New York Fashion Week: de Gournay for Jenny Packham spring/summer 2011

What could be perhaps more beautiful than hand painted silk wall coverings? Hand painted silk dresses and gowns.
Our manager Nicola has sent us through today the images of the new spring/summer 2011 collection by Jenny Packham. Nicola has been working with Jenny on some pieces with our de Gournay hand painted silk fabrics. It is interesting in how many different ways you can use our hand painted products, I find these dresses completely different from what other fashions designers such as Mathew Williamson have done. It is good to see that Jenny didn't go for the very traditional Chinoiserie designs.

Apart from the dresses and other pieces of clothes made up of de Gournay hand painted silks, I have also included here images of some personal favorites. All images are from fashionologie.com.

de Gournay: A bedroom which will take you to wonderland in your dreams;

Stephane Olivier: Skull & Butterflies

Amongst all the exciting shops in the area where I work, I have spotted this very interesting store on Rue de L'Universite, close to the Rue des Saints Peres, where the Paris de Gournay showroom is situated. What caught my eye were these sculptural piecesof Vanite' made by the showroom itself.

Paris Inspiration: The House

It has been 5 days that I have moved to Paris. I have always loved this city, but living here is a very different experience. I can find inspiration in every corner of the city, in the building i live, in the apartment, in the doors and windows of surrounding houses, in the displays of boutiques.

Kabiri Jewellery Katie Eary

I came across this store in covent garden last week. It has works of amazing designers I have seen before in magazines. No wonder one of my favourite works was the Skeletal Hand by Katie Eary. It reminds so much of the infamous Delfina Delletrez £15 000 skeleton hand bracelet.

And literally 10 minuits after I have posted this post my boyfriend came in with this piece as a present for me!!! What a surprise!! I am going to post more about fashion from now on, I have a feeling it brings luck;)

Gareth Pugh Store in Hong Kong

What I particullarly like looking at in the interior design of shops and stores is the way the brand identity, style and philosophy that can be found in the works of a fashion designer is portrayed through the design of an interior. One of the most succesful ones I have seen would be probably the Victor and Rolf store in Milan, but I think this Gareth Pugh store in Hong Kong has also been done amazingly well. The Ruth Hogben video in the background work particullarly well with the whole ambiance of the interior. I love the way the designer played with the lighting and just the silhoettes of the clothes revealing against the black backdrop.

(Images are from Dezeen.)

Yves Saint Laurent Arty Aventurine Bracelet and ring

As a graduation gift my mumm gifted me with these amazingly beautiful jewelery pieces by YSL. I love the way the stones have a rough finish to them!!

Visionaire 58: a book that every true McQueen admirer should have in their library.

Suffering from tonsillitis and 39.5 degrees of fever this is the first time over 3 days that I have opened my macbook. And scrolling over my friend's blogs I saw an amazing post by Kat T. As my performance would be far from 100 % at this point, i will cheat and simply copy her words to inform you all about a book which is more than a work of art, namely Visionaire 58.

 "I have just read about something truly beautiful. Visionaire magazine have dedicated their entire 58th issue to Alexander McQueen. It's called "Spirit - A Tribute to Lee Alexander McQueen". Many influential and talented people such as Steven Klein, Mario Testino and Lady Gaga have contributed to this work of art which will retail at around $300. You think that's too expensive? The uniqueness of the book lies in the special composition of the paper which, with time (and care), will allow flowers to bloom inside the book! Sounds so crazy and beautiful! There will only be 1500 copies produced that will be sold exclusively at McQueen boutiques."  (http://catsandcouture.blogspot.com)

Courtney Brims Fairytale Illustrations

On the usual note of my obsession with fairytales, I discovered an illustrator who does amazing fairytalesque drawings: 'her drawings are influenced by Victoriana, ghost stories, old photographs, daydreams and nightmares.' I particullarly like the way she portrays innocence in the girl's faces whilst using rather gothic surroundings.