Country & College is this incredibly creative accessory editorial from Jalouse (Oct 09).  Brandon & I have discovered a number of times that prop/accessory styling is more than challenging.  There’s no model involved to inspire or make everything look pretty.  So, I have to take a minute and just give credit where credit is due.  My creative hero’s this week are…Laure Ambroise, Laetitia Hotte, Eric Pillault & Jennifer Audinet.  This dream team created Country & College along with two other accessory stories, all three featured within the same issue…all three are brilliant.  This one, particulary, left Brandon & I constantly flipping from one shot to the next and then back again, leaving us wondering “how’d they come up with that??”.   Nice to see fabulous fashion accoutrements take on another life and also nice to see the Marc Jacobs bunny ears styled inside the house than outside

images via Jalouse Oct 09

I came across this incredible studio shoot while surfing on Oak the other day.  I love it when all the elements of an editorial are kicked up another notch…the hair/makeup, the styling, the prop styling, the photography, the modeling and all in a bare studio space.  Wow…would love to sink my teeth into some collaboration like this….even if it were to just watch it all come together

editorial via OakNYC.com

photography by Gray Scott - www.grayscottstudio.com

model Jules at 1 Model Management

hair by Wesley O’Meara for Tresemme @ The Wall Group

makeup by Katey Denno @ The Wall Group

photography 1st assistant, Joe Polofrone

photograpy 2nd assistant, Andy Lin

stylist assistant, Megan Fletcher

casting, Kyle Garson

Location, Avalence Studio

WOW.  What a really amazing evening of fashion at this year’s Annual School of the Art Institute NightWalk 2010 benefit.  It was a gorgeous evening, a gorgeous event and everyone in attendance came out in full force to support the school.  Another big WOW for the all amazing streetstyle that night.  That was by far what made the evening so fun for me, next to meeting Gary Graham  Everywhere I turned was another fantastic look!  With 76 years of fashion, art & design education and with alumnus such as Halston, Matthew Ames, Cynthia Rowley & Gary Graham to just name a few, no surprise that the Fashion Department at the School of the Art Institute Chicago could gather so many lovers of fashion & art into one room.  I’ve already marked my calendar for next year’s event!

Always lots of fun running into Ms Candace Jordan at these events.

Too cute. Glasses and nose ring never looked better together!

This year's event was held in Renzo-Piano-designed Griffin Court of the Art Institute's amazing new Modern Wing

Here we are both in our pieces by Gary Graham. A little homage to this year's SAIC Legend of Fashion Honoree.

This woman's dress was one of my favorites. I loved it paired back to her flat lace up boots.

I just loved this woman jacket...look at the great knit insets under the arms.

Me, Gary Graham, Eliane from Gary Graham, Brandon & Amanda of SassafrasChic.blogspot

I love, love, love dance. I feel it from the top of my head to the bottom of my toes and deep, deep into my soul. Not to sound dramatic, but it truly moves me more than any other art form. The combination of movement, music, costumes, lighting… it just gets me every single time.

I have loved dance for as long as I can remember. Maybe it was the influence of my mother. She used to take me to see the Nutcracker every single December. We saw all sorts of dance performances together, including a very interesting one in Paris where the curtain would come crashing down with an unnerving thud after each movement.

There is a definite link between theater & dance and fashion. Fashion is undoubtedly an art. And a runway show is certainly a performance. Alexander McQueen knew this. And Karl Lagerfeld obviously knows it. But costume design is a very different thing from fashion design. Although some designers can actually cross over (Gaultier’s many memorable costumes for Madonna come to mind), they really are two separate art forms.

Anyway, after a lovely post by the Queens of Kingdom of Style about their visit to the Scottish Ballet, I got to thinking about exploring the dance in Chicago. I decided to reach out to the Joffrey Ballet and was thrilled to no end when I got a response from Eric with their PR firm. Eric invited us to chat with Marianne, the mistress of the Joffrey’s wardrobe department, and preview the creation of some original costumes for 2 world premiere pieces for Eclectica, their Spring program. So exciting!

When we got to the Joffrey’s costume department on Monday morning, it was 2 days before the premiere of the Spring program and everyone was busy, busy, busy completing and putting the finishing touches on the costumes to be worn. Marianne was sewing the entire time we were talking (frequently utilizing a pair of sewing scissors dangling from a ribbon around her neck).

