INSPIRATION: HANDMADE VALENTINES

Film stills from Picnic at Hanging Rock (Peter Weir, 1975) / Edwardian Valentines from LaMeow Vintage / my photo

Friends: thank you for indulging my mopey-ness. Someday we will look back and laugh at these dark times when we are all living in our Scottish castles surrounded by endless verdant vistas and staffed with an army of kitty butlers. Shall we proceed?

Let's be honest: just about all of us, myself included, have employed Valentine's Day as an excuse to wallow in self pity at one point or another. This is unacceptable! I have enough fuel for that fire, thank you very much. I have come to believe quite firmly that Valentine's Day is about All Loves Great and Small. It's about loving your friends and your family and your favorite meal and your potted plants and yes, if you happen to have a significant other, it is absolutely about loving them too. It's about who and what YOU love; it is about what YOU have and not about whatever it is you think you are lacking.

I love making Valentine's Day cards, and this year I will be making them for as many people as I can--my Grandma, my best friend, my Uncle, my parents. If you email me your address, I will make one for you (I'm serious! Do it!) I've always longed to replicate the delicate paper nothings the girls circulate with quiet rustles and soft shy smiles in the opening scenes of Picnic at Hanging Rock, and an Etsy search revealed a treasure trove of Victorian and Edwardian-era inspiration. In particular, LaMeow Vintage has an incredible selection of beautiful ephemera to take a peak at. My own versions, created from a hodge-podge of junk I found buried in my crafting pile, are not quite so achingly glorious...but I certainly wouldn't mind finding one waiting in my mailbox :n )

THREE FOR THE END OF JANUARY

1) January/polyvore 2) Meghan Collison by Michael Donovan for Vision China 3) "Early wake ups. My parent’s home. Disposable camera. Sometime, December, 2011" by Francesca Zmetra

Warm colors and soft fabrics to help me shake off all these wintery feelings. This week I am busy getting ready for a shoot that is just about the antithesis of all this--but that's cool, too.

GILDA

I'm crazy for everything involved in this vintage Rolling Stone cover: the colors, the clothes, the smile, the Gilda. (Come to think of it, the whole issue looks pretty rad!) And now I'm seriously considering adding it to my already c̶l̶u̶t̶t̶e̶r̶e̶d̶ eclectic walls.

THE BRUEGHELS

Honestly, I still can't keep them all straight but the flowers, the flowers...

AN AFTERNOON WITH...

How is it possible that I only discovered this incredible trove a few days ago?? For someone who covets a subscription to World of Interiors as intently as I do, An Afternoon With... is like sweet, sweet candy. The obvious comparison would be the Selby, the difference being that just about everyone featured on the site so far lives in the NYC area. The pleasure of feeling like I'm peeping into my neighbors windows is endlessly, perversely delightful.

(All images by Michael Mundy for An Afternoon With... Please provide credit if reposting!)

SO RIGHT, RIGHT NOW

After pounding the pavement all day from Indre By to Christianshavn with a canal boat in between, up to the tippy top of the Our Saviour's Church, through the seedy twists and turns of Christiania and back again in time for dinner--I wasted some hard earned time tonight catching up on internet biz. Through the sea of utter crap lining the pages of Fashion Gone Rogue and all together too many fussy DIY chevron-chellaced armoirs came this enormous breath of fresh air courtesy of Vanessa Jackman. Her photos from behind the scenes at an MiH Jeans lookbook shoot are everything that is good, casual but crisp, relaxed but smart, and just plain right, right now.

At the moment it's looking like my only clothing purchase from Copenhagen may end up being an awfully nice white tee shirt that I picked up at COS today. And I'm pretty ok with that.

All photos by Vanessa Jackman, please provide credit if reposting :n )

FADE TO PINK

How long has it been now since we first set eyes on Dree here and her cotton-candy ombré mane? I left New York for the West Coast last summer determined to return with pink tips. Bought the Manic Panic and everything. But somewhere along the way I lazied out and slunk back east still not having lived my thirteen-year-old dream. A year later and first Kate Foley, now Lauren Conrad (ha!) are in on it again and I've got rainbows on the brain...

It's no coincidence that I've also had this ombré dyed sweater by Tara Lynn on my mind since she launched her beautiful new shop, Goodnight, Day. It's so chunky and tactile that I'm literally aching to touch it. Come to think of it--the last time I went home this past winter, I also vowed to learn how to knit beyond the confines of the ubiquitous, endless scarf. Ha!

In six days and counting I'll be home once more, and this time the tips are HAPPENING. If I end up feeling more like a six year old who got crazy with the Kool Aid than a rebel without a cause, I'll just lop 'em off and start fresh. I might have to wait until winter to figure out the whole knitting thing, but in the meantime, Tara-Lynn is providing me with wishlist-worthy inspiration.

(Photos of Dree Hemingway by Craig Arend for Altamira)

MARINA MUÑOZ

I'm always incredibly eager to see Marina Muñoz pop up on the blogs around Fashion Week. Her style never fails to knock me flat, with her consistently elegant mix of tough, slouchy menswear and soft feminine details. She has the most amazing collection of hats, many of the kind you might expect to see on weather-beaten old gauchos riding the pampas--but on her, chestnut hair in her favored low side-braid, a swipe of lipstick here or a crinkle of pale silk there, she appears as the impossibly winsome love child of Katherine Hepburn and Indiana Jones. Basically, everything I've always hoped and wished to be someday.

