Dearest Dee*
Have been ruminating on your message for 2 months.
the time has come
What wilds are you in that you’re gallivanting with grizzlies? boats and fish and firepits. i see you wearing a vest, ideally with little bright feathery flies fluttering from the pockets.
My bare feet are cold in the kitchen, and suddenly it smells like autumn in the courtyard outside, the metallic tickle of unfiltered cold in the nostrils and dark tendrils of loamy burning woodsmoke that branch off into little twining fingers to untie strings and open little boxes in my brain marked “do NOT OPEN until xmas” but whoa that was quick theyve unleashed the kind of memories that start with a twist in the belly and nudge up through the gullet and twinkle out as little wet gems in the corners of the eyes.
I have so much to say but the thoughts are shy and wont be coaxed. I think i miss you very deeply, especially now, as i may have mentioned something to do with crunching leaves and the incredible precision of late summer sunlight.
Is it fitting or ironic that i think of you when the seasons change, arid emigré, desert deserter?
Drank far too much wine with some austr(al)ians at a party on thursday and have been a few days holed up in recovery, it’s making me feel vulnerable and wide-eyed, observing my life from some strange side-angle that feels uncharted and precarious.
Now, if i may, that is, how are things, Re that particular lady, saltysweet in your description? Still working on breaking the cycle of commitment anxiety and bad decisions, myself. American fiction and electronic music, Tom Waits and Saturday forays into Berlin’s shimmering darkness fill the void. Some exhilarating emotional kickpunch, of nostalgic wallowings superimposed on hungry searchings after newness.
Which reminds me that i hope to be home for christmas, that is if work allows. what are your holiday plans? Snowshoeing towards a distant curlicue of chimneysmoke where we’ll play midnight jenga until the spiked cocoa runs out. i hope?
Just one story to tide me over till our next adventure together? Oh please?
Sort of ridiculous quantities of love, silly but sharp and real like accidentally laughing too loud,
unwaveringly,
Elle*
*names of people, places altered beyond all hope of recognition to protect the identities of the innocent, unwitting, otherwise incognito
Filed under: clothes clothes clothes, Favorites of Fashion, style, travels, vintage | Tags: boots, corset, dresses, en route, fabrics, jewels, threads, vienna, wien, wien museum
you may all wonder where I’ve been these past few weeks; the full answer is diverse, complex and boring.
what you need to know: i was in austria, jogging up mountainsides, rowing a little boat across crystal lakes, and illegally photographing exhibits of turn-of-the-century viennese society-wear. (Wien Museum am Karlsplatz – “Grosser Auftritt: Mode der Ringstrassenzeit” 10.6 bis 1.11.2009)
you enjoy the fruits.
the shoes above belong only in one century: the one i’m in.
here is more:
while we’re on the shoe theme, these riding boots i WANT with a painful intensity:
& I promise I’ve never gotten wide- and watery-eyed at the sight of a wedding dress before, but there’s a first time for everything:
&why is it that you have to set ur timemachine back over a hundred years to find a really money bike-riding outfit?
but don’t be fooled, women back then were not about maximum comfort.
SHIT
(not pictured is a scale model of a liver SEVERED by lifelong tootight corset wear)
and JEWELSJEWELS
this is a partyfavor. yea i want an invite to that ball
and more sparkles
unrelated to the fashion exhibit, this fascinating lamp lowered outside as part of a separate installation, demanding to be photographed:
and even vienna’s modernday boutiques have a pretty bauble or two to catch the eye:
but no colors manmade can compete with austrian flowers
not to be outdone by any common field variety, the blueribbon beauties of my omi’s garden get the last word:
