Room/Outfit + Norwegian Apartment

You didn’t think I was going to abandon my spooky, gothic theme for Friday’s Room/Outfit post now did you?

Todays room is dark and gothic and very beautiful. I found the image on the great decorating site, Apartment Therapy. The room is taken from an apartment in Norway where the inhabitant decided to paint everything black after a bad breakup.

The effect is gorgeous and old-world and feminine and elegant all at once.

For my outfit inspired by this room I wanted to preserve those qualities and maintain a little bit of  Halloween spookiness. The jewelry of Julia Deville provides a bit of that with her pieces that feature cast skulls and pieces of bone.

I also love the black multi-strap bra from Journelle that is web-like underneath the sheer top of this black silk dress. I personally would just about die to wear this outfit anywhere, especially those great shoes from the Sea of Shoes holiday collaboration with Urban Outfitters.

Room from Apartment Therapy. Outfit clockwise from top left: New York and Company Faux Fur Scarf; Porcelain Finch (via Jayson Home & Garden); Diana Orving Silk Dress (via Creatures of Comfort – Black Sale going on now!); Madewell Clutch (via Shopbop); Julia Deville Bone Bracelet & Skull Ring; Marlies Dekkers Calder Demi Bra (via Journelle); Ban.do Hairpiece; Lee Angel Ribbon & Crystal Bracelet (via Shopbop); Satin Bow Heel (by Sea of Shoes + Urban Outfitters); Crochet Tights (via Urban Outfitters); Free People Vintage Chandelier Necklace.

Drink Me

I love these cocktail glasses from Ruffian’s mise en scene collaboration with Anthropologie.

They would be a beautiful addition to any elegant table setting but to me their vaguely gothic, decorative quality feels like the perfect vessel for a Halloween-themed cocktail.

Now I wouldn’t consider myself a mixologist by any streach of the imagination–my skills end at mixing tonic into my gin.

Luckily the Internet provides plenty of inspiration for old fashioned-style cocktails with names that evoke the darker side of the October holiday.

Bloody Zombie (via Liqurious)

1.5 oz white rum

1.5 oz white agricole

1 oz passionfruit juice

1 oz pineapple juice

0.5 oz fresh lemon juice

0.5 oz simple syrup

¼ oz vanilla syrup

Dash pimento dram

Shake and pour into a glass almost filled with crushed ice, throw in a pineapple leaf for garnish.

Dark & Stormy (via NYTimes)

2 oz Gosling’s Black Seal rum

4 oz Ginger Beer

Lime slice, for garnish

Fill glass with ice and add the rum. Top with the ginger beer and garnish with the lime slice.

Bloodlust

There’s no denying it, being a vampire is smokin’ hot.

Unfortunately, since vampires don’t necessarily exist per se, their particular level of hotness is somewhat out of reach for all of us not currently starring in the shows True Blood or Twilight.

Enter Ann Sofie Back and her so cool it just kills me collaboration with accessories designer Sheefun Chan for A/W 09.

The contours of sunglasses, belts and jewelry are accented with heavy drips that scream of blood.

Sofie Back makes it clear from the start that her style is not for the faint-hearted, her recent collection is titled “Ann Sofie Back Burns in Hell” and, she definitely delivers.

The aviator-style sunglasses are a favorite of mine, they’re the perfect thing for a vampire going incognito or someone who just wants to play the part.

Along Came a Spider

In honor of Halloween this coming Saturday, I am going to dedicate this week to spooky posts apropos of the holiday. Halloween is one of my all time favorite occasions, my neighborhood has been outfitted with synthetic spiderwebs and mini pumpkins and it makes me so happy.

Speaking of spiderwebs, I love these glass encased webs from artist/investigator Emil Fiore. I first encountered these creations at Catbird in Williamsburg and was taken by their gothic elegance. The effect is John Derian meets the Museum of Natural History. Fiore harvests the webs from actual spiders and immortalizes them beautifully in glass.

