Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Ethereal Farmlife


















I love when photo shoots have concepts as though they're plucked from a novel. Here we have beautiful farm girls, in wistful frocks, juxtaposed with aging machines and fixtures of farming. Americana to die for. I wish I was on a farm pining away in that light. This shoot was the vision of Art Director Dimitri Scheblanov for September's D Mode Magazine featuring Herring & Herring.


Photos: Fashion Gone Rogue

Shades of Blue



Velvet shoes sound so good. This should have been my outfit today. An outfit totally worth consolidating student loans in. Ha.




Photo: Jak & Jil

Stil in Berlin



















I stumbled upon the Berliner's Sartorialist! Photographers Mary Scherpe and Dario Natale have been documenting Berlin street fashion since 2006. Stil in Berlin features a lot of young fashionites who come from everywhere; I guess that's what Berlin is known for, a large international crowd. You learn the occupations of the photo subjects and when I saw that Berlin's business analysts and dental assistants still pull out some mode-magic, I was truly impressed. Some of the looks are a little too British grunge for me, but I'm a pushover for the fashionable European academic... ;)

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

LAB Class Puts on a Show!






Our class has been put to the challenge to, in one week, put up a show of at least 15 minutes in front of 25+ people. Since I haven't moved into my Brooklyn apartment yet, I'm the producer. Miss Produsssah...


Anyways, I got a bit creative and made these bit press releases for our show. Renting a black box is surprisingly easy, among the 16 of us in the class it will only cost us $3 each for 2 hours. It's just keeping down set, costume, rehearsal space, marketing, and all the other managerial costs that'll get you. This all being said, your actors, writers, director and stage manager have to be volunteering. Welcome to the life of a starving actress (now producer!)


Photos: found over at LeLove

If I could be a fashion photographer...














Apparently this young Australian photographer, Nirrimi, is only starting out. These images are so lyrical, practiced, rich... I have no doubt she'll have success wherever she goes. I can't get over how fresh and compelling her photos are.


Photo credit: Nirrimi Photography


Monday, September 28, 2009

Master Class Writing Exercises

I am in my second week of the LAByrinth Theater Master Class, which has a more universal approach to being an actor. They want to develop us as writers, producers, directors... really to give us a wider set of tools to be able to perform. Yesterday, Andrea Ciannavei, an accomplished young playwright and actress, directed us through some 'be specific and tell the truth' writing exercises. I have so much respect for this woman and I so wanted to tell her how brave she is for unburying herself, us, her characters. (Beautiful thing about the internet: I found her blog!)

For me, the session was a way in to knowing myself more clearly, which is so necessary when you act. If you can't know what your own truthful response would be to the situations your characters are presented with, you're a lost one. Some of the things I wrote at first shocked me and then made so much sense I felt careless. The other thing that this class did was remind me where drama comes from, how it's created. As some of my classmates shared their writing, I was intrigued, I wanted to know more about their private dramas they hinted at in what they wrote about. Our simple free-writes were compelling, dramatic, good writing.

Anyways, I thought I'd share a few exercises and some of my responses because as useful as this is, it's daunting.

1) Every character and person operates with the 3 following timelines:
  • what you want to have accomplished by the end of your life
  • what you want to have accomplished within 6 months
  • and what you want absolutely right now
So answer these three questions for yourself, but also write what you think is stopping you from obtaining each of these three objectives. Spend 3 minutes on each.

2) This exercise can be specific to you, your play, or your characters. Spend 5 minutes on each of the following questions:
  • What makes you angry
  • What frightens you
  • What makes you hopeful
3) Free write to a piece of music, playing loud enough so the music can overpower you, that reflects your mood, character or themes of your play. I tried this this morning with:



So my responses to the first exercise during class were:
What do I want to have accomplished by the end of my life?
I want to be beloved by the many people I leave behind. I want to have conquered my fear. No more fear.
What's stopping me?
Thinking I don't deserve my dreams. Self-doubt. Cruelty. Chemicals in my head. Narcissism on my part and my loved ones' part. 

What do I want by March 2010?
I don't want to be scared of pursuing acting. I want stability and a sign that I should be doing this: have had a paid acting job. Be real and comfortable in my life. Wholly artistic.
What's stopping me?
Money issues, relationship insecurities, anxiety, lack of opportunity, not knowing the acting game yet, laziness, letting go and trusting myself that I am an artist, sometimes I don't take good enough care of myself.


What do I want right now?
To be asleep in my baby's arms.
What's stopping me?
Restlessness, anxiety, pain, this class, the distance, fucking law school.

Ok, here I am! Now you go!

Bendel Designs

Brooklyn Museum: Fashion and Costume Sketch Collection, 1912-1950.

Brooklyn Museum: Fashion and Costume Sketch Collection, 1912-1950.

Brooklyn Museum: Fashion and Costume Sketch Collection, 1912-1950.

Brooklyn Museum: Fashion and Costume Sketch Collection, 1912-1950.

These come from the Henri Bendel Fashion and Costume Sketch Collection, which are apparently able to be viewed at the Brooklyn museum. Field trip to be scheduled at a later date. Each of these fashion vignettes has so much character; I imagine Ayn Rand's Dominique Francon would masterfully pull these off.


Photo credit: Brooklyn Museum Open Collection

Sunday, September 27, 2009

If I were going back to school...

September
If I were to be on a pretty new england campus in the fall I'd want these Louboutin Mary-Janes, Chloe high-waisted shorts... these updated schoolmarmish looks can't help but be dreamy, girly and provocative all at once. 




September by lyle lyle featuring Miss Selfridge