#how dramatic seeing lot again was presented in comparison to van seeing

[mau1ed]

when i tell you lottie was the only god van ever believed in ?

[amphtaminedreams]

Paris Haute Couture Week S/S 2020 Plus a Little Jacquemus: Okay, Dior DID Suck (Part 2/2)

Hi to anyone reading,

First of all, thank you! I have never had a post do as well as the part 1 of my haute couture week review did and I am so overwhelmed with the positive feedback. This is probably funny to read for those of you getting thousands of reblogs on your posts, me acting like I won an academy award because I got a couple of hundred, but honestly I don’t expect any traction when I write on here (it’s basically just me word vomiting everything I’m thinking as if people want to hear it aka. mouthing off into what I thought was the void) so if you did read it, thank you! I do spend a long-ass time on these so it means a lot:-)

I’ll leave the self-indulgent ramble there though as it’s probably not what you came for and jump straight into part 2 of my thoughts, starting with Jacquemus. Yeah, I knew what I was doing when I tagged that in my last post. Simon Porte Jacquemus is the man of the *fashion* people right now; I’ve even found myself coming round to the Le Chiquito bag despite my original thought being “well, that’s fucking useless”. I know, I know, technically it’s not haute couture; it was part of Men’s Fashion Week, but it happened around the same time and everyone was talking about it on Twitter, so I feel like I have to include it.

In a way, it kind of reminds me of Bottega Veneta’s last RTW show, in that, especially with the women’s outfits, we seem to be sticking with simple, fitted garments and chunky, more statement jewellery. I’ve got to say I like the styling here a lot more though, and in general I’m a fan of this collection. The collared tops with cut outs underneath blazers are cool and I can’t wait until it gets warm enough for me to not feel dumb wearing my headscarfs like this; there’s a LOT of summer outfit inspiration. It’s not a mind-blowing collection or anything but it is effortlessly sexy and that’s something I wish I could say about myself. Most of us can only hope to look half as good as these models do whilst making the effort but at least Jacquemus is aspirational, lol. 

I also fucking adore this colour palette. I’m sick of neutrals literally just meaning brown and white; the navy, sand and muted khaki is a fresh edition to what is usually interpreted as the colours you’d seen worn by Disney’s Riverboat Cruise staff and only Disney’s Riverboat Cruise staff. And I mean, come on-what is more neutral than typical English school carpet blue.

Next for the whole reason I had to make this haute couture week review 2 separate posts: Jean Paul Gaultier’s final show.

In the best way possible, it’s a lot. I don’t even really know where to start, except to say that I guess this is a fitting last show; a celebration of everything campy, messy, weird, performative, and punk is the perfect send off for a brand whose best known perfume of the last few years is called Scandal. More than anything, the final show represented the range of characters and cultures that have influenced JPG throughout his half-a-decade-long career, the lines that supposedly separate what is “masculine” and “feminine”, “old” and “young” and ultimately art and fashion blurred in the most exaggerated way possible. Sure, there are some looks which are individually a bit messy here but the way they were grouped into almost chapter-like segments meant that when you see them all together, they work. Nods to the patterns and structures that recurred from season to season were sprinkled throughout, from sailor stripes to corsets to the expected whirlwinds of colour. I’ll even allow the wellies in that one outfit; if I can get over bucket hats in Peter fucking Pilotto’s last RTW show, I can get over some questionable shoes here. Middle aged fishermen and boys who liked to pose with monster carp in their Tinder pictures as some weird display of masculinity everywhere rejoice.

Now onto a show that I personally found slightly disappointing: Margiela.

I think this one is a bit TOO weird for me. Like if you’re gonna go avant-garde, go all out. Chiffon gimp masks (I don’t know if that’s the intention here but that’s what I’m getting, sorry Maison) are something I’m not particularly fond of and I’ve never been a fan of the Tabi boots in the first place, let alone when they’ve seemingly been blown up to Michelin man style proportions. I didn’t find the show to be a total lost cause-I enjoyed the colour palette and I’ve always liked that contrast stitching detail, plus the bowler hats are interesting-but on the whole considering how much I liked the last RTW show, this is a bit of a let down. 

The looks I included are salvageable but (I feel mean saying this) there were genuinely a lot of pieces that did just resemble bits of fabric draped over each over with no discernible rhyme or reason, so much so that they reminded me of some of the monstrosities I saw at a Drag Race pub quiz this one time where we had 5 mins to make some garms out of loo roll and then have a team member model them for points down a makeshift runway. 

