Every year Diptyque releases a collection of limited edition candles for the holidays. It’s usually a trio of scents. This year the one that calls out to me is Hiver (Winter), “a breath of smoky woods and roast chestnuts, enveloped in precious balms.”
The glass containers are designed by the artist collective Qubo Gas.
Hard to resist, no?
I’ve grumbled before about way that skull designs have gone totally mainstream, so I won’t go over that again. I still have a weakness for macabre skull imagery showing up in unexpected places. I’d love to own one of these new silicone skull-shaped tea infusers created by Lee Jinyoung of i-Clue Design. Fun and function, with a dash of philosophy!
I didn’t know about the Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto until recently, when a friend sent me a link to the Bata’s current exhibition, Fashion Victims: The Pleasures and Perils of Dress in the 19th Century. (I definitely need to make a special trip to Toronto to see this show. Fortunately, it runs through June 2016.)
In perusing the Bata Shoe Museum’s website, I came across these beauties. They were made in the late 1870s or 1880s by the luxury footwear firm of François Pinet. Just look at the perfect heel and curvy lines, not to mention the intricate floral hand-embroidery.
I would wear these boots in a second, if someone could reproduce them in a present-day size 8.
Here’s a video of the Bata’s senior curator, Elizabeth Semmelhack, discussing the Pinet boots.
Collection of the Bata Shoe Museum.
Photo credit: Image © 2014 Bata Shoe Museum, Toronto, Canada
I’ve been an admirer of Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988) ever since I saw a retrospective of his work at the Whitney Museum in 1992. (I have to confess that I even enjoyed the 1996 biopic Basquiat, directed by Julian Schnabel.)
If Basquiat were still alive, he’d surely be collaborating with designers, musicians, filmmakers, and so on—after all, he did all that in his lifetime, long before Takashi Murakami ever thought of teaming up with Louis Vuitton. Maybe that’s why I don’t mind when I see (authorized) Basquiat merchandise for sale.
This high-end candle is one of six in a series produced by Ligne Blanche Paris, with fragrances by Givaudan. The porcelain holder is printed with a reproduction of Basquiat’s Trumpet (1984, below), and the scent is a blend of almond and cherry.
Ligne Blanche’s Basquiat candles sell for $65 at Twisted Lily.
What is it about mermaids? Why are we fascinated by them? I wouldn’t actually want to be one (if they existed). I don’t swim. I would never go topless. I’m not an adult Disney fan with an Ariel obsession. I think the story of “The Little Mermaid” (the real Hans Christian Anderson story, not that Disney version!) is strange and sad; the first time I read it, as a child, I kept turning the last page back and forth, hoping for another (happier) ending.
And yet, like many other women, I would ask a mermaid for some beauty tips. The hair! the pale skin! the shimmery scales!
Birchbox, the beauty-product shopping site and subscription club, has just launched a limited edition set called Modern Mermaid.
TINSEL CREATION 