What I wore to the Royal Wedding

So in-case you have been living under a rock over 500 000 000 metres underground, I would imagine that you would have heard about the Royal Wedding on Friday evening (Evening for us enthusiastically-ahead-of-time Australians), The news of the wedding has been practically inescapable as living in a commonwealth Country, it has been on the tips of our extremely royalist tongues. And if that wasn't enough, within seconds of the wedding starting, immediately the blog-esphere had seen an influx of screenshots taken of the wedding most likely due to youtube's live broadcasting of the event, which caused the royalist's of the internet to grow wide-eyed and gave them another outlet to express their enthusiasm.

I understand the appeal to the wedding, it is the true definition of the fairy-tale wedding and my 5 year old sister was fascinated by the idea of an actual Prince getting married to a Princess. The whole idea seemed to blow her mind as she sat glued to the television.. as well as it seems, the entire nation. It seems as though the whole notion of a royal wedding, set something off deep inside children and women everywhere (maybe even men) that appealed to a childhood- fairy-tale dream of a princess wedding. I can now understand why Disney World is so popular as all these kinds of things just relate to a sense of escapism every human feels. We know that the Royal marriage history holds less than happy endings, however knowing this we still hope and buy into the idea of this almost surreal kind of idea. It's actually kind of silly when you think about it, I mean as my mother puts it 'they're just couple, give 'em a break' 

And to further demonstrate the literal idea of the fairy-tale like wedding here are some images that demonstrated the wedding's similarities to the fairy-tale fantasy. These images were posted minutes after the wedding started: 

(source: weheartit.com)

and 

source: disneybound.tumblr.com 

I wonder if the similarities between colour scheme of princesses Eugenie and Beatrice and the ugly step sisters were on purpose...

My opinion of the dresses: Loved Kate's etc. Great that she used Alexander Mcqueen, I love the lace (I'm a sucker for lace) And if you look really closely at her train, there are really fine details embroided into the fabric. 

Princess Eugenie, unflattering dress, however I do admire her bravery for this choice of dress which is Vivienne Westwood. Quite a daring choice to wear one of the most iconic fashion designers when it comes to innovative and often shocking designs. However that is not to say that Alexander Mcqueen isn't known for the same thing, I feel that her dress is in fact a good choice for a royal wedding.. if it fit better. 

I absolutely LOVE Beatrice's head piece, I think it's because I feel like it stood out of the rest of the hats, that all kind of looked the same which became dull after 2 hours of watching the guests arrive. It was a refreshing change, and it kind of reminds me of a horse-shoe type shape. I also kind of like  it's  fairy-tale softness of the ribbon design, very Disney.

Now on to the most important part of this post: What I wore. 

My grandmother decided to host an interestingly themed Shabbat dinner that Friday night for us commoners, with all the family having to dress up as they would if they were to be attending the actual wedding. The cake was red, blue and white themed, there were union-jack themed balloons, champagne and everyone dressed respectively. However it was interesting to see each family member enjoy and understand the wedding service differently, I enjoyed catching the smirks on Harry and William's faces as well as seeing the little small romantic gestures between Will 'n' Kate, my 5 year old sister sat interested shortly before returning to her game-boy, my 23 year old cousin tweeted about the event on his Ipad and my grandparents quickly 'shushed' everyone when the hymns were being performed. 

  Victorian styled princess theme dress from Ebay, white lace stockings, miss-matching frilly socks (one sock american apparel) Brown victorian shoes nabbed at Camden markets, Shrunken jumper - a gift

And no royal outfit would be complete without a miss-matched vintage hat and a glass of champagne. 

Here are some images from that night: 

My grandparents, the true royalty 

and my cousin introducing to an extremely perplexed 5 year old, the reproductive systems of an Ipad that created the Iphone.. or is the other way round? 

i liek david bowie n flowers

David Bowie - Starman [1972] from Mysterious Band on Vimeo.

David Bowie - Drive In Saturday [1973] from Mysterious Band on Vimeo.

+ new playlist - check it out

The Kinks Appreciation post

I am writing this post at about 11:51 pm on a SCHOOL NIGHT! Shock! What an un-heard-of time to be writing a post! Am I crazy? No, I'm just bored. Tonight is the last night of school holidays and unlike my peers who were either killing their brain-cells in a classy fashion or running around town way past school-night bed time, I spent my last evening of freedom attending a Jethro Tull concert with my father. I felt quite out-of-place as the demographic of the concert audience seemed to be totally fried 50 + year olds reminiscing about the 'old days' Fully equipted with the Jethro Tull fan get-up which consisted of black band T-shirt and moldy jeans worn way past use-by date. Despite the promising audience atmosphere, the concert was impressive. With Ian Anderson hopping around the stage with his fantasy-like flute bouncing up and down, I seemed to have been transported into the deeper depths of Mordor. As much as I would love to tell the rest of my evening and report on the other seemingly half dead band members, much like the title suggests, this post is dedicated to the kinks. ( I will talk about the concert in further depth in a later post)

In a completely unrelated note - upon my arrival home, I stumbled across a beautiful recording of 'Lola' online and I was inspired to create a post dedicated to this wonderful band.

