A working lunch, Vreeland style

"At Vogue, we were always so busy.... We always seemed to be working on the Christmas issue. I had a bridge table brought in with my lunch on it--a peanut butter and marmalade sandwich. And a shot of scotch."

-Diana Vreeland, in D.V.

eye of truth

I've been thinking about the Eye of Providence lately--I have this old drawing from a high school sketchbook and I'm thinking about how to incorporate some of this imagery into some new designs

Anyway this week I watched Desperately Seeking Susan for the first time since I was probably 12. I had forgotten that amazing jacket with a pyramid and the eye embroidered on the back (according to the interweb, it was made by costume/prod designer Santo Loquasto):

These images are all from an fantastic book I have called The Encyclopedia of Signs and Symbols:

The Eye of Truth shines from the breast of the Goddess Reason (French Revolution engraving).

The eye represents both the Sun and God in this Algonquin carving.

And here's one I need to research, attributed to The Book of A Thousand Hands, which I believe is a Korean Buddhist text (?):

I like the idea that we can carry the truth in our hands. Just my interpretation....

couture

Giambattista Valli is a real artist. What a show--and the headbands are so fresh--made me miss my black hair.

[via style.com]

w i s h l i s t

One day I'd love to own a photo by Ruven Afanador, especially anything from his Mil Besos book of flamenco-inspired work. His fashion photography is beautiful, but to me his portraits are a revelation.

The heat wave we're having in LA makes me think of southern Spain...

This last one reminds me of a scene from Tarsem's film, The Fall (see it for the visuals alone!) - here's a still:

summer pinks

Summer flora inspiration

This blooming succulent reminds me of something out of Hieronymus Bosch's Garden of Earthly Delights

friendship rings of yore

I love this idea--the stones set in these two early 19th c. rings bear acrostic messages for the wearer:

top

Diamond

Emerald

Amethyst

Ruby

Emerald

Sapphire

Topaz (? The source lists Turquoise, but to me it looks a lot more like a yellow Topaz)

bottom

Ruby

Emerald

Garnet

Amethyst

Ruby

Diamond

And this is another, from the turn of the 19th c., of interlocking bands with pave set letters which spell out "AMITIE" when worn:

So lovely. Both images from the excellent book Rings: Jewelry of Power, Love And Loyalty, (Thames & Hudson).

what do you think?

“I do not believe in eras or times. I do not. I refuse to establish the value of things based on time.”

Piero Fornasetti

There's plenty of eye candy and some cute animation on the website, here.