerman.com/

I may have missed a few. These are just a few examples of arty makeup collections.

It just goes to show that an artist’s canvas can take any shape or form.

Photos: google images

Film Reviews, STYLE

Style/Art: Dior and I

As Valentino said, “I love beauty, it’s not my fault.”

That’s why I went to see the stunning documentary “Dior and I” For the love of beautiful, well made clothes and because twice in my lifetime (so far) I’ve had the pleasure of visiting the Dior design house in Paris. Unfortunately it was not to be measured for haute couture, but like a fairytale to imagine myself wearing it, and to admire everything in sight.The documentary which is part of the Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF), does an excellent job of bringing the viewer inside the storied world of the Christian Dior fashion house with a privileged, behind-the-scenes look at the creation of Raf Simons’ first haute couture collection as its new artistic director.

Before being appointed to this position, Belgium born Raf Simons was best known within the industry for designing tailored menswear, and in 2005 was appointed creative director of Jil Sander – a role in which he flourished. It was all ready-to-wear, so was he ready for Dior?Those familiar with the Jil Sander minimalistic label were waiting with bated breath to see how Raf would cast his ideas onto the Dior label especially having never worked in haute couture. In the cutthroat fashion world you wonder if they were hoping he’d succeed or fail.

For fashion fanatics there’s plenty of eye candy. There’s also humour, and tensions that arise in a high strung fashion climate with only weeks to spare before the big show and not everything is ready. Also, Raf wants to make a name for himself and do something completely different which the house has never done before. He’s a fan of art and wants to incorporate ideas from artist Sterling Ruby, whose work he admires (paintings that look like they were spray painted onto canvases) onto fabric for dresses and jackets for the new collection. It is something the atelier is not used to and not sure they can pull off.

The final scene is the big fashion show with plenty of stars, other well known designers like Donna Karan and Donatella Versace and fashion editors like Vogue’s Anna Wintour. The grand finale takes place in a grand Paris apartment where the walls have been entirely cloaked with a million flowers. Pretty heady. Hope no one had allergies.There’s a lesson learned here. People get typecast – not just in movies but in real life too. What did they call you Raf? A minimalist I believe. Looking at these photos goes to prove…

Minimalist no more!

Photos: google images

Food + Drink

recipe: ridiculously good homemade protein bars

These addictive energy bars are easy to make, easy to store and really easy to eat! I love to eat one after a run or when I’m feeling a bit run down and need an energy boost.

My Recipe:

1 cup whole raw almonds

1 cup pitted dates

1 cup raisins

2 Tbsp. sunflower seeds

1 Tbsp. flax seeds

1 Tbsp. chia seeds

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. pure Vanilla Powder (I used Cook’s Vanilla Bean Extract)

1 scoop of high quality protein powder (I use Brad King’s Ultimate Vegan)

1/2 cup unsweetened coconut flakes

Put all ingredients into a food processor and pulse until ingredients form into a ball (the dates hold everything together, so if you need to, add a bit more). Pour the mix onto parchment paper & pat down with your hands.

removed from parchment and ready to cut

Refrigerate for 1-2 hours. Cut into squares, wrap in parchment paper and store in your refrigerator. You can freeze them too.

Tip #1: Cut a small piece of parchment paper to help pat the mixture down with. This will prevent mix from sticking to your hands.

TIP #2: Medjool dates are the best and easiest for removing the pits.

TIP #3: Experiment with different combinations like cranberries instead of raisins, or a combo of half sour cherries & half raisins. This time I used raisins and unsweetened bing cherries – delicious combo!

Enjoy!

Art & Culture

“Show Me Love” – an exhibit by Yayoi Kusama

Selfie Realization!

In 2013, Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama’s Infinity Mirrored Room was the surprise hit of the art world, the piece that launched thousands of selfies on its way to becoming an international cultural phenomenon. By the end of her exhibition I Who Have Arrived in Heaven‘s run at David Zwirner Gallery in New York, the waits to see the show had grown to eight hours long. (On an average day, the exhibition received around 2,500 visitors, each allotted less than a minute of time in the space.) So the question hanging over her second Zwirner show, Give Me Love, was if Kusama could once again channel the same spirit.

At 28, Kusama left her native Japan for New York City like so many before and after her, with a one-way ticket and a dream. Like Yoko Ono and the FLUXUS movement, Kusama created a series of instructions and “invitations” that could be re-replicated, her most famous a series of be-in style protests in the late 60s that involved naked men and women, covered in polka dots, stationed outside the UN, the New York Stock Exchange, the Statue of Liberty, and elsewhere.

When she began to deteriorate both physically and emotionally in 1973, she returned to her native country for treatment, to commence what would turn into a decades-long stint in a mental hospital. As she recovered, she acquired her own unique, some have said therapeutic, visual style, the most recognizable her polka dot and infinity net works. With her success of the Infinity Mirrored Room, 60 years after her initial arrival in the city Kusama finally achieved the New York welcome she’d so longed for, an adoration that extended far beyond the cloistered world of the city’s arts institutions—the Guardian even called her the “world’s most popular artist of 2014.“ So what has she done for an encore?

The new show, which will be up through mid-June, features the artist’s intricate paintings, large-form pumpkin sculptures, and Obliteration Room, an interactive project inspired by a makeshift “American middle-class house.” The design is based on the urban planning initiatives of Levittown, New York, widely considered to be the first suburb and prototype for many of the country’s postwar communities. As part of Obliteration Room, which was previously staged in Australia, visitors are given colorful polka dot stickers to place wherever they like inside the all-white house. Eventually, the faux TV, dinner table, sofa, and desk will all become a pastiche of color swatches, transforming the calm, blank slate into a space that is overwhelming with radiant life. Gallery visitors become willing participants in both the project’s destruction and renewal, in keeping with Kusama’s prior themes of life, death, and rebirth.

The most recent reason for Kusama’s resurgence is the social media effect. Infinity Mirrored Room was one of the most Instagrammed and selfied art events of 2013, and perhaps of all time. But you can’t measure her influence merely in likes and reblogs, says Hanna Schouwink, a senior partner at David Zwirner.

“[Kusama]’s a genius, someone who’s really been able to tap into what it means to be human, whether you live in America or Tokyo or Russia,” explains Schowink. “People from all over the world tune in to her message. Every museum, every single venue where these shows have shown, has broken [attendance] records for its institution. And then she breaks them doubly. It’s a phenomenon that I don’t think we’ve ever seen before.”

Antwaun Sargent, Jiajia Fei, and another visitor at 'Give Me Love' — Antwaun Sargent, Jiajia Fei, and another visitor at ‘Give Me Love’

David Zwirner himself says, “Very few artists have this gift to really transcend the art world. It’s rare. Jeff Koons has that gift, of course. What Kusama does is very life-affirming. It’s very positive, and it asks you to enter. It’s not opaque, and she doesn’t hold back as an artist. She’s had difficult times in her life, and I think that transports to the work and people really react to it.”

Though the sheer volume of Infinity Room selfies puts it in a league with such tourist traps as the Statue of Liberty and the Brooklyn Bridge, the photo-friendly nature of the exhibit wasn’t a calculated move by Zwirner to court the smartphone set.

But why do visitors respond to Kusama’s work? Easy: “It just makes people happy.”

And as is often the case with happiness, sometimes you’ve just got to wait.

Yayoi Kusama’s Give Me Love is on view at David Zwirner Gallery in New York through June 13, 2015 with extended hours during New York Frieze Week.

Source – Story and Photos: Laura Feinstein, Brooklyn-based editor and writer for Vice.com

From me:

I Want Happiness! According to Buddha, If you take away “I” which is “ego” and you take away “want” which is “desire” all you’re left with is Happiness.