HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

Marc Jacobs Newest Ad---He's near NAKED

Mood Board and Coat Project

Well as promised here it is--one of my Fashion Visual class mood boards and the project that went with it.  We had to pick any culture we wanted and we had to use at least one t-shirt.  We also had to have a two dimensional and three dimensional effect to the quote.

So here is alos the description that was on the back of the mood board:

I was inspired by Jewish culture, especially the old world Hasidic faith founded in Poland in the mid 18th century.  Aside from the religious aspects of the Hasidic faith I was drawn to the prayer shawl or Tallit, which is worn during morning prayers, weedays and Shabbat.

The main inspiration was the Tzitzit or the tassel at the four corners of the prayer shawl, which remind us as Jews to observe all of G-d's commandments.  When I came up with this idea I wanted to try to convey the very rich woven tapestry that is my personal Jewish faith.  That while I am in prayer, three times a day, I am set apart for a brief moment from the madness that can be our planet and our personal lives, by being engulfed in the prayer shawl I invite a tranquil and intorspective time where I can speak to G-d where he inspires and moves me in ways no one else can.  That this very private and sacred time is now being opened to you with the creation of this coat; I hope it invites you to find that time for yourself.

The coat was originally four double extra large t-shirts dyed a light cream color, with a few left white.  Included in this coat is linen canvas dyed a deeper brown color and some left undyed as well.  The material then was cut into strips about three inches wide and woven together.  The woven material is than all top stitched in blue thread to stabilize the weaving.  I used Blue Satin for the lining.

The weaving is also representative of the custom of Jews who are in mourning of ripping their clothes which started centuries ago and is most remembered in the story of Job. Job 1:20 "At this, Job got up and tore his robe, shaved his head, fell to the ground and said 'The Lord hath giveth and the Lord hath taken away."

The layout for the board I wanted to convey the htought that the prayer shawl is for some an everyday part of our lives and for some identifies not only who we are but also what we believe and that reality sets us apart.  That we can find the peaceful, the etheral and the tranquil in our lives and all we have to do is look inward.

Galliano Trend Board

Galliano Trend Board by charliedale9966 on Polyvore.com

2011 Spring Collection Paris, France

John Galliano Men's Wear Spring 2011

Sorry for the lack of posts

It has been a very hectic few days.  First it was homework and then Monday we ended up getting  anewer car. We went eto Tri-City Nisson in Tallmadge and we ended up with a 2008 Chevy Cobalt.  I happy to report that it is FIRE ENGINE red.  It rides so smooth and it does get better gas mileage. The other problem the last few days I have been trying to adjust to the new medication I am for now a little over a week.  My HIV doctor prescribed Cymbalta because of my leg and feet pain I have been having lately.  Frankly I think the medication is for the moment making it worse.  The pain has been through the rough and well the fatigue the last three days has been some of the very worst I have had in a while.  I have no idea what the heck I am going to do.  If anybody been has been or is on Cymbalta I would love hearing what your experiences have had.

Over the next few days I will be posting some pictures of a few of my assignments for the Fashion Visuals class I am in.  It will be mood boards and a clothing item.  I don't want to give away all of the details, so all of you sign in you are somewhat surprised. Well until next time, I am so glad we had this time together.

It Gets Better: Michael Kors

The incredible Michael Kors for the Trevor Project and "It Gets Better"

News of the day

I am sorry there was no post yesterday but with this massive writing paper due Friday, plus all my other homework I did not have the time to wirte anything.  I also turned in and went to bed last night at 9:30 p.m. something I hardly ever do because I was just so tired.  I think the work load is catching up and the stress, well it has been unbelievable.  Something may have to give soon, but it has been really hard to try to reach a decision of exactly what to give up to try to regain some balance in my life.  Hopefully all of you, my faithful minons of readers are not having that same problem.

Last week I was on the verge of leaving the Honor's Frat I am trying to join, after talking with our "Class advisor" I am sticking out.  Lord knows I am going to do with it all, but I feel as if I should at least try my very best.  I have made more connections and the start of what could be some great frienship if I can just hang on and get through this whole process and pass everything they require to become a brother.

Well I got back my Workroom I Sewing Technique Sample book and I am happy to say I got a very good solid B.  Makes me wonder though with my experiemce and background of sewing for 40 years how everyone else did? I would never ask mind you because well it's rude and tacky as well.  Hopefully they all did well and we started on the first real garment in that class which is a clasic kick-pleat skirt. The fabric is real cute and soon asthe project is done I will post it here.

OVER 10,000 HITS

Somehow since I went to bed last night this little blog hit over 10,000 readers. UNFREAKING UNBelievable!!! Who knew I hit on to something by changing things the way I have and it looks like kids that those wirting classes are paying off !!!! Thank you to all my minon's who read this blog I LOVE YOU all!!!  Keep reading and I am SO glad we had this time together!

Homosexual Concentration Survivor

This is not going to be an easy video to watch but I felt very deeply that you should watch this.  It is with Rudolf Brazda who is believed to be the VERY LAST of the gay concentration camps survivors of World War II. 