Ralph and Russo was alright. There were a few pieces that I really liked but again, I can’t help but compare this collection to the last, where it felt like the fussy details of bows and sequins and feathers and the Barbie Dreamhouse palette were utilised with a direction in mind. Here, I don’t get that. As ever, the gowns are gorgeous and I’d pay good money just to try one on for five minutes but as an overall collection I’d say there was a lack of higher vision, which is probably the snobbiest sentence I’ve ever written so forgive me.

As for Ronald Van Der Kemp, I could’ve done without including it to be honest, if it weren’t for the few pieces I’m in love with: the velvet cape, fur trimmed jacket and blue satin dress are probably my favourite pieces here.

So onto a collection I liked a lot more: Schiaparelli. 

The influence of nature from flowers in bloom to insects to the organic structure of the human skeleton is as present as ever, though this collection includes a lot more delicate symbolism than usual. Honestly, the details make it for me; the brooches, earrings and facial jewellery are other-worldly touches to outfits that could otherwise be simple fashion magazine editor on-the-go. That’s not in itself a bad thing! The suits are gorgeous. I mean, I’m talking fashion editor in New York in a power suit yelling orders down the phone while she rushes along with a coffee. A Miranda Priestley in the making type woman. THAT’S a modern take on the divine feminine that Maria Grazia should’ve been going for; our goddesses aren’t women who sit around looking pretty (though that helps too) and place curses on mere mortals anymore, they’re women who get shit done. 

With regards to Valentino, which was also a delight, let me start by saying this colour palette is EVERYTHING. It’s ugly sisters in Cinderella fantastic, and we know those 2 were the real fashion icons really. Other than that, I adore the Old Hollywood silhouettes from the gloves to the Liz Taylor-in-Cleopatra-level-dramatic earrings. Everything is opulent and expensive-looking and pretty much what we’ve all come to expect from Valentino. A strong 8/10.

For me personally, Viktor and Rolf was a standout and one of my favourite collections of haute couture week. It’s not going to be everyone’s cup of tea and I know it’s at the complete opposite end of the spectrum to what was probably my other favourite collection, Elie Saab, but this is just my style down to a T, the perfect balance of grungy and cutesy that I want to achieve. 

There’s probably going to be a lot of objections to the temporary face tattoos and I get that, but I think they’re fucking sick. I obviously wouldn’t get a permanent one lest my mother murder me in cold blood however if I did, you bet I would be pairing them with frilly-ass babydoll dresses that you could pick up in Camden Market like this. 

And last but not least (that would be Dior), there’s Zuhair Murad.

Sigh.

IDK, man. Seeing Zuhair Murad dresses on Tumblr and WeHeartIt (remember that site? It still exists!) as a 14 year old was one of the things that got me into fashion, so it sucks that almost every time a new collection comes around, I feel underwhelmed. Disappointingly, the brand hasn’t really progressed all that much since 2013. It goes without saying that the stoning and the embroidery and sequins are stunning and would make anyone feel like a princess but from a critical point of view, I’m just not seeing anything new here. Whereas I feel like Elie Saab, for example, reflected the growing fascination with East Asian fashion and recognition of the supremacy of the region’s street style in his haute couture last collection, Zuhair Murad seems to be stuck designing the same dresses he was 6 years ago. 

To pick one example, the rounded stoned necklines are so outdated that they’ve been making their way onto department store prom dresses for years. I get that it’s supposed to be a reference to Ancient Egyptian style and I respect that, I was one of those 8 year old that was obsessed with mummies and the “Curse of Tutankhamun”, but couldn’t it be done in a more interesting way? It’s Maria Grazia’s spin on Ancient Greece all over again. Now I get how how the I imagine very niche subsection of people who are into fashion and Julius Caesar (okay, so I don’t even know if they still believed in mythology and all that malarky at that point in history but just roll with my comparison here) might’ve felt going through Vogue Runway. Anyway, I hate to end on a critical note and so be clear, these are still absolutely magnificent dresses. If we ignore those ugly round necklines, that is.

