mood moody

Golden phallus pendants (3cm), worn by soldiers in Ancient Rome for protection + to 'ward off the evil eye'

Syd Stripe Split by Richard Aldrich, 2005

Transitional spring dressing, French Elle March 1990 by Friedemann Hauss via Dark Victory

Glasses, Armani SS 1999 ad

Gucci loafers via The Fader

Model leather bag, Vogue May 1937

 

Katy Perry once sang 'you're hot then you're cold, you're yes then you're no...you're wrong when it's right...it's black and it's white.' She may have been talking about a difficult dude, but let's pretend she was talking about clothing, shall we? Naturally I'm quite taken with the idea of contrasts. (Note: I owned a pink t-shirt emblazoned with the statement 'it's hard raising parents' at age 5.) Masculine and feminine. Pretty and ugly. Serious, yet a little humorous. A mash-up of unlike, even opposing ideas makes things far more interesting. 

Take the above golden phallus pendants. They are essentially museum-preserved artifacts. Yet, I’m quite amused by the concept of Hollywood starlets and celebs in lacey Valentino gowns, wearing them on the red carpet. (Alexa Chung, you could pull it off, just sayin'.) Actually, IDK if there’s anything cooler than the combo of ancient golden peen + Valentino haute couture.  That being said, this mood board's theme sort of encompasses around the idea of unlikely pairings. The overall/t-shirt look is super masculine, but there's an elegant beauty to it at the same time, aided by the slight exposure of the ankle and the fabric's swoop-y draping. The 1999 Armani specs are the definition of nerdy, but there's no denying that the model here looks babely.  The Fader's street style photog snapped a girl wearing the classic, prepster Gucci loafer. She brings them to another level with frilly socks and faded denim. (PS: Author /Former Barney's Fashion Director, Amanda Brooks' post on the Gucci loafer is worth a look.) And lastly, Model's (a leather goods company that also collaborated with fashion designers of the time period) 1937 leather bag, featured in Vogue, looks more like a sculptural l'objet d'art, rather than a handbag.