currently loving: monica vitti & olympia le tan

Monica Vitti in Michelangelo Antonioni's 1962 film L’Eclisse

if you follow me on tumblr or livejournal, you may know that i have a special place in my heart for monica vitti, and 1960s italian cinema. so much so that i have reblogged the exact same image of her standing on the cliffs in antonioni’s l’avventura (1960) three times, and used her face as my livejournal icons back in the days when we thought about those things. her talent and her face have captivated me since i first saw l’avventura, and her style is definitely something i’ve aspired to emulate on particularly fancy pants occasions. i’m hardly alone… just look at her. a face made for the screen.

needless to say, when fashion meets cinema, my heart generally starts to beat a little faster. imagine my face when i saw how you could wear your love of italian cinema on your sleeve  clutch.

be still, my beating heart. the price tag, however, makes me want to cry. i did a little digging, and realized this is not the first time i’ve seen olympia le tan’s work. i first took note of her creative crafting and design skills when an image of natalie portman on the red carpet for black swan was making the rounds, holding a clutch that looked like a book! since then, lots of do it yourself projects have popped up in the crafty fashion loving blogosphere. understandably: if you’d like to own one yourself you’d have to drop 1500 bucks.

but back to the fashion-meets-cinema aspect of this item. to advertise her clutches, le tan (who has made short films herself) recruited some gorgeous faces to recreate film stills of the films she lauds on her clutches:

gabriele ferzetti and monica vitti in l’avventura, 1960

Annabelle Dexter-Jones as Monica Vitti in L’Avventura by Max Farago for Olympia Le-Tan’s Pitti W project.

Monica Vitti in The Red Desert (Antonioni, 1964)

Cecile Cassel as Monica Vitti in Il Deserto Rosso by Max Farago for Olympia Le-Tan’s Pitti W project.

i can’t find the film still this one is emulating, and haven’t seen teorema, but goddamn…

can i resist tilda swinton? i think not.

Tilda Swinton posed as Silvana Mangano in Pier Paolo Pasolini’s “Teorema”

this is only one of le tan‘s many clutch projects, and it’s safe to say i’m pretty much swooning for anything she touches. not to mention her incredible style!

olympia le tan showing off her closet to vogue france

but for brevity’s sake, i’ll leave it at that for now. visit her website yourself and poke around! instead of lusting for a clutch i probably wouldn’t even use that often and knowing absent-minded me, most likely it forget somewhere, i think i’ll just re-watch some of my favourite antonioni films and drown my sorrows while daydreaming of monica vitti’s face. sounds like a plan.

most of these photos were found on olympia’s tumblr. click the photos for credit.

LINKS:

• Olympia Le-Tan at Zoot Magazine (January 25th, 2012)
• Dans le dressing de Olympia at Vogue France (January 4th, 2012)
• Olympia Le-Tan goes Cinematic

FILM GOOD TIMES

• the red desert criterion collection
• l’avventura on the criterion collection website
• l’eclisse on the criterion collection website

a love letter to québec city: salon nouveau genre 6

it’s hard to believe, but it’s been three years since québec city became my home. since then, i think it’s fair to say we’ve had our ups and downs: bouts of unemployment, hard to find friends who end up leaving for greener pastures, not to mention finding a balance between french and english with a dash of culture shock. there have been moments when i’ve doubted whether we were right for each other…  but this past sunday was definitely one of those days where i was reminded why i feel in love with this city in the first place.

now i’ve been to nearly all of the salon nouveau genres over the past few years, but i have to say this one went above and beyond. olivier, the organizer, really hit his stride finding a great balance with the location, space, and variety of craftspeople showcasing their work.

many of my favourites were still there, like velvet typo, water loup, and tomates d’epingles. but what really blew me away were meeting many new creative people who live and work in the same city as i do! i like to think of myself as quite “branchée,” comme on dit en français, going to gallery openings, having worked in the arts community, and being pretty social. i sell alongside church clothes and many other folks at boutique lucia f. even so, it’s refreshing to find i am still constantly meeting and discovering new artists. here are just a handful of the people i met on sunday.

julie is one of the people i’ve met during my visits to morgan bridge in downtown québec city. she sells a handful of postcards and things there, but i had only seen her lovely jewelry, namely necklaces, online as of yet. but at salon nouveau genre, she flaunted her creative wares by incorporating vintage with newer pieces. what really takes my breath away are her handmade display cases. i’ve made my own using an old letterpress drawer, but if i was in the market for one i would definitely head towards why not coconut.

across from julie’s stall was something that immediately caught my eye: bowties, photos of kitschy motels, and a jackalope. i was soon chatting up one of the creators who is based in bromont, and we talked about our affection for motels and casse-croutes across québec. my knowledge is pretty limited to the eastern townships and la beauce, but her book chronicling abitibi’s selection really drew me in.

as i headed for the door, i stumbled upon yet another great discovery: Studio METHOD(E).

Founded by Emily Lewis and Marie-Hélène Bélanger, two graduates of NSCAD University in Halifax, Studio METHOD(E) is a contemporary jewellery studio that specialises in the use and teaching of alternative techniques and materials. Pushing the boundaries of traditional jewellery, the founders explore many possible avenues using concepts and materials that fascinate them.

i was swooning for this pair of earrings in particular:

aren’t they a gorgeous modern take on turn of the century jewelry? there’s something about them that really harkens back to art nouveau to me, for some reason. i could link pair after pair that i would love to own, but it’s not simply the aesthetics i can get behind, but their creative approach. i just love their approach to jewelry making.

they invited me to stop by their studio in limoilou sometime, and i can’t wait to take them up on their offer when my wallet has fully recovered from this weekend’s events.

i know i have readers from many corners around the world, so to make this a wee bit less quebec centric i leave you with these thoughts. i’ve already expressed my distaste of shopping “events” like black friday. i personally am really not a fan of commercializing everything possible and making things into “sale” days. however, events like craft fairs, zine expos, and the like make it possible for craft lovers like myself to meet the people who make the things we wear, read, and enjoy. and every time i go to a good one like sng6, i leave completely reinvigorated and inspired… as opposed to when i leave a shopping mall, where i feel overwhelmed, frustrated and broke.

i can’t say i’m 100% sold on the idea of radical ideas being able to take root via capitalistic endeavors (since so many social justice issues stem from capitalism being the model of “every man for himself”) but i definitely think it’s a step in the right direction.

in short: if you celebrate the holidays and want to give thoughtful awesome gifts to your loved ones, check out your local craft fair. you never know, you might make some new friends and learn something new while you’re at it. how often does that happen in a mall?

LINKS:

• Salon Nouveau Genre 6
• Why not Coconut? Handmade jewelry and jewelry cases
• Jackalop
• Iris
• water loup
• Studio Method(e)