Monthly Favourites May 2013

Monthly Faves May 2013

Esteban Cortazar cut out high low dress, 6.690 DKK / Halston Heritage drape back dress, 2.600 DKK / STELLA McCARTNEY twill jacket, 4.000 DKK / Acne biker jacket, 8.640 DKK / Aminaka Wilmont leather jacket, 3.830 DKK / Band of Outsiders denim jacket, 2.290 DKK / DAY Birger et Mikkelsen twill blazer, 2.180 DKK / Zara oversized blazer, 575 DKK / Paige Denim destructed jeans, 1.785 DKK / J.Crew straight leg pants, 325 DKK / Jimmy Choo platform high heels, 2.800 DKK / McQ by Alexander McQueen sequin pumps, 2.810 DKK / Sandals, 335 DKK / Maison Martin Margiela genuine leather handbag, 7.745 DKK / Charlotte Olympia lucite handbag, 5.730 DKK / Bijoux Heart clear jewelry, 3.080 DKK / Earrings, 215 DKK / Necklace, 87 DKK / Watch, 87 DKK

Spring is now officially over and June with Summer is bursting in on us - wonderful! 

And with Summer comes white. At least for clothes, though also my skin because I never seem to be able to produce a tan. So I am rocking my porcelain complection yet again, with sunblockers and the like. I hate stripes and therefore try to prevent them.

Lately I have found myself lacking a leather jacket. I have all sorts of other classy-dressy jackets but not a leather one. And as I tend to always buy the dressy versions whenever I have money to spend, I actually NEED something to dress things down and making my wardrobe more versatile. But since I am still me I cannot go for a normal black one. No, I would like a white one, maybe with some interesting details like lace, studs, glitter or the like. (Well, I do have glitter in my veins, so no use fighting THAT battle!) If you follow my fashion board on Pinterest, you may have noticed the sudden burst of more down-town and street inspiration than usual. Though fear not for a complete transformation, I still like the quirky and personal touches more than trends. 

Here in Denmark, I have been up to my neck in the same coat worn by everyone who tries to be fashionable. So BORING! You cannot go just round the block without someone wearing it. The same goes for Mulberry Bayswater bags. When I bought mine 7 years ago - no one even KNEW about Mulberry, and now everyone has it. Well, at least I have achieved the nice patina now for wearing it almost daily. 

So, that's the end of my whinnings of being too fashion forward... 

{History} The Book Burnings on 10th of May 1933

The one feature of the human species which I find to be the prime symbol of cowardice and intolerance is book burnings. It seems to me so stupendous, a sheer act of ignorance which in my views proves the barren grounds on which the foundations of such acts are build.

No matter how much people disagree, even down to their very foundations, no man has the right to silence another's mind. 

It is only a matter of cowardice to do so, and I always feel enraged whenever I read of this. If one have a problem, one should improve one's argument against the work not set fire to the book. As Milton said: He who destroys a good book kills reason itself. 

Sadly, many examples can too easily be found in history but on this day, 80 years ago, we commemorate the Nazi Book Burnings in 1933.

From the 10th of May to Midsummer's Day in 1933, the Nationalsozialistischer Deutsche Studentenschaft (the Nazi student organization) organized and carried out over 30 burnings of book which were found to be 'un-German'. It is estimated that over 40,000 people participated in the burnings and over 25,000 books by estimated 1,200 artists were destroyed. These artists were not just Jewish, as one might think, but also anyone who were deemed immoral or at a danger to the German people, dealing with decadence or women's rights as a couple of examples. Even high treason as the WWI German writer Erich Maria Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front shows. The list of writers whose works were burned is almost a who's who of today's most influential and celebrated writers.

In Berlin, at what is today named Bebelplatz (the site of the Berlin burning), is a monument to commemorate the book burnings by the Israeli sculptur, 'Bibliotek' by Micha Ullman.

It is an installation or a sculpture sunken down in the square consisting of white shelves with room for approximately 20,000 books, but all empty.

It was erected in 1995 and the bronze platter quotes one of the writers whose works were destroyed, the Jewish-German poet Heinrich Heine's play Almansor from 1821:

Das war ein Vorspeil nur, dort wo man Bücher verbrennt, verbrennt man am Ende auch Menschen

(That was but a prelude; where they burn books, they will, ultimately, burn people also)

The coldness of this sinister foretelling highlights the coldness of ignorance and blind hatred which, to my point of view, always have been the prime agents of book burnings, or burnings of people. Sadly, there seems to be a renewed example of this meaningless destruction everytime a conflict escalates between an established moral and art; the three most recent examples that I can think of would be the planned burnings of the holy Muslim scripture of Q'uran, the burnings of the Harry Potter-books, and the burnings of the Baghdad Library in Iraq.

All of which make me wonder whether the human race will ever be at peace and work towards a common good or goal. 

