viva la revolucion

here's to egypt, and since my blog allegedly specializes in all things arts, handmade, eco fashion, fashion, nostalgia and living...but i want to take all that i feel at this moment for the people of egypt and relate it to what i just described. egypt is art. art is inspiration. love is a revolution...and you can't help but combine all that into Oum Kalthoum. she is the diva and queen of arabic language music til this day, this songbird from the mediterranean nile delta. at 12 years old, her father disguised her as a young boy and entered her in a small performing troupe that he directed. here is to her, the star of the east, and her song that remains the soundtrack to egyptian hearts.

From her song "Al Atlal (The Ruins)
"...My darling, I visited your nest one day as a bird of desire singing my pain
You've become self-important, spoiled and capricious
And you inflict harm like a powerful tyrant
And my longing for you cauterized my ribs (soul or insides)
And the waiting was like embers in my blood
Give me my freedom, release my hands
Indeed, I've given you yours and did not try to retain anything

Ah, your chains have bloodied my wrists
I haven't kept then nor have they spared me
Why do I keep promises that you do not honor?
When will this captivity end, when the world is before us?
He is far away, my enchanting love
Full of pride, majesty and delicacy"

Contradictory Healing

"They carried him in on a make-shift stretcher made of two wooden logs and burlap. He was bleeding heavily; "they got me, the bastards got me." I was a young girl, and my eyes were bright with amazement, I knew what Grandfather was capable of. They laid the man on the stone and Grandfather reached for the crystals and the shells. "C'mon now medicine man, help me."

New series of spent bullet casings repurposed into healing talismans...But,
what is more dangerous? The bullet above...or Alexander McQueen below?

That's just sex right there.

Some Occupied Land

A Victorian calling card in European aesthetic from the early 1900's in...Arabic. Wow. The seller I bought this from described it as Chinese...man oh man. Since I know about ten things to write in Farsi...all I recognize here is "Allah" (God) and it's a blessing, just like the Easter cards of European/American origin at this time in this style. What a crazy find. Love it.

Bitches Be Trippin'...Fashion Craving

Fashion baby...and bitches Do be trippin';

Even a pregnant woman can rock that collar by Dimepiece.
And then there's Grace Jones...I just want to wear her.

Oooooo la la, Thierry Mugler Menswear Winter 2011/2012 - "ANATOMY OF...

I am so glad that this man can actually make a living tatted up that way. I wonder if he has kids man...

Wings

Gabriel, Michael, Uriel, Rafael, Ramiel?? Any El?
"NEW ZEALAND – Archeologists at an excavation site in Dunedin, New Zealand, discovered the fossilized remains of winged humans!

The discovery was made yesterday morning when Dr. Herman Meyer of Massey University uncovered the fossilized bones of a human male with bird-like wings.

Further digging by Dr. Meyer and his team yielded even more astonishing discoveries. After the 30 day excavation, which concluded on Saturday, over 250 winged creatures had been found.

“I couldn’t believe what I was seeing,” said Dr. Meyer. “One after another these fossils kept appearing out of the dirt. It led me to think that an entire civilization of winged humans once lived here!”"

They say it's so...imagine if it is, so does that mean angels still live among us, only wingless?

That's Ahura Mazda...so Persians have been swearing humans have wings since at least 440 BCE...c'mon.

He was a poet

"...and he could not commit to me. At least that was his excuse for being unfaithful, that he was an artist, a true lover of all. He was so willing to give all of himself to get lost in another, all to wake up in a random bed and do it again. Empty fool, he was. I smashed his mother's harp on my way out the door and left on a morning train."

New nostalgia in the shoppe...

Dream

“Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it. Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it. Hatred darkens life; love illuminates it.”

I salute you.

Veintinueve 29

Alberto Vargas...far from a household name. Rose:1896 Set:1982, my year of birth. He put his work on WWII fighter planes to keep those involved...stimulated and motivated.

Today I am 29. What does that mean...
I hope to feel as sensual with age as that woman painted above looks.
xo

Above: "Memories of Olive"

Rebecca Litchfield Photography

Fierce...

The Persianz Are Coming

Stop all this nonsense and show the love. Here are some old school pics of some of my beautiful, funny, eccentric family from the Motherland, not so dangerous, eh? And I will add, go eat Persian/Iranian food and experience what world peace would feel like. My Aunt Soraya even started a home cooked catering company called Soraya's Silk Road. It basically is like eating euphoria.

Sisters

Hello little freaks above. Sisterhood does not always necessarily arrive to us via bloodline, it lives in the comradery between women. We build a creative connection to one another and we hold it sacred. I find that in terms of men, they're relationships are built on different foundations, I don't say this critically, but I just seek to point the difference.

Old School Twurk

Show me what you're workin' with.
I am impressed with acrobats.
My daughter is an acrobat. She is doing all kinds of flips in here.
It's strange to say "my daughter".
It's wonderful to say "my daughter".
I know her name...I'm just not telling yet.

falling birds

Apparently on New Years Eve between 4,000 and 5,000 red-winged blackbirds were found dead in Arkansas due to massive trauma...hmmm, how strange. Article.

Look at this beautiful print from Sarah Blank. I was looking for interesting images of red-winged black birds and behold this. It's great, no? I like that the ladies are a bit Boudoir....

In matters of birds, over the weekend me and my husband snuck away while over family's and saw The Black Swan...that Nina is crazy as hell. The movie is Oscar bound, but it will make your skin itch and crawl for days after...trust me.

The Complexity of All Things Persian

Whether it's the art or the food or damn it, the people, all things Iranian/Persian are complex. Especially the traditional miniature art. The detailing is insane, meticulous, designed completely to please and captivate and appear elite. These are three of my favorite examples. The Qajar era of design was during a social time of contradiction and sloth. The kings of that dynasty reveled in riches, harems, sexual exploration, erotica and still imposed on the people, a strict interpretation of Islam in the form of rule while they partied till dawn. The painting of the sexually ambiguous being on the cushion with the tea is actually a man in drag...I love that one, it's curated I believe in London now, not 100% sure though. My beautiful graphic designer and fellow jeweler Leila Marvel took that image and the first and recreated for me some awesome The Hand of Fatima Design art prints last year. I will have to share them.
If your in NYC, a great place to go and see some of the Persian bests is The Asia Society.

The Photography of Sia Aryai

No relation that I know of...but it is not exactly a common last name.

All copyright of Sia Aryai

May The New Year...

...shine its blessings on you...or a chubby, white cherub in a hot air balloon. xo

Peace out 2010, I am ready to say farewell to you!