Latin Lover!

Carpe Diem! Ad hoc! Mea Culpa! Bona Fide! Ad Nauseam! De Facto! Ergo! Cum Laude! Modus Operandi! Per Se! Sine Qua Non! Vice Versa! Etc.!

Latin scholar or not, so many expression in our daily life are straight from Latin and they are GOOD! Short and to the point, like the Romans themselves…

SPQR2 2Original Roman inscription “Senatus Populusque Romanus”, The Senate and People of Rome (great font too!)

So why is Latin so enduring despite it being a dead language? It served as the universal language until the 17th century when it was gazumped by French, which was in turn gazumped by English in the mid-20th century (the French are still not over that, but that is another subject!).

Read the rest of this entry »

Napoleonic Tiger

“What news? Ma foi! The tiger has broken out of his den. The monster was three days at sea. The wretch has landed at Fréjus. The Brigand has arrived at Antibes. The Invader has reached Grenoble. The General has entered Lyons. Napoleon slept last night at Fontainebleau. The Emperor proceeds to the Tuileries to-day. His Imperial Majesty will address his loyal subjects to-morrow.”

This is how Napoleon’s return from Elba was progressively regarded in Paris.

Leopard1

After zebra and leopard, we still have to discuss tiger print… Less common, but perhaps more subtle, tiger print works well in velvet and silk, and when used sparingly, has maximum effect. The lady above has adorned my mood board for years: a total look, but irresistible!

Read the rest of this entry »

Beeb! Beeb!

What would we do without the “BEEB”, i.e. short for the BBC?

broadcastinghousecompleteThe original Broadcasting House in London

Don’t get me wrong, the other Brit channels are great too, and some “foreign” channels also, but the Power House of quality television is in my opinion the British Broadcasting Company…

Hurray for the BBC Iplayer app for your Ipad, a wealth of quality TV for a few dollars per month…

Read the rest of this entry »

“Fabuloso” Fortuny

A Pleated Silk Gown & the Making of the Modern Women

Delphos dress, Mariano Fortuny, 1909. Purple silk satin.Detail of a Fortuny “Delphos” Gown, probably around 1920

At the beginning of the 20th century, when most women’s fashion was still dictated by the corset, Mariano Fortuny created the “Delphos” gown – described by Marcel Proust as “faithfully antique and markedly original.”  Inspired by, and named after, a classical Greek statue, the Charioteer of Delphi,  the unstructured dress clung sensuously to the body, daringly revealing the wearer’s shape…These dresses became all the rage! Below on this post you will find “create the look for less”.

Read the rest of this entry »

Goodbye Children!

“Au Revoir les Enfants”, the autobiographical movie by Louis Malle

When the French movie director Louis Malle made “Lacombe, Lucien” in 1974 he knew he was touching on a very sore subject. The story of a teenage peasant who joins up with the Gestapo after being rejected as too young by the French Resistance, “Lacombe, Lucien” documents one person’s journey to the dark side, and it’s a disturbing sight.

Lacombe-LucienThe young actor Pierre Blaise as Lucien Lacombe

Read the rest of this entry »