Category Archives: Design

To do on Saturday: be among the first to snag a Newson-Pentax digital hybrid camera at A+R in Venice

Calling all camera buffs who prefer their pictures be taken on a device that isn’t also capable of becoming an ex-boyfriend weapon while drunk.

On Saturday, A+R in Venice will be the first retailer outside of Colette in Paris to receive the Pentax K-01 hybrid digital camera, which was designed for the Japanese company by Australian industrial design rockstar Marc Newson (if you’ve ever chilled in the Qantas first class lounge in Sydney, eaten at Lever House in New York or owned a Samsonite Scope bag, you’ve experienced his work).

The groovy, $899 camera shoots in 16 megapixels, features a super thin, 40 mm interchangeable pancake lens and a three-inch LCD display. It’s also available in the cool canary yellow color pictured above.

And if you want to test it out, stop by A+R on Saturday where you’ll be able to check out a model from noon to 6 p.m. Just leave your drivers license at the desk and a Pentax K-01 is yours for the afternoon — so you can point, shoot, snap and create to your heart’s content. When you’re done, in-store monitors will be on hand to display your photos like the works of art they surely will be.

 

March 17,  from noon to 6 p.m. at A+R, 1121 Abbot Kinney, Venice. aplusrstore.com

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Another reason to be excited for OSCAR weekend: Janie Bryant MOD Spring Collection on QVC (Saturday, February 26th @ 6pm)

Mad Men Costume Designer Janie Bryant launched her Janie Bryant MOD line last September on QVC. When the line premiered, we grabbed the luxurious Leopard Faux Fur Capelet, which we confidently wear while out-and-about in animal-friendly West Hollywood.

After previewing Bryant’s Spring Collection, we are drooling again. The Lace Trench Coat ($99.60) is a wardrobe stable with a major starlet twist. Cool Hitchcock blondes should order the trench in black, but gals not feeling the noir can pick up a white lace version (which reminds us of a major Season 3 Betty Draper moment: when she first met Henry Francis at Roger Sterling’s Garden Party. AMAZING!).

Bryant says she was inspired by Grace Kelly, and we could only imagine the princess carrying the Ostrich Embossed Leather Shoulder Bag ($227) around her kingdom as well as a movie set. The lines of this bag are timeless. Fun fact: Bryant’s poodle keychain is inspired by her standard poodle Lucie.

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Get red carpet ready with Janie Bryant, who will present her vintage-inspired Spring Collection on QVC this Saturday, February 26th at 6pm.

Watch her describe her inspiration:
Get to know Janie Bryant

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Getting Inspired with Costume Designer Colleen Atwood’s KCRW Playlist

To prepare ourselves for the 13th Annual Costume Designers Guild (CDG) Awards being held tomorrow night at the Beverly Hills Hilton, we’re listening to very personal song selections from the playlist Alice and Wonderland costumer Colleen Atwood recently created as part of KCRW’s Guest DJ project (listen or download the radio show here).

The Award-Winning Costume Designer’s selections parallel pinpoint moments in her lifetime as well as colorful career. These intimate vignettes include memories of her father and his best friend, a cowboy named Cactus, as well as a car ride with her daughter (who finished off lyrics to Jimi Hendrix’s ‘The Wind Cries Mary’) as a young mother in Seattle.

In the 1960s, she watched her peers turn into flower children, but Atwood faced the harsh reality of teenage pregnancy and raising a child. Drugs and psychedelics were not an option; Jimi Hendrix was a lyrical escape into the era.

Atwood’s Everything I Am’ by Kanye West hip-hop selection may seem odd, but it is actually a family anthem for herself and her two daughters. “It [is] so about people, like myself, that maybe didn’t do everything right at one point in their life, but you just kind of soldier through it and get on with it,” Atwood admits.

Atwood’s success story captivates the listener as she reveals her favorite morning song for early call times, U2’s ‘Beautiful Day’, or the illustration of Jeff Buckley’s ‘Hallelujah’ “drifting through the rafters” of her workroom which was constructed in an abandoned adobe structure in a colonial Mexican town while shooting ‘The Mexican’.

Atwood’s illustrious career can barely be summarized in this blog post. But we will say her accolades include a major industry award nomination or achievement almost every year since 1995. This award season, Atwood has a CDG Award nomination for Excellence in Fantasy Film as well as an Academy Award nomination for Best Achievement in Costume Design for her work on Tim Burton’s ‘Alice in Wonderland’.

Enjoy the easy listening. It’s as inspiring as a TED video!

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And in more LACMA news…

This Saturday, September 25th is the LACMA Resnick Opening Gala Avant-Garde After Party — a great combination of art and fashion with previews of the following inaugural exhibitions:

Fashioning Fashion: European Dress in Detail, 1700–1915 (which we mentioned earlier this summer)
Eye for the Sensual: Selections from the Resnick Collection
Olmec: Colossal Masterworks of Ancient Mexico

Andre Leon Talley shot some of the costumes from the European collection for the September issue of Vogue. And adding to the fun for the evening will be a performance by The Chapin Sisters.

Co-chairs include Jenni Kayne Ehrlich and Maggie Kayne. Host committee members include one of my favorite LA fashion/art couples, stylist Jessica de Ruiter and artist Jed Lind. Other host committee members include Sabina and David Nathanson, Hilary Tisch, Chloe Sevigny, Mary Kate Olsen, Band of Outsider’ Scott Sternberg, Cameron Silver of Decades, gallerist P.C Valmorbida, and models Guinevere van Seenus and Erin Wasson.

Saturday, September 25, 2010
10 p.m.–Midnight
Tickets: $200 Avant-Garde Members | $250 Non-Members | $1,150 Introductory One-Year Avant-Garde Membership + Individual Ticket

Fore more information or to purchase tickets, click here. — Jessica Trent

Photo: A turban by Paul Poiret from 1911, on display as part of the LACMA’s Fashioning Fashion: European Dress in Detail exhibit that opens t0 the public on October 2.

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The interiors of Sex and the City 2

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I haven’t seen Sex and the City 2. To be honest, I might not see Sex and the City 2 (I know people that walked out). While I was obsessed with the series, it took me a good six months after its release to see the first movie. (And that was only because I was going through a trauma and a friend thought I’d feel better at the sight of Carrie being left at the altar. I didn’t.)

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And after coming across this Elle Decor spread of the amazing sets created for the film, I still don’t want to see the movie. But I do want to live in Carrie and Big’s apartment (I’d gladly take up a cot in their closet, too).

Click here for the rest of the photos and info about individual pieces used on set.

And I have to ask, what did you guys think of the movie?

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Tuesday evening gorgeousness: Vogue Nippon editor Anna Dello Russo’s Milan apartment

Images via Jak & Jil

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Jonathan Adler Classes Up Your iPhone With Free Background Wallpaper

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If things got a little crazy in Vegas that one weekend and your Blackberry background is now something you’d never show your mother, this one’s for you.

Mid-century decor master Jonathan Adler is offering free Blackberry and iPhone wallpaper on his website.

The free designs are taken from actual Adler wall coverings from his Palm Springs-infused collection and are available for a variety of screen sizes on different devices. You can even download a shot of Liberace, the adorable pooch belonging to Adler and spouse Simon Doonan.

We’re draping our phone in the brilliant black-and-white Greek key design until we can wrap our foyer in one of Adler’s impeccable patterns.

Or until our next weekend in Vegas.

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