hello sunday

it was my birthday a few weeks ago and jon wanted to get me an iphone, but i decided i couldn't afford or justify the cost of the plan. so today we got me a brand new fancy camera. i decided on a canon eos rebel xs. i'm new to dslr so i don't need anything too crazy. i'm already super impressed with it.






new necklace. i didn't like the chain that came with the pendant so i made my own from leather. bronze animal skulls is my new theme. haha.

dear santa...

how is mrs. clause and the reindeer? i don't ask for much... all i want for christmas is this bronze saber tooth tiger statue. thanks.



how amazing is this?! i want it sooooo badly. if only shipping from the uk wasn't $150. i love that it's on a little stand too. i think that's the best part.

is that a foot in your hair?

ok. i thought i liked weird things. the other day, i found myself trying to convince jon that a taxidermy armadillo would be a great objet d'art. fyi, there's on up on our local craigslist and i want him :)

but this weirded me out.



this is a squirrel foot on a hair barette.

for the record, i love squirrels. live ones that is. i wouldn't even object to a taxidermy one if it wasn't killed for that purpose. animals are beautiful.

but having the severed, preserved foot of an animal on my head is just... kind of fucked up?

there are earrings as well. i could maybe see this as a fashion editorial... but still...

maybe i'm just a wuss!! what's your take?

big pin

hello! i was so excited when i found this on ebay. it's a giant vintage safety pin. i'm curious about what it was used for in its first life. it has a number stamped on the end, and a little matching charm on the end with the same number. something makes me think it was from an institution or something and is haunted.

anyway, every since i saw a few yohji and limi feu and ann demeulemeester pins like this, i wanted one. it's perfect to use on a big chunky scarf.





it's so dark today, and i'm trying to take a picture of this long jersey skirt i made yesterday, and this rick owens vest that i dyed. it was pretty damn cheap on ebay, but it was white. i figured since it is cotton i could dye it. i put it in the same dye bath as my tie dye pieces, because there was still some dye left, but i think it needs another dip, because it's not as black as i would like it. it's more charcoal at the moment.

buy nothing day

are you familiar with buy nothing day? if not, check it out here. will you be participating? it is friday (tomorrow) in north america and saturday internationally. these are supposedly the biggest shopping days of the year. i guess it would be black friday for the usa, which i hear is going to be much more mellow than years before. it was pretty disgusting hearing on the news that people were lining up at walmart at 5am and loading their shopping carts with stuff.

i would say the exception to buy nothing day would be buying local/independent/handmade. i think that's ok in my books.

it seems a lot of fashion bloggers are kind of reassessing their needs vs. wants or going on shopping bans, or just trying to spend more consciously. i think this is a great trend.

also, another interesting thing: did you know that throwaway fashion that can't be recycled makes up 30% of britain's landfills? that's pretty crazy. read here.

fleathers

so i was browsing on etsy last night looking for jewelry, and i came across fleathers.


i really love this 'call of the wild' ring


lion heads ring


octopus ring

blackbird online

blackbird is now online! well, they always had their blog, but now they have a proper online store! yippie!

check it out: www.blackbirdballard.com

coming soon

i've had these pictures on my desktop for quite some time now. i just love them.









yohji yamamoto's coming soon label www.coming-soon.com

it's nice to see outfits styled with sneakers/flat shoes once and a while.

spectrum

we bought a massive storage system from ikea and it's just about fully stocked, so we actually have no moving boxes left! we also got a huge mirror that i'm quite happy about. no more running to the bathroom to see my outfit.

whoopty doo tarantula town!

we also put this book shelf above our closet/sewing room. i organized the books by colour (except the travel ones on the end), because isn't that the only way they look great?! i just love seeing books organized by colour.



we're planning on installing a felt sliding barn-style door to cover the door opening. we removed the original door, and now we're stuck with it out on our patio. i don't know if we should get rid of it because it might be good to put it back on when we sell the place down the road. but then again i don't want to be stuck looking at a door on my patio.

lighting+rhinos

aren't these lights fantastic?! i really love the top one. the image is from the selby. i feel like there must be a way to rig up my own diy version somehow. the second one is from the conran shop and is over $2300. bah.

also, look what i found!!




they are $45 from sprout home. yay! i want the black one.

we had quite the weekend. ikea=stressful 24/7 nomatterwhat. add a trip to the emergency room for 4-5 hours, got home at 4am, back to ikea today to exchange some things. so tired.

i've got something to show you

here it is. i'm not totally happy with the results- i drafted the pattern with too much space at the center front (the zipper ends are supposed to touch) and not enough angle down in the front, but all in all i'm pleased with the skirt as a garment and look forward to wearing it! it was pretty easy to sew, so i might try my hand at another one (after some pattern changes)

work in progress

here are some home pictures i've been inspired by lately. our place is such a work in progress right now. i just want everything to have its place, find the perfect art, furniture, etc. bah. i have no patience.






