Kimberly Newport-Mimran

In February, as I was perusing the program of New York Fashion Week, a (to me) unknown brand screamed for attention: Pink Tartan. This has got to be good, I thought, and promptly googled earlier collections. It was everything I hoped it would be, so today I want to share this fashion house and the magnificent designer behind it, with you guys. I hope you’ll like it as much as I do.

This here is Kimberly Newport-Mimran (1968 – ), the President and Head Designer of Pink Tartan, a brand she launched with her husband in 2002. Newport-Mimran started her career in fashion when she was 14, selling retail, before she went on to study fashion merchandising.

Newport-Mimran wants to design “clothes to live your life in.” Ah, I wish.

As you read up on Kimberly Newport-Mimran, you find a lot of her fashion philosophy in snappy, little sentences such as:

“Simplicity is the secret to elegance.”

I sort of agree. Sometimes. But other times, excessiveness is just so right! What do you think?

I do loooove the hats, though.

and the colors

and the retroness (not a word, you say? Don’t care, I say)

Love, Hanna

Miwa Yanagi

Miwa Yanagi is a Japanese photographer with a taste for the surreal, the dark and the frightening. She creates elaborate, and often costly, staged events using female models of all ages. The models may display ages different from their own in the photos, emphasizing the weirdness of it all. I would like to share with you her exhibit entitled “Fairy Tale”, in which she has tried to capture the cruelty and brutality of fairytales. Enjoy!

Want to see more? Go here: http://www.yanagimiwa.net/e/index.html

Love, Elin

I Capture the Castle

When I was very young, around 6 or 7 I guess, I read Dodie Smith’s The 101 Dalmatians (1956) probably ten times. (This was before Disney got their hands on, and subsequently ruined, the novel. [Kudos on Glenn Close though, Disney – brilliant casting there.]) However, I never went on to read any of Smith’s other works. Then, a few years ago, my sister lent me her battered, old, and exceedingly charming copy of I Capture the Castle (1948). Since then, it has resided on my shelf, patiently waiting for me to have time to read again. Which I finally did this week, and silently cursed myself for not reading this book before.

I Capture the Castle revolves around 17 year old narrator Cassandra Mortmain, who lives with her father – an acclaimed author who has not written in years, her model stepmother Topaz, sister Rose, brother Thomas, and Stephen – the son of their now late housekeeper, in the ruins of a castle in Suffolk. They have no money, no income, nothing of value and a very narrow social circle. When the estate to which the castle belongs is inherited by a young American gentleman, their lives take a slightly Jane Austenesque (is that a word? It is now, at any rate) turn as they come to know their new landlord and his family. Cassandra, an aspiring writer herself, captures their lives in her journal in a mesmerising manner, and one cannot help but fall in love with her. Charming, witty and occasionally profound, I Capture the Castle is simply one of those novels one should read.

Love, Mari

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Today, I want to present one of my all time favourite TV-shows: Joss Whedon’s amazing Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003).

If you’re not familiar with the show (or if you are, but have not watched it as religiously as yours truly), you may think it’s just another monster-show. But it is so much more than that! In fact, the monsters aren’t even that important – what the show is really about is friendship, growing up, taking responsibility, and (naturally) feminism.

…although some of the monsters are really frigging scary.

The characters are wonderful and brilliantly cast, the story arcs are great and often unpredictable, not to mention the writers’ play with language and hilarious sense of humour. Additionally, they are not afraid to break convention – as demonstrated by such episodes as “Hush” (4×10), “Superstar” (4×17), “The Body” (5×16), “Normal Again” (6×17) – which dares to question the very premise of the show, and of course “Once More With Feeling” (6×7) – the musical episode:

No plans this weekend, you say? Lucky for you, there are seven lovely and entertaining seasons waiting for you – all available on DVD. And trust me, it’s well worth the time and money you invest!

And here’s a bonus song:

Love, Mari

Splash of Greatness

Waistcoats

Yesterday’s celebrations and lovely outfits served as the inspiration for today’s vintage: the waistcoat – also known as the vest.

