Brazilian Chic

The Incarnations of Kimiko Yoshida

LOUIS XIV AS THE RISING SUN IN "LE BALLET DE LA NUIT" AT VERSAILLES. SELF-PORTRAIT, 2010. COURTESY PACO RABANNE

SULTAN SALADIN THE GREAT. SELF-PORTRAIT, 2010. COURTESY PACO RABANNE

GODDESS OF WAR ATHENA BY KLIMT. SELF-PORTRAIT, 2010.   COURTESY PACO RABANNE

WISE KING MELCHIOR BY MANTEGNA. SELF-PORTRAIT, 2010. COURTESY PACO RABANNE

THE GOLDEN BRIDE FROM FEZ, SELF-PORTRAIT 2005. COURTESY OF THE ISRAEL MUSUEM, JERUSALEM

QUEEN OF FRANCE MARIE DE' MEDICI BY RUBENS. SELF-PORTRAIT, 2010. COURTESY PACO RABANNE

EL CONQUISTADOR HERNAN CORTES AS EL DORADO. SELF-PORTRAIT, 2010. COURTESY PACO RABANNE

LAST SAMURAI KATSUMOTO. SELF-PORTRAIT, 2010. COURTESY OF PACO RABANNE.

THE TORERO BRIDE WITH A BLACK SUIT OF LIGHTS , REMEMBERING PICASSO. SELF-PORTRAIT 2006.

ASSOMPTION OF VIRGIN MARY BY TINTORETTO. SELF-PORTRAIT, 2010. COURTESY OF PACO RABANNE.

SAINT AUGUSTIN BY EL GRECO. SELF-PORTRAIT, 2010. COURTESY OF PACO RABANNE.

WOMAN OF ALGIERS BY DELACROIX. SELF-PORTRAIT, 2007-2009

PHARAON BY GUSTAVE DORÉ, SELF-PORTRAIT, 2007-2009

SISTINE MADONNA BY RAPHAEL. SELF-PORTRAIT, 2010. COURTESY OF PACO RABANNE.

KING OF FRANCE FRANCOIS I BY JEAN CLOUET. SELF-PORTRAIT, 2010.COURTESY OF PACO RABANNE.

JUDITH BY CRANACH THE ELDER. SELF-PORTRAIT, 2010. COURTESY OF PACO RABANNE.

THE CAPRICIOUS GIRL BY WATTEAU. SELF-PORTRAIT, 2010. COURTESY OF PACO RABANNE.

ZAPATA BY DIEGO RIVERA. SELF-PORTRAIT, 2010. COURTESY OF PACO RABANNE.

QUEEN MARIANA OF AUSTRIA BY VELASQUEZ. SELF-PORTRAIT, 2010. COURTESY OF PACO RABANNE.

HECATE, THE GREEK GODDESS OF THE MOON AND THE SPIRIT OF THE DEAD, BY WILLIAM BLAKE. SELF-PORTRAIT, 2010

DON QUIXOTE BY PICASSO. SELF-PORTRAIT, 2010. COURTESY OF PACO RABANNE.

THE SILVER BERBER BRIDE, MOROCCO, EARLY XX th CENTURY. SELF-PORTRAIT 2005. COURTESY OF THE ISRAEL MUSUEM, JERUSALEM

THE MEXICAN BRIDE,  SELF PORTRAIT 2012

THE RED EGYPTIAN BRIDE (HARRY WINSTON). SELF-PORTRAIT, 2008

THE BRIDE GRAND COMMANDEUR DE LA LEGION D'HONNEUR. SELF-PORTRAIT 2006

THE RED PALESTINIAN BRIDE , EARLY XX th CENTURY. SELF-PORTRAIT 2005. COURTESY OF THE ISRAEL MUSUEM, JERUSALEM

THE MAO BRIDE RED GUARD RED. SELF-PORTRAIT, 2009

"A fundamental part of Japanese culture is linked to the notion of disappearance.

Unlike the West, in Japan we use makeup in order to disappear, to erase our identity. The basic idea behind my makeup is tied to the geisha’s traditional use of a ghostly-white makeup, called ” doran ” which leaves only the outline of her eyes and bright red lips visible. Makeup in Japan is not perceived as a way of making a woman become more beautiful, but rather as a way of transforming her into an abstraction of a woman. She becomes an “idea of a woman “, rather than an “ideal woman.” It is a way of dying." text by Barbara Oudiz

Transformation, Metamorphism, Shape Shifter. These are the words that come into my mind when I look at Kimiko Yoshida and her impacting self portraits. All the pictures use always the same setting, same subject, same lighting, same framing. She does her own make-up, lighting and design using a Hasselbald camera with no retouching or editing. 

