fionaold's Blog

Fashion and the dawn of the Information Age are directly connected.

The introduction of silk production and weaving into France was initiated by Louis XI 1461 to 1483. In his book, Jacquard's Web, James Essinger spins for us the story of how Joseph-Marie Jacquard, master silk weaver in Napoleonic France, designed a loom which was the world's first automatic machine for weaving elaborate images onto silk. Charles Babbage then developed the automatic punched-card loom which was patented in 1804. He was honoured by Emperor Napoleon.

Along came Ada Lovelace, daughter of famed poet Lord Byron, who met Babbage in 1833. Ada had a passion for technology. She is credited with writing the world's first computer program when she came up with a way of using Babbage's machine to calculate a mathematical sequence known as Bernoulli numbers. We would call that kind of thinking "software development"! Great inspiration for Braveheart women!

The work of these people, driven by the fashion and fabric industry, led to the ancestor of the computer. The Jacquard loom is still alive to this day and producing contemporary fabrics such as synthetic valves for heart bypass patients and airbags for cars. All this woven on today's Jacquard loom.

I include here a picture of Ada Lovelace since she is a major heroine of technology in her own right, and a pretty link betweens fashions past and present in the fields of science and technology.

Fiona/Vancouver Shopping By Appointment
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The definition of “high end shopping” evolves with the culture. “High end” may mean different things to different people. One example can be found in the work of Lindsey Marston and Alisa Smith of www.littlebambino.ca who are offering luxury quality baby clothes at great prices.

Little Bambino, they explain, creates hip, functional, high quality baby clothes made from eco-friendly bamboo and organic cotton. Their materials, such as low-impact dyes, are chosen for their sustainable and environmentally conscious qualities. Featured here is the Bambino Zip- “the practical back zipper makes it easy for parents to put on and tough for toddlers to take off”.

So bamboo and organic cotton are the fabrics of choice. Bamboo, being as strong as steel, is used to construct whole houses from floors, to woven ceilings, to furniture. It is also used by Lindsey and Alisa to softly, dryly, hippily, and comfortably cover the precious skin of little babies.

Such versatility in nature! Such resourcefulness in clothing manufacturing! Such quality which I define here as high end! Quality is not always expensive.

Fiona Old
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Zenyatta is a 6yr old race horse and an unconquered heroine having won 19 consecutive races. She will be racing in The Breeders Cup Classic next week, arguably the most difficult race of the season, after which she will retire. Zenyatta was featured on 60 Minutes on CBS and the magnificence of this horse's physical and charismatic powers was truly wonderful to behold even on the TV screen.
Zenyatta seems like an animal of mythic proportions due to her fantastic physical prowess and wonderful intelligence and personality, which in a short time won over the scepticism of the journalists who admitted to their conversion beyond expectations.
Let's take encouragement from this fabulous horse who is being described as probably the greatest horse of all time. She could be considered a symbol for female rights and a great representative for the animal kingdom.She tells us that humans of both genders and animals as well can fly sometimes close to the sun, without falling like Icarus, and she is already a heroine regardless of the results of the Breeders Cup!
Fiona/Vancouver Shopping By Appointment

The country of Ghana, West Africa, has been having a terrible time trying to provide medical services to many, and in particular to those suffering from neurological and spinal diseases.
The Korle-Bu Neuroscience Foundation is a multi billion dollar project to build a world-class hospital to service the West African region. Fundraising is going on globally.
Here in Vancouver, Canada, I attended an auction in support of the foundation and was able to bid on a wonderful painting called Going Home. It is another, like the above, from Dr. Lisa Cain's Folk Art Collection. Lisa is a neuroscience researcher who supports the Korle-Bu Foundation and whose love of her deep southern roots is expressed in her beautiful self taught art work.
Says Lisa,"There is beauty in the South, a beauty that cannot be matched by any architectural design created by man".
You can see more of her work which has been discovered by New York art lovers, on www.lisacain.org. You can learn more about The Korle-Bu Neuroscience Foundation on www. kbnf.org. The goal is to raise $8,000,000 in the next 4 years. We are all free to help!!

Fiona Old
Vancouver Shopping By Appointment

I went to see the film Certified Copy staring Juliette Binoche at the Vancouver Film Festival. The film has a philosophical thread, and discusses the values of originals versus copies in art.

Juliette falls in love in the film, and then unfolds a relationship copy of original relationships. We do tend towards behavioural repetitions as humans!!

There are strong arguments to be made for beauty and value to be found in copies, or frauds, in art. Christ and the Disciples at Emmaus by Johannes Vermeer was discovered in 1937 by the Boymans Museum in Rotterdam. Art experts and the public alike were delighted, only to find months later that the true creator of the painting was none other than master forger Han van Meegeren. To generate such enthusiasm, however, the copy must have contained intrinsic aesthetic value.

The day after I watched Certfied Copy I was having dinner with friends. My hostess told a story about being in the Musée D'Orsay in Paris, and finding there spreadeagled on the floor with paper arrayed all around, a young boy copying onto his pages the giant and magnificent figures that surrounded his busy self. Looking up, then drawing. Looking up, then drawing.

If the work brings pleasure then that is what counts. Whether he grows up to be a shopper of designer originals, or fine copies, or a designer himself, our young copier is surely not wasting his own time there on the floor with his marbellous companions!

Fiona
Vancouver Shopping By Appointment

In his book The Psychobiology of Gene Expression, Ernest Rossi Ph.D explains how our genes can be activated in less than 2 seconds when exposed to dazzling beauty such as great art. Unpredictability and novelty can stimulate the brain in such a way that it can engender new brain growth and improved memory.

We are learning how certain brain activities can help to stave off the onset of dementia such as learning new languages or playing cards. Who knew that those eye popping new pumps might not only enhance calf appeal but also improve brain power! Maybe we can go shopping!

Fiona Old
Vancouver Shopping By Appointment