Coveting: Debra Baxter

Debra Baxter‘s phenomenal Crystal Brass Knuckles did the rounds of the blogs a while back, but I find myself mentally revisiting them from time to time when I look for the perfect combination of tough metal and crystal. Doesn’t hurt that they’re named “(I am going to realign your chakras motherf*****)”. It’s a crazy piece, but oddly wearable. Then again I’m notoriously magpie-esque when it comes to ridiculously large rings, so maybe don’t listen to me.

Gorgeous though her ring is, though, I also fell for some of her other pieces while perusing her website. I love her mix of materials and softnesses. I would personally kill to have the abiliity to manipulate sthones in this way. The results are beautiful, thoughtful, and a bit disconcerting.

Join (it will stop screaming if you let go of it), 2010.

Untitled (open/end), 2009

Untitled (You Light Up My Life), 2010

False Hope, 2009

Like Your Life Depends On It, 2010

Untitled (speed bag), 2007

Brass Knuckles/Tongue (Hurts so good), 2007

Dust Mask (Catching My Breath), 2009

Bitch don’t make me take my earrings off

These earrings by You gNeeK on Etsy solve the age-old problem of form vs. function. Have your cake, eat it too! Two birds, one stone! !!!

The store offers hundreds of delightfully geeky objects, such as a math clock I’m incredibly tempted to get for my boyfriend (PhD student in electrical engineering… ’nuff said) and lots of cool functional tools dressed up as aesthetically pleasing  jewelry.  I’m infinitely pleased by the spirit level necklace, but the violent pyro in me can’t keep her eyes off the infinitely cool dangerous toys, like the working folding knife earrings. Steampunk enthusiasts should forget their silly faux clockwork jewellery and turn to these instead. Nothing says gentlewoman-adventurer chic quite like working lighter earrings. Love them.

Tiny Folding Knife Earrings. $39.99

Vintage Gold Lighter Earrings. $49.99

Switchblade necklace. $34.99

Coveting 3.11.10

I know I just talked about jewelry from Erie Basin. While I was poking around on there, I saw the link to their selection of contemporary rings from Conroy & Wilcox. I fell completely head over heels in love with this rose-cut black diamond ring. I’ve always preferred dark stones (I’m wearing my grandmother’s smokey topaz necklace as I write this) and black diamonds are my favourite of the breed. The rose cut also means that it’s not too blingy. Instead, you get a beautiful, unusual ring that is understated enough to wear every day but still grabs attention. Love love love it.

Coveting 3.9.10

My inner Goth loves all the trappings associated with Victorian mourning. It’s the perfect combination of beautiful and macabre. The pieces contain so much romance and history. There’s infinite potential for daydreaming about a young widow, wilting in tragic despair over the death of the man she loves. Or perhaps an abused wife, secretly happy at the demise of her tormentor, but now trapped in widow’s clothes while all she wants to do is wear green and shocking red and rejoice in her new-found freedom. So many stories to wonder about and to invent.

Not to mention that perfect, squeamishly delicious frisson of sacrilege when donned nowadays. It’s so funny to divorce these pieces from all their significance and just look at them as beautiful objects. Which of course they are. Erie Basin has a beautiful selection right now, which I go to look at when I want to daydream and forget I’m poor. The 1780 Georgian Sepia Mourning Ring above would be wending its way to me right now if it didn’t cost more than a month’s rent. Sigh.

A girl can dream, though. And these creepily beautiful pieces are great fodder for dreams and general inspiration.

1880s Carved Whitby Jet Mourning Earrings.

1880s Black Cameo Ring. (Ok, this may not be a piece of mourning jewelry, but it does fit the theme nicely. And it is rather beautiful, isn’t it?)

Coveting 3.4.10

I like a little punk edge mixed in with my pearls, so I’m utterly adoring Joomi Lim’s Love Hurts bracelet-handcuff for Laila Lee. [Not really SFW] It’s the perfect combination of the pearls’ classic looks with a harder touch. If I’m not wearing them straight, I tend to mix pearls with a whole slew of chains, but I really like this idea of just contrasting them with clean lines of the single chain and the spikes. I would wear this as a bracelet, as shown below, but the versatility of the piece is great.

Joomi also makes other wonderful  pieces which are available at Opening Ceremony. $195 is a little steep for me for this particular piece, given that I am armed with chains, pearls and jewelry pliers, and not afraid to use them, but I’m really inspired by it, and am already sketching out variations to play with next time I’m rooting through my jewelry-making supplies. I shall just have to go out to get some spikes.

Proving their versatility.

