en garde!

yesterday i had the pleasure of seeing ''the three musketeers'' play in the musical theatre here. it's a mega production, comes in at just under 4 hours and has lights, costumes and fire. very well then.

as you know i'm very interested in the costumes and characterisations in this whole theatre thing, but before i dive into that, i'll tell you more about the play.

the official poster

the three musketeers is a book written by alexander dumas in 1844. the action takes place in the XVIIth century in france under the rule of louis XIII. it's full of history, love, fights and intrigues. good read, only the language can be challenging sometimes.

the play is based entirely on the book and is very faithful, not a modern telling. there are two acts and definitely the first one rules. the action is well presented, even if the love stories and songs are a bit soppy. and i loooove the fight scenes, big fan of historical reconstructions. 

on the technical side of things, the stage is so well prepared. the capitol has a fantastic stage in itself, it has 3 or 4 moving parts and can be two-storey. additionally, they made 3 or 4 columns, two-storey as well, that could move and twist around. the coordination of changing the scenery was amazing, i wandered how long they've practiced all that. 

in the second part there was a lot more tension, i feel like it was dragged out a bit. the only thing that really hold it all together was milady de winter, the main culprit of all the intrigues. justyna szafran, the actress behind milady, has a great chemistry and sexual energy with the rest of the cast, and i love me some erotism on stage.  

it took me a while to warm up to d'artagnan in this production, mostly because the last time i saw this story the role was played by logan lerman in the ridiculous 2011 film with orlando bloom as prince buckingham, and this guy doesn't resemble him one bit. 

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now, let's get down to the good stuff, clothes! 

in general, i'm very content with their interpretation of historical wear. it can be hard, and i personally prefer a bit of a traditional approach. the only big thing i really don't like are the bare arms on women, other than milady de winter, cause with her it looks gorgeous. 

like look at this, of course it's beautiful but it's not XVIIth century france! there was another scene on the ball (which, to my disappointment, wasn't really that big) where the queen was dancing in some sort of eastern dress with lots of flowy fabric, it's just not the right atmosphere. but the rest of the ball was devine.

the musketeers looked great, even poor d'artagnan. 

atos, portos and, my favourite, aramis where so manly, just like a soldier should be. i'm not really into muscles but i'm a sucker for a man in a military wear.

