My Wonder Room, Week of 6.23.35
Music about movies, a movie about weirdos, and some religious studies to soothe your brain.
Welcome to the second edition of My Wonder Room, a weekly roundup of things that are currently inspiring, intriguing, and compelling me!
Movie: The Craft (1996)
I know this one has been back in the fashion-lovers zeitgeist for quite a while now. I vaguely remember it being a big deal when it first came out, and it has aged pretty well and is still a fun watch. I think most of us can relate in some way to the rage of Nancy Downs and the fantasy of having infinite power in a society that wants you to be powerless. It is disappointing to hear that the one Black character Rochelle Zimmerman had a more complex storyline that got cut, leaving her a little one-note, but overall, the performances are solid and the story is well-paced.
As for the costumes, this video by ModernGurlz on YT does a great job of analyzing the design, which is kind of subtle, yet fun, effective and definitely covetable (coven-table? sorry). Everton managed to make the looks edgy and distinctive enough for the story, while still looking like something a young person would pick out for themselves. I can definitely picture the 20-somethings I’m around wearing some of these head-to-toe looks right now.
Book: Brave New World (1936) update: finished this and it is still percolating…
Though I found Chapter 17 (a philosophical debate on life’s meaning between the ‘Savage’ and the puppet master of society) a little on-the-nose, I will say this part above resonated quite strongly. It’s a reminder of how long people have worried that ‘optimization’ would take away our ability to do anything difficult, or even withstand any level of inconvenience. I know that was a concern long before the 1930s, but you can’t help but wonder what Huxley and his contemporaries would have thought about Amazon and DoorDash. There are several ways in which I make my life purposefully inconvenient, and making my own clothes being a pretty big one. My only hope is that enough people are getting dissatisfied with the results of one-click shopping that it won’t take over completely… But I don’t know. The future is certainly uncertain.
YouTube: Religion for Breakfast - Coptic Christianity Explained
This excellent overview reminded me of how fun it is learn about religions (which was a major focus of mine at Uni), not to mention the how beautiful the visual feast of Coptic material culture is. Egypt was the first place I visited outside of North America but we didn’t end up going to any Coptic sites, which I now regret. Hopefully one day!
Music: Album- CHÉRIS TON FUTUR! (2025) by Barbara Carlotti
I’m always very excited when Ms. Carlotti releases a new album and this one doesn’t disappoint. It’s got the features you want in a summer album: it can be in headphones or in the background, it has emotional range but is mostly cheery and inspiring, and it’s melodic but not so catchy as to cause debilitating earworms. I also love the themes of travel, art, and film appreciation that run throughout. No trip to Europe planned at the moment, so listening to this on repeat will have to suffice.
It makes me wonder if there are more film-obsessed artists/songs/albums out there that I don’t know about. All I can think of is that awful song from the 90’s that mentions Breakfast at Tiffany’s?? I guess there’s that one Roxy Music song dedicated to Humphrey Bogart…
Song- Лето без интернета (Summer Without Internet) by Mumiy Troll
I don’t speak Russian and I’m not totally sure how I started listening to Mumiy Troll, but this catchy little song about a summer free of cares and technology reminds me to put the phone down, take the headphones off and go the f*ck outside!
On that note, have a beautiful weekend, tout le monde. Next week, we are going to look at an underappreciated (yet vitally important) element of successful sewing, and talk thrift shopping!