Posts from ‘Inspiration’
Flowers from nudes – Feast your eyes!
FEAST YOUR EYES!
I am a spiritual person. I am a political person.
I believe that I am empowered to make ethical decisions that are beneficial for my community by the money I spend as an entrepreneur . I believe that as an artist, it is my duty to create beauty for my customers to enjoy. I believe that women deserve to be treated like goddesses entering a temple when they come in to my boutique. They are to be served, taken care of, draped in fabric and made to feel beautiful. I believe this from the bottom of my heart.
I have always been politically active and I have always been crafty. There were certain points in my life where I felt guilty and pained because “just making pretty things” was not saving the planet. Now that I am running an ecological and local manufacturing business that serves and adores women, I feel better. I have merged my environmental activist with my feminist and with my local economist in a way that allows me to keep being a creative human being.
And here is Linda Evangelista, our Montreal-born International Fashion Icon, merging her political views that something is wrong in the world and someone should be held accountable with her love of the Madonna. She got to play a living Madonna in a Religious procession. I have traveled to Antigua in Guatemala to see these processions. They walk the streets playing sad brass band music all the while carrying statues and crying for the death of Jesus. They walk for 12-13 hours. My main reason for traveling there was to see the “carpets” that the locals make from coloured saw dust and flowers. The carpets are made in the street prior to the passing of the procession. When the procession passes, the carpet gets trampled. It was incredibly beautiful. (This is reminding me that I should do a post about those carpets.)
I am unusually attracted the the iconography of the Madonna even though I was not raised in any form of Christianity. To me the Madonna is the “mother”, gaia, goddess … and those are all great things. It represents female divinity, something each woman carries within herself.
I love religious art. I love folk art. I love making pretty things.
It can take quite a while in life’s journey to settle into being who you truly are and not who you wish you were.
These prints are like whipped cream and strawberries.
Yummy!
They are vintage and oh so French.
The first one definitely has and Art Deco feel, but the rest are decidedly Victorian.
KL tote travel bag. Each one of these is unique and you should see the lining!
Rich red will always be strong and I will make sure to have a good red in every collection.
I cannot have these prints and I cannot put them into my Fall collection, but the colour palettes and combinations are an excellent reflection of Fashion trends right now. Soft natural nudes and creams and tans are making a raging comeback for Fall 2010.
KL Cerise Dress $245 with Colette Van Haaren mobius shaal $36
The camel and gold tones will be nice to complement last years brown. I know that Montreal is a black and grey clad city, but try to imagine these colours around the face with skinny black pants. It is gentle will especially complement blond and sandy brown hair.
KL Upsidedown cardigan, Gloria Gaudette ivory cardigan, Maillagogo Ivory knit cardigan and handprinted 100% cotton scarves
KL Mystery Jacket $126 with nude Donna Beth cami $25
Sometimes we fall, we slip.
Sometimes things don’t all go as planned.
Sometimes a great idea turns out to need a lot of tweaking.
A sting.
A zing.
A bit of a sour thing.
Sometimes a bit of sour helps you appreciate the sweetness that comes along next.
Nature has always been my greatest inspiration. Flowers in the summer and leaves in the Fall. It is so simplistic, but it returns to me every season and I never tire of these basic earthy themes. Here is a sampling of some land art I find beautiful (all done by a man named Nils) and some of the leaf embroidery we are working on for the current Fall 2010 collection.
These leaves will be appearing on our Fall pencil skirt. It is my new favorite skirt and I am super excited to introduce this cut as a recurring staple to the store.
The black and white feather appliqué is a perfect t-shirt for the graphically bold. The feathers are delicately placed at the neckline of the v-neck. (this photo is on it’s side)
The new Mystery jacket ($126) with tumbling red tulle leaves (pictured below).
Nature in red glory marching to the water. I don’t really know what this photo is about I just like the walking red flowers.
Frost on the leaves is coming sooner than some of us would like to think.
The doorway to Fall.
The collection in store offers some fashionable ways to get ready before it gets cold out!
Kat
Rococo, Victorian, Baroque, Elizabethan….if it is elaborate and covered in gold foil, I am loving it. Though I have traditionally been heavily influenced by folklore and rustic crafts, I am finding a new attraction to over-the top Marie-Antoinette style. Here we see what would have happened if Marie-Antoinette had been a Pagan Earth Queen.
I found these images on the internet and have been saving them for you, my dear readers, for quite some time now.
The corset is all assembled with thorns that are pinning together the leaves. The embellishments are all roses and lilacs…just try to imagine the smell.
This lovely lady seems to be sporting a log-cabin skirt? Not sure why, but the overall look is quite successful.
And here we have a costume that reminds me of myself. My favourite holiday is Halloween and I am usually one of two things: A witch or an Forest spirit. I think this woman did a great job combining fabrics. The best part is the juxtaposition of the gold corset and the raw rags skirt.
The fall collection is in the process of being released and designed all at once. I have already put some pieces into the boutique, but there are many more to come. You will see some peasant sleeves on soft knit tops, a wool coat with full skirt, a very Chanel inspired little cardigan suit with pencil skirt. I am growing up and so the collection will inevitably express some classicism while retaining it’s playful funk.
Have a great week-end!
Kat
My husband and I have bought our first home. It is not a tree house. Just a regular semi-attached single family cottage. I am in the middle of boxes and packing tape and I am feeling very inspired by homes and trees. I will soon be the owner of both.
…and now for the really wacky futuristic wood art….
…and some land art…
I have owned this Treehouse book for many years. It shows the step by step construction of a round treehouse, as well as featuring many different styles of tree houses that people occupy for living in, making art in and play.
Plant more trees.
Aya and Kat designed a dress in one mornig for Aya’s “Bal en Blanc” (that means the white ball) for Aya’s graduation from Daycare Ceremony.
She was soooo proud of herself.
She asked me if I cried when I watched her do her Song and dance with the rest of the kids in her group.
I did.
Lovin’ the cowgirl style!
Here’s a new goddess dress that Kat designed for high summer August weddings and parties.
It has a layer of ivory silk chiffon over a soft jersey lining. The embellishments are all silk and beadwork and lace.
And of course some Bridal bibis…we love headpieces!
Summer heat is still here.
Now you are tanned.
This is the time to wear white and ivory and feel like a fairy queen.
I am blown away! I am in awe. I feel humbled by the dresses, the background and the props. The scene that has been created is just incredible.
Nature will never fail you. When you are sad, angry, happy, rageful…Nature is a place you can take every emotion you have and She will welcome you. Especially great is really exerting yourself in nature. Getting sweaty and dirty and hot. Chopping wood, lifting rocks, shovelling earth. These activities may not be good for your back, but ladies they are good for the soul!
Last week I saw a mama deer and a baby deer drinking water by the lake. The baby was jumpy, like a little puppy, hopping around in the mud.
I am a rock collector. Not shells and not pressed leaves. Rocks and sometimes they get quite large. When I am travelling my pockets inevitably fill with stones…and a few of them always make it home with me.
Arts and crafts are another place where I can be myself. Uninhibited craft therapy. Remember your tools in your emotional toolkit. You learned what makes you happy a long time ago. Playing in piles of leaves and painting with your fingers. Remember? Try it again. See how it feels.
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