Fashion Commentary 1 - Olympus Fashion Week - Fall 2006

I've finally decided to start putting up fashion commentaries here.

Just a point to note - as I am neither professionally trained nor a female, my comments on fashion may not be very agreeable. Please note that I am merely trying to hone my sense of observation and fashion concepts. I am also practising my writing. Please bear with me for all the fashion posts I'll be having.

Anyway, this post'll be on the Olympus Fashion Week for Fall 2006. This first post will focus on designer Vera Wang's collection.

To begin, I would like to point out the photos that I use to make references to: http://www.olympusfashionweek.com/fall2006/designers/vera_wang/index.html

Note: The design numbers are given according to the file numbers of the design photos posted on the Olympus Fashion Week website.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

OBSERVATIONS
Trends/Discerning Collection Features/Characteristics:
> Colour: Most in black and/or white with a little bit of colour surprises in a few designs. The colour surprises, however, are mild, dark-coloured hues (except for the blue waist ornament in Design No. 14). Otherwise, colour use is limited to earthy, tempered shades such as brown or washed-out purple (e.g. Designs No. 3, 4 and 5).
> Prints/Motifs: A few employ Nature motifs such as leaves and flowers (possibly to fit the Fall 2006 category). The leaf motif is most evident in Designs No. 2 and 10, both of which use the same leaf prints but in different colours with different effects - Design No. 2 takes on an earthy brown autumn shade (including the black) while Design No. 10 gives a pale, dusty look.
> Patterns: Regular repeating patterns such as plaid, chequered and animal skin prints characterise some of the designs in this collection. All these patterns make use of tiny repeating units and exhibit a softer and more subtle look instead of a loud, blatant effect.
> Textures/Materials: Chiffon is used extensively in this collection in a variety of ways. Its translucent qualities are exemplified in Designs No. 3, 11 and 14 - they add a hint of mystery and elegance to the design by shrouding parts of the exposed skin in its earthy autumn tints. Tweed is also used to emphasise the season this collection falls under - it appears as a key design component in Designs No. 5 and 15 (which probably form a set) in the form of a long-sleeved coat which in both cases is used over a dress made of a fabric with a flowing quality - e.g. chiffon and silk.
> Other Observations: Fabric belts tied around the waist characterises many of the designs in this Fall 2006 collection. Two types of belts appear most in this collection - a tight belt with a large fabric flower ornament in front (e.g. Designs No. 2 and 14) and a fabric/leather belt that is tied above the waist (for example, Designs No. 4 and 8). Three of the designs (4, 16, and 18) leave the remaining length of the belt hanging vertically before them (the fact that the belts are tied high above the waist ensure that the hanging belts do not make the design look sloppy).
> Overall Appeal / Impressions / Remarks: The collection's colours are exemplary of the season and are more or less consistent throughout the collection. The designs making use of the dark translucent chiffon add a slight element of audacity and sexiness, but unfortunately chiffon used in such a fashion is not a fresh idea and somehow strikes as being very familiar or having been seen elsewhere before (for those who have seen Project Runway Season 1, don't the black chiffon designs remind you of one of Wendy Pepper's designs for the Olympus Fashion Week challenge? - recall - the one where Michael Kors complained about the boobies?). In general, however, the collection exuberates an elegance that is characteristic of Vera Wang (in which she makes excellent use of the qualities of fabrics). The whole collection, however, is done in a safe manner - perhaps a little bit of zest and flair is required to really give the collection an X-Factor.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ok, I've written nothing but rubbish. Please read and comment if you wish. I don't think I've made sense - then and again, I AM a greenhorn when it comes to this =]

Lethargy.

I am finally blogging again - even as I currently suffer under the barrage of a cold. I don't have a bad sore throat or regular coughs but my muscles feel like they've just been stretched taut and then snapped loose again and my bones feel like they've just been used for scraping grime off walls. My nose feels like someone had dammed it up.

Ok ok enough with the exposition on poor old me and how I'm ill.

Bleh school's grating on me. My brain cells are half-dead and every step I think sends me into vertigo. I -

Wait I'm still expounding on the sufferings of poor old me.

Anyway, school's grating on me. Although there isn't too much homework (luckily) there's enough to do at school to tire me out after one day. And all those crazy events that are going on, even those that I'm not involved in, are making me feel breathless. Social Etiquette course, Road Run 2006, Careers 2006, supplementary lessons during the holidays and after school next week - not to forget all the Drama Club sessions, and debate training - and of course third language - I'm as dead-beat as a broken Elvis record. That's not to say I dread them, of course (especially Deutsch, Debate and Drama) but all those afterschool stuff is too much.

Oh yeah not to forget the Learning Journey on the 22nd of March.

Bleh it's crazy. The poor Sec 1s and 2s (the whole cohort!) has been called to perform for the National Day Parade in August and their training is on Wednesday AND Friday. It's absolutely crazy and it's like as though they're preparing them to go to war or something. It's in AUGUST, people - y'don't have to start in MARCH if you're going to put them through such intensive training. Please please please think about the students' welfare before you think about how they're going to bring glory, recognition and fame to the school. It's definitely not worth it if you're going to have them full of grouses about the school authorities in the end.

Ok I think that's enough ranting for now. Am coughing now. Think I should stop this digitatory exercise now.

Just a quick post.

This is just a quick post to show off some display pictures I just made:



Ok, show-off session done.

A Villanelle.

Wrote a villanelle.


For the Dark Has Engulfed this World

Pray, pray that the light of day won’t go away
The gods forbid this from continuing
For the dark has engulfed this world.

The scream of fire and
The horrible calls of torment
Tearing the sky apart, the sun gone
Pray, pray that the light of day won’t go away.

