Monday, April 20, 2015

Selvedge and New Lace (Miss C in the "Ageless" Issue)


I'm excited to have two pieces in Selvedge's "ageless" issue (#64), which was just published in London.














My first piece is a look at lace--in Chloe, Kenzo, Roberto Cavalli, and Bora Aksu.



The second is a "design file" piece about 101-year-old Italian designer Micol Fontana, who inspired the issue. She and her sisters designed the clothes for Ava Gardner in The Barefoot Contessa, as well as Anita Ekberg's iconic black strapless dress for the fountain scene in La Dolce Vita.


And then I'm delighted to featured on the contributors' page, wearing a favourite straw hat.


It reminds me, just a bit, of this one:


But I'm even more delighted (and surprised) to be pictured directly below textile designer, knitter, quilt designer, and author Kaffe Fassett!



Saturday, April 18, 2015

Jane Eyre and the Other Mr. R (Eric Ravilious)

Updated below.

The minute I saw this painting by Eric Ravilious (1939; thank you, Selvedge Magazine!), I fell in love with it.

The image anticipates the carriage (2011) within which Jane Eyre rides to a bittersweet freedom from the deceit of Thornfield Hall.

I love the upholstery, the burnished wood interior, the bleached landscape. Oh, to be transported there immediately!

But I'd be running to this Mr. R.


P.S. I had a nagging feeling that I'd seen this image before; it just felt familiar. A quick internet search showed that I had--and even commented on it back in 2009. Good to see that my taste is consistent, even if my memory isn't.


And here's the book to which I was referring in the comments section; for Mater. When I worked in New York for a wonderful publishing company, we distributed Thames and Hudson books, and I scooped up this one, not knowing how it would be relevant some 17 years later.