Guerlain Liu, 1930

I am fortunate enough to have a set of Vogue magazines from 1930, which are great in so many ways.  The articles are well-written and often funny, and then of course there's the clothes, the society ladies who wore them, the artwork, and so on.  My Vogues are bound together, as they once belonged to a public library.  In a way I like the binding, because it makes them very easy to read, but I also hate it, because it makes it extremely difficult to scan or photograph pages.

I wanted to scan one anyway, so I chose this Guerlain ad because 1) I like it and 2) it had come loose from the binding.  I thought it would be fairly easily to restore digitally, and either due to incompetence or something not my fault, or both, it was a real project to clean it up, and once I started I couldn't let it go.  So here it is--an Art Deco illustration of a Siamese cat and Liu, which had just come out at that time.

Cool eh?  If you love it, I am selling the file in Lou's Etsy shop, which you can see in miniature if you scroll down the page. LIU can be yours for five dollah in the form of a 200 MP 300 dpi TIFF.

Heroic Bust

  

of Jenna Jameson.  Happy Mother's Day to Jenna and all the other mothers of the world!

To Be Real

Why is it so difficult to wear fresh flowers?  They're second only to hats on the list of things everyone feels uncomfortable wearing.  Actually, maybe they're first on the list.  It's funny when you think of some the things people ARE comfortable wearing.  Nonetheless, something about flora makes us feel as though if we're not getting married, or at least flamenco dancing, we have no business wearing it.  Too bad, because wearing flowers should be a pleasure, and an affordable pleasure at that.

So I tried to come up with some ways to wear flowers that wouldn't make me feel like Homecoming Queen.  I thought about the richness of the color and texture of Cartier's botanical jewelry, and, with that in mind, decided that flowers with gems is a winning combination (duh), and that flowers should be paired with pieces that are detailed, well-made, and reflective.  It's all about the details--after all, from a distance, or in a soft-focus picture, fake flowers look just as good.  For real ones, you want to team them up with things that invite a closer look.

These are all quick and easy to do, which they need to be to keep the flowers fresh.  I used azaleas because that's what I had and I didn't want to buy flowers if I didn't have to (if you do, be sure not to get dyed ones--they will spew dye all over the place).  I didn't know how the azalea blossoms would hold up, as they look quite delicate, and I have to say I'm impressed.  It is the day after I took the photos and they still look pretty good!  I think it must be their woody stems.  That's probably a good general rule when choosing flowers: the more sturdy the stem, the better the chances it will last.

Collar: Azaleas were attached to the collar with florist's pins.  The collar turned out so cute! (if I do say so myself).  I like the idea of detachable or necklace collars, but usually they don't seem special enough, and when they do (like the marabou one at Miu Miu I am still thinking about years later), it's still hard to imagine wearing one more than a couple times.  A floral collar, on the other hand, can have many personalities.  I would like to try one completely covered in blooms, no fabric showing at all, and also one with tiny kumquats and their leaves and stems.

Bracelet:  A sparkling bracelet is treated to matching pink azalea blooms wrapped in burgundy ribbon.  This was done by tying the azaleas to the bracelet with thread (wrapped a few times) and then wrapping over that with ribbon.  I didn't want a bow, so I tucked the end of the ribbon under and sewed it closed (don't be afraid,  it was like three stitches).

The bracelet on

Earrings: A gemstone poses as a flower bud with the addition of the smallest perfect rose leaf.  This couldn't be simpler to do.  Just pierce the leaf with the earring post.

If you are feeling ambitious and want to be floral from head to toe (no, not like Kim Kardashian's Met Gala dress, no, no, a thousand times no), thebeautydepartment has a tutorial on wearing flowers in your hair which shows how to use florist's tape and wire.


Anjolee Jewelers asked me recently if I would be interested in writing about their jewelry, which was timely, because I knew they would have pieces that would be great with fresh flowers.  Here's what I found:

Dreams of bling and breakfast

Bracelets: An amethyst bracelet similar in style to the one I used, and two floral motif diamond tennis bracelets. I would love to see the leaf bracelet twined with tiny rosebuds.

Earrings: Anjolee has many styles of diamond stud earrings, and I'm really taken with the floral designs.   How cute would those little diamond flowers look with rose leaves?
 
Wishing you a floral (near) future!