Michelle's Melange: Edition 9
Offbeat dance classes led by cool women, Paco Rabanne's shiny feminine looks, and my deep-seated desire to go into debt for a Victorian restoration.
May 27, 2021
It’s me again, writing to you within the confines of May’s remaining days. Thank god for a long month, for the sake of my loosely enforced self-imposed deadlines. A lot has happened in the “outside” world (mostly bad), and I’m feeling a weird tension between getting out there and continuing to protect my solitary time at home.
Activity of the moment
On the note of “solitary time,” I’ve been meaning to write about online dance classes. I love this workout for the pandemic’s ever-changing and never-changing timespans, one that I can usually motivate myself for & rely on as a huge mood shifter. I’ve stumbled across a few gems that I’d consider dance community movements more than anything else. What feels pretty special about them are both their on point 80s & 90s playlists & the fact that they’re led by female instructors who I would generally like to become. I do think wanting to ideally be your fitness teacher of choice is a big incentive behind the whole thing of working out (for no other reason could a Soul Cycle instructor be considered a celebrity). I also like that these women are building communities off of classes that encourage releasing perfectionism.
Pony Sweat is created and led by Emilia Richeson (based in LA) and its concept is a “fiercely noncompetitive dance aerobics celebration.” Her style makes me soooo happy (see above for reference): she rocks a a platinum or pink mullet, high waisted bottoms paired with sheer tights and white kicks perfect for a lil pony hoof stepping *clip clop*. I highly recommend signing up for her newsletter— you can try out a free recorded workout before committing to the 10AM PST Saturday morning classes. The choreography is super doable (grapevines and step touches galore) and a divine match for its accompanying “mixtapes”; you’ll love it!! Camera on is optional for the virtual event and there’s no interactive portions, in case that scares you. I’m just hoping to be *seen* by Emilia for my dancing abilities, ya know. I would 100% commute to LA for one of her in-person classes one day.
Dancorcism is also a solid dance class choice with more of an “energy work” aspect to it, led by Debbie Attias of Fun Heals Everything. Debbie’s a New Yorker whose background generally makes her sound like an adventurous, radical person— like her stint in a not-serious early 2000s band that led her to tour the globe for 6 yrs. Her classes are Sundays at 12pm PST and I would argue they’re an even more intense dance workout that’ll leave you winded. Her classes are smaller and more intimate, and it’s precious to see kids dancing with their parents or couples dancing together in their respective video frames. There is a spotlight portion where each person’s camera view is pinned for the class to emulate their moves while dancing to something like Madonna or ABBA, but you can always turn off your camera to opt out. I think Debbie’s supertalent is creating a really inviting virtual space.
Fashion fascinations of the moment
As I was trying to write this edition, I got wildly sidetracked by my daydreams of the Spanish brand Paco Rabanne. And daydreams = my ongoing browsing of highly discounted pieces from the brand, wondering if I can justify the price tags for such a specific type of clothing. I would describe it as futuristic & “feminine” fashion in the sense that there are metallic details, like chainmail, paired with floral prints in unexpected colors & flattering fits. Something about the looks manages to be both sci fi and romantic, even veering into Western wear territory at times. I love, too, how the outfits are often styled with some chunky boots that lend a toughness, and accompanied by thick, soda tab-like chain bracelets and necklaces.
What I’m watching
Aspirational house restoration videos
My mind has been fixated on the fantasy of making a place entirely my own, and my YouTube suggestions have come to reflect this. I stumbled across this video of a Victorian house tour, which only feeds my delusions about the possibility of affording and renovating a Victorian house one day. I’ll say it’s “aspirational,” in that I’d have to have a good amount of money to spend for all the projects that will go sideways.
I’ve mentioned before that my heart hurts thinking of all the Victorians bought by rich people who waste no time in splashing white paint across original bannisters, built-ins, and trims. In that particular video, the house owner gives a rundown of the house’s original details, showing elements, like wallpaper, that look amazing on video but are sometimes too beat-up to even be able to restore. [Wallpaper is also a strong desire of mine.] What I think is really cool about buying a house with history is being able to track its past ownership and envision a past era experienced inside its walls (check out this part of the video for a deep dive into that particular house’s background).
For a romantic & interesting San Francisco-specific Victorian house restoration long read, check out this Atavist article.
In that vein, while doing my usual weekend real estate browsing, I was struck by this absolute gem of a Berkeley Queen Anne Victorian. It recently sold for 1.5M, but was originally on the market for 850K when I saw its listing. It felt totally improbable that it could be going for that price given its potential— check out that turret, alone! I love the haunted pic of the turret from the inside. It’s rough, to be sure, but imagine how it would look after investing…hundreds of thousands of dollars. It is so movie perfect; it’s kind of like what you imagine you could afford to purchase in Berkeley if we weren’t living in the era of 2021’s California real estate prices but instead living inside Practical Magic.
Another house restoration-related channel to check out is Christine McConnell’s. Though her decor style is not my own (I guess it might be considered a kind of spooky 1930s style), I love her scrupulous attention to detail that surfaces as she restores wallpaper by hand and makes custom pieces of furniture. I’m inspired by how she creates an entirely unique world of her own by honing in on her own taste and obsessively curates her decor. In this video, she narrates a tour of a California house she completely redid and recently put on the market.
My overall takeaway from this renovation fixation & why it might be particularly trendy online is this: as real estate prices have spiked in so many North American cities amongst this “unstable period,” the desire for people to possess something of their own has reached a fever pitch. But, pretty much anything affordable out there will necessitate updates and improvements— I think the only way people in my generation can hope to afford something on their own is to buy a fixer or keep moving further and further out of cities/cultural hubs. This type of restoration content can inspire a more positive view (in a potentially misleading way) of what’s realistically a pretty dismal real estate situation for millennials. The good news is that this content genre likely encourages people to consider more alternative arrangements & lifestyles. A few channels that come to mind for depicting alternative/back-to-nature lifestyles are The Cottage Fairy & Meghan Hughes.
Let me know if you’ve gotten extremely invested in home renovation content lately, as well!
To close, I’ll leave you with this thought-provoking image of a Furby styled as a Bjork album cover:
I hope you enjoyed this edition! Please let me know if any parts in particular resonated with you. Like this post if you did, in fact, like reading it!! ;)
<3 Michelle
Thank you Michelle for mentioning that pull of wanting to go back out into the world while feeling comfortable within the confines of our own homes. It's a balance!