I think Léa Seydoux has one of the most beautiful and unique faces of any actress in the world right now. I love her natural, low-key makeup and relaxed personal style that the French seem to do so well. She’s definitely my style inspiration of the moment.

The only unfortunate thing is that she makes me want a thick, blunt fringe. Sadly, my hair is too thin and fine to achieve such a look. Damn you Léa and Zooey!

I’m mildly obsessed with wooden heels and platforms. So when I spotted these in Sportsgirl, I pretty much fell in love. I just wish they were taller. The leather on them is buttery soft and gorgeous. They remind me a little of a low-key version of these Martin Margiela clogs, which I also love:

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I was obsessed with this nailpolish colour from the moment I saw it. It doesn’t happen often for me, because I’m not really a nailpolish person. Last time a certain shade of nailpolish had this kind of affect over me, it was the taupe colour from Chanel’s SS10 runway.

I had been searching for longer than I care to admit and China Glaze for Audrey seems to be the closest match:

It’s available at 8ty8beauty.com, transdesign.com and head2toebeauty.com.

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The Dancer from Kensington on Vimeo.

Preguntas Hermosas from Süperfad on Vimeo.

iPad + Velcro from Jesse Rosten on Vimeo.

My Father from Christine Schmitthenner on Vimeo.

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I’m also something of a perfectionist, and I think the reason I’m attracted to commercials is that they present a format of film-making where it is more achievable to create a product that is (close to) perfect; where every shot is planned and executed in a precise and beautiful way.

I think that when this happens in feature film-making, it often affects the quality of storytelling. Wes Anderson, for example, is an auteur who is obviously extremely meticulous and precise in the planning and execution of every shot in his films – blocking, lighting, production design etc.

Now, I adore Wes Anderson; I think he is an excellent comedic writer, character writer and production designer (though not credited, I’m going to bet that he is very involved and very particular when it comes to the production design of his films). However, I don’t believe that storytelling, in terms of plot and story arcs, is his strength. It’s almost like all that meticulous set design and those hilarious, intricate characters leave the plot feeling kind of stale – and this is where he gets much of his criticism. I’m just too in love with the characters and visual worlds he creates to care.

I think it takes an extremely talented group of filmmakers to achieve a natural and strong story arc in a film that is so meticulously planned and stylized in the areas production design and cinematography. Jean-Pierre Jeunet with Claudie Ossard (Producer) do it wonderfully in Amelie and Delicatessen, but I can’t think of many other examples.

Anyway, I’ve totally lost my train of thought, but I think what I’m getting at is that advertising allows for gorgeous, meticulously planned shots with little or no sacrifice to storytelling ability.

So here are a few beautiful advertisements:

Thailand produces some great commercials. It’s kind of amusing that this one is so serious and emotional, while advertising something as trivial as Shampoo and Conditioner, but lovely regardless.

Gives me goosebumps every single time. A great example of the importance of sound design, also.

Really gorgeous cinematography and production design (particularly costume) in this one.

And just because Wes is amazing:

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I bought this skirt from Mombasa (sp?) last week; it reminds me of the fashion in Japan when I was there a couple of years ago. It’s super comfortable, and it has pockets!

Sorry I’ve been such a bad blogger in the last couple of months. I’ve been so busy with my postgrad degree and freelance work. I’m hoping I will have some more free time soon.

Until then.

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