Turn over that coin to the needy child
And watch the news with more
Sympathy – you’ll need it
For the dark has engulfed this world.

In the raging horrors that plague
This world – we can only watch and stop
Not do anything except that we
Pray, pray that the light of day won’t go away.

Why – not even the gods can anymore help
For even the skies are plagued with
Terrible smoke and choking flames
For the dark has engulfed this world.

No more can we do except stop
And watch the world crumble – we can only
Pray, pray that the light of day won’t go away
For the dark has engulfed this world.

Memoirs of a Geisha: The Showdown

It's showdown time! Time to look back on how "Memoirs of a Geisha" has been whether it's a novel or a movie. I'll give a list for the things I liked about the novel and then for the movie and then the things I didn't like about the novel and then for the movie. (Please note that the things I state are in no particular order, whether by merit or by chronology; they're just written down as I can remember them)


The Novel: Things I Feel Strongly About...

i) The whole mizuage thing was a total screw-up. Ok, fine, so it had a lot to do with money and played a vital role in Sayuri's life as a geisha, it just wasn't, wasn't fair at all to real Japanese geishas that they should be portrayed as having a goal of selling their virginity at a high price. It completely defeats the purpose of the rest of the book trying to emphasise that geishas weren't prostitutes - it doesn't matter what price the virginity sells for - if it's exchanged for money, it IS prostitution.

ii) I get the idea that there's more to Hatsumomo's character - in fact, I'm rather fine with the idea that Hatsumomo had a failed lover of a Koichi, but couldn't more have been done to flesh out the emotions that should have plagued Hatsumomo after Koichi left? And couldn't we at least have been given an idea of what became of Hatsumomo during and after the war? The vague knowledge that she either became or didn't become a prostitute is too confusing and simply leaves the reader wondering whatever happened to her. The fact is Hatsumomo remains a very mysterious character ... or perhaps this has been Mr. Golden's aim after all. Oh my. Hatsumomo IS a true geisha after all (despite her rather wild passions? No wait, she probably has tamer passions than, say, Sayuri. Yes, I do mean that.)

iii) Why why why why why why the HELL did Sayuri HAVE to end up in New York? For the main part having her in New York in the later part of the book only serves to remind readers that an American wrote the book. This destroys the magic of the book having been set in Japan. The last two or so chapters talking about Sayuri's life in New York sounds too much like American propaganda - what with New York resembling Gion or even better than Gion or something. Sayuri is depicted as having fit into New York life like batter fits into a mould - shouldn't she, having been raised in a strict traditional geisha culture and having spoken Japanese for practically all her life, struggle for at least a good few years with communication and all that before being able to settle down comfortably? Ok, so she has a teahouse of her own, nice - but the teahouse isn't, and can't possibly where she spends all the 24 hours of her day. Obviously she will venture out, and obviously she will come into a lot of contact with the people of New York - and obviously the enormous distance between the world she came from and the world she is now should have caused her trouble or something. I know that there are restraints seeing that the book is already long enough as it is, but the lack of any explication on her life adapting to New York (and making it seem like a breeze) is almost too much of a compliment. The author appears to be attempting to praise the Big Apple to the skies instead of describing the life of a Japanese geisha living in America. STOP the ego. Please. I would rather she remain in Japan, perhaps move to Osaka or Tokyo, or even better, return to Yoroido to see how things are. I have always, always wished to read about her visiting Yoroido again, but I was disappointed because it never happened. Yoroido was her birth place, she had a childhood there, and even though her family was poor I'm sure Sayuri at least values the time when she was still little Chiyo. Bringing her back to Yoroido would be a lot more sentimental than sending her to some foreign place and then praising that foreign place to the skies when the context has always been somewhere else so far.


The Movie: Things I Feel Strongly About...

i) John Williams is an utter utter genius. Practically ALL his soundtracks are masterpieces of music beyond excellence. They evoke just the right emotions, and are befitting of the scenes that they depict or the characters that they represent.

ii) WHAT WAS THE PROBLEM WITH CHIYO BEING BORN IN THE YEAR OF THE MONKEY? WHY WAS THERE A NEED TO CHANGE IT TO HER BEING BORN IN THE YEAR OF THE ROOSTER? Bah. Westerners obviously don't find it important.

iii) NO!!! Why, I repeat, WHY, did she RELEASE the Chairman's handkerchief when she was standing on the cliff by the ocean near the end of the movie? There WAS a reason WHY she kept the handkerchief in the book - by having her release it in the movie, it's like as though SHE WAS WILLING TO FORGET HER HISTORY WITH THE CHAIRMAN! That is NOT Sayuri!

iv) No no no - why the blardy-f*** did the Deputy Minister of Finance get replaced by some Colonel Derricks? I am not, I repeat, NOT amused at all by this "stunt" by Hollywood to get some Westerners acting inside. You AREN'T everything, Hollywood - you don't HAVE to have an American in every movie you make. Having an American in the movie and replacing the Japanese Minister with an American colonel, you make Sayuri look like an absolute slut when she seduced him. And what was the heck with Sayuri literally throwing herself into the arms of the colonel? She TALKED and SEDUCED him with her words, as a geisha is prone to do - jumping straight into the steamy act without much of a word is SO Hollywood-ish. Time to expand your horizons.

v) I'm actually pleased to see that in the movie, Mameha's dance of "A Courtier Returns to His Wife" was done by Sayuri instead and Mameha's part in the dance removed. Partially I felt that although in a book this had the role of fleshing out Mameha's ability as a geisha, it would probably serve to only confuse the audience if it was included in a whole in the movie. Furthermore in a movie you have less time to catch symbolism and making Sayuri do the sad, sorrowful dance in a beautiful fall of white snow hinted at the sorrow and sadness that existed in Sayuri's life.