fashion styles women

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

{décor inspiration: corner fireplaces}

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. . . far too warm outside to be thinking about fireplaces, but must confess have never really stopped -- {the coziness! and pure romance} -- and this corner fireplace {in the kitchen} is perfect in its rustic elegance and particularly charming . . .

{image: photography by niklas rudfell via solid frog}

{photographer: craig mcdean}

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. . . have long admired the work of british photographer craig mcdean, and with september's arrival, have been especially taken with this recent editorial for w magazine, featuring georgia may jagger and a beautiful mix of sequined gowns and leopard print, luxe hair and smokey eyes, opulent ornamentation and an elegantly blasé and decadent moodiness . . .

{p.s.} this shot of jessica stam is another favourite

{images: editorial: georgia on our mind, georgia may jagger by craig mcdean for w september 2010, styled by alex white via smile}

Seven Days of Giveaways: Miss Crowland

GIVEAWAY NOW CLOSED

These days silhouettes are all the rage in interiors, a perfect way to enhance any room and bring personalized artwork into your home. Enter Miss Crowland, a Toronto-based illustrator, interactive and motion graphic designer whose Etsy shop is filled with great silhouette designs and who also offers custom work. Want to frame an outline of yourself, your child or even your dog? All you have to do is send along a side profile photograph and Miss Crowland will do the work, creating a great custom silhouette that is perfect for yourself or to give as a gift (in fact, the shop's custom couple portraits were even featured in Martha Stewart Weddings as a great gift idea for any bride and groom.)

All of Miss Crowland's silhouettes are distributed as digital pdf files, so you are responsible for printing, and get to choose the type of frame you'd prefer once you receive the files via email.

Miss Crowland can also create artwork based on different types of photos, like one of your new shoes, perfect for the dressing area of any Louboutin-obsessed fashionista.

Fab, right? It gets better. Miss Crowland's is offering one lucky winner their Red Riding Hood Series, which features silhouettes of Red and the Wolf. A quote from the book ("The woods are a dangerous place") completes the triptych. This series is "great for book lovers, pop-culture lovers, and the accompanying quote is a gentle reminder to always be on your toes." The three digital illustrations will be provided in standard print format PDF files.

How to Enter

Giveaway is open to all followers of Sogni e Sorrisi (new and old). Just visit Miss Crowland's shop and let me know in your comment what your fave item is.

Extra Entries

1. Follow me on Twitter. If you already do, thanks! Just leave a comment letting me know.

2. Tweet about this giveaway. To make it easy you can tweet this:

Just entered the @misscrowland #giveaway @SogniESorrisi http://tinyurl.com/26w74hz

3. Follow Miss Crowland on Twitter.

4. Check out Miss Crowland's blog and leave a comment.

5. Blog or Facebook about this giveaway. Please put the link in your comment.

6. Receive 10 extra entries if you purchase something from Sweetgrass Prints. Just forward proof of purchase and let me know in a comment here!

Giveaway open until September 8, 2010

Winner will be chosen at random.

Good luck and don't forget to check out the other great giveaways we have going on right now!

Jantzen Kharafleece Sweaters

I've seen the term "Kharafleece" in many Jantzen ads and on the labels of lots of their sweaters. I've often wondered what the term meant. I finally got a clue when reading the ad above from 1954. In the 1950s, sweater companies would name their exclusive yarn blends as a marketing strategy. Garland had "Dreamspun", Nan Dorsey had "Fabulon", Darlene had "Melospun", etc, etc.

What is "Kharafleece"? It was Jantzen's exclusive blend of lambswool, Vicara, and nylon yarn that was mothproofed by Mitin. Here's an earlier post of mine about Mitin. Vicara was a fiber produced by the Virginia-Carolina Corporation. It was made from the extruded plant protein Zein, which comes from corn. Vicara was soft as cashmere, washable, and took dyes well. It had to be blended with other fibers, though, as it was not as durable. Vicara production was discontinued in 1958 due to the advent of better performing synthetic fibers. If you have a Kharafleece sweater by Jantzen, you can properly date it prior to 1959.