Frivolous Universe

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Vanessa Boots, Kim Philley, white corset, happycorset.com, Terminal 21, Bangkok, Thai fashion, Asia Street Style, Bangkok street style, Frivolous Universe, FU, http://http://www.frivolousuniverse.com/, tutu, Tibetan breastplate

He saw corsets, corsets, corsets, corsets, corsets, corsets, corsets, corsets.

Do you know how to pony?  Like bony maroney.

Do you know how to twist? Well it goes like this, it goes like this:

Marilyn Monroe, Kim Philley, Vanessa Boots, Pedro, corsets, Frivolous Universe, http://http://www.frivolousuniverse.com/, FU, fit to be tied, Asia Street Style, Thai fashion, Bangkok fashion, Bangkok street style, Terminal 21 shopping mall, Tokyo floor, www.happycorsets.com

It’s 10pm in Bangkok and, rest assured, I haven’t eaten dinner, I’m blogging from a shopping mall, and I’m rocking a neoprene wrist support on my right mouse-clicker (back in the olden days they called them ‘hands’). The mall rat smack has hit my veins and it sounds a lot like Patti Smith singing horses, horses, horses, horses.

But Bangkok’s new Terminal 21 shopping mall — each floor themed after a different international city — exerts a loopy alchemy. Suddenly I get the feeling I’m being surrounded by corsets, corsets, corsets, corsets!  Perhaps I’m paranoid. Or perhaps Pedro and I have lingered a little too long on the Tokyo floor, home of happycorset.com:

Marilyn Monroe, Kim Philley, Vanessa Boots, Pedro, corsets, Frivolous Universe, http://http://www.frivolousuniverse.com/, FU, fit to be tied, Asia Street Style, Thai fashion, Bangkok fashion, Bangkok street style, Terminal 21 shopping mall, Tokyo floor, www.happycorsets.com

My figure has been more Smith than Monroe as of late. All I do is work; my ass is beginning to take the shape of my cheap, sunken office chair. No offense to Patti, but I’m over being a gay man’s muse.

Kim Philley, Patti Smith, Horses, Vanessa Boots, Frivolous Universe, Asia Street Style, street fashion, Terminal 21, Bangkok, Thai fashion

Part of my family’s lore is a story about my great-grandfather wanting to get some sleep after a long day’s work. He stumbled into the bedroom he shared with my great-grandmother. When he saw all his wife’s ‘underthings’ strewn about the room, her corset included, he barked, ‘Gracie, get those women off of my bed!’

I want my women back. I want hips like María Félix when I don my little black dress.

Maria Felix, the little black dress, La Dona, Vanessa Boots, Kim Philley, Frivolous Universe, street style, FU

For this week’s post I found a beautiful woman with a gorgeous figure to fill my size-10 shoes. Don’t let the name Pedro dissuade you. ‘He’ is definitely 100% La Doña. Pedro looks smokin’ in his Happy Corset. And that Tibetan breastplate sure don’t hurt — a dramarama accessory I believe FU has singlehandedly put back on the fashion map.

Marilyn Monroe, Kim Philley, Vanessa Boots, Pedro, corsets, Frivolous Universe, http://http://www.frivolousuniverse.com/, FU, fit to be tied, Asia Street Style, Thai fashion, Bangkok fashion, Bangkok street style, Terminal 21 shopping mall, Tokyo floor, www.happycorsets.com

Black corset: Happy Corset, Tokyo Floor, Terminal 21, Bangkok

Tibetan breastplate: Bethany Walter’s fabulous online jewelry store, Armor Bijoux

Copper bracelet: The Gold Mine, Ketchum, Idaho

Strappy heels: Geez, Pedro — where’d ya get those sweet heels? Fill me in when you got a sec.

Marilyn Monroe, Kim Philley, Vanessa Boots, Pedro, corsets, Frivolous Universe, http://http://www.frivolousuniverse.com/, FU, fit to be tied, Asia Street Style, Thai fashion, Bangkok fashion, Bangkok street style, Terminal 21 shopping mall, Tokyo floor, www.happycorsets.com

How have we gone from ooh la la guitarra to Victoria’s Secret in 50-odd years? It must have been the Fin de siècle.

Heidi Klum & VIctoria's Secret 'Angels', Kim Philley, Vanessa Boots, http://http://www.frivolousuniverse.com/, FU, Asian Street Style, Bangkok street style, Thai fashion

Thank God there’s a burlesque dancer to redeem us all: the mermaid-pale, azure-corseted Dita Von Teese:

Dita Von Teese corset jewelled pastel (Kim Philley for FU), Vanessa Boots, corsets, subtly slutty, Asian Street Style, Bangkok fashion, Bangkok street style, Thai fashion, http://http://www.frivolousuniverse.com/, FU, Frivolous Universe, fashion

Well color me purple. Next time I draw you a Liger, Pedro, I’ll make it all Gotham-like. Ligers are like a lion and tiger mixed — bred for its skills in magic. Just like mating an antique Tibetan breastplate with a cheap Bangkok corset. Same species, Pedro.

