ready for retirement

The Yaka and I are convinced that we are ready for retirement. We discuss it all the time. Where we would retire, what kind of house we’d want, what we’d do - our routine varies from gardening and knitting to bringing up the doggies, experimental cooking and of course ending the day with a good stiff drink in the evenings.
This house has just stolen my heart (thank you Desire to Inspire for these pics) and i want to live there NOW.  WHY do i have to wait till 60 for retirement??

what dreams are made of… mine anyway

Santa didn’t come through with those winning lottery numbers. Maybe hes passed it on to the Easter Bunny. Marcus O’Reilly can expect a call from me if they do…

Ode to summer

In this cold, wet, miserable winter its important to stay positive and remeber summer is just round the corner!

Thank you Mr Sartorialist – for these pics that cheered me up!

Phase 3 – Fashion

Dear Yaka,

Natalie doesn’t normally follow fashion trends.  Not really.  I wear what i feel like and have been known to attend the odd party in jeans and flipflops if i cant be arsed dressing up. Fashion is not my forte. So i decided to review each decade to see which way the wind blows me.

First, I went back to the 20s.The decade of the flapper in a bustless, waistless silhouette accessorized by feather boas, cloche hats, embroidery, and lots of bling. Coco Chanel, Jean Patou and Jeanne Lanvin helped popularize the bob hairstyle, the little black dress, and the use of jersey knit for women’s clothing and also elevated the status of both costume jewelry and knitwear. Hems were cut to the knee and waistlines were dropped to the hips.  Menswear became more informal, soft wool suits and short suit jackets replaced the old long jackets of the past. Sports clothes became popular, including sweaters and short pants, commonly known as knickerbockers. For evening wear a short tuxedo was more fashionable than the tail-coat, which was now seen as somewhat old-fashioned.  I now want a flapper dress.

 The 1930s were a little boring, i thought so at least – the Great Depression forced more conservative trends. Skirts became longer and the natural waistline was emphasized in a move back toward a traditionally feminine silhouette. There was renewed appreciation of the bust, and backless evening gowns and soft, slim-fitting day dresses became popular.  Men’s fashions continued the informal, practical trend that had dominated since the end of the First World War.

 The 40s and the 50s were fabulously glamorous in spite of the war and rationing of material. Think Grace Kelly, Ava Gardner and Audrey Hepburn. Women were issued a limited number of ration coupons to use for clothing purchase. Shorter skirts than ever before and a short blocky jacket was the domineering silhouette in the 40s. Nylon stockings were scarce and women were encouraged to make do with ankle socks and bare legs.   During the Occupation, the only true way for a woman to flaunt her extravagance and add to color to a drab outfit was to wear a hat.  Look at the beautiful hourglass shape of the women, their glamorous makeup and hair. Would you imagine they were living through a war if you didn’t know better?

The Zoot suit was a popular look for men with its exaggerated oversized jacket, wide lapel & shoulders and baggy low crotched trousers that narrowed at the ankle. The suits were usually paired with hand painted ties featuring skyscrapers, exotic foliage, sunsets and even pin up girls. Casual shirts in hawaiian prints were also the trend.

 

In the early 50s the war years began to creep out again with the New Look of fashion emphasizing rounded shoulders, full skirts and narrow waists and it continued well into the affluent latter part of the decade. Women were always immaculately put together and never seen without a pair of gloves or heels. Far too much work, definitely NOT the decades for me.

The 60s and 70s – In the past, failure to follow fashion merely meant that you were poor, but in the Sixties it became just as much a statement of personal freedom. At the start of the decade skirts were knee-length, but steadily became shorter and shorter until the mini-skirt emerged in 1965.  By the end of the decade they had shot well above the stocking top, making the transition to tights inevitable.  Flat boots also became popular with very short dresses in 1965 and eventually they rose up the leg and reached the knee.  The popularity of jeans, particularly flared jeans, served to accelerate a radical change in the male wardrobe. Young men grew their hair down to their collars and added a touch of color, and even floral motifs, to their shirts. It was  also no longer shocking for women to wear trousers on a daily basis. Can you imagine not being able to wear trousers everyday??!! or boots? My uniform in the last few months has become boots and jeans thanks to this happy weather i am now subject to. Couldnt live without it.

The 70s began with a continuation of the hippie look of the late 1960s, with afghans, Indian scarves, and flower-print tunics. Jeans remained frayed,tie-dye was still popular, and the fashion for unisex mushroomed. An immense movement claiming civil rights for blacks combined with the influence of soul music from the USA created a nostalgia  for Africa and African culture. A radical chic emerged, influenced by the likes of James Brown and Diana Ross, in everything from afro hairstyles to platform soles.  Hems dropped in 1974 to below the knee, until finally reaching the lower mid calf in 1977 and shoulderlines were dropped. Men’s appearance changed more in the Seventies than it had done in a whole century.  Narrow shoulders,  tight-fitting lines, no tie, no interfacing, zip-up boiler suits, waisted jackets or tunics, sometimes no shirt were the popular styles (can you imagine dida dressed like that?!!! he had the long hair and all, same side parting though). All in all these two decades were funfunfun for fashion and I love em. another contender for me.

Typical of the 80s era were  imposing, broad-shouldered designs, often made of leather, flounced skirts, embroidered corsets, bustles (think madonna), and polka-dotted crinolines which evoked the rhythms of flamenco. Short skirts made of sweatshirting, leotards, headbands, and leg warmers (flashdance), made jogging look fashionable.  ‘Rah-rah skirst’ were also made popular. Power and Money dominated the styles of this decade (remember Dynasty?), with women donning expensive business suits during the day and extravagant designer gowns in the evenings. The miami Vice look dominated men’s fashion with its pastel coloured tshirts worn beneath white jackets and matching white loafers (still a popular look with a lot of SriLankan men). Stone washed and white jeans were also trendy and men and women were both known to sport a mullet.

Style swung in the opposite direction in the 90s. The affluent, designer styles were rejected in favour of more  comfortable, casual clothing. Flannel shirts and ripped jeans inspired by the grunge movement in rock and roll became popular, while the increasing popularity of hip-hop brought baggy pants into fashion. remember KrisKross who wore their clothes backwards? True pioneers, those.(We can thank the nineties for the MC dudes with their jeans hanging off their asses).  Followers of hip hop adopted huge baggy jeans with big patterned shirts and heavy black shoes. Increasing eco-awareness and animal rights made even top couture houses such as Chanel introduce fake fur and natural fibers into their collections.  Girls were seen in crop tops and high waisted jeans and babydoll dresses in floral or paisley prints accessorized with a leather jacket and doc martens (remember Alicia Silverstone in the Aerosmith video, Crazy?)

The one thing i realised during my research was the that fashion in the last decade – “the noughties” – has been an intepretation of the fashion in the past. Drain pipe trousers are now called skinny jeans – though i think its wrong for a boy to wear them, the nineties grunge look is now called boheme chic, the neon leg warmers and exaggerated shoulder lines from the eighties are back too. So, my favourite decade for fashion is, drum roll please -drrdrrdrr- this one. The decade that encourages individuality.  I can wear a flapper dress or cut off shorts with my patchwork converses in the summer or biker boots and cloche hat in the winter and it wouldnt matter.  I can be me and not stick out like a weirdo. Thank heaven for evolution.

Re inventing the wheel

The New Year is quite literally around the corner. And you can’t help but wonder what it’s going to bring – where your road will take you and what new changes, revelations or discoveries will be made.  It’s all about expectations and hope.

I’ve been reading about some amazing new inventions and designs that do just that, makes you think wow, anything’s possible.

Ever heard of water-resistant sand? Yup, you read that right. DIME, a UAE based company has designed a water-repellent chemical that makes each grain of sand entirely waterproof. While similar materials do already exist, DIME sells their magic sand in large plastic sheets called HST rolls. These are spread out to form a giant waterproof layer under the topsoil. Crops are grown in the soil above and the water is retained in this table.  This could essentially reduce the demand of water used for irrigation. These rolls have currently attracted the attention of the middle east and rumour has it that apart from the ability to turn the desert green, these sheets also mop up spill as the sand absorbs oil.  Definitely one to watch out for in 2010.

We all know what a pain presentations can be. Lugging around a heavy projector, trying to fix it all up only to find it wont work though everythings plugged in as it should be.  And you’re trying not to tear your hair out after all those sleepless nights you’ve had putting the presentation together. This is supposed to end that nightmare. Pico Projectors are tiny projectors that can create upto  a 60in screen and will be found in everything from cameras and mobile phones to ipod accessories.  No more passing around your digital camera to show off your holiday pictures to your friends, you can project them instead (complete show and tell if you like). Theres talk of ipod projectors designed to create on the go cinemas and smartphones that beam their screens onto a nearby surface, then use light beams to trigger the address book, documents and home videos (though you wont want to lose it and may possibly want to have it chained to you at all times). Didnt I say C3PO was old news?

I was really unimpressed with the ebook. I mean who would want to read a text on a flat screen and miss out on the smell and feel, the experience of a proper book? Someone else must have felt the same way because now theres Enhanced Editions, an iphone application with bookmarks, typeface change, tilt scrolling and exclusive videos with authors voice clips and even musical soundtracks. Watching the trailer reminded me of when Dida used to read me my bed time stories.  They are calliung it the E-volution of the book (the app, not dida). Though personally nothing could replace a book for me, I’d like to give it a try.

The WorldWide Telescope (WWT) is a web based software that enables your computer to function as a virtual telescope. You can drag it around the sky. Look at Mars here or Orion there and the Big Dipper here.  You can travel space without waiting for Virgin Galactic to build its rockets. And it has one feature that makes it different from any telescope youve ever looked at. It can zoom. 2010 might well be the year we all travel the universe with Zaphod Beeblebrox.

The wheel has probably been the one thing thats remained intact since its invention thousands of years ago. Until now.  Duncan Fitzsimons was working on folding bikes in his final year at college – you can fold a bike but not the wheel and performance bikes need big wheels. Though the details are all hush hush, Duncan has basically worked out how to adapt the tyre so it can be folded up and still stay fixed to the hub, meaning, a full sized wheel could bend into four. (He surprisingly has the first commercial patent on one). His invention came to the attention of charities who asked him to consider wheelchairs. In an interview with them, Fitzsimons tells Wallpaper* Magazine that “for cyclists folding bikes are a choice. For wheelchair users, leaving the chair behind is not an option”.  Fitzsimons has managed to fit a full sized manual wheel chair into two small bags, enough for air travel hand luggage or for the boot of a small car.

If this doesnt make you rethink your sad “i will visit the gym everyday and lose ten stone in 2010″ resolution then you need a good kick up your you know where!

Here’s to to Hope and a better New Year!