Dress: Read! by Hanna Volle
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Jeanette Winterson
Today I present to you, dear readers, the wonderfully talented author Jeanette Winterson (1959 -).
And I shamelessly quote from her webpage: “Winterson was born in Manchester, England, and adopted by Pentecostal parents who brought her up in the nearby mill-town of Accrington. As a Northern working class girl she was not encouraged to be clever. Her adopted father was a factory worker, her mother stayed at home. There were only six books in the house, including the Bible and Cruden’s Complete Concordance to the Old and New Testaments. Strangely, one of the other books was Malory’s Morte d’Arthur, and it was this that started her life quest of reading and writing. Reading was not much approved unless it was the Bible. Her parents intended her for the missionary field. Schooling was erratic but Jeanette had got herself into a girl’s grammar school and later she read English at Oxford University.” And glad we are that she did not end up as a missionary! She wrote her first novel, Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit, at the age of 23. The novel was followed by the comic book Boating for Beginners and 13 more novels, including Lighthousekeeping, which has been featured on the blog before.
In 2006 Jeanette Winterson was awarded an OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) for services to literature, and she has won various awards around the world for her fiction and adaptations, including the Whitbread Prize and the Prix d’argent Cannes Film Festival.
If you have not yet read any of her work, do so! She is brilliant!
Love, Elin
Stealing
Stealing
The most unusual thing I ever stole? A snowman.
Midnight. He looked magnificent; a tall, white mute
beneath the winter moon. I wanted him, a mate
with a mind as cold as the slice of ice
within my own brain. I started with the head.
Better off dead than giving in, not taking
what you want. He weighed a ton; his torso,
frozen stiff, hugged to my chest, a fierce chill
piercing my gut. Part of the thrill was knowing
that children would cry in the morning. Life’s tough.
Sometimes I steal things I don’t need. I joy-ride cars
to nowhere, break into houses just to have a look.
I’m a mucky ghost, leave a mess, maybe pinch a
camera.
I watched my gloved hand twisting the doorknob.
A stranger’s bedroom. Mirrors. I sigh like this–Aah.
It took some time. Reassembled in the yard,
he didn’t look the same. I took a run
and booted him. Again. Again. My breath ripped out
in rags. It seems daft now. Then I was standing
alone amongst lumps of snow, sick of the world.
Boredom. Mostly I’m so bored I could eat myself.
One time I stole a guitar and thought I might
learn to play. I nicked a bust of Shakespeare once,
flogged it, but the snowman was strangest.
You don’t understand a word I’m saying, do you?
Carol Ann Duffy
Vili Flik Design
Skirt and top: imp design by Elin Fjøsne
Special Topics in Calamity Physics
Before I tell you about Hannah Schneider’s death, I’ll tell you about my mother’s.
I loved this book. I’ve read some reviews critizing Pessl’s literary style, but I honestly didn’t notice, or care, or both – I just loved the story. Special Topics in Calamity Physics (2006) was the debut novel of American Marisha Pessl (1977 – ). As usual, I’m too lazy to make up my own plot summary, so I’ve stolen one from The Guardian.
“The novel is the first-person narrative of Blue Van Meer, a bright teenager who since her mother’s death has travelled the country with her arrogant, pompous but devoted father Gareth, a peripatetic lecturer in political science who is, in his daughter’s eyes, “one of the pre-eminent commentators on American culture”. Blue spends her final high-school year at a private college in North Carolina. There she encounters the Bluebloods, an elite group of students who are the proteges of a charismatic film studies teacher, the compellingly mysterious Hannah Schneider, whom, we learn in the opening pages, Blue will find hanged during a camping trip. The first two-thirds of the book describes the long, fraught initiation of Blue into this glamorous and insular group, while the last third concerns Blue’s mounting suspicion that her enigmatic and beautiful teacher was somehow murdered.
[…] the novel suddenly becomes a page-turning murder mystery with a gratifyingly complex plot, a dizzying Usual Suspects-style narrative with nods to detective novelists conventional (Agatha Christie) and unconventional (Carlo Emilio Gadda). On a second reading, what appeared to be a high-school tale spatchcocked on to the story of an amateur detective is seen to be a ground-laying exercise of immense skill. Pessl’s strengths are revealed in her portrayal of the isolation and vunerability of adolescence, in Blue’s final, impenetrable loneliness and in the brave, completely satisfying ending, resolved yet open, which is the triumph of the book.”
The novel is full of references to books and old movies, each chapter using the title of another work of fiction, and it just made me want to read more. I also loved the character Blue – she is an outsider with more books than friends (sounds oddly familiary, doesn’t it?) and on her first day at a new school, she reflects that when you’re insecure you can do one of the two following things: Imagine yourself to be Grace Kelly, Gene Kelly, Marilyn Monroe og whoever OR read a book. (Once again, hello, story of my life).
It’s a good Saturday (and summer) read. Check it out.
Love, Hanna
Vili Flik Design
Skirt: Decadence Design by Mari Baustad
Disclaimer
Dear Vili Flikers: This is a disclaimer to the Karl Lagerfeld post published earlier this week. We’ve read some rather disturbing articles where Lagerfeld says some very anti-nice things, and therefore we just want to tell you all that he has officially lost all his hero points and that we have also come to the conclusion that, though the owner of 300 000 books, he can’t have read a single one of them. But, since he does make fabulous clothes, we have decided to keep the original post.
But shame on you, Lagerfeld, for discriminating against people without an eating disorder! Dare to be different, people! And remember – there are no ugly people, only ugly outfits.
Love from the not too-skinny but still fabulous and brilliant girls at Vili Flik.
Sonya Tayeh
There are several reasons brilliant choreographer Sonya Tayeh deserves to be a Vili Flik hottie. She’s creative, stylish, beautiful and original – all the things we look for and admire in a person.
For those of you who are not familiar with her, she is an American dancer and choreographer, and you may have seen some of her work on So You Think You Can Dance (2005-). Her style (both personal and dance-wise) is amazing and often mind-blowing. Also, she has the best hair!
However, it’s not just her good looks (and locks) which have earned her a place here. Her fantastic work is the main reason I have a bit of a girl-crush on her. See for yourselves:
Even if you’re not obsessed with dance, those are pretty darned impressive and amazing. I also love her musical choices and what she brings out in her dancers.
Love, Mari
Vili Flik Design
Skirt: Read! by Hanna Volle
The Seventies
Ah, the seventies. A time of bell-bottoms, one-pieces, hot pants and twiggy-dresses. A time when pimps really looked like pimps. Basically: a time when people seemed to have wore whatever the hell they felt like, regardless of cut, pattern or common decency and modesty. I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves, because sometimes a picture really can say more than a thousand words…
Two strapping, young men there.
ABBA
Twiggy-dresses
Because all women have the right to show their behinds if they want to!
Pimpin’
Can’t pimp without proper platforms!
Yes, that is a one-piece.
I do love the bell-bottoms though.
So what is my conclusion? The seventies were fun, with something for everyone. But let’s never ever bring back that male-fashion! Do you agree?
Love, Elin
Vili Flik 
