Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Pepper Stitches Mix Tape Cushion.


Pepper Stitches is the very clever person who did this embroidered cushion of a Mix Tape which I have been meaning to put up here ever since I saw it (ages ago now). I love this so much. Firstly because it is a really good design but also the great nostalgia for mix tapes it brings back. For anyone old enough to remember mix tapes were incredibly laborious and sometimes as you waited with your finger over pause for a song to end you wished there was an easier way of bringing together your choice songs. But as we realise now, that was the whole point - it was a labor of love. For the music or for the person we were making the tape for. That's what made them special and a really great way to say, as Pepper illustrates "I Like You". I guess that has been lost with the ipod - convenient and compact as they are. And the itunes store in their own kind of cleverness makes it hard to deliver your choice of songs to someone else in any kind of comparable way. A bit sad. I definitely miss the slow thoughtful process of the mix tape....

PS This clever design is available free to download from the Pepper Stitches blog along with several other great patterns here.

Saturday, February 5, 2011

Couture, Kristen and Chandeliers.

The September 2010 issue of Italian Vogue (which my sister thoughtfully bought me for Christmas!) contained the Grand Couture supplement of which I'm still feasting my eyes on. Twenty pages of Kristen McMenamy, impractical couture and - you guessed it - chandeliers. A Perfect combination. Like a modern day Ms Havisham, Kristen Mcmenamy with her strong, hard features draped in glittery couture and languishing in a dilapidated mansion. And how about that giant chandelier? Like I said, a feast for the eyes..
Images via Fashion Gone Rogue.