Three Things That………Play With Marbles

caffeinated | by design  recently did a lovely little post with this picture [ comparing swirls – here ] which reminded me of this picture of  Marbled paper {Vintage 19thC } – that I have had saved on Pinterest for ages and had rather poetically described as “like rippled sand on an alien beach” !  Not sure what I was drinking that day. 

From there we end up here with Stella McCartney because apparently marbling is big news for fashion in 2012.

This skirt is beautiful but I think wearing this trend head to toe would scream fashion victim.

Personally ? I still prefer the marbled end paper.

More Stitchery

Continuing with my current mini obsession with stitch work.  See previous post!

At first glace this could be a detail from a vintage embroidered dress or purse, turn of the century maybe ? But this is actually from a piece by Karen Nicol who produces beautiful modern art based on traditional techniques.

Karen Nicol is an embroidery and mixed media textile artist who specialises in Irish, Cornelly, Multihead, beading and hand embroidery. She is a Visiting Professor at the Royal College of Art and exhibits with the Rebecca Hossack Gallery. Take a trip to her Website  for more beautiful images including lacework and items designed for an impressive list of clients including Anthropologie, Lulu Guinness and Bruce Oldfield.

When you draw back you see that the detail is from this delicately worked Swan.

 

 

 

 

 

I am particularly fond of the less traditional very tactile Bear pictured below along with a detail from one of her lace pieces.

 

 

 

 

 

 

All pictures © karen nicol 2010

What is particularly exiting { well to me } is that she has produced a book !

Titled ” Embellished – New Vintage” and published by A & C Black Publishers Ltd. The publicity describes it as  “A beautiful, elegant, and visually intelligent look-book, Embellished contrasts vintage objects, collected over the years, with cutting-edge contemporary decoration for fashion and textiles.”   It is due to be publised at the begining of July and I cant wait. See more details here –Embellished: New Vintage [Hardcover] [link takes you to Amazon]

I found Karens work via a very informative blog post with beautiful images and a Q&A with Karen herself here at  Lovely Textiles , thankyou to its owner who has produced a blog “about fabric, makers and artists” which I knew I would love when they described themselves as  “Actually, a totally and utterly insane in the mummy membrane textile bore of horrifically tedious proportions”.  Go and look around!!

Embroidery – Historical Storyteller, High Fashion and Art

 Louboutin /Jean-Francois Lesage shoes inspired by Marie Antoinette

Francois Lesage master of French couture embroidery died aged 82 in December 2011 and it was a memoir in the journal  ‘Selvedge’ by Alastair Macleod which awakened an interest in embroidery that once I opened my eyes I realised I had been admiring for a while.  From a recent re-emergence among the fashion houses to the many ‘textile’ artists creating beautiful artwork incorporating stitchery both traditional and innovative.

What I really got immersed in though was the history. There are many beautiful books on the history of embroidery, but the actual pieces themselves can be historical and social documents.

The following  books are the ones that have really held my interest over the past couple of weeks

Silken Threads: A History of Embroidery in China,Korea,Japan,and Vietnam  by Young Yang Chung. Published by Harry N. Abrams, Inc. (1 Mar 2005)

Lavishly illustrated with vintage photography and artwork of magnificent dragon and bridal robes, rank badges, kimonos, and other embroidered textiles produced during the last two thousand years, this book is a fascinating study of East Asian embroidery through the ages. The author Young Yang Chung, is a world-renowned master embroiderer who founded The International Embroidery School and established Korea’s first vocational embroidery centre. In this book she presents a wealth of information about the symbolism and meaning of the designs, as well as explaining the uses and functions of embroidered textiles.

 

Quaker School Girl Samplers from Ackworth [Hardcover] by Carol Humphrey. Published by needleprint (Dec 2006) 

 

This beautifully illustrated book tells the story of the samplers and their schoolgirl makers, how they can be seen as important social documents telling us about 18th and 19th century schoolgirl education, about Quaker life values and genealogy.  It is a fascinating and strange story of how these pieces of needlework came to be and how at auction avid collectors can and will pay thousands of pounds for an Ackworth Sampler.

 

  

 Sarah Evans’ Sampler 1801 (Scholar 1799-1801 from Birmingham)
© Ackworth School Estates Limited.

  

There are a couple of really interesting posts about these samplers at the Needleprint blog here among many more beautiful illustrations and stories about samplers.

I see more reading in my future!

Duvet Days

Its been more like a duvet month, but now I have peeked my bleary eyes back out into the world I realise how much I’ve missed.

