Born out of a need for a national police force to implement the law in Canada’s newly acquired western territories, on May 23 1873, the Parliament of Canada established a central police force who would be able to march across the land. This sector has evolved into the red wearing, horse riding, yellow striped pant loving Royal Canadian Mounted Policemen we know today!
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{The Eye of Faith}
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+ Happy Long Weekend Canada! +
Why do we celebrate Queen Victoria’s birthday ? Well, this day marks the informal beginning of the summer season here in Canada ! It’s an opportunity to party hard and be around those you love, and celebrate some summer fashion!
Credited as the “Mother of Confederation” we celebrate our independence as a country on this day. So stir up some mixed drinks and spark those fireworks and sparklers. You may not want to show disrespect to the ghost of the ‘Mommy Dearest’ of Canada, or ‘off with your head!‘.
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{The Eye of Faith}
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The best fashion is timeless, so no surprises here at the Eye of Faith we are always trying to reinvent the classic’s through modern interpretations of the best basics! We love to pick out different era’s and reference those ‘era-descent’ influences in our current looks. We are so happy to see the latest runway shows from around the world are straight up our alley!
From London-town, to Paris and Milan, there is an undeniable 80s influences in most of the shows from this coming Spring 2013 Season.
Weather it’s through unconventional Metallics or lace, or acid washed hair, dyed to perfection. We love when we can see the past turn it’s cheek and rock it’s way into a jagged-edged future.
A wise man once said “Everything’s already been done”, but we hate to think there isn’t room for anything new at all! We aren’t talking about reinventing the wheel here, but we do miss the days of David Bowie’s gender bending orange head of hair, and Billy Idol’s undeniable sexual swagger.
The greatest idols of the 80s are back in a big way, and all their razzle and dazzle is back on display though the Spring 2013 Menswear season (Through you’d swear this might be 1983).
Staring with one of our all-time favourites, Burberry Prorsum is always classic at it’s finest, with Christopher Bailey at the helm, we are always captivated by his modern spin on tradition. Described as an exercise in contrasts, this Spring collection has a bit of everything—matte versus shine, traditional versus tribal, strict versus oversized. Mylar-esque metallic trench coats and shiny silk shirts play off the brand’s fitted wool suiting. Classic outerwear pieces evolve as well, with Bailey interpreting mac jackets in the new fabrications and turning the classic bomber into a cropped cocoon, worn over a business suit. Bailey explores new territory, while keeping one well-burnished foot firmly planted in the house’s heritage.
Anne Demeulemeester always kills it for us, with a spin at modernist edgy, and classic vampire fashion. What’s more nostalgic of the glam decadence of the 80s than gothic-chic suiting, and lush fabrics fit for Royalty. Running the gamut from solids to stripes to prints, and relaxed silhouettes, Ms. Demeulemeester’s spring collection seethes with a dark-prince edge—indeed. From Prince to Keith Richards, any rock star, past and present, would rock these looks on stage.
Comme des Garçons always has been an absolutely innovative brand season after season, so no surprises here that they would take influence straight from the Laboratory. So maybe the nod to 90s cartoon Dexters Laboratory isn’t so totally 1980s, but you can’t deny us the bold black and whites and orange coloured hair are straight out of a 80s hair catalogue in the best possible way (Annie Lennox anyone?!). Every look included matching trouser-and-shirt combos with topcoats: in sterilized white, pinstriped, with toggles, or with doodled print panels, with a slender silhouette billowing down below the waist. Menswear at it’s finest, Dexter’s Laboratory‘s eponymous kid genius would be proud.
After that, we want to run out to the nearest vintage store, and try to scrounge up some pieces that will elevate us to an 80’s icons level! If you need us we’ll be Dancing with Ourselves, and watching every season of Jem and the Holograms.
We hope you’ve found inspiration in our recap of the latest show’s, with a touch of the past. Remember even if it’s ‘been done’, we know it can be done better! The 80s wouldn’t of been possible without the emblematic era’s that came before. Honour the past, present and future!
