Monica Vitti in Michelangelo Antonioni's 1962 film L’Eclisse

if you follow me on tumblr or livejournal, you may know that i have a special place in my heart for monica vitti, and 1960s italian cinema. so much so that i have reblogged the exact same image of her standing on the cliffs in antonioni’s l’avventura (1960) three times, and used her face as my livejournal icons back in the days when we thought about those things. her talent and her face have captivated me since i first saw l’avventura, and her style is definitely something i’ve aspired to emulate on particularly fancy pants occasions. i’m hardly alone… just look at her. a face made for the screen.

needless to say, when fashion meets cinema, my heart generally starts to beat a little faster. imagine my face when i saw how you could wear your love of italian cinema on your sleeve  clutch.

be still, my beating heart. the price tag, however, makes me want to cry. i did a little digging, and realized this is not the first time i’ve seen olympia le tan’s work. i first took note of her creative crafting and design skills when an image of natalie portman on the red carpet for black swan was making the rounds, holding a clutch that looked like a book! since then, lots of do it yourself projects have popped up in the crafty fashion loving blogosphere. understandably: if you’d like to own one yourself you’d have to drop 1500 bucks.

but back to the fashion-meets-cinema aspect of this item. to advertise her clutches, le tan (who has made short films herself) recruited some gorgeous faces to recreate film stills of the films she lauds on her clutches:

i can’t find the film still this one is emulating, and haven’t seen teorema, but goddamn…

can i resist tilda swinton? i think not.

this is only one of le tan‘s many clutch projects, and it’s safe to say i’m pretty much swooning for anything she touches. not to mention her incredible style!

but for brevity’s sake, i’ll leave it at that for now. visit her website yourself and poke around! instead of lusting for a clutch i probably wouldn’t even use that often and knowing absent-minded me, most likely it forget somewhere, i think i’ll just re-watch some of my favourite antonioni films and drown my sorrows while daydreaming of monica vitti’s face. sounds like a plan.

most of these photos were found on olympia’s tumblr. click the photos for credit.

LINKS:

• Olympia Le-Tan at Zoot Magazine (January 25th, 2012)
• Dans le dressing de Olympia at Vogue France (January 4th, 2012)
• Olympia Le-Tan goes Cinematic

FILM GOOD TIMES

• the red desert criterion collection
• l’avventura on the criterion collection website
• l’eclisse on the criterion collection website

my colleague listens back and guesses, “was there a mouse around?”

“no,” i insist. “there weren’t any mice around. it’s a sound art installation! that’s not part of it… it distracts your ear too much though.”

my colleague agrees, “yeah, you can’t use that.”

i know it’s not useable. but if only that squeaking weren’t there it would be great! disappointed, i think back… was i holding my microphone correctly? which one was i using? where was i aiming? what was that squeak?!

then, it hits me.

my shoes.

my awesome black and white dapper shoes i bought in mexico city two years ago.

they are the stylish source of the squeak.

i’m practically kicking myself listening back to my tape. yes, those shoes looked good. yes, when i got dressed that morning i chose flats instead of heels, because i wouldn’t make too much noise walking around the gallery space. but i forgot that these shoes squeak, and didn’t even begin to think they’d ruin my sound.

it’s alright, though. i found sound from later on where they don’t interfere too much… but it was still a bit more work than it needed to be, simply because what i was wearing interfered with my job (which is often gathering sound and information).

this brings me to my next point: since i started working in radio more frequently, there have been a few very clear changes in what i wear. there are the more explicitly practical changes that have happened; i’m a big jewelry wearer, and i own more pairs of earrings than i can count. i feel like a beautiful locket or necklace can really make a boring outfit really bold, and i love when people ask me about them and i get to share the stories behind them.

when working in my daily life though, i’m often wearing headphones. listening back to tape, cutting it, recording. when i’m not, i’m often on the phone, making calls, trying to find stories or guests.

slowly but surely, earrings have migrated their way out of my daily wardrobe. i tried with all different pairs, studs, dangly ones, light-weight… but every time they interfered and made their way from my earlobes to my desk drawer. now, they feel like a “special occasion” type accessory… which is part of why i wore them everyday! to conquer that silly “daytime/evening” outfit crap! bummer.

necklaces? again, much like the squeaky shoes, they can make too much noise. bangles are out of the question.

funky pins on chunky old man cardigans? hrm. not sure. will people be more distracted by what i’m wearing, than what i’m asking?

this brings me to my next point. it’s not so much just accessories that either prevent me from doing my job comfortably, or effectively… it’s also how my clothing choices have evolved. depending on what story i’m covering, i’m increasingly conscious of how i want to – or should – present myself.

press conference at city hall? let’s go for the tied and true black and white. yeah, sure it’s a white dress shirt i’ve worn since 7th grade with stains from high school art classrooms, but i look professional in it. part of this is obviously that i’m still kind of a rookie, and that i’m a young woman who wants to be taken seriously. a fun pair of tights can be my way of putting a little spin on what i would otherwise see as a boring conventional outfit.

reporting on the occupy quebec protest in november? get your slick looking coat out of the closet, some practical gloves, warm clothes. don’t forget, you don’t want to be mistaken for one of the prostestors, you slightly reformed hippie activist! but OH SHIT. but you get assigned randomly very early one morning, because there’s a big change all of the sudden and you need to go RIGHT NOW? forget one glove, wear your ridiculously over the top fur trimmed coat, look kind of ridiculous. get photographed and be in the background of all the newscasts. feel awkward.

