If I could add anything to our home right now it would be a guest loo and a working fireplace. It’s this time of year –– when the days are short and the air is chilly –– that I lament not having one. The sound and scent of crackling wood is wonderfully reassuring. Plus, my mantle would be chock full of candles, photographs, books and Euonymus branches in jewel-toned glasses. In the meantime, I’ll settle for this. While I dream about this.
Once upon a time I smoked and wore lipstick and carried a clutch when I went out at night. These days, I walk out the door with a credit card slipped into my iPhone case, and that’s it. If I were to bring back the evening bag, Katrin Langer’s hand embroidered clutches are the perfect size for my pared down necessities. Plus, they’re just so charming and dainty. Now, how to choose just one?
On days when you feel like hiding inside a giant teacup, I suggest you put the kettle on, and take a trip down the rabbit hole that is Lissy Elle‘s weird and wonderful imagination. The Canadian photographer takes those inexplicably surreal moments we all have and turns them into beautiful images filled with emotion that is as alien as it is familiar.
As much as I appreciate the ultra-modern, streamlined kitchens that grace the pages of Dwell, there’s something about the warmth and character that bursts out from every corner of a cluttered, mishmash of a kitchen that I just cannot resist. A cup of tea and a well-buttered scone at Indian Knight’s kitchen table is pretty close to my idea of bliss. This gorgeous cocina in the Madrid home of Carolina Herrera de Báez –– the designer’s daughter, and the creative fragrance director of the eponymous brand –– is pretty blissful, too. The beautiful crystal decanters and silver sugar bowls; the mix of prints on the cushion, table cloth and tiles; photographs and flower seeds stuck to cabinets; I love it all. Now, I’m not sure how she pulls off dinner for ten in this tiny kitchen. But, I bet she does it. And I bet she does it with aplomb.
Many years ago, I went to a Francesco Clemente retrospective at the Guggenheim in New York. I remember loving his work, especially his portraits. Exaggerated features on beauties like Alba Clemente and Jerry Hall, are a signature of the Italian-born artist. The Unskilled Worker is another artist I love, perhaps because her portraits remind me of Clemente’s. The features are large and exaggerated, and any flaws and quirks (like pimples or over-sized specs) are highlighted rather than hidden. “I like to create imperfections and warmth I feel is missing,” the artist (who is anonymous) told Dash Magazine. “I’m looking through thousands of images a day, mostly of an unattainable idea of beauty. Why can’t girls with spots look happy? A combination we’re told can’t exist. The unskilled way is messy, a little bit gnarly and closer to the truth, I hope.”
Trust Manish Arora to create the most perfect Mermaid dress. Who knows if Arora –– “king of kitsch” –– had mermaids in mind with this gorgeously embellished dress, but all I see are pink fish scales glistening in the bright runway light. This is just the dress for a cocktail party around the pool at The Setai in South Beach. Just don’t fall in. Who knows what might happen to your tail.
I’m always excited by a dress with an exciting back. Better yet, I love to see a woman wearing a dress with a daring back and a demure front, let’s say, because I think it hints at the contradictions that all of us possess. I have no idea what the front of this dress looks like. But I’m quite certain it’s nowhere near as brave, bold and breathtaking as its back. And that, is good design.
Every now and then, I come across a collection that I can only say, “holy moly” to. That’s what I wrote to my friend Bianca last night when she e-mailed me a link to some outrageously gorgeous dresses and tops and skirts designed by Aussie label, Romance Was Born. There’s a black and white print in the collection that reminds me of the designs we see on ancient Greek pots and a blouse with sleeves as large as lamp shades. It’s all so fabulously over the top. Yes, sign me up.
I’ve promised Antimo that I’d get him a poppy today. “It’s how we show our respect for the soldiers who died in the war,” I explained. At the end of the First World War poppies were the only plant growing on the barren battlefields of Northern France. It was Canadian surgeon, John McCrae that captured the image of the poppy in his beautiful “In Flanders Fields” poem written while serving in Ypres in 1915. “In Flanders fields the poppies blow….. To you from failing hands we throw the torch; be yours to hold it high.”
Every now and then I get the urge to throw a pot, occasionally at a wall, but mostly on a wheel. I’m not sure I’d be any good at it, but I love the feel of cold clay in my hands, and I’m pretty sure I could manage a pot. Besides, imperfections add charm, at least that’s what I would tell myself. I really like the work of Australian ceramic artist Sharon Muir. Her pieces are pretty close to perfect, actually. And the bold black and white graphics are so punchy against the richness of red terracotta.
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