2.18.10 Coveting

Did I mention I love Michelle Chang’s jewellery? Check out her snake rings and her skull bangle:

Open Mouth Snake Ring, $216

Double Baby Snake Ring, $136

Baby Skull Bangle, $64 (This might have to be the next piece of hers I acquire)

I also love her Baby Skull Ring, and her Baby Kitty Studs for a touch of sweetness.

My Funny Valentine

I know, the post title is awful and cheesy, but… just look at the adorable necklace my man got me for Valentine’s Day!!! I couldn’t resist!

I love elephants, and small cute creatures, and have been utterly lusting after all the items in Michelle Chang’s Etsy shop, so it was a perfect match! It’s teeny and even cuter in real life. I’m overjoyed.

Action shot to be added later, when I’m in a better-lit place.

Role Model

I have a whole plan for when I’m 80. It involves  a motorcycle, a great wardrobe, younger lovers and general eccentricity. Perhaps a greyhound and a sword-cane. All the things I don’t or can’t properly indulge in now (though I can drive said motorcycle).  I’ve always found old women to be the epitome of cool. Their lives have made them a treasure trove of awesome stories, (I just got to hear my friend’s tales of her grandma’s life in Manchuria under the Japanese occupation… fascinating!) sage advice and shameless quirks. Most of all, 80 years on the planet pretty much guarantees that whatever clothes you end up . I’ve always loved seeing old Italian women when I’m home, in their perfectly refined coats and dresses, and aspire to dress like them. At the same time, I also find it endlessly apppealing when a woman has spent her life accumulating unique pieces and combining them in new and inspiring ways. That’s where Iris Apfel and her collection come in.

I remember first seeing her in a magazine spread a few years ago, and just fixating on her trademark big round glasses, which somehow managed to stand out to me through the splendid visual clamour of her clothing and jewelry. Then this weekend, amidst glorious girly bonding with one of my dearest friends, it was mentioned that there was an exhibition of her clothing at the marvellous Peabody Essex Museum in Salem. (Aside– if you’re ever in the area, go! The museum is a treasure trove of beautiful objects, and offers a fascinating insight into New England trade culture in the past, notably, beautiful Asian and Native American artwork.) We whipped out the laptops and rediscovered her and her wardrobe– along with paper dolls!–  and spent a good couple hours poring over the website. Or rather, constructing ensembles of our own out of the things they had to play with.

There are many wonderful things about her– firstly, that she is not the idle society wife that springs to (my) mind when the words “clothing collection” are heard. She’s accumulated a lot of clothing, but she has also turned her eye for aesthetics outwards from the fun-filled costumes she crafts for herself to a successful career as an in-demand interior decorator. Aesthetics is a whole lifestyle with her.

She also started the Old World Weavers textile company with her husband, Carl, drawing inspiration from her widespread travels for their replica period fabrics.

What I love most of all about Iris’ approach to clothing is how she manages to break free of her pieces’ backgrounds and use them simply as colours and textures, rather than thinking she needs to stay married to a certain kind of look. The result, with all the unexpected elements is beautiful and unusual. I also really enjoy her stated dislike of fine jewellery. I’ve always found myself much more attracted to organic forms and semi-precious stones than to faceted gemstones (though I wouldn’t turn down an Indian-style necklace made of gemstones) and I applaud anyone who agrees with me on this. It’s a much more interesting look. And I covet this turquoise and bearclaw necklace intensely.

Anyway, poke around and enjoy these other excerpts from her wardrobe, and be sure to go to the Peabody Essex website and play with the paper dolls!

Travel outfit, made with Old World Weavers fabric, custom-woven on 19th century looms. Because why shouldn’t you travel in head-to-toe tiger-print velvet?

And on top of everything, she and her husband are the cutest couple ever:

[via 1, 2, 3]

Give ‘Til it Hurts

Now, I have to present this with the disclaimer that I never have seen a Saw movie, that I hate torture-porn, that the very thought of movies like that make me want to curl up into a ball and rock back and forth like a gibbering fool. I like horror and all, but I’m more a fan of the psychological mindfuck stuff, rather than knives and gore and… ugh. Shudder shudder shudder.  Despite all that, this ad for Saw VI (sorry… I refuse to link to it…. yuck.) and their “Give ‘Til it Hurts” blood drive, benefiting the American Red Cross, is completely eye-catching. The corset is by The Blonds, and it is so outré and  fantastical that I can’t stop looking at it. Such a fanciful idea, surreal-looking until you really focus in on it and see what it is made of, contrasting perfectly against her skin. This image is so simultaneously gorgeous and full of horror that I’m just in awe.

Une Femme est une Femme

I’m in love with these illustrations done by Rene Grau for Dior. Such simple subjects, but so easily evocative of glamour, luxury and beauty. I also love his illustration work for other houses, but for now I’ll focus on Dior.

Images found here.