overall, it’s nothing to lose sleep over. but i’d be lying if i said it’s not something i think about before i get dressed in the morning to go to work. everyone does it to some extent, but i’m more interested in tackling the shift of someone who plays with fashion and how it relates to their (gender, sexual, class or political) identity, and how they feel they should dress depending on their line of work.

four panels from jenna b.'s interview clothes strip. click the image for the rest.

some of these are ideas that j. bee and i touched on earlier this summer, when talking about why we looked “good,” and the frustrations of dressing for job interviews. dressing “professionally” for the first time can sometimes feel like you’re trying to fool people. if you’ve had a punk phase, or followed any sort of subversive community’s fashion decree, you might feel like you’re selling out to “the man” by dressing like the “suits.” i think i felt that a bit more when i had my very first “professional” job, but there is definitely a balance to be had of still feeling like you’re dressing in a way that is “you” all while still being taken seriously. sometimes, that means keeping my neon 1960s mod dresses, sexy lace shirts, sequined skirts, and funky tights at the back of the closet (or just until friday night).

of course, i’m not the only one who has wondered about these weighty questions. i shared this article on tumblr a while back, but it definitely deserves reposting here. Q & A with dean spade on Queer Couture is mainly a discussion about the ten years since spade’s influential essay “Dressed to Kill, Fight to Win” for an ANTI-FASHION SHOW zine in 2002. what really struck me about spade’s reflections was how his work life affected how he presented himself, and his own struggles with that. it’s something i’ve been increasingly conscious of in the past two years, as i made the shift from student, to unemployed, to working in a somewhat more conventional “career” driven environment. here’s some of what spade had to say:

A big influence on my day-to-day fashion experiences is my job as a law professor.  When I worked at SRLP, I had to go to court and deal with government agencies and officials, and I wore a suit for those things, but my working space at SRLP was an office full of trans and gender non-conforming people.  Even though we all looked different from each other, I still felt affirmed while in the office, like I was among people sharing an oppositional approach to many appearance norms and thinking politically about how we look.  It was a big shift to start working in such a straight, upper-class, gender normative environment. It’s a drag to manage my perceptions of other people’s perceptions of me.  It’s exhausting.   I think that is why reading the tone of this old essay feels good—its affirming and relieving.

Because I spend so much time now in a very professional, gender normative work environment, I have to remind myself that I love weird people, I am weird, I want to be weird, and being normal is truly horrifying.  I’m thinking of that experience of seeing someone on the street or on the bus who is working some kind of weird, non-normative look and feeling some delight and relief, like the person’s existence is making space for you. I have often felt that way when I see other visibly queer or visibly trans people, or other kinds of rule-breakers.  It’s beautiful to see people taking those risks and its wonderful to have those moments of mutual recognition with a stranger in the midst of a hostile world. I think I appreciate those moments now more than ever, as I wander the hallways confronted with the gray business suits of professors and the university sweatshirts and Uggs of students. Sometimes I’m just blown away when I look around a classroom of 80 students and almost all the women have long hair and almost all the men have short hair. The level of norm abiding and of standardization should shock us.  It suggests the significance of the processes people go through to decide to make major departures from those norms.

my relationship to fashion in the workplace is quite different from spade’s for a variety of reasons, but i can relate to the crux of the argument. once a wierdo, always a wierdo. and if fashion was the one way you feel like you can express that wierdness, it can feel wrong to have it taken away from you… even if you’re the person taking it away, to some extent. for the most part, i’m still able to dress however i choose, and have felt lucky enough to have not had any rude comments made about some of my funkier outfits. i’m also thinking back to the first time i had to wear work uniforms in my early, crappier jobs, and how it encouraged me to be more adventurous every hour i didn’t have to spend behind the counter. quit your rambling, julia! you know i could go on and on about this…

i’m curious to know of your own thoughts and feelings about this, and how this varies from field to field. i’m sure the opposite happens, as well – where more straight-laced folks might feel pressure to dress funkier, say, if you work in an organic health foods store but like to wear a suit and tie. what have your experiences been with your sartorial choices and your field of work?

let me know what you think, and thanks for reading.

RECOMMENDED READING:

• Q & A with dean spade on Queer Couture (december 31st, 2011)
• why i’m looking fly at sassyfrass circus (july 13th, 2011)
• why i’m looking fly by me (july 13th, 2011)

well i sure am late on this one. here’s a quick post of what i wore in december, so i can bring you up to speed and show you what i wore in january. phew! these are more work and dedication than i anticipated!

i started the month by travelling light, and heading off to visit my parents for the first week of december.

getting ready for a friend date!

a date to see my dear friend ashlee in trenton! we went to the quinte mall, of course, my old teen stompin’ grounds, and i fawned over beautiful books like this alexander mcqueen one. why didn’t i get it!!!

my new favourite dress, hands down. here it is again later in the month, paired with cool new tights from my mom (click the photo if you want to see better details):

i got it at lucia f! it’s hard to sell things there, instead of getting paid i tend to trade with other sellers! such good stuff there.

this probably my most “outside the box” look of december. definitely a new kind of thing for me: animal print. i’ve never owned anything animal print, ever. but i kind of love it these days? feeling like i’m channeling slutty badass housewifes, i.e. peg bundy. when i bought it, my sister jasmine dolled me up:

and let me hang out and cuddle with her awesome dogs.