So that’s it for this post! If you read part 1 and 2, I hope you enjoyed it! As always, let me know your opinions and feel free to disagree. I’m literally just about to start trawling through all the A/W 2020 RTW collections though I imagine that’s gonna take me way longer to do than this, so I wouldn’t expect that for a month or two. In the meantime, I’m trying to fit shooting a Euphoria-inspired lookbook into my days off work which is looking atm like it’s going to be the end of March, so look out for that, and also a review of the red carpet fashion from this season’s award shows. 

As ever, thank you so much for reading and again, thank you for the reception on part 1 if you were one of the people that read it. It makes staying up til 3am with the jitters seem worthwhile, lol! 

Lauren x

[thenatureofnarrative]

Best Films of 2018

The basis of my annual list is simple, these are the films that were, for me, mesmerizing and memorable. These were the cinematic experiences that either provoked a depth of emotion and/or provided a whole lot to talk about. These are the films that I could not forget and I cannot wait to see again. After you read this year’s list, you can also find last year’s list here. 

1. You Were Never Really Here

You Were Never Really Here is quite simply the best film of 2018. Writer/Director Lynne Ramsay has crafted and created a lean, assertive and suspenseful narrative that dives deep into a traumatic mind and experience. Structured within the framework of a hero’s journey, a man who rescues victims from sex trafficking, Ramsay provides us with a rare perspective in which only a troubled and traumatized mind can truly save others from the same peril. In addition to this, even though the dark and disturbing material might be difficult for some, it was remarkable how little exposition was provided for the viewer. Instead of spoon-feeding her audience, Ramsay treats us with respect and allows us to discover the story for ourselves through visual cues and revelation. Though one can’t help but draw comparisons to Scorsese’s Taxi Driver, YWNRH still stands on its own with award-worthy performances, cinematography, editing, directing and musical score. On DVD - Amazon Prime - iTunes.

2. First Man

Director Damien Chazelle has made three feature films to date. All three are Oscar nominated/winners. All three are great films; but First Man is Chazelle’s masterpiece. From the first five-minute sequence you realize you are experiencing a story from history in a visually intimate and visceral way. Every frame of this film, along with every note of Hurwitz’s angelic score, draws us into Neil Armstrong’s excruciating life and vocation (what was effectively the story of Job). While a crowning achievement for all mankind is the vehicle for this narrative, it’s the traumatic cost and sacrifice that only a few families suffered that serves as the real heart and soul for this moment in history. A truly mesmerizing experience with heart-breaking performances. On DVD - iTunes.

3. Annihilation 

Writer/Director Alex Garland has quickly established himself as this generation’s Stanley Kubrick. With audacious, strange, and compelling stories that examine the boundaries of human consciousness and cosmic meaning, there is no one doing what Garland is doing. Though Annihilation might be short on (or intentionally avoid) too many answers or explanations, ultimately it was the mystery that I found to be so fascinating and absorbing; and even more so upon repeated viewing. In addition to the screenplay, the cinematography, musical score and visual effects are all award worthy. On DVD - Netflix - iTunes.

4. Mission Impossible: Fallout

This just might be the biggest surprise of the year. With Mission Impossible: Fallout, writer/director Christopher McQuarrie has not only created the best Mission Impossible movie to date, but has also produced one of the best films of the year! With Academy Award worthy cinematography (from Rob Hardy who also did Annihilation), direction, and musical score (and little moments of homage to every previous film in the series), Fallout stands apart, not only as an incredible action film, but also as a remarkable (and unexpected) film noir, bringing a greater depth of emotion to this ongoing narrative. On DVD - iTunes. 

5. BlacKkKlansman

There is something to be said for a film that is wildly entertaining and compelling and yet still manages to be provocative and powerful. That’s not an easy tightrope for any filmmaker to walk, but in the case of BlacKkKlansman, director Spike Lee was more than up for the challenge. Some critics have suggested that this film is too heavy handed, and on the nose, that it leaves no room for anyone from the “other side��� to enter in and learn from it. And the fact of the matter is - - that’s true - - this is an asserative, confident and competent narrative that is a work of protest. There’s little room for education here, just a true story told in a manner only intended to amplify the voice of the oppressed. On DVD - iTunes.

6. Won’t You Be My Neighbor? 

Director Morgan Neville’s documentary about Fred Rogers is the antidote we are all in need of. Sometimes we feel the need for a sweet, charming and sentimental story that might lift our spirits, but what is so profoundly beautiful about, Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, is that this is a true story, and many of us bore witness to it. Many have been inspired or know the calling to live a life of love, but what this account of Mr. Roger’s life reminds us, is that it is possible. By faith and intention, action and perseverance we can indeed know and live out our sacred belovedness. This is such an important film, and everyone should experience it. On DVD - Netflix - iTunes.

