Friday, June 28, 2013

Film Styles: Revolutionary Road






















Movie: Revolutionary Road (2008)

Costumer Designer: Albert Wolsky (Grease, Across the Universe, Charlie Wilson's War)

Set in 1955 this film embodies mid-century fashion. From pencil skirts to body-hugging dresses, it captures the everyday elegance of the decade. My personal favorite look is the button-up shirt with rolled sleeves. There's something casual yet still stylish about it. Here are a few things to get the look:






See more Film Styles. Read my thoughts on the book.

Friday, June 21, 2013

Things From Around The Web




British guy does baseball commentary. I was dying.


Lauren Bacall talking about Humphrey Bogart (which just reaffirms my love for Rick Blaine.)


How to make your own galaxy print shirt.


A mobile office.


Thug Kitchen cracks me up (may be offensive if you don't like foul language).


Surprising literary one-hit wonders.


I love the idea of this love letter kit. (Perhaps putting it back in the tube and throwing it out to sea the next time I'm at the beach.)


this book looks like it would be crammed full of wisdom.


Anti-pervert leggings. What.


Absolutely gorgeous Ombre wall paint


'Funniest friend ever' award goes to...


Would you read a Downton Abbey-inspired book?


                                                       Hope you all have a great weekend!

image via we heart it

Thursday, June 20, 2013

Movie stars home movies


Silent home movies of Paul Newman, Natalie Wood and Jane Fonda hanging out in Malibu in 1965. Also, Labor day at Rock Hudson's house and Julie Andrews. When being a movie star was just as glamorous as you imagined. Doesn't it make you want to go to the beach?

Summer Playlist


Summer is that one season that needs a soundtrack, a group of songs that when heard years later reminds you of "that one summer when..." I remember when I stayed at the Ace Hotel in Palm Springs, laying by the pool while Jimi Hendrix played over the speakers and thinking that it was the epitome of summer. Whether you're laying by the pool, or at the beach, or just driving around with all your windows down, you need those go-to songs that make you feel good and wish summer would never end. Here are 15 (or so) songs that will be in constant rotation on my iPod this summer:


1. Victory - Play it
2. Vampire Weekend - Diane Young / Unbelievers
3. JJAMZ - Heartbeat
4. The Rolling Stones - Gimme Shelter / Doo Doo Doo
5. Bruno Mars - Treasure
6. Paul Simon - Kodachrome / Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard
7. Jefferson Airplane - Volunteers
8. The Mowgli's - San Francisco
9. The Neighbourhood - Sweater Weather
10. Jimi Hendrix - All Along the Watchtower
11.The Non-Commissioned Officers - Ahead of the Wave
12. Led Zeppelin - Black Dog
13. Alabama Shakes - Always Alright
14. Creedence Clearwater Revival - Fortunate Son
15. The Doors - Love Her Madly


What's on your summer playlist?



Image via Only You

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Don't Waist Your Clothes


Sometimes clothes make me claustrophobic. I think it has to do with years of buying clothes from thrift stores and TJ Maxx and places that don't have something in every size, so when you find something you really like, you compromise the fact that it may not fit you perfectly and you just deal with it. But over the years the combination of my growing neurosis and my ever-growing body it has made it hard to not feel anxious if clothes are too tight on me. I don't like when I can't move freely or if something is too tight around my waist. I also hate constantly adjusting things, pulling down a shirt, pulling up a pair of jeans.

Actually, for the longest time I thought jeans were the most uncomfortable article of clothing to wear. That is because, like Blanche so eloquently  put it on an episode of The Golden Girls: "I can go out to dinner, and in the middle of the meal my pants are cutting off my circulation so bad my feet are turning blue." Jeans are only good for a certain amount of hours until the urge to unbutton them is too strong to resist. But I must admit that with a good-fitting pair of jeans, they can be comfortable all day. I realized this after donating all my old pairs of jeans I didn't fit into anymore I finally finding some that actually fit.

