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Shiva is one of the main gods of the Hindu religion. When all is said and done, there are millions and millions of deities in the Hindu pantheon, so I guess Shiva is pretty special. In truth, my first exposure was in Final Fantasy VII when I summoned her using red materia to vanquish some foes. As one might imagine, Square Enix’s interpretation of Shiva is pretty off the map and hyper-sexualized but whatever. Shiva, like many (if not all?) gods of the Hindu religion is both man and woman and takes many different forms. As the god of destruction, Shiva represents positive and negative changes that range from the introspective to the more physical world and is often referred to as “The Destroyer”.
I’ll be honest, my knowledge of Shiva is very limited, so if you’re interested I suggest digging a little further on your own. Obviously, I have chosen to depict Shiva in a fully female form, but like I said, he/she has attributes of both sexes…annnnnd I’m not scholar of religion up in this piece.
FYI: from Stardusted.Tumblr.com: “Heeey, so Hindu follower of your blog here! So Shiva. Shiva himself is the male manifestation of the universe, and his wife Parvati is the female manifestation of the universe. They each have 108 forms/names. The genderfluid version you’re talking about is Ardhanarishvara (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ardhanarishvara). As you see, if you read the article, it’s pretty complicated- and it made me really uncomfortable to see Shiva used for fashion this way. I know you probably meant no disrespect, but Shiva isn’t a woman. (and let’s not even get into the video game)”
1. Dress by Marchesa, shoes by Tsumori Chisato
2. Dress by Peter Pilotto, shoes by Alexander McQueen
3. Dress by Mary Katrantzou, shoes by Altuzarra
WHAT WOULD CALLIOPE WEAR?
Somebody left a suggestion to post Antigone, daughter of Oedipus and Jocasta from the incestuous Greek tragedy Oedipus. But, Oedipus was a little heavy for a Wednesday morning, wouldn’t you say? For those readers who haven’t hit Greek mythology in their required high school reading, just you wait—it’s awesome. As a compromise for this suggestion, I’m posting Calliope, one of the eight muses. She’s the muse of epic poetry and most famous for being the inspiration behind The Odyssey. Well, if you’re going to inspire some of the greatest stories of all time…you better have the style to back it up, can I get some Proenza up in here? Yes, yes I can.
1. Whatever, I’m hooking up with Ares
Dress by Tsumori Chisato, shoes by Rodarte
2. Homer, you should write a book about like, a guy, who like, can’t get home
Dress by Louis Vuitton, shoes by Emilio Pucci
3. Ugh, none of the other muses are on tumblr, they’re so 2000-and-late.
Dress by Proenza Schouler, shoes by Prada
Shop Calliope’s Look:
BLUEBEARD’S BRIDE, BLUEBEARD
Folk tales and Fairy tales aren’t what they used to be, I suppose we have Disney to thank for that. The original stories, as I’ve said time and time again, are for more entertaining. One of my favorites is the tale of Bluebeard. Bluebeard was an enormously wealthy man feared for his ugliness and blue beard and because his wives seemed to all mysteriously disappear. Intent on marrying again, he visited a neighbor to petition for one of their daughters to be his bride. The girls desist but after the younger sister agrees to attend an impressive banquet at his home, she marries him. Shortly after they’re married, Bluebeard leaves the castle on business (or something) and gives his new bride all the keys and instructs her to spend as she wishes, entertain as she likes and generally have a good time. Before heading out he tells her not to unlock a room in the dungeon with a certain key. Naturally, the girl can’t resist and with her sister is horrified to find the bloodied corpses of his former wives in the room. She drops the key in a pool of blood and in an oh-so-macbeth fashion, the stain will not come off the key. HORROR! HOMEGIRL IS GONNA GET TROLLED. When her husband suddenly returns and finds the tell tale key, he threatens to behead for her insolence but she bargains for time to pray before her death. The sisters lock themselves in the highest room of the tallest tower (as per usual) in an attempt to escape. Sidenote: what is it about the tallest tower that screams “freedom?” Moving on, just before Bluebeard murders the pair, their brothers come in and rescue them in heroic style and then they all live off Bluebeard’s money. So, the moral of the story is—don’t trust people with beards. Thanks, here’s the younger sister, bye.
1. Psh, I don’t wanna marry that guy…
Coat by Tsumori Chisato, shoes by Miu Miu
2. But, he put on a nice spread so I’ll just marry him
Dress by Temperley London, shoes by Alexander McQueen
3. This party seems like a perfect time to find a torture chamber
Dress by Prada, shoes and tights by Jason Wu
AMEONNA, RAIN SPIRIT OF JAPAN
A couple weeks ago I asked for some suggestions of Asian folklore for Textbook and got tons of responses, so thanks for that. The first one up is Ameonna, a Japanese rain spirit. Legend has it that she exists as a cloud in the daytime and rain in the evening. Pretty snazzy. Collection wise I was happy to hit up Tsumori Chisato and you know, Rodarte because I use them for everything. Hooray for rain spirits.
1. Whatup, I’m a cloud right now
Dress by Wunderkind, scarf by Yohji Yamamoto, shoes by Thakoon
2. Move it, I’m raining
Dress by Rodarte, shoes by Alexander McQueen
3. I’m a cloud again, chill
Dress by Tsumori Chisato, shoes by Rodarte
All images from Vogue UK.
PERSEPHONE, QUEEN OF HADES
So this past weekend I was boning up on my Greek Mythology, you know by watching Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief because I’m 13 and I thought I’d give Persephone a try. Traditionally she is known as queen of Hades but before that she was just a goddess who was chillin. One day she was hanging out with her nymph friends and Hades kidnapped her. TWIST! Meanwhile, back at Chez Olympus, her mother started flipping out and demanded that she be returned. Hades bowed to the gods’ will but before she left, Persephone ate some pomegranate seeds. As fate would have it, those who eat or drink in the Underworld must stay there FOREVER. However, Persephone was able to spend one season of the year in Hades and live the rest above. The Greeks believed this to be the reason behind the four season—when Persephone is in Hades, her mother’s sadness keeps us in winter. Fun.
1. Um, guyssss, what is Hades doing here?
Dress by Tsumori Chisato, shoes by Vivienne Westwood
2. Great, just great, I’m stuck in the underworld. BUT LOOK AT MY NEW DRESSSSS!
Dress by Christian Dior Haute Couture, shoes by Alexander McQueen
3. Peace out Hades.
Dress by Stella McCartney, shoes by Peter Pilotto
All images from Vogue UK.
