Posts from ‘Amazing Artists’
This is the art of Nicole Dextras.
It is from a group of work called Weedrobes:
“New addition to the Weedrobes Collection: The Maple Flapper Dress symbolizes hope and prosperity for the new immigrant. The 1920′s was an era of liberation for women and here she is seen as a young entrepreneur fresh off the boat, with her old-world good luck charms of plants and animals.”
I think she is incredible and hugely inspiring.
I love the nude dress. It is so bold and gutsy and LOOK at those perky nipples!
This show is beyond fashion…
It is about sculpture that can be worn.
The arms of the dress become fingered gloves with bright red lacquered nails.
The sequins are actually shaded to lend contour to the body.
Go to the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts before it is too late. The show closes October 2nd, 2011
These are both pictures that I took on my 3rd visit to the JPG show in Montreal at the MMFA.
The in-soles of those heels are lined with white fur. Down to the detail his work is amazing and desirable.
It’s sexy. It’s glam. I want.
I love the Virgin of Guadalupe and I don’t really understand why. I guess it is because she is such a stylish goddess. She is always portrayed surrounded by glitter and pretty things and lots of colour. She is the brown skinned Virgin and she is a Mother.
So I tried to make Virgin cookies…..not the best tasting cookies I ever made, but still kinda fun.
I also used the top of an old perfume bottle to emboss roses into the cookie dough.
And now, for a peek at a recent release of the new Fall collection: the Guadalupe skirt! Isn’t she just fabulous!
I know it was months ago and I haven’t been posting a lot lately, but here are my pictures from the opening night of the Jean Paul Gaultier show in Montreal. It is the all time best show ever!
Go see it!
Don’t miss it!
I was very inspired and have been back to see it again since the opening night. It was so crazy that night, that invited guests had to line up for hours just to get into the Museum.
The first series of photos below were taken while Krin and I took were in the line up to get into the Museum.
Me wearing a turquoise silk bustier ($158-258) and Russian Bracelet ($12-16) and Silk chiffon scarf ($22-32).
My muse and circus super star Karin Maren Haglund wearing the Purple Bella dress ($278)
This Rosebud necklace is all gypsy and all modern ($248)
The slim fit crinoline in multi reds ($140) available in 12 different colors at Boutique Katrin Leblond 4647 blvd. St-Laurent
The Museum of Fine arts in Montreal decked out in JPG sailor stripes.
Just before we went in to see the show I bumped into Rosie Godbout. Her atelier is upstairs from mine and she is an incredible textile artist who specializes in felting and makes the most amazing winter coats.
Here we are inside the show admiring and stealing pictures on the down low.
My fave dress above and Krin’s fave below.
the famous Can Can dress was on a catwalk of moving mannekins. The installation of the show is superb and very fresh.
I leave you with this picture of the most incredible shoe collage: heels inside wedge sandals! WOW!
Katrin Leblond, un arrêt printanier obligé
La belle Katrin m’a fait parvenir plusieurs de ses suggestions, mais j’ai retenu la robe « Princesse corail » que je trouve assez spectaculaire. Une robe 100% soie, pour 345$. Elle est merveilleuse non?
La boutique Katrin Leblond est un must absolut pour votre magasinage de robe de bal. Vous y trouverez un choix très inspirant de modèles, pour toutes les tailles et toutes les bourses, tant par la designer propriétaire que par les nombreux designers québécois qu’elle accueille dans sa boutique. Ne passez pas à côté des joyeux bibis fabriqués par Katrin elle-même, et les crinolines de fabrication locale qui pourront compléter plusieurs modèles de robe.
The floral theme and the beautiful colours remind me of Katrin’s own commitment to colour and flowers in her fashions.
Bonjour
Nous vous faisons un petit clin en envoyant ces photos. Me voici dans ta creation que je porte lors d’un grand concours de flûte en Europe. Votre robe a presque eu autant de succès que ma performance!
De passage à Montréal, je ne manquerai pas de venir voir vos nouvelles collections!
Charlotte Bletton
Primed in bold colours, with all the subtlety laid on in layers. Her work nods to impressionists like Monet and the group of Seven but offers it’s very own distinct contemporary and feminine eye. Already housed in the collections of top politicians and companies like Bombardier and Hydro Quebec, this well affiliated artist’s work is virtually guaranteed to exponentially acquire value. If ever you thought of dabbling in the potentially lucrative business of art collecting this is the artist to buy. A limited selection of Madelaine’s paintings are available for viewing at the boutique.
