My parents read me so I have to paint the backstory for the title of this blog. I’ve been sharing pictures of my ensembles built around my love of Chanel and other designer goods and we’ve been calling it the Outfit Du Jour (ODJ) thread at the purse forum site and then I’ve cataloged the photos here in the ODJ link. The whole thread, which started out as a lark over a year ago, has morphed into a really fun place where we exchange ideas and help each other score some great finds. There’s nothing more exhilarating than nabbing the very item that has eluded you for so long at some super price. Perhaps it’s the chase that’s more exciting than the conquest, but at the end of the day, there’s not much that’s more fun than sharing the loot with other fashion enthusiasts. I’ve always said that it takes a village to help me build my collection, and out of the experience I have also made wonderful friends with fellow enablers…I mean fashionistas.
This blog, more or less, is becoming an eye witness to my life on the road. My innate restlessness got me here, and it’s just easier to show rather than tell people where I’ve been. To tell them that I’m safe. But beyond that, I want to also use photography to show how and perhaps why fashion plays such a big part in our lives. Not because it’s some substantive issue (though try explaining that to the multi-billion dollar fashion industry) but because it’s so frivolous yet dominant. What makes fashion so relevant throughout the history of man? I don’t know the answer to that but for today, the great thing is that fashion can be anything–it’s not some exclusive club for the rich and famous. Fashion defines itself through you. It finds context in all social classes, eras, economies, and cultures. I know this because it resonates with people that I can pair a cheap t-shirt with a Chanel bag and still look appropriate.
But back to the ODJ…it’s not easy to get action fashion shots when I’m on the road because I am embarrassed to have to explain to any victim I can find to take a picture of me why he/she has to take a bunch of pictures featuring my outfit and especially my purse at different angles, while also capturing the gorgeous landscape behind me. They’re always expecting me to mug for the camera so then I have to ask them to just snap the picture as I’m walking away. It’s about the outfit and accessories, not about me! By the time I’m done explaining this, I definitely feel more than foolish.
So what’s the deal with the purse? At the purse forum we are a bit bag-crazed. Not only do we usually already own the bags, we just like to see it on other people…in different lighting, at various occasions…in action. I can’t explain it to people who don’t have a purse addiction. Let’s just say it’s as gripping as golf, video games, or suspense novels.
Yes, it feels terribly self-indulgent most of the time with the ODJ, but often the pictures help me edit the way I dress. I actually spend very little time in front of the mirror, so it’s a way for me to “objectively” criticize my own interpretation of fashion when I see these photos of myself. It’s like looking at someone else wearing things that I own.
Anyway, when in Namur, Belgium, I’m visiting very dear friends who forgive me for my craziness and indulge me in the photos you see today. They know that the ethnologist in me likes to document human behavior. What better way to understand behavior than to follow how fashion comes…
and goes…
This gate to Chinatown could have been photographed anywhere in the world so why not in Antwerp? I don’t eat that much Chinese food when I’m in LA, but on the road, some good har kow (shrimp dumpling) always settles my stomach for some reason.
So after Breendonk I catch dim sum rather late in the day with a friend in Antwerp to celebrate the new year. I know Chinese food is about as universal as it gets, but a true measure of how good (translation: authentic) the food is at the particular restaurant is the quality of the har kow–whether the shrimp filling is tender with just enough crunch or whether the skin has just the right consistency. I’m no foodie, but I’m quite particular about this dish so I’m happy to report this particular joint passes with high marks:
As soon as I leave the couple of blocks that make up Chinatown, however, there’s no doubt that I’m in the Dutch region of Belgium:
With a bit of free time left on my hand, I try to get myself into Rubenshuis (the former residence and now a museum of Rubens) but I’ve just missed the closing time. You can get in for free on the last Wednesday of each month but no amount of money can get me in today:
So I try my luck at the ModeNatie building, which is a concept structure that houses the MoMu (ModeMuseum or Museum of Fashion), the Flanders Fashion Institute, a magazine, among other things.
but I also get there too late because I’ve been loitering around the main squares getting lost in all this gorgeous architecture:
Here’s some of what I saw at the Papenstraatje, just one of many beautiful corners:
Where else but here can you find a Hilton hotel and McDo in such exquisite buildings?
