1. Milkmaid braids. There is a fine line between "free spirit" and "cult member who can't cut their hair for religious reasons", and I think I just crossed it. Milkmaid braids are easy, cute and the go-to for when your lengthy hairs are just too...lengthy. Ahem.
Being a gypsy for the last 10 or so months has meant that, for the first time in a long while, I've had no space to call "my own". While it has been revelatory to realise how very little "stuff" actually defines who I am as a person, and how liberating it is to live out of a small suitcase of essentials, I have found myself increasingly drawn to creating a little space all of my own where I can rest - and allow myself to stay put (for a little while anyway).
Architecture, interior design, and interior decoration seem to me like three of the highest, most practical arts. I'm all for considered, daring acts of creativity and invention when it comes to the buildings and homes we find ourselves in - it has a very real, very visceral effect on who we are and how we feel.
You only have to visit Paris, with its lack of any "new" architecture or buildings above three-stories - or the Pantheon, which staggers the imagination - or The Temple in central London and its hushed stone walls - or Oxford with its surreal old world atmosphere - to realise how much of an effect.
Long story short, I've been inspired by interiors lately, and am collecting some thoughts/ ideas/ plans for when I get that a little pit stop of my own to deck out. Here's a bit of an interior "get the look" which translates the mood.
As a side note, I recently read somewhere that "taste" reflects a lack - so whatever it is that we're attracted to in terms of aesthetic can be analysed to reveal something we lack/ thus need to create in our own lives. Not sure if I totally agree 100% of the time, with light, minimal femininity, simplicity, exoticism and organic elements being a consistent theme in my interior inspiration... which are all pretty rampant in my own life as far as I can tell. What do you guys think about this theory?
1. Studio lamp, Ikea
2. Vases, from Brook Farm General Store
3. Gardenia candle, Diptyque
4. Retro flip clock, I love Uma
5. Round cushion, Tasstico
6. Bed linen, West Elm
7. Moleskine cahier, Sam Haskins 'Fashion Etcetera', F Scott Fitzgerald 'The Great Gatsby'.
8. Hand-painted glass lantern, Etsy
9. Wooden stool, Anthropologie
How useful are labels? Is it important to be able to define, to sum up, your own style in a few words? By “style” I’m not just referring to fashion - though that’s definitely a part of what I mean – I’m talking about an overall aesthetic that we strongly identify with, and use to explain who we are.
In my own personal experience, starting Friggen Awesome, and squirrelling away inspiring discoveries from www travels in folders on my mac, has been an insight into my own sense of style – from the clothes I wear, to art, design, interiors. All viewed at once, they reveal a common thread and have given me a sense of cohesive awareness (and record) of my own aesthetic.
There’s something seductive in that feeling – it’s almost like applying an editorial eye to yourself, knowing instantly if something “works” with your aesthetic. And, of course, it's amazing to find other people who dig what you dig and respond to what you put out there.
But it leaves me wondering – how natural is it to always be consistent? Do we lock ourselves in to something stifling when we remain true to one “vision” and ignore all else? I think anything that helps us understand who we are right now is important, as long as we remain open to change; to that vision growing or even doing a complete turnaround, contradicting what we were before.
The most beautiful things and people are those who are open to change. Who always come from a natural place, who are unafraid of what that means. I’ve always liked the way good old Whitman summed it up:
Do I contradict myself? Very well, then I contradict myself, I am large, I contain multitudes.
Confetti System
Ink Calendar by Oscar Diaz
Stockholm Street Style
Anthroplogie
Julie Verhoeven
Acne Pistol Short Boot
I always had a bit of a soft spot for Lyell and its ladylike, Wes Anderson-y, cosy, Dewey-Decimal take on fashion. While the Australian designer behind the label, Emma Fletcher, announced Lyell was "taking a break" as of last year, I just came across these lookbook pics stashed in the hidden depths of my inspiration files and wanted to share. What at first glance looks like peeling wallpaper is actually a delicate artwork, with illustrative and watercolour-like flourishes. I'm not quite sure if the design is actually painted on the walls or if it was done in post-production (I'm leaning towards post)*, but all I know is that it gives that perfect, slightly-dilapidated yet decorative touch to the space, and I'm totes stealing the idea when I get a wall of my very own to paint.
All images from www.lyellnyc.com. Photography by Tamara Schlesinger.
*Update: mystery solved thanks to my retouching BF - it's 100% def post-production. He's like retouch Sherlock Holmes. Guess that makes me Friggen Watson.
Pink. Blue. Purple. A bit of visual goodness, why not?
Wall decals are the gypsy's dream: moveable packages of design goodness that let you be creative with a space that is temporaily yours.
I have stumbled upon some designs as whimsical as all of us semi-permanent nesters...
Am I capable of walking into a bookshop and not buying an armful of books? It seems unlikely. This morning's haul - it's a lazy, sunny, coffee-filled Sunday morning after all, and I'm only human - included a very friggen awesome-esque book on French interiors, (yes, I'm still in Francophile mode), French Home by Josephine Ryan. I just had to share the opening paragraph - while it relates to interior style, it could apply to everything from fashion to a general attitude towards life...
"The Japanese phrase, wabi sabi, or 'perfect imperfection', seems to capture the essence of the French approach to creating a home - the chemistry that happens when a look is pulled together with a certain nonchalance underscored by enormous confidence...it describes a tolerance, even reverence, for pieces that show their age; a feeling for things that are as beautiful as they are useful. It suggests the self-assurance that effortlessly combines old and new, that embraces personal quirks, indulges refined preferences and rejects the sterility of soulless design. The idea that things, houses or people should aspire to perfection is rendered redundant by the wisdom imparted in that one phrase..."
Writer, editor, coffee drinker.
The Street Stylers
The Mags
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