on krista r: designer spotlight

Well, the past week has been fairly manic. My holiday doth approach and my time has pretty much been spent, packing, repacking - weighing my options and my bags and evaluating how much sunglasses a girl really needs. I've settled with a modest four. In between getting euros and weeping over how much crap I don't really need to take away I've been spending my days hunting for films (a mix of the best job and worst job in the world) and...oh yeah, holy shit my little sister got engaged.
This pleases me greatly not only because sisterling is the single most important person to me in my life but I know that her boy of choice will make her extremely happy. Other than being utterly delighted for my sister, I get to unleash my inner creepy bride. "Help me plan the wedding Claire?"...of course Laura, let me open my extensive database of venues,bakers and inspiration blogs. I'm not entirely sure if she's quite sure of the monster she's unleashed but I'm quite excited. I've never really thought about my own wedding....(well I've joked I'm going to rise from the floor to the phantom of the opera theme, my bridesmaids like the four horsemen of the apocalypse)....but doing events I do occasionally come across a wedding blog and coo (yes I coo) at the decorations.

Among all this madness I came across the work of Estonian jeweller Krista R. Taking inspiration from historical costumes, ball gowns and nature Krista creates the most beautifully detailed textile jewellery. Creeping through her different collections I found myself falling a little bit in love with key pieces of each collection. Shamelessly girly and decedent and not one to break the bank either. I approve.
I'm quite fond of a nice broach so the Borocco collection is up my street. These ceramic broaches inspired my french aristocrats are uh-mazing, priced from £49-£54, no two are alike. I love how the girls in the broaches look like they are off to a masquerade ball and have really elaborate hair pieces adorned with swarovski crystals and beads.
From the Remains of the Day collection come some of the most beautiful and shamelessly over the top textile jewellery I've ever seen. A mixture of decedent necklaces and lovingly crafted cuffs made with vintage fabrics and lace and lovingly hand embroidered. The pieces look like they have come straight out of a dream. I'm pretty much a sucker for the Gossamer Wing II necklace - a one of a kind piece of pinks and purples and mauve's. It clocks in at £232 - which is out of my budget (let's face it, anything not from Primark is out with my budget) but I can still dream, pretending I'm some fabulous lady of leisure with lots of beautiful fabric jewellery. I do feel like I need to point out the bead work though. It's astounding.The Lace Story collection is probably my favourite collection. The line is more affordable ranging from £71 - £249 (most pieces kicking about the £100-£120 mark) and it's all antique lace and frou. Beading and embroidery and gossamer. The details are hand beaded and embroidered and the colour scheme throughout is soft and ultra feminine. Sometimes I need the break from my inner goth to go live in a fairytale realm where all I wear is lace and constantly have good hair. And maybe a dry ice machine following me around just to add a sense of mystique.

Point and collar - Krista R's reclaimed vintage fabrics - silk, gossamer, lace and satin with elaborate beading and embroidery is beautiful. I would quite like to own everything. You can pretty much buy everything here.

on a world where i wear rings

It's been a while. Since I last blogged I've managed to spend more money than I actually have (nothing new there), finish Flowers for Algernon (cried), read most of American Psycho, revisit all the Harry Potter films, GFF work and start the Clinique 3 Step Plan. The last one is a little bit of a lie as I'm still trying to finish my Origins moisturiser, but quite curious as to what a £54 skincare routine will get me. I am expecting clear skin and god damn youthful radiance for that kind of dollah.

Anyway - I'll report back with my progress from ridiculously expensive skincare routine and instead revisit a world where I wear rings. Lots and lots of rings. I think a shit ton of rings looks pretty awesome but I either have weird hands (rings oft being too big and too small for me at the same time) or I just need to stop buying all my jewellery from the high street. For the most part, as good as they look they just get in the god damn way. That said it doesn't mean a girl can't indulge in a little bit of jewellery porn now and

then.....

Cosa Fina jewellery's raw collection featuring 14 karat gold or silver and quartz crystals is pretty much to die for. I'm just going to throw this out there. Peach gold. PEACH gold. That pretty much sounds dreamlike. I don't really know what the appeal for me with this collection is here. My usual tastes tends to lean towards either towards armour jewellery with extra goth or very sinmple classic pieces (I live a lift in extremes.) Chunky jewellery isn't really my ball park but I suppose the edition of quartz crystals has enough pagan undertones to lure me in. The amethyst and hematite rings are my favourites (rose and black...predictable non?)...though the price tag is something I'm less than fond of. $1,700 a ring . Meep.

