Modern surgical education increasingly emphasizes visual diagnostics, imaging, simulation, and protocol-driven decision-making. Yet surgery
This but don't ask how medieval doctors diagnosed diabetes.
Mike Driver
i don't do bad sauce passes
Cosimo Galluzzi

titsay
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"I'm Dorothy Gale from Kansas"
d e v o n
Alisa U Zemlji Chuda
Misplaced Lens Cap
cherry valley forever

Origami Around
DEAR READER
he wasn't even looking at me and he found me

PR's Tumblrdome
I'd rather be in outer space 🛸
YOU ARE THE REASON

shark vs the universe

if i look back, i am lost
NASA
Claire Keane

seen from United States

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seen from United Kingdom
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@pocketvenuslux
Modern surgical education increasingly emphasizes visual diagnostics, imaging, simulation, and protocol-driven decision-making. Yet surgery
This but don't ask how medieval doctors diagnosed diabetes.
I'm going off the beaten track today to review the Comme des Garçons Parfums 1994-2025 coffee table book by Dino Simonett.
First off, the book is very much a visual one. If you're expecting in-depth writing, any themes, analysis, or historical context, you'd best look elsewhere. What little text that's included amounts to ad copy and ad copy-level musings in a brief section of interviews snippets and very short essays.
I was also hoping that this book would include CdG's perfume ads, many of which are visually striking, unmistakably CdG, and a welcome departure from your typical half clothed model making bedroom eyes and posing beside a bottle. Consider the ads below.
While there are some ads included, as well as some interesting archival items like promotional flyers, posters, actual packaging, and so on, the book is a little thin on ad campaigns as well. Apparently CdG Parfums doesn't maintain any archives so Simonett had to root around for everything. This means that for most of the book you are primarily looking at high-res photos of actual bottles and bottle packaging.
As well, the details provided for each photo are inconsistent. Some scents come with a list of notes and even promotional copy and briefing notes while others just have the name, year of release, nose, and related designers.
Having said that, the book provides a comprehensive catalogue of CdG's scents, including some ancillary products like body wash. I thought I knew this house well, but there was a surprizing amount of scents that I had never seen before. Many of these were LEs, often of only 2,500 bottles. Have you ever heard of Jewel (1997), Merry Xmas (2003), or CdG 2 Glitter (2009)? Other fragrances that were new to me were collaborations that I would never have pegged as related to CdG such as (Hussein) Chalayan Airborne (2011), Stephen Jones Wisteria Hysteria (2014), and Grace by Grace Coddington (2016).
This is also a very beautiful book for print fetishists. The paper is really gorgeous, a thick matte with vibrant inks bound by layflat sewn binding. This binding is especially appreciated as it allows you to see larger images spread across two pages without the center dipping in toward the spine. The overall design of the book itself is very appealing and suiting to CdG's modern aesthetics.
Overall, this is a great reference text that includes a lot of deep cuts and is lovely to look at and hold, but is weak on every other front. At CA$200, it is really only for the CdG collector and completist.
If you liked this review, you can also read my review of CdG's original.
Podcast Episode · How I Built This with Guy Raz · 18 May 2020 · 1hr 22min
Newsletter #61: an incessant churn of needless flankers
I'm reviewing another throwback piece today from Bordelle. While the brand's heyday during the heights of the strappy bondage trend and their iconic Angela dress has long since passed, it has continued to release unique and timeless pieces. The Alta line, offered in black, pale yellow and a silvery lavender, was recently released in 2024 and it's fairly easy to still find pieces floating around various retailers here and there.
I purchased the Alta soft cup bra in black to wear underneath racerback tops and the like; the straps at the back are each positioned roughly one centimeter to either side of the bra closure. Racerback bras often have a sporty vibe but Alta feels quite far from that, employing a delicate yet sturdy double-layered Swiss embroidered tulle that creates a beautiful cut-out effect. The fabric is further reinforced by an additional layer of tulle at the band. The hardware is gold-plated, as is the Bordelle standard.
In terms of fit, the bra uses a swan hook closure but is ultra-adjustable with two sliders at the band to ensure a perfect length. I will say however that this is definitely a design that favours smaller breasts. At a 32D/34C, the medium was the right size but not a perfect fit - the cleavage and support are great but the "gore" does not lie flat against my chest. This is pretty much the maximum volume I'd recommend for the medium.
I bought this piece on sale from Secrets For Your Sister. It retails for US$395 but I picked it up at a flash sale for roughly CA$200.
Fabric: Elastic = 88% Polyamide, 12% Elastane; Wide elastic = 66% Polyamide, 27% Polyester, 7% Elastane; Embroidery = 56% Polyester, 44% Polyamide
Made in Romania
Photos: Bordelle; mine
Rose water production, Qamsar, Iran
City of fragrance
This March, Labocine turns to scent. ODORAMA gathers films that explore odors, smells, and atmosphere as invisible portals—carriers
Thirty years of experimentation, art, and conceptual fragrances that have changed the way we smell the world
The 1925 fragrance didn’t just start the gourmand trend—it made desire fashionable. One hundred years later, it’s still the blueprint.
Interview with Nasty Magazine
Madonna made vintage lingerie part of her signature look from the very beginning. This article explores how to recreate that style and the r
Happy new year, everyone! This is going to be a somewhat lengthy review for Deciem's unnamed Avestan fragrance, as the scent has quite the backstory.
A sad day for Canadian perfume lovers: Etiket has abruptly shut down!
When I think of glamour and sleepwear, old Hollywood often comes to mind with its soft-focus slinky slips and Hays-code-sheer robes. But I also often think of a more contemporary accessory: the silk mask. Whether it's Holly Golightly or Blair Waldorf, there's something about a silk sleep mask that lends a touch of indulgence to a late morning. Here's a list of sleep-in worthy silk sleep masks at various price points. All Canadian brands are marked with a 🍁
I really slept on posting about Comme des Garçons Parfums' 30th anniversary (1994), especially because its first perfume, also named Comme des Garçons, was one of my first "niche" purchases.
It's funny looking back at the purchases I made in my early days of discovering the niche world. I think it's a journey that a lot of perfume obsessives can relate to. We're taught that scent is so instinctual and your reactions to scents are so powerful, one imagines that one's tastes are clear and set from the start.
And yet, this is not how we learn to eat, which is largely dependent on scent. There are acquired tastes, what we enjoy changes over time, we can grow out of a favourite dish. The biological fact is, we are social, cultural and political animals. There is no such thing as a pure state of unadulterated desire. Our very instincts, including what smells we like and dislike, are informed by others. That's how we survive as humans. Even the most basic and primal biological functions are highly flexible, adaptable, and continually shaped by the environment around us. There is no meaning without that.
So my tastes were in fact, very untrained when I first started out. It took me many years to develop my sense of smell and learn what it was I really wanted. And I made many mistakes along the way. Certain purchases in those early years would later leave me wondering, what was I thinking? I've since given many of those perfumes away. But that's not Mark Buxton's Comme des Garçons for CdG.
Smell has been called the 'Cinderella sense,' capable of inspiring profound admiration if we stop turning our noses at it. Producer Annie Be
Agent Provocateur will be releasing a new corset, Viva, in select stores next week. Only 14 corsets have been created, and they come studded with 13,000 Swarovski crystals, including clusters of spike crystals at the hips. I thought I'd take this opportunity to write a little about corsets and my only AP "corset."
I'm not sure how much AP is charging for this piece but in general, I have not found the AP corsets to be a good starting place if you are looking to get serious about corsetry. They have the unfortunate characteristic of not simply compressing you at the waist, but everywhere, which makes for an uncomfortable wear and is a sign to me of a non-serious corset maker.
Looking at Viva, it's a an opulent design, but this looks ornamental, like the AP corsets I've tried. It appears to lack proper boning and I'm shocked by the gap at the busk (hardware at the front of the corset) where you can see the model's skin. Maybe that's intentional, but it looks awful to me. I'm also not a fan of the swan hook closure at the top. Viva reminds me of the Mercy corset which also has the swan hook closure and is not a well functioning corset, especially when you could get a proper custom waist cinching overbust for the same price from a top corsetiere.
If you like the exact look of AP's corsets and don't care that the piece is basically crushing your entire torso, go for it. But if you are going to splash out for a corset like Viva, you are better off contacting a corsetiere like Puimond or Dianna DiNoble who have more experience working with special embellishments and can make you a custom piece, or even buying an off the rack model from Northbound Leather that will give you a more snatched, hourglass look and will be much more comfortable to wear.
Anyway, that's why I've never owned an AP corset. The closest I own to a corset from the brand is its Cosima waspie from their Soirée line, a leather piece dripping with Swarovski crystal chains.
I knew this would be an ornamental piece that wouldn't provide any shaping, but I did not anticipate it would also be too delicate to wear out. Shortly after receiving the piece, a couple of the chains started falling out. Some of the hardware is plastic as well. Which is ridiculous at the price point. I can't recall what it was retailing for but I want to say it was at least CA$500 back around 2013? It's an exquisite and pretty piece but I actually haven't gotten much wear out of it because it's fragile. I love AP but this was not my favourite purchase from the brand and it honestly put me off Soirée.