Eating Disorders, Fairy Tales, and Evil Queens

When eating disorder thoughts start to occupy more of our time, the things we used to care about slip away. The time that was once given to drawing or being creative is suddenly dedicated to working out more or planning meals, and before we know it, we're serving a voice that is not our own.

As a child, I was obsessed with stories. Myths, folklore, legends, fiction, non-fiction . . . I absorbed them all enthusiastically. Some made my heart leap up and others broke it, but they all inspired me, and many of my fondest memories have to do with bedtime stories with my mum and brother. 

Illustration by Alexander Koshkin (Vasilissa the Beautiful)

But as soon as I stopped reading stories and started creating myths--myths about calories, about reps, about myself--I lost who I was. In Caroline Myss's Sacred Contracts, she talks about the "inner child"--that archetype within each of us that enables us to connect to innocence and wonder and enthusiasm. The eating disorder feeds off of anything that is wounded or fearful, and it totally crushes anything divine or hopeful. In other words, the eating disorder is a bully! 

Illustration by Kinuko Craft

We can see certain elements of eating disorders in the story of Sleeping Beauty. Eating disorders typically develop during adolescence, and surely enough, Sleeping Beauty's tragedy occurs on her sixteenth birthday. She is supposed to be in a period of growth, maturation, etc., but her adolescence is cut short by a seemingly-innocuous needle that pricks her finger and sends her into a deep, endless sleep. Similarly, eating disorder behaviors don't present themselves as evil or dangerous. There is actually a genetic component to developing an eating disorder, so, just like Sleeping Beauty's needle, the eating disorder "waits" silently for us, ready to be triggered by some sort of stressor. We come to it just as Sleeping Beauty did to the needle, and then it takes over and sends us into our own sort of sleep. 

We fall asleep to trust and to the process of life. 

The eating disorder in Sleeping Beauty can be paralleled to the Evil Queen. For some of us, separating ourselves from the eating disorder helps to recognize our authentic voice, and viewing the eating disorder as the Evil Queen may make it easier to push negative thoughts away. When the eating disorder says, "You can't do __ because of ___," think of the Evil Queen. Does she have Sleeping Beauty's best interests at heart?  No.

Of course, one major difference between eating disorders and Sleeping Beauty is that there isn't going to actually be a knight in shining armor coming along to save the day. There are definitely people and tools out there that can make eating disorder recovery easier--therapists, family members, yoga, etc.--but in the end, we're responsible for rescuing ourselves. It's empowering but scary at the same time, and it starts with a choice.

We have to choose to tell the Evil Queen to get OUT of our heads so that we can take our lives back. Don't let her be stronger than you are. I promise you that she isn't.

If you're interested in learning more about how stories and myths can relate to healing, I've heard that Eating in the Light of the Moon by Dr. Anita Johnson offers beautiful guidance for eating disorder recovery through myths and metaphors. I haven't reading Eating in the Light of the Moon yet, but I hope to at some point. What makes stories such powerful healing tools is the fact that humans are designed to relate to and learn from stories. Cave drawings, parables, fairy tales . . . we need stories for our own survival. But now that so many of our culture's stories center on "this diet" and "that workout plan," we're putting pressure on ourselves to live up to what the modern hero is presented as: someone who is successful, physically attractive, athletic, and "disciplined." What about the healers, the dreamers, the poets, the artists, the intuitives? Please don't sacrifice who you are for the glossy, photo-edited "ideal" that we see everywhere nowadays.


<3 <3 <3 

The Girls of Art Nouveau

I'm sad to admit that I never knew who Frances and Margaret MacDonald were until just recently.  Their art is the intersection of fantastical and Victorian, and in many ways their paintings seem to have emerged from a book of Celtic fairy tales or an Isadora Duncan dance.

All images from JSTOR.

Frances and Margaret were one half of the "Glasgow Four," a group of artists who came together in the 1890s at the Glasgow School of Art.  The other two members of the Four were Margaret's husband Charles Rennie Mackintosh and Frances' husband Herbert MacNair. Together, the sisters and their spouses took an innovative approach to artwork that incorporated watercolors, mysticism, and nature, and Frances and Margaret were particularly innovative in their depiction of women.  They captured the feminine in a way that appealed to Victorian grace but contradicted Victorian rigidity, and the girls they painted took on the qualities of faeries.  