Anyway, I have missed visiting this literal fashion powerhouse on two separate trips to Antwerp now so I will have to book it into my schedule before I leave Europe this time. The Yohji Yamamoto store is also closing its doors so I don’t get to see the gorgeous clothes up close. I will definitely go back…sales are still raging here but I haven’t had much time to do any real shopping.
Between the great fashion and diamond shopping amidst ornate architecture, I haven’t even remembered to take pictures of the millions of restaurants all over Antwerp. These restaurants are so beautifully done they would give Hollywood a run for its money in hip factor. It would be so great to live here. Antwerp, I’ll be back!
Tags: Antwerp, har kow, ModeMuseum, MoMu, Rubenshuis, Yohji Yamamoto
Note: in lieu of continuing with my visit in France yesterday, I am moving on to my destination today and will talk about La Coupole at another time.
Today marks the lunar new year of the ox and out of habit I celebrate by taking some time off to do at least one thing I’ve never done before. The general superstition is that whatever you do on this day will set the pattern for the rest of the year; hence, people refrain from conducting business and instead opt for eating out, spending time with family, and wearing something new. I head out for the Nazi prison camp of Fort Breendonk in Belgium.
It is appropriately bitingly cold today when I enter the grounds of this fortress:
Built in 1906 as fortification for the port city of Antwerp, it was occupied by the Nazis from 1940-1944 and used as a prison camp.
In total 185 prisoners were executed and many others were then transported to other concentration camps. Here was where spirits and the will to think independently were broken.
There are no gas chambers here but there are enough torture chambers, prison cells, and hanging gallows to forever witness the crime against humanity that took place all across Europe.
It is untold how many were tortured. Many literally dropped dead from starvation, tremendous physical abuse, and a host of physical ailments from hard labor and lack of warm clothing and medicine.
Fort Breendonk is one of the smaller, more well preserved camps. The audio narrative tells of the hell of living in constant bone chilling dampness, moldiness, unsanitary conditions, and, worst of all, the incessant feeling of hunger–the kind that makes you lose your sanity, your last signs of being human. One survivor compared prisoners to dogs trained to kill by withholding their food for a week. The way these dogs tore into each other over a bone was much the same way these prisoners would fight each other for a crust of bread.
In another interview with a former prisoner, a man said the SS guards named the dogs, horses, and even pigs that were kept at Breendonk, but the prisoners were only identified by numbers as they were treated as subhuman, less than an animal. I think about the year of the ox and find it fitting to be at Breendonk today, where prisoners were used as beasts of burden. Of ox and men.
The prison, now a museum, is kept deliberately unheated. As I walk from room to room, watching the videos of survivors, hearing about the atrocities that took place, seeing pictures taken of the SS guards and their prisoners, I become numb physically from the cold and emotionally vacant from processing the ugliness of it all. The chill that stays with me the entire 2.5 hours of the tour does not go away. First I lose sensation in my toes, then my fingers start to ache under my gloves, and then the ringing starts up between my ears. And I’m bundled up in 3 layers of clothing from head to toe. I cannot imagine how any of the prisoners could have survived the daily roll call out in the yard in nothing more than a flimsy prison uniform, only to follow that with a long day of hard labor and miniscule food rations.
Imagine a maddening existence, day after day, on these grounds:
At the end of the tour, I am directed inside a warm room dedicated to all of the concentration camps. Names of prisoners are inscribed on the walls. Finally, there is a brief video remembering not only these camps but also the countries where genocides and war crimes have taken/are taking place or human rights have been trespassed. Vietnam is one of those named. I catch myself getting misty-eyed in the dark room.
I’d checked out mentally to absorb all the violence in the tour, and as my feet and hands start to thaw when I walk out of the prison gate, I feel profoundly grateful to be alive. And human again. I wonder if the survivors who were lucky enough to walk out of this gate as I do now ever got their humanity back.
After this tour I go back to Antwerp where I get to share some surprisingly great dim sum in Chinatown with a friend to celebrate the new year. We talk about the starvation that happened at Breendonk and the chill returns, running down my spine. It’s been a day of mixed emotions. Glad to be a human wandering around in this great, big, diverse planet, and sad to see how far humanity can be deconstructed.
Hopefully tomorrow I will have time to blog on a more upbeat note about one of my favorite cities, Antwerpen.