Maybe this day, commemorating the Nazi example 80 years ago, will become a shared symbol of avoiding such actions. Though I doubt it.

{Images: one two three four}

{Design Love} Playing Cards

One of the areas where I think one finds the best design is at playing cards. The idea of course is very simple: it must contain the basic elements of colours and numbers but other than that the design option is open. I have a nice little selection of decks with vastly different designs; Harry Potter, Antique Greek sex positions(!), Danish rococo, flowers, English monarchs, WWII pin ups girls, and the ones designed by the Danish Queen Margrethe II. 

My fondness of cards only increased while reading Jostein Gaarder's The Solitaire Mystery. Since then I wanted to start collecting Jokers - but I'm always to timid to ask for them with strangers and I don't always find it relevant to buy a new deck if the design is not interesting or beautiful. Therefore, I am very glad that there seems to be a growing trend in designing new cards and I want to show some of the latest designs which I have stumpled across here and there. Hopefully, my collection will increase in the coming years.

 A more classic collection of Ace of Spades. Do you guys have a favourite colour? {source}

 I really like this design - so clean and elegant, and an interesting approach in rendering the colours. Designed by Joe Doucet. {source}

 A really cute deck and you guys MUST check out the rest of the designs. They are so cute! Pack of Dogs by Inky-Dinky {source}

 A powerful and beautiful design. Design by Paolo Troilo. {source} (note: the link goes to my Pinterest because Paolo Troilo is no longer represented in the original link's location)

 A very fashionista design, no? Though the black drawing is wonderful, the best feature in this design is the frame incorporating the "Q". So smart and elegant. I wish she had done a whole deck but it appears that this was just a one time only design for a blogger's contest. Design by Sara Woodward (SMÄM) {source}

 This was not as such a new design but rather using an old deck and tranforming it into new art. But I like it and wouldn't mind if the next step in playing cards involved the tactile designs. Design by Kei Takemura {source}

 Also not a whole deck design but just a single illustration. However, I love bonnies. Design by Catherine Campbell {source}

 I am completely smitten with these. The new colour scheme and the use of origami is such a new thing in playing card design, at least to my knowledge! And it is still a clean and elegant design. Design by Pidies {source}

 A gorgeous deck! Such attention to detail and design. The fronts, the backs, everything is just superb on this deck. Truly my favourite of them all. I especially like how the traditional designs are incorporated into the drawings (as you can see in the picture with 5 of Hearts and King of Hearts). Do yourself a favour and check out the whole deck in detail at his DeviantArt-profile or at his Tumblr. Design by Emmanuel José {source} or {source}

 Vintage and romantic designs, sadly I don't know the artist if any. {source}

 Also a very modern and crisp design. I like the sheer paper or plastic and the simple look of colour and value. Sadly, it appears that this deck is no longer available on the site so the designer is still unknown to me. Does anyone know? {source}

There you go. What do you think of these designs? I am almost drooling..

Speaking of Droo (okay not the best intro, but hey...), through him I have discovered that the picture cards have names! I did not know that, you?! Here's the list, they are rather awesome:

The Kings:                  The Queens:                Jacks:

Alexander of Clubs         Argine of Clubs        Lancelot of Clubs

Charles of Hearts         Judith of Hearts        La Hire of Hearts

Caesar of Diamonds        Rachel of Diamonds     Hector of Diamonds

 David of Spades          Athena of Spades      Orgier of Spades

{source}

Happy Bicentennial Søren Kierkegaard

A round of applause and a lot of cake to celebrate probably the most famous Dane, Søren Kierkegaard. He would have been 200 today, and his works still stand as fresh and inspiring as ever. I have personally read Either/Or but have yet to endeavour more into his works which I do plan on though. But Kirkegaard's works need a focused mind in order to balance through the various voices he used for the different personas within the works. That is one of the common errors of reading Kirkegaard, if you do not pay attention you mistakenly attribute the voice of the aesthete to Kirkegaard himself - which is far from the truth! Kirkegaard loathed the embodiment of the aesthete and wished for people to be more aware of the choices they faced.

However, my small celebration and tribute to Søren Aabye Kirkegaard was never meant for a greater discussion on his works, I will leave that to the hundreds and hundreds of celebration activities around Denmark to do so. I am quite sure the Kirkegaard Institue will turn upside down today and be all over the place with Kirkegaard quotes and paraphrases...

 And two for kicks:

If you use Twitter you should most definitely follow KimKirkegaard. It is a mash up of Kim Kardashian's tweets with Kirkegaard's philosophy. It is hilarious! A combination no one had seen coming but it really works. However, I am not so sure that Kirkegaard would have approved of Ms Kardashian, too much of an aesthetic lifestyle - if even that!

Anyways, cheers and hurray to the crooked Dane who still haunts our consiousnesses and inspires us. To the next 200!