FINGER GRILLS

I don't often post about products and the like, but for these, I needed to make an exception.

They're pretty basic gloves... with silver fingernails! (Almost like grills, for the fingers?!) Speaking of grills for the fingers, the designer also makes a similar set of fingernail overlays, in gold and silver, that are just plain COOL.  I haven't wanted a piece of contemporary jewelry this badly in a while.

By Saint Martin grad Anna-Sara Dåvik, available at APlace.

BABES

Tattoed babes, from the 1920s and 50s.  Strange to think that this degree of body art was grotesque enough to warrant participation in a circus sideshow.

Plus, tattooing a bra seems like a supremely bad idea.  But our anonymous friend below is rocking a faux bra, and, dare I say it, it looks strangely...satisfying?

Left: Lotta Pictoria tattooed by Charles Wagner, NY, NY, 1920s. Right: Artist Unknown, 1950s.

Below, Deafy and Stelly Grossman, 1920s.

Scans from 1000 Tattoos, ed. Henk Schiffmacher.

METAMORPHOSIS

I've never had a sister, but my LAMPS have been borrowing my accessories! This one—my desk lamp— is dripping in chains that I created for shoes.  And then, there was the brooch lamp, wearing what was once a corset...  What's with that, anyway?

Maybe the infamous leg lamp from A Christmas Story deserves more credit than we give it?

Photographed and styled by (IN)DECOROUS TASTE.

JUXTAPOSITION

I'm in New York for a couple of days! And so, I'm just going to be a hot, sloppy mess (forgive me) in presenting this image since I don't have access to my magazines and can't remember whose room this was, or in which particular issue I found it (I think it was World of Interior's "Gold Issue"- December?).

Why did I save it?  Because A) I love collecting, collections, and collectors and B) half the fun of collecting is in the display and it's fantastic how the owner of this room chose to display her collection of antique lace behind a glass wall with bizarre orbs hovering in front of it. How's THAT for juxtaposition?

How do you display your collections?

SPARKLERS

Lucite confetti candles.  They look like candles.  They even have wicks! But you can't light them.  God knows what would happen if you tried— they have a rather frightening all-caps warning to that effect wrapped around their bases.  Egregiously decorative. Yes, I'm in love!!!

Even if they are one of the sillier inventions of the 20th century (evidently, popular in the 50s).  And even if I can't light them. 

RACHEL ZOE RAIDED MY WARDROBE

Left: Me, as Dubai at an "Olympics party." Right: Rachel Zoe, who has apparently raided my closet. Thanks, Cristin, for the heads up. A reader asked Zoe: Where did you get that sequined top you wore last night (at your QVC show)? is there an alternative top we can get like it?

HA! Try Abbie Thrift! Too bad I can't say mine is vintage Halston, instead of "Jeanette for St. Martin" copyright 1985.

Disturbing.

TWINKLE TOES

I've been told that I'm an "impractical person." This is false.  It's just that, I usually concern myself with the practicality of appearances, admittedly sometimes to the exclusion of...other (less practical, ha) concerns. I guess it's all a matter of prioritizing values.

I'll explain.

Remember the pair of day-glo glitter platforms I bought not too long ago? I finished a set of harnesses for them, the idea being: leather straps + shimmering silk stripes + sharp stilettos + cut steel.  

HOWEVER. It's been raining (monsooning??) sideways here since yesterday morning, leaving me wishing that when I'd constructed these harnesses, I'd skipped the silk in favor of something sturdier and moderately more waterproof.  More leather, perhaps? (More leather: never a bad thing.) While I find the contrast in texture of leather and silk satisfying, dancing in the rain without risking gross water marks is possibly more satisfying.  At least the glitter filled stilettos are almost like galoshes in their plasticy indestructibility! (If you don't mind wet feet.)

Created/styled/photographed by (IN)DECOROUS TASTE.

BLUE CURACAO

This reminds me an awful lot of one of those light blue curacao cocktails.  Although, I generally go for...straighter liquor that doesn't glow under black light, ha.  Worth trying? Something about matching my walls is pretty appealing.

Oh, and deepest apologies for bringing back the zebra...again.

Styling, photography, upholstery (minus antique fragment on seat), carpet, backdrop, pillow by (IN)DECOROUS TASTE.

GRAPHICS

I'm not quite sure why, but there's this three year old in me that has a very... emotional... gut response to graphic touches like stripes, polka dots and checks.  Especially stripes, the thicker, the better.  Seeing stripes is like having someone plop one of those swirly hypnotic devices in my face.  I become embarrassingly transfixed.  I can't look away!

My saving grace? Taking comfort in knowing that I'm not the first to suffer from this graphic fixation.

Dorothy Draper's library, in her residence at Manhattan's Hotel Carlyle:

 Gilded structure Is (1989) in a neoclassical setting, by James Lee Byars:

Above, from World of Interiors, Dec 09.

William Pahlmann's Empire inspired tented room at Lord & Taylor, 1939: 

 

PATTERNS

Most amazing use of patterns, in Henry Wilson's London home.  Does it surprise you that his stencil of magnolias was developed into a wallpaper range for Osborne & Little?  Glorious.
   

Scan from World of Interiors, December 2009.

SJP

I don't usually give the Academy Awards or celebrity dressing much thought, but I loved this dress (and accompanying bun, because who doesn't love a bun bigger than the head to which its attached?) when I saw it, only to find out that it made basically every "worst dressed list" imaginable. But... why? What gives?

Off the runway, on Sarah Jessica Parker:

Above image, Getty images

And on the Chanel Spring 2010 couture runway:

Above images, style.com

NEON + METALLIC

Latest project: floral chintz upholstery.  Well, it's upholstery now anyway.

