- Lauzun pattern drafting manual 1945 (French)
luxhedera- July 21st, 2011
Great little book I've found at a junk fair ages ago. Here are the first pages about constructing a draft that'll be the basic pattern for all sleeveless tops and dresses. Very easy to follow and great for making dresses that actually fit your own measurements.
- INA F. Dorléac
- luxhedera
- July 19th, 2011
www.ina.fr
- June 2011 Native American Indian, Galliano&McQueen patterns
- luxhedera
- June 23rd, 2011
Clothes: Long time coveted: The jumpsuit. I've had wanted one for centuries. It's a great and versatile piece to have for continental summers (comes right on time as the weather forecast gives a 34°C in Paris next Monday!). The only reason it occured to me only now is because first, there's no way I could have worn one in Scotland. In 8 years, we've had ONE truly warm day. And second, I had to wait for the flipping trend to come round. But here's the beauty (from Cache-Cache, 35€) :I also recently got caught in the Native American Indian trend (though I've had a crush on NAI chokers and a pair of feather earrings way before it came on the market so the coincidence is one reason to be happy) :
I plan to make my own printed T-shirt out of this picture using the turpentine/soap transfer technique: Free Instructions available here
Random girl, gorgeous bag
Ralph Lauren, a small fortune but each bag is unique Trend translated (more on the Aztec side of it): Cotton scarf I got at Pimkie on sale today:
This one is made in India and I've always thought no one does more beautiful scarves than Indians. The dyes and patterns are always amazing.
Gone forever, sadly. Disappeared from Pimkie's website and missing in action in the shop (though it was crammed, I didn't look that hard either). I'm not bothered, it should be pretty easy to make one.
New Look
Accessories:
Yeah, I know, it comes from TopEvil but I must say it's quite cute and reminds me of vintage leather hat boxes.
Fossil leather bag Obsessed with: Red shoes
Ellos
Scanddy Both inspired by my sister who used to wear them in the mid 70's and Perrault's strange tale "Little Red Riding Hood" (the Ellos boots are the exact mental picture I get when I think of Red riding hood)/Chanel 5 commercial by Luc Besson. Don't be fooled, in the original tale, she DOES get eaten by the wolf at the end.
Amanda Seyfried Clogs are some of the most hiddeous shoes (I'm not even mentioning about the trend we've been churned out last year with high heels and open toe). Despite their ugliness, they're comfortable and easy going for strolling the pavement on vacation.
Tibetan boots
Fabrics, the weirdest the best!
Big round spectacles frames. Please, please enough of rectangles! People:
Lee Miller by Man Ray
Nastassja Kinski
Romy Schneider
Austrian born but perfectly in tune with beautiful Parisian 50's style
Little Edie Beale (Edith Bouvier) I can't believe I had never heard of this extraordinary woman until just a few weeks ago. So I wasn't the only kook to wear jumpers as headscarf (or cardigans as skirts) or turbans (at the time my mother knicknamed me "Simone" in reference to Simone de Beauvoir)! There's something so endearing about her, such a beauty and charisma sprinkled with tragedy.
Super stylish KotCheshirskiy on www.ravelry.com
Aldous Huxley, "Brand New World revisited" is one of the best books I've read and still up-to-date (and very likely prophetic) nowadays.
Early John Lennon
Connie Nielsen, the 45 yo stunner. I loved her performance in "One hour photo" and "Gladiator"
Joan of Arc (Jean Seberg), queen of the Minimalists
Natalia Vodianova or Joan as the little shepperd from Domrémy
Vivienne Westwood, I've heard about her but know so little about this woman (shame on me). When I'm 64 I either want to be Vivienne Westwood or Gina Lollobrigida as the Blue Fairy in Pinocchio. Deco:
The palette sofa
The oversized black&white portrait DIY:
Phildar knitbook #43
Shawl from russian magazine zhurnal mod # 483
Cape (another version) Free pattern available here
John Galliano jacket Free pattern available here
Alexander McQueen shirt Free pattern available here
Ali McGraw dress
- Biba D - 2
- luxhedera
- September 7th, 2010
The new website has just been launched with a sneak peek of the forthcoming collection:
http://www.mybiba.com/
It's a bit too soon to have an honest opinion but I'll have to be a bit French on that one. My first impression is that the price range is much higher than what was announced (£60 for a ring, £290 for a military coat? Unless it's part of their limited collection, it'll be a pass for me I'm afraid).
I really really don't like this girl called Daisy Lowe (no idea who she is, don't care either -ah apparently a model, another daughter of Such and Such, ooooh everything I so like...not-). Very little to do with the original Biba girl envisioned by Barbara Hulanicki.The original Biba Girl: "very pretty, young, upturned nose, rosy cheeks, asparagus legs, tiny feet, square-shouldered, flat-chested, long swanlike neck, perfect oval face, heavy lids, long spiky lashes" From A to Biba Chapter 6
Daisy Lowe...cute but wth?
Even transposed to the 21st Century, I don't see where she got labelled -as I've read somewhere- a it girl or is serious British icon material in any manner.
I completely fail to see the appeal, sorry...
However I must say that the dedicated website is visually stunning and they seem to have made heavy use of the Biba logo on the patterns. So now, roll on Thursday...
Old Biba shoot, never seen this one before!
I also just found out Barbara Hulanicki's got a YT channel with many interesting videos particularly the ones from after screening Q&A sessions:
http://www.youtube.com/barbarahulanicki
All pics from mybiba.com except Biba Girl from http://barbarahulanicki.com/ and Daisy Lowe pic from elle.fr
- Biba D - 3
- luxhedera
- September 6th, 2010
No need to say I'm very eager to find out what they've come up with the brand's umpteenth revival...
Only one left thing to say, I terribly terribly miss
Here's House of Fraser's latest visual for Biba that quite captures a certain atmosphere already!
Copyright House of Fraser
www.houseoffraser.co.uk on 09th September 2010
Just thinking how easy and fun it was to stop by at House of Fraser's in Glasgow (extraordinarily nice staff) makes my heart sink and wished Biba had arrived 2 years ago. But oh good news, international delivery is now available but bad news, I have absolutely no money dedicated for shopping...
As it seems they won't be there for long, here's the link to a few short videos of Barbara Hulanicki and Twiggy Lawson chatting about Biba for BBC British Style Genius documentary series (that I unfortunately missed):
http://www.bbc.co.uk/britishstylegenius/content/21800.shtml
and
- Topshop monstrosity gallery September 2010 + special guest
- luxhedera
- September 1st, 2010
That's it, I've officially lost my faith in Topshop after raving about it for so many years. Not that it'll make any difference in the world. I don't know exactly what's going on but you can feel something is going wrong just by browsing their website (I'll spare the shoe and accessories sections that are still fairly cool).
The catching visuals you receive in their updates don't really transpose to the actual pages. Worse, more than once the cool clothes you see in them are never available. So why bother? I'm tired of constantly being cheated and plunged into fashion depression when my eyes have to bear that sort of clothes (and to top it up outrageously expensive) page after page:
Leaf skull (?) Just because 'skulls' are sort of trendy doesn't mean you can get away with this fashion offense
Labelled 'Oversized boyfriend'. Yeah that must be irony. Would your boyfriend honestly wear this? I still wonder why they had the urge to call this 'boyfriend', 3 quarter sleeves and dropped shoulders? Give me a break...
A dress my 73 yo mum would love!
Far-fetched vintage, 100% Polypooh, price conversely proportional
Orange and brown are some of my favourite colours, not in that order, even less in this weird tye-and-dye lame attempt
Another random splash of colours, I agree some people may like this but I just get rashes by looking at it
Special Guest: KTZ whom I spoke about a few months ago. Still depressing, still incredibly HIDDEOUS
Ok sit tight for this one. The shoe description reads '100% sinthetic leather' (spot the spelling mistake) This has to be the worst made shoe ever, you don't even need to zoom in the picture to figure this out.
Price: £ 364 wtf? We have some serious piss-taker here, trust me
Not only to mention the haircut, the model and the way she poses. Maybe there's something I don't get about that brand... I don't want to either, mind you
This looks like something out of Etsy-gone-wrong (as regularly featured on the fantastic Regretsy website) (www.regretsy.com)
I rest my case...
All available @ www.kokontozai.co.uk
- Furniture in Films: The New Avengers 'Sleeper'
- luxhedera
- August 17th, 2010
I've meant to do this for a long time because I love movie sets as much as props, wigs and falballas :)
Despite I'm more an Avengers aficionada (Think Emma Peel here, how fascinating in 'A touch of brimstone'), some of the New Avengers episodes are worth the watch. 'Sleeper' (written by genius Brian Clemens) reveals a great insight of Gambit's and Purdey's flats while London plummets into deep-sleep.
Team Purdey:
White and gold bed frame, round (lacey?) bedlight, big flowers wallpaper, beads curtain
Bamboo cane nightstand and sleek ivory white phone
Purdey's open kitchen: White and purple cupboard and matching curtains, bamboo cane chairs and table
The sleek white phone
Moving left to the living-room side (and another set of beads curtains), lilac walls, matching piano and sofa
Team Gambit:
Masculine and streamlined, here's Gambit's bachelor's pad!
Dark grey walls with a few touches of colours, transparent smoked glass table, leather and metal chairs, spotlights, silver Buddha head
Dark grey brick wall and white work top, mushroom ceiling lamp
Gambit's bedroom: Faux fur plaid, weapons, graphic onion canvas, magical stereo combo and burnt orange wall
Guest room: Apple green rules! Big green round knob, black, green and white forest canvas, white and green walls
Director: Graeme Clifford
Screenwriter: Brian Clemens
Set dresser: Simon Wakefield
The New Avengers is available on DVD copyright Optimum Home Entertainment
