The eye has to move

As I'd mentioned in my post about layering jewelry, I've always been a bit of a fashionista.  When I say that I mean more that I've always loved fashion and design.

In elementary school I can vividly recall watching the early 90's shows like Fashion File and MTV's House of Style and loving the way they dissected new fashion designers and how to combine outfits.  I also recall writing an essay on how I wanted to be a fashion designer and provided several drawings in color of my creations.  I still have that essay and cherish that my teacher said 'maybe one day I'll be wearing Lisette Fee designs'....perhaps it was an omen?

With that said, I'm excited to write a post about personal style and how to cultivate your own personal style. I believe fiercely that personal style speaks volumes without having to say a word.

Me, finally with purple hair! 

It's in my Pisces nature that I'm all over the place when it comes to personal taste (food, clothing, music, movies - you name it!).  So I love  mixing it up, one day I'll be grungy the next day punk and the day after that vintage old school.  You can see the difference in the above two photos.  I believe the key to owning your personal style is to be unapologetic.  Case in point, my love for the color purple is well known, so I finally had my hair colored purple and I loved it - but that didn't mean I dressed in head (literally) to toe purple.

Wearing a vintage dress I got in Atlanta, and all vintage gold jewelry from my Mom's stash

So here are some basics on developing your personal style. 

• Embrace what makes you unique, whether it's your red hair, wide smile or deep blue eyes.  Play them up! Case in point, I still get a bit worried that I smile too much.  I've been reminded though that I have a great smile - so why not smile more often!
• Use your best color to your advantage.  If red or blue looks good against your skin, wear it more often.  I've found that turquoise matches my olive skin beautifully. 
• Match your style to your personality.  If you're a quiet person, go with monochrome pieces, like a vest in black or camel.  Or if you love punk music or the entire movement, wear black tanks or animal print. This is not a rule by any means - you can dress in any style daily.
• Mimick or shadow one of your idols/mentors/shero.  One of my all time favorite stylish woman/designer is Diane Von Furstenburg.  She exudes glamour and class. I pay attention to how she accessorizes and styles her outfits.

With my cousins, Mom and Abuelita in Panama.  All of these ladies have influenced me in style and design.

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How to layer your jewelry

I've always been a bit of a fashionista, I love fashion and the art of dressing well.  So recently I got an email from Who What Wear about how "It fashion girls" layer jewelry.  I loved the post so I wanted to share with you some images of how Eilisain Jewelry fans layer their jewelry.

Nicole DeCarlo Spruill mixing Cartier and the Hunted II owl talon cuff.

Brigid Collection with the Vespa ring and the Hunted cocktail ring.  Photo by Aileen Devlin.

My tattoo artist and friend Caroline Hedgepeth layering her Brigid rings. 

 Layering jewelry is a great way to add volume and heighten the look of your jewelry and overall outfit.  I hope this post gives you courage and ideas on how to intermix your jewelry collections.

As always, thank you for reading!
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Not Just a Label in Dubai for d3

One of the reasons I really love working with Not Just a Label is how much they work to expose small yet emerging designers (fashion and accessories).  So I was not surprised when I learned they were working with new designers and the luxury fashion industry in Dubai, a region of wealth and appreciation for creativity and culture.

NJAL is primarily an online platform however since last year with the Origins fair in Vicenza, Italy they've been working to establish relationships in key locations to bring the online in person.  I was very excited to send several select pieces from the Hunted collection to the Meet at d3 event.  You can learn more about it here.

Below are some images NJAL sent over of the event.  Specifically images with my pieces displayed.  I do feel quite fortunate that my jewelry could participate in this wonderful event.  If I can't go to Dubai at least my jewelry can!

And here is a great video of the behind the scenes look of how it all came together and the fantastic team of NJAL d3 Dubai (Stefan Siegel, Rob Cavell-Clarke and Sara Qaddoura).


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How to style your jewelry

I was thinking about this yesterday; how one wears a certain kind of jewelry or for the occasion. For example, I usually bust out my gold jewelry for fine dining or special occasions and for my everyday wear it's usually Eilisain Jewelry or jewelry made by a fellow jeweler.

So I thought I'd compile some of the best collection/groupings of how Eilisain Jewelry has been styled.

LOVED this blog post and inclusion of the The Hunted sterling silver and amethyst crow claw ring.

I've said this before that this is my usual daily style, black & black with The Hunted bronze double talon pendant.