Dita Von Teese corset jewTerminal 21, shopping malls Bangkok, happycorset.com, Tibetan breastplate, (Kim Philley for FU), Vanessa Boots, corsets, subtly slutty, Asian Street Style, Bangkok fashion, Bangkok street style, Thai fashion, http://http://www.frivolousuniverse.com/, FU, Frivolous Universe, fashion

Dear Pedro (a.k.a. Vanessa Boots),

Thanks again for all the sweet hook-ups and for letting me be a lazy blogger. If you don’t come back to visit soon I’m going to have to grow some T&A along with a midnight work ethic. I’m just so tired — gosh!

Peace out,

Napoleon

Photographer: Vanessa Boots, Kim Philley, Frivolous Universe, FU, http://http://www.frivolousuniverse.com/, Asia Street Style, Bangkok fashion, Thai street style, corsets, Terminal 21 shopping mall, happycorsets.com

Photographs by Vanessa Boots (a.k.a. Pedro) and the bemused shop girl at www.happycorsets.com

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Even when you’re scared art is no dictionary. –Frank O’Hara

Kim Philley, Nana Chen, http://http://www.frivolousuniverse.com/, FU, asiastreetstyle.blogspot.com, Bangkok, Thailand, fashion, photographer, street style, style blog, Thai fashion

Green Hot Chili Peppers Dress: Street stall next to Sala Deang BTS, Bangkok

I once read an interview with Daniel Craig where he explained why he accepted the hefty mantle of becoming the new James Bond. He didn’t want to be a sad sack in his dotage, Craig said, sitting on a barstool, knocking back the Jameson and saying to everyone and anyone who cared to listen that he could have been Bond.

I moved to Bangkok for the same reason. Because I never wanted to explain to anyone–myself in particular–why I didn’t. When I could have. When I was not yet old and no longer young.

Kim Philley, Nana Chen, http://http://www.frivolousuniverse.com/, FU, asiastreetstyle.blogspot.com, Bangkok, Thailand, fashion, photographer, street style, style blog, Thai fashion

Red silk belt: Thrift store, Oxford, UK

For RAISE THE RED LANTERN, Nana Chen of Asia Street Style photographed me at midnight off a not-quite-deserted intersection in Bangkok’s Sathon district. An International Herald Tribune photographer out for a late dinner, tattooed drunks, and the occasional cockroach scuttled by. Bangkok being Bangkok (hard to surprise), none of them paid us much mind.

I picked up the green hot chili peppers dress from one of the Sala Deang street stalls I mentioned in last week’s post, FU MEETS ASIA STREET STYLE. I forgot exactly how much I paid for the dress, but it was under 250 Thai Baht ($8). Nana and I  found the lurid blue-green peppers a little phallic at first blush; both of us agreed that a belt would solve the phallus problem.

Kim Philley, Nana Chen, http://http://www.frivolousuniverse.com/, FU, asiastreetstyle.blogspot.com, Bangkok, Thailand, fashion, photographer, street style, style blog, Thai fashion

White leather bracelet: leather accessories street vendor in Shida night market, Taipei

My favorite (& only) black leather bag: this bag has no label; I swear I’ll find the little Bangkok shop again one of these days

Nana also styled me and did my makeup for this shoot (see the bottoms of this post for product details). The nightlight is vintage Southeast Asia–an eerie mix of halogen and Chinese lantern. Chinese New Year has come and gone and now we are left with the Year of the Dragon. Dragon years are volatile to say the least–anything can, and will, happen.

Today I’m housebound with a wretched Bangkok flu. An hour ago I dragged myself down from my apartment, to my local market street, for a chicken-broth resupply. As I walked past the mango lady I heard an obnoxious cacophony of cymbals. I winced. I cursed. I reached for my Tiger Balm. And then I looked up: I was headed straight for the jaws of a dragon.

Kim Philley, Nana Chen, Bangkok, street style, fashion, Thai fashion, FU, asiastreetstyle.blogspot.com, http://http://www.frivolousuniverse.com/, DVF, Benetton

Bow-tied wool pencil skirt: Diane Von Furstenberg

Jade windchime earrings: by U.S. jewelry designer Hazel Cox (gift from FU’s Anna Demetraides)

Black plastic bracelet with elastic: H&M, Geneva

Tube top: Benetton, Taipei

Keep in mind this happened on a Tuesday at 11:30am in the middle of nowhere. The “dragon” was comprised of six Thai boys in matching red t-shirts and paper-mache. I put a 20 Baht bill between the monster’s fangs and watched him go on his jangling way. I watched the mango lady feed the beast a handful of 10 Baht coins; the noodle soup man slapped a generous 50 Baht note on the dragon’s tongue.

