Original Image: Orion Nebula – new image from Hubble & Spitzer

I’ve been lusting after vintage suitcases again. About two years ago I picked up an especially sexy oversized doctors bag in vegetarian leather. While it was lovely to look at, it’s one flaw was a complete lack of wheels. I’ve since then bought a luggage trolley, which does the trick for short distances. But nothing beats a suitcase with a pair of wheels attached. But all those wheeled suitcases are ugly! Or so I thought….

Here are four lovely vintage inspired suitcases and the imaginary women who use them;

Jewelna Rose

Large Romantic Basket Trolley

Kara is travelling to Japan for the first time. She wants to eat lots of sushi & buy all the Kawaii trinkets she can get her hands on. During the flight over she gives herself a manicure with delicious pink nail polish & listens to Blondie on her ipod. She’ll make little videos of her travels in Japan & put them up on youtube for her family & friends. Kara packed her lime green Doc Martens, copies of Fruits magazine, a rhinestone tiara & bottles of her favourite bubble bath.

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Steamline

Steamline Diplomat Series Suitcase

On her way to Vienna to see her grandmother, Olivia daydreams about taking possible shopping trips to London & Paris afterwards. While in Vienna Olivia & her Oma will shop for sweet pastries, go to the Volkstheater Wein, gossip about relatives & catch the tram just about everywhere. She will return home with her suitcase full of German magazines, old photos & a pair of Louboutin’s she managed to pick up from Paris, of course.

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Globetrotter

Globetrotter Mastermind Suitcase

Morgan is traveling from New York to Edinburgh for a business trip. She’ll stop by Holyrood while there just to see what all the fuss is about. She carefully packed all the business documents in her suitcase, alongside her tailored suits & black patent pumps. Underneath everything she hid a leather riding crop & her teddy bear Mustafa. During the stopover in LAX she taps away nervously on her Vaio & updates her facebook status compulsively. “STILL waiting at the airport”

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Seward

Seward Collegiate Wheeled Trunk

Isabella decided to take the train to Krakow because she thought it would be more romantic. She’s travelling there to begin studying at art school & hopes that the two years of Polish language classes will have been useful. On the weekends she’ll sketch pictures of the Jewish Quarter in charcoals & sell them to tourists. Besides all the vintage hats & gloves in her suitcase, she has packed her folio, conte crayons, a broken medium format camera & peppermint sticks. Unfortunately, Isabella forgot to pack anything warm to wear.

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Extra Credit

Loomis Luggage looks very promising!

Scour Etsy for the real deal – sans wheels of course.

Add the wheels yourself!

Aaaand it’s Friday again!

12 February 2012

Ashley Judd fights back against speculation about her puffy face;

That women are joining in the ongoing disassembling of my appearance is salient. Patriarchy is not men. Patriarchy is a system in which both women and men participate. It privileges, inter alia, the interests of boys and men over the bodily integrity, autonomy, and dignity of girls and women. It is subtle, insidious, and never more dangerous than when women passionately deny that they themselves are engaging in it. This abnormal obsession with women’s faces and bodies has become so normal that we (I include myself at times—I absolutely fall for it still) have internalized patriarchy almost seamlessly. We are unable at times to identify ourselves as our own denigrating abusers, or as abusing other girls and women.

Gil Elvgren’s pin up girls, before and after.

90s Style Icons – Don’t Tell Mum the Babysitters Dead.

Two great articles from The Good Men Project; In Praise of Small Breasted Women and Hunting the Elusive Unicorn.

Amazing Jewellery.

Shien Lee on the Ethics of Fantasy and Cultural Eroticization.

Hopes and Dreams

A Book of Days (or sorts) for Alcohol.

Rachel shares some very pretty pictures of flower crowns. Just looking at them makes me want to run away with the fairies! So does this beautiful collection of mermaid images from Vintage Vivant!

From Dark Roasted Blend, The Jewish Engineer Behind Hitler’s Volkswagon. Amazing images!

Over at Rookie, Tavi gushes about  the new TV show Girls. As does Emily Nussbaum in the New York Magazine. Fajr, of Stylish Thought says it’s something new, whilst at Gawker, John Cook had this to say;

She walks out of the hotel into the New York morning. A song by Paul Simon’s son is playing. A magical jolly homeless black man stops her on the street to say, “Why don’t you smile? Does your heart hurt? Oh girl when I look at you I just want to say Hello New York!” This magical jolly homeless black man will appear at the end of every episode, saying something wise and innocent. It will be like a tag. Skrillex.

 The Womanist says its all about whining white women;

I agree that we need more images of women in the media, but Girls is not the solution for the erasure.  ‘Woman’ should not simply mean White woman.  If we have to have a homogenous cast, would it have been that hard to make even one of these characters likeable?  I cannot think of a single area that Girls is successful in.  If you missed the pilot episode consider this your warning.

Mary van Notes has your next witty comeback; your face looks like it had a bad childhood.

The truly stylish Helena Bonham Carter.

Today has been cold and drizzly (I love it!). Laura of Make Do And Mend has 5 Things to do on a rainy day.

How to spend a lazy Summer afternoon

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Pocket books and purses disguised as books are becoming quite popular. I can’t guarentee that toting one around will boost your literary cred, but they are a cute idea, with loads of vintage appeal. Provided that no actual books were harmed, of course! Here are some of my current favourites.

Femme Sud

The Femme Sud Ex Libris pocket book is the original book-shaped purse. The collection was originally released in 2008 and featured cheeky embroidery, a handy mirror and even a cute little coin purse. When you could still manage to find one, they sold for roughly $500 each.

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Kate Spade

These sleek purses debuted in 2010 and feature such titles as Pride and Prejudice (above), Emma, The Great Gatsby, Great Expectations, and The Importance of Being Ernest. I love the gold-tone hardware and the adorable black and white striped lining. $325 from Kate Spade.

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Chanel

Chanel included two book clutches in the 2011 Spring Ready to Wear collection. Apart from Diane Kruger bringing one along to the Berlin Film Festival that same year, they were never seen or heard of again. A pitty really.

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Olympia Le Tan

These amazing clutches have popped up in the hot little hands of everyone from Natalie Portman to Tilda Swinton. Michelle Williams has a few herself, which is quite an investment considering the $1,300 price tag. Classic titles include The Great Gatsby (above), Dracula, Lolita, Doctor Zhivago, In Cold Blood, Madam Bovary, and The Portrait of a Lady.

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Laguna Moon

Laguna Moon‘s embroidered book-shaped bags are adorable. Spiral-bound and featuring a handy chain, they’re also made from synthetic leather and come in at about $120 with current exchanges rates. Making them one of the more affordable bags on this list!

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ASOS

Lest I speak too quickly, this clutch is the cheapest of them all! Wherever there is a trend to be had, ASOS is usually all over it. This lovely little blue and gold clutch fetches for $40. And really, who can resist that tassel?!

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Too many to choose from really! If you’re game enough, this is the kind of thing that you could very easily whip up yourself one rainy afternoon. Arianna, Kate, Marlena and Jenna have all shared their DIY secrets, though these involve slicing up real books. Over on good ol’ Etsy, there are several people selling old books converted in to handbags and Kindle covers. But my favourite so far has to be Bromeliad, who made hers out of an old DVD case, as opposed to cutting up a perfectly good book. You could even choose a different cover for each outfit, which is very clever really!

Black and red, this is what I wore to work!

This jacket has amazing peplum detailing at the back and I just love the self-covered buttons. I may actually have a self-covered button fetish…

I’ve also started collecting vintage scarves designed by Vera Neumann. How pretty is this sheer red, blue and white number?

Dress: Red Dress Shoppe

Jacket: Portmans

Earrings: Gift

Bag: Vintage

Scarf: Vintage

Shoes: Vivienne Westwood for Melissa

Ciao for now!

Happy Friday everyone!

