[OPE] Oh my God the clothes... or, the Owls are not what they Seem

From: Jurriaan Bendien (adsl675281@tiscali.nl)
Date: Sun Mar 09 2008 - 16:47:51 EDT


Bit of blog. Quite a few years ago, a German girlfriend took me to a kinda alternative movie session. All night long, we watched the complete series of episodes of "Twin Peaks" (you know, who killed Laura Palmer by David Lynch). I was starting to feel a bit like Roddy Dowell starring in Clockwork Orange under the control of the scientists, and, actually, I got a bit fresh with my girlfiriend in the interval. She would have none of it, and said profoundly "The owls are not what they seem", whereupon she broke out laughing. I had previously met her on a train to Berlin, we had something in common. My German was pretty lousy but she spoke fairly good English, having had a stint Stateside. At the time I met her, I continued my journey to Berlin, just wrote down the number. It was cold and snowy in Berlin (it was winter), just caught the sights of Checkpoint Charlie and Rosa Luxemburg Platz, didn't have much luck although I was doing my best to think of Berthold Brecht. It came about because I just jumped on the train one day, to get out of Holland by any means necessary. The affair started sometime after that, and continued several times. Anyway, I was reminded of this episode when I read this article in the Financial Times today:

Farewell, Paris

By Vanessa Friedman
 
Published: March 7 2008 21:21 | Last updated: March 7 2008 21:21

It became increasingly clear, as the autumn/winter 2008 ready-to-wear season drew to a close last weekend in Paris, that these days 90 per cent of what you see in contemporary fashion is not, in fact, what you get. That bobbed, shaded, skinny lady in the front row at Lanvin? Not American Vogue editor Anna Wintour at all but an impersonator, the real Ms Wintour having flown back to the US in protest at the length of the European season. That velvet at Yves Saint Laurent? Not velvet, but flock - a sort of powdery substance added to the surface of other fabrics to give it a velvet-like texture but with a stiffer, harder feel. And that strapless evening dress at Nina Ricci with the back gaping open to reveal the corset beneath? Not a broken closure but a deliberate exposure of the undergarment.

Such sleight of hand is never more apparent than when science is involved. At Azzedine Alaia's atelier, for example, the designer spent six months experimenting to find the ideal temperature at which to boil wool in order to transform it into a skirt of variegated petals that flutter gently with the body's movement, changing an otherwise ordinary material into something altogether more extraordinary. And that doesn't even begin to address what he has done to mohair, which is to somehow knit it into a crinoline-less mini that nevertheless looks like what Marie Antoinette might have worn had she left the Petit Trianon and time-travelled to Castell's to disco the night away.

Complete article: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a6616d06-ebf6-11dc-9493-0000779fd2ac.html?nclick_check=1

Well, like I say, in the world of high finance, "the owls are not what they seem". And the fashions aren't either. They say it is due to the "complexity" of financial instruments, where you don't know anymore if it's real money, or a dud. There's fashion, and then there's fashion in the real world. 

I hope y'all live a long, long time. What's down today, may be up tomorrow.

Jurriaan

Woman I can hardly express, 
My mixed emotion at my thoughtlessness, 
After all I'm forever in your debt...

- John Lennon, "Woman" 

Took my baby to a party last night
She was beautiful, she made me uptight
Up came a butcher, with her ju jus alight
It's all dadadadown to Good Night Vienna

- Ringo Starr, "Good Night Vienna"





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