Also in the running for favorite (and super-wearable, like put me in it RIGHT NOW) were these dresses from Crossed, one of the 2 premiere pieces making their debut. Choreographed by Jessica Lang, with costumes designed by Tamara Cobus.

a finished version waiting for its ballerina…

in progress…

 

     

and in action…

They also created these unbelievable corsets with contemporary tutus for the world premiere of Pretty Ballet, choreographed by James Kudelka with costumes designed by Denis Lavoie.

The corsets had over 32 pieces of fabric and took 10-15 hours each to put together. According to Marianne, Denis actually sent her a completed corset to show them what he wanted and then Marianne and her team adapted it to dance. Marianne says, “For me, the fun and the challenge is in taking someone else’s design and making it work for dance.” An underrated skill, if you ask me.

Here’s the Joffrey’s lead stitcher, Lavinia (or her hands, anyway), working on one of the many corsets…

a couple more in progress…

And on stage…

I was really hoping to see a sketch and finished costume, and although their renderings “bible” was not present (can you imagine how cool that must be??) there was this piece from Arpino’s Paquita. 

The sketch…

and the finished product…

Designed and built by the Joffrey’s Travis Halsey, this baby is like a piece of couture. With over 100 hours of labor, you would see this retail for at least $2500. In person, it’s like a fairy tale.

The Joffrey has a very exciting 2010-11 season coming up, including an All Stars program featuring Joffrey premiere pieces by the legendary George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins. Can’t wait to see that one! Check out Joffrey.org for more info.

A very big and most heartfelt THANK YOU to Eric Eatherly and The Silverman Group, Marianne Marks, Travis Halsey and their whole crew, and the Joffrey Ballet for making this most amazing day possible!

 

Exciting weekend this weekend!  Lots of great style happenings all around town from home to fashion.  We’re doubly excited about Gary Graham coming to Chicago and showing his F10 collection at The School of the Art Institute’s annual fashion show, NightWalk….then again the following evening this time, up-close-and-personal, at Robin Richman.  Gary Graham creates some really incredible pieces that we find completely irresistible!  We love his lux materials, the handmade construction, all the unique embroidery details & prints.  All beautiful worn individually or layered, layered, layered.  Needless to say, we’ll be at both events We can’t be more thrilled to be offering some of our favorite Gary Graham pieces in our Shop this fall.  Here’s a little taste of spring and fall10.

and Fall….

images via Gary Graham.  Thank you Eliane!

I was on the fabulous style blog, style/SWOON, the other day and she posted about the beautiful world of Sloan Hall, an incredible gift shop in San Antonio, TX.  I whole heartedly agree with Ms. style/SWOON…”really good gift shops should be coveted and rewarded”.  I do covet my favorites and love to reward whenever I can  Hazel on Montrose is still my #1 in Chicago, but my other #1 is Lill Street Art Center (and how nice, just one block from Hazel!).  For all you lovers of ceramic work, paintings, drawings, jewelry, textiles, prints, etchings, glass & digital media (phew!), Lill St is it.   Lill Street is this super cool combo of art classes and gallery all set in this great, warm, inviting space.  Check them out this weekend for their faculty exhibition.  I snuck a few pics while they were setting up the show…..

LOOK at that VASE!!

WOW. How do they do that??

in the gift shop….great gifts…..

I love looking at their wall of mugs. I want to take them all home! All beautiful even on the inside.

just as many fabulous books to choose from

My favorites are the ceramics and pottery….

I can picture my Cheerios already

It gets better…there’s an extra yummy cafe too, The First Slice.

A big slice of chocolate crunch pie please!

There's a peek into the wheel throwing rooms through the windows of the cafe

Lill Street Art Center is located at 4401 N Ravenswood Ave Chicago 60640

Last weekend I finally went to see Alice In Wonderland. I eagerly awaited each of Alice’s (I think it was 7?) costumes*, but this one was my favorite…

*costumes designed by Colleen Atwood

image via google images

Okay, this is old news. Well, it is for a lot of people, but I just recently came across these Russian Matrioshka dolls from Vogue Russia’s 10th anniversary (Nov ‘08). I love the concept and execution of this so much. Commission 31 fashion designers to create exclusive outfits for a tiny wooden doll and then enlist the finest Russian craftsmen to execute the designers’ sketches. A pretty brilliant idea, don’t you think?