{Grace Kelly on the set of High Society by Dennis Stolk. Circa.1956}
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Imagine our delight when we spent some time searching one of our Style Idols, Buster Keaton‘s movies, and stumbled upon a great clip from a 1961 edition of Allen Funt’s CBS-TV show “Candid Camera.” with the Silent Film Slap-Stick legend himself!
Looking as good as the ‘forgotten’ screen idol ever has, even in camouflaged casual, the man rocks some grandpa glasses and a cool convertible trench! No matter how grand a joker the guy is, his chic gentlemanly nature always shines through any farce.
We love the shock and horror race across the faces of the teenage victims as Keaton pulls gag after gag at the counter of a dinner. These kids were clueless to the fact that a Hollywood Royal was not only sitting next to them, but was pulling a Betty White proportioned fast-one over their heads.
{The Eye}
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Monsters, moths and transformation! The second we saw this editorial from Love magazine, with photography by Tim Walker, we knew it would fit right in at The Eye of Faith. Model Kristen McMenamy never ceases to impress us with her seasoned effortless modelling style and pure edginess. Arachnophobes beware, with art direction by Katie Grand, this one is sure to creep you out.
With Vintage pieces by Dior, some chain mail headdresses from the Royal National Theater and of course, Alexander McQueen, we get a sense of Joan of Arc mixed with Buffy the Vampire Slayer. We wouldn’t want to kick this hornets nest.
“He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. Is not life a hundred times too short for us to bore ourselves?”
Friedrich Nietzsche
Sting.
The Eye.
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So the reviews have not been so pretty thus far for Madonna’s W.E.
Vogue Italia’s Emanuele Lugli posted a rather scathing review after the film’s premier at the Venice Film Festival in November, and hasn’t garned very much acclaim since (unfortunately) for Madonna as the next great auteur.
This is unfair since Madonna has definitely generated herself as a leader in style, and the art of catching our eye with generations of videos and unique fashions, so it’s easy to see where her interest in the subject lies.
Wallis Simpson was already a divorced American socialite who was subsequently married when the two crossed paths in 1930 at his home, Fort Belvedere in Windsor Great Park, where the Prince often entertained parties and a series of scandalous affairs. It would be almost a year after abdicating his throne before Wallis was officially divorced from her husband, and the two could finally be wed.
Talk about romantic. They quickly became the toast of cafe society around Europe with Wallis gracing the pages of Vogue, with an affinity for French couture including Christian Dior, Hubert de Givenchy, and most especially Madame Vionnet. Equally, Edward VIII had garnered quite a reputation for his outlandish Dandy lifestyle which had quickly fallen out of fashion after the Great War.
Nevertheless, a Dandy must do as a dandy does; with a long lineage of “Dandy-ism” in the family (stemming back to King George IV, legion for the British Regency, and best friends with Numero Uno Dandy Supremo, Beau Brummell) it seemed only natural for the handsome Prince to exploit his God-Given sensibilities.
This he did with thick Windsor knotted neckties, and various combinations of checks, plaids, tweeds, and stripes that would mark Edward VIII as the epitome of manly elegance. He enjoyed his “pants from across the sea”, trousers done in an American high-rise cut, and had matching jackets tailored in London, creating a new hybrid of classic style with an ifusion of American conservatism and British sophistication.
He was J.C. Leyendecker’s Arrow Collar Man personified, and Vogue’s editor-in-chief Diane Vreeland would describe the nonchalant elegance of the Duke as “Chic Fatigue”.All we know is, we’re not getting tired, we haven’t even gotten started!
Also worth mentioning is the Duke and Duchess’ controversial relationship with Hilter, and the Nazi party. Many history books portray the couple as sincere Nazi sympathizers, and this the most would continually taint the pair’s reputation.