7. Eighth Grade

As the father of a middle-school aged girl, this endearing film was difficult to watch at times, but the sheer authenticity of writer/director Bo Burnham’s script ultimately steers the story towards it’s beautiful and heartfelt end. Not a single scene seems staged, all of the painfully accurate awkwardness, fear, courage and humour feels as if it was captured for a documentary about thirteen year olds. There is much to learn here, for parents and teens alike, and for that I am grateful. On DVD - iTunes.

8. Roma

Here is a film that will haunt you, in a good way. With a pace and patience that is true to life, director Alfonso Cuaron slowly grips our hearts as we follow the days and difficulties of a young maid's life. The cumulative emotional effect is an incredible achievement of sound design and cinematography. Even as we watch in the comfort of our own homes, we grow in empathy and understanding of young Cleo because our eyes observe the entirety of her interactions with this family and our ears are immersed in the sounds of her neighbourhood. Roma is a rare cinematic experience and achievement. On Netflix.

9. Wildlife

Paul Dano's directorial debut is a stunning and delicately framed tragedy. This quietly paced account of one family's struggle to find meaning and purpose, both together and apart, is a perfectly observed and heartbreaking tale. Carey Mulligan is at her best portraying a wife and mother who is both terrible and understandable; but ultimately this is a treasure because of Diego Garcia's stunning cinematography and Dano's delicate direction. On iTunes.

10. Vice

What director Adam McKay has done here is too exciting to ignore. This film has been criticized for being a mile wide and an inch deep, and it does indeed leave you wondering "why" at the end of it all, but I think that might be it's strength. This is not an essay or a deep journalistic dissection, this is a simple, straightforward, and wildly entertaining portrayal of intelligent people being driven by an obsession with power. And as unsatisfying as that might be, after examining a real-life sith-lord of sorts, the truth is...maybe that's the only answer there is. On iTunes March 12.

11. Green Book

The reason to see this film is for the performances. Both Viggo Mortensen and Mahershala Ali provide incredibly committed and nuanced portrayals of these real men (I know we’re all in awe of Christian Bale’s transformation into Dick Cheney, but I was in awe of Viggo’s physical transformation in this film without prosthetics). Roger Ebert once said, “movies are an empathy making machine,” and what is so incredible about this film is that we get to witness the transforming power of empathy over the course of an eight-week road trip. On iTunes - On DVD March 12.

12. 22 July

Director Paul Greengrass was the only person for this job. His documentary style of storytelling is less about the cinematic experience and more about the history to behold. This is a terribly difficult film to watch, and yet, it's account of present-day rationalized-idealogical-evil could not be more important. Film is a powerful force for shaping cultural discussion and dialogue, and 22 July is the film that keeps us talking about the most persistent face of terror in the Western hemisphere today. On Netflix. 

13. Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far On Foot

Struggle with addiction and stories of recovery can be richly rewarding and redemptive, but oftentimes the subject matter is over dramatized and emotionally manipulative. Which is why director Gus Van Sant's long-titled film adaptation is a rare and wonderful achievement. There is nothing overly sentimental or manipulative here, just a raw and real portrayal of what the twelve-steps from addiction to sobriety really look like. Ultimately this memorable story is in the hands of the actors and both Joaquin Phoenix and Jonah Hill give authentic and nuanced performances. On DVD - Amazon Prime - iTunes.

14. Hearts Beat Loud

In 2018, A Star is Born, was the film about musicians that got all the attention, but I believe it was, Hearts Beat Loud, that offered a more moving, thoughtful and sincere story about artists. In this story, one musician and father (Nick Offerman) is past his prime and struggling to figure out the next chapter of his life, while the other musician, his daughter (Kiersey Clemons), is more sure and certain about her future but is still struggling to find her way with her art and with love. The result is a sweet and sincere story that just might be the solution to some of life’s sad ailments. On DVD - Netflix - iTunes.

[matthewsanderswritings-blog]

Dunkirk: Beautiful, Tense, But Lacking

Dunkirk (2017) is, so far, the directorial pinnacle for Christopher Nolan. It is tense and gorgeous. But, that's about all. It is a good movie, but it is lacking a crucial element: humanity.