Hearing her speak with such intensity about the dedication she applies to her work only makes me admire her that much more. It's far too easy to let the fashion game get you bitter and worn out, especially when working in an assistant's position. It can be a LOT of long hours on little sleep and schlepping and sweating and making frantic phone calls and taking the blame. But the way she describes it reminds me of what it is that makes that work worth something, even if it's only worth it to you. It's obvious that no matter what Ms. Muñoz sets her sights on in the future, the outcome will be no less than amazing, and I cannot wait to see just what's in store.

To learn a bit more about Marina, check out her Q&A on Tomboy Style.

(video by Style Like U)

MISS HOWELL

Margaret Howell's collections, not to mention her ad campaigns, are always a favorite of mine. The clothing Ms. Howell designs combines many of the elements I hold dearest: simple, classic cuts, quality natural fabrics and materials, and more than a bit of gamine charm to top it all off. Wearable and unfussy, it is a fashion that, much like A.P.C., is anti-"fashion" in the best possible way.

That said, I hadn't realized just how little I actually knew about the woman herself until I saw her New York Times Profile in Style by Sandra Ballentine (thanks Sarah!) Taking a peek inside her East Anglia home and its surroundings only reaffirmed my love and admiration for Howell--not to mention her impeccable taste in ceramics. I can only hope to age with such grace. That sounds so cheesy! But yeah, it's true.

JUST A TINY TASTE

Polaroid taken in the Haight many years go//Charles Anastase S/S 2011//Tear from Lucky Magazine, I'm obsessed with those Marc Jacobs bloomers!//Charles Anastase S/S 2011 (I'm so tempted to try and DIY myself a shirt or tank version of this dress, kinda afraid I'm gonna end up looking like a total psycho)//Anemones in pen, ink, and colored pencil//french tulips on polyvore

Ahhh, Friday was such a wicked tease!! Sunny and in the 70's (yeah, you read that right!) here in NYC. Before you get your knickers in a knot though, you should know that's it's supposed to SNOW here on Wednesday. Uh huh, ok. Anyways, it felt so wonderful to go outside with bare legs for the first time in so many months--though I have to admit, I was feeling rather sorry for myself not having anyone to share such a glorious freak of a day with. I ended up wandering around the East Village for hours, snapping film photos and trying not to spend money. Eventually, as usual, I caved and bought three perfect French tulips from Sunny's Florist. Such a sweet little shop, seriously, that woman is living my dream...

Even though it feels like Spring just dangled the dream and then took it away, it's got my mind churning away in pinks, whites, blues and straw yellows. I finally spent the giftcard I won to LaGarconne thanks to Erin last year and ordered those No.6 clogs pictured above. I'm so excited! Brand spankin' new shoes are something that make their way to me once in a blue moon, and I've wanted something from No.6 for ages and ages. I always go into their store in Nolita and touch everything like a creeper and then leave, haha. At least now when I do that, I can wear their shoes and clomp clomp clomp around on the wooden floors just like all the cute shop girls do!

balmoral

Speaking of winter-time color: I just love this photo of Diana and Charles at Balmoral. Although, haha, apparently it was taken on May 6th (by Tim Graham). Nonetheless, I do love her sweater. It looks a bit faded here, but in other views you can see it was a rather shocking pink! I wonder where she got it, and why it is she chose to wear it to this particular photocall. Anyways, I'm totally digging this whole outfit, really.

P.S. I still have a copy of the Elton John "Candle in the Wind" single...on cassette! Those were truly sad times for a thirteen year old Anglophile. (Edit: Ok ok, I do know it's still quite cold in May in the UK--I was a teen Anglophile once, remember!)

Plants & Animals

I feel like I've seen these amazing images floating around the internet for some time now, but I had no clue as to their provenance until last night when Alex pointed me towards this tumblr. Stephen Eichhorn is the artist responsible for these amazing, hand-cut collages and, while the cat-and-flower variety are clearly my favorites, these are really just the tip of the iceberg!

I'm in absolute awe of Eichhorn's meticulous process. I think a lot of us probably went through a "collage phase" when we were younger (for me, it was in high school), and it's a pastime that's all too easily dismissed to the walls of sticky pink teenage boudoirs and trapper keepers, but works like these really force a reconsideration of the genre. It makes me want to bust out my old National Geographics and get pasty with it like it's 1999 all over again.

P.S. Please don't repost these images without properly crediting Stephen Eichhorn. Thanks! :n )

Sidney-sider

On hot, grouchy days when I can barely muster the strength to put on a dress and shoes, let alone even attempt to look "pulled together", I find myself coming back time and a again to this Style Like U feature on model/photographer/stylist Sidney Geubelle. Not only does she pull off a slew of perfect, hot-weather appropriate outfits, but she is so dang bubbly and sweet and energetic that I can't help but smile--even when the world outside feels like one big sweaty armpit.











While poking around, hoping to add a little bit more Sidney to my life, I came across these photos taken by Pieter-Jan de Pue for Dutch Vice. I love the dusty, eerie quality of the first two especially--I feel like they could have been taken in any number of decades, which I find fascinating.

(photos by Pieter-Jan de Pue found here)