FASHION FROLIC

Daul Kim

PFortunato — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 20:49:09 -0500

It was just this past Wednesday the 18th when I was scrolling through Blogger and reading I LIKE TO FORK MYSELF, Daul Kim's blog of personal musings. According to the Telegraph, the model committed suicide in her apartment in Paris the following morning of the 19th.

Kim's blog was completely unedited and written from stream of thought. A collection of personal musings, you might say, and it worked. I wasn't a religious reader, but I would check it from time to time and empathize with her random, deeply personal postings. I suppose the real reason why I didn't read it every day is because, although refreshing, it was slightly depressing - unlike usual model's narcissistic blogs - and a true outpouring of the soul.

Two years ago, on April 16, 2007, a seventeen-year-old Kim posted "say hi to my living condition" in reference to her shared models' apartment in New York. An excerpt below:

"i was really sad so its making me feel bit depressed
i think its worse nowdays cos i really didnt miss home when i was like 13 and traveling,
but im still 17 and maybe some ppl think im old enough but really all these years
traveling and missing school and missing real home time is effecting me now
i dont have much memories from school cos i quit school when i was 15 going on 16
and i home schooled . but even when i was 13 i didnt really have friends my age
and i had like 3 friendsf rom highschool and i still dont have friends my age.
it made me be more mature but at the same time sometimes i feel sad and i just hope
i dont become like michal jackson and build neverland when im like 30 something
and be crazy and get plastic surgery and molest children."

I subscribed to her YouTube videos, and "A sentimental journey (i have been crying for 17 years)" was uploaded two years ago; I believe it documents how much of an outsider she felt she was:

And then, on November 14, 2009, she posted "say hi to self-reliance", dissecting Ralph Waldo Emerson's famous essay. An excerpt:

"It contains the most solid statement of one of Emerson's repeating themes, the need for each individual to avoid conformity and false consistency, and follow his or her own instincts and ideas. Emerson's ideas are considered a reaction to a commercial identity; he calls for a return to individual identity."

I could sit here and dissect Kim's beautiful blog, post by post, line by line, word by word, but I choose not to because there is truly no need. Kim was a beautiful, soulful young girl with a fascinating career behind and ahead of her.

She will be missed.

beautiful to be remembered and to capture and to display and to be forgotten to be remembered and then forgotten then remembered...

Photo: MODELS

Ann Demeulemeester

PFortunato — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 10:18:11 -0500

I've never been one to lust over mainstream designers and over-the-top couture. Gravitating towards the less conspicuous houses of Alexandre Herchcovitch, Vena Cava and Stella McCartney, I've developed a certain taste that's all my own. Never one to follow trends, I buck everything traditional and/or uniform and opt for the avant-garde. While mixing high and low is nothing new to the industry's most stylish, I choose to believe that I bring my peculiar persona to a new level.

If I had to choose just one designer who embodies my current tastes, it would be Ann Demeulemeester. Hailing from Waregem, Belgium, the Royal Academy of Fine Arts graduate is part of the Antwerp Six - a group of distinctive Belgian designers from the 1980s. Long associated with rocker Patti Smith (whose songs can be heard at Demeulemeester's runway shows), her collections are as much gothic and punk-inspired as they are highly individualistic and, ultimately, cutting edge.

Obsessively perfect cuts, menswear-inspired pieces, black on black and raw sex appeal from her spring 2010 collection give bondage-style shoes, leather bottoms, earthy prints and flashes of bare skin chic seduction. Infiltrated with emotion, Demeulemeester's collection leaves viewers pondering possible inspirations that propelled this season's vision. Nearly two months later and I feel the same way I felt when the collection stormed the Paris runway in early fall - tragically beautiful, emotional girls just waiting to be set free.

Photo: COÛTE QUE COÛTE

November Inspirations

PFortunato — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 14:18:17 -0500

Photo: Frillr

Photo: super.fantastic.picture.time

Photo: W

Photo: popbee

Photo: Listal

Photo: RUSSH MAGAZINE

Photo: Rotten Tomatoes

Beauty Kate Moss/ELLE Senior Style Director Kate Lanphear/Mary-Kate Olsen/Devon Aoki/Sofia Coppola (Lick the Star: Part I & Part II)/RUSSH MAGAZINE/The Dreamers

You already know I love the Kates. I thought this photo from Mary-Kate's cover shoot with W in 2006 was particularly odd - she looks nothing like herself. Devon will always be my favorite supermodel. Sofia stole my heart with these two short films, and then with The Virgin Suicides. The new issue of RUSSH is on my bed, just waiting to be read. I started reading the glossy last year and think it's amazing. Australian magazines have a different tone than American, European and Asian - it's the au naturel quality of the photography and models' styling. I suppose it's what I'm feeling at the moment. I can't stand makeup beyond eyeliner and mascara right now, and I haven't touched my blowdryer or flatiron in a month. The Dreamers is a film I can watch on repeat time and time again. I've always been fascinated with 1968 France, and the threesome's self-induced seclusion from the the city is my escape.

Flashbacks - 1960, 2005, just a dose of my favorites

PFortunato — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 04:40:45 -0400

Photo: The Huffington Post

Photo: Vanity Fair

Guy Bourdin video (music by Olivier Alary)

PFortunato — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 14:05:10 -0400

Beautiful, non? I love Guy Bourdin - his work is provocative, exotic, mysterious and just gorgeous. What do you think of this video?