Let's start with the good. Hoyt Van Hoytema's cinematography deserves, and likely will win, many awards. The colour palette is a salt bleached wasteland. The blacks are oily and crushed, the sea foam and the very air itself is a sickening beige, while rich royal navy blues fill the expansive 70mm film image with the ever present sea.

Alongside Von Hoytema's cinematography is tone perfect production design that transforms everything on the Dunkirk beach into detritus left on the seashore and slowly seeping into the inky depths of the North Sea with the rising tide. The sound design is a perfect accompaniment. In the air fighter pilots move with angelic grace while staccato machine gun fire interrupts the quick and elegant strings in the score. It's these touches, like slowly ticking clocks deep in the mix, that brings the film its forever rising tension.

This is also the most cinematic film Nolan has made to date. His previous films relied on mushy dialogue and special effect tricks to get anything close to depth in his narrative across. Not so in Dunkirk. Gone is the simplistic TV style he has become infamous for. Instead, Nolan dramatically cuts back on the dialogue to let his images speak for him.

We still have the narrative tricks. This time around Dunkirk works like a tense escape film as 3 interlocking narratives follow two soldiers (Fionn Whitehead and Aneurin Barnard) desperate to sneak off the island; a yachtsman (Mark Rylance), his son (Tom Glynn-Carney), and a local boy (Barry Keoghan), bringing their boat to Dunkirk; and two spitfire pilots (Tom Hardy and Jack Lowens) crossing to Dunkirk while they count the fumes left in their gas tank. With snappy editing, it all works mechanically to ratchet up the tension again and again for nearly the entire film. At times logic is thrown out the window, but it still manages to tell a workable if, as I'll describe below, a rather superficial story.

Again and again, he returns to symbols of hopelessness. A small fishing boat en route to Dunkirk passes a lumbering Navy destroyer heading the other way. If the destroyer couldn't save them how could this ship? A British minesweeper lies on her side in the water like a harpooned whale while the seamen abandon her and her oil seeps into the water like an enormous pool of blood. A man casts off his gear and in silence wades into the ocean. He could not possibly swim home. This shift towards more overt cinematic storytelling marks a positive transformation in Nolan's film making from telling you the story to expressing the story.

And now the bad.

Nolan leaving the training wheels of his dialogue makes Dunkirk a visual treat. But, what dialogue there is, is the awful, bland moral platitudes that seem Nolan's stock and trade at this point. In a film about the people trapped at Dunkirk, Dunkirk seems to have little in the way of real humans in it. They all feel like pieces in some giant machine rather than real characters. With only 50 some lines of dialogue in the film Nolan needed to use his dialogue like a scalpel to slice and reveal the heart of his characters. Instead, we got a sledgehammer beating away at the surface.

The worst example of this is Gus Van Sant's character who, as far as I can tell, is in the movie to function as an exposition machine. He is pointless. Worse still, most of the other characters have no narrative arcs. They are all incredibly similar. There is no humanity behind them, no stakes behind their salvation or death beyond the events of Dunkirk. One character with PTSD (Cilian Murphy) is simply the PTSD person. There is nothing to his character but his PTSD.

The counter argument I can already see coming is the response, "well, Matt, Dunkirk is about Dunkirk, not the characters." To which I would respond: then show me a documentary. If Nolan wants to make a movie about Dunkirk, the aboutness in his film is the people involved. We watch narrative movies to see human beings, to see and understand a person's reasons for either acting, reacting, or not acting, to the events and people around them. By understanding that we understand their character, their sense of will, humanity, and their place in the events around them.

That sense of humanity is missing from Dunkirk. This leads to story points falling flat. When one character dies, despite us following that character throughout the entire film, his death is, in the end, utterly undramatic. Other characters disappear and, rather than a sort of modernist ambiguity, their disappearance simply does nothing for the story because we have no reason to care for the character. They are just gone now. We have no sense of their hopes and dreams, no sense of their humanity, torn apart by our own most violent past time: war.

While a gorgeous and functional film, Dunkirk pales in comparison to the depths of human examination in great war films. By lacking humanity Nolan's film simply hits the same note of hopelessness for 95% of its runtime until the conclusion when the miracle arrives like one of those enormous fake cakes, only instead of a dancer inside it's empty. Dunkirk is a gorgeous, superficial movie with a lot of tension. And that's about it.

7-to-extremely-light-8/10