This is the last of my Artforms in Nature posts. I have really paid a tribute to artist and naturalist Ernst Haeckel. I leave you with a beautiful series of full colour plates showcasing larger lifeforms. Some might not seem so beautiful at first (the frogs!!!), but I insist, there is inspiration there for someone.
The orchids are just incredible. I made a series of dresses once for the Cirque du Soleil based on orchids. Below are two dresses by Michelle Ferranti that served as my inspiration for that project.
Here are the frogs!! Ha ha! They are so hideous and yet i have nothing against frogs. Actually, I think frogs are pretty important and I own a pair of little gold frog stud earrings that are quite delightful. We all loved Kermit the frog. Below I have added the image of a dress by John Galliano that seems kind of froggy to me.
This plate is classic Faberge egg inspiration. It is just so perferct. Look at he symmetry and ornament and texture.
You don’t need to be a genius to be an artist. You just need to take the time to do it. A lot of the work that I do is detail oriented and time consuming. Other designers look at my work and think I’m crazy to be cutting out shapes, making stencils and drawing with thread. But to me, it’s just what I do. Come see the new Spring 2011 collection at the boutique. I have been adding new styles every week.
Kat
It seems I am not the only designer totally inspired by Haeckel’s art. Below you will see the most incredible dress by artists/designer Toolgrrl (that is her etsy name).
It’s inspired by an Ernst Haeckel illustration of a stinkhorn fungus from the 19th century. The relationship this piece has with the environment isn’t just limited to mushrooms, though, as every inch of the dress is made with recycled materials.
And now for some mushroom art that fits into our everyday. This is the new toadstool skirt that we are currently selling at the boutique. It is playful and clearly a reminder of the fact that Spring is on its way. YAY!
How many of you have sea shells in your bathroom? I know I do. I even have starfish spray painted silver and driftwood that I lugged home from vacation. This post explores the connection between Nature, as illustrated by the drawings of Ernst Haeckel, and our desire to surround ourselves with objects from the ocean.
Below are some amazing contemporary furniture designs by a company called ARKTURA. I am totally smitten with the lines and shadows that these pieces cast. I am also a fan of the colour options they provide…what not just black and chrome?, but also plum, red and aqua…how do I choose?
a little bit of the real thing in pink and purple and red ( may favourite colours)…
…and a little bit of happy homemaker throwing an ocean themed dinner party!
photo by Jeffrey N Jeffords
Below are the sqid pages. mmm, yum!
We have this pin in the store. It is by an American artist called MamasLittleBabies.
Now this tops it all for me. Michelle McCoskey has crochet this squid scarf. I can’t say that I would wear it, but i was thrilled when I found theses images online and I hope you enjoy the ridiculousness and effort that went into making this masterpiece of crafty kitsch!
I find this woman and her dress very inspiring. She is stunningly beautiful and her pose is very masculine and confident. Her dress is a total work of art! I would love to know who this woman is. Is she an artists or a designer posing for a story? If anyone knows who she is, I am curious. Please leave a comment.
This is now in my top two favourite costumes of all times. It was comissioned for hoola hoop artist Danièle Béchard. She was a delight to design for and I was very inspired when I was making this little number. She wanted a skirt that she could roll her hoops up over without getting caught in it. She needed it to be washable, durable and yet still look luxurious and sexy. The initial challenge was convincing her to add a contrast colour outside of the red/black colour palette that we had decided upon. I knew that we would need blues and cools to make the red pop (pink was not an option for Daniele…she hates it) and so all of the stitching and embellishments are done with turquoise, blue, lavender and white for highlights. There is a lace up in the back that we cannot see in these pictures.
More bibis!
Our creative process has evolved a lot as our team has evolved. This is what our collection boards look like. We move the mini mock ups of the pieces we are designing around on the board and find our matching out fits and plan delivery to store dates so that when the items finally come to you they are ready to pop into your wardrobe as single items or even better as complete outfits.
These are mock ups of our March first delivery group. Lots of black and white accented with roses. Pops of garden green and lime with fuschia and hot pink and peachy rose. Playful pieces to prep you for a great summer ahead.
Your life is your most powerful art. See you at the boutique.
erin
Photos by Madelaine Turgeon
Thank you Colette for another beautiful event. Thank you Montango dancers for your grace and poetry. Thank you everyone who came to this special event.
