underwater dancer

I'm not sure where this mysteriously beautiful photo comes from..

I find it particularly evocative.It reminds me of a dream or a scene from another era

 or dimension, it takes me back to my childhood when I longed to be a classical 

ballet dancer (oh but I'm so glad I didn't go in that direction now!).

I just grew too tall and big boned to be a classical ballet dancer. Anyway, 

here she is, and her height and weight don't matter in the slightest. 

The metaphor is for 'freedom', the freedom to 

do whatever you want, and be whoever you want to be..I love it.

Paul Strand & Alfred Stieglitz

This is an unusual photograph for Paul Strand, usually his photos seem to be a take on social realism. I think here he had a a more ethereal moment perhaps..

"It is not art in the professionalized sense about which I care, but that which is created sacredly, as a result of a deep inner experience, with all of oneself, and that becomes 'art' in time."

Alfred Stieglitz

Stephen Meisel for Vogue in 2003

'Mad About You', is the name of this photograph shot by Stephen Meisel for Vogue in 2003.

It is one of those amazing timeless images which moves something other than one's aesthetic values. There's something poignant and delicate, which so suits the mood of this century so far.

Is Marilyn Minter's work even more relevant now than it was when she created it?

Here is an artist I've only just discovered.

Her work reminds me a bit of Cindy Sherman, because of its lurid erotica or (at times) confronting content. They also have in common that they are not trying to create beauty, but they are both questioning what beauty is.

If you put her name in your favorite search engine and just look at her images spread across the web, you will get a sense of what she's saying.

I find her work important and relevant at this time, when fashion is often a mash of mixed up fads, styles, and genres, and quite often ugly and contrary to our programmed wish for it to wisk us away into a world where everything is beautiful and perfect. When we cannot find beauty in the classical or traditional sense, we have to start questioning what it is that soothes us rather than what is provokes us into a reactive state.

Here is an artist whose mash-up shows integrity and cohesive enquiry.

More about her work is here: Marilyn Minter. 

the sub-tropical pool

The warm sensuality of slipping into a pool in a sub-tropical rain forest....

Alber Elbaz at Lanvin ~ such a master

The Fall/Winter 2011 collection at Lanvin, is such a beautiful mixture of structure and flow. I always find something which makes me stop in my tracks. He somehow captures that formality of Lanvin, and yet the feminine and intuitive flow of fabric and colour together, which I think is a rare feat.

a London Fashion Week jewel ~ Mary Katrantzou

I haven't heard of this designer before, and she might not do more seasons, but her beautiful story of a delicate and playful feminine spirit has touched and inspired me.

You can see the whole range Style.com or if you'd rather The Cut at NYT.