Last year, I was first introduced to The Kinks listening to an illegally-downloaded copy of the 'Boat that Rocked' soundtrack. All the kids seemed to love that film and felt that because of the 'cool' clothes and dreamy actors (Tum Sturridge, you BABE) that the soundtrack would be worth a listen. This resulted with a new pseudo infatuation with the 60s British music era among my peers. Every where you went either 'Sunny Afternoon' was playing or a very badly-recorded early -pre-psychedelic/india/lsd -inspired Beatles creation. The Kinks influence was quickly inescapable and every high-school locker had the the kinks blazing from the 2 mega-bit Nokia phone-speakers, strategically placed so that the sound could be loud enough to be heard by students and soft enough to be kept hidden from the prying ears of the warden-like teachers that patrolled the halls promoting a 'Tranquil and peaceful learning environment' often followed by a bellowed growl coming from the nearest teacher that happened to catch a girl with her hair out or a small 13 year old boy running around the strictly marked, no running halls. I seemed to have been transported back in time and I was thankful that people had started to recognize 'good' music and basked in the fact that the latest auto-tuned computer crap was being replaced by music with good feeling and arguably, good composition. Where people once 'Got down' to 50 cent, they were now groovin' to the 60s and I felt like I was in a world of my own, I loved it. However, like all fads, this one quickly subsided and the godly music that once graced the year 10 locker room was once again filled with latest beiber hit. My audio-blocking headphones once again made their way to my ears in a desperate attempt to drown myself in The Kinks music that had been digitally deleted off of all mobile phone mp3 equipment and never to be heard of again. (Although, I was happy to stumble upon a recording of Dead End Street in my friend's ipod recently, which I was all to happy to find)

When I was thinking about how to exactly write a Kinks appreciation post a million ideas came to mind. Should I write about their rise to fame? Should I just post pretty pictures of the band with side comments expressing my love for Ray Davies?
How exactly do I write this fucking post?

well I found this recording of Lola that I thought I would share and I suppose that will assist in making this post... good? I suppose?


Disclaimer: After watching this video, pause for a minute and breath. Close your eyes and take a moment to appreciate the a) Cuteness of Ray Davies and b) The bored state in which the key-boardist seems to be in (Man, do you understand how many hot groupie chicks are dancing behind you?!?! )

My feelings can all be summed up with this one youtube comment

Parts of the video I would like to draw attention to:

• 0:27 dat smile, I could melt and 0:33
• 1:34 I really admire how Dave Davies seems to be 'gettin' into the song, his facial movements really help give the performance passion, the whole performance seems like the band really enjoys themselves, which is what I think attracts me to the performance so much
• 2:30 can I please ask, why the hell did BBC approve this song to be performed when the song's lyrics talk about a transvestite? 

'Evian is naive spelt backwards'

'The final exterior shot of the gas station is memorable. It gives the sense that the characters only have each other in the world'

dazed & confused

natural mid-tones, led zeppelin, funky glasses and female figures

Tim Curry in the Worst Witch

~~holi-daze~~

stoner-esque-hippy-holi-daze vibez

April 8th

This week has been a collection of dissapointment, regret, enthusiasm, inspiration, anticipation and (hormonal)?
But I suppose these are the generic feelings that come with it being the last week of Term 1 before break. With unprepared science tests, awkward parent teacher interviews, tearing up whilst talking about why I hate the demographic of my grade, lunches with my science teacher where I was grilled about my interests and clothing style, being yelled at from coming home too late on multiple occasions and re-discovering pokemon and my Game- Boy- Advance, I feel as though the holidays are well-deserved.

With all these events and emotions pilling up to create a very anticipated last Friday afternoon for Term 1 - I have had to plan my ambitions for these holidays. I plan to create and learn as much as possible before school returns in early May (blegh)

Yesterday I attended a fashion drawing workshop where I learnt about how to use water-colours to convey a design, tips how to draw the female form and NOT HOW TO MATCH FABRIC SWATCHES!!111, (which was my main reason as to why I signed up, but whatevz)
We started the class discussing the female form, we picked out a magazine image that we liked and recreated the image to look like a generic fashion drawing, then we coloured the design with a colour swatch we thought would best fit. After that we drew our own drawings and designs, mine I thought was very 90s - Gregg Akari, with a black satin skirt and alien-like mid drift top, and Cibo Matto sneaker-type platforms. We finished the workshop drawing the female image, focusing more on the conventions of a face to create our hair/make-up focused drawing. The result drawings were pretty cool, I will post mine up a bit later.

please not the terribly drawn attempt at a female figure and realistic-looking skirt

After the workshop I hopped on my way to Surry Hills festival where I met some friends and had fantastic vegan brownies, we then soaked up the amazing weather with live music and a band that I can't remember their name. I loved the fact that they had a female drummer though and groupie'd my way on to meet the band (they were so nice!) and they were very thankful for the fact that I was the only person who danced (they were amazing!) The female drummer was very fascinated by me and we discussed things like instruments and folk music :)

here are some photos from the day

 me being the only audience member dancing - velvet thrift skirt and lace top from 123 shop in London

 me being unimpressed by my friend's lack of dancing, note her finger bottom right (ugh iphone photo noob)

Asha and Ben enjoying some Ben and Jerry's ice-cream as their excuse for not dancing

All in all it was a very nice beginning of holidays - day and I am looking forward to the next 3 weeks! :)

Feminism vs Anti- Feminism

Recently, I have been reading a lot about feminist movements, the development of them and how they came into mainstream society. It was movements like these that have helped women gain the respect and general rights in society that we have and sometimes take for granted today.

As a teenage girl, I feel that feminism is an important issue that needs to be educated especially to young girls that are developing self esteem and self respect.

In such a progressive society, there are still elements of misogynist values lurking such as women being sexualized in the media. I could go in deeper into this issue that I feel is very close to my heart, as I am seeing each day more and more young girls my age and around my age being greatly affected by the media and the expectations it poses on the female body. These values and pressures of the female image have been going around for decades, such as the house-wife dream of the 50s, to the super-skinny model rail-thin pressures of today.

 However, it is not by the women that these expectations had been created by, but rather the male influence. I could easily go on a rant about the paternal society our world has been developed into one that rewards and encourages male accomplishment that represses female influence in the media and work-place. These misogynist ideals are to me, reminiscent of the 'White Australia Policy' of the late 1800's in Australia. However, unlike the repression of female influence which had never really been an issue that was paid attention to positively or negatively, this policy was more prevalent in society  in that Australia quite blatantly promoted the ideal of a predominantly 'White' (People of Anglo-Saxon origin) occupation in Australia. Although most of these values have been repressed and we are now living in a progressive society in that way, there are still elements of the Australian 'White' policy in Australia's highly controversial foreign policy. And just like the underlying values of discrimination in some of Australia's policies, there are still elements in todays society that reflect misogynistic ideals, just more subtly.
As mentioned before the way women are being repressed today is more physiological in the media than the issues of inequality in the work-place, political inequality and domestic violence, that are more obvious and given more attention to.  The use of expectations and ideals that are presented to young women in the media, make young girls feel like they need to comply to or otherwise they are not worthy of human relationships and aspirations. I understand that these pressures only appeal to women who are self conscious about their body image, and it is unfair to say that many are not.
But, being a teenage girl, I can confidently say that body image is an issue that affects the greater majority and is something that really needs to be paid more attention to.

However, with these misogynistic ideals that are represented in the media of a sexualized image of women, and expectations on how they are meant to look like and act to appeal to the satisfaction of the male gender are often ignored. Women do and have recognized the disrespect the female gender has been given in the past and have done things about it, whether it be politically or socially. It is from movements like the feminist movement that have sparked this progressive way of life to fight for the respect of women in society. The ideal female has changed from the fragile almost feminine, weak house-wife, to the kick- ass, confident and powerful womanly figure.

See the 1940's icon, Rosie the Riveter - WOO POWER WOMAN

Chloe Mortez kickin butt in Kick Ass

Many modern females worry that with the rise of the feminist movement, our traditional femininity has been lost and there are great movements that promote anti-feminist ideals.
As I was flicking through blogspot one incredibly boring morning, I stumbled across a young girl's blog that clearly stated that she was a pioneer in the movement against feminism called 'Anti- Feminism'
These movements are often not paid attention to much, and I completely agree with the importance of the female ideal having changed and my first emotions when finding this blog were similar to disgust and total resentment. However, as you will soon know from reading my blog is that my curiosity in often cases gets the better of me and I couldn't resist reading more into this movement that completely rejected all the ideals that I stood for (This must be what my parents feel like when I asked to get a tattoo)
Although upon further reading into the two movements, feminism seems more of a movement that promotes ideas that blur the lines and restrictions that define genders, anti-feminism is against this 'blur' between genders and promotes sexism to ultimately define gender and thus kind of create a stable society. Anti-feminism is in fear of this instability of society which is thought to be a perpetrator in the degeneration of society.
Anti-feminists also believe that gender definition is necessary in defining and carrying on traditional views relating to sex, children and family life. Such as the women's place in the kitchen and the male's job to provide for the family. These values are seen as being in a way the 'safety-nets' of society, and with these valued traditions being destroyed or defied, society would crumble as people would be confused as to their 'place' or purpose.
Of course it is important for women to have equal opportunities to men, but anti-feminists believe that even men need to have they're own place or purpose in society not only the women. So basically this movement promotes sexism on both the female side and the male side.

basically - due to the justifiable values of anti-feminism, it still sux and feminism roolz

I want the world to stop, give me the morning

video style stills