the sartorialist and the femme fatale

the sartorialist in new delhi: here, a product of his findings. for those of you not in the know (and frankly it's easy not to be with this one), "the sartorialist" scouts the streets of almost every major city taking photographs of great style.

now that the introductions have passed, i will now say this: she has to be one of the most beautiful women i have ever laid eyes on.



i've been working on a drawing for my lithography print. i'm working with ideas of female/nature, nudity and animals as menaces to society. we have built in systems to regulate these things that are really out of our control: birth control, feminine hygiene products, clothing (and dress codes to boot), domestication and the manufacturing of meat. Animals can exist either as our pets, amusement at the zoo or on the way to our dinner table. There's no place for them otherwise. The cycles of the earth and the unpredictable nature of woman as a link between earth/life (fertility, cycles,etc.) are factors we live in fear of: accidentally getting pregnant, hurricanes, snowstorms, earthquakes, etc. as far as nudity goes, it has no place in society: "NO Shirt, NO shoes, NO SERVICE." that's pretty extreme, don't you think? it's really no different than "NO PETS ALLOWED." you, in all your "not fully clothed" glory-are an animal. i mean, it's just barefeet and bare chest/back. this ties into a big question with the piece i'm working on: what defines a human being? do true humans have a place in society? is nudity human? is nudity animalistic? what's so wrong with being an animal? where's the distinction? there are primates that have many of the physical characteristics of a human. are advanced societal humans just clothed _____? (pick an animal to your liking)

that said, I find clothing absolutely fascinating and absurd. theatre is just life magnified, collaged, or shaped in a way to re-represent it. clothing is costume. clothing shows what part of society, or what level, if we are talking about hiearchy, you want to participate in. even a clothing counter-culture, in all its rebellion, is a socially acceptable way of defining who you are, via how you dress. the true counter to culture is nudity. but that's not even in the scope of society; not even part of the discussion.