Paris Sun a Time for Hats!

 Sketch Junya Watanabe summer 2011

From Italian Vogue

 Images Italian Vogue

I adore these summer hats by Junya Watanabe. Although she sites her influences as Edwardian bathing costme-ish  a la Biarritz, I think  the hats hearken back the Directoire and Empire with a modern twist. I adore the ribbon and buckle.

I love hats, I can’t cope with anything in my hands like a parasol.

My grandmother was a milliner she ran the millinery department at Bonwit Teller in Philadelphia from the

great depression until she retired in the 1970’s. 

 1938

 Pochoir  

Georges Lepape, Gazette du Bon Ton, 1913

each print was hand-colored using stencils.

I have such found memories of trips to her house  where she had  an atelier for private commissions. She had a wall of French silk ribbons on spools. These ribbons were mesmerizing with delicate colors,  textures, and patterns.   

She had shelves of beads in bottles, bolts of lace and tulle for bridal  veils, crowns,  and  beaded bodices.

She also had a zoological treasure trove of exotic feathers. Once she  took me to a place called the South African Feather company, a veritable warehouse stocked with rare and exotic plumes, now, no doubt all contraband; birds of paradise, king fisher feathers,  just gorgeous.

 Italian Vogue

 French Straw hats 1920's-1930's

Effel On Eiffel

1948

Jean Effel, nom de plume of artist caricaturist,cartoonist, 

and journalist, Francois Lejeune (1906-1982)

F.L.= effel

Think Pink

I saw this absolutely  beautiful woman walk into the boulangerie on 

Rue d'Estrees in Pairs.  She was wearing a snow leopard coat

with leopard leggings, and  red boots.

Her hair was the most intoxicating baby pink--dreamy and delicate framing her face.

did not have the chutzpah to walk up and photograph her. But I did  do this quick sketch from memory.

I started to think pink, I see that it is a trend.

In Paris, Books & Beasts

 Over the years I have found many shops that I adore in Paris.
I collect rare books and works of art on paper, so many
of my favorite shops are book shops, and  

one of my favorite book shops is 

Here

Perhaps I am prejudiced  because I have found several copies of the French edition of my fist book Tiffany et les joailliers americins there.   They sell beautiful contemporary art, style, and design books. They have a very fine rare book department.

Below are a few selections from their current  catalog.

 catalog cover

18 magnificent watercolors, ballet costumes circa 1750

bound in a leather volume

Jazz by Henri Matisse, 1947 in a decorative binding (reliure) by  Renee Haas.

From a limited edition of 250, signed by the artist.

 They also have a gallery.The current exhibition is a delight. 

Sisters Nicole Jacobs and Aude Goalec have created a Papier-mâché menagerie full of poetry and humor.

Working over wire mesh armatures with paper and glue from weekly's, daily's and magazines. They play off of the words, forms, and the connotations of the actual medium.

Ane

Oie

Contact Thierry Meaudre at chez Lardanchet  Here

Paris the Real First Day of Spring

The first warm sunny day look what happened!

Duck, 28,800 Bath Toys Lost at Sea

 Duck

We found this duck in the Medici Fountain at the Luxembourg garden in Paris

But   28,800 toy ducks were lost at sea

Illustration by Mark Pernice
for the New York Times

Are the subject of a new Book

MOBY-DUCK

The True Story of 28,800 Bath Toys Lost at Sea and of the Beachcombers, Oceanographers, Environmentalists, and Fools, Including the Author, Who Went in Search of Them

By Donovan Hohn

402 pp. Viking. $27.95.

The same event inspired this book a number of years ago

A wonderful book review in the New York Times brought this book to my attention. Plastic pollution at sea is not cute even if the ducks are. This film is great it is narrated by Jeramey Irons.

 

Night

 

Night view from my window

March 8 Journee de la Femme

Spring is trying to spring forth, the light is changing moods are lifting.