“For the occasion, she [heiress Francoise Dior, niece of Christian Dior] wore a black and gold swastika necklace, encrusted with diamonds. They supped mead, toasted the British Nazi movement to the strains of the ‘Horst Wessel Lied’, and over a swastika-draped table, swore that they were of untainted Aryan blood, cut their fingers and let the mingled drop of their blood fall on to an open page of a virgin copy of Adolf Hitler’sMein Kampf.”

- Extracted from ‘The National Front’, by Martin Walker (Fontanna, 1977).

More:

• “Fashionably Fascist – The Forgotten History of Dior” (whomakesthenazis.com)
• “Francoise Dior’s Nazi Wedding” (viciousbabushka.com)
• Francoise Dior (wikipedia.com)

If you already have your limited edition Converse/Clash shoes and Sex Pistols oven gloves you’re probably at a loss about what to do with your discretionary income.

Well, fret no more…

“Another boring scarf? More mittens? We’re not gonna take it! And neither should you! Pretty in Punk salutes counterculture fashion with 25 entirely original designs inspired by fashion icons Vivienne Westwood and John Galliano, and punk legends. Indulge your girly side with the Ready Steady Go mini skirt, rebel with Feel the Pain wrist cuffs, or channel your inner rock star with the very same Mohawk hat Depeche Mode’s Martin Gore wears on stage. Whether you’re new to knitting or a veteran desperately seeking patterns with an edge, you’ll find projects here for every mood and every genre. With step-by-step instructions, helpful technical illustrations and intarsia graphs, plus high-fashion photos of all the finished projects, Pretty in Punk is the only authority on anti-authority knitting.”

“The only rule is don’t be boring and dress cute wherever you go. Life is too short to blend in.” – Paris Hilton

More:

• “Pretty in Punk” (amazon.com)
• “Pretty in Punk” free download (freshwap.com)
• “Oh, I thought you’d just made them up.” – the official Clash / Converse shoe (blogspot.com)
• “26 Punk Knits” (amazon.com)

Illustration by Pluis Producties

More:

• ‘Lone wolf’ loert op Obama (depers.nl) – original Dutch
• ‘Lone wolf’ lurks on Obama (depers.nl) – Google translation to English
• Nation’s Presidential Assassins Still Undecided (theonion.com)

Despite having “a new found faith in Christianity” (generally the kiss of death to any kind of creativity), Peter Howson, “Scotland’s greatest living painter” ™ has now managed to produce a triumvirate of highly pleasing paintings of my favourite celebrity idiot and orphan botherer, the graceless Madonna. As can be seen from the extract above, also featuring her equally boorish husband (referred to here by Howson as ‘Ogre’),  he has succinctly and expertly captured the repulsive allure of the “golden couple”.

More:

• “Madonna has bad brush with artist” (timesonline.co.uk)
• Peter Howson Official Website (peterhowson.net)
• “Howson slams ‘conveyor belt’ artists” (scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com)
• Flowers East Gallery, London (flowerseast.com)
  Features images of all paintings in the collection “Acheron and other works”.
  

Previously:

•  Constant shallowness leads to evil

Historical note: “Scotland’s greatest living painter” was actually born in England.

“You know, a long time ago being crazy meant something.
Nowadays everybody’s crazy.”
Charles Manson

Image source: Nick Bougas (unpopart.org)

More:

• No, please, no more.