The making of a Chanel Haute Couture Outfit

This video is absolute magic! It shows the process by which a Karl Lagerfeld's sketch, of a Chanel haute couture outfit, comes to life. Chanel's seamstresses put in hours of work cutting patterns and sewing sequins by hand. These women are great artists!

Have a look:

The Stimulus Project - Sienna Gallery

Held at the Sienna Gallery in Lenox, MA and ongoing through August an exhibition titled The Stimulus Project.
The Project's aim is to provide an opportunity for handmade jewelry and objects to be accessible to a larger audience and to stimulate the flow of income for artists working across the United States and Canada.
With 80 of the most talented emerging artists participating in the project (some of my favorite such as Amy Tavern, Arthur Hash, Allyson Bone, Vina Rust to name but a few) I only wish I could be there!

Information via Sienna Gallery - The Stimulus Project



Images via Arthur Hash

tothemetal - July designs

Lotus part stud earrings



Summer constellation necklace



Large leaf and sodalite beads necklace


available at my etsy shop

The most beautiful gift

Last Friday was my name day and I received the most unexpected and beautiful gift ever, a painting by the Greek artist Stathis Koukopoulos.
It was given to me by a man I deeply respect and admire.



It's now hanging in my bedroom and I get to see it every morning I wake up. Thank you.

Théâtre de la Mode - French Couture

Robert Piguet, Raphaël, Pierre Balmain
Balenciaga

David Seidner: Paris Fashions, 1945
Back in 1944, the war-battered French couture industry decided to revive its international reputation by conceiving a small exhibition entitled Théâtre de la Mode. The exhibition organizer enlisted the major fashion designers of the day, including Jeanne Lanvin, Lucien Lelong, Elsa Schiaparelli, and Pierre Balmain to create outfits for small wire-frame dolls just over two feet tall.

Lucien Lelong

The exhibition of over 230 dolls, displayed in artist-designed sets, opened in Paris on March 27, 1945 at the Museum of Decorative Arts. It was an instant sensation, and traveled to London, Barcelona, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Vienna, New York, and San Francisco. With the return of the French fashion industry, the dolls had completed their work and were donated to the Maryhill Museum near Portland, Oregon, where they disappeared from view.

Marcel Dhorme

Under an extraordinary set of circumstances in 1990, the dolls were rediscovered and returned to Paris, recoiffed and restyled for an exhibition at the Musée de la Mode. Because of his pioneering work with French fashion and historical gowns, David Seidner was asked to photograph the little dolls. Working in the rough interior of an abandoned theatre set, Seidner captured the essence of French style in dolls dressed in designs made on the eve of Christian Dior's New Look, which radically changed fashion in 1947. ICP will exhibit fifteen of Seidner's color photographs from the David Seidner Archive in the Permanent Collection, along with one of the original dolls.

Jean Patou "Fleurs de Mal"

All information and images via icp.org