the darkness

I've never really understood the big deal about vampires. When I was at boarding school everyone read the Anne Rice novels, and talked about them incessantly. Now, there's this Twilight thing - and I'm the first to admit I know nothing about them whatsoever, but from what I can glean - teenage, vampires, unrequited love. I've heard tales of normally sane, cool women in their early-thirties with children becoming obsessed, rabid fans, staying up until the wee hours to get their fix.

I quite like Bram Stoker's Dracula, but all in all, I find the whole thing a bit black lace and stretch velvet. Although, I just read the entire (very long) entry on the vampire in Wikipedia, and it's a universal fascination. How odd. Fashion has been having something of a vampiric moment lately - black lipstick at YSL, Ricardo Tisci's take on the soulless goth, the proliferation of black leather and lace.

The only vampire movie I've ever really enjoyed is Vampyros Lesbos. Now, bear with me - it's a cult 1960s film by Franco Zefirelli about chic lesbian vampires on a secluded island in Italy. Sounds...raunchy, and it is, but I adore the soundtrack and the fashion is incredible.

Lesley Arfin, Vampyros Lesbos, Jen Brill (Lover dress)

I'm also a huge fan of Brett Easton Ellis books, and he frequently brings the bloodsuckers into his plotlines - it's far less beautiful though, and more a sordid commentary on the debased, debauched and soulless nature of life in 80s L.A. Here's the short for The Informers, the most recent of his books to be brought to life on screen. The tagline? Greed is good. Sex is easy. Youth is forever.



And, one of my favourite bands, The Kills, released their video for Black Balloon today - Alison Mosshart as a vampire? Hot!