I'm pretty sure Topshop will give me a pretty good imitation that may or may not turn my fingers green.

I am okay with that.

on charlotte olympia (or cat shoes,get on my feet now)

Sometimes the internet turns out things that I can't help blog about. Tumblr - any gif involving Snape being wonderful, delicious cake and cats. Here - galaxy print, really good shoes, and cats. Internet, I give you the Charlotte Olympia Smoking Cat Wedge.Internets, you did good.
Well more so, Charlotte Olympia. Someone knows her market. That or someone looked at Marc Jacobs mouse shoes and thought..."this would be better with cats and a heel." They were not wrong. Black and red velvet, gold detailing on the little cat face features - and of course a wedge that makes it pretty much acceptable day wear that can transcend to dancing like an utter tit in the venue of your choice.
Safe to say I've fallen in love with the work of luxury shoe brand Charlotte Olympia. With an ethos in old time glamour with quirky detailing I think it would have been a tough one for me not to like what the London based company turn out on a regular basis. Leopard print and bright colours feature heavily throughout the designers work as well as a gold spider as the signature on the bottom of the shoe. This makes me die inside a little bit. Little bittle details that are just for my benefit are something I adore. Like Irregular choice and their elaborate designs on the sole of the shoe. That ain't for anybody but you. It's pretty near delightful.
The cat wedges will also be available in a pump and kitten as part of the A/W 11 collection, and like all wonderful things will not be cheap. I suspect the cat wedges of my dreams will be upwards of £800. There is always EuroMillions though amirite ladies?
My heart is overblown by the perfection. Seriously I'm not entirely sure why I torture myself with shoes I cannot afford. I suspect this is also why I spent a horrible amount of time on The Pioneer Woman and various interior design blogs. Living vicariously through other people's beautiful things. Thank you internet for allowing me to be a full time creep.

on michal nergin, gff and bossypants

University is over, and this so called Summer is supposed to be setting in. I have to say, Summer wise I have it pretty cooshty at the moment. Far from lying around my flat watching boxsets and cute videos of seals all day (which let's be face it, is rather wonderful) I've somehow managed to find a way to pretty much constantly be busy. I have a job that pays me money (come in and have me make you a cocktail, I promise I am not terrible) and am still with the GFF looking at the fashion strand. A lot of the time has been spent doing research in to films and possible events and generally it's pretty exciting. Been looking in to possible people to work with, possible events and possible films...lots of possibles. But then there is the whole "Will I be here next year? Will these people want to be involved? Do these films even exist any more? What do people want to see?" Most of all it's been about taking last year, making it bigger, better and a lot more focused. There are a few things I would like to develop before meeting with the sponsors of the strand, so I've got myself all sorts of crazy excited about that. I've also realised I really need to read up on film festivals. My knowledge of up coming fashion films is abysmal. SHAME ON ME.
I am however really looking forward to going on holiday for a week. A week away from the internet. I'd bought Tina Fey's book Bossypants for the plane.....however I am nearly finished it (brilliant by the way) so got a few more books coming from amazon. Until then I'm going to work through some of the books I've started and never finished (Do androids dream of electric sheep springs to mind...I am a terrible person.)

