Cute Blog: Black + Blonde One

The very adorable Lindsay at the Black + Blonde One blog purchased one of my Oversized Leather Hair Bows and has featured it today. I love the way she's rockin' it with some hair volume (my hair is to fine to achieve that, boo!). Check out her blog for a special code for 15% off everything in the Stellaspace Etsy shop! 

Black + Blonde One: http://www.blackandblondeone.com

Balenciaga and Spain

Its been about a month since my last blog post, but I have a very good reason for that, I got a job! Well, its just a contract job for now, but its with an iconic clothing retailer so that is pretty exciting, and I am happy to be there for as long as the job lasts.  Since I have been absent from the blog for so long I figured it was only right to come back with something epic. 

Yesterday my mom and I went to the "Balenciaga and Spain" exhibit at the deYoung museum in San Francisco. The exhibit was a look at some of the amazing designs of Cristobal Balenciaga as well his Spanish influences. Balenciaga was born (1895), raised and began his fashion career in Spain before moving to Paris to start his fashion house in 1937.

Flyer for the exhibit

I will apologize ahead of time for the lack of quality of my photos (in addition to the fact that there aren't that many) as photography was not technically permitted at the exhibit so I had to take them very covertly on my iPhone. 

Let me just get on my soap box for a minute here, because going to this exhibit was not cheap. $11 admission to the museum, $25 tickets for the exhibit and $12 parking. I am a huge believer that viewing art should be free, or at least inexpensive (five to ten bucks a head maybe? I completely understand that there is a cost involved in operating a museum) . And chances are if you are poor, you are going to be WORKING on the first Tuesday of every month and not going to a museum. With all the money spent on admission to this event, I feel that I should be able to at least take some pictures with my stupid iPhone so I can share these beautiful pieces of fashion art on my blog without having to sneak them. Hopefully the FBI won't be repelling through my windows from my roof drawing their weapons on me a la "Christmas Vacation" for my posting of these pictures. Ok stepping down now.

Here are some of my favorites from the show:

Black crepe evening gown, 1940

Mustard yellow linen day suit, Summer 1950

Black silk taffeta & black lace evening dress, Winter 1951

Among Balenciaga's Spanish influences were traditional regional clothing, Flamenco dancers, Catholic Church garb (nun's habits, preist robes, etc), the Spanish monarchy, art (Diego Velazquez in particular), and matadors/bullfighting. While gaining inspiration from it, he actually hated bullfighting (me too!). The carnation, as represented on this dress, is the national flower of Spain as they are tossed at the feet of the matadors:

White taffeta with red chine carnation print, Summer 1956

Here is the interesting back detail of this dress worn by Ava Gardner. Below it, is a view of the side being worn by a model as well as as a sketch of it:

Pink silk gazar evening gown, Winter 1965

Archive photo of the side of the pink silk gazar evening gown

Archive studio drawing of pink silk gazar evening gown

Love the back of this fuchsia silk shantung and black lace cocktail dress,
Summer 1966

Yellow silk cloque lame cocktail dress, Winter 1967
Did not get the info of that beauty in the background unfortunately...

"That Girl" in the front, evening gown in the back.
Lime green silk gazar, Winter 1967

Ivory silk satin with "crown of thorns" embroidery and rhinestones,
Winter 1959

In the archives I found this illustration done by Bergdorf Goodman in 1939. Bergdorf Goodman was the first American department store to carry Balenciaga. The company documented its orders with illustrations such as this of the ivory silk satin and black silk velvet "Infanta" dress:

The archives also held this studio drawing of the Summer 1958 turquoise evening gown below:

Photo from a postcard

I came home with a bunch of postcards, here are some other images:

Evening ensemble, Winter 1967

Black silk charmeuse romper with pink silk faille bolero,
Winter, 1960

House of Balenciaga studio drawing of evening dress of brown silk gauze,
Summer 1962

Guessing this is from a fashion editorial of some sort,
Winter 1951

During the 30 years Balenciaga worked in Paris, Oscar de la Renta, Andre Courreges, Emanuel Ungaro, and Hubert de Givenchy all worked for him before going on to open their own fashion houses. Balenciaga closed his atelier in 1968, just four years before he passed away in Spain in 1972.

There were so many more beautiful things to see at the show, I wish I could show you more, but you will just have to be sure to go see it by July 4th when the show closes.

Useless Thing I Don't Need but Kind of Really Want: "Donut" Phone

And no, I don't mean a phone that looks like an actual Krispy Cream (delicious but impractical). I'm talking this:



Image: MrDorkESQ on Flickr


What a great design! Sure, it doesn't send text messages or or allow you to play Angry Birds. Oh and it doesn't take pictures of your cat. And you can't walk more than a couple feet from it to talk. Oh yeah, and that pesky rotary dial that takes ten times longer to place a call than just going to your contacts list and pressing once on the screen. Okay, so cell phones are pretty handy and a very significant step in technology. But look at the SHAPE!!! 

The "donut" phone was actually called the "Sculptura", originally produced beginning in 1974 by the Western Electric company. Interestingly enough, they were produced in BOTH touch tone and rotary dial since the phone lines in some areas were not yet equipped for touch tone. It was produced in white, brown and yellow which were not only popular colors in the mid-seventies but also the uniform colors at my high school at the time I attended (a move to ensure that no boys would EVER look at us in the event we went out in public in uniform). They can be found in other colors out there (the pink is particularly incredible), but these have been refurbished by collectors.


The Scuptura was part of the "Design Line" launched by Western Electric in 1974 to give people some new interesting "stylish" options for their telephone, which I guess was a rather new concept at the time. Also included in the Design Line was the "Antique Gold" which my family had, and I am pretty sure almost all families in the early 80s also had:

Image: Porticus

Not sure how this became one of the most popular phones in the country, but there you go. Here is an image from an actual Western Electric marketing binder for the Design Line for the Sculptura, which I love:

Image: Porticus

Would you like one of your very own like I do? Here are a couple of  "donut" phones for sale on Etsy:

$68, from five6seven8

$75 from Hoot and Owl

Books!: Mindy Kaling & my new library scores

I am just so happy that my favorite ladies of comedy are writing books. I just finished Tina Fey's book Bossypants, which was just fantastic and had me laughing out loud in public places like a crazy person, and now I find out that Mindy Kaling has written a book which will be coming out this October. I just read a excerpt of Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? and now I can't wait to get my paws on this book. Just like Tina Fey, she gives you that feeling that she is your slightly damaged but hilarious and brilliant best friend (accept they both have great jobs in comedy and I am unemployed).

In other literary news, my two library holds came in today, so as soon as I change out of my jammies (don't judge, even though I am not dressed I already applied for a job today AND disposed of a deceased rodent that Poocumbers gifted us), I am off to pick up A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan and Room by Emma Donoghue. Looking forward to these and I will let you know how it turns out.

Plant Nerd: Planter Shopping at Ikea

So first off, its been a long time since I have blogged. My mind was a huge blank. It still kind of is. I also haven't had much success crafting lately. I just sit down and stare at the table and nothing happens. I did make a few hair clips custom at the request of my mom. They are a little different from what I normally make but I am happy with how they came out:

Clips made for mom!

So I finally got a little blogging inspiration today when I took a trip to Ikea to look for a new planter for the bamboo plant in our kitchen (It's growth was stunted from being trapped in a too small pot). I had looked for one at the local hardware store yesterday but had no luck finding the perfect new home for the little guy.

So many colors! So many sizes!

They had so many amazingly designed planters to choose from. And the prices were just right for an unemployed plant nerd. Here are some of my favorites (all planters shown are ceramic):

Ovantad, $9.99

Arlig, $8.99

Three different sizes of Bigarra, $9.99, $24.99 and $39.99
I have the biggest one in a charcoal color in my succulent garden,
this was the first I had seen it in white!

Ovantad in a tall size, $7.99

Kardemumma, $1.99 (!!!)

Once I made my planter decisions, I really couldn't help picking up a little brother for my bamboo:

Lucky Bamboo, $1.99

I got home and put my bamboo in their new homes, and they seem quite happy. What they aren't happy about is the ugly counter and blinds, but they know we are renters and there isn't much we can do about that:

Knoppig, $4.99 & Ntad, $1.99

Etsy Roundup: Fashion

I haven't really done any fashion talk on the blog yet. I guess this is because fashion blogs are a dime a dozen and who the heck wants my opinion on it anyway. Since I have been unemployed my wardrobe has consisted entirely of gym clothes, pajamas and lounging clothes (which are basically sporty pajamas). It is fun to go window shopping though and since this blog was really started to focus on handmade items from independent artisans (mainly my own, ha), I thought I would go searching for some fashion finds on Etsy. Enjoy!

Can't you just imagine wearing this to stroll around the city on a warm day?

Fiji Dress by Modaspia, $160

The combo of the color and detail on this top is feminine but not over the top girly. Subtle bohemian:

Rose Jersey Shirt w/ Leaf Applique by Minxshop, $70

Here's the front

This has a nice updated "mod" feel to it. Love the structure:

Asymmetrical Tiered Dress by Liza Rietz, $252

A looser top like this tends to look more flattering on me. The sheen of the fabric with the little details is so pretty:

Happy Anniversary Top by Emorie Tokyo, $55

Accessories-wise, I'm loving the modern simplicity of this stripped infinity scarf. It's something you could wear forever and would never go out of style:

Shetland & Lambswool fine Spring Cowl by Knit Frekkles, $65

Finally, how awesome are the architectural details on this dress? The color is gorgeous too, one of those colors that seems to look good on everyone:

Triangle Dress by Out of Line, $148

Cool Company: design/story

I wrote a blog entry about design/story on Wednesday but apparently Blogger decided to send it to the cornfield when it was down last night for several hours. Let's try this again...


design/story is a members only shopping experience that presents modern design (frequently of a Scandinavian persuasion) at discounted prices. They will feature different brands or designers for a few days only, so if you see something you like you need to act fast! Yesterday, they launched a campaign with the dutch company Royal VKB (campaign ends May 18th), maker of ultra modern kitchen accessories/utensils. Last week I was asked, with a couple other people, to take a look at some of Royal VKB's cool products and share my opinions. This was captured on film (and a YouTube video which I have included at the bottom of this post):

Me and my Royal VKB testing counterparts
(Photo: design/story)

Closely examining the Terracotta Water Carafe
(Photo: design/story)

I also asked the design/story folks if the carafe could be used for chilled wine but they weren't sure. I think I will try it and get back to them...

Drink Me
(Photo: design/story)

We also got to play with the Table Bin. The Table Bin is the perfect picnic/camping/general outdoor eating tool. The top can be used as a surface for putting plates on, or cutting something. When you are done eating, you can take the lid off and put your table scraps an used utensils inside. If you have ever had a food mess explosion inside your picnic tote (yes, I have had a food mess explosion in my picnic tote), you will appreciate a product like this. 

Table Bin
(Photo: design/story)

To check out all the Royal VKB products on sale at design/story you will need to sign up to be a member. It only takes a second though, and its worth it to see all the great items for sale and a plethora of design information.