Dreaming of April

I absolutely love this dress by Econica. Gorgeous shade of green, much like newly sprung grass.

Big earrings are back

I'm super exhausted right now from a pretty full day, but I'm on such a creative high from listening to Alexis Bittar's talk at the Corcoran tonight that I couldn't wait to write about it. We spent a couple of hours looking at inspiring slides of his various jewelry, most of them high-end art pieces that were created for fashion shows and Vogue. He was really fresh, funny, and very forthright. The picture of him is kind of blurry, but he reminded me of a mix between Tom Ford and Nicolas Ghesquire. The audience was 100% female, all of them fans and stylishly dressed, with a handful sporting his jewelry.

Bittar declared that big earrings (circa 1980s) are back for spring. I took notes on that one.

Perhaps the one piece of advice that resonated with me was when he said I should start at the highest level of whatever it is that's inspiring me and not think so much about whether it will sell; and then from that high-end concept, tear the piece down to what will ultimately sell. He showed us a bunch of pieces that were very high design that received a lot of positive press in the fashion magazines but that didn't sell well, if at all, to the public.

I also enjoyed the part where he name-dropped the various fashion industry people he personally knows: Patricia Field (Samantha's huge gold necklace that she wore with the red suit at the beginning of the SATC movie was a Bittar piece), Carine Roitfeld, Anna Wintour, Michael Kors, and Dawn Mello (the Bergdorf director who discovered Tom Ford). Cameron Diaz and Madonna are also fans of his pieces.

Finally, he spoke about the various things that serve as inspirations for his designs: antique jewelry, boxy '80s suits with large lapel pins, Etruscan jewelry, Gauguin paintings, Elsa Schiaparelli.

In the next few days I'm going to post some pieces from his current collection that are my favorites.

New Orleans ball

My coworker Victoria is attending a series of balls in New Orleans this month (the Orpheus Ball, the Gay Ball, and the Hermes Ball - the Orpheus Ball is apparently the one that Harry Connick Jr. throws). Anyway, she commissioned a pair of earrings and a necklace from me to wear with her dress. I showed her a selection of stones from my stock and she picked out these metallic grey freshwater cultured pearls as the focal stones. I paired them with potato pearls and twisted rings.

And here is the BCBG dress she'll be wearing. Don't you love it?

Victoria also got a bunch of my business cards to pass out at the balls in case anyone wants to know where she got her jewelry. Thanks, Victoria - I hope you have fun!

Twilight Tuesday

I've been glued to CNN all day long, but I couldn't let today pass by without a Twilight Tuesday post. Here is my t-shirt given to me by Alissa for Hanukkah. One one side, the Cullen crest:

And on the other, the Twilight logo. As it should be.

Two-in-one

Now you don't have to spend those few precious extra minutes in the morning trying to match the appropriate jewelry to your outfit. This necklace dress by Emma Cook for Topshop comes with the jewelry already built in, thus saving you the trouble! As expected, it's dry clean only.

Honestly, I'm not sure how I feel about this yet. It's seems very avant-garde, but...

Dress dilemma

We are going to a family wedding next month, so I got a new dress. At first I really wanted this adorable one in deep purple with a black ribbon belt - called "Tickled-Plum," from Anthropologie - but they were out of my size.

So I bought this one instead - the "Country Mile" in taupe. But when it arrived, it didn't look as good on me as it did on the mannequin. It ended up going back.

Lo and behold, I found out that they had dress #1 in my size back in stock, so I bought it before it can go out of stock again.

And everyone was happy.

Shopping trip

I took my sister out to lunch for her birthday today at a French bistro (she is officially in her "late 30s", aka "old fart") and afterward we stopped in at Anthropologie. We were there "just to look." Ha! I should have known better. This beautiful blue fall coat caught my eye and then I saw that it was on sale for 50% off (!), so I tried it on. And that was my downfall.

The cut is 1960s boxy, similar to my favorite suit that I wear to all my job interviews. The coat is now in its new home in my closet.

I've also been contemplating re-starting journal writing, but I haven't been able to find the right journal until today. Anthropologie had a really pretty one with a whimsical cover of a nightingale perched on a tree, and the pages are unlined, a major requirement. And it was also on sale! I haven't kept a journal since high school, so it will be interesting to see what things I come up with now that I'm an (alleged) adult.

Dior-icious

I got a little sidetracked from my Dior mania, but I did promise to post the pictures of Carla Bruni-Sarkozy (the new French first lady)'s inaugural state visit to London - or, more accurately, pictures of her wardrobe.

They were all designed by Galliano.

When she first appeared on the scene on Sarkozy's arm, I , like the rest of the world, laughed my head off. It seemed so undignified that the French president would end up with a former model/pop singer/serial dater of rock stars, and apparently the rest of France agreed with me, because Sarkozy's approval ratings plummeted after their marriage.

