The Flaming Lips Rock Laser Undies to Cover Bowie on Fallon
And then the Flaming Lips said, “You’re welcome, Internet.”
50 Years of the Ebony Fashion Fair at the Chicago History Museum
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Yesterday I hiked to the Chicago History Museum (literally in the sense that I walked from DePaul to North and Clark in 80-some degree weather, dripping by the time I got there) to check out the 50 Years of Ebony Fashion Fair exhibit. Prior to visiting I had no concept of what the Ebony Fashion Fair really was, but the exhibit does a fantastic job providing the history of the traveling fashion show that Mrs. and Mr. Johnson, the founder of Ebony Magazine, began (in Chicago) in 1958. Considering the Chicago History Museum has, I believe, the second largest fashion (they might call it costume) collection in the United States they pulled out all the stops: Dior, Pucci, Givenchy, B Michael, Valentino, Yves Saint Laurent, and so on, all designs that had been worn over the years at the various shows.
But really the show’s not as much about the actual garments (although they’re gorgeous, for sure) as it is about the revolutionary step Mrs. Johnson took in empowering black women (and men) to see themselves as beautiful. She strove not just to show that black is as, or more, beautiful than white, but also representing the nuances of skin tone in these shows. Whether you had skin the color of coffee or caramel these fashion shows challenged the segregation of color through class and fashion, giving power to African Americans in a bold way within a segregated America.
The exhibition does an awesome job showing all of this. All the mannequins vary in skin tone and (sometimes) body type. The video in the last gallery played interviews from the models, commentators, and guests themselves relaying stories of the fun, emotional experiences the Ebony Fashion Show had across the country.
There is no photography allowed (although I found some on the internet!) but the show is up until next January, so if you’re in the area check it out for free. It’s mega cool.
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Short Hair Don’t Care: Pixie Cuts for Summer
A pattern that’s developed in my life has been the repeated cutting/dying/changing of my hair every April/May. Maybe the warm air and sun make me antsy for change. Or maybe I become more aware of my own appearance once I must shed my hats and scarves. Anyway, this year I decided to be a grown-up and find a stylist in the city instead of going home to the suburbs every time I need to cut my hair. I ended up going to Barbara & Barbara in Logan Square. It’s a super rad place as one would expect with zines galore to read and a complimentary PBR while you sit. Amy cut my hair and I think she did a really fab job, using Edie Campbell from the cover of this month’s Vogue Italia as a model. Thoughts?!
Before: Too long on top and dead ends.
- After: Sorry for the face, I’m not the most graceful at taking photos of myself. But love mah hair.
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LA Weekend: Maggie Does Sports Edition
This weekend was the first weekend in a while where I didn’t have a guest in town. It was weird. It was also my first weekend back at my part time job running errands for an A-List screenwriter, so this was a very weird weekend. Luckily, I have a lot of dude friends who do dude things like go to Dodgers games and go golfing and invite me to tag along.
While I was running errands on Saturday, I got a text from my pal Paul Rowe asking if I wanted to go to a Dodgers game. Now, while I absolutely cannot stand watching baseball on TV, going to watch a game is a whole other experience. He had seats directly behind home plate from work and we watched the Dodgers pretty much annihilate the Marlins.
On Sunday, my pal Collin (who if you don’t remember, went to Dig For Gems with me) was all excited because he just got his clubs and wanted to go golfing. Now, golfing and I have a history. My father was hellbent on getting me to golf as a child because there aren’t many female golfers and he was thinking of scholarships. While I liked going to the driving range, golfing was never my thing. I tried (God love me) but it just didn’t stick. However, I couldn’t turn down a giddy Colin, so I agreed to go, warning him of how terrible I am.
So we get to this PUBLIC golf course, aren’t doing that well (I was just going to put infinity marks in each of the score boxes) and then some caddy master or whatever comes up to us and yells at us because we only have one set of clubs, which we were sharing. Apparently that is not allowed and they didn’t bother to tell us when we clearly had one set of clubs and were checking in for our tee time. They also said we were going to slow (which, for as rusty as we were – we weren’t. We even let a group pass us to be courteous.) And then they pretty much told us to leave. They refunded our money, thank God, but still very disappointing.
We made up for it by going to one of my new favorite spots, The Village Bakery and Cafe in Atwater Village. We got some delicious brunch and iced coffee and all was well. We didn’t want to golf, anyway. Jerks.
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Breakfast At Your Place Goes Really Old School With Gorillaz “Clint Eastwood”
I like these guys because they’re French and sassy. Check out their cover of Gorillaz that is accompanied by a mash up of old animation clips by following the link.
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