Monday, August 31, 2009

Los Angeles Fires


Time Lapse Test: Station Fire from Eric Spiegelman on Vimeo.


Check out this amazing Vimeo video of the Los Angeles wildfires. Over the weekend, we could see the flames some miles away on the San Gabriel Mountains from our frontyard. So far the blaze has consumed 105,000 acres -- and it's still burning out of control. (We're staying inside with the air conditioning on.)

Here's a photo from our vantage point:



This photo from LA City Hall was taken by my friend Terry Benichou:

100 bits of the world


Check out Sabrina Harrison's beautiful site for her Adventure Trips, Photography, Books, and Lust for Life!

Colour Lover: Melancholy Marie

Inspiration: Marie Antoinette (the movie).


Sunday, August 30, 2009

Fashion Doyenne: Deborah Lloyd

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Kate Spade's New York Creative Director Deborah Lloyd learned how to sew on her grandmother's Singer. By the time she was in grammar school, she was tailoring her own uniforms (skirts shorter than most) and sketching designs in her school notebooks.

It's no surprise that she has fantastic taste. Here are a few of the people and things that inspire her:

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Jean Shrimpton and vintage jewels...

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Colorful Kate Spade boxes and Faye Dunaway...

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Central Park and a chic chapeau...

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Kees van Dongen portraits and gilded owls...

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And a number of other lovely things...read more about Deborah on Kate Spade's fantastic Behind the Curtain website.


xo
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Noteworthy: Sticky Notes by Galison

I use sticky notes a lot. At work, we use the conventional brand -- good 'ol Post-its. They're practical and come in many attractive colors. Personally, however, I prefer something more decorative because they make the process of organizing my notes and projects a lot more fun. So, I'm always on the lookout for sticky notes. I was happy to find these from Galison. They make cute matching file folders, too. :)



A Charming Swedish Cottage

With brightly painted furniture and doors, wide, tall windows, and a greenhouse with a crystal chandelier, I have fallen completely in love with Persilija's old house and gardens in the North of Sweden. You can see more on her charming flickr photostream, here. And also on her blog, fyrabarnsmamman. Hope you're having a lovely Sunday!

xo
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Quotable: Truth in Greeting Cards


{ Card purchased from Paper Source, designed by MinaLeeStudio.com. }


Saturday, August 29, 2009

Merci Beaucoup

Simple and pretty. Hand printed in San Francisco by Austin Press, via Reverie Daydream.



Colour Lover: Rosette Cloche

Inspiration: Rosette Cloche by Giant Dwarf.



Quotable: Oscar Wilde




Iranian designer : NimaNY

Hello everyone! This is Shokoofeh from A New Simple Something!
:)
I hope you are all enjoying your beautiful weekends! though it's not weekend here in Iran...



Darlings, today I am showing you some beautiful handmade T-shirts designed with Persian calligraphy and motifs by a talented Iranian designer Nima; who lives and works in New York. and since I am so proud of his art as an Iranian I am so pleased to invite you to take a look at his works at his website.



Ericsson Silver has written about NimaNY:

The concept of hand crafted clothing started when as teenagers Nima and his friends would take Levis 501 Jeans and other garments and draw, write and alter them to their taste. Some of these items were obtained in the black market ,due to the trade regulations on western products, thus making it harder and more expensive to continue such experiments. The place was Tehran, and its northern suburbs, where a large middle class had settled in; the time period was during the late 80's shortly after the war had ended.


Nima began, wearing what he was buying and altering, to the parties that took place in the underground scene of Northern Tehran. This became not only an outlet of youthful energy, but also a platform for experimentation. . Nima and his friends started crashing parties and squeezing their way into as many social settings as they could, just to show off their work. Not having any formal training in fashion design or consistent supply of material, they used what was available and incorporated them into their fabrics, items such as spray paint, studs, stitches, pins and etc.



A few years later Nima and most of his friends left Iran, and what was a large group of friends, had now been scattered around the world. After arriving in the East Coast Nima enrolled in Fashion Institue of Technology (FIT) and restarted his experimentations on fabric. He began an experiment that proved to be a key element for his future designs. That is mixing elements of the old world and drawing them onto a modern canvas. This was the printing of Persian motifs and stamps onto stretched canvases and drawing around them. But soon Nima found the canvas of an artist stretched around a frame is limiting for him. This was the cause for the return to an old hobby, print and draw onto T-shirts and wear them to elite parties, similar to what was done in Tehran, but instead it was in New York City the fashion hub of North America.


By expanding on that same idea by 2004 a production team was put together and the first series of NIMANY T-shirts were produced. This process included hand picking the garments at various stores and vintage shops, opening and re-stitching the cuts, dying the colors through a chemical process and silk screening quotes of Persian poets such as Hafez and Rumi. By stacking poems and graphics on top of each other, new gripping patterns were created; patterns that did not state any particular literal message, rather displaying the beauty of Persian typography on a garment. This first line sold out immediately and was a motivating factor for Nima to design new styles.



Today the NIMANY team are involved with every aspect of production that a piece of garment goes through, and they maintain an m.o that is important to them, which is to keep each garment individual, thus the owner of each work holds one unique piece. Today celebrities such as Heidi Klum, Nicky Hilton, Jim Carrey, Praz Micheal of Fugees and Kevin spacy wear these T-Shirts and major publications including Vogue, Maxims, New York Times have written about NIMANY.

Friday, August 28, 2009

Dress Me Up in My Love: Odd Molly

I'd love one of these for Fall. Pretty and plush, by Odd Molly.


{ via Hello Lolla }


A Stroll Through Paris

Hi there! It's Julie here inviting you to come along with me as we take a stroll through Paris...

Pass the Eiffel Tower...
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through the nearby gardens...
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to watch the children laughing on the carousel...
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and grab a bit to eat at a boulangerie...
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and visit the Musée d'Orsay...
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pass through a veggie market...
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and end up at Notre Dame...
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Wasn't that fun? Sigh, I really miss Paris. My husband and I went in April of this year and took thousands of pictures. Really, thousands. If you'd like to see more of our Paris pics, click here.

Hope you're having a good day!