Kate Winslet
This week’s hottie is the wonderful English actress Kate Elizabeth Winslet (1975- ).
At the age of 12 Winslet starred in a commercial for Coco Puffs, and she later got a role in a children’s series called Dark Season. She comes from a family filled with actors so there is no wonder her brilliant career began so early. Her talent was obvious from the start and she has received multiple awards and nominations.
Some of her amazing acting can be seen in
Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind – with Jim Carrey
Hamlet – with Kenneth Branagh
The Reader
Revolutionary Road
Romance and Cigarettes
Sense and Sensibility – with Emma Thompson
Not only is Kate Winslet very talented, she is also very cool. One of the things she’s been criticized for over the years is her weight (because, as everyone can see, she’s, like, so fat!), but she refuses to let the unrealistic standards in Hollywood dictate her appearance. She believes that women should be proud of the way they look no matter size. Cudos to her!
Here are some more lovely photos:
Love, Elin
1910s
My plan for this Wednesday Vintage was basically to introduce you to one of the great dressers of yore, American novelist Edith Wharton (1862-1937). However, as I scoured the internet for pictures of her, not many was to be found. So, I had to broaden my concept, and decided that this Vintage day should be about the 1910s – a period often overlooked, I feel, but with great stuff for both inspiration and emulation.
Edith Wharton, looking smashing
Edith with fabulous skirt
Fabulous skirt again. I need to make myself one of those.
And that’s sadly all I could find of Edith, except for portraits and stuff. But who cares about portraits? Clothes, people. That’s what we want. I would like to take this opportunity to tell you, though, that there are some cool pictures in Edith’s memoir, A Backward Glance, which are a good reason in themselves to check out the book at your nearest library. And, of course, once you’ve already borrowed it, you might as well read it too.
I degress. Back to the clothes of the 1910s. Ready?
Kind of makes you long for some glamour, doesn’t it?
Love, Hanna
Roberto Cavalli
Hello again, wondrous Flik’ers! Today’s designer is the divine Italian fashion guru Roberto Cavalli (1944).
Cavalli has studied art, specialized in textile print and presented his first collection at the age of 30. (Which gives me about five more years to prepare…)
There are many reasons why Cavalli’s clothes are awesome, but one, for me, very important reason, is that he is not afraid to use color. At all. And color is important, people. Banish the black! (Or at least add on some color to go with it).
His designs tend to be wild and fun and scrumptiously glamourous. The man is simply a genius. ‘Nough said. Picture time.
Maybe not the most subtle you’ll ever wear, but who wants to blend in anyway?
Love, Hanna
Living Lars
So, this Monday I would like to present to you the brand new music video for the song Far Away, by Living Lars (my baby brother, yes I’m quite proud of him):
Not only is Living Lars (Lars Erik Fjøsne) my brother, he is also a Norwegian music producer, working with several people, including an upcoming norwegian rap group. His musical experiences varies from Techno to movie scores. He is focusing on house-tracks at the moment and is working solo as well as a duo with his American budd “Brian Hardisty”. Together they’re known as “BLARSA”. Living Lars has currently entered the stage as a new and fresh DJ, and is expected to grow on that area as well as on the production part. For the past years he has also done russemusic for several buses like “Olympen, Madhouse, Entertainer and Barnslig”, stretching from 2006 to present and is still going strong (This is quoted shamelessly from his facebook).
You can find out more about him here: http://www.livinglars.com/
Enjoy the music:)
Love, Elin
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay
In later years, holding forth to an interviewer or to an audience of aging fans at a comic book convention, Sam Clay liked to declare, apropos of his and Joe Kavalier’s greatest creation, that back when he was a boy, sealed and hog-tied inside the airtight vessel known as Brooklyn, New York, he had been haunted by dreams of Harry Houdini.
Welcome, dear readers, to another great flik. This week I have chosen to present to you one of my more resent favorite books, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay (2000) by the equally amazing author, Michael Chabon. As I am way too lazy (it is, after all, Saturday, the day of pre-rest) to invent my own plot summary, I will quote from the international fountain of wisdom that is Wikipedia:
“The novel begins in 1939 with the arrival of 19-year-old Josef “Joe” Kavalier as a refugee in New York City, where he comes to live with his 17-year-old cousin Sammy Klayman. Joe escaped from Prague by hiding in a coffin along with the inanimate Golem of Prague. Besides having a shared interest in drawing, the two share several connections to Jewish stage magician Harry Houdini: Kavalier studied magic and escapology in Prague, which aided him in his departure from Europe, and Klayman is the son of the Mighty Molecule, a strongman on the vaudeville circuit.
