Ah the glorious decadence of the woman!
The release of this deliciously ostentatious ode to a woman whose ludicrously fabulous taste in all things dramatically over the top knew no bounds, presents us, dear fellow silly Housekeepers with a moral dilemma…
While I am the first to admit that even the pre-release website has got me kind of dithering with excitement ( if only for the sheer spectacle of it!)- what we are actually dealing with here goes way beyond the opulent rustle of silk as Kirsten Dunst in her finest moment, goes swooshing by in dresses to die for.
If we pretend that grandiosity on this scale no longer exists in our society we are kidding ourselves. Ostentation is relative not to what we need but to what we can afford. Regardless of whether one more pair of shoes will change our life, or indeed whether we convince ourselves that somehow we "deserve" to spend more money than we need to on whatever- we are only fooling ourselves into believing that what we buy says more about who we are than who in reality, we choose to be.
Some things make me cross. Eight hundred pound bags. Couture at "money can’t buy style" prices. Big businesses spending ridiculous amounts of money schmoozing potential clients and wooing the creme de la creme. Mariah Carey. The latest extortionate technology worthless within a year. The way cars lose their value the minute you leave the showroom. Elton John and his goddamn
Yes, I am a stroppy Madam and it is all Marie Antoinettes flamboyant fault. Even the devil, it is rumoured, wears Prada while the rest of us slum it in Matalans best.
That said I can’t say I’m not about to fall in love with the aesthetics of the French Revolution. That I am not seduced by swishy layers of velvet and silk. Ornament for the sake of it and gilded everything. That I don’t want to start a collections of scrumptiously decorated fans, lay tables full of food to make us swoon and fling feathers and pale pink pearls over my too high to thread-count cotton sheets…
I want it all, because whether we like it or not: whether we despise ourselves for not giving to those who would benefit from both our emotional and financial charity, for choosing to scarifice the planet for our own dubious pleasure, and indeed whether we know that there is relative greed displayed in every corner of our home, we will justify it till the cows come home, because we, like dear little Marie, know no other way beyond the path of consumerism. Vintage or otherwise…
Breathe a sigh of relief- I’m finished. Thank goodness that particular little tantrum is over and done with. Even I don’t know where stroppiness on that scale came from…
Some days you just have to bear with me.
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Why must they tempt us so… it's no good…. still we have taste, they have people to tell them what taste is so we can at least feel a bit better about that!
Plus… it is a Liverpool phenomenon… I've walked past at least two this morning….
The film was incredible every detail, true to the lack of emotion and emptiness of words, it was the 18th century French court! The set design and costumes, but also the subtle lonliness the poverty she felt against such riches!
The film was incredible every detail, true to the lack of emotion and emptiness of words, it was the 18th century French court! The set design and costumes, but also the subtle lonliness the poverty she felt against such riches!
Aren't we all the same…if we WANT it, and LOVE it, does NEED have anything to do with it..?
I think not, and like Oscar Wilde, I intend to die beyond my means.
I do intend do live beyond them first though, for as long as I can..!
Aren't we all the same…if we WANT it, and LOVE it, does NEED have anything to do with it..?
I think not, and like Oscar Wilde, I intend to die beyond my means.
I do intend do live beyond them first though, for as long as I can..!
Okay,enough said!Now I must see this movie.You gals and others have stirred my desires for opulence.If I can’t have it and live it then I’ll view it and dream it.
Alison, you are a consummate list-maker! I understand and share your feelings about wanting beautiful things while avoiding crass consumerism. Lately I'm coming to believe that maybe I don't necessarily need moremoremore! of everything beautiful, and what I do want, perhaps I should be making myself. At least in theory.
Alison, you are a consummate list-maker! I understand and share your feelings about wanting beautiful things while avoiding crass consumerism. Lately I'm coming to believe that maybe I don't necessarily need moremoremore! of everything beautiful, and what I do want, perhaps I should be making myself. At least in theory.