And a glam evening out would include The Hunted bronze 18kt goldplated triple drow claw ring with magnitite stone.

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Recommended reading, my shero Diane Von Furstenberg, The Woman I wanted to be

You may recall my admiration for Diane Von Furstenberg in a post from years ago.  She's just amazing and she seems so down to earth.

I recently purchased this book for a friend and have yet to give it to her....so I've been reading it! haha, it's what happens.  But the more I've read, the more enamored I am of Diane's full life.  She married a prince, moved to the city, divorced and then remarried, began her own business while raising two children and then running an empire!

Here is a lovely video of her recounting her amazing life.

My personal review is 5 stars, it's an easy and informative read about how Diane does what she does; being amazing.
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Hemyca London

Another gem of a designer discovered at the Origins Passion and Beliefs Fair in Italy last month.  This video is beyond cool, the team behind the Harry Potter movies worked on this video.  That pretty much tells you why it's so wicked, along with the fact that Hemyca is wicked as well.

hope you enjoy! 

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Origins Passion and Beliefs post deux

This is the second installment of my Origins Passion and Beliefs Fair posts.  And can only begin with this awesome video my new Norwegian friend Kim Jayasena created.  Kim came to the fair with his girlfriend Iselin one of the duo designers behind Dreams of Norway.

Enjoy!

IN LOVE with this dress, of course I forgot the designers name...grr.

Her work was amazing as well, she graduated from Central St. Martins in London

And my new friend Johan Ku, I splurged and purchased on of his pieces, which I'll write a complete post about later!

Nino Sepo, another amazing and sweet designer!

The roundtable discussion at the end of Origins, no words.  SO AMAZING!!!

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featured in French Elle magazine

Yesterday I received  exciting news, The Hunted Crow Claw ring was featured in the January 2014 issue of French Elle magazine! This is the first, major publication feature for Eilisain Jewelry and I could not be happier that it'd be in the pages of Elle, one of my favorite fashion mags.  

Below is the clip of the feature.  This comes from the wonderful partnership with Boticca, they have a showroom in Paris and invited fashion and accessory editors to view jewelry from their designers, and I was one of them!

The Hunted sterling silver crow claw ring with amethyst.  

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Playing on the boys team

Another great collection of pieces put together by Fashiongentrix.  

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All the World's a Stage

and all the men and women merely players - William Shakespeare.

Yesterday I received my copy of Savage Beauty, exhibition book of Alexander McQueen's fashion and runway shows.  Alexander McQueen was more than a fashion designer but a true artist, his work and shows were a canvas for him to express so many concepts, ideas and points in history.  

I devoured the book last night and took away some new ways to think about my own jewelry and the concept behind each collection.  I want to emulate the way Alexander took bits and pieces from history, his own life and that of nature into making his definition of how he saw the world.  

Here are several of his pieces that I'm truly in love with:

It's A Jungle out There Winter/Autumn 97-98, Alexander McQueen. All photos courtesy of Met website

Elect/Dissect, Winter/Autumn 97-98 (House of Givenchy).  All photos courtesy of Met website.

Widows of Culloden, Winter/Autumn 06-07. All photos courtesy of Met website

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I collect things...

this video is such a silly spoof on art videos and fashion videos in general.

FASHION FILM from Matthew Frost on Vimeo.

it's good to laugh at ourselves and not get too serious.  Enjoy!
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Oh Coco Chanel, how I admire thee

Early this evening, while reading through the Wall Street Journel's, Spring 2011 Design issue, I was reminded, once again of my adoring and utmost respect for Coco Chanel. She was, in my opinion (perhaps there were earlier), first womens' fashion designer.

Coco made a movement, for women to dress in casual outdoors wear but also many other fashion 'taboo's, such as wearing costume jewelry instead of real gemstone jewelry in the daytime. She was a pioneer in so many ways. As you can imagine, I have a bit of a girl crush on her, one of my many crushes. It's so important to have role models and women to admire and know that if they made it, I too can make it!

Okay, so back to the other reason why I'm posting this; the WSJ article also writes about how Karl Lagerfield went back to, and employed, the custom embroiderers, shoemakers, jewelers and textile artists of Paris to work on this Meteiers D'Art design collection. What a revelation and celebration for Lagerfield to return or perhaps concretely employ of true artisans to create the line.

