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29 February 2012
28 February 2012
instant ikea upgrade
Reposted from today's Remodelista Daily.
This is such a great idea. I'm glad somebody thought of it.
From Izabella
We've done our fair number of Ikea hacks, but nothing as thrillingly transformative as these slipcovers from Swedish company Bemz.
Lesley Pennington, the mastermind behind the company, came up with the idea after procuring an Ikea sofa for her Swedish summer house. She wanted a slipcover, but she wasn't wild about Ikea's selection. Voilà: Bemz, which offers worldwide shipping and more than 180 fabrics to upgrade a new or old Ikea piece. We especially like the latest addition to the collection: Loose Fit Urban covers in Rosendal linen from Belgium. The linen is pre-washed to give it a soft, rumpled feel and comes in a range of appealing colors.
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17 February 2012
a passion for fashion
In war-weary Afghanistan
A passion for fashion is not the first image that springs to mind when most people think of Afghan men, usually pictured in war reports wearing beards, turbans and carrying AK47s as accessories.
But male beauty salons in downtown Kabul now hum with activity as young men update their hair and beards in the latest Western styles -- indulgences that would have got them beaten or jailed just 10 years ago.
Then, religious police from the "vice and virtue" department of the Taliban regime patrolled the streets in pick-up trucks seizing or whipping men and women whose appearance was considered a sin against Islam.
But since the Taliban fell from power in the 2001 US-led invasion, men in Kabul in particular have seized on a new freedom to be stylish or trendy.
"Kabul boys have grown very passionate about their looks in recent years," says a smiling 25-year-old Ali Reza as he sprays blonde highlights on the hair of The Saloon's smartly dressed first customer of the day.
Reza was among hundreds of thousands of Afghans who fled to neighbouring countries when the Taliban took over in 1996. He learned hairdressing in India and returned to Kabul when the Taliban were toppled.
"Some media portray Afghan men as angry people with long beards and shoulder-length hair," he says. "I decided to become a stylist to show that is not always the case, and Afghan men are beautiful, have a passion for modern fashion and are very stylish."
An interest in popular Hollywood and Bollywood styles is not new to Afghanistan -- once a highlight of overland travel for young Westerners -- it has simply been suppressed by more than three decades of war.
An invasion by the Soviet Union in 1979 led to a 10-year occupation followed by civil war -- and then came the Taliban with their brutal campaign against anything that did not fit with their idea of religious purity.
Now, while women may show high-heeled boots and jeans beneath their coats and dress stylishly in private, in public they remain well-covered -- with some still wearing the all-enveloping burqa.
But on the streets of Kabul -- and to a lesser extent in other cities -- it is the men who are strutting their stuff, parading their skinny or ripped jeans and spiky haircuts.
"Young men come here, bringing the photos of popular European, American and Indian movie or sport stars and ask us to style their hair or beard accordingly," says Sayed Mehdi, 22, a stylist at Skin Deep fashion salon.
"We also provide fashion magazines to help them choose a hair or beard style that they favour," he says.
Mujtaba, 27, who is wearing a black T-shirt and blue jeans with rips, says he was beaten by Taliban police when he had a modestly styled haircut. "Then they forced me to wear a black turban even when I was still a kid," says Mujtaba, who like many Afghans uses just one name.
He has come to The Saloon looking for the latest style in men's beards. "I want my beard in Wali style," he says, referring to a famous expat Afghan pop star who wears a thin chin-strap style beard. "We dont want to be less than Europeans and Americans when it comes to fashion."
While the southern and eastern parts of the country remain gripped by a Taliban-led insurgency, the Afghan capital and major cities in the north or west enjoy relative security -- and a boom in the fashion business.
Sayed Abdulla, who owns a trendy clothing store in Kabul, says he has to import the latest fashion trends to keep hundreds of customers satisfied. "Every day young men and women come looking for the latest brands of jeans, shirts and dresses," he says while displaying a tight pair of jeans for a group of men in his store. Abdulla says he owned a clothing shop during the Taliban regime but was only allowed to sell the traditional Perahan Tenban, a loose trouser and shirt outfit, and turbans. "There has been a huge change in fashion and style since," he says.
In 2009, Afghanistan also witnessed its first TV modelling show -- "Afghan Model" -- which aimed to find the top model in the war-ravaged country, emulating "America's Next Top Model".
"We asked for whoever wanted to participate in the programme to show their clothes, their looks, and their styles," says Naseer Ahmad Noori, 25, who along with his wife Setara Noori was one of the judges. Naseer says he was amazed by the response -- "thousands showed up, most of them men". The resulting show was opposed by the country's clerics, which led to a lull in the series but it is expected to resume this year, he says.
"This is embarrassing when you see our men dressing themselves like Americans and other infidels," says an angry, turbanned, Mullah Naqibullah, drinking tea in a shop across from the The Saloon. "This kind of dressing is totally un-Islamic and against Afghan values. These people should be punished to remember they are Afghans and Muslims," he says, pausing for a sip of green tea. "The Taliban would know how to deal with them!"
But despite the backlash from conservatives, people like Reza and Mehdi remain upbeat as a new generation grows up with an interest in accessories a little more chic than the old AK47 that has brought so much woe to the country.
by Usman Sharifi
A passion for fashion is not the first image that springs to mind when most people think of Afghan men, usually pictured in war reports wearing beards, turbans and carrying AK47s as accessories.
Since the Taliban fell from power in 2001, men in Kabul have seized on a new freedom to be trendy (Photo: AFP/File, Massoud Hossaini)
But male beauty salons in downtown Kabul now hum with activity as young men update their hair and beards in the latest Western styles -- indulgences that would have got them beaten or jailed just 10 years ago.
Then, religious police from the "vice and virtue" department of the Taliban regime patrolled the streets in pick-up trucks seizing or whipping men and women whose appearance was considered a sin against Islam.
But since the Taliban fell from power in the 2001 US-led invasion, men in Kabul in particular have seized on a new freedom to be stylish or trendy.
"Kabul boys have grown very passionate about their looks in recent years," says a smiling 25-year-old Ali Reza as he sprays blonde highlights on the hair of The Saloon's smartly dressed first customer of the day.
Men in Kabul are now wearing skinny jeans and sporting spiky haircuts (Photo: AFP/File, Massoud Hossaini)
Reza was among hundreds of thousands of Afghans who fled to neighbouring countries when the Taliban took over in 1996. He learned hairdressing in India and returned to Kabul when the Taliban were toppled.
"Some media portray Afghan men as angry people with long beards and shoulder-length hair," he says. "I decided to become a stylist to show that is not always the case, and Afghan men are beautiful, have a passion for modern fashion and are very stylish."
An interest in popular Hollywood and Bollywood styles is not new to Afghanistan -- once a highlight of overland travel for young Westerners -- it has simply been suppressed by more than three decades of war.
An invasion by the Soviet Union in 1979 led to a 10-year occupation followed by civil war -- and then came the Taliban with their brutal campaign against anything that did not fit with their idea of religious purity.
Now, while women may show high-heeled boots and jeans beneath their coats and dress stylishly in private, in public they remain well-covered -- with some still wearing the all-enveloping burqa.
But on the streets of Kabul -- and to a lesser extent in other cities -- it is the men who are strutting their stuff, parading their skinny or ripped jeans and spiky haircuts.
"Young men come here, bringing the photos of popular European, American and Indian movie or sport stars and ask us to style their hair or beard accordingly," says Sayed Mehdi, 22, a stylist at Skin Deep fashion salon.
Male beauty salons in downtown Kabul now hum with activity (Photo: AFP/File, Massoud Hossaini)
Mujtaba, 27, who is wearing a black T-shirt and blue jeans with rips, says he was beaten by Taliban police when he had a modestly styled haircut. "Then they forced me to wear a black turban even when I was still a kid," says Mujtaba, who like many Afghans uses just one name.
He has come to The Saloon looking for the latest style in men's beards. "I want my beard in Wali style," he says, referring to a famous expat Afghan pop star who wears a thin chin-strap style beard. "We dont want to be less than Europeans and Americans when it comes to fashion."
While the southern and eastern parts of the country remain gripped by a Taliban-led insurgency, the Afghan capital and major cities in the north or west enjoy relative security -- and a boom in the fashion business.
Sayed Abdulla, who owns a trendy clothing store in Kabul, says he has to import the latest fashion trends to keep hundreds of customers satisfied. "Every day young men and women come looking for the latest brands of jeans, shirts and dresses," he says while displaying a tight pair of jeans for a group of men in his store. Abdulla says he owned a clothing shop during the Taliban regime but was only allowed to sell the traditional Perahan Tenban, a loose trouser and shirt outfit, and turbans. "There has been a huge change in fashion and style since," he says.
In 2009, Afghanistan also witnessed its first TV modelling show -- "Afghan Model" -- which aimed to find the top model in the war-ravaged country, emulating "America's Next Top Model".
"We asked for whoever wanted to participate in the programme to show their clothes, their looks, and their styles," says Naseer Ahmad Noori, 25, who along with his wife Setara Noori was one of the judges. Naseer says he was amazed by the response -- "thousands showed up, most of them men". The resulting show was opposed by the country's clerics, which led to a lull in the series but it is expected to resume this year, he says.
"This is embarrassing when you see our men dressing themselves like Americans and other infidels," says an angry, turbanned, Mullah Naqibullah, drinking tea in a shop across from the The Saloon. "This kind of dressing is totally un-Islamic and against Afghan values. These people should be punished to remember they are Afghans and Muslims," he says, pausing for a sip of green tea. "The Taliban would know how to deal with them!"
But despite the backlash from conservatives, people like Reza and Mehdi remain upbeat as a new generation grows up with an interest in accessories a little more chic than the old AK47 that has brought so much woe to the country.
by Usman Sharifi
16 February 2012
on the runway
Philip Lim - New York - Fall/Winter 2012/2013
Some really beautiful knit outerwear.
For next winter Phillip Lim advocates a distinct line dominated by black and white, through dresses with graphic cuts. Knitwear worn in the form of a big sweater cape with sleeves that zip up and down, brings a bit of imagination.
This collection was about being insular and about having that shadow with you constantly. Not aloof, but not so non-present.
In the knit wear it went over this whole idea of guess again, what do you really see?
15 February 2012
14 February 2012
09 February 2012
accountable fashion
Bruno Pieters wants to make fashion accountable
More transparency in fashion, this is Bruno Pieters’ new credo. The designer and art director had disappeared from the Belgian fashion scene for a year of sabbatical, which proved rich in travel and reflections. We now get to see the fruit of his efforts with the launch of the Honest By label - a high-end designer label which aims to shed light on its products, materials and design, by providing information about the true cost and impact of their production. This type of detailed information, which is much more than is normally available to consumers about the products they buy, is available on the Honest By website, the collection’s only distributor.
| First pieces for Honest By Bruno Pieters |
While Honest By ultimately wants to create a platform that would attract other designers, it is naturally Bruno Pieters who inaugurated it first. In the rigorous style for which he is known, the former artistic director of the Hugo line for Hugo Boss and his eponymous label reinvents the classics and reinterprets the ideal cut. Some fifty pieces for men and women are already available on the site and others will be added throughout the year, with no concept of seasonality.
Whether they are interested in dresses, shirts, coats or pants, potential buyers will know everything from the origin of the fabric, to the number of employees in the clothing factory, to the cost of the zipper and fabric content of the label itself. Even information about the carbon footprint of each product has been made available. And, as expected from an ethical and eco-conscious company, the brand also specifies for each product whether it is organic or completely vegan (there is absolutely no animal exploitation), whether it is 100% European (and sometimes even Made in Belgium), whether it is recycled or, for those interested, whether it is made for sensitive skin.
So far, the only downside has been that some suppliers have been more willing to play the game than others: some have not submitted all the requested data on the traceability of a fabric or the cost of an operation. But this is a very small downside to an exciting and unique approach to fashion. Even before knowing what fate the customer has in store for him, Bruno Pieters has said that 20% of Honest By’s profits will be donated to charities, thus coming full circle.
07 February 2012
free calendar download
The next two months of the 2012 calendar are now available.
Go here to download. Print on letter size card stock. Then cut down the middle.
up-inspired floating house
On March 5 at dawn, National Geographic Channel and a team of scientists, engineers, and two world-class balloon pilots successfully launched a 16' X 16' house 18' tall with 300 8' colored weather balloons from a private airfield east of Los Angeles, and set a new world record for the largest balloon cluster flight ever attempted. The entire experimental aircraft was more than 10 stories high, reached an altitude of over 10,000 feet, and flew for approximately one hour.
The filming of the event, from a private airstrip, is part of a National Geographic Channel series called How Hard Can it Be?, which premiered in the fall of 2011.
Watch a short clip of their accomplishment here.
A lot more photos here.
06 February 2012
the art of deception
'Trompe l'oeil' on show in Paris
PARIS - "Trompe l'oeil" -- or art designed to trick the eye -- is the title of a new Paris exhibit exploring the history of illusion and pastiche, from ancient frescoes to fashion and the decorative arts.
PARIS - "Trompe l'oeil" -- or art designed to trick the eye -- is the title of a new Paris exhibit exploring the history of illusion and pastiche, from ancient frescoes to fashion and the decorative arts.
A visitor walks past "Down The Rabbit Hole" by Rasch (AFP, Francois Guillot)
The first known use of trompe l'oeil, as legend would have it, dates back to ancient Greece, in the fifth century BC, when the artist Zeuxis painted a bunch of grapes so realistic that a bird flew down to peck at them."It's a game between the creator and the viewer, it's all about reality and perception," said curator Veronique Belloir, summing up the subject of the show which runs for 18 months at the Paris Museum of Decorative Arts.
A small selection of paintings opens the display of more than 400 artefacts, one of them a surrealist closet by the French artist Marcel Jean, its imaginary doors cracked open to offer a glimpse of the landscape beyond.
But the core of the exhibit is the place of illusion in the decorative arts, which took off in the late 19th century when wallpaper for instance was used to imitate everything from ceramic to lace or lacquer.
"Imitation is one of the great themes of the decorative arts," said co-curator Dominique Fourest. "Cost is part of the reason, but not the whole story. This was also a way for creators to develop their virtuosity."
Technical innovations such as linoleum were used to reproduce floorboards or mosaic, while glass imitated onyx or malachite, and ceramic posed as wood, leather or woven reeds.
Late 19th century handbooks offered craftsmen exquisitely precise guides to imitating rare materials, such as specific types of marble, or decorative styles from ancient Greece to China or the Islamic world.
"It's an endless game," said Fourest.
Reaching back in history, trick jugs from the 16th century had holes pierced in the sides, the liquid poured through concealed double walls.
A thick pile of leather-bound books, mounted on a wooden stool, prises open to reveal a chamber pot, an 18th-century marvel of invention and coyness.
Fashion has also made copious use of the trompe l'oeil genre, starting in the 1920s with Italian designer Elsa Schiaparelli, who created knitted sweaters patterned with make-believe scarves or accessories.
"Fashion is quite unashamed to talk about faux-collars, false lashes, wigs and faux-crocodile," said Belloir.
Among a dozen anthology outfits on display is a sporty, zippered man's coat by Jean Paul Gaultier printed with the pattern of a tweed jacket.
Likewise a piece carried out for Chanel's haute couture collection in 1983, by the embroidery master Francois Lesage, imitates a set of jewellery.
There is also a woman's jumpsuit, created by Sonia Rykiel in 2008, with a classic dungaree top patterned on the front.
The fashion world's love affair with trompe l'oeil is highlighted by the exhibition's cover photograph, a 1973 snap of a man seated at a Paris cafe, a jacket painted onto his naked torso.
In a quirky twist, the curators discovered the story behind the picture on the eve of the opening, from the designer himself, Ruben Torres, who told them he drew clothes onto his models' bodies after failing to complete his collection on time for a fashion show.
(www.lesartsdecoratifs.fr)
by Emma Charlton
by Emma Charlton
03 February 2012
trend report
My Fair Lady
From garden parties to the Royal Ascot, Spring's colorful accessories are poised for any occasion. Think fascinator hats, chic clutches, sparkling jewels and a touch of gold--à la the Duchess of Cambridge.
New Frontier
The American West continues its influence this Fall. Navajo prints, Western details, faux fur and plenty of denim combine for today's take on the look.
Ethnic Chic
Exotic and colorful, Summer's chic ethnic look is updated with original artwork and hand-crafted elements such as beading, macramé and pompoms.
Wild Ones
Snake prints and animal patterns continue to be the look du jour. Natural materials and sleek modern shapes accent the look. 
The Tropics
Tropical prints take a '70s turn to create Summer's easy, island-inspired look.From today's California Apparel News. For more info go here.
02 February 2012
vintage navajo rug restoration
If you ever come across a vintage Navajo rug that looks like it should be a rag, buy it if the price is right! It's amazing how easy and inexpensive it is to have it repaired. I purchased this rug on eBay for a very low price because it had several holes in it.
The yarn along the wall is in every color imaginable. On the table are rugs waiting to be repaired.
Here's a beauty that's next in line.
This one is just beginning to be repaired. First they locate the warp threads. Then they replace the ones that are broken. And finally they work new colored fill yarns in.
Reds are difficult to match.
These are natural undyed yarns that were used in my rug.
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