Klayman gets Kavalier a job as an illustrator for a novelty products company, which, due to the recent success of Superman, is attempting to get into the comic-book business. Renaming himself Sam Clay, Klayman starts writing adventure stories with Kavalier illustrating them, and the two recruit several other Brooklyn teenagers to produce Amazing Midget Radio Comics (named to promote one of the company’s novelty items). The magazine features their character The Escapist, an anti-fascist superhero. The Escapist becomes tremendously popular, but, in a similar vein as the story of Superman’s creators, the writers and artists get a minimal share of the publisher’s success. Kavalier and Clay are slow to realize that they are being exploited, as they have private concerns: Kavalier is trying to help his family escape from Nazi-occupied Prague…” and then there’s some stuff I think you need to find out for yourself.
There is also a part where Kavalier enlists in the Navy and ends up in Antartica – but the main part of the story takes place in New York City. It is a truly wonderful story of the crazy adventures of the Jewish cousins, and it left me wanting to read the comic books they created. Alas, I thought, they don’t exist – but they actually do! People have been inspired by this awesome novel to create comic books such as The Escapist. I haven’t read those yet, but believe me, I will.
Enjoy! Believe me, you will. 😉
Love, Hanna
A Clockwork Orange
Hello dear readers, and welcome to another Friday Film. Today, we’re going back to the early seventies with Stanley Kubrick’s sensational and controversial A Clockwork Orange (1971).
The film is based on Anthony Burgess’ 1962 novel of the same name, and stars Malcolm McDowell as delinquent Alex DeLarge. Alex’s passions in life are Beethoven, rape and “ultra-violence”, and he narrates the film in his own special language, which is an amalgamation of Slavic, English and Cockney rhyming slang. Alex and his “droogs” (his equally violent buddies) run around wreaking havoc upon a dystopian future England until the former is caught and is forced to participate in an experimental psychological trial which is supposed to “cure him” of his violent tendencies. Things don’t always work out according to plan though…
The film is a social commentary on youth gangs and their violence, as well as psychiatry. It questions morality and the concept of “goodness”, and is critical towards behavioural psychology. It features quite a lot of nudity and some very disturbing violence, and is as such not suitable to the exceedingly squeemish. It is however, a wonderful and extremely interesting film, because of the plot and themes as well as the innovative and now iconic costumes, the visually stylised cinematography and the technical innovation employed by director Kubrick.
A Clockwork Orange was critically praised upon release, but it simultaneously sparked a lot of controversy due to its heavy use of violent images and nudity – which some reviewers said to be there just for titilation. Some also commented on changes made in transition from novel to film, but that is criticism every film adaptation of a plot from another media is bound to face. It continues to be one of the world’s most famous and popular film titles, currently residing at number 55 on imdb’s Top 250-list. As I’ve said, it may not be a film suitable for all audiences, but luckily, the trailer is!
If you’re looking for something to do this weekend, you could do worse than to check out this Kubrick classic!
Love, Mari
Emma Thompson
This week’s hottie is another wonderful and talented actress, the enchanting Emma Thompson.
She was born in London in 1959, daughter of actors Eric Thompson and Phyllida Law. With that heritage it is no wonder she ventured into the world of acting herself. She went to Cambridge with fellow Vili Flik hottie Stephen Fry and the lovely Hugh Laurie (a probable future hottie…) and the glorious trio were all in the prestigious comedy troupe the Footlights together.
Emma has won two Oscars: one for best actress for her performance in Howards End (1992), and another for best screenplay for her adaptation of Jane Austen’s Sense & Sensibility (1995). She has also won multiple Baftas (the British equivalent of the Oscars, for those who are not familiar with this one), including several best actress awards for her work in films as well as television. As a recipient for both best actress and best writer awards, she has proven her intellectual capacity as well as her wonderful talent as an actress – a true Vili Flik hottie! Not to mention the fact that she is indeed very pretty. And hilarious! An example: her acceptance speech for her best screenplay Golden Globe award for Sense & Sensibility:
So far, she has 53 titles to her acting resymé on imdb, and 11 credited titles for writing. Not bad for a woman who is in her early fifties (and who still looks as gorgeous as ever)! This wonderfully talented woman can be seen in such brilliant films as Howards End, Peter’s Friends (1992), Much Ado About Nothing (1993), The Remains of the Day (1993), Sense & Sensibility, The Winter Guest (1997) (where she starred alongside her mother, and which was directed by frequent co-star Alan Rickman), Love Actually (2003), the Harry Potter-films (2001-11), and An Education (2009) among many others.
- Sense & Sensibility
- Harry Potter
Emma has a daughter and an adopted son – a 16-year-old Rwandan refugee who they adopted to stop him from being deported – with actor Greg Wise.
Clever, funny, beautiful and talented, in addition to seeming like a really interesting and kind person, Emma Thompson is truly a hottie, and as such, deserves her place in our hall of fame. And again, I will leave you with a Vili Flik favourite, which we’ve featured a few times before. However, this cannot be seen to often! Oh yes, it’s the Footlights sketch with Emma and Stephen! Enjoy its gloriousness and fentestical fentesticality!
Love, Mari
Posh Girl Vintage
For this Wednesday Vintage I would like to draw your attention to one of the internet’s most wonderful vintage webstore’s: Posh Girl Vintage. This is a family owned store run by people with a passion for quality vintage clothing.
To quote their webpage: “After shopping on-line myself for vintage clothing I realized what I wanted was not on the web. I found either dirty thrift store quality clothes with really poorly designed websites, or really expensive museum quality clothing. So I set out to build Posh Girl Vintage clothing store. My goal was to build an on-line store that was modern & easy to use with clear pretty photos &, of course, to sell great unique wearable quality vintage clothing, designer clothing, & accessories at a fair price… neither too cheap, nor too expensive. I have a bit of an obsession with really pretty vintage dresses, especially informal vintage wedding dresses so my site reflects that. We sell vintage clothing from the 1920’s to the 1970’s, and a few pieces from the 80’s that are really cute. The 50’s, 60’s, & 70’s are our favorite decades! Formal & cocktail gowns, and vintage prom dresses are also our specialty.”
Sounds pretty good, non?
You can find the store here: www.poshgirlvintage.com
And here is a collection of what they have to offer:
Love, Elin
Donna Karan
Today’s designer is an American woman, Donna Karan (1948), creator of both Donna Karan New York and DKNY clothing lines. Imagine that? Having two labels. Oh, one day, I tell you… But until that day, (and further on) let’s all enjoy the dazzling beauty Donna Karan shares with the world.
Donna Karan launched her first label in the glorious year of 1985 (one of the greatest years the world has hitherto seen), after having worked as an assistant designer for Anne Klein since the 1960s.
Donna Karan’s expressed desire for her excellent design is to mix comfort with luxe and the practical with the desirable. And the names of her labels make quite obvious, she is also inspired by the city of New York .
Donna Karan is also very taken with accessories (as are we all), which is basically “Everything you need to pull yourself together.” Here’s a few examples.
gotta have the tights
shoes - the most important part of you
a purse for the book we always tell you to bring
And the list goes on – accessorize people!
Anyway, I want more clothes, and I’m assuming that so do you. So let’s have a looksie, shall we?
Splendidness indeed.
Love, Hanna
Edward Scissorhands
This Friday’s film suggestion is an oldie but goodie. You might have noticed that we here at Vili Flik have a healthy obsession with Johnny Depp, and today is no exception. So for tonight’s entertainment I recommend that you watch Edward Scissorhands (1990).
The story goes like this: Peg makes her living selling make up door-to-door in a pastel suburbia. Finding no good costumers in town she figures that the reclusive, old castle up on the hill might inhabit someone with a need for make-up. It turns out that the castle’s only inhabitant, Edward Scissorhands, is in need of a lot more than make-up. Peg brings him home, idealistically believing that she will be able to give him a family. This will turn out to be a bad idea. As the name implies, Edward has scissors for hands, and is as such a marvelous sculptor-maker and hairdresser. However, he has no social skills and this will ultimately lead to a tragic ending.
