tim walker + dior

Sigh, I love Tim Walker's photographs. This is from the new Miss Dior campaign, shot by Tim Walker and accompaniment to Sofia Coppola's ad. Look at all the flowers! It's insane! That's my favourite part about Walker's work, the mad over-the-topness.

It makes me almost care about perfume...but not quite, I'm sorry!!

cupboard love

I was just messing about with my camera in the kitchen and took these pictures of my crockery cupboard. I really, really love this cupboard. It's useful and makes everything look pretty. Those must be about the best things you could wish for in a cupboard.

bonpoint inspiration

clothes from hug o' war

bonpoint spring 2010

There are many reasons I should not be remotely interested in the French children's label, Bonpoint:

1. I am not a child, so their clothes don't fit me;
2. The clothes are crazy expensive;
3. Even if I did save all my pennies and buy a little piece of adorableness, my niece and nephew would have to spend all their time in a glass box, not ever growing any bigger. And not eating anything by themselves. Every ice-cream stain would probably take a year off my life.

Still, wanting-things-for-no-good-reason is pretty much the motto of this blog and I decided, on seeing this look from Bonpoint's spring line, that I'd try and work on a grown-up version. I was a bit concerned that wearing baby clothes is not a very sophisticated or responsible approach to curating a lady's wardrobe, but I was pretty sure it would look ok. And - ta-da! - Japanese label Hug O' War has proved me right. Sweet, sweet vindication. It looks freakin' cool, right? I just have no idea how to buy it...

(I once heard a radio interview in which the interviewee got the word 'vindicated' confused with 'vindictive':

Q. 'So, after all the knock-backs, your invention has proved a runaway success. Do you feel vindicated?'

A. 'Oh no, not at all. Those people were just doing their job.'

Ever since, I try to confuse them too for comic effect.)

takashi iwasaki

I have just come across Takashi Iwasaki's work (via three buttons) and it is super-cute! I thought the embroidery was really nice, but his collages are my favourite. I think that collage and paper-cutting must be a good place to start with design ideas - you can see instantly what it'll look like and you can mess around with the shapes and spaces. Renilde Depeuter, a Belgian arts + crafter, also seems to use paper-cutting before she starts an embroidery project.

Nice work, Sherlock.

breton stripe hero: coco chanel

Ah, but of course! 'Tis the grand dame of the breton stripe top, Coco Chanel!

If you have seen Coco Before Chanel, you will know that Coco goes to the seashore for the first time ever, watches the fisherman in their humble working-man's clothes and BOOM! - the next thing she's wearing a breton stripe top, everyone in Paris is going wild for it and she has just invented the best piece of summer clothing a girl could possibly wish for. Like, in three minutes FLAT. And it must be true, because I literally SAW it on my TV.

foxes in library

The Library I by Karen Knorr (2009)

This photograph is from Knorr's Fables collection, where she has juxtaposed wild and exotic animals with buildings that represent culture and civilisation. I like it because it's a picture of foxes. In a library. And that's enough for me.

For a more intellectually rigorous critique, there is a lot of reading on her website.

triangle bracelets

More triangle jewellery - yeah!

These leather bracelets are Manu by Laura Manoogian and I first saw them on arrowandarrow , but I wasn't sure who designed them until I read about it on wikstenmade. They're going straight to the top of my 'triangle jewellery that I really want, but cannot afford because I'm supposed to be saving money' list.

red hat, red lipstick

After Van Dongen by Norman Parkinson (1959)

Wow. I saw this picture in the newspaper and I loved it. It doesn't seem like an image taken more than 50 years ago. Just confirms to me that red lipstick has always and will always look damn good.

the flicker club

A while ago, I was looking at Rob Ryan's work and came across this film poster he made for 'It's a Wonderful Life'. It is part of a project run by The Flicker Club, a boutique cinema club in London. Every month they put together a film-showing event with accompanying artwork and readings by special guests from the glamorous world of entertainment. I love stuff like that, even though Stephen thinks it's Prententious.

french brand UTs

After a quick rummage on the Uniqlo website, I stumbled across these t-shirts. Ils sont super! They've been designed by antoine et manuel, a pair of illustrators who have re-interpreted classic French brands as graphic tees. I like that the writing is all wonky and hand-drawn.

The 'Le Monde' one reminds me of the 'New York Herald Tribune' t-shirt worn by Jean Seberg in the film, Breathless. I always loved that look and I had the film poster on my wall for years before I got round to watching the film. I sold out, all for a t-shirt. Je suis idiot!