Narragansett: Stay-At-Home Funday Monday

I have been enjoying a few "stay-at-home fundays" and I am not about to complain about it. I did leave the house for a little bit to run small errands--getting the February 2013 issue of InStyle and a Starbucks--but there's only one more week to take advantage of the repose.

Source: Uploaded by user via Mia on Pinterest

My spring semester internship at Gossip in Wickford is in the process of being finalized and I can't wait to get started!

Source: Uploaded by user via Mia on Pinterest

The amazing Jessica Alba on the cover of InStyle 

Source: Uploaded by user via Mia on Pinterest

Manicure with Jack Wills nail varnish

Source: Uploaded by user via Mia on Pinterest

I'm almost done with the Masters of Style documentary series--I watched the episodes on Jean Paul Gaultier and Valentino today. 

Voir Un Film: Masters of Style

On a lazy Sunday, what else is there to do than snack on cookies, drink tea, and watch HuluPlus?

I found a treasure, Masters of Style, a late 90s/early 2000s documentary series about the greatest fashion designers of our time--Alexander McQueen, John Galliano, Jean Paul Gaultier, Michael Kors, Valentino, and Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana of Dolce & Gabbana. It was unreal to see the fashion giants in the 90s: Alexander McQueen and his mentor, Isabella Blow, were still alive and John Galliano had yet to make his infamous anti-Semitic remarks while at Dior. Anna Wintour looks much younger now than she did ten years ago, but Andre Leon Talley looks exactly the same.

The production may not be the finest--it was made during the 80s and 90s after all--but Masters of Style offers a unique, intimate glimpse at how the designers became successful.  

Check out the first episode of Masters of Style on Hulu, featuring Alexander McQueen:

Newport/Narragansett: The Tents and David's Tea

I was excited to find The Tents: The New York Fashion Documentary on HuluPlus when I got home after work. The film interviews designers and other industry professionals responsible for putting New York Fashion Week on at Bryant Park since the 1993. In 2010, after eighteen years on Seventh Avenue, Fashion Week moved to the Lincoln Center for Performing Arts.

The film does a great job at giving a behind-the-scenes look at the runway--the models, the hairstylists, the press, and everyone else in between. It was funny to hear that some fashion editors and journalists "crashed" fashion shows.

Source: talkingwithtami.com via Mia on Pinterest

Before bed, I decided to open a DAVIDsTEA gift set I got for Christmas from my eldest brother, Dylan. It included a mug, tea strainer, lid, and three loose-leaf teas. I tried the Coco Chai Rooibos--caffeine-free so I can still sleep tonight--and loved it.  DAVIDsTEA has a lot of different teas on their website, so I hope to order more varieties after I finish up the flavors I have.

Source: Uploaded by user via Mia on Pinterest

And speaking of sipping a spot of tea...

Happy Birthday, Kate! May you stay beautiful and elegant always, cheers!

Source: stylecaster.com via Meaghan on Pinterest

Source: Uploaded by user via Mia on Pinterest

Today's Outfit: Sweater, Simply Vera by Vera Wang; Shirt, Gap; Scarf, vintage; Leggings, Old Navy; Boots, Forever 21

Voir Un Film: Belle de Jour and Et Dieu...crea la femme

Et Dieu... crea la femme (1956) (And God Created Woman)
Directed by Roger Vadim

Source: 24.media.tumblr.com via Gabriel on Pinterest

Belle de Jour (1967)

Directed by Luis Bunuel

Source: criterion.com via jan on Pinterest

Since discovering the Criterion Collection on HuluPlus, I have been so excited to watch international movie classics, namely European ones. Et Dieu...crea la femme and Belle de Jour are films frequently referenced in the fashion world and serve as inspiration for magazine spreads. It's not hard to understand why: the lead actresses in both films, Brigitte Bardot and Catherine Deneuve, are irresistible and captivating.

Belle de Jour is quite complex--Severine (Deneuve) is married to a doctor, but although she refuses to be intimate with him, she becomes a prostitute in the afternoon. There are parts where Severine daydreams of her husband punishing her that took me a moment to register because they seem so random (the film's opening scene is unexpected). As Severine longs to be with her husband while at Madame Anais's, she wishes for freedom when she is alone with her husband.