I find these images so deep and mesmerising, the Series "Painting, Self- Portrait" where she transforms herself into people from famous historical portraits with pieces from Paco Rabanne's Haute Couture collections works of art in themselves are my personal favourites. 

Do go to her website and see her extensive portafolio of work I had a hard time not putting all her work on this post, then this would just be pages and pages long. I spent hours reading, there are also lots of in depth articles on her and great interviews, Kimiko you are a fascinating lady!

Am hoping that she will do a show in London someday soon. 

All images Via Kimiko Yoshida

Happy New Year 2013

May your blessings be bountiful, your health sparkling and your love contagious.

2013 is the Magic Number, just believe. xo

Chinese Splendor

Raise The Red Lantern via National Ballet of China

Yellow Chinoiserie Wallpaper via NSR Handcrafts Co.

Wedgewood Jasper Conran Chinoiserie Green via Matching China

Raise the Red Lantern Film by Zhang Yimou

Midnight Blue Chinoiserie Wallpaper via Made in China

Mint Green Chinoiserie Wallpaper via de Gournay

House of Flying Daggers Bamboo Forest

Ralph Lauren's seems to have China on his mind, this is my favorite  collection in years.

I see some influence from Bernardo Bertolucci's wonderful 9 Academy Award winning film The Last Emperor which had incredible costumes, music and set design.

Also the colours in this collection made me think of Director Zhang Yimou films, The stunningly visual House of Flying Daggers with its incredible vibrant Jade Green Bamboo scene, the reds and blacks from both Hero and Raise The Red Lantern which was also made into a Ballet by China's National Ballet.

On 8.8.2008 Zhang Yimou directed the unforgettable Beijing Olympics opening Ceremony. So wish I could have been there.

Here are some links to view clips of these wonderful movies,

The Last Emperor www.criterion.com/films/254-the-last-emperor

House Of Flying Daggers www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLkedDMb8vI

Raise The Red Lantern www.youtube.com/watch?v=vivaoPZhIH8&feature=related

Hero www.youtube.com/watch?v=srFhXDZhUZI

http://www.ballet.org.cn/en/home.htm

www.ralphlauren.com

Chocolate Layers

Dora Daar

Le Smoking

YSL AD

YSL Cigarettes

Classic S T Dupont Lighter

Michael Caine via Like a Doll

Vintage St. Moritz Cigarettes

Delfina Delettrez Apartment via Harper's Bazaar

YSL Smoking via Helmut Newton

Love this photo but can't find the credit!

Carmen Kass via Vogue Espagna

Continental via Vintage Cigarettes

Jean-loup Sieff

YSL Vintage Cigarettes

Pierre Cardin Smoking set via Talisman

Josh Brolin by Hedi Slimane

Black and Gold S T Dupont Lighter

Nat Sherman Cigarillos

Paul Newman

Jennifer Connelly

Cartier 18Carat Gold Cigarette Case via Christies

Marlon Brando via Getty Images

The Stork Club 1950's Smoking , Elegance and fun allowed.

www.christies.com

www.ysl.com

www.helmutnewton.com

WORDS: https://www.instagram.com/katarrrrina/

for Frachella https://www.instagram.com/frachella/

Nour El Nil

Nour El Nil " Light of The Nile" , just the name on its own makes you want to run and book one of these beautifully decorated Dahabiyas , which were historically built to carry Royal families . I was doing research on Nile Cruises for the perfect boat for a private party and stumbled upon this gem of a fleet.

Nour El Nil has a choice of 4 Dahabiyas, Meroe , Malouka , El Nil and Assouan. They are similarly decorated but are of different sizes and cabins. You sail at a slow pace lounging on one of those elegantly stripped cushioned beds on the upper deck watching the Nile unfold before you, visiting the magnificent temples and docking on beaches for a swim.

Am sure with the renowned Egyptian Hospitality a trip with Nour El Nil would never be forgotten.Enjoy exploring their site , as they say in Egypt Inshallah (god willing) you will be soon voyaging on the splendor of the Nile.

NB. The owner of Nour al Nil is an accomplished writer whose wonderfully titled book "A Winter on The Nile: Florence Nightingale, Gustave Flaubert and The Temptations of Egypt" Would be a great companion on your journey or at home.

