urban zen

Urban Zen

I came across Donna Karan's foundation and new label Urban Zen on one of my ventures out into the big world wide web. I was immediately attracted to the fashion, the same thing that used to happen to me in the early nineties, most of what I saw of her work was inspiring and intelligent, made for a woman's body, I was so glad to know she was over there in New York. I feel like with this label she's gone into the core of her style and heart. And then to make things even more enthralling, ten percent of sales from the Urban Zen stores goes to the people in Haiti. It reminds me a bit of the inspirational Anita Roddick. Thank God for powerful, humanitarian, and creative women like this, they give the rest of us such an excellent reference point.

timeless beauty never dates

'The Village Beauty'

From the first generation after Manaku and Nainsukh, 1785
Opaque watercolor on paper

(image from Master Painters of India at the Met)

The beauty in this picture is lifting her right shoulder very slightly as she

flirtatiously gazes at something behind her. Its almost like she knew she was 

being watched by an appreciator of her timeless fecund beauty, and ripeness.

She could just as well be a girl today, standing on the tram self-consciously aware

of herself, yet probably innocent of her power: timeless feminine beauty.

an ode to Matisse's dance

I first saw this painting 'in-the-flesh', when I visited MOMA in NYC in 1999. I didn't expect to be quite so profoundly thrown and moved...It was a painting I had often soaked in from reproductions in books and on posters. It is so very famous. When I was a child, I thought it might be some kind of tarot card, its magical impact on my psyche had already begun by the time I was about eleven, when I saw a book my aunt, the Dutch sculptor, Katinka van Rood-Bruin, had in her Amsterdam studio.  

Her brother, my father had died just months before, and that day my heart was aching and heavy with grief.  So when I stood in front of this work, the tears flooded and I had to take deep breaths so that I didn't wail with passion and emotion. I was in front of it for about half an hour. All the wonderful works in that Museum were calling me, their voice faint and easily put on hold while Matisse's dance and I communed. 

I felt so deeply held and healed by the Spirit of this extraordinarily rhythmic and beautiful work.

Ava Gardner - la plus belle

I was just thinking about the most beautiful women from the past. I just love Ava Gardner, her exotic beauty and mysterious depths. This picture looks like its from a later part of her career, when she was at her most extraordinary and gorgeous.

Sophia Loren - exotic, glamour et al

I was just hankering for some pure outright beautiful glamour this morning, so I went to one of my favorite blogs: the impossible cool and borrowed this pic from there. Here she is, must be some kind of Goddess don't you think? She certainly set a bench mark, and inspired a generation or three with her eternal divine femininity and gorgeousness. Wow!

Bonnaroo 09 street style

This is a singer called Annie Clark, who's stage name is: St Vincent. She was spotted at the Bonnaroo music festival in the US. How gorgeous is she!!

Nino talking

I still think about Nino my little beautiful extraordinary ET black cat. He only lived for two years, and in that time I learnt a lot from him. He used to talk a lot about his world and his experiences, and he'd respond to my questions. He still inspires me with his beauty and grace.
When he was happy, like he is here in this picture, his tail would fluff up..

from Paris Vogue 1974

Wow! I have a large pile of French and English Vogues dating from 1974. Some of them are falling apart at the bindings, they have been leafed through so much; and then moved from one place to the next over the last 35 years. (I have moved with all my things about 18 times in this period I think.) I have used them ruthlessly at times as the pillars of shelves or they have been left in cardboard boxes in the shadows of their former selves. They are fantastic, and I love them. I don't look at them very often these days, but today decided its time to dip in again..(stay tuned)