SLlinky* Weekend: ART - Live it. Wear it. Laugh about it.

Maira Kalman’s Dream Palace:  Can you find the artist's self portrait

Maryl and Carly troll the internet for the best Second Life links* this week

Maira Kalman's Dream Palace:  

American illustrator and author Maira Kalman was interviewed by long time friend, neighbor and fashion designer Isaac Mizrahi.  He got her talking about her two homes, their decor, her upbringing and, as a lead up to next Sunday, what else but sweet thoughts of her mother. She drew her dream room above for New York Magazine.  See who and what she imagined would share  her perfect living room: 

The World's Most Poetic Wallpaper:  

"Sunlight in an Empty Room" 

Featured on one of our favorite blogs A Bloombury Life is this unique wallpaper that records the path of light as it falls across the wall in Emily Dickinson's Amherst bedroom.  That would be the bedroom where the woman who lived a solitary life composed nearly 1,800 poems. Lisa Boignes Giramonti named her blog after the compound and lifestyle of a group of writers and artists, including Virginia Woolf, Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant who chose to live as Bohemians away from Victorian conventions.  They created their own idiosyncratic style, which is on view (and some items for sale) in East Sussex, England.

Ellsworth Kelly Dress Redux:

Ellsworth & Francisco Costa

You wouldn't think of famed artist Ellsworth Kelly and Calvin Klein creative director Francisco Costa teaming up to design a dress.  Actually Kelly, who turns 90 later this month, instructed a friend to make a dress "connecting bands of color" from material leftover from a five panel painting 50 years ago. 

Original Kelly dress

 You can view the newly refreshed design  in a handful of museums where exhibitions of Kelly's works will open throughout the year. Or, for the moment, the dress is on display at the Calvin Klein--Madison Avenue store.  Of course, leave it to a seller on Etsy to interpret the design and custom make it for you.  Actually her version looks a little closer to the original dress Kelly commissioned.


  

Ha! World Laughter Day:

I'm not kidding.  Did you know that this Sunday is World Laughter Day?  The goal is to laugh our way to global brotherhood and peace.  Here's a joke to get you started:  

                      Why couldn't the art dealer pay her rent?

                              Answer:   Because she ran out of Monet.

                                                                       Ba Dum!

SLLinky: Mothers & Daughters & Birthdays. Oh My!

Caryl and Maryl troll the net for the best Second Life Links this week.

Who says there aren't roles for older women? 

Gisele Casadesus won’t be 99 until June 14 but the French actress who's been working for more than seven decades  stars in the just-released French film Sous Le Figuier (Under the Fig Tree).  Her co-star is Ann Consigney  (The Diving Bell and The Butterfly) but she's a mere 50. The two women discussed life, death--and the movie—in the March/April issue of Femme Majuscule:  '"De regarder devant, vers le soleil! Les regrets ne servent a rien." ("To look ahead towards the sun, regrets do not help anything.") Of course, we only know what they're saying because one of our favorite bloggers translated it for us. Josephine Lalwin has been blogging from London and St. Tropez since 2009. Her aim is to “inspire women of all ages to have fun with fashion and to create a chic lifestyle”.  Check out the amazing photograph of Casadesus and Consigny at Chic At Any Age.

Zodiac Birthday Shoes: 

We really want these even if we can’t afford them. London designer Charlotte Olympia Dellal has come up with stylish flats decorated with each sign of the zodiac. You can buy them for yourself—or put them on your future birthday list. Each pair comes with a book about your astrological sign.

John Waters

Salty Sayings from John Waters: 

Movie director, writer and all-around raconteur John Waters turned 67 on April 22. The man who made Hairspray 25 years ago is always quotable--and frequently bleepable. Flavorwire put together 67 memorable remarks to honor his natal anniversary. Here’s one on the subject of style that’s rated PG: “I always say to kids, with fashion, that they shouldn’t be wearing designer clothing — they should copy it. Go to the thrift shop and buy the worst thing that the coolest kid in school would never wear. It’ll be the thing that’s the most ‘out.’ Buy it and turn it into something that’s funny and witty. Fashion is confidence. If you can get away with wearing it, it’s a new style.” 

Meet the Matriarch, Barbara Bush: 

From left to right:Barbara Bush,  daughter-in-law Laura Bush and granddaughters  Jenna Hager, and Barbara Bush

Caryl interviewed Barbara Bush when her husband ("41") was president  and the White House had just turned 200 in 1986 for a special issue of Life Magazine celebrating the Bicentennial. The former First Lady spoke her mind even then. This week she and family members joined "43" for the opening of his presidential library in Dallas, Texas. Hear what the matriarch had to say about the family dynasty. And, say hello to the fourth generation of Bush women-- Margaret Laura Hager (Mila) born April 13, 2013.

Happy Milestone Birthday: One Hundred Years Young!

The beautiful woman on the left is the birthday girl.  The beautiful woman on the right is her daughter and Second Lives Club member.  Her advice for throwing a centenarian's birthday party:  "You can't go wrong with a sing-along banjo player."

SLlinky* Friday: 8 Dangerous Travel Destinations for Women & One That Isn’t--plus Bradley Cooper, Ann Sinclair and Goya

* Caryl and Maryl troll the web for the best Second Life links this week:

Leaving On a Jet Plane: A week of unrelenting and upsetting headlines make us want to pack up and get away for a little R & R. Well, according to Business Insider, you won’t want to go to these 8 places if you are a woman and want to be safe. (Full disclosure: The article reads like a list of Caryl’s past vacation destinations.) But there’s one exotic locale where two of our favorite bloggers have done the advance work for your next trip--Morocco. Check out Shifting Gears where writer and friend Judith Ross traveled to visit her son, a Peace Corp. volunteer, in Tinghir. And don’t miss Slim Paley’s post on Ouarzazete from where she and a girlfriend departed for a luxurious desert camping trip. Both of these fearless travelers know how to shoot—pictures, that is.

Bradley Cooper with mother Gloria 

Home Again: Our adult children always know that they can return to the nest when they need us--but they also come back when we need them. Bradley Cooper, Oscar nominee and good son, has moved back in with his mother while the family continues to grieve the loss of Cooper’s dad.  Having his mom around is "not without complications," he says. "It's not like I live in a compound and she's in the guesthouse. No, she's in the next room." Read more at People.  

Arianna & Ann

Huff Post 60: Life for Ann Sinclair is getting better after 60. The recently-named head of Le Huffington Post, the French offshoot of Arianna Huffington’s internet empire, has finalized her divorce from Dominque Strauss-Kahn, disgraced director of IMF. Who knew Sinclair, 64, and her new boss, 62, have the same birthday? July 15. We learned this and more at The New Yorker.

Wanted: Smart Advertising for smart women. Do the people at Dove really think we are going to believe a forensic sketch artist can draw us to their beauty bar?  Well, they’ve got soap in their eyes, according to Salon.  For more on what the people behind the brand were thinking, fast forward to the videos at brandchannel.  Idea for the new advertising campaign: A + ; Execution: F. (And, that’s not for feminism.) 

Speaking of Feminism: You can 

buy social provocateur and author Susan Jacoby’s e-book The Last Men on Top for $2.99 starting April 23. Or, you can read  this excerpt (and learn a new word), "Sex in the Mad Men Era: Phallocrats and Fake Virgins",  at The Daily Beast.

Goya's “El Sueño de la Razon
Produce Monstruos” at Boston's MFA

Art Heals, we know that. Thank you to Mostafa Heddaya whose post on Hyperallergic  reminded us why museums are always “a place of respite” for our communities and gave us another reason to love Boston in this difficult week.

SLlinky*: Fashion Inspirations from Our Past and Present

Annette Funicello                                              Lily Pulitzer                                          Maggie Thatcher

*Maryl and Caryl troll the net for the best Second Life Links this week

Annette, Lily and Maggie:  One was a mouseketeer who traded in her ears for a bikini and capris in a string of 1960s cult beach movies but remained the modest girl next door and later a gracious spokesperson for Multiple Sclerosis. One was a designer and heiress who initially sold her brightly colored dresses along with orange juice at a Florida fruit stand proving that hard work is fashionable even for socialites. One was the first female major political leader in the West who put the power in power suit--no pants, just skirts and the right handbag-- and was thrilled when she was named to the international best-dressed list.  Annette Funicello, Lily Pulitzer, and Margaret Thatcher who all died this week left behind distinctive legacies of substance and style. Click on names for appreciations of the latter. 

NotDeadYetStyle

Style Sleuthing in the Present:  We love writing about what to wear in  our second lives but we're not a fashion blog exclusively. There is however, a dedicated band of women bloggers who devote themselves to finding clothes that work for our lives.  Here's 8 of the best fashion bloggers over 40 from Independent Fashion Bloggers.

Start Up Fashion:  This bias cut, cotton blend slouchy tunic can be yours for a pledge of $65 on Kickstarter, a new way to keep your closet current and help give deserving talent a chance.  "Cool, sexy, urban clothes designed for pursuing your passions" is how designer Patrick Robinson (most recently of Armani and The Gap) describes this collection of over a dozen pieces for both men and women. 

Warby Parker  frames

Seeing is believing:  We admit it, we were skeptical of getting reasonably-priced (starting at $95) vintage frames and filling our complicated prescriptions over the internet until we watched this video at Business Insider.

SLlinky Friday: These Women Make Us Want To Be Older (plus Countdown to Mad Men and more)

 Lauren Hutton, who just incidentally turns 70 this year, is one of those women. But the current issue of French Elle with Hutton on its cover isn’t about numbers (none of those tedious and ridiculous “what to wear when you’re 40, 50, 60, 70” articles). It is “more a celebration of women, and age be damned,” writes Tish Jett at A Femme d'un Certain Age. But the French have always known that.

What if you could learn to downsize and declutter your home and life while reducing waste and your carbon footprint at the same time?  Sounds time-consuming and way too hard?  Bea Johnson, lifestyle guru, makes it really simple in her latest book Zero Waste Home coming out April 9.

Source: pragmagraphr, Flickr.com

Your heart doesn't have to sink when you find the drain clogged with hair after you shower. It doesn't mean you're going bald, just shedding as part of your regular body cycle.  Read one woman's story about hair loss at Refinery 29 and ways to prevent it.

A Life Well-Lived: Ruth Prawar Jhabvala, screen writer and author, collaborated with James Merchant and Ismail Ivory on 20 films, but books were her first love.  She is the only person to win both a Booker prize (Heat and Dust) and two Oscars for screenwriting (A Room with a View—1985; Howard’s End—l992).  For four more surprising facts about this woman’s extraordinary life, read The Week. 

You'll have to wait until Sunday night for the two-hour premier of season six Mad Men.  But until then, try to name the 15 women Don Draper has been with in seasons one through five.  Who can’t remember Betty or Megan--or even Dr. Faye Miller? (She's definitely the only one with a Ph'd)  But what about Doris, Allison  and Candace? Go to Business Insider—for the complete list.

Can a two minute video "promote understanding between generations, and challenge perceptions about aging"?  Saga magazine from the UK held such a competition titled "Being 50" and here's the unlikely winner: