fairest summer

I'm usually a collector of words, spittin' them out and sweeping them up as fast as my temporal lobe can handle. But sometimes it's the images that speak, and gifted speakers they are. Powerful for their lack of premeditated vowels and syllables. Harbingers of sentences yet unimagined. Gifts that demonstrate emotions impossible to vocalize.

Here at the cusp of of this season of all seasons, our lady of the solar orbit, Fair Summer, these are the images on my brain, evocative of anticipated sensations I enjoy more than words can tell.

Mmmmmmm summer... practice it with frequency and abandon.

Image sources: Oracle Fox - Studded Hearts here, here, here and here - Visual Optimism - the Glamourai - LoveMore - Pinterest

I really don’t know why it is that all of us are so committed to the sea, except I think it’s because in addition to the fact that the sea changes, and the light changes, and ships change, it’s because we all came from the sea. And it is an interesting biological fact that all of us have, in our veins the exact same percentage of salt in our blood that exists in the ocean, and, therefore, we have salt in our blood, in our sweat, in our tears. We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea – whether it is to sail or to watch it – we are going back from whence we came.

- John F. Kennedy

- xx

P.S. The further I delve into running a vintage clothing business, the deeper I appreciate the simplicity of summer's dare to bare ways. Amen and all hail to sunshine, heat and skin, skin, skin on display. 

mama didn't raise no sheep

As a child, her mother would thrust the tools of creativity into her arms. Brushes and pastels, crayolas and chalk, fingers if none of the above suffice. Just give the girl a palette! The gift of choice.   

"Screw the lines kid. Paint the town red, yellow, magenta, ochre. Just paint."

Well now mama's little girl is as grown up as she'll get and showin' off how good a good lesson sticks.  Conformity, non-conformity - you're missing the point.  When hunting for beauty you don't look in boxes. 

Hearts, dear friends, not boxes. 

These images from Harper's Bazaar shook my Sunday and I hope they send shivers yours as well.

Now how's about some tunes to go with?  I've been stingy here with music of late, keeping it close, listening low, rapt, focused. Tapping toes in silence so no nuance is missed. But that's wrong of me - it's not ol' music's m.o. Without further ado, indulge in one of my favorite skillful indulgences and shake the frame ya'll.

'It's just I drink only that which makes me thirsty.'  

Happy Sunday.

- xx  

sasha pivovarova x free people

The beginning of the month.  A fresh start, chance for renewal, rejuvenation.  A reckoning of the month that's passed; new plots and schemes and dreams for the one just beginning.  There are few things I do with total consistency, but every month I try to let little social cues remind me to take time for reflection.

One of those cues is the monthly release of the new Free People catalog.  Words fail me at how I look forward to their release.  These aren't catalogs; they're stories.  They are insights into people's lives.  They are tributes to great icons or acts or cities or feelings.  Think music in Austin, cycling in Amsterdam, dancing in Rio, sailing with the Hemingways.  The thrill of a new relationship.  The struggle to let someone go.  Ah, and the styles.  Mmmmmmm, oh those styles.  They are stylin', no doubt about that.  Billows and bangles and folklore and lace. Brilliant colors meet the creamiest of whites.  Gypsy flirts with biker.  Cowboy chases rock n' roll legend.  Tomboy cuddles up to femme fatale.  'Tis marvelous.  Thus I sit, eagerly refreshing, blissfully anticipating, until I have the whole spread laid out before me.

This month I was particularly eager.  The January catalog features Sasha Pivovarova, a Russian model and artist married to the photographer Igor Vishnyakov.  The images are bursting with Sasha's stunning artwork, stunning features and stunning home life.  The paintings were inspired by childhood trips to museums with her mother, dreams of girls turning into butterflies or the simple acts of everyday life: girl gets on bus, girl catches train.  Igor photographed her, giving touching insight into the warmth of their relationship and the milieu of lenses he uses to view her: siren, partner, lover, muse, mother, artist, friend.

Over the past year, the campaigns have moved to another level as FP began regularly featuring short films or interviews to accompany their images, notably Roshambo (watch it now!!) and its sequels (here and here) beginning last February, and more recently with The Neighbor and The Cabin.  This month they've offered a bit of insight into the inspiring mind and creative hands of Sasha and how she's artistically inspired by the everyday.  Her art is her diary, and I hope this beautiful experience has become part of her tale.  

To check out behind-the-scenes photos from the catalog shoot and photos of Sasha's incredible artwork, head over to Free People's blog, BLDG 25!  

xx