Jean Paul Gaultier

I never really thought about him in much depth. Actually, I never really had any thoughts about him a part from maybe the fact that two of my close friends used to wear his perfumes, and that he was a controversial designer.
But because of a recent assignment for work I have had to look into his life a little bit more and have found some really inspiring notes on his work ethics and beliefs which have made me think and I found myself inspired to write again.

JPG started working as a designer at the age of 17- and from then he started a world-changing career in designing.

But the message behind his talent is what has really drawn me. He has taken feminity to a whole new level. Like Channel did when she broke down the conventions of corsets and got rid of all the superfluous laces and thrills, JPG has also given women a chance to express their independence and their rights. Funnily enough, he did that by bringing those corsets back in.
Both rebels with a cause, it just makes you think of how much fashion represents the changes in our society, and how much women and their perception have evolved in the past 50 years.

JPG was influenced by his grandmother; a woman with an extremely strong personality and a lot of his iconic items derive from some memory of her.
(See article from the guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2005/aug/28/fashion.shopping3)



And so his icons are women with equally strong personalities. Models who incarnate his ideal of a woman. Any size, any race, any tattoos or piercings, JPG has the gift of bringing the woman out of herself, sometimes in quite literal terms, but in anyway, with the one intention of making a lady feel more woman just by embracing who she is. That explains his passion for Madonna or Lady Gaga. They both go for self-expression rather than wearing something they think will please others. And that is what fashion is all about.
Though some of his more haute couture designs are a little controversial, raunchy and provocative (leather harnesses, Conical bras, elaborate corsets…) I don’t think any woman in her right man would think ‘Oh, that’s what I’ll wear to work today.’ These are images of a woman. They explore and represent exteriorly how she would be from the inside. Strong, direct, straight, powerful, yet feminine and beautiful.
This is art. Art is expression, and so is fashion.

This is my favorite quote from the man to sum it all up: 'my raw material isn't fabric, it's human beings. Voila!' (From the Guardian Article)

I guess the message I want to put across is for my fellow ladies out there, don’t be afraid to express who you are, how you feel. Don’t let yourself down. By respecting and knowing yourself as a woman, you will gain respect from others around you. Keep smiling and keep trying. Stay humble and you will see the world fall at your feet. We ARE worth it.

Images found on the web.

Tightrope, high hopes.

Who said you couldn’t dance in a wheelchair? Well, this is a current affair that is being addressed in various medias. Any other fellow Gleek will have seen that episode where Archie gives up on his dream to be a dancer because he is a wheel chair. I think maybe the producers of the show should have got tickets to see Tightrope this weekend in Hammersmith. Trust me the trip from L.A would have been well worth it.
The show put on by Amici really put things into perspective for the whole of the audience watching. From start to finish, they kept us breathless and teary-eyed and I’m not usually the emotional type. I think I cried at least 4 times. Everything reached perfection in this colourful and powerful performance.



The show started with a very powerful piece where a paralysed dancer gracefully glided across the floor soon followed by a flood of ladies holding white umbrellas and holding them around him, making a screen on which was projected some footage of a tightrope dancer. Dreams are achievable if your belief is strong enough is exactly what you are thinking when, at this very point, the very same man bursts through the umbrellas and into the air, flying across stage.
That was the first time I cried. Running time: 2 minutes?



No amount of description will make this show any justice. Every participant was better than the other! But I just want to point out the other scenes that really got me.
First was a beautiful rendition of a Carmen scene, which for this circus was called The Love Pyramid. An ex- ballerina paralyzed from the waist down and her dance partners got the audience whooping and cheering at their romantic dance piece, on and off the wheelchair. I felt so much pride and admiration for this beautiful young woman, she was just so captivating and inspiring with her determination.
Then the duet between two severely paralysed dancers took me away again. They gracefully circled around, hands reaching out for each other, smiling wide enough to blind you!
It wasn’t just emotional, it was also really funny, with the strong men act and the opera singer failing trying to reach a high note … The full house audience was just always on edge to see what would be next.



This amazing performance was crowned with the final message that the company put through with the amazing ending. Two suited men, representing a corporate and norm-following society decide that these are no real artist and “burn” their circus down. How very accurately said. An amazing statement to what the arts are reduced to these days.: “Conform to what is commercial or you will be turned into irrelevant ash”.
But hope always lurks around the corner.
As for the Amici Circus, they represented this by each performer rising from that ash, holding a red balloon, brandishing them proudly over their heads. The great stage directing made the lighting fall onto the balloons to make them look like 20 red lanterns floating up.
It was a brilliant finale to a brilliant show, which really deserved that standing ovation.