Your life is your most powerful art. See you at the boutique.
erin
You know, the UK fashion designer who’s been named Queen of Punk, and who also happened to design Carrie’s wedding dress in Sex and the City I?
She recently starred in a documentary. Basically her, on her bicycle, giving her audience a private tour of all her favorite London haunts. By haunts, we mean art galleries.
- London’s National Gallery
Though London is one most expensive cities on the planet, entrance to all the national galleries is completely free. That is a powerful message about the justice of democratizing high art.
I love the message behind this. I believe strongly in democratizing “high” art. I believe in making beauty and culture accessible. I believe that the masters – the artists who dared to change the world with their art, not the ones who catered to a phase and then burned out – should belong to all people. Their work, I believe, is the copywright of humanity. I also believe that, given their important work, great artists must get paid.
For a woman credited with birthing punk fashion in the 70s, it is mildly funny to see her lauding the values of high vs. underground culture.
- Vivienne Westwood’s bridal design
She is anti-establishment, yet also vehemently pro high-art. The two, she posits, go hand in hand.
Here’s what she told the Globe and Mail: “if you’re an art-lover, you’re also a freedom fighter, and you need to take part in trying to save the world.”
That is also the spirit behind Katrin Leblond’s work. Kat believes fiercely in making art to better the world. She expresses this both in her craft itself, and in the way she runs her business. Her garments are made ethically, and her business is run with utmost concern for the environment.
Through vehemently defending beauty, she brings light and love to the world. The clothes she produces, brimming with joy and made with love and justice, spread positivity when they’re worn in the world.
Vivienne Westwood insists that art exists to make us better people. That love for humanity is certainly present in every piece of art that comes through our Boutique doors.
Express your beauty as you are. Dance in your kitchen and sing to the stars.
Sarah Pearson
What happens when seven visionary women find their artistic rivers converging into the same sea?
You get the WAWA Show.
We Are Women Artists – or WAWA for short – is the brainchild of indie-burlesque singer-songwriter Amanda Mabro, one of Montreal’s most talked about emerging artists. She started this collective six years ago as a way of building community and support among women artists. More than a “concert,” it’s a veritable festival of impassioned, courageous art.
This year’s interdisciplinary show includes performances from Amanda herself, as well as eight other songwriters, circus performers, musicians and visual artists. Among those six is Katrin Leblond.
This is going to be a powerful evening. The sheer talent alone is not to be missed. Amanda Mabro is acclaimed throughout the country, and has driven critics wild at the Montreal Jazz Festival and Osheaga.
The Good Lovelies are an adored Canadian roots-folk trio, winning a Juno last year.
Our very dear friend Krin Haglund will be hosting along with Andreane Leclerc, bringing acrobatic magic to the cabaret-like evening.
Mirjana Milovanovic will be lending her haunting vocals, fresh from her two-year gig with Cirque du Soleil in Vegas.
Andree Anne Handfield‘s photography will add a visual depth to the evening.
Katrin Leblond will provide the finest couture for the performers, dazzling our senses with colours, cuts, and luscious prints.
This is bound to be a memorable evening. The unique beauty of each of these artists is very powerful. As they join forces for one single night, the energy’s bound to be overwhelmingly great.
ONE NIGHT ONLY
February 28, 2011
8pm
@ Théatre Gésu centre de créativité
$25
Tickets available at Boutique Katrin Leblond! Or visit the WAWA website.
Express your beauty as you are. Dance in your kitchen and sing to the stars.
Sarah Pearson
I have many pairs of WAWA tickets for you ladies.
The show is February 26th, 8pm
Here’s what you do to enter the draw:
1. Leave a comment below this post with your e-mail and phone number
2. Subscribe to this blog
3. Become a friend of Katrin Leblond Design on Facebook
Colette van Haaren is a quiet woman with lots of power. The best way she finds to share that power? Through her fingers.
Colette is a yarn artist who’s been knitting and crocheting since childhood. Today, she produces some of the Boutique’s fastest-selling items. From stunning wool ponchos and cardigans to neck warmers and scarves to playful wool jewelry, Colette is an integral part of the Boutique Katrin Leblond Collection.
Having learned the basics of yarn crafts as a young girl, Colette got “hooked” (pun intended!) on the craft in her twenties, when she designed and marketed her own line of knitwear.
Then she stopped. She became a mother. She got busier. “Life got in the way,” she says, and her knitting work went on hiatus.
