I WAS THE GOLDEN GIRL

Last night I was very lucky to see the new HBO movie Grey Gardens, which premiered in the US last week and has yet to have an Australian release date. In the lead up to the film's preview screening there was more and more coming out about the film, which was based on the amazing documentary of the same name by the Maysle brothers. I really didn't know what to think about it. I was kind of freaking out about it but then I read a few articles about the production side of things and the care and effort that went into recreating everything correctly, mining Little Edie’s diaries (which surely have to be published at some stage?! Dyyying to read them) sourcing vintage clothing (they even found Little Edie's exact swimsuit!)and archival footage/photographs to get it just right.

The other good thing about it is it's more an exploration of the time before Big & Little Edie “fell” than a outright remake of the documentary (which would never have worked). The film focuses on Little Edie’s “secret true love”, which according to the film it was a married politician who she had a failed affair with. Poor Edie. The other nice thing is it touches on is the mutual love, respect and care felt between the Beales and the Maysles. This is also shown beautifully in the follow up documentary The Beales of Grey Gardens which consists of the footage that didn't make the final cut.

I think a lot of people feel very protective over the original (myself included), perhaps purely because it’s stars were so fragile. HBO have done a flawless job production-wise and the two leads, especially Drew Barrymore (I cringed when the first whispers came out a few years ago that she was to play Little Edie) are absolutely breathtaking in their roles, both are freakishly like the two Edie's in speech, manner and everything in between. At the end of it I was sort of relieved and really happy. It could have been much worse.

I've also been getting a real kick opening magazines like Vogue lately and seeing “Grey Gardens style" homages. Designers like Marc Jacobs have been ripping off Little Edie’s innovative and singular looks for decades so it’s nice to see her getting the recognition she deserves. The woman was a powerhouse, a fashion seer!

The movie ends at the premiere of the original Grey Gardens in New York, which Little Edie attended. As the film ends and the audience applauds, the Maysles hand her a bouquet of roses. Edie just radiates joy in that moment, she's finally made it. And with this resurgence of interest in Grey Gardens and the two amazing women that star in it, one thing is for sure, the Edie’s would have loved it!

KNITTING PRETTY

Tonight we were watching a movie and one of the characters was meant to be some sort of LA hippie granny type and in every scene she whipped out her knitting. Yawn. Anyway, it got me thinking about my neglected knitting projects, including one scarf I'm pretty sure I started in the Winter of 06. Such a white person right now, ugh.

I have to say I only really knit when it starts getting cold and rainy outside. So tonight the conditions were perfect. I don't really do it for any real reason aside from the fact it's a pretty awesome way to relax. Any kind of repetitive activity can have a zen-like brain emptying effect and knitting is all about repetition.

Knitting is such a basic human skill, it worked well for nomadic tribes way back because you don't need complex machinery like a loom, just some thread and two needles. The oldest example of knitting is a divine pair of red wool socks from Egypt dating from the 3rd century. They would have taken a lot longer to make as at this stage in history people hadn't thought about using two needles, so the socks were made by a complex system of knotting using just one needle and thread. Tricky. It still blows my mind just how much you can create with so few materials.

My knitting inspiration is Etsy sensation Yokoo, her stuff is dope. She now ships internationally too, which scares me. Now I'm all fired up and would love to start knitting some more complex pieces in a similar vein. Or maybe I should just start with cars?

THE WHOLE HOGG

Sheee’s baaaaack!

Punk doyenne and darling of the 70s/80s London underground scene Pam Hogg had her first catwalk show in ten years at London Fashion Week about a week ago, pulling a crowd that included Siouxsie Sioux, Bobby Gillespie and Dougie Fields.

To be honest the whole emphasis of the collection was not really stuff that floats my boat but she is a trooper and I’m all about GRANDE OLD DAMES. I think she kind of gets forgotten a bit because her aesthetic and background are so similar to that other miraculous broad, Viv W.

Anyway the collection was a bit of campy-glam fun, with poppy colours, pom-poms, lycra metallic jumpsuits that look like a second skin, harlequin leggings and bows a-plenty. At the most recent London and New York shows, across board there seems to be a real 80s new-romantic/punky lean to a lot of collections, so Hogg’s collection is timely and has the history to back it up. And in my opinion you can never have enough bows and pom-poms, especially in these dour GFC times…

YOU AND ME WE'RE FREE