Red Gloss

 

In a sea of colors that were coordinated for consumers months (or even years) in advance, there are other colors that are perfect in themselves and do not need to be "in fashion" to remain in fashion.

Photographed near the Passage du Havre, one of those places in Paris that tourists have yet to discover.

- AP

Building Fancies

 

This building is classic example of a colonial past in a post-colonial reality. There are many ways to read this building. I offer no suggestions here, but will provide a couple of guiding questions:

1. Why this combination of ornamental styles?
2. Why is this building no longer used?
3. Why was this building built?

We no longer live in a world of obvious empires, but there was a time when the Great Powers re-made the Mediterranean into a world that only traces can be found here and there.

- AP

The Royal Ontario

 

Why spend another day in the Louvre or the British to find the same inspiration that has been keeping modern-day fashion afloat for decades? Thinking of India? Think again, for Western fashion - with a few notable exceptions - never seems to get exotic quite right.

A possible solution is the Royal Ontario Museum...where one might become inspired not only by what is there, but also by what isn't.

- AP

In a Doisneau Mood

 

Call it cliché, even trite. But Paris is romantic, inspires romance. Enjoy the photo of Notre Dame de Paris on a winter day at twilight. This cathedral, though stripped of its color by weather and human events (of course everyone realizes that cathedrals were painted in brilliant colors; such was the Medieval Age before the Black Death), continues to speak to the heart. That is nature of romance, isn't it?

Thus, this capital of fashion has the historical edge over Milan and New York; it is the heart of fashion.

- AP

Fashion and Time

 

To the casual eye, it's a photo of two boys seated on a statue - this happens fairly frequently on the grounds of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. However, take another look, and you'll see the differences in clothing over thousands of years in the same location. Ancient Egyptians wore kilts; modern Egyptians wear denim jeans.

Look again at busts in the background and see the stuffy attire that successful men of the 19th century once wore.

Thankfully, that complicated formality is largely gone from our everyday lives.

- AP

Sphinx: Utterances #207-#209

#207. Fashion is a by-product of the Art of Dress

#208. The discipline of Diane de Poitiers with the decadence of Henri III makes for an interesting collection.

#209. Favrile glass should inspire silk prints.

Une Bonne Fête Française

 

A festive dinner suit, in the spirit of the 1980s. Happy Bastille Day!

- AP