Found Objects: Color Me Happy

Longing for some quality coloring time? Reach for these wonderful handmade crayons. Their playful shape and friendly faces make for instant fun. The nontoxic materials that go into making them are a bonus.

 (pictures via etsy.com)

Prêt-à-Porter: Long Live Summer

When fall arrives each year, I always feel a little resigned in spirit.  Resigned to dim-colored clothing, and to growing increasingly (with the onset of colder weather) bulkier in shape as I pile on the layers.  Putting the happy, light summer dresses away feels like putting away the happier, sunnier me 'til spring.  But it's not all depressing, I suppose.  Fall and winter also mean greater structure.  Dress shirts and sleek pants and boxy coats.  Minimalism and black and white can be a welcome break from the flirtiness of summer dressing.

(above: a look from the Alberta Ferreti Spring 2010 collection, paired with navy wide-leg pants from Barneys New York and a Lutz &Patmos cream-colored cardigan. Pictures via style.com and barneys.com)

But this fall, I'm just not ready to let go of summer quite yet.  So here's a suggestion, even for those who have to dress for the office every day.  Why not prolong summer by wearing warm weather pieces all throughout the fall (and maybe the winter, too, if you love summer like I do)?  Float innumerable light layers on top of each other: a bare, wispy blouse over a bare, wispy dress over another wispy dress, capped by a thick sweater or a suit jacket in the office.  When it's particularly cold, I slip on a close-fitting turtleneck as a base layer or add pants under the dresses.  Another idea: Tuck the ends of a gossamer scarf into the waist of your dark pencil skirt to combine a little feminine with the conservative.  Instantly, you've got a multicolored look with personality that's ready for work.  I also have a lot of fun wrapping delicate scarves around my torso to create a silky, strapless top under a jacket or cardigan.  And finally, summer tunics and caftans can have an interesting life in autumn either paired with a coat of similar length and dark tights (for an elongating look), or belted and brought up short as a loose blouse with great volume.  Wear them with a pair of trousers or a long skirt, and you'll have the perfect mix of summer and fall.

(above: a look from the A.F. Vandervorst Spring 2010 Collection, paired with a fitted brown jersey skirt from Rick Owens Lilies and a camel-colored wrap coat from The Row. Images via style.com and barneys.com)

Curiosities: Claudia Hapeman Masks

With Halloween around the bend, these beautiful Venetian-inspired masks would be a breath of fresh air amidst all the tired witches, goblins, and sexy nurses/cats/barmaids. Each mask is created with quality materials (think Swarovski crystals and gold leaf) by renowned artist Claudia Hapeman. I love her extravagant use of lush feathers and sequins, which makes each piece an impressive piece of art. After Halloween, prop up your mask on a bookshelf or a bedroom vanity to add a dramatic flair to your room.

(photos via socaldesignco.com)

Eatables: The Best Custard

...is a savory one.  No kidding.  Last week, a dear friend and I went to "Per Se," Thomas Keller's New York establishment, for a possibly once-in-our-lifetime dinner, and that was the new truth I learned.  Sadly, some of the courses in the chef's tasting menu that were meant for knock-out effect were befuddling (I didn't really understand the appeal of a slab of duck breast with no distinctive flavors developed, followed by an equally nondistinctive slab of lamb of almost the same texture), but a few courses were bright stars.  My favorite of the evening was the "Oysters and Pearls," a "sabayon" (in this case, a savory custard sauce) covering pearl tapioca, island creek oysters, and sterling white sturgeon caviar.  Tasting how the wonder and richness of the custard enhanced the slippery, dimpled textures of the tapioca, oysters, and caviar, I suddenly thought that a savory sabayon might transform even the most familiar food into small miracles.  A few sites offer some delicious guidance on the making of:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/victorygarden/eat/recipes/salmon.html

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Seared-Scallops-with-Roasted-Garlic-Sabayon-107636

(photo via mightygirl.com)

Found Objects: Hub man

What a fun and streamlined way to add more USB ports to your computer. Hub Man comes with 4 USB 2.0 hi-speed ports and a cute little smile. Retails for $28.95 and is available here

(photo via spoonsisters.com)

Curiosities: Making of a Dog

Last Saturday, I spent an afternoon at Gallery Hanahou in Soho, NYC, making a hand-sewn mechanical dog.  A small group made up of designers and inexperienced people like me gathered around a long table in the gallery space and, surrounded by the exhibited artwork of Ossu Shugeibu, a Japanese crafting club, we set about "skinning" the poor furry toy dogs whose moving skeletons would serve as the foundation for our own creations.   This sounds awful but is actually a terrific way to bypass the daunting gadgetry challenges of creating a mechanical toy and just move into the creative aesthetics of the process.  By the end of the workshop, the group of us (some of whom had truly limited sewing skills) had turned out an eclectic array of dogs and dog hybrids with parti-colored appendages (a few proudly bore limbs constructed of men's plaid boxer shorts).   We marched them down to the front of the gallery building and took them for a short walk on the street.  You can click here for more pictures (photos via Gallery Hanahou).

Bookmarked: Masterpiece Comics

I've never envisioned Bronte quite like this! A tongue-in-cheek re-visioning of some of our greatest classics in this comic book compilation available at Drawn and Quarterly (a fantastic name, don't you think?). You can get a preview of "The Crypt of Bronte" on their site.