My continuing fascination with technology, fashion and art makes me really really want to design (and wear!) my own digital printed pencil skirt. The Wall Street Journal recently wrote an article on Spring’s current wardrobe staple, title “Pencil In Some Fun!” You can read it here.

From the article: “The pencil skirt has the perfect shape to highlight a print because it’s a really clean surface,” said designer Joseph Altuzarra of the high-waisted, nipped-in style to which he returns season after season. The skirt below by Zero Maria Cornejo was based on an iPhone photo of the metal fence at the DeYoung Museum in San Francisco!

Here are just a few others… search the web and you will definitely find one for you.

And below is a mock-up of a digital printed pencil skirt made from one of my altered photographs. I can wear my own sexy version of the Eiffel Tower!

Imagined Eiffel Tower Pencil Skirt

And just to round it all out, a palette of “happy color” coffee cups in my favorite brights. Just in case you’d rather drink your bold color than wear it!

This weekend I drove up the beautiful California coast to San Simeon, in central Cali. It is always a pleasure to escape the city of Los Angeles and all of it’s hubbub. The Golden State is gorgeous, and although the weather forcast predicted rain, it was a rare, sunny weekend (lucky me!) It is easy to see why William Randolph Hearst purchased the land above San Simeon Bay to build his castle for himself and Marion… a more spectacular setting would be difficult to find. The castle is as awe inspiring as it must have been in it’s prime party days of the roaring ’20s.

Hearst's Castle for Marion

I have always been fascinated by Marion Davies. According to Wikipedia, she was a much better actress/comedienne than history has claimed (due in a large part to a sad portrayal in Orson Welles movie “Citizen Kane”), but Hearst’s love, devotion and immense wealth did nothing at all to help Marion’s career. She was doomed to throwing lavish parites and drunken revelries, and never achieved the success as an actress that she so dearly wanted. In later life, she worked tirelessly for charities.

Still partially intact is Marion’s beach house in Santa Monica; I pass it often and think of her. It is now a private beach club. She is the ultimate story of someone who had it all, and at the same time, had nothing. Hearst’s wife would not divorce him so they never married, and her talent went unacknowledged. Though I rarely focus on this era for my art prints, the trip up north and the sad story of Marion inspired me to do a image of her. It is the Golden Age of Hollywood in the Golden State!

Charlie Chaplin Entertaining

Cary Grant (the one before George Cloony!)

Marion's house in Santa Monica, as it was then

You can purchase the piece here, or click on the picture:

Marion Davies by Trolleyla

Last night I visited my favorite theater in Hollywood, The Egyptian.  It always showcases great retro movies, and it’s wonderful to see them on the big screen.  Many times there are actors or directors from the movie for a Q and A after the film. I couldn’t miss “Vanishing Point”, a great car chase / road trip movie made in 1971.  Paul Koslo, the actor who portrayed the (very mean) young cop in the movie, was there to reminisce about the groovy shoot of 10 weeks.  The movie stars Barry Newman, a Vietnam war hero and ex-cop who develops a Forrest Gump-type following in his quest to beat the police through the western desert in his turbo white Charger.  The film had some incredible shots and amazing car chases, and some really humorous dialogue that only belonged in the 70′s.  At one point, Barry Newman flashbacks to a moment (when he was still a cop) with his girlfriend on the California coast, who rolls a joint and says “Wouldn’t it be funny if I turned you on and you turned me in?” Then she proceeds into the ocean to surf and promptly drowns.

What I love about screenings at the Egyptian is the warm and rowdy audience; they are always film and retro lovers who vocally express their pleasure with the films.  There were quite a few laughs! I guess the real star of the show was the white Charger.  The era of American muscle cars was a unique time in history. Those cars are worth tens of thousands of dollars now….if you can find them!!!

Barry Newman with the Charger

Death Valley is no match for the Charger

Leaving Denver

The original movie poster

Apparently, vintage typewriters are a collectors dream and commanding high prices! It seems we all treasure the design and style of retro.  The pink typewriter photo instantly made me read this article in The Wall Street Journal (see it here).

Of course I instantly wanted one, so I set off this weekend to all the great thrifts and second hand stores I know to find my own… and that proved utterly fruitless.  I guess finding such a gem is going to cost you… not that I would even use it! I just want to have it. And as the Journal says, Cormac McCarthy didn’t write “No Country for Old Men” on a computer! Maybe we have too much tecnology?

I’ve always been a Led Zeppelin fan, they were something special, unique and never heard before … and never to be heard again.  So thanks to YouTube, I’ve been watching all these old Zeppelin concerts, and I’ve grown to appreciate their unique genius in a new and more mature way.  Of course, my retro love of the early 1970′s keeps me entralled, but especially the most absolutely gorgeous, sexy, blond God that was Young Robert Plant.

I still love Robert Plant, but I never really appreciated him fully until now. Of course, Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones and John Bonham match him in genius, yet I think it’s his bare chest and curly locks that do it.  Not to mention they are the greatest Rock and Roll band ever!  Long live the Queen; the Brits surely have brought us much musical joy (influenced by solid American roots!

