"Smokin'... Smokin' hot!", says Jackie.

Nobody tell NERDING AROUND, but I loooove this blog about smoking.


Le Smoking posts up beautiful fashion photography featuring this particularly sexy vice. I'd never condone smoking, but that doesn't mean it's not hot. See?



Le Smoking has a sister blog, Le Love. Le Love contains fashion photos of couples in love... which isn't NEARLY as interesting to me. Is that bad?

Baby--One More Time

Forgive me for that.

Anyway: Meet Sophie.


Sophie was another find from my baby toy research, and it was love at first sight for SURE. Sophie has been manufactured by French toy company Vulli since the 1960s. She's made of natural rubber from the Hevea tree. And she is gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous.

Better believe she's on my Amazon wish list.

Babies Need Design, Too

I hate to go all NOTCOT and just post a picture of a hot thing... but, with the bite acknowledged, check out this hot thing!


The Little Zookeeper Soft Block Set from Zid Zid Kids, courtesy of AtomicBaby.com.

Yes, these are baby toys. I was looking at a LOT of baby toys one day for work, and these are certainly a cut above the rest. There's a lot to love: the colors, the shiny textures, the stitched-on details, the fact that the little blue thing is a blue jay... If these were blown up significantly I'd certainly put them on my couch. My couch doesn't even deserve them! Plus, roommate Jackie made us these really great pillows already.... But anyways, it's almost a shame that they exist mainly to be chewed on by babies.

If you have any interest in cool baby stuff, I really do recommend AtomicBaby.com, along with Pottery Barn Kids' baby section, for the more traditional (some very WASP-y part of me loves this stuff).

EDIT: I just noticed that these guys match the blog--the blue and orange in particular. Whaddya know.

Maybe I've Just Been Watching Too Many Chick Flicks

I'm not one of those girls that's been dreaming about her wedding day since she was 5 (or ever), but I saw this and said "Holy shit that's what I want to get married in." ("Holy shit" seems like an appropriate expression to associate with the sanctity of marriage, naturally.) As you all know I'm not much one for "elegant splendor," so a cute wedding dress is much more up my alley. Look how cute she is!



This little beauty is from a line called Miss Lanvin--designed by Lanvin designer Alber Elbaz and crafted by Taiwanese porcelain master FRANZ. Each season brings 6 new dolls in editions of 800 and retailing for $345.

Via TrendLand

UPDATE: Think I found the real deal from Lanvin's Resort 2008 collection:


I like the statuette version better. Maybe it's just because my natural tendency is to love the cartoonish. But really, I'm not crazy about the fluffiness. I'd want it in a heavier fabric, maybe something matte-ish. Also, I want 10,00o white doves released as we exit the chapel... *barf.*

Sicko and Sartorialist

Saw The Dark Knight today and loved it. This girl loves some Batman.

I was really tickled when the police officers in the film were trying to identify the Joker and said, "All his clothes are custom-made--no labels."

THE JOKER'S SUIT IS BESPOKE.

It was pretty great, too. Really lovely pattern (and texture!) mixing. My favorite piece was the shirt... lookit this:
A closeup of the print... hexagons filled with lovely little patterns....

Here's the look, from the cover of Empire Magazine:
And those socks are sooo Robb Hunter. Except that there's two of them.
And the shoes... that shape is so perfect... subtly clowny without making you actually think of clown shoes.
And that makeup... oh god, so lovely. Perfect perfect perfect.

And here's the man in full regalia... I don't love the coat nearly as much as the rest, but its boldness and imperfect fit make it the piece that makes the character crazy and scary.
It's a real shame we won't be seeing this incarnation of this character again.

think Bonnaroo, but just total insanity instead of music.

going into the desert for a few days to fuck around, smoke peyote and set stuff on fire but don't know what to wear?

worry no more!

"Playalicious Playwear" is here with tips, tricks, and inspiration on what to wear to the Burning Man festival (Wikipedia article). Behold:







Borrowing from punk, rave, hippie and pretty much any other imaginable fashion subculture, this stuff is totally crazy. Its name comes from the word "playa," which is a salt flat and the location of Burning Man (the playa of the Black Rock Desert in Nevada). It's entertaining at the least, and maybe a little inspiring sometimes. And now you'll never commit a Playa fashion faux pas!

link to Tribe photo group: http://playaliciousplaywear.tribe.net/

yohji yamamoto pattern

stumbled across this on the internet! downloadable pattern by yohji yamamoto for this little jacket thing. the pattern is CRAZY... i love those kooky japanese designers.

by "kooky" i mean "INSANELY TALENTED."

i am pretty into this kind of patterning, maybe you are too. thought i'd share.

link. more pictures on the website.
http://www.showstudio.com/projects/ddl_yamamoto/gallery.html

Julian Opie

first off, this man has the GREATEST website i have seen in ages. i'm not even a Mac OG--it is impossible not to appreciate, especially because it works so damn well.



I came across Julian Opie's work as some teeny pictures in a Japanese magazine. The super-small images caught my eye because they were so bold. Opie's drawings are incredibly simple, almost chunky, yet they all feel extremely real--the way he captures poses with such simple strokes is kind of awe-inspiring. I love the feeling of the drawings. While they give a lot of visual information, they seem emotionally kind of blank--purely documentary.

Anyway, I'm obsessed. Not a fashion illustrator per se, but an AWESOME illustrator whose work has something to say about drawing humans.

fifi!

models wearing designer clothes are pretty

but a little hand-drawn rabbit wearing designer clothes is CUTE. oh, and awesome.



fifi lapin in tommy hilfiger



fifi lapin in carolina herrera

go check out fifi's blog, where she does quite a bit of lovely modeling. the drawings are just wonderful. i wish i had done them!!

http://fifi-lapin.blogspot.com/

advice

from the book How to Be a Graphic Designer, Without Losing Your Soul" by Adrian Shaughnessy, but which I believe to be not limited to graphic design:

"...Cultural Awareness (you can call it research, if you like, but it's really something larger) ranks higher than technical ability and academic qualifications in the designer's portfolio of attributes."

keep your eyes open!