About a year ago I watched several movies on Coco Chanel, her life and experience of being a fashion designer. She was so resolute and unyielding in her belief of true fashion and art. She never married and had several passionate relationships; you can see the wistfulness but also deep dedication to her art.

It's ironic yet amazing that I've met women in my own field of metalsmithing, just like Coco.

Well, thanks for reading and hope you had a great weekend!
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Viva la weirdo

Viva Vena Cava, blog of fashion designers Lisa Mayock and Sophie Buhai is so weird but fascinating.

These ladies make the coolest of the cool clothes, if only I could afford it. check it out.
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popping up all over the place

I've been reading more and more in fashion 'zines and blogs about 'Pop-up stores. They sound and seem to generate awesome buzz and revenue for small time artists. Jewelry artists are taking good advantage of this phenomenon to sell their work.

New York Magazine's fashion section has a slideshow of the work and the artist...I'm impressed and happy to see an artist I admire, Sarah Abramson. She's got an impressive and stylistically new line of work.

Check it out: Avant-Garde jewelry at Williamsburg pop up. Pin It

Anna Sui

Yes I'm on a video tangent again.

Here's a short video of Anna Sui talking about her evolution in fashion design. Since I was 12 years old, I've loved Anna's work. Very much gypsy/bohemian.

American By Design - Anna Sui from Edward Bishop on Vimeo.

The beautiful comparison of fashion and jewelry is that it's very much alike in how the designer conveys a message. Pin It

Not motivated

Last week I was completely lazy in doing anything jewelry related. I didn’t even sketch! I think it’s okay to take a timeout and let your brain absorb and rest – we need that, I definitely need that.

I also blame it on the extended weekend in celebration of Independence Day. I really enjoyed it too, went to the pool, watched movies all day Sunday. Those are the best days!

Anywho, I’m back this week and trying to get myself back in the swing of things. I had my enameling class last night, and I was still not as motivated to work on my current projects. But I did make good progress. I’m working on this one piece that requires layering different colors and it’s painstaking but I think it’ll look really cool in the end – so it’s worth it! And here is the other…

it’s growing on me, I first enameled a bright yellow that I’d planned on complementing with a transparent yellow…didn’t work out the way I’d planned. Nonetheless I’m layering a beige on top to tone it down. I’m very happy with the shape. Flames seem to be a theme that comes up in many of my pieces. I’m already formulating my

*I apologize for my crappy pictures...my camera was NOT meant to take pictures of jewelry, much less anything that needs detail.

Moving on, new fashions have been released and Christian Lacroix stunned the fashion world with his recent collection. It’s truly magnificent and reminds me of old paintings and Catholic images. I want to be that woman, with the black open back dress going to a fancy dinner and wearing my own jewelry.

Psst. if I could pick several wedding dresses...this just might be one of them, being married in a castle...

You'd probably ask, well what jewelry would I wear? of course my own and what would it look like?I'd have to sketch that out however, this is one ring I'd wear around the celebrations:

Queen Min Ring; 18kt gold and hand carved amethyst. Which brings me to a subject I've been thinking about lately, higher level or more to the point corporate, mass produced jewelry - do these individuals that represent the brand, for example Wendy Brandes...make any of it? At what level are they involved? I don't know...but for any jewelry I buy, in the future that isn't antique, I'd much rather buy from someone that is completely involved in it's production. If anything, know how to make it. That's my 2 cents on it. Nonetheless, I can appreciate the design and thought behind it(if they are truly hers). Wendy does have a blog, but she doesn't really cover much about her design or overall process.

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Fashion

Phillip Crangi for Vera Wang

Robert Lee Morris for Donna Karan
Christian Lacroix per Style.com

Accessorize, Accessorize.

The fashion industry and jewelry have been going through beautiful relationship as of late. It’s all over the fashion mags, that big, chunky and statement jewelry is the way to amp up an outfit. I just hope that this current relationship lasts longer than the trysts fashion has with all the other trends. In general, jewelry and the craft is experiencing a revolution of sorts. Collectible and significant jewelry must no longer be made of precious materials but more should be made with innovation of materials and daring conceptuality.

The big players in the fashion industry have taken notice and enlisted well known jewelers to collaborate with them.

When I flip through fashion magazines and read about which jewelers are collaborating with fashion designers I find myself wanting to be there, be in that world but at the same time I hesitate to think of the massive competition but of course, the competition is there no matter which direction I go in.

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