Damn, Girl: Mia Wasikowska

So I am doing a seriously lazy Damn Girl piece today that basically just includes Mia Wasikowska's interview in this month's Vogue UK (Sept '12). I wouldn't declare myself to be a massive fan of her or anything but I do think she is an immensely talented young woman and the interview is a very good one. 

Also she photographs beautifully and Bruce Weber does capture her quiet eccentricity so that's why I think this feature warrants a place in my Damn Girl series. 

Two of my favourite Youtube series are Lynn Hirschberg's screentests for W Magazine (there are 59 videos - do not start watching this if you have something important to do, before you know it two hours will have passed!) and The New York Times' Touch of Evil, both of which feature Wasikowska so I figured I'd include them too. 

So that was a fairly lazy post but I am working on some pretty special ones that will hopefully be up soon enough. 

Cheers for reading,

Jane

images from HERE, videos from HERE

The Instagram Diaries: July Special

July has been quite a busy little month for me so far. Between the Volvo Ocean Race and my incredible trip to Belfast to work on the Game Of Thrones set, it has been pretty good. Obviously while working on set and in the studios, I was under strict instructions not to take any photographs. Still though, it was an absolutely unreal experience and one that I won't soon forget. While there I also got to visit the Titanic museum that was opened in March and that was actually very cool too. If you are ever up in Belfast,  it is definitely worth a good look. 

So without further adieu, here - in full Instagram glory - is my July. 

Festivities in Eyre Square during the VOR

The boats

The newest additions to the Quigley household - Carrot (right) and Parsnip (left)

In preparation for my trip to Belfast, I bought some new stuff

The view from my hotel room

On my way to the studios

The Titanic Museum

In the Titanic museum

Cheers for reading, 

Jane

Zambia Part II

After all the hard work in Twapia was finished, we headed off to Nsobe Game Reserve for a weekend of R&R. The park itself was just breath-taking. See for yourself!

We took part in pretty much all of the activities the place had to offer - the Safari drive, fishing (bad idea), swimming, canoeing. We even got to hold some tiny snakes and a baby alligator (or crocodile, I can't remember which). There was also a spa - and I use the term loosely - where some of us got some interesting hot stone massages. 

Nsobe was such a cool place and it was great to spend some time in such a different kind of surrounding to the semi-urban one where we spent the majority of the trip. In all, Zambia is an amazing country. Although there is quite a bit of poverty there, the people themselves are so happy and friendly. The crime rate in Zambia is astonishingly low which is why, while in Twapia, we were staying right at the heart of the community that we were trying to help. It is a pretty incredible country and has a real wealth of what you would traditionally associate with Africa. 

Cheers for reading,

Jane


P.S I have some insanely exciting news that I will be sharing sometime at the end of the week!

Zambia

Now for a post about Zambia. This was my second time working with Habitat For Humanity (I went to Hungary in 2007) and it was just incredible - pretty tough work but so rewarding, and what an experience!
Please prepare yourself for a seriously long post. Epic post!

Also for any of you who don't know where Zambia is (just in case like) here is a little map.

After a day in the Zambian capital, Lusaka, we made the five hour bus journey to the Ndola where just a couple of miles outside the city, the township of Twapia was located. We were straight to work the day after arriving. The work was pretty hard and even though it was only between 24 and 27 degrees the whole time we were there, while you're working it would often feel way hotter. Not much of a tan was got though unfortunately as we were all constantly coating ourselves in sunscreen. 

This was what the site was like when we arrived. 

The kiln made out of bricks to bake the bricks 

Window Putty Man

Cutting the ribbon at the Closing Ceremony

For the building, our team of twelve students from NUIG was divided into two teams of six and we went to two separate sites (the site in all the pictures above was the site I was on) and we also visited a third site on two occasions. We were quite proud of ourselves with all the work we got done. As you can see we almost finished the whole house in the two weeks we were working on it. 

One highlight of our time in Twapia was the amazing kids that roamed around the township, constantly asking us how we were and what our names were. Their fascination with us meant that they were never far from the site or the houses we were staying in. They also loved getting their photo taken and seeing them displayed on the screen afterwards. 

They went apeshit for the bubbles!

