Photo de la journée

Artist | Cayce Zavaglia

Sewn portraits by Cayce Zavaglia, check out her website here. This is what she has to say about her work...

"I still consider myself a painter and find it difficult not to refer to these embroidered portraits as “paintings”. Although the medium employed is crewel embroidery wool, the technique borrows more from the worlds of drawing and painting.

Initially, working with an established range of wool colors proved frustrating. Unlike painting, I was unable to mix the colors by hand. Progressively, I created a system of sewing the threads in a sequence that would ultimately give the allusion of a certain color or tone. The direction in which the threads were sewn had to mimic the way lines are layered in a drawing to give the allusion of depth, volume, and form. Over time the stitches have become tighter and more complex but ultimately more evocative of flesh, hair, and cloth.

My work unabashedly nods its head to the tradition of tapestry and my own love of craft. Using wool instead of oils has allowed me to broaden the dialogue between portrait and process as well as propose a new definition for the word “painting”."

Haute Couture | Secret Garden, Dior

Dior's newest video is shot in the palace of Versailles, mostly in the beautiful Galerie des Glaces. The crème de la crème of French fashion showcased in the crème de la crème of French royal chateaux ; I imagine that Marie Antoinette would probably have approved !

The music is "Enjoy the Silence" by Depeche Mode, a British band whose name was taken from the French Fashion review « Dépêche Mode ». The review's name, which is a play on words, appealed to the group ; it means "fashion dispatch" but sounds similar to "fast fashion" ...Background info that makes the choice both appropriate and ironic !

How it's made | Heeless Shoes from Noritaka Tatehana

Blogger Susie Bubble from Style Bubble got the chance to visit the small Tokyo workshop of shoe designer Noritaka Tatehana - favourite of Daphne Guinness and Lady Gaga. Here are her photos of the process of fitting the sole to the shoe of a pair designed for Guinness ; fascinating.

DIY Inspo | Flowers in Her Hair

In homage to the artist Frida Kahlo and inspired by the fresh flowers she used to braid into her hair Magali Pont, the woman behind jewellery line Aime, has created this line of hair pins, cuffs and head bands, into which fresh blooms can be placed. They were, unfortunately, a one-off, sold exclusively in two Parisian boutiques at the start of June only and are not even (at the time of writing) available from her online store...but still, what a good idea!

DIY | Where are my sunglasses?

Using nails and old magazines create functional art!

Food for Fashion

Dior, Chanel, eat your heart out! Has Lady Gaga heard of this woman?!

Korean artist Yeonju Sung creates outfits out of food and then photographs them. Can you guess what they're all made from?

Hanging Gardens

Beautiful and other-worldly string gardens by Dutch artist Fedor Van der Valke. He creates his hanging gardens using a 3D crocheting  technique and then adding moss and soil...apparently one of the most challenging part is finding the right soil mix for each plant. There are also care illustrations drawn by Elsa Dray Farges (who really deserves a post all to herself) because these "plant sculptures" are made to be hung in any normal home! 

They are similar to the Japanese method of growing plants in balls of a moss-soil mixture called kokedama, although this is taking the process step further; kokedama remain earth-bound. You can do it yourself pretty easily following these instructions from Design Sponge, or this YouTube video from Australian garden center Eden Gardens.

Body parts

Interesting concept. And the ear earring is especially mind boggling... Would you wear these ?

Creativity in Motion

It's always interesting to discoved the proccess of creating. And often the steps-along-the-way are as beautiful as the finished product.

Video from here, found at vogue.fr 

Strawberries and Cream

The Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championships draw to a close today with the final of the Men's Singles. But while the likes of Federer, Murray, Nadal and Djokovic battle it out for the title of "The All England Lawn Tennis Club Single Handed Champion of the World" most of the other people who turn up to the Championships will be engaged in and activity as fundamental as the tennis...but rather more appetising !

DIY | Peacock-feather Necklace

After seeing this necklace made of bleached peacock feathers by Miss KK I decided to create my own. If you want to own one too that's your olny option now since, as far as I can tell, she's stopped selling them.