National Museum...

After a short visit to the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, I continued onto the National Museum; the museum was founded in 1792, while this building opened in 1866.

Considering I had just bought an ornament with a Dala horse, a traditional painted wooden horse that has become a symbol of Sweden, I found How to Cook a Souvenir particularly interesting. The artist is from the village where the horse originated and this 1995 piece makes a statement about the arbitrariness of national identity.

I also liked the cheerfulness of Mirror, made in 1968.

 

What impressed me the most was the architecture, including this roof over the sculpture courtyard...

 ...and the paintings over the grand staircases.

Modern Art Museum...

I appreciated that all the museums that I visited in Stockholm had free entrance. I also appreciated this museum’s sense of humor by having the above in the entrance hall. Some might find this off-color, but I can assure you that this was mild compared to the truly repulsive art exhibit Jimmy and I saw when we visited this museum on our 13th wedding anniversary.

Some of the interesting artworks that I saw included these bizarre bunk beds...

 ...this weird melted person...

 ...unusual yak.

...and neon lips.

I also appreciated this very creative sign for the loo.

Walking to the Modern Art Museum...

Jimmy left after breakfast for a conference where he was serving as a moderator, so I was on my own for the day. I set off for the Modern Art Museum. Along the way, I walked through Old Town...

 ...past the Royal Palace, built in 1760...

 ...and along the waterfront.

On park grounds next to the museum, there were a bunch of whimsical rotund female figures alongside rattling mechanical machines, all of which were originally created for the World Fair in Montreal in 1967 as The Fantastic Paradise.

Where Next?...

Just four days after returning from Australia, I joined Jimmy on a business trip to Stockholm. It was nearly midnight when our flight landed, so it was quite late when we finally arrived at our floating hostel.

Our room was very small, but that didn’t matter as we knew we wouldn’t be spending much time there during our three-night stay.

While drinking a beer on the top level of the ship, we enjoyed the view across the Riddarfjarden, the eastern bay of Lake Malaren, to the Old Town.

The ship was built in 1950 in Norway for s shipping company and was eventually retrofitted to carry passengers.

It was taken out of service in 1991 and permanently moved to Stockholm to become a hostel in 1995.

Sydney Weekend Edition—Very Cool...

Now on the other hand, she also wore some very cool outfits, including this sexy red dress...

...this ultra cool skort (shorts and skirt combined)...

...this wild red and black combination...

 

...these funky stripes...

...and this lovely mini dress—my favorite of the bunch. 

As this was her final show, I figured it was finally time to include her “comp card,” which is a fancy business card that she leaves behind when going on a casting. It was strange to me that IMG would choose to include a face shot that was taken when she was 14 years old; the other image was at least recent.

In between all those shows, Ashlynn celebrated her 19th birthday at the beach at Manly with her two roommates and Soso. Incredibly, Josh bought Ashlynn these trousers, which fit great. 

Sydney Weekend Edition—Not So Cool...

That weekend, there was a fashion event open to the general public. It was a crazy rush of outfit changes for a long day of walking down the catwalk. This post includes most of the stranger designs she wore that day, including this suit featuring owls...

...these uninspired stripes...

...this overload of plaids...

...and these childish overalls.

Some might say this disco jumpsuit is cool, but I think it’s just too sparkly. 

Siren’s Song...

Ashlynn’s next show was for Karla Spetic, a designer born in Dubrovnik who moved to Australia at the age of ten with her family as refugees when the Croatian War of Independence began in 1991.

A professional photographer captured the glamour of getting ready for the show.

Ashlynn was especially happy to be working with her close friend Soso again. 

The theme for the show was Siren’s Song.

As you can see, this setting was not nearly as impressive as her last show but, unlike the other, this show was part of the official Sydney Fashion Week. You can see her in action on the video at 2:34 minutes.

Ashlynn’s dress was quite conservative compared to a lot of the other outfits, but suited her very well.

This was actually Ashlynn’s second show that same day; luckily both shows were in the same building and the first had simple hair and make-up as it clearly took awhile for this style.