Trippy

Looking for jewelry to complete my 60s look for the Fashion Fantasy League, I got thinking about the penchant for faithfully reproduced flora and fauna that predominated jewelry design in the 50s and carried into the 60s. Personally, I never understood the need to recreate nature in anything - fabric prints, rug motifs, jewelry - all are more interesting to my eye if abstracted and geometric. But there is something to be said about the purly sensual, psychedelic quality of Victoire de Castellane's jewelry designs.

Like this:

Castellane, who got her start in fashion through Kaiser Karl at Chanel, where she oversaw the house's costume jewelry, has moved to Dior since.

 The audacious vibrancy of her colors and the figurative fidelity of her shapes make me what to see, if not wear.

If you happen to be in NY, her work can be seen at the Gagosian Gallery.

Forgotten lives

The story of Vivian Maier - or rather the story of a life once forgotten and an oeuvre now  found - is no longer new, since the first items about it started trickling out in late 00s. Maier, an American who was raised largely in per WWII France, spent her life as a nanny, largely around Chicago. She was also a photographer, who left over 100,000 negatives when she passed away. Her life was not memorabe, her art unknown. Only after her death, when a real estate agent and local historical conservationist happened to find her collection of negatives  while working on a book about a Chicago neighbourhood, did both emerge from oblivion. Since then Maier's life and art have come into the limelight. There have been exhibitions, there is a Wiki page. And now there is a documentary, "Finding Vivian Maier".

Here's a trailer:

It is a rare boon when  re-discovered aritsts are actually any good. Maier was. Primarily a street photographer, she had a good eye for framing and detail. Her self-portraits are also terrific, unflinching, willing to find her image in any reflection - willing you to take notice of her, to look her in the eye.

And you know me - always a sucker for a good self-portrait.

Here are some examples:

And some non self-portraits: