Sub-Par Designs of Asians and Their Influence in Society

Left: Marchesa Resort, 2013
Right: Sui, Fall 2012

I've written about the Marchesa sisters, and their superior design ability, especially in their area of expertise which is evening gowns.

The 2012 gown designs are now on display in various fashion websites, and I happened to find Ana Sui's latest. I've also blogged about Sui here and here. I've described her design ability thus:

Anna Sui is an Asian fashion designer who has been somewhat under the radar, but has entered the limelight due to some fascination for all things Asian. At the February 2012 New York Fashion Week, her collection of prints don't quite get the grade, as I explain with samples of designs below.

I continue about Sui, and Asian (East Asian) designers:

Asian designers have "almost" moments, as I wrote about Vera Wang's dresses (view my recent entries under "Fashion" for more on this). They are clever at marketing themselves, and also clever at picking up (copying) certain current trends. But their works lack something. It is partly creativity, partly craftsmanship, and the overall effect is oddly inferior work which almost passes as something of quality.

Anna Sui

In the same blog post, I deconstruct one of her dresses to show its inferior aesthetics and craftsmanship.

Sui, Fall 2012

Like many East Asians in Canada and the US, Sui has family which is clearly an admixture of whites and Asians. According to this site, Sui never married, but her "family photo" groups together whites, East Asians adults, with clearly white/Asian offspring.

Below is a photo of Sui and her family. I write here about the family's racial dynamics:

- Various biographical sources write that Sui has two brothers, so it is likely that the two older Chinese men are her brothers.

- One is sitting close to a white woman holding a young child, in the top photograph. She looks like she's the same woman with the child in the bottom photograph, standing next to a man holding another child. These children could be their children, they do have the half Caucasian, half Chinese features, so they must be part of the family at some generational level.

- The other Chinese man, with the his hand on the young girl's shoulder in the bottom photograph, at the far right, could be the girl's father.

The racial Smorgasbord of Sui's Family

I've written here that this offspring is creating a new type of people, here in North America.

As I wrote here:

A "new" kind of people [is]emerging from [Chinese/white coupling]: the Eurasians (white/Asian admixture), who look different, although more Asian than white, and who behave differently (I find them slightly more aggressive and insensitive - to noise, to color, to food tastes, and of course my topic of concern, to beauty). They also tend to group together, so in effect forming a new society. Their strength is also that they draw in Asians from the Asian continent, thus increasing the overall "Asianness" of Canada. There is likely to be a large demographic change in Canada within the next twenty years, with an Asian (including the admixtures) majority or close to majority, rather than a white one.

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L'Heure Bleue

I posted in my previous post an image of the Seine at "L'Heure Bleue" without explaining the meaning of the term.

From Wikipedia:

The blue hour comes from the French expression l'heure bleue, which refers to the period of twilight each morning and evening where there is neither full daylight nor complete darkness. The time is considered special because of the quality of the light at this time of day.

Wikipedia continues with a more metaphoric meaning:
The phrase is also used to refer to Paris immediately prior to World War I, which was considered to be a time of relative innocence.

The Wikipedia site has other interesting pieces of information, including art, books, films and music which use l'heure bleue.

It is a hard moment to catch. It is not quite light, not quite dark, with a strange sense of stillness. A little like the moment of a full solar eclipse, when the earth seems momentarily to be at a standstill (I have seen a full one in 1991 in Mexico City, of course through safety glasses. One thing that struck me was the birds stopped chirping - I was near a wood - for those brief seconds).

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All Things French (a.k.a. Perfume)

Cute Illustration for the Grown-Up La Petite Robe Noire

I haven't done a perfume review in a while.

Guerlain, which houses my favorite perfume Shalimar (here's an article I wrote on Shalimar - Shalimar: Senses in a Bottle has a perfume cutely titled La Petite Robe Noire) or LPRN as the unromantic perfume girl told me is the best way to remember it. What happened to knowing a little bit of French. Petite, robe, noire. Is that so hard to remember?

Of course La Petite Robe Noire is in reference to that cocktail dress which all fashionable women should have in their wardrobe.

Amsale, the wedding dress designer, has put in her collection a few little black dresses. But she has also cheekily added the "little white dress" to her collection, which might catch on as the new style of cocktail dress to have.

Notes the Guerlain's The Little Black Dress:
Top Notes: Bergamot, Almond, Sour Cherry, Red Berries
Middle Notes: Rose, Licorice
Base Notes: Anise, Vanilla, Patchouli, Iris

It sounds like it should smell like candy, but it has the famous Guerlinade that is present in Shalimar. It is in fact a lighter version of Shalimar, and not at all juvenile fruity as the name suggests but a good blend of floral and fruity.

The bottle for La Petite Robe Noire is exactly the same as the 1912 L'Heure Bleue (re-instated in 2012 at its 100 year anniversary). La Petite Robe Noire's bottle, which comes in a deeper purple, could have done without the cute dress illustration and the scribbly script.

Guerlain's bottles for L'Heure Bleue and La Petite Robe Noire

The Seine at L'Heure Bleue

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Adept Attackers of Beauty

Frumpy, home-body Miu Miu

I sent the email below, along with a link of my blog post From Schiaparelli to Prada: Deterioration of Culture to a correspondent.

I have written a long post on the Met's exhibition "Schiaparelli & Prada, Impossible Conversations" (linked above), but this email adds more on my ideas and observations about the decline, or perversion, of culture that I see around me. Art, and artists, are often the first to grasp (either by accepting or rejecting) societal changes. I think Prada has given us some insights, not what she really wants us to see but nevertheless insights, on our current culture.

Here is my email, which I titled: War on Beauty and the related War on Masculinty:

Hi ____,

I read a little while ago your post on beauty with interest.

Beauty is a hard concept to "analyze" and to "deconstruct" as leftists love to do. It is an ethereal presence. We react to beauty rather than coldly observe it. We have to admit it is there in some things, probably not in us, and thus we realize it is some kind of favored state (it is clear that beautiful people, and babies, are treated better than ordinary people). At our best, we are humbled by beauty.

This hierarchy of beauty is what grates liberals and leftists.

I've written several (many) blogs on beauty, and I've noticed that there is an even more vicious war going on against beauty than when I started my blog a few years ago. This time, I think people are well-versed on how to attack beauty, and how to make beautiful people, things, etc. feel they're doing, and are, something wrong (and evil). Decades (even centuries, if you look back at the origins of modernism) have made such people adept attackers of beauty.

I wrote this post on Prada's really ugly clothes after I saw the exhibition "Schiaparelli & Prada, Impossible Conversations" at the Metropolitan Museum. Schiaparelli, in her time (around the turn of the 20th century), was considered a radical fashion designer, yet her least feminine designs are not as viciously ugly as Prada's. Schiaparelli was also much more talented, skilled (trained, I think) than Prada, and she admits the power of femininity and feminine beauty.

Prada is the post-modern feminist who seems to have a visceral hate for femininity. and feminine beauty, and ultimately beauty in general (I won't go into the many viciously anti-woman homosexual designers, since perhaps their deficiencies are obvious, but the heterosexual, female Prada is the ultimate betrayer.)

Prada of course supports all the evils that come with feminism, yet her life is strangely traditional, with a husband of several decades, two grown sons, and one son who is following her footsteps in her fashion design empire. She herself inherited this already successful empire from her father and grandfather, so she hardly qualifies as a female empire builder. She holds her temperamental husband at bay by giving him the high profile role of managing her company (and metaphorically, her too?). She's a clever, smart feminist. Those are the types that really do rule this world, since they realize that the female energy IS different than the male's. So, what they're after in not equality, but a reversal of roles (of power), even though they know from experience that this isn't likely to happen. But, I think even clever, smart Prada succumbs to her illusions, since her inner-most desire must be (from all the information she keeps giving us) to make women the superior sex. I think one of your correspondents called this envy. I think that is what it is. The natural, obvious, strength (power) of men, which they carry with such ease, is something to be admired, just as beauty is to be admired in beautiful women. When this admiration is perverted, it turns to something ugly like envy. I think we are in the age of perversions. And this is manifested, at least in my observations of culture, in the cult of ugliness as a vicious retaliation against beauty, and I think related to that (since it all presents itself as equality) the cult of male feminization, which is part of the degradation masculinity.

And finally, what happens if a woman can no longer be beautiful? The alternative now is that she has to look masculine. How does Prada reconcile all that with her "hatred" of masculinity AND femininity? One way is that modern fashion designers (and artists in general) who still work with/for/about women are creating alien monsters, neither male nor female. But, this is something I've just began to observe, and I still have to think about it some more.

Kidist

Android, from Prada's 2013 collection

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From Schiaparelli to Prada: Deterioration of Culture

Schiaparelli's designs displayed at the Metropolitan's
Schiaparelli and "Prada: Impossible Conversations",
with the shoe-hat, the lobster dress, and other gowns.

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When a fashion designer says that her aim is to introduce ugliness into women's clothes, what do you do?

That is what Prada said in an imaginary dialogue she held with Schiaparelli, the "avant-garde" designer of the early twentieth century.

The "Dream Dialogue" between Schiaparelli and Prada is part of the Metropolitan Museum's "Schiaparelli & Prada, Impossible Conversations" exhibition that runs through August 19. Prada appears as her self, and Schiaparelli is reincarnated by the actress Judy Davis.

Prada is our contemporary expert on women's clothes. Her clothes are uninteresting, and their ugliness factor is more a boring lack of style than anything "shocking" the avant-gardists attempted through wit and imagination at the peak of their creativity. Prada says she is influenced by Schiaparelli's designs, and hence the exhibit (and her new line of work). But what she's really after is the rebellious essence of the early twentieth century avant-gardists. Of course, she misconstrues their efforts and intentions. They never wanted to destroy beauty, skill and culture, as do die-hard post-modernists like her.

Prada is the avant-gardist of our era, who wishes ugliness for women. That is her "shocking" contribution to her art. Not playful lobster dresses and witty shoe-hats (from the foot to the head, as Schiaparelli joked). But the telling point in Prada's conversation with Schiaparelli was not that she wishes simply ugliness for women and to discard their femininity (if these are just simple things), but that she wishes POWER for women. Power over what? Over men; over their destiny as women (the weaker sex, as she calls women); over their bodies, one of which is of course their ability to have (and NOT have, in Prada's argument) children. Prada, as with all feminists, doesn't really want equality for women, but a recreation of their person-hood. She wants to destroy the feminine woman, destroy her feminine essence and unique strength, which according to feminists is woman's weakness, then create a super creature that presides over all others, and especially over men. What feminists ultimately wish to create, although they would never admit to this, or even recognize this, is an alien creature/monster.

Schiaparelli is the better, the more talented, the more skilled, the more educated designer. Her clothes are well-crafted, her textiles well-chosen, and her designs far more superior than what Prada has to offer. Even her presence is more alluring and imaginative than the frumpy Prada. Still, there is no denying that Schiaparelli's playfulness did contribute to the decline in cultural excellence. She dismissed skill for pure imagination. Prada is ultimately her heir, who works simply with her ideas, without the finesse and skill necessary to back them up.

Prada is the supreme post-modern artist of our era. Ideas (and almost always bad, ugly ideas) are the crutch she leans on, as though things materialize out of the nether worlds of her vapid brain.

I would get Schiaparelli's "lobster dress" and "shoe-hat" any time over Prada's drab dresses.

The exhibition entrance is a suggested $25, but you can enter with a donation of any amount. The guy at the ticket booth took my "donation" of $2 with good humor. You can spend quite a bit of money at the Museum's store, with its overpriced, but one-of-a-kind items made especially for the exhibition, to make up for a lower entrance fee.

My instincts were right about Prada's feminism which leads to equality, which ultimately means power of women over nature. Here is some background on her:

As a young woman, Prada, who has a degree in political science and then studied mime with the Piccolo Teatro in Milan, was a signed-up member of the Communist Party and a reluctant inheritor of her grandfather's leather goods and glass company. She finally took the helm there in 1978.

"Italian society was becoming obsessed with consumerism, but my big dreams were of justice, equality and moral regeneration," she said. "I was a Communist but being left wing was fashionable then. I was no different from thousands of middle-class kids."

I suppose her slabs of ugly glass are some kind of homage to her grandfather Mario Prada, the founder of the Prada line. Yet a convoluted homage it is.

Mario Prada did not believe that women should have a role in business, and so he prevented female family members from entering into his company. Ironically, Mario's son harbored no interest in the business, so it was his daughter Luisa Prada who took the helm of Prada as his successor, and ran it for almost twenty years. Her own daughter, Miuccia Prada, joined the company in 1970, eventually taking over for her mother in 1978.[Source: Wikipedia]

Miu Miu may have never forgotten the second choice women in Mario's family were given to run his business. Her subconscious revenge is to scatter her works with ugly glass and crudely cut leather.

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Prada's convoluted homage to her grandfathers glass and leather heritage:

Prada's sack tunic with
what look like glass (but are
probably plastic) slabs from
the Met's exhibition.

Tunics (Roman gladiator?)
at the Met's exhibition
From Prada' s Ready-to-wear
Fall 2009 collection

(More images of the exhibition piece here.)

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And on those avant-gardists. All those I have met (at least the leaders) who SELL the idea of the leftist/communist/anti-establishment avant-garde are bourgeois at heart. Avant-garde is for the common people, who literally, like the advance guard in armies, are sent to the front to fight the real, deadly battles.

Here is how the Department of Defense explains the advance guard:

Detachment sent ahead of the main force to ensure its uninterrupted advance; to protect the main body against surprise; to facilitate the advance by removing obstacles and repairing roads and bridges; and to cover the deployment of the main body if it is committed to action. [Source: Department Of Defense Dictionary of Military Terms]

The common folk get the products that seep out of the distorted imaginations of these armchair avant-gardists, while they live safe and secure bourgeois lives.

That is how Prada is living her life. Her husband is the "boss" as she has arranged it. She acts as the creative force, while he runs the business and rules the staff with his boisterous personality. It is a "family" business, apparently run by the head of the household, Mr. Prada. They have two grown sons, one of whom is joining the family business.

Clever Mrs. Prada, who's kept her name, gives just enough of the reigns to her excitable husband, and sits demurely next to him when necessary.

Prada with her husband in 2011

Prada with her two sons below (in 1999), forming her happy family which is still in tact. Families consisting of husband-wife-two/three kids are only for fake avant-gardists like her. Other "families" can be of any type: homosexual parents, unmarried parents, women bringing up their children alone, etc. All of these make up the foot soldiers who change the messy world below the palaces of the pradas.

Prada with her husband and two sons in 1999

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"The Curse of the Vera Wang Wedding Dress" And the Rebellious Mr. Wang

Marc Mezvinsky's expression vacillates between the insipid,
characterless look that is so common in young men these days,
but seems to change into the hard glint of a narcissist without warning.

The first half of my blog title is not mine, I got it from the Daily Mail, whose full title is:

Curse of the Vera Wang wedding gown? How eight celebrities who married wearing her designs have ended up divorced

Celebrity marriages and divorces are nothing to set standards by, but eight divorced celebrities attached to her wedding dresses? That's not a good record. Chelsea Clinton, who also wore a Wang dress for her wedding, may be next in line (although I wouldn't wish the trauma of divorce on anyone). I wrote in 2010 about Chelsea, her "mounds of chiffon" wedding dress, and her husband's dubious background:

[T]he groom is the son of...convicted politician [Edward M. Mezvinsky]. That is hardly the groom's fault (or Chelsea's). Still, the reason she is in the limelight is because of her infamous parents. And, who can ignore her husband's notorious family background? Perhaps they were destined to meet and wed.

Destined to meet and wed in a Vera Wang dress? Despite the couple's happy appearance, there is a frighted look in Chelseas's eyes as she stand next to the husband, who at times looks like the insipid male that is so common these days, but then changes into a narcissistic and aggressive demeanor and attitude I see in many young men these days.

And to give Wang's insipid husband some credit, the New York Post writes about their marital discord:

"They used to fight all the time in public, even at dinner. They would berate each other in front of other people, even though it made others uncomfortable." A source added that Becker, a former CEO at tech firm NaviSite, even bitterly joked that he was "Mr. Vera Wang," making light of his place in the marriage. Another source told us, "They didn’t get along. But all her staff have been ordered not to talk. There is concern that it doesn’t look good for a wedding-dress designer to get a divorce."

It seems that there is only so much hen-pecking that husbands will take.

By her own design: Vera Wang in her own
creation at her wedding to Arthur Becker in 1989

Wang designed her own wedding dress because:

[S]he wasn’t satisfied with the wedding dresses that were available. "I’m very modern and sophisticated," she told USA Today in 2009. "I didn’t want to look like the top of a wedding cake." So she hired a seamstress and created her own minimalist dress. [Source: Elle Magazine, August 18, 2011]

Leave the fluffy wedding cake look to other, gullible brides, seems to be her motto.

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White Gardenia

White Gardenia

The Body Shop never ceases to amaze me (in a good way). I recently reviewed its very good Moroccan Rose, and called it "a true rose fragrance." The slightly heavier "perfume oil" which I praised was White Musk.


Now my local Body Shop shop is selling White Gardenia Eau de Toilette for half price. This is a scent that was discontinued, but has been re-introduced, not surprisingly. Gardenia scents can be overwhelming (and acrid), but this one is fresh and light, up with a touch of citrus.

Once again, as I wrote here, the bottle is nothing to write about (:-)), but such a plain design has somehow become the Body Shop signature.

Here are its notes:
Lotus flower, gardenia, bergamot and musk. It is the bergamot that gives it the citrusy scent.

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The Allure of Heads of Department

Clockwise from top:
- Culture minister Aurelie Filippetti
- Small and Medium Enterprises junior minister Fleur Pellerin
- Minister for Ecology, Delphine Batho
- Minister for Women's Rights Najat Vallaud-Belkacem

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Lawrence Auster, at the View From the Right, has posted a photo of portfolio carrying, casual white jeans wearing, French Culture minister Aurelie Filippetti (via the Daily Mail). He of course, and rightly, is writing a commentary on the unprofessional attire of the minister. But, as he continues, she is very much aware of her "allure":

But see, I’m using the word “allure” in relation to heads of government departments. Which returns us to the realization that Western society has become a joke.

Yes, Filippetti is very much aware of her allure, and is dressed to convey that, however casual she may appear. Her tight white jeans, her silky blouse, and her beige heels were all carefully selected for the ensemble to look alluring.

And the other women are no different. Pellerin has on especially high heels with large bows at the back, and a short mini skirt. Vallaud-Belkacem has on a tight knit dress with a zipper that goes from top to bottom, without as much as worrying about a wardrobe malfunction (her smile is too broad for any worries). And Batho has on an extra long fuchsia scarf that flaps around her form-fitting navy dress. Each woman has chosen some focal point to accentuate her allure. Pellerin's extra short mini skirt, Vallaud-Belkacem's daring zipper, Batho's bright flapping scarf, and Filippetti's sleeveless silk shirt (although her tight jeans also compete with the shirt) are all carefully chosen to convey this allure.

Yet seriousness is also cherished. Large, colorful portfolios and overstuffed handbags, full of important-looking documents, are carried like badges of honor.

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Beauty Au Naturel

Constance Jabloski, September 2011

Joan Small, July 2011

Liu Wen, July 2011

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Here are the three Estée Lauder models I blogged about in my last post Radical Multi-Culti Chic, where I was comparing the beauty (outer, no inner beauty here) of the three models.

Even without make-up, (or elaborate make-up), the white model still looks to most beautiful, followed by the black girl. I still don't see any beauty in the Asian model.

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Asians Not Quite Up To Par, Again

Wang's Spring 2011 charcoal lilac wedding dress
from the New York Post's June 9th fashion page

The same dress, a darker charcoal lilac
on a different model

A close-up of the bodice

Marchesa Fall 2011 gown

I've started a fascinating quest to understand the Asian fetish that is going on in our modern, Western culture these days, and I seem to be finding examples at regular frequencies.

Just after I wrote the previous post, The Fetish of White Men: Asian Women, I found at the New York Post's online fashion page a wedding gown designed by Vera Wang as part of the "Bright Brides" slide show. The first image of the "purple" Vera Wang wedding dress shows a cropped version of the dress, to show off the elaborate bodice. The next page has a full-length shot of the dress, and color is muddier and greyer, and the chiffon that floats flimsily around the inner lining of the dress doesn't match with the more formal bodice.

I wondered if this was an original by Wang, or if she found "inspiration" for it elsewhere? Looking online, the dress is described as "charcoal-lilac" even in the NYP description, and is indeed much greyer than the very first bright lilac version on the NYP. The bright lilac is not produced anywhere else.

I started an image search for "lilac gown" and found that the designers at Marchesa had indeed a very similar dress in their evening gown collection. Their chiffon is more structured than Wang's, and the bodice, although not as pretty as the floral motif on Wang's, adds an interesting metallic effect.

But, on closer look at Wang's "pretty" floral motif, it is as disorganized as her chiffon, with no discernible pattern to the flowers. And the velvet ribbon around the upper waist is an odd addition.

Now, the question is: who designed it first? Who took inspiration from whom, if at all?

Wang's dress (wrongly dated as Spring 2010 in the NYP display) is from her Spring 2011 bridal collection. The Marchesa dress is from their Fall 2011 collection. Designer often work up to a year before they showcase their works, and there is no reason why the savvy Wang wouldn't have known about the Marchesa dress before it came out for public view. Of course, Fall comes after Spring,but there isn't that long of a time period between Fall and Spring for either party to influence one another.

I give Marchesa credit because this is the kind of work they are known for. Vera Wang's Spring 2011 bridal collection has only two dresses with elaborate, macarme style designs on the bodice. The Fall 2011 Marchesa Ready To Wear collection has at least ten.

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Madonna: Modern Day Cybele

Group Orgy with Madonna and her Homosexuals

I wrote about Madonna's homosexual stilettoed dancers and her new music video Girl Gone Wild here. The dance troupe is from the Ukraine and calls itself Kazaky or Boys in Heels. Wikipedia describes them thus:

Kazaky (also known as The Boys In Heels) is an all-male Ukrainian dance group. Assembled by choreographer Oleg Zhezhel, the group has released several songs which have garnered popularity on YouTube. The group confronts gender norms by fusing masculine and feminine attributes together, most notably by regularly wearing stiletto heels.

Strange cultural and artistic phenomena often have ancient and mythic precedences. Madonna's homosexual men are like the castrated dancers of the Greek goddess Cybele, who danced around their goddess into sexual frenzy. Here is more on the cult of Cybele:

The cult of Cybele was directed by eunuch priests called Corybantes, who led the faithful in orgiastic rites accompanied by wild cries and the frenzied music of flutes, drums, and cymbals. Her annual spring festival celebrated the death and resurrection of her beloved Attis.

And more on the word "eunuch":

[T]he word ‘eunuch’ has many meanings to modern scholars. It may...refer to transgendered individuals, and it has been used to refer to gay individuals... When a Galli, transgendered priestess of the Magna Mater, Cybele, was unearthed in York a few years ago, the skeleton was said to be of a eunuch; it was found surrounded by female accoutrements and clothing samples.

This site provides interesting and comprehensive information on Cybele and her followers, including the transgendered, sado-masochistic nature of the male eunuchs/homosexuals, and their frenzied, orgiastic rituals.


Fashion designer Anna Osmekhina designed Kazaky's "costumes." Her dress above (not used in Kazaky's performances) has ancient Greco-Roman goddess references, and it is snips and cuts suggest a sado-masochistic style, thus fitting well with her costume creations for the Kazakys.

Kasaky Fashion, by designer Anna Osmekhina
 
The stilettoed fashion of the blatantly homosexual Kazakys
 
The stilettoes of Madonna's dance troupe have multiple meanings. One obvious meaning is their evocation of penetration (through both the female sexual organs and the anus). Since this group of dancers is openly gay, penetration would clearly not be of the female anatomy.

Anal penetration, usually a homosexual sexual act, is a violent act. Here is what could/can happen:

Since the rectum doesn't produce natural lubrication like the vagina does, anal sex risks tearing the rectal walls or the sphincter...that presents a real chance of potentially lethal peritonitis due to leakage of fecal bacteria into the abdomen...A 2004 study by the American Cancer Association showed that women practicing anal sex had more than twice the risk of developing anal cancer...

Stilettoes also evoke sharp and dangerous weapons like knives. As I wrote here, one of the definitions for stiletto is "a small dagger with a slender, tapered blade," implying a covert and dangerous weapon. The homosexual movement is still, to a large extent, a hidden world (camouflaged as, say, fun pop dancers, or fashion-savvy commentators) but it is serious about changing, and destroying, our heterosexual society. However much homosexuals may praise females (or the female way of life), their ultimate purpose is to destroy the feminine and the female.

Christian history also figures in homosexual imagery. There is a clear analogy between Saint Sebastian and the convoluted body of one of Madonna's dancers (see image below). The dancer's body looks like it has been pierced with arrows, like the saint's body.

Left: Saint Sebastian
By: Il Sodoma (Giovanni Antonio Bazzi), 1525  
Right: A dancer from 
Madonna's 2012 video 
Girl Gone Wild
 
Perhaps the earliest, least ambiguous, homoerotic associations of St. Sebastian with homoeroticism occurred in the early sixteenth century:

In about 1525, Bronzino painted an unconventional Saint Sebastian with unmistakable homoerotic appeal...The arrows, moreover, are not abstracted symbols of his ordeal...but erotic emblems: one penetrated his body, the other is casually, but suggestively, held against the pink drapery, the saint's index curved around and almost touching the arrowhead...These characteristics...suggest that (the painting) may have been intended to have an ambiguous meaning - an image on the one hand religious, and on the other, homoerotic...

Bronzino (Agnolo di Cosimo) 
Saint Sebastian ca. 1533

Later on,

From the Renaissance on, Sebastian is most often depicted tied to a tree, sometimes by one arm, gazing heavenward as his flesh is pierced by arrows, which may number from just a couple to a dozen, depending on the artist's enthusiasm; his body is made porous and "feminized" by the experience. His reception to this penetration has obvious associations with male homosexuality.

In our gender-bending, brave new world, Madonna is the gay icon. Homoeroticsm has made it into the mainstream (or, better yet, the mainstream has homoerotisized itself). If there is any advancement in the homosexual, socio-cultural history of man, it is that woman (big girl gone wild) is now the icon of the gay male. And she needn't prove her sainthood either, since nothing can be more highly esteemed and more saint-like in our modern, feminist, world than woman.

Kazaky is making its pop culture rounds these days. Sean O'Pry, a male model described as "American" (some websites describe him as White/Caucasian) but who has Asiatic features (Russian/Ukrainian?) stars in the video advertizement for the new cologne Spicebomb by Viktor and Rolf. The cologne bottle is shaped like a grenade. The slick black and white video shows the grenade/bottle exploding orgasmically to Kazaky's song Love as O'Pry struts in homoerotic half-nudity to the pulsing beat. O'Pry is also featured in Madonna's Girl Gone Wild video.

It is a small, gay world after all.

Sean O'Pry, an "American" model, also 
described as White/Caucasian, with
Asiatic (Russian/Ukrainian?) features

At the end of the Spicebomb video, we are left with a blank, white screen, cleared of all signs of life.

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Carla Is Not Making Any AlliesWhile Valérie Is Not Watching Her Dress

With a husband who lost his presidency bid, one would think that Carla Bruni would try hard to give him (and her) a good exit name and image.

I wasn't the only one to notice (and comment on) Bruni's shabby outfit at Hollande's inauguration, and the possible reasons behind Bruni's appearance. Here's what Tiberge, the blogger with a wealth of information on all things French, wrote:

But what a surprise to see Carla Bruni-Sarkozy dressed so badly! She was always elegant, whatever one thought of her. Here she looks so bad, it can only have been deliberate, as a slap in the face to those who she feels betrayed her husband.

I wrote in my blog:

I think her appearance, both physical and sartorial, is an affront at the new Prime Minister of France, as though she is waging a battle against him and his wife.

Tiberge also posts the dress that Mme la Présidente is wearing to the inauguration.

Actually, the split/slit didn't bother me too much. I think it was a sartorial mistake, possibly a missing or loose button. It seems absurd that Trierweiler would ruin a decent looking outfit with a slitty/slutty gap. Plus, the slit is just too high up to be a deliberate cut of the dress.

Bruni's odd appearance is far stranger. But, it isn't the first time I've critiqued Bruni's dress. Here, I am surprised that the then leading lady of France would not show off the beautiful French designs, and instead opted for an ill-fitting ensemble.

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The Aggressive Drabness of Carla Bruni

Carla Bruni and Valérie Trierweiler
at the Élysées Palace

Carla Bruni came out looking like this for François Hollande's inauguration. Bruni may have the excuse that she recently gave birth to a daughter (although that was now over six months ago), but she simply could have stayed home if she didn't feel ready to be in public. But, many mothers don't gain tens of pounds during pregnancy, and many of them shed their pounds relatively quickly.

I think her appearance, both physical and sartorial, is an affront at the new Prime Minister of France, as though she is waging a battle against him and his wife.

I thought that Hollande's "partner" came out looking attractive and smart. I understand she has a very liberal background, yet she somehow managed to look classic French at this important public appearance.

I don't know what this says about France. French perfume and fashion are still the best in the world. French restaurants cater to the gourmand. And French cities are still the most beautiful. None can beat the beauty of Paris.

Perhaps all this sustained beauty can finally usher in all that could be (has been) good about France, and Hollande's vicious socialism may awaken the French out of their trance so that they can save their civilization. I really do have some hope.


The above image shows François Hollande's inauguration parade as his motorcade drives up the Avenue des Champs-Élysées to the Arc de Triomphe. Behind him is the Place de la Concorde, with the Obelisk de Luxor at its center. Even the foggy, rainy day cannot diminish the grandeur of the street, and the monuments that surround it.

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Saris at the White House

What would Camera Lucida be without a fashion post on Michelle Obama? I was trying to find what she wore to the gala for the Japanese Premier, who was at the White House recently, but the gown she wore to the White House Correspondents' Dinner on April 28 (I wrote on the event here, commenting on Barack Obama's jovial, but typically "leftists" remarks) triggered my periodic critique of the First Lady's Fashion Sense.

Below is my attempt to "re-style" the First Lady. Unfortunately, I cannot do anything about those shoulders. And she clearly doesn't listen to advice (what stylist will not bring them to her attention) about covering them up (note the gauche "tan lines" above her collar bone).

--------------------Michelle Obama---------------------

Left: In a Naeem Khan gown at the White House
Correspondents' Dinner
Right: Photoshopped [KPA] with re-styled hair and
button earrings replacing the dangly loops

Vintage Italian Venetian
Murano Glass earrings
(Possible replacement for
Michelle's loops

Michelle Obama wore a gown by "Indian-born, American " fashion designer Naeem Khan to the dinner. The gown was similar to the bulbous "African" gown she wore for the Premier of Japan's visit last year. As I wrote here, Michelle seems to be singling out and promoting "designers of color," which is a code phrase for non-white designers. So far, I haven't seen her wear anything by black designers, probably because of the dearth of state dinners-worthy gowns, although she did wear the "African" atrocity, designed by the erratic but talented (late) Alexander McQueen.

Well, Michelle is showing off her ample, hard-earned (apparently she works out quite a bit) muscles, in this shoulder-less dress, about which this fashion blogger comments:

Mrs. Obama chose a printed silk gown from one of her favorite designers, NY-based Indian-born Naeem Khan. It's from his Spring 2012 Collection and on the runway (as you can see above), it was shown with a one-shoulder drape. As we all know, the First Lady has some AMAZING shoulders and intelligently knows that they should be showcased. Therefore the one shoulder over-drape was removed for Mrs. Obama. I think she looks great. I love the "ethnic" feel of the mixed print and it is very ON TREND with what is happening in prints.

It looks like Khan, who has other variations of this bulbous gown, designed this dress especially for Michelle, a First Lady who "has some AMAZING shoulders and intelligently knows that they should be showcased."

Many of Khan's designs, especially his evening gowns, are striking, but do not quite reach the beauty he seems to be aspiring for (perhaps that is why the Vampiric Pop Star, Lady Gaga, wears his gowns - see below). He is certainly channeling the lovely Indian saris, with their ethereal silk and colorful designs, many encrusted in gold and silver threads. He doesn't reach their level, though, in delicacy and beauty. But he seems good enough for Michelle.

Just a small detail. Michelle is wearing large, dangly, round earrings, which I find inappropriate for formal evening wear (I know, I already said that her dress wasn't up to par for the occasion so the jewelry goes with the outfit). But here is an interview with Khan on the Wall Street Journal, on why (and how) he added that incongruent "touch":

WSJ: The First Lady looked so confident and comfortable. Can you talk about how the dress was made?

Khan: What she did with her hair and I love the idea of all those bangles, because it’s very traditional Indian. You know, Indian women do not live without their bangles. When you get married, you get your bangles, and you have to wear them till the day you die.

