NYC Stories # 1: Specials

I've just read a post over on Café Mode about the new Marc Jacobs shop in Paris, mentioning his "Specials" range of weird and wonderful accessories at miniscule prices. Well, I went to New York a couple of weeks ago for a long weekend, and was staying round the corner from the dedicated Marc Jacobs Specials shop on Bleecker Street. Every time I tried to go there I was too early and it wasn't open yet, but on my last day, in fact my last hour, I decided to give it one last go, and boy was I glad I did!! The shop is tiny, and was pretty hectic, but they had some fab things. I bought a large version of a canvas bag I'd had my eye on for months (seen on the Internet, never in real life), this chunky turquoise and silver bracelet, and a t-shirt that's already had lots of good comments. 

It was a very successful end to an otherwise pretty much shopping-free weekend. It's strange, normally designer labels don't do anything for me (which is just as well, money-wise), but Marc Jacobs has some kind of magnetic pull, maybe it's a combination of the logo, the humour in his designs, the man himself.... and of course the fact that these particular items are very affordable is a huge bonus!

Rule Britannia

On Sunday, I finally got round to going through some old magazines and tearing out anything useful so that I could get rid of (recycle) the rest. A couple of the pages that caught my eye had Union Jack cushions on...

This one by Vivienne Westwood for The Rug Company

These ones on gorgeous leather chairs in the home of fashion designer Sara Berman

Well, I had an old cushion lying around waiting for a new cover, so I decided to make my very own Union Jack cushion, using some blue cotton, cream calico and a scrap of red silk that I already had. The silk immediately started to fray and even tear along the stitching, so I had to patch it up before I'd even finished, but I'm really happy with the result. It's delicate, so I'm not going to put it on our sofa to get trashed, but its looking just fine perched at the top of my bed. I will take a picture of it tonight and pop it on here for posterity!

Original

Last Sunday I went to the Craft Council's Origin Craft Fair, at Somerset House. It was a lovely sunny afternoon, and Somerset House is such an elegant venue. I didn't stay for very long, but got quite inspired by some of the work I saw there. In fact, I dashed home to do some making of my own, and to finally stick a pile of cuttings into my new scrap book, but ended up going to the local pub quiz instead. My number one favourite was Samantha Bryan and her incredibly detailed fairy characters with their weird and wonderful accessories.

Samantha Bryan

I love the knitted textures on these ceramics by Annette Bugansky, and the clever way they make a brittle, delicate material look cosy.

The fine line drawings on tea towels, laundry bags and other objets by Teresa Green are really simple and appealing.

And finally, I was very tempted by this suede bound notebook by Kim Robertson, with its hot and glamorous colours and graphic print reminiscent of Stella McCartney...