But then I saw pictures of the London visit and I was wowed. Totally won over. She looked so elegant here, her clothes speaking of a quiet refinement and style. Some in the British press accused her of trying to project a demure image to counter her salacious past, but whatever it was for, I think it totally worked.

This gray coatdress she had on was perhaps my favorite.



And this sweet little pillbox hat and fringe bangs, channeling either a 1960s flight attendant or Jackie O - but the look works on her.


And that demure little Dior bag!


I love the color of her coat.


And I love everything about this dress - the color, the lines, how it falls and drapes so gracefully. She was wearing sapphire Chaumet jewels with this dress, but I wish she wore heels.

During a state dinner.

Paris shows

Being involved in a creative endeavor, I now have an excuse to indulge my obsession with fashion - not that I needed much excuse to begin with, but at least now I can justify the countless hours I spend poring over the collections as "research" instead of feeling like I'm just wasting time dreaming over moonbeams. After all, jewelry design involves keeping up with the trends, be they in fashion, art, interiors, architecture, or other forms of design.

I've been mesmerized by the clothes from the recent Paris collections for fall 2008, especially John Galliano's designs for Dior. The four pictured below are my favorites.

Vintage with lots of drama, with interesting lines, and so very, very fresh - especially this white coat with the black belt.



I love the lines of this gown and the way the ruffles drape over the skirt.


And this one? Pure genius. Bordering on madness.



In the following posts I'm going to talk about the clothes Carla Bruni-Sarkozy wore during her inaugural state visit to London. Her wardrobe was simply scrumptious, and all designed by Galliano.

Peridot chandelier earrings

Today's new shop item is a pair of peridot chandelier earrings, named "Camille" after one of my friends. This is the first pair of chandeliers I've made and the ones I picked are really pretty - lots of filigree and the silver is very bright and clear.

More details and pictures of Camille are available at the shop!

Tonight, Mr Hazel is taking me out for an early birthday dinner. It's a secret, though - he won't tell me where it is or what it's called. He takes his surprises very seriously. Except how am I supposed to know what outfit to wear if I don't know what kind of a place it is? I may just have to wing it...


ETSY FIND OF THE DAY

And here is an Etsy find that I'm very, very excited about. I bought this adorable skirt from Kaching Design. I can't wait to get it!

(Photo courtesy of Kaching Design)

Happy Spring!

It's finally here!

Though it was a windy and blustery day, I was in high spirits. The best part was I could still see the sun when I left work. Yay for daylight!

To celebrate, I wanted to post a few of my favorite spring things.

Check out this wildly colorful Balenciaga purse, which I wildly covet. It looks to be in the same style as their Motorcycle purse, just a different material and color palette.


And then I saw this pair of Prada shoes and thought, "Nice classic peep toes," until I noticed the heel. And then I promptly fell in love. Flower heels! How awesome is that?


I also love this strapless dress by Tibi.

And this pretty, fresh yellow dress by 3.1 Phillip Lim, one of my new favorite designers.


This pair of Linea Paolo shoes I am contemplating getting for real. I love Linea Paolo. If I could marry this brand and tuck it away in my pocket forever, I would. I own several pairs of Linea Paolos and I dust them off and coo at them and talk to them as if they were my precious babies (which they are!) You see, Linea Paolo has every one of their styles in size 4. Do you know how hard it is to find grown up shoes in size 4s? Not only grown up shoes, but flirty, cute, and funky shoes? Very hard. Very, very hard. So when I discovered Linea Paolo, it was like manna from heaven. I wish I could buy a pair in every style. But this is the pair I am eyeing for spring; it has 3 1/2" heels!


Lastly, I love love love this green dress by Alice + Olivia.

Purse lust

This is most certainly not from Target, and more's the pity because I absolutely adore, love, and covet it. It's the Yves Saint Laurent "Minaudiere" satin clutch, retailing for $1,395 at Saks. Hahahaha. I know. But still. It comes in red, too.

Because I love everything vintage (especially things that look like they came from flea markets), I haven't stopped dreaming about this purse.

Speaking of flea markets, if you ever find yourself in Paris there is a wonderful one there that you should check out called the Marche aux Puces de Saint-Ouen, on the 18th arrondissement. It's been billed as the world's largest flea market - I believe it, as I once spent a whole day there and probably only saw about a fourth of the whole thing.

Today I took care of one last (I hope!) business-related item, and that is applying for and receiving my Federal Employer Identification Number (FEIN) from the IRS. This means I am now under the IRS' radar, which I have to say is a little scary. Ever since I registered Hazel Designs with the county tax office I haven't stopped getting a slew of mail from them consisting of official and scary looking tax forms of all shapes and sizes, so I can only imagine what the IRS will start sending me now.