This story is very dear to my heart since I lost two great aunts in the horrors of the Holocaust who were Jewish. Our family who left Europe before the war broke out convert to Catholic and then in the 1950's to Protestant.  Our family could not at the time get those families out.

This is his story--the only homosexual story I have ever heard about the Holocaust.  Least WE NEVER FORGET.

FCKH8 Video

Ok kids this is a brand new video from Youtube and it is in response to Prop 8 and the whole gay marriage issue.  I found this vid on a brand new blog I read and thought it VERY appropriate for mine.  With that said be VERY forwarned that you may find this OFFENSIVE because the f-bomb is dropped quite a bit and is not everyone's cup of tea.  If it is take the advice of the vidoea nd Facebook and Twitter this to you hearts content

Chanel Spring 2011

Joel Burns tells gay teens "it gets better"

Openly gay City Council member Joel Burns shares a MOST powerful speech about it getting better!!!! It is my opininon that everyone gay or straight needs to hear this. It is a story of incredible strength, incredible hope and incredible love.

INCREDIBLE NEWS

Well yesterday was my doctor's visit and I am so pleased to say that I went from 78 t-cells and a viral load of 9,800---- to a T-cell count of 204 which is the first time my t-cells have been over 200 in 18 long  years!!! My viral load is down to 2,900--- that number is how active the virus is so the lower the number the better. But technically I was THRILLED!  Hopefully in three months time when I go to the docotor again the numbers will be even better.

John Galliano Spring 2011

News of the day

Well as some of you may notice I decided to add to the side bar--- two new features.  The first is a list of what I have currently read and you will find in my personal library beside fashion magazines I subscribe to .  I thought there would be interest in what I read and those of you who read this blog often know first hand I would rather read than watch television.  All but Oprah, Glee and of course Project Runway.

The other feature I thought all of you my readers would really enjoy is a peek into what has been my most popular posts.  It has been interesting to see what you all love reading the most, some of it a little shocking some of it not.  You all seemed to love the post on Calvin Klein and Karl Lagerfeld's new boyfriends and maybe it was because I showed them near nude .

Things at school have been rather busy but in all honesty I do love it.  Will be posting pictures in the next few days of my Fashion Visuals Project where we had to use a t-shirt and to try to coney a culture.  Hopefully I get a good grade.

Gay Okla. Teen Kills Self :: Parents Blame ’Toxic’ Anti-Gay Attitudes :: EDGE New England

Gay Okla. Teen Kills Self :: Parents Blame ’Toxic’ Anti-Gay Attitudes :: EDGE New England

Tim Gunn for The Trevor Project/It Gets Better

In September, five teenage boys killed themselves after being physically or verbally (or both) assaulted for being gay. The suicides of Tyler Clementi, 18, Billy Lucas, 15, Asher Brown, 13, Justin Aaberg, 15, and Seth Walsh, 13, have brought national attention to the epidemic of bullying in American schools.

Now, a number of stars, many of whom have personal experience with anti-gay bullying, are speaking out in hopes of raising awareness and providing support to teens and young adults who are being victimized or who are having trouble dealing with their sexuality. The topic is also addressed in a cover story for this week's PEOPLE magazine and in a week-long series on CNN's Anderson Cooper 360.



Most recently, 'Project Runway' mentor Tim Gunn spoke candidly about his own suicide attempt and his support for The Trevor Project, a national 24-hour, toll-free confidential suicide hotline for gay and questioning youth. "I understand the desperation. I understand the despair," an emotional Gunn said with tears in his eyes. "And I understand how isolated you can feel ... It will get better. I promise."

Following Billy Lucas' death, well-known columnist and author Dan Savage launched the "It Gets Better" campaign – a series of user-created YouTube videos in which gay adults openly discuss the torment they incurred in high school and encourage GLBT youth to stick it out because "it gets better." Clementi's death has inspired an overwhelming response to the campaign, which has since been flooded with videos from men and women across the world sharing their stories.



"When a gay teenager commits suicide, it's because he can't picture a life for himself that's filled with joy and family and pleasure and is worth sticking around for," Savage told MTV a week after Clementi's death. "So I felt it was really important that, as gay adults, we show them that our lives are good and happy and healthy and that there's a life worth sticking around for after high school."

Savage's "It Gets Better" message has seemingly become the rallying cry around which a movement against anti-gay bullying has centered, with Anne Hathaway, Jenny McCarthy, Ian Somerhalder and Kristin Cavallari recording a PSA for The Trevor Project that uses the motto. 'Harry Potter' star Daniel Radcliffe also recently spoke to MTV about the importance of the Trevor Project.



TV stars Ellen DeGeneres and Neil Patrick Harris have also spoken out against anti-gay bullying. "This needs to be a wake up call to everyone ... One life lost in this senseless way is tragic; four lives lost is a crisis," DeGeneres said in an emotional message taped on the set of her daytime talk show. "My heart is breaking for their families, for their friends and for our society that continues to let this happen. These kids needed us, and we have an obligation to change this. We can't let intolerance and ignorance to take another kid's life."