And, in search of a not-quite-so-80s way to make neon work (read: not black and neon), I've come to the conclusion that neons and metallics are naturally the dearest of acquaintances.

Oh, and the weird serpent piggy bank? That thing has NINE LIVES, and now, evidently, a mohawk (see below), which previously belonged to a shoe.  Hahaaaaaaaaaaa.

Styling, photography, painted screen, fabric, and pillow by (IN)DECOROUS TASTE. Chair also painted by (IN)DECOROUS TASTE.

SOMETHING MAD

I'm fond of the Geoffrey Bennison quote that I've got copied in the column to the right.  He was a proponent of the idea that one should always put "something mad on top of something very good, or something very good on top of something mad."

THIS IS DEFINITELY THE "MAD". It's out of control. What is it? It's a plaster cast serpent piggy bank (didn't even realize until I shot it), courtesy of a recent thrifting expedition. 

Don't laugh!!  Actually, feel free to...that was my first reaction.  But now, I think I quite like it. Something about it.

Styling and photography by (IN)DECOROUS TASTE.

BABS + CHANEL, 1967

Barbara Streisand, Marlene Dietrich, Elsa Martinelli, at a Chanel show, 1967.  What a juxtaposition.

Image via Cupcakes & High Heels.

DENTAL TREND?

I'm into it. Also: don't you love i-D's sense of humor? I do!!

Image of Lara Stone (below) and Georgia Jagger (bottom) from i-D Magazine, The Flesh and Blood issue, Winter '09.

Above, Lara Stone in ID Winter '09.

IMELDA'S CLOSET

Above, Imelda Marcos's legendarily enormous collection of shoes. Scan from Dictator Style, by Peter York.

When the incoming Aquino government audited the Marcoses' quarters in Malacanang Palace in Manila they said they'd found 4,000 pairs of shoes.  Mrs. Marcos responded that this was ridiculous— she only had 1,200 or so...

[Ferdinand Marcos] had huge amounts of gold - 7,000 tons of it, a large part of the world's stock. So much, in fact, that he built walls of it at home, using it as a kind of premium brick. Unfortunately, he didn't tell Imelda. Always fussing over her interiors, Mrs. Marcos disliked the way the house was partitioned into tiny rooms, so she ordered some of the walls to be knocked down while her husband was away. The bricks were stacked in the garden, and an anxious Marcos wasted no time in retrieving them on his return.

 Peter York, in Dictator Style, on the lifestyle of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos

WORKS IN PROGRESS, PINK GLITTER

Sometimes, I'm extraordinarily all over the place with things I'm thinking about or working on. Zero attention span?

Three things in progress:

1. Yes, YES!!— I bought the most glorious pair of neon glitter stripper platforms. They're pretty sturdy (steel shanks in the heel, who knew??), and they make me giddy. I even have a suspicion that they glow in black light.  Will test, and report back, but I'm not getting my hopes up yet.  Working on shoe harnesses that make the most of this.

2. Various, random canvas panels that haven't yet found a home.  Well, except for the zebra floor canvas.  We all know how that's made the rounds. (See the hunting room, drink stand, or vomitous orange beasts... god, that zebra's such a hussy.  Perhaps the time has come to start saving for an antique skin.)

3. Lately, I've had this weird attraction to floral chintzes.  I used to hate them. Now, I can't seem to find one big enough or loud enough (watch out, before you know it, there are going to be flowers the size of MACK TRUCKS painted on my wall.)  Prints are tricky though, and I tend to favor chintzes that don't necessarily look like they've been churned out by a factory.  That leaves me with beautiful, albeit exorbitantly expensive hand blocked options.  So, I created my own (using the same fabric dyes from my toile project, a couple of posts ago).  Disclaimer: the top portion in the photo is completed, and the bottom is in progress, as you can see.  It's a first-go, so I tried it out on cotton, but silk may be in the near future...

MUCH ON THE BRAIN.

Styling, photography, floral fabric and various canvas panels by (IN)DECOROUS TASTE.

THE DARK SIDE

Modern man, in his well-lit house, knows nothing of the beauty of gold; but those who lived in the dark houses of the past were not merely captivated by its beauty, they also knew its practical value; for gold, in these dim rooms, must have served the function of a reflector.  Their use of gold leaf and gold dust was not mere extravagance.   Its reflective properties were put to use as a source of illumination...gold retains its brilliance indefinitely to light the darkness of the room.


...Lacquerware decorated in gold was made to be seen in the dark; and for this same reason were the fabrics of the past so lavishly woven of threads of silver and gold.  The priest's surplice of gold brocade is perhaps the best example.  In most of our city temples, catering to the masses as they do, the main hall will be brightly lit, and these garments of gold will seem merely gaudy. 

                                        Jun'ichiro Tanizaki, In Praise of Shadows

I can think of a few things that are better in the dark...

SHELTER MAGS OF THE WORLD, ARE YOU LISTENING??

Styling, photography, and hand painted metallic screen by (IN)DECOROUS TASTE.

COME BAAACK, DONATELLA

For Spring 2010, Donatella was all about showing us how it's done, doing what she does best.  I breathed a sigh of relief. I thought, oh good, Versace's back! WERK. Rejoice! See?

But then, Fall 2010 happened. Wasn't that it was bad, necessarily.  I was too bored to bother making a summary collage, though. Does that say something? Sarah Mower summed it up best in her review of the show for Style.com:

"Even in times when all the fashion chat is about calming down and pulling back, there's still plenty of room for designers whose natural instinct is to fly in the opposite direction."

Well said. 

SHRINE

Clearly, I love baubles. More is more.

Did I ever tell you how I feel about minimalism? Sensorial starvation is supremely unappealing.

Styled and photographed by (IN)DECOROUS TASTE. Hand painted screen and crystal stalactite table also by (IN)DECOROUS TASTE.