Little Missy's Cosmetic Adventures!
Invisaligns Rock!

It's not that I looked hideous...

But what as a self avowed arbiter of style was I doing running around with a crooked tooth sticking out like a jagged cliff from my mouth?  After a few (ahem) decades of forcing great photographers like San Francisco's own beloved Drew Altizer or my colleague the great Frederic Aranda to deal with my snaggle tooth, I finally crept somewhat timidly into the 450 Sutter Street offices of my dear friend the famous cosmetic dentist Dr. Alan Malouf.  I'm not going to say Invisaligns felt great for the past few months.  In fact it often felt like a throbbing headache...but Little Missy kept at it as I know my readers would expect nothing less.

Alan took this today as I am finished with my course of Invisaligns!

Now Drew will not have to put my teeth through the pretty filter and Freddie won't have to do all that extra work (he has enough with me as it is)!
No more snaggle tooth!  And the unexpected result is that the straightened teeth filled out the lower portion of my face, giving me a (ahem) more youthful look!

So dear readers, if you have teeth which may benefit from Invisaligns, they are invisible to all but yourself and if you are vigilant, you too can have straight teeth!  Thank you, Alan!  I will always love you for this!

The Jewel Of the Midwest Part Two

The Grandeur of Miniature

Salon of the Louis XIV period

Last month I was privileged to visit the Art Institute of Chicago and wrote about their impressive collection of French Impressionist paintings and sculpture.  This month I want to write about the captivating Thorne Rooms in the museum. From the time we are small, we are intrinsically drawn to familiar things in model scale.  I was fascinated by dollhouses as well as model cars and airplanes, the more intricate and realistic the better.  Barbie's dream house never cut it for Little Missy.  Narcissa Niblack Thorne, a native of Indiana born in 1882 was an American Master of the art of miniature rooms.  They depict historical interiors from North America, France, England and Asia from the late 13th century until the mid 20th century.  Narcissa married her childhood sweetheart, an heir to Montgomery Ward department stores and had two sons.  The story goes that her interest in miniatures was fostered by her uncle, a Rear Admiral in the US Navy who sent her trinkets from his travels. The first exhibition of her work was in 1932 and the Great Depression allowed her to hire highly skilled artisans who took her passion for miniature rooms to the next level.  The rooms, generally built on a scale of 1:12 or one inch to one foot depict a connoisseur's taste for interiors of the upper-class homes. Tweezers, cotton swabs and tooth picks were all employed in what must have been a painstaking undertaking.

Salon of Louis XIV period

French Provincial boudoir of the 18th century

Parisian salon of the 1930s

English dining room of the Georgian period

English entry hall of the Georgian Period

English rotunda and library of the Regency period

English drawing room of 1940s

Mrs. Thorne's work was extremely expensive and time consuming and her husband left her with a fortune of two million dollars which she used to continue her pursuit of her passion until the early 1950s, when a shortage of skilled workers forced her to discontinue the miniature rooms.  A permanent gallery was established in the Art Institute for the rooms in 1954.  There are approximately 100 in existence, 64 of which are in the Art Institute.

18th century Virginia dining room

Shaker drawing room, 18th century

New Mexico dining room, 1940

California living room, 1935-1940

Mrs. Thorne never sought compensation for her work.  Many rooms were auctioned for charity.  She was commissioned to create a room at Windsor Castle to mark the planned coronation of Edward VIII and although the coronation never occurred, the room was shown at the Victoria and Albert Museum.  And that, dear readers, is the highest of the high for accolades involving style and design. Thank you , Mrs. Thorne, and thank you Art Institute of Chicago for preserving these precious rooms.

The Jewel of the Midwest

Part One

They don't call Chicago "The Second City" for nothing.  What do these uber famous French paintings and sculpture have in common?  They are all in the Art Institute of Chicago!  Not Paris!  Not New York! Not London!  Chicago!  Founded in 1879, it is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the United States!  It is Little Missy's new favourite place! Just for fun, I snapped the works of art from the Impressionists that I had no idea lived in this museum!  We are not even talking about all the other art and the Thorne Rooms, which require their own Little Missy missive!

And remember the words of Paul Simon, sung by Art Garfunkel and by Aretha Franklin:

When you're weary, feeling small

When tears are in your eyes, I'll dry them all

I'm on your side, oh, when times get rough

And friends just can't be found...

Oh boy,  beloved readers... strap yourself in, it's gonna be a bumpy ride.

 Hello Renoir!  Chicago!

Chicago, Chicago!

Hello Degas!  Chicago!

Not in Paris or New York!

 She's in the Windy City!

This one really surprised me!   It's in Chicago!

You can Can-Can with Toulouse Lautrec right here!

I took my daughter's picture on this bridge many years ago! And below we have Gauguin!

Revive! at Saint Mary Magdalene Church, Rowington Close, London

These are times when art is more important than ever.  And to see the art of nine brilliant contemporary, cutting edge artists in the crypt of a nineteenth century Pre-Raphaelite Anglo-Catholic church is especially cherished.  The church is in the charming neighbourhood of west London called Little Venice.  Surrounded by canals and boats, its moniker "Little Venice" is easy to decipher. There is much I wish to write about the exhibition and the church, but first I would like to introduce my readers to the very charming and beautiful fashionista and gallerist, Olga MacKenzie.  When I met Olga, she was managing the Davies Street Vivienne Westwood store, ordering from Dame Westwood's shows the clothes she knew her high profile clients would want to wear.   Olga, a native of Siberia and I became friends, and she confided to me her dream of curating exhibitions for up and coming artists as well as those artists more established. She has partnered with a colleague to form Galitzine MacKenzie, and their mission statement for this exhibition reads as follows:

"Contemporary artists will create exciting site-specific works to reinvent this intimate space exploring issues such as ritual and spirituality, memory and presence, death and transfiguration and work which challenges the notion of revivalism in post-Brexit Britain and after the Trump victory."

The crypt lies underneath the Church which was build in the mid 1860s with an eye to serving the poor by spreading the Anglo-Catholic Revival, promulgated by the Pre-Raphaelite movement. The charismatic Father Henry Temple West commissioned George Edmund Street to build Saint Mary Magdalene in the middle of the Victorian slums.  Because of the fame of the architect, the church attracted the wealthy, whose smart carriages were at odds with the poverty.  The neighbourhood was known for prostitution and because of the many deaths from venereal disease, the crypt was used to store bodies until they could be properly attended to.

The dedication to Saint Mary Magdalene consciously references the church's desire to reach out and help working class women and prostitutes.  There are visual references to Mary Magdalene throughout the church and the artist Carolyn Barker-Mill has replaced some of the missing stained glass with a likeness of Marilyn Monroe.

Carolyn Barker-Mill's tribute to female power today.

Original church windows

The Russian artist Pavel Pepperstein's  Mary Magdalene on a camel with  slug, inspired by the Door's Riders on the Storm from their album 'L.A. Woman'.  In this context, Mary Magdalene is an empowered Magdalene, in charge of her own sexuality and destiny.

The youngest artist represented is 21 year old Niklas Gustafson, who has created a space that is free to form, scale or linear narrative, where as the curators write "the crypt's spirit and and fragments of its past and future lie co-exist". The video imagery is built up using archival footage of the church with a computer generated sound accompanying the videoscape of organ recitals taking place above the crypt.

Nineteenth century Ecclesiastical robes 

Olga with more Ecclesiastical robes of the period

I had the privilege to experience the site-specific recording by Hans Rosenstrom, which plays on our perception of space.  "I want to expand your own presence," says Rosenstrom.  He has worked with three dancers to produce this audio piece "tracking space and making it physical". One may hear footsteps, the unzipping of jackets, the sounds of taking off down jackets -- for me this sounded like bats flapping in the crypt, while the dancers footsteps sounded like delicate horse prancing.
There are nine artists represented in all.  An experience unlike any I have ever had, I strongly recommend anyone who can to visit. But soon, for it is only up until December 18th.

Little Missy on the canal near the church.  I  recommend the charming Waterway at 54 Formosa Street after viewing the crypt for coffee drinks, craft beers and fresh, tasty repast.

Little Missy's Guide to 
Italian Fashion and The Age of Excess

Venetian Style

In the 14th century, there were as many styles in the country we now call Italy as there were city-states.  It's hard to believe that at this time, the land we now call Italy was the economic capital of the western world, and Venice was its first city-state.  Florence soon became known as a centre for fashion and fashion innovation.  This was later usurped by the French.  Louis XIV and his Hall of Mirrors, the central gallery in the palace of Versailles may be a quintessential Gallic triumph, but the reality was the Italians were the  innovators of mirror technology and the French had to resort to kidnap and extortion to obtain Italian trade secrets and artisans.  For what is fashion without a mirror?  The Italians understood this first, but were slow to understand that fashion could become a lucrative, seasonal industry.  The French were the first to patent the luxury market and until recent times, (in which those pesky Millenials do not appear interested in the latest Louis Vuitton bag), cornered the market.  This is not to say that Italians did not have the best leather accessories and men's woolen fabrics for suits.  Let us not forget Mariano Fortuny and the great Elsa Schiaperelli who reigned years before what we now call Modern Italian fashion.