this one is lovely. i think i will have to buy a canvas and some paint.

something strange is coming over me

it all started with this page out of so-en magazine in tokyo.



then the raf simons store in tokyo... we saw it at night and it's so stunning.




and then boudicca's new perfume, wode


which led me to do some dying last night.





i think i need to knit some legwarmers...

pet talk

i've been deliberating getting a pet. part of me wants one desperately because i'm lonely during the day, working from home. but part of me doesn't want one because it's added responsibility and cost. but that's when we were talking about a dog. a cat is a different story. i love cats because they are self-reliant- you don't have to worry about them if you want to go out for the day.



since jon is allergic, i've been looking at hairless cats. i'll admit they can look kind of creepy, but i kind of like that about them. they almost look like cat-dog hybrids.

and check this out- i love fat cats too.

Update: ok, It's 1am (i wrote this post in the afternoon but didn't post it until now) and i've been looking at sphynx and peterbald cats for about two hours and i want one soooo badly. they look really playful and cool looking. i like the ones that have spackled markings...

today

i have the best boyfriend. i wasn't interested in braving the h+m x comme product drop on thursday, but jon went down on his lunch break to check out some things for himself and picked up the dropped crotch pants for me.

i wore them today under this junya watanabe skirt i got in japan. another ragtag purchase. i love that store.

iro leather jacket
mociun t-shirt
junya skirt
comme x h+m
y's boots
topshop bag

project completed

i've been thinking about those margiela jeans every since that jak+jil photo surfaced. i didn't want to make them as extreme as the photo- it looks like they're shredded on front and back. i just shredded mine on the front. i'm pretty happy with how they turned out, despite getting my nostrils full of black fluff from sanding them with sandpaper.



i'm wearing them with leggings underneath.



also, i guess this is the debut of my studded louboutins. i bought them in the summer at a really good price on ebay and i've been saving them to wear in the fall. i'm going to wear them tonight to dinner. they make me smile.

scoute + darklands

i totally forgot about scoute. i don't know how, because everything they write about is amazing. in their most current issue they feature darklands, a store in berlin opened by fellow vancouverite campbell macdougall (who also owns my fav. mens store and sometimes my size store, komakino). the store looks simply stunning. it really makes me want to live in an old decrepit heritage building. but convenience won out with this place, rather than the beautiful heritage conversion we looked at in gastown.





i'm totally stealing some of his decor ideas. i will have me a candelabra and old set light. we desperately need lighting in here, and everything we like is uber pricey. there must be a way to find an old set light in "hollywood of the north".

sleeker (house) style

i came across this article (probably via apartment therapy, i can't remember) from the los angeles times about the owner of a store in laguna beach, california called aris. he gives some tips for creating a sleeker style in your home using retail tricks. i really love retail design and merchandising myself, but never really thought about using elements from it in my home, besides the obvious stacking of pretty books and pretty objects.



i l.o.v.e. that porcelain rhino. unfortunately it's $3,250 from nymphenburg porcelain. nymphenburg also has this amazing porcelain skull that is a bit cheaper ($430) but still expensive for a non-functional object that is 1" x 1.5" x 2" (!!!)



i like this wall of (non) colour with the picture rails. i'd like to do this somewhere in our house.



same idea here, except in his store. having one grey wall is nice i think. i also wouldn't mind having that bicycle (and dog)



succulants are my favorite kind of plants because they are geometric and architectural in shape. i'll have to find out if succulants will survive outside in our climate.

we have a rather large patio (probably as big as half our living space) so i want to figure out what to do with it. i definitely want a bird feeder (or squirrel feeder, if they are brave enough to climb up here)

drkshdw

i love these images from rick owens' website. i always love drkshdw pieces as much as his regular collection. in this interview he states that the drkshdw and lilies collections are extensions of his main collection- part of the same story. i like that he says this, because i think some people feel that drkshdw and lilies are like "diffusion" lines, and i never really looked at it like that. i don't feel like they are watered down versions of his main line at all, they are just different because of the materials used (denim, jersey) but the same detail is paid to each garment.





this fur (real? faux?) lined hoody is probably my favorite. it looks like something i would live in all winter. i could hibernate in that huge hood. sold out at oak.

purchase 3

i love my new (to me) yohji yamamoto noir+ sweater. i got it at ragtag (the second hand store) in shibuya. it was the first thing i bought in japan. it's kind of like an alien, with two sleeves (short and long) and it can be worn so many different ways. its my new favorite thing in my wardrobe for sure. i'm wearing it with no sleeves (more like a cowl scarf) in the picture above.



this is what it looks like flat.



the sleeves are really long.


this is how i like to wear it right now- with the real neckline around my waist and the longer part around my neck.

i want more multi-functional pieces like this!