blog travels | menswear magazines

love valet mag. in a really intensely passionate way.  as much as a woman can love a men’s online magazine. why is valet mag so great?   it’s the ultimate site for men about every etiquette or personal grooming question they might have and everything about it—from the design to the content—is exceptionally sleek.   their handbook section is the holy grail of situational resources. in quick succinct delivery it tells a guy everything he needs to know: how to get that perfect two-day scruff, how to detail your car in 15 mins, how to take care of your ties, how to open a drink without a bottle opener, the right percentages for tipping different vendors, how to choose the right grill, or buy the right flowers, how to get a bartenders attention or my personal favorite:  a review on the validity of men's lip balm.  check it out.    

  images | valet

blog travels | modern wreaths

had a dream about this wreath last night. (which probably means i need to see someone about design blog addiction right?) check out the twig and thistle tutorial here.

in other wreath news, yes i have more news about wreaths…how is that even possible? a friend invited me to honor the memory of recent fallen soldiers by laying wreaths in arlington cemetery with wreaths across america. great  idea, especially around the holidays. how encouraging would it be to visit the grave of a loved one and see that other people have acknowledged his/her memory as well? more information here.

                                                                                     image | twig and thistle

blog travels | home studio

  

intensely hectic weekend ahead filled with lots of advance work for the upcoming winter shoot and trunk show. these designers have a make-shift studio in their apartment which is an incredible solution for last minute shoots and days with crappy weather. 

::the sound of cogs turning in my brain::

enjoy the weekend!

                                                                 image | the selby

blog travels | all business (cards)

isn't this synecdoche business card fun?

spent the day looking at different options for our onyx feather business cards with the team. putting twelve different options in front of a group of diverse people is always a roller coaster ride.

me: "do we use inquiries@onyxfeather.com or hello@onyxfeatheronline.com?"
mm: "hmm. inquires is elegant, hello is accessible."
me (puzzled): "do i want to be elegant or accessible? or is elegance accessible?"
frank (emphatically): "never decide. you want to be both."
me: "the card can't have both."
mm: "what would DVF do?"
emily: "ahahaha yes. that is the question."
me: "elegance. the woman drips of elegance. diane von furstenberg would never say: "hello.""
tegs: "you've got your answer then."

can't wait to see and share the finals!

image | synedoche design

vintage travels | mod purse or laptop case

look at it. it's beckoning to you. sort of whispering your name isn't it? it's saying: carry me. i'm different. i'm not a homogeneous item from target. every girl on the metro won't have me in another color.  i have a luxurious red interior. you can use me as a purse. or laptop case. or briefcase. i catch people off guard. i'm unusual. i'm 50 dollars. and you can find me here on etsy.

ok i'm done now.

                                                    photos | mills design co

inspirational women | diane von furtsenberg

woodson, emily, and i got a rare opportunity to hear diane von fursternberg tell her life story last night in an intimate woman’s seminar on business and philanthropy. her bio was incredible:  she got knocked up, married a prince quickly to avoid scandal (i never said her story was “normal”), invented the wrap dress, became successful, sold the rights to her name, saw her name basterdized in the consumer world, years later had to fight to rebuild her brand and name again.  it was illustrated with personal images and lyrically delivered in her trademark accent and abrupt-to-the-point manner:   (“when you are a mother you love your kids, when they are teenagers you hate them and they hate you…so I sent them to boarding school and I moved to paris!” or “i couldn’t find a president for the CFDA—no one wanted to be president. so I said “fine, i will be president and i’ll make it so fabulous people will want to be president after i am!””)     

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she was also extremely elegant. her elegance oozed off the stage and when you tried to grab some and bottle it up it dissipated into thin air.  best thing she said during the seminar:

 “i have a little thing i do. when i wake up in the morning i like to do something for other people before i do something for myself. it’s a routine. it can be anything. because i have a lot of contacts now it can even be sending an email to two people introducing them. because sending an email is nothing to me, but it might completely change the life of the recipients.”

video + blog travels | ballet

light blog posting due to huge deadlines + the upcoming winter shoot.  love these images; they are wonderful inspiration for some things coming up on the onyx feather horizon. here is a link to the runaway video by k. west featuring  victoria secret model selita ebanks playing the role of a phoenix-bird-person-goddess-thingy. her makeup and wardrobe are exceptional and make every woman want to be a phoenix-bird-person-goddess-thingy. check out this  fly blog post to see images of her. the white eye shadow, mascara, and phillip lim feathers make my heart pirouette.

                                                            

photos | runaway | james hill