writer | researcher | academic
My first encounter with Breakfast At Tiffany’s was Audrey Hepburn in Givenchy and rhinestones. Like a lot of little girls, I had the calendar and the costume jewellery and a battery-powered vintage-looking alarm clock that had the Robert McGinnis poster emblazoned on it in technicolour - one that I kept long after it stopped functioning... Continue Reading →
I'd like to see you with a beer in your hand Swaying on the side of the stage, singin along to my band I’d like for your disdainful smile to catch my eye And to know what it means, to know you were havin a good time I'd like for your voice to call me... Continue Reading →
Sing, sing, Sing of arms and of the men Who only want to leave Sing, sing, See yourself in the mirror Say what you need to hear You think that you can come here Like I'll say how to fix things Like the chorus doesn't matter Like you don't know better? I put my faith... Continue Reading →
Thank god for teens on Spotify. Their knowledge on so many topics is as lacking as mine, whether we’re talking about classic 80s hip-hop they weren't there for or Romantic classical music when they're not sure if romantic is an era or a mood. The beautiful thing about the teens, though, is that even if... Continue Reading →
I feel like a badly drawn picture of a girl Bent out of shape, losing features in the swirl Or the dot of the Impressionist brush Something about being such a beautiful mess is a headrush I feel like a child's illustration of a woman My features indistinguishable from others I could embody a Picasso;... Continue Reading →
In Tolstoy's work we see a kernel of ourselves reflected back; by reading his books we can develop an understanding of what it means to make choices when we 'live in a society' or have made incorrect choices in the past. Now as much as ever the lessons in his books are something we can turn to for relief from choices we ourselves are compelled to make.
In the novels of Evelyn Waugh and Nancy Mitford, the same characters crop up over and over again - whether it’s Bridey (the priggish elder brother from Brideshead Revisited) falling for Adam Symes’ faux fashion hacks in Vile Bodies or Linda Radlett being a minor character in Polly Hampton’s book, the British scene of the... Continue Reading →
What is a role model? The message I hope to take away from assessing ‘establishment’ careers and how people got there is a direction; I hope that by admiring aspects of others’ journies I can replicate the pieces admire on my own journey, and push myself to a place I am happy to be in through conscious effort and wilful striving. I hope you, too, can figure out what shape you want your future career to take from the example of those you admire.
Do you ever find yourself researching something so strange that you stop and wonder what brought you here? I find that it’s almost a daily occurrence for me: whether it’s finding a stack of books on the history of various astrologies (what’s more surprising, that I needed it or that it’s a surprisingly well-covered field?)... Continue Reading →
Another instalment in my annual review of the Met Gala looks.
Late Romantic 