Sadness is a Blessing!

All photos by Devastee

In the world of fashion, it isn't very stylish to be happy--how many editorials, runway shows or lookbooks do you see containing glowing, ebullient models?  Sadness is much chicer, and icy stares and solemn looks are more common expressions to wear than radiant smiles.  Sometimes though, all the sour faces and stiff attitudes can feel a bit too serious.  That's why I love Devastee, the French line designed by Ophélie Klère and François Alary.  The collections are always somewhat gothic in tone, with a strict black and white color palette, and inspiration sources that include death and other things that depress the designers.  Nonetheless, the gloomy subjects are addressed with a strong sense of humor and play, and a t-shirt from a previous collection reads, "DON'T WORRY AFTER DEATH BE HAPPY."  This season Devastee has combined motifs of crosses and skulls with smiley faces and grinning gingerbread man.  The result is ghoulishly comical, and creepily cute.  Even if it's chic to look world-weary, it's okay to smile once in a while too.

-Tiffany

Claymation Creations

All photos by HoKiou

I don't know whether or not this was a universal phenomena, but during fifth grade, the Fimo bead trend swept through my junior high.  You could buy the perfectly pre-made variety from the also very trendy Bead Store (a highly popular Upper East Side birthday party spot) or, if you were crafty, could attempt to make your own fimo creations.  I was of course eager to experiment, and I have to say that in retrospect, the results were rather misshapen lumps strung up on cheap string.  I quickly abandoned Fimo, having since decided metal is a much more favorable material for jewelry making, and haven't actually thought of clay much since.

That is, until I came across HoKiou.  The Paris based jewelry designer elevates polymer clay way beyond the boundaries of my stunted fifth-grade imagination.  While I would never dare to move beyond clunky, hunkering beads in psychedelic colors, HoKiou shuns beads in favor of shaping the clay into intricately crafted miniature menageries.  Subjects include incredibly detailed snowy deer, howling wolves, sleepy foxes, and gliding jellyfish, each encased in a tiny glass sphere.  HoKiou also makes very twee crochet storm clouds and custom initialed hearts, which are also irresistibly cute.  Perhaps I will be inspired to take up playing with clay again.

-Tiffany

Rhinestones Are A Girl's Best Friend

All photos by Shourouk

A couple months ago, I spied a glittering necklace with sequined cherries adorning one of my classmates in my CAD for Jewelry Designers class. The design reminded me of the classic Bakelite cherry necklaces that you see on auction, or at high-end vintage jewelry shops, remade with a glimmering twist, and I had to ask my classmate where she got her necklace. You can always depend on other jewelry designers to give you the best jewelry shopping tips, and although my colleagues and I will jealously guard our sources and production methods, we will always blab about other designers who inspire us.

My classmate happily informed me that the necklace was by French designer Shourouk, and a quick look at his website revealed pieces that tickled all of my closeted and repressed princess tendencies--I almost had to surpress a squeal when I saw the bunny necklace or the snail headband. The whimsical baubles are inspired in equal part by vintage and retro glamour, a childish sense of play, and the designer's Tunisian origins. Many of the pieces mix traditional embroidery methods and sequins with hundreds of rhinestones, to create jewels that sparkle with the intensity of diamonds, while flaunting the fact that they're the antithesis of those precious gems. Who needs those conflict-ridden diamonds anyway, when these rhinestones will do the trick?

-Tiffany

Rive Gauche

Half of my friends have jetted off to Paris for market, and I'm incredibly jealous that I'm not joining them. My last trip in January was way too short, and left me with a craving for all things French: macaroons, escargot, and of course, that quintessential French chic that all Parisian women possess. I'm not particularly chic or put-together (more thrown together), but Parisian ladies make me want to try a little harder. Catherine Malandrino's collections are always based on that very idea of Parisian chic, and this season she presented some of the staples of the look: elongated silhouettes, luxurious outerwear and furs, men's inspired trousers, all mixed with flashes of fishnet. Malandrino's knits are always one of her strongpoints, and one of my favorite pieces was a body-hugging grey long-sleeve dress, which looks just as well suited for the streets of Manhattan as the Left Bank of Paris.

-Tiffany

A Tale of Two Gators

Earlier this week, I got a chance to take a peek at the new Lacoste and Catherine Malandrino collaboration. The Lacoste x Malandrino collection is meant to be a meeting of two French brands, fusing the masculine sportif aspects of Lacoste with the distinctly feminine aesthetic of Malandrino. Like most American women, I'm somewhat fascinated by how French women put themselves together: always effortlessly chic, feminine but never frilly. It's a look that I myself could never master, being the general mess that I am (I guess I could start by brushing my hair once in a while), but one that I can definitely appreciate, and I think the collection embodies this pared-down perfection. My favorite pieces by far are the pointelle polo dresses, which look like they were designed for Daisy Buchanan of The Great Gatsby.

-Tiffany