All Black (and Leather) Everything

Well, almost all...

Okay, found myself deriving post's title from a popular song once again. Actually, it's the second time in a row after Jeans Full of Stars story. I bet you saw it clearly how I paraphrased Coldplay's 'A sky full of stars' line. There was like half a year when I was literally obsessed with this song and kept on listening to it again and again. Well I still do put it on from time to time these days - it's just too magical. And today it's again about playing with a line I took from Jay-Z and Kanye West's song. Is it from 'Run this town' one? I think so. This song used to be on constant repeat in my playlist as well. I guess it's just these lyrics that get stuck in my mind for years and then at some point this or that line pops up to form a perfect post title or an idea around which I can build a story. Have to point out, it's not just always or only the lyrics kind of thing with me.

It's about literally everything - a movie, a book, an article I recently read, and exhibition I explored... Everything that fits my idea in a direct or more figurative way. And I try to connect a story with these borrowings as much as I can, although I do not always succeed. In general I find it important to mention that a certain wave of thoughts was brought to life thanks to a certain article, like in case with Vogue.com one or Lidewij Edelkoort's manifest, or a person I discovered, like Matilda Kahl... because for me it's all about showing where my thoughts are taking their roots from, so to say, and also about giving you a chance to go and research a certain issue in more depth (based on something or someone). When it comes to images I take from other sources I always tend to mention the link of the source, even though the actual owner may be a completely different person or website. Internet is a highly tricky place and you might not always find the primary source, but I think you should try and mention an author or a source. In order to stay on the safe side and remain reliable for own readers.

You know it was back in 2010 or 2011, when I was undertaking a styling course at Bogomolov' Image School. It was one of those theory lectures held by Konstantin Bogomolov himself. And he told us a story about how his ex-students published own book that was purely based on Bogomolov's Image Design course. The funniest part is, there was no single mention regarding the School or Konstantin himself. The outcome of this story was a lawsuit that Bogomolov won, of course. I remember how shocked I was by the story. My main thought back then was - how abusively it is to literally steal one's piece of work? Piece in which he or she invested time, efforts and passion. And then, years later I found one of my articles written exclusively for WV Mag being stolen by one Latvian journalist. I experienced a real shock when I first saw an image of myself and discovered my name within the text. The shock was then followed by anger when I started reading article through and realized it's a pure copy-paste thing of my work. And guess what? No mention of my authorship or a link to WV Mag.

Should I point out and say that in my case it was primarily the power of Facebook and my quite an emotional opened letter to Mr. Tarasov that brought some one's attention and a link to primary source happened to finally pop up. And now this media representative happened to assign the authorship of the photo that was initially created by T. Egorova. As they say, if it's not one thing, it's another... Well, I don't think I'll be able to see this news portal as a reliable and honest-enough source any time soon. The moral part of this whole story is, do educate yourself with at least a little respect towards authorship and effort people invest in their work (no matter if it's a text or a photo) and do fight for your rights when other side blindly violates it. Meanwhile, my almost all black and leather-ed outfit. We do find this tweed-like jumper being a totally contrasting element within this combination. Have to say this piece from Light in the Box came as one of those upgrades of my seasonal wardrobe. And in this outfit combination it comes pretty much as a base item around which I tried to build this daring yet casual look, filled with both modern and classic vibes...