Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Chaise-ing Valentino

ink & watercolour illustration, 5.5" x 5.5" {14 x 14cm}

Brisbane’s stylish sorts have been all kinds of dizzy over the Valentino Past, Present, Future exhibition that launched here a couple of weeks ago at the Gallery of Modern Art {GoMA}.  La dolce vita and champagne have been breeding like rabbits.  Considering it’s the first outing of the collection since the expanded version opened in Paris in 2008 ~ one can forgive us our parochial state of chuffedness.  I haven’t been yet, mostly because I’m still trying to decide what to wear.  

Today’s illustration is inspired by a Valentino Haute Couture evening gown from Spring/Summer 1993.  {You’ll find it here.}  Since juxtaposition is my word of the month, I also took inspiration for today’s illustration from a purple velvet sofa currently lounging around my local thrift shop for the princely sum of $75.  Tempting, but it doesn't quite look like this one.  If it did, I’d have strapped it onto a couple of skateboards {on sale for $10 all up} and walked it home... aah, two juxtapositions for the price of one.
Posted by at 7:14 PM

23 comments:

  1. I think it would be perfect if you could float through the exhibition in this very gown! It's a beauty.
    That purple chaise looks like it should be installed in a portrait artist's studio and used for posing lovely ladies and well-behaved children. (But speaking of well-behaved, that kitty had better retract those claws!)
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  2. Don't tell the curator, but I like your gown even better.
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  3. I highly recommend the documentary about Valentino. Very fun and fascinating. Is it called Valentino: The Last Emperor.
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  4. Oh Shell, you can even see the sheen of that purple velvet. I am always amazed at how you can include so much detail! meep!
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  5. How amazing that an old purple velvet sofa could inspire such a divan, oops I mean divine, illo! Of course if the real thing looked like this I would have to arrange for it to be shipped to me! LOL.
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  6. I thought that was another self portrait of you all dolled up for the ball and waiting for your carriage to arrive. Just lovely, all of it.

    My new favorite word: chuffedness!
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  7. Alexa ~ heh, we know full well how kitties would just love hauling themselves up there. I just call the shredded upholstery here at home "character marks". :)

    Hiker ~ I won't. And thank you!

    Margaret ~ I haven't seen the doco but it's on The List. Sounds wonderful!

    Thanks, Genie! The detail tires my eyes sometimes, but I love it.

    LOL, Cali! If it looked like this, I'd feel it was a good reason for you to come and visit and fly it home in the seat next to you.

    PopCultureNerd ~ I'd be taking liberties to the extreme if I tried to say it's me. But thank you! Now I'm experiencing an extended state of chuffedness. :)
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  8. Gorgeous dress, but I hope you wouldn't be tempted to wear it while hauling home a thrift shop sofa via skateboards! I suggest just wearing all black to the Valentino exhibit, since black always matches well with la dolce vita and champagne, not to mention beautiful frocks by Valentino.
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  9. Like the Hiker, I, too prefer your gown. I wish I had someplace to wear it.
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  10. I like her "Mona Lisa" smile (as well as Kitty's grin). What is she thinking about in her lovely gown? Did she just return home from a fabulous night on the town? :)
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  11. Katie ~ black it is! {My predominantly black wardrobe approves of your selection.}

    Petrea ~ an Awards ceremony would be a nice place...

    Ms M ~ I like your Mona Lisa inspired questions, too.
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  12. Hi Shell ~ now that chaise -lounge is tres chic! it shows off the stunningly beautiful Valentino gown to perfection!! and Je pense que little puddy cat thinks so too.
    ~Dianne~
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  13. Superbly stylish & swish Shell! I think kitty has quite a triumphant expression. :)
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  14. I'd like to juxtapose my thought that you'd be a shining light in the area of furniture design against my other thought that that would leave a big gap in the market for exquisitely fanciful images.
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  15. Thanks, All Things French ~ always happy to impress a puddy cat!

    Favourite Vintage Finds ~ she looks proud of herself, doesn't she. :)

    Mise ~ well, thank you! I quite fancy your juxtapositional take on the matter. Perhaps I could manage both... I'll at least go and rearrange a few knick-knacks right now.
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  16. O, its a lovely sketch!
    I would snap up the sofa if it looked anything like the one in your lovely illustration too!
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  17. Indie.Tea ~ wouldn't it be fun if one of us happened upon it for real!
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  18. I love her dress, but being that I'm the type who likes lounging around more than going out to fashion shows, I covet the sofa more. The color is perfect... I bet that kitty would make a perfect reading companion to curl up with too.
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  19. Amy ~ nothing beats curling up with a kitty!
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  20. It’s been too long since I have feasted on your art work. I feel like a starving man invited to a banquet. With such visual nourishment my eyes are gaining weight as I type. Or should I say they are Feldmanizing?

    Speaking of Valentino (alas, Rudolph): he stayed here, kind of in my neck of the woods, while filming this. It is difficult in old B & W movies to discern colors properly but I am sure they are reclining upon a purple chaise lounge. He owned the place afterwards, I believe. It’s the single-story Spanish-tiled-roof beach house on the right—Casa Valentino, of course. It is apparently haunted to this day—reports of a “dark figure pacing back and forth on the veranda...”

    You could lease it for something like $5,000 or $6,000 a month (a perfect setting for your chaise)—pacing ghost, who ”can’t accept the fact that he is dead” thrown in for free. Thus the lease rather than sale?
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  21. Hello, Tall Gary! I'm so happy you've dropped by, though I feel I should apologise for contributing to any Feldmandization you're experiencing. What a fascinating story about the other Valentino {which was very nearly the name of this post}. Ghosts scare the BeeGees out of me, so I'm afraid I'll have to leave the leasing to those with handheld video cameras and no common sense.
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  22. Ooh, Bee Gees. Nice one, Shell. “Staying Alive”: Oh well, two out of three ain’t bad. I don’t suppose Maurice spent all that much time in Australia... Although he did enjoy his steaks, his shade just couldn’t possibly be found pacing verandas in the dead of night wondering when the meat-tree fruit was going to ripen, could he?
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  23. You have a memory like a steel trap, TG. ;)
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Merci, grazie, thank you for joining our conversation lounge. Your smile lights up the room. Even more beautifully than our crystal chandelier. x

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