Oh My

Robert

The one and only

Watch Led Zeppelin in their prime!

Check out my etsy store here for a couple of 1970s inspired prints.

1970s Love

70s Hair Love

I particularly like the Patchwork dresses I’ve been seeing.. they remind me of collage and layering in art forms. It is something tricky to achieve in both fashion and art. What clashes… and what is harmonious together?

I think the use of black and white makes it much easier to pattern clash. It is something I should try as I usually use a lot of color.

Preen Patchwork Dress

raoul patchwork dress

Below is one of my newer more “earthy” patchwork pieces. For now it is only available in my Etsy store (click on the image to visit my store!) as I have too many industrious activities going on and keeping up with them is exhausting (my life functions as a patchwork as well!) I think it is most beautiful as a canvas.
But please take your time to peruse my website, where I have many images not on etsy:
http://shop/trolleyla.com

JuliE Christie

And as Autumn is near, of course I think of Paris, and this seems to represent a piece of a patchwork memory of Paris… It is time to go again. YAY!

Paris

I read an excerpt of this book, “A Furious Love” by Sam Kashner, Nancy Schoenberger in Vanity Fair. I was so fascinated by the “Marriage of the Century” that I had to go and get the book! It was a fascinating read, and perhaps it romanticized their love, but Richard Burton was quite the romantic and wrote all kinds of sweet love notes and letters to Elizabeth. What woman doesn’t like that?  They HATED to be called “Liz and Dick”…. they were Elizabeth and Richard. By many, many personal accounts, they were BOTH more beautiful in person than on film. Elizabeth’s loveliness lasted well into her prime and people were shock by her beauty in person.  Richard, on the otherhand, was quite the hunk… every woman was attracted to him and his beautiful voice.  I just love to read about their time and the era they lived in, and reflect about how it has passed, never to return.  I miss old Hollywood glamour!

Tragic and sad story all around, though.

It inspired me to make a “Elizabeth” pop art influenced canvas of the infamous Hollywood icon for my store. If you like it, go check it out by clicking on the photos!

A Furious Love - Book Cover

Wearing the diamond Richard gave her

Eliabeth Taylor Canvas - Hanging

Today Helen Gurley-Brown, THE woman… the woman behind Cosmo magazine, the woman who told many many generations of other women that it was ok to enjoy being single…that it was ok for women to have sex without guilt, has died. All I could think about today though, was the luminous Natalie Wood, who starred in the movie based on Helen’s famous book, “Sex and the Single Woman.” The book was written in 1962, and if you are a fan of Mad Men, then you already know how it was for women in that pre- feminism era.

In retrospect, maybe the movie doesn’t have the impact or importance of the book. The incredibly beautiful Natalie is a “Sex Therapist”; she is a working woman- an educated woman.  In the end of course, the inevitable happens and she falls for Tony Curtis.  I haven’t seen it in a long time, so I can only reflect on these two thoughts… the death of a important cultural icon and feminist Helen Gurley-Brown, and the incandescent and unforgetable Natalie Wood. (Tony Curtis – meh!)

Rest in Peace, and thank you Helen!

Helen Gurley-Brown

Tony Curtis and Natalie Wood

The Rolling Stones are celebrating their 50 years in show business, as I recently read in the Wall Street Journal. It was interesting to be reminded that the Stones’ early style was very natural, as in, one could almost say JCrew-ish? I have to say that I prefer Mr. Jaggar in those clothes in that era. A most beautiful English lad! Here is what phtographer Gered Mankovitz said about their dtyle in the early days:

“In late 1965, when I first shot them, it was against the band ethos to dress up too much,” said rock photographer Gered Mankowitz, who toured with the band that year, and shot Stones album covers such as 1965′s “Out of Our Heads” and ’67′s “Between the Buttons.” “There wasn’t a lot of difference between their off- and onstage style, really. The look was natural, real—not flashy. Part of their visual strength was their individuality. And each had their own look.”

Mick Jaggar circa 1965 - very JCrew

A Darling English Lad

In their "Classic Dressing" stage

Although I also must say I love their jumpsuit and cape wearing in the years that were to follow, I think their classic look fit their youth well.

Click to view more fabulous Rolling Stones looks! May they Rock and Roll forever!!!

It’s been a long time between blog posts for me. I’ve had a bit of computer burn-out.  Time always runs short, and I need to replenish  by thinking and making things.  Sometimes making things that have no use at all. There is a beauty in that, like the beauty of Bjork. I am so thrilled and grateful each and everytime I sell something, but getting it out there in cyberland takes many hours sitting in front of the computer.  In fact, right now, instead of working, I read this fascinating article on what inspires Bjork; everything from music to the rain forests. I think it is well worth the time to find out about what inspires Bjork, because she is a true original creative force.  I don’t always love all of her music, but I always love her and her strange beauty. She inspires me!

Bjork from her latest album, "Biophilia"

Click on this image to read and listen to some of the many things that inspire Bjork from this fabulous article on the guardian.uk website, written by Rebecca Nicholson.

Photo of Bjork on the Guardian UK article

You can also find images of her best fashion choices! Of course, the famous “Swan Dress” is there!