I'm posting this to move on from the Oxford Comma. Also to post a pic of Julie in her new polka-dot collar given to her by a friend. I think Julie looks very Kate Spade NYC. If you want a USA-made dog &/or cat collars leads, etc. this Upcountry label is very nice. It's carried in some pet stores, but you can order online. Thanks to Hermione's mama for such a great gift.
The straight-faced, breathless fashion press declarations over the polka-dot (or stripes or whatever classic) revival make me laugh. It's necessary, I suppose, for covering the shows. See how nice I'm being? We all know that the polka dot never goes away. I have the pattern everywhere, on every conceivable piece of clothing (yes, everything:)
Very busy here. The tragic culmination of a 20-year death penalty case looks like it will be tonight, unless there is an unexpected stay. I am gutted along with millions, yes millions, of people around the world.
(photographs via Nastygal)
Isn't this lovely? I adore fashion illustrations, modern & vintage which reminds me that Shabby Apple's dare to design competition 2011 is open for another week. You don't even have to sew the darn thing. Really. Maybe I should give it a go.
Check here for the details. Listen, someone has to win. Why not you? Pass it on to anyone you know who might be interested. Here are some free online drawing & painting tools that might be helpful.
(illustration by genius René Gruau for Dior via automatism)
You do not have to be a traditional design professional (that's the point). It's Garmz.com.
One of the advantages to feeling unwell is a stack of unread magazines. (Although--if W doesn't get better & this new editor doesn't stop putting naked Kardashians in an "art" issue, euwww, it is so over. God, what dreck.) Vote on designs uploaded by others & winners see their garment manufactured & for sale online. I do not know how well they are constructed, etc. The site is in beta. There are some good-to-excellent illustrations. There are also some that look like I dipped into my Crayola box. If you were fairly early to Etsy, you know there was (is) some "real junk on there." (That was a friend before I gave her some things from Etsy a couple of years ago. In other words, sift sift sift.) It's the same with Garmz. There are some Etsy folk on there, too. Here's an interview with one winner, Lauren Reeser aka American Duchess. Here's Lauren's pretty Etsy shop, & wonderful historical costuming blog.Go forth & improve Garmz. (designs/illustrations by Scarlet Movement & Anika)
"Poetic Illusions" Illustrations by Mats Gustafson. I saw an orchid at my neighborhood market that looked like this (if you squint). Yes, I'm goofing off more than usual. (Vogue China, December 2010) Via the Fashion Spot, on Vintage Rose Garden)
I already had the title last week & was going to show rose hips that I'd swiped. Too late, they're through the chipper. I decided to keep the title because I'm silly. I like this sewing tutorial idea/tutorial. I won't be wearing it anytime soon but I would have done, definitely, in the not too-distant past. And there would have been whispers of 'oh I wish I could do that but I don't have the nerve." That is not nerve. You know what nerve is? Wading into the deep waters of war & "conflict" zones. (My friend Susan has nerve.) If you don't want to wear a big ol' bow around the waist, understood. Here's a cool way to jazz up your coat collar via genius Caitlin at Colette Patterns. It's quite clever & if I didn't already have something similar, I'd do it in a jiff. (OK, lots of swearing & a long day's journey into night). It's a reminder of stylish women who made do in eras past--& wow, they looked better than most of us today. I am convinced of this. In a rush this week & working on GG blog matters. I will definitely visit blogs (if I've not already, I think I did a fairly good job of it yesterday) this weekend. (pink skirt via say yes to hoboken via automatism on Pinterest)
Early evening/overnight diversion. (Also I'm getting weird email.) A new exhibit at London's Design Museum on fashion illustration. Good slideshow on BBC. (Moving this to Thursday. Raining & running behind here.)
"Drawing Fashion celebrates a unique collection of some of the most remarkable fashion illustrations from the twentieth and twenty first centuries. These original works define the fine art of illustrating fashion, from the collections of Chanel, Dior, Comme des Garçons and Poiret as well as Viktor & Rolf, Lacroix and McQueen. This exhibition showcases fashion illustrators at their creative heights: Lepape at the beginning of the century, Gruau in the 40's and 50's, Antonio throughout the 60s, 70s and 80s, to current artists Mats Gustafson, Aurore de la Morinerie and François Berthoud. Film-clips, news reels, music and photography will sit alongside the original illustrations to reflect not only the spirit and the style of the decades but also the wider social and cultural changes of the century.It will be the first time this collection, which was put together over 30 years by Joelle Chariau of Galerie Bartsch & Chariau, has been displayed." (image by François Berthoud via artnet(dot)com)
I'm posting this to move on from the Oxford Comma. Also to post a pic of Julie in her new polka-dot collar given to her by a friend. I think Julie looks very Kate Spade NYC. If you want a USA-made dog &/or cat collars leads, etc. this Upcountry label is very nice. It's carried in some pet stores, but you can order online. Thanks to Hermione's mama for such a great gift. 