With that being said, it has been my mission lately to find clothing that are not only cute but actually comfortable. Clothes that are loose-fitting without looking sloppy. I just want to look like those Parisian woman that look like they just threw on whatever they could find and still look amazingly stylish (and comfortable!) I think my whole goal in life is to look that effortless (and to not feel like I'm constantly in a sausage casing). Here are some examples of what I'm talking about:








Here are a few things my waist is swooning over:









images via All for Fashion Design, Agorique, Styletracker, Victoria Day TodayVanessa Jackman

Words of Wisdom Wednesday


Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Why Rick Blaine is the Perfect Man


Some women spend their whole life trying to find the perfect man, and some men spend their whole life trying to be the perfect man. Well let me make it very easy for both sexes: when you look up "the perfect man" in the dictionary (which you can't, obviously, because that's three words and dictionaries only work one word at a time, BUT IF YOU COULD) it would say "see: Richard Blaine." Even Captain Renault, the Italian captain of police in Casablanca describes Rick as "...the kind of man that... well, if I were a woman, and I were not around, I should be in love with Rick." And here's why:

He likes to travel. Spain, Paris, Morocco... Rick Blaine has more than just a couple stamps in his passport. And from wonderful places, too. Granted, he is technically running from the law (and Nazis) and can never go back to America (for reasons unknown but no doubt shady... I'd like to think he killed a man. It's the romantic in me.) but haven't we all done things in our past we're not proud of?

He owns his own business. Rick's Café Américain. Sure it's a gin joint seething with illegal activity, but it's popular and extremely lucrative, making him one of the most well-respected and sought-out people in town. Plus, free drinks!

He has confidence without being a showoff. You know those guys who have to constantly be the life of the party? The ones that talk too loud just so everyone around them can hear? Rick Blaine is the opposite of that guy. He has a quiet confidence, elusive even. He has an understood authority and command of every situation. He doesn't need to put on a show for people; he doesn't need to impress anyone. He is completely comfortable with himself, and there is nothing more attractive than a man who is confident without having to announce it.

He's not threatened by other men. He's just as secure as he is confident. Unlike some guys who feel the need to show the agonistic behavior of a silverback gorilla when threatened by the dominance of another man, Rick Blaine never creates a spectacle. He's always as cool as a cucumber, never throwing a punch or raising his voice. Even when he's introduced to his ex-lover's husband, Victor Lazslo, concentration camp escapee and leader of the underground resistance, rather than beat his chest out of jealousy, he admits how impressed he is with him like a true gentleman should.

Rick: I congratulate you
Victor: For what?
Rick: Your work.
Victor: I try.
Rick: We all try; you succeed!

He has a sense of humor. When Major Strasser, a German official, tells him that the Nazis have a file on him, that they know everything about him, and everything he's done, Rick takes the notebook from the German's hands, looks it over and responds, deadpan and without missing a beat, "are my eyes really brown?"

He's a snazzy dresser. White dinner coat? Suits during the day? Sure, maybe that's what everyone wore back then, but they made Rick look extra dapper.

He's more interested in you than him. Before Isla ripped out his heart via letter at a train station, he was just a man hopelessly in love with a woman he wanted to know everything about. "Who are you really, and what were you before? What did you do and what did you think, huh?" What woman doesn't want a man who is completely and utterly interested in everything about her? It sure beats the guys who can't even be bothered to ask how your day was, let alone try to find out what makes you tick at your very core. Or heck, just what your favorite color is.

He pays attention to detail. Some guys don't even notice when you get your hair done, let alone be able to remember what you were wearing the last time he saw you (years before!).

Ilsa: I wasn't sure you were the same. Let's see, the last time we met...
Rick: Was La Belle Aurore.
Ilsa: How nice, you remembered. But of course, that was the day the Germans marched into Paris.
Rick: I remember every detail. The Germans wore gray, you wore blue.

Swoon.

He isn't a womanizer. After he got his heart broken he became, as Captain Renault describes it, "neutral to women." He turns down drinks from beautiful women in his bar and even Sam can't convince Isla that he has a woman over at the Blue Parrot. He doesn't fill his broken heart with one-night stands, or bed women for the sake of loneliness. He only gets involved with women he truly has feelings for, so you're never left guessing whether or not he's just using you or playing games. What a relief!  

