visual stimulus

Models backstage at the Duckie Brown show

President Obama's wide-eyed promise to bring change to Washington and the nation have yet to materialize, but according to the NYT, his influence is showing on the runways with a tip towards one end of what writer Grace Paley once described as the "gorgeous chromatic" spectrum.

I say, woman cannot live on bread alone...

Link: The New York Times

cowboys in Paris

Jerry Hall in Vivienne Westwood Opus
Link: Stylefrizz

Wandering in cyberspace, El Chamizo stumbled on a fabulous yarn about a couple of Texans who end up in Paris kicking it with mother of punk fashion Vivienne Westwood. Moral of the story: Be your hick self and the doors of "Hoite Coiture" will open wide.

"In my early days while living in Paris, France, my roommate W and I made friends with the director of one of the most popular nightclubs in Paris that went by the name of Le Bain Douche which actually means “the bath house" which is what this prime night club was in its early days. This club director was an American who had been living in Paris for a number of years before we showed up in the city. Her name was Beverly and she became a really good friend of ours mainly because she was American and spoke English! One day Beverly called my roommate and I and asked if we would like to escort her to a Vivienne Westwood dinner to celebrate Vivienne’s new line of fashion for that season. I asked Beverly over the phone, 'Who in the heck is Vivenne Westwood?'..."

Read on: My time with Vivienne Westwood and her husband, Andreas Kronthaler