 atos

portos

aramis

the leather is very nice, i wasn't close to the stage but even i could tell they paid attention to the details. anna chadaj, did a great job.

~~~

do you like historical plays or other works? on the 5th i'm going to see a retransmission of 'hamlet' from national theatre, we'll see how this works.

this has been you monday dose of bravery.

love,

qofr

ps. watch the trailer here.

glass is there to...

a couple of days ago i went to a beautiful exhibition, i'd like to tell you about it.


currently, we are in the middle of the european glass festival. i strongly advise you to take a look at the page and find an exhibit near you. i went to the wroclaw one. and it was great.

i can clearly remember being interested in glass since i was about 7 years old, about the same time i became interested in venice. murano glass became one of the most wonderful art forms for me. now, even though i'm not making it myself, i love to check out some new and old artists.

and that's just what i did. this is the 4th edition of the festival, this years theme was love.

the exhibit is tiny but very diverse, as the name would suggest, there are works by artists from all over europe.

i'm no critic but let me show you my favourite pieces:

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kocham cię by dagmara bielecka

8 i love you's in different techniques. very delicate but you can feel the statement. this artist is fascinated in old glass making techniques and uses traditional materials.

dagmara bielecka

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torso XI by latchezar boyadjiev

this is so much better in person to be honest but it looks great here as well. the thing with glass, especially full dimension works, is that it shows it's true beauty with the presence of light. this piece is quite big and combines clear and matte surfaces and truly dances in the light. i don't know how you would experience it but i see it as two figures melting and un-melting together, love.

latchezar boyadjiev

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hatifnat aktywny by małgorzata dajewska

this, even though it doesn't turn heads, is quite sentimental for me. you see a hatifnat (or hattifattener as you apparently call it in english) is a character from one of my favourite childhood series, the moomins. it's written by a finish writer, and i has made way to the very essence of my early years. it's just very cute and cuddly and i feel great when i think about those books and the tv series, highly recommend it.

małgorzata dajewska

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faces of love by pert stacho

this is just pure amazeballs. it looks like a freaking frozen wave. imagine a print like this, or anything really, i just want to dive into this icy-glass water. 

pert stacho

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to end it all, or begin really:

perception VIII by peter bremers

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i hope you enjoyed this bit of glass, let me know what you think.

this has been your monday dose of culture.

love,

qofr

hmxbalmain

today, i'm going to be a real fashion blogger and, for a change, gonna write something current.

the new hm x balmain collection

out 5th november, all the rage for a while. personally, i'm not a big fan of balmain, i stopped being interested in these collaborations when marni went on sale and i snatched a pencil skirt, silk scarf and two pairs of earring which would knock you of your feet. but i'll save that for another time.

back to balmain. some facts for you;

the balmain house was founded by pierre balmain in 1946.
the house suffered rationed fabric during the II world war period but after that balmain followed in the steps of dior and took on ''the new look''. the house was and still is famous for extravagant haute couture looks with some retro vibes. just this year hm announced that the brand, currently under the head designer olivier rousteing, will be their 11th collaboration.

personally, i'm not a big fan of balmain, just as i wasn't a versace fan. the fashion is a bit too much for me, the chains, dark colours. i don't really dress that way and prefer that kind of style only on stage. being the professional that i am, i haven't really noticed any signs of the next collection (the hm near me doesn't carry it) so i didn't really care, only czuch told me.

the collection is a huge success, for hm especially. the clothes are really popular, kylie jenner on the ads probably also helped, every self-respecting fashionista wanted her dress.

the clothes are definitely not reasonably priced, c'mon it's hm. the promo shots are so cliche, they my photographer friend told me they are not even properly framed. but the light is good. 

it's all important, of course, but the real thing i wanted to write about is the ridiculous ''crowd'' reaction! all i can say is to do with poland and i sincerely hope it wasn't like that elsewhere. 

and it was madness. the vip event in the capital was just bizarre and laughable. you would think that if you're a fashion blogger or a writer for a well known magazine, you are used to such events, and know how to behave properly, right? wrong. here is a great article, if you can read it (it's in polish) but the photos speak for themselves. everybody wanted a piece and people even took wrong sizes and tried to steal from others. the exchanges and not really legal trade was just unbelievable. 

the clothes weren't supposed to come out for everybody for a couple of days after that night. imagine that you could buy those on ebay for double the price just a couple of hours after closing. that's just pure nasty. 

the premiere was just as crazy if not more. even people who didn't know who balmain is were waiting pressed to the glass in the morning. the website was down, for a couple of hours at least. i would hate to be the sales assistants then. i cant's even contain the disgust for this event, i'm genuinely mad at those people! you're just plain embarrassing...

why?? why?? i get that you want to feel the luxury of a faux fur with an itchy label or the heavy sequins on a dress that wasn't even touched by the head designer but behave your self!

the crowd is mindless, horrid and grotesque. the collection is not worth any broken ribs or purses, in my opinion.

it's not the fashion week sales, it's not primark on oxford street, it's not boxing day in selfridges. calm down. even if it's all out of stock.

this has been your monday dose of common sense.

love,

qofr

ad - redy - ad - greeny

hi

today we're going back in time, to holidays, cause i don't want to show you the other post i'm working on yet, sozz.

as tradition states, i have to go to london right? 

so i did, with my mum and it was well fun. 

the original reason was the mcqueen exhibit in v&a. 

i'm a massive fan of his works, have been for years so i couldn't waste the opportunity to see the biggest retrospect yet. 

t'was the end of july, beautiful weather. we went to bath, one of my favourite towns in britain. if you have the opportunity, get a train ticket and go. it's very picturesque and there are a few things well worth seeing. my favourite is probably the fashion museum and the roman baths. the museum has some iconic pieces, and lots of additional info on the audio guide, if you're interested in historic wear it's a must. they had a tiny exhibit focusing on georgian times, i never knew there were so many trends back then!

every time i'm in the uk i go on a quest for cool makeup. there are some brands that are not available here but there, they're super popular. sleek, makeup revolution, collection - just to name a few. i should do a makeup collection post someday... since i can say i do this 'professionally', i have quite a lot of weird stuffs. this time i went for a sleek palette with greens, and i immediately had to try it out, of course.

finally, mcqueen. and to my both dismay and pleasure, photography and sketching was forbidden, so all i have is my memory and the two 3 lbs albums sneaked through airport security. just know i spent nearly 2 hours in a seven room exhibition and it was magnificent.

and i got butterflies for my green hair

australian art was next. here, we don't really have that much of foreign art, even if, it's european. i've never been to australia, it's so far away, but the native culture seems fascinating. the british museum exhibit was so interesting! i never knew there were so many different tribes and traditions, the mythology is fascinating. that's one thing that definitely sets apart a culture, the mythology and mysticism. i wish there was a way to bring them all to life. the exhibit also showed the awful reality of the natives in todays world. the fact that they couldn't vote when i was a little kid makes me nauseous, it's a civilised country, right?

the last big thing was zuza's visit! we haven't seen each other in months and it was all so spontaneous! we went to see the sonia delaunay exhibit in tate modern, one of the best things ever. i'm sure i've heard of her husband, robert delaunay, a famous cubist. but it turns out that sonia was just as good as he was, if not better! she opened her own fashion house, introduced cubic patterns and inventions into garments, did costumes and textiles! it's just a shame that there weren't any postcards (they couldn't get the permission, how??? it's tate freaking modern!). what i'm saying is that i plan to look into her works more in the future so next year i'll probably come back to her.

that is us, shot from the most flattering angle, i know

this was written on a door in a bathroom, very poetic

to sum it up, i had so much fun, great, 10 out of 10, would recommend ;)

i hope you enjoyed this little travelog as much as i did.

this has been your monday pick-me-up.

love,

qofr