now for some more “professional lady” looks:

catching up on the latest worn journal… i swear, it was my lunch break!

ha, i called this file “sequintits.” and i’m saving it.

oh yeah, and i guess there were holiday things in december too?

celebrating my friend karina finishing her job! and starting new adventures!

christmas with the in-laws in bellechasse.

birthday!

working on december 23rd, my sad attempt at looking festive!

my sister bought me those tights for my birthday, and the photos don’t do them justice at all! i layered them over red tights so it was warm enough for a december evening date.

playing with my new cameras and lenses.

that black flapper style 60s dress above is what i wore under this coat. i took simon on a date to go see the artist (WHICH I LOVED) and people were staring at us and pointing. it happens when you look this good

last but not least, here are some really bad outfits of my fantastic new year’s eve outfit. we had a pretty low key night but it’s always a good excuse to get super dressed up. a neighbour stranger told us he always loved our style, which was very nice! glitter glitter glam. it’s where it’s at.

PHEW! january coming soon, i hope that satiates your appetite for my outfits for now.

after talking to my best friend lots, and having ambitious plans of perhaps celebrating my birthday in montreal, or ottawa… it became very clear that many of the people who i wanted to be there couldn’t regardless of where i celebrated it (hey, it’s the day after christmas, and i live pretty far). to top it off, if i really wanted champagne on my birthday, there would be no way i could afford that at any bar or restaurant… aside from the fact that very few of them are open on december 26th… especially when it falls on a tuesday.

all planning kerfuffles aside, i decided it would be at my house. if you could come, great! if you couldn’t, oh well. champagne for all! good food for all! and dancing. i started tagging things on tumblr as “champagne birthday” to figure out what i wanted. i brainstormed on livejournal. it became clear: debauchery, laughter, dancing, masks, sequins, sparkle.

later, when i saw this dress at hank & co., i stopped in my (online browsing) tracks. now, i don’t have very much pink in my closet… aside from maybe one hat and one scarf. even when i found great pink vintage dresses, i sold them instead of wearing them myself. for the longest time, i had a strong aversion to pink… namely because it was associated as very feminine. nicolette mason talked about this recently over at her blog, and i left a bit long comment about my own relationship to the colour traditionally imposed on girls and women. i think it was a combination of internalized misogyny and fear of the unknown, but lately i have crossed that line and am loving pink. so! hot pink sequins? fuck yeah! when i saw that it was my size to boot, i knew i had to snap it up.

and here are the tons of photos from my birthday celebration. enjoy!

champagne courtesy of simon’s recent trip to france!

my wonderful guests!!!

simon et karina

get ready for some grub! millet stuffed bell peppers from get it ripe.

post dinner champagne, anyone?

my decadent cake, courtesy of annemarie

i love these gals.

simon, his sister ély and his brother patrick!

now it’s time for a little bit of dressup.

annemarie playing with my glasses (hey! look at my awesome lucky jackson print from iris last year)

annemarie and i have a bit of tall gal-big feet solidarity going on.

some glamour shots…

and we’re ready for a break outside! followed by…

dancing!

corinne et karina

i’m a bit of a diva. how can you NOT be in this dress?

aaaaaaaand a little bit drunk.

happy belated birthday to me!

If fashion has been used to introduce new ways of expressing womanhood, it has also been a tether that keeps women’s social, economic and political opportunities permanently attached to their appearances. At a time when makeover reality TV shows suggest that self-reinvention is not only desirable but almost required, and the ubiquity of social media encourages everyone to develop a “personal brand,” the pressure on women to be fashionable has never been more pervasive.

as with most of pham’s writing, i find myself resisting the urge to high-five my computer screen, and exclaim, “SO TRUE!” because it is! read it! it’s a fantastic argument in favour of fashion being accepted as a feminist issue, but seen as an integral part of identity politics. it also shines the spotlight on the important work a lot of online cultural critics (aka bloggers) have done to hold the fashion industry accountable for its missteps. it reinspires me at a time where i’ve been admittedly jaded about the state of fashion blogs, and frustrated by which ones get attention, and for what reasons… but here, pham puts us in mind of the major successes that can be credited to many fashion blogs. it’s also another excuse for me to re-read why i argued there was a need for feminist fashion blogs back in 2009.

it’s also one of the first articles on the subject i’ve read that adequately addresses race and class issues… others on the same topic (fashion! feminism! yes you can like both!) are worth reading as well, but a lot of times i find myself sighing at how cliché they tend to be. not only that, but how frustrating it is to be asked “how can fashion be feminist?” more times than i can count, and how difficult it is to answer that in a succinct and direct manner. but one thing pham accomplishes where i feel other writers have failed is shifting the focus away from straight white cis women who call themselves fashion lovers AND feminists. of course fashion can be a feminist issue for straight white cis women (even she cites the example of first wave feminists and suffragettes wore certain colours in their fight for the right to vote… but the right for rich, white women to vote), but not at the expense or erasure of the multitudes of other kinds of people who use fashion as a form of resistance, empowerment, and survival. i’m rambling, that’s how excited i am about this article. i’ll just end by saying that i can’t wait until we can move forward from arguing that fashion is a feminist issue to simply accepting that as a fact.

onto a slightly different topic now…

a screencap from style.com calling bloggers the new flappers

i was initially tempted to click on the link for alberta ferretti’s pre-fall 2012 collection because of style.com’s tagline “bloggers are the new flappers.” my furrowed brow told me i had to find out more… sadly, what they really meant was alberta ferretti’s runway models included models, some celebrities, actresses, singers, even celebrities’ children… and three bloggers. who i’ve never heard of (but that might say more about my fashion blog frequenting than anything else). a more apt tagline would be “three bloggers walk the runway in flapper inspired outfits.” as much as i wish fashion bloggers were the new flappers, i don’t think the description fits… not even a little bit.

that said! i still REALLY loved some of the dresses. you know how good i would look in that purple one! and i’m such a sucker for cloche hats, even if these ones slightly resemble horse blinders. overall the collection is far too fur heavy for my stomach’s taste, but it is worth a look, and features some really beautiful garments. and shoes!

…speaking of unusual suspects popping up on the runway, these .gifs have been burning like wildfire through tumblr. and for good reason! check out willem dafoe, gary oldman, and many other babely actors looking dapper as fuck while modelling (acting?) in prada’s fall 2012 runway show. as prada could top enlisting my favourite pouter michael pitt as the face of their menswear collectiong! so before they get lost in the usual shuffle, i thought some of my readers might appreciate having them here.

you can see them all here if that tickles your fancy.

i should leave it at that! i’ve also got lots in the works for the coming months, more ideas than i can flesh out! and never enough time! but stay tuned for more posts in the coming weeks. as always, you can follow me elsewhere on facebook and twitter.

ode to tamil (self-portrait) by julia caron

over the years, i’ve made it quite clear i have a particular fondness for self portraits. initially, i was drawn to many images i’d come across in art books, visual arts classes, and museums, without even realizing my favourites were, more often than not, self portraits. francesca woodman, frida kahlo, and cindy sherman come to mind as artists that made a huge mark on my life, my aesthetics, and my own (quite limited) photography. it was only over time and personal curiosity that i came to learn they were all self-portraits. cindy sherman’s untitled series, woodman’s ghostly incarnations, and frida kahlo’s powerful paintings are all reflections and representations of themselves… or at least, of a certain aspect of themselves.

Eve Arnold, Self-Portrait in a Distorted Mirror, 42nd Street, New York, 1950.

for some reason over the past week, i’ve come across many a link which has forced me to revisit and remember what it is i truly love about self-portraits. eve arnold, an influential photographer, passed away last week. while most people quickly started circulating her portraits of marilyn monroe, i took a moment to revisit her work. it is startlingly curious to see which photographs we remember her for, and why. i was surprised to see how beautiful this “Self-Portrait in a Distorted Mirror, 42nd street, New York” was, which i’d never come across before. when we google image search her name, marilyn monroe’s face comes up before hers. how sad.

to top it off, i’ve also come across two fantastic articles on self-portraits. let’s start with wayne bremser’s reflections on the most popular photographs of 2011. it quickly shifts gears from a “best of” type list into a thoughtful reflection on fame, portraits, and consent. the contrast of a famous celebrity’s leaked nude self-portrait contrasted with a relative unknown woman’s posthumous self-portraits makes this point quite clear. this is the line that really struck me:

Vivian Maier was the least famous person in the world, the self-portrait was the only way to document her own existence; nobody else was going to do it for her.

there’s something brutally honest about that statement; for those of you in the known about vivian maier, you’ll known she’s the “unknown woman” whose life and photography came to light only after her death. the spotlight shone brightly on her work in 2011, so it is fitting that her images are part of the most important and memorable of the last year, even though most were taken many decades earlier. i strongly recommend reading the article in its entireity, as i think bremser has touched on something that most other photography “best of 2011″ lists missed altogether in their pandering to the status quo and propaganda machines.

Vivian Maier, Self-Portrait, 1960

a day after coming across that article, i found this one while trying to find proper credit on tumblr for this image. Mirrors, Masks and Spaces: Self-portraits by Women Photographers in the twenties and thirties by Herbert Molderings & Barbara Mülhens-Molderings totally made my saturday. i printed it out and poured over it while drinking an afternoon cup of tea… here are some of the passages i underlined:

The woman’s break with her oppressive pre-war image, her new liberties and her new vocational prospects, the shape and scope of which were still extremely unclear, found expression in the multitude of self-portraits taken by female photographers of the 1920s in an attempt at defining and asserting their new identity.

can i get behind that? fuck yeah. there is a lot in this article of the flapper “garçonne” persona of liberation and the direct correlation of the desire to document ones face, ones self. the power of being able to be both creator and subject is something that has infinitely appealed to me over the years, and i am endlessly grateful for the self-timer function on digital cameras for allowing me to explore that. but for someone like myself, born in 1985, to reflect on what it meant for the very first female self-portrait photographers and artists in the 1920s and 30s? wow, how eye opening.

Marianne Breslauer, « Die Fotografin » , 1933

In a self-portrait taken in 1933, undoubtedly the most erotic self-portrait of a woman photographer of the 1920s and 1930s, this Berlin photographer (Marianne Breslauer) poses, with her cable release in her hand, as a young woman obviously skilful at the game of concealing and revealing. She has deliberately opened her fashionable, fur-trimmed housecoat in order to view her beautiful naked body on the ground-glass screen of the camera. As she is standing to one side of the mirror, her face is hidden by her hair, heightening still further the subtle eroticism of this photograph. Her gaze into the viewfinder of the camera, as though refusing to look herself and, by the same token, the imagined viewer in the eye as she performs her exhibitionist act, seems modest and outdated compared with the erotic self-portraits of women photographers today.²⁴ At once narcissistic and voyeuristic, this self-portrait is less an occupational portrait of the kind intended for publication – we know of no publication of this photograph prior to 1979²⁵ – than a private study of a young woman photographer using her professional skills to explore, and take delight in, the eroticism of her appearance.

i’m not going to lie, this definitely put me in mind of some of my own attempts (and failures) of playing with that erotic gaze in the self-portrait… the vast majority of which i have chosen not to share with anyone. but it is powerful to think that what seems like such an innocuous, tame image today went unpublished (and perhaps unseen) for over forty years, because it was too scandalous? because it was always intended to be private? in the era of taking photographs with cell phones and instantly sharing them online, tweeting them with instagram, this seems unheard of. but another aspect this put me in mind of were some of the questions i asked when writing about katie west‘s nude self-portraits back in 2010. why are women, especially young women, so overwhelmingly shamed and judged when they choose to share nude photographs of themselves online… even if they are the ones creating those images themselves? contrasting the digital era of self-portraits with the social mores of the 1930s is definitely intriguing, to say the least.

how many of these photographers were mostly taking photos for themselves? how many, like vivian maier, probably never thought they would have an audience of thousands, even millions? reading and reflecting on all of these questions has already been quite fruitful for me… but i still feel like most of my ideas are a bit half-baked. one day, i’d like to get to the point where i can reflect on the role fashion bloggers and “what i wore” outfit documentors play in the evolution of the self-portrait, of the digital camera as a mirror… but i think my brain has got a lot of digesting to do before it can help me articulate what i mean by the political implications of those things. in the meantime, my heart will jump a little bit each time i see a beautiful self-portrait or read an amazing article reflecting on just what self-portraits can mean. i hope you enjoy them as much as i did.

as always, click the photos for credit and sources.

recommended readings:

• Mirrors, Masks and Spaces: Self-portraits by Women Photographers in the twenties and thirties by Herbert Molderings & Barbara Mülhens-Molderings at jeu de paume le magazine (March 6th, 2011)
• 2011 Photographs of the Year: Scarlett Johansson, Vivian Maier and the contemporary self-portrait by Wayne Bremser (December 23rd, 2011)
• Sm(art): Eve Arnold by Bianca Butler at Bitch Magazine‘s art + design blog (January 11, 2011)
• Vivian Maier: Self-Portraits at vivianmaier.com
• Cindy Sherman: Self-Portraits of Others by Jay at the Reel Foto Blog (November 1, 2011)
• on self-portraits and shaming: katie west by me (january 6th, 2010)

navel gazing:

• interview: self/portrait a short documentary by karol orzechowski (may 16, 2010) (blog post about it)
• self-portrait: thoughts by me (april 13, 2010)
• mexico by me (march 18, 2010)
• words of wisdom: Objectivity & Authenticity: “(Fe)male bodied” / “(Fe)male identified” (Language Politics) by me (december 8th, 2009)

on top of that, i’m also finding that as social media grows and changes, in the era of endless scrolling and constant connectivity, it’s really hard to find links you’ve shared over the year. so this is a combination of a personal archive for me and a best of the year for you! get ready! it’s a doozy. i’ve tried to keep it as fashion focused as possible, but you should know by now how all of my interests run into and over each other. enjoy!

january

• my best femme iris came to visit <3
• delicious food and fun craft nights with sarah
• celebrated my belated birthday with some of my all-time favourite people
• went to visit simon’s aunt and uncle in their beautiful home in the country, walks in the woods

recommended reading:

1. What is Glitter Politic? by Majestic Legay (january 11th, 2011)

february

• tried lots of winter survival tips, like writing letters and making mulled wine
• had my fantastic family come visit for carnaval in quebec city
• participated in fa(t)shion february

recommended reading:

1. fa(t)shion february and unfashionability by j. bee at sassyfrass circus (February 1st, 2011)
2. living single at crunk feminist collective (February 7th, 2011)

march

• played with the new 35 mm holga camera karina gave me (as pictured above and in april, may, june, july photos)
• went to the sugar shack!
• really really wanted to chop all my hair off
• read a whole lots of zines

recommended reading:

1. Helpful tips: How not to be a boorish body-policing jerk by Leslie Kinzel (March 22nd, 2011)

april

• torn between my desire to devote myself entirely to writing and journalism… and being paid a living wage.
• bike rides and visits to lévis to see sarah
• thinking a lot about apartment renovations
• working really hard!

recommended reading:

1. On Punk Pants: Duration, Devotion and Distinction by mimi thi nguyen at Threadbared (april 4th, 2011)
2. passive aggressive status updates: a fine example of girl hate by amber forrester at fight boredom! (april 27th, 2011)
3. I was here then i wasn’t here then i went somewhere then i came back then i went away then i came back and now i’m going again to paris to read books and be alone by Jenny Zhang at Fashion for Writers (April 27th, 2011)

may

• visited my sisters in ottawa
• saw austra and bumped into an old friend from 8th grade! isabelle!
• met amber at slutwalk in montreal
• hahaha “planked”

recommended reading:

1. The Faux Vintage Photograph by Nathan Jungerson at The Society Pages (May 11th, 2011) *** this may be my favourite piece of non-fiction writing of the year****
2. Slutwalk March or not march by Harsha Walia at Rabble (May 18th, 2011)
3. Things to do if you are a hustling class artist or other person with no trust fund or much of an economic safety net by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha (May 23rd, 2011)

june

• launched three major projects i had been helping work on since the fall
• fell in love with biking once again
• was kind of bummed about sarah leaving, but decided to make the best of it
• took so many rolls of film!
• spent a lot of time thinking about and planning a certain incredible event

recommended reading:

1. Pointing out small-scale problems at better living through beyoncé (June 3rd, 2011)
2. Understanding Vancouver’s Hockey Riot by Dave Zirin at the Nation (June 16th, 2011)
3. Communities of care, organizations for liberation by Yashna Maya Padamsee (June 19th, 2011)
4. wedding day as a celebration of love, not of coupledom by me at simon et julia (June 21st, 2011)

july

• left my job at exmuro feeling satisfied and accomplished
• chopped off and donated 14 inches of my hair
• made my very first radio documentary on that very subject
• had dinner with and was reinspired by neil bissoondath

recommended reading:

1. Sustainable Style Series via jesse anne o (july 26th, 2011)

august

• had the most incredible party of my life aka got married!
• saw so many wonderful people, morgan, my sisters, everyone
• slow danced with nicole brossard
• went for a roadtrip in the eastern townships

recommended reading:

1. Moving toward the ugly: a politic beyond desirability by Mia Mingus at Leaving Evidence (August 22nd, 2011)

september

• started working nearly full time in radio + loved it
• beginning of my weekly writing dates with karina at librarie st-jean
• biked 60 km with simon!
• went without power for nearly eleven days (!!!) after post tropical storm irene

recommended reading:

1. An Open Letter to my local Hipstersby Sarah Hunt at Media Indigena (September 20th, 2011)
2. Urban Outfitters is obsessed with Navajos by Adrienne Keene at Native Appropriations (September 23rd, 2011)
3. Unintentionally Eating the Other by Minh-Ha T. Pham at Threadbared (September 12, 2011)
4. Antifeminist Frills by Eline at A Fluffy Blog (September 22, 2011)
5. Fashion is a feminist issue by Greta Christina (September 2nd, 2011)

october

• celebrated karina’s birthday
• first halloween in ages i didn’t dress up (i was sick & busy)

recommended reading:

1. Occupy Together in the age of conspiracy by Syed Hussan at Rabble (October 13th, 2011)
2. Fauxgress Watch: “Born this way” by Rachel at Social Justice League (October 10th, 2011)
3. An Open Letter to Urban Outfitters on Columbus Day by Sasha Houston Brown at Racialicious (October 10th, 2011)
4. Fat babes illustrated by Natalie at Definatalie (October 23, 2011)

november

• enjoyed the very mild weather
• had a fantastic house show featuring nick ferrio & his feelings + tin vespers
• had a few friend crushes
• did a short radio series on food in the north

recommended reading:

1. Not every girl is a riot grrrl by Lindsay Zoladz (November 16th, 2011)

december

• visited trenton for the first time of the year
• took a lot of time for myself
• said goodbye to my best friend karina as she headed off to sudbury
• celebrated my champagne birthday with lots of sequins and glamour and fun

recommended reading:

1. Why the “Native” Fashion Trend is pissing off real Native Americans by Lisa Hix at Collector’s Weekly (December 1st, 2011)
2. Make your own stuff by Maranda Elizabeth (December 3rd, 2011)
3. “Hello, I Love you” or “Why Fashion Blogging Smells like Raw Fish” by isabel at hipster musings (December 23rd, 2011)

phew! what a year. a new pair of glasses, three haircuts, tons of babes and incredible amounts of personal challenges and accomplishments. it took me way longer than anticipated to put that together. i’ll be sharing my favourite music of the year elsewhere in the next month or so, and best things i’ve read/seen in 2011 but i think those articles should sate your palates for the time being.

what were some of the best things you read or saw this year? i love lists! share yours with me. here’s one of my all-time favourites:

Woody Guthrie’s 1943 “New Years Rulin’s.” Found in one of his journals dated January 31st, 1942.

goodbye 2011! hello 2012!

it’s hard to believe, but it’s been three years since québec city became my home. since then, i think it’s fair to say we’ve had our ups and downs: bouts of unemployment, hard to find friends who end up leaving for greener pastures, not to mention finding a balance between french and english with a dash of culture shock. there have been moments when i’ve doubted whether we were right for each other…  but this past sunday was definitely one of those days where i was reminded why i feel in love with this city in the first place.

now i’ve been to nearly all of the salon nouveau genres over the past few years, but i have to say this one went above and beyond. olivier, the organizer, really hit his stride finding a great balance with the location, space, and variety of craftspeople showcasing their work.

many of my favourites were still there, like velvet typo, water loup, and tomates d’epingles. but what really blew me away were meeting many new creative people who live and work in the same city as i do! i like to think of myself as quite “branchée,” comme on dit en français, going to gallery openings, having worked in the arts community, and being pretty social. i sell alongside church clothes and many other folks at boutique lucia f. even so, it’s refreshing to find i am still constantly meeting and discovering new artists. here are just a handful of the people i met on sunday.

julie is one of the people i’ve met during my visits to morgan bridge in downtown québec city. she sells a handful of postcards and things there, but i had only seen her lovely jewelry, namely necklaces, online as of yet. but at salon nouveau genre, she flaunted her creative wares by incorporating vintage with newer pieces. what really takes my breath away are her handmade display cases. i’ve made my own using an old letterpress drawer, but if i was in the market for one i would definitely head towards why not coconut.

across from julie’s stall was something that immediately caught my eye: bowties, photos of kitschy motels, and a jackalope. i was soon chatting up one of the creators who is based in bromont, and we talked about our affection for motels and casse-croutes across québec. my knowledge is pretty limited to the eastern townships and la beauce, but her book chronicling abitibi’s selection really drew me in.

as i headed for the door, i stumbled upon yet another great discovery: Studio METHOD(E).

