All photographs by Damien B. Donnelly
Fashion
BOOKENDS, SEASONAL STREET SCENES ON A SATURDAY IN PARIS
All photographs by Damien B Donnelly
The final photograph is me, today, back at Alesia, the 14th arrondissement of Paris where I first lived over 4 years ago when I came back to live in Paris for the second time. Today I was back here for lunch today with Mary, my dear Irish friend, who I met in Paris when we both first moved here 23 years ago. Circles closing and connections continuing…
BOOKENDS; WORDLESS WEDNESDAY, PARIS
It all started with a degree in Fashion Design and pattern making from the Grafton Academy in Dublin, so where else was I destined to live? The joys of working as a pattern making in this industry was the ability to live in different counties. In London I worked for Reiss, in Amsterdam I worked for Pepe Jeans, G- Star and Calvin Klien and finally, here, I worked at the Paris design atelier of the women’s wear lifestyle brand & Other Stories.
All photographs by Damien B Donnelly
TO LINGER, LONGER, MAYBE
Like a whisper
tissue is painted with purpose,
silk spun from crisp cuts,
white scented with sapphire
parading into Prussian
(fragile of frame and filigree),
like a thought
an image opens, a petal unfolding,
shades seep into substance
as the edges fade
(how quickly we fall to forgetful)
light, liquid, linger, a little longer.
Thoughts tied in twists of emerald
shimmering,
simplicity on a simple stand,
in a liquid light
and the memory leans in.
We are more fragile
than we know.
We could be more lasting
but only time will tell.
Not everything will linger
on after our whispers
fall to a fade…
All words and photographs y Damien B. Donnelly
This is a Repost
OUR SHADE IN TIME
Look for me
in the layers lost,
in the careful caress
that concerns the contours
of form and finesse. The million
meters mounded into magic, turned
and twisted into tastes now termed timeless,
look for me in the yards that yield towards yellow,
that burn into beauty, like ochre opening, that grow towards
the gleam of green, that flit and flow like a feather in flight, like rays
of the old days that ripple on the water. Look for me by the curt corners
of concrete where complacency converges, look for me where the columns congregate,
creation is not just a concept concerned with procreation
but with the colours and costumes
we claim to parade our personality.
All words and photographs by Damien B. Donnelly
This is a Repost
WORDLESS WEDNESDAY, DOS A LA MODE. BACKSIDE
All photographs by Damien B. Donnelly at musée Bourdelle, Paris for the Dos à la mode (Backside) exhibition
THE NEW LOOK
I am
that fine line
that divides
what is feminine
from what is
futuristic.
That fine line
that flushes
the fabulous
out the fickle.
The reflection
of what once was
encased
in something else
that might
one day
be called
another new look.
All words and photographs by Damien B. Donnelly
This is a Repost
IN THE ARCHITECTURALLY FASHIONED MEMORY OF WHAT IS NOW MODERN
I am of an age that is ageless, the very essence
that lingers somewhere between shadow and light;
that indescribable grey matter separating all that
aligns itself with black from all that derives its purity
from white. I am the illusive thread tying together
the journey, the twisting and twirling of cloths weaving
together past, present and briefly imagined futures.
I am the force between that barely dreamt dream
of what will be and that longing, lodged in the memory,
that leaves logic out to recall that single magical moment
from that day, long ago lived. That room in the mind
that holds so tightly to that taste once passed over lips,
ripe for the tasting, I am the emphasis of purity
in the remembrance of that very taste. All else,
long since, fallen by the wayside or lost out amid
the uncertainty of what’s remembered and what’s real.
I am the playfulness of the light you see cast bright
on your tall towers with their windows onto the world.
I am the linear contrast of urban lines, rising sharp
and structured amid the chaos. I am the smooth sleekness
untwining myself from a frivolous mess. I am
the seduction salvaged from the superfluous. I am
the impression left on the skin long after I’ve parted,
the mark of what once was, what is and what will be.
I am what makes the melancholy magical, every mood
a melody; the manufacturer of the moments the mind
will muster. I am the lines that will lead you on, latitudes
to rise upon and longitudes to fill your form. I am a city,
seen from above, with straights of sky-scraping streets;
lean lines, lengthy and lasting, marching triumphantly
forward as if to herald one’s rise out of confusing chaos
and stake your claim to stand above, alone, assured
and reassured, calm and confident, always exceptional,
occasionally eccentric, uniquely independent and always
individual. Modern made from a blend of what is
both memory and what has yet to be. I am everything
you put on to be who you are. Yesterday you dreamt
of me, tomorrow you’ll remember me, today, you are me.
All words and photographs by Damien B Donnelly.
This is a Repost.
PARIS IN PICTURES, MOVEMENTS IN MODERN
Wordless Wednesday…
All photographs by Damien B. Donnelly
BALENCIAGA; l’OEUVRE AU NOIR, AU MUSÉE BOURDELLE, PARIS
Cristobal Balenciaga Exhibition l’Oeuvre Au Noir (Working in Black) at the Musee Bourdelle, Paris, France. An Alchemist at work in shadow and light…
Musee Bourdelle was the home and atelier of sculpture Antoine Bourdelle and the Haute Couture collection of Balenciaga whispers around his works of art.
All photographs by Damien B. Donnelly
Damien B. Donnelly 