Pin Parade

As winter approaches, I've been thinking of jackets, coats and hats that will soon be worn on a daily basis. Usually most of us only have a handful of these in our closets and we can perk them up according to whichever outfit we're wearing, with a good dose of accessories. 

Pins and brooches are some of the most eye-catching, conversation starters and today I am collaborating with BaileySistersVintage to bring you a wide variety of gorgeous bling. there's a bit of everything here - enamels, rhinestone, faux pearls, sterling silver, copper. And the inspiration comes from the varied vintage periods and styles. I like the pearl cascade pin from the late 1950s best. 

Try to spot the Trifari pin.....

Dressed in Mosaic

I was impressed by the creativity behind these mosaic creations - dressed made so beautifully with pieces of broken china, pottery, glass, beads.... This is just one category of mosaic are created by Susan Wechsler. 

She was only 18, when she first created an artefact - an abstract painting on a downtown billboard in Cincinnati, Ohio. Later she trained in Theatre Design in NY, working as costume designer in New York City Theatre, in LA with the movie industry and eventually as designer for Esprit in San Francisco. It was during her years as costume designer that she fine-tuned her skills of using colour, pattern and texture, inspired by diverse cultures and history.

Susan went on to develop her mosaic skills to create masterpieces such as these. If you have ever tried your hand at composing a mosaic, you will appreciate how difficult it can get. And if you've never tried it, perhaps you'd love to attempt during one of Susan's workshops.

For those living in Europe, Susan will be in Cortona, a picturesque town, cultural and artistic centre in the region of Arezzo, Tuscany, Italy, next May 2013. (Poster further down the page)

Find out more about this mosaic artist, her work and her workshops here.

I am Dandy

Some days ago, a friend showed me a freshly received, newly published book from Gestalten. "I am Dandy -  The Return of the Elegant Gentleman" fascinated me. It is fully illustrated with 288 pages crammed with images of gorgeousness - gorgeous people, gorgeous clothing, gorgeous style.... I could not help feature it on this blog which is dedicated to the great appreciators of the finer things in life including art, vintage fashionwear and vintage jewellery.

Is it all about vanity? Certainly not. This fully documented book which includes exceptionally written individual interviews with all the photographed dandies, is the combined work of photographer Rose Callahan and writer Nathaniel Adams who have been exploring.....
..... "the fascinating phenomenon of dandyism over the past years.They visit contemporary dandies in their homes to document their impeccably designed lives in both words and images. Well-kempt to the tips of their beards and wearing three-piece suits with flawlessly folded pocket handkerchiefs and supple kid gloves, their protagonists revive the charm of the past and reveal that cultivated idleness can be incredibly hard work."

The typical dandy was 'born' in the 18th Century in London and Paris. One such dandy was George Bryan "Beau" Brummell who lived in London at the height of the Regency period. He is believed to have taken as long as five hours to complete his daily toilette which was very often witnessed by friends and curious admirers who sat around, toasting him and drinking in his dressing room while he perfected his look.

Dandyism has witnessed a revival in recent years brought on especially by the fad of dressing up in vintagewear and participating in vintage bike and car rides at specialised organised vintage events. 

Photographer:

Rose Callahan is a photographer and filmmaker based in Brooklyn, New York. Originally from San Francisco, California, Rose made her way to the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn in 1999 to pursue photography. In 2008, she began The Dandy Portraits:The Lives of Exquisite Gentlemen Today (which became a blog in 2010) as a personal project to tell the nuanced story of extreme masculine elegance alive today. Rose found that the dandies of today are not a cohesive subculture or creed; rather, each man is a fiercely independent arbiter of what it means to be a gentleman and to live with style.

Writer:
Nathaniel "Natty" Adams is a New York-based writer and manager of the Against Nature menswear atelier. His NYU undergraduate thesis was on 20th Century Dandyism and, as a student at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, he wrote a book proposal on the history of Dandyism, for which he won the prestigious Lynton Fellowship. Adams used the grant money to travel through America, Europe, and Africa meeting and interviewing the best-dressed men in the world.

Preface writer:

Glenn O’Brien is a writer, editor, and creative director who lives in New York. A member of Andy Warhol’s Factory in his early years, he has worked as an editor at Interview and Rolling Stone, and as creative director at Barneys New York, Island Records, and Calvin Klein. He writes “The Style Guy” column in GQ.