Source: miss-vivien-leigh.tumblr.com via Marija on Pinterest

Catherine Deneuve

Juliette (Bardot) in Et Dieu...crea la femme is a vivacious, sensual character. A young girl in the South of France, she is known as the wild child of the village. Juliette is almost sent back to the orphanage when she is rescued by a marriage to her lover's younger brother. She tries to learn to love her husband until her lover comes back to town. All the while, the plan to have Juliette married was a plan orchestrated by a wealthy entrepreneur in love with the girl. As a married woman, Juliette struggles to stay faithful to her husband and restrain her liveliness.

Source: gqfashion.tumblr.com via Dawn on Pinterest

Brigitte Bardot

I love both movies (and would be happy having the wardrobes from each one) but I would have to say that Et Dieu...crea la femme is my favorite.

Voir Un Film: Grey Gardens

Grey Gardens (1975)

Directed by Ellen Hoyde, Albert Maysles, David Maysles, and Muffie Meyer

Source: imdb.com via Lis'Anne on Pinterest

No one understands the meaning of the word "eccentric" until she sees this film. Grey Gardens follows the everyday lives of Edith Ewing Bouvier Beale and her daughter of the same name, Edith Bouvier Beale, also known as "Little Edie." They are the relatives of former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis--the elder Ms. Beale was the sister of John "Black Jack" Bouvier, Ms. Kennedy's father.

In 1917, Ms. Beale married Phelan Beale, a lawyer who worked at the law firm Bouvier and Beale. They had three children, two sons and one daughter. When the couple divorced in 1931, Ms. Beale remained in the 28-room estate Grey Gardens in East Hampton. 

The younger Ms. Beale made the decision to move in with her mother in 1952. Twenty-three years later, Grey Gardens was released, a documentary that witnesses the two Edies day-to-day in their mansion, sunbathing on the porch, feeding raccoons in the attic, and singing along with records on the gramophone with arguments in between. 

It is an interesting film that captures their isolated lives in the dilapidated mansion, a haunting reminder of their rich past. Grey Gardens is part of the Criterion Collection available on HuluPlus.

Narragansett: Snowed In and Day 2 of NYE Beauty Prep

I started to plan a short trip to Wakefield or Jack Wills in Newport when the icy rain started to fall, so naturally, I stayed in the house. It snowed several inches today and will continue to do so until midnight or later tomorrow. 

I downloaded HuluPlus on my tablet and found Elite New Face, a HuluPlus exclusive television show about Elite Model Management's search for the next hot international model. I like it so far and I hope that there are more fashion-related shows available on HuluPlus to hold me over until the new season of Downton Abbey premieres next year--Sunday January 6, 2013 on PBS.

Source: reachli.com via WebShops Nederland on Pinterest

Source: creativepins.info via Missi on Pinterest

For the second day of my beauty prep for New Year's Eve, I will admit I did not do as well as I should have, but here goes nothing:

Three Day DIY Prep for New Year's Eve: Day 2

Keep drinking water!

Get up and move--Thankfully it's not yet bikini season, but doing a light workout will make you feel better when you slip into your dress on the big night. Also, by starting a workout before the New Year, it will make your healthy resolutions hold up. I like finding workouts on Pinterest and trying them out at my leisure (you can check out my fitness board here).

Give your sweet tooth a break--Reducing the amount of sweets you're eat will help cancel out the inevitable overindulgence of food and drink on New Year's Eve. Your mid-section will thank you.

Spot treatment any problem areas--If you still have blemishes, be sure to keep treating them with a dab of a mask or other blemish therapy. Apparently a small dab of toothpaste is rumoured to help bring them down...?

Sleep--You will be staying up plenty late enough New Year's Eve. Rest up!

Source: Uploaded by user via Mia on Pinterest

Today's Outfit--I found a few sweaters in Connecticut yesterday brought them back. This is a lambswool and angora blend sweater in lavender that was once my grandmother's.