That said....other than my "Summer of Self Improvement" (I'm going to start yoga and start a quilt*) I'm doing pretty peachy keen. And when things are peachy keen I want to look at pretty things. Like a girl. Things without studs and spikes and leather (though these things are pretty too.)
When I came across Michal Nergin's site every tooth in my mouth near enough fell out, my heart exploded and a thousand kittens bumped heads. It was all pretty precious. The website is very cutesy and kitsch - and while more often than naught I do prefer a more minimal clean cut design - cherubs, hot air balloons and sparkles will also win me over. I was pretty much brought over to the site after seeing some gorgeous pictures of the jewellery over at trendhunter shot by Guli Cohen.
The photos were dreamlike and I loved the dramatic Romanticism of the jewellery. Looking at pictures of Gloria Swanson has had me yearn for a bit more glamour and sense of costume - which may also be due to the fact I'm living in striped tshirts and jeans - but I'd like to think I've always had a thing for the fanciful. Negrin has a fondness for vintage and the bygone eras, and it's reflected in the jewellery. Nothing can really be called modern, but it's sweet and it's the sort of piece that is unusual enough to feel special, but doesn't feel too trend led that it wouldn't last for a while. I suppose the best way I could put it is that it feels like something you could wear when you fancy being a bit edgy, but can also be dressed down for lunch with your nan. This is not a terrible thing. I need more "gran appropriate" outfits.
While Negrin's products aren't cheap (that said everything is in dollars and I am rubbish) the site is currently running a Buy 3 get 1 free offer which isn't too shabby at all if you have pennies to burn. There are bits and pieces I'm quite fond of...almost anything that is gold plated, and also a very cutesy business card box.

Anyway...sorry for the wordy post, I feel that I am sufficiently deluded to beleive that a few of you may be interested in what I get up to...or maybe I assume you're all creepy voyeuristic hermits like myself. I've got a backlog of things to talk about (more art, reviews of Shu products and the like) so hopefully you won't have to deal with me waxing lyrical about uni,work or Tina Fey for much longer.

*This is a joke from 30 Rock, I am clearly not Liz Lemon, or indeed Tina Fey - no matter how much I wish it to be so

on gloria swanson

That's right bitches, I love me a style icon, and you don't really get more iconic than Gloria Swanson.
Who?
Gloria fucking Swanson. The original movie style icon. This woman wore some of the most astounding costumes in cinema (we're talking on par with Liz Taylor folks.) Swanson is oft cited as the original clothes horse (not that she didn't have the sass to back it up, she had that in spades) but this lady was all about the spectacle. People would flock to the cinema to see what Swanson's character would be wearing. Chances are it would be in furs, beads, peacock feathers....ostrich feathers, haute couture and more often than naught some sort of fabulous hat. It's safe to say that Swanson pretty much epitomised glamour. While she made the successful transition from silent movies to the talkies, it's her older films with their elaborate costumes that really secured her as a style icon - and making her one of the most photographed woman ever. Natch she looked resplendent every time. Peacock head dress? Turban? Lion? The lady knew how to accessorise. Gadz some of her costumes were so redic that she needed assistants to help her round the set because of the weight. I'm pretty sure my favourite film of hers has to be Male & Female (dir Cecil B DeMille.) It's where we get the manificent swan headress, the beaded dress and Swanson just chilling with a real life lion like a total pro.
What I love about Swanson is that she isn't what can be considered a classic beauty. I mean she's stunning but she's got all these little imperfections that make her all the more striking. She was witty and charming and pretty much a bit of a bad ass. Seriously with all the 20s fashions that seem to be kicking around as of late, one can't help but look at Swanson and think "Yes. This...so hard." This is how we do decadence up in here.

As you can tell I've been in the office once more, reading up on some film history as well as a few docs. Clearly discovering Swanson again was a god send. The lady is pretty much giving us all a much needed lesson in how to wear hats. She is above average.
ALSO: 3 WEEKS TILL I GO ON HOLIDAY
Factor 50 please.

on the iou project

Uniqueness, artisanship and design.
The site goes live Monday 9th May. I am crazy excited/curious about this and how this is going to play out.



The IOU PROJECT

on fred einaudi

I've been away for a while - and I can once more return to the internet. I had my last exam today (policy in the cultural sector) and things went considerably better than expected. I'm back in to the swing of working in a bar, looking after GWBP this month (come say hey...bring diet coke) and planning my super elaborate holiday. I say super elaborate -it's a week in Lanzarote. I'm pretty determined to make it happen.

Anyway I thought I would ease back in with sharing with you the work of Fred Eiuaudi.
I love the surreal dystopian quality they images have. They feel like they could have come straight out some steam punk sci fi fantasy which anyone who knows me at all knows I'd be crazy on board with this.

Anyone other than checking out these guys hoping you guys could give me some advice. Holidaywise...your product recommendations, and more important - I want to know what should be on my Summer reading list. Many thanks and the like.