And I’m not going to lie — I really enjoy the game of trying to match the outfit with the designer (these are some easier ones — I’m not even going to try and pretend that I could identify the majority of them)

By row from top left: 1. Burberry, 2. Prada, 3. YSL, 4. Cavalli, 5. Dries, 6. Marc Jacobs, 7. Paul Smith Women, 8. Marni, 9. Stella McCartney, 10. Sonia Rykiel, 11. Moschino, 12. Giles, 13. Margiela 

the original Alice, as illustrated by Sir John Tenniel

`Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
  Did gyre and gimble in the wabe:
All mimsy were the borogoves,
  And the mome raths outgrabe.

-an excerpt from Jabberwocky, Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass

I love, love, love Alice in Wonderland. It is my very favorite story ever. I even played Alice once (back in my theater days) and Oh. My. God. did I have fun. I was a brunette Alice, too. I’ve very proud of that!

Well, with the upcoming release of Tim Burton’s remake of Lewis Carrol’s masterpiece (3/5/2010, a very important date!), the world of fashion is fully embracing Alice and her Wonderland. Rumors are swirling about Alice designs to come, including the quintessential Alice dress reinvented by Alexander McQueen, Ann Demeulemeester, Christopher Kane, Haider Ackermann, Maison Martin Margiela, and others for the Printemps department store in Paris. Can’t WAIT!!! I searched all over for pictures, but it appears that none have yet been leaked. What can be found on the internet are images of a few of Tom Binns’ designs based on various Alice characters.

really digging on that Red Queen necklace

Binns’ pieces are broken into 2 collections: a fine jewelry collection with pieces ranging from $1000-$2000 and a collection for Disney with prices at a more attainable $100-$500. But seriously, $100-$500 for Disney jewelry???? I get that it’s Tom Binns, but something about it just doesn’t sound quite right to me. Although, I did see a big red heart necklace that reads “We’re all mad” that I’m hoping, hoping is part of the $100 Disney collection (I know, I’m a walking contradiction. I’ve learned to just accept it.)

Hollywood/Disney mega-power aside, I am very excited about Alice-inspired fashions. The fantasy, the outrageousness, the non-sensicalness, the whimsy… What a fantastic place to find inspiration! Zac Posen found some, as evidenced by his 2010 pre-fall collection that he calls “part Lewis Carroll and part Paloma Picasso.”

Just came across this in the Dec/Jan issue of Numero. Wonderland shot by Dusan Reljin…

And who can forget Natalia Vodianova as Alice, shot by Annie Leibovitz with a host of famous fashion designers appearing as Carroll’s imaginative characters??

Olivier Theyskens as Carroll…

Viktor & Rolf as my faves, Tweedledum and Tweedledee…

Marc Jacobs as the caterpillar. Perfect, because the caterpillar smokes. And it’s also funny to be reminded of Marc Jacobs back when he was scruffy and always had his hand bandaged…

and of course, the Karl…

There are so many places in Alice in Wonderland to find inspiration. I can’t wait to see what pops up next. And in anticipation of the movie, I’ll leave you with Mrs. Tim Burton, Helena Bonham Carter, as the evil Red Queen. 

images from Elle.com, Style.com, Numero Magazine and Vogue.com

Admittedly, we talk about Judy Aldridge quite a bit, but we always talk about her style. Well, we do love Judy’s style, but we also really, really love her sense of humor. You get glimpses of her personality on Atlantis Home and Sea of Shoes, but for a giant dose of personality, humor, and style, we opt for Plastic Animal A Day. I love — so much — the way she takes the time to style and shoot a plastic animal a day. So darn kooky and clever — it just makes you love her even more. Here’s a little taste.

EDIT: Judy’s sister, Karen, is actually the current creative, clever and witty force behind Plastic Animal a Day. Thanks for keeping us in stitches, Karen!

Best wishes on Inauguration day…

a little plastic animal Thanksgiving feast…

Love this little eel swimming in the “sea”…

And my personal favorite series…

"This hyena looks like he'd run through the village with a baby in his mouth. And if his mouth were open, I've got a little plastic baby that I'd put in there."

"Look at him, wait, I think his mouth is open."

"There, got the baby in the mouth."

 It’s clear that she loves her little animal family…

has a blast playing with her toys…

and has a keen eye for style and a delightful, slightly twisted sense of humor…

Judy Aldridge: style maven. She knows that even comedy can benefit from a little style!