Material Archive

Grace Coddington: A Memoir

So – what did I think?

It's an interesting read.

She's led a full life with many big fashion moments and collaborations. Some of which inspire massive eye rolls, and surprise at how much smaller the industry seemed in her early days, and others that are more quietly poignant and charming. The book is packed with name dropping and celebrities, so it's juicy enough on that front.

The idea of writing a memoir does make one pause though. It seems like an incredibly hard task to pull off without glossing over truly seminal events or over-indulging in others. The result can seem like a bit of a vain mess and not terribly dignified in the end. I sympathize, as I love the idea of a good biography, but they are rarely done well.

All that aside, if you're looking for a fun and light "fashion" book, this super quick read, will do ya. Took me one day to finish it.

 

Laurent Chehere: Flying Houses

See more here.

See all your Instagram Photos on Instagrid

Login into Instagrid to access your whole Instragram library in one spot. You can also subscribe to users' feeds and get a weekly email summary of what they have posted. See mine here!

The beginning of a great tradition

This issue holds a special place in my heart. It was the first I ever bought myself with my allowance at the tender age of 12!

Modernist Cuisine – mostly no Photoshop

When I first saw this series of books, I assumed it was almost all retouching that produced the amazing cut-away photograpy – but alas, as this Ted talk shows, the majority of imagery is a result of actually sawing dishware and appliances in half! Pretty cool.

Watch several other videos on the book here.

Read a great article about Nathan Myhrvold, the book's co-author, and the former CTO of Microsoft, here.

Alexander McQueen : Savage Beauty

With an absolutely eerie and haunting cover of McQueen morphing from portrait to skull, Savage Beauty is a must own for any lover of fashion – a beautiful book.

Awesome People Hanging Out Together

Eartha Kitt and James Dean





Andy Warhol & Alfred Hitchcock





Errol Flynn and wife Nora Eddington with Rita Hayworth and Orson Welles

Michael Jackson & Steven Tyler

Ella Fitzgerald & Marilyn Monroe

Karl Lagerfeld & Grace Coddington, 1974

Mick Jagger, William S. Burroughs & Andy Warhol, 1980.





Lauren Bacall, Humphrey Bogart & Marilyn Monroe, 1953





David Bowie, Iggy Pop & Lou Reed


See more here.

One to watch: Bill Cunningham New York

A documentary about New York's original street style photographer from Zeitgeist Films.

Nice job Talbots

 

 

 

Wow Talbots – way to go to make me pay attention to you.

Annie Leibovitz shoots Marie Antoinette

 

Natalie Massenet & Conan O'Brien

 

No, Natalie Massenet and Conan O'Brien don't really have anything to do with one another. I just came across these shots of them and thought they were great. Her, with her hugely visionary fashion empire, and he, with his marvelous bouffant – which I always thought defied gravity on it's own – until now. :)

 

She shot by Henry Bourne, he shot by Gillian Laub.

Grant Hamilton Polaroid Art

 

 
 





See more here.

Erie Basin

 


 

Erie Basin is an extremely charming and tightly curated store (in Brooklyn NY) and online boutique that sells 18-20th century jewelry and collectable curios. "Ranging from Art Deco engagement rings to 18th century mourning jewelry to American folk art, the collection is varied, but carefully constructed" and very beautifully photographed I might add. Owner Russell Whitmore has a very sharp and refined eye!

What I wish I was wearing for NYE:

 

Image by Pierre Dal Corso

The perfect wardrobe:

Love these:

 

Stuff I'm liking today:

Shot by Colin Angus.

 

I don't know what this means but I love how the purple smoke looks – esp. against that blue tile. Wouldn't it be nice if it smelled like grape?


This is a Christmas garland from TOAST. Wish it was a necklace instead.






This is an awesome mural from the Ace Hotel.

 

  

This is Melissa Auf der Maur and Olivier Theyskens during their collaboration. He reminds me of Trent Reznor in this outfit and haircut.

This is a brilliant fucking idea. I'm mad at myself for not thinking of it sooner. Why isn't everything this good?

 

  This charming illustration is by Ben Weeks. I met him recently at the Design Thinkers conference.

This is a detail from a dress I want to buy from Urban Outfiters. It looks very similar to one I fell in love with last Spring from Jonathan Saunders.

 

The necklace and dress are both Lanvin.

 

Some lovely packaging design for Merchant & Mills. Have you ever seen a more beautiful pin?

 

I don't know where this is but I want to go there and never return.

