Two

   

   
     REFLECTING ON what I had written previously in regards to the magazine Industrie, I must make a note here that there was a very beautiful portrait of Virginie Mouzat, Fashion Director at Le Figaro. It is often a comfort to know that working at the heart of the fashion press are still a number of level-headed women who have the weight of experience and stylistic maturity to guide us through these murky times where everyone (the irony is not entirely lost here) seems to have something to say about fashion or style.

     We often talk about fashion in terms of the new and now. Often in more contemplative periods, I wonder if we have forgotten that the now is also that of the present moment, which is by definition, quite timeless. And so, in fashion, we have the classic and the eternally beautiful. It is not a quality we often consider these days. In the process of looking for new sources of inspiration, I often try to steer away from the incessant torrent of news, hype, gloss and glamour that are so readily available with digital technology and the vast fonts of information embedded within the Internet. Instead, I look for images that soothe the harried mind and which allows us to - at least momentarily - displace ourselves from the hectic pace of this thing we call living.

     These images of monks and bamboo forests are exactly what I have in mind. Interestingly, a silent mind is more alert mind and one that is keen to observe that which usually goes unnoticed. The flashes of vermillion, the pale copper tarnish upon the giant statues of Buddha, the undulating formations of bamboo leaves and wooden ridges, these tiny flourishes of beauty bring pleasure once more. In the end, amid the constant pursuit of the next thing, perhaps the best place to look is where (or when) we are standing still.

Fin.