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!

Vintage Illustrations & Animals

Finally Friday! Happy days ahead... Family gathering for my siblings' birthdays on Sunday (they are not twins though) and a bit of relaxing before yet another busy week. I am slowly but steady getting into my mind framework about my thesis, and I feel ready to start a bit of actual writing next week. So happy days indeed!

 

But today, I will show some of the various scans I have from old magazines and new magazines. Long before I knew the term I have been a scrapbooker - or at least tearing out the things from magazines I liked or which inspired me. Usually, I kept them in plastic envelopes divided by themes - vintage, haute couture, interior, wish list, etc. etc. As I have mentioned here on the blog before, due to a slight try of being more efficient in digging these images out I will post these scans here, so you guys can enjoy them as well.

Naturally though, I may not be able to remember from where precisely these images came from but I will try to credit properly to the best of my ability.

 

I adore old illustrations. Simple as that. And I adore Kay Bojesen's mid-century wood animals.

And I love that both of these things seem to have a sort of revival. On various sites, I see many illustrators' works (just think about Taschen's now 4 volumes about Now Illustration!) and Danish Modern architecture and interior design are still going strong - perhaps stronger than ever these years. Therefore, a little collection of both for you guys to enjoy...

 

 The Bunny, the Hippo with pencil (I recieved this from my sister and her husband for my birthday!), and the Bella the Dashhound which was the first animal that Bojesen created in 1934.

 Perhaps the most iconic, also the one which has been in production the longest, the Monkey from 1951.

 The Elephant from 1953.

 

Have a lovely weekend!

{Decor inspiration} Art Rustic

Welcome October! The leaves are already mastering their Bird Phoenix moment and changing rapidly from lush green to orange and red. I love it! Nevertheless, today's post is about interior decorating, something that we especially love here in Scandinavia. Some attribute this to our traditional way of living by inviting people to our homes rather than meeting out. Therefore our homes have to accommodate both the practical everyday life as well as being the setting of both intimate and elaborate dinner parties.

 

This spread is from an old issue of Danish women's magazine, Alt for Damerne. We visit jeweler, Orit Samuelsen and her lovely home, and I really like the rustic elements she has incorporated into a feminine and elegant universe. I like these clashes which helps to highlight each other. In addition, I really like her bold choices in art..

 The two black paintings in the background are by Claus Egemose.

 Painting by Maria Marstrand.

 The large ring by Claus Melchior, the square ring by Orit Samuelsen.

 Wegner chairs, drawings by Maria Marstrand, and painting from a Parisian flee market.

 Art photo from a gallery in Cannes, France.

Drawing by Maria Marstrand and Prada bag.

 

Home: Orit Samuelsen, jeweler

Alt for Damerne, 11/2011

Stylist: Louise Kamman Riising

Photography: Pernille Kaa-Lund

 

{my scans}



Karen Blixen 1885-1962

 

On September 7th, it was 50 years since one of Denmark's and perhaps the world's greatest writers died. Both known by her pen name, Isak Dinesen as well as her real name, Karen Blixen, she established herself as almost a living legend everywhere she went. The allure of Africa, the sombre feelings of Scandinavia, and her luxury of the old world made her a mythical creature in her own time.

 

In Denmark she still casts a long shadow in the litterary landscape and writers are both fearful and naïve when they try to compare themselves to her. Most don't dare, and those who do are looked at as 'slow'.

 

If one was to compare or try to decide who has been the greatest writer in Denmark of all time, people will find it hard to choose between Hans Christian Andersen and Karen Blixen. Their writing styles are different but both bodies of work and both their lives can be seen as fairy tales - and by this I don't mean the Disney-fied world of fairy tales. But tales of both good and bad in excess. It is a common legend around Karen Blixen that she had made a pact with the Devil, and people who was around her a lot seems to have been almost absorbed by her presence. She was ruthless in many ways, perhaps due to early groundbreaking sorrows in her life, but nevertheless she spilled out the things she wanted to tell on paper for the rest of us to enjoy, fear, and learn from.

 

I am constantly surprised about how much new I gather when rerererererere-reading her works, and I have actually only read very little by her hand. Sorrow-Acre still stands as one of the most haunting short stories I have ever read. Not that it was scary, but that you keep thinking about it. The same goes for The Sailor-Boy's Tale.

