yesterday's muse #25 - gitta schilling

Brigitta ("Gitta") Schilling was born in Berlin in 1936 into a world of war and poverty. her family faced many hardships - something she discusses in the 2010 documentary: Gitta Schilling - Timeless Beauty. at the age of 16, Gitta was discovered while walking in a local parade, and by 1958, she was dividing her time between Berlin, Florence, Paris and New York, working with the best designers and photographers, as one of the world's most famous fashion models.



from 1958 to 1964, Schilling graced the covers of numerous magazines, including Vogue and Madame, and was appointed 'ambassador of elegance' in Germany. after her modelling career, Gitta became a stylist in Monaco before eventually retiring to a private life.





Gitta now lives in Italy, and at 74 years old she remains an extraordinary beauty.

dear photograph

Dear Photograph is an awesome tumblr site where people are asked to submit "a picture of a picture from the past in the present". i'm totally gonna do this! these are just a few of my favourites, but there are lots more. go n see!

the making of a pin-up

found an awesome collection of 20 pin-up model photos with their resulting illustrations (click photos to enlarge). so neat! see the rest here.

if polygamy were legal #35

if polygamy were legal, i would marry this hand sewn leather guitar case by Whipping Post. i'm certain our marriage would last as she comes with a lifetime warranty. not certain she'd accept my proposal, however, as i only know how to play 4 songs :)

dad

my favourite photo of my dad, who turns 70 tomorrow. happy fathers day people!

video vendredi - u900

i found these videos ages ago and had forgotten all about them. U900 is a Japanese ukulele duo who make strange and adorable crochet videos. made me smile. hope it makes you smile too! have a wonderful weekend! xo

vivian maier

Vivian Maier worked as a nanny in Chicago in the early 1950s. in her spare time, she walked the city streets with her camera, quietly documenting her surroundings. Maier's work went virtually unnoticed until 2007, when John Maloof, a street photographer himself, purchased a lot of 30,000+ negatives that had been seized from an unpaid storage locker at a small Chicago auction house . Maloof has since become a champion of the late photographer's work, which includes more than 100,000 photographs as well as documentary film and audio recordings. Vivan's work is truly astounding, and the quiet modesty of it all could just about drive me to weep. i had so much trouble choosing but a handful of photos to post here, and in the end i decided to post some of Vivian's self portraits, but not to visit the link above and see the rest of her work would be a disservice to yourself.

time for action

i saw a photo of myself from behind on a friend's blog this morning and was absolutely mortified. i have been overly indulgent in food and drink for many moons now and the resulting pudge is worse than i had imagined. no more excuses for me. i'm gettin off the fat train this instant! buyin me a ticket to Health Town. who's comin?

bob's your uncle

Uncle Bob wants to tell you how to love a woman. let him, he knows what he's talkin 'bout.

“You may not be her first, her last, or her only. She loved before she may love again. But if she loves you now, what else matters? She’s not perfect – you aren’t either, and the two of you may never be perfect together but if she can make you laugh, cause you to think twice, and admit to being human and making mistakes, hold onto her and give her the most you can. She may not be thinking
about you every second of the day, but she will give you a part of her that she knows you can break - her heart. So don’t hurt her, don’t change her, don’t analyze and don’t expect more than she can give. Smile when she makes you happy, let her know when she makes you mad, and miss her when she’s not there.”

- Bob Marley

yoshiko fukushima

i'm quite fond of Yoshiko Fukushima's pencil drawings. see more of these and some interesting paintings, too here .

i must have a vintage/retro bathing cap!

smoother than a gentle breeze #1 - marcello mastroianni

in the tradition of you can't say Bombshell on an airplane, i'm starting a new series featuring photos of smooth, lady-loving sons-o-bitches from back in the day. lets begin with Marcello Mastroianni, who may well have been the smoothest sonofabitch that ever lived :)

neon bike project

toronto blogger Caroline MacFarlane recently transformed a rusty old bike, long abandoned on our city streets, into a cheerful thing of beauty. you can read all about her process and the idea behind it here. the truly sh*tty thing is that just two days after the bike (which had been locked in the same spot for years) had been transformed, the city slapped a notice on it demanding that it be removed within seven days. that makes me sad. if you live in toronto, visit the good to see how you may be able to help, and if you don't, visit it anyway 'cause it's a cool blog.