PARIS!

Perche, photos by Katherine Wolkof,

taken from the NY Times

Tomorrow! I still have a few minor things to take care of, like packing my suitcase full of heavy pieces of walnut display boards and stacks of catalogs. I'm not sure there'll be room for my clothes.Jim will be joining me in Paris next weekend, which I'm really excited about. Our friend from Milan will come with his girlfriend. I'm really looking forward to it because next Saturday the 6th is La Nuit Blanche, when the city is open all night and there are cultural events, film, art, dance all over town. There are institutions that are usually closed that open it's doors to the public, films projected on building walls, museums like the Louvre are open all night and the streets and cafes are overflowing with energy. Last year, my friend Coco and I had an amazing time in the courtyard of the Biblioteque Naçional listening to music and checking out art openings all over the Marais before ducking into a cafe near Bastille for the rest of the night.The show is over on the 7th and we've decided to go to Normandy the week after the show. I've been to the South of France a few times and even took a ferry to Corsica when I took my first backpacking trip through Europe when I was fresh out of college. But never to the countryside to the West of Paris.Besides, I need another vacation and a little bucolic green countryside and slow village life (and food) and possibly some coastline thrown in will inspire me to buckle down (again) for the busy holiday season. Also a little Calvados will also be nice. I think a visit to Giverny and some of the Impressionist's haunts will be amazing and it will be incredible to see the D-Day beaches, particularly after watching Ken Burn's War all week. We'll take a train to Chartres, rent a car and then visit this place, Perche, that I just found yesterday in the NY Times on-line. Looks beautiful. And I'm really excited about the food.Found this article while searching for Normandy info (and avoiding jobs like drilling holes in aforementioned walnut.)
Alex James from Blur took cooking lessons in Normandy--do we have time for that?

An InDesign Kind of Week

Paris bound tomorrow afternoon. There has been so much work to do this week my head is spinning. Besides studio work, had a crash course in InDesign, as my graphic designer fell through but I think it helped me get the collections in focus. I was able to tweak the actual pieces as I saw them in print, which was kind of cool. It also made me graphics obsessed. The learning curve ate a lot of my time though but I'm set for next time.

Another

I'm new to British Another Magazine. Print or on-line, it merges art, culture, fashion and lit better and more beautifully than any other I've seen. Apparently it just changed it's graphics, but I know no better.
Below, read about the mystical abbott and the monks of the Golden Triangle at the Golden Horse Monestery (under Features). I love these photographs by Nick Abbott. Am drawn to the idea of amulets...

One of my Brides

I love brides. I especially love brides who want to wear a Bonbon in their hair. This is Megan who just got married last weekend. She contacted me this summer and wanted an elegant hairpiece to go with that gorgeous dress. Doesn't she look amazing in it?

We put together a little spray of antique ivory linen "strawflowers and white dangling lily of the valley with light amethyst stamens from the 1930's and a tiny spotted peahen feather for contrast.
Usually, brides who come to me don't want to wear a veil until they see the little Bonbon Flyaway. It's pretty much the only veil I do--short or a bit longer, embedded with antique sequins or plain. So she opted for the detachable veil, which she tucked right behind the flower.
Beautiful!

Getting stuff done

and taking a break for a little surfing--love this chair by Tara Murray via Bloesom. It reminds me of Ruth Cross' famous Nursing Chair, and when I went to her site to take another look, I found this irresistible dressing stool. Very nice things. I'll take 2 of each please.

Linesheets

Just finished my look book (with help!) for the Spring Collection-above. It will be tabloid size, 11 x 17, and then folded in half and accordian style. When you open it up, it will have have this one large image (top).

Today is the day I work on my line sheets. Fashion Incubator has a good description of what these are but I am a bit graphically challenged and this is one of the last of my projects, besides packing and filling last minute orders etc. before I leave. Because my graphic design skills are minimal and I get blocks when I use design programs, such as how does "history" work and "where did that go now?", I end up asking everyone and their uncle for Photoshop and InDesign tips. I'm hoping this goes off without a hitch.

Where I've been

Little absence for which I apologize. Last week, in the midst of getting ready for Paris (leaving October 1st!) I took a job for the VH1 Save the Music event at Lincoln Center Thursday night. My mission was to work with an event design team from San Francisco to "bling" out 12 birdcages for the new LG phones, the sponsor of the event, to perch.The operative word in the hire and for that 48 hours was "bling". They came in with the birdcages, already spray painted a sort of matte silver . If I had them from the git-go I'da gone for the super shiny aluminum spray paint but, I wasn't. It would have made them "blingier". Now I just needed to find enough shiny objects to outfit three tiers of four sides of ten cages=120 sides of "bling". Found plastic rhinestones and decided to use glass glitter for the perches. 12 hour days of gluing. They reminded me of Rajastani architecture and mirror work. It inspired me to do some new new work. In an effort to finish all of our materials, we sprinkled the remaining rhinestones and glitter in the large nests inside the cages--I haven't seen the finished product except for these shots, taken in the basement of the Hudson Hotel where we worked.

