You cannot deconstruct unless you know how to construct. - Alexander McQueen

archive for the 'Accessories' department

Fernanda Yamamoto

Sunday, June 27th, 2010

Fernanda Yamamoto’s Summer 2011 collection is sweet to both mind and eye. Her debut at São Paulo Fashion Week earlier this month is an interpretation of aerial photos of the city. “I was inspired by the city of São Paulo but looked at it from a different point of view. The clouds played an important role in the inspiration, specifically because I looked at some images of clouds reflected in buildings.”

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Fernanda Yamamoto Summer 2011

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Design and Organic Forms

Sunday, December 31st, 2006

Even under a microscope, Nature’s lessons in design range from simple structures to complex patterns. German (Prussian) zoologist Ernst Haeckel’s Art Forms in Nature was originally published around the turn of the 20th century and influenced practitioners of Art Nouveau such as René Binet and Louis Comfort Tiffany. Haeckel’s artistic rendering of the “structural peculiarities” of organisms emphasized the ornamental aspects of natural forms. Browsing through Art Forms in Nature provides me with all manner of design ideas for garments, interior decorating, character sketches and sci-fi landscapes or architecture.

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“Discomedusae” from Ernst Haeckel. Art Forms in Nature Prestel Publishing, 2004

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Update: Asagi Maeda

Monday, August 21st, 2006

In my first mention of Asagi Maeda, I neglected to include her blog address, which features some of her more current work: http://asag.exblog.jp/. The stunning collections of her “art jewelry” can be accessed in the right-hand column.

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Asagi Maeda a/w 2005, “the breathing earth” bracelet http://asag.exblog.jp/

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Asagi Maeda a/w 2005, “the breathing earth” bracelet http://asag.exblog.jp/

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Asagi Maeda a/w 2005, “the breathing earth” bracelet http://asag.exblog.jp/

The Fennofolkist Manifesto

Wednesday, August 16th, 2006

“If something is too perfect, it is not perfect anymore, it is boring. There has to be some edge to grab on. There always has to be something unexpected, weird and absurd. Something that should not be there.” This is the Fennofolkist Manifesto, and IVANAhelsinki has been very busy representing it.

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IVANAhelsinki, Loghouse Lover collection www.ivanahelsinki.com

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Suzhou Cobblers’ Garden of Abundance

Thursday, July 13th, 2006

“I have customers who wear their slippers inside only and others who wear them all the time. And there are even people who put them on the shelf.” Indeed, a pair of slippers from Suzhou Cobblers can be mistaken for the purely ornamental. Huang Meng Qi (”Denise”) along with her team of abundantly skilled artists create footwear with themes that “reflect Shanghai’s grandest era”. Her designs echo the artistry and traditional craftsmanship that her style-conscious grandmother would have worn. Ms. Huang’s instinct to create footwear and accessories with the same attention to quality and cultural themes leads her on the right path, then, because her designs attract the style-conscious of today.

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image: Green Tea shoe www.suzhou-cobblers.com

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The Japanese Mind

Monday, June 26th, 2006

Japanese culture, its structure and how the individual plays their role in it is a subject that endlessly fascinates me and contradicts my Western sensibilities. It is a kind of “chasing the dragon” situation: the more I try to understand the Japanese mind, the way they interact with each other and create art, the more I get lost in the ambiguities and press harder for an exact understanding. I am not meant to understand and I know this. It doesn’t matter. I will always appreciate their prodigious creative and intellectual output.

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image: Asagi Maeda bracelet SO-EN magazine, December 2005

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