Things that inspire...

Usually I am a rag tag mess of influences gaining snippets of mental illumination from graphic novels, street art, anime shows and all sorts of wonderful rubbish. This time around though I have finally been able to pin point my mind’s thought processes in terms of tracing specific influences. You could call them inspirations as they imbue me with a sense of sophistication and timeliness that allow me to create, to write and to live in the moment. 

The first and foremost influence that has had me spending all my extra cash on magazines is Paris Fashion Week. It started filtering into my daily life through Instagram images of high-end fashionistas such as Anna Dello Russo and Carine Roitfeld hurrying to the Espace Eiffel to catch the latest A/W ’13 shows by Isabel Marant and Giambattista Valli.

Carine Roitfeld at Paris Fashion Week Fall 

 Suddenly everywhere I looked I saw Cara Delevingne under headings like The New Kate Moss and All Runways Lead to Cara. That plus the release of Harper’s Bazaar 15^th Annual issue was enough saturation to get me sucked back into the world of fashion.

Cara Delevingne at PFW/F 

For the past month I have been devouring the March and April issues of HB and Vogue re-memorising names of designers that I had thought were lost to the deep recesses of my memory, as well as adding new talent to my list. Why had I let my HB subscription run out without renewing it? Where had my thirst for knowing this season’s trends gone? I’m talking about the girl who once completed a clothing production course in her final years of high school, even designing her own graduation dress. But that’s right, that girl was accepted into The University of Melbourne and had become fully immersed in the literary University life.

My high school graduation dress circa '09

After three years and one degree it felt like I had just waded out of a hot pool of academia and slipped into a cool stream of relevance. I was finally able to focus on things that made my mind sing not snore. I crept through Myer and David Jones caressing Balmain jackets and Louboutin shoes, whilst names of Australian designers such as Toni Maticevski slid into my vocabulary. With the L’Oreal Melbourne Fashion Festival kicking off in my backyard as we speak (I crane my n, eck from my balcony catching a glimpse of the glowing entrance lights) I have never felt fashion to be more intriguing than it is now.

As I write this I am slightly horrified that I have not included more clothing descriptions within Evelyn Earth. I make a mental note to insert some fashion references and then cry a little inside for being so neglectful. I also shed a tear for my classic 'poor writer’ predicament. It looks like I’ll continue stroking Alexander Wang’s $895 Rocco bag on display while clutching my own $55 Collette knock off, but at least I feel a significant mental boost in even knowing what a Rocco bag is. Progress is inevitable.

Alexander Wang's Rocco bag

My Collette bag

The second thing that has had my creative juices flowing is (not surprisingly) a new television series; The Following. Anyone in Australia who hates our television networks and their lack of timeliness as much as I do will have already downloaded and devoured the majority of season one (episode one is yet to air on Channel Nine).

Starring Kevin Bacon as detective Ryan Hardy and the seductive James Purefoy as serial killer Joe Carroll the show doesn’t skimp on talent. Written or acting. The story line is, if I can be cliché for a moment—amazing. Joe Carroll incites a cult following by preaching the slightly mad, yet genius writings of Edgar Allan Poe. A slew of killers emerge throughout the season who mimic some characteristics of Poe’s very own creations. I have to admit while watching the show I felt like I was missing something. Some of the references that the show was making were going right over my head. It’s only once you read Poe, and I mean really read Poe that you can appreciate the ingenuity of the plot line. Needless to say I dusted off my Collins Classics copy of Tales of Mystery and Imagination and delved into Poe’s eerie world accompanied by a giant Starbucks green tea.

The perfect morning

The references to Roderick began to make sense (from The Fall of the House of Usher) and Poe’s fascination with death and his macabre imagery of women also leapt out at me. Once Joe Carroll had pointed out these gruesome themes that underlined Poe’s work I could discern them quite easily and pleasurably for myself. I can honestly say that The Following is the only show that has ever had the power to spark within me an interest in classical literature.

Poe himself has inspired within me the lost art of well…artful writing. Every time I read one of his short stories I am reminded of a time when writing and reading was for the aristocracy. When sentences were created to be intricate and complex, to be understood by people of equal mental prowess and not diluted for the mass consumer. It makes me sad thinking about the way novels have digressed. Soon we will be buying printed editions from niche bookstores, like we do now with music and vinyl. Unless of course authors like E.L. James get their way, then books will be like annoying pop singles. Until then I am glad that people like Kevin Williamson (writer and creator of The Following) are inciting interest in our old literary heroes.