Buy one now for a sophisticated Halloween decoration then keep it on display all year long and lend a little goth style to your otherwise sunny disposition.

Room/Outfit + Agathe Perroy

Today’s Room/Outfit inspiration comes from the website for French decorating magazine Marie Claire Maison. This site is one of my favorites to browse for inspiration and decorating ideas. The French have such a great sense for this type of thing.

My favorite room of a house has got to be the kitchen. The kitchen is the center of it all. It is the place that brings people together in the best possible of ways.

This kitchen is from French architect Agathe Perroy. I love the cozy, clean space and the subtle fun accents like the floral stool, the colorful rug and robins egg blue chair.

For my outfit inspired by the room I wanted to keep things simple with some subtle pops. I started with an Anthropologie cardigan because the room is so cozy and paired it with an easy floral dress. The No.6 Aviator boots are lined with shearling and socks from Happy Socks keep feet especially toasty.

Outfit clockwise from top left: Anthropologie Bubbling Up Sweater, Anthropologie Folk Art Cup & Saucer, Banana Republic Beaded Ribbon Necklace, Vanessa Spring Flower Necklace, J.Crew Wool Ribbed Tights, Rebecca Minkoff Robe Dress, Slow and Steady Wins the Race Canvas Bag, Happy Socks Checkered Socks, No.6 Aviator Boots, Nigella Lawson’s Living Kitchen Measuring Cups

I Get a Kick Out of You

Drat, another day without an illustration. (You have no idea how much I beat myself up about these things.)

Anywho, just because I can’t get myself to put my pen to the paper doesn’t mean I can’t tell you about awesome, good-looking things, right?

So, speaking of awesome, I can’t tell you how much I love these boots from Brooklyn-based line Keller (featured in picture at left). I am really enjoying flat, lace-up boots these days and have been wearing them with cropped pants or 90s-style with a floral dress and long cardigan.

I think my obsession may have started with this photo found on Stylesightings (my favorite street-style site) of a cute Parisian lady with great lace-up boot style.

Keller shoes are available online and at Steven Alan stores in NYC.

Art and Sole

Wowie, count em’, two posts today, lucky lucky. I’m just so excited to tell you about this:

Andy and I recently collaborated on a pair of PF Flyers for the Art and Sole Shoe Project sponsored by PF Flyers and retailer El Kartel.

Shoes were decorated by artists from around the globe and are being auctioned via the project’s website. A portion of the proceeds are going to Vancouver, CA-based Arts Umbrella which is a need-blind organization dedicated to providing high quality visual and performing arts education for children in the Metro Vancouver area.

It was a fun project and a great cause to support! Check out all of the artists’ efforts on the site or purchase one of the exhibition catalogs to peruse at home.

Like a Loaded Gun

Generally I believe that guns do not belong in the home. Unless the gun you are talking about it one of these pretty floral-painted pieces made by Yvonne Lee Schultz with German porcelain manufacturer KPM.

When I found these pieces on Colette’s eshop, I had to learn more.

Schultz paints the guns to mimic the exact patterns from KPM’s classic china. The effect highlights the fragility of life within the everyday routine. I like how she takes a symbol of violence and changes it into an object incapable of inflicting harm (well, I suppose unless you broke it but with that price tag, I don’t recommend it).

Whether you like guns or not, it’s hard to resist the appeal of these pieces. You just want to hold one in your hand and see how it feels. The gun is modeled from the Walther PPK, the same model used by the one and only Bond, James Bond. Another pretty specimen come to think of it.

Flower Girls

When I started this blog, I knew that down the road sometimes life would feel a little too crazy to get everything done. Well, this week is one of those weeks.

So, as I don’t have an illustration for you today, I thought I would share a photo from my overflowing inspiration files. I’ve been hanging onto these girls for so long that I can’t even remember where they came from.

I love the ethereal 70s inspired colors in the photo and the fact that if you look closely, they’re both wearing stripes.