Jajcica
Today’s post is mostly for those of you who are in the Budapest-area or planning a visit to Budapest (which you totally should because it is a beautiful city). And if you are, then this is the place to shop: Jajcica (which is Hungarian for “cat”).
The shop is located in Dohány Utca 94, in the seventh district, which is a bit outside of the typical tourist areas and therefore it can be slightly difficult to find. However, it is well worth looking for. A winding staircase takes you down to a basement filled with everything your vintage-loving heart can desire. Three narrow rooms are stacked from floor to ceiling with swing skirts, Levis 501’s, wedding dresses, biker’s clothes, Doc Martin boots, Adidas sneaker’s, military clothes, top hats, bowler hats, gasmasks, jewelry, buttons, Marvel t-shirts, vests, ties, roller skates, bags, gloves, scarves and everything in between. Seriously, they have everything! And the people working there are very nice too.
Jajcica is open 10 – 19 on weekdays and 10 – 14 on Saturdays, and you can visit their webpage here: www.jajcica.hu. Go check it out!
Love, Elin
L.A.M.B.
Just a tiny little designer post today, about Gwen Stefani (1969 – ), an American probably most known as the lead vocalist for No Doubt.
I’m usually quite the sceptic when musicians decide they wanna be designers, but I think Stefani does a good job. She’s no artist, in my opinion, but the clothes tend to be cool. See for yourself.
While in No Doubt, Stefani made most of her own stage costumes, which lead to her launching her own clothing line, L. A. M. B. (Love. Angel. Music. Baby.) in 2003.
Though the clothes are cool in themselves, I feel that more could be done presentation wise. Where are the colors and the abundance of accessories? The collections would look so much better if there were just a little more umph to them. Or at least that’s my not so very humble opinion.
Love, Hanna
The Fry Chronicles
I have been watching a lot of QI lately and am falling deeper and deeper in love with that wonderful man Stephen Fry. He is truly a work of genius. But not only is he interesting on TV, he is also very interesting in writing, and this is why you should all read The Fry Chronicles (as well as all his other books of course).
The Fry Chronicles is an autobiography in two volumes. The first describes his childhood years and the second is about his time at university and his first years working for the BBC.
The books are very interesting and wonderfully written, and you will find yourself wanting to be his best friend (and possible regretting not making more of your own years at university).
I truly recommend spending some time with the Fry.
And here is a bonus video for you, expressing what many women surely must feel:
Love, Elin
Splash of Greatness
My amazing new shoes. I couldn’t walk more than 1 meter in them even if my life depended on it, but they do look great. They shall be my reading shoes. And I shall be the most awesome looking reader ever.
Have a good weekend, everyone!
Love, Hanna
Mad Men
Another weekend is upon us, and as December is closing in with its Christmas parties and joyful season, I thought it best to stay within the realm of style. Let’s face it, we all want a new dress for each party we will be attending this Christmas, and we all want our dress to be the prettiest, coolest, awsomest one (yeah, you can totally say “awsomest”). That is why you shall all spend this weekend watching Mad Men. Even if you hate the storyline and the characters, you can’t help but fall in love with the clothes and the set. Oh, the glory of upper class early 60s style! *sigh*
Anyway, Mad Men is about Donald Draper, who works in advertising, has a mysterious background, a desperate housewife and oh so many mistresses. It is set in New York in the 60s, and let me tell you; male chauvinism, adultery and alcohol abuse never looked this good!
I love this show; the story is intriguing, the dialogues well-written and the characters are interesting. This is a show where you actually really care what happens to your favorite characters. If you have not seen it yet, get going!
Love, Elin
Theda Bara
From the early 1900s I give you The Vamp, one of the most popular silent film actresses of her era, Theodosia Burr Goodman, aka Theda Bara (1885-1955).
Theda Bara is recognized as one of cinema’s earliest sex symbols, and it was her many femme fatale roles that earned her the nickname The Vamp.
After attending the University of Cincinatti for two years, she moved to New York in 1908, where she started her acting career in the Broadway show The Devil (1908).
In the time span of 1914-26, Bara starred in more than 40 films, but, sadly, most of these were destroyed forever during the fire at Fox Studios’ film storage vault in 1937. Tragic, I know, I would love to have seen Cleopatra (1917) for instance, one of her biggest hits, but no known copies exist today.
However, six of her films have survived: The Stain (1914), A Fool There Was (1914), East Lynne (1915), The Unchastened Woman (1925), Madame Mystery (1925) and 45 Minutes from Hollywood (1926). A Fool There Was, became a huge success and gave its producer, William Fox, enough money to found Fox Film Corporation.
Theda Bara was well-known for wearing very revealing costumes in her films, and I think that’s part of why she’s still an icon, she looks stylish and risque in a way that’s very unusual for her time. That, together with the large amount of lost films creates an interesting and somewhat mysterious figure. And, I mean, just about every photo I see of her is art – she looks awesome.
Love, Hanna
Film Posters
As long as films have been made, there have been film posters to go with them. The first ever movie poster to be made with the sole intention of promoting a single film, was for the French short comedy L’Arroseur arrosé (1895) directed by Louis Lumière (1864-1948). It was designed by Marcellin Auzolle and depicts an audience watching the film it was promoting.
