There is a certain big city bright lights ennui that cool youth are wont to cultivate.
A little bit faded, definitely jaded, world weary, care-worn, but stylishly so.
But you know, when I go to the big city and see the bright lights and latest fashions and get swept up in the buzz and the movement and the excitement of the sights and sounds and general atmosphere of life being an adventure to be savoured and explored...
it makes me feel electrified!
Of course, I have been turned into a country bumpkin (not to be confused with all those pumpkins that are sprouting in people's gardens these days) after having lived the past 18 years in a rather rural, wannabe bucolic kind of setting. But judging from this mannequin's outfit of rolled up jeans, tee, plaid shirt, big honkin' black shoes, and "I just can't do anything with my hair" look, I think I may be able to pass myself off as a city dweller on my next visit to the bright lights.
*
I'm squeaking in (those darn old honkin' black shoes!) at the last minute to join in Bonnies' weekly
Photo Art Friday but better late than never.
Bonnie hosts a virtual art gallery (excellent wine & cheese, I must say) beginning every Thursday evening and running till the following Sunday evening. Right now there is no particular theme, all that's required is a tender belief that you have created a "little piece of art."
Photo Art Friday but better late than never.
Bonnie hosts a virtual art gallery (excellent wine & cheese, I must say) beginning every Thursday evening and running till the following Sunday evening. Right now there is no particular theme, all that's required is a tender belief that you have created a "little piece of art."
So, if you feel so inspired, join in next week, or stop by to view the virtual galleries.
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| Click here to visit Photo Art Friday |
(for those who want to know: I applied 2 layers of Kim Klassen's "The Ladder" texture (100% Soft Light mode + 65% Saturation mode) to my original image to grunge it up and tone it down. Both Kim and Bonnie have free textures available for your use on their artful blogs) and both are fellow Canucks!
i also notice the veins popping up on the back of her (his?) hand - that is one tired mannequin...
ReplyDeletei like the colors in both pics, lovely!
Big cities indeed are a challenge. A safe step ahead and a good start into the new week for you all.
ReplyDelete"World weary ennui" certainly describes the stance of so many of the urban chic. Your treatment of your image portrays that feeling beautifully. Thanks for sharing your work here at Photo Art Friday Lynne.
ReplyDeleteI love the expression on the mannequin's face! "Uh, really? I am SO bored!" Awesome!
ReplyDeleteYou know, if that mannequin was shorter, chubbier, blonder and more tired and harrassed looking it could almost be me!
ReplyDeleteI can't even tell if it is a mannequin or flesh and blood, it has veins visible on the back of a hand, I never saw such detail on a mannequin before. But if this is a real human, what awful deed did she do to be sentenced to sitting there with storm cloud hair and an air of can't be bothered and don't care... I hope she's making good money at least, if this is a modeling job. Ah, and such layers that have been laid on here... What's a guy to do without photoshop ???
ReplyDeleteExcellent photo.
ReplyDeleteRegards and best wishes
Ha ha--I do love the nonchalant bumpkin look. Somehow she can pull off that hairstyle, but if I tried that I'm sure I'd be thrown out of town.
ReplyDeletemanuela,
ReplyDeleteI think those must be "one size fits all" mannequin hands, good for either a male or female model. Or maybe this girl is meant to represent a massage therapist, sculptor, or ditch digger. If she were real I can just hear her sniffing, "As if!"
Robert,
ReplyDeleteI feel my invisible armour going on when I first arrive back on big city streets. Eyes straight ahead, walk briskly, stride confidently, hold my purse close. But still, I enjoy the sights...walking carefully, as you say.
Wishing you a good week as well!
Bonnie,
ReplyDeletePicture's from your hometown, so that's why it seems so familiar. Though I must say, I've seen the attitude on the streets there, but never really that particular fashion look.
Audrey,
ReplyDeleteIsn't she excellent? The tilt of the head, the droop of the shoulders, the widely spaced legs, the sombre stare. And yet the elaborate make-up belying the seemingly careless pose and "just thrown on" get-up. An excellent character study by whoever put that mannequin together.
Saj,
ReplyDeleteI thought she looked familiar!
Owen,
ReplyDeleteI was pretty amazed by those hands when I reviewed the photo. As I said to manuela, I think they must be "one-size-fits-all" hands that can be attached to either male or female mannequins. I wonder who modelled for them. I remember a few years (decades?) back when female mannequins suddenly grew nipples. I think that is no longer acceptable as visible nipples seem to have gone the way of white go-go boots.
A guy without Photoshop (though you can get a reasonable facsimile of it called Gimp for free download online, I understand) will just have to do what he can to come with excellent quality photographs that would be otherwise ruined by further tampering. I believe you're up to the task.
Tatjana,
ReplyDeleteI am unable to leave a comment on your blog, so if you happen to pass back this way, this is what I tried to say there:
So many intriguing photographs on your site. Thank you for visiting my blog and giving me the opportunity to discover yours.
jann,
ReplyDeleteyeah, I'm sure you'd start more than a few tongues wagging in Sicily if you showed up carrying your portabanana and sporting that hairdo!
Nice pictures, but that blase world weary attitude makes me want to laugh these days, I must be getting old! :)
ReplyDeleteHilarious... I will have to post a couple of very recent photos from Paris on the topic of mannequins with visible nipples. Plenty of food for thought there; are such things appropriate, inappropriate, politically correct, sexist, perhaps simply aesthetic... or purely a from a marketing point of view, do visible nipples on a mannequin cause higher sales levels, even if the buyer and observer is a female ? Or do they assume the female buyer is accompanied by a male purchaser who will be more likely to be enticed, etc, etc ??? Yep, you've opened a virtual can of worms, I'm afraid...
ReplyDeleteOh, and speaking of which, there was a funny story in the news today from Australia about how a Guinness world record was broken this weekend for the largest bikini parade, with 357 women participating... not that I'm actually interested in such things, mind you, I barely paid it a glance at all those glimpses...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pH1vyP1IVI
:-)
Jenny Woolf,
ReplyDeleteI think when we suddenly realize that there is far less time left to us be weary of the world, we're suddenly cured of that particular ennui.
Owen,
ReplyDeleteI don't see mannequins flaunting those cherries-on-the-double- sundaes silhouettes in Canadian display windows these days. I think it has something to do with the reversion a few years back to what are, essentially, padded bras but which somehow pass as not being a deception as to one's size but as a modest disguisement of one's bumps on the lumps, if you will. I guess they proved too distracting at the office, or something. That nippled mannequins are still de rigeur à Paris says a lot about the French attitude to all things remotely seductive, I guess.
By the way, just who did have the largest bikini in the parade? One would have thought the competition would have been for the smallest.
:-D
She is THE BEST!!!! I absolutely love her. Too funny. But you are inspiring me to pay more attention to shop windows in general, and the set up of the mannequin in particular. Next time I am in need of a good laugh, I think that I will go window shopping!
ReplyDeleteEnui? Mais oui!
ReplyDeleteNicely done.
I am so glad that I was not first on the scene here to this post as I would have missed the entertaining repartee about "bumps on lumps!" I was not observant enough to catch the veins on the hands but think that you are right about "one size fits all" for the mannequins.
ReplyDeleteI saw a feature last week on the design and manufacture of specialized mannequins in certain poses or for a certain body type (Nike). It is amazing the amount of work that goes into this marketing effort.
Great post!
Bises,
Genie
Great shot. Love what you did with the editing. It really pops!
ReplyDeleteLate on commenting - So sorry.
ReplyDeleteWell this is indeed very interesting subject material.
I'm not sure which I prefer but I'm actually leaning towards the first for some reason. It has a subtleness about it that I like.
Audrey,
ReplyDeleteWindow shopping is pretty much the only kind of shopping I can afford...and using my imagination the only way I can wear the clothes in fashion these days. But I really do like the lengths some window dressers go to to catch a passer-by's eye. I'm glad you enjoyed my find as well. I have a few more up my virtual sleeve.
Hilary,
ReplyDeleteTant mieux.
Merci!
Marilyn,
ReplyDeleteThanks! The window really was colourful all by itself. I just enhanced it a little...couldn't help myself...You know how it is.
:-)
Ida,
ReplyDeleteHow nice of you to stop by. There is no such thing as "too late" on this blog. And not too much subtlety, either, you'll probably find.
Genie -- Paris and Beyond has left a new comment on your post "Blazingly Blasé":
ReplyDeleteI am so glad that I was not first on the scene here to this post as I would have missed the entertaining repartee about "bumps on lumps!" I was not observant enough to catch the veins on the hands but think that you are right about "one size fits all" for the mannequins.
I saw a feature last week on the design and manufacture of specialized mannequins in certain poses or for a certain body type (Nike). It is amazing the amount of work that goes into this marketing effort.
Great post!
Bises,
Genie
Genie,
ReplyDeleteBlogger ate your delightful comment but I found it in my email so reposted it above.
I'm grateful for your delicate and kind reference to the shenanigans that go on in my comment boxes as "repartee."
:-)
The documentary you saw about specially designed mannequines sounds extremely interesting. One often forgets that artists are involved in creating the everyday sights we take for granted in big city. Mannequins as modern day sculptures...well, mass produced in the end, but still, starting out as original.
bisoux,
Lynne
love the attitude....lots of it in that pose and expression - I am trying to adjust to not in a big city anymore lifestyle - it is hard!! Greetings from the Riviera...
ReplyDeleteCatherine,
ReplyDeleteI am trying hard, doing my very best in fact, to sympathise with your move from a big bustling colourful city to a quieter, slower paced environment with pastels instead of primary colours in the decor...but I am having a very difficult time of it with those beautiful photos you keep posting of the Riviera.
:-)