As any artist who’s ever been on hiatus knows, your art always comes back. In recent years, Colette has returned to her needles and knit machines, and is producing more clothing, accessories, and jewelry than ever before. And Boutique clients clearly can’t get enough of her work.
Many artists and spiritual seekers talk about their way “in” – the thing that connects them to the source. The way Colette describes knitting, it is so clear that this is her way in. “Simple shapes and mindless knitting allow me to get into a meditative state,” she writes. “I get to relax and have lap throws, pillows, hats, shawls, and headbands … to show for it.”
She is not alone in her love for the craft. Thousands of men and women discover the transcendental powers of yarn-art every year. There has been no doubt a knitting revival in the last decade, particularly among young women. “Stitch ‘n Bitch” groups have become increasingly popular, along with other traditionally “grandmotherly” crafts. Canning, bread-making, gardening and crochet are all on the list of reclaimed feminine-domestic arts.
Some theorists say this revival has to do with third-wave feminism. Maybe it also has to do with people wanting to slow down in a world that’s getting faster and faster.
Slowing down is part of the draw for Colette. In her personal statement, she writes:
“yarn crafts, when done by hand, progress slowly. Just doing it can get you to relax or into a meditative state. Practicing these ancient techniques connects me to all the people who have worked these crafts out of necessity, duty, pleasure, and love.”
She continues the tradition this Wednesday night, at Boutique Katrin Leblond, where she will share her line of knitwear through a very special evening of tango. This is not to be missed. Come be a part of the knitting legacy.
Express your beauty as you are. Dance in your kitchen and sing to the stars.
Sarah Pearson
They say you can’t throw a stone in Montreal without hitting a church. Well, in Austin Texas, where I just spent a week’s vacation, you can’t throw a stone without hitting an image of the Guadalupe Virgin or the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
I wasn’t raised with any Catholic education, so I was unfamiliar with the Sacred Heart. On this trip, as I began to see so many beautiful hearts all over town, in boutiques, on murals, and even just on keychains, I noticed I was really drawn to them.
We LOVE hearts at Boutique Katrin Leblond. Just look at our logo.
The heart’s bursting over with flowers, just like many sacred hearts burst with flames.
They say that, in Catholicism, the Sacred Heart of Jesus represents Jesus’ divine love for humanity. I like to think that when people enter the boutique, they are nurtured and inspired to show divine love towards themselves. We want every woman to feel they are entering a temple that worships the beauty that exists in all of us, inside and out.
this hand embroidered pillow is available at the boutique
I left Texas with a little hand-made Sacred Heart made out of tin that I bought from a Mexican artist. I’ve hung it over my work desk, so that the radiance of that divine self-love may carry me through my work days, and inspire me to be my best self.
Like a new dress or scarf, this little Heart of mine is a simple gift to myself that makes me feel special and loved. Come on by the Boutique and you’re bound to find something that does the same for you!
Express your beauty as you are. Dance in your kitchen, and sing to the stars.
Sarah Pearson
Here is my take-two on the analyses of how artists are influenced by Nature. Sometimes we really stretch the truth, but sometimes the source of our inspiration is very close indeed. I have included two other artists in this series: Alexander McQueen (17 March 1969 – 11 February 2010) and Karl Blossfeldt (June 13, 1865 – December 9, 1932). McQueen, who died last year, was one of the best headpiece designers of all time. Below, I have included photos that seem to be directly influenced by the shapes and forms in Haeckels prints.
This is from McQueens SS 2008 collection.
I mean, really? Is this not totally crazy awesome to see how closely linked all creativity is! We are all drinking from the same creative well!
Also SS2008 McQueen
These three images really need to all be looked at together. Above we have shapes that look to me like armour, shields and Samurai headpieces. Below we have another McQueen headpiece from his last collection FW 2011. Then below that, I have inserted three photos from early nature photographer Karl Blossfeldt. The references are stunning!
German photographer Karl Blossfeldt (June 13, 1865 – December 9, 1932) worked in Berlin and is best known for his close-up photographs of plants. It is documented that he was influenced by the the illustrations of Ernst Haeckel as a scientist and artist.
I love this book Kunst-Formen der Natur (Art Forms in Nature)
The artwork is so inspiring. It was illustarted by Ernst Haeckel, 1898.
I think there is something really interesting about the lacy intricacies of these drawings.
Nature is my ultimate source of inspiration for everything from embellishments to business management. All the answers exist in Nature.
This book of illustrations will appear to you over 6 blog posts….the last being images of larger lifeforms.
It is a wonderful book, in the public domain, which features all sorts of illustrations of the natural world. I scanned my personal copy to share with you page by page I have also included all sorts of images from architecture to stained glass that seem to be directly drawing their inspiration from the natural world.
Curvy lines and fancy squiggles ….these creatures could be Rococo carvings in a Parisian church covered in gold leaf.
And here i have added an image of the Tassel House staircase, an art-nouveau building in Brussels. I feel the jelly fish lines and the art Nouveau lines have a lot in common.
All we need is Nature. For every design, every line and every problem, I feel we could find all the answers in Nature. Below is a stockphoto of stained glass that could be directly referencing the illustrations of Ernst Haeckel. And yet, those illustrations were done directly from observation.
photo by Paul Cummings
I feel we all need to show our appreciation for Nature and artists especially so. Thank you Monther Earth.
And, thank you Ernst Haeckel for taking the time a 100 years ago to make these beautiful drawings.
Meet Claude, a local Montreal legend. Sometimes you can find him, sometimes you can’t. He can freestyle amazing script and perfectly copies fonts. He’s great at what he does. He works in oil paints and most people hire him for permanent window text, but I hired him to do my Christmas window. It took two days and he smoked many many cigarettes (not in the store!). He stood back to measure and look at his work. I wanted it to happen faster, but perfection was his vice and so he took his time and made it great.
Here you can see the big bows that he painted above each window. These were inspired from old art deco posters. I wanted to make the windows look like gifts and everything in the store is in the box with a big bow on top.
After he was done with the window, I asked him to make me a new sandwich board. He hummed and hawed. He needs the work, but grumbles a bit along the way. I think he did a spectacular job on the sandwich board. I love it so much!
I would have used them in my dollhouse, for my barbies and made fashion jewelry with them too. I have been crafting for so long, that my collection of craft supplies requires more space than my collection of shoes. (But I am working on that, trying to buy more shoes and use up old supplies.) These little handbags are just so great. I have always been fascinated by the people who make things mini. They are so attractive to me. They are a completely frivolous contrast to my need as an artist to make functional art.
kat
Because ideas don’t emerge from a vacuum. We create in a community.
The artist expresses a distilled idea culled from the pulsing, flowing, churning well of our collective experience and reflections.
Our shared experiences lead the artists of our communities to reflect on common themes in a kaleidoscope of variations providing interesting parallels.
I find it so much more interesting to dress in many artists than to simply build my whole out fit from one designer. That is why I choose to offer over 75 different designers in the store. Sure its more work, but its worth it.
I try and find artist who communicate an interesting dialogue with their own work and that of Katrin’s. I love finding great outfits among the offerings of so many different artists. I love how each outfit created can belong entirely to the person who is wearing it in part because the combination they have selected is theirs alone.
When you buy from within your community you are already part of the art at its inception. The art belongs in part to you and you are part of art, the artist, and the community. The reach of the communal net begins at home and extends out around the wold.
At boutique Katrin Leblond that means beginning with Kat’s creations and then looking at what is creatively being generated in her immediate neighborhood: The Plateau, and then looking at the context of that in the greater Montreal area, and then further out in Quebec, and then in Ontario, and the Maritimes, and then the rest of Canada, and then further still, till you are culling a bit from the USA, and a bit from Serbia, or Mexico, or Thailand,or… . It’s like a fashion rock being thrown into a pond of design ideas. The biggest splash is at the center and the ripples get lighter and lighter as they move away from the center but they still travel out quieter and quieter as they go across the whole lake.
It’s about dressing yourself while answering the question “What are you part of?”
Don’t forget…..
Your life is your most powerful art. See you at the boutique.
erin
The store is committed to local. What does that mean for the store. How Boutique Katrin Leblond expresses local.
It’s cool to know that there is an artist half way around the world sharing an interest in similar visual themes to a collection that Kat is working on here in Montreal. There is all these great Montreal artists of course we are going to sell their stuff.
Super soft and lovingly made, these belts are built with leather remnants that Genevieve recycles into the magical and practical accessories. These belts do a great job of holding up your pants or cinching in the waist on that dress you love. Use them to jazz up the sweater or coat that you want to wear everyday in as many ways as possible.
Your life is your most powerful art. See you at the boutique.
erin
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