Posters had been used to promote films since 1890, but this was the first poster made to promote a specific film.
Before the 1980s, most posters were sent out to theatres by the studio along with copies of the film and had to be returned when the film was no longer running. Posters were recycled to new theatres and the result was that by the end of a film’s theatrical run, they were often too damaged to keep. Because of this, real vintage movie posters are very hard to come by and are often extremely expensive. Luckily, many have been reproduced, and they look very good.
Posters are usually categorised into several groups. One of these is the smaller “lobby cards”, which often depicts scenes from the film:
The teaser poster is distributed a while before the release of the film, and is designed to evoke interest without giving too much away.
Film posters can be artistic, classy, funny and silly, and they often reflect the era in which they were made, and the genre of its subject. Some focus on the star of the film, while others emphasise the director, plot, effects or monster. While vintage posters were often drawn or painted, modern ones are usually photos. There are some real gems out there!
Some, of course, focus on certain attributes of its star...
Love, Mari
Issey Miyake
Meet Issey Miyake (1938 – ), a brilliant Japanese fashion designer with edgy and awesome designs.
Miyake comes from Hiroshima, and witnessed the atomic bomb dropped in August 1945. Luckily, he survived, and went on to study graphic design in Tokyo.
From there, Miyake went to Paris and New York to work, before returning to Japan to found Miyake Design Studio, a high-end producer of women’s fashion.
In the late 1980s, Miyake started experimenting with new methods of pleating, which would increase flexibility of movement and improve care and production. This led to ‘garment pleating’, a new technique perfected in 1993.
In addition to fashion design, Miyake has also done some costume design for Ballett Frankfurt. He also drew Pocahontas, the girl in the movie, not the whole thing.
Blending traditional Japanese fabrics and production techniques, with a well of colors and patterns makes for fabrics most other designers can only dream about.
In 2000, Miyake himself stepped down, and made Naoki Takizawa (1960 – ) Creative Director of the fashion house.
Love, Hanna
Ralph Fiennes
I think we’re overdue for a hottie here at Vili Flik, and who better to scratch our itch than the gorgeous Ralph Fiennes.
Ralph Nathaniel Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes (1962-) is a successful English actor and film director, and a very good looking man indeed.
He trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and, like so many other talented actors, began his career at the Open Air Theatre, Regent’s Park, and the National Theatre. He later joined the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Fiennes made his film debut in 1992 as Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights, and has gone on to have a successful career staring in all sorts of different films, from comedy to biblical epics.
He is also a UK ambassador for UNICEF. Good man.
Love, Elin
Jason Wu
Finally – there shall be fashion! Jason Wu (1982) is, in addition to being disgustingly young, an amazing Taiwanese-American fashion designer. Oh, to the glory that is his creative brain.
Young Mr. Wu learned to sew by designing and making clothes for dolls as a child, and at age 16 he began to create freelance doll clothing designs for a toy company called Integrity Toys. A year later he was Creative Director for the same company. Insane, I know.
He went from dolls to studying, at Parsons New School for Design, before interning with Narciso Rodriguez.
Then the genius went on to launch his own fashion career, supported by his earnings for the doll designs. He had his runway debut in 2006, and since then his career has been skyrocketing.
Over 85% of Wu’s collections are actually manufactured in New York City’s Garment district, because the designer wants to focus on couture quality craftmanship. Nice.
And the craftmanship really is amazing – all the little details which can take as much as 1000 hours to create speak of a perfectionist. And look at the results. Gorgeous.
Love, Hanna
Post Office
It began as a mistake.
Post Office (1971) was Charles Bukowski’s first novel, and it is said to be autobiographical about the author’s later years. It’s about Henry Chinaski, a middle aged guy who works in the post office, a work he finds incredible boring and degrading – but he survives through booze, women and an amazing cynical view of the world.
It’s a short novel, and quite an easy read. It can be a bit disgusting at times, but there’s also some truly beautiful little moments. And brutally honest, without making excuses for itself. See for youself.
Love, Hanna
Bjørk
It’s been oh, so quiet here at Vili Flik this week, so I thought we’d break the silence with one of my favorite singers, Bjørk Guðmundsdóttir (1965 – ) from Iceland.
She’s recorded nine albums: Bjørk (1977), Gling-Glo (1990), Debut (1993), Post (1995), Homogenic (1997), Vespertine (2001), Medulla (2004), Volta (2007) and Biophilia (2011). Good old wikipedia tells us that “She has embraced many genres throughout her career, creating a varied range of pieces, from big band music to sound art. Björk’s lyrical themes range from personal matters to scientific, natural, or social topics.”
In addition to being a musician, Bjørk has actually done some acting, and was awarded the best actress award at the Cannes Film Festival in 2000 for her role as Selma in Dancer in the Dark.
Bjørk is also known for her unique sense of style when it comes to fashion – she’s playful and often more than a little over the top, but somehow she tends to look awesome anyway. The famous swan dress of hers, designed by Marjan Pejoski, has been voted the ninth most iconic red carpet dress of all time. And, the lady managed to make time to contribute to an Alexander McQueen tribute last year. You get some Vili Flik Hottie points for that.
Now, I hope you’re all violently happy.
Love, Hanna
Vili Flik 