My entourage 

One of the girls being brave

The living conditions in the township were very basic. No running water, plumbing or electricity. We were all even seriously missing chairs by the end of the first week. The toilet facilities were rough to say the least. Ladies who lived in the area cooked our meals for us and a lot of nights after eating the would come in to us and make us all sing and dance - no matter how tired we were, it would always be great craic! In return for them singing and dancing every night we would also have to sing some Irish songs for them, so after trying out pretty much every song we ever learned in primary school, we settled on the English translation of a very catchy Gaeltacht song called Baby Shark, and a shortened ten verse version of Ro Ro the Rattlin' - neither of which I'm sick of despite singing them about twice a night every night for two weeks! 

So that's all I have to tell ye now. I'm sure I think of something else to say and I'll just add it to the post I'll do about Nsobe Game Park (a safari park we went to after all the work was done).

Cheers for reading,

Jane 

Map via google.images.com

How To Be An American Apparel Model

... if you're sure you want to be.

In which case you'll need to throw any self-consciousness or body qualms out the window because that uneven skin tone you have or extra pounds you can't shift are not going to be photoshopped. Frankly you can ditch pretty much any body shame you have because at American Apparel, they embrace your flaws, you bulges and even your unsightly underarm stubble. Absolute freedom with appearance you may be thinking? Well... kind of.

While the over stylized methods of Testino and Demarchelier are shunned in favour of something a little more Jurgen Teller, Dov Charnay (CEO of the brand) makes up for in sex what his campaigns lack in glamour. American Apparel has always been surrounded be some controversy. It is not the use of underweight models that lands AA in the naughty corner time and time again. In fact the majority of the models that feature in the campaigns are healthy looking curvy girls with hips and bums and boobs but the brands eagerness to present these hot commodities to us is the subject of this post. In terms of fashion drama, Charnay does for sexualisation controversy what Galliano did for anti-semitism.
The American Apparel campaign photos do, I'll admit, have a realism that is refreshing to see in an industry where the vast majority of pictures are stylized, edited and photoshopped beyond recognition. Shot on basic film and in not unusual settings, it is of course not the format of these pictures that have been causing such a raucous of the past few years but rather their preoccupation with nether regions.

Just take a look for yourself.

I know.

These are actually ads to sell clothes. Not condoms, hair removal cream or the latest website specialising in amateur porn. Apparently the items (or item in most cases) of clothing are supposed to be the focal point of the photo which is generally the basis of every clothing related campaign. Not in the opinion of Mr. Charnay though. His formula seems to work like this.

Clothing + amateur model - the majority of the clothing + awkward pornographic pose + uninspired setting = AA's next controversial campaign

So there you have it. Now that you have the formula, you needn't just settle for AA model, be the photographer too!

Then just sit back, relax and wait for a bit of controversy to be dropped into you suggestively spread lap.

While I know that there are much more risque adverts and editorial shoots floating around in the fashion stratosphere, I think the fact that the vast majority of these pictures look like they could have been shot in your bedroom or sitting room makes them a little more daunting. While Tom Ford's saucy perfume ads of 2007 caused quite a stir at the time, they only exist in a world of impeccable red pouts and oiled up models makes them at least kind of acceptable. The AA ads really try to nail the point that if you buy American Apparel underwear you too could look like you just had anal sex on the arm of a couch.

Cheers for reading me sounding like a prude,

Jane

Ps. Just for the record, I do not have a problem with AA clothes. They make undoubtedly great basics - albeit sometimes slightly overpriced - that are adored the world over. I just don't agree with the heavy sexualisation of girls who could pass for 14. I also know that not all of their ads and campaigns are laid out like this but you cannot deny the controversy surrounding those that are.

Images via here, here, here and here.

In my hunt for AA images I came across this Puma one too. Scandalous. 

A Bit Of Tumblr Inspiration

So I have been, for quite some time, a fan of Tumblr. I've been tumbling (yeah I just said that) for about two years now and I have to say that for a scrapbooker like myself Tumblr is an absolute haven. I always see people posting various style inspiration pictures on their blogs and even though I don't normally do that, there are just so many fantastic pictures floating about at the moment that I couldn't resist. So I just chose a few little pictures that I am finding particularly inspirational at the moment.

This girl is probably the coolest individual on the planet...

The Instagram Diaries

So I haven't done an Instagram Diary post in a while so I thought I'd just throw a little one together this evening. 

- late birthday present luggage tag and travel Moleskine - 

- study study study - 

- first outing of Topshop ear cuff -

- morning alarm for last Friday - 

- celebratory drinks after finishing exams - 

Click HERE to see the rest of my Instagram pictures and if you're on it leave your username in the comments below and I'll check out yours. 

Cheers for reading,

Jane