Garden Saga

The evolution of the garden from Spring to Fall is infinitely satisfying to me. My patio is small with window boxes and pots so I have to make sure I understand what could happen by midsummer and not overdo it. There's also a tiny little 3 ft. x 3 ft plot that my landlord allotted to me in her big beautiful English style garden, in which I only planted some "fuzzy peach" heirloom tomatoes, a few pepper plants (which I moved in early July) and pink and peach zinnias. It was supposed to really work together in terms of color but they all just fight to find some sun so it's mostly masses of green with tiny spurts of color. There are also a few marigolds, which I love because they remind me of India, to keep pests away.

These were taken in early August, when the garden was at it's best. I realized this summer that I'm more of an amateur farmer than a gardener, since I'm pretty focused on eating the garden. But then I also realized that I'm not much of a farmer because I never ordered the fertilizer that I wanted and thus only got a small yield of tomatoes and nasturtium.

I'll take some comparative pictures now, in September.

Laura in Australia

My niece Laura who just turned 20 this week, is spending her junior year at university in Adelaide in Southern Australia. She studies eco-biology and she keeps this blog, mostly for family and friends but I think it's so funny I had to share. She's having quite an adventure I think and I love adventure blogs.

I Really Want this sweater

And I like J. Crew's whole Paris thing this season. The website even has cute French music piping in. Not sure how Parisian the collection really is, but the looks are all easy and clean and pretty.

The clincher: Nothing I want is in stock until November or December. I guess if you're going to bombard every house with three catalogs (filled with such pretty pictures!) within one week, you better prepare by getting those goods made. By the time it's in stock, Forever 21 will have them in every color.

Finally

My invitations have been printed and have gone out--up late addressing them two nights in a row --oh how I need to learn simple computer programs-- and next Tuesday the e-card goes out. My friend Jen who is an art director at a fancy NY social arts "club" said that Tuesday is the best day of the week for catching people's attention. Monday they're just coming down from the weekend, Friday they're planning their weekend, and the rest of the week is work work work! So Tuesday. What about Wednesday?

This weekend it's line sheets, pricing and walking the NY tradeshows, while my lovely assistant Vanessa will run our little table at the Smith Street Market in Carroll Gardens on Saturday. I love doing that. It's a fun neighborhood with fashion-savvy women and they get visitors from all over the city, I love the immediate feedback and it's lovely to talk to other designers and share information.

My Spring 2008 Favorites (to pair with Great Jewelry)

Thakoon Spring 2008
This is a big beautiful collection. I watched this one on TV last night and heard that he designed this with the idea of one woman transforming from a 9-5'er to a Surfer chick in Hawaii. Kudos to the concept. I especially love the jungly green,black,gray,white pattern above and the graceful lines he conjures in his clothing.

Philosophy di Alberta Ferretti

Probably my favorite collection. Her details and originality always floor me. Loving the pale watercolors, like a soft sky throughout the beautiful early spring days with more sweetly feminine garden party cuts. I especially love the color choices bringing bright flashes from the shoes. Right up my alley.

Nanette Lepore Spring 2008
I love that Nanette Lepore makes clothes I can wear. It's like Great Gatsby goes to work. Love the yellows and reds mixed with beige and grays.

Karen Walker Spring 2008

Love the soft colors and playful combinations and shapes.

Derek Lam Spring 2008
Love the rich colors and sophisticated feminine cuts. A little Provencal here and a little Paris there.

Doo.Ri Spring 2008
Love the clean ladylike elegance and details and the soft taupes, ivories and blacks.

Yeohlee Spring 2008

A few nods to 20's elegance with beautiful modern flowing patterns and cuts. I love the continuation of blacks, whites and grays for Spring--perfect for a little flash of color from some elegant jewelry.

My first chance to take my first looks at some of the bigger shows. I love the beautiful playful colors and the subdued blacks, whites, and grays for Spring. Perfect to pair with some great jewelry.

Perusing the collections, am feeling like I hit the right note with the 80 Days Collection and it's calming me down for Paris. I usually design with blinders on, if that's possible at all, with my antiques picked and some noble metals in front of me. When the collection is done I send a shout to my friend Kaelea, who is a designer and trend coordinator. It usually goes something like, "Hey! These are my colors and theme---what do you think?" And she'll say, "Right On! Do you have any (insert color here) to throw in?"