I would have given her a less "Indian" look, and with button-style earrings, with her hair styled up. But why would someone described as an "Indian-born American" designer bother with the traditions of America? Like all non-western, ethnic chauvinists, Khan is primarily interested in his own cultural background. But he still has to sell his clothes in America, and to other "ethnics" including blacks and whites. So his designs become a hybrid, but skewed heavily toward the Indian side.

Vampiric Pop Star Lady Gaga wearing a Khan gown

Below are a collection of authentic Indian saris from two sari weaving towns in India, Maheshwari and Chanderi:

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Getting Ready

Urban Outfitters "Auschwitz Chic" from 2012

Urban Outfitters "Jihad Chic" from 2008 and 2006

[Above photos posted at Atlas Shrugged]

Ugliness begets evil. The t-shirt, which is on my list of clothing to avoid, is making news in an ugly way.

Urban Outfitters, another one of those stores which sells:

...a sorry collection of goods. "Distressed" jeans, graffiti t-shirts, and plaid shirts..."

has stretched ugliness to its end: evil.

I cannot find the "Auschwitz Chic" t-shirt at the Urban Outfitters on-line store, but there are enough news agencies reporting on it to validate the authenticity of the photos posted by Atlas Shrugged, who writes:

American clothing company Urban Outfitters is selling a holocaust T-shirt bearing the Jewish star that Jews were forced to wear by the Nazis in death camps. This Urban Outfitters T-shirt is labeled "Auschwitz chic" and retails for $100. The “patchwork Star of David on the left breast pocket goes back to 1930s and 40s Europe.” The “vintage yellow color” of the shirt is Nazi yellow -- obvious to students of Nazi Germany.

Atlas Shrugged has been documenting the products at Urban Outfitters for a number of years:

This is just another in a long line from the antisemitic Urban Outfitters of Jew-hating clothing pieces using monstrous iconography. The latest Jew-hatred fashion follows on the heels of Arafat's war scarf (the keffiyeh) is this Auschwitz tee shirt. The store also generated anger in 2004 with a shirt bearing the words “Everybody Loves a Jewish Girl,” surrounded by dollar signs and shopping bags.

This commercialization of evil is not new for Urban Outfitters.

I titled this post "Getting Ready" since I think this is part of an insidious, popular, shift towards evil. The anti-life, anti-West, anti-Christian coalition is getting ready for its deadly (final?) assault on life and civilization. I don't know how this will manifest itself in our modern era. We saw something of its viciousness during Hitler's time. Now, left-liberals of the West and Muslims are already giving us a glimpse of what we can expect.

In conjunction with this commercial enterprise (perhaps unconnected, but definitely related), American Thinker has posted an article titled "Obama's come-uppance from Elie Wiesel during self-serving visit to Holocaust Museum" on Obama's visit to the Holocaust Memorial Museum on April 23 in honor of the Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom Hashoah). Am I being too conspiratorial to wonder why Obama couldn't be at the Memorial on the day of the international event, the Holocaust Remembrance Day, which is on April 19th? Elie Wiesel seems to have thoughts similar to mine. I think the American Thinker article correctly interprets Obama's visit as an election year campaign to garner Jewish votes and sympathy. Even his "escort" Elie Wiesel, who also spoke at the event, said that Obama hasn't done enough to mitigate anti-Jewish forces and sentiments around the world. From the American Thinker article linked above:

During the last three years, President Obama did not visit the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. But today, he did; and promptly gave a self-serving campaign speech for Jewish votes...

The president had with him as escort and introducer Elie Wiesel and lavishly praised the Nobel Laureate and Holocaust survivor for his unrelenting campaign to keep the memory of the Holocaust front and center.

But Wiesel did not reciprocate. Instead, determined to tell truth to power, he admonished Obama for not doing nearly enough to confront Assad's atrocities in Syria and Iranian President Ahmadinejad's development of nuclear weapons and threats to wipe Israel off the map...

Since the Holocaust Museum is a national undertaking, it is fitting for a U.S. president to pay an occasional visit and call its lessons to public attention. But by waiting until 2012, an election year, and in the substance of his speech, Obama turned his visit into a political event, just as the presidential-election campaigns move into high gear. It leaves a stain on the museum and the Holocaust to exploit it for political purposes

I suppose Urban Outfitters was "getting ready" for the Holocaust Remembrance Day that was duly, but perversely, remembered by Obama.

Obama and Elie Wiesel at the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington D.C., on April 23 2012 for the National Holocaust Remembrance Day.

[Image above from the Washington Post's photo gallery]

Wiesel's suffering, wrinkled face is in contrast to Obama's defiant and arrogant (with the "Mussolini" chin lift) expression. Yet, there is the vacant, frightened look in Obama's eyes on the picture on the left that I've often observed. When intent and action don't jive, something shows, somewhere.

Holocaust Memorial Museum ceiling

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