Eye Phones

Wink wink.

Are we cyborgs? When misplacing your cell feels like losing a limb, I wonder if it's actually a phone, or more like a third arm or possibly an external brain supplement.   Eyephone, indeed.

I created these little beasts from hornback caiman crocodile and polished galuchat (stingray). Not to toot my own horn(back, ahahahaa) but I also hand painted them.  What was unexpected was how lovely the gold turned out over the stingray.  It glistens like a gem.

Mime

Pantomime is best defined by its use of the object illusion... the illusions created are conventional objects we are all familiar with; rope, stairway, or door... The anecdotes make up the stories which can happen to all of us... The pantomimist ingeniously changes from one role to another, cleverly creating a world out of nothing.  The audience delights in seeing something that isn't there and is more than willing to give itself up to this world of make-believe.  This quality of magic and fantasy is pantomime's greatest appeal.

Actor-mime Leonard Pitt on miming as an art form

The latest crystal incarnation,  inspired by the stark and dramatic mime aesthetic.

Cinderblock

I was cleaning out my closet earlier, extracting all of the winter woolens from the mix (I guess I'm finally willing to concede that it's no longer January?) when I realized that I don't wear half of these.  Possibly more.  Why?

Because I have a blazer-buying problem!  Here's the issue: In theory I think I like blazers, but when it comes to choosing an outfit for something that counts, I cannot stomach this particular garment.  Why?

It's not a lack of quality, or for that matter quantity or variety of style:  I've got wools and silks, linens, blends, white blazers, pink blazers, blacks and bouclés, gold buttons, zipper fronts, shoulder padded and shoulder moulded, "boyfriend" and sexy secretary.  I could pull of Annie Hall or 80s power-bitch with equal ease!

However, in those situations that induce real moments of self honesty, when I'm standing in front of my closet nervously tearing through shelf after shelf, both naked and late, I might not know what to wear, but it seems that I sure as hell know what I can't wear.  This higher Buddha-of-a-self that I seem to possess has instantaneous radar for any and all things that may cause me to feel ill at ease.  And on the topic of blazers, this smarter-me tells me the same thing every time: "@#$(*@#$& THAT SHIT!" Beautiful.  Alas, this wise creature likes to skip out on my shopping excursions, though, and therein lies the problem, and the reason that this is even a problem in the first place!

From time to time I'll wear them out, but only to undertake something like grocery shopping, and in situations where I anticipate minimal human interaction. Because this makes a lot of sense: "Oh, I should wear more of what makes me really uncomfortable!" Because that's style.

You know what I have to say to that? FUCK IT!

I like a challenge, but this is one challenge that just isn't worth it. Epiphany of the day: Personal style is a matter of being brutally honest with yourself.  And honestly? Blazers; they make me feel like a HUMAN CINDERBLOCK (okay, rationally it's ridiculous, so much for that).   In any case, I don't want to conduct my life feeling like a cinderblock.  Can I?  Yeah, sure.  But I don't want to, and I'm guessing that distinction is where "style" resides.  If you don't like it, ditch it.  That's style.

Do you ever feel like someone else in a particular style of clothing or interior?

Film Stills from The Great Gatsby, 1974.

John Singer Sargent, Fumée d'Ambre Gris, 1879-80

Dress, Hattie Carnegie

Dress, Madeleine Vionnet, 1914

Wrapping it Up

"Every arrival [to the Fabergé shop in the late 1800s, early 1900s] was reason enough for a state occasion.  Sleighs noiselessly deposited their loads. By some quickened footstep, half-waltz, half-slide, the door-keeper raced the customer to reach the inner door, and always succeeded in getthing there first.  It was the prelude to what was to take place inside.  

Of the interior, one can only say there was nothing much of style about it, there was no scheme of decoration sufficient to distract from the purpose for which the room had been planned, namely to sell the wares of Fabergé. Imagine a straight line from the clock down the centre of the room, allot the portion on the right of this, as you look at the picture, to articles of jewellery and that on the left to articles of fantasy and you have the room divided for its work.