Maria Coma

Hilarious post on Rookie: How to be a Lady;

You will most likely have several womanly items to carry around with you. For example: gloves, car keys, a compact mirror, a loaded gun, a spare gun, and more. To carry all these items you will need a sturdy and stylish pocketbook. Although a lady can never have too many pocketbooks, try to coordinate with your outfits. Keep an eye out for large pocketbooks that could discreetly hold small children. Children do the best manicures, so make sure to snatch one up the next time you see one!

Would you live in a prefabricated ikea kit home?

What we think we look like and what we actually look like are often completely different. Tom Hussey shot the following photographs exploring the relationship between residual self-image and aging.

How amazing do the ladies of the Itty Bitty Titty Cabaret look swanning around the Helsinki Botanic Gardens?!

Over at the Atlantic; The Strange (and Formerly Sexist) Economics of Engagement Rings. I’m not sure what O’Brien means by formerly.

Rosalind asks what is real beauty?

We increasingly live in a society driven by the visual. Our days are filled with images, whether on the pages of a magazine or through idle clicks across the internet. A select few of these photos may be considered to be pleasing or beautiful as an art form – perhaps a portrait taken by Irving Penn, or a magnificent flight of fancy assembled by Tim Walker. However, the relentless exposure to snaps of other individuals invites us to become judges of appearance, whether we want to or not.

If your childhood plans had actually come to pass….

the magic faraway tree

I love Victory Rolls! Rebecca Jean of Midnight Maniac show you how.

Glamourologist writes about the History of the Tan.

Would you drink no-frills beer?

Wayward Daughter shares how she get her cute dark green manicure, complete with curly brackets.

Such a lovely way to keep track of your goals.

What’s this? Oh it’s just Kate looking adorable in her favourite outfit ever. Meanwhile, how to rock funeral-chic and striped trousers.

The babes at Rookie put together this sweet high-school-dance-themed photo shoot. Nostalgia ahoy!

A lovely look at Amy Revier and her loom over at This is Naive.

I think this is the best “how we met” story I have ever read.

Oh yum! How to make the perfect Bloody Mary!

Yes

Holy sweet-tooth batman! Sprinkles bakery plans to launch a cupcake vending machine!!!

These bookshelves are amazing!

The super-duper Jetta Vegas explains Why I’m not a militant vegan;

These days, I keep to myself. Sort of. I make vegan related zines and buttons in my online shops, I tag delicious meals I create #vegan and, above all, I lead by example. To me, this method is more effective. I don’t come off as pushy or militant. I simply show people how easy it can be to live vegan (in Seattle, WA, USA anyway). People respect that, and I feel like I’m able to reach out to more people because I’m not scaring folks away with frightening images and stomach-churning videos.

Over a Polk Dot Clothing, guest-blogger Lilou writes about redefining your goals for college.

Fajr on Getting Over Embarrassment. Some sound advice there!

Lady Doctors! Yes! I really wanted the next doctor to be a woman. Like really wanted it badly. This is so much more awesome than I could have imagined.

So some of the femme Doctor cosplayers I interviewed were clear about their motivations, but even the ones who were less conscious were clearly making up for what they saw as a lack of female protagonists. While there are plenty of awesome companions, there are no female heroes in Doctor Who. The companions are, definitionally, sidekicks. And femme Doctor cosplayers are very aware of this. They want to be heroes, not followers and sidekicks, however badass. And Doctor Who does not offer them a hero that matches their experience, who looks anything like them. So they invent her.

Three videos for ya:

And, an old video of me painting Easter eggs. Hope you all enjoy your long weekend! <3

Untitled

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There is a Beautiful Creature

Living in a hole you have dug.

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So at night

I set fruit and grains

And little pots of wine and milk

Beside your soft earthen mounds,

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And I often sing.

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But still, my dear,

You do not come out.

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I have fallen in love with Someone

Who hides inside you.

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We should talk about this problem -

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Otherwise,

I will never leave you alone.

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“We Should Talk About This Problem” by Hafiz.

Quoted from I Heard God Laughing translated by Daniel Ladinsky.