Founded by Emily Lewis and Marie-Hélène Bélanger, two graduates of NSCAD University in Halifax, Studio METHOD(E) is a contemporary jewellery studio that specialises in the use and teaching of alternative techniques and materials. Pushing the boundaries of traditional jewellery, the founders explore many possible avenues using concepts and materials that fascinate them.

i was swooning for this pair of earrings in particular:

aren’t they a gorgeous modern take on turn of the century jewelry? there’s something about them that really harkens back to art nouveau to me, for some reason. i could link pair after pair that i would love to own, but it’s not simply the aesthetics i can get behind, but their creative approach. i just love their approach to jewelry making.

they invited me to stop by their studio in limoilou sometime, and i can’t wait to take them up on their offer when my wallet has fully recovered from this weekend’s events.

i know i have readers from many corners around the world, so to make this a wee bit less quebec centric i leave you with these thoughts. i’ve already expressed my distaste of shopping “events” like black friday. i personally am really not a fan of commercializing everything possible and making things into “sale” days. however, events like craft fairs, zine expos, and the like make it possible for craft lovers like myself to meet the people who make the things we wear, read, and enjoy. and every time i go to a good one like sng6, i leave completely reinvigorated and inspired… as opposed to when i leave a shopping mall, where i feel overwhelmed, frustrated and broke.

i can’t say i’m 100% sold on the idea of radical ideas being able to take root via capitalistic endeavors (since so many social justice issues stem from capitalism being the model of “every man for himself”) but i definitely think it’s a step in the right direction.

in short: if you celebrate the holidays and want to give thoughtful awesome gifts to your loved ones, check out your local craft fair. you never know, you might make some new friends and learn something new while you’re at it. how often does that happen in a mall?

LINKS:

• Salon Nouveau Genre 6
• Why not Coconut? Handmade jewelry and jewelry cases
• Jackalop
• Iris
• water loup
• Studio Method(e)

without further ado, here’s a selection of some of my favourite november outfits.

on my way to see sandro perri & ryan driver at l’agitée, a really really fantastic show. impossible spaces is definitely one of my favourite albums of 2011!

visiting a strange hotel in ste foy to celebrate my partner’s sister’s birthday

hands down my favourite outfit of the month. one of my favourite vintage dresses, paired with backseam tights, my ox-blood t-strap heels.

you’ll see a theme coming along now… i mostly wear the same coat every day, and i kind of love it. automatic glamour.

nov 9th. i wish i had a better photo of this outfit, but take my word for it, i looked badass. 1940s black dress with lace detail, paired with faux lace grey and white tights and boots. i can’t remember why i felt like dressing up but i’ll definitely put it together again.

nov 10th. this was the day a bunch of kids yelled “hé la fille gothique!” at me. definitely never been called a goth before!

highlight of my november? my babely sisters coming to visit! here we are in the oldest cemetary in quebec city. notice that a tree has grown around a gravestone?!

we went for dinner at the fanciest restaurant in town (by my account!), moine échanson, and had like a three course décadent soirée. it’s important to spoil yourself every once in a while! and this is where i like to do it.

wearing patterned tights over coloured tights is totally where it’s at.

can you guess what i’m trying to channel/what we were listening to? we were celebrating 11:11:11

the first snowfall! in front of my house.

not the best photo, but those are some fun new tights!

yup! still biking in november!

nov 16th

nov 17th

nov 18th

at my writing date with karina, nov 21st

new pencil skirt i scored for A DOLLAR. man i miss good thrift stores.

my fancy little suitcase, quick trip to montreal for expozine!

at expozine! fun times.

BEST TIMES EVER. hanging out with sves, simon, and a KITTEN.

you can’t tell in this photo but those tights are SO good.

this was the day a woman stopped me in the streets and insisted i was from a time travel machine.

daisies daisies everywhere.

there you go! woah! lots of photos.

ah, what a lovely, complicated, recurring question. i had planned on responding to it myself, but before i knew it my badass friend iris had already tackle the issue quite succinctly. in her editorial “Mo Awareness, Mo Problems” she covers everything from the very heteronormative narrow approach to addressing men’s health issues to the badass moustachioed folks ignored in movember’s hall of fame. but don’t let me speak for her, read it yourself:

A large portion of the money raised by Movember goes to Prostate Cancer Canada, which is funding some extremely worthwhile initiatives, but some of this cash goes back to Movember itself, which seems to be paying largely for slick graphic design and gimmicky branded merchandise.

While I don’t want to minimize the importance of cancer research, I have my doubts about whether Movember is the best vehicle for a men’s health movement. Though popular, “moustache awareness” has been marketed so strongly that the causes it stands for can seem like an afterthought.

screencap of the movember website that reads "merchandise"

If you look hard enough on the Movember website, past the ads for beer, motorcycles, and razors, you’ll find that the campaign encourages men to get physical exams, eat healthier diets, stop smoking, and drink in moderation. But rather than using their marketing dollars to make it cool for men to eat salads, the Movember website unhelpfully tells you the volume of beer that a one-month old moustache can absorb.