I’ve not really been a B&B (bed and breakfast) kind of a traveler but given a chance to get away from the hustle & bustle of a busy week, I can learn to appreciate the European way of renting a gîte, which is typically a house turned into a B&B, in the middle of nowhere for a weekend to decompress. The place might be too desolate for Type A personalities or restless spirits but sometimes you gîte do it! This time around I pack my overnighter and laptop to go to a farm house in Audinghen…
which is next door to Wissant, a commune in France. Wissant is a sleepy town snuggled between Cap Gris-Nez (Cape Grey Nose) and Cap Blanc-Nez (Cape White Nose).
We hike for 5km from the city center…
to the Bay of Wissant
and along the path there are little wooden lookouts for birdwatching:
This area is now a nature’s reserve…
but every once in a while you would stumble across a bunker left from the world war to remind you that man destroys as much as he preserves:
We finally arrive at the beach and muddy, grassy path turns to sand:
This beach is one of the cleanest I’ve ever seen.
The variety in the stones found here would make Martha Stewart giddy with design ideas:
It’s about 2 degrees Celsius with a windchill factor of who knows how low, as you can see and hear in this video…
but I literally could have stayed here all day…
but lunch beckons so we stop at the end of the hike for moules frites (I choose moules frites italiennes which has a bit of a kick from the spices, perfect for a chilly day):
With our bellies now full, we wander out to the neighboring areas to get a close up look of long abandoned bunkers in the D Haringzelles woods (this area was controlled by the Germans for some time during the war and many of the villages still maintain German names):
This part has been an easy hike, but the mud is thicker as we get farther into the woods. Little patches of water have also started to ice over. I am cold but the earmuffs help a lot. We finally give up on the woods and drive to another beach for sunset shots:
It’s now almost midnight here so I’ll leave you with a shot of my favorite time of the day. Tomorrow I’ll take you inside a very cool war remnant.
Tags: Audinghen, birdwatching, bunker, Cap Blanc-Nez, Cap Gris-Nez, Wissant
Today my appointment finds me in Aachen, one of the high-tech centers of Germany (RWTH Aachen University is a prominent technology research institution). University life spills over into its economy and spurs cultural diversity. Like several other European cities, Aachen has been through medieval ups and downs, survived a great fire, suffered through severe WWII bombings, and now reclaims its place in history primarily because Charlemagne held court there from around 792 to his death in 814. His remains are kept in the Karlsschrein of the magnificent Aachen Cathedral, where 30 kings and 12 queens have been crowned.
The interior of the church is as ornate as it gets. Mosaic ceilings dimly lit by daylight passing through fantastic stained glass windows are just a few sights to behold. The windows were shattered during WWII and replaced in 1951. It’s virtually impossible to take any clear pictures, especially on such a cloudy day like today. The next pilgrimage will be held here in 2014.
But I do manage to capture a video of a private ceremony taking place inside one of the smaller chapels. What you hear is the mystical sound of a pan flute:
Today happens to be one of the coldest days of my life. I’m wrapped up in a long fur lined coat, scarf, gloves, fur earmuffs, two layers of clothes underneath, and shearling boots, yet after thirty minutes of walking around I lose all sensation in my fingers and toes. My hands are shaking so badly none of my pictures turn out clearly. But here are a few exterior shots of the cathedral:
See these gargoyles looming above me?
Two moss encrusted ones are displayed like bookends on the church grounds:
I only have time to also quickly tour the town hall or Rathaus…
where for 2 euros you can view the enormous Coronation Hall where the replicas of the crown jewels are displayed:
Most of the rooms on the ground floor are closed but I do get to peep inside this white room filled with paintings of dignitaries dating from the 1700s or earlier:
I manage to catch a few parting shots as I head back to the car. It’s starting to sprinkle and even my eyeballs are feeling the freeze…I’m aching all over in Aachen.
Let’s hope where I turn up next won’t be quite so bitterly cold. I only have one guess for you: I won’t be in Germany any more. auf Wiedersehen!
Tags: Aachen, Aachen Cathedral, Aix la Chapelle, Charlemagne, Coronation Hall, gargoyle, Germany, Karlsschrein, Rathaus, RWTH, St. Nikolaus Church
