Foreward by Quentin Crisp

INFINITE VARIETY:
The Life and Legend of the Marchesa Casati
by Scot D. Ryersson & Michael Orlando Yaccarino


FOREWORD
by Quentin Crisp


Quite suddenly and simply by chance, I once met a bizarre lady while taking tea with some friends in London. She arrived wearing black velvet from head to foot, her mouth painted blood red, and carrying a very tall umbrella with a decorated handle. And, you must understand, this ensemble was being worn in the middle of the day. This picturesque ruin of a woman was very tall and thin, and gave the impression of formidable strength. It was then I was introduced to the Marchesa Luisa Casati for the first and last time. She had made her entrance into that room looking wonderful and saying very little. She wasn’t beautiful—she was spectacular. Here was a woman possessing a presence one would never forget.

A few days later, an artist for whom I was posing started back in surprise upon seeing me. He asked if I had ever met the Marchesa Casati and I answered, "Yes, I did, just two days ago." He then asked what she had said to me on that occasion. When I replied, "Nothing," he said he didn’t wonder because I was so exactly like her! Presumably, he was joking.

Without question, the Marchesa Casati was an exhibitionist. But exhibitionism is a potent drug. After a short time, a dose strong enough to kill a novice no longer works. Many have criticized the extreme aspects of the Marchesa’s life. But I believe she had a specific purpose. She wanted to fulfill an ideal, a vision of how she should look and exist—to become a being of her own invention, not one of any particular sex, or time, or size, or shape. And the Marchesa had total self-confidence, never doubting herself for one single moment. She knew never to be too predictable. If the public can predict you, it starts to like you. But the Marchesa didn’t want to be liked. She wanted to incite. This shrewd lady had a knowing scorn of the world and presented those who adored her with an image of something they could never hope to be—a being somehow beyond criticism and convention.

The Marchesa Casati was part of a world that was as fragile as it was beautiful, one that has disappeared altogether from the face of the earth. It was a time of fabulous parties at which people wore the most extraordinary costumes designed for just a single evening. Never a day went by without these antics being mentioned in the press—they fascinated everybody.

Looking back, it all seems quite unbelievable now and possibly just a little bit absurd. But fun was both very extravagant and very serious then. In today’s age, everyone must be useful, independent, practical. To that I say, "What a tremendous bore!" I do believe the Marchesa would agree.

woof recipe 2

1.65euros of finely chopped chicken liver
small bag potatoes
1 onion chopped
2 cloves garlic halved
2 carrots chopped
1/2 chicken stock cube
small cup of oats
small cup of rice
spoonful of tomato concentrate

Boil everything (except the oats and liver) together in a pot til ready to be mashed, add the rice towards the end as it's cooking time is less than potatoes and carrots need. Drain then roughly mash this mix. Thoroughly stir in the chicken liver and oats so that the liver is cooked with the heat of the mix. Leave to stand covered. Serve a portion when cold.

This should be enough for however many days its ok to keep this mix in the fridge ie. minimum 4/5 days, max a week. The idea with each recipe is that they last for a weeks dog food although sometimes I get caught out by day 6!!

woof recipe's

A little tin of sardines....
plus a mix of leftovers from our kitchen cupboards and leftover rice from the food being cooked by humans that evening. None of the vegetables need to be peeled, just washed and chopped leisurely. This food isn't meant to be high maintenance to prepare or another thing to think about, quite the opposite infact.

5 good sized potatoes
1 carrot
1/2 an onion
1-2 garlic cloves
chicken stock cube.
(here I use whatever vegetables I have hanging about in the kitchen, chopped and thrown into the boiling pot)

boil until softish then drain (keep the water drained from the vegetables in a separate container to cool)
Mash lightly.
Add tin of sardines (including the oil, good for shiny fur and dry skin!) a small cup of raw porridge oats (roughage for small tummies) and enough cooked rice to fill out the mix but not overly dilute the taste of sardines! If you think that the mix becomes too dry then add a tiny bit of the vegetable juice.

Mix thoroughly so that absolutely everything is coated with the taste of sardines and leave to cool in a container that later, can be sealed and stored in the fridge.

Once everything has cooled pour some of the vegetable juice into your pets water bowl (vegetable vitamins!) and serve a meal from the mix into the food bowl.

hey hey,

so when press people get together off-duty they share/exhume/compete about the incendiary times they've had, accomplished and failed. We're a kind of a ridiculous (yet yes, at times, noble) tribe that bonds, loves and hates together and against eachother - terribly fragile ego's ha!! Ultimately, and over hard licquor long into the night and onto the next day, we say cheers and inwardly grate and celebrate the fact that we live in the trenches - and by our own choice argh! At its lows, life will never feel more visceral, jab at your soul worse. Wrench out my sodden heart and stamp on it why don't you? Yet on its high's no drug can touch it - I've tried! Energy will never pump through a persons veins more crimson than when your addiction is being fed. Or maybe that's just us. It's something that I have raced towards and run away from more than a few times - I always come back to it. She's the mistress.

And so today, with honour, I raise a glass to Shawn Mortensen. We did all of the above together, let's not embarrass the man by going on and on about his accomplishments (one of the greatest street culture photographers/gloriously nosey parkers that ever walked this EARTH!) He passed away yesterday evening and oooooooooooooohhhhhhh my, that shit stings. I met that Jedi fucker and man, I'm hopping mad that he's been taken away. Once met and never forgotten. Good-bye Mister! It happened way, way too soon. Shawn, why d'ya have to check out so fast?!! Well listen my friend, I know you got a space saved for me in the great bar in the sky. We were waiting for you to come back to Paris - ohhoho the plans we had laid! Pfffffft. All I can do is raise a glass high and light a fine, fine cigar in your honour - victory SALUTE. Please, let me wish you good-luck, fire, love and protection on your new journey. Next time, don't go without saying good-bye. I'll hold you to that. Don't be thinking that I'm joking now. Line up the shots

yes yes mate: www.shawnmortensen.org

Yves and his phantasmagoria

Tons and tons of lush stuff in the Yves Saint Laurent auction, it was just very hard to compute these two men living with all this stuff. The overall aesthetic is still sinking in and hard for me to describe although their magpie eyes would seem to have retired at 1980. I do think that the objects put into the show were ever so lightly chosen and edited. However - Pan, Dionysus and Minotaurs meet photos of Marcel Duchamp in drag emblazoned across bottles of imaginary purple potions. The subtext was there....

bits'n'bon bobs

Onto another, different writer; this intro to Ulysses floors me every time. Mise en abime as the French say:

Stately, plump Buck Milligan came from the stairhead, bearing a bowl of lather on which a mirror and a razor lay crossed. A yellow dressing gown, ungirdled, was sustained gently-behind him by the mild morning air. He held the bowl aloft and intoned: Introibo ad altare Dei.

Fab lunch at Ladurée

This was my first proper press lunch in Paris ie. with all the other fashion writers. There were about 50 of us, all from the big newspapers and publications (from what I could gather) I didn't know anybody, had no chums (it was like being the new kid at school essentially) and in the end thought, well I've been invited so I'll just make the bloody best of it and enjoy the good food!! The food was divine, I made a mental note to return to Ladurée and showed poor form by stealing a macaroon for the journey home. And of course this menu. For posterity like...