And while Wallis recieved much attention for her bold, architectural fashion choices, critics often pointed to how plain a woman she was, and rumors quickly spread of her years in Shandhai and Peking where she recieved extensive training in the erotic arts.
Most recently it has been revealed that the Duke of Windsor had been a patient of psychiatrist Alexander Cannon, known as the “Yogi of Yorkshire”. Cannon was an expert occultist claiming to have levitated a chasm in Nepal, and administered exotic remedies for problems ranging from anxiety, to sex and confidence. Edward VIII was seeing the eccentric doctor for a “drinking problem”, and the two were becoming increasingly close, to the point others described Cannon as the King’s closest confidante (other than Simpson). Most interesting, no?
The tale of Wallis and Edward is full of as much controversy and ridicule as Madonna’s film it seems. Whatever their politics, it’s impossible to discredit the deep love the two obviously share for one another, and to abdicate the throne, be a martyr for love- it’s literally the stuff movies are made of, and I’ll give Madonna that for sinking her claws into such a juicy mother.
My hat goes off to Arianne Phillips and her spot on costume designs for the film. Phillips, who recieved an Academy Award Nomination for “Walk the Line” (2005), and was responsible for the tailored looks of Tom Ford’s “A Single Man” (2009), as well as taking care of Madonna’s costumes for both “The Confessions”, and the “Sticky & Sweet” tours, does an amazing job at recreating the glamour and decadence of the famous couple.
Photographs by Tom Munro for Vanity Fair, Quite Continental has featured a great interview with the designer and her many challenges dressing the film.
Her dynamic work include several recreation of Simpson’s most famous looks, and despite budget restrictions, Phillips’ work comes off as luxe and rich as ever. Most extraordinarily, the sophistication and elegance of Edward is equally imagined and captured, with James D’Arcy doing his best to pull off the Duke’s effortless swag.
The Academy Awards are just around the corner, and though we can safely set Madonna aside for a chance at Best Director, we’re expecting to see another Academy Award Nomination for the film’s exceptional costume designs.
There’s a reason behind the madness people! Madonna knows, she does kaballah…I came across this eloquent quote from Stan Hawkin’s “The British Pop Dandy” for some clarification on perhaps, Edward VIII’s own dandy motto or manifesto he might carry with himself…maybe a certain attitude that could attribute to him, the romantic hero, a true dandy, and Wallis herself, a dandy in her own right. Here goes:
“Someone whose transient tastes never shirk
from excess, protest or rebellion…the dandy
revels in artifice simply for style’s sake as
a mischievous play with masks of calculated
elegance….all the great dandies have been
outsiders…eager to
make themselves publicly visible through a
conceit that is deemed their birthright. Driven
by a desire to draw on a personal style, the
dandy unabashedly states who he is and what he wants
without giving a damn for what anyone cares”
-Stan Hawkins (author, The British Pop Dandy)
Could explain how they always seem to be up to something! Can definitely relate to the “masks of calculated elegance” vibe in regards to the pair. Check out the video below:
Whatever. “W.E.” is making it’s way to a theatre near you January 20. What do you think?
-The Eye
[UPDATE (01/19/2012): Congratulations Arianne Phillips for your Costume Designer Guild nomination for excellence in Period Costuming! ]
The Eye.
[UPDATE: OSCAR GLORY! Congratulations to Arianne Phillips for her 2012 Academy Award Nomination for Excellence in Costume Design!!! (01/24/2012)]
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“Decadence is a difficult word to use since it has become little more than a term of abuse applied by critics to anything they do not yet understand or which seems to differ from their moral concepts.”
-Ernest Hemingway.
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Decadent Noir. Sexy/Cool.
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Sincerely,
{theEye}
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As November comes winding to an end, with the Christmas season just around the corner, we have mustaches on our mind! Maybe it’s the impending visit from the silver chinned Mr. Claus. Or the rise of facial hair over the last 25 days in honour of ‘Movember‘. Regardless of why or how, we want more! Here are a few cool ‘staches that we thought were worth a glance.
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