For more information on Amici,, look them up on http://www.amicidance.org/

Endless romance

You hold my hand and lead me through infinite magic,
You whisper softly, that there are none like me.

You hold me so tight, that I forget to breathe.

I become the character of a classic black and white movie,
In which we are caught in an endless waltz,
Yet the colors around us have never seemed so bright and beautiful.

Maybe it is what we are, the essence of an endless romance,
In which your mouth has been perfectly painted to fit my lips,
And where your hand has been made to never leave mine.

Resuscitation Pascale.

Et voila une résolution pas vraiment tenue! Ecrire toutes les semaines, et garder la trace de mon progrès ? Que nenni ! Enfin peut être que c’est que le progrès, bien que toujours en développement se fait plus long que prévu. Mais je ne vais pas me laisser avoir, parce qu’au bout du chemin, je sais ce qu’il m’attends !
D’ailleurs, ces deux dernières semaines, je me suis rendue compte que je m’éloignai du but et me suis remise à réorganiser mes priorités. Je suis toujours plus guidée dans ces moments la. Rencontres et sorties propices, moments d’espoirs relevés, me voilà prête a accepter un signe. Et arrive cet email : Recherche Producteurs pour mission caritative en Asie ou Afrique. Abe et moi sommes en train de préparer nos applications avec tous nos doigts croisés, même ceux des pieds, nos yeux rivés vers le ciel en prière constante. Cette entrée de blog est assez religieuse on dirait ? Mais bon, c’est Pacques après tout… et cette fois, c’est mon espoir de réussite et de changer le monde qui se ressuscite.
Allelujah.
Bonnes Fêtes a tous !
Fio.

Falling in Love

This poem is touching more on my surrealist work and will be the poem over one of the next short videos I will be making with my team!
This will be read in voice over as dancers will dance on the music and beat of the poem, representing the movement the mind and heart go through when one falls in love.
I hope to put this into production by the end of April, before flying off to Spain.
Enjoy!
Fio.

I rise and fall,
I fly and stumble,
Light as led,
Heavy as air

Caught in the eye of the cyclone
Sitting proud on my throne

There is nothing to be done
It still may come undone

Life is nothing but trouble
Love is all and humble

I watch you tremble
You see me assemble

The peace of your head
The pieces of my mind

Melted and forged

Like a flowing river
sliding down the hills of fever

gently falling on cotton fields,

clouds of warmth
towers of refuge
elation and strength .

By Fiona Cross

Caught in a feeling.

What can I say, being in love makes me want to write my heart out, to express those feelings endlessly in whatever form.
I want the world to see how amazing it feels. This is a poem or song lyrics I wrote for my man a while ago now.
Enjoy
x
Fio

PS: art work to follow

I’m stuck in a feeling,
Caught in a trance,
I’ve stopped breathing
And am locked in your glance.

The people around us
Are slowly fading out,
Blending smoothly into the hazyness of the night.

The music merges into me
I can no longer make the difference
Between the beats of my heart and the beats of drums.

I’m stuck in a feeling
Lost in our dance
Feels like I’m falling,
Held up by chance.

They’ve all disappeared
Only you’ve remained,
But the closer you get, the stronger the fear

I’ve waited so long
To be held in your arms
Something this strong could never go wrong.

I’m stuck in a feeling
Caught in a chance
Dancing on the ceiling
Yet frozen in your glance

There’s no way out now;
I’m melting in the embrace
ushered into a place
where we vanish without a trace.

I am nothing but a bare soul

To Abraham,
with love.

I feel my heart stopping
My eyes closing
My breath slowing
Softly,
until my body loses it every ache
It’s every strings
It’s every thing
And I am nothing but a bare soul
Shinning next to yours.
And I am nothing but a bare soul
Shinning next to yours.

But then you are gone again,
And my world looses its dimensions
Reflecting on me only it’s pain.

Life digs it’s shallowness back into my days
And I wander aimlessly between the hours and the days
That separate me from that one smile which will make my life worthwhile.

I feel my heart stopping
My eyes closing
My breath slowing
Softly,
until my body loses it every ache
It’s every strings
It’s every thing
And I am nothing but a bare soul
Shinning next to yours.
And I am nothing but a bare soul
Shinning next to yours