 

To me, Karen Blixen and her work, embodies some of the underlying forces of Scandinavian thinking and culture, even though they can be quite dark and cold. Perhaps there is something about having such dark and long winters here which create a mark on our mind and souls. Who knows?

 

{Image}

{An English site with a general overview of her life, works, inspirations (this is VERY interesting to read), and other things about her}

{CFW SS13} Baum und Pferdgarten & Peter Jensen

Guess what!? More Danish fashion... I hope you enjoy this as much as I do because I really think Denmark has some really talented designers, and well, let's be honest, CFW is not as hyped (yet!) as Paris, London or Milan. And I do feel it as a sort of duty to spread the word when I think we in Denmark do great stuff. A little patriotic, but I hope you don't mind.

 

Today, I will show two of the more curious and funny brands; Baum und Pferdgarten and Peter Jensen. Basically, they are all about colours, colours, and fun in fashion. A nice contrast to the more demure wardrobe essentials that we usually do here.

First up is Baum und Pferdgarten.

Don't you just love the coats?

 

Next is off course Peter Jensen who is also the first with men's wear (that I at least feature here..)

I cannot help but thinking the men's wear match Baum und Pferdagrden's women's wear perfectly. Super cute date outfits, no? True, it would take a brave guy who wants to get noticed but at the same time doesn't take himself too seriously. Do you know any such guys?!

 I think I would pick up the whole bill if my date wore baby pink gingham shorts on our date! So awesome, and actually in the 1910s, pink was the colour for boys and blue was the colour for girls! It didn't change until about the 1950s. And I actually think that the male model wears pink better than the girl model below. Perhaps something about the complexion?

But I do adore pink and the various hues of pink. It can be a tricky colour to wear in case of your teint and style. Here I think it is done rather cool with the edgy slit. It is difficult to see here, but the slit is perhaps 10 cm and rounded. A really cool detail without making too much fuss at the same time.

 

Images: Copenhagen Fashion Week



{CFW SS13} Tabernacle Twins & Wackerhaus

The first up today is one of the fast moving young design brands here in Denmark. If you are into bold prints and colours, Tabernacle Twins might be your to go-designer. It is a fresh take on some well loved styles, and I partically like the everyday dresses and it is so nice to see something other than black! Here in Denmark we are going head first into autumn - no leaves have fallen - but all black ensembles are fast and vastly appearing on the street. I do think that if that is the only look you have it easily gets boring in stead of being elegant.

Oh well, enough of my ranting. Here are some lovely pictures of a not-boring brand.

 

 Next is Wackerhaus, a brand which grows on me season after season.. This season I really like the glitter (no wonder!) paired with the low key feel to the looks. I am already anticipant of these styles showing up in stores and in magazines.

 My personal favourite from Wackerhaus. It's the coat, I think. So gorgeous.

 

All images from Copenhagen Fashion Week.

 

{CFW SS13} Elsa Adams; Whiite; Ole Yde

Some more lovely looks of promise for next summer. Here in Denmark, we just had a small heatwave but now it seems like autumn is slowly setting in. Not that I mind that much really (I know, it is a terrible thing to say) because I am looking forward to be wearing boots, scarfs, gloves, and stockings. I cannot seem to pull out my inner fashionista when it is too hot. So many of these looks would also just be something I would wear in the spring or on a 'cold' summer's day.

First up is Swedish designer Elsa Adams who is a lace artist. I believe this is the first time she shows in Copenhagen, but I really liked her designs. Even though she is known for her use of lace, it was especially the white leather jacket which caught my eye. Very feminine and edgy at the same time.

Next, is the brand which featured one of my favourite looks of all the showing brands. Quite extraordinary that I haven't picked out more looks from Whiite, but it was a very basic and safe collection, very wearable and stylish at the same time. It was just that I thought it had been done before. However, some of the looks were extremely well done and I am head over heels in love with the last look, the suit. So beautiful!

I really adore the jacket and find it epic chic that the trousers are capri length.

Last up for today is Ole Yde, another designer which gave the glam in glamour. Like Jesper Høvring, he dresses the rich and the beautiful while the rest of us dreams of his designs. And dreamy they are, though I did find his cellection this time to be slightly more minimalistic if that can ever be descriptive of gowns and cocktail dresses. His collection had pops of bright, almost neon, colours, but the looks I liked the best were his white and black designs. Again, a dressing suit and 30s inspired gowns were my favourites.

So, a little more from the Denmark's efforts of establishing us as a fashion nation.

all images from Copenhagen Fashion Week