I guess being St Patrick’s day and all I should have worn something green. But this dress was calling to me. I’ve been watching a lot of Twin Peaks recently, and the black, grey and red plaid reminds me of the opening theme song. It’s the kind of dress I’d wear out to the diner for a slice of cherry pie and a damn fine cup of coffee. Ya know?

It has some beautiful details, like the black button cuffs at the elbow, and snap-buttons all the way up the front. The cotton is also super-soft.

It’s getting on to autumn in our part of the world. Here in the sub-tropics, that kinda just mean comfortable. I’m looking forward to wearing cardigans again!

Dress: Vintage (Brisbane Vintage Fair)

Bag: Vintage

Shoes: Melissa

Belt: Vintage

Cameo: Antique

Sunglasses: ASOS

Hope you had an amazing weekend!

1. Build a blanket fort.
2. Share a bottle of something delicious.
3. Play cards.
4. Invent exciting new cocktails.
5. Learn a new language.
6. Cook your own giant pizza to share.
7. Listen to Stephen Fry read Harry Potter.
8. Plant a tree.
9. Get dressed up.
10. Sing your favourite songs.
11. Visit the farmer’s market and buy exciting and as yet unheard of vegetables.
12. Make origami.
13. Catch a bus to somewhere new.
14. Read your favourite stories to each other out loud.
15. Climb a tree.
16. and build a tree house!
17. Make a kite.
18. Go cloudwatching.
19. Jump on the bed.
20. Visit a playground & use the swings.
21. Take photos.
22. Stretch out in the sun.
23. Have afternoon tea. In your underwear!
24. Go for a swim.
25. Eat dessert first.
26. Draw chalk arrows on the footpath for strangers to follow.
27. Make mix tapes.
28. Take turns giving each other a massage.
29. Play tag.
30. Try a strange recipe.
31. Share a bath.
32. Go geocaching.
33. Rent your favourite horror films.
34. Pack a picnic.
35. Bake bread.
36. Visit the planetarium for some  stargazing.
37. Go on a scavenger hunt.
38. Sit and watch the world go by.
39. Dance!
40. Dress each other for an afternoon.
41. Draw on each other.
42. Spend a whole day communicating without words.
43. Write silly poems.
44. Swap stories from your childhood.
45. Have a wine tasting. With blindfolds.
46. Play a few rounds of strip poker.
47. Take silly photobooth pictures.
48. Jump in puddles.
49. Eat with your hands.
50. Master the art of being together.

Have fun!

The Tom Collins hoax of 1874 is infamous. A friend would greet you and ask “Have you seen Tom Collins?” and then begin to relate all the horrible things that this gossiping Tom had been telling people about you. “He’s been trash-talking you all week! But wait a second, there’s a bar just around the corner that he likes to frequent! Let’s confront him!” As newspapers of the time chronicled, this lead to many young men frantically running around town, seeking to confront the slanderous Tom Collins as a matter of honour, and seeming to act foolish in the process.

The original Tom Collins recipe dates from 1876, just two years later. Bartenders have been christening their creations after inside-jokes ever since. The Collins is  made with old fashioned lemonade mixed with gin and is usually served in a Collins glass. I like mine in a high-ball with a straw. Divine on a hot day.

Tradition calls for the juice from one ripe lemon. You can use less if like. I like to chop my lemons into quarters and muddle them in glass, but squeezing them with a citrus squeezer is perfectly alright.

Aha! Remember this? Add 15ml or more of simple syrup. Change your ratio of lemon to syrup to taste. Lemon cordial is also a delicious substitute.

Add the gin of your choosing. This time, it’s good old Tanqueray Ten which is ripe with citrus and blends with the lemon to make something truly heavenly.

Top up with soda water (or tonic if your feeling sour and sassy). The 1876 recipe calls for only two cubes of ice. I say bah humbug. If you want lots of ice, add lots of ice. Garnish with a maraschino cherry if you like. I find they’re too sweet for my tastes and prefer a lively cocktail umbrella instead. These things cost $2 for a pack of 12 and they make life amazing. I promise.

So, have you seen Tom Collins?

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