i feel most people don’t know the true telling of sleeping beauty and we can thank walt disney for that. the original story is far more gruesome and intriguing. true, the princess wanders to the spinning wheel and falls asleep for 100 years only to be woken by true love’s kiss. perrault (who penned the first version) has the valiant prince john (awesome) come and wake the princess with a kiss and they marry in secret and have two children. the family remains anonymous until prince john becomes king and they return to his kingdom which he leaves in the care of his mother…who happens to be an ogre, yah how glamorous. the ogress hates the new queen and banishes her to the woods where she instructs the cooks to prepare the children in a special sauce (no joke). the cook, taking pity upon the family (as servants often do in fairy tales, see snow white) hides the children and serves lamb and goat instead. the ogress then orders up a helping of the young queen who willingly offers her life, believing her beloved children have been killed but the cook re-unites them all. unfortunately for the royal family the ogress gets wise and sentences them all to die together in a pit of vipers. ouch. but what luck! prince john arrives at the sentencing and rescues the fair family and the ogress throws herself into the pit! hooray! and then all live happily ever after…in reem acra i’m sure.
1: the young princess, pre spindle: sweater by milly, shirt by marni, skirt by reem acra, bag by luella, shoes by givenchy
2: okay, so i used to live in a castle now i live in a hut in the woods: dress and fanny pack thing by rachel comey, cape by chloe, shoes by missoni
3: befitting of my queenship: dress, jewels and shoes by reem acra
apologies i completely forgot about blogger friend monday, i will double up next monday!
so this morning whilst getting ready and thinking of who i could style next for textbook i somehow landed on snow white. i kept thinking about it and the more i thought about her, the less excited i was. lets be serious, she doesn’t know how to take control of a situation and couldn’t really handle anything on her own…most certainly not a modern woman. the wicked queen on the other hand took charge of her surroundings. she was presented with a problem (not being fairest of them all) and came up with a solution. granted, her methods weren’t the wisest but she was getting from point a to point b by using her mind and some black magic. snow white on the other hand couldn’t even fend for herself after escaping the queens clutches, she had to have seven dwarves and woodland creatures help her just to stand alone. please. so here’s to the wicked queen, a savvy if not severe woman. you go girl.
1: mirror mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?: dress by lanvin, shoes by rodarte
2: whatever, snow white is pale: dress by alexander mcqueen, shoes by proenza schouler
3: i’ll just kill her, no big deal: dress by john galliano, boots by givenchy
one of the things i love most about stories is how we see the transition and growth of a character. inevitably they are version 1.0 at chapter one and some other version at the end of the story. otherwise, you’re reading or watching a crap story. one of the great things about film is that we see the transition happen, sometimes it’s long and drawn out but more often than not we see it happen fast. think ty from clueless (rip brittany murphy), the girls in the house bunny and of course sandy from grease. she started off the shy girl from the outback who spent the summer with danny zukko and became a cigarette stomping, heel wearing, leather decked amusement park razing biker chick. props to you sandy. props.
1: look at me i’m sandra dee: dress by lela rose, shoes by ralph lauren
2: goodbye to sandra dee: dress by proenza schouler, jacket by balmain, shoes by karl lagerfeld
3: ya better shape up, ‘cuz i need a man: jumpsuit by givenchy, jacket by rag and bone, shoes by balmain
macbeth continues to fascinate me years and years after reading it, i suppose that’s the mark of a great work. so may i present the three witches. there are two reasons why i still think of it often, the first being my teacher who assigned it to us in high school was so into literature and teaching. she really got us excited about books and that’s quite a feat considering most of us were hyper-privileged and under-enthused. the second is the work itself, i love the story and all the manipulation. you can tear macbeth apart over and over and arrive at a different conclusion each time. who really started all the trouble that night? was it the witches for informing macbeth he would be king? was it lady macbeth for pushing him to commit the crime? was it macbeth himself? it’s almost too fun to think about. i like to think it was the witches though, the personification of evil. plus, they’re the original mean girls…and who doesn’t love the idea of three women roaming the earth intent on disrupting the lives of mortals? everybody loves it, perhaps that’s why it’s pops up in so much work across the world. oh my god, macbeth is so good, must read again.
1: double double toil and trouble: dress by balmain, shoes by givenchy
2: fire burn and cauldron bubble: dress and tattoos by rodarte, shoes by ann demeulemeester
3: 98% of the world doesn’t know the rest of that poem: dress by vena cava, boots by balenciaga
