Armani and Galliano ain't got nuffing on these ladies. The cats behind the catwalks may not know it yet, but next season's fashions are ba-ba-ba-bushka to the max. That's right, you cool cretins, get out the bodypaint and start lacquering on that folk art floralia. Polka dot headscarves are taking ears by storm, from Petersburg to Vladivostok, and when it comes to shoes, shoes, shoes, there's no going past the invisible foot. No more waist cinching, 'cause convex is where it's at. But don't throw away your gym membership: state-of-the-art corsetry alone won't unscrew your body into two separate wooden pieces. Make a moue and paint your cheeks rosy. Dolls are Russian into this one.
11 comments:
Don't know where that came from. Obviously not Cleo.
That last line would probably be considered a hanging offense in some countries. Thankfully, here in the decadent weak liberal West, we applaud your efforts.
I noticed when I was last in Melbourneo that there was a shop which seemed to sell very little other than babooshka dolls. I wondered how that worked out for them. No offence to your fine ladies, of course, who clearly have the fire inside. Bah to Cleo & co!
My sister liked the babooshka dolls, had a set like that, then decided to send away for a special set which involved twenty dolls, one inside the other. You've been pipped!
Mr Coffee also has seen a special babooshka doll. It is a Bill Clinton Doll, you open up, inside is Hillary, open up, inside is Monica.
Oh Maria, that's so lovely- a Clinton Babooshka doll! I was so delighted when I find out about the President and First Lady action figures and the special bone china set for each First Lady, but that tops it all!
found out.
(See how excited I was!).
Good old decadent weak liberal West. It has its advantages. (Though there's no denying, that mid-century Russian marching music's enough to make my knees go wobbly.)
Speaking of wobbly knees and music: Kate Bush! I saw an interview with her once, and it seems she didn't realise that "Babushka" means grandmother; just thought it was a sassy name (as, indeed, it is).
Maria, I can't approve of such corruptions of the Russian doll. I've seen a Soviet dictator set too (Lenin, Stalin, Khrushchev, etc) - a veritable abomination unto the good wholesome values of portliness, maternity and fractals, embodied in ye traditional babushkas.
Sudden recall! My mother has a set of 'Russian Writer' Babushka dolls. There's Dostoevsky, and Pushkin, and Chekov, and so on.
That famous Babushka doll 'Invisible foot' must be related to Adam Smith's proverbial 'invisible hand' that directs all economic affairs in the capitalist economy.
How about an economist Babushka doll set? You could open up Adam Smith and find Trotsky, open up
Trotsky and find Milton Friedman, open up Milton... (etc, etc)
It's sure to be a hit with the Liberterian-authoritarian-capitalist-socialist set!
'Russian Writer' Babushka dolls
Photos, if available, please! I have an Edgar Allan Poe doll and it's craptacular, but it's just made of cloth.
I love Tim's idea about using Babooshka dolls to make an argument about philosophical influences. There was a set of late nineteenth-century Babooshka dolls on Antiques Roadshow recently (apparently the craze really took off in the late-nineteenth-early twentieth century), not all female. Apparently it's supposed to be a game for little girls- you put a coin or some treat in one of the dolls and your playmate has to guess which doll it's in.
Ah, Tim, you're a card.
He's a whole deck, M.K.. Replete with Jokers.
Everyone else: to novelty babushka dolls, I say nyet. Give me rotund ladies in aprons or give me nothing.
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