The rattle of the door has been heard and up jumps Carl Gustavovitch and takes a peep from behind the partition, to see who is coming in.  He inclines his head and takes the proffered hand across the counter.  One or two words of greeting, a joke maybe; the customer gives some indications what he wants— a flower, perhaps... The Craftsman turns about (he is standing just to the left of the clock as you look at it), slides opened a mirrored door, thinks a moment and takes out two white holly-wood boxes.

These he places on the counter with the catch towards the customer.  He opens one and waits a moment.  He opens the other and waits again... When surprise— which is the alpha and omega of everything that is 'Fabergé' — has been overcome, so far as is possible with the flowers nested in their boxes, and the customer has noted the fixed prices on the tickets, the Craftsman lifts from out of its box the flower which appears to attract the customer.  He holds it poised on the tips of his fingers and just far enough from his body to gain the full effect of exhibition, and his hand becomes the fulcrum for display, first to the right and slowly back again.  " from Peter Carl Faberge by Henry Charles Bainbridge

An enchanting description, right? I've been thinking a lot about the experience of purchasing lately, and so, working on my own packaging.  As a consumer, you're always told that in the end, it's the product that counts, and of course this is true on some levels, but there's something to be said for that magical fuzzy feeling of receiving something that's just beautifully wrapped and presented.  And, no matter how many times I'm warned against "paying for the packaging," (as if this is morally reprehensible?), if I can be completely honest here — I'm okay paying for it. 

The art of living "well", if that's something that matters to you, is often times (for a non-Rockefeller, at least) an exercise in living better than your means should afford you.  Enter the practical necessity of knowing where to buy, and how to recognize, things of quality and style when they're divorced from the bells and whistles of their packaging and presented in unsavory contexts (thrift shopping, prime example).   It's made my life a whole lot more stylish than it should rightfully be.

But sometimes, it's nice to throw caution (and wallet) to the wind and indulge in the whole experience, packaging and all.  After all, how much fun would Ladurée macarons be without the gilded lattice?

Bag and body harness from (IN)DECOROUS TASTE.

Soft Spots

I think that we've all got our soft spots.

By soft-spots, I mean, the opposite of "deal breakers." Deal-breakers are those vile, irksome qualities that send one sprinting, a reason to drop whatever it is that's clearly broken, but soft spots? Soft spots seal the deal, they make whatever it is impossible to resist- drop it in my cart, I'll take it to go, and yes, please, I'll have another 5, despite the fact I already have three that are just like it and so clearly I shouldn't need one more... You know, that frenzied feeling? (This may be applicable to...other situations...as well... no claims there.)

Anyway, a while ago, I met this thick, fatty biker leather, and it swept me off my feet in all its gnarled, pebbled, textured glory.  It's a soft spot for me.  Handbags made in it? YES please! Shoes? Jackets? Shorts? Pillows? AHHH the possibilities are endless... I can get carried away with these things. Luckily (unluckily?), I've been seeing more and more of it lately.  Alexander Wang has been doing a lot of bags in it (I'm sure you've seen them x 12310239), and allegedly, somewhere, they make chaps from it (although chaps are a rather frightening garment, no?), but I've been sort of possessed by this idea of using it as upholstery.  It's all well and dandy that I can wear it, but I want my chairs to wear it too.  See, I told you! It's one of my soft spots.




Finally, I got around to that, and I'm so delighted with the results I'd like to do something larger in it.  Like a sofa (ahhhh, it's a sickness!).  But for now, you might recognize these chairs.  Remember Karl?? Poor Karl, I buried him. Somehow, I don't think he'd mind the transformation.  I kept the hefty, pebbled black leather simple and painted on a metallic bee insignia.  The metallic brings out the lumpiness of the leather; this can only be a positive.  Its counterpart is dressed in a Tony Duquette inspired painted jewel upholstery and my other new endeavor...striped leather.  Stripes are one of those things that I feel like I'm always on the hunt for.  Especially a thick, black and white striped leather.  After coming to the conclusion that it doesn't exist, I made it.  Stripes are another of my soft spots (if you could see my closet, you'd die laughing  and perhaps draw the conclusion that I have a secret life as a referee).

This beaded necklace is so ugly (beautiful), I cannot even wait to wear it.  I think it may have been part of the inspiration for the green jeweled upholstery. I bought it at a thrift shop after an older lady decided against it.  She was clearly torn ("It's just lovely, but its so...GREEN" is what she said.) HA! She might have had green issues, but I do NOT.

As for the bag on the chair... ring lizard.  I'll tell you all about it in a little.  After designing a new handle/chain for it, it's become one of my favorites.  New soft spot?

Vintage jewelry, (I)D Taste hand painted leather upholstery (available here).  

Minimalist Maximalism

It's funny how certain garments have a reputation for one thing or another.  Take sequins, the trampy Aunt Louise of the happy wardrobe family.

Now, I should fully disclose that I have a sequin buying addiction.  The more sequins the merrier, and this isn't necessarily a good thing (The greater the mass of sequins, the larger the mess of colors = the more epic the shoulders, and the less likely I'll be able to resist— this is a rule).  Okay, so sequins have this reputation for being over the top, gaudy, excessive, trashy... and of course that's fun and fabulous and who doesn't like looking like a peacock/disco ball on occasion, but my real point here IS: sometimes sequins surprise you!!

I was thinking about this after purchasing this delightful, matte green vintage Arnold Scaasi number.  I hadn't heard of Scaasi when I'd seen the dress (should I be embarrassed?) but it was one of those purchases where everything came together in a crazy alignment of the fashion forces.  I bought the dress because it looked like a heavy sheet of fish-scaled minty texture and it had me actually hyperventilating.  THEN I ran across an article in CONNOISSEUR from July 1984 on Scaasi's work (I will scan this today, it's so good!) and THEN I found out that there's currently a Scaasi exhibition going on at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts through June 2011. Has anyone been to the exhibit? So strange the way things work out sometimes!

Anyway, the Scaasi is what got me thinking about what I'm gonna call "minimalist maximalism."   (Is this a term? I just made it up!) There's so much talk right now about the "minimalist" vibe going around, and I guess I'm not immune to it (hence the crazy talk about gutting my wardrobe?), although I'll always worship at the altar of more is more. Ahhhhhhh, I like interesting things, pretty things, hideous things!! And lots of them.  The idea of living monastically repulses me!  But minimalist sequins (monochromatic sequins, matte sequins, sequin colorblocking??!) ... that's something I can get into.  So I had some fun shooting a couple of looks, green Scaasi included, of minimalism, my way- if you will.

Green sequin dress by Arnold Scaasi, black sequin pants by Rachel Roy, black sequin shirt vintage John Wannamaker, zebra sequin shirt vintage Jeannette for St. Martin 1985, blue sequin dress vintage Richilene, striped maxi layered under zebra F21.

Images and styling by (I)D.

Wardrobe Malfunction

The nipple slip, it happens to the best of us?

This shirt was definitely one of those projects whose idea originated in a lighthearted flurry, but woah... at some point, as I was hunched over sewing the five concentric channels of black sequins (securing them individually) around these vintage rhinestone button "nipples" (I think they were made for this application), I started laughing at the whole situation. These were a little tricky because I absolutely needed them to lie flat in a uniform circular shape. It was also imperative that they overlapped for a slick, fish-scale appearance. I used black sequins to keep the shirt a little more subdued. It's a wink, not a frying pan to the cranium (and don't you dare say otherwise).

Also, please click here to make sure you're still subscribed if you subscribe via RSS.  There was a problem with my feeds after the address change, but everything should be working now.  Or, click to subscribe if you're new!

Up and Running...

EDITED: To make things less confusing, I will be moving the blog back to its old address at www.indecoroustaste.com.  (This should happen within the next couple of days.  You can still access it by its blogspot address, though, too.) The website has already been moved to www.id-taste.com. I really hope this makes things easier!