The film is wonderfully sweet and sad and Burtonesque, and absolutely a must-see for anyone who haven’t yet done so!
Love, Elin
Diana Vreeland
Hello most scrumptous of readers! Today’s hottie is a very fashionable one, the ever-awesome Diana Vreeland (1903-89).
The marvelous Vreeland spent her career in fashion, first working for Harper’s Bazaar from 1937-62, then as editor-in-chief for the glorious Vogue from 1963-71, and finally as a consultant for the Costume Institute of the Metropolian Museum of Art from 1971-84. All of which, jobs I’d (almost) kill to have.
Of course, spending a career in fashion demands that you’ll be well-dressed. Not a problem for Diana.
Diana Vreeland, like us at Vili Flik, adored the 60s. Lucky for her, she actually got to experience them (at Vogue nonetheless) and said that for her the awesomeness of the sixties was that it celebrated uniqueness. We like uniqueness.
Did you know that if it wasn’t for this genius we may not have had the glorious Oscar de la Renta? She told him to stop working for others and start on his own instead. What a great advice – and luckily he took it!
mmmm, pretty Oscar de la Renta
Before she died, this awesomely stylish and brilliant lady found time to write her autobiography, D.V. – a must read for everyone interested in fashion, and a brilliant, interesting tale of life among the great dressers in the world. Before you run to amazon to buy a copy, I shall leave you with some Diana Vreeland wisdom:
Love, Hanna
Tights
Here at Vili Flik, we are eagerly awaiting spring and the chance to wear the shoes and dresses we love – something that can be hard to do when it’s cold and windy, and the streets are covered with ice. High heels and ice are a combination only to be attempted by the exceedingly brave. Or impossibly stupid. Spring also has the added benefit of allowing us to wear wonderful thin tights without freezing our lovely behinds off. And tights can be an amazing accessory to any scrumptious outfit.
Gorgeous, but a bit too cold for winter and freezing winds
Tights have been around for centuries, but they were originally a garment for the male population.
- As demonstrated here
We’re kind of glad that trend has passed…
- …or has it..?
Tights for women only became popular in the 20th century when women could finally show some leg – and the invention of nylon in 1939 meant that prices fell and tights, or usually stockings, became a must for every woman.The lovely and sexy stockings with seams down the back probably stem from this time, as each stocking had to be sown together – they were not made seamlessly the way they are now. This became such a staple look that, as I’m sure we’ve all heard, during the war, when nylon was used for more practical, war-like things than women’s fashion (as if something could ever be more important than that!), women often drew a stripe down their leg to imitate tights.
- Like this. Only drawn on.
The seamless look came later, when the technique with which to make it had been perfected.
In the 1960s, lycra was added to the fabric, which made it stretchy and more comfortable to wear. It was also about this time that tights took over much of the market from stockings. And from then on, tights have come in all shapes and patterns. Let’s take a look at some lovely ones, shall we!
- Fancy tights
- Flowery tights
- Flower power tights (I want these!)
- Elin’s peacock tights
- Polka dots!
- …and more polka dots!
- Lovely, Burtonesque emo-skull-tights
- …and, don’t tell me you weren’t expecting this: TARTAN!
Love, Mari
Hermés
The sun is shining in Trondheim today, and for the first day in months I can wear heels without fearing for my life on the stupid ice. That has put me in a very good mood, which can only be further improved by giving you all a fabulous designer day. For today, therefore, I’m taking you back to one of the oldest fashion houses still existing: Hermés.
This is Thierry Hermés - the founder of the brilliance
Hermés was founded in 1837, and first concentrated on making and selling harness for the fancy folk of Paris. In 1900 they also started making bags, and actually held the exclusive right of using zippers for leather goods and clothing. By 1918, Hermés was designing clothing as well. And that is, after all, what we want to see, right?
In 2004, Jean Paul Gaultier presented his first, glorious collection for Hermés. Gaultier has remained with Hermés up until now, but will in September this year be replaced by Christopher Lemaire.
By the way, did you know that Hermés also produce the Birkin bag?
