Gehry & Rodarte x Don Giovanni

How do you bring Mozart to a 21st century audience? If you're the LA Philharmonic you hire Frank Gehry to do your set design and Kate and Laura Mulleavy (aka Rodarte) to design costumes.

Neither are in unfamiliar territory here - Gehry designed his first opera set for a production of Osud at the Fisher Center for Performing Arts at Bard College and the Mulleavy sisters are responsible for the costumes used in Black Swan - but this seems like a challenge on a much grander scale.

I can think of no better way for an opera company to appeal to the masses, though - who wouldn't want to go just to see the spectacle?

costumes for Black Swan

Walt Disney Concert Hall in LA

Frank Gehry's buildings are marvels not only to look at, but also to walk through. For this production he's planning to create a "moving still-life on the stage" in a concert hall that he designed back in the early 90s (the building opened to the public in 2003 after many financial delays).

Brought to You by the Colour Grey

I realized on my way to work this morning that I was wearing almost entirely grey, literally from head to toe, in a fairly grey landscape. It seems that every week the city alternates from spring-ish browns and swampy greens to pristine white. Yesterday: brown. This morning: grey. Currently: white-ish with a strong chance of rain.

1 Joe jeans
2 French Connection coat
3 Wool hat via net-a-porter.com
4 H by Hudson Lille desert boots
5 Falke cable knit knee high socks

image via polyvore

Bâtiment

Experiential art installations are all the rage right now.


This fall there was Carsten Höller's exhibition cum funhouse at the New Museum in New York City. A mirrored carousel, giant mushroom sculptures, a slide that visitors could ride through two floors were just some of the artist's engaging work in the installation.


Currently on exhibit at 104 in Paris is Leandro Erlich's Bâtiment, which consists of a towering mirror onto which an image of a building is reflected. The building itself is merely a facade constructed on the ground, allowing visitors to walk all over it, sprawl out on it, and configure themselves into a scene that is at once dangerous, bizarre, and wondrous in appearance to onlookers of the reflected image. 

installation, 104 in Paris:

Bâtiment, Leandro Erlich au 104 by Palagret:

                                                       Carsten Holler: Experience at the New Museum, NYC:

Jason Wu x Target

On February 5th, get thee to a Target. Jason Wu's collection for Target is perfection and just what I'm looking for (ideal for spring and for winter layering) - minimalist, tailored looks with a nice balance of neutrals and colour pops.

When Target comes to Canada in 2013 (or is it 2014? I can't keep track), I wonder if all these capsule collections will be available north of the border as well...

Accidental Resolution

Kale. 

I feel sort of smug about this one, because without meaning to the superfood that's at the top of everybody's superlist has made its way into my smoothies. I bought a giant bag of kale at the farmer's market on New Year's Eve because it was emerald green and looked so pretty. Then I had no idea what to do with it, so I chopped a bunch of it and threw it in with my usual banana, mango, strawberry, almond milk (and - I sort of can't believe it either and was likely propelled by the kale - ground flax seeds) and ended up with a murky green but tasty drink. Yesterday I bought another giant bag of kale at the farmer's market to replace the one that I'd already gone through. So. Yep. Smug. 

Recipe:

1 cup kale, chopped

1 banana

1/2 cup frozen mango

1/2 cup frozen strawberry

1/2 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk

1 tbsp maple syrup

1/2 tbsp ground flax seed

p.s. 1 cup of kale breaks down to this:

image via wayward spark

Russian Chic

Four good reasons why the russian cossack sartorially dominates the trapper hat.

Inspiration: Julie Christie in Dr. Zhivago (1965)

On the street: the newly-pregnant Sienna Miller in Paris

Grey coat + brown leather on the street

Kate Middleton at Cheltenham Festival

Image sources:

Sienna Miller

Grey coat, NYC

Kate Middleton

Hair Envy // Alexa Chung

Alexa Chung. Pioneer of ombre hair and the shaggy bob; peter pan collars and tomboy infused hi-low ensembles. I fight with my hair daily to get her effortlessly messy look.

Image Sources:

En route to Jimmy Fallon via Twitter

Harper's Bazaar via Reinventing Axl Rose

Street style via Pinterest

How to dress like Alexa Chung via Fashionolia.com

Meryl Streep // Cover Girl

Meryl Streep on the cover of the January issue of Vogue is an auspicious start to 2012. 

A history of Meryl covering magazines:

Time Magazine, September 1981
Rolling Stone, October 1981
Life Magazine, December 1987
Vanity Fair, January 2010
Vogue, January 2012