Dandies:

MR GAY TALESE

MR NICK WOOSTER

MR DOMENICO SPANO

MR NICHOLAS FOULKES

MR ROBIN DUTT

MR HAMISH BOWLES

MR EDWARD HAYES

MR BURTON

MR NICK SULLIVAN

MR PAOLO CANEVARI

MR SIMON DOONAN

MR ROBERT W. RICHARDS

MR FYODOR A. PAVLOV

MR MICHAEL “ATTERS” ATTREE

MR RAY FRENSHAM

MR ZAC MACLEOD PINSENT

MR WINSTON CHESTERFIELD

MR BARIMA OWUSU NYANTEKYI

MR SEAN CROWLEY

MR MICKAEL FRANCOIS LOIR

MR THOMAS R. CROWLEY

MR IGNACIO QUILES

MR MINN HUR & MR KEVIN WANG

MR DICKON EDWARDS

MR TONY SYLVESTER

MR ROBERT E. BRYAN

MR MATT FOX & MR ENRIQUE CRAME III

DR ANDRE AND DR KEITH CHURCHWELL

MR CATOR SPARKS

MR DORAN WITTELSBACH

MR HUGO JACOMET

MR DANDY WELLINGTON

MR G. BRUCE BOYER

MR DAVID ZYLA

MR PATRICK MCDONALD

MR CHRISTIAN M. CHENSEVOLD

MR MICHAEL ANDREW

MR RAYMOND CHU

MR JOSE LEMUS

MR GUY HILLS

MR MICHAEL A. SALERNO

MR AMECHI IHENACHO

MR MARC GUYOT

MR MICHAEL DAVIS

MR GUSTAV TEMPLE

MR SVEN RAPHAEL SCHNEIDER

MR JOHNNNY VERCOUTRE

MR PETER MCGOUGH

MR MICHAEL ARENELLA

MR DAVID CARTER

MR IKÉ UDÉ

MR MASSIMILIANO MOCCHIA DI COGGIOLA

MR MICHAEL HAAR

MR VICTOR ALLEN CRAWFORD III

MR ANDREW YAMATO

MR JAMES SHERWOOD

All images are by Rose Callahan from 'I am Dandy - The Return of the Elegant Gentleman', copyright Gestalten, 2013

Small Fancy Houses

Meet Maya Baron and her houses. This artist based on the Mediterranean island of Malta is presently showing her works at the beautiful Messina Palace in the main city of Valletta. I asked her to share more of her artistic experience.

"I got in touch with painting some eight years ago while I was still living in Austria. I painted some colourful houses on a wooden board and people who came to visit liked them very much. When I moved to Malta I met an artist and she was kind enough to share her knowledge and techniques in abstract acrylic painting with me.

So, today I do both - my Small Fancy Houses which need a lot of precise and concentrated work, and abstract art where I experiment with acrylic colours and other medium. I paint mainly on canvas and wooden boards.

Painting takes my mind into a different dimension of peace, quietness and love, and I am very happy to hear the feedback of people who claim that they feel and see this in my art."

More Maya Baron Small Fancy Houses can be viewed at the German-Maltese Circle,Messina Palace, 141 St Christopher Street, Valletta until Ocotober 31,  2013, 
Opening hours are from Monday -Friday 08:00hrs -12:30hrs and 16:30hrs - 20:00hrs. Saturdays morning only.

Find out more about this artist here.

Let's have a Lie-Down

" I shall retreat to my room and recline until teatime....."

If you just got up, and need extra get-up-and-go, this post is not for you. It's for those who can afford to 'recline' as the Victorians used to say, on the most fashionable French item of furniture that filled many boudoirs or dressing rooms - the chaise longue. 

The women of the gentle past made an art out of their reclining, so that artists used to portray women in all their lassitude and relaxed beauty, half sitting, half lying, nearly asleep but not quite. A good lie-down before supper, or after strenuous exertion or to emulate the Mediterranean siesta time when the weather got too warm for comfort. 

The chaise longue literally translates in 'long chair' for long chair it was. The women in the prostate posture have something faintly erotic about them and for the Victorian era and beyond, the female figure who allowed a peek at her ankle, was somewhat even more tantalising. I love the detail in these images. the bohemian, baroque, decadent air of dripping luxury or the simply flirtatious manner that is subdued to an extent.

Do you own such a long chair and would you want to have one?

Sarah Bernhardt (1844-1923) as Cleopatra - 1891

A Reclining Lady with a Fan - Eleuterio Pagliani (1826-1903) - 1876

Reclining Lady - Raimundo de Madrazo y Garreta (1841-1920)

 

A Lady on her Day Bed - Francois Boucher (1703-1770) - 1743

Couch with Resting Lady - Ferdinand Max Bredt (1860-1921)

Dolce far Niente - John William Waterhouse (1849-1917) - 1880

I thought chaise longue elegance was a thing of the past, until I clapped my eyes on a modern day version that speaks for itself. Now that is one long chair I'd really take to reclining on without much of an effort! 

Patchwork Chaise Longue