Jean Shrimpton by Ronald Falloon on Vintage Seekers

Fashion photographs of Jean Shrimpton by Ronald Falloon for sale on Vintage Seekers

Images courtesy of Vintage Seekers

Best Reads: Diary of an Anonymous Fashion Assistant

"Introducing a new column, Diary of an Anonymous Fashion Assistant, where our contributor, who shall henceforth be known as Blair Mercer, dishes about the daily life of a fashion assistant at a major fashion mag at a major publishing house. She’s hauled sacks of Louboutins through the Sahara, been wrestled by Colonel Gaddafi’s guards at a five star hotel in Paris and was physically scarred by an A-list celeb. She’ll tell you all about it."

Image and text courtesy of Fashionista

Read the first post, you will be hooked!!! So entertaining and very well written-reads like the curve of a sexy Louboutin! Winter will fly by, my nose deep in the serialized life of a fashionista. Aaaahhhh Spring! Thanks Blair.

Follow Blair on twitter as well: @blair_mercer

Inspiration: Bladeworks Fencing Poster: Spencerian Script by Tony DiSpigna, Designer Jeff Harrison

Close-up, you can see the stencils

If you look closely you can see the burn marks and stencils. In the end we pulled over 5 test burns in order to have all the script hold together.

Title: Bladeworks Fencing Poster

This poster for Bladeworks Fencing Club was designed to show that fencing
is a fun way to get fit for anyone—not just nerds or Olympians.

The traditional Spencerian script was hand-lettered by world-renowned typographer Tony DiSpigna
and laser-cut so that it appears the words were cut out of the paper Zorro-style by an extremely skilled swordsman.

Client: Bladeworks Fencing Society
Agency: Rethink Canada
Designer: Jeff Harrison
Writer: Keri Zierler
Typographer: Tony Di Spigna
Producer: Keri Bhangu, Sheila Santa Barbara
Studio Artist: Jonathan Cesar
Laser Diecutting: Arkwell Industries

tonydispigna.com/
rethinkcanada.com
bladeworksfencing.com/

Images and Text courtesy Jeff Harrison's Flickr

Please see the remaining images of the process of the poster design from first sketch to final diecut poster.

Best Reads: Drawing Jewels for Fashion by Carol Woolton

cover image via Amazon.com
front cover illustration Sandy Suy

I am a huge fan of fashion illustration. Carol Woolton's book, Drawing Jewels for Fashion, is an absolute gem!! It is the first book I have ever seen that focuses solely on the art of illustration of jewelry design.

In Woolton's introduction she writes, "For some time I have wanted to explore contemporary jewellery design, to chart designers' inspirations as well as their relationship with the art of drawing from the first original sketch to the finished sculpted objet. The perfect jewel creates a physical as well as an emotional response, and this response is engineered by the creative process of a jewellery designer. Every drawing depicts individual designer's lines, styles and forms as well as their personal influences. Each jeweller uses their own unique aesthetic to explore the world around us, whether the natural world, art, architecture, culture, literature, symbolism, or history and ancient civilisations."

Woolton is not only successful in her exploration, but she surpasses her vision for her book. This book is one of the most inspiring I have seen in a long time. I have seen many vintage illustrations of jewelry design but was naive to the fact that drawing jewels for fashion was still a thriving art.

Woolton's book features work from some of my most favorite jewelry designers: Sevan Bicakci, Lydia Courteille, Stephen Webster, Victoire de Castellane, Delfina Delettrez, Shaun Leane, and introduces me to many more inspiring designers that I did not know about. For every designer, there are illustrations paired with the finished designs.



Victoire de Castellane








photos Dior Joaillerie

Stephen Webster




Alexandra Jefford




photos Paul Bowden

Carol Woolton is jewellery editor of British Vogue, an author, lecturer and style commentator on fashion and jewellery.

A MUST have for any fashion and jewelry library!!

Film by JOYCE: Alexander McQueen Beijing Opening

A pioneer in luxury retail, JOYCE was the first to introduce international designers and the most esteemed fashion houses to Hong Kong.

film courtesy of JOYCE.com on YouTube

Carnival of the Animals: Bergdorf's Holiday Windows 2011: Photographed by Talis Lin

This past weekend I finally got to see my favorite holiday windows, at Bergdorf's of course! Spectacular and breathtaking! These are my favorites-all photographed by Talis Lin of VandM. It is SO hard to photograph windows because of the reflection, and I find these really do justice to the displays-they are truly inspiring!