ZOOZOOM

Bonbon is in ZooZoom today, the beautiful on-line "glossy" as part of their daily pick! The piece is written by Elaine Perlov whose taste is impeccable. She chose one of my favorites, the "La Vie en Rose"Necklace from the new Rêve des Bonnie & Clyde collection.

I'm so psyched I can hardly stand it. It's true, what she wrote about those glass pieces--I was invited into the atelier of the grandson of the glassmaker who supplied Chanel and the costume designers for the Folies Bergere in the 20's! His great-granddaughter actually found me and visited me in Paris--she was very sweet when she said, " I think you are using some of the same glass pieces of my grandfather!" The next day I visited their place and they showed me old pictures and also a small selection of some really beautiful glass pieces they had left in reds, whites, and amethysts. We sidestepped around me actually purchasing them until I finally in probably a very American way said, "I'd like to buy as much as I can if it's possible--but they sold me only a little saying if I needed more I could try them again when I return.
The rest is Oiseau history I guess. To see the piece for yourself go to Bonbon Oiseau.

Alfie

Can't get any work done because I can't stop watching this Lily Allen video. Now I can't get this song out of my head. It's so sweet and sour.
It 's becoming the Bonbon Theme Song for June 2007.

Mermaid Parade 2007 & Mama's Boys

mermen united front

I liked these shrimp accordianists

With us, thank god.

Sperman or SeaMonkey

Mama Digdown's Brass Band

Every year since 1998, we've been coming to the Coney Island Mermaid Parade to kick off the first weekend of summer. And each year since 2000, give or take a few, my pals and I have been marching in it.
The first years, we had elaborate floats and costumes, choreographed dance routines, a well crafted event. There was the "Only a Starfish Can Open a Clam" debacle. I was the bearded clam. Then there was the high temp, "Seahorse Rodeo" year. I learned to trick lasso.
We had fun every time, but the year we called off the float and the choreography and dressed however we wanted was my favorite year. That was the year I made the costume of my dreams, a sea anemone, with big long floaty balloons emanating from my big pink afro wig. It was also the year the jauntiest brass band of them all, Mama Digdown's Brass Band in from Minneapolis and Madison, WI to march with us and we never looked back.
Actually I think they came the year before, when it rained like mad, and we all decorated umbrellas--my costume was unintelligible. I think I was a piece of seaweed.

This year was the 25th anniversary, and was freeform for the former members of the Midwestern Ocean Association. Some dressed up, some didn't. Many went nude. Some defected. One came as Mickey Rat. But Mama's Boys were still Mama's Boys. The music hits you way deep down in there and you wonder, why is brass band music so good? Why does it make you dance and smile in ways no other music can do. And these guys are so good at what they do, they leave you pretty breathless and totally satisfied that you're gonna do it all over again next year. They leave you wishing it was next year every day of the week.

Preen

Am excited about Preen Magazine. There are a lot of highly designed new mags out there that don't really deliver the goods once you get them back to your lair but there's a lot of substance to the style of Preen. Plus it's called "Preen"*. It's really really good and the photography is really really really good.

*Someone once asked me how to take care of their feather head piece and i told them to "preen the feather a way a bird would--use your fingers like a beak-that's the way you preen".

Street Art/High Art

Yesterday morning I came across this blog, Iran Graffiti. Doing street art in Iran is a pretty high risk endeavor, let alone any politically motivated art at all, which makes the site and these artists particularly compelling. This Wired article on rogue filmmaking gives some insight into how artists are finding ways to create their work around the country's strict censorship laws.

The bottom photo above, the stencil of the eyes, reminded me of an artist whose work I'm always impressed by, Iranian-born Shirin Neshat. She came to the U.S. in the 1970's to go to art school and wasn't able to return to Iran after the 1979 Islamic Revolution. When she did finally return to Iran in 1990, she found a very different place than the Iran she had left. In her video and photography work, she explores the role of women in Islamic society while working through her own issues of identity and displacement. Her work is always powerful and always moving. Two photos above by Shirin Neshat.

(The little boy in the second photo looks like he's holding a dagger when you squint your eyes a little.)

So for the past few days, I've been hovering between the work I need to do and searching for more information about the history of art and politics in Iran, which is greater motivation to get my work done.

The Meeting of Prince Humay and Princess Humayun.
Miniature from a manuscript of the Khamseh of Khwaju Kirmani.
Persian (Herat), about 1430

Too busy with lists

Mercure Ivoire necklace, Fall 2007, the piece that was advertised

Le Refuge Necklace, Fall 2007

Les Coeurs stick-pin, two views(above and below) handmade from silver recycled from my studio!

Fôret Noire Necklace, Fall 2007

Bonnie and Clyde Earrings, Fall 2o07 (idea for a postcard)

I've been blog-negligent this past week. So much has been going on: I decided to take out an advertisement in ReadyMade Magazine's new section, ReadyMade Digest. Turned out to be a good idea but right before the advert came out, my website decided to have some technical difficulties. Long story short, I was on the phone every day last week trying to figure out out my website problems and work on a million other things at the same time. PLUS, the orders kept coming even though the proper pieces advertised (I should have had all of the FALL collection up last week. So I'm a little behind in uploading land. Boohoo, huh. I'll do it this week late into the night I'm sure.

Last week, I made a countdown for all the things I need to get done by July 12th, my self-imposed deadline. It 's week by week and sometimes minute by minute.
1. Finish designing and working on the Spring Collections.
2. Finish my new press-kit, print, and send out.
3. Send out my new Limited Edition Summer Linesheets and send to my shop mailing list plus all the new stores Vanessa has been cold-calling.
4. Organize the logistical nightmare that is the Photo shoot for Spring/ Summer '08.
5. Design Look Book for Spring '08

I'll finish the linesheets (since I might make some late additions in August/September).

Why am I rocking it out so fast and furious? I'm having surgery and will be laid up for 4-6 weeks.
(Please send ideas for things I can do (not work-related please) while I'm not allowed to do anything for the first 2 full weeks)

Farm weekend

Yeehaw. And Feist is on Conan right now. Huzzah!

Sky Meadow Farm

There are naturally magical places and there are naturally majestic places. The majestic places are striking, intense, incredible great big landscapes, like the Himalayas, or the Pacific Northwest. But the natural magical places are intimate, sometimes other-worldly and transforming. They don't necessarily take your breath away but let you breathe a little easier. This past weekend we went to magical place: Skymeadow Farm in Benton, PA. Just looking for a little weekend away, we searched Thursday and left Friday for a place where we could relax and maybe spend a day or two doing a little hiking and relaxing in a quiet pretty place. We found Rickett's Glen State Park on a Pennsylvania Parks website (the description sounded good and we got lucky).
It really was a beautiful (magical) place with deep wooded mossy trails, with waterfall after waterfall and perfectly clear little swimming holes. The cottage we rented at Skymeadow Farm was perfect (magical) as well. There were wild turkeys, 2 mules and hens and ducks and an amazing organic farm--our host invited us to use whatever fresh eggs and vegetables, herbs and fruits that were ready--the strawberries were incredible and made me ask myself, "why didn;t you plant strawberries.
I was pretty inspired to pack it all in and take to the country .