I’ve had many nights where I’ve just collapsed into bed this past week, so I’ll be tucking myself in early tonight. This video has me excited to go to sleep because I’d like to imagine that if someone had a stop-motion camera, they would capture me sleeping like this:
I like the idea that we are still living our lives as we sleep.
But if it were me in that video, I’d be wearing pretty lingere by NYC’s The Lake & Stars. I’m loving their Spring 2011 collection as it reminds me of a creepy yet stylish cult I might dream about joining.
I like how the models’ creepy ritualistic behaviour is softened by the femininity of the lingere. The concept is very facetious, actually, as one definition of “ritual” holds that it is an outsider’s category for a set of actions that seem irrational or illogical. Conversely, the term can also be used by the insider, or person performing the ritual, as an acknowledgement that this activity can be seen as illogical by the uninitiated onlooker.
And isn’t this type of cognitive dissonance exactly that which drives the fashion machine?
When something is fresh and new, we don’t quite understand why we want it but we believe it must be worth wanting. But what is this belief based on? Is it based on reducing the tension between wanting something and possessing it? I find that shopping can be both therapeutic and tense. It can also be somewhat ritualistic, at least for me, as in I can justify shopping when I want either a reward or a consolation prize.
In fact, it is the concept of ritual that inspired designers Nikki Dekker and Maayan Zilberman to create this collection:
For Spring 2011, the designers took last season’s idea of “fetish” and explored it as a means of “ritual”. Inspired by the ‘80s New Age approach to spirituality and well-being, and today’s resurgence of communal living and cult practices, the team created their own “family” environment to stage various rituals. Playing with the notion that lingerie can be a key player in the ritual of romance, the new slideshow album, photographed by Tom Hines, offers tongue-in cheek advice on how to stay grounded and how not to take it all too seriously.
Speaking of not taking things seriously, this girl looks like a zombie who eats flowers, not brains:
Mmmmm! Love that garter belt.
You can purchase The Lake & Stars at the following locations:
One of a Few
354 Water Street
Vancouver, BC V6B 1E6
604.605.0685
The Lake & Stars Shop-in-Room @ The Waldorf Hotel
1489 East Hastings
Vancouver, BC
604.253.7141
*by appointment only
Charlie & Lee
223 Union Street
Victoria BC V6A 2B2
604.588.3030
All photos courtesy of http://www.thelakeandstars.com. The video is for Oren Lavie’s Her Morning Elegance; it won a 2010 Grammy Award nomination for Best Short Form Music Video.