I need to own one.
But, some more clothes, shall we?
Varied and lovely and excellent.
Love, Hanna
Heidi Klum’s Halloween
If you’re like me, you would prefer to have most celebrations happen in the form of costume parties. Sadly people tend to think that Halloween is more than enough. So I thought that, even though Halloween is far away, it is never too early to begin planning costumes. And if it is someone who knows how to dress up, it is Heidi Klum. Her Halloween costumes are always creative, extreme and, well, noticeable.
So please enjoy and be inspired by these awesome costumes:
A scary mouse:
A witch:
Kali:
A vampire:
The garden of Eden:
Yes, that is Seal as what one can only assume is Eve.
Lady Godiva:
A crow:
Betty Boop:
A gold alien:
Is she not awsome?
Love, Elin
Vili Flik Design
Dress: Read! Redesign by Hanna Marie Volle.
Greetings Faithful Readers
Greetings to all you wonderful Vili Flik readers out there. We have been running this blog for a few months now, and we are proud, happy and grateful to have a steady readership. Or at least we think we do. The thing is, although we can see how many readers we have from day to day, we have no idea who you are and where you’re from. We know many of our friends stop by, for which we are eternally grateful, but based on the few comments we have on the site, it seems as though there are several readers out there who we have never met in real life and who has no personal relationship with us. This is of course the glory of the internet: it doesn’t matter where in the world you’re located – we can still meet and communicate online! And we are extremely happy and pleased and humbled by the fact that we seem to be able to be relatable to a greater internet community. Thank you all for stopping by and reading our rants and posts, and a particular thank you to those of you who have commented or subscribed to this blog – simply by being here, you have all made our lives more interesting and fulfilling in the past few months, and we hope you keep it up!
And now for the issue (I have never been one to get quickly to the point): we are very, very curious girls (in both senses of the word, really, but in this case: nosy)… We really want to know who you amazing Vili Flik readers are! Obviously, you are intelligent people of great taste and knowledge, otherwise you wouldn’t be here, but we crave more details. So this is a summons to you all to please leave a comment for us. Nothing big (and you do not need to leave any personal details as the internet is not always the safest place to do so), it would just be very nice to know who you are and where you come from – and perhaps how you came across our blog. So that is our request today: please help us transform this one-way communication into two-way communication!
In advance, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts.
Love, Vili Flik
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
It was 7 minutes after midnight. The dog was lying on the grass in the middle of the lawn in front of Mrs. Shears’s house. Its eyes were closed. It looked as if it was running on its side, the way dogs run when they think they are chasing a cat in a dream. But the dog was not running or asleep. The dog was dead. There was a garden fork sticking out of the dog. The points of the fork must have gone all the way through the dog and into the ground because the fork had not fallen over. I decided that the dog was probably killed with the fork because I could not see any other wounds in the dog and I do not think you would stick a garden fork into a dog after it had died for some other reason, like cancer, for example, or a road accident. But I could not be certain about this.
I went through Mrs. Shears’s gate, closing it behind me. I walked onto her lawn and knelt beside the dog. I put my hand on the muzzle of the dog. It was still warm.
The dog was called Wellington. It belonged to Mrs. Shears, who was our friend. She lived on the opposite side of the road, two houses to the left.
Wellington was a poodle. Not one of the small that have hairstyles but a big poodle. It had curly black fur, but when you got close you could see that the skin underneath the fur was very pale yellow, like chicken.
I stroked Wellington and wondered who had killed him, and why.
Thus begins Mark Haddon’s wonderful novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (2003). And it is a curious book indeed.
The novel is narrated by fifteen-year-old Christopher, who has Asperger’s Syndrome. This makes for a very interesting narrative style, which is intriguing to read. One of the implications of this is in the way the chapters are numbered: his love of prime numbers leads to him skipping all others. He starts at chapter 2, followed by 3, 5, 7 and so on – an interesting play with convention by author Mark Haddon. Christopher has problems understanding people and emotions, but he is very good at maths and logic, and takes it upon himself to investigate the death of Wellington. His investigation into the dog’s death leads to life-altering discoveries for himself and his family.