He's sentimental.  Underneath Rick's hard, cynical exterior there is a soft, mushy center. Sure he says that he doesn't stick his neck out for anyone, but that's just for show. He has a long track record of being on the side of the underdog. He fought in the Spanish civil war against the fascists, he allows visas to be sold illegally out of his cafe, and he even rigs a game of roulette to allow a young Bulgarian couple to win enough money to go to America. Sure, it's dishonest... but it's done for the right reasons. If you're going to bend the rules, it's best that's it's done for the betterment of others. He also does heart-warming things that aren't illegal, like allowing the band to play France's national anthem to drown out the group of Nazis singing "Die Wacht am Rhein." And probably the most selfless and sentimental thing of all: giving his one true love, Isla, an exit visa and putting her on a plane with her husband, Victor Lazslo. Then lying to Victor and telling him Isla pretended to still be in love with him in order to get the visa, just to assure him of Isla's faithfulness, when in reality she was ready to say "sayonara" to Victor and stay in Casablanca with Rick. In the end, Rick doesn't necessarily do what is honest (or even lawful) but he does what is right.  And isn't that the kind of man you want? Someone who would sacrifice his own happiness for the happiness of others? 

I think I rest my case.

Monday, June 17, 2013

Ghosts of History







Dutch historian Jo Teeuswisse created these haunting photos called "Ghosts of History" by taking the negatives of World War II photos and overlapping them with the same modern day location. It gives me chills just looking at them. Whenever I think of war I always envision it being fought in some battlefield far away, it seems surreal to see pictures of soldiers walking down city streets with buildings turned to rubble. See all of the pictures here.

Friday, June 14, 2013

Things From Around The Web





People who look like paintings.


Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee is back! I'm so excited!


It's always nice to have an excuse on hand, just in case.


Replacing babies and phones with sandwiches.


I need this shirt.


The typewriters of famous authors.


If WWII had CliffsNotes it would probably look like this.


Six modern uses for the Yellow Pages.


Beautiful book covers.


Successful people who lived with their parents. (made me think of this.)


                                  Hope you all have a wonderful weekend (and father's day!)


image via cold wind & iron

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Words of Wisdom Wednesday



Image via Eva Black Design  (it's also downloadable as an iphone wallpaper)

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Shabby Apple Giveaway




The sun is out, the birds are chirping and all that's missing is you in this perfect summer dress. Well lucky for you, Shabby Apple is giving away a $75 gift card to one Le Quaintrelle reader! Shabby Apple is an online dress boutique that specializes in vintage and retro dresses.  Check out their selection of  vintage dresses

All you need to do is:

"Like" Shabby Apple on Facebook.
Leave a comment below stating which Shabby Apple item is your favorite.

All entries must be received by 11:59PM Pacific time on June 18th.
This giveaway is open to US residents only. 
Good luck!! 

Watercolors




I am so in love with watercolor right now. It could have been sparked by my trip to The Getty, although I think it's gone farther back than that (this has been my computer for the last two years). Either way, I love everything about it: the colors, the technique. So perfect for summer. Here are a few things that will turn you into a moving masterpiece:


Top: Modcloth Scarf: Forever 21 Leggings: boohoo
Skirt: Nastygal phone case: Ruche flip flops: JCPenny Top: Alice + Olivia

Images from Deviantart and AngelicbyJones

Saturday, June 8, 2013

Bobby Kennedy's Funeral Train


June 6th was the 45th anniversary of Bobby Kennedy's assassination. The pictures taken from his funeral train going from New York to Washington are haunting. People standing in crowds holding flags, women still in curlers, a single family of four paying their respects by the side of the tracks. It's one of those things that wrenches your heart seeing people coming together to honor and mourn, wondering how history could have been altered if things had been different.

See the whole album here, and see Bobby announce Martin Luther King Jr.'s death just two months before his own.
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