The site and shop are up!

Hope you enjoy...the shop section is set up and ready for orders.  And really, don't hesitate to contact me with questions, at lauren.tennenbaum@gmail.com.

PS I'm going to have more time for blogging now. Expect more posts.

Guess What?

EDITED: Due to a ton of confusion, I'm moving the blog back to www.indecoroustaste.com.  (But you can still get here via indecoroustaste.blogspot.com.) The site is  now located at www.id-taste.com.  I hope this will make things easier!

Updated: Launching on Tuesday.
Hey hey hey! First thing's first: Update your bookmarks: bookmark (IN)DECOROUS TASTE at its blogspot url, indecoroustaste.blogspot.com . WTF WHY!? Well...

In case you've been wondering what project has swallowed me alive for the past month, I've been prepping for the launch of an (IN)DECOROUS TASTE site and shop. The site will be located at indecoroustaste.com, and it'll be a more organized place to keep images of my work, along with a continually updated selection of pieces I'll make available for sale.

Guess what? It's ready, finally, and will be up on Monday Tuesday for orders.

Because it was important to me that everything be perfect, I'm starting small and launching an edited down collection of 6 harnesses. It's been a trip, just sourcing materials to find the best quality hardware and leather imaginable (I practically live in a heap of leather!)... prepping the site, photoshooting, ironing out all of those pesky incidentals. But yeah, you can now rest assured that the leather is gorgeous and the brass hardware is lush, and the straps are long enough to wear them on...anything. Also, the crystals are plexi so that they don't shatter when you wear them. You'd never know by looking at them or even feeling them though, I swear.

Here's a preview:

Limes

Back when everyone was carrying purses the size of a house, I remember seeing a photo of Katie Holmes wearing what can only be described as the mother of all Birkins. The style blog that posted it made fun of it; they questioned whether Katie carried it so Tom could crawl inside and take impromptu naps.  I laughed (guilty as charged). Everyone was sick of enormous, body-sized sacks.  And then, I switched to a metal clutch the size of a brick, which inevitably weighs just as much as one (the "golden brick," I call it) because while I like to think of myself as someone who can pare down, let's be honest, I have serious trouble! For me, an exercise in "paring down" is more like an exercise in squishing down. I ask myself: would it be possible to fold my magazine into fours? Slice the edges off? Lip balm, in the dead of winter? My friend is carrying it! And cash...oh, forget about it! Who even carries that anymore?

But, after a long hiatus, I've begun to start thinking about big 'ol bags again.  It's sort of nice to be able to carry around a laptop and a book, a pair of sunglasses, an ipod, AND a lipstick sometimes, isn't it? It feels so indulgent! I'm living large... why YES, I have a chapstick, and NO, it's not melting in my pocket!!

It's also great to be able to wear a bag, and by that, I don't just mean carry it, but I mean, drape it around you like a dress, use it like a blanket on the train, hide behind it when you run into an ex... It's decadent, it feels good.  Like big furniture in a little room.  (I know there was a designer who said it makes women look dainty... who was that?!)

So this is my take on the big, fabulously luxurious, delightfully over the top bag.  It's made of leather, it's hand painted, and the chains are solid brass. It's lined in a combo of linen and leather.  When a bag is big, I like it to feel substantial.

The leather, in the process of being painted.  Some of you might remember a similar image from a while back...I originally made a pillow like this, from which I came up with the idea for this bag.

The pattern was very simple: a basic, rectangular tote.  I chose to leave the seams exposed, on the outside of the bag.



And, wearing it.  Which brings me to another thought.  Is matching (nails, shoes, bag, at its most extreme) really terrible? I used to be repulsed by it, but now, I don't know, I'm feeling the allure.

BULLET PROOF VEST

Ten pounds of costume jewelry and a black corset from the dusty depths of my closet makes for a happy New Year.

As an added bonus, I get the feeling it could double for a bullet proof vest, in case your debaucheries take you to less savory parts of town.

Styling and photography by (IN)DECOROUS TASTE.