musings

chez cartier

a beautiful sneak at cartier paris headquarters’s secret room where designers are coming up with new things. thanks to the great mister terestchenko.


“In a little room next to the workshop itself, there is a library full of books and magazines on botanic and wild life to support the inspiration of the designers.


Some of them are very common publications but handy enough to study the general anatomy of a panther, a giraffe, a turtle etc…


There are also some rare books. First, the project is sculpted in a piece of wax in different variations, sometimes painted to imitate the gems.


After a long process and final approval, the model in wax, turned into precious stones, is simply tucked away in a chocolate box, a Godiva chocolat box to be precise.


by pp’ + иван терещенко

CATEGORIES: backstage, musings

my twisted meditation for the day : by hunter s. thompson

Hunter S. Thompson fax excerpts:

“Dear Holly,

Okay, you lazy bitch, I’m getting tired of this waterhead fuckaround that you’re doing with The Rum Diary.

We are not even spinning our wheels aggresivly. It’s like the whole Project got turned over to Zombies who live in cardboard boxes under the Hollywood Freeway… I seem to be the only person who’s doing anything about getting this movie Made. I have rounded up Depp, Benicio Del Toro, Brad Pitt, Nick Nolte & a fine screenwriter from England, named Michael Thomas, who is a very smart boy & has so far been a pleasure to talk to & conspire with…

So there’s yr. fucking Script & all you have to do now is act like a Professional & Pay him. What the hell do you think Making a Movie is all about? Nobody needs to hear any more of that Gibberish about yr. New Mercedes & yr. Ski Trips & how Hopelessly Broke the Shooting Gallery is…. If you’re that fucking Poor you should get out of the Movie Business. It is no place for Amateurs & Dilletants who don’t want to do anything but “take lunch” & Waste serious people’s Time.” …


reading this makes me want to be more like hunter… raw, true, unforgiving. only hunter can pull this off. can you imagine someone receiving a letter like this, today? you can read the full transcript here. by kl

CATEGORIES: musings, read

r.i.p. irving penn

master of image making, irving penn photographed celebrities, indigenous people, workers and cigarette butts, has died at his manhattan home, aged 92. taking subjects out of their element and into his studio, penn isolated their unique characteristics to capture their true natures. he applied the approach whether he was photographing aborigine tribesmen, foods, flowers or san francisco hippies. starting to work for vogue in the 1940’s, he remained active and in demand his entire life. he along with his refined yet honest images will be missed dearly. by kl

CATEGORIES: musings, photography

more ysl – robert polidori – 55 rue de babylone





i’m never tired of mister saint laurent’s estate. the new paradis magazine is out and features a never seen series of photos taken by robert polidori of the furniture moving from the 55 rue de babylone address to go to the grand palais for the famous auction. pretty moving to see the closing of a chapter. to end on a brighter note, this paradis magazine issue also features a very nice series from mario sorrenti that we can’t post here unfortunately… by pp’

CATEGORIES: musings, photography

more black and blue than purple: Olivier Zahm

such a ladies man you are… grrrr!
and your poor girlfriend…
and by the way who posts a picture of themselves like this on their blog?

there is something about french cheese i learned when i lived in paris… just cause it stinks it doesn’t mean it’s good. as much as olivier aspires to be like serge, zahm is more in line with the late belmondo and aged delon than anywhere near gainsbourg. but one can always keep trying. as terry advised me once, “rock out with your cock out”. now just for the record, we have nothing against purple the magazine, we do like it, we have the very first issues when it was in a smaller format and not plastered with nudies.  in terms of publication we even like the more recent ones, but some things have to be said about a man in a position of power who uses it shamelessly… which by the way brings to mind, that short italian prime minister, is that berlusconi? by dd

CATEGORIES: fashion, musings

yves saint laurent again! villa mabrouka – tangier




we said that we would be done with yves’ but it seems that it’s a never ending posting.
so last but not least, here is the tangier villa of misters saint laurent and bergé…
less crowded and hot than marrakesh, with a direct view on the gibraltar detroit, tangier is definetly the ultimate place to be for the warm african summers… images let you imagine what it could have been… photos by the great ivan terestchenko by pp’

CATEGORIES: musings, photography

spend eternity on top of marilyn monroe

“spend eternity directly above marilyn monroe” or otherwise above the hollywood sex symbol, reads the ad placed on ebay. bidding opened at $500,000 just a one-up on hugh hefner who had bought the spot “next to” monroe in 1992. the seller will be “vacating” the remains of her husband “to make room for a new resident” at LA’s exclusive westwood village cemetery (housing what remains of dean martin, roy orbison, and truman capote), this also happens to be the place where the memorial services for my father were held – of course, with eric satie, playing in the background.

now why would you say, a widow in beverly hills, would move the remains of her ex-husband? well she hoped to make enough money to pay off the $1.6m mortgage on her mansion. “I can’t be more honest than that,” she said. “I want to leave it free and clear for my kids.”ok the last bit seems fair, but her own husband was placed face down in his crypt on top of the actress, in keeping with his dying wish… now hes gonna be one pissed-off corpse!

the seller, elsie poncher, says her husband’s remains will be moved over “one spot” into the crypt intended for her (now probably next to hefners), while she will be cremated when the time comes… I suppose Mr. poncher made the eternal mistake by facing monroe below instead of his wife, who was left, and was to be buried to the left… perhaps he got what he deserved after all. by uh

CATEGORIES: musings

cool one


here’s your secret QR code… if you have an iphone or blackberry with a QR reader then great… you’re in business, if not the software is under $2… download it at Quickmark. by dd

CATEGORIES: musings