They drew from Victorian Puritanism and Celtic Spiritualism and created ground-breaking pieces. Elongated bodies and a characteristic dreamy palette are ever-present. Colors are light, neutral, metallic, natural and mythical at the same time. And yet, there are touches of modernity, like geometric symmetry and the use of squares. (Green)

Sadly, Frances died in 1921, at the age of 48.  It is suspected that her death was a suicide. Margaret made no known artwork after 1921, and she died in 1933. I can't help but to imagine that Margaret's reduction in productivity was at least in part related to the loss of her sister, and I'm grateful to have learned about the two of them and their beautiful work. Their paintings are like looking into a dream world--something fit for the Fairy Pools of Scotland's Isle of Skye!


<3 Frances

Further reading:

"Glasgow and After"

"Margaret MacDonald"

"The Scottish Sisters Who Pioneered Art Nouveau"

Stories in Everything and Vintage Stamps

My mum and I could talk about history forever. It's one big compilation of stories (which, as any bibliophile can agree, are essentially life-blood), and we have the tendency to become incredibly attached to its characters.  Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights are both very admirable pieces of literature, but my interest in them is largely fueled by the true stories about the Bronte Sisters (which are tragic and heartbreaking and full of illness and death, by the way), and I could get totally lost in the library's historical literature section. I was also best friends with my sophomore AP European History textbook and still get emotional over having parted with it....
All this in mind, it's pretty clear why I am so very excited to be sharing these vintage stamps!! My mum found them in a giveaway room at work, and I just took a break from working and went through them this morning. They are so diverse and so clearly used that I can hardly contain my geeky awe, lol. Our favorite discoveries include Christmas stamps from Grenada in 1970, a 1929 stamp from London, stamps from Argentina (the Spanish language-lover in me is super happy about these ones), and a Beethoven stamp that says "Republique Rwandaise." What's really cool is that some of the stamps have black ink residue on them from when they were cancelled at the post office. I keep wondering who bought them and used them and what they were sending. Wartime love letters? Birthday cards? Oh, the possibilities! I'll let you know if anything is haunted.

<3 Frances

Inspiration: Frida Kahlo

Today's inspiration is none other than the beautiful painter queen herself: Frida Kahlo.  Frida helped pave the way for women in the art world, and we can all learn from her authenticity and strong sense of self.  Her life story makes her pretty hardcore, too.  She came down with polio when she was six years old, having to spend a significant amount of time bedridden, and her right leg ended up a lot smaller than her left.  She covered this with long flowy skirts, and, after recovering, participated in sports that were normally considered only for boys.  In 1925, when she was 18, Frida was in a bus accident that broke her spine and collarbone and sent a piece of iron through her abdomen.  Because of the accident, she had to be in a body cast for several months and ended up suffering from chronic and often debilitating bouts of pain for the rest of her life, and she was never able to have children.  But instead of letting this get her down, Frida channeled her suffering into something amazing: art.  She painted her body cast and, lying in bed with nothing but an easel and her own thoughts, made herself into one of the most influential artists ever known.  Go Frida.

<3 Frances 

Sustainable Style

Hi, everyone!  Welcome to another week. Sometimes I look at the date and wonder, "Where is time going?" But then when I'm sitting with my textbook open doing a homework assignment, time feels to be going rather slowly, so I suppose it's all relative, isn't it? 
I'm excited today to be writing about sustainability and how it relates to (wait for it) fashion!  Yes, this subject is a lot lighter than the melting polar ice caps and global poverty--two very major issues that deserve significant attention but can also be rather depressing. One of the biggest "traps" that can prevent people from taking action against global issues like climate change is full-out gloomy pessimism, and it's important to look at inspirational things to get the "let's save the world" juices flowing.  I know a lot of these brands are expensive and that I myself probably couldn't afford many purchases, but they're nevertheless inspiring and represent a positive movement in the stylesphere.

Awamaki
Founded in 2009, Awamaki helps to empower women living in the Peruvian Andes by providing them with economic opportunities based on the beautiful textiles that they make.  Because of the sustainable materials used and the emphasis on local art over big industrial production, Awamaki is good for the environment and for the artisans involved/their communities.  Plus, the clothes and textiles (which are sold under the "Awamaki Lab" brand) are gorgeous.

 

 

Auralis Herrerro

When she was just starting out in the fashion industry, Auralis Herrerro decided it was time to make a change.  "The fashion industry is responsible for so much of the pollution in the world," she said. Inspired by this sentiment, the 28 year-old started her own green company.  She uses materials that are organic and recycled and not processed with chemicals, and many of her designs are inspired by life in her homeland of Puerto Rico. 

 

Noonan for NY Daily News

 

Vaute Couture

With a "V" for vegan, Vaute Couture was founded by lifelong animal-lover Leanne Mai-ly Hilgart, and it was the first vegan brand to be included in New York Fashion Week.  With one of its initial goals being to make a warm winter coat free of animal cruelty, Vaute has exceeded expectations and truly made a name for itself in the fashion industry as a leader not only in the style world but also in the anti-animal cruelty world.  Yay!

 

 

 

 

Interested in seeing more eco-style brands?  Check out the list from EcoSalon.

 

  

<3 Frances

 



 





More Earth Month: Climate Change in Photos

Spring Break is coming to an end! I'm going to miss it very much even though I spent most of it working.  Being with family all day has just been very lovely, and I'm very fortunate to get to look forward to the weekend after all the back-to-workweek madness.
This afternoon, I stumbled upon a National Geographic article about climate change and how it looks visually.  Being someone who is totally obsessed with photojournalism and the environment, I was excited (and a bit scared) to read it.  Needless to say, the photographs in it are incredibly beautiful and moving, and the photographer who took them, Daniel Beltrá, rather brilliantly explains how photography is "a tool to expose what’s happening in the planet."  He's captured everything from the melting in Greenland's ice sheet to the BP Oil Spill, and his work is equal parts stunning and heartbreaking.

 

 

 

 

<3 Frances

The Bronte Obsession Continues

Although my excitement about this post may not be shared by anyone not totally obsessed with literature, I have to share it anyway.  For Christmas this year, my big gifts from my mum were copies of Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre from 1943.  I know that those books were written in the 1800s, but having copies from 1943 is incredibly amazing to me because of a slight obsession with the 1940s (#modcloth).  That aside, though, the thing about these books is that the illustrations are so cool!  They're very dark and Tim Burton/Edward Gorey-esque, but they're from a pre-Tim Burton/Edward Gorey time, and they make the depressing moors and broken love stories of Charlotte and Emily Bronte's beautifully-crafted worlds really come to life.  It's like the books are haunted in the best way possible.

<3 Frances 

Inspiration from the Universe

Happy Saturday, darlings.  We are deep into the holiday season now, and, while it has brought with it many happy things like twinkly lights and candles, there is also a lot of sadness in the world.  Combined with the stress of the holidays (trying to live up to expectations, etc.), this sadness can be overwhelming, but what I've come to find is that, if we want things to get better, we must go to a place of love as opposed to a place of fear or worry.  I know--it seems so obvious, doesn't it? Almost too obvious to be realistic?  But it isn't.  Love--love for yourself, love for those around you, love for Earth--is really a powerful tool that can be harnessed to do great things.



 

 

 

 

<3 Frances

 

 

Art Inspiration

There's something so powerful about artwork, and these storybook pieces look like they could've come straight from the pages from a storybook.  When I have writer's block, it sometimes helps just to look at art like this because it's so appealing to the literary part of the mind.  Each piece could have a story that goes along with it, and I'm sure some of them do.  And the outfits in the paintings are pretty impressive themselves.  If only dresses could be so ethereal in the real world....

<3 Frances

Movie Style: The Grand Budapest Hotel

Wes Anderson's movies all have a very particular visual style to them, and The Grand Budapest Hotel is no exception.  The storyboarding, costumes, and set design make each scene a work of art, and it almost seems like the movie's aesthetic falls somewhere between a dollhouse, a play, and a painting.  (One of the key techniques in capturing this unique feel is symmetry, the effects of which are explained in this interesting article.)  Words, however, can't quite do justice to The Grand Budapest Hotel, so, without further adieu, here are some of the pictures we think capture it the best in all of its quirky pink glory:

 

 

 

<3 Frances  

Inspiration: Mexican Folk Art

Art has an amazing ability to bring a wide range of feelings and memories to the surface simply by sharing itself with you.  Language, I've found, can have a similar effect.  When I was little, my grandmother, who passed away a few years ago but continues to be a huge part of my life, bought the book First Thousand Words in Spanish.  Flash forward a little over a decade later, and I've taken all the Spanish classes available at school and love practicing it.  Am I fluent?  Not at all!  But I'm working on getting better, and I've even had bilingual dreams ("sueños").  Anyway, the reason I'm talking about Spanish and art is that this post is about Mexican folk art, which I find incredibly beautiful and colorful.  It also always makes me think of Dia de los Muertos, which not only falls on my birthday but is also one of my favorite holidays because it is all about communicating with and celebrating (not mourning) dead loved ones.

 

Espero que ustedes tengan un dia divertido :).

<3 Frances

Movie Fashion: Moulin Rouge!

Baz Luhrmann's Moulin Rouge! is one of my all-time favorite movies.  It's very sad, and I love the music--the fact that mash-ups of songs like "Heroes" and "Smells Like Teen Spirit" are set against the backdrop of 1900 France just makes me so incredibly happy.  Speaking of backdrop, the lively colors and gorgeous sets are also really awesome, and they contribute to the stunning beauty of the costumes. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

<3 Frances