There have been giants in Liverpool

 From Royal De Lux Promotional Video

No matter how you feel about the ‘celebrations’ surrounding the Titanic anniversary – the image of these three ‘puppets’ walking around Liverpool is something that will be playing in my mind for some time.  The handwritten letter from 10-year-old May McMurray which she wrote to her father, who was a steward on the Titanic, never reached him and it was this that  French street theatre company Royal De Luxe based the Sea Odyssey street theatre on.  Her father did not survive the sinking and a century on May’s letter is on display in Liverpool’s Maritime Museum.

  Image via Daily Pictures

Since last years Savage Beauty there has been a  plethora of  fashion exhibitions at some of  Britain’s  cultural institutions, curators are hoping the  glamorous designer creations will draw  in the crowds.  I think they merit a separate post but I will mention one as it started whilst I was hiding from the blog sphere…

1st May to 9th July

The Design Museum is hosting an exhibition celebrating the career of Christian Louboutin. This 20 year retrospective has an exploration of the design process, through every stage of the journey, from the first drawings to the finished product, it covers his creative influences and showcases his innovative designs.  The most fascinating thing though has to be the  life-size hologram of  the Burlesque dancer  Dita Von Teese wearing a pair of the designer’s glittering creations as she dances.

In the UK we have been plagued by both drought and floods..at the same time..something to do with the wrong kind of rain apparently.  This tenuously links me to Earth Day which I also totally missed but more than one billion people in 192 countries took part in the 42nd Anniversary. This makes it the largest civic observance in the world, I’m hoping to remember next year if only to promote  Reading for the Earth, Reading for the Earth™ is a national effort that promotes  reading environmentally themed books during the month of April, in honor of Earth Day.

Plus they use one of my favorite quotes ever on their website –

 “I speak for the trees, for the trees have no tongues…Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.”

—Dr. Seuss, The Lorax

 

 In summation – I shouldnt hide from the world – there’s much fabulousness out there!! [ and possibly duvets are evil!]

 

“Louis Vuitton-Marc Jacobs’’

An exhibition that charts the history of the Louis Vuitton company has  recently opened in Paris.

It begins by  juxtaposing  portraits of  Louis Viutton and Marc Jacobs , both sporting moustaches as dictated by the trends of their age,  going on to display how the company has evolved, from exhibits of turn-of-the-century dresses to  bags sprayed with 21st century graffiti.

Despite the two designers working in different centuries the exhibition, which is at Musée Les Arts Décoratifs until September, draws on many similarities between them.  The story began for Louis Vuitton as a trunk-packer for rich Parisians, where he built on the knowledge gained on this job finally opening his own house in 1854.

At which time the Orient Express was new and fashionable, the rise of haute couture often meaning that the well dressed women went on trips with so many clothes needing up to a  phenomenal 30 cases for one trip.  Bringing the story full circle the Marc Jacobs fall-winter runway show featured models in Edwardian hats exiting a reconstructed train that could have been the turn-of-the-century Orient Express.

F/W, ready-to-wear ’13 Paris Fashion Week  (Jacques Brinon – AP)

Despite the fashionable echo the designer remarked  “Whatever you try, clothes never really can live in the past. They are worn now so they are modern, with a modern take. I’m not nostalgic.’’

The exhibit “Louis Vuitton-Marc Jacobs’’ runs March 9-Sept. 16 at Musée Les Arts Décoratifs.  A perfectly good excuse to visit Paris in the springtime, or summertime!

For those who decided to brave the question today….

If you are going to do it….do it like this!   As perfect as you would expect from the couple behind  Reinspired Home  ( …and Reinspired Homme )  a  beautiful vintage dress and perfectly styled photographs.

 

These pictures and more  from this lovely blog   –100 Layer Cake – 

 http://www.100layercake.com/blog/2011/10/27/vintage-homespun-wedding-michele-ryan/   so for those of you that like weddings go wander!

Or if you are like me just pop along to Michele and Ryan Tanseys’ site  Reinspired Home and find some wonderful things to re-home.

 http://www.reinspiredhome.com/about-us.html 

“At Reinspired Home we believe that having a beautiful home and wardrobe that you love makes for a happier life. For us this does not mean spending a fortune to get the same stuff that everyone else has.”

Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty

Despite telling myself I wouldn’t mention much about fashion on here…as despite loving it I don’t tend to follow trends preferring my take on a tried and tested look, and there are many, many people out there doing a far better job than I could ever do, I did keep a small eye on London fashion week.

All I will say about that is Giles Deacon …perfection!

But what LFW did do is prompt me to spend some time re acquainting myself with the exhibition catalogue for  ‘Alexander McQueen – Savage Beauty ‘ published on the occasion of an exhibition organized by the Metropolitan Museum’s Costume Institute.

“Alexander McQueen (British, 1969–2010) was one of the most influential, imaginative, and provocative designers of his generation. McQueen saw beyond clothing’s physical constraints to its ideological and conceptual possibilities, addressing questions related to race, class, gender, religion, sexuality, and the environment.”