Julesy

An appropriate reminder from His Holiness:

“Every day, think as you wake up,
Today I am fortunate to have woken up,
I am alive, I have a precious human life,
I am not going to waste it
I am going to use
All my energies to develop myself.
To expand my heart out to others,
To achieve enlightenment for
The benefit of all beings,
I am going to have kind
Thoughts towards others,
I am not going to get angry,
Or think badly about others,
I am going to benefit others
As much as I can.”

As has always been recognized, she had a talent for transforming masculine style into female allure (fisherman’s cardigans and flat shoes) and for mixing high and low (real diamonds and fake pearls). She also had a particularly modernist taste for turning the utilitarian into the aesthetic, akin to Mies van der Rohe’s making the cross-shaped column an architectural embellishment. She made utilitarian wool jersey suitable for haute couture, used stitching for its decorative potential, and transformed selvage, normally hidden from view, into a pretty way to finish off a skirt or jacket. Chanel was enamored of function and the work principle it hyperbolized; turning it into effortless high style was her genius.

—Kenneth E. Silver, “Flacon and Fragrance: The New Math of Chanel No. 5”

It’s Friday. Get your dancing shoes on.

Interview with Tina Fey @ Google last month. Whether as Liz Lemon or a hairy-armed Bossypants, she will always be my favorite.