Vili Flik Design

Dress: imp design by Elin Fjøsne

Deadwood

If there is one TV-series you should all be watching, my dear readers, it is Deadwood (2004-6) by David Milch.

The show revolves around the town of Deadwood in Wild West South Dakota, a town ruled by crime and corruption. The characters, the storylines, the language, it is all so very, very brilliant, and the cast includes such wonderful actors as Ian McShane, Brad Dourif, John Hawkes and Paula Malcomson.

Unfortunately the show only lasted for three seasons, due to lack of funding (which is quite vexing considering the kind of shows that get to go on forever and ever), but it has won several awards, including a golden globe.

Both historical and invented characters visits the town of Deadwood (a real town btw), and I highly recommend that you do too.

Love, Elin

Domhnall Mitchell

Dear readers,

We present to you: The One, The Only, The Fabulous professor Domhnall Martin Mitchell!

Now, you may not have heard of this one, but he alone is reason enough to study English at NTNU. Let’s include a quick resymé, copied (shamelessly, as per usual – we know no shame!) from NTNU’s website: “Domhnall Mitchell received his Ph.D. from Trinity College Dublin in 1990. He has been employed at the English Department since 1991, and received his Professorship in 1999. He has taught courses on poetry, prose, American literature, Literary Theory, Detective Fiction and Native American Literatures. His areas of interest include the poetry of Emily Dickinson, Detective Fiction, and American Literature before 1900. He has published articles on Emily Dickinson, James Fenimore Cooper, Catherine Maria Sedgwick, Lydia Maria Child, James Joyce, and Henry James, as well as text-books on poetry and the American Short Story. His book, Emily Dickinson: Monarch of Perception, was published by the University of Massachusetts Press in March 2000. He is currently engaged in research on Emily Dickinson‘s manuscripts, and was awarded a Houghton Library Visiting Fellowship by Harvard University in 2000.” Why have we emphasised Emily Dickinson, you ask? Because she is the most important person who has ever lived, and the greatest poet, and all her sociopathic tendencies are NOTHING BUT CHARMING! So there…

For the past year, Domhnall has functioned as our supervisor – and we apologise sincerely… (To him, not to you dear reader, for everything we have put him through – the penguins, the squirrels…) Whenever we’re in his presence, our brain-crushes reduce us to giggling teenagers. We blame these brain-crushes on his vast intelligence, neverending stream of anecdotes, brilliant wit and wisdom, and magnificent sense of humour. And he’s a snappy dresser too, with a great sense of style – both linguistic and sartorial.

Domhnall: please forgive this post, and know that it was made out of love. We truly are not worthy!

Love, MEH

Polka dots

Let’s talk patterns. Favorite patterns. My favorite, the simple yet stylish and awesome polka dots, is not exactly the best kept secret ever. I tend to shout it from the rooftops whenever I can, and it’s actually reached the point where I have to restrain myself not to buy more polka dottie stuff. (which isn’t working at all, btw.) Anyway, I think this fabulous pattern deserves its very own vintage post.

Did you know that the term polka dots was first used (that we know of) in 1871? Talk about vintage. The pattern became fashionable around the same time as polka became very popular (the dance we all know and love to make fun of), and that’s why it got it’s name.

The wonderful Carolina Herrera gave the polka dot pattern a comeback in the late 1980s, and it had another one around 2006. It’s just lovely, and so versatile!

Polka dot room? Yes, I need that.

 

See? Everything gets better if you just add some dots!

Love, Hanna

Cristóbal Balenciaga

Today’s designer is one of my absolute favorites. He might not be the most famous designer, but his clothes are pure art. Allow me to introduce the lovely, magnificent, glorious genius and master of haute couture, Cristóbal Balenciaga (1895-1972).

This brilliant Spanish designer was, believe it or not, the founder of the Balenciaga Fashion House. When still a teenager, Balenciaga became the personal tailor of a noblewoman in his town, who also sent him to Madrid where he went to school and learned to make dresses like these:

Thank you, Marchioness de Casa Torres!

Balenciaga opened his first boutique in Spain in 1919, and the Spanish royal family and aristocracy quickly became his customers. When the civil war began he moved his business to Paris, where he continued creating original designs such as the tunic dress in 1955. (Can you imagine, a dress without a waist?)

Balenciaga is also credited for, among other stuff, the creation of the balloon jacket and skirt.

According to Diana Vreeland, Balenciaga’s designs caused Audrey Hepburn to “foam at the mouth.” (Way to disgustify a compliment, Diana!)

The brilliant Balenciaga also taught design, and inspired some of my other favorite designers, such as Oscar de la Renta and Hubert de Givenchy.

But, sadly, not even Señor Balenciaga could live forever, and his fashion house now belongs to the Gucci Group. The head designer has for the last fourteen years been Nicolas Ghesquière. He’s not too bad either, if you ask me (which you totally should).

Personally, I do prefer vintage Balenciaga, though, it just got so much more… muchness.

Love, Hanna

René Magritte

It is time for another artist here at Vili Flik, and today’s choice is the lovely Belgian surrealist René François Ghislain Magritte (1898-1967).

Magritte was born in Lessines, in the province of Hainaut, in 1898. He began taking drawing lessons at an early age, and from 1916 to 1918 he studied at the Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts in Brussels.

Magritte’s style range from impressionist to surrealist. His work frequently displays a juxtaposition of ordinary objects in an unusual context, giving new meanings to familiar things. The most famous example is perhaps his painting of a pipe with the text “Leci n’est pas une pipe” – this is not a pipe. This might seem like a contradiction, but as he said himself: “Of course it’s not a pipe, try and stuff tobacco in it.”

Magritte was a wonderfully talented and popular artist who has influenced many other equally wonderful artists, including Andy Warhol. Please enjoy some more of his paintings:

Love, Elin

Them

Jon Ronson (1967-) is a British journalist who tends to do strange and occasionally dangerous things to get his stories, and these stories often end up as wonderfully entertaining reads. You may be familiar with The Men Who Stare at Goats (2004) which was made into a film a few years ago, but today’s Flik is his brilliant book, Them: Adventures with Extremists (2001).

Them is a report of Ronson’s adventures with some of the world’s best-known “extremist” groups – including the Ku Klux Klan and Islamic extremists, while searching for evidence of a secret ruling group which may or may not consist of twelve-foot lizard men.

The book is a very entertaining read, mainly due to Ronson’s delightful sense of humour and absurdism, but it is also thought-provoking, as you get an inside look into the thoughts and philosophies which drive “the others” – the ones we perceive as threats, or even just “random crazies”. I thoroughly recommend that you check out this book and not just wait for the film version directed by Edgar Wright. Oh yes, he’s attached to the project, which is a sure sign (for me at least) that it will be glorious and fine and good. But while we wait for that slice of fried gold, why not read the book? And while you’re at it, you could do worse than to read some of his other works, such as Out of the Ordinary: True Tales of Everyday Craziness (2006) or What I Do: More True Tales of Everyday Craziness (2007), both of which are hilarious and lovely, or the aforementioned The Men Who Stare at Goats.

Love, Mari

Vili Flik Design

As mentioned in Thursday’s post, we here at Vili Flik have been designing a costume this week, and I know you’re all dying to see it. So with no further ado, this is our take on the World of Warcraft:

Wearing Vili Flik Design

What do you think?

We are quite happy with it ourselves, and the costumer was too, which is the important thing. This is our first collaborative project, and we had a lot of fun making it. And, who knows? Perhaps there will be more in the future.

Dylan Moran

Vili Flik has been a bit busy this week designing a costume (!) which has rendered us unable to blog properly – costume making is unchartered territory for us, so it took up all our time and resources. We apologise for the lack of proper post yesterday, and also today’s belated one. Hopefully, sometime this weekend we’ll be able to put up a picture of the wonderful costume that has occupied our time, and you’ll see why sacrifices were made on its behalf.

However, we hope that this particular hottie was worth the wait. Today’s luscious specimen of mankind is none other than the wonderfully brilliant, funny and sexy Dylan Moran. *Pause for cheer*

Dylan Moran was born in Navan in Ireland in 1971, and is a comedian, actor, writer and filmmaker. You may recognise him from his amazing comedy show Black Books (2000-04).

In Black Books (which he wrote) he plays the wonderfully anti-social, drunken bookshop owner Bernard Black, opposite Bill Bailey’s Manny and Tamsin Greig’s Fran. (Basically our dream man: fond of wine and books – not so much of people.)

He is also known for his roles in Shaun of the Dead (2004), A Cock and Bull Story (2005) and Run Fatboy Run (2007).

Shaun of the Dead, aka "Harry Potter - the Cappuccino Years"

He is also a great stand-up comedian. Check out his shows Monster (2004), Like, Totally (2006), or What is It (2009) – or, catch him on his current tour! Guaranteed to please!

Now, as is our habit, I will proceed to show you some photos of the man himself. Enjoy:

Hot? Check. Talented? Check. Funny? Hell, yes!

Do yourselves a favour: go to youtube, do a search for Dylan Moran, click on pretty much any video that comes up, sit back, laugh. Repeat until your heads, sides and stomachs ache. Congratulate yourselves on a job well done.Then, if you haven’t done so already (shame on you!), procure a copy of Black Books on DVD. Follow the same procedure as above.

Love, Mari.

Vili Flik Design

Dress: Decadence Design by Mari Elise Baustad