The novel is funny, interesting, strange, exciting and extremely well written. Christopher is a surprisingly believable character, one who you will not soon forget. If you’ve missed out on this little pearl of contemporary fiction, I strongly advise you to remedy this.
Love, Mari
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
The weekend is upon us once again (Huzzah!), and I am sure you are all in dire need of entertainment. Well, Vili Flik is here to help! This week’s film recommendation is a modern classic which I’m sure a lot of you have already seen, but if you haven’t, you really need to.
Yes, it’s Terry Gilliam’s 1998 psychadelic fantasy-comedy-drama Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, based on Hunter S. Thompson’s novel of the same name. The film follows Duke and Gonzo during a drug-fueled Vegas trip (in both senses of the word). It stars Vili Flik favourites Benicio Del Toro and Johnny Depp, among others.
Not Depp’s sexiest role though…
The film is hilarious, exciting and at times troubling, and Terry Gilliam (who I’m sure you know was part of Monty Python – themselves not entirely conventional) was apparently the only writer/director able precisely to convey Thompson’s novel – as many directors had failed to adapt it before him.
Gilliam directing Depp. In case you were wondering…
Both Johnny Depp and Benicio Del Toro prepared for their roles in extraordinary ways, and many of Johnny’s costumes were Thompson’s actual clothes. Del Toro gained quite a lot of weight for his role, and Depp actually moved into Thompson’s basement for four months in preparation for his role. That’s dedication!
And it paid off
The film is visually very interesting, and the story is simultaneously hilarious and a bit sad and disturbing. The actors all give wonderful performances – as one would expect from such great artists.
I’ll leave you with the trailer:
Enjoy the film, and have a great weekend!
Love, Mari
Christian Bale
Yes, this week’s hottie is the fantabulous English actor Christian Bale.
Bale’s carrier began at the tender age of 13 when he starred in Steven Spielberg’s film Empire of the Sun, and it has been all uphill since then. He is known for drastically altering his appearance in order to fit the role he is playing. For example for American Psycho he needed to create a close-to-perfect tan and muscular body in order to properly portray the main character Patrick Bateman.
And he did a very good job.
For his part as the insomniac Reznic in The Machinist, Bale dropped his weight to about 55 kg and went without sleep for long periods of time.
Not so hot…
And after finishing that film he had six months to bulk up to Batman-size. Talk about dedication!
Mmm bat!
Not only is Christian Bale a very talented actor who has won several awards for his achievements, he is also a rather good looking man, as these pictures will show:
Fun fact: Bale’s father was married to Gloria Steinem, the lead-activist against American Psycho being published. Isn’t life wonderfully ironic?
Fun fact: As a child Bale trained in ballet and guitar.
Fun fact: While working on Batman Bale did all interviews with an American accent in order to avoid confusion.
Love, Elin
Vili Flik Design
Skirt: imp design by Elin Fjøsne
Record Covers
Hello dearies! Today’s Wednesday Vintage is going to be all nice and fine and good pictures. Of vintage record covers that is. I find that some of these supercool old covers can inspire great style, both in clothing, hair styles, decorating, accessorising, and just plain (and by plain I mean scrumptous) living. (Of course some of them are simply fun). Enjoy the photos and get some ideas!
Love, Hanna
Vivienne Westwood
Welcome to a new Designer Day! This week’s Designer is the totally crazy and awesome British designer Vivienne Westwood (1941).
Dame Vivienne Westwood is usually the one given credit for bringing modern punk and new wave fashion into the everyday mainstream line. She started studying fashion and silversmithing (!) but dropped out after a year and started working as a teacher in primary school. (Can you believe that someone out there has actually had Vivienne Westwood as their teacher?!)
Everything changed when Westwood met and entered a relationship with Malcolm McLaren, who opened a punk clothing boutique and later became manager to the tiny little insignificant band we all know as the Sex Pistols. When the Sex Pistols started wearing clothes designer by Westwood, the road to success all of a sudden seemed relatively easy.
One of the unique Westwood elements is the fact that she uses 17th and 18th century cloth cutting principles, mixes in a dash of her own interpretation, and voila, fabulousness is created.
Vivienne Westwood’s first runway show was in 1981, and since then? Well, since then it’s been all scrumptousness.
Love, Hanna
Vili Flik 