It doesn’t talk about access. Movember imagines that men don’t go to doctors because they “just can’t fit it into their schedule.” The campaign assumes that the largest barrier to health care access is men’s reluctance. This ignores other significant factors, like the availability of healthcare or insurance coverage; the ability to see a queer or trans-positive healthcare practitioner; the ability to access healthcare in your first language, or if you work a night shift, or a variety of other reasons including the accessibility and affordability of healthy foods.

It’s cisnormative. Movember’s prostate cancer focus has expanded to encompass “men’s health awareness” generally. Still, not all men have prostates. Cervical cancer is also a “men’s health” issue –checkitoutguys.ca does an awesome job of providing info for trans guys who need paps. There are also lots of guys – trans and cis alike – who can’t grow facial hair, but that doesn’t make them less manly.

It’s heteronormative. The moustache plays a huge role in queer style and iconography, but Movember’s celebrity Hall of Fame is super straight (Dr. Phil, Mr. Potato Head, Ned Flanders, Ron Jeremy), except for Freddie Mercury. Where’s John Waters? Tom of Finland pinups? Le Tigre’s JD Samson? (Julia adds: Frida Kahlo!)

The Movember campaign also explicitly argues that moustaches are sexy, without ever acknowledging queer sexualities and relationships. The website’s “Mo Facts” include statements like “Women are more attracted to men with Mo’s.”

This absence is especially conspicuous in a campaign that focuses on prostates. If the aim is to get men to get annual physical exams, it would be especially useful to lessen the perception that someone’s finger in your ass (whether that finger is your doctor’s or your lover’s) is an experience to be avoided. No homo, right bros?

It misses opportunities to debunk sexist ideology. The idea that only men have moustaches is propped up by a lot of sexist marketing and patriarchal bullshit. Ask any woman who has bleached, shaved, waxed, or lasered her face – or who has felt pressure to do so. Women with facial hair have been displayed as “freaks” in circuses. Movember dismissingly mentions that “some Eastern European” women have moustaches, which is a harmful stereotype in itself. Check out J. Bee’s “Femme a Barbe” zine for more on women & other bearded gender outlaws.

Movember (somewhat defensively) states that men are “indifferent” to their health and need to step up their game to catch up with the “women’s health movement”. Of course, the underfunding of necessary programs or research relating to anyone’s health is a situation that should be improved.

Still, the framing of this conversation leaves out larger discussions about gender and healthcare that would likely be more effective than the “men are scared of hospitals” model that Movember uses. There is a “women’s health movement” because historically, women weren’t included in medical studies and so research regarding their health was underdeveloped. For instance, the symptoms of a heart attack are different for cis women than cis men.

As well, women’s bodies are often pathologized as unwell and treated as public. Women are pathologized as being sick even when the symptoms are often due to their social location – we don’t have “hysteria” anymore, but we do have similar stigma about shit like PMS. Men, especially typically masculine, macho, “bros” like the ones targeted by Movember, are thought to be by definition healthy and normal. It’s good that Movember aims to discourage the “it’ll all be alright” attitude, but it seems unlikely to be effective without also critiquing the “bro” stereotype.

It centres white dudes. When Jarvis was on campus scouting for Mo Bros, he told us that after hours of looking, he found an overwhelming number of participating white guys and very few POC participants. The official Movember website is similarly problematic, though they do sell licensed Snoop Dogg t-shirts.

It leaves out environmental factors. Healthy lifestyles are important, but can only do so much. Curing cancer for good will likely involve pressuring governments for better environmental regulations that limit the use and exposure of carcinogens beyond what individuals can do on their own.

what do you think? personally i think she’s hit the nail on the head (but i’m biased seeing as she is my best friend).

while i’m on the topic of moustaches, though, i’d love to share some more awesome links with you:

majestic legay posted this video on november 1st. so much of what they had to say rang true for me, namely being a “hairy french canadian” and getting teased. i don’t quite remember exactly when i stopped removing facial hair, but suffice to say these days i’m embraced the little face fuzz i do have. i think it is slightly linked to the first times i did drag, where i had less work to do to highlight my sideburns, eyebrows, etc. it’s different for everyone, but i think we spend far too much time and effort hiding our facial hair and avoid conversations about it like the plague. perhaps critical folks can reclaim movember to start discussions around how hypergendered facial hair is? and admire the badass femmes and queers who fuck with those notions around the attachment of moustaches and beards to traditional notions of masculinity? that is a campaign i can get behind.

two of my favourite moustachioed babes, majestic legay and jessie dress (founder of fa(t)shion february)

art by katy did not

in the end, i have to say i can’t really write off movember entirely. it’s got some real good aspects, and as a fan of moustaches on people of all genders and presentations, i can’t complain about the increase in sightings. i just think there’s a lot of work to be done before it’s something i can enthusiastically support. when we can start talking about cancers without having to brand them as girly! pink! = breast cancer and moustaches! virile! rugged! = men’s health/prostate cancer, i’ll be one happy camper. until then, though, i’ll high-five these badass critical folks like iris, j. bee, and majestic for their insights and awesome work.

RECOMMENDED READING:

• Mo Awareness, Mo Problems by Iris Hodgson at Arthur Newspaper (November 28th, 2011)
• Femme a Barbe zines (1, 2 & 3) by Sassyfrass Circus (you can still buy them here)
• Moustache Revival on the Current – CBC Radio (November 1st, 2011)
• #noshavenovember raises hairy gender questions – Ms. Magazine