Celebrities Team Up for Anti-Bullying Campaigns


By John Mitchell Posted Oct 6th 2010 02:00PM

Vintage Drag Queen photographs--Francis Renault

With it being October 1st I  thought it was fitting in a way to pay tribute to those men who were drag queens, female impersonators, female illusionists or how ever we want to call these talented men.  Of course drag has been around forever, from boys playing the roles of girls in Shakespeare to now Rupaul and His show Rupaul's Drag Races.  Of course if your from a certain generation many will recall it was drag queens who lead the fight at Stonewall.  It was drag queens who first were raising money for AIDS and for some very odd reason it is drag queens as one of the subculture in gay life that the media always focuses on at Gay pride events.

Some of you who know me really know well, also know that I did my share of female impersonation.  I worked in drag for nearly twenty years, hanging my stilleto's up eight years ago.  It all started at Halloween, Michael (my first boyfriend) heard me singing Streisand songs in the shower one morning and promptly said "Girl, you need to impersonate her.  You really sound like her and sweetie if you can make you look like it her you could make some big bucks.

Well Michael at the time was a Ms. Gay California, which is where I was living and it pulled a lot of weight.  He was always looking for new talent.  So he made me up to be Streisand, the early years, you know the sailor suit, the pencil dress, the long nails, the cleopatra eye liner and I learned to cross my eyes rather quickly.  What set me apart in 1986 was that I sang live, no lipsynching here.  Rage Nightclub hired me on the spot, the man that ran the club was a huge Streisand fan and he was in tears when I was done.

When Michael died I lost of course my lover and best freind but also my manager, my make up artist and stylist.  I semi-retired for 3 years and started all over again in Cleveland.  The Streisand years were over and I began doing Bette Midler.  I ended my career completely when Ron died now almost 8 years ago.

I was over the whole drag bit.  It is how I raised all the money to open New Hope.  With what happened with New Hope I had no desire to ever don a wig again.  It was some of the very best and also some of the very worst times of my life.  I regret none of it.  In that span of nearly twenty years I am the proudest of helping raise nearly $750,000 for many different charities--the biggest being AIDS.

It seems since Ron has died that I have been on this epic journey to find the man I have always been and for me part of that man was impersonating women.  It gives you a huge insight into their lives.  How they move, how the talk,walk, think and along the way you also deal quiet a bit with the sterotypes too.  Maybe one day if the right cause came along I would consider doing drag one more time.  For now though it is part of the past that, with everything considered I remember very fondly.

"The Slave of Fashion"--Francis Renault
All of the photogrpahs in this post happen to be of renowned Female impersonator Francis Renault who was the featured model in a number of women's fashion shows and burlesque performances.  One of his appearances was promoted in the Boston Traveler on July 23, 1931:  A special fashion show, sponsored by Francis Renault, "The Slave of Fashion," will be put on at Scollay Square Theatre, tomorrow afternoon. Renault's ability to display the latest and most beautiful feminine creations is well-known to Hub theatergoers, and tomorrow this versatile artist promises many new striking fashion delights.

So to those brave men who helped pave the way for all of us today, thank you.  So until next time kids, I am so glas we had this time together.  Tomorrow- Vintage men's underwear ads "The Early 1900's".

A long day

It has been a rough day.  First thing this morning I had a CAT scan at Mercy Medical Center to see if I have passed my kidney stone or has it moved.  According to the registration my second CAT scan in three months.  Discouraging isn't it?  The drink they had me drink for the test was just horrid, I would have rather chewed on a sock I wore for a week which I think would have tasted better.  The contrast they shot in me gave me a mild headache and it just seemed to set the mood for the rest of the day.  By the time I got home from College Writing II the diarrhea set in and has continued all night.

Of course by mid afternoon I had to lay down and had as I call it a crash day.  The lack of sleep, the work overload, the stress and not feeling well took it toll.  That toll today has been huge.  I did get some homework done but not nearly what I wanted to do. G-d what am I to do about it?  I do know one thing for sure, no surgery to remove this stone until after this semester is over.  I just couldn't handle that too this semester, there is no doubt in my mind about it. I know I am not going to back done from that decision, for me there is way to much at stake.

I went and got the paperwork today to become part of the Honor's Program at Kent State University which I am really excited about.  It seems like a program where I could really excel as well as something I want to do for myself.  It maybe more work but in my mind it is going to be worth it.

I got my "big brother" for Phi Sigma Pi Sunday night and hopefully we will really get to know one another.  I didn't get the position of President or Vice President for our class and while I am a tiny bit disappointed it makes me feel more like an outsider more than anything.  I need to learn not to take things so personally.

I guess I just want so much out of this whole over all experience.  I have never wanted anything so bad in my life.  My expectations to be very honest are VERY high.  If they aren't met how do I handle that, I have no real idea. Knowing my history if it I fall short I will be depressed and feel rather inadequate.  I guess I just do my best and live with it.

Tomorrow's post vintage photographs of female impesonators.  Well until next time I am so glad we had this time together.

It Gets Better / Love is Louder message - Malan Breton Fashion Designer

Dior Spring 2011