hearts, pearls & gold

Pretty necklaces at kim & maki. {click images to enlarge}

{betsey johnson before all the pink}

Through random surfing, I came across Betsey Johnson's New York apartment before the pink, when the walls were a sunny yellow, thanks to a collaboration with fashion and interior designer and architect Tarik Currimbhoy.

Also before the pink was a period of minimalism, during which time Betsey cleared out most of her things and painted all of the walls white. This period lasted about two weeks before she decided she needed more stuff and began filling the place again and painted the walls a vibrant, happy pink.

An excerpt from an interview with Robert Sharoff:

How did it begin?
I went to Mexico three years ago and saw this tiny hotel for sale on the beach in Barra de Potosi, a little fishing village not too far from Acapulco, and decided to buy it. It was a pretty spontaneous decision. It needed to be updated so I started painting and decorating and looking at wallpaper. It was the first time I had ever done anything like that. I wound up bringing 26 chandeliers and a ton of other stuff down from New York in two 54-foot moving trucks. It was a fantastic experience. It opened up anentire new world to me.

What’s the finished look?
Very floral, loud, colorful and a little kitschy. I knew Andy Warhol back in the 1960s and the floral patterns and color intensities I used at the hotel – which, by the way, I have re-named Betseyville – remind me of his work.

You’re known as a funky rock and roll designer – is that the tone of the home merchandise?
I do get typecast as the blast-out kid. I like girly, I like glamorous, and I like gorgeous. But that covers a lot of ground. My home collection is very personal and pretty much based on what I have in my own houses.

We’re seeing a lot of Mid-Century Modern ideas in home Merchandise right now. Is that a style you’re drawn to?
No. I find that stuff a little cold and hard. And I’m not big on ’50s colors. For instance, I have an original Knoll womb chair from that period but never really liked it until I had it recovered in bright pink wool. Now it works. But that’s typical for me. I’ve never been someone who could just buy something out of a store and bring it home. I usually have to send it out to have the fabric or the color changed.

{To read the full interview, click here.}

(images: galadarling.com)

{pretty in pink: betsey johnson}

Love Betsey Johnson's amazing pink maximalist home featured in this month's Elle Decoration UK.

{history of tartan & plaid}

Couldn't very well return from a beautiful trip to Scotland without writing about tartan and plaid . . .

Tartan is associated the world over with the kilt, the national dress of Scotland, and the history of both goes hand in hand.

Tartan is a material that can be woven from many colours and was originally a sort of uniform for distinguishing the many clans in the Highlands and islands of Scotland and can be traced as far back as the middle of the 5th Century to Ireland, where the Scots originated.

The very first form of tartan is nothing like its modern day counterpart, being a type of shirt that ended just above the knee, known as léine in Irish Gaelic. It is generally accepted that it was made of linen, and although the earliest references to this garment describe it as light-coloured, it may have been of a darker yellow shade which led to the English describing it as a saffron shirt.

In later times, coloured stripes were incorporated into the léine to indicate the rank of the wearer--the first attempts at what is now known as tartan. For instance, a High King wore seven stripes, one of these being purple, the colour of royalty.

With the new abundance of a growing number of sheep herds in the land, the plaid grew from being little better than a rug to a long piece of material between 12 and 15 feet in length, which the Highlanders would pleat round their waists in folds and pull over their heads like a hood and use as a blanket at night.

By 1730 the patterns had evolved from simple stripes and patterns into what today would be called tartan, from the French word tartaine.

After the defeat of the Jacobites at Culloden, the English Army routed the Highlands, destroying the Highlanders' way of life, banning clan tartans and destroying cloth-making equipment, including sett-sticks. Yet even at their lowest ebb, the Highlanders rebelled, wearing trousers of their tartan, subtly woven.

Football (soccer) teams, even countries have commissioned their own tartan, emphasising the importance and emotion that the people of Scotland attach to tartan and the sense of kinship that has been an integral part of Scottish culture.

{images: 1+2: Holt's Women's Fall 2007; rest: Dolche & Gabbana Fall 2008 RTW via Style.com; bottom, Burrberry; copy: special thanks to the BBC}

{through the looking glass}

Ever since the new romantic post, which featured an oversized mirror leaning against a wall, have been taken with the dramatic statement it makes, and how it opens up a room and adds light.


(images: beach studios & Your Home As a Santuary)

ballerina girl

Jacqueline Appel's home is exactly where you'd imagine a ballerina would live. The ballet dancer, VH1 and MTV fashion stylist, jewellery and interior designer's chic Toronto home has all the elements of luxury: pillow shams made of Pucci scarves, silk slippers displayed as art, Venetian Murano glass chandeliers, Fortuny silk lamps, and high-gloss finishes such as polished floors and lacquered ceilings.

(images: Flare September 2007; click to enlarge)