Capri pants, flats and a chic sweater from 1965

After World War II, the Italian government provided incentives for companies to create and export Italian fashion based on Italy's heritage of culture and art.  It was naturally first based in Florence, but the Roman aristocrats, called la dolce vita, took over and Rome became Italy's fashion centre.

Throwing in a Ferrari and the Coliseum didn't hurt.

The Italians were known for that happy look called "resort wear", swim suits, sandals, scarves, sunglasses and of course Capri pants.  The American bourgeoisie ate it up, la dolce vita on their yachts cruising around the Mediterranean, through movies such as The Barefoot Contessa with Ava Gardner.  Then, Italy got their own bona fide movie stars, Gina Lollobrigada and the ever enduring Sophia Loren.

Sophia Loren in her day

Sophia Loren recently at the Dolce&Gabbana Alta Moda show

Which brings us to today.  Yes, Little Missy has skipped over a lot of Italian fashion industry history, some of which might horrify you, dear readers. We are going straight to Dolce&Gabanna's  four year biannual Alta Moda phenomenon, which occurred this year in Naples,  always just a couple weeks after Haute Couture Week closes in Paris. Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana have been in business for 31 years.  That's 31 years of Little Missy not buying their clothes because they have never fit my non-Mediterranean tall, long waisted frame, nor my taste which is decidedly more Gallic. Now I suppose I could buy their Alta Moda which would be made to measure, but somehow I don't think this is the Little Missy Style:

One of these dresses is Dolce&Gabbana and one of them is not
Update--Little Missy stands corrected.  The one on the left is Andrew Gn and the one on the right is Gucci. Oh well...you get the idea!

As much as I do not care for Alta Moda, at least if you are going to do the look, wear the designer!  But as the Italians are the past masters of the fashion rip off themselves, I doubt they would care who is ripping them off.  Do the Italians still hold a grudge over the Louis XIV mirror caper? Doubtful.  Fashion wise at least, they are a sunny place for shady characters. Let's review a little Dolce and Gabbana history!

2007 Dolce&Gabbana advertisement

This horrific ad appeared just nine years ago.  It certainly looks like gang rape to me.  These are the designers who managed to avoid going to jail for 18 months on multi-year criminal tax evasions.  Several courts found them guilty and sought heftier three year prison terms but our boys had the media on their side and managed to avoid charges, becoming billionaires in the process.  And that did not stop our boys Domenico and Stefano from mouthing off that they believed in a "classical" family, saying "no [to] chemical children and [a] rented uterus", further claiming that children need "a mother and a father".  That's when they lost the respect of some of their supporters.  Having said that, Little Missy, never a supporter, was not surprised.    Domenico and Stefano would say the grass is blue and the sky is green if it brought their wealthy international flock to their Alta Moda dog and pony shows.  It takes a lot for Little Missy to speak like this but I must speak:
Dolce and Gabbana are douche bags.
Finally, a picture speaks a thousand words.  You can walk by the Dolce&Gabbana store in your city if you are cursed to have one, or just have a look at Little Missy's curated images!

Do you want to look like that?  Do you think it's elegant? Do you think that for one moment this pair ever said , "The most beautiful clothes that can dress a woman are the arms of the man she loves.  But for those who haven't had the fortune of finding this happiness I am here". Of course not. Those are the words of the immortal Yves Saint Laurent. 

Dolce&Gabbana are part of the detritus inflicting our sphere at the moment. If they go away tomorrow it won't be too soon for Little Missy.

Summer Games!

Gender Neutral and Friendly to the Max!

Everyone Can Play!

Here's how it goes...

Jony Ive

or

Johnny Depp

mascara

or

eyeliner

Chinese Food

or

French Food

Beethoven, Bach and Brahms

or

Mozart

Eddie Murphy

or

Mr.Rogers

Ruth Bader Ginsberg

or

Sonia Sotomayor

The Lesser Donald or

The Real Donald

For the record, Little Missy prefers Jony Ive, eyeliner, French food, the Three Bs of classical music, Eddie Murphy, Ruth Bader Ginsberg and Donald Duck.  How about you?  Make up your own game!   It's really fun!  Happy Bastille Day! Love, Little Missy