I heart Garance

I really love the camo top with the turquoise necklace. I want her life!
I agree with the ladies, Lanvin was the tops.

High on Loewe

I was walking with my mother-in-law and sister-in-law after a lunch at Mauri in Barcelona´s center today when I asked them if they had heard about Loewe´s (pronounced Lo-ev-A) new store opening up. No more than 20 feet farther ahead we passed in front of the brand new Galleria Loewe. As luck would have it, it opened just 3 days ago and we decided to take a look. We were greeted by several smiling women, one of them began to take us on a tour of the divine new gallery. I was thinking this was very similar to the Louis Vuitton museum in Paris that I´ve read about and then I learned that LVHM owns Loewe. 

I always wanted a Louis Vuitton bag,  but now I want a Loewe.  Pretty Please.  

The company started in Madrid in 1846 and became became renowned for the quality and beauty of its leather. 

This is a piece by piece display of how the bags are constructed. 

Each back takes 10-12 hours to manufacture.

Actual tools used to construct the bags. 

If you desire a customized bag you have your choise of polished crocodile in 11 vibrant colours, or 8 shades of luxurious ostrich for the body, binding and corners, handles and keyholder. Select from 7 colours for the sumptuous napa lining, and opt for metal details available in gold or palladium. 

I really love the butterflies.

A touching tree, lined with all the different skins of the bags so you can feel the variety of textures available. 

A vintage purse, shoes, and scarf on display. 

Yeah, I could live here. 

Stacks and stacks of books everywhere with a view of La Passeig de Gracia and La Pedrera nonetheless. 

An actual window display from 1946.

Scarves

More beautiful scarves. 

A video I took of the dancing silks....

My favorite blogger Susanna Lau (aka Susie Bubble) was at the opening two nights ago, when they had a live demonstration of embroidering. Check out her experience: http://www.stylebubble.co.uk/style_bubble/2012/03/mesmerised-by-a-mantón-.html

Read a book

Since I quit french, I´ve pretty much dived into the art of couture. In the past week I´ve invested in 3 great books to help me along in my studies.

Textile & Mode by Jenny Udale I picked up today. It is an in-depth read about materials, their origins, and how they are used in clothing. Thus far, I´m enthralled, I can´t wait to read more.....

The other two books are pattern books done by Japanese designers. 
I´m working on a parka now from this one and the next project will be the adorable shorts.

 

The patterns aren´t too difficult but make sure you have some good tracing paper because the patterns are overlapped and you have to use a tracing wheel or copy the designs to pattern paper.

......and this one is filled with gorgeous Anthropologie-like dresses.

On my book wishlist:

 

 

Fairy Coincidental

I´m finishing up the blue floral dress and decided to make a matching headband similar to the one that model Suri wears for a shoot with Ellen Von Unwerth. Like always, while I´m sewing zone in completely with CocoRosie playing. So as I go back to search for this photo, I found the one to the left. How appropriate, Kiera Knightley is sporting Coco & Rosie´s signature drawn-on mustaches. Maybe Ellen was inspired by CocoRosie too. Gaga has nothing on the bizaarness of these two sisters. They actually go fairy hunting in Italy.



Here´s the floral headband process.....

 Piece of elastic with some fabric from the dress. 

Sew on the flowers, duh. 

Siri by Ellen. So cute. 

DIY

I think I have to enter. Just 10 days.

Somebody That I Used to Know - Walk off the Earth (Gotye - Cover)

J´adore Manoush!

Ma robe preferé!!!! <3

Dressy Monday

My friend Jenna came over today and we started making her dress. We got pretty far in four hours but will continue when I get back in town next Monday. After she left, I was inspired to start a new dress of my own.

First part finished. Tomorrow I will adjust the seams, sleeves and the length. 

I was feeling a little like Molly Ringwald sewing her prom dress, so appropriately I listened to:

Busy day, full of new projects

Remember this ole thing I got off Ebay?

After taking off the neck, sleeves and about half the length, it became a cute little top. 

 Take note of the brand new shoes from Mango. 

Got these off Ebay for about $20. 

They reminded me of these from the Fall 2012 Collection at Louis Vuitton. 

Dazzling & Lovely Giuseppe Zanotti

Love Giuseppe Zanotti

I want to make this clutch and maybe these shoes as well.

This clutch I will attempt to make tomorrow. I already have similar material that I have been waiting to use.

Sewing

Going to do some sewing tomorrow, very happy about this.

Pumped up Kicks - part deux (phase 1 complete)

See the previous post for a full list of the steps!

pumped up kicks part deux

So the games have begun and I´ve got two pairs drying in my kitchen window.  Let´s take a look.

My little sad Nine West boots. So dull and lifeless. 

Can I make them look more like these Opening Ceremony "Coachella" boots?

With a little help from my friends at Rit, I think I can, I think I can....

Here we go, these are the supplies you´ll need. I brought back this Rit in Denim Blue back from the states. I have found some dyes here but they´re just not the same and cost 3x. 

So first boot is done and it is so dark, but already it´s lightening up as it dries. I will update you on the final color tomorrow. 

from Maje

 

Since, I had the blue dye already prepared I decided to add some yellow that I found at my corner pharmacie and make some fun green wedges like these from Jimmy Choo called Pandora. So adorable. 

Let´s start with these little babies I got from Target. 

Add a little of this to the already blue dye. 

Not sure how these colors will turn out, but I hope it´s greenish. 

Not too bad, kind of a grey/green. They need some shine though. 

Add a coat of glitter for fabrics all over, then spray with a protectant to seal it in. 

Add the studs with glue. Apply them like fake-eyelashes, wait for the glue to dry a little before applying the stud so they don´t slip too much. I used a chopstick to clean up the excess glue from around the studs. 

Et voila!