As far as I’m concerned, no suit is complete without one of these. And they’ve been fashionable for a very long time. In fact, it was introduced in Britain in the 1600s by king Charles II, although they were inspired by Persian clothes. For once, a member of a royal family was not only innovative, but also very stylish. (Sadly, this no longer seems to be the case in any monarchy…)

Since then, the waistcoat has managed to stay in fashion, and they come in all different colours and patterns. Most of them are singlebreasted and without lapels, but there are exceptions to this. Let’s take a look!

Staying true to the Vili Flik philosophy: always end on tartan and polkadots!

Love, Mari

Splash of Greatness

Zhang Zhifeng

First of all, happy May 17th to all of you! If you’re Norwegian, May 17th is kind of a big deal, and if you’re not, then, well, I guess it’s just another day for you. But treat yourself to an ice cream to celebrate with us.

Now, as a patriotic Norwegian (or something like that), I should choose a Norwegian designer to present to you on this most Norwegian of all days. However, as my favorite Norwegian designers are Mari, Elin and Annette, who already frequently show off their designs here, I figure that it could become somewhat of an overkill. Instead, I want to introduce you to a fabulous Chinese fashion house, which I myself discovered during last fall season’s China Fashion Week: meet Zhang Zhifeng (1965 – )

The wonderful Mr. Zhifeng is the founder and chief art director of the scrumptous Ne-Tiger, one of China’s fastest growing fashion houses.

The brand Ne-Tiger was founded in 1992, and the designs obviously draw inspiration from Chinese culture as well as trying to invent something new. I love the use of strong colors (as always) and the elegance of it all.

Unfortunately, it’s quite difficult to find some decent information about the fashion house, since every article I read about the magnificent Zhang Zhifeng seem to be filled with pro-China propaganda, and really does not focus on the designer at all. But, since the clothes as so great, I guess they speak for themselves.

Love, Hanna

Done and Dusted

Today is for bragging. We here at Vili Flik have officially handed in our masters’ theses, and we are very proud indeed. What’s more, we feel that it is only right to share with you the wonder that is our work:

Are they not beautiful? From left to right: Dreaming Up James by Hanna Marie Volle, The Centre Cannot Hold by Elin Fjøsne, We Who Are Not As Others by Mari Elise Baustad (Warning: some of the information in the photo might be misleading).

The topics of our theses are Henry James, Bret Easton Ellis and Chuck Palahniuk, three brilliant and interesting writers that we have already recommended to you on this blog.

And now we wait for our grades.

Love, Elin

Everything is Illuminated

My legal name is Alexander Perchov. But all of my many friends dub me Alex, because that is a more flaccid-to-utter version of my legal name. Mother dubs me Alexi-stop-spleening-me!, because I am always spleening her. If you want to know why I am always spleening her, it is because I am always elsewhere with friends, and disseminating so much currency, and performing so many things that can spleen a mother.

These are the first words by one of the narrators of Jonathan Safran Foer’s novel Everything is Illuminated (2002).

It is a curious novel, told partly by Alex, either in monologues such as this, or in his letters to Jonathan, around whom the story centres. Jonathan goes to the Ukraine to attempt to track down a woman who fifty years earlier saved his grandfather from the Nazis. Alex, his grandfather and their bitch (as in dog!), Sammy Davis, Junior, Junior. Alex provides much of the humour throughout the novel, with his bizarre twisting of the English language through his, often very direct, translations from his mother tongue – but despite the humourous style, the story is very touching, as are the characters.

Interspersed between their search for the mystery woman are chapters set in a Jewish village in the 1790s, and these are equally hilarious and emotional, with wonderfully eccentric characters and occasionally heartbreaking scenes.

The novel was filmed by Liev Schreiber in 2005 and starred Elijah Wood.

Although the film is lovely in its own way, the novel is far more intriguing (as is usually the case) and I really recommend it.

Love, Mari