Beautiful things

 

Dentsu: Paint Sound Sculptures: Making of Canon Pixma’s Campaign

Carl Kleiner for Ikea's Cookbook: Hembakat är Bäst

 

    



Genius. See more here.

Love the colours

66 Drives By Andrew Bush

"Andrew Bush (b. 1956) examines this tension between private and public in his remarkable series of photographs of individuals driving cars in and around Los Angeles—a city famous for its car culture. By attaching a camera to the passenger side window, Bush made these pictures while driving alongside his subjects—often traveling at 60 mph. Taking notes on the speed and direction he was going, Bush created extended captions for the images and called the series Vector Portraits."  See the whole series here.

What don't I like about this is the question

Bookshelf Porn

The secret bookshelf and the swivel bookcase wall are amazing aren't they? I'm addicted to Bookshelf Porn. Another great find via SM.

Nice colours

By Stacy Newgent

Yabba Dabba

 


 


 

Tory Burch Fall 2010



Magic!

Mint and pink with a hit of silver or gold = happiness.

This is Fig Newton – how insanely cute is this cat?


Anna's coat is perfection. Prada me thinks...


Miss Peyton does a self-portrait.

Givenchy

Gimmie

My BF

Taylor Swift

First movie I remember seeing in the theatre.

She did that for his birthday. Sweet isn't it?

Colour:

Collection a Day

As an avid collector and someone that loves pattern and the sight of objects repeating, I was quite excited to come across this blog, It's creator's goal is to document a collection of items a day for a year by either photographing or drawing them.

Maurizio Cattelan for W Magazine

See the rest here.

I'm at the office still...

So I thought I would post something to cheer me up. Don't these ladies look splendid? Look at the old bat in the back top left – looks like she's giving them an earful and they're just la-de-da-ing it up with their Campari and sodas and cute hats.

Bird formations captured by Richard Barnes

By Richard Barnes.

Faces in places: the popcorn edition

Pretty cute eh? See more here.

W's "Run of Show"

 Great SP10 dress editorial from W Magazine – I want one of each please! See the details here.

(click on images to see larger)

I've been looking at sandwiches all day...

I'm working on a food shoot next week and spent almost the entire day today looking at sandwiches. This photo reminded me of the kind I ate as a kid in my school lunch and as good as it looks now, I would have traded it for PB&J on Wonder bread any day given the chance back then. You always want what you can't have...so silly 

image via Getty

Some lovely atypical images of Grace Kelly

"Absence of water" by Gigi Cifali

I could easily set-up house in one of these spaces – so beautiful! See more here.

Beautiful photo of the day

By the always amazing Tim Walker for Vogue UK. Click on it to see it large!

809 Breakfasts

 




The first time I ever saw chocolate Jimmies on toast was in Amsterdam – goddamn I love the Dutch.
The lovely photos above were taken by Francesca Bondy who has documented her breakfast over 800+ times. See her entire colourful collection here.

Inspired by Cecil Beaton today

 

Store Front – The Disappearing Face of New York

I saw this incredible book a while ago at Magic Pony and fell in love – but as usual – I didn't buy it because it was too heavy! This happens all too frequently to me... I see a great book but can't cope with the idea of schlepping it all around the city for the rest of the afternoon and so I don't ever get it. I will have to make a trip especially for it  – along with the Lanvin and Valentino tomes on my list!

Anyhow, now that I have bored you with the logistics of my book shopping habits – can you believe how great these shots are? This collection of New York's beautiful, decaying old store front facades are like precious little windows in to the past. The signage design, lettering and materials are all eye-candy. Read more about the book from it's authors here.

Quirky Food Editorial

 

Nice colour palette and juxtaposition of props. Shot by Yasmine & Arie and styled by Nurit Kariv. Found at All Over Print.

Stam looks stunning

Canadian beauty Jessica Stam (from the September issue of Numero) has never looked better in my opinion. Gorgeous photos!

Inspired by Irving Penn

Radiology Art

Artist and medical student Satre Stuelke takes common objects like consumer electronics, toys and even fast food and places them in a CT scanner bombarded with image-generating radiation to analyze their structure. The result is a beautiful array of skeletal forms and movies which are quite beautiful! See more here. (via my friend Mary-Ann)

Syoin Kajii's Big Waves

 


See more of this beautiful work here.

Fun with food

  

These clever images are for the Sydney International Food Festival. See more here.

School Supplies by Anu Tuominen

I love these images from artist Anu Tuominen – don't they look so wonderfully used?

Just because

I wish I was here

Photo by Christian Chaize

This is exactly how I dress when I eat a cake alone at home

 
Photographer Emily Wren for Esther K. jewelry