A RARE BIRD OF FASHION

Her style is irreverent, influential, and unflaggingly creative.
Iris Apfel is my fashion hero.

"A small entourage hangs on every one of 88-year-old Iris Apfel's delicious syllables as she strolls through the galleries at Peabody Essex Museum-galleries that are currently overrun with the contents of her Park Avenue closets.

Yes, this fashion trailblazer explains, those are insects floating in layers of resin and set into bracelets. That multicolored necklace is made of 1930's Bakelite chips that a salesman once used.

Designer names are dropped in rapid succession along with stories about incredible flea market finds, and close friendships that were formed over James Galano's evening wear and frantic rack digging at Loehmanns.

Iris Apfel is not a fashion designer. She is, however, a world-class shopper! She readily confesses that it is not about how much you spend, but what you dig up.  She has an uncanny skill for putting together a Nina Ricci dress with a tag sale brooch, or pairing African beads with a Bill Blass jacket and making it look perfectly fabulous.

She started mixing high end with low end decades before it was the norm. 'Her creation of her image is just as artistic as any of the individual haute couture pieces from her wardrobe' says Harold Koda, curator of the Costume Institute at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 'It's art in the sense that her materials are from this incredible collection she has amassed, and she uses them the way a painter uses paint'."
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This article was taken from the Boston Globe. Click on the title of this post to read the entire amazing article.

I CHOOSE ABUNDANCE

My friend, Babs, likes to choose a theme for each New Year...last January as the year began, I decided to follow her lead. I choose 'Simplify' as my theme for 2009.  I had been thinking about just 'renewing that theme' this year! (I really did work at simplifying my life and work, and, honestly, I did make some grand steps toward the goal, but, still I have too many irons in the fire. I am a work in progress.) In the end, though, I have choosen 'ABUNDANCE' as my theme for 2010. The dictionary defines 'abundance' as "overflowing fullness; affluence; extremely plentiful".  I will work toward gaining abundance in every area of my life this year: abundant health, abundant wealth, abundant love and forgiveness, abundant adventures, abundant ideas, abundant fun and frivolity.....well, you get the idea (:

THE SEASON OF SUCCULENCE

'Tis the season for giving and I’ve been thinking a lot about what I can give this season to make my life and those around me more succulent. Here is my 'gift'  list:

I’m going to tell the truth faster.

I’m going to celebrate my friendships.

I’m going to be rare, eccentric, and original.

I’m going to dress to please myself.

I’m going to make more mistakes.

I’m going to make my life a web of love.

I'm going to revel in every ordinary moment.

I'm going to take more naps.

I'm going to face my fears.

I'm going to go on more adventures.

I'm going to live with an attitude of abundance.

I'm going to eat more chocolate.

LET US BE THANKFUL

Thankful

The Week before Thanksgiving,

I limp around real strange.

Huddle in the corner,

As though I have the mange.

All the other turkeys,

Just gobble, gobble on.

I'm silent, and I act

As if my gobbler's gone. Everyone is thankful

On Thanksgiving Day.

Friday it's forgotten.

You all go on your way.

I know what thankful is

So listen when I say.

"It's great to be a turkey,

After Thanksgiving Day."

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MAD FOR PINK

Pink! Pink! Pink!  I am mad for the color pink these days! I love a particular shade that has more tones of blue then peach….a shade that is hot and shocking! I love it paired with deep scarlet and bright tangerine.  I’ve made several gypsy bags and steampunk necklaces in that exact color combination.

I've paired some new hot pink pillows with my standard forest green especially for the holidays,  I've bought yards and yards of  pink ribbon to wrap my Christmas gifts,  I've  found a pink cloth for my dining room table, and today I ordered a  fabulous shocking pink wool pea coat!

Pink makes me feel so happy!

PRETTY PACKAGING

I fuss over the packaging of my handbags and jewelry. I want the presentation to get almost as many "oohs and aahs" as the product. Because my bags and bijoux are created with 100% recycled, repurposed findings, it is only fitting that my packaging materials follow suit.

I begin with a recycled kraft colored box. The fanciful "sash" is made from a brown paper grocery bag that I paint with acrylic paints (the colors change with the season), let dry, then swirl with glue and glitter! (I have EVERY imaginable color of glitter!!) Once the painted bag is dry, I cut out 3 inch wide strips that will become the sassy sashes. I affix the sash around the box, tie a piece of hand dyed yarn (again, colors change with the season) over the sash, add one of my tiny MOO tags (which has a photo of one of my creations on the front side and all my important information on the back), and finally glue on a tiny flower, butterfly, or jewel.

Voila! So pretty!

SINGING IN THE RAIN

It has been raining all day. Big, soft, sumptuous drops. We need the rain, so it is welcome. And, honestly, I love to walk in the rain. I love the muffled pattering sounds the rain makes on the thick floor of fallen leaves, I love the sweet fecund smells of the wet woodlands, and I love viewing the world through a misty lens.  It is all quite heady.