All pictures via www.nourelnil.com

Dashi Namdakov: A Nomad's Universe

“I would like to understand Buryat and Buddhist tradition rationally, yet I believe something within me knows it better than I do." Dashi Namdakov

Dashi Namdakov lives in the South Eastern part of Russian Siberia near the absolutely magnificent Lake Baikal, the world’s cleanest and biggest fresh water container - one of the Worlds Natural Heritage Sites. The local people Buryats believe the Lake to be sacred.

Dashi was born in 1967 in a small Buryati village near the Russian Chinese border. His father was a well-known craftsman in the village who was famous for his versatile abilities to make things with his own hands furniture, metal handles and even carpets. His wood-carved sculptures of buddhist gods and tangkas (Buddhist icons) were installed in monasteries. So, from early childhood the kids learnt different skills through helping their father.

This is the atmosphere Dashi has grown up in and by the time he became a young man he had a good command of various manual skills. But at the age of 15 Dashi suddenly got very sick and for 7 long years no doctor could heal him. The boy was near the death's door.

Finally the parents found themselves at a shaman who found the cause of the sickness. It was the negligence that people show to their roots, their predecessors and their names. She made her ritual. Incredible enough but the pain stopped instantly. And 7 days later Dashi was in another city looking for a job. That shaman predicted that Dashi would see a huge success due to his ability to observe the beauty of the surrounding world and to recreate it in metal.

He moves to Ulan-Ude, Buryati central city and starts his carrier in the workshop of the locally well-known sculptor G.Vasilyev. In 1988 Dashi is admitted to the University of Fine Arts in Siberian Krasnoyarsk city. This is where Russian famous artists Lev Golovnitsky, Yuri Ishkhanov, Azat Boyarlin and Eduard Pakhomov taught him the academic art.

After graduation in 1992 Dashi returns to Ulan-Ude. In the year 2000 after his first personal exhibition in Irkutsk it becomes clear that a new star was born in the world of arts. The exhibition came as a furore to the art establishment. The first exhibition was followed by other successful venues in Russia and other countries.

The mysterious images often haunt Dashi during nights when the consciousness is in transition to another world inhabited by celestial creatures and spirits. Dashi scrupulously renders these visions to the paper for him not to forget - and then the night dreams are imprinted in bronze or silver.

Dashi's sculptures belong to other, remote worlds where the man and the cosmos are one, where every single thing is an integral part of the universal construction each having its own individual place and yet constantly reincarnating. This is the oriental idea of the world seeing beauty in the fragile harmony of things and fearing to break this beauty with an awkward move.

This is why old shamans talk to the spirits and heal people in Dashi's world. His old warrior does not look barbaric at all rather he is tired and wise. However one feels that his wisdom does come from a lot of pain. Knowing the real cost of the victory the warrior becomes wise and thus more humane than anybody else. Dashi's women are sensual but shy in the oriental manner. Looking at a wild fallow deer how can anyone fail to see a beautiful girl? If one takes a close look at the world around he must be able to see its beauty.

"The Creator is wiser than you", - say Dashi's sculptures.- "If you take the world as it is its secret beauty will come out to you".

"My Grandpa was a very gifted story-teller. He knew a lot of legends and stories about Buryats. And I remember them with my bones, inwardly. This feeling is very strong and more on subconscious level. I would like to understand Buryat and Buddhist tradition rationally, yet, I believe, something within me knows it better than I do. My teacher at the Art School was Lev Golovnitsky, a very fine and good Russian sculptor. And he helped me to appreciate and understand the art of sculpture and world tradition. And I am a student of Michelangelo and Bourdelle, Bruegel and Old Japanese art. And I am also myself. " (Dashi Namdakov).

Text above from Halcyon Gallery,

I have always been fascinated by Nomadic Tribes and the lands of Mongolia , Siberia, Russia and central Asia. Especially their traditions and mystical faiths of Shamanism and storytelling. Dashi Namdakov has managed to capture all of these things and more in his incredible sculptures, paintings and jewellery design. This is is his first solo show in the UK, The collection includes 45 sculptures and drawings created by the artist over last 12 years and showcases the artist’s extraordinary craftsmanship and highly original style which combines traditional spiritual imagery with present day realities, make sure to also go and see this and the sculpture in Marble Arch. Out of this world.

Thank you Halcyon Gallery for bringing us such a magnificent talent,

16th of May-7 July 2012

Halcyon Gallery

144-146 New Bond Street

London

Photos sourced via,

www.halcyongallery.com

www.dashi-art.com

www.khankhalaev.com

INTERMISSION:   Made by Hand- Martinez Cigars NYC

VIDEO BY bureauofcommongoods.com

LOVE THIS XO