A few things I know about myself: I’m pathologically restless. I build on nothing. Like the Chinese, I burn my paper houses and walk away. This Dionysian photoshoot with Nana reminded me of lines from a favorite poem by Frank O’Hara:

becoming ultimately local and intimate / repeating the phrases of an old romance which is constantly renewed by the / endless originality of human loss the air the stumbling quiet of breathing / newly the heavens’ stars all out we are all for the captured time of our being

–“You Are Gorgeous and I’m Coming” (1959)

 

Notes on makeup by Nana Chen:

Eyesliner: YSL
Eyeshadow: Chanel
Blush: Bobbi Brown
Blot Powder: Mac
Lips: Mac

 

 

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Kim Phlley, Vertigo, Vertigo bar, Banyon Tree hotel, Bangkok, Thailand, ZARA

Cocktails al fresco & the best view in Bangkok: The rooftop Moon Bar at the Banyan Tree hotel

Vertigo, Banyan Tree hotel, Bangkok

There’s nothing quite like a few days spent riding Bangkok’s Sky Train to make one feel fatally frumpy. Along Sukhumvit Road, women wear scarlett-soled Christian Louboutins to commute to work, only to stuff them into their Bottega Veneta bags when they arrive at the office, swapping heels out for bunny slippers. Even Bangkok men are so well turned out—bespoke jackets, saddle oxfords, sometimes a Rockabilly pompadour shellacked to the top of their foreheads—that I’ve begun stroking my chin for signs of insidious stubble. Adding insult to injury are Thailand’s glamazon ladyboys, many of whom do a far better job of impersonating a woman than I do:

Miss Tiffanys Universe 2011, Pattaya, Thailand, ladyboys

Verklempt ladyboys at the world’s premiere transgender beauty pageant,
Miss Tiffany’s Universe in Pattaya, Thailand

With such, err, stiff competition and so little time (I started a new job yesterday and thus far am exhausted and morbidly lonely), I’ve decided nothing–and I do mean nothing–I brought to wear in Bangkok is worthy of a photo-op. Until I can a) Make an auteur friend who will take hammy fashion shots of me once a week (and that is a friend indeed) + b) Hit the weekend markets and Chiclet-sized Thai boutiques at places like Terminal 21 and Siam Discovery Center, I’ll be pilfering my Bangkok archives for today’s blog:

Kim Philley Vertigo Bar Bangkok, Thailand, ZARA

Top: ZARA

Sunglasses: Christian Dior

Gold Ganesh necklace: Bangkok’s Chinatown

Thailand has one of the most innovative, up-and-coming fashion scenes in all of Asia. I’ll be exploring young Thai designers in upcoming posts, but for now let me lead with a (fashion savvy) household name: Thakoon Panichgul (ฐากูร พานิชกุล). A Thai-American, Thakoon was raised in Thailand and Omaha, Nebraska, and is a favorite of our fashion-forward First Lady’s.

Michelle Obama, Thakoon, patterns, Kim Philley, Frivolous Universe, FU

Thakoon has a genius for acid-flashback patterns, but there are some patterns that just shouldn’t be mixed (Michelle Obama should ask herself every morning, Does this go with American Flag?)

Thakoon Pre-Spring 2012

Thakoon Pre-Spring 2012

Another rule of Southeast Asian fashion: you can never be too rich or too girly-girl. (Although you can be too thin. But thanks to the night food vendors on Soi 38 that offer spicy papaya salad, pad thai, tom yum, et al, I may soon have my ass back.) Here I am at Bangkok’s Dusit Palace Park looking gag-me-with-a-spoon girly. I hope this outfit inoculated me and I’ll never have to sport a boob-bow again.

Dusit Park Palace, Bangkok, Kim Philley, ZARA

Minnie Mouse called: she wants her look back

Leotard top (yes, crotch-snaps and all): ZARA

Umbrella: 7-Eleven

Thakoon, Thailand, Kim Philley, Frivolous Universe, FU, patterns

Thakoon Pre-Spring 2012

Bangkok street food Kim Philley

Sabai Sabai! I love the man with the sausage pancakes

T-shirt: James Perse

Skirt: ZARA

Jeweled sandals: Phnom Penh

Thakoon, Thai designers, Kim Philley, Frivolous Universe, FU

Thakoon Pre-Spring 2012

Wat Pho, Bangkok, Thailand, Kim Philley

My favorite man in Bangkok: ‘Marco Polo’ at Wat Pho

Stay tuned next Tuesday for photos of me in a ladyboy-slaying new Thai getup, which I will challenge myself to find for under 1,000 Thai Baht ($30 US)!

Photos by Marcus Aurelius 

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