Happy Halloween

Punk'd a la francaise, grace à Remi Gaillard. Enjoy!

LOL Lighting

Not the usual topics but I couldn't resist...

(Rien à voir avec les sujets normalement vus sur ce blog, mais qui pourrait resister à cette p’tite touche fantaisiste?)

You know those people's houses when you go to visit them, and they've paid so much attention to detail? The light switchplates coordinate with the color of the mantel or a stripe in the pillows and the whole place seems in harmony with a touch of whimsy?

This is like that:

For all of you who always forget to turn off the lights, your appliances may soon start taking over, watch out!

Found at The Play Coalition.

Lights out!

Couture does Berber Bling

A post on Luxist that was picked up by the Doneger Group (those faceless people who decree that you and I and everyone else are all going to be wearing orange and chartreuse with grey stripes come Spring 2011) highlights how recent couture fashion has (once again) been co-opting traditional Middle Eastern garb as high fashion.

Some designers (Givenchy here, my dears) didn't even mull things over too long before simply ripping off traditional pseudo-Gulf bedouin togs to slink down its runways.

Then comes the Berber fibula-cum-military jacket lapel pin-cum-jinglejangle chemise and harem jodhpurs.

What, no fez?

And an outfit Lady Liberty herself might select for her social debut:

But that's not all. Remember Ralph Lauren's crazy collection from a few seasons ago? All that yuppie-safari hit the runway the same month as the 2008 economic crash. (And, ever with an ironic finger on the nation's pulse and pocket, the good people at RL inc. went for the po' boy look for 2010...I can't deny the man's business acumen, I admire him for it, but there must be a way to find middle ground between NY-safari fantasy and boxcar hopping...And fashion, i.e. $300 faded overalls, as a projection of our times is a dismal forecast for economic recovery...)

In what is surely a stock Indiana Jones plot, RL rolled out a biplane-flying heroine who recovers artifacts with the aid of her gold lame parachute (pants)...

The evil SS femme fatales disguised as mysterious European archeologists skulk around stealing state secrets in ostrich-hide hat boxes and trench coat pockets...

While the natives with major toothaches watch, blasé, from their hovels...

And the naively innocent colonel's wife tries not to develop a secret desire to ditch her pith helmet for our heroine's satiny camp shirt. Then she goes off for a pleasant afternoon of lion-shooting and tea.

Seriously, did this collection's designer get fired from the Spielberg studio and head to Manhattan?

At least one major designer did some good interpreting "Middle Eastern" wear:

the resort 2010 collection ran a strange gamut from from ingenue Coco/Edith Piaf to these beauties:
Beautiful beautiful takes on the perennial caftan. Well done.

(His Spring 2010 collection, however, showed some ominous signs of imitating RL's...

And an even scarier use of the Spanish mantilla as headscarf...

(Cute braids though. )

French Chic meets Moroccan Cool at Dar Seven

The sumptuously understated guest house Dar Seven in Marrakesh, owned by a certain Italian prince and princess, is a study in muted tones that manages to be both riche and yet comfortable.

I know some balk at taking traditional riads in Morocco and Tunisia, gutting them and modernizing or westernizing them, but I truly find Dar Seven to be a well-executed blend of hotel and home.

It seems Dar Seven's style is very much what West Elm and Elle Decor have been aspiring to in recent months, and it's most unique features in my opinion are those tonal stripes, eye-soothing neutral solid colors (quite a change from the eye-poppinglingly colorful ochres, greens, browns and blues of Marrakesh!) and vague east Asian influence in furniture and what Frasier Crane would pursingly ooze "objets d'aaaarts..." but what you and I might call nick-nacks.


"Mr and Mrs. Smith" wrote their own review in the Telegraph, and decreed:

"a colour palette more Ralph Lauren than Moroccan riad. Utterly tranquil, magnificently chic."

True, true.

They certainly thought it was worth the trek through the winding medina (but then, there is much in this world worth those peregrinations through narrow, twisting streets).


A friend of mine just loathes this monochrome look, "institutional and bland" she says; for her Morocco is all about the colors. In sparser settings with less attention to detail I might agree, but to me this space softly murmurs: "quiet escape into beauty", a change from the oft-seen "wildly polychromatic exotic getaway with camels!". Emphasis on the camels, for some...

Maybe they'll add a zen rock garden to the roof*?

Several sites offer booking info, I learned about it through Morocco Gateway. But why not create your own version at home?

Now where are those cans of beige paint?

*That would be too much, wouldn't it?

Issaquah - Chefchaouen: Sister Cities

If you happen to be near Seattle this weekend, stop by the Issaquah Salmon Days Festival to meet and observe two Moroccan artisans and greet the mayor of Chefchaouen, Issaquah's sister-city in Morocco (!!).

"-Mostafa Dennouch, of Marrakech, is a premier wood artist who creates masterpieces of geometric patterns. Sometimes the work is encrusted or inlaid with different pieces of wood or metal.

-Driss Essakhi, of Fes, is a metal crafter. His work includes a diverse range of metal art pieces that are ornately decorated with geometric patterns and inlaids, such as jewelry, utensils, silverware, brassware, statues and wrought iron.

During Salmon Days, the artists will be displaying and producing their artwork at the corner of East Sunset Way and Rainier Boulevard South. The artists will also be demonstrating their crafts at local Issaquah schools during their visit.

In addition, we welcome Mayor Sefiani of Chefchaouen who will be featured in the Salmon Days Festival Parade, beginning at 10am on Saturday, October 3rd."