Blue skies, rain and denim

Then orange, then pink, so denim splurge.

John Lewis Edition (unknown)

Marie Claire. January 2011, pp. unknown

Embroidery on denim too is something that really fascinates me at the moment, 

some of my own embroidery below:

Testing out watercolour brush in MS Paint - nice texture, really irritating point/beginning of it though. If it was a gimp moving brush maybe that would be better? Blues abundance. 

John Lewis Edition Spring 2014/2013, pp. unknown

References:

John Lewis Edition. Spring 2013/2014, pp. unknown

Marie Claire. Spring/Summer 2013, pp. unknown

Golden Lamé, Solar Punk and Sub Genres

The beautiful gown worn by Alicia Keys in the advert campaign for Givenchy's perfume Dahlia Divin is described as being a Golden lamé gown, lamé being a term for clothing or material in which golden or silver threads run to give it the sheen and colour and reflective ability that it has.

From the advertisement of Givenchy's  Dahlia Divin perfume,
scanned from June 2014 issue of Stylist magazine.

I love the details on this gown, they make me think of elaborate steam punk imagery that uses nuts and bolts and other metal fastenings, steam powered contraptions, strange welded together bits of metal and so on. But then they also have a more of a solar punk feel. Solar punk is a recent genre that I've been thinking about and looking into, it is quite futuristic and often involves the use of solar energies as a power source, I imagine it would also involve the use of any green renewable energy sources, sun or star burst motif imagery, (thank you Disney's Tangled).
These coils and things that look like bolts and screw heads look amazing. It is mostly bead work or large bead/gem work as you can see from the borrowed imagery:

Reference:
Stylist magazine (2014) Givenchy's  Dahlia Divin perfume [Advertisement] June 2014.

Plants and Petals, Bloom Journal, Issue 21

Bloom Journal is a beautiful journal that is, like many journals, expensive - so I scanned in pages from issue 21 last year and finally have come around to posting them. A small preview of Bloom journal, issue 21.

A lot of rich photographs of flowers and brilliant shots of fashion, including a clever fusion of African and Japanese textiles, ideas around fabrics and patterns - something that particularly interests me.

More images from previous Bloom issues can be found here: http://www.edelkoort.com/editions/
Additionally it turns out that Trend publication also have a website called Trend Tablet (http://www.trendtablet.com/), where they post often about things that influence trends/direct trends themselves, with interesting visuals and a nice clean site.

References:
Trend Union. (2013) Bloom journal/magazine (photographs and text), no.21 2013. Various photos and texts, pp. 23,53,67 and 145.

K & M Associates. (2014) Trend Magazines, Bloom Magazine (online). Available at: http://s291360959.initial-website.co.uk/trend-magazines-catalogues/bloom-magazine/. (Accessed: 3rd June 2014).

Trend Union. (2014) About (online). Available at: http://www.edelkoort.com/trend_publication/ (Accessed: 3rd June 2014).

Archived Snip: Alexis Bittar, bracelets and bangles

Beautiful bits of jewellery mixed with walls cracking and crumbling. 

This jewellery designer is pretty clever and amazing with his variety of bracelets and bangles.
Not a single rough or sharp edge, the jewellery shapes often takes exaggerated forms, tubular and always so beautiful. They have an edge of other worldliness about them that I find fascinating, I think its his use of kind of frosted materials, or materials with a translucency to them.
Lucite, a material used to form the some of the bangles and bracelets he makes, is a type of thermoplastic which is known and used as a shatter-resistant alternative to glass, a material traditionally associated with bangles due to the way glass clinks and makes sounds when bumping or hitting each other - like bells? Plastic bangles don't share this sound, their more clunky really in that respect, but their safer and stronger than glass. Lucite is also known as perspex or acrylic.    

References:

Alexis Bittar (2014) Alexis Bittar. Available at: http://www.alexisbittar.com/ (Accessed:15th April 2014).

Ellis, K. (2009) 'Alexis Bittar Crystal Bangles', The Gloss, 1st November. Available at: http://www.thegloss.com/2009/11/01/fashion/alexis-bittar-crystal-bangles/ (Accessed:15th April 2014).

Scottsdalefashionista (2012) 'Flower power ! Don’t miss Alexis Bittar’s spring jewelry trunk show at Nordstrom !', 19th April (Online). Available at: http://www.scottsdalefashionista.com/flower-power-dont-miss-alexis